Ann Petry was a African American writer who became the first black women to sell more than a million copies for her book “The Street”
Ann Petry’s birthdate is not certain. Some say she was born October 12, 1908, and others say she was born October 12, 1911. She was born in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. She was the 2nd daughter of Peter C. Lane (pharmacist), and Bertha James Lane (chiropodist, barber, & entrepreneur). She graduated from Connecticut College of Pharmacy in the early 1930s, and worked in a family drugstore for many years. In 1938, she married George D. Petry, a writer, & moved to New York City. She published her first short story, “Marie of the Cabin Club” and it appeared in a 1939 edition of The Afro American, under a fake name, …show more content…
During the next four years, she led an active civic life, including painting, acting, playing the piano, teaching a course at the NAACP, and serving as a recreational specialist at a Harlem elementary school. Later, she began working on her first novel.
The Street is Ann Petry’s most famous book. “My aim is to show how simply and easily the environment can change the course of a person's life ... I try to show why the Negro has a high crime rate, a high death rate, and little or no chance of keeping his family unit intact in large northern cities.” Her book, “The Street”, shows the portrayal of a working-class black woman, Lutie Johnson, who dreams of getting out of Harlem but is inevitably prevented by the pressures of poverty and racism.
Her novel “The Street” sold over 1.5 million copies. In 1945, she won the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship for partial of her novel, The Street. In 1947, she and her husband moved back to her hometown, Old Saybrook, where they raised their daughter, Liz Petry. Ann Petry wrote seven other books, a story collection, other novels, and two biographies for children. In 1994, she was included in the “Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame”. She received honorary doctorates from several colleges and universities. She died in Old Saybrook in
Ann Petry’s birthdate is not certain. Some say she was born October 12, 1908, and others say she was born October 12, 1911. She was born in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. She was the 2nd daughter of Peter C. Lane (pharmacist), and Bertha James Lane (chiropodist, barber, & entrepreneur). She graduated from Connecticut College of Pharmacy in the early 1930s, and worked in a family drugstore for many years. In 1938, she married George D. Petry, a writer, & moved to New York City. She published her first short story, “Marie of the Cabin Club” and it appeared in a 1939 edition of The Afro American, under a fake name, …show more content…
During the next four years, she led an active civic life, including painting, acting, playing the piano, teaching a course at the NAACP, and serving as a recreational specialist at a Harlem elementary school. Later, she began working on her first novel.
The Street is Ann Petry’s most famous book. “My aim is to show how simply and easily the environment can change the course of a person's life ... I try to show why the Negro has a high crime rate, a high death rate, and little or no chance of keeping his family unit intact in large northern cities.” Her book, “The Street”, shows the portrayal of a working-class black woman, Lutie Johnson, who dreams of getting out of Harlem but is inevitably prevented by the pressures of poverty and racism.
Her novel “The Street” sold over 1.5 million copies. In 1945, she won the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship for partial of her novel, The Street. In 1947, she and her husband moved back to her hometown, Old Saybrook, where they raised their daughter, Liz Petry. Ann Petry wrote seven other books, a story collection, other novels, and two biographies for children. In 1994, she was included in the “Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame”. She received honorary doctorates from several colleges and universities. She died in Old Saybrook in