Augusta Braxton Baker

Augusta Braxton Baker (April 1, 1911 – February 23, 1998)

Early life and education Augusta Braxton Baker was born on April 1, 1911, in Baltimore, Maryland. Both of her parents were schoolteachers, who instilled in her a love of reading. During the day while her parents worked, her grandmother, Augusta Fax (from whom she received her name) cared for her and told her stories. Baker delighted in these stories, carrying her love for them throughout her life. She learned to read before starting elementary school, later enrolling in the (racially segregated) Black high school where her father taught, and graduating at the age of 16. While there, she aimed toward a different career and wrote, "I discovered I loved books, but I didn't love teaching." She completed her education there, earning a B.A. degree in education in 1933 and a B.S. in library science in 1934. Baker applied three times before the head of children's services, Anne Carroll Moore, took a personal interest in her application. Moore later berated the director of the library for not passing along the application, as she was interested in anyone who showed an affinity for children's work. During her time at this branch, Baker played an integral part in teaching Audre Lorde how to read.

In 1939, the branch began an effort to find and collect children's literature that portrayed Black people as something other than "servile buffoons," speaking in a rude dialect, and other such stereotypes. This collection, founded by Baker as the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Children's Books, led to the publication of the first of a number of bibliographies of books for and about Black children. Baker furthered this project by encouraging authors, illustrators, and publishers to produce, as well as libraries to acquire, books depicting Black people in a favorable light.

In 1953, she was appointed Storytelling Specialist and Assistant Coordinator of Children's Services.

In 1946, she published an extensive bibliography of titles relating to the Black experience titled Books about Negro Life for Children. In 1971, it was retitled The Black Experience in Children's Books, and its criteria played an important part in bringing awareness about harmful stereotypes in Helen Bannerman's The Story of Little Black Sambo.

Death and continued legacy After a long illness, Baker died at the age of 86 on February 23, 1998. Her legacy has remained even today, particularly through the "Baker's Dozen: A Celebration of Stories" annual storytelling festival. Sponsored by the University of South Carolina College of Information and Communications and the Richland County Public Library, this festival originated in 1987 during Baker's time at the university, and is celebrated still to this day. In 2019, Dr. Nicole A. Cooke was appointed the Augusta Baker Endowment Chair.

When asked: "What do you tell your students when you conduct your workshops?" Baker stated:

"I tell them what I've always said. Let the story tell itself, and if it is a good story and you have prepared it well, you do not need all the extras – the costumes, the histrionics, the high drama. Children of all ages do want to hear stories. Select well, prepare well, and then go forth, stand tall, and just tell."

Her legacy also continues through the Augusta Baker Collection of Children's Literature and Folklore at the University of South Carolina. The collection, donated by her son, James H. Baker III, contains over 1,600 children's books, including materials from her personal and working library, as well as papers, illustrations, and anthologies of folktales Baker used during her career.

Baker advanced the long Black freedom struggle through her community outreach, bibliographic work, scholarly publications, collection development, and storytelling.

Awards and honors First recipient of the E.P. Dutton-John Macrae Award (1953) Honorary Doctorate from St. John's University (1980) Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Carolina (1986) Second recipient of Association for Library Service to Children Distinguished Service Award (1993)