Mildred D. Taylor

Mildred D. Taylor was born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1943.
* She is the great-granddaughter of a former slave.
* She moved to Toledo, Ohio, as a young child.
* She graduated from the University of Toledo in 1965.
* She served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia for two years.
* She earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Colorado.
* She is the author of nine novels, including Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
* Her books have won numerous awards, including the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award.
* She is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.