Lillie Patterson (May 3, 1917 – March 11, 1999) was an American writer who worked as a school and college librarian in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

. She wrote 17 books for children and young adults including ''Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace'' about Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. It won the very first

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 ...

. She also wrote books about the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

, Coretta Scott King, Frederick Douglass, and

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

. She grew up listening to her grandmother telling stories in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Patterson was African-American. She received a bachelor's degree in elementary education from

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association af ...

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

in the 1940s and a graduate degree in library services from the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

in Washington D.C. in the 1950s. She also studied at the Johns Hopkins University and New York University. In 1963 she received the Living Maker of Negro History Award from the

Iota Phi Lambda Iota Phi Lambda Sorority Inc. () is the first African American Greek-lettered business sorority established by African American business women. There are now more than 100 chapters with membership numbering more than 1300 in 85 cities and the US ...

sorority. She also won a Professional Award from the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs in Baltimore and the Helen Keating Award in 1985 from the Church and Synagogue Library Association.

Works

*''Meet Miss Liberty'' (1962) *''David: The Story of a King'' (1985)

References

1917 births 1999 deaths Writers from Baltimore 20th-century women writers Hampton University alumni African-American writers American children's writers American librarians Catholic University of America alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni New York University alumni {{US-writer-stub