Infinite Hope: A Black Artist's Journey from World War II to Peace by Ashley Bryan (review)

Author/illustrator Ashley Bryan is a multi-award-winning legend of youth literature, and here he turns his gaze to his own past, specifically his experiences in World War II, in a narrative comprising his selected letters (helpfully transcribed in adjoining print paragraphs) and artwork from the period, linked with some connecting explanation. The nineteen-year-old New Yorker, already a keen artist, was studying at Cooper Union when he was conscripted and assigned to the 502nd Port Battalion in the all-Black Company C and became a winch operator ("I didn't even know what a winch was"). Army service took him to Boston, then Scotland, and then France on D-Day and afterwards. Throughout, he grapples with the poisonously persistent discrimination in the U.S. military, makes friendly contacts with locals, and creates art (his comrades would say, "Let us do that, Ashley, you go and draw!"), even attending the Glasgow School of Art while stationed there. It's a fascinating nontraditional narrative that gives penetrating glimpses of the army experience while matter-of-factly leaving some questions unanswered (the book never explains the identity of his long-term correspondent Eva, for instance, leaving her a delicious mystery for readers). Clever use of added period photographs helps complement Bryan's freewheeling sketches and moody paintings, making for arresting visuals in this very personal take on war from a man who was inspired by his experience to study peace. Sources and a link to Bryan's discussion of his World War II exhibit are included, as is an index.