Celebrated illustrator Eric Velasquez uplifts the stories of phenomenal figures of civil rights-- leaders and visionaries who changed the course and narrative of the United States. His artwork has brilliantly illustrated the lives and stories three icons of social justice: Shirley Chisholm, Arturo Alfonso Shomburg, and most recently, Hugo Green.
Brooklyn and National Hero Shirley Chisholm was the first Black woman to be elected to the US Congress, representing New York's 12th congressional district, centered on Bedford–Stuyvesant, for seven terms, from 1969 to 1983. She later became the first Black woman to run for President of the US in 1972. Hailing from Puerto Rico, Arturo Alfonso Shomburg was a collector of Black literature, slave narratives, artwork, and diasporic materials and “one of the most influential forces behind the creation of The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture” (NYPL). Hugo Green was a Postman who created the Green Book, an annual travel guide (“the Bible of Black travel”) for African-Americans, published from 1936-1967, during the treacherous days of Jim Crow segregation and shortly after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In honor of Black History Month and in support of the necessity of upholding these vital histories, we are delighted to exhibit in our Teen Space, Velasquez’ original artwork from the books She Was the First!: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm by Katheryn Russell-Brown (Author), Eric Velasquez (Illustrator), (Lee & Low Books: 2020); Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library (by Carole Boston Weatherford (Author), Eric Velasquez (Illustrator), (Candlewick Press:2019); and Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book, by Tonya Bolden (Author), Eric Velasquez (Illustrator) (Quill Tree Books: 2022).
In the Youth Wing cases we present Velasquez’s tribute to Afro-Caribbean culture, food and family in the book Octopus Stew (2019, Holiday House) which he has both written and illustrated. In this imaginative fable, an octopus captures a young boy’s grandmother and he must come to the rescue!
About the Artist
Eric Velasquez earned his BFA from the School of Visual Arts and has illustrated over 30 children’s books. His first picture book The Piano Man by Debbie Chocolate, published by Bloomsbury won the Coretta-Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, and in 2010 Eric was awarded an NAACP Image award for his work in Our Children Can Soar which he collaborated on with 12 notable children’s book illustrators. Eric also wrote and illustrated Grandma’s Records and its follow up Grandma’s Gift which won the 2011 Pura Belpre’ Award for illustration.
Recently Eric illustrated Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford which earned five starred reviews and won the 2018 Walter Award from the WNDB organization as well as the SCBWI’s Golden Kite Award. In 2019 Eric wrote and illustrated Octopus Stew which has gathered rave reviews and is sure to make you laugh. One of Eric’s newest books is the much anticipated Ruth Objects: The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Doreen Rappaport, published by Little Brown Books for Young Readers and one of his latest titles, She Was The First! The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm by Katheryn Russell Brown, published by Lee and Low Books, won the 2021 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature for Children. His Newest Books are ¡Mambo Mucho Mambo! The Dance That Crossed Color Lines by Dean Robbins and Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and his Glorious Book by Tonya Bolden.
Preview the Exhibit
