National Civil Rights Museum Hosts its 7th Ruby Bridges Reading Festival
30 April 2024 - 4:14AM
The National Civil Rights Museum is hosting the
Ruby Bridges
Reading Festival on
Saturday, May 4, in
partnership with civil rights and literacy advocate Ruby Bridges
for the seventh year
. The free festival celebrates Bridges’
legacy of bringing together families across racial, economic, and
educational backgrounds through reading. This year’s festival is
significant in that it aligns with the 70th anniversary of Brown v.
Board decision.
Six years after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark
decision ruling segregated schools unconstitutional, six-year-old
Bridges was the first Black student to integrate an all-white
elementary school alone in New Orleans on November 14, 1960. Her
walk to the school's front door was immortalized in Norman
Rockwell’s painting, “The Problem We All Live With,” of which
Bridges donated a print that hangs in the Museum’s Brown v. Board
of Education exhibit gallery.
Bridges has written the New York Times bestseller This Is Your
Time, which follows the publication of her award-winning
autobiography, Through My Eyes. She established the Ruby Bridges
Foundation to provide leadership training programs that inspire
youth and community leaders to embrace and value the richness of
diversity. During the festival, she will read from her new release
Dear Ruby: Hear Our Hearts, which includes a letter from Memphis
elementary student Benjamin Williams.
“Reaching children through books and storytelling provides an
outlet for creativity and expression. The letters young people
share with me are encouraging and demonstrate they want, and are
preparing for, a better world in which they can grow and thrive –
hopefully without biased opinions of one another,” Bridges said.
“The museum partnership provides a platform for children to learn
and be heard,” she said.
After receiving the Museum’s 2015 Freedom Award, Bridges wanted
to help promote literacy in Memphis by implementing the festival.
Bridges received numerous awards, including the NAACP Martin Luther
King Award, the Presidential Citizens Medal, and honorary doctorate
degrees from Connecticut College, College of New Rochelle, Columbia
University Teachers College, and Tulane University.
“As we observe the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of
Education, it’s important to recognize the bravery and tenacity of
the littlest foot soldiers of that era who carried forth the hope
of education equity for all,” said Museum President, Dr. Russ
Wigginton. “Our partnerships during the Ruby Bridges Reading
Festival is just one way we continue the legacy of those who stood
valiantly to desegregate schools and forge better opportunities for
the next generation.”
Thousands of children’s books are given away during the
festival. Families and children pre-K through elementary can also
enjoy fun activities including music, balloon art, magic shows,
craft activities, and storytelling by children’s book
authors.
Guest readers and authors include:
- Civil rights icon
Ruby Bridges, author of new release, Dear Ruby: Hear Our
Hearts, along with Through My Eyes, Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My
True Story, This Is Your Time, and her 2022 release, I Am
Ruby Bridges
- Civil rights icon
Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, author of She Stood for
Freedom.
- Nancy Churnin
- author of Martin and Anne, plus the upcoming release The William
Hoy Story
- Nikkolas
Smith – illustrator and author of the new book The
Artivist.
The event is presented by Sylvamo with support from
International Paper, Ben & Jerry’s, and Urban Child Institute.
Community partners include Memphis Public Library and Information
Center and Waterford.org.
Due to campus renovations, the outdoor event is held in the
museum’s guest parking lot, weather permitting. The festival will
occur inside the museum’s Hooks Hyde Hall in the event of rain. For
more information, visit civilrightsmuseum.org.
About the National Civil Rights MuseumThe NATIONAL CIVIL
RIGHTS MUSEUM, located at the historic Lorraine Motel where civil
rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, gives a
comprehensive overview of the American Civil Rights Movement from
1619 to the present. Since the Museum opened in 1991, millions of
visitors from around the world have come, including more than
90,000 students annually. Serving as the new public square, the
Museum is steadfast in its mission to chronicle the American civil
rights movement, examine today’s global civil and human rights
issues, provoke thoughtful debate, and serve as a catalyst for
positive social change.
A Smithsonian Affiliate and an internationally acclaimed
cultural institution, the Museum was recognized as TripAdvisor
Travelers’ Choice Top 5% U.S. Museum, USA Today's Top 10 Best
American Iconic Attractions; Top 10 Best Historical Spots in the
U.S. by TLC's Family Travel; Must See by the Age of 15 by Budget
Travel and Kids; Top 10, American Treasures by USA Today; and Best
Memphis Attraction by The Commercial Appeal and the Memphis
Business Journal.
- civilrightsmuseum.org
-
Connie Dyson
National Civil Rights Museum
901-527-1225
cdyson@civilrightsmuseum.org