William Frantz Elementary School, Elementary school building in St. Claude neighborhood, New Orleans, United States.
William Frantz Elementary School is a primary school in the St. Claude neighborhood of New Orleans, located in a two-story brick building on North Galvez Street. The building displays clean lines, rectangular windows, and horizontal accents that reflect a restrained design vocabulary from the late 1930s.
The school opened in 1937 and initially served only white children in a segregated school system. In November 1960, Ruby Bridges entered as the first Black child, accompanied by federal marshals, while intense protests took place outside the building.
The school building takes its name from a 19th-century school board member and displays a style typical of public buildings from the 1930s. Classes today take place in a mixed neighborhood of the St. Claude area, where children from different backgrounds come together and walk through the same entrances used by students in past decades.
Visitors can book guided tours through the heritage-listed building, with access to certain rooms from the segregation era. Entry is via the main entrance on North Galvez Street, and tours are offered by prior arrangement.
Only one teacher, Barbara Henry, taught Ruby Bridges throughout the entire first school year, as all other parents withdrew their children from the school. The classroom thus remained empty for months except for the teacher and her student, who came to school daily under police protection.
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