Frank Garvin Yerby was born in one house on the 1100 block of Eighth Street in Augusta on Sept. 5, 1916, and grew up in another next door. He became who many claim to be the best-selling African-American novelist of all time. His books include The Foxes of Harrow (his first published novel in 1946), A Woman Called Fancy, The Vixens and Girl from Storyville.

Mr. Yerby graduated from Augusta's Paine College, received a master's degree from Fisk University and taught at Florida A&M in Tallahassee and Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. His story, Health Card, won the O. Henry Memorial Award for the best first published short story in 1944.