The Renfrow Story

When I started to think about doing this book, it was finding an illustrator that loomed as the biggest challenge. I wasn’t even sure where to start. So like many Grinnell alumni, I posted about it in the alumni Facebook group asking for advice. Among the responses was one who said they had a housemate that was a great illustrator, a Black woman especially interested in doing stories about Black history. That is how I connected with the wonderful and talented Erica L. Butler.

After a few conversations it was clear that this was going to work out really well. She was excited about the story and soon sent a few sample illustrations based on what I had told her.

I felt sure she had the talent to make this story come alive. Now I just had to figure out a way to pay the commission for her to do the book. The main driving force behind using Kickstarter is that it is the fastest way to raise funds so she can give her full focus to this project.

Then there is working with her on the details. She lives in Seattle so we’ve been doing video calls. This is great as it gives the option for me to share my screen as we talk through things. One of the first steps was for me to draft out what I had in mind for the page layout. I spent several nights working on this using some graph paper I had around the house. So on our next call we were able to talk through it page by page.

I’m sending her photos and images to use as she takes my scribbles and turns them into art. This is what she did with the opening page, using the image of Edith at 105, when she received her honorary degree, and the input I gave her about how I envisioned using the typeface to highlight aspects of the text.

Last Saturday, when I was with Edith and Alice, we did a video call to Erica so she could meet them and talk about various aspects of the illustrations. From the moment I pulled out her sample images, Edith and Alice were immediately buzzing with details about hair (“our hair was always pulled back”) and clothes (“we never had anything fancy like bows, we were too poor”). It was a whirlwind conversation that was delightful and inspiring and overwhelming – and Erica said she loved it and spent the rest of the day sketching! She is now in contact with Alice so she can ask for input and feedback as she pulls together the initial page layout.

This is a dream project for both of us. It is an honor to be entrusted with telling Edith’s story.

We talked last night about timelines and when we think this might all be finished. I have been using January 2024 as the target goal for getting the book into people’s hands, because I want us to have the time we need to do it right. But if we don’t run into complications, our hope is to have it ready much earlier than that.

Edith will turn 109 on July 14th, so there’s no time to waste!