Ruby Bridges was one of the first children to integrate a public elementary school in the South. In 1960, she was the lone Black first-grader to attend William Frantz Public School in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Bridges came from a family that experienced many common elements of Southern Black life in the early- and mid-19th centuries. Her grandparents were sharecroppers in Mississippi, and her parents relocated from their rural homes into the urban center of New Orleans hoping to pursue better job opportunities to support their growing family. Bridges had seven siblings and began elementary school at an all-Black school that was far from her home, because the nearest school, William Frantz, was a segregated, all-white school. Bridges integrated William Frantz through her enrollment after scoring high on a test designed to identify Black children who could meet high academic standards set by the school board.

Bridges transferred to William Frantz at the beginning of first grade and attended the school through the duration of her primary school years. She went on to attend an integrated high school, became a travel agent, and started a family with her husband, Malcolm Hall. The couple has four boys.

Bridges began her activism efforts after the murder of her youngest brother, Milton.