Black/African Americans
Ruby Bridges:
Ruby Nell Bridges Hall was the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in the south. The school she attended was William Frantz Elementary School. Because of a federal court order, New Orleans public schools were forced to desegregate. In spring in 1960 Ruby and other black kindergartners in New Orleans took a test to see which children would go to an integrated school that coming September. During Summer, Ruby’s parents learned that Ruby passed the test and had been selected to start first grade at William Frantz Public School. There were 6 children selected that passed the test, however Ruby was the only student at this particular school. Each day when going to school, there as a crowd of people upset and shouting about their anger that Ruby was able to attend this school. Mrs. Henry was the name of Ruby’s teacher. Since all the other students had left Mrs. Henry’s class, Ruby was the only student in the class. Mrs. Henry stayed at the school and was a great teacher to Ruby, working with her side by side instead of being distant off at a teacher’s desk. Since Ruby couldn’t play outside for recess, Mrs. Henry played games and exercised in the classroom with Ruby to make sure she had a positive school experience. One day when Mrs. Henry saw Ruby walking into school, she noticed that Ruby was moving her lips while walking past the crowds. Mrs. Henry asked Ruby about this, and Ruby said that she was praying for the people that were shouting at her on her way to school every morning. Today, Ruby goes on school visits to help connect children through schools. She says, “another important thing that I learned in first grade is that schools can be a place to bring people together – kids of all races in backgrounds.”
Oprah Winfrey:
Oprah has lived the American Dream by overcoming hardship and diversity and now is one of the largest media figures worldwide. During childhood, beginning at age 9, Oprah was sexually molested by several family members. Since she received no family support from these difficult times, she ran away at age 13. When at Nicolet High School, some of her classmates with more money teased her and this led Oprah to often steal money from her mother to try and live a lifestyle like the one of her peers. This upset Oprah’s mom who then sent her back to Nashville to live with Vernon Winfrey who was strict but also fair and encouraging. This was a turning point in Oprah’s life because he helped her focus on education and she soon was excelling; so much so that she became an honors student, was voted most popular girl in her high school and won a full scholarship to Tennessee State. In college she studied communications and entered and won the Miss Black Tennessee competition. Locally, she began to draw attention and had spots on some local news and radio shows. She began to become even more successful when she got the role of Sofia in Spielberg’s production of “The Color Purple”. She then went on to sign a deal to create what is now known as “The Oprah Winfrey Show. After years of her show, Oprah decided to create a show that “helped to provide therapy, not only to the guests appearing on that show, but also to those in the audience at home.” Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of her guests, Oprah enlightened the topic to create a community to tackle the issues collectively. Oprah is a shero since she is living proof that while she didn’t have a lot in live early on, she was guided to believe in herself and has used her career to influence others to follow positive paths in life.
Jackie Robinson:
Jackie Robinson is known for being the first African American to play major league baseball.
Jackie grew up in California watching his older brothers excel in sports. His brother Mack even won a silver Olympic medal in the 200 meter dash. Like his brothers, Jackie loved to play sports and was an extremely talented athlete. In High school he was the QB of the football team, star of the baseball team and also ran track. While people would cheer for Jackie on the field, off the field he was not treated the same as his white classmates. Jackie Attended UCLA for college and was the first athlete there to earn varsity letters in all 4 sports. After college Jackie went to play pro football but with world War 2 starting, he was drafted in the army. After leaving the army, Jackie started to play professional baseball in the Negro Baseball League since at this time blacks couldn’t play MLB. Jackie then went on to play in minor league baseball and had to deal with racism constantly to the point of the other team sometimes not even showing up for games as well as people yelling at him, threatening him or throwing things at him. Jackie showed his talents here again and won the league’s MVP award. Robinson became the first African American MLB player when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers for the 1947 baseball season. The dodgers won the pennant this year and Jackie was the rookie of the year. Throughout the next 10 years, Jackie had many MLB successes including being named to the All-Star team six times and was the league MVP in 1949. Robinson was the beginning of equal rights in baseball and a pathway for more people of color to achieve such success. He was elected to the baseball hall of fame in 1962.
Martin Luther King Jr.:
Martin Luther King Jr. fought for the rights of all people including African Americans by leading non-violent protests. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta GA and attended Booker T. Washington High School. He was a very smart man so he was able to skip 2 grades in high school. When he was just 15 years old he began to attend Morehouse College and then went on to doctorate from Boston University. To begin in civil rights Martin led the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This boycott lasted over a year and led to Martin becoming arrested and getting his house bombed. Martin helped organize “March on Washington in 1963. At this march, King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. A year later, the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. What truly makes King a hero is that he didn’t advocate for just one race or background, he advocated for the human race as a whole and equal treatment for all people.
Ruby Nell Bridges Hall was the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in the south. The school she attended was William Frantz Elementary School. Because of a federal court order, New Orleans public schools were forced to desegregate. In spring in 1960 Ruby and other black kindergartners in New Orleans took a test to see which children would go to an integrated school that coming September. During Summer, Ruby’s parents learned that Ruby passed the test and had been selected to start first grade at William Frantz Public School. There were 6 children selected that passed the test, however Ruby was the only student at this particular school. Each day when going to school, there as a crowd of people upset and shouting about their anger that Ruby was able to attend this school. Mrs. Henry was the name of Ruby’s teacher. Since all the other students had left Mrs. Henry’s class, Ruby was the only student in the class. Mrs. Henry stayed at the school and was a great teacher to Ruby, working with her side by side instead of being distant off at a teacher’s desk. Since Ruby couldn’t play outside for recess, Mrs. Henry played games and exercised in the classroom with Ruby to make sure she had a positive school experience. One day when Mrs. Henry saw Ruby walking into school, she noticed that Ruby was moving her lips while walking past the crowds. Mrs. Henry asked Ruby about this, and Ruby said that she was praying for the people that were shouting at her on her way to school every morning. Today, Ruby goes on school visits to help connect children through schools. She says, “another important thing that I learned in first grade is that schools can be a place to bring people together – kids of all races in backgrounds.”
Oprah Winfrey:
Oprah has lived the American Dream by overcoming hardship and diversity and now is one of the largest media figures worldwide. During childhood, beginning at age 9, Oprah was sexually molested by several family members. Since she received no family support from these difficult times, she ran away at age 13. When at Nicolet High School, some of her classmates with more money teased her and this led Oprah to often steal money from her mother to try and live a lifestyle like the one of her peers. This upset Oprah’s mom who then sent her back to Nashville to live with Vernon Winfrey who was strict but also fair and encouraging. This was a turning point in Oprah’s life because he helped her focus on education and she soon was excelling; so much so that she became an honors student, was voted most popular girl in her high school and won a full scholarship to Tennessee State. In college she studied communications and entered and won the Miss Black Tennessee competition. Locally, she began to draw attention and had spots on some local news and radio shows. She began to become even more successful when she got the role of Sofia in Spielberg’s production of “The Color Purple”. She then went on to sign a deal to create what is now known as “The Oprah Winfrey Show. After years of her show, Oprah decided to create a show that “helped to provide therapy, not only to the guests appearing on that show, but also to those in the audience at home.” Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of her guests, Oprah enlightened the topic to create a community to tackle the issues collectively. Oprah is a shero since she is living proof that while she didn’t have a lot in live early on, she was guided to believe in herself and has used her career to influence others to follow positive paths in life.
Jackie Robinson:
Jackie Robinson is known for being the first African American to play major league baseball.
Jackie grew up in California watching his older brothers excel in sports. His brother Mack even won a silver Olympic medal in the 200 meter dash. Like his brothers, Jackie loved to play sports and was an extremely talented athlete. In High school he was the QB of the football team, star of the baseball team and also ran track. While people would cheer for Jackie on the field, off the field he was not treated the same as his white classmates. Jackie Attended UCLA for college and was the first athlete there to earn varsity letters in all 4 sports. After college Jackie went to play pro football but with world War 2 starting, he was drafted in the army. After leaving the army, Jackie started to play professional baseball in the Negro Baseball League since at this time blacks couldn’t play MLB. Jackie then went on to play in minor league baseball and had to deal with racism constantly to the point of the other team sometimes not even showing up for games as well as people yelling at him, threatening him or throwing things at him. Jackie showed his talents here again and won the league’s MVP award. Robinson became the first African American MLB player when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers for the 1947 baseball season. The dodgers won the pennant this year and Jackie was the rookie of the year. Throughout the next 10 years, Jackie had many MLB successes including being named to the All-Star team six times and was the league MVP in 1949. Robinson was the beginning of equal rights in baseball and a pathway for more people of color to achieve such success. He was elected to the baseball hall of fame in 1962.
Martin Luther King Jr.:
Martin Luther King Jr. fought for the rights of all people including African Americans by leading non-violent protests. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta GA and attended Booker T. Washington High School. He was a very smart man so he was able to skip 2 grades in high school. When he was just 15 years old he began to attend Morehouse College and then went on to doctorate from Boston University. To begin in civil rights Martin led the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This boycott lasted over a year and led to Martin becoming arrested and getting his house bombed. Martin helped organize “March on Washington in 1963. At this march, King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. A year later, the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. What truly makes King a hero is that he didn’t advocate for just one race or background, he advocated for the human race as a whole and equal treatment for all people.