Literacy Narrative
Following the Brown V. Board of Education court case, schools became the first public facilities that underwent desegregation in the United States. This meant that people, particularly of color could attend any school, and acceptance was not based on your race. Schools would no longer be restricted to any single race, but that didn’t guarantee that the attitudes of the oppressors in previously all white schools changed after the abolition of segregation in public facilities in 1960.
Ruby Nell Bridges was the first person of color to integrate an all-white school (biography.com) in 1960. She had to be escorted to school by her mother ad U.S. Marshals in order to reach school safely. The action was inspirational as more students of color can now have access to the same education as their white peers. Ruby forged a path for students of color who wish to go to any school hey want without worrying about their acceptance being impacted by their racial background.
In 1964, artist Norman Rockwell created an informative painting called “The Problem We All Live With” that firmly grasped what it was like for Ruby to travel to school every day. The picture was comprised of a young Ruby Bridges accompanied by men who appear to be her guards to ensure she makes it to school safely Additionally, there are tomato stains on a wall that indicate a tomato was thrown at Ruby for reasons regarding race. The tomato stain was accompanied by a racial slur tagged on the wall behind Ruby Bridges that convey the level of acceptance that Ruby was welcomed to. It was clear that the people did not accept well that people of color would be attending an all-white school, and didn’t agree with Ruby becoming a student in such a school.
The purpose of the painting was to give the audience a feeling of what it was like for Ruby to attend school every day. The fairly liberal painting alluded to women of color and individuals with children of color who yearned for equal education opportunities such as those of their white peers.
However, in February of 2017 Glenn McCoy published a satirical and controversial political cartoon called “Trying to trash Betsy DeVos” that essentially became mockery of Ruby Bridges efforts during a period of racism in the United States. Glenn McCoy created a political cartoon that was comprised of Betsy DeVos traveling to a school, similarly to Ruby Bridges with similar guards accompanying her. The cartoon also included a similar tomato thrown on the wall, and “Conservative” tagged onto the wall. The political cartoonist atempted to create a parallelism between the unwantedess of Ruby Bridges in an all-white school to the unwantedness of the Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in a Washington D.C. school.
The purpose of the cartoon was most likely to do as the title says, trash Betsy DeVos. The cartoon labelled her as conservative and well displays the feeling of being unwanted that she most likely experienced. Although degrading to the original painting, the cartoon does properly address what it intended to do. I do agree with the cartoonist on the idea that DeVos’ ideas may be considered Right-Wing and won’t be accepted in many places in Washington D.C. “Trying to Trash Betsy DeVos” could be considered a favorable cartoon to people who consider themselves liberal, and to those who oppose what Betsy DeVos is trying to impose on the education system. Additionally, the cartoon’s intended audience was most likely people who would agree that Betsy DeVos is imposing Right-Wing ideas on the education system and is potentially unqualified.
I believe the cartoon is instead disrespectful, as it compares the racism and hatred a young girl received for being black in an all-white school to Betsy DeVos being unwanted because the ideas she expressed and wished to impose on the United States education system were unwanted. A young disadvantaged girl’s suffering and civil rights efforts cannot be equated to an advantaged, wealthy, and powerful business woman’s conservative-biased ideas creating a disagreement among herself and the people of this Washington D.C. School.
The intended audience for my Literacy Narrative were my peers in the classroom. I kept in mind that I felt very strong about the comparison while writing. I assumed that most of my intended audience would agree that the parallelism is undeniably irrational and in return understand my narrative in greater depth. I wrote my narrative in hopes that the reader would understand my passion about the parallelism between Glenn McCoy’s cartoon and Norman Rockwell’s painting, becoming just as passionate as myself.
The painting fairly grasps Ruby Bridges situation, and could be interpreted as an inspiring image to Black and United States history. The political cartoon however, belittles Ruby Bridges efforts to those of Betsy DeVos, and serves as a cartoon that insults what Ruby Bridges stood for.

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