Step by Step, the Ruby Bridges Suite

Sometimes when someone makes a suggestion to you, it kind of sticks with you.  That’s what happened to jazz artist Darrel Grant.  He decided to act on this suggestion from a friend by composing Step by Step, the Ruby Bridges Suite.  It is a piece about the 6-year-old girl who was the first African American student to integrate the New Orleans public schools in 1960. It was not without protests, or strong resistance and a teacher who ignored the noise and taught the little girl in a classroom void of any other students.