Ruby Bridges being escorted out of William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, 1960. (Photo: Uncredited DOJ photographer, via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
In November 1960, a shouting mob swarmed around William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. At the center of the commotion was Ruby Bridges, a 6-year-old girl accompanied by U.S. Marshals. She was the first Black student to integrate the school, at the height of the civil rights movement. That year, several white parents withdrew their children from the school, and all teachers except for one refused to teach while a Black child was enrolled. Now, through her new children’s book, Bridges pays tribute to that teacher: Mrs. Barbara Henry.
Published earlier this year by Orchard Press, Ruby Bridges: A Talk with My Teacher unveils the bond shared between Mrs. Henry, a Boston native, and Bridges during the first grade. Throughout, Bridges, now a prominent civil rights symbol and activist, illuminates Henry’s impact upon her education, in spite of facing tremendous hardship and racism.
“She’s like another mom to me,” Bridges, 70, told TODAY in an interview. “I would not have gotten through that if it had not been for my teacher. And, as you know, teachers really quit their jobs back then because they didn’t want to teach Black kids. This one teacher came from Boston to teach me.”
But when Bridges returned to William Frantz for second grade, eager to see her beloved teacher, Mrs. Henry was nowhere to be found.
“I have to say that second grade was much worse for me than first because she was my best friend,” Bridges continued. “I didn’t have any friends, and I had gotten so close to her.”
It would take nearly 35 years for the pair to reunite again, in 1995. Even then, Bridges couldn’t emphasize enough how much Mrs. Henry’s support meant.
“I think that each and every one of us, we probably remember one teacher that made an impact in our lives, and she was the one for me,” Bridges said.
Through its tender watercolor illustrations and immersive storytelling, A Talk with My Teacher is an intimate and timely glimpse into the power teachers hold. After all, teaching, as Bridges writes in the book, is “really the noblest of professions.”
Ruby Bridges: A Talk with My Teacher is currently available via Bookshop.
Prominent civil rights figure Ruby Bridges has published a new children’s book about being the first Black child to integrate at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans.
Ruby Bridges at the Mayo Speaker Series in 2015. (Photo: Texas A&M University, via Wikimedia Commons, CC 2.0)
Titled Ruby Bridges: A Talk with My Teacher, the children’s book is a love letter to Bridges’ first-grade teacher, Mrs. Henry.
“Ruby Bridges: A Talk with My Teacher,” by Ruby Bridges and illustrated by Trudy Tran (Orchard Books, Jan. 2025)
Ruby Bridges: Website | Instagram
Sources: Civil rights icon Ruby Bridges recalls the teacher who changed her life; Ruby Bridges' new children's book is love letter to her 1st grade teacher: ‘She's like another mom to me'
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