Gwendolyn Brooks was born on June 7,1917 in Topeka, Kansas, however shortly after her family moved to Chicago, Illinois. She was born to supportive parents, her mother was a teacher and pianist, and her father a janitor who dreamed of being a doctor. Brooks was 13 when her first poem, "Eventide," was published in a children's magazine.
During college, Brooks worked with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). From this she drew inspiration for her first published work, A Street in Bronzeville. A Street in Bronzeville focused on the lives of African Americans living in the city.
Brooks published her only novel in the 1950s-- Maud Martha. It portrays an African American woman's life through vignettes,and deals with her struggle to fit in and find her place in the world. The book deals not only with segregation implemented by Caucasians, but also segregation from lighter skinned African Americans.
Gwendolyn Brooks was the Poet Laureate in 1968.
Brooks devoted her life to portraying African American, and is largely classified as an African American poet. She died in 2000, shortly after publishing her last work, In Montgomery.
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