Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Friday, March 05, 2010

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Second-grader Deja Baker portrayed civil rights icon Ruby Bridges in a school play at Northern Elementary.

A lot of people might not know who Ruby Bridges is, but 7-year-old Deja Baker knows her story because she portrayed the civil rights icon in a school play capping Black History Month.

“She was one of the first black kids to walk in a white person’s school,” the Northern Elementary second-grader explained. “I would think it was hard because there were no friends to play with,” she added.

After the short play, a dozen or so older students paraded across the stage one by one asking “Who Am I?” – spotlighting famous African-Americans from abolitionist Sojourner Truth, early activist Booker T. Washington and humanitarian Harriet Tubman to astronaut Mae Jemison, actress Halle Berry and President Barack Obama. Photos flashed onscreen as the children recited brief bios.

An insistence on justice and the perseverance to succeed, even against the odds, were common themes.

“We tried to pick people from different areas – education, science, entertainment,” said Kenya Vanleer, an ESL and reading teacher who helped organize the performances.

The figures also represented different eras of history and people of different ages.

“We wanted the students to realize how even people their age can make an impact. Even though they’re young, they don’t have to accept the way things are. Even as children, they can do something to change the world for the better,” Vanleer said.

For little Deja, that message hit home with Ruby’s story.

Ruby was born in Mississippi and moved with her family to New Orleans. In 1960, when she was 6, her parents responded to a call from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and volunteered Ruby to help integrate the New Orleans school system. She is known as the first African-American child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South. 

In the play at Northern Elementary, U.S. marshals escorted “Ruby” past the protesters and into her new school.

“None of the white children showed up. She was the only one in the class,” Deja said. “They didn’t want their kids to go to school with black children.”

Third-grader Miles Milby, who portrayed one of the marshals, was impressed. “Ruby had courage and was brave to go through the mob and go to school by herself,” he said.

“I have a lot of friends, and I’d hate it if black people couldn’t be my friend or go to the same school,” added Miles, who later transformed into baseball great Jackie Robinson.

He and fourth-grader Camri Green agreed these famous African-Americans have altered the course of history. “They were determined to make a difference,” Miles said.

Camri noted how people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. stood up for their rights and others’ and how the ripple effects are evident today.

“They did not stop fighting, and now we can go to school together,” she said. “Now we can drink from the same water fountain and ride the same bus.”