The Problem We All Live With (a painting by Norman Rockwell)

Norman Rockwell’s painting was inspired by a black and white photograph. It shows an African American little girl whose name is Ruby Bridges. She is six years old and she is walking to school. But what is striking is that she is not going to school with her parents like other children, she is escorted by four marshals instead! The scene takes place on 14 November, 1960 in New Orleans. A desegregation policy which had just been adopted by the Supreme Court allowed black students into all-white schools. Only two schools had been selected to desegregate, and William Frantz Elementary School – Ruby’s school – was one of them. Unfortunately, white people living in the area were opposed to the project and threatened the black children, sometimes to death. They had to face racial insults and public humiliation, hence the presence of marshals protecting Ruby on her way to school.

Rockwell’s painting is evocative. We do not see the faces of the marshals, we only see Ruby in the middle of the picture. She is the most important person here. In spite of the tense situation surrounding her, she looks proud. She has the right to go to school, so why would not she go? She seems to wonder. She is not doing anything wrong. Above her head we can see the injuring word nigger written on the wall and the letters KKK representing the white supremacists of the Ku Klux Klan. The latter are probably watching the scene among the protesters, though they are not visible because we are looking at what is happening from their point of view.

By adopting their point of view, Rockwell tried to strike a chord among his fellow citizens. He wanted to denounce the cruelty of Whites who did not hesitate to intimidate a six year-old girl because of her skin colour. Ruby is such an easy prey for these people. She is different and vulnerable but they do not care because she represents everything that they hate. The colours (black, red, white or brown) were chosen to illustrate the racial theme. Light and dark oppose themselves in the painting, like in the US in the 1960s.