The Admirable Author Harriette Gillem Robinet

On July 14, 1931, Harriette Gillem Robinet was born.

Back in mid-May of this year, hearing the news of her passing evoked so many memories.

She lived in Oak Park for several decades and her life story is extraordinary in many ways, including what I learned from what Father John Lucas shared in the homily at her Memorial Mass on June 8.  She was a civil rights activist who worked for better human relations in Oak Park, and her family was one of the first to live in Oak Park.  She worked in the sciences.  She and her husband McLouis were longtime members of the St. Edmund Parish community and would walk there for Mass.  Here is her obituary in The Wednesday Journal.

I knew her best as an author of children's books, going back to 5th grade.  I had a book report assignment and when I went to the Maze Branch Library, browsing through the spinning shelves, I found Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule.  With my burgeoning interest in history, I thought it would be a good read, and so I picked it.  At the time, I didn't realize she was an Oak Park resident.

About a year later, when I was in 6th grade, I attended the Young Authors Conference hosted by Oak Park School District 97.  When I saw that she was going to be the keynote speaker, I was eager to attend.  Around this time, I became aware of her other titles, though I can't recall how many I had read by that point.

I enjoyed her presentation, and following the conference, I waited with my Dad in line for almost 40 minutes to get her autograph on one of her books that I had.

An even more special opportunity arose later that school year. I had an assignment to write about an author and multiple books written by him/her.  After considering a couple of other authors, I decided upon Ms. Robinet, recognizing there were more books she wrote I hadn't read.  My 6th grade language arts teacher Mr. Brachman reached out to her daughter Linda, who was at Beye School, and they arranged for me to call Harriette Robinet and interview her by phone for my assignment.  I may have been the only person in my class who had the opportunity to speak with an author.  I learned about her life and her writing process.  Indeed, that composition was a memorable part of middle school.

Later, she published another book, Twelve Travelers, Twenty Horses, about a group of African-Americans who journeyed to California around the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president.  In April 2003, she presented at the Magic Tree Bookstore in Oak Park about her latest title.  Toward the end of her presentation, I told my Dad, who took me there, that I wanted a copy of the book.  Then she autographed it for me.  (Thank you, Dad.)

In January 2009, I attended another presentation she gave at the Oak Park Public Library Dole Branch about her writing work.

During the years I worked at the Oak Park Public Library, it was a pleasure to work with her son Stephen.  He helped show me the ropes when I first got started, and I enjoyed seeing him at work regularly.

I am grateful to Harriette Gillem Robinet for inspiring me as a preteen, the time in my life when I first came to appreciate history.  Her books helped me come in contact with history in a more real way through the characters of her stories, particularly those who faced oppression.  She also resonated with me when she wrote in the additional material of books about going to the library for research, highlighting the important role of libraries in helping us access knowledge.

She also motivated me to write stories, of which I did plenty in my middle school years.  Perhaps in some ways, that inspiration has carried over to this blog, which is a way for me to write about what's happening in my life and the world around me and furthermore to reflect on its meaning.  

And the message she offered in the afterword of Children of the Fire speaks to the great aim of her writing, that all our lives are important and we should embrace each other as God's children.

Thank you, Harriette Gillem Robinet.

Above the elevator doors at the Maze Branch of the Oak Park Public Library is a quotation from Walking to the Bus-Ride Blues: "In the next block, a public library crowned the corner."

Here's my copy of Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule, which she autographed at the Young Authors Conference in October 2002.