After Paul’s discharge from the United States Marines, the growing family settled in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota. To this union five children were born: Scott, Joy, Michele, Holly, and Jon. On JJoyce married her best friend and the love of her life, Paul Hansen. She graduated from Underwood High School.

A New York Times review called the book 'eticulously researched' and 'rich with detail, drama and intrigue'.Joyce Marie (Benson) Hansen was born on September 14, 1936, in Elbow Lake, Minnesota to Algier and Goldie (Pratt) Benson. Hansen's 2004 book, African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal Women, profiles six prominent women, including Hatshepsut, Amina, and Elizabeth of Toro. Also with McGowan, Hansen wrote Freedom Roads (2003), a non-fiction account of the Underground Railroad, which Kirkus called 'well-written, well-documented, imaginatively arranged'. The book, which was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, detailed the 1991 discovery and excavation of a burial ground for slaves and free blacks in New York City. With Gary McGowan, Hansen wrote Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York's African Burial Ground (1998). Kirkus Reviews called the book 'inspirational' and 'effective as art and as history'. Women of Hope: African Americans Who Made A Difference (1998) features short biographies of thirteen influential Black women, including neurosurgeon Alexa Canady, astronaut Mae Jemison, and activist Fannie Lou Hamer. Hansen has also written a number of non-fiction books for youth about African-American and African history.

Her novels The Captive (1994) and I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl (part of the Dear America series of books) were also named Coretta Scott King Honor Books. The book, about a Black teenager serving with the Union Army in the Civil War, was the first of a trilogy of books that included Out From This Place (1998) and The Heart Calls Home (1999). Which Way Freedom? (1986), her first work of historical fiction, was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. In addition to novels set in contemporary urban settings, Hansen has written a number of works of historical fiction about African-American history, including books about slavery and the Civil War.

One True Friend by Joyce Hansen