On this day, U.S. Marshals escorted four six-year-old Black girls—Leona Tate, Tessie Prevost, and Gail Etienne—into McDonogh 19 Elementary School, and Ruby Bridges into William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana.
This was the first day of school integration in the Deep South following the Brown v. Board of Education ruling (1954), and it marked a pivotal moment in the American civil rights movement. The girls faced mobs of angry protesters, threats, and national media attention, but their bravery helped pave the way for desegregation in education.
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