Ruby Bridges recounts civil rights history through kid's eyes in new children's book

NPR's Book of the Day

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Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

In her new children's book, I Am Ruby Bridges, civil rights activist Ruby Bridges tells the story of how she was the first black child to desegregate an all-white elementary school – through the eyes of her 6-year-old self. She shares in a conversation with Mary Louise Kelly stories of the racism she endured and how her loneliness at school may resonate with kids today.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. The thing about Ruby Bridges, the
0:07.7	civil rights activist, who was the first black child to desegregate her all-white elementary
0:12.7	school in New Orleans, is that she's not that old. You know, it's just kind of mind-blowing to think
0:18.1	about how much has changed since she was a little kid and how little.
0:23.0	She's on the pod today talking about a new kid's book she just wrote titled,
0:26.7	I Am Ruby Bridges, detailing what that moment in history was like through her own eyes.
0:32.1	How isolated she felt being sent to the school that she didn't even know was going to be a white school.
0:38.7	And NPR's Mary Louise Kelly asks her what a kid today,
0:42.0	whose only known desegregated schools, could take from her story.
0:46.0	And she says that after decades of going around to different schools and talking to kids,
0:50.6	what they relate to is feeling lonely.
0:54.2	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:59.0	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
1:03.5	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
1:05.5	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
1:09.3	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:13.1	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:18.0	The morning of November 14, 1960, a little girl named Ruby Bridges became the first black child to desegregate the all-white William France Elementary School
1:29.3	in New Orleans. Ruby was six. And as she got dressed and left for school that day, she told me
1:34.9	she didn't know she was making history. I had no idea that it was going to be a white school.
1:41.0	It wasn't something that my parents explained to me. As a matter of fact,
1:44.7	the only thing they said is, Ruby, you're going to go to a new school today, and you better behave.
	...

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