Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges

Bibliographic Information:

Bridges, Ruby (1999). Through My Eyes. New York: Scholastic.

Grade Level Appropriateness:
3rd -5th

Credibility of the Author:
Who better to ask about what happened in a person’s life except that person? The title tells just how the story is told, through her eyes. The newspaper articles, photographs, and personal testimonies throughout the book support the information that Ruby Bridges presents about the events she experienced during integration.

Summary of the Book:
Through My Eyes tells the story of integration through the eyes of 6 year old Ruby Bridges who experienced integration firsthand. She didn’t really understand what was going on when it took place. She didn’t feel like she had been deprived of anything. She had a good family that was very close. She did well in her school, and she liked school. All of the children in her New Orleans neighborhood all went to the same school so it was just as much of a social event as it was a place of education. But isn’t that the way it always is in kindergarten? During her kindergarten year, the courts passed a law that forced two all-white schools to integrate African Americans into them. The school board in New Orleans tested all of the black kindergarteners at Bridges’ school. Later in the summer, the Bridges family was notified that Ruby had been one of the highest scoring children on the test. This made her the involuntary candidate to integrate into one of the white schools. Mr. Bridges had some concerns about this, but Mrs. Bridges knew she had a bright daughter and wanted her to have the best education possible. The Bridges came to a decision that in the fall Ruby would start at the all-white school William Frantz School.
On November 14, 1960, a brave little first grader became an active part in one of the biggest movements in the United States. This was the day she started school at William Frantz. On this morning, four U.S. federal marshals arrived at the home of Ruby Bridges to escort her to school which was only five blocks away. Ruby and her mother climbed into the car and rode to the school. There were crowds of people waiting for them outside the school. The federal marshals escorted Ruby and her mother into the school and past the screaming opposition. Ruby soon met a lady that would change her life forever, her teacher Mrs. Barbara Henry. Ruby was the only student that Mrs. Henry had. Most of the other children in her classroom did not attend school because their parents had pulled them out because they heard Ruby was coming. Ruby didn’t see any other students for several months. The white students that actually came to school were kept in another part of the school. Ruby couldn’t go outside and play or eat in the cafeteria like the other students. Mrs. Henry did everything she could to make Ruby feel comfortable. They learned together and became very close. However, this didn’t take away the fact that Ruby was lonely. Mrs. Henry did everything she could to help relieve this feeling Ruby had.
Towards the end of the year, other children joined Ruby and Mrs. Henry in the classroom. On the first day that the white students were back in Mrs. Henry’s class, Ruby came to realize just what was going on. A boy told Ruby that he couldn’t play with her because she was black and his mother had told him not to play with her. At that moment, Ruby realized that the reason she had been separated from the other students was because of her race. This realization hadn’t occurred to her until that moment. She could have gotten mad, but she didn’t. She knew that it was important to obey your parents, and that’s all that little boy was doing. She finished the first grade and continued on to second grade at William Frantz.

National Standards it Relates to:
Social Studies
II. Time, Continuity, and Change

Illustrations:
Through My Eyes is filled with pictorial evidence of the events mentioned in the book. There are photographs of Ruby, her mother, and the U.S. federal marshals walking into the William Frantz School on November 14, 1960. There are several photographs of the crowds that gathered outside of the school. There is one photograph that shows a dark skinned baby doll in a coffin. The photos seem to make the book real. They help the reader put a face on this little girl who changed America just a little bit. There is something to be said for being able to see the signs the protestors made and the looks of hatred and anger on their faces.

Access Features:
There is a forward in the book by Harry Belafonte. The forward is formatted in the style of a letter that is written to the reader. Ruby Bridges wrote the forwarding this book. There are not defined chapters in the book, but every few pages there is a new heading at the top of the page giving the topic of what the next few pages would be about. Through My Eyes has inserted information throughout the book. There are notes at the bottom of the pages that are testimonials from different people that pertained to what was going on at the time. There are also photographs with captions under them. These testimonials and captions help support the text. At the end of the book, there are text and photo credits for the inserted information. There is also a timeline of key events in the Civil Rights movement.

How I would use the book in my classroom:
I would use this book in my classroom in two ways. For younger grades, I might just use it as a read aloud book. For older grades, I would use it as part of the Social Studies Curriculum while on the subject of civil rights and school integration. This would be a good source for an in-class project.


Response:
I loved the book! It was one of the best books I have read in a while. I usually don’t read non-fiction books, but this one really touched me. All I could picture was this little six year old girl sitting in a classroom all by herself and not fully understanding why she couldn’t be with the other students. It really touched my heart because she was so brave. I was also very touched by the effort Mrs. Henry made. She took the job even though she knew it wouldn’t be easy. She went out on a limb for this little girl and touched her life forever.

Related text:

School Integration
Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone: The Brown V. Board of Education Decision by Joyce Carol Thomas

Biography
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni