Which author won the Newbery Medal in 1975 for 'M. C. Higgins, the Great'?

Virginia Hamilton won the 1975 Newbery Medal for M. C. Higgins, the Great. First published in 1974, the novel is a coming-of-age story about Mayo Cornelius Higgins, a teenager living with his family on Sarah’s Mountain in the Appalachian region of Kentucky.

The story unfolds over three intense days as M. C. confronts pressure from a mining company, the changing world around him, and the tension between family tradition and personal independence. The mountain is more than a setting: it represents heritage, identity, security, and the threat of irreversible change. Hamilton’s depiction of African American Appalachian life was unusually prominent in major children’s publishing at the time.

The book also won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award. It is often remembered as a landmark in children’s literature because Hamilton became the first African American author to win the Newbery Medal. The year refers to the award, while the book itself appeared the previous year.