Charcoal Study for "The Problem We All Live With"

In this study, we see the little girl (Ruby Bridges) toward the left side of the painting. In an earlier color study, Rockwell had the little girl on the right side of the page. Rockwell moved her there to illustrate the girl's eagerness to go to school. The reason the girl is not in the center of the page is because the painting would appear in the magazine as a two-page spread. The center of the image would be relegated to the "gutter" where the two pages are seamed together.