Menlo Park schools will celebrate Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day this week

Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day will be celebrated on Wednesday, November 18 this year. The day, which was first celebrated in Menlo Park during the 2019-2020 school year, recognizes Ruby Bridges, who at the age of six, became the first African-American student to integrate an elementary school in the South on November 14, 1960. Her simple but courageous act of showing up for school each day played an important part in the civil rights movement.

The 2019 event in Menlo Park (pictured above) was organized and supported by local organizations and agencies (Parents for Safe Routes, Safe Kids Santa Clara/San Mateo, San Mateo County Safe Routes to School/San Mateo County Office of Education, Stanford Children’s Health and Menlo Park’s police department). Students and families gathered at Karl E. Clark Park to remember Ruby Bridges and walked to Beechwood and Belle Haven schools. Over 60 people attended.

This year, all Menlo Park schools are invited to promote Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day among their students and families. Families can take a walk discussing how Ruby’s action back in 1960 is still relevant and how the work for justice and equity continues today.

Pictures of our 2020 Ruby Bridges Day walks submitted by community members will be presented during a City Council meeting in December. Please send your photos and selfies to the Safe Routes to School team.

Learn more about Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day on the San Mateo County Office of Education webpage.