MY HEROES, MY PEOPLE

Self-taught painter Monceaux (Jazz: My Music, My People, 1994) follows up his first book with this collection of African- American and Native American figures from the American West. He has, again, created his own form for historical and biographical portraiture, combining individual profiles and textual elements into a visually stirring montage. As with Faith Ringgold’s story quilts, this primitive style incorporates collage (bits of buttons, bells, ribbons, lace, feathers), and crowns each figure with hastily scribbled biographical notes. The legendary Pocahontas, Geronimo, and Bill Pickett appear alongside lesser-known people who were cowboys, marshals, soldiers, lawyers, artists, nurses, outlaws, and stagecoach drivers of the Old West. Arranged in loose categories (“Fur Trade,” “Buffalo Soldiers,” “Women,” etc.), the portraits are accompanied by brief biographical sketches that tantalize readers, and leave them wanting to know more. To that end, extensive notes on sources and further reading is included. (Nonfiction. 10+)