150 years ago. January 30, 1866. ALL CHILDREN WILL SIT TOGETHER! Almost 100 years before 4 brave six-year-old girls–Tessie Prevost, Gail Etienne, Leona Tate, and Ruby Bridges–desegregated the New Orleans Public Schools, the New Orleans Tribune wrote: “We hold that the question of the schools will only be settled when all children, without discrimination on account of race or color, will be admitted to sit together on the same benches and receive from the same teachers the light of knowledge. At that time there will be one set of schools and all the energies of the State, all the talent of the teachers, will be directed to one end and one aim–the promotion of public education for the greatest good of all.” The Tribune campaigned tirelessly for the right to public education for all children. That dream became a reality after the 1868 Louisiana constitution allowed for school integration.