Ann Petry papers

1920-2012

Ann Petry (originally Anna Houston Lane) was born on October 12, 1908, in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, to Peter Clark Lane and Bertha James Lane. Petry's father was a pharmacist who owned drugstores in Old Saybrook and nearby Old Lyme and her mother was a chiropodist and entrepreneur. Petry was the youngest of two girls. Her older sister's name was Helen Lane (later Bush after marriage). Petry hailed from four generations of African Americans living in the predominantly white, middle class town of Old Saybrook. Stories of her ancestors' hardships in New England planted the creative seeds of inspiration that would eventually become central to her writings. Petry began penning short stories and one-act plays while in high school. However, much of her time was spent working at the family pharmacy. Upon graduating high school, she briefly attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Hampton, VA where she studied Home Economics. This area of study was not to her liking. So, in keeping with family tradition (in addition to her father, Petry's aunt, Anna Louise James, was also a pharmacist), she decided to become a pharmacist. She attended the Connecticut College of Pharmacy and earned a graduate degree in 1931.

For the next few years, she worked as a pharmacist at the family drugstore while continuing to write short stories in her spare time. In 1938, Ann married George David Petry and moved to New York City to pursue her literary ambitions of becoming a writer. Throughout their time in New York, they lived on Edgecombe Ave., on East 129th St., and eventually in a leftist housing complex in the Bronx, and potentially other locations. While living in New York City, Petry visited a numerologist who told her that she would never be successful unless she dropped the extra "a" from her first name. Thus, Anna became Ann.

Petry's decade in Harlem was rich, dense, productive, and successful. Upon her arrival in Harlem, she soon found work selling advertising space for the Amsterdam News, a weekly Harlem publication. She then became a reporter for a weekly paper published by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. called, the People's Voice. Petry contributed a women's column called "The Lighter Side" which covered social events and news stories. She taught for the NAACP and at PS 101. Petry was also involved in the arts as an actress. Her debut performance was at the American Negro Theater in a comedy called, On Striver's Row, written by Abram Hill. She also took drawing classes at the Harlem Art Center and her husband, George, took weaving classes. She was co-founder of Negro Women Incorporated along with Dollie Lowther Robinson. Negro Women Incorporated was a women's advocacy group that sought to "help women get their money's worth" and was affiliated with the People's Committee, founded by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

To assist in her literary pursuits, Petry enrolled in Mabel Louise Robinson's writing class at Columbia University. Her first short fiction, a romance-suspense piece titled, "Marie of the Cabin Club", was published in 1939 in The Afro American under male pseudonym, Arnold Petri. From 1938 until 1944, Petry wrote numerous short stories for literary journals. The initial chapters of The Street won Petry the 1945 Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship, which served as a turning point in her career. The Street tells the story of protagonist, Lutie Johnson, a single mother trying to provide a better life for her son than could realistically be had amidst the poverty of West 116th St. in Harlem. The book was an instant hit, selling a million and a half copies. It received numerous, positive reviews, being favorably compared with Richard Wright's Native Son, and was widely published and translated into French, Spanish, Japanese, and Portuguese. Country Place, Petry's second novel, was published the following year in 1947.

Ultimately, the success of The Street made Petry a much sought-after but reluctant interview subject and speaker, who would inevitably, if futilely, strive for a secluded writing life in Connecticut. In 1948, after becoming an established writer, Petry and her husband moved back to Old Saybrook. Petry gave birth to her only child, Elisabeth (Liz) Ann Petry, on January 28, 1949. As a departure from her novels, Petry's first foray into the world of children's books also occurred in 1949 with the publication of Drugstore Cat. Petry's subsequent publications include her third novel, The Narrows, published in 1953; Harriet Tubman: Conductor of the Underground Railroad, published in 1955; Tituba of Salem Village, published in 1964; Legends of the Saints, in 1970; and a book of short stories titled Miss Muriel and Other Stories, published in 1971.

From 1973-1975, Petry briefly moved to Hawaii to serve as a Visiting Professor in the English Department at the University of Hawaii. When she returned to Old Saybrook, much of her time was divided between writing, parenting, and providing care and assistance to other ailing family members. Petry passed away on April 28, 1997.