Nancy D. Tolson is the assistant director of the African American Studies Program at the University of South Carolina. She received a MA and PhD from the University of Iowa, researching the history and development of Black children’s literature and Black folklore. Tolson has been a Ford Fellow, NEH facilitator, Fulbright scholar/lecturer at the University of Cape Coast (Ghana), and an Illinois Humanities’ “Road Scholar”. She has been a storyteller for as long as she has been able to talk and is proudly a storyteller at the Augusta Baker’s Dozen Storytelling Festival (Columbia, SC) since 2015. She is a commissioner for the Columbia Museum of Art, as well as an active docent.
Click here for the application to have Nancy D. Tolson speak in your community.
In this program, Dr. Tolson discusses the diverse children’s literature that should be included in every library, classroom, and home. She explains the movement of diversity in the field of publishing children’s literature and the authors and illustrators that have made a powerful change.
This presentation begins with late 19th century Negro children’s literature to the evolution of the present-day Black children’s literature and features a colorful Power Point.
This program explores and celebrates the art of storytelling through the tales founded in the southern states of the U.S. with specific origins from South Carolina.
