Virginia Hamilton

Writer

• Born: March 12, 1936
• Birthplace: Yellow Springs, Ohio
• Died: February 19, 2002
• Place of death: Dayton, Ohio

An author of books for children and teens, Hamilton is credited with launching the modern era of African American youth literature. She was the first African American author to win the John Newbery Medal and the first writer of children’s literature to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.

Early Life

Virginia Esther Hamilton was born March 12, 1936, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, the youngest of five children born to Kenneth James and Etta Belle (Perry) Hamilton. She spent her childhood on the family farm hearing stories of how her maternal grandfather and great-grandmother escaped from slavery in Virginia. Her father, a musician who played in clubs throughout the United States during the Depression, also was an avid reader. Books, especially the classics, were an important part of Hamilton’s childhood, although she did not understand the significance of her father’s personal library until she was an adult.

Hamilton attended a small country school where she was the only African American student until her teens. Upon graduation in 1952, a teacher arranged for her to attend nearby Antioch College. She took advantage of writing courses, and the instructors encouraged her to go to were chosen. Hamilton transferred to Ohio State University but worked during the summers in New York City, eventually settling there after graduating in 1958. While taking writing classes at the New School for Social Research, she met Arnold Adoff, a poet, and they married on March 19, 1960.

The couple traveled throughout Europe and Africa, and these experiences influenced Hamilton’s writing. She submitted stories to The New Yorker, but they went unpublished. While raising her first child, daughter Leigh, Hamilton reworked a short story she had written while at Antioch, blending her experiences of Africa with memories of her childhood surrounded by extended family and a rich storytelling heritage. The result eventually became the book Zeely, published by Macmillan in 1967, the year her son Jaime was born. In 1969, the family moved back to Yellow Springs.

Life’s Work

When Zeely was published, critics took notice of Hamilton’s vivid descriptions, strong characters, and engaging storytelling. In this coming-of-age story set in rural America, Geeder, a young African American girl, fantasizes that a tall, beautiful black woman in the area, Zeely, is really a Watusi queen. Zeely shares the story of her heritage, helping Geeder balance reality with her imagination. Published during a time of racial upheaval in the United States, the book focused on modern African American characters living normal lives rather than dealing with racism. Although the characters are African American, the themes of heritage, family environment, and community are universal.

These themes became constant threads in Hamilton’s books. Her second book, The House at Dies Drear (1968), received the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best juvenile mystery of the year. It centers on a family’s discovery that their old house was a station on the Underground Railroad. Subsequent books connected African American characters to universal themes. Many of Hamilton’s books feature young characters who must come to terms with the weaknesses or failures of the adults in their lives. The John Newbery Medal-winning M. C. Higgins the Great (1974) is a male coming-of-age story that examines the battle for superiority between father and son. Several of her works have included neglectful or abusive mothers, such as Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush (1982) and the young-adult novel Plain City (1993), which also deals with homelessness and racial prejudice.

Hamilton also published numerous anthologies of folk tales from various cultures and a collection of histories of the Old South. These anthologies showcase her storytelling heritage and recast the tales in the vivid language for which she is known. Hamilton died of breast cancer on February 19, 2002.

Significance

In creating characters whose growth reflects their changing awareness of the world and their place within it, Hamilton enriched readers’ understanding of the universal childhood experience. A prolific writer who had thirty-five books published in thirty-three years, Hamilton won numerous awards for her contributions to children’s literature, including the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Regina Medal, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal. In 2010, the American Library Association created the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, which recognizes lasting and significant contributions to multicultural literature for children or young adults.

Bibliography

Adoff, Arnold, and Kacy Cook, eds. Virginia Hamilton: Speeches, Essays, and Conversations. New York: Blue Sky Press, 2010. A collection of thirty-three speeches, interviews, and essays spanning thirty years and including Hamilton’s acceptance speeches for major literary awards.

Bankston, John, and Melina Mangal. Virginia Hamilton. Bear, Del.: Mitchell Lane, 2002. Includes an overview of Hamilton’s achievements and chapters dedicated to her life and work.

Goldner, Diane. “A Family of Storytellers.” Good Housekeeping 222, no. 2 (February, 1996): 22. Describes how Hamilton’s work was influenced by the stories about her family and heritage that she heard as a child.

Mikkelsen, Nina. Virginia Hamilton. New York: Twayne, 1994. Describes Hamilton’s childhood, how it shaped her storytelling, and her influence on other children’s authors. Includes critical evaluation of thirty of Hamilton’s works.

Rochman, Hazel. “Remembering Virginia Hamilton, 1936-2002.” Booklist 98, no. 14 (March 15, 2002): 1249-1251. In this obituary and biography, Rochman recalls how Hamilton’s work affected her as a graduate student and describes her later interviews with Hamilton. Includes summaries of key books and a brief background of Hamilton’s life.