When Ernie Barnes was growing up in North Carolina in the 1940s, he loved to draw. Even after he played with his friends, he would draw in the mud with a stick. And he never left home without a sketchbook. He would draw the junk man, families walking home from church, or the old man on the sofa. He drew what he saw. But in the segregated South, Ernie didn't know how to make a living as an artist. Ernie grew tall and athletic and became a football star. Soon enough the colleges came calling. Still, in his heart Ernie longed to paint. Would that day ever come? Ernie Barnes was one of the most important artists of his time, known for his style of elongation and movement. His work has influenced a generation of painters and illustrators and can be found in collections and museums such as the California African American Museum as well as the African American Museum in Philadelphia. -- From dust jacket.