James Daugherty

James Henry Daugherty (June 1, 1889 – February 21, 1974) was an American author and illustrator. Born in Asheville, North Carolina, he subsequently lived in Indiana, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., where he studied at the Corcoran School of Art. Later, he went to London and studied under Frank Brangwyn. [http://special.lib.umn.edu/findaid/xml/CLRC-122.xml] In 1940, his book "Daniel Boone" won the Newbery Medal. [http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal.htm] He was also the author of Walt Whitman's America Selections and Drawings by James Daugherty.

In September 2006, controversy erupted at Hamilton Avenue School, an elementary school in Greenwich, CT, over Daugherty's depiction of Bunker Hill hero and Connecticut native Israel Putnam in a mural commissioned by WPA and installed in the school in 1935. Restoration of the mural, blackened by years of neglect, revealed a scene filled with violent and richly-colored imagery, including snarling animals, tomahawk-wielding American Indians and a half-naked General Putnam strapped to a burning stake. School officials objected to the violent imagery and ordered the mural removed.

References

* [http://special.lib.umn.edu/findaid/xml/CLRC-122.xml Biographical Sketch] . University of Minnesota. Retrieved July 7, 2006.
* [http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal.htm Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922-Present] . American Library Association. Retrieved July 7, 2006.