
Who is Ruby Bridges’ father?
Abon Bridges is the father of Ruby Bridges. Abon Bridges’ daughter is an American civil rights activist. She is known to be the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November 14, 1960.
Abon Bridges: Bio Summary
Full Name | Abon Bridges |
famous as | Father of Ruby Bridges |
Age | 47 years old at the time of death |
Date of Birth | January 20, 1931 |
Place of Birth | Tylertown, Walthall County, Mississippi, 39667, United States |
Date of death | February 22, 1978 |
place of death | New Orleans, Orleans Parish County, Louisiana, United States |
Zodiac sign | Gemini |
Nationality | American |
Ethnicity | African American |
children | Ruby Bridges, Joana Bridges, Michelle Bridges, Malcolm Bridges |
Spouse | Lucille Bridges |
Abon Bridges was born on January 20, 1931, in Tylertown, Walthall County, Mississippi, United States to his parents Ezell Bridges and Beatrice Cowart. He had a sister Lela Mae Bridges (1933 – 2006). Unfortunately, he died at age 47 years old on February 22, 1978, in New Orleans, Orleans Parish County, Louisiana. He gained much of his popularity because of her daughter.
Ruby Bridges is not the only child of Abon. He also had three other children and they are Joana Bridges, Micheal Bridges, and Malcolm Bridges. According to his Find A Grave profile, Abon was married to Lucille Bridges (Commodore). They tied the knot in 1953 and they separated in the late 1960s. Their married produced eight children including Ruby, Malcolm, Jonah, Milton, and Michelle according to the NYtimes. Ruby was the eldest.
ALSO, READ; Lucille Bridges: What Happened To Ruby Bridges’ Mother?
Abon and his wife Lucille were sharecroppers when they were living in Mississippi. When the family moved to New Orleans, Abon became a gas station attendant to take care of the family. Abon Bridges was also a mechanic. It was in 1956 that the family relocated from Mississippi to New Orleans. This decision was made in order to be able to give their children a chance at a better education than they had had, Ruby Bridges said.
“We decided to leave so that we could make it better,” Lucille Bridges said in an interview in 2016 for the “Power of Children” exhibit at the Altharetta Yeargin Art Museum in Houston. “I wanted it better for my kids than it was for us.”
Ruby Bridges First Day of School Changed History
Abon Bridges’ daughter became the first Black student at her New Orleans elementary school and went on to become an icon of the civil rights movement. Ruby was among only five who passed a test for admission to the all-white William Frantz Elementary School by 165 black children.
New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell revealed that Ruby’s father, Abon Bridges, was reluctant at the beginning to send his daughter to the all-white William Frantz Elementary School as a first grader in 1960, at the request of the NAACP because he doesn’t want to put his daughter in a dangerous position. But his wife insisted, wanting their daughter to have the education she never did.”
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When Abon Bridges’ wife Lucille and his daughter Ruby arrived for Ruby’s first day of school, they encountered many protesters and federal marshals. Some of the protesters screamed “Two, four, six, eight, we don’t want to integrate!” and hurled eggs and tomatoes at Lucille and her daughter. But the marshals prevented them from being struck.
Abon’s wife Lucille Bridges revealed in the 2016 interview that two city police officers had blocked their path as she tried to escort her daughter through the school doors, insisting that they could not go in. The woman remembered two of the marshals replying, “The United States president said we can.”
The marshals who took little Ruby to and from school were heavily armed and kept a machine gun in their car. “And that’s the way we lived it for a whole year,” Lucille Bridges said.
Did Ruby Bridges’ dad lose his job?
The Bridges family suffered for their courage: Abon Bridges lost his job, and grocery stores refused to sell to Lucille. Her share-cropping grandparents were evicted from the farm where they had lived for a quarter-century. According to some reports, The N.A.A.C.P. supported Lucille and Abon Bridges for several years because of their job loss when the integration of the school made headlines. Friends in their all-Black neighborhood took turns guarding their home.
What happened to Ruby Bridges’ father?
As said earlier, Abon Bridges died on February 22, 1978, in New Orleans, Orleans Parish County, Louisiana, United States. He died at the age of 47. The cause of his death still remains unknown. Neither Ruby nor any of her family has given any reason for Abon’s death. Abon’s wife Lucille also passed away from Cancer at the age of 86 on November 10, 2020, in Uptown New Orleans, New Orleans.
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