RUBY BRIDGES: This Is Your Time written by Ruby Bridges is a courageous and beautifully insightful story about her experience when she was six years old and was selected to be the first black student to integrate an all-white elementary school in New Orleans.
The exact day when Ruby walked into the William Franz Elementary with four federal marshals at her side was November 14, 1960. She walked straight ahead passed ugly crowds of people yelling threatening words and carrying vicious signs. “When I arrived at this all-white school that first day, all the white parents rushed in and pulled out their kids.”
Although there were no classmates Ruby immediately started to study and learn with her teacher, Barbara Henry. She had been brought in from Boston to work with Ruby. They never missed one day throughout the school year.
The layout of this book is particularly special. There is open space between Ruby’s memories as a child and the more than 30 photographs some from Ruby’s private collection such as the picture of her working with her teacher all alone in her elementary classroom and historic photos such as Martin Luther King and the March on Washington in 1968. This visual arrangement allows uncluttered time and space for the reader to experience and incorporate the importance of this story of school integration and beyond.
Young Ruby’s iconic walk captured by artist Norman Rockwell and published in Look Magazine in 1964 graces the cover of this book.
RUBY BRIDGES: This Is Your Time written by Ruby Bridges is a powerful book for readers 10-12 years of age and up (Delacorte Press/ Random House, 2020).
The Children’s Bookshelf is a production of WCMU. Links to the podcast and the activity questions, ideal for home use, can be found at Children’s Bookshelf dot org.
Activity Questions for Ruby Bridges: This Is Your Time
This story is told in the first person by the person who lived the story. This is called autobiography. Do you have a story that happened to you that you could tell? Think about it. It can be something very simple but full of details. Did you ever find something interesting on the beach? Did you ever create a surprise for a friend? Did you ever teach a pet a new trick? Write your story out as you remember it. Give it a title and tuck it away in your diary or writing folder for safe keeping.
Take another look at the photograph of Ruby and the three girlfriends she made at her new school before the end of the year. It is a beautiful picture. What do you notice when look at it? Give it a title.
This book is full of courageous acts. Can you identify some?
Did you know anything about the history of the integration of schools before you read this book?
You can go online and see the William Franz Elementary School as it is today as well as the courtyard statue of Ruby Bridges that was dedicated in 2014.