Civil rights figure Ruby Bridges will headline this year's Frederick Speaker Series
Over the course of 12 seasons, the Frederick Speaker Series has featured a number of trailblazing Black Americans.
During the 2016 season, there was Bryan Stevenson, who began his education at a "colored school" in rural Delaware and went on to found the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization based in Alabama. In 2023, there was Vernice "FlyGirl" Armour, the first Black female aviator in the U.S. Marine Corps and the first Black woman to serve as a combat pilot in any branch of the U.S. military.
And on March 6, civil rights icon Ruby Bridges is set to join the ranks with her appearance at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in downtown Frederick.
Born in Mississippi in 1954, Bridges and her family moved to New Orleans when she was 4 years old. By 1960, she would become the first and only Black student at the city's William Frantz Elementary School.
The backlash to Bridges' enrollment at the school was severe. Many white families withdrew their children from classes, and crowds of protesters greeted the 6-year-old by hurling objects and racial epithets at her.
For her safety, Bridges was escorted into the building each day by U.S. Marshals. This scene served as the inspiration for Norman Rockwell's painting "The Problem We All Live With," published in 1964.
As an adult, Bridges established a foundation dedicated to educating young people about racism and other forms of bullying.
She is also the author of several books, including "Ruby Bridges: A Talk with My Teacher," a children's book published just this year. In 2024, Bridges was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Talent agents, audience members and representatives of various community organizations continuously suggest people to be considered for the annual Speaker Series, according to Weinberg Center executive theater manager Stephanie Chaiken.
In an interview with 72 Hours, Chaiken said Bridges had been on the list of possible speakers since 2019, but she stopped making public appearances for several years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Weinberg Center was finally able to reach an agreement with Bridges for the 2025 Frederick Speaker Series.
The reaction to Bridges' inclusion in the Speaker Series has been overwhelmingly positive, Chaiken said. Local groups, as well as groups from Montgomery County and Baltimore, have expressed interest in attending the event, which was sold out at the time of publication.
Chaiken says she and others at the Weinberg hope Bridges' speech will inspire audience members to become active in their own communities as society continues to contend with some of the same issues Bridges faced as a child.
The speech could also shed light on Frederick's own history of racial segregation, Chaiken added.
Patricia Gaither, 82, is part of that history. In 1958, she was part of a group of students who transferred from Lincoln High School, an all-Black institution, to Frederick High School, which until then had been entirely white.
In 1960, Gaither became the first Black woman to graduate from Frederick High School. But it took until 2023 for Frederick County Public Schools to officially award her a Maryland High School Diploma.
Gaither told 72 Hours that, until seeing this year's Frederick Speaker Series lineup, she had never heard Bridges' story.
After reading about it, Gaither was impressed by how well Bridges kept her composure despite her young age — and the fact that she integrated William Frantz Elementary School all alone.
Gaither saw some parallels between Bridges' and her own experience with racism in school. On one occasion, Gaither said some white classmates asked to have a piece of her hair so they could study it for a biology class. Another time, a teacher pulled Gaither aside to warn her that the class would be discussing Black history.
Gaither could not recall if she and her fellow Black students, like Bridges, were jeered at on their way into Frederick High School that first day.
"All I know is that I was scared," Gaither said. "As old as I am, I've been through it, and it should be gone. But it's still there. It still bothers me."
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