Don Tate

Back in elementary school, the Underground Railroad was a big topic in history class. We read books, watched documentaries and film/television adaptations all about it. When I saw another book about this historical event, I really wanted to jump back into reading it. It's an important story to tell, and an intriguing one at that.

This is a biography of one of the men who was a big part of the Underground Railway - if not the most important! William Still's story is crazy important and is one incredible one. I think this is a great way to introduce the tale, especially in a picture format. I feel like this would have helped me with reading the Underground Railway chapter book way back in my youth.

This Black History book is super important. I highly recommend it not only because of it's important historical context but the beautiful illustrations and great story telling that brought this book to life.

Five out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Publishing Company for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.… (mehr)

Ernest Eugene Barnes Jr., born in 1938 in Durham, North Carolina, was an American artist as well as a professional football player. But none of that could be foreseen when he was a kid.

As Tate writes:

“Sports didn’t come easy for Ernest. He couldn’t run very fast. He couldn’t dribble a basketball to save his life. No one picked him to play on their teams. Ernest felt pretty lousy about it all. ‘I couldn’t conform easily to the athletic ideal,’ he once said.”

Such a beginning pulls you right in. Hey, you might think, I am, or was, like that too. What happened to turn him into a star?

There was something Ernie was good at, and that was art. But “opportunities to learn about art were slim for kids in the Bottom during the 1930s.” Especially if you were a Black kid: art museums were segregated in the 1930s and 1940s and would not admit Blacks to look at art. But Ernie’s mother found a way. She did domestic work for an attorney in Durham who loved classical music and art. So sometimes, she took Ernie along with her while she worked, and he sat and looked through the art books.

At school, Ernie was bullied:

“A boy who didn’t play sports. Who loved art, played the trombone, and enjoyed reading poetry? He got teased for being different. ‘They hated me,’ he once said.”

It got so bad, teachers allowed him to leave school early to avoid more fights. At home, he sketched in his art pad.

In junior high, just to try to stop the bullying, he “dragged himself to the coaches’ office and joined the football team.” He couldn’t keep up. But Ernie was big, and everyone thought he would make a great defensive lineman. So in high school, Ernie’s mom signed him up. The weight-lifting coach took an interest in Ernie and helped him build muscle.

Soon, he improved his game, along with his confidence. His life changed:

“Not only did he play football, but Ernest also became the team captain. Later, he joined the track team, too, becoming state champion in the shot put. By graduation, he had earned twenty-six athletic scholarships to colleges and universities.”

All the good offers were from schools far from home however. Segregation still was the pattern in North Carolina. He decided to attend nearby North Carolina College, an all-Black school. He played football for them, but quit track to devote more time to art.

Ernie didn’t know what to paint, however, and his art teacher encouraged him to “use what you see.” What was all around Ernie was football, and so that is what he began to paint.

He also got to go to the North Carolina Museum of Art for the first time when segregation laws eased, but didn’t see any Black artists there. Tate tells of Ernie's recollections about the visit:

“‘Where are the paintings by Negro artists’ he asked the museum guide. ‘I’m afraid your people don’t express themselves this way,’ she said.”

Ernie was determined to change that misconception. He did play professional football after his college graduation, but before and after games, and during time-outs, he would sketch. It didn’t go over well with coaches. He decided to stop playing when he was twenty-seven, and league owners agreed to hire him as the Official Artist of the American Football League. His paintings were popular, and he had exhibits all over the country. In 1979, he even exhibited at the North Carolina Museum of Art!

Tate concludes:

“From pigskins to paintbrushes, Ernie Barnes grew to be a man successful at being himself.”

Back matter includes an Afterword with more about Ernie’s story, Author’s Note, and references including websites and video links. In the note, Tate - both the author and the illustrator - recounts that as a child he loved the television show “Good Times,” and especially the artwork of one of the characters J.J. Evans. He later learned that the art shown as J.J.’s was actually by Ernie Barnes. He also related to Barnes’ life story as a kid interested in art and vilified for it, and who later took up sports and did well at both.

Evaluation: This is the second book for kids I have read about the life of Ernie Barnes (the first was Between the Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery by Sandra Neil Wallace). The authors of each book were moved by the dedication and optimism of Ernie Barnes, and his perseverance in both doing what he loved, and in trying to change people’s points of view through art. In Tate’s case, the more personal element comes through as well. It’s a stirring story, and children who want to learn more about Barnes will benefit from a long list of resources for further exploration of Barnes’ life and work. (Ernies Barnes died in 2009.)… (mehr)

By bringing this lost poet to their attention now, Tate has done young readers a significant favor. Horton taught himself to read as a child despite being forbidden to do so. He memorized poems that he had mentally written. Eventually, he received writing instruction from a white woman who was also a poet so that he could record his poems on paper. While still a slave, he published two volumes of poetry; after being freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, he published a third volume. Tate included a list of the books and websites he referenced at the conclusion of the book, along with an author's note outlining Horton's background and the inspiration for this particular work.… (mehr)