This is the 44th issue of Voices From the Past. My goal for each issue is to publish one of my stories as well as an update on my activities. Please feel free to forward this e-newsletter to anyone you think might be interested.

Here's a brief story from 1960 about resilience.

Ruby Bridges's Story
 
By Kate Dudding
                         
"I'm going to poison you. I'll find a way."
Imagine having that screamed at you twice a day, five days a week,
for nine months.
 
"I'm going to poison you. I'll find a way."
Also imagine being just six years old, with no one even holding your hand.
 
That's exactly what happened to first grader Ruby Bridges when she was the only black student to integrate an elementary school in New Orleans in 1960.

Every day this 6-year-old was escorted by US Marshalls all day long. She was the only child in her first-grade classroom.
 
Every day crowds spat at her and shouted those horrible threats as she entered and left school. Ruby lost her appetite.
 
Another woman held up a small coffin with a black doll in it –
this terrified Ruby and gave her nightmares.
 
 
Nonetheless, Ruby prayed each morning as she was being driven to school:
 
"Please be with me, God, and be with those people too.
Forgive them because they don't know what they're doing.”
 
As an adult, Ruby wrote: "The greatest lesson I learned that year was the lesson
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. tried to teach us all:
 
Never judge people by the color of their skin.
For a long time, I was tempted to feel bitter about my school integration experience,
not understanding why I had to go through it
and go through it alone.
 
Now I know it was meant to be that way.
 
People are touched by the story of the black child who was so alone.
  
I am now an author and a public speaker. When speaking to children,
I tell them that black and white people can be friends.
 
And most important, I tell children to be kind to each other."


Here are some links to more information about Ruby Bridges:


News about me

Here is a upcoming LIVE performance :-)
The theme of this live spoken word performance of contemporary and traditional stories is resilience. Bram Stoker wrote in “Dracula”:

“It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature."

Come hear nine stories of people and ideas defying destruction.

I am one of the producers of this event as well as one of the storytellers.

This is our 25th Tellabration – part of an annual worldwide celebration of storytelling for adults. Tellabration is also a fund raiser: the profits from the previous twenty-four Tellabrations have underwritten over 100 storytelling events in the greater Capital Region.”

And if that isn't enough, there will be door prizes AND refreshments! Plus it's going to be cold on Sunday. Come inside and let these stories warm you up.
Thanks for reading this issue. I hope your journeys will be safe and sprinkled with many pops of joy.

I’ll be sending you some more story highlights in a few months.

You can learn more about me and watch me tell more stories on my website: www.KateDudding.com