Mildred D. Taylor

Mildred D. Taylor
Born Mildred DeLois Taylor
(1943-09-13) September 13, 1943
Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Ethnicity African American
Education University of Toledo (1965)[1]
Genre Children's literature
Notable works Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Notable awards Newbery Medal
1977

Mildred DeLois Taylor (born September 13, 1943) is an African-American writer known for her works exploring the struggle faced by African-American families in the Deep South.

Taylor was born in Jackson, Mississippi, but lived there only a short amount of time, then moved to Toledo, Ohio, where she spent most of her childhood. She now lives in Colorado with her daughter. Taylor has expressed her views on the Great Depression as an economical crisis, as well as slavery.

Many of her works are based on stories of her family that she heard while growing up. She has stated that these anecdotes became very clear in her mind, and in fact, once she realized that adults talked about the past, "I began to visualize all the family who had once known the land, and I felt as if I knew them, too ..."[2] Taylor has talked about how much history was in the stories; some stories took place during times of slavery and some post-slavery.

Taylor's most famous book is Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. In 1977, the book won the Newbery Medal. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is the middle book, chronologically, in the Logans series that also includes titles such as The Land, Song of the Trees, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, and The Road to Memphis.[3] Her collective contributions to children's literature resulted in her being awarded the inaugural NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature in 2003.[4]

Works

Awards

Body of Work

Song of the Trees

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Let the Circle Be Unbroken

The Friendship

The Gold Cadillac

The Road to Memphis

Mississippi Bridge

The Well: David's Story

The Land

References

  1. ↑ The Mississippi Writers Page: "Mildred D.Taylor" at University of Mississippi
  2. ↑ "Acceptance of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for The Friendship". The Horn Book Magazine. March 1989. pp. 179–80.
  3. ↑ "Logans series" at Goodreads.
  4. ↑ "My life as a writer. (Mildred D. Taylor)". World Literature Today. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 12 April 2014. (subscription required (help)).
  5. ↑ "2003 – Mildred D. Taylor". The Neustadt Prize. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
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