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     Walter Dean Myers is one of my favorite authors from my childhood. His compelling storytelling ability is mindblowing. I'd stay hooked in his books for days and gave them my undivided attention! The realism of his stories inspired me to write urban fiction. Walter Dean Myers was born in Martinsburg, Virginia. His mother passed away when he was very young and he was raised in Harlem by Herbert and Florence Dean with his older brother. Walter Dean Myers struggled with his speech as a kid, but was an avid reader. A high school teacher encouraged him to continue writing outside of school. However, he dropped out of school and joined the army at 17. In the army he started writing short stories and eventually wrote for a men's magazine. He felt encouraged to write about his life and experiences after coming across a short story by James Baldwin. He said he felt like that gave him permission to express his life stories through writing. A lot of his books have won awards and are

    I've been trying to hold off from doing extremely well known writers, but it didn't feel right leaving Maya Angelou out. Maya Angelou had a traumatic childhood and was originally from St. Louis. Education was really important to her and she was able to win a scholarship eventually to a performing arts school in San Francisco, CA. She began touring and performing until she put out an album called, "Miss Calypso".  As she continued her career, she won a Tony award and an Emmy award. Outside of the performing arts, Maya Angelou dedicated her time being a civil rights activists and writing a plethora of poetry and autobiographies that have been enjoyed for years. Her poem, " Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die" was nominated for a Pulitzer prize. Maya Angelou, even was in the process of forming an unity  organization for African Americans with Malcolm X before his passing. Maya Angelou even helped raise money to help Martin Luther King with

    Nella Larsen was a writer during the Harlem Renaissance. Not only was she a writer, but she also was a nurse and children's librarian. This hit home with me because both are careers I'm highly interested in! However before I digress, Nella Larsen had a Danish mother and a West Indian father. She lived in Denmark for some time, but ultimately built a life for herself in New York. Larsen was also married to a physics professor for awhile. The books she wrote would usually be about bi-racial women navigating through the world of marriage , culture, and the daily struggles that women face. It's noted that Nella Larsen won a Guggenheim Fellowship award. This is a grant award for exhibiting exceptional creativity in arts. Although after winning Larsen never published anything else. Her two novels published are Quicksand and Passing. Source: Britannica

    Eldridge Cleaver was a determined activist and author. Cleaver was an important part of the Muslim Separatist party and eventually a vital part of the Black Panther Party. Cleaver was from Arkansas and had quite a few delinquency issues earlier in his life. He got arrested often for violence and possession of drugs. Racism in America turned him into a savage. Upon meeting Malcolm X, he became a information minister for the Black Panthers. He's highly known for a famous shootout with the cops that led to him skipping town and leaving the country. During this time a famous series of essays were written by him called "Soul on Ice".  This featured a lot of gory crimes that were written about blatantly. Like so many other writers I've written about, he got caught up in the likes of Communism once in Cuba and Algeria. Life only worsened as Cleaver suffered mental issues and a lot of dissensions. He came back to the US surrendering to the FBI and luckily got his charges

“When I discover who I am, I'll be free.” -   Ralph Ellison     Invisible Man is a very well known book. I finally stumbled across this book when I was 18 even though I had heard many stories about it. Invisible Man was on the best-seller list for at least 16 weeks and won a National Book Award.  After reading it, I understood exactly why. It was more than a compelling story touching on racial tension. It was a story that tugs on your soul and causes you to evaluate life as you think you know it. Although it was written in the  1950's, so many themes in this story are still relevant. Ralph Ellison wrote this praise-worthy book. Ellison was from Oklahoma City and had a passion for music. Ralph Ellison pursued his music career and attended Tuskegee. Needing to earn money to help pay for his music career, Ellison traveled to New York, never having the opportunity to return to Tuskegee. While in New York, he even met  Richard Wright. Ellison didn't finish his music career thou

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."- James Baldwin     Today, I'm going to be discussing an intelligent writer from Harlem, New York. James Baldwin was raised in a family with financial hardship, but this didn't get in the way of him becoming a prominent author, playwriter, poet, etc. At the age of 16, Baldwin was a preacher and wrote his first autobiography, Go Tell It on the Mountain. After high school he worked different jobs to try to get by but eventually moved away to Paris. In Paris, he continued his writing journey  and explored taboo topics at the time about being in love with a man and a woman at the same time. His writing also discussed racial tensions and sexual exploration. One of his essays was featured in the New Yorker Magazine about the Muslim separatist movement and gained extreme notoriety. Baldwin turned the article into a book and it became a best seller. In addition to his success as an a

    Ida B. Wells was a determined journalist and a social justice fighter.  Growing up in the south during the era of prominent slavery and injustice she was born a slave in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Ida B. Wells valued the power of education and her parents were very politically involved in social justice work after the Civil War took place.  A tragedy took her parents and one of her siblings early and she had to work as a teacher to take care of herself and surviving siblings. Captivated by the unfair racial practice of lynching, Wells started pushing informational pamphlets and newspaper articles on hate crimes for the public to see. This caused her to be a target and her printing press was burned down causing her to relocate to Chicago. In Chicago, she married a prominent lawyer and joined other activists that protested for equality. Ida B. Wells even stood up against other social groups ignoring African American inequalities at that time. Outside of her journalism, she spent her

    Zora Neale Hurston was an anthropologist and writer.  Hurston was from Alabama and often wrote about what life was like in the South. Both of her parents were slaves at one time but they moved to Eatonville, Florida. Hurston graduated high school and went to Howard for college. While in school Zora was able to create a school newspaper. She later went to Bernard College and got her BA in anthropology. When she was in New York attending Bernard College she met  two other writers,  Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. They were all apart of the Black Renaissance. Hurston was really dedicated to studying black culture outside of writing. She traveled and studied different culture in places like Jamaica and Haiti. It was noted that  she utilized her research in some of her fictional work. One of her most popular books was Their Eyes Were Watching God.   Hurston also wrote short stories and plays. She often wrote narratives about black women and what their lives entailed. Some of her wo

    When I ran across Richard Wright's book, "Black Boy" I was in the eleventh grade. I didn't know much about the author. I just knew I was looking for black literature and the plot sounded really interesting. I enjoyed reading the autobiographical work. The book captivated me because it highlighted post slavery and sharecropping days for Wright and his family. Sometimes historical reads are slavery narratives but it was neat for me to read about Wright's struggles growing up in the South while dealing with the implications of having relatives being former slaves and sharecroppers. Living in the South myself, and seeing different issues dealing with systematic racism, I really enjoyed reading a different perspective. Wright had a short story published at 16 by an African American newspaper. Wright would get library books by using a white co workers library card due to the strict laws at the time. Wright later moved to Chicago frustrated with life in the south and

    Today is the start of Black History Month. I'd like to start the month off celebrating my favorite black author Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes poems would jump right off the page at me as I would read them in school. I always loved when we talked about his impact during the Renaissance. It was noted Langston Hughes didn't choose to write about typical topics that were popular at the time. Hughes preferred to write about the joys and lows of black culture and the richness behind it.  As with all progress though, it didn't come without criticism. A lot of other important writers didn't like his writing at the time because it wasn't following the plight of the other famous writers at the time. Sadly, division has caused a lot of issues in the black community. However, Langston Hughes was recorded as the first black American to ever earn a living from his writing career. This created an avenue for black writers to follow. I don't want to make this post too lo