She committed her art to the commonalities and hardships of living in a racist society.īrooks is a native of Topeka, Kansas, born on June 7, 1917, the eldest of three children.
She is immersed in the rhythms, themes, and language of the black American. A symbol of commitment to her race, she became the first black American to win a Guggenheim Fellowship, American Academy of the Arts and Letters Grant in literature, and the Pulitzer Prize. A landmark poet, novelist, and autobiographer, Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks is treasured for an abiding humanity strongly grounded on the experiences of wife and mother.
