Ellen Tarry

Background

Tarry was born in Birmingham, Alabama.

Education

She attended Alabama State Normal School, now Alabama State University, and became a teacher in Birmingham.

Career

Tarry was the first African-American picture book author 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.

Tarry died on September 23, 2008, three days before her 102nd birthday. She had one daughter, Elizabeth Tarry Patton, from a brief marriage.

Achievements

• Tarry 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.

Connections

friendship:

Katherine Drexel

Friend:

Catherine de Hueck

Friend:

Margaret Wise Brown