2019 celebrates 50 years of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards, which honors African American writers and illustrators of children’s literature in the United States. “The stated purpose of the award is to commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to honor his widow for her “courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.” The first Coretta Scott King Book Award was presented in 1970 to author Lillie Patterson for her biography Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace. Published in 1969, the year following Dr. King’s assassination, the Patterson book was part of Garrard’s “Americans All” series, aimed at upper-elementary-grade children.” To read more, click here.
Scott Sussman
Children's Book Writer
