Illinois State Library

Illinois Center for the Book

Individual Author Record

General Information

Name:  Claire Hartfield  

Pen Name: None

Genre: Fiction

Audience: Young Adult; Children;

Born:

-- Website -- http://www.meanduncleromie.com/claire/
-- Claire Hartfield on WorldCat -- http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=claire+hartfield

Illinois Connection

Hartfield is a life long resident of Chicago. She attended Chicago public schools and received her her law degree from the University of Chicago.

Biographical and Professional Information

Hartfield is an attorney and an author. She received her B.A from Yale University and her law degree from the University of Chicago. As a lawyer, she has specialized in school desegregation litigation. More recently, she has been involved in setting policy and creating programs in a charter school setting on Chicago's African-American West Side.Part of the impetus for the writing of her book, ''Me and Uncle Romie,'' is a historical fiction picture book based on the life and art of world-renowned collage artist, Romare Bearden. She wanted to inform children about an important African-American visual artist, and to give them an expanded understanding of the breadth of the African-American experience. The story also explores the commonality of experience that is shared by people across cultures.Her book, ''A Few Red Drops'', is about the Chicago Race Riot. She heard stories of the 1919 race riot from her grandmother, who lived in the Black Belt in Chicago at the time, and was moved to share this history with younger generations.

Awards

Me and Uncle Romie

  • Notable Book of the Year, Smithsonian Magazine
  • Junior Library Guild Choice
  • 100 Books for Reading and Sharing List, New York Public Library

    Speaking Engagements

    Speaking Engagement Availability (Yes) Please contact Author.

    Selected Titles At Your Library

    A few red drops :
    ISBN: 0544785134. OCLC Number: 953709906

    . .

    This book examines the events and forces leading up to the 1919 race riots in Chicago.
    Me and Uncle Romie :
    ISBN: 9780803725201. OCLC Number: 42061014

    Dial Books for Young Readers,. .

    A boy from North Carolina spends the summer in New York City visiting the neighborhood of Harlem, where his uncle, collage artist Romare Bearden, grew up. Includes a biographical sketch of Bearden and instructions on making a story collage.