Photo from Georgia Center for the Book African American, Federal Writers’ Project, Literature Frank Yerby (1916-1991) Dr. Frank Yerby wrote 33 popular historical romance novels that challenged white conceptions of Southern history and culture. He was the first African American to have one of his novels adapted into a commercial movie. Earlier in his career, …
Photograph of Albert Murray, taken in his home in Harlem in the mid 90’s. Courtesy of John Abbott, www.johnabbottphoto.com African American, Cultural Theory, Literature Albert Murray (1916-2013) Albert Murray was a writer whose nonfiction addresses African Americans as essential Americans and whose novels synthesize original representations of African American folklore and oral history. He both …
Photo from the Boggs Center Chinese American, Cultural Theory, Philosophy, Activism Grace Lee Boggs (1915-2015) Dr. Grace Lee Boggs was a community builder, activist, and philosopher, whose actions and writings have been widely influential for organizers, academics, and artists invested in work and forging practices that transform society. Grace Chin Lee was given the name …
Images from The University of Texas at Austin Development Office, Dr. Lee-hsia Hsu Ting Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Information Studies Chinese American, Folklore, Narrative, Library Science Nai-tung Ting (1915-1989) Lee-hsia Hsu Ting (1923-2005) Dr. Nai-tung Ting and Dr. Lee-hsia Hsu Ting, were born and raised in China and their professional careers were based in the …
Women of courage : an exhibition of photographs based on the Black Women Oral History Project, by Judith Sedwick; sponsored by the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe College. [Cambridge, Mass.] : Radcliffe College, c1984. HOLLIS collection-level record: 007598802 African American, Federal Writers’ Project, Literature Margaret Walker Alexander …
Ralph Ellison, photographed in 1960 by a United States Information Agency staff photographer. NARA reference number 306-PSA-61-8989. African American, Federal Writers’ Project, Literature Ralph Ellison (1913-1994) Ralph Waldo Ellison worked as an interviewer and researcher in New York City’s Federal Writers’ Project, documenting African American urban history and folklore on his way to becoming an …
Photo by Gordon Parks African American, Documentary Photography, Film, Music Gordon Parks (1912-2006) Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was born the youngest of fifteen children in Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1912. His parents, Andrew Jackson Parks and Sarah Ross Parks, made a modest living through farming. After his mother’s death, Parks left home at age …
Photo provided to NEA in 2006 by Esther Martinez; used here courtesy of NEA Folk and Traditional Arts division. Native American (Tewa Pueblo), Linguistics, Education, Cultural Activism Esther Martinez (P’oe Tsáwa) (1912-2006) Esther Martinez was born in 1912 to parents who worked in the fields in Ignacio, Colorado. After she was five, her grandparents raised …
