Frank London Brown, winner of a John Hay Whitney Award for creative writing, was a writer who showed the resilience, hidden resources, and beauty of black people rising from the despair of the Chicago streets. He flowered during the civil rights movement that culminated in the 1960s. In his novels, short stories, and journalistic essays Brown comes through as resolute in the midst of a hostile racial climate, with a special appreciation for women.

The eldest of three children, Brown was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Myra Myrtle and Frank London Brown, Sr. The family moved to Chicago when he was twelve. According to Sterling Stuckey, Brown, as a student at Colman Elementary School and DuSable High School, "battered his way into manhood" in "the bleak and deadly jungle of the South Side." His perspective was formed during the hours he spent in Morrie's Record Shop under...