Common Ground. The Story of the Cultural Center for Migrants in Freehold, New Jersey

Elizabeth, New Jersey/Cleveland, Ohio: Elizabeth Printing Service/National Consumers Committee for Research and Education, Inc, 1959. Very good +. 9” x 6”. Stapled wrappers. pp. Very good plus: minimal wear and light toning.

This book tells the story of the Freehold, New Jersey center for migratory farm workers and their families. It's notable because its author and illustrator were both African American women. Per the introduction, the author, Lenora B. Willette was

“a Southerner by birth [and she] first became interested in the plight of the migrants displaced from the plantations through the mechanization of cotton. Active in (truncated) civic affairs and in the Consumers League of New Jersey, she worked to secure the Migrant Labor Law and was appointed one of the five public members to the first Board by Governor Walter E. Edge. She was chosen to make a study of migrant education in the southern and western states as the official representative of the State. Her recommendations were used as a guide in setting up a school of education for children—the Freehold Summer School for Migrant Children; the first of its kind in the nation.”

Willette was the also the president of the New Jersey State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.

The artist was presumably Lenora's sister, Naida Willette Page, who contributed the cover art as well as two full page internal illustrations. Naida Willette Page initially studied engineering at Howard University before making national news in 1950 as the first African American to be trained at Johns Hopkins for medical illustration. She graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1951, later worked as the Howard University College of Medicine medical illustrator, and was the Art Director for the Journal of the National Medical Association where she often illustrated the covers that featured historic Black doctors. Several sources state that she's considered the first African American medical illustrator.

A terrific combination of female author and illustrator. OCLC locates 8 copies over two entries. (Inventory #: 8701)