Ellen Tarry
Encyclopedia
Ellen Tarry was an African-American author of literature for children and young adults. Tarry was the first African American picture book author. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama
. Although raised in the Congregational Church, she converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922. She attended Alabama State Normal School, now Alabama State University, and became a teacher in Birmingham. At the same time, she began writing a column for the local African-American newspaper entitled "Negroes of Note", which focused on racial injustice and promoted racial pride. In 1929, she moved to New York City in hope of becoming a writer. There she befriended such Harlem Renaissance
literary figures as Langston Hughes
, Claude McKay
and Countee Cullen
. She was the first "Negro Scholarship" recipient at the Bank Street College of Education
in New York City, where she met and became friends with Margaret Wise Brown
and was influenced by the "here and now" theory of picture book composition.
Tarry has published four picture books: 1940's Janie Belle (illustrated by Myrtle Sheldon), 1942's Hezekiah Horton (illustrated by Oliver Harrington), 1946's My Dog Rinty in collaboration with Caldecott Medal
winner Marie Hall Ets
(photographs by Alexander and Alexandra Alland), concerning a Harlem family and their mischievous pet, and 1950's The Runaway Elephant (again illustrated by Harrington), which continued the relationships started in Hezekiah Horton.
Tarry's The Third Door: The Autobiography of an American Negro Woman from 1955 tells of her life in the South, her migration to New York City, her friendship with McKay, and her deep commitment to Catholicism. Tarry was co-founder, along with Catherine Doherty
, of Harlem's Friendship House
, a Catholic outreach center promoting interracial friendship.
Tarry's biographies include Katherine Drexel: Friend of the Neglected, Pierre Toussaint: Apostle of Old New York, The Other Toussaint: A Post-Revolutionary Black, and Martin de Porres, Saint of the New World.
Tarry died on September 23, 2008, three days before her 102nd birthday. She had one daughter, Elizabeth Tarry Patton, from a brief marriage.
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
. Although raised in the Congregational Church, she converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922. She attended Alabama State Normal School, now Alabama State University, and became a teacher in Birmingham. At the same time, she began writing a column for the local African-American newspaper entitled "Negroes of Note", which focused on racial injustice and promoted racial pride. In 1929, she moved to New York City in hope of becoming a writer. There she befriended such Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...
literary figures as Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
, Claude McKay
Claude McKay
Claude McKay was a Jamaican-American writer and poet. He was a seminal figure in the Harlem Renaissance and wrote three novels: Home to Harlem , a best-seller which won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature, Banjo , and Banana Bottom...
and Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen was an American poet who was popular during the Harlem Renaissance.- Biography :Cullen was an American poet and a leading figure with Langston Hughes in the Harlem Renaissance. This 1920s artistic movement produced the first large body of work in the United States written by African...
. She was the first "Negro Scholarship" recipient at the Bank Street College of Education
Bank Street College of Education
Bank Street College of Education is located in Manhattan, New York City.-History:Bank Street was founded in 1916 by Lucy Sprague Mitchell as the "Bureau of Educational Experiments"....
in New York City, where she met and became friends with Margaret Wise Brown
Margaret Wise Brown
Margaret Wise Brown was a prolific American author of children's literature, including the books Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, both illustrated by Clement Hurd.-Biography:...
and was influenced by the "here and now" theory of picture book composition.
Tarry has published four picture books: 1940's Janie Belle (illustrated by Myrtle Sheldon), 1942's Hezekiah Horton (illustrated by Oliver Harrington), 1946's My Dog Rinty in collaboration with Caldecott Medal
Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children , a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published that year. The award was named in honor of nineteenth-century English...
winner Marie Hall Ets
Marie Hall Ets
Marie Hall Ets is an American author and illustrator. She attended Lawrence College, and in 1918, Mrs. Ets journeyed to Chicago where she became a social worker at the Chicago Commons, a settlement house on the northwest side of the city. In 1960 she won the Caldecott Medal for her illustrations...
(photographs by Alexander and Alexandra Alland), concerning a Harlem family and their mischievous pet, and 1950's The Runaway Elephant (again illustrated by Harrington), which continued the relationships started in Hezekiah Horton.
Tarry's The Third Door: The Autobiography of an American Negro Woman from 1955 tells of her life in the South, her migration to New York City, her friendship with McKay, and her deep commitment to Catholicism. Tarry was co-founder, along with Catherine Doherty
Catherine Doherty
Ekaterina Fyodorovna Kolyschkine Doherty, better known as Catherine Doherty, CM, Servant of God was a social activist and foundress of the Madonna House Apostolate...
, of Harlem's Friendship House
Friendship House
Friendship House is a missionary movement founded in the early 1930s by Catholic social justice activist Catherine de Hueck Doherty, one of the leading proponents of interracial justice in pre-Martin Luther King, Jr...
, a Catholic outreach center promoting interracial friendship.
Tarry's biographies include Katherine Drexel: Friend of the Neglected, Pierre Toussaint: Apostle of Old New York, The Other Toussaint: A Post-Revolutionary Black, and Martin de Porres, Saint of the New World.
Tarry died on September 23, 2008, three days before her 102nd birthday. She had one daughter, Elizabeth Tarry Patton, from a brief marriage.