Ruby Bridges " The Interview "Part 2

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: In Bob Coles’ book, he writes of that teacher looking out the window, thinking that she saw you one day talking to this mob, but you weren’t really. Tell me what was going on.

Ruby Bridges HALL: Well, the story is that I prayed. And I don’t actually remember that, but it sort of comes from the fact that my mother said to me, "Ruby, if I’m not with you and you’re afraid, then always say your prayers." And that’s something we were taught. I was raised that way. If I had a nightmare, I would go to her bed at night, and she’d say, "Well, did you say your prayers," and I would say, "No." And she’d say, "Well, that’s why you had the nightmare. Go back and get on your knees." And so she said, "If I’m not with you, then say your prayers."

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: So you just stopped--

Ruby Bridges HALL: And said my prayers.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: What did you say?

Ruby Bridges HALL: I don’t actually remember the prayer.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: It’s in Bob’s book.

Ruby Bridges HALL: But I prayed, yes.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: It’s quite beautiful.

Ruby Bridges HALL: I prayed for the people. That’s what I did. And so that was actually--that tells me that I was really afraid because that’s when I would say my prayers.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: You prayed for those people who were being mean to you?

Ruby Bridges HALL: Yes.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: That’s pretty amazing. When, if ever, did things get better?

Ruby Bridges HALL: Not until much--well, actually better the next year because at that point the school was totally integrated.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: So everybody came back?

Ruby Bridges HALL: Everybody came back. But later on, it’s always important for me to point out that there were some families who actually felt like this was okay, white families, that their kids attend school with a black child. But you have to keep in mind that they also had to cross a picket line to do that. And so there were very, very few people that had the nerve enough to do that, to subject their child to that.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: And your own family paid a price, right? Ruby Bridges HALL: Oh, definitely. My father was always against the idea. He felt like, you know, why subject me to that; just send me to the black school that I had been going to, I could get the same education there. But my mother was very persistent, and she insisted on it and finally convinced him to go through with it.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: But he lost his job.

Ruby Bridges HALL: He lost his job. He came home one night and said that his boss said that he could no longer keep him there working.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Too much pressure.

Ruby Bridges HALL: Because there was too much pressure. Everybody knew that it was his daughter that was going to this white school, and so he had to fire him.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Even your grandparents suffered.

Ruby Bridges HALL: My grandparents, who were sharecroppers in Mississippi at the time, had been living there for 25 years on this farm, and they had to leave Mississippi. They then moved to Louisiana, which is where they live now. But even the people that they sharecropped for said that, you know, everybody knows that it’s your granddaughter that’s in the school, and we’re going to have to ask you to leave.


CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: You talked about the three things that sustained you during that time: prayer, faith was one, your family, and friends.

Ruby Bridges HALL: Yes. That was very, very important. I don’t think that my parents could have gone through what they did without the whole community coming together. We had friends that would come over and help dress me for school. Even when I rode to school, there was people in the neighborhood that would walk behind the car. I actually didn’t live that far from school, and so they would actually just come out and walk to school with me.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: What impact did that experience have on your life?

Ruby Bridges HALL: It took me a while to really realize just how important that sacrifice was that my parents made. And having four kids myself, I--

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Four boys, right?

Ruby Bridges HALL: Four boys--I struggled quite a bit trying to raise them, and I soon found out that what I really wanted to do is to work with kids. And something happened in my family. I lost my brother a few years ago. He had four daughters that I took in and started to raise. I then found out that they were sort of raising themselves, and it just hit me that we’re not concerned about each other’s children anymore.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: So your focus today is totally on education?

Ruby Bridges HALL: Education, children, and family.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: And has the school system changed that much in all those years? I mean, do you still grapple with some of the same problems?

Ruby Bridges HALL: Yes. Some of the same problems. The biggest problem, I think, is that parents are not as involved with their children’s education as they used to be.