The Tree

Minnette Coleman is the author of The Blacksmith's Daughter and No Death by Unknown Hands, both historical novels. An active member of the Harlem Writers Guild, Coleman also wrote Hand-Me-Downs, a one-woman show that she toured across the United States.

Her research for The Tree began after she graduated from Guilford College, on whose campus grows a centuries-old tree that is part of the Underground Railroad tour and history. As historian for the Black Alumni Advisory Board of Guilford College, Coleman researched how this tree served as a focal point for "running aways" and the Quakers who helped them.

Coleman's father was the city editor of the Atlanta Daily World, and her grandfather was one of the city's last blacksmiths. A wife, mother, and grandmother, Coleman lives in New York.