Myrtle Sheldon
*Myrtle Sheldon was born on this date in 1886. She was a Black illustrator of children’s books. She was born in Menomonee, Waukesha, Wisconsin, and illustrated many children's books, some without attribution at the time of publication.
Those publicly credited include A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, Ellen Tarry's Janie Belle, and the 1932 Newbery Honor-winning children's book Boy of the South Seas by Eunice Tietjens. Tarry’s work was particularly notable, as Janie Belle was one of the first children’s picture books with a Black author published in the United States.
Actress Kathy Bates listed the Stevenson book as one of her favorites and lauded Sheldon's drawings. Myrtle Sheldon, an active literature contributor during the Harlem Renaissance, died on February 14, 1941.
