Dates: June 7, 1917 - December 3, 2000
Occupation: poet
poetry themes were usually the ordinary lives of urban African Americans dealing with racism and poverty
poetry themes were usually the ordinary lives of urban African Americans dealing with racism and poverty
Known for: poet laureate of Illinois; first African American to win Pulitzer Prize (for Poetry, 1950)
Also known as: Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks
Background, Family:
- Father: David Anderson Brooks, a janitor who had wanted to become a doctor
- Mother: Keziah (Wims) Brooks, teacher and pianist
- Born in Kansas; grew up in Chicago, Illinois
Education:
- Hyde Park High School, Wendell Phillips High School, and Englewood High School (Chicago)
- Wilson Junior College (1936)
- writing workshops with Inez Cunningham Stark at the South Side Community Art Center, Chicago
- Second Black Writers' Conference at Fisk University (1967)
Marriage, Children:
- Husband: Henry L. Blakeley (married September 17, 1939)
- Children: Henry, Jr., Nora
Career:
- Writer, poet, teacher; first published poem, age 14
- Publicity director, NAACP Youth Council, Chicago, 1937-1938
Taught at:
- Northeastern Illinois State College (now Northeastern Illinois University)
- University of Wisconsin at Madison
- City College of the City University of New York
- many writing workshops
