She got fired for wearing a civil rights t-shirt, 3 days after a Ruby Bridges walk with 3,200 students. It just cost her employer $250,000
'I chose to speak up where some would not have liked that, and for that decision, I was fired,' Schmidt said.
Standing up for something you believe in can come with a cost. For former "Safe Routes to School" program coordinator Beth Schmidt, it cost her her job. On November 5, 2025, Schmidt came to work wearing a T-shirt with Norman Rockwell's 1964 painting, "The Problem We All Live With." The painting depicted 6-year-old Ruby Bridges walking to school surrounded by four U.S. Marshals in 1960. But the photo was not the problem; the graffiti behind Bridges on the wall was. She was asked not to wear it again, and she complied. On November 14, about 3,200 students across 11 Salem-Keizer schools took part in the first state-sanctioned Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day — an event Schmidt had helped build. Three days later, she was fired. Schmidt used the courage she learned from Bridges to speak up and fight back. Bridges shared Rockwell's painting on her Instagram on November 8, 2025, and it had 40,400 likes, over 2,000 reshares, and 335 comments.
The shirt drew complaints
Beth Schmidt worked with the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments from October 2022 till November 17, 2025, when they fired her. She had worn a Ruby Bridges painting T-shirt to promote the "Ruby Bridges Walk To School" Day, an annual event held on November 14. She wore the shirt to honor Bridges and to support the civil rights movement, but people took it the wrong way. McRae Carmichael, the interim executive director at the time, said that three coworkers complained about her shirt after she wore it to work. The problem was the racist graffiti on the wall behind Bridges in the painting. She was asked not to wear it again and was assured her job was safe. But after she arranged the program for 11 Salem-Keizer Schools (3,200 students), she was fired on November 17, The Oregonian reported.
No violations found
Beth Schmidt filed a lawsuit against the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments on January 1, 2026. She told the Statesmen Journal, "Both Ruby Bridges and Norman Rockwell inspired me to fight for my First Amendment Right, The Freedom of Speech. I chose to speak up where some would not have liked that, and for that decision, I was fired." The council tried to dismiss her lawsuit, but U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss, allowing Schmidt’s First Amendment claim to proceed. In doing so, the judge found that Schmidt had plausibly alleged that wearing the shirt addressed a matter of public concern and noted that she had complied with the instruction not to wear it again.
Judge Aiken added, "I don’t think there is a better way of defining an issue of public concern as the wearing of that shirt with that iconic photograph." Since her termination, Schmidt has received support from the Ruby Bridges Foundation and several local Black leaders. Her former employer, the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments, later agreed to pay her $250,000 to settle the lawsuit, according to The Oregonian.
Racial education
Racism has shaped U.S. history and remains part of ongoing debates about how that history is taught. A 2023 Gallup Poll found that 76% of Americans believed that the impacts of racism should be included in school curricula, while 81% supported teaching its historical impacts. Another 86% said schools should teach about the contributions of Black Americans to society.
Schmidt spoke to The Salem Reporter and said, "It is a horrific history, but it did happen. And when we erase things or try to mar something, you’re taking away from the value and the history of that." She added, "I will continue to walk alongside Ruby Bridges and her mission to have a Day of Dialogue, in which we talk about her and the brave walk she took on November 14th, 1960. May we all continue to honor a brave six-year-old girl who changed the world for all of us."
'You changed the world'
Netizens flooded the comment section with praise and love for Ruby Bridges. @vacodaterp wrote, "An honor to your courage and commitment as we continue a pursuit for equality and freedom." @d3asia._ commented, "All my black history boards were about you growing up!"
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