Tracy Sugarman (1921-2013) - artist, author, film maker and civil rights activist - was born and raised in Syracuse, NY, and studied art at Syracuse University where he met his wife, June. After serving in the U.S. Navy, and participating in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, an experience he documented in letters and sketches home to his wife, he settled in Westport, CT in 1950. Sugarman became a beloved member of the local community of artists, and remained in Westport for over 60 years until his passing at the age of 91.
A prolific illustrator, Sugarman chronicled post-war America through his sharply-observed, energetic sketches and watercolors. His drawings appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, Colliers Magazine, and Forbes among other national publications. He illustrated hundreds of children's books, and nurtured new generations of artists as a generous mentor. A life-long advocate for social justice, he participated in the Freedom Summer project in the 1960's, traveling to Mississippi to cover the struggle for voting rights as an artist-reporter. He published two illustrated memoirs and a novel about this experience, and his drawings from that era have been featured in numerous documentaries, exhibitions, and publications. Continue reading from Connecticut Collections
Tracy A. Sugarman Collection (US Library of Congress)
Artist, Author Tracy Sugarman Dies at 91 (Westport News)
Tracy Sugarman Drawings: Freedom Summer (PBS American Experience)
Out of the Woods: Testimonial to a Friend who Walked the Walk (Westport News)
Tracy Sugarman’s Mississippi Summer (06880)
Mississippi 1964: Tracy Sugarman and the Freedom Summer Project (CT Collections)
Remembering D-Day, And Tracy Sugarman (06880)
Activists, Artists & Educators (Westport Museum for History & Culture)
#VeteranOfTheDay Navy Veteran Tracy A. Sugarman (US Office of Veterans Affairs News)
Tracy A. Sugarman Art Collection (Westport Public Art Collection)
