Ruby Bridges crossed the threshold of William Frantz Elementary School on November 14, 1960, when she was six-years-old and single-handedly initiated the desegregation of New Orleans' public schools. Each day that she trudged up the stairs of the school praying, "Please God, try to forgive those people, because even if they say those bad things, they don't know what they're doing." The book The Story of Ruby Bridges by child psychiatrist Robert Coles tells the story of Ruby's strength and courage in the face of prejudice, anger, and rejection. She graduated from Francis T. Nicholls High School in New Orleans, and today she heads the Ruby Bridges Foundation, a non-profit that provides funding to schools for supplies and resources for children and parents.
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