When I came to America, I was a blank slate. By that, I mean that I was unaware of any American history. Thankfully, my parents subscribed to Newsweek, Life, and Time magazines. I read them all, trying to catch up with American culture. A 1957 Time magazine caught my eye. The cover featured a young Martin Luther King, Jr. I was shocked upon reading about the early years of King’s civil rights movement. I became a student and an advocate of that movement, even though I was so young. Some of this artwork is painfully graphic, and they were difficult to paint. These emotions were deep inside of me, from too early in my life. But, they are moving my paintbrush now. I can’t know what it is like to be beaten down by dogs and sticks, and fire hoses. I can’t know what it is like to bear the oppressive bondage of Jim Crow. I can’t know what it is like to sing like Billie Holliday, to perform like James Brown and Morgan Freeman, or to write like Maya Angelou. There is too much more to say here…
But, humbly, I can try to paint it all….
