We recognize Ruby Bridges for her life’s work as a leader and civil rights activist; we found an unsightly cartoon of Ruby’s historic ride through an angry crowd growling with new education secretary Betsy DeVos depicted as Ruby. This description exemplifies the little understanding that has been achieved about racial discrimination in the United States.
If it weren’t for racial subjugation, Ruby Bridges wouldn’t have needed federal marshals to escort her to attend a hitherto segregated public school in New Orleans. Had it not been for racial animosity, Barbara Henry would not have taught him in an isolated setting; whose integrity led her to offer this brave girl the best education she could provide. That teacher Barbara Henry, and her student, Ruby, represent the best of American heritage. This Bridges experience is also captured in a retrospective entitled “Lasting Impact,” which summarizes the historical effect of this heroic act.
Today, segregation is illegal in the United States and no longer occurs. A lot of racism has left our society, yet not everything has been eliminated. Hopefully, one day, racism will be a topic that will only be talked about in history textbooks.
DeVos’ Bridges cartoon is a classic of American culture. This cultural practice is summarized in the following quote from Bridget Cooke “Repairing the Racial Representations of African Americans at the Columbia World’s Fair, Chicago, 1893.” This excerpt explains the causes of the use of stereotypes to minimize the positive reality of African American descent. Whites created the culture of segregation in large part to counter the success of blacks, to make a myth of absolute racial difference, to stop the uprising. Racial essentialism, the conception of sets of personal characteristics as biologically determined racial identities, grew in popularity among whites as the new black middle class emerged and its increasing visibility, especially in cities.
This American legacy extends to me too, in Los Angeles, California, where I was born. I am more than a decade older than Ruby, but I attended integrated schools. I also received the impulse from my family who cared for him, as well as from key teachers on my way.
At John Muir High School, where I attended school, someone always managed to free me from my bus ticket book, leaving me with a long, mile-long drive to school. Enter my Barbara Henry, Mrs. Ackerman. Mrs. Ackerman was my science teacher and she was a German immigrant. She would look for me on my way to school and she offered me that much appreciated trip to school.
Then she would allow me early access to her classroom. During these morning sessions, she taught me a means of recognizing my own exceptional intelligence through a mini astronomy lesson in which she gave me an eagle eye on my extrapolation ability. I would leave John Muir and graduate with high honors in a class of 1200. This led to me getting a scholarship to college.
In the fifty-eight years since these mornings with Mrs. Ackerman, I have demonstrated my passion for this American heritage by serving students and staff in a way that led to:
First woman of my color to become a high school principal in Colorado
Winner of the following distinctions
Milken National Educational Leader
Outstanding Person in Colorado State Schools
Educator of the year
Election to the School Council, the first of my tonality and a woman in more than 140 years.
Post retirement:
Scholarships to Harvard
More to tell. For now, thank you colleagues Ruby, Barbara, Ms. Ackerman