So far all of the Notable MIssourians I've illustrated have been very interesting, but there's something about Sam Nightingale (Guinea Sam) that really drew me in. Sam's complex story begins with bondage and ends with him helping to heal others. Okay so he may have occasionally hexed people too, but people should know better than to cross a hoodoo conjuror. Anyways, here's a guy that is long dead and gone and there is no photo of him and not a lot of first hand written record yet the stories of him persist. The man to this day oozes a spooky charisma. We should all be so lucky to ooze such things.

This illustration shows Sam as a boy having been captured by slave traders and marched to a slaver ship in his native country of Guinea.

(All Notable Missourian illustrations are for Truman State University Press.)