If we're gonna get past our our racial differences, it's gonna come from our kids, but they have to be together to do that.
— Ruby Bridges
We as African Americans knew that if we wanted to see change, we had to step up to the plate and make that change ourselves. Not everyone comes to that realization in their lives, but thank God Linda Brown's father felt that way.
I was the first black child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana in 1960.
Schools should be diverse if we are to get past racial differences.
The mission of the Ruby Bridges Foundation is to create educational opportunities like science camp that allow children from different racial, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds to build lasting relationships.
As African-Americans, people of that generation felt pretty much if they were going to see changes in the world, they had to make sacrifices and step up to the plate. I'm very proud that my parents happened to be people who did. They were not privileged to have a formal education.
We keep racism alive. We pass it on to our children. I think that is very sad.
I think that racism is ugly and so unfair, and I believe that we all need one another.
I pray for my enemies, that God would forgive them.
Once my school was integrated, and I was there with white kids and a few black kids, it really didn't matter to us what we looked like.
When the scary subject of race is finally broached, kids want to talk and talk. It's very satisfying.
If my mama said not to do something, I didn't do it.
I'm not a very public person.
I remember the first time seeing myself on TV, when my family was watching the documentary 'Eyes on the Prize' for the first time. There were pictures of people going up the school stairs, and Mom said, 'Oh, that's you!' I said, 'I can't believe this. This is important.'
You cannot look at a person and judge him or her by the color of their skin.
My mother and our pastor always said you have to pray for your enemies and people who do you wrong, and that's what I did.
I do think that some people are born as old souls.
None of our kids come into the world knowing anything about disliking one another.
I never got the chance to meet Linda Brown; there were several times we were supposed to meet or be on the same stage together, but life gets in the way, and it never happened.
I remember what it was like at age 6, not really understanding what was going on around me, but having all these grown-up thoughts running through my head about what I was facing, why this was happening.
I felt like there was something I needed to do - speaking to kids and sharing my story with them and helping them understand racism has no place in the minds and hearts of children.
That's really what my work is all about - bringing kids together.
I had never seen a white teacher before, but Mrs. Henry was the nicest teacher I ever had.
It's time to get past our racial differences. We owe it to our children to help them keep their clean start.
Administrations and administrative faculty work very hard to see that schools are diverse as much as possible.
I like to share my story with children, and they are amazed by the story.
I want to inspire kids.
All of our schools should be good enough to attract a healthy racial mix, which, I believe, leads to the most effective learning for everybody.
If we are about what is good today, then we that are good need to come together to fight what's bad out there.
My mother had taught me that the only thing you could depend on was your faith, and I had that.
Kids come into the world with clean hearts, fresh starts.
I would dream that this coffin had wings, and it would fly around my bed at night, and so it was a dream that happened a lot, and that's what frightened me.
It's not who you're going to sit beside at school that matters now: it's what resources will your school have.
I wanted to use my experience to teach kids that racism has no place in hearts and minds.
My family - my mother and father had gone through such a hard time that by the time I graduated from sixth grade, they were separated.
I've seen schools in Detroit where the windows are broken, where there's no heat, and children are sitting with their coats on in class in the middle of a snowstorm. I've also seen schools in California with Olympic-sized swimming pools and cafeterias like five-star restaurants.
Every day, I would show up, and there were no kids, just me and my teacher in my classroom. Every day, I would be escorted by marshals past a mob of people protesting and boycotting the school. This went on for a whole year.
From age 7 to about 37, I had a normal life and not a very easy one.
I believe it doesn't do yourself any good to hate.
Our babies know nothing about hate or racism. But soon they begin to learn - and only from us.
I think racism is something that is passed on and taught to our kids, and that's a shame.
What I do remember about first grade and that year was that it was very lonely. I didn't have any friends, and I wasn't allowed to go to the cafeteria or play on the playground. What bothered me most was the loneliness in school every day.
I'm the mother of four.
There are all kinds of monuments to adults - usually dead and usually white. But we don't often lift up the extraordinary work of children.
It's taken me a long time to own the early part of my life.
We'd get these boxes of clothing in the mail, and my mom would say, 'What makes you think all this is for you? You've got a sister right behind you.' So then I realized, we're all in this together. We have to help each other.
Now that I'm a parent, I know that my parents were incredibly brave.
Kids really don't care about what their friends look like.
Somehow, it always worked. Kneeling at the side of my bed and talking to the Lord made everything okay.
We have tolerance, respect, and equality in our written laws but not in the hearts of some of our people.
