Local Women’s Groups to screen Ruby Bridges
In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, two local organizations will screen the film Ruby Bridges at the New Providence Library on Sunday, January 15. The screening is at 2:00, there is no admission charge, and the public is welcome. The library is located at 377 Elkwood Avenue, New Providence.
The Summit College Club, a branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the League of Women Voters of Berkeley Heights, New Providence, and Summit are the sponsoring organizations.
Ruby Bridges is the story of the 6-year-old child who desegregated the New Orleans public school system in 1960. On her first day in first grade, half a dozen years after the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education had been decided, Ruby braved a crowd hurling hatred, insults, and death threats. Accompanied by federal marshals and her mother, Ruby succeeded in entering the all-white school, but she was to remain the only child in her class for the entire year.
The movie, which stars Chaz Monet as the young Ruby, attempts to be a realistic rendering of the events that happened to the civil rights activist family and child.
Immediately after the screening, Hedy Tukey of the Summit College Club and Jean Crichton of the League of Women Voters will lead a discussion of the film.
The Summit College Club website is at summitcollegeclub.com, and the League of Women Voters is at lwvbhnps.org.
