The Problem We All live with

         In 1964, 4 years after the Little Ruby Bridges scandal had started, Norman Rockwell painted The Problem We All live with. The painting depicts the scene in which a little African-American girl wearing a white dress, famously know as Ruby Bridges, who became one of the icons of civil rights and integration. She is walking to her recently integrated elementary school in the 1960’s. Around her there are 4 U.S Marshals which seem to be escorting her to elementary by their formation; two in front and two behind little Ruby Bridges.

Looking closer, you can see that on the wall behind her there is black and red, washed out paint that spells out “NIGGER” and “KKK” across the wall. Other than that there are tomato stains resulting from fits of hatred by white people who were against desegregation, and who would throw the tomatoes at this innocent girl.

But despite all of this, the facial expression that is registered on Ruby Bridges face is not an angry one, not even a worried one. It is a calm one, and looking closer, you can see her head is even held high. In a way, her body language matches those of the U.S Marshals, as it seems she is just playing along, being her own “little soldier”. It is a face of a naïve and innocent little girl, a girl who does not fully comprehend the hatred toward her. Even though the signs of hatred are portrayed obviously in this painting, thinking from the point of view of that little six year-old on November, 14, 1960, she is oblivious.  Even a now grown up Ruby Bridges commented, “That girl in that painting, at six years-old, knew absolutely nothing about racism. I was simply going to school that day.”

Although I cannot speak for other people, I do believe that when looking at this Norman Rockwell painting, the first thing that impacts you is the cruelty, the hatred that was directed towards this little girl. After all, she was, in fact just trying to get to school. It shows that people went crazy with ignorance. THIS was not who they should have been throwing tomatoes at; in fact, no tomatoes should have been thrown AT ALL. And it is for that same reason that I think Norman Rockwell decided to paint this scene.

Norman Rockwell was NOT known for painting scenes with these types of impacts. His paintings were usually about the normal American family. However when The Problem We All Live With was shown,it completely defied what he was originally known for. In all, he had never painted anything like it:

I believe that the reason he did go out of his comfort zone was because he wanted to make a point. That what these cruel and insensitive people were doing was UN human like; savage for that matter. It was simply not right to attack and innocent girl like that. And anyone who was sane and whole hearted would have known that. Other than that, the fact that the painting illustrates Ruby and not the crowd shows that he wanted to specifically show that this girl, with pig-tails and her little white dress was not a target. He is showing the importance of this brave six year-old, who although thought she was simply going to school, did so much more than just that.