Barbara Henry

Last updated
Barbara Henry
Born (1932-05-01) May 1, 1932 (age 92)
West Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationGirls’ Latin School
OccupationTeacher
Years active1960; retired
Known forTeaching Ruby Bridges in William Frantz Elementary School

Barbara Henry (born May 1, 1932) [1] is a retired American teacher most notable for teaching Ruby Bridges, the first African-American child to attend the all-white William Frantz Elementary School, located in New Orleans.

Contents

Henry had gone to Girls' Latin School in Boston, where "we learned… to appreciate and enjoy our important commonalities, amid our external differences of class, community, or color." She had taught in overseas military dependents' schools, which were integrated. [2] Henry and her husband had been in New Orleans for two months when the superintendent called to offer her a teaching position. When Henry asked if the job was in a school that would be integrated, the superintendent replied, "Would that make any difference to you?" She said no. [3]

On the first day of the school year in 1960, Henry's and Bridges' relentless refusal to be intimidated caused them to become renowned figures in the American civil rights battle. As soon as Bridges got into the school, white parents went in and brought their own children out; all but one of the white teachers also refused to teach while a black child was enrolled. Only Henry was willing to teach Bridges, and for more than a year, Mrs. Henry taught her alone, "as if she were teaching a whole class."[ attribution needed ]

That first day, Ruby and her adult companions spent the entire day in the principal's office; the chaos of the school prevented their moving to the classroom until the second day. Ruby Bridges was initially apprehensive upon meeting Henry for the first time, recalling later that "Even though there were mobs outside that school every day for a whole year, the person that greeted me every morning was [my teacher], a white woman, who actually risked her life as well", [4] and "I had never seen a white teacher before, but Mrs. Henry was the nicest teacher I ever had. She tried very hard to keep my mind off what was going on outside. But I couldn't forget that there were no other kids." [5]

The court-ordered first day of integrated schools in New Orleans, November 14, 1960, was commemorated by Norman Rockwell in the painting The Problem We All Live With . [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bliss Knapp</span> American Christian Science teacher, 1877–1958

Bliss Knapp, the son of Ira O. and Flavia S. Knapp, students of Mary Baker Eddy, was an early Christian Science lecturer, practitioner, teacher and the author of The Destiny of the Mother Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Morgan</span> American teacher and former astronaut (born 1951)

Barbara Radding Morgan is an American teacher and a former NASA astronaut. She participated in the Teacher in Space program as backup to Christa McAuliffe for the 1986 ill-fated STS-51-L mission of the Space Shuttle Challenger. She then trained as a mission specialist, and flew on STS-118 in August 2007. She is the first teacher to have been to space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby Bridges</span> American civil rights activist (born 1954)

Ruby Nell Bridges Hall is an American civil rights activist. She was the first African American child to attend formerly whites-only William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November 14, 1960. She is the subject of a 1964 painting, The Problem We All Live With, by Norman Rockwell.

Teach For America (TFA) is a nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to "enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation's most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlotte Forten Grimké</span> American anti-slavery activist, poet and educator (1837–1914)

Charlotte Louise Bridges Grimké was an African-American anti-slavery activist, poet, and educator. She grew up in a prominent abolitionist family in Philadelphia. She taught school for years, including during the Civil War, to freedmen in South Carolina. Later in life, she married Francis James Grimké, a Presbyterian minister who led a major church in Washington, DC, for decades. He was a nephew of the abolitionist Grimké sisters and was active in civil rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Septima Poinsette Clark</span> American activist

Septima Poinsette Clark was an African American educator and civil rights activist. Clark developed the literacy and citizenship workshops that played an important role in the drive for voting rights and civil rights for African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement. Septima Clark's work was commonly under-appreciated by Southern male activists. She became known as the "Queen Mother" or "Grandmother" of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. commonly referred to Clark as "The Mother of the Movement". Clark's argument for her position in the Civil Rights Movement was one that claimed "knowledge could empower marginalized groups in ways that formal legal equality couldn't."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fanny Jackson Coppin</span> American educator (1837–1913)

Fanny Jackson Coppin was an American educator, missionary and lifelong advocate for female higher education. One of the first Black alumnae of Oberlin College, she served as principal of the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia and became the first African American school superintendent in the United States.

<i>Timothy Goes to School</i> 2000 multi-national TV series or program

Timothy Goes to School is a preschool children's animated television series based on books written by Rosemary Wells, but is titled after the book of the same name. The series is a co-production with Nelvana Limited and Animation Services Limited, in association with Silver Lining Entertainment Ltd. and produced in association with PBS and TVOntario with the participation of Knowledge Network, Access and Saskatchewan Communications Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Hensche</span> American painter (1899–1992)

Henry Hensche was an American painter and teacher.

Ruby Bridges is a 1998 television film, written by Toni Ann Johnson, directed by Euzhan Palcy and based on the true story of Ruby Bridges, one of the first black students to attend integrated schools in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1960. As a six-year-old, Bridges was one of four black first-graders, selected on the basis of test scores, to attend previously all-white public schools in New Orleans. Three students were sent to McDonogh 19, and Ruby was the only black child to be sent to William Frantz Elementary School. It is currently available for streaming on Disney+.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken and Miye Ota</span> Ballroom dancers and martial artists

Ken Ota and Miye Ota are a married couple known for teaching martial arts, ballroom dancing, and social graces at their "cultural school" located in Goleta, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Shimer</span> American educator

Frances Shimer, born Frances Ann Wood, was an American educator. She was the founder of the Mount Carroll Seminary, which later became Shimer College, in Mount Carroll, Illinois. She was also the sole proprietress of the school from 1870 to her retirement in 1896.

Harriet Ware was an American teacher. She taught in India Point in 1832 and later founded Children's Friend Society in 1835.

Gloria Blackwell, also known as Gloria Rackley, was an African-American civil rights activist and educator. She was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement in Orangeburg, South Carolina during the 1960s, attracting some national attention and a visit by Dr. Martin Luther King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Her activities were widely covered by the local press.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Frantz Elementary School</span> United States historic place

William Frantz Elementary School is an American elementary school located at 3811 North Galvez Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70117. Along with McDonogh No. 19 Elementary School, it was involved in the New Orleans school desegregation crisis during 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Richman</span>

Julia Richman (1855–1912) was an American educator and pedagogue. She is remembered as the first woman district superintendent of schools in New York City. Richman wrote books on curriculum and started a number of school programs, including an optical one, special education for delinquents, chronic absentee students, as well as those who were above average. She was the first Normal College graduate to serve as principal in New York City and the first Jewish woman to obtain the position. The now defunct Julia Richman High School was named in her honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Cowles Little</span> American educator

Sarah F. Cowles Little was an American educator from the U.S. state of Ohio. She served as Superintendent of the Wisconsin School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Edmonia Highgate, was an educator, writer, and activist for freed people in the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. Though born in Syracuse, New York, Highgate's work with the American Missionary Association brought her south to teach freed slaves in locations such as Norfolk, Virginia, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

Sarah Towles Reed was an American teacher and labor activist. Reed founded the first teachers union in New Orleans and organized her colleagues to fight for equitable pay for women teachers and for Black teachers. She taught in New Orleans public schools from 1910 to 1951 and lobbied the Louisiana State Legislature to advocate for the interests of the teachers' union for fifty-two years. In 2020 the USA Today "Women of the Century" project recognized Reed as one of the most significant women in Louisiana history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Ellen Weathersby Pope</span> American educator

Mary Ellen Weathersby Pope was a reformist and home economics educator who worked at Mississippi State College for Women, which was the first public college for women in the United States. She was a graduate of MSCW's home economics program and, according to Jolly, embodied the reformist spirit of the home economics movement by advancing women's entry into positions of educational leadership, the inclusion and equal treatment of black Mississippians, and vocational adult education to improve the lives of the rural poor.

References

  1. "Martin Teacher Deborah Carlino…". Twitter . May 2, 2022. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  2. "Barbara Henry Addresses the School". Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved August 29, 2011.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. MacDonald, Bridget (January 20, 2010). "West Roxbury's Barbara Henry taught Ruby Bridges during Civil Rights era". Roslindale Transcript: 103. Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  4. Gerstein, Josh. "Art sends rare W.H. message on race". POLITICO. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  5. McCluskey, Eileen (2002). "Ruby Bridges evokes tears, smiles as she tells her tale". Harvard University Gazette (April 25, 2002). Retrieved August 27, 2011.
  6. Hunter-Gault, Charlayne (February 18, 1997). "A Class of One: A Conversation with Ruby Bridges Hall". Online PBS NewsHour. Archived from the original on August 11, 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2017.

Further reading