When six-year-old Ruby Bridges walked up and down the steps to her school, she was flanked by white men.

Photos show the small child dressed impeccably on her first day, in a dress and white socks she only learned as an adult were gifted to her family by supporters, as her parents would not have been able to afford them.

She looked stoic as she arrived for a day of education at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, and again when she left, surrounded by men hired to keep her safe.

What the photos of Ruby arriving at school don't show is what awaited her: Angry crowds, which she initially thought - with an innocence only a child could have - were celebrating Mardi Gras.

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In reality, they were there to protest the racial integration of schools and the idea that children such as her would be learning at the same institutions as white students.

The slow steps towards integration.

Ruby Bridges was born in 1954 in Tylertown, Mississippi. The eldest of five children, Ruby's parents relocated the family to New Orleans, Louisiana, when she was four.

Three months and 22 days before Ruby's birth, the United States Supreme Court ruled the segregation of schools for black students and white students was unconstitutional. Despite this, southern states were resistant to the decision they must integrate for six more years.

Under significant pressure from the federal government, the New Orleans school board agreed to administer an entrance exam to students wanting to attend William Frantz, with the intention of making it difficult enough it would keep black children out of all-white schools for at least a little longer.

While attending a segregated kindergarten, Ruby was chosen as one of the children to take the test. Her father Abon Bridges was hesitant, as he worried about the trouble that could come if she passed and attended a white school, but her mother Lucille Bridges pressed the issue.

Lucille wanted her daughter to get the best possible education, and to "take this step forward ... for all African-American children".

Ruby was one of only six students to pass the test allowing them entry to William Frantz.

Two of the six decided to stay at their current school, and three others were transferred to another school, McDonogh No. 19, and became known as the McDonogh Three. The four of them became the first children to desegregate all-white schools in the south.

Though the school year begins in September, the Louisiana State Legislature found ways to delay the integration for two months. Finally, on November 14, 1960, Ruby and her mother were driven five blocks to her new school by federal marshals who explained when they arrived at the school, two marshals would walk in front of Ruby and two would be behind her.

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Barricades were set up at the school and policemen were present to keep the crowd that had gathered - yelling, waving Confederate flags and throwing objects - in check.

"Driving up I could see the crowd, but living in New Orleans, I actually thought it was Mardi Gras. There was a large crowd of people outside of the school. They were throwing things and shouting, and that sort of goes on in New Orleans at Mardi Gras," Ruby later recalled.

Threats and loneliness.

As soon as Ruby entered the school, white parents began pulling their children out. All teachers refused to teach her, except for one; Barbara Henry from Boston, Massachusetts.

For weeks, Ruby would walk the five blocks from her home to William Frantz with her federal escorts.

On her second day of school, a woman threatened to poison her. After this, the marshals only allowed her to eat food brought from home.

On another day, Ruby was 'greeted' by a woman holding up a black doll in a coffin.

In 2013, Ruby reunited with Charles Burks, then 91 and the last of her marshals still alive.

Burks said escorting Ruby to school was a highlight of his life.

"It was a privilege to be able to do what I did, even though it was one of my duties. Everybody says it was just another job to do, but it was a wonderful job," he said.

He had framed the famous photos showing him and the other marshals with Ruby on the school steps and displayed them proudly in his home.

"Every time I walk down the hall past those pictures, it reminds me of those days. It was something great and dramatic in my life. I tell my grandchildren it was one of the highlights of my life. And I'm glad I was involved."

Each day, Ruby would recall her mother's advice. She would be strong, and pray (sometimes for those in the crowd, too), while entering school. It made things easier.

Ruby couldn't go out to the cafeteria or enjoy lunch time with other students