Process Paper: Barbara Henry

Angelene Gorniak
Class of 2024
The person I chose for the unsung hero project was Barbara Henry. When I was
promoted with the opportunity to pick a person I feel like deserves more recognition all I could
think about was this movie on Disney Plus. It is called Ruby Bridges and it depicted what it was
like for young Ruby to be the first African American in an all-white school. Ruby Bridges has
become a huge name since then, but someone I feel we forget too easily is her teacher Barbara
Henry. When other white teachers refused to teach Ruby and parents took their kids out of
school, Barbara Henry didn’t let that shake her and chose equality. She taught Ruby all year
long despite the controversy and allowed the first child of color to receive top education.
To research my project I began with just finding basic information on Barbara Henry. This
would include where she was born, where she worked, and when she taught Ruby Bridges. I
found it helpful to also research about Ruby Bridges a little bit as well to understand what it was
like to be the first colored child allowed to attend an all-white school. After doing research on the
people, I did research regarding segregation and why people were split up to begin with. Seeing
how harsh people were back then to people based on the color of their skin makes Barbara
Henry even more extraordinary.
After realizing Barbara Henry is the person I want to do for this project and researching
the topic, I chose to display this in website form. Whenever you need information about people
in today’s world you normally try to google it and find a website. With Barbara Henry being
someone I believe is an unsung hero, having a website that is all dedicated to her and about her
huge contribution to the education system seemed most just. A website felt like the right choice
to put down my information on her.
When we think of heros we think of someone good, kind, strong, and brave. Barbara
Henry embodied each and every one of these traits, but unfortunately most people don’t even
know who she is. In fact there are teachers that don’t even know who she is, even though she
was one of the most influential people on education. She went above and beyond just teaching.
She was a person that helped end segregation in schools, and that helped ensure that every
child got the right to high education. Barbara Henry once stated in an interview “I am constantly
inspired by the evidence everywhere of Martin Luther King’s dream for America.” Barbara Henry
may not realize that not only was she inspired by King’s dream, but she is one of the people that
helped it come to life.