Benilde little biography death

After her mother died, Little--a

Former Essence magazine staffer Benilde Little is one of a new wave of successful African American female authors whose novels are earning legions of devoted fans. Her smart, attractive, overachiever protagonists are outwardly successful, but struggle with self-doubt, invisible class barriers, and heartache. Little was born in and grew up in a modest, integrated neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey.

Many of the white families moved away, as did some of the established African American households. The Littles, however, refused to move. Newcomers to the neighborhood, many of them from a riot-torn area of Newark known as Central Ward, viewed middle-class families like the Littles with suspicion. Little, an overachieving student, was often ridiculed by her fellow African American classmates.

On several occasions, she was attacked on her way home from school. At Howard, she met many wealthy students who had several generations of Howard alumni in their family. For the first time in her life, she was asked what her grandfather had done for a living. Little became acutely aware that there was a type of caste system among African Americans.

Because she had her own apartment and car, she was considered part of the elite. After earning her degree, Little interned at the Cleveland Plain Dealer , and was then hired by her hometown paper, the Newark Star-Ledger. She also spent five years as a writer with People magazine before becoming the entertainment editor at Essence magazine. She eventually quit her job at Essence in order to complete her first novel.

This novel fictionalized the class issues Little had encountered both at Howard and in the world of professional, urban African Americans. Born ; daughter of a nurse and a General Motors employee; married to Clifford a stockbroker ; children: one daughter.