Dr. Robert “Bob” Bridges
Dr. Robert “Bob” Bridges has dedicated his life to closing the achievement
gap that leaves many African American children at a disadvantage. As an educator
and philanthropist, Bridges’ impact has been felt statewide.
The oldest of five children reared on a farm near Shelby, N.C. Bridges, now 79,
embraced his father’s passionate belief that education is the key to opportunity and
success. Inspired by his father, Bridges earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education
from St. Augustine’s College, a master’s from NC State University and a doctorate in
education from Duke University.
Beginning his career as a sixth-grade teacher after graduating from St. Augustine’s in
1961, he became principal of the former Crosby-Garfield Elementary School in Raleigh in
1968. When the Raleigh and Wake County school systems merged in 1976, Bridges saw an
opportunity for minority students.
“I hoped we could improve the quality of education by bringing both sides together,” Bridges said.
In 1985, an all-white school board named him superintendent of Wake County Public School System, the
first African American to hold the position.
Bridges strove to close the achievement gap between affluent and low-income children, chairing a state commission and creating the non-profit “A Helping Hands”
program, which is still active in the community placing African American men in the lives of at-risk children.
“The black male is the most uneducated, most underdeveloped child in the public school system,” Bridges said. “My model focused on what the least supported
child in the public schools misses the most: a sturdy, male role model.”
After retiring in 1989, Bridges founded a consulting firm to raise cross-cultural awareness and help teachers better reach minority students. Like his father, Bridges passed on the heart of a teacher. His son served as a superintendent in several districts and his daughter is an administrator with CharlotteMecklenburg Schools.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Robert Bridges
February
Sunday
2014
The Heritage Calendar
Celebrating the North Carolina African American Experience
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
1 Four black college students, Joseph
McNeil, Franklin McCain, David
Richmond and Ezell Blair, refused
to leave after being denied service
at a “whites-only” lunch counter in
Greensboro, N.C., in 1960
2
GROUNDHOG DAY
3
4
Ernest E. Just, biologist, received
the Spingarn Medal for pioneering
research on fertilization and cell
division, in 1914
Geraldine McCullough won the
Widener Gold Medal for Sculpture
in 1965
9
10 Roberta Flack, singer, was born
in 1940
16 17 23 Rosa Parks, civil rights activist,
was born in 1913
11 Bernard Harris became the first
African American astronaut to take a
spacewalk in 1995
Joe Frazier became World
Heavyweight Boxing Champion
by a knockout in 1970
5
PRESIDENT’S DAY
Michael Jordan, basketball player,
was born in 1963
24 Henry “Hank” Aaron, the home run
king of Major League Baseball, was
born in 1934
12 Clifford Alexander, Jr., became the
first African American Secretary of
the Army in 1977
18 Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of
the United States, was born in 1809
NAACP was founded in 1909
19 Author Toni Morrison (born Chloe
Anthony Wofford) was born in 1931
25 William “Smokey” Robinson, singer
and songwriter, was born in 1940
26 6
Robert Tanner Jackson becomes first
African American to receive a degree
in dentistry in 1867
13 Joseph L. Searles became the first
African American member of the New
York Stock Exchange in 1970
20 Frederick Douglas, an American
social reformer, orator, writer
and statesman. After escaping
from slavery, he became a leader
of the abolitionist movement. He
died in 1895
27 7
8
Eubie Blake, pianist, was born
in 1883
14 VALENTINE’S Day
New registration law in Tennessee
abolished racial distinctions in voting
in 1867
21 Malcolm X was an African American
Muslim minister and human rights
activist; he was assassinated in 1965
28 Marian Anderson, opera singer,
was born in 1902
W.E.B. DuBois, American sociologist,
historian, civil rights activist,
Pan-Africanist, author and editor,
was born in 1868
Rebecca Lee became the first African
American woman to receive an M.D.
degree in 1864
Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) won
World Heavyweight crown in 1964
M&F Bank was chartered in 1907
Antoine Dominique, “Fats” Domino,
singer, was born in 1928
Members of the NC African American
Heritage Commission were sworn in
at the Dept. of Cultural Resources,
Raleigh, NC in 2009
Learn more about the people featured in this calendar at www.ncheritagecalendar.com.
Hattie McDaniel became the first
African American to win an Oscar for
her role as Mammy in Gone With The
Wind in 1940
Oprah Winfrey became the first
African American woman to host
a nationally syndicated talk show
in 1986
15 Henry Lewis was named director
of the New Jersey Symphony in 1968
22 Frank E. Peterson Jr. was named
first African American general in the
Marine Corps in 1979
Julius Winfield “Dr. J” Erving II,
basketball player, was born in 1950