Gwendolyn Brooks Research Bio
Gwendolyn Brooks (June 7, 1917- December 3, 2000) was an American poet whose works painted a picture of lives for "Black urban poor" in Chicago. Some of her works include: We Real Cool (1959), The Bean Eaters (1960), and Boy Breaking Glass (1987). Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African American who won the Pulitzer Prize (1950). She was also nominated poet laureate of Illinois (Nominated 1965).
She was born in Topeka, Kansas and her family moved to Chicago during the Great Migration. Her first poem, Eventide, appeared in "American Childhood" when she was 13. She graduated from Wilson Junior College in1936 and her early works appeared in the Chicago Defender.
She won the Pulitzer prize for her poem Annie Allen, in which she described growing up in Chicago as an African American girl. Her first and only novel was Maud Martha, which recounted the experience of an African American girl through short vignettes. She worked as a Library of Congress consultant in poetry during 1985-1986. She later worked as an English professor at the Chicago State University in 1990, until her death in 2000.
Although it's sad I liked "The bean eaters". It describes the depressing conditions of old and poor couple eating beans. To me, it is at least equally motivational is "We real cool".
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