Others Who Followed Her
"[Ruby] started a long path to desegregation, so once Ruby Bridges entered the school, it put in motion this long period of desegregating schools that is still going on today." -Professor Jon Hale Over the course of the next five years, many other African Americans followed Ruby Bridges' lead by challenging all white schools to allow them to enroll. Some of these students made national headlines, like James Meredith who became the first African American to enter University of Mississippi. James Hood made national headlines when he enrolled at the University of Alabama in 1963, even though the Governor of Alabama tried to phycially block his entrance. Ruby's leadership trickled down to cities, like Charleston, SC, where Oveta Glover, Vivian Malone Jones and Milllicent Brown fought for their rights to enter all white schools. "Desegregation needed to happen, not because blacks couldn't be well educated without whites, but because black schools were so bad they needed to leave. It was about equitable distribution of resources." -Millicent Brown |
1960:
Ruby Bridges enters school. 1962: James Meredith becomes the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. 1963: James Hood were the African American students to enroll at the University of Alabama. Oveta Glover and Millicent Brown are the first African Americans to attend an all-white school in Charleston, South Carolina, along with Vivian Malone Jones. |
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/mississippi/f1.html
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Gannett, 18 Jan. 2013.
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http://video.scetv.org/video/2365388505/
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http://www.citadel.edu/root/whm2013-features/african-american-graduates/241-women-s-history-month/20746-millicent-brown,-ph-d
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The New York Times, 2005
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