Novelist Tina McElroy Ansa possessed a kind of certainty in life that few appear to have.
McElroy Ansa said she always knew she was destined to be a writer and storyteller. Writing was her gift, she said. And her upbringing of being surrounded by elder relatives sharing family stories that spanned generations, fed that gift.
“I was lucky enough to be born mid-century at a time when folks still told stories on the front porch … where you may live in intergenerational households …” McElroy Ansa said last January.
McElroy Ansa died in her home on St. Simons Island earlier in September. She was 74.
The Macon native was a trailblazer in journalism as well as her writing craft. She became the first Black woman to be hired by The Atlanta Constitution morning newspaper in 1971. Her first novel, “Baby of the Family” was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1989.
She also founded Down South Press as a vehicle to publish and promote Black authors’ work.
McElroy Ansa’s passing was unexpected, her close friend Wanda S. Lloyd said. The novelist had posted an exuberant photo of herself attending Vice President Kamala Harris’s rally in Savannah on Aug. 29.
Lloyd, a veteran journalist and McElroy Ansa’s former Spelman College roommate, said she will remember her friend as a free spirit in life.
The late novelist often talked of her belief that heavenly spirits guide us in life and her sense that she was connected to them.
“She was unapologetic in offering advice and spiritual guidance,” Lloyd said. “She was spiritual in believing that the spirits would protect us, and we should believe in ourselves. She gave people hope in themselves and believing what you could do.”
Lloyd and McElroy Ansa were Spelman College roommates and remained close throughout the decades. McElroy Ansa married her now late husband Jonee’ and Lloyd also married.
McElroy Ansa was hired by The Atlanta Constitution the year of graduation. She started on the copy desk and under the wing of veteran journalists that she would affectionately remember as “hard core,” McElroy Ansa worked her way up to reporter and features editor during an eight-year stint.
She also spent a year at the Charlotte Observer working as county editor, but writing novels was where her heart lied.
In addition to “Baby of the Family,” her novels include “Ugly Ways,” “The Hand I Fan With,” “You Know Better” and “Taking After Mudear: A Novel.”
McElroy Ansa was also a contributor to such publications as The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Lloyd went on to serve in leading roles at major news organizations, including executive editor at the Montgomery Advertiser daily newspaper, and was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame in 2019.
McElroy wrote the forward to Lloyd’s 2020 memoir, “Coming Full Circle: From Jim Crow to Journalism.”
In 2021, the two began to take road trips together to universities and centers to promote Lloyd’s book.
“We could talk for hours,” Lloyd said. “We’d have so much fun driving.”
The two friends published “Meeting at the Table: African-American Women Write on Race, Culture and Community.” Their hours of virtual editing conversations during the pandemic led the two to start a podcast, “Two Old Chick Who Know a Lot of Shi*t.”
McElroy Ansa was working on an October celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Historic Harrington School in Brunswick. For the event’s film festival, she had turned to her longtime friend at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, journalist Ernie Suggs, to arrange a screening of the AJC hip hop documentary, “The South’s Got Something to Say.”
“She was happy and bubbly like she normally is,” Suggs said of his virtual chat with McElroy Ansa. “She was that big sister who was just always there for you. I will remember how welcoming she was and open to teach or share who she was with people; inviting you to spend time at her home at the beach; telling stories of her husband; offering you criticism on your writing.
“I think everyone who knew her would say that she just made you feel comfortable and like you were just part of her family.”
Very impressed with this article. jacksmith