Augusta Savage Road in Saugerties

This is the road to the house Augusta lived in when she left New York City. Here is the road sign that the community chose to replace the one that originally said “Nigger Road. (After a while one of the g’s was taken out to make the sign look like NIG ER Road). Augusta Savage was well-received in Saugerties when she came in the 1940s. However, she chose to spend most of her time tending her little farm, taking notes at a laboratory, and visiting with the neighbor children. She did about seven works of art in Saugerties but left the art world for the most part…while only in mid-life.

The Augusta Savage House is now on The National Register

Karlyn Knaust Elia and Dick Duncan purchased the house and are restoring it with tender loving care.

This was the home to which Augusta Savage retreated in Saugerties

Savage went here in her forties, possibly at the peak of her career. People asked “Why?’ She left her NYC apartment with electricity and plumbing to inhabit a house that used an outhouse and a pump at the sink.

Augusta Savage and her Fight to Show Blacks are Equal to Whites—1935

Mural at the Harlem Hospital-When Augusta was in charge of the WPA art program in the 1930s, her artists did murals for this community hospital. They had difficulty getting the mural approved, because it showed black people in professions, like the nurse and doctors.

At the Bed and Breakfast where my research began

The owner knew as much as could be known about Augusta Savage seeing as how she was born here about 125 years ago, and being the child of former slaves, no one anticipated that she would be famous someday.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and all he did for our country, I include a quote by him

“It is not possible to be in favor of justice for some people and not be in favor of justice for all people.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

Never Forget

My latest novel is a Young Adult novel about three teens. It is appropriate for ages twelve to eighteen. Look at https://neverforgetbook.tumblr.com where it can be read for free for now. If a teacher wishes to use it in class and wants a study guide, I can furnish it.

Overall, Never Forget is about how during one school year three teens from a suburban high school go through experiences together and learn lessons they will never forget. It’s a novel that teens can read for pleasure and schools can use to promote empathy for “the other”-any other teen who comes from a different social stratum from one’s own.

A high school English teacher is using the book with her class now.

For my new book, “Never Forget”

This is a lamassu from the Palace of Sargon II in Khorsbad. I viewed it at the Oriental Institute in Chicago. My newest book is a Young Adult story about the relationship among three teenagers at a local high school. Each one has a different problem. How each one resolves it is the crux of the book. Through an unexpected visit to the Oriental Institute, the three develop a passion to learn more about the history behind this forty thousand pound colossus. I wanted this to be a book about real teenagers and their interactions rather than the more common fantasy story of today.