Did you know?

The history of African Americans has been shaped by many influential figures, including various civil rights activists. Ruby Bridges may be one of the youngest. At age 6, Bridges became the first African American student to integrate the formerly all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans.

Although Bridges lived five blocks away from the school, she had to attend kindergarten several miles away at an all-black segregated school. Bridges volunteered to take an entrance test to be able to attend the all-white school. The test was purportedly designed to be extremely difficult so that students would have a hard time passing it, and thusly New Orleans could avoid de-segregation if all the African American children failed the test. Bridges was one of only six African American students to pass the test.

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