"The Problem We All Live With"
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"The Problem We All Live With"
Ruby Bridges, a 6-year-old student in the public schools of New Orleans, Louisiana, was selected in 1960 by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) to be among the first black children to integrate the New Orleans public school system, based on her high test scores.
Up until that time, white and black children throughout the South, including New Orleans, still attended racially segregated schools, even after the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v Board of Education. Ruby Bridges was part of the effort to enforce the Brown decision throughout the South.
The 1964 painting, "The Problem We All Live With", by the famous artist Norman Rockwell, depicts Ruby's entry into the William Franz Elementary School. She entered the school protected by U.S. Marshals because angry people opposed school integration and were trying to prevent her from entering the school. They believed if they protested enough, the government would not allow Ruby to continue attending the school. The graffiti on the wall in the painting demonstrates the mood of the opposition, including racial epithets and reference to the Ku Klux Klan. Norman Rockwell includes these details so that the viewer may understand how Ruby may have felt as she entered the school guarded by marshals.
After Ruby entered the school, white parents withdrew their children. Every day, Ruby sat alone in the classroom, with her teacher, Mrs. Henry, all to herself. When she ate lunch, Ruby ate by herself in her classroom. She was often afraid to eat because one angry white woman threatened to poison her.
Near the end of the year, a few white children returned to Franz Elementary. Their parents felt their children should continue their public school education. By the beginning of the next school year, William Franz Elementary was totally integrated and the angry mobs were gone.
Ruby Bridges grew up to create the Ruby Bridges Foundation, which promotes social change and tolerance through the education of children.
Sources:
EveryStudent.com
Ruby Bridges Foundation
For younger readers:
The Story of Ruby Bridges, Robert Coles & George Ford
Through My Eyes, Ruby Bridges & Margo Lundell
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Last modified: 4/30/2004
