In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges became the first African American student to attend an all-white school in New Orleans, Louisiana. Federal marshals accompanied this tiny girl so that she could make her way through the crowd of hateful protestors who wanted to block her progress specifically, and integration in general. Although these events reported around the world, Bridges reveals that she was scarcely aware of what was going on. She was so young that she did not even find it particularly unusual that she was the only student in her first-grade class. Her memoir of the time the innocent perspective of her as a child, as well as her adult understanding of the significant role she played in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Her engrossing narrative is accompanied by news photographs reproduced as browntones. (Ages 9 and older)

Ruby Bridges movingly recounts her 1960 integration of a first grade in a New Orleans public school. She was the only black student, and, in fact, became the only student in her school as white parents withdrew their children. A determined mother and a dedicated teacher supported her through a tumultuous year. Dramatic photographs, pertinent quotes, and a timeline place Ruby's searing individual story in illuminating historical context.