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Did Ruby Bridges go to college? Education and more explored as Bend-La Pine Schools to celebrate civil rights icon’s Walk to School day

As a child, Ruby Bridges became one of the first students to enter an all-white elementary school as a part of desegregation efforts
posted by Sourodeep Dey
Friday 11/14/2025 at 7:15AM EST
  • Ruby Bridges gives an interview during HISTORYTalks 2022 on September 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for History)
    Ruby Bridges gives an interview during HISTORYTalks 2022 on September 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for History)

    November 14, 2025 marks the 65th anniversary of the day when activist Ruby Bridges became the first African-American child to attend the William Frantz Elementary School, an all-white school in New Orleans. On November 14, 1960, the young Bridges became the first of four New Orleans children to break the segregation of students on the basis of race in public schools in the state.

    Ruby Bridges went to the Francis T. Nicholls High School after grade school. After graduating high school, she did not attend a traditional college, as per her biography on City Year’s website. She, however, studied travel and tourism at the Kansas City Business school.

    According to The Collector, Bridges went on to work in the travel industry. In fact, she became one of the first Black travel agents to work for American Express in the state of New Orleans. She also began working as a civil rights activist, and during her work in education, encountered her grade school teacher, Barbara Henry.

     

    To recognize the icon’s role in education and civil rights, schools are celebrating Ruby Bridges Walk to School day

    Bend-La Pine Schools in Oregon announced their participation in Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day, to be held on November 14, 2025. The school will be joined by other educational institutions across the nation such as the Lichen K-8 in Citrus Heights, California, the Gage Elementary, Pershing Middle, and Patrick Henry High School in San Diego, Atlanta’s Finch Elementary.

    In fact, the students of Frank Rushton Elementary School in Kansas City led the charge at the the Kansas House Committee on Education in February this year, urging them to consider passing a bill which would permanently institute an annual celebration of the Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day in Kansas, according to KSHB. The students recognized Bridges’ role in civil rights and equal education, and one of them said,

    “She helped people see that Black people should have equal rights.”

    However, the bill was rejected, noted KSHB.

    Nevertheless, Ruby Bridges’ name and legacy is burned into the living memory of Americans. According to an article by the U.S. Marshals Service, Bridges and other African-American children faced a lot of difficulties while integrating into an all-white school. While attending school in New Orleans, the children were often greeted by protestors who threw objects at them.

    They had to be accompanied by U.S. Marshals Herschel Garner, Charles Burks to safely reach school and be able to access equal education. The image of Bridges being accompanied by U.S. Marshals to school is a vivid representation of the time, and has also been turned into a painting by artist Norman Rockwell, who titled the piece, The Problem We All Live With.

    As per the article by the U.S. Marshals Service, during Bridges’ initial days in school, she encountered a wooden coffin with a black doll inside it, which was brought by one of the protestors objecting to her presence in an all-white school.

    According to National Women’s History Museum, Bridges went on to become an anti-racism activist and had an important legacy in the history of civil rights in the nation. She holds two honorary degrees from Connecticut College and Tulane University. She was also made an honorary Deputy U.S. Marshal in 2000.

    TOPICS: Ruby Bridges