Gwendolyn Brooks
Brooks, Gwendolyn (Elizabeth)
Brooks, Gwendolyn (Elizabeth)
From "Encyclopedia of African-American Writing"
Poet—this one word describes every cell of Gwendolyn Brooks 's being. It was always poetry—from her Chicago childhood to her 1950 Pulitzer Prize to her awakening social consciousness to her Illinois Poet Laureate status and through all the other honors and awards. It was always poetry—and few writers besides Brooks can speak volumes with so few words.
Gwendolyn Brooks, Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry, 1950 Born into a large and close-knit extended family, including memorable aunts and uncles whom Brooks later honored in her work, Brooks seems to always have been comfortable with herself. Her mother, Keziah Wims, met her father, David Anderson Brooks, in Topeka, Kansas in 1914. They soon married and relocated to Chicago. Keziah returned to family in Topeka to give birth to her first child, Gwendolyn. Keziah stayed in Topeka for several weeks before returning to her husband in Chicago with her infant daughter. Gwendolyn 's only sibling, younger brother Raymond, was born 16 months later. Brooks 's mother had been a schoolteacher in Topeka, and her father, son of a runaway slave, had attended Fisk University for one year in hopes of becoming a doctor. Economic survival became more important, however, so his desires for a medical career were dashed and he spent
a doctor. Economic survival became more important, however, so his desires for a medical career were dashed and he spent much of his life as a janitor. Despite financial constraints for the young family in Chicago, Brooks remembers a loving, family atmosphere throughout her childhood. She had a more difficult time fitting in with her high-school classmates, however, attending three high schools: Hyde Park, which was mostly white; Wendell Phillips, which was all black; and Englewood High School, the integrated school from which she eventually graduated in 1934. Two years later, she graduated
Brooks, Gwendolyn (Elizabeth)
From "Encyclopedia of African-American Writing"
Poet—this one word describes every cell of Gwendolyn Brooks 's being. It was always poetry—from her Chicago childhood to her 1950 Pulitzer Prize to her awakening social consciousness to her Illinois Poet Laureate status and through all the other honors and awards. It was always poetry—and few writers besides Brooks can speak volumes with so few words.
Gwendolyn Brooks, Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry, 1950 Born into a large and close-knit extended family, including memorable aunts and uncles whom Brooks later honored in her work, Brooks seems to always have been comfortable with herself. Her mother, Keziah Wims, met her father, David Anderson Brooks, in Topeka, Kansas in 1914. They soon married and relocated to Chicago. Keziah returned to family in Topeka to give birth to her first child, Gwendolyn. Keziah stayed in Topeka for several weeks before returning to her husband in Chicago with her infant daughter. Gwendolyn 's only sibling, younger brother Raymond, was born 16 months later. Brooks 's mother had been a schoolteacher in Topeka, and her father, son of a runaway slave, had attended Fisk University for one year in hopes of becoming a doctor. Economic survival became more important, however, so his desires for a medical career were dashed and he spent
a doctor. Economic survival became more important, however, so his desires for a medical career were dashed and he spent much of his life as a janitor. Despite financial constraints for the young family in Chicago, Brooks remembers a loving, family atmosphere throughout her childhood. She had a more difficult time fitting in with her high-school classmates, however, attending three high schools: Hyde Park, which was mostly white; Wendell Phillips, which was all black; and Englewood High School, the integrated school from which she eventually graduated in 1934. Two years later, she graduated
References: AANB. AAW:PV. B. BCE. CAO-08. CE. CLCS. LFCC-07. Q. W. W2B. Wiki. Baker, Houston A., Jr. “The Achievement of Gwendolyn Brooks.” CLA Journal 16.1 (Sept. 1972): Rpt. in Sharon R. Gunton and Laurie Lanzen Harris (Eds.). (1980). Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 15). Detroit: Gale Research. From Literature Resource Center. Clark, Norris B. “Gwendolyn Brooks and a Black Aesthetic.” A Life Distilled: Gwendolyn Brooks, Her Poetry and Fiction (Maria K. Mootry and Gary Smith, Eds.). University of Illinois Press, 1987. Rpt. in Daniel G. Marowski and Roger Matuz (Eds.). (1988). Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 49, pp. 81-99). Detroit: Gale Research. From Literature Resource Center. Doreski, Carole K., in AW:ACLB-91. Griffin, Farah Jasmine, in APSWWII-4. Hansell, William H. “The Uncommon Commonplace in the Early Poems of Gwendolyn Brooks.” CLA Journal 30.3 (Mar. 1987), pp. 261-277. Rpt. in Daniel G. Marowski and Roger Matuz (Eds.). (1988). Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 49). Detroit: Gale Research. From Literature Resource Center. Israel, Charles, in APSWWII-1. James, Charles L. in CP-6. Kent, George E., in AAW-40-55. Mckay, Nellie, in MAWW. Mclendon, Jacquelyn, in AAW-1991. Miller, R. Baxter, in GEAAL. Mueller, Michael E., and Jennifer M. York, in BB. Shaw, Harry B. 1980. “Gwendolyn Brooks.” Twayne 's United States Authors Series 395. Boston: Twayne Publishers. From The Twayne Authors Series. Shucard, Alan R., and Allison Hersh, in RGAL-3. Taylor, Henry. “Gwendolyn Brooks: An Essential Sanity.” Kenyon Review 13.4 (Fall 1991): pp. 115-131. Rpt. in Jeffrey W. Hunter (Ed.). (2000). Contemporary Literary Criticism (Vol. 125). Detroit: Gale Group. From Literature Resource Center. © Grey House Publishing Persistent URL to this entry: http://www.credoreference.com/entry/ghaaw/brooks_gwendolyn_elizabeth APA Brooks, Gwendolyn (Elizabeth). (2009). In Encyclopedia of African-American Writing. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/ghaaw/brooks_gwendolyn_elizabeth Chicago Encyclopedia of African-American Writing, s.v. "Brooks, Gwendolyn (Elizabeth)," accessed April 16, 2013, http://www.credoreference.com/entry/ghaaw/brooks_gwendolyn_elizabeth Harvard ‘Brooks, Gwendolyn (Elizabeth)’ 2009, in Encyclopedia of African-American Writing, Grey House Publishing, Amenia, NY, USA, viewed 16 April 2013, MLA "Brooks, Gwendolyn (Elizabeth)." Encyclopedia of African-American Writing. Amenia: Grey House Publishing, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 16 April 2013.