| Summary: | The author of this reader, Lucie Bragg Anthony, M.D., was born in 1870 in Warrenton, North Carolina. She graduated from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1907. After marrying Francis Anthony, a Zion AME minister, the couple lived in Kentucky and Texas before settling in Sumter, South Carolina in 1910. Dr. Anthony had worked as a principal in the schools in Henderson, Kentucky and San Antonio, Texas. She became the first supervisor of the Sumter County Colored Schools in 1915 and worked there for 15 years. While there, she transformed the school system and promoted the health and well-being of the African American community, often by fundraising to supplement her often inadequate government-funded budgets. Dr. Anthony wrote and published this book during her tenure there. Her focus on health shows throughout the text; she highlighted the importance of bathing, eating a healthy diet, and exercise. The reader has lessons on reading, math, geography, and more, with a strong focus on Christian teachings. A music section includes several original children's songs by Dr. Anthony. The quotation on the title page, Little Clusters help to fill the garners too, is taken from the hymn entitled, In the vineyard of our Father, shown on page 9.
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