The Problem We All Live With

Norman Rockwell
The Problem We All Live With
36” x 58” oil on canvas 1963
Collection The Norman Rockwell Museum
(Currently on loan to the White House through October 2011)

Civil Rights icon Ruby Bridges visited the White House on July 15, 2011 to view Norman Rockwell's 1963 painting, The Problem We All Live With, which depicts Ruby as a young girl on her way to first grade after the school board mandated the desegregation of two New Orleans schools in 1960. Six year old Ruby Bridges was escorted by Federal Marshals to New Orleans' William Frantz Public School as its first African American student, ushering in the integration of the local public school system.

President Barack Obama, Ruby Bridges, and representatives of the Norman Rockwell Museum view Rockwell’s "The Problem We All Live With,” hanging in a West Wing hallway near the Oval Office, July 15, 2011.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Norman Rockwell's The Problem We All Live With will be on display in the West Wing of the White House outside of the Oval Office until October 31st. Another Rockwell painting, donated to the White House by director Steven Spielberg in 1994, hangs nearby. Norman Rockwell faced harsh criticism by some when his painting first appeared as the cover illustration on Look magazine's January 14,1964 issue. Over time, the painting has become a defining artwork in the continual struggle for human rights for all.



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Norman Rockwell’s “The Problem We All Live With” Continues to Resonate as Important Symbol for Civil Rights