Norman Rockwell was a bit of an oddity, though less so as time went on. He was a white man who painted in favor of civil rights. But before he did that, he has already managed to make himself a very well-known and well-respected artist in the country, so when he finally did start turning towards civil rights, he already had many people who followed his works and agreed with him. One of his very first paintings for civil rights was the "Problem We All Live With."
The painting is a depiction of Ruby Bridges, the first black girl to attend an all-white school, being escorted to the schoolyard by state marshalls so as not to be attacked by any of the other children or protesters around them. This painting conveys several strong messages. The first one is that it was a landmark event in history; the second that reform in schools was a rough road, but a necessary one; and the the one being that it was a white man who painted it, which just proves that even at that time, many people were beginning to realize that blacks really were equal, which was the exact goal of the Civil Rights Movement itself.
The painting is a depiction of Ruby Bridges, the first black girl to attend an all-white school, being escorted to the schoolyard by state marshalls so as not to be attacked by any of the other children or protesters around them. This painting conveys several strong messages. The first one is that it was a landmark event in history; the second that reform in schools was a rough road, but a necessary one; and the the one being that it was a white man who painted it, which just proves that even at that time, many people were beginning to realize that blacks really were equal, which was the exact goal of the Civil Rights Movement itself.
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