Make Your Mark: The Empowering True Story of the First Known Black Female Tattoo Artist

by Jacci Gresham, Sherry Fellores, David Wilkerson (Illustrator)

Overview

A picture book biography celebrating the first known Black female tattoo artist in the U.S., Jacci Gresham, co-authored by Jacci herself, and with stylish, accessible artwork by David Wilkerson

How to make your mark?
Express yourself: From coloring outside the lines to creating her own clothes, expressing herself through art made Jacci Gresham feel confident.
Keep an open mind: When Jacci started out, women getting tattooed was considered distasteful. Women giving tattoos was unheard of. And a Black woman tattoo artist? Jacci was the first.
Practice every day: Jacci studied her craft. She developed new inking techniques for Black and brown skin. And she welcomed everyone into her New Orleans shop, including women of every color, shape, and size.
Stand up for what you believe: From art class to artist, Jacci Gresham pushed boundaries, and she never took no for an answer. Jacci made her mark. How will you make yours?

“Part autobiography, part advice book . . . Inspiring." —Booklist
"Informative and inspirational." —Kirkus

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593618363
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	01/14/2025
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD730L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Flint, Michigan, native Jacci Gresham is the first known Black female tattoo shop owner in the United States. Her shop, located in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter, was Louisiana’s oldest continuous tattoo business. Jacci’s been featured in Inked, Medium, and AOL Finance, and has designed tattoos for celebrities like Tim McGraw, Lil Wayne, and Alicia Keys. How to Make Your Mark, which chronicles her art, life, and community activism, is her debut children’s book.

Sherry Fellores is the debut author of How to Make Your Mark, in collaboration with the legendary Jacci Gresham, America’s first known Black female tattoo artist. She is drawn to untold stories about regular, everyday people doing extraordinary things and how they serve in their communities. Sherry writes about family, schools, blue collar workers. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her great big family.

David Wilkerson is an American illustrator who was born in Denver, CO, and is currently based in Maryland. David developed a love for illustration during his time at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He believes that creation itself is what we live in, and he’s spent the last 20+ years creating the most authentic version of himself as possible.

Editorial Reviews

Part autobiography, part advice book, this picture book [shows how] Gresham challenged and changed the perceptions regarding women and tattoos . . . Vibrant and colorful, [this is] an inspiring story of a formidable woman changing the world through her art. —Booklist

"Retracing her artistic development, from her rejection of an elementary school art teacher’s instruction to 'stay in the lines' to her determined quests for just the right inks, colors, and designs for dark skin, [Jacci Gresham concludes her story,] “This is how I make my mark" . . . “How will you make yours?” Informative and inspirational." —Kirkus

From the Publisher

2024-09-14
A tattoo artist reflects on her personal journey and her adopted community.

Staking out a claim to be “America’s very first female African American tattoo artist,” Gresham starts off her tale by spotlighting the peace symbol she drew on her arm in black marker as a child inspired by watching Civil Rights protests on TV. She covers her later move to New Orleans, where she opened a tattoo studio and became a welcoming neighborhood presence both before and after Hurricane Katrina. Retracing her artistic development, from her rejection of an elementary school art teacher’s instruction to “stay in the lines” to her determined quests for just the right inks, colors, and designs for dark skin, she provides plenty of generally applicable advice: “Stray outside the lines.” “Follow your heart.” “Do what scares you.” “There will be storms, but never give up!” Wilkerson goes more for evocative glimpses than exact reproductions of Gresham’s work (the backmatter includes one close-up photo), offering instead views of her hunched over drawings and drawing boards, at work in her shop, arguing with an early business partner when he announces that tattooing women is “distasteful,” and, after remarking on the “vibrancy, rhythm, and style” of her community, waving from her door to customers and passersby broadly diverse of age, skin color, and body type. “This is how I make my mark,” she concludes. “How will you make yours?”

Informative and inspirational.(Picture-book memoir. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews