Born March 8, Mel Watkins is an author, critic and a former staff member of the New York Times. He is known for this book, Stepin Fetchit, the Life and Times of Lincoln Perry. He has written a book about comedy, On the Real Side and his memoir, Dancing with Strangers.
Born March 3, Lawrence Dunbar Reddick was an African American historian, professor, and author of the first biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Born March 1, Ralph Ellison wrote the classic novel, Invisible Man. He also wrote other books and a few were published posthumously.
Born February 27, Dr. Samella Lewis was known as the “Godmother of African American Art.” She was an artist, art historian and scholar. A few of her books:
Born February 25, George Schuyler was American writer, journalist, and social commentary. He was known for the book, Black No More.
Sadeqa Johnson came to Detroit Public Library to talk about her book, Keeper of the Lost Children. The story is centered around three characters who are somehow connected to an orphanage in Germany. History is interwoven as the readers learn about an orphanage that took care of mixed race children (white German women, African American men officers) in occupied Germany. In her talk, Ms. Johnson mentioned a documentary film titled Brown Babies which tells the stories of unwanted biracial and bicultural children.
W.E.B. Du Bois is another author born on February 23. Author of the classic, The Souls of Black Folk, Dr. Du Bois continued writing many more books on African Americans. Read more about this scholarly professor, writer, and civil rights activist here.
Read about Kevin Johnson’s writing process and pathway to publishing here.
Also born on February 23, Claude Brown, author of the classic Manchild in the Promised Land. He passed away in 2002. Before his death, he wrote three more books. Read more about this author here.
Read about Ebony Lynn Mudd’s journey of writing and publishing here.
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