The Late Artist Winfred Rembert’s New Memoir Documents Life Growing Up In Jim Crow South

Few of us can imagine the hellish reality of life for Black Americans in the 20th century’s South, in poverty, indentured servitude, and the constant targeting and oppression over decades that followed slavery. The life of the painter and leatherworker Winfred Rembert contained such shocking tales of brutality that the artist’s reluctance to share his story with the world lasted until just a few years before his passing in March of 2021. Erin I. Kelly co-authored the book “Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South,” built on more than two years of interviews with Rembert and his wife, Patsy. The memoir brings to life the heartbreaking struggles and astonishing resilience of the artist as he endured a childhood without his birth mother or much education, cruel beatings as an adult, and a daring escape from jail only to be nearly lynched and returned to prison. It also shares the sweeter moments of meeting his wife and starting a new life with her in New Haven, Connecticut, where his artwork eventually met national recognition. Erin I. Kelly and widow Patsy Rembert joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes to talk about this extraordinary artist, and the sense of beauty he kept alive through so many years of pain.

Interview highlights:

Rembert’s early days of loss and deprivation: