Norman Rockwell made the famous civil rights movement painting, The Problem We All Live With, on 1964. The painting shows a scene that took place in New Orleans on November 14th 1960, while desegregation was finally taking place. When six-year-old, Ruby Bridges, the first colored child to go to an integrated school after passing a test to get better education in the South of the United States, was walking towards the entrance of the William Frantz school. The painting depicts how Bridges was being rejected, attacked, and harassed. Four white Federal Government guards, which are only painted from the shoulders down, are also escorting her to the entrance to protect her from white citizens who might cause physical harm.
When you pay close attention to the artwork, you notice that Ruby is looking straight ahead, her head held high without any kind of fear, maybe because she was an innocent young girl and didn’t really knew what was happening around her. The painting shows a thrown tomato on the floor and a spot left by the tomato on the wall, which Rockwell probably drew to revive the angry crowd surrounding her. But what drags the most attention are the words “Nigger” and “KKK” written on the wall to her side.
My impression on this painting is that it’s very powerful showing a very strong, young girl as the brave and determined force who showed her country a very important lesson and changed people’s minds. Definitely, the first thing I see in the painting is her, her unreadable but fearless face, and her white dress contrasting her body which might represent peace. Although, so much hatred and commotion was going all around her, she looked fearless and with determination to learn, books and supplies in hand. The details made by Norman Rockwell make the viewers realize how much cruelty there was back then and how harsh and serious segregation was. But in Ruby Bridges’ interview she says how “The girl in the painting is six years old, and knows absolutely nothing about racism.” For Ruby Bridges, November 14th 1960 was just a usual first day of school. Ruby Bridges is an extremely important figure in the Civil Rights Movement and in history.
The title also makes an impression on me, The Problem We All Live With. We all don’t live with racism, we might experience it around us, but we don’t exactly live with it. But we all do live with criticism, judgment and discrimination, only for being who we really are. Instead of being segregated for being of a different color, race, or culture like they did before, we are being segregated for being different. It’s not fair to judge someone just for the sake of it or because you don’t like the way they are. This is The Problem We All Live With: we are judging everyone and we are all being judged.
Norman Rockwell was a painter of the 20th Century, who was known for his ability to portray everyday scenarios and American culture in his paintings. In The Problem We All Live With he captured the cruelty of America in 1960 while segregation and racism where scenarios of everyday life. Rockwell’s intention was to show Americans the cruelty and suffering they were causing to innocent people of different races, like Ruby, and that it should stop.
