*Florence Curtis was born on September 30, 1873. She was a white-American library educator and teacher. Florence Rising Curtis was born in Ogdensburg, New York. Her father was General Newton Martin Curtis, and her mother was Emeline Clark Curtis. She attended Wells College from 1891 to 1894 and, in 1898, received a diploma from the […]
learn more*Virginia Lacy Jones was born on this date in 1912. She was a Black librarian and administrator. Virginia Lacy was born to Edward and Ellen Lacy in Cincinnati, Ohio. She spent much of her childhood in Clarksburg, West Virginia, in a family that was “poor, hardworking, proud, and ambitious.” Books and reading were always a […]
learn more*Eliza Atkins Gleason was born on this date in 1909. She was a Black librarian, university dean, and administrator. Eliza Valeria Atkins was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Simon Green Atkins and Olenona Pegram Atkins. Her parents were educators; her mother was a teacher, and her father was the founder and first president of […]
learn more*Lillie Patterson was born on May 3, 1917. She was a Black writer and school and college librarian. Lillie Griselda Patterson was from South Carolina. She grew up listening to her grandmother telling stories in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Patterson received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Hampton University in the 1940s and a […]
learn more*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. […]
learn moreDr. Rosilyn Carroll is a professor, education administrator, minister, and author. In this segment, she shares a few of her favorite books and three words that best describe her.
learn more*Adele Logan Alexander was born on this date in 1938. She is an author and Black professor of history. Born Adele Logan in New York City, she was an only child of Arthur C. Logan and Wenonah Bond and the only granddaughter of Educator Adela Hunt. Logan attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New […]
learn more*Samuel Greenlee was born on July 13, 1930. He was a Black writer of fiction and poetry. Samuel Eldred Greenlee, Jr., was born in Chicago, Illinois, to singer and dancer Desoree Alexander and railroad man and union activist Samuel Greenlee. He grew up in West Woodlawn, attended Englewood High School, and, in 1948, won a […]
learn more*Madeline W. Murphy was born on October 24, 1922. She was a Black writer and community activist. Madeline Wheeler was born in Boston and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. She was the second of three children of Arthur E. Wheeler, Sr., and Madeline (née Hall) Brooks. Murphy attended Wilmington public schools and graduated from Howard High […]
learn more*Dena Epstein was born on this date in 1916. She was a white Jewish-American music librarian, author, and musicologist. Dena Julia Polacheck was born in Milwaukee to William Polacheck and Hilda Satt. She studied music at the University of Chicago and library science at the University of Illinois, graduating in 1943. She worked as a […]
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