The late Ann Petry holds the distinction of being the first Black woman writer to sell over 1 million copies of a book. Her 1946 bestseller, The Street, focused on a single mother living on 116th Street in Harlem and was inspired by her time living in the famed New York borough.
Petry was born Anna Lane on October 12, 1908 in the town of Old Saybrook in Connecticut. Her father worked as a pharmacist, and her mother worked in several fields, including hairdressing and owning a store. Peter and Bertha Lane sheltered their children from discrimination as much as they could. While they experienced less hardships than most, they were still the Black minority in their middle-class neighborhood.
Petry’s family businesses didn’t find success until she was an adult. By that time, she earned her Graduate in Pharmacy degree from the Connecticut College of Pharmacy, now known as the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy. From 1931 to 1938, she worked as a pharmacist, yet the pull of creative writing would prove to be strongest after she left medical field.
