We Flew over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold

by Faith Ringgold

In We Flew over the Bridge , one of the country’s preeminent African American artists—and award-winning children’s book authors—shares the fascinating story of her life. Faith Ringgold’s artworks—startling “story quilts,” politically charged paintings, and more—hang in the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and other major museums around the world, as well as in the private collections of Maya Angelou, Bill Cosby, and Oprah Winfrey. Her children’s books, including the Caldecott Honor Book Tar Beach , have sold hundreds of thousands of copies. But Ringgold’s path to success has not been easy. In this gorgeously illustrated memoir, she looks back and shares the story of her struggles, growth, and triumphs. Ringgold recollects how she had to surmount a wall of prejudices as she worked to refine her artistic vision and raise a family. At the same time, the story she tells is one of warm family memories and sustaining friendships, community involvement, and hope for the future.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Feminism, Biography Memoir

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me how much I enjoy artist's biographys and focused art histories. My only quibble was that it was organized both thematically and chronology, so it was slightly repetitive and hard to follow in places. My favorite chapters dealt with the questions "Is there a Black Art?" and "Is there a Woman's Art?"

[Shawn Callon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This autobiography relates Faith Ringgold's upbringing in Harlem, NY and her development as an artist famous for her wide variety of creative media - posters, tankas, soft sculpture, dolls, live performances, story quilts and writing.
Her home life as a child was fairly strict. She married a jazz musician, Earl, when she was very young and gave birth to two girls in her first year of marriage. Their marriage was rocky and she left him due to his drug problem in 1954. She began teaching art in 1955 and struggled with the her daughters' rebellion; it appears that until this day they still have unresolved issues with her. She admits that she discovered in art some of the closeness she missed with her own daughters. Sad!
In the early 60's she changed her muddy colored, brushy painting style to more of an Impressionistic technique depicting flowers, trees and landscapes. In 1963 she started her 'Super Realism' period which was focused on the Civil Rights Movement. After rejections of her art by well-known black male performers, writers and artists she achieved her first gallery appearance in 1966 followed by her first one-person show in 1967. Between 1968 thru 1970 she spent a lot of her energy protesting MONA's exclusion of black artists from public display in their museum. She joined the women's movement and became a feminist in 1970. She was called a traitor by black males! She supported the Black Panther movement by producing posters allying herself with activists like Angela Davis. Her life comes across a constant struggle against not only against white privilege but also against black misogyny; as an art teacher at Wagner College she spoke out against the chauvinistic attitudes of black male students who had rich white girlfriends but who didn't stand up for their black sisters. In 1971 she created a black women's art group.
Faith used art to fight injustice, whether it came from white or black prejudice. She comes across as an outspoken activist for the black art movement. What is missing from this book is the sense of passion that she must have felt as she fought for her beliefs; her style of writing is unfortunately flat and matter-of-fact. This weakness in no way detracts from her art which is wonderfully displayed throughput her book.

[Martin Geiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up by chance, never having heard of Faith Ringgold, and I'm so glad I did. I found it both a lovely introduction to her incredibly varied art - everything from painting to dolls to performance art to "story-quilts" - and a compelling record of her life as a black woman and an artist whose life bridges the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. Clear accounts of her extraordinary mother, her difficult relationship with her daughters, and her attempts to create a life that made room for art mix with an exploration of her ever-widening circles of activism and advocacy for artists of color.

I did sometimes wish the book was structured in a more integrated way - having a chapter about her teaching, a chapter about her feminist work, etc. meant getting pulled around in time a lot. But this was really a minor quibble, and it reflects the complexity of her life well, as do the texts of her story quilts which she includes. She's spent her life telling stories and listening to them told, and it shows.

[Lisa-Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an autobiography by Faith Ringgold, the accomplished painter, quilter, and activist who came of age during the Harlem Rennaissance and inspired generations. Faith Ringgold died last year at the age of 93; I always admired her quilts, especially her story quilts, which hang in famous museums around the world. I wanted to know more about her personal history and the backstory of her art.
Ringgold wrote this book in an impressionistic way; it is not a chronological story but one of themes and motivations. “Once I had made the commitment I never for one moment doubted my ability to become an artist. I soon became competitive with the best of the art students at City College…Now all eyes were on me and I intended to have my aspirations as a painter taken seriously.” Ringgold bravely attended City College in 1948 when Black students were rare there. She received both an undergraduate and graduate degree and taught high school art in NYC to support herself for many years. She fought barriers and prejudices daily but persevered through decades of her own reinvention.
You may recognize some of her 17 well-known illustrated children’s books – Tar Beach, Bronzeville Boys and Girls (with Gwendolyn Brooks), The Invisible Princess. Ringgold’s artistic style is one-of-a-kind using extremely bright color combinations, mystical skies and cityscapes, and beautifully wrought people who are dancing or flying or gathering. The quilts contain written words and pictures, as she had trouble getting her stories published. Her paintings often reflected her activism and contain stark images of flags, masks, and other symbols. At one point she went to jail for it.
“In New York (in the 1960s) I found it difficult to exhibit my work because of my figurative style, the political content, the lack of social connections to the art world, and also, because being Black and a woman was not as fashionable as the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Liberation Movement might suggest.” It is heart-wrenching to see her talent ignored. Ringgold is quite critical of herself along the way. Eventually she makes connections with an army of people who champion her work and spends part of her career teaching art at the university level.
The quilting and sewing aspects of her art are my favorites. Her mother was an accomplished seamstress and fashion designer who taught Faith at a young age. Textile art holds a special place in my heart. I reveled in her description of her “We Flew Across the Bridge” quilt: “Being on the roof and the stars all around her and the beautiful George Washington Bridge in the distance makes Cassie fantasize that she can fly over buildings and claim them as her own…Anyone can fly. All you have to do is have somewhere to go that you can’t get to any other way and the next thing you know, you’re flying among the stars.”

[Xanthe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew Faith Ringgold primarily as the author and illustrator of Tar Beach, the Newbery Award-winning children's book that is composed of quilt scenes from the of a family in Harlem. I read it as a kid myself and to my own children, and never really understood it, except vaguely as something to be admired, but not silly or approachable like so many of the other picture books that we read and reread. But recently, I've started reading more and more about folk art and quilting, seeing it taken seriously in the mainstream as an art form and also myself being drawn to certain pieces.

My ignorance is profound and all it took was one library in our system having Faith Ringgold's memoirs for me to pound that Hold button. I read it slowly, and it was definitely well overdue before I finished it. But I'm so glad I read it, and took the time to really linger. Ringgold's approach is a little frustrating at times, as each chapter was somewhat thematic, relating to her family or her art perhaps, and she would write herself out on that subject chronologically before jumping back in time for the beginning of her next chapter on teaching or travel. Which meant that often times she would tell you the end of her family members' stories before telling you the middle parts, explaining how they died before what they meant to her. But her descriptions of her mother and father, their life in 1930s Harlem, as a young mother and artist, and how she came to activism were all so engrossing and illuminating, showing me how she really experienced that time and place as a person, as black woman, that no articles or history books can rival. Such a great deep dive into the life of an artist and someone who thought deeply about what she was trying to accomplish with her art and life.

[Cassady Clover · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rich, playful and insightful exploration of the strained but indestructible bonds between four pioneering Black women across three generational divides. I particularly adored the chapter on Ringgold’s mother (‘an unsung pioneer of Black fashion’ in the 1950s), which I read on Mother’s Day. This chapter, hilariously called ‘My Mother Was Perfect! Or So She Said,’ was quite possibly the most heartfelt and endearing passage on motherhood I have ever read. It will make you want to give your own mother a hug immediately! The next day, I read the chapters on her daughters, Dorothy and the legendary feminist art critic Michelle Wallace, which were engaging, entertaining, and endlessly surprising! This is a truly is a wonderful text for anyone interested in Ringgold’s art (especially her signature story quilts), her contributions to the second wave feminist movement, and the conceptualisation of intersectional feminism. This also provides interesting context (or rather the “other side of the story”) for many of the writings of Michelle Wallace, such as ‘Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman.’ Most importantly, however, this book will make you want to love your mother (or maternal figures), daughters, and other women in your life more fully and see them the ways they want to be seen.

[Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading this book off and on for several months, following a wonderful Faith Ringgold exhibit at the De Young museum in San Francisco. I feel fortunate to have seen so many examples of her work in person and to have been able to follow up by reading this autobiography. As a retired children's librarian and a quilter, I have been a longtime admirer of her picture books and quilts and was happy to have expanded my knowledge.

[Georgia Rucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moving and illuminating. Faith Ringgold's story of her life in Harlem as an artist from the 30s through present day (with some stints elsewhere). Really visual details, accompanied by photos and artwork... so-so writing that maybe coulda used some editing. But hey - it's a memoir! And really tells the hard truth about how hard it is to make it as a female, and Black, artist.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was excited to find and read this book. While I was aware of her art I didn’t know the depth of her work or her life. I’m thankful that this artist was willing to share her personal story and her dedication to human rights through her art.

[Mary Newcomb]

I have had the privilege of seeing some of Ms Ringgold's textile art but had no idea of the rest of her art career. Nor was I aware of her activism. While this book could have benefited from a good editor, it was an interesting read.

[Eva Solano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Faith Ringgold: an icon & a legend

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

1995 This felt like Ringgold was really baring her soul as much as she could. Sharing all she could of what her family meant and means to her, all she went through to find her own directions in life, the struggles to get recognition for her artistic efforts, the rocky road of relationships. She is unusually candid about her relationship with her two daughters -- she raised them to be independent and so inevitable there were and are strains. Ringgold's mother was an equally strong personality and they stayed close all the way through, with the mother [a fashion designer and expert seamstress] collaborating on quite a few of the art projects. Their relationship too was a rocky and complex one which Ringgold describes as well as she can.

Ringgold seems determined to share her experiences and learnings about life and about artistic endeavors, to help others along their way.

She must be a very dynamic person. She forged ahead, trying on for size all kinds of artistic mediums and expressions, networking with anybody she could. Didn't let disappointments stop her.

32 pages of color illustr and more B/W. Her quilts are truly amazing. It seems although the edges are textile, the central parts are usually acrylic on canvas, so they could be thought of as paintings with textile frames.

Ringgold was born in 1930.

[Cara Byrne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Ringgold's autobiography, as it provides a detailed examination of her life, complete with pictures and photographs of her family and her artwork. I agree with other readers that the strongest chapters (for me) were when she discussed the black arts movement and her discussion of what it means to be a black woman artist during the twentieth century. I also love how she described her composition of children's books. In describing African American children's literature, she states: “These children’s books seek to explain to children some of the hard facts of slavery and racial prejudice, issues that are difficult but crucial to their education. But my books are even more about children having dreams, and instilling in them a belief that they can change things” (261).

[Carole Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love quilts and I became familiar with Faith Ringgold's life through the books she wrote for children. I taught elementary school and had her books in my classroom library. Later I saw and became familiar with her story quilts. Her quilts and puppets all reflect the culture of Afro-Americans in the U.S.A. What I didn't know was Faith's development as an artist and the problems she faced in her personal life. The amazing part is that she didn't give up, but persisted in the vision of the story of our lives through the people and places of importance to Afro-American culture. Faith lived a long life, 1930-2024. There is an episode of Craft in America that features Faith and her quilts. I was lucky to have seen some of her quilts on display.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the work of Faith Ringgold and making African American history available to kids