U.S. News

Florida School Removes ‘Ruby Bridges’ Movie From Classes After Parent Complaint

COME ON

One parent worried the Disney film could teach their child that white people hate Black people.

William Frantz Elementary School, New Orleans, 1960. U.S. marshals with young Ruby Bridges on school steps.
Uncredited DOJ Photographer/Wikimedia Commons

A school in Florida has stopped showing the movie Ruby Bridges during its Black History Month classes after a parent complained. The adult refused to allow their child to watch the 1998 Disney movie about a Black 6-year-old who integrated into New Orleans schools in the 1960s, arguing that the story isn’t appropriate for kids in second grade. The parent also formally challenged the film being shown at North Shore Elementary in St. Petersburg on the grounds that scenes showing Ruby being racially abused could teach students that white people hate Black people. School officials in Pinellas County subsequently decided to pull the movie until a review committee has assessed it.

Read it at Tampa Bay Times