Amy D. Reed

April 29, 2004

Multicultural Education Essay: Civil Rights Literature from Ruby Bridges to Maya Angelou

            Educators today are faced with an overwhelming challenge to prepare students from diverse backgrounds.  The worlds of some groups have greater societal benefits than others due to race, ethnicity, gender, social class, ability, or age.  Schools and educators today have become increasingly diverse and have evolved from segregated institutions.  Multicultural education is not segregating in schools; in contrast, multicultural education is valuing cultures, learning other cultures, and incorporating cultural differences in the classroom and providing equality in schools.  Ruby Bridges sought after an education in a classroom that provided equality for each and every student.  Ruby Bridges and Maya Angelou displayed courage and strength to obtain their education and rights without discrimination, racism, and segregation.  Ruby Bridges enlightens the readers of Through My Eyes with her first-hand account as she was the first black student to integrate William Frantz Public School in New Orleans, Louisiana while Maya Angelou does the same with her account in her novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.  Ruby Bridges reveals the racism and discrimination experienced by the dominant white culture on African American culture while Maya recounts the tails of her life and finding her voice when she once had no choice or voice as a young girl.  Racism, individual discrimination, and institutional discrimination were dominant throughout the south, especially in New Orleans.  Ruby also shares her experiences throughout her school year and the adjustment to a fully integrated school at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.

            In 1954, the Supreme Court declared in Brown vs. Board of Education, that separate but equal schooling was not equal.  The early effort was for equality in education on the placement of black and white students in the same schools.  It took more than a decade, however, for schools to begin serious desegregation.  New Orleans, Louisiana was a prime example of the long-term process of serious desegregation.  “Under Federal Court order, New Orleans public schools were forced to desegregate” (Bridges 1999), Ruby states.   Ruby took a test, along with other kindergarten students in New Orleans to see who would go to an integrated school.  Ruby passed the test and had been selected to start first grade at the William Frantz Public School.  Ruby recalls later of the experience, “I was going to integrate William Frantz Public School, and I was going alone” (Bridges1999). 

“Discrimination is the arbitrary denial of the privileges and rewards of society to members of a group,” as stated in Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society (Chin & Gollnick 2002).     Individual discrimination focuses on behavior that treats individuals differently because of their membership in a specific group or even because of a gender.  In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, Maya reveals her feeling of possessing no voice or choice as a women.  Maya says, “I read more than ever, and wished my soul that I had been born a boy.  Horatio Alger was the greatest writer…his heroes were always boys” (Angelou 75).  Maya explains her thoughts of her status as a woman.  In dealing with her gender minority she feels boys succeed easier in the existence of her society.  For Maya her struggle was not only defined because she was black, but also because she was female.  Joyce Hansen tells of Maya’s suffering, “She also refused to be controlled by a society that defined her as inferior because she was black and female” (Hansen 19).  Presenting women as a double minority reflects the power imbalance between men and women.  The problem during the civil rights era for women’s rights was simply not having a choice and a voice.  Not being heard is something Maya Angelou refused to allow to happen.  Joyce Hansen reveals a statement by Maya declaring her refusal to accept a defeat.  Maya says, “All of my work is meant to say, you may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated” (19).  Even though improvements have been tremendous for gender discrimination, struggles do still exist.  Despite improvements since the Civil Rights Era discrimination against women of color still is not fair for a society claiming individual discrimination has lessened to a large degree.   

In Through My Eyes, Ruby states the sights and sounds of the individual discrimination, “There were barricades and people shouting and policemen everywhere” (Bridges 1999).  The naive child states, “People yelled and threw things” (Bridges1999). An innocent child attempting to obtain an education was led toward the pathway of prejudice and ignorance.  Individual discrimination occurs because a group of people believe that social pressures demand that they discriminate even though they may not be prejudice.  “Institutional discrimination refers to the effects of inequalities that have been integrated into the system-wide operation of a society through legislation and practices that ensure benefits to some groups and not to others” (Chin & Gollnick 2002).  The African American culture experienced the institutional discrimination throughout the desegregation process.  Ruby remembers her time alone with her teacher, Mrs. Henry, “The white students were not coming to class” (Bridges1999).

Ruby was focused on learning.  Robert Coles recalls, “…every day, Ruby went into the classroom with a big smile on her face, ready to get down to business of learning” (Coles1995).  Courage comes from within.  The little girl who wanted to learn and gain an education had courage.  Ruby stood one morning among the mob of angry protesters, and called on her courage with a prayer softly spoken:

“Please God, try to forgive those people.

Because even if they say those bad things,

They don’t know what they are doing.

So you could forgive them,

Just like you did those folks along time ago

When they said terrible things about you” (Coles 1995).

Ruby attended school the whole year and never missed a day with her teacher.  Ruby reminds citizens of her commitment to education, “Neither of us missed a single day of school that year” (Bridges1999).  Courage and strength was a significant part of Ruby Bridges making to walk to and from school with Federal Marshals through the mob of prejudice and angry protesters.   The federal marshals encouraged Ruby as she continued to obtain her education.  Ruby did not allow the hatred and prejudices of the community to tear her down and stop attending school.

Segregation is not learning from other cultures.  Multicultural education is learning about other cultures, from understanding racial differences and religious beliefs and exploring the nature of language to subject matter taught with cultural content.  Such knowledge is critical to developing a representation of subject matter that bridges a clear understanding of other cultures.  Incorporating cultural differences in the classroom begins by placing the student at the center of the teaching and learning process.  Andrea Pinkney talks about Rosa Parks and exactly how children of color felt regarding segregation, “The school for white students was a place black children could only dream about” (72).  Black students were denied the rights and privileges many white students were offered.   When Rosa Parks tells of how painful her childhood years were because of segregation one wonders why segregation is tolerated.  Rosa recalls, “…when we walked to school, the bus would go by carrying the white children.  They would laugh at us and throw trash out the window” (23).  The horrible pain caused by the white children should not have happened.  It should not ever happen.  Segregation and the civil rights era should have changed a society still requiring much work to be done. 

Making students and their cultural histories the center of the education process is significant to their reaching academic, vocational, and social potentials.  Providing equality in schools is significant to multicultural education.  The teacher and the school should believe that all children can learn at high levels and persists in helping all children achieve success.  The African American culture searched for the equality that suggests fairness in the allocation of the teaching and learning process and so much more in a society that was full of hate and racism.  Integration is the result of equality in education that provides the knowledge and skills for students to achieve.  Unless the school and administration are able to understand the diverse needs of their students, it will be difficult to teach them effectively.  The African American culture and Ruby Bridges has traveled a long road, yet that road traveled has not been made the easiest path.

            Changing hearts and changing the minds of a society takes time.  Rosa Parks hopes “that children today will grow up without hate” (48).  Hate, ignorance, education should all require a deep determination for a better world.  When we exclude people because of their gender, race, or ethnicity it simply is not fair.  Imprisoning communities and people because of their skin color or gender should not be tolerated any longer.  Maya Angelou did not give up her voice for her chance to have a career that required a black woman to be strong through her struggles and tell her choices. 

            Rosa Parks refused to give up her rights as a black woman in a society that once refused her.  During the Civil Rights era Rosa found herself to be strong with hope and determination.  Rosa waged the battle for many black women to follow her road.  Rosa today is an example of a strong woman showing nothing to do with the term, “double minority.”  Not only was Rosa strong alone, but Rosa was tough to the core as a woman seeing the vision for a culture needing the vision, voice and choice.

            Ruby Bridges is another example of a little girl exhibiting the strength for her people through her will and determination to end segregation in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Even though the terrible ignorant parents drug their children out of school simply because Ruby was black, Ruby stood strong and obtained her educational right to learn and be taught by her teacher. 

            As a future teacher, multicultural education and the civil rights movement has to be within the forefront of my mind.  It is my responsibility to make sure that no child is felt segregated or discriminated against in my presence.  I have the responsibility to ensure that individual and institutional discrimination does not occur in my classroom.  I also have the responsibility to incorporate lessons where students can learn from me through finding a connection to them.  Connecting through literature is a way to ease the lines of discrimination and ease the pain caused by ignorance.  Assaulting another student because of race, gender, ethnicity, social class, ability or age simply will not be tolerated.  Looking at the narratives of Ruby Bridges, Maya Angelou, and Rosa Parks is a good beginning to allow female students of color to connect.  African American literature depicting the struggles and triumphs will be in my classroom library for students to understand they can do anything they want to and not be held back simply due to ignorance.  All cultures will see the society in my classroom will be one where social class, gender, race, or ethnicity will not make a difference to their ability to succeed.

Works Cited

Bridges, Ruby.  Through My Eyes.  (1999). New York:  Scholastic Press. (pp. 1-63).

Chin, Philip C. & Gollnick, Donna M. (2002).  Multicultural Education in A Pluralistic Society (6^th ed.).  Ohio:  Merril Prentice Hall.  (pp. 92- 94). 

Coles, Robert.  The Story of Ruby Bridges. (1995). New York: Scholastic Inc.

Hansen, Joyce.  Women of Hope- African Americans Who Made a Difference.  (1998).  New York:  Scholastic Press.

Parks, Rosa with Jim Haskins.  I am Rosa Parks.  (1997).  New York:  Dial Books for Young Readers. 

Pinkney, Andrea Davis.  Let It Shine-Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters. (2000). Illustrated by Stephen Alcorn.  New York:  Gulliver Books.