Eloise Greenfield (May 17, 1929 – August 5, 2021) was an American children's book and biography author and poet famous for her descriptive, rhythmic style and positive portrayal of the African-American experience. After college, Greenfield began writing poetry and songs in the 1950s while working in a civil service job. In 1962, after years of submitting her work, her first poem was finally accepted for publication. In 1972, she published the first of her 48 children's books, including picture books, novels, poetry and biographies. She focused her work on realistic but positive portrayals of African-American communities, families and friendships. She also worked to encourage the writing and publishing of African-American literature and taught creative writing. Biography Greenfield was born Eloise Little in Parmele, North Carolina, and grew up in Washington, D.C., during the Great Depression in the Langston Terrace housing project, which provided a warm childhood experience for her. She was the second oldest of five children of Weston W. Little and his wife Lessie Blanche (née Jones) Little (1906–1986). A shy and studious child, she loved music and took piano lessons. Greenfield experienced racism first-hand in the segregated southern U.S., especially when she visited her grandparents in North Carolina and Virginia. She graduated from Cardozo Senior High School in 1946 and attended Miner Teachers College (now known as University of the District of Columbia) until 1949. In her third year, however, she realized that she was too shy to be a teacher and dropped out. Greenfield began work in the civil service at the U.S. Patent Office, where she soon became bored and also experienced racial discrimination. She began writing poetry and song lyrics in the 1950s while working at the Patent Office, finally succeeding in getting her first poem, "To a Violin", published in the Hartford Times in 1962 after many years of writing and submitting poetry and stories. She resigned from the Patent Office in 1960 to spend more time with her children; she took temporary jobs and continued to write, publishing some of her work in magazines during the 1960s. After joining the District of Columbia Black Writers Workshop in 1971, Greenfield began to write books for children. She published her first children’s book, Bubbles, in 1972, and after Sharon Bell Mathis encouraged her to write a picture book biography, she published Rosa Parks in 1973. Speaking engagements in connection with that topic helped her to