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Names You Know

Ruby Bridges

How you know Ruby:

On November 14, 1960, surrounded by armed US marshals, six-year-old Ruby Bridges integrated William Frantz Elementary in New Orleans. Many already know Ruby and her story. Norman Rockwell’s painting, “The Problem We All Live With,” remains a quintessential image of the Civil Rights Movement. John Steinbeck’s, "Travels with Charley," also includes a description of Ruby walking past angry mobs to enter school. Robert Coles penned a 1995 book, "The Story of Ruby Bridges," and soon after Walt Disney Home Entertainment produced a television movie based on her life. The movie received the honor of being screened in the White House, and on January 8, 2001 President Bill Clinton presented Ruby Bridges Hall with the Presidential Citizens Medal. In 1999, Ruby published her own award-winning memoir, "Through My Eyes."