The well-known author retells 24 black American folk tales in sure storytelling voice: animal tales, supernatural tales, fanciful and cautionary tales, and slave tales of freedom.
Born of the sorrow of the slaves, but passed on
in hope.
Virginia Hamilton, storyteller, lecturer, and biographer, was born and
raised in Yellow Springs, OH, which is said to be a station on the
Underground Railroad. Her grandfather settled in the village after
escaping slavery in Virginia. She was educated at Antioch College and
Ohio State University and did further study in literature and the novel
at the New School for Social Research. Virginia was the first African
American woman to win the Newbery Award, for M.C. Higgins the
Great. Since then, she has won three Newbery Honors and three Coretta
Scott King Awards.
