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New Orleans marks anniversary of 4 girls integrating schools

New Orleans-School Integration
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NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans is marking the 61st anniversary of the integration of its public schools by four 6-year-old girls.

Weekend events began with a Friday morning news conference at New Orleans City Hall and an evening screening of a video tribute to the four.

A special church service and a motorcade are set for Sunday.

That's the 61st anniversary of the day U.S. marshals escorted the children past angry crowds to previously all-white institutions.

Leona Tate, Gail Etienne and Tessie Prevost entered McDonogh 19 public school on Nov. 14, 1960.

That same day Ruby Bridges was escorted into William Frantz Elementary in New Orleans, a moment made famous in a Norman Rockwell painting.

APTOPIX New Orleans School Integration
After finishing her speech, 7-year-old Elan Jolie Hebert gives Leona Tate a hug as Gail Etienne, back right, and Tessie Prevost, back center, look on from the second row during the New Orleans Four Day 61st anniversary ceremony in New Orleans, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021. The three women, along with Ruby Bridges, were the first African Americans to integrate the all-white public schools in New Orleans.