(born 1943), African American author. Drawing upon her own experiences and those of family members, Mildred Taylor created several books of historical fiction for children that offer realistic portraits of black families in the mid-1900s. Taylor was born on Sept. 13, 1943, in Jackson, Miss., but her family moved to Toledo, Ohio, when she was 3 months old. She grew up hearing her father and other family members tell stories about ancestors. These accounts of people who kept their dignity and spirit in the face of slavery and other injustices contrasted with the limited, often bland, information presented in her textbooks, and she vowed to find a way to present a richer portrait of African American life. After receiving a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Toledo in 1965, Taylor worked with the Peace Corps in Ethiopia and then went to the University of Colorado to earn a master's degree in journalism. While attempting to establish a writing career, she worked as a study-skills coordinator in a black education program that she helped design. Taylor was first published after winning a contest sponsored by the Council on Interracial Books for Children. ‘Song of the Trees' (1975) introduced the Logans—a loving, strong, African American family living in Mississippi in the 1930s. She continued their struggle for courage in the face of racial adversity in ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry' (1976), which won the Newbery Medal in 1977 and was a finalist for the National Book Award. The novel was adapted into a television miniseries in 1978. Taylor's next three publications about the Logan family, ‘Let the Circle Be Unbroken' (1981), ‘The Friendship' (1987), and ‘The Road to Memphis' (1990), all earned the Coretta Scott King Award. Although most of the Logan family stories are told from the perspective of willful daughter Cassie, ‘Mississippi Bridge' (1990) is told from the point of view of Jeremy Simms, a white character introduced in earlier books. Several of Taylor's novels were honored by The New York Times, including ‘The Gold Cadillac' (1987), a story about a 1950s family facing racism as they travel from Ohio to Mississippi to visit relatives. The book was inspired by the author's own recollections of traveling back roads to avoid encountering racist police officers and of the family packing their own food for the journey because they were not welcome in Southern restaurants. |