The Renfrow Story

I love this illustration. It’s how Erica and I envisioned life feeling in the Renfrow home when Edith was little. I especially love Rudy playing trombone (which he really did but which Edith never liked). The busy house, full of family, everyone doing something. But we were wrong. The Renfrow house would never have had this kind of scene, says Edith. Her older siblings were never around when she was little, at least not all at the same time like this. With six years between her and next oldest, by the time she and Paul were playing on the carpet her siblings were mostly out of the house. Her sisters all worked in service for other families in town. Rudy had been sent to Hampton at age 14 because Edith’s mother was not happy with his options or how he was being treated in Grinnell.

Last night Erica and I had a long conversation with Edith’s daughter, Alice, about the illustrations. While we have been sharing with them as we go, mostly we’ve been sharing after the images were put together. That was a mistake on my part. There are details and nuances that it is impossible for me to know and, therefore, impossible for Erica to accurately illustrate.

So when Edith saw the most recent pictures she saw all the things we had gotten wrong. The dresses were too fancy and not the right style. The men and boys hair was too long (they kept their hair very, very short, almost shaved heads).

And when the Rosenwald Scholars came to dinner on Sundays, they never would have worn a sweater or sat around with their sleeves rolled up. And her older sisters and brother wouldn’t have all been there either – because they were all off working. She thinks maybe Helen would have come home, because she was closer to their age, but not all of them at the table. And everybody’s hair is too long!

It is an incredible blessing to still have Edith with us while we are working on this book. And we really, really want to have her able to hold it in her hands while she is still with us, hence the sense of urgency. I realize now that I have been thinking of this as doing this for Edith, when I should be doing it with Edith. It is her story and it can only be right if she is there every step of the way, along with her wonderful daughter Alice.

So from this point forward we will be doing multiple video calls with Alice each week to talk through the illustrations as Erica is working on them. It will change our process a bit, but it will ensure we get it right. Alice is fully on board and willing to tackle the technology challenges to make it happen.

And, if last night is any indication, it will be fun. We were talking about how to depict Edith playing sports in high school and what they would have worn. So Alice called her mom and asked. Bloomers! Black bloomers, and white tie up shoes. And socks with a black stripe. (She’s 109 and she remembers that the socks had a black stripe!)

As I have said before, it is an incredible blessing to be entrusted with telling Edith’s story. I know Erica feels the same way. Anything we can do to ensure we are telling it well and right is worth the effort.