Author Spotlight: Fred Crump, Jr.

Hello my lovely readers!

Welcome to the third installment of  Author Spotlight, where I highlight the authors who have had an impact on myself and my reading journey.

Say hello to author and illustrator Fred Crump Jr.!

He's more of an obscure author, but for those who know the children's books he's written, they LOVE him.

It's funny that they love him, despite not knowing much about him. They probably, like myself, love what he did for Black children in the 1980s and 1990s who wanted to see themselves represented in picture books.

Crump was born in Houston, Texas on June 7, 1931 to parents Fred Crump and Marguerite Arnold. He was the oldest of five siblings. Growing up in Texas, he had two sisters, Virginia, better known as Ginny, and Marguerite Ann. 

His mom died in January 1947, when Crump was 15. His father would later go on to remarry in December 1947 to a woman named Carol Ola Guerdy and together they had two more children, Harold and Cynthia.

Crump lived in Texas until 1961, receiving his master's degree in Art from Sam Houston College in Huntsville. He then moved to Palm Springs, California where he was an art teacher at Nellie N. Coffman Jr. High School and  Raymond Cree Junior High School for more than 30 years.

As a teacher, he inspired his students to take pride in their artwork and to know how to draw any kind of person, regardless of race. He didn't just talk the talk, Crump walked the walk when it came to knowing how to draw any and everyone.

"He told me how he was initially inspired to create the books when two African-American girls came to him and told him there were no books for them at the school book fair other than books on Michael Jackson and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.," a woman named Katherine Beechem said in a comment on a blog about his legacy. "He then went home and began to create the series of books."

A lot of Black people (myself included) assumed he was Black due to his books, but he was simply an older white man who wanted Black children to see themselves in books. 

Crump would go on to retell dozens of fairytale books for Black children like Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, Jamako and the Beanstalk, Cinderella and plenty more. 

A former student, DJ Coffman, wrote a blog post remembering Crump after learning he'd passed and echoed Beechem's sentiments.

He believed it was silly for all the old fairy tales and princesses to only be white children. He thought it sent the wrong message to minority children to see that only white people had a prince charming or happy ending. I recall his statements on that stuff really striking me, as I had never really thought about race before… let alone all the characters being white!

It just goes to show how ingrained Eurocentric imagery is in the fabric of our nation and how little non-Black people pay attention to it. It's easy to accept the world when you're always reflected in it.

What I find interesting is that Crump never sought praise or monetary gain from the books he wrote and illustrated. In fact, Crump often battled with publishers to get his books out to the world.

Coffman wrote in another blog post, about the struggles Crump faced.

Big publishers turned him down. There’s a tale I recall of one big publisher trying to STOP him for some reason. They claimed the rights to a public domain character. They tried to intimidate him, but he knew the laws. He also thought it had more to do with them wanting to not “tarnish the image” of these beloved white princesses. He did it anyways.

Crump's books were published through Winston-Derek Publishers Group, who were more or less a vanity publisher, meaning Crump had to put his own money up to have his books published. 

Winston-Derek Publishers had a history of stiffing their authors and Crump was no exception. 

A 1998 article by Nashville Scene exposed the situation.

Several former employees of Winston-Derek Publishing alleged that Peebles preys on uneducated, low-income writers who lack the sophistication and financial resources to sue him after their book deals go bad. Many of those writers are black.

What's disheartening to me is that the owner, James Peebles, himself is Black. Several former employees of the company say that it was "nothing more than a scam, designed to separate naïve, unsuspecting first-time authors from their money." Shame.

However, Crump continued to keep his head down and publish his books. 

Crump never married nor had any children but he developed a cult-like following for Black children, like myself and my siblings, who loved seeing our braids, afros and various skin tones in popular fairytales.

After his death, Crump's books went largely out of print. You could find old copies on E-bay, but trying to buy any major bookseller proved futile. His books have recently been reprinted by Timbuktu Press. 

Crump died in a single car accident on October 29, 2005 in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 74.

He's buried at the Pendleton Cemetery in Pendleton, Texas where his sister Ginny is also buried.

Crump is remembered by students and loved ones as a private, mildly eccentric and a true Southern man.

"He remained a mystery and never made the work about himself," Coffman said. "He was void of ego."