Author Barbara Gray Armstrong came of age during Jim Crow when the color line was clearly drawn and America was divided into black and white. Black people were denied rights and endured discrimination. In My Life in Pieces, she weaves together both personal and public events as an exploration of what it was like being black in America. In this memoir, she shares stories from her youth, growing up in the 1950s and '60s in the South and prospering despite widespread bigotry. Representing just a slice of her life, My Life in Pieces narrates experiences with her parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, and classmates and of working as a nanny for a white family. Armstrong blends the details of her family and family history into a larger, societal context to tell a story that is both personal and universal. My Life in Pieces provides insight into what it was like growing up during such a turbulent time in the nation's history.