Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917 - 2000) was an American poet and teacher. She is known for her poems, including "The Children of the Poor", "The Mother", "We Real Cool", and "To Be in Love". She won the Pulitzer Prize for Annie Allen.
- Gwendolyn Brooks: Poets.orgGwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, on June 7, 1917, and raised in Chicago. She was the author of more than twenty books of poetry, including Children Coming Home (The David Co., 1991); Blacks (The David Co., 1987); To Disembark (Third World Press, 1981); The Near-Johannesburg Boy and Other Poems (The David Co., 1986); Riot (Broadside Press, 1969); In the Mecca (Harper & Row, 1968); The Bean Eaters (Harper, 1960); Annie Allen (Harper, 1949), for which she received the Pulitzer Prize; and A Street in Bronzeville (Harper & Brothers, 1945).
Research & Reference
- Gwendolyn Brooks: Credo ReferenceA Credo Reference landing page on Gwendolyn Brooks. This page includes links to reference works, journal articles, and a mind map.
Streaming Media
- "A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, A Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon"Brooks wrote this poem about the wife of the man who murdered Emmett Till. Watch Dee recite the poem in its entirety.
- "Pete at the Zoo"Davis performs a poem written by Gwendolyn Brooks. The author compares herself to an elephant.
- "The Old-Marrieds"Dee recites the poem by Brooks that creates a portrait of an aging couple.
- Episode 9: To Prisoners (Poetry In America, Season 1)Harvard University professor Elisa New uses the Gwendolyn Brooks poem To Prisoners to examine the plight of unjustly incarcerated prisoners; featuring Anna Deveare Smith, John McCain, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Li-Young Lee, and Innocence Project Exonerees.
Author's Works & Perspectives
Maud Martha
September 2003 marked the 50th anniversary of Maud Martha, the only novel published by esteemed poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Initially entitled ""American Family Brown"" the work would eventually come to symbolize some of Brooks' most provocative writing. In a novel that captures the essence of Black life, Brooks recognizes the beauty and strength that lies within each of us.
Tiger Who Wore White Gloves
All the tiger's fierce qualities do not satisfy him; he wants to be stylish and wear white gloves.
Invented Lives
Concentrating on carefully chosen selections from ten writers, Mary Helen Washington explores the work, the realities, and the hopes of black women writers between 1860 and 1960. Featuring works by Harriet Jacobs, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Pauline E. Hopkins, Fannie Barrier Williams, Marita O. Bonner, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Ann Petry, Dorothy West, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Praise for Invented Lives "Mary Helen Washington has done more than any other single critic to expand the Afro-American and Anglo-American feminist canons."--The Women's Review of Books "This collection is, in fact, two fine books in one: at once an anthology and a critical study."--New York Times Book Review "The forceful, uncompromising, and distinctive voice of Mary Helen Washington brings together foremothers and daughters . . . in a volume that presents . . . a century of black women's writing along with a vital new tradition of black feminist criticism."--Marianne Hirsch, Ms. Magazine