Barbara Henry (born May 1, 1932)[1] is a retired American teacher most notable for teaching Ruby Bridges, the first African-American child to attend the all-white William Frantz Elementary School, located in New Orleans.
Henry had gone to Girls' Latin School in Boston, where "we learned… to appreciate and enjoy our important commonalities, amid our external differences of class, community, or color."
[2] Henry and her husband had been in New Orleans for two months when the superintendent called to offer her a teaching position.
[3] On the first day of the school year in 1960, Henry's and Bridges' relentless refusal to be intimidated caused them to become renowned figures in the American civil rights battle.
"[5] The court-ordered first day of integrated schools in New Orleans, November 14, 1960, was commemorated by Norman Rockwell in the painting The Problem We All Live With.