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Dorothy Sterling

ドロシー・スターリング

Dorothy Sterling

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1913-11-23 （New York City）
Died
2008-12-01 （Wellfleet, Massachusetts） age 95
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
New York City (primary residence/workplace) → Wellfleet, Massachusetts (later life)

Career

Occupations
Writer, Journalist, Historian, Children's author
Active Years
1936-2005
Affiliations
Time (worked), Life (worked), Federal Writers' Project (participant)
Memberships
Communist Party USA (1940s)

Awards

William Allen White Children's Book Award Masterlist (inclusion)
1960
Work: Captain of the Planter: The Story of Robert Smalls
Organization: Emporia State University (masterlist)
Result: Included in masterlist
Carter G. Woodson Book Award
1977
Work: The Trouble They Seen: Story of Reconstruction in the Words of African Americans
Organization: National Council for the Social Studies
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman

1954 Children's biography / History

A children's biography introducing the life of Harriet Tubman, her escape from slavery and work on the Underground Railroad.

SlaveryFreedomCourage

Forever Free: The Story of the Emancipation Proclamation

1963 Children's history

Explains the creation of the Emancipation Proclamation and its historical background for young readers.

EmancipationAmerican Civil WarCivil rights

Tear Down the Walls!: A History of the American Civil Rights Movement

1969 Children's history / Social history

A children's history book tracing the chronology and events of the American civil rights movement.

Civil rightsDesegregationSocial movements

Captain of the Planter: The Story of Robert Smalls

1978 Biography / History (children's)

A children's biography of Robert Smalls, covering his life and achievements from slavery through Reconstruction.

Escape from slaveryReconstructionPersonal courage

Close to My Heart: An Autobiography

2005 Autobiography

Sterling's memoir recounting her upbringing, career in journalism and writing, family and political beliefs.

MemoirJournalismPolitical activism

Bibliography

  • Sophie and Her Puppies (1951)
  • The Story of Mosses, Ferns, and Mushrooms (1955)
  • Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman (1954)
  • Forever Free: The Story of the Emancipation Proclamation (1963)
  • Tear Down the Walls!: A History of the American Civil Rights Movement (1969)
  • Captain of the Planter: The Story of Robert Smalls (1978)
  • We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century (1984)
  • Close to My Heart: An Autobiography (2005)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Clear, explanatory prose for childrenFact-based historical narrationNarrative biographical approach
Recurring Motifs
Slavery and emancipationCivil rights and social justiceNature observation (early works)Individual courage and action

Legacy

Dorothy Sterling educated generations about American slavery and the civil rights movement through accessible children's histories and biographies. Her works balance scholarly detail with readability and remain references in educational contexts and libraries.

Archives

  • Guide to the Dorothy Sterling papers at the University of Oregon

Quotes

  • With all due respect to the dead, is this man, who has left behind him so many doubts about his own role, an appropriate recipient of the Medal of Freedom?
    Source: The New York Times (letter, 1984) (1984)

Trivia

  • Was a member of the Communist Party USA in the 1940s.
  • One of the writers who signed a 1968 ad refusing to pay taxes for the Vietnam War.
  • Married to writer Philip Sterling; mother of biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling and neuroscientist Peter Sterling.