Candy Dawson Boyd (born August 8, 1946) is an American writer, activist, and educator. She is an author of more than six children's books focused on African-American youth.

Early life and education

Boyd was born in 1946 in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Her birth name is Marguerite Cecille Dawson. Her parents were Mary Ruth Ridley and Julian Dawson. Boyd had two siblings and she was the oldest of the three. Her mother and father divorced. Boyd was raised by her mother. They lived in

South Chicago South Chicago, formerly known as Ainsworth, is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois. This chevron-shaped community is one of Chicago's 16 lakefront neighborhoods near the southern rim of Lake Michigan 10 miles south of downtown. ...

. Boyd attended

racially segregated Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

elementary and middle schools. The library she used was also segregated. The library books were

used Used may refer to: Common meanings *Used good, goods of any type that have been used before or pre-owned *Used to, English auxiliary verb Places *Used, Huesca, a village in Huesca, Aragon, Spain *Used, Zaragoza, a town in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain ...

from white schools that no longer wanted them. She graduated from high school in 1962. After high school she went to

Northeastern Illinois University Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois. NEIU serves approximately 9,000 students in the region and is a Hispanic-serving institution. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park wi ...

. She dropped out of college to get involved with the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

. She worked for the

Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civi ...

. She eventually graduated in 1967 with her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

. After graduation, Boyd taught locally in Chicago. She moved to

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

in 1971 and commenced work towards her master's degree. She received her master's in 1978. She received the Ph.D in 1982. Both degrees came from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Boyd also worked for

Rainbow/PUSH Rainbow/PUSH is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization formed as a merger of two nonprofit organizations founded by Jesse Jackson; Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) and the National Rainbow Coalition. The organizations pursue socia ...

Career

While teaching in California, she became concerned about the lack of quality books for children. She started writing

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

. She took children's writing classes at the

Berkeley Public Library The Berkeley Public Library is the public library system for Berkeley, California. It consists of the Central Library, Claremont Branch, North Branch, West Branch, Tarea Hill Pittman South Branch—and the Tool Lending Library, which is one of th ...

. She then started to work full-time in training teachers. As of 2007, she was serving as director of Reading and Language Arts at

Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's College of California is a Private college, private Catholic Church, Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is affiliated with the Catholic Church and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college of ...

. She is the first African-American to have

tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

at Saint Mary's. Boyd is divorced. She lives in Chicago.

Writing

Boyd writes children's books that are "inspiring, positive, and realistic." Among the themes in her work are love,

friendship Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. In some cultures, the concept o ...

, death, rejection, personal responsibility, taking care of others, and coping with failure. Many of her books focus around African-American youth and aim to fight African-American stereotypes. Her books also pull influence from her experience in the Civil Rights Movement. Her first book was ''A Circle of Gold.'' The book was awarded a

Coretta Scott King Award The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award rec ...

Recognition

*1992, Professor of the Year, St. Mary's College of California

Works

*''Breadsticks & Blessing Places''. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (1985). *''Charlie Pippin''. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (1987). *''Chevrolet Saturdays''. London: Puffin (1995). *''Circle of Gold''. New York: Scholastic (1984). *''Daddy, Daddy, Be There''. New York: Philomel (1995). *''A Different Beat''. London: Puffin (1996). *''Fall Secrets''. London: Puffin (1994). *''Forever Friends''. London: Puffin (1986). * (with Peter Afflerbach, James Beers, Camille Blachowicz, and Deborah Diffily) ''Scott Foresman Reading: Fantastic Voyage''. Glenview: Scott Foresman & Co. (2000).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Candy Dawson 1946 births Living people Writers from Chicago Northeastern Illinois University alumni Activists for African-American civil rights University of California, Berkeley alumni American children's writers Saint Mary's College of California People from San Pablo, California Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area Activists from California African-American women writers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women