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GWENDOLYN BROOKS: 1st African American to receive Pulitzer Prize

© Maisah B. Robinson, Ph.D.

Gwendolyn Brooks was born on June 17, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas. She grew up in Chicago, IL where she began writing poetry at the age of seven. She was encouraged by African American Langston Hughes to pursue her love for poetry.

In 1941, she attended a poetry class at the South Side Community Art Center. In 1945, her first book of poetry was published, titled A Street In Bronzeville. The book was highly praised and Brooks gained recognition and respect from other Black writers. In 1946 and 1947, she received Guggenheim fellowships. In 1946, she received grants from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. About writing poetry, Brooks said,

“So much is involved in the writing of poetry—and sometimes, although I don’t like suggesting it is a magic process, it seems you really do have to go into a bit of a trance, self-cast trance, because ‘brainwork’ seems unable to do it all, to do the whole job. The self-cast trance is possible when you are importantly excited about an idea, surmise, or emotion.”

In 1950, Brooks received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for her book, Annie Allen. She was the first African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize. In 1953, Brooks’ autobiographical novel, Maud Martha was published. Brooks said, “I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker.” Her collection of poems, titled The Bean Eaters was published in 1960 and excerpts from it appear in literature anthologies.

In 1968, her book, In the Mecca was published. In 1983, Brooks delivered a poem written for the inauguration of Harold Washington, Chicago’s first Black mayor. Brooks said about words, that,

“Words do wonderful things. They sound purr. They can urge, they can wheedle, whip, whine. They can sing, sass, singe. They can churn, check, channelize. They can be a hup, 2, 3, 4. They can forge a fiery army out of a hundred languid men.”

Gwendolyn Brooks served as a mentor to many aspiring writers. She died in December 2000 at the age of 83. She was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Her poem, Black Love, exemplifies the extraordinary talent she possessed.

BLACK LOVE

Black love, provide the adequate electric For what is lapsed and lenient in us now. Rouse us from blur. Call us. Call adequately the postponed corner brother. And call our man in the pin-stripe suiting and restore him to His abler logic; to his people

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