Adorned in a freshly ironed dress and carrying a satchel for her books, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges walked past an angry mob and into the doors of William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. While the girl's father was initially reluctant to let his daughter become the school's first African-American student, her mother felt strongly that the move was needed, not only to give her daughter a better education but also to "take this step forward for all African-American children."

That was the spring of 1960.

Ruby Bridges is now 57 years old. As African Americans in her age group -- those who grew up during the civil rights movement -- begin to consider retirement, they are once again confronting another struggle for equality. America's looming retirement-security crisis disproportionately affects African Americans, an alarming number of whom are retiring in poverty after a lifetime of work. 

More than half of African-American retirees are economically insecure because of low income combined with high housing and health care costs, according to a 2011 study from the Institute on Assets and Social Policy. A staggering 83 percent of African-American seniors have insufficient assets to last throughout their expected life spans. All this on top of double-digit unemployment, underemployment and the predatory-lending-driven foreclosure crisis that resulted in decades of lost wealth gains for African-American families.

The retirement-security crisis is a problem for current retirees who grapple with the decision of whether to pay their rent or buy medicine. It is also a problem for their adult children who help pay their living expenses. This threat, driven by the economic downturn, inadequacies in Social Security and personal savings and the erosion of traditional pensions in the private sector, looms for current workers, too.

A growing number of minority workers are less likely to be prepared for retirement. African Americans tend to have lower earnings and household income and higher unemployment than white workers. Research shows that minority families also tend to have fewer long-term assets and carry more debt than their white counterparts.