"I'm wondering, at six years old, what could I have done at six years old to these people to make them act the way they were acting? I really thought that if they could get to me, they'd want to kill me. I didn't know why. What had I done? I was just going to school."
"Etienne was one of three six-year-old Black girls alongside Leona Tate and Tessie Prevost, who were escorted by federal marshals into McDonogh 19 on 14 November 1960. It was the same day federal marshals escorted Ruby Bridges to William Frantz elementary school in the same city. Bridges' story became immortalized in several books and a Disney film, but the experiences of Etienne, Prevost and Tate were largely unknown until recently."
"We got out of the car. We went upstairs and we were out in the foyer area waiting, Etienne said. They had us sitting out there for hours as though they didn't know what to do with us. This is where I met Tess and Leona. Our bond started there because we were out there for hours together. We started playing hopscotch on the floors out there."
Gail Etienne, Leona Tate and Tessie Prevost were six-year-old Black girls escorted into McDonogh 19 elementary school in New Orleans on 14 November 1960. Angry white crowds protested outside, carrying garbage cans, sticks and picket signs, creating fear and threats aimed at the children. Federal marshals escorted the girls, the same day marshals escorted Ruby Bridges to another school, whose story later became widely known. The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision declared segregated public schools unconstitutional and courts ordered desegregation. The three girls waited for hours together in the foyer and formed a bond while playing hopscotch to cope.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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