Literature Black History Honors

If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison 

This week we will highlight writers for their accomplishments and awards.

Prose: The ordinary language people use in speaking or writing.  In 1760 Briton Hammon, an autobiographer became the first Black American writer of prose.  It was a fourteen-page document that was published in Boston.  It gave an account of his escape from slavery to become a free man.

These days everyone is writing a self-help book.  The first Black self-help book was written back in 1937 by Napoleon Hill; Dennis Kimbro republished it in 1991.  The book was entitled “Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice.”  This self-help sold 50,000 copies in two years.

The Newbery Medal: The American Library Association’s most prestigious award in American children’s books.  In 1975 Virginia Esther Hamilton became the first black to receive this honorary award.  The book titled “M. C. Higgins, the Great,” also won her the National Book Award later that year.

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” – Jack Kerouac