Through My Eyes: Ruby Bridges
by Ruby Bridges

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Book Reviews of Through My Eyes: Ruby Bridges

Book Review: Courage
Summary: 5 Stars

Then in the summer of 1960, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) contacted Ruby's parents. The Federal court planned to force two white New Orleans schools to admit African-American children. Ruby was one of only a handful of black children who had been tested for admission to these schools, and passed. She was to attend the William Frantz Public School. Her father, Abon Bridges, was opposed to her going; he had fought in a segregated unit in the Korean War, and believed nothing would ever change. Her mother, Lucille, thought otherwise and convinced him to take the risk.

Ruby started the year in her old school while Louisiana Governor Jimmie H. Davis led legislators in Baton Rouge in a fight to preserve segregation. They passed 28 new anti-integration laws and attempted to seize the public school system. Meanwhile Federal District Court Judge J. Skelly Wright upheld Federal laws requiring equal opportunity. Ruby was the only black child sent to William Frantz Public School, however. Another three students were to go to McDonough.

The morning that Federal Marshals arrived to take Ruby to her new school, she only knew only that she was to start a new school, and was not afraid. The policemen at the school door made her think this was an important place. "It must be college," she thought. She sat in the principal's office with her mother all day, and became frightened only when, as she left the school, she saw the crowds of white anti-integration protestors.

The next day, Ruby joined a class with a white teacher named Barbara Henry, whose kindness rose above the fray. No other children joined the class, and within a few days, Ruby was going to school alone with the Marshals; her mother had to return to work. Then the Rev. Lloyd Foreman broke ranks with the white boycotts and sent his daughter Pam to school. The Ku Klux clan began burning crosses in black neighborhoods to frighten the people into giving up their fight for equality. The tension in New Orleans grew each day.

But Ruby quickly became a symbol of freedom, appearing in John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and a Norman Rockwell painting than ran in Look Magazine. When Abon Bridges lost his job at a local filling station for sending Ruby to a white school, the family began to receive gifts and money from all over the U.S. Even former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote to Ruby.

Some children might cower in fear after such experiences, refuse to go on. Ruby persevered, however, as did her upright family. As a child, she believed that prayer could get her through anything. And it accomplished a great deal.

While she was unable to attend college, Ruby married and raised four sons. Over another 16 pages, Ruby Bridges tells about her subsequent experiences, her contributions and efforts, what she has learned and given.

This historic story of courage and wisdom is worth its weight in gold for the hope it offers readers of all ages. Alyssa A. Lappen

Summary of Through My Eyes: Ruby Bridges

1900s Books

• Books > Subjects > Children's Books > History > United States
• Biographies > Historical
• People of Color