#OTD in 1908: Pioneering Novelist Ann Petry Was Born

On Oct. 12, 1908, pioneering novelist and journalist Ann Petry was born in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Trained as a pharmacist, Petry later worked as a journalist in Harlem, where her experiences with racism, poverty and housing discrimination helped shape her writing. In 1946, she published her groundbreaking debut novel, "The Street," about a Black single mother struggling to build a better life for herself and her son. The book became the first novel by an African American woman to sell more than 1 million copies. Petry went on to write "Country Place," "The Narrows" and books for young readers, including a biography of Harriet Tubman. She died in 1997 at age 88, leaving an enduring legacy in American literature.

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