Ruby Bridges
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Thanks to her good grades, Ruby is chosen to be a pioneer in breaking down the walls of segregation. Through her entire first school year with white children, this brave little black girl is escorted by four federal marshals through a crowd of angry white protestors in front of the school. Miss Henry, Rubys teacher from Boston, works with Ruby since none of the regular teachers will have anything to do with her. Through the hard work of the people who told Ruby to attend the white school and through the determination of Ruby, Miss Henry, and Mr. and Mrs. Bridges, Ruby overcame discrimination, racism, prejudice, stereotyping, and educational equalities.
The discrimination Ruby faced went entering the schools everyday was horrible. The protesters yelled mean and very hurtful things at her. Discrimination is motivated by prejudice. The protesters used the discrimination of blacks to try and deny Ruby the right to go to a white school.
Racism was a huge factor in the protesters decisions to yell nasty things at Ruby. The white people thought they were superior to black people; therefore, not allowing to let Ruby into “their” school.
The prejudice shown toward Ruby was uncalled for. The white people showed massive amounts of prejudice toward Ruby even though the people dont know Ruby. They dont understand the kind hearted, well behaved little girl Ruby is. When the protesters look at Ruby all they see is the color of her skin.
Ruby was stereotyped by the people standing outside the school. The hurtful things they shouted at her were driven by stereotypical ideas. They based their opinions about Ruby without understanding with full knowledge and open minds what Ruby was all about. Instead, they made an inaccurate judgment based on the color of her skin.
This movie is a perfect example of educational inequalities in the 1960s. African Americans faced extreme differences in the way they were taught. Blacks were given less qualified teachers and bad school houses, but the white children received the most qualified and newest school houses. The black schools did not receive adequate funding, which caused the school to have shoddy textbooks. There were many education inequalities back in the 1960s, but Ruby Bridges did a heroic job in bringing together two races and appeasing hate for African Americans.