The Coretta Scott King Award
*On this date in 1969, The Coretta Scott King Award is celebrated. This annual award is presented by the Coretta Scott King Book Award Round Table of the American Library Association (ALA).
Named for Coretta Scott King, this award recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African Americans that reflect the Black experience. It is given to both authors and illustrators for universal human values. The idea for the Coretta Scott King Award came from Glyndon Flynt Greer, an Englewood, New Jersey, school librarian.
At a meeting of the American Library Association in Atlantic City in 1969, Greer, librarian Mabel McKissick, and publisher John M. Carroll lamented the lack of recognition for nonwhite writers. No nonwhite person had won either the Newbery or Caldecott Medals then. Before the conference ended, a group of Black librarians had formed to promote the creation of a new award. Augusta Braxton Baker, Charlemae Hill Rollins, and Virginia Lacy Jones were among them.
The award's name was intentionally chosen to honor and commemorate Coretta Scott King's dedication to making the world a place that welcomes all people. The first Coretta Scott King Award went to Lillie Patterson, a librarian in Baltimore, for her elementary-level biography Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace. In 1974, the award was expanded to honor illustrators and authors. Starting in 1978, runner-up Author Honor Books have been recognized. Recognition of runner-up Illustrator Honor Books began in 1981.
In addition, the Coretta Scott King Awards committee has given the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, starting in 2010 and beginning in 1996, an occasional John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Like the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, the Coretta Scott King Awards have the potential to be used in classroom teaching and projects.
