Last week I posted pics and comments preceded by the following introduction:
Caution: risqué site title
There is a wonderful website which is called Interesting as Fuck because it is . . . well . . . as interesting as fuck. The site can be viewed by clicking on the following link:
Here are some of the interesting pics submitted to the site as recently featured on Bored Panda, together with BP headings and some BP reader comments, viewable at:
I posted 9 pics with comments but did not show the 10th because I felt that that 10th photograph, and story, was worthy of a post on its down, plus greater comment. That was not all I felt, but instead of describing my reactions and feelings, I will leave you to discover your own reactions . . .
U.S. Marshalls Escorting The Extremely Brave Ruby Bridges, 6 Years Old, To School In 1960. This Courageous Young Girl Is Known For Being The First African American Child To Attend An All-White Elementary School In The South
BP reader comments:
Aww, this is amazing and also so unfair that a 6-year old has to deal with such discrimination. I love how you can see her determination and how the officers are smiling at her cuteness.
I very much doubt the southern officers were smiling at her cuteness, unfortunately. They were probably making a bet with each other about whether she'd make it to the end of the day.
Here's what gets me. Ruby is 65 now. They put these pictures in black and white to make us think it was so long ago when it wasn't
Awwwww, how could anyone discriminate against such a sweet little girl???!!
Strongest girl in the world!
I've read other families were bullied for still sending their children to this school, after Ruby started attending. At least two white families ended up moving states even!
In one of her recent interviews she said that she was mostly in a classroom by herself with her own teacher since many of the white families refused to send their children to a school that would teach a black child.It was heartbreaking to learn that and it makes you realise just how deep of a virus racism is.
I believe her mother just recently passed a few days ago.
I's a shame that black people had to worry about getting into school back then! I hope she finished her schooling and went right on to get a degree! She looks like a well dressed and a very cute little girl then!
A very powerful image.
Wonderful that this particular aspect of discrimination has been overcome but how awful was it, first - that it happened at all and second - a SIX YEAR OLD innocent kid needs an armed escort. THAT is how much personal danger she was in. The people who threatened her should be thoroughly ashamed..
Ruby Bridges was interviewed recently because she just wrote a new book. She said that elementary school she attended is all black today. Segregated again.
A beautiful, 66 year old American woman? Yup. You should see her now!
Bytes By the Way:
From Wikipedia:
Ruby Nell Bridges Hall (born September 8, 1954) is an American civil rights activist. She was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November 14, 1960. She is the subject of a 1964 painting, The Problem We All Live With by Norman Rockwell.. . .That first day, Bridges and her mother spent the entire day in the principal's office; the chaos of the school prevented their moving to the classroom until the second day. On the second day, however, a white student broke the boycott and entered the school when a 34-year-old Methodist minister, Lloyd Anderson Foreman, walked his five-year-old daughter Pam through the angry mob, saying, "I simply want the privilege of taking my child to school ..." A few days later, other white parents began bringing their children, and the protests began to subside. Yet, still, Bridges remained the only child in her class, as she would until the following year. Every morning, as Bridges walked to school, one woman would threaten to poison her, while another held up a black baby doll in a coffin; because of this, the U.S. Marshals dispatched by President Eisenhower, who were overseeing her safety, allowed Bridges to eat only the food that she brought from home.Child psychiatrist Robert Coles volunteered to provide counseling to Bridges during her first year at Frantz. He met with her weekly in the Bridges home, later writing a children's book, The Story of Ruby Bridges, to acquaint other children with Bridges' story. Coles donated the royalties from the sale of that book to the Ruby Bridges Foundation, to provide money for school supplies or other educational needs for impoverished New Orleans school children.The Bridges family suffered for their decision to send her to William Frantz Elementary: her father lost his job as a gas station attendant; the grocery store the family shopped at would no longer let them shop there; her grandparents, who were sharecroppers in Mississippi, were turned off their land; and Abon and Lucille Bridges separated. Bridges has noted that many others in the community, both black and white, showed support in a variety of ways. Some white families continued to send their children to Frantz despite the protests, a neighbor provided her father with a new job, and local people babysat, watched the house as protectors, and walked behind the federal marshals' car on the trips to school. It was not until Bridges was an adult that she learned that the immaculate clothing she wore to school in those first weeks at Frantz was sent to her family by a relative of Dr. Coles. Bridges says her family could never have afforded the dresses, socks, and shoes that are documented in photographs of her escort by U.S. Marshals to and from the school.. . .Bridges, now Ruby Bridges Hall, still lives in New Orleans with her husband, Malcolm Hall, and their four sons. After graduating from a desegregated high school, she worked as a travel agent for 15 years and later became a full-time parent. She is now chair of the Ruby Bridges Foundation, which she formed in 1999 to promote "the values of tolerance, respect, and appreciation of all differences". Describing the mission of the group, she says, "racism is a grown-up disease and we must stop using our children to spread it."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Bridges
The Problem We All Live With , Norman Rockwell
Ruby Bridges visited the White House to see a painting of her historic first day by Norman Rockwell that was on display outside the Oval Office through the summer of 2011
Ruby Bridges
