The main reason children of color should never drop out of school….

When we speak about Black History we give much respect to Dr. King, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Rosa Parks, and the list goes on and on.

Furthermore, I want to discuss a few names you may have never heard of: Elizabeth Eckford, Dorothy Counts, Ruby Bridges, and Barbara Henry.

Elizabeth Eckford is one of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African-American students who, in 1957, were the first black students ever to attend classes at the previously all-white Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Dorothy Counts is an American civil rights pioneer, and one of the first black students admitted to the Harry Harding High School.

Ruby Bridges is an American civil rights activist. She was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November 14, 1960.

Many people have never heard of Barbara Henry. Barbara Henry is an icon and deserves to be recognize. She was Ruby Bridges’ first grade teacher. When all of the white parents withdrew their children from the class, Barbara Henry remained steadfast and committed to teaching Ruby.

For an entire year, Ruby Bridges was a class of ONE.I tell you this information to highlight the struggles many faced, but to acknowledge and to applaud the PARENTS of Ruby, Dorothy, and Elizabeth. Ruby Bridges was 5 years of age when her parents decided that the CAUSE was greater than any threat towards their precious child.As a father of three small children, I can only imagine what her father was thinking the night before he sent his precious baby girl to that school.

Would they harm her? Could someone get to her and take her away?Students of color should never drop out of school because they owe it to the parents of Ruby Bridges, Elizabeth Eckford. And Dorothy Counts to get all the education they can receive.

The sacrifice was too great, but they made the sacrifice so that other children of color could have every opportunity to be successful. Stay in School and Work even harder because someone else sacrificed so that you could have the right to choose whether or not you want to pursue education or not.