Elton Fax facts for kids

Elton Clay Fax (born October 9, 1909 – died May 13, 1993) was an American artist, cartoonist, and writer. He was known for his illustrations and for writing books about Black artists and leaders. Fax traveled widely, using his art to share stories and experiences from different cultures.

Early Life and School

Elton Clay Fax was born in 1909 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, Mark Oakland Fax, worked at the Baltimore Railroad Depot, and his mother, Willie Estelle Fax, was a seamstress. Elton Fax finished high school at Frederick Douglass High School in 1926. A famous musician named Cab Calloway was one of his classmates there.

Fax first went to Claflin College in South Carolina, which is a historically black college. Later, he moved to New York state and attended Syracuse University. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1931. Soon after college, he had his first art show at the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper office.

His Career as an Artist

Elton Fax started teaching art in New York City in 1934 at the Harlem Community Art Center. He also worked for the Works Project Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project. This was a government program that helped artists find work during the Great Depression.

Fax was a busy illustrator for many magazines. Some of these included Weird Tales, Astounding Science-Fiction, Story Parade, and Child Life.

In 1942, he created a newspaper comic strip called Susabelle. He also made an illustrated history series called They'll Never Die. Both of these appeared in African-American newspapers. He also designed greeting cards for an organization called The Links.

During the 1940s, Fax worked as a cartoonist for several comic companies. These included Continental Features Syndicate, Funnies Inc., Quality Comics, and Novelty Comics.

Elton Fax wrote and illustrated many books himself. Some of his well-known books include West African Vignettes (1960), Contemporary Black Leaders (1970), and Seventeen Black Artists (1972). He also wrote a biography of Marcus Garvey called Garvey (1972). Later, he shared his travel experiences in books like Through Black Eyes: Journeys of a Black Artist to East Africa and Russia (1974).

Besides his own books, Fax also illustrated books for other authors, especially children's writers like Georgene Faulkner and Verna Aardema. He designed book covers and created a pamphlet about reading for the Pan American Union.

From 1949 to 1956, Fax was a "chalk talk artist" for the New York Times Children's Book Program. He would tell stories to groups of children and draw pictures at the same time to bring the stories to life.

Travels and International Work

Elton Fax traveled a lot, often sponsored by the U.S. State Department. In 1955, he visited Latin America. He lived in Mexico for a few years and traveled through countries like Bolivia, Argentina, and Uruguay.

In 1963, he lectured in East Africa. While there, he toured Nigeria with jazz musician Randy Weston. This trip was supported by the American Society of African Culture. Fax also attended an international writers' meeting in Rome in 1959. He reported on this meeting for the New York Age newspaper.

After his visit to Rome, Fax traveled through Africa, visiting countries like Nigeria, Sudan, Egypt, and Ethiopia. His sketches from these trips were published in his first book, West African Vignettes. He also visited Europe for writers' meetings in the Soviet Union in 1971 and 1973, and in Bulgaria in 1977.

Elton Fax received several important awards. He was a fellow at the MacDowell Colony in 1968, which is a place where artists can work. He also received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1976 to travel to Italy. Other awards included the Coretta Scott King Award from the American Library Association in 1972 and the Chancellor's Medal from Syracuse University in 1990.

Personal Life and Family

In 1929, Elton Fax married Grace Elizabeth Turner. They had three children together. The Fax family lived in Mexico for several years in the 1950s and traveled widely. Later, he married Elizabeth V. Murrell. Elton Fax passed away in 1993 at the age of 83 in Queens, New York.

Elton Fax's older brother was Mark Fax, who became a well-known music scholar.

Many of Elton Fax's important papers and artworks are kept in libraries at the New York Public Library, Boston University, and Syracuse University.

Works

• Contemporary Black Leaders
• West African Vignettes
• Elyuchin
• Seventeen Black Artists
• Garvey: The story of a pioneer Black nationalist
• Through Black Eyes: Journeys of a Black Artist to East Africa and Russia
• Black Artists of the New Generation
• Hashar
• Soviet People as I Knew Them
• Tales from the story hat (illustrations only)
• The Seven Wishes of Joanna Peabody (illustrations only)
• Paul Cuffee: America's first black captain (illustrations only)
• Take a walk in their shoes (illustrations only)
• Dr. George Washington Carver, Scientist (illustrations only)