Taulbert, Clifton L.

Author and lecturer Clifton L. Taulbert is perhaps best known for his memoir Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored (1989), about his experience of growing up in the racially charged Mississippi Delta. Born February 19, 1945, in Glen Allan, Mississippi, in his memoir he writes about his childhood during the civil rights movement, but rather than focus on the growing conflict between white and black, he chose to focus more on the bonds of community and family, which included his mother and grandparents and an extended family of aunts and uncles. A second memoir, The Last Train North (1992), details his decision to leave the Delta following his graduation from high school and follows his career with the Air Force through the 1960s, where he reached the rank of sergeant. He also describes meeting for the first time his father, a preacher, in St. Louis. The book was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Other awards he has received include the 27th annual NAACP Image Award for Literature and the Mississippi Arts and Letters Award for Nonfiction, and Time magazine named him one of America's outstanding black entrepreneurs. Biographical Source: http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/taulbert_clifton/index.html , 2008.

From the description of Clifton Taulbert Papers 1999-2002. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 432980528

Author and lecturer Clifton L. Taulbert is perhaps best known for his memoir Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored (1989), about his experience of growing up in the racially charged Mississippi Delta. Born February 19, 1945, in Glen Allan, Mississippi, in his memoir he writes about his childhood during the civil rights movement, but rather than focus on the growing conflict between white and black, he chose to focus more on the bonds of community and family, which included his mother and grandparents and an extended family of aunts and uncles. A second memoir, The Last Train North (1992), details his decision to leave the Delta following his graduation from high school and follows his career with the Air Force through the 1960s, where he reached the rank of sergeant. He also describes meeting for the first time his father, a preacher, in St. Louis. The book was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Other awards he has received include the 27th annual NAACP Image Award for Literature and the Mississippi Arts and Letters Award for Nonfiction, and Time magazine named him one of America’s outstanding black entrepreneurs.

Biographical Source: http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/taulbert_clifton/index.html, 2008

From the guide to the Clifton Taulbert Papers, 1999-2002, (University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections [clrc])