Augusta Baker: Storyteller and Advocate for African American Children's Literature

Augusta Baker with children blowing out the story hour candle, most likely at the
135th St. (now Countee Cullen) Branch of The New York Public Library, 1940's.*

Augusta Baker worked in Children’s Services at The New York Public Library from 1937 to 1974. Beginning her career at the 135th Street Branch (now Countee Cullen Branch) and eventually becoming Coordinator of Children’s Services in 1961. She is remembered as a strong advocate of the art of storytelling and a leader in promoting the meaningful depictions of African Americans in children’s literature.

She was born Augusta Braxton in Baltimore in 1911. Her parents were both teachers. Her father taught high school math and her mother was an elementary school special education teacher. They along with her grandmother, a talented storyteller, instilled in her a love of books and storytelling. Growing up she suffered from racial discrimination, attending segregated schools in Baltimore. However, with support of her educator parents she advanced rapidly through school, graduating high school at age 15. She attended the University of Pittsburgh and met her first husband, James Baker III there. She graduated from Albany State Teacher's College with a degree in Library Science in 1934. While she considered a career in schools the freedom offered by the public library appealed to her.

She followed her husband James to New York City after getting her degree and applied to The New York Public Library. With the birth of her first child, she became reluctant to accept a position, especially one that only paid $110 a month. Anne Carroll Moore, the library’s Supervisor of Work with Children, convinced her to work part-time at the 135th St. Branch until a full-time librarian could be hired. No replacement was found. Soon the rewards of working with children in the public library convinced Ms. Baker to devote her life to the work.

She established the 135th St Branch children’s room as a center of cultural and recreational activity for the children of the neighborhood. Under branch librarian Ernestine Rose, who also taught public administration at Columbia University, she made extensive contacts throughout her community reaching out to local school and day care groups. One of the children she influenced there was a child named James Baldwin, who later became the world-renowned author. She established a toy lending library to help children whose family could not afford them. She later worked to establish a special collection of African American children’s materials.

She received formal storytelling training from Mary Gould Davis who taught “The Art of Storytelling” at the library school of The New York Public Library. At first she felt uncomfortable with the formal requirements of storytelling at the library but she adapted so successfully she become the Assistant Coordinator of Children’s Services and Storytelling Specialist for The New York Public Library from 1954 to 1961. In this role she trained new storytellers and promoted storytelling throughout the system. In 1955 she published Talking Tree, her first collection of stories. In 1957 she developed the influential book list Books about Negro Life for Children . In it she identified, possibly for the first time, children’s titles that gave an accurate and meaningful description of African American life. The work has been updated many times since then and is currently titled The Black Experience in Children's Books, the most recent being produced by the library in 2004. It serves as a guide for librarians, teachers and parents around the country.

In 1961 she became Coordinator of Children’s Services and served in this position until her retirement in 1974. In this position she influenced the careers of many children’s authors and illustrators including Ezra Jack Keats, Madeleine L'Engle, Maurice Sendak and John Steptoe. She began introducing more audiovisual materials to library collections and served as a consultant to the newly formed children’s television program Sesame Street. She served on the Executive Board of the American Library Association and as president of the president of Association for Library Service to Children and chaired the Newbery/Caldecott Award committee. Throughout her work at the American Library Association she strove to increase career opportunities for African American librarians.

In 1980 Baker accepted a position as Storyteller-in-Residence at the University of South where she worked until 1994. The Augusta Baker's Dozen Storytelling Festival in South Carolina was established in her honor. Augusta Baker died on February 23, 1998.

Web Resources for Augusta Baker:

Speaking of History: Voices of South Carolina Librarians Read an extensive interview, listen to an excerpt of that interview, view photos and more.

The Augusta Baker Collection of African-American Children's Literature & Folklore at the Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina

The Augusta Baker Papers at the University of South Carolina

A Baker's Dozen: A Celebration of Stories

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books: Gone But Not Forgotten

Other Resources for Augusta Baker:

An Interview with Augusta Baker by Henrietta M. Smith in The Horn Book Magazine, pp. 292-296, May/June 1995.

Celebrating Black History: Celebrating Augusta Baker by Pam Barron in School Library Media Activities Monthly, pp. 48-50, February 1997.

*Image from MY DOG RINTY by Ellen Tarry and Marie Hall Ets. Illustrated by Alexander and Alexandra Alland. The Viking Press, New York, 1946. Used with permission of Viking Children's Books, a division of Penguin Group (USA).