Bernarda Bryson was born on March 7, 1905, in Athens, Ohio. Her father was an editor and publisher with liberal political leanings. Her mother, descended from a family who had been among the first settlers of Ohio, was a professor of Latin. Early in life, Bryson developed a deep interest in social problems. This impulse led her into a brief membership in the Communist Party in the early 1930s. She had by this time married Victor Parks in 1927 and divorced him in 1930. Bryson's other early interest was in the graphic arts. Pursuing a career in this field, she moved to New York in 1932 and met the noted artist Ben Shahn, whom she married in 1935.

The couple had three children.

Although Bryson lived somewhat in the shadow of her famous and often controversial husband, she achieved a deserved reputation as an illustrator and writer. Her considerable education...