Long road, many rivers – one little Ruby Bridges
In this July 20, 2006, fi le photo, Lucille Bridges poses next
to the original 1964 Norman Rockwell painting, “The Problem
We All Live With,” showing her daughter Ruby, inside
the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. New Orleans’ mayor
announced Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, that Lucille Bridges, the
mother of civil rights activist Ruby Bridges, has died at the
age of 86. Steve Ueckert/Houston Chronicle via AP, File
Caribbean Life, NOVEMBER 20-26, 2020 11
Lucille Bridges died on Nov.
11.
The mother of Civil Rights
activist Ruby Bridges passed
away on that date at age 86
but was able to witness the
national jubilation following
the announcement of the
election of Kamala Harris,
the first woman, first Black,
first daughter of immigrants,
first descendant of Jamaican
and South Asian parents, first
mother, etc etc.
Even more significantly,
Lucille Bridges lived to see her
daughter’s image shadowed
alongside the history-making
woman who on Jan. 20 will be
installed vice president of the
United States.
Since the triumphant, landslide
by the Democratic Party,
what appeared to be an empowering
inspiration to Black,
female children is a social
media flurry of an adapted version
of a 1964 Norman Rockwell
photo.
The altered image of a little,
Black girl carrying her schoolbooks
resonated with favorability
amassing viral status across
the worldwide web.
And like the many Barack
Obama era artists’ renditions
that probably inspired Black
youths when he was elected the
first Black president, this latest
creation registers with universal
appeal.
Along with relatability from
little Black girls, feminists of all
races embraced the image with
pride attributed to the hardfought
struggle to achieving
reforms associated with gender
equity and acceptance.
Although the Harris victory
seems a sweet accomplishment
for the gender, 87 percent of
Black women are reveling their
hefty proportion in deciding
the final voter counts.
Of all the celebrants both
Bridges might have been
proudest.
In 1960, Lucille escorted
her then-six-year-old daughter
Ruby past crowds of racist
whites who hurled nastiness
in her direction when all she
wanted was an education for
her daughter.
The brave mother ignored
the venom spewed at her and
daily repeated a ritual of accompanying
little Ruby to school.
Imagine a clueless, little
child having to hear strangers
spew bad words at her mummy
and her mom ignoring the
daily demonstrations.
Unknowingly, a six-year-old
child changed American history.
Ruby emerged the first Black
student to attend the all-white
William Frantz Elementary
School in New Orleans.
On her mother’s passing
recently Ruby said, “Today
our country lost a hero. Brave,
progressive, a champion for
change. She helped alter the
course of so many lives by setting
me out on my path as a
six-year-old little girl.
One week after Pennsylvanians
added to the majority
population that voted for the
Joe Biden/Kamala Harris ticket,
Ruby posted on social media
that “Our nation lost a Mother
of the Civil Rights Movement
today. And I lost my mom. I
love you and am grateful for
you.M
ay you Rest In Peace.”
Ruby was born in Tylertown,
Mississippi, in 1954 —
the same year as the landmark
Brown vs. The Board of Education
of Topeka, Kansas, decision
that ended racial segregation
in schools.
Her image was memorialized
in Norman Rockwell’s famous
painting “The Problem We All
Live With” which depicts a tiny
Ruby in a white dress carrying
her notebooks and a ruler.
Originally published in
1964, the photo provided visual
imagery of a national travesty.
Lucille proudly acknowledged
the artful Rockwell
depiction on a 2006 visit to
the Museum of Fine Arts in
Houston.
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