Grace Farms hosts virtual interview with civil rights icon
When an 8-year-old New Canaan resident was called a racial slur at an incident in Mead Park, he wrote a letter to civil right icon Ruby Bridges asking if she would come speak with students and adults in New Canaan, according to Grace Farms’ Community Initiative Director Karen Kariuki.
Bridges responded and agreed to do a virtual interview with Kariuki.
Grace Farms Foundation will host screenings Feb. 1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 16 of the interview with Bridges, a civil rights hero and activist.
The program will cover Bridge’s story of courage as she became the first Black student to desegregate New Orleans’ all-white William Frantz Elementary School in 1960. It will also feature her work in the present day and aim to teach participants how to foster communities of inclusion — especially among children.
“Sometimes issues related to race can feel intimidating,” Kariuki said. “It can feel like we’re not going to get it right, that we don’t know exactly how to show up, and this interview, and this conversation, holds all of that. There’s no finger pointing, and there’s no shaming. It’s an invitation in for all of us.”
Bridges is 67 years old. Her teacher from 1960, Barbara Henry, is still alive. These lives are a reminder that history is not that far behind us, according to Kariuki.
“You know, it makes it feel this is still really current,” Kariuki said. “I think that struck me too, like, ‘Oh, right. This just happened.’ And so, therefore, look how far we’ve come. And there’s also more that we can do together.”
For more information, visit gracefarms.org.