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Quick Facts
- NAME: Gwendolyn Brooks
- OCCUPATION: Poet
- BIRTH DATE: June 07, 1917
- DEATH DATE: December 03, 2000
- EDUCATION: Englewood High School, Wendell Phillips Academy High School, Hyde Park High School, Wilson Junior College
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Topeka, Kansas
- PLACE OF DEATH: Chicago, Illinois
- Full Name: Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks
- Nickname: "Gwendie"
- AKA: Gwendolyn Brooks
Best Known For
Gwendolyn Brooks was a postwar poet best known as the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, for her 1949 book Annie Allen.
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Play NowGwendolyn Brooks. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 08:16, May 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/gwendolyn-brooks-9227599.
Gwendolyn Brooks. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/gwendolyn-brooks-9227599 [Accessed 19 May 2013].
"Gwendolyn Brooks." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 19 2013, 08:16 http://www.biography.com/people/gwendolyn-brooks-9227599.
"Gwendolyn Brooks," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/gwendolyn-brooks-9227599 [accessed May 19, 2013].
"Gwendolyn Brooks," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/gwendolyn-brooks-9227599 (accessed May 19, 2013).
Gwendolyn Brooks [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/gwendolyn-brooks-9227599.
Gwendolyn Brooks, http://www.biography.com/people/gwendolyn-brooks-9227599 (last visited May 19, 2013).
Gwendolyn Brooks. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/gwendolyn-brooks-9227599. Accessed May 19, 2013.
Synopsis
Poet Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, on June 7, 1917. Brooks moved to Chicago at a young age. She began writing and publishing as a teenager, eventually achieving national fame for her 1945 collection A Street in Bronzeville. In 1950 Brooks became the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, for her book Annie Allen. She died in her Chicago home on December 3, 2000.
Contents
Quotes
"I felt that I had to write. Even if I had never been published, I knew that I would go on writing, enjoying it and experiencing the challenge."
"A writer should get as much education as possible, but just going to school is not enough; if it were, all owners of doctorates would be inspired writers."
"Art hurts. Art urges voyages—and it is easier to stay at home."
Early Life
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born on June 7, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas. When Brooks was six weeks old, her family moved to Chicago as part of the Great Migration. Brooks was known as "Gwendie" to close friends and family during her childhood.
Brooks attended three high schools: the prestigious, integrated Hyde Park High School; the all-black Wendell Phillips Academy High School; and the integrated Englewood High School. The racial prejudice that she encountered at some of these institutions would shape her understanding of social dynamics in the United States and influence her writing. In 1936, Brooks graduated from Wilson Junior College, having already begun to write and publish her work.
Writing Career
Brooks began writing at an early age. She published her first poem in a children's magazine at age 13. By 16, she had published approximately 75 poems. She began submitting her work to the Chicago Defender, a leading African-American newspaper. Her work included ballads, sonnets and free verse, drawing on musical rhythms and the content of inner-city Chicago. She would later say of this time in her life, ""I felt that I had to write. Even if I had never been published, I knew that I would go on writing, enjoying it and experiencing the challenge."
Brooks worked as a secretary to support herself while she developed as a poet. She took part in poetry workshops, including one organized by Inez Cunningham Stark, an affluent woman with a literary background. While Stark was white, all of the participants in her workshop were African-American. Brooks made great strides during this period, garnering official recognition. In 1943, her work received an award from the Midwestern Writers' Conference.
Brooks published her first book of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville, in 1945. The book was an instant success, leading to a Guggenheim Fellowship and other honors. Her second book, Annie Allen, appeared in 1949. Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for Annie Allen, making her the first African American to do so. Other honors included Poetry magazine’s Eunice Tietjens Prize.
In the early 1960s, Brooks embarked on a teaching career as an instructor of creative writing. She taught at Columbia College in Chicago, Chicago State University, Northeastern Illinois University, Columbia University and the University of Wisconsin. She also continued to write and publish. Her long poem "In the Mecca," published in 1968, was nominated for a National Book Award in poetry.
Personal Life
Brooks married Henry Lowington Blakely Jr.
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