Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks showed a keen interest in poetry from a very early age. After enrolling in a junior college while working for NAACP, she established her own poetry workshop and started diving into the poem-making process right away, pooling most of her focus on urban Black experiences.
To this day, Gwendolyn Brooks is still among the most widely-read, influential, and highly-regarded 20th-century poets in American poetry. Even during her lifetime, Brooks was very honored by critics and the general public alike, being the very first Black poet in history to bring home a Pulitzer Prize. The woman also worked as a poetry consultant for Congress Library (also the very first Black female to earn that position) and was elected as Illinois' poet laureate. Most of her works - particularly those from the 1950s - depict a keen sense of political consciousness; several of them also reflect the period's civil-right activism.
As per George Kent, a critic, her works lent her a very unique position in the American literature sector, combining strong dedication to racial equality and identity with terrific poetic techniques. Also, this woman has successfully bridged the long gap between young militant writers and academic poets of the 1950s.
Years: 1917 - 2000
Most famous works: We Real Cool, Annie Allen
