Kristin Elaine Hunter (September 12, 1931 – November 14, 2008) was an
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
writer from
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. She sometimes wrote under the name Kristin Hunter Lattany. She is best known for her first novel, ''God Bless the Child'', published in 1964.
Biography
Hunter was born Kristin Elaine Eggleston in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, to George L. Eggleston and the former Mabel Manigault, and attended
Haddon Heights High School
Haddon Heights Junior/Senior High School, previously known as Haddon Heights High School (HHHS), is a six-year comprehensive public middle school / high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grades from Haddon Heights, in Cam ...
until 1947. When she was aged 14, she began writing a column about young people for the ''
Pittsburgh Courier
The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African-American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States.
It was acqu ...
'', continuing to do so until 1952, the year after she graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, where she received her bachelor's degree in Education (1951)."Kristin Hunter Lattany" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.
In 1955 she won a national television competition for her script ''Minority of One''. Her first and most acclaimed novel, ''God Bless the Child,'' was published in 1964, and won the Philadelphia Athenaeum Literary Award.Margaret Busby, "Kristin Hunter", '' Daughters of Africa'', Vintage, 1993, p. 390. Like most of her work, it confronts complex issues of race and gender. Her 1966 novel ''The Landlord'' was made into a movie by
Hal Ashby
William Hal Ashby (September 2, 1929 – December 27, 1988) was an American film director and editor associated with the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking.
Before his career as a director Ashby edited films for Norman Jewison, notably ''The R ...
(
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
, 1970). Her 1973 collection of short stories, ''Guests in the Promised Land'', was nominated for the
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
.
In 1972, she began teaching in the English department at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, eventually retiring from the university in 1995. She was also a visiting professor at
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
. She received the Moonstone Black Writing Celebration Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996.Obituary ''Almanan'', University of Pennsylvania, December 9, 2008, Volume 55, No. 15.
Commenting on her own work, she said: "The bulk of my work has dealt—imaginatively, I hope—with relations between the white and black races in America. My early work was 'objective,' that is, sympathetic to both whites and blacks, and seeing members of both groups from a perspective of irony and humor against the wider backdrop of human experience as a whole. Since about 1968 my subjective anger has been emerging, along with my grasp of the real situation in this society, though my sense of humor and my basic optimism keep cropping up like uncontrollable weeds."
Personal life
She married writer Joseph Hunter in 1952. They divorced in 1962, and she married John Lattany in 1968.
She died in 2008, aged 77, of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
Al Young
Albert James Young (May 31, 1939 – April 17, 2021) was an American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and professor. He was named Poet Laureate of California by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from 2005 to 2008. Young's many books includ ...
, "In Belated " KRISTIN HUNTER LATTANY (1931–2008)".
Books
*''God Bless the Child,'' 1964.
*''The Landlord,'' 1966.
*''The Soul Brothers and Sister Lou'' (National Council on Interracial Books for the Children Award), 1968.
*''Boss Cat,'' 1971.
*''Guests in the Promised Land'' (stories; nominated for the National Book Award), 1973.
*''The Survivors'', 1975.
*''The Lakestown Rebellion,'' 1978.
*''Lou in the Limelight,'' 1981.
*''Kinfolks,'' 1996.
*''The Scribe,'' 1998.
*''Do Unto Others,'' 2000.
*''Breaking Away,'' 2003.
*''Mom Luby and the Social Worker ,''