Award-winning author and illustrator John Lewis Steptoe was honored Saturday in Flatbush on what would have been his 66th birthday.

The street where Steptoe grew up in Beford-Stuyvesant, at the corner of Monroe Street and Ralph Avenue, was co-named after the Brooklyn native who passed away in 1989.

Family members, artists and fans gathered to remember the man who they call an icon of his time and an important person in history.

Steptoe, who wrote his first book at age 16, broke through racial barriers and wrote stories about children of color. Throughout his career, he illustrated 16 children's books, all of which dealt with different aspects of African-American culture.