Ellen Tarry (September 26, 1906 – September 23, 2008) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

journalist and author who served as a minor figure in the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

. Her ''Janie Belle'' (1940) was the first African-American picture book, and her other works include further literature for children and young adults as well as an autobiography.

Biography

Tarry was born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. Although raised in the Congregational Church, she converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in 1922, after years of attending the St Francis de Sales school for girls on the former Belmead plantation property in Virginia. She was taught there by the

Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (SBS) are a Catholic order of religious sisters in the United States. They were founded in 1891 by Katharine Drexel as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. During her life, Saint ...

. She thereafter 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", focusing on racial injustice and racial pride. In 1929, she moved to New York City in hope of becoming a writer. There she befriended such

literary figures as

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

Claude McKay Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay OJ (September 15, 1890See Wayne F. Cooper, ''Claude McKay, Rebel Sojourner In The Harlem Renaissance (New York, Schocken, 1987) p. 377 n. 19. As Cooper's authoritative biography explains, McKay's family predated ...

and

Countee Cullen Countee Cullen (born Countee LeRoy Porter; May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946) was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Childhood Countee LeRoy Porter ...

. She was the first "Negro Scholarship" recipient at the

Bank Street College of Education Bank Street College of Education is a private school and graduate school in New York City. It consists of a graduate-only teacher training college and an independent nursery-through-8th-grade school. In 2020 the graduate school had about 65 full ...

in New York City, where she met and became friends with

Margaret Wise Brown Margaret Wise Brown (May 23, 1910 – November 13, 1952) was an American writer of children's books, including ''Goodnight Moon'' and ''The Runaway Bunny'', both illustrated by Clement Hurd. She has been called "the laureate of the nursery" for ...

and was influenced by the "here and now" theory of picture book composition. Tarry published four picture books: ''Janie Belle'' (1940), illustrated by Myrtle Sheldon), 1942's ''Hezekiah Horton'' (illustrated by

Oliver Harrington Oliver Wendell Harrington (February 14, 1912 – November 2, 1995) was an American cartoonist and an outspoken advocate against racism and for civil rights in the United States. Of multi-ethnic descent, Langston Hughes called him "America's great ...

), 1946's ''My Dog Rinty'' in collaboration with

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

winner

Marie Hall Ets Marie Hall Ets (December 16, 1895 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – January 17, 1984 in Inverness, Florida) was an American people, American writer and illustrator who is best known for Children's literature, children's picture books. She attended ...

(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 (including her time at the SBS school in Virginia), her migration to New York City, her friendship with McKay, and her deep commitment to Catholicism. In 1942, Tarry was one of the first two co-directors along with Ann Harrigan Makletzoff, at the request of

Catherine de Hueck Doherty Ekaterina Fyodorovna Kolyschkine de Hueck Doherty (August 15, 1896 – December 14, 1985) was a Russian-Canadian Catholic Church, Catholic baroness, social worker, racial justice activist, and founder of Friendship House and Madonna House Apos ...

, of the Chicago branch of

Friendship House Friendship House was 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 the period prior to the mid-20th-century civil rights mo ...

, a Catholic outreach movement promoting interracial friendship. It offers a thoughtful eyewitness view of life in Alabama and Harlem from the 20s through the early 50s, a pivotal era in the evolution of race relations. Her involvement with USO during the Second World War opens a window on the experience of mobilization and the later integration of the military. The book's concluding chapter recounts a drive from Harlem to Birmingham and back in the immediate aftermath of the 1954 Supreme Court desegregation decision. 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.

Personal life

She had one daughter, Elizabeth Tarry Patton, from a brief marriage.

References

Confirmation of death

External links

Review of ''The Third Door: The Autobiography of an American Negro Woman''Article which mentions her from 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarry, Ellen 1906 births 2008 deaths American centenarians Alabama State University alumni Bank Street College of Education alumni Converts to Roman Catholicism African-American women writers African-American writers American writers African-American centenarians Women centenarians 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American people African-American Catholics 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women

Biography

Personal life

See also

References

External links