This past Wednesday (November 17th), Commute Options celebrated Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day with a Park & Walk event at Bear Creek Elementary school. Students and caregivers came to the event, walked to school together, and learned more about Ruby Bridges.
Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day is an opportunity to not only walk and roll to school, but to learn about the Civil Rights movement and make connections to the ongoing calls for social justice today. Commute Options was excited and proud to participate in Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day for the first time this year! We thank all who participated in the Park and Walk event. Remember to download our Ruby Bridges and Be Safe, Be Seen Bingo game so that you can learn more about Ruby. Send photos of your completed game (with a Bingo – 5 in a row), include drawings and stories, to info@commuteoptions.org and win great prizes!
About Ruby Bridges:
In 1960, 15 years after the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that ended racial segregation in public schools, a federal court ordered Louisiana schools to desegregate. In New Orleans, Ruby Bridges was one of six Black students who were to be sent to different, all-white schools. On November 14th, 1960, after the school district delayed her start date, Ruby Bridges bravely walked to Frantz Elementary School.
White parents were angry she was attending their school, and hurled insults and racial slurs. Still, Ruby went on and continued to walk to school every day, and is now heralded as one of the Civil Rights Movement’s most important figures in helping bring racial equity to our schools.
Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day:
In 2018, a group of fifth grade students in San Francisco learned about Ruby, and wanted to find a way to celebrate her. They asked their school board to pass a resolution to make Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day on November 14th. When the 14th falls on a weekend, Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day is celebrated the following Wednesday and was celebrated this year on November 17th.