Claire Hartfield

Claire Hartfield (born July 3, 1957) is an American writer of history-inspired novels, best known for her Coretta Scott King Award-winning non-fiction novel A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919.

Personal life Hartfield was born in Chicago, Illinois, to a white Jewish father and a Black mother and has three sisters. It wasn't until college, when attended an anti-apartheid rally with her friends and read a book about the life of South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, that she developed an interest in history.

Hartfield has three daughters.

Hartfield first heard of the Chicago Race Riots through her grandmother, who lived through them and found herself in the middle of the riots at twenty years old when stepping out of her home in summer 1919.

A few years prior to writing the book, she was again reminded of her grandmother's story when she saw the way police were interacting with protestors in the United States and wrote A Few Red Drops with the goal in mind to inspire coming generations to figure out a way to bring about change.

Won

2019 Coretta Scott King Author Award for A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 2019 Carter G. Woodson Book Award for A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919