A biography for Ruby Bridgeshasn’t been written yet.
“Racism is a form of hate. We pass it on to our young people. When we do that, we are robbing children of their innocence.”
“Evil isn't prejudiced. It doesn't care what you look like; it just wants a place to rest. It's up to you whether you give it that place.”
“It's taken me a long time to own the early part of my life.”
“I remember what it was like at age 6, not really understanding what was going on around me, but having all these grown-up thoughts running through my head about what I was facing, why this was happening.”
“When I think about our babies today and them not being safe in school, I think that should be the next civil rights movement, you know, is to ban the assault weapons so that our babies can be safe.”
“That's really what my work is all about - bringing kids together.”
“Now that I'm a parent, I know that my parents were incredibly brave.”
“Somehow, it always worked. Kneeling at the side of my bed and talking to the Lord made everything okay.”
“If we're gonna get past our our racial differences, it's gonna come from our kids, but they have to be together to do that.”
“I'm not a very public person.”
“What I do remember about first grade and that year was that it was very lonely. I didn't have any friends, and I wasn't allowed to go to the cafeteria or play on the playground. What bothered me most was the loneliness in school every day.”
“As African-Americans, people of that generation felt pretty much if they were going to see changes in the world, they had to make sacrifices and step up to the plate. I'm very proud that my parents happened to be people who did. They were not privileged to have a formal education.”
“We keep racism alive. We pass it on to our children. I think that is very sad.”
“I would dream that this coffin had wings, and it would fly around my bed at night, and so it was a dream that happened a lot, and that's what frightened me.”
“It's not who you're going to sit beside at school that matters now: it's what resources will your school have.”
“What we, as African Americans, stood on was our faith.”
“I wanted to use my experience to teach kids that racism has no place in hearts and minds.”
“I think that racism is ugly and so unfair, and I believe that we all need one another.”
“I pray for my enemies, that God would forgive them.”
“Kids really don't care about what their friends look like.”