July 15, 2011 "One of the most poignant days of the year was when Ruby Bridges visited the White House. Ruby is the girl portrayed in Norman Rockwell's famous painting, "The Problem We All Live With," which depicts Ruby as she is escorted to school on the court-ordered first day of integrated schools in New Orleans in 1960. When the Norman Rockwell Museum loaned the painting to the White House for a short period of time, the President invited Ruby to view the painting while it was on display outside the Oval Office." Pete Souza, Official White House photographer to President Obama, writing on the Obama White House Flickr account. Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

This is the story of how Norman Rockwell came to paint “The Problem We All Live With”, which was first published in Look magazine, All the following information is part of an exhibit at The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Explanation on the museum exhibit

Reference photos for The Problem We All Live With, c.1963

Portrait of Lynda Gunn, Norman Rockwell, 1963. Of the three study models, Norman Rockwell proceeded to paint Lynda Gunn, the nine-year-old granddaughter of a family friend in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Credit: Norman Rockwell Museum Collections

Letter dated December 3 1963 from Norman Rockwell to John A. Morsell, Assistant to the Executive Secretary of the NAACP. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Visual Materials from the NAACP Records

The Problem We All Live With, Norman Rockwell, 1963. Study Illustrations for Look, issue date January 14, 1964. Credit: Norman Rockwell Museum Digital Collections