Ruby Bridges: Quick Facts


Facts

Also Known As Ruby Bridges-Hall • Ruby Nell Bridges
Born September 8, 1954 (age 72) • Mississippi
Role In American civil rights movement

Did You Know?

  • After Ruby began attending the all-white elementary school, her father lost his job, her grandparents were evicted, and her mother was refused service at the local grocery stores.
  • Ruby was born the same year that Brown v. Board was decided in favor of desegregation.
  • Ruby attended a desegregated high school.

Photos


Pauli Murray
Pauli Murray
American civil rights activist, lawyer, and writer
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Anne Moody
American civil rights activist
W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois
American sociologist, historian, and activist
Portrait of Mary White Ovington wearing glasses and a dark blouse, looking slightly to the side against a plain background.
Mary White Ovington
American civil rights activist
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Toni Cade Bambara
American author and civil rights activist
Alice Walker smiling and wearing glasses, a beaded necklace, and a burgundy velvet top at the opening of The Color Purple in New York City.
Alice Walker
American writer
Dovey Johnson Roundtree
Dovey Johnson Roundtree
American lawyer, activist, and military officer
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John Oliver Killens
American writer and activist
Ibram X. Kendi in 2020, wearing a patterned white shirt and purple jacket, looking at the camera with a neutral expression.
Ibram X. Kendi
American author
Cornel West wearing a suit and glasses, speaking into a microphone at a podium with a blue National Press Club backdrop.
Cornel West
American philosopher and political activist
Faith Ringgold
Faith Ringgold
American artist and author
Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine
Daisy Bates
American journalist and civil rights activist
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Bernice Johnson Reagon
American musician and historian
Septima Poinsette Clark
Septima Poinsette Clark
American educator and civil rights advocate
Hosea Williams
Hosea Williams
American civil rights leader and politician
Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni
American poet
Dick Gregory
Dick Gregory
American comedian and civil rights activist
James Meredith
James Meredith
American civil rights activist
Fannie Lou Hamer, 1964
Fannie Lou Hamer
American civil rights activist
Powell, 1967
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
American legislator