The Problem We All Live With
This Norman Rockwell painting appeared in Look magazine in 1964, ten years after the Brown decision and during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The artist was inspired by Ruby Bridges, the sole African American child to attend a New Orleans elementary school after court-ordered desegregation in 1960. Although Bridge’s story was the inspiration, the painting is not meant to be specifically about her. It is a broader social commentary on the situation into which thousands of African American students were thrust during the early years of school desegregation.
Online Resource: http://www.adl.org/education/brown_2004/lesson2.asp
Credit: Norman Rockwell/The Norman Rockwell Family Trust, 1964