She was born in Baltimore,Maryland.Both of her parents were schoolteachers,who instilled in her love of reading.During the day while her parents worked,her grandma,Augusta Fax (from whom she received her name) cared for and told her her stories.Augusta delighted in these stories,carrying her love for them throughout her life.She learned to read before starting elementary school,later enrolling in the (racially segregated ) black high school where her daddy taught,and graduating at the age of 16.Augusta then entered the University of Pittsburgh,where she both met and married James Baker by the end of her sophomore year.
Relocating with James to New York,Augusta sought to transfer to Albany Teacher's College (now the State University of New York at Albany),only to be met with racial opposition from the college.it was then Eleanor the wife of Franklin Roosevelt (who was then the Governor of New York),Eleanor,who was on the board of the Albany Interracial Council (now the Albany Urban League) and heavily advocated for Augusta's successful transfer.Through the college did not want to admit,African Americans,they also did not want to oppose the the governor's wife,Augusta was admitted.She completed her education there,earning a B.A. degree in education in 1933 and a B.S. in library science in 1934.
After graduation,Augusta taught for a few years,until she was hired in 1937 as the children's librarian at the New York Public Library's 135th Street Branch (now the Countee Cullen regional branch) in Harlem.
In 1939,the branch began an effort to find and collect children's literature that portrayed African American people as something other than "servile buffoons," speaking in a rude dialect,and other such stereotypes.This collection,founded by Augusta as the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Children's Books,led to to the publication of the first of a number of bibliographies of books for and about African American children.Augusta furthered this project by encouraging authors,illustrators,and publishers,to produce,as well as libraries to acquire,books depicting African Americans in a favorable light.
In 1953,she was appointed storytelling Specialist and Assistant Coordinator of Children's Services.Not long after that,she became Coordinator of Children's services in 1961,becoming the first African American librarian in an administrative position in the New York Public Library.In this role,she over saw children's program in the entire New York Public Library system and set policies for them.During this time,Augusta also figured prominently in the American Library Association's Children's Services Division (now the Association for Library Services to Children),having served as its president.Additionally,she chaired the committee that awarded the Newbery Medal and the Caldecott Medal.Furthermore,Augusta influenced many children's authors and illustrators- such Maurice Sendak,Madeleine L'Engle,Jack Keats,and John Steptoe-While in this position.She also worked as a consultant for the then newly created children's T.V. series Sesame Street.
In 1974,Augusta retired from the New York Public Library.In 1980,she returned to librarianship to assume the newly created storyteller-in-Residence position at the University of South Carolina;this was also the first such position in any American University at the time.She remained there until her second retirement in 1994.During her time there,she cowrote a book entitled Storytelling: Art and Technique with colleague Ellin Green,which was published in 1987.
First recipient of the of the E.P.Dutton-John Macrae Award (1953)
Parents Magazine medal Award (1966)
ALA Grolier Award (1968)
Women's National Book Association,constance Lindsay Skinner Award (1971)
Clarence Day Award (1975)
Honorary Doctorate from St.John's University (1980)
Catholic Library Association's Regina Medal (1981)
Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Carolina (1986)
Second recipient of ALSC Distinguished Service Award (1993)
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