Mildred Pitts Walter

Mildred Pitts Walter (September 9, 1922 – May 19, 2026) was an American children's book writer, known for her works featuring African-American protagonists. Walter has written more than 20 books for young readers, including fiction and nonfiction. Several of her books have won or been named to the honor list of the Coretta Scott King Awards. A native of Louisiana who later moved to Denver, Walter was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1996. She published her autobiography, Something Inside So Strong: Life in Pursuit of Choice, Courage, and Change, in 2019.

Life and career Mildred Pitts was born on September 9, 1922, the youngest of seven children to Paul Pitts, a log cutter, and Mary Pitts, a beautician and midwife. She was born in Sweetville, Louisiana, and raised in nearby Gaytine, both small, segregated sawmill communities in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, near the city of DeRidder.

She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Southern University at New Orleans. She earned money for tuition by working in the defense industry during World War II. In 1944, following graduation, Walter moved to Los Angeles and worked as a school clerk.

In Los Angeles, she met her husband, Earl Walter, to whom she was married from 1947 Both Mildred and Earl were active in civil rights activism as members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), of which Earl eventually became national vice chairman. and died in Redwood City, California, on May 19, 2026, at the age of 103. Writing Walter began writing when she realized there were few books for young readers about Black children written by Black authors. Since the publication of her first book in 1969 (Lillie of Watts, about a girl growing up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles), Lillie of Watts was followed by a sequel, Lillie of Watts Takes a Giant Step (1971). Publishers Weekly wrote that "Walter's heavily footnoted text may prove somewhat slow going for the general reader, but she has uncovered much eye-opening material."

Walter's 2011 historical fiction novel, The Second Daughter: The Story of a Slave Girl, is based on the true story of Mum Bett, a former slave who successfully sued for her freedom.

In a 2019 article in The Lion and the Unicorn, Karen Chandler calls The Second Daughter (along with Joyce Hansen's novels that foreground young Black protagonists) "just as relevant, arguably, as they were when they first appeared fifteen or twenty years ago". She adds that these books "offer a much-needed antidote to a U.S. popular culture that conveys the assumption that white persons' actions, beliefs, and values are standard".

The University Press of Mississippi published Walter's autobiography, Something Inside So Strong: Life in Pursuit of Choice, Courage, and Change, in 2019.

Awards and honors Walter was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.

Selected works

Children's fiction Ty's One-Man Band (1980), My Mama Needs Me (1983), Because We Are (1983), Brother to the Wind (1985), Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World (1986), Second Daughter: The Story of a Slave Girl (1996),

Children's nonfiction Mississippi Challenge (1992), Kwanzaa: A Family Affair (1995),

Autobiography Something Inside So Strong: Life in Pursuit of Choice, Courage, and Change (2019),