It wasn’t until forty years after the end of World War II that artist and poet Ashley Bryan began to share his experience serving with the 502nd Port Battalion, one of four Black units of Company C in the United States Army. He was drafted at the age of nineteen, in the spring of 1943 while a student at Cooper Union in New York City. Bryan had arrived at this fine arts school through the unwavering encouragement of his parents and teachers—and the blind scholarship test that judged artistry alone, not race or ethnicity. Bryan’s tour of duty in the Army began with basic training in Massachusetts; in simulated drills, he received an unsettling first glimpse of what wartime—and serving in a segregated army—meant. He discovered that his passion for observing and recording what he saw and felt could sustain him through the horrific realities of the next three years. He kept numerous sketches in his knapsack and penned letters to loved ones. “I had to draw. It was the only way to keep my humanity.” In Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace, Bryan's recollections are conveyed through drawings and personal notes as well as documentary photos—vividly personal and universal at the same time. To readers for whom soldiering is unfamiliar, this beautifully-realized memoir offers penetrating insights to war tempered by the instincts of a resolutely generous man who shared his energy, perseverence and art with those around him. Decades later, in the 1980s, Ashley Bryan uncovered sketches of his time in foxholes on Normandy Beach at the end of days spent unloading cargo ships, guarding German prisoners of war, viewing the destruction of cities in France and Belgium, obtaining berths for the men in his detail to head home to the States. Yet more recently, in his home on an island off the coast of Maine with his garden, easel, hand-crafted puppets and sea-glass windows nearby, he returned to those drawings, bringing color and rhythm to the dark experience of war. Ages 10-15; Atheneum / Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2019.
Ashley Bryan has received numerous awards for his expressive and celebratory picture books for young people, many of which reflect African American culture. Readers can learn more about Mr. Bryan by visiting the Ashley Bryan Center at https://ashleybryancenter.org.
