Arna (Wendell) Bontemps (1902–1973) was born in Alexandria, Louisiana. His father was a brick mason and his mother a teacher. Arna was the nickname given him by his grandmother. He had a comfortable childhood, although his family relocated from Louisiana to Los Angeles after some racial harassment of his father. In 1923, Bontemps graduated from Pacific Union College. He married Alberta Johnson in 1926, and they had six children. A teacher, librarian, anthologist, poet, novelist, playwright, biographer, and author of children's fiction, Bontemps dealt in his work almost exclusively with black life and culture. Active in writers' organizations and in the American Library Association, he also served as a member of the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education. In 1943, he earned an M.A. from the University of Chicago. He worked as a high school teacher and principal, as well as a freelance writer, before serving as Librarian of Fisk University from 1943 to 1965. He also taught at the University of Chicago and Yale University.

Much of Bontemps's writing, in all genres, reflects his attempts to reconcile his respect for the richness of African-American folk culture with his repudiation of negative ethnic stereotypes. His works for adults include God Sends Sunday (1931); Popo and Fifina: Children of Haiti (1932), written with Langston Hughes; Black Thunder (1935); Drums at Dusk (1939); St. Louis Woman (1946), a dramatization written with Countee Cullen; Story of the Negro (1948); and One Hundred Years of Negro Freedom (1961). His works for children include Sam Patch (1951), written with Jack Conroy; and Famous Negro Athletes (1964). Among the many awards and honors he received in recognition of his writing were The Crisis magazine's poetry prize (1926), the Alexander Pushkin Poetry Prize (1926 and 1927), the short story prize of the journal Opportunity (1932), Julius Rosenwald fellowships (1938–1939, 1942–1943), a Newbery Honor (for outstanding children's book, 1949), a Guggenheim Fellowship for creative writing (1949–1950), and a Jane Addams Children's Book Award (1956).