Mary Smartt 8/2/09 

Through my Eyes by Ruby Bridges.New York: Scholastic, 1999.

ISBN: 978-0-590-18923-1

Annotation: This historical documentary shares the experience of being the first black child to attend an all white school in New Orleans in 1960.  The story is told from Ruby’s 6 year old perspective of the experience, with historical commentary and comments from her teacher, her mother, and others close to her who shared the experience and events along with her. 

Note: I met Ruby Bridges as she dedicated a new elementary school named for her in our town. She is a wonderful, graceful, and quiet person, who humbly embodies courage and dedication to equality for all. She continues to work today to support equal access to education across the United States through her outreach program.

Media: Sepia-toned Photography

Curricular Connections: 5-8th grades :US History, segregation, integration, civil rights, primary sources

Rating: 5Q/5P

RAC 7.27.09

Through my eyes by Ruby Bridges; articles and interviews compiled and edited by Margo Lundell.  New York:  Scholastic Press, 1999.

ISBN: 0590189239

Media: Photographs

5Q/4P

Curricular connection:  Civil Rights.  Teaching parallels between Black History Month and the Civil Rights can be connected by using biography’s such as, My Brother Martin:  A Sister Remembers Growing Up With the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Through My Eyes.  These books would provide the student’s with an example of the personal struggles individuals had and witnessed during the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. 

Reading level:  6^th grade

Annotation:  Ruby Bridges autobiography tells the story of segregation and Civil Rights in the 1960s. Bridges tells the accounts of being a 6-year-old [African-American] girl as she integrates into William Frantz Public School in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Photographs include images of Ruby Bridges and other children being escorted to school by the U.S. Federal Marshall.

7/17/09 KRF

Mary Smartt 8/1/09