Hidden in Plain Sight: The Other People In Norman Rockwell's America

By Jane Allen Petrick

Norman Rockwell’s America was not all white. As early as 1936, Rockwell was portraying people of color with empathy and a dignity often denied them at the time. And he created these portraits from live models.Hidden in Plain Sight: The Other People in Norman Rockwell’s America unfolds, for the first time, the stories of the Asian, African, and Native Americans who modeled for Norman Rockwell.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9780989260107

Book preview

Epilogue

PROLOGUE

Finally, someone is looking …

Laura Claridge, Norman Rockwell biographer

A colored man is perched on top of the Statue of Liberty. Norman Rockwell put him there. But for nearly sixty-five years, no one has said a word about him.

Working on The Statue of Liberty appeared as the July 4th, 1946 cover for The Saturday Evening Post. The illustration portrays the famous lady being proudly refurbished by five diligent workmen. Three of the workers are white. One of the workmen is a caricature of Norman Rockwell. The fifth worker, the one next to the Rockwell look-alike, is brown.

The model for all of the figures (except the Rockwell look-alike of course) was a white Vermont construction worker named Sousy. Working from photos of Sousy, Norman Rockwell produced a series of charcoal sketches. These drawings reveal that, as Working on The Statue of Liberty evolved, Rockwell decided to make a statement about the American experience. He picked up a colored pencil and changed the skin tone of one man from white to brown.

Amazingly, this statement from Norman Rockwell has escaped all notice. The brown man sat unacknowledged on top of Rockwell’s Statue of Liberty for sixty-five years before I noticed him while looking for people who looked like me in Norman Rockwell’s America. Here’s how it all started …

***

October, 2009. Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Final stop of three-day road trip. Given an unseasonably frosty morning and my thinned out blood, I am bundled up like Nanook of the North.

My friend and traveling buddy Pennie Scales (a hardy Yankee farm girl, much more lightly dressed than me) proceeded directly to the main gallery. I, on the other hand, had to stop to de-mummify myself in the coat room. After piling my winter gear into a locker, I headed towards the galleries.

The main corridor of the museum opens onto a large rotunda. Coming out of the coat room into this corridor and looking straight ahead, I could see the circular visitors’ desk and beyond that, the back wall of the first gallery.

As I stuffed the locker key into my back pocket, I realized I was alone in the hallway. The visitors’ desk was virtually empty as well. But just beyond it, a noisy mass of heads and torsos pulsated, apparently gathering for a museum tour. A huge painting looked down upon the hubbub from the back gallery wall. My eyes moved up to it and I stood stock still.

Over the top of the crowd, left profile facing me, floated a dark brown forehead topped by a thick wooly braid.

My shoulders dropped. My breathing slowed. My lips released a yogic aa-ahh, curving into a slight smile. I felt great. And I did not have the slightest idea why.

As the tour group surged off with its docent, I moved closer to the painting. Then, there I was, standing right in front of … myself! My six-years old, 1950’s, Bridgeport, Connecticut self. Skin oiled, socks evenly folded down, white sneakers gleaming. Walking with a straight back the way numerous trips up and down our railroad apartment with Encyclopedia Britannicas on my head had taught me to do. There was my double, striding off to school in Norman Rockwell’s painting, The Problem We All Live With.

The docent and her ducklings were headed my way, so I tacked against the flock to the other side of the room. There I encountered a portrait of a crisply dressed African-American dining car waiter: shoes polished, uniform immaculate, dignity as well as forbearance in the smile he gives his young white customer. That waiter was my Uncle Hugh!

Well, not really. But at that moment, in my strangely-altered state, he seemed to be my Uncle Hugh.

Hugh was my mother’s oldest brother. My mother was the third youngest of thirteen children born to a somewhat self-consciously middle class black family in Baltimore, Maryland. Her big brothers were like second daddies to her, and although he died before I was born, my mother often told me stories about this favorite brother. The family was very proud of the fact that Hugh had a job as a Pullman porter, great work for a colored man in those days.

Mommy would reminisce about how sharp Hugh looked in his gleaming Pullman uniform. When he got home from a tour on the trains, Hugh would scoop up his little sister, swing her above his head until she was hysterical with giggles and then, from the deep recesses of his jacket pockets, present her with a rainbow of hard candies. I always felt a special fondness for my Uncle Hugh. And now, here he was, (or at least he seemed to be), smiling out from the Norman Rockwell painting, Boy in a Dining Car.

Using a dining car from the New York Central’s Lake Shore Limited as his setting, Norman Rockwell had captured a moment in his own son Peter’s life when he created the December 7, 1946 Saturday Evening Post cover, Boy in a Dining Car. In the illustration, a young white patron earnestly tries to calculate a tip for the smiling black waiter standing by. Ten year old Peter Rockwell himself was the model for the young patron. Norman Rockwell hired Jefferson Smith, a twenty-eight year veteran employee on the New York Central Railroad, to portray himself as the waiter in the tableau.

I looked up into the waiter’s face and smiled. Hi, Uncle Hugh! I whispered. How you doin? Then that strange feeling of relaxation flowed over me again. And this time, I knew why.

Traditionally (at least among those of us who were raised right), when one African American encounters another in a situation where we are few, some gesture of acknowledgement occurs. A head nod. Eye contact and a slight smile. A soft, How you doin’?

Standing in this gallery of the Norman Rockwell Museum, I realized that I had had no such interaction for three days. In all the historic sites I had visited, all the trails Pennie and I had hiked, all the gift shops we had browsed, coffee shops in which we had gossiped, in all that time and all those places, I had not seen nor been greeted by one other black person.

Now I am very used to being the only one. A la Ralph Ellison in his book, The Invisible Man, I have internalized my own invisibility. So three days in the Berkshires with no other black people around was not startling. What was startlingly was stumbling upon a clear presence of me and my friends and my family, thanks to Norman Rockwell!

***

Erin McLauglin, a blogger on Teaching Digital History, observes that, on the surface, Boy in a Dining Car appears to be a coming-of-age narrative. However, she continues, the work holds much deeper interpretations: (The porter views) the young boy with compassion and patience. In this way, it is the African American man (who has the) confidence and power and in turn, he is using his power to give respect and compassion (back) to the young boy.

Respect, compassion and patience: that was my Uncle Hugh. And Norman Rockwell had captured it all.

My mind reeled. Norman Rockwell, icon of white-on-white America, had created portrayals of black people that rang very true to me as a black person.

The docent was now concluding her tour, heading back into the gallery in which I stood. Concluding her remarks, she commented that all of Rockwell’s portrayals were drawn from live models. Including the people of color? I turned and asked her. Yes, she replied, including the people of color.

Questions flew around in my head. Who were these colored models? Where had Norman Rockwell found them? What had been the quality of their experiences with the famous illustrator? And why had Rockwell chosen to depict them at all?

Standing in front of my Uncle Hugh that chilly October morning, I decided to go and find out.

Chapter 1

EARLY GLIMPSES

Colored people were the topic of conversation in Norman Rockwell’s Vermont during the spring of 1946. And those conversations were not always pleasant.

In March of that year, Crystal Malone, a 19-year-old junior at the University of Vermont, Burlington, had been accepted as a pledge to the Upsilon chapter of Alpha Xi Delta sorority. Malone, a native of Washington, D.C., was black. Alpha Xi Delta, founded in 1893 in Galesburg, Illinois, had been, up until Miss Malone’s pledge, all white.

When Crystal Malone arrived as a freshman at UVM in 1943, there was only one other black student on campus. Having grown up in and been conditioned by the segregated world of Washington, Crystal never expected to be asked to join a white sorority. She was pleasantly shocked when she was.

Alpha Xi Delta’s invitation to Crystal may have been one of the outcomes of a conference held at UVM the previous November. Anti-Semitism and anti-Negroism were its themes. According to The Cynic, the UVM school paper, when the conference ended, one hundred students thronged the lounge to elect a committee to investigate the quota system and abolish it on this campus.

The committee met with quick success in several areas. In January, 1946, The Cynic proudly announced, Henceforth, all sorority rushing will be on a basis of no racial or religious discrimination.

Interviewed about the matter decades later, Crystal Malone Brown recalled, "When I was asked to join Alpha Xi Delta, I remember being pleased — the spoken emotions and feelings after the war (World War II) made me think it was possible."

But it wasn’t. When Upsilon Chapter announced that it had pledged Crystal Malone, Alpha Xi Delta national president, Beverly Robinson, immediately traveled from Washington, D.C. to Burlington. Her mission: convince the black co-ed not to go through with the pledge. Sitting in a student lounge, Mrs. Robinson advised Malone, Life is selective, and maybe it’s just as well to learn it while we are young.

Crystal Malone declined to be de-selected. Upsilon chapter vowed to stand by their colored pledge and usher her into full sisterhood – at which point the national office of the sorority suspended the UVM chapter.

The women of Upsilon chapter appealed to the university administration for help. But university President J.S. Millis was somewhat wishy-washy concerning the controversy. According to The Cynic, the president’s response was, This is a matter between the local sorority and the national. The campus, and a good part of the state of Vermont, was thrown into an uproar.

UVM faculty and students staged massive protests, overwhelmingly in support of the young sorority women of Upsilon chapter. Life magazine sent a crew up to Burlington to cover the story, complete with photographs of Malone, a quintessential co-ed in pearls and cashmere. In the article, Sorority Fight: Vermont Chapter Stirs Nationwide Controversy by Admitting Negro, published May 20, 1946, the magazine smugly observes, "Last winter Life pointed out that sororities were undemocratic."

Throughout Vermont, letters to the editor poured into local newspapers, some in support of the Upsilon chapter coeds, many, with nasty racial epithets, against. Letters poured into the office of President J.S. Millis as well, the majority of them urging him to take a strong stand in support of Crystal Malone and her soon-to-be sorority sisters. One of those letters was from one of Vermont’s most famous citizens:

Reviews for Hidden in Plain Sight

[polarbear_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have never been aware of the kind of work that goes into creating a painting, and the discussion of what Norman Rockwell did to create his paintings was informative. Somehow, Norman Rockwell has gotten a reputation for being representative of a "White America;" however, after reading this book, I have no idea how that could have transpired. The author captured information from the subjects of Mr. Rockwell's paintings before it could be lost forever, and that will be invaluable in the years to come.I expected more images of Mr. Rockwell's paintings to be included in this book; however, the paintings and illustrations were adequate to support the written material.I received my copy of this book as part of the Library Thing Early Reviewer's program in exchange for my review.

[joycemg3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautifully written and well researched account of Normal Rockwell's art. Jane Allen Petrick, takes you behind the scenes of Mr. Rockwell's paintings. Yes, many of them are famous and you recognize them right away, while others are not as popular, but each has a story. This book tells of Mr. Rockwell's desire to paint the America that he saw, the true America, the America of many people from many lands. The social issues, the diversity, the political turmoil and life in general. I was fortunate enough to already have a book of Normal Rockwell's art work, so when Ms. Petrick mentioned a particular painting, I was able to see it. I truly enjoyed the stories behind the paintings, not only why Mr. Rockwell decided on a particular painting but how he envisioned it, the diversity of people he chose for it and sometimes the disappointment he received from others about it. It was also interesting to hear the model's side of the story. He was a man of social conscience who wanted to make a difference in this world. It is unfortunate that he never realized what a difference he did make. I received this book as an Early Reviewers copy in exchange for my honest review.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Many people think of Norman Rockwell as illustrating life in white, middle-class America. That's what Jane Petrick thought too until she went to the Norman Rockwell Museum and saw two pictures with black people in them. That started her on a quest to discover how many Rockwell pictures portrayed people of colour.For many years Rockwell was doing illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post. We've probably all seen a number of these illustrations even if we've never see that magazine. As I learned when I saw the The Art of Norman Rockwell Exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Rockwell worked very hard to produce those iconic images. He always used real people as models and went to great trouble to find just the right subject. I didn't know until I read this book that Rockwell chafed under the restrictions imposed by the Post that he not use any people of colour unless they were in menial positions. Finally he resigned his position with the Post and went to work with Look magazine. His first illustration for look was the now famous picture of the little African-American girl walking to school escorted by National Guards. He went on to do many more illustrations with people of colour including Asians, Native Americans and more African-Americans. The cover of this book shows a picture of Rockwell with a Navajo family that he used as models for a painting called Glen Canyon Dam. Rockwell was commissioned by the federal government to produce a work of art of Glen Canyon Dam but when they saw what he had produced it was not displayed until years later.Petrick combines oral history from Rockwell's models with meticulous research and her own personal responses. I now feel I know quite a bit more about Rockwell and that I like him even more than I did previously. I only wish a little more work had gone into editing this book. I found several grammatical errors, printing errors and at least one name, Erik Erikson, spelled incorrectly several times. That's what kept me from giving this work 5 out of 5 stars.

[grammygeek_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hidden in Plain Sight: The Other People in Norman Rockwell's America by Jane Allen Petrick isa fascinating book of the "other" people portraited in Norman Rockwell's paintings. The "other" being people of color.Long before people of color were accepted as part of the American melting pot, Norman Rockwell painted them where they belonged and lived. Long before it was accepted, Norman Rockwell did what was right, and placed people of all colors in his paintings as they would have been in real everyday life.Jane Petrick brings this to the forefront with her book "Hidden in Plain Sight" with some history behind the paintings, showing that Norman Rockwell was truly a man before his time. If you enjoy Norman Rockwells paintings, this book will give you a bit of history of some of his best.I did recieve a copy of this book in exchange for my honet review.

[arlenadean · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Title: Hidden In Plain Sight...The Other People In Norman Rockwell's AmericaAuthor: Jane Allen PetrickPublisher: Informed Decisions International Reviewed By: Arlena DeanRating: 4 Review:"Hidden in Plain Sight" by Jane Allen Petrick was a fascinating beautiful story telling of Norman Rockwell's great talent where he covers 'social justice, inequality and the human rights during the 40's and 50's. We will find from the read that this author tells us about how Norman Rockwell's work wit dealing with people used were 'hidden in plain sight.' These 'people of color' were dealt with in depth an social awareness had gone for the most part unnoticed. This is really a interesting biography of how this artist forced a lots of his works on 'non-white children and adult who are his legacy.' This author does a good job at telling us a story of Norman Rockwell's journey and battle that did allow him to paint his visions of American, and even to speaking with these people who modeled for him. I loved how Rockwell's picture 'showed a nation of minorities how to have thanksgiving, raise our children, go to war, live in small towns and look American' and with books that showed his cover art and posters casted by people of color. This research was well researched to get all of this of Norman Rockwell's personal life. This author did a wonderful job illustrating this Artist and giving us a feeling of what was going on at that time. In the end we get a wonderful read that was researched, entertaining, educational and very fascinating read that I would recommend as a good read.

[jeffv_19 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I remember Norman Rockwell paintings from my youth -- both from his Saturday Evening Post covers, and his Boy Scouts Calendar. My impression of him for all these years has been as a white-bread advocate of an idealized Americana, and nothing more. To be fair, Rockwell himself had the same opinion of himself at one point.After reading Jane Allen Petrick's book, however, I realize how off-base my opinion was. The credit is all hers...the focus on this book isn't simply stories about the people in Rockwell's paintings, as I expected...but instead, stories about minorities in particular. What I didn't realize, amongst all of the white bread imagery of suburban American, that Rockwell was very much a clandestine advocate of minority causes...something that wore on him as he got older and eventually led to terminating his contracts with some of his biggest cash cows.Petrick meets with some of the minorities who, as children, posed for Rockwell for the staggering sum on $10-25 per session. Many have not gone on to live notable lives, and are somewhat put out by their status as a Rockwell model. Others are a little more embracing of this past, but none have exactly profited. Thanks to this book, I have a lot more respect of what Norman Rockwell had to deal with in his professional career, and what he managed to accomplished by flipping the bird to the man. It is also heartwarming that he managed to inspire many minority artists in his wake. I really didn't expect this from the book -- I thought I was getting some stories about the people in the paintings, but I had no idea how significant this might be. Kudos to the author for discovering Rockwell's motives and then exposing them for us all to appreciate.

[snash_44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The book follows the author as she uncovers the artist Norman Rockwell as a person rather than the milk toast commercial brand he's seen as. This was a marketing ploy which he fought throughout his career and caused him a good deal of angst. She describes Mr. Rockwell's attempts to include the diversity of Americans in his pictures and the people who posed for those pictures. Upon finishing the book, I have greater respect for Norman Rockwell than previously.

[reluctantm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an extremely interesting treatise on what seems to be the forgotten message of racial integration in Norman Rockwell's pictures. While, like most people, I could easily recall `The Problem We All Live With', I wasn't really aware of all the other inclusions of people of colour throughout the Norman Rockwell canon. I read the book in one sitting, that's how engaging Dr Allen Petrick's work is.There are a few things about the book, most of which have already been mentioned by previous reviewers:(1) Inclusion of more of Rockwell's illustrations would have been highly welcome. I would recommend having a source to access the internet nearby while reading the book so that you can see the pictures as Dr Allen Petrick discusses the background and the models associated to them. I also recommend reading this e-book on a colour device - I read it on a black and white kobo, which made it difficult to appreciate the pictures that were included. (2) There are some typos, misspelled words, strange indentations, and missing spaces throughout the epub version I read. Another run through with an eagle-eyed copy-editor would probably fix those problems.(3) One of the first times when Dr Allen Petrick discusses her family rather than the Rockwell models (talking about her father Buddy purchasing buildings) was, to me, a very abrupt transition. It took me a minute to realize that Dr Allen Petrick was now talking about herself rather than something associated with Norman Rockwell directly.But, overall, this is a book that would be of interest to anyone looking at either Americana artwork or race relations in the United States of America.

[stacey42_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While I did find this book interesting & informative regarding non-white people in Norman Rockwell's paintings, it was not very well illustrated. I understand getting reprint permission can be difficult or costly but if a book is about Rockwell's paintings, it should have the paintings.But it did do a good job from an informative perspective in providing information on Rockwell's search for models of various races and the resistance he received to using those models or the work they appeared in. It could have been a little meatier though.

[pebblesgmc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hidden in Plain Sight: The Other People in Norman Rockwell's America by Jane Allen PetrickNorman Rockwell was a man ahead of his time. He portrayed people of all races and color with kindness and humor. There are very few pictures in this book as this is the story of how this man interacted with others of all races and color. There are some surprises too, A black man working on the repair of the Statue of Liberty, Navajos working on the "Glen Canyon Dam". I found this book a revelation.

[jotoyo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hidden in Plain Sight attracted me because I found it difficult to believe there were people of colour in his works, but since I had rarely seen his work, I could be wrong. And part of the reason is in the book. His work that is popular and available shows mostly "grandfathers and puppies" and that is what I expected. But after reading Hidden in Plain sight I would like to see more of his work. This is a weakness of the book, there were few good examples of what Norman Rockwell did, and because I have the electronic version, the apparent size of these works was very small. That and the occasional typo marred the presentation of what is a very worthwhile idea. Jane Allen Petrick has done a good job on bringing this to the world's attention, but I would have liked more. But for revealing this to me I thank her. Now I will seek out more Norman Rockwell books and find more of the hidden people to see what they look like and how he saw them.

[b4mather · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed this quick read. Loved the anecdotal stories about Norman Rockwell. It was nice to see the activist side of him.

[yells-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting book but far too short and lacking in substance. I was rather surprised at the lack of art in the book (figured each chapter would start off with a picture and then be followed by an explanation of how it came to be) and a lack of overall information about Rockwell himself. This felt like a thesis proposal instead of a full-fledged book.

[jcambridge_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am a fan of Norman Rockwell and have visited his Stockbridge studio. I also have prints of some of his multi-racial pieces, including The Golden Rule and the little black girl in a white dress. I was hoping for a higher quality book, with more images and reproductions. The book appears to have been self-published and comes across more as a doctoral dissertation with a few illustrations thrown in. Perhaps it will encourage a past of future biographer of Rockwell to be more inclusive in future books about his work. This aspect of his work and his beliefs deserves a broader audience.

[dlga_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Can't say that I am much the wiser about Norman Rockwell, which is a pity.The book seemed to focus on those coloured peoples who featured in his images.An esoteric subject written in a quasi academic style, but with little of real interest to my mind.Probably the way the material was portrayed rather than the subject matter per se.Since there are no other reviews I will put up a private review.

[lilylaruso · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this! First of all, this is such a great idea and unique perspective. It makes me want to learn about the subjects of other great artists. This is not only written from the an obvious view of love for Norman Rockwell, but from the unique perspective of a person who understood the struggle he had when he used people of color in his art.

[dolly22_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An unexpected little gem

[gofergrl84 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In her book, Jane Allen Petrick sets out to discover the people of color in Norman Rockwell’s paintings. These paintings have been largely forgotten by history and thoughts of Norman Rockwell immediately bring to mind a white America. While his depictions of every day America still resonate deeply with all Americans, Norman Rockwell himself had a more nuanced view of America than his is generally given credit for. Petrick discusses little-known Rockwell works, such as “Love Ouanga,” “Glen Canyon Dam,” and “Mississippi Justice.” These works were not the safe and comfortable depictions of a racially segregated America enforced by his editors at the Saturday Evening Post. Even today, they are often absent from popular discussions and publications. As Petrick explains, Rockwell chafed against the demands of the Saturday Evening Post and yearned to make paintings that contained people of every race and hue.Petrick went searching for the people of color who modeled for Rockwell and interviewed those she could find. They represent America, too, though their role as Rockwell models has been largely forgotten. Even today, the works they appeared in do not have the same public awareness of Rockwell’s more well-known works. Despite this, Rockwell’s works convey a message felt by everyone, regardless of race or creed. His works evoke a sense of familiarity, family, friendship, and life experiences all can relate to. Petrick’s exploration of “the other people” in Rockwell’s paintings offers up a different perspective on the artist and his work. While short, it provides a good overview of Rockwell, his life, his work, and the people of color who modeled for him. She has taken on a topic I knew little about and made me want to learn more.

[charles_ray_60 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As an aspiring artist growing up in the 40s and 50s, I was, like many artists of that period, greatly influenced by Norman Rockwell. Despite the fact that the Saturday Evening Post, which regularly featured Rockwell covers, had a policy of only showing people of color in menial roles, other than Ebony and National Geographic, there was little else being published that an artist could look to for inspiration.As an artist, though, I am probably more observant than the average person, and I’m aware that Rockwell on occasion had people of color, African-American, Native American, or Asian, in his paintings. I wasn’t aware that he was thought of as a painter of a ‘white’ America – but, I was looking into his paintings, not just at them.You can imagine, then, how surprised I was to receive a free copy of Jane Ellen Petrick’s Hidden in Plain Sight: The Other People in Normal Rockwell’s Paintings. This compelling account of Rockwell’s career, viewed from the perspective of the models he used for his work, exposed a side of the artist I had never been aware of. Petrick has clearly done her research, adding an invaluable dimension to our knowledge of one of America’s artistic icons. Knowing his views on civil rights and equality makes me appreciate his work all the more, and his battles with ‘the suits’ who make editorial decisions makes the battles most of us freelancers fight pale by comparisonMy only complaint about this wonderful volume is that it didn’t contain more Rockwell illustrations.

[carolee888 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

have always loved Norman Rockwell for his Saturday Evening Post Covers bur now I love him even more. Hidden in Plain Sight, the Other People in Norman Rockwell’s America by Jane Allen Patrick was a well-researched book with illustrations. Jane Allen Patrick had been one of the people depicted in his paintings. She didn’t start out with the theme of the book; it just started shining through while she was doing interviews with other Rothwell models. She found out that the painter slipped people of color into his paintings and she explored why he did.It was not because he wanted to be “right” it was because he was very committed to racial equality. He fought against the statements that his bigoted brother made. He was upset by the editor-in-chief at Saturday Evening Post. George Horace Loriner, the editor did not want include people of color so Norman Rockwell started to sneak them in the paintings. George Lorimar even had some of the submissions destroyed. He put a black Boy Scout in their annual calendar and the boy, Isaac Crawford was the beginning of the integration of the Boy Scouts.I enjoyed this well researched book and was very glad to learn more about Normal Rockwell’s personal life. I highly recommend this book to all who love his paintings.I received this book as a win from Library Thing and that in no way influenced my thoughts or feelings in this review

[jim_sipe-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a delightful book, I was quite surprised as it was not what I had expected. I believe the author did a good job of conveying the history behind some of Rockwell's pictures. I was disappointed in the lack of showing the picture that was behind the various stories. Perhaps there were copyright issues that prevented this. I would recommend this book to others.

[valerieandbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Most people are familiar with Norman Rockwell and his works. Until his death in 1978, Rockwell was considered an messenger of Americana -- boy scouts, families sitting around for Thanksgiving dinner, little boys getting haircuts, and so forth. Author Jane Allen Petrick tells us that Rockwell attempted to represent America for what it really is and was: a multicultural country, but that many of his attempts met with resistance and some works were not even published as had been intended. He left the Saturday Evening Post in part because of their policy against African-Americans being represented beyond porters, busboys, etc in his illustrations. When he joined Look magazine, his first illustrated work for that magazine was "The Problem We all Live With" in 1964. This relatively well-known piece shows a little African-American girl being escorted by federal marshalls on her way to school -- this painting represents the issue of desegretation in a very powerful way. Rockwell's other attempts to incorporate multiculturalism or to expose racial inequality often were met with resistance (such as not being used for its intended purpose) or with indifference ("hidden in plain sight", as Petrick puts it).I was not aware of this facet of Rockwell and of the works discussed in this book (except for "The Problem We all Live With") until reading Petrick's work, and I thank her for bringing this to our attention. This book would have had more impact if there were more inclusion of the works discussed -- as it was, I had to google images as they were mentioned. This may have been a copyright issue, I do not know. Illustrations include photographs of African-American models that Rockwell used and of them today -- Petrick had talked with many of these models and included their perspectives, then and now. Although this book would have been stronger with more illustrations and additional documentation especially from Rockwell's perspective, it is worthy of attention. Petrick states near the end "there is so much more to do, so much more to tell" but that she had promised the tellers of these stories that she would share their stories immediately. Perhaps Petrick can expand and elaborate on these stories in a future edition or an additional volume.