Title: Gwendolyn Brooks Collection, 1909-2003
Predominant Dates:bulk 1960-2000
ID: 01/01/MSS00086
Primary Creator: Brooks, Gwendolyn (1917-2000)
Extent: 200.0 Linear Feet
Date Acquired: 09/19/2013
Languages: English
This collection consists of a variety of materials related to Gwendolyn Brooks, a Black American poet from Chicago, Illinois.
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) was an American poet and educator born in Topeka, Kansas and raised on the South Side of Chicago. In 1950, Brooks was the first Black person to win a Pulitzer Prize in any category, receiving the award in Poetry for Annie Allen (1949). At the core of this book is "The Anniad," an epic poem that details the life of a young woman in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. Brooks was a beloved mentor to many poets and artists from the Black Arts movement, and started the Illinois Poet Laureate Awards to encourage poetry writing amongst young people. During her life, Brooks received numerous accolades for her work, including her appointment as Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968 and Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (now the Poet Laureate of the United States) in 1985.
Poet Gwendolyn Brooks was born to parents David Anderson and Keziah Wims Brooks on June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas. A few weeks later, her family moved to Chicago where she would live for the rest of her life. Brooks began writing at an early age and was encouraged by her mother saying, "You are going to be the lady Paul Laurence Dunbar." When she was 13, her poem "Eventide" was published in the children's magazine American Childhood [1]. By the time she graduated high school, Brooks had published over one hundred poems in the "Lights and Shadows" poetry column of the Chicago Defender [2]. After high school, Brooks graduated from a two-year program at Wilson Junior College [3]. In 1939, she married Henry Blakely, Jr. whom she met after joining the Chicago NAACP Youth Council. They soon had their first child, Henry III, and later their daughter, Nora.
Early in her career, Brooks was encouraged by poet James Weldon Johnson and Harlem Renaissance writers Langston Hughes and Richard Wright [4]. In her work, Brooks drew inspiration from her life and surroundings in Chicago. Her first book of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville (1945), received praise for its authentic portraits of the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. Her second collection of poems, Annie Allen (1949), chronicles the life of a young Black Bronzeville girl. It was for this book that Brooks won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, making her the first Black person to win the award in any category [5].
In the 1960s, Brooks work became more overtly political as she became close with activists and writers involved in the Black Arts Movement, a group of artists whose work reflected the cultural side of the growing Black Power movement [6]. She became especially close with Haki Madhubuti, to whom she became both a mentor and a mother figure. Soon Brooks began working exclusively with Black publishers, especially Broadside Press, founded by her close friend Dudley Randall, and Third World Press, founded by Madhubuti. In the 1980s, Brooks also established her own imprint called The David Company.
Throughout her long career, Brooks published more than twenty books of poetry, including The Bean Eaters (1960), Selected Poems (1963), In the Mecca (1968), Riot (1969), Family Pictures (1970), Aloneness (1971), Beckonings (1975), To Disembark (1981), Black Love (1982), The Near-Johannesburg Boy and Other Poems (1986), Blacks (1987), Gottschalk and the Grand Tarantelle (1988), Winnie (1988), and Children Coming Home (1991). She also published one novel, Maud Martha (1953), as well as children's literature such as Bronzeville Boys and Girls (1956) and The Tiger Who Wore White Gloves (1974). Brooks also published two autobiographies, Report from Part One (1972), and Report from Part Two (1995).
In addition to her writing, Brooks taught poetry and creative writing at numerous colleges and universities. In 1990, the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing was founded at Chicago State University, where Brooks served as distinguished professor and writer-in-residence [7]. Brooks influenced generations of writers, not only with her words, but with her actions. For most of the year, she traveled the country to perform her poetry for children of all ages as well as at universities, public libraries, hospitals, and prisons. As she especially encouraged young poets, Brooks sponsored youth poetry awards for over thirty years. Renowned for her generosity, Brooks dedicated her life to promoting the value of poetry and inspiring young writers.
Brooks was the recipient of more than seventy-five honorary doctorates and countless accolades [8]. In 1968, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois, a position which she held until her death in 2000 [9]. In 1985, Brooks was selected for an honorary one-year term as the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress [10]. She received lifetime achievement awards from both the National Endowment for the Arts in 1989 and the National Book Foundation in 1994. Brooks then received the National Endowment for the Humanities' highest honor when she was named the 1994 Jefferson Lecturer. The next year, Brooks received the National Medal of Arts.
Today, Gwendolyn Brooks' legacy persists as one of the most significant poets of the twentieth century, because of both her contribution to American literature and her kindness and generosity, especially toward young poets and authors of color.
Repository:
Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Acquisition Source:
Nora Brooks Blakely
Related Materials:
Celebrating Brooks @ 100
Gwendolyn Brooks Supplementary Materials
Finding Aid Revision History:
This finding aid is experiencing ongoing revision, beginning in June 2023.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Correspondence],
[
Series 2: Writings],
[
Series 3: Gwendolyn Brooks Personal Files],
[
Series 4: Photographs and Scrapbooks],
[
Series 5: Drawings],
[
Series 6: Calendars],
[
Series 7: Public Engagements],
[
Series 8: Contests and Scholarships],
[
Series 9: Teaching Materials],
[Series 10: Programs, Broadsides, Posters, and Ephemera],
[
Series 11: David Company Records],
[[information restricted]],
[[information restricted]],
[
Series 14: Gwendolyn Brooks Personal Realia/Artifacts],
[
Series 15: Gwendolyn Brooks Library],
[
Series 16: Sheet Music],
[
Series 17: LPs],
[
Series 18: Newspapers and Magazines],
[[information restricted]],
[[information restricted]],
[[information restricted]],
[[information restricted]],
[[information restricted]],
[
Series 24: Supplementary Material],
[
All]
- Series 10: Programs, Broadsides, Posters, and Ephemera
- Box 483
- Folder 1: July 1944-March 1963
- Folder 2: 1959, 1971
- Folder 3: October 1965-January 1968
- Folder 4: April 1968
- Folder 5: 1970
- Folder 6: October 1971
- Folder 7: 1972-January 1975
- Folder 8: June 1975-March 1976
- Folder 9: March-November 1976
- Folder 10: Funerals, 1974, 1977, 1983-1996
- Folder 11: June 1977-January 1978
- Folder 12: June-July 1977
- Folder 13: 1978-1979
- Folder 14: April 1978
- Folder 15: February-April 1979
- Folder 16: August-October 1980
- Folder 17: October 1980
- Folder 18: May 1981-1983
- Folder 19: June 1983-February 1984
- Box 484
- Folder 1: August-October 1984
- Folder 2: October 1984
- Folder 3: June-November 1985
- Folder 4: February-August 1986
- Folder 5: December 1986-June 1989
- Folder 6: May 1987
- Folder 7: February-June 1990
- Folder 8: September 1990-May 1991
- Folder 9: January 1991
- Folder 10: March-April 1991
- Folder 11: 1991
- Folder 12: April-November 1992
- Folder 13: January-February 1993
- Folder 14: April-July 1993
- Folder 15: September-December 1993
- Folder 16: January-May 1994
- Box 485
- Folder 1: October 1987-June 2000
- Folder 2: 1994-1995
- Folder 3: January-May 1995
- Folder 4: May-June 1995
- Folder 5: July-December 1995
- Folder 6: April-June 1996
- Folder 7: June 15, 1996
- Folder 8: Spring 1996-January 1997
- Folder 8a: November-December 1996, undated
- Folder 9: Febraury 19, 1997
- Folder 10: January-April 1997
- Folder 11: April 19, 1997
- Folder 12: April 22, 1997
- Folder 13: May-December 1997
- Folder 14: Tribute to Gwendolyn Brooks, October 1997
- Box 486
- Folder 1: April-November 1998
- Folder 2: May 5, 1998
- Folder 3: January-May 1999
- Folder 3a: April 15, 1999
- Folder 4: May-August 1999
- Folder 5: June 1999
- Folder 6: September-November 1999
- Folder 7: February-April 2000
- Folder 8: June 2000-June 2003
- Folder 9: November 20-21, 2000
- Folder 10: December 2000 and Undated
- Folder 11: Western Illinois University, 2000
- Folder 12: Indiana University Campus Guide, undated
- Folder 13: Miscellaneous brochures, undated
- Folder 14: Artists and Models Ball, undated
- Folder 15-17: Event invitations and programs, undated
- Box 487
- Folder 1: Shaman Drum Bookshop bookmark and brochure for The White Rose Inn (Emporia, KS), undated
- Folder 2: Leaflets on proposal writing, undated
- Folder 3: Travel brochures, ticket forms, and envelopes, and unrelated mixed materials, undated
- Folder 4: Mixed materials for various events, undated
- Folder 5: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships to Assist Research in Artistic Creation booklet, 1971
- Folder 6: Mixed materials for various events, 1959, 1991-1995, 1999, undated
- Folder 7: Calling card and envelope for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, undated
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Correspondence],
[
Series 2: Writings],
[
Series 3: Gwendolyn Brooks Personal Files],
[
Series 4: Photographs and Scrapbooks],
[
Series 5: Drawings],
[
Series 6: Calendars],
[
Series 7: Public Engagements],
[
Series 8: Contests and Scholarships],
[
Series 9: Teaching Materials],
[Series 10: Programs, Broadsides, Posters, and Ephemera],
[
Series 11: David Company Records],
[[information restricted]],
[[information restricted]],
[
Series 14: Gwendolyn Brooks Personal Realia/Artifacts],
[
Series 15: Gwendolyn Brooks Library],
[
Series 16: Sheet Music],
[
Series 17: LPs],
[
Series 18: Newspapers and Magazines],
[[information restricted]],
[[information restricted]],
[[information restricted]],
[[information restricted]],
[[information restricted]],
[
Series 24: Supplementary Material],
[
All]