Jeanne Walker Harvey

I dunno. To me it seemed insufficient. I want to know about her other works besides their names and a sketch of their appearance (location, significance, ...). I want a 'further reading' instead of just the obvious websites (hers and those of the Wall). But I did like learning a bit about what the design was supposed to achieve.

And it does achieve that. I visited it on my trip to D.C. in 1995. And even though I actually knew none of the names and did not pause but just walked slowly past, I was sloppy crying by the end. And I still remember that feeling. Brilliant work of art and effective memorial. Give the young, fresh voices a chance to express the power they know from their souls... the power that, in too many of us, fades as we grow older.… (more)

This book about the painter Alma Thomas begins with one of her quotes:

“Through color, I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness, rather than on man’s inhumanity to man.” (1970)

Growing up in Georgia in the early 1900s, Alma’s house was full of color and creativity. Her mother designed dresses and her aunts painted. But outside the house it was different: Alma and her sisters couldn’t enter the museums or the town library, or even attend the school just two doors away, because of segregation against Blacks. So Alma’s parents brought culture to their house, inviting speakers to tell them about people and places around the world. When Alma was 15, her family moved North, to Washington, D.C., “away from the injustices of the South.”

Alma retained her love for artistic pursuits, studying art in college and teaching at the local school. But as Harvey writes, “even in the nation’s capital, schools were still segregated and access to art limited.”

Following the example of her parents, Alma made her home a haven of art and learning and brought in local children.

Not until she was almost 70 years old did Alma begin to focus on her own art. Galleries took an interest in her work, and in 1972 the Whitney Museum in New York City featured her paintings - it was the first solo show by a Black woman. Other museums around the country followed. Alma died in 1978 at the age of 86, but her work continued to attract notice.

When the Obamas moved into the White House, they chose a painting by Alma to be the first artwork by a Black woman to be displayed there and to become part of the White House’s permanent collection. The author writes of the painting that it was “a painting of hope and joy. Ablaze with glorious color. Alma’s colors.”

Back matter includes notes by both the author and the illustrator, a photo of her painting in the White House, timeline and references.

Loveis Wise illustrated the book using vibrant colors and mosaic-like patterns in a reflection of Alma Thomas’s style and her emphasis on color.

Evaluation: I find Alma Thomas’s story interesting, but I felt the author spent too much text enthusing about the bright colors and patterns in Thomas’s painting. I felt she also downplayed the racism that affected so much of Thomas’s life. It almost felt like the book was “cleansed” to be acceptable to the new sanitized white-washed standards of the South. On the other hand, perhaps the focus on the positive and uplifting aspects of Thomas's art will appeal to children more.… (more)