Muriel Feelings, 73, writer and educator

Muriel Feelings, 73, a writer and educator whose interest in Africa led her to write highly acclaimed children's books that introduced American children to African culture, died Friday, Sept. 30, of multiple myeloma.

Ms. Feelings lived in Philadelphia's Mount Airy section and was a retired director of the Pan African Studies Community Education Program at Temple University.

Two of Ms. Feelings' books, Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book, and Moja Means One: Swahili Counting Book, both with illustrations by her then-husband, Tom Feelings, were written in the early 1970s.

The books earned the Caldecott Honor, second only to the Caldecott Medal for illustrated children's books. The annual award is issued by the Association for Library Service to Children. Moja Means One received the honor in 1972; Jambo Means Hello won in 1975.

"Only a few African Americans have won this prestigious award in children's publishing," said Philadelphia literary consultant Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati. "To have achieved that in the early 1970s was an exceptional honor because the industry was not that knowledgeable about African American books."

The two books, still in print after nearly four decades, remain strong sellers on Amazon.com. The couple collaborated on an earlier book, Zamani Goes to Market, in which the title character is named after the couple's first child.

"If someone wanted to find out something on Africa for their children, Muriel's books are the go-to books," Lloyd-Sgambati said. "These books were books that all races and creeds were interested in. To exist for 39 years means that her books connected with people."

Ms. Feelings was born Muriel Grey in Philadelphia on July 31, 1938, daughter of the late Ada Erwin and Clifford Grey. She attended Philadelphia schools and then the Philadelphia Museum School of Art, later known as the University of the Arts.

She graduated from Los Angeles State College, now California State University, Los Angeles, earning a bachelor's degree in art with minors in Spanish and education.

After graduation, Ms. Feelings taught at public schools in Philadelphia and New York.

A son, Kamili Feelings, himself a writer and educator, said Ms. Feelings met Malcolm X and his wife, Betty Shabazz, in New York in the early 1960s, an experience that he said helped shape her work and inspired her to travel to Africa to teach.

He said that Ms. Feelings was a follower of Malcolm X after he founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity and that she was at New York's Audubon Ballroom when he was assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965.

"That had a profound effect on her," Kamili Feelings said. "My mom wasn't a violent person, so having that kind of intense violence on someone she cared about deeply, I think, had a very traumatic effect on her."

He said the experience helped his mother "laser-beam her focus on what she wanted to do in terms of writing and helping children."

In 1966, Ms. Feelings went to Africa, where she taught at a boy's high school in Kampala, Uganda. She traveled extensively through Africa before returning to New York in 1968.

A year later, she married artist Tom Feelings, whom she had met earlier in the decade. The couple then collaborated on their first book, Zamani Goes to Market, published in 1970. Kamili Feelings said a character in the book was also named after him.

"My brother was a baby, so they named it after him and I'm named in there even though I wasn't born yet," Kamili Feelings said.

The couple lived in Guyana in the early 1970s, where Ms. Feelings continued teaching and writing. The Feelingses then produced their second book, Moja Means One. Their third, Jambo Means Hello, was published in 1974, and they divorced a short time later. Tom Feelings died in 2003.

Kamili Feelings said the books were "an archive and legacy of her history."

He recalled meeting an Australian man in London who told him that he remembered reading his mother's books.

"My mom would be so excited when she would hear things like that," Kamili Feelings said.

In the 1980s, Ms. Feelings worked at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, serving as director of education and coordinator of volunteers. In 1986, she began working as director of Temple University's Community Education Program, serving until 2001.

Ms. Feelings was also member of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia, where she served in the African Heritage Ministry.

In addition to her sons Kamili and Zamani, Ms. Feelings is survived by a brother, Lawrence Grey.

A memorial service was held Oct. 7 at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Mount Airy.