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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
Senate Bill 450
Sponsored by Senators PATTERSON, MANNING JR, Representatives ANDERSEN, BOWMAN, NELSON; Senators
JAMA, SOLLMAN, Representatives EVANS, GRAYBER, LIVELY, MANNIX, MCINTIRE, NATHANSON,
NGUYEN D, NGUYEN H, PHAM H (Pressesion filed.)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure as introduced.The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability
standards.
Digest: Makes November 14 of each year Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. (Flesch Readability
Score: 74.8).
Designates November 14 of each year as Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day.
Declares an emergency, effective on passage.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day; and declaring an emergency.
Whereas Ruby Nell Bridges was born to Abon and Lucille Bridges on September 8, 1954, in
Tylertown, Mississippi; and
Whereas Ruby was born in the immediate wake of Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled
on May 17, 1954, that racial segregation in school was unconstitutional; and
Whereas the southern states were vehemently opposed to integration, and when Ruby’s family
relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1959, she attended a segregated kindergarten; and
Whereas in 1960, Ruby was one of six Black children in Louisiana to pass a test to determine
whether they could attend the previously all-white William Frantz Elementary School, and ulti-
mately she was the only Black child who chose to attend the school that year; and
Whereas Ruby made history on November 14, 1960, when she walked to William Frantz Ele-
mentary School flanked by four deputy U.S. marshals, the first Black child in the south to attend a
previously all-white school; and
Whereas Ruby’s brave walk that day was immortalized by Norman Rockwell in his iconic 1964
painting, The Problem We All Live With; and
Whereas though Ruby’s life as a student continued to be fraught with blatant racism and threats
of violence, she never missed a single day of school; and
Whereas Ruby Bridges has been a tireless advocate for change throughout her life, and through
the Ruby Bridges Foundation, speaking engagements and her series of children’s books, she contin-
ues to strive for an end to racism; and
Whereas the United States education system has progressed immensely from that November day
65 years ago, but racism still plagues the school experience for students in Oregon and throughout
the United States; and
Whereas Salem-Keizer Safe Routes to School honors the impact Ruby Bridges has had on the
United States education system through its participation in Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day, a
nationwide day of dialogue for students, families, school staff and community members to confront
racism and bullying head on; now, therefore,
NOTE:Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 2875 SB450
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Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. November 14 of each year is designated as Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day.
SECTION 2.This 2025 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public
peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2025 Act takes effect
on its passage.
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