TUSD Schools Honor Civil Rights Icon Ruby Bridges with Inspiring ‘Walk-In Day’ Events

Dozens of students at Miles Exploratory Learning Center, part of the Tucson Unified School District, commemorated Ruby Bridges with a “walk-in” day on Thursday morning. This event aimed to honor Bridges’ courage and her significant role in the Civil Rights Movement, according to Noemi Proano, a spokesperson for TUSD.

Ruby Bridges, now 70 years old, made history at just six by becoming the first African American child to attend the previously all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans on November 14, 1960. Her enrollment occurred in the wake of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, which declared state-sanctioned segregation in public schools unconstitutional, a decision made unanimously by Chief Justice Earl Warren.

Despite this ruling, southern schools often resisted integration. The Orleans Parish School Board introduced a test to create hurdles for Black students after federal troops escorted nine students to a Little Rock, Arkansas school in 1957. Ruby Bridges passed that test, joining three other girls at her school under the protection of U.S. marshals. Her groundbreaking first day was later immortalized in Norman Rockwell’s painting “The Problem We All Live With.”

Bridges remains active as a civil rights advocate and is associated with the Ruby Bridges Foundation. “Ruby Bridges, the first African American child to integrate an all-white public school in the South, continues to inspire the ongoing fight for equality in education,” Proano noted.

Alongside Miles Exploratory Learning Center, several other schools in TUSD, including Carrillo Elementary, Dodge Traditional Magnet School, Manzo Elementary, Pueblo Gardens Elementary, and White Elementary, held similar events on Thursday. Proano highlighted that these activities are designed to embody the bravery and resilience of Ruby Bridges, fostering discussions of inclusion, diversity, and equity within schools and communities. The day featured student-led presentations, a symbolic walk, and various art projects.