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 4: Photographs and Scrapbooks
- Sub-series 1: Personal Photographs
- Box 350
- Box 351
- Box 352
- Box 353
- Box 354
- Box 355
- Box 356
- Box 357
- Box 358
- Box 359
- Box 360
- Box 361
- Box 362
- Box 363
- Sub-series 2: Albums and Scrapbooks
- Box 364
- Box 365
- Box 366
- Item 1: Brown scrapbook binding, undated
- Cover reads, "Photographs."
- Box 367
- Folder 1: “Happy Birthday!” scrapbook (made by Zitch, Beryl), 1997
- Box 368
- Folder 1: “Drawings by Raymond Brooks” scrapbook pages, 1940s?
- Item 1: Graphite drawing of a cartoonish dog holding a string of sausages
- Item 2: Colored pencil drawing of a bird perched on a branch
- Item 3: Colored pencil drawing of a baby laying on a pillow
- Item 4: Colored pencil drawing of a bird with wings spread
- Item 5: “Little Jack Horner,” colored pencil drawing
- Item 6: Colored pencil drawing of a bird perched on a branch
- Item 7: Ink and graphite drawing of a man on a horse playing a bugle
- Item 8: Graphite drawing of a German Shepard
- Item 9: Colored pencil drawing of a bird perched on a branch
- Item 10: Graphite drawing of Gwendolyn Brooks at 14 years old
- Item 11: Graphite drawing of a woman with an umbrella
- Item 12: Graphite drawing of a woman smiling
- Item 13: Graphite drawing of a cartoonish dog holding a broom
- Item 14: Graphite drawing of a running woman
- Item 15: Graphite drawing of a chicken and a dog
- Item 16: Graphite drawing of an American football player
- Item 17: Graphite drawing of a cartoonish man walking
- Item 18: Graphite drawing of a child and a cow
- Item 19: “How Seed Plants Obtain and Use Their Food,” graphite drawing
- Item 20: Graphite drawing of a child looking down
- Item 21: “Division 204,” graphite drawing
- Item 22: Graphite drawing of three men playing American football
- Item 23: Graphite drawing of a dog drinking water
- Item 24: Graphite drawing of a man waving
- Item 25: Graphite drawing of a woman in a fur-lined coat and hat
- Item 26: “TOOTS if none other,” graphite drawing
- Item 27: “M” “D,” graphite drawing
- Item 28: “Be Prepared,” graphite drawing
- Item 29: “Washington Horse,” graphite drawing
- Item 30: Painted drawing of a laughing man holding a hat and a cane
- Item 31: “Mosaic Borders,” painted drawing
- Item 32: “Keep Out of Foreign Entanglements,” painted graphite and marker drawing
- Item 33: Graphite drawing of George Washington
- Item 34: Graphite drawing of a woman’s head
- Item 35: “Science,” graphite drawing
- Item 36: Graphite drawing of a Native American wearing a headdress
- Item 37: Painted drawing of a bedroom
- Item 38: Graphite drawing of three men playing basketball
- Item 39: Graphite drawing of Mickey Mouse
- Item 40: Page of baby photos (possibly Raymond Brooks?)
- Item 41: Page of Raymond Brooks photos
- Item 42: Graphite drawing of an older man with a moustache
- Item 43: Graphite drawing of a newspaper cartoon
- Includes cartoon reference image.
- Item 44: Image of Mount Rushmore likely taken from a magazine
- Folder 2: “Drawings by Raymond Brooks” scrapbook binding, 1940s?
- Box 369
- Box 370
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]