Guess Who This Is?

Guess who this is? Ruby Bridges! Marie attended a 3-day conference called It Starts with Us – Cultural Responsiveness in Early Education this week. Ruby Bridges was the keynote speaker. Marie was beyond thrilled for the opportunity to hear Ruby speak. She told her integration story – the one we are all familiar with from the storybook the children have studied – but she also included so much more. She shared the deeper details of the experience, including how she came to be the only child out of 150 who actually ended up attending the all-white school. She also shared what the experience was like from her childhood perspective, a young girl of only six. The mobs outside the school protesting her attendance? Well, it was just like the crowds she saw at Mardi Gras. (Remember her school was in New Orleans.) Amazing. Marie said that learning about Ruby’s childhood perspective was incredibly powerful. What a potent reminder of how a young mind can interpret the world in such different ways than an adult mind would. Marie is incredibly grateful for the insights the conference has brought her and looks forward to bringing the new learning to her work at CGS.