 During the 1980s Pinkney began to receive additional recognition for his work, including a Coretta Scott King Award for his collaboration with author Patricia McKissack on "Mirandy and Brother Wind" (1989).Pinkney also collaborated with the National Geographic Magazine and the National Park Service on the topic of the Underground Railroad.Pinkney has also worked as an educator, teaching at colleges and universities like the University of Delaware, the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York and the University at Buffalo, in Buffalo, New York.