Life of Eloise Greenfield

Eloise (nee Little) Greenfield was born on this date in Parmele, North Carolina to Weston W. Little and Leslie Blanche Little. She is the second oldest of five children and she grew up in Washington D.C. during the Great Depression in the Langston Terrace housing project

In 1946, Eloise graduated from Cardozo Senior High School and she attended Miner Teachers College until 1949. It was in her third year of college that she realized she was too shy to be a teacher so she dropped out.

After leaving MTC, Eloise began working in the civil service at the U.S. Patent Office. In 1950, she married long-time friend and World War II veteran, Robert J. Greenfield.

While working at the U.S. Patent Office in the 1950s, Eloise began writing poetry and songs. Finally, in 1962, after years of writing and submitting her poems and stories, Eloise had her first piece of work (a poem) published by the Hartford Times.

Eloise joined the District of Columbia Black Writers Workshop as co-director of adult fiction and began writing books for children. In 1973, she was named director of children's literature. Since then, Eloise has published 40 (!!!) children's book, such as picture books, novels, poetry and biographies.

Eloise Greenfield has won many awards and accolades for her illustrious writing career. Below are all her awards and accomplishments listed to date:

1976-- Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (accolade)

1979-- Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for her book, Childtimes

1981--National Black Child Development Institute, recognition for her body of work

1983--Washington D.C. Mayor's Art Award in Literature
Jane Addams Children's Book Award

1990--Recognition of Merit Award from the George G. Stone Center for Children's Books in Claremont, California

1993--Lifetime Achievement Citation from the Ninth Annual Celebration of Black Writing in Philadelphia, PA

2013--Living Legacy Award from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History

2018--Coretta Scott King Award: Lifetime Achievement, an award for The Great Migration: Journey to the North (2011) and one for Africa Dream (1976)

Other awards/achievements with no specific date:

Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children (given by the National Council of Teachers of English)

Virginia Hamilton Literary Award

Milner Award

Hope S. Dean Award from the Foundation for Children's Literature

American Library Association Notable Book citation

Several Coretta Scott King Awards and Honors

From 1985-1986, Eloise was a writer-in-residence at the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities as well as teaching creative writing in schools under grants from the Commission.

Eloise is also a member of the National Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent and a member of the African-American Writers Guild.

Since 1991, Jan Spivey Gilchrist has been the illustrator for most of Eloise's books

Eloise resides in Washington D.C. with her husband, Robert. She and Robert have two children: a son, Steven, and a daughter, Monica, as well as four grandchildren.