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"When I am asked who I am, I say, I am an African who was born in America. Both
answers connect me specifically with my past and present ... therefore I bring
to my art a quality which is rooted in the culture of Africa ... and expanded by
the experience of being in America. I use the vehicle of 'fine art' and
'illustration' as a viable expression of form, yet striving always to do this
from an African perspective, an African world view, and above all to tell the
African story ... this is my content. The struggle to create artwork as well as
to live creatively under any conditions and survive (like my ancestors),
embodies my particular heritage in America."
Tom Feelings
Biographical Information
It is with great honor and pleasure that the premier issue of The Journal of
African American Children’s Literature (JAACL)will be in honor of the life and work of Tom
Feelings.
Tom Feelings was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York on
May 19, 1933. He attended George Westinghouse Vocational High School where he
majored in art. Following graduation he received a scholarship to the Cartoonist
and Illustrator School for two years. In 1953 he joined the United States Air
Force for a period of six years. While in the Air Force he was stationed in
London, England where he worked in the graphics division of the Third Air Force
as a staff artist. He later attended the School of Visual Arts from 1957 to
1960.
Throughout Tom Feelings career as an artist and illustrator he traveled to
several places to capture the essence of the “Black” experience. In 1961 he
traveled to the South to research and draw people of “Black” rural communities.
Four years later he traveled to Ghana where he spent the next two years working
as an illustrator for the African Review Magazine and for Ghana’s government
publishing house, where he taught illustrations. In 1966 he returned to the
United States, and continued to concentrate on illustrating books with African
and African American themes.
A collaboration with author Julius Lester on the book entitled To Be A Slave,
resulted in a Newbery honor award in 1969. From 1971-1974 Mr. Feelings resided
in Guyana, South America were he worked as a teacher and trained young artist in
textbook illustration. After his return to the United States he started work on
a book entitled The Middle Passage: White Ships Black Cargo. This groundbreaking
and phenomenal work details the enslavement of African peoples. In 1996 this
outlier book was awarded the Coretta Scott King Award for outstanding
illustrations. Some of Mr. Feelings other awards include a Coretta Scott King
Award for Soul Looks Back and Wonder (1994); Something on My Mind (1978) and two
Caldecott Honor Awards for Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book (1972) and
Moja Means One: A Swahili Counting Book (1972). Tom Feelings has illustrated
more than twenty books and has received numerous awards.
The contributions of Tom Feelings to the art world and children’s book
illustrations are remarkable and extraordinary. In the past when Tom Feelings
has been asked about his work, he would reply “I am a storyteller in picture
form who tries to reflect and interpret the lives and experiences of the people
who gave me life.”
Tom Feelings never compromised his artistic talent. He gave voices to
those who did not have a voice and positive images to those who could not see
the beauty in themselves. Today the street in which Tom Feelings grew up on in
Brooklyn, New York has been named Tom Feeling's Way.