Tubman exhibit honors author and AJC’s first Black journalist

It might be nearly impossible to capture a person’s life and legacy in just one museum exhibit, but that didn’t stop a small group from gathering at The Tubman Museum on Nov. 14 to honor the late literary trailblazer Tina McElroy Ansa.

The 74-year-old author and journalist died in September 2024. She would have turned 76 Nov. 18. 

A Macon native and graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, Ansa became the first Black woman to write for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She later published several books and launched her own publishing company.

Museum patrons can now view an exhibit highlighting Ansa’s career — including published novels and awards — curated by close family and friends.

For Ansa’s former Spelman roommate Wanda Lloyd, the exhibit serves as a way of making sure her longtime friend’s work is appreciated by generations to come.

“She would probably say, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about — I’m not all that,’” Lloyd said. She added her friend never believed her work was truly done. 

Lloyd recalled how the two women both started their careers in journalism and how she always made an effort to celebrate Ansa’s literary accomplishments.  They collaborated on an anthology together and even co-hosted a podcast to share their wisdom as older Black women.

She was not just a storyteller but an advocate for women writers, said Ansa’s nephew Kelvin D. McElroy, who said his aunt’s writing became a catalyst for others. 

She was more than just a storyteller, said her nephew, Kelvin D. McElroy. Her writing was a catalyst — helping to start similar adventures for other writers. She was an advocate, especially for women writers, he noted.

“The way she was able to use words and paint pictures and tell her life story to encourage others, to motivate others, to influence others to inspire others — I think those books are the golden treasure,” he said.

At the exhibit’s opening, children’s author Rae Chesny described Ansa as “always taking a moment to pour into others.”

Chesny met Ansa while working for the Zora Neale Hurston Trust and likened the late author to a modern day Hurston. Hurston, best known for her novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” was a Black writer and documentarian who detailed life in the American South.

Both women were “literary icons but disregarded as they aged,” Chesny said, noting that Ansa’s books are no longer in print circulation.

The exhibit in The Tubman, McElroy said, is part of a deeper mission to “preserve and protect the soul of this family.”

Following the exhibit opening, community members gathered at the McElroy family home, known as The Place, for a dedication ceremony.