James, Curtis E.

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James, Curtis E.

Personal

Male. Education: Pratt Institute, B.F.A., M.F.A (fine art).

Addresses

Office—210 W. 146th St., Ste. CB, New York, NY 10039. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Illustrator.

Awards, Honors

Silver Plate Award, U.S. House of Representatives; Albany Museum Purchase Award; Gold Key Award, Savannah College; Merit Award, Atlanta College of Arts; Outstanding Artist Award, Georgia State Board of Education.

Illustrator

Joyce Carol Thomas, editor, Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone: The Brown v. Board of Education Decision, Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 2003.

Doreen Rappaport, The School Is Not White!: A True Story of the Civil Rights Movement, Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 2005.

Doreen Rappaport, Freedom Ship, Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 2006.

Sidelights

Artist and illustrator Curtis E. James has created artwork for a variety of media and magazine companies, including E Entertainment, CNN, Essence, and Ebony. As an illustrator, James has also contributed artwork to children's books that focus on African-American history, such as the anthology Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone: The Brown v. Board of Education Decision and Doreen Rappaport's picture books The School Is Not White: A True Story of the Civil Rights Movement and Freedom Ship.

Freedom Ship is the story of Robert Smalls, a mulatto slave who abducted the Confederate steamership Planter in 1862. As the appointed pilot of the Planter, Smalls and his allies in the ship's crew seized the steamship and transported the enslaved black women and children aboard to freedom while also trading the ship and its ammunition to Union forces. Smalls eventually went on to serve several terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Hazel Rochman, reviewing Freedom Ship in Booklist, acknowledged James' "handsome illustrations" and his capability to portray Smalls' heroic story. The artwork for Freedom Ship was also recognized by Julie R. Ranelli, who in School Library Journal wrote that the book's "realistic chalk-pastel drawings" aptly capture "the secrecy of the families' nighttime escape, while the facial features and body language express urgency." A Kirkus Reviews critic commented that, "overall," the illustrations for Freedom Ship are "attractively designed."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 1, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone: The Brown v. Board of Education Decision, p. 658; February 1, 2005, John Green, review of The School Is Not White!: A True Story of the Civil Rights Movement, p. 976; October 1, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of Freedom Ship, p. 60.

Horn Book, July-August, 2005, Joanna Rudge Long, review of The School Is Not White!, p. 489.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2005, review of The School Is Not White!, p. 857; August 15, 2006, review of Freedom Ship, p. 850.

Publishers Weekly, December 8, 2003, review of Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone, p. 62; September 12, 2005, review of The School Is Not White!, p. 67.

School Library Journal, January, 2004, Kelly Czarnecki, review of Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone, p. 161; October, 2004, Mary N. Oluonyn, review of Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone, p. 68; September, 2005, Holly T. Sneeringer, review of The School Is Not White!, p. 195; November, 2006, Julie R. Ranelli, review of Freedom Ship, p. 108.