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Yerby, Frank Gavin (1 916 – 19 91 )
One of the most prolific African-American writers,
Frank Yerby is also the first African American to
become a millionaire writing fiction, selling more
than 50 million hardback and paperback copies of
his novels. During his 45-year career as a novel-
ist, Yerby published 33 novels, almost one a year
beginning in 1946; his novels, many of them best
sellers, were translated into 14 languages. Three
of his novels, The FOXES OF HARROW, The Golden
Hawk, and The Saracen Blade, were also made into
successful movies.
Frank Yerby, the son of Rufus Garvin and Wilhe-
mina (Smythe) Yerby, was born into an influential
black family in Augusta, Georgia, on September 5,

1916. The Yerbys lived in a two-story house on the
      corner of Eight and Hall Streets, just outside “The
      Terry,” a large predominantly black residential area.
      Since Yerby’s father worked as a hotel doorman in
      such cities as Miami and Detroit, he periodically
      traveled to and from Augusta; consequently, Yerby
      and his siblings were raised by their mother and
      aunts, all of whom were teachers. As a young boy,
      Yerby developed strong propensities for reading
      and tinkering with mechanical and electronic de-
      vices, and frequently he fabricated stories, which
      he told his aunts. On one occasion, when his Aunt
      Emily reprimanded him for inventing stories, his
      aunt Fannie remarked prophetically, “Oh, let him
      alone. He might be a writer some day” (Richard-
      son Personal Interview).

The Yerby children attended Haines Institute,

then a private black institution in Augusta consist-

ing of both elementary and high school grades.

Yerby, however, was the only one in his family to

attend Paine College, a black undergraduate insti-

tution in Augusta, where he majored in English and

was active in college organizations. Although he

had shown promise as early as high school and had

been encouraged by his teachers, Yerby’s interest in

writing blossomed in college, and he also received

significant encouragement from a well-known

black writer. “The late James Weldon Johnson,”

Yerby said later, “approved some verses of mine

shown to him by my sister, then a student at Fisk

University” (Rothe, 672). While an undergraduate

at Paine College, Yerby wrote short stories, poetry,

and editorials for the school paper, The Paineite,

and published in such “little magazines” as Chal-

lenge, Shard, and Arts Quarterly. After graduating

from Paine, he attended Fisk University, where

he continued to write stories and poetry, some of

which he published in The Fisk Herald and New

Anvil. He received his master’s degree in 1938 and

enrolled the same year in the University of Chi-

cago to pursue a doctorate degree.

While in Chicago, Yerby worked with the Fed-

eral Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Admin-

istration (WPA), where he met other writers who

would make their mark in American literature.

The Chicago WPA Group included ARNA BON-

TEMPS, Saul Bellow, WILLARD MOTLEY, RICHARD