Ruby Bridges: The First African American Child in a Segregated School

Segregation in America was never about “class” or “status.” It was about race. Full stop. In 1910, Baltimore passed the first racial zoning law in the United States, making it illegal for Black people to move onto blocks where white residents were the majority. Cities across the South and border states followed. When the Supreme Court struck these laws down in Buchanan v. Warley (1917), segregation did not end. It evolved. City planners openly admitted their intentions. Policies were created to