VOICE ONE:
I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Sarah Long with the VOA Special English program, PEOPLEIN AMERICA.
Today we tell about the life ofaward-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks. She was the first AfricanAmerican to win a Pulitzer Prize for Literature.
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VOICE ONE:
Gwendolyn Brooks wrote hundreds of poems during her lifetime. Shehad more than twenty books published. She was known around the worldfor using poetry to increase understanding about black culture inAmerica.
Gwendolyn Brooks wrote many poems about being black during theNineteen-Forties and Nineteen-Fifties. Her poems describedconditions among the poor, racial inequality and drug use in theblack community. She also wrote poems about the struggles of blackwomen.
But her skill was more than her ability to write about strugglingblack people. She was an expert at the language of poetry. Shecombined traditional European poetry styles with the AfricanAmerican experience.
VOICE TWO:
Gwendolyn Brooks once said that she wrote about what she saw andheard in the street. She said she found most of her material lookingout of the window of her second-floor apartment house in Chicago,Illinois.
VOICE TWO(cont):
In her early poetry, Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about the South Sideof Chicago. The South Side of Chicago is where many black peoplelive. In her poems, the South Side is called Bronzeville. It was “AStreet in Bronzeville” that gained the attention of literary expertsin Nineteen-Forty-Five. Critics praised her poetic skill and herpowerful descriptions about the black experience during the time.The Bronzeville poems were her first published collection.
Here she is reading from her Nineteen-Forty-Five collection, “AStreet in Bronzeville.”
CUT ONE – GWENDOLYN BROOKS ACT (13 Secs)
“My father, it is surely a blue place and straight. Right,regular, where I shall find no need for scholarly nonchalance orlooks a little to the left or guards upon the heart.”
VOICE ONE:
In Nineteen-Fifty, Gwendolyn Brooks became the firstAfrican-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. She wonthe prize for her second book of poems called “Annie Allen.” “AnnieAllen” is a collection of poetry about the life of a Bronzevillegirl as a daughter, a wife and mother. She experiences loneliness,loss, death and being poor.
Mizz Brooks said that winning the prize changed her life.
Her next work was a novel written in Nineteen-Fifty-Three called”Maud Martha.” “Maud Martha” received little notice when it firstwas published. But now it is considered an important work by somecritics. Its main ideas about the difficult life of many women arepopular among female writers today.
VOICE TWO:
Gwendolyn Brooks wrote poems about the black experience inAmerica. She described the anger many blacks had about racialinjustice and the feeling of being different. She used poetry tocriticize those who did not show respect for the poor. Yet for allthe anger in her writing, Gwendolyn Brooks was considered by many tobe a gentle spirit and a very giving person.
VOICE TWO(cont):
By the early Nineteen-Sixties, Mizz Brooks had reached a highpoint in her writing career. She was considered one of America’sleading black writers. She was a popular teacher. She was praisedfor her use of language and the way people identified with herwriting.
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VOICE ONE:
Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas inNineteen-Seventeen. But she grew up in Chicago. She began writingwhen she was eleven years old. She mailed several poems to acommunity newspaper in Chicago to surprise her family.
In a radio broadcast in Nineteen-Sixty-One, Mizz Brooks said hermother urged her to develop her poetic skills:
CUT TWO – GWENDOLYN BROOKS ACT (23 Secs)
“My mother took me to the library when I was about four or five.I enjoyed reading poetry and I tried to write it when I was aboutseven, at the time that I first tried to put rhymes together. And Ihave loved it ever since.”
VOICE TWO:
Gwendolyn Brooks married Henry L. Blakely inNineteen-Thirty-Nine. Henry Blakely was a young writer who laterpublished his own poetry. They lived in Chicago for the next thirtyyears, divorced in Nineteen-Sixty-Nine, but re-united inNineteen-Seventy-Three. They had two children, Nora Brooks Blakelyand Henry Blakely.
Throughout her life, Mizz Brooks supported herself throughspeaking appearances, poetry readings and part time teaching incolleges. She also received money from organizations that offeredgrants designed to support the arts.
VOICE ONE:
One of Gwendolyn Brooks most famous poems is called “We RealCool”. It is a short poem that talks about young people feelinghopeless:
“We real cool. We left school. We lurk late. We strike straight.We sing sin. We thin gin. We jazz June. We die soon.”
VOICE TWO:
By the end of the Nineteen-Sixties, Gwendolyn Brooks’s poetryexpanded from the everyday experiences of people in Bronzeville. Shewrote about a wider world and dealt with important political issues.She won praise for her sharper, real-life poetic style.
Gwendolyn Brooks was affected by the civil rights struggles andsocial changes taking place in America. She began to question herrelations with whites. She said she felt that black poets shouldwrite for black people.
That became evident in her next collection of poetry inNineteen-Sixty-Eight called “In the Mecca.” Critics suggested MizzBrooks had become too political and seemed to be writing only forblack people. Her new poems received little notice in the press.
VOICE ONE:
In some of her poems, Gwendolyn Brooks’ described how what peoplesee in life is affected by who they are. One example is this poem,”Corners on the Curving Sky”:
Our earth is round, and, among other things
That means that you and I can hold completely different
Points of view and both be right.
The difference of our positions will show
Stars in your window. I cannot even imagine.
Your sky may burn with light,
While mine, at the same moment,
Spreads beautiful to darkness.
Still, we must choose how we separately corner
The circling universe of our experience
Once chosen, our cornering will determine
The message of any star and darkness we
encounter.
VOICE TWO:
Although her poetry did not receive much notice in the press,Gwendolyn Brooks continued to receive honors. She was chosen poetlaureate of the state of Illinois in Nineteen-Sixty-Eight. InNineteen-Seventy-Six, she became the first black woman to be electedto the National Institute of Arts and Letters. She received alifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Artsin Nineteen-Eighty-Nine. And she was named the Nineteen-Ninety-FourJefferson Lecturer by the National Endowment for the Humanities.That is the highest honor given by the federal government for workin the humanities.
Mizz Brooks once said that of all the awards she received, therewas only one that meant a lot to her. It was given to her at aworkshop in an old theater in Chicago. She said “I was given anaward for just being me, and that’s what poetry is to me – justbeing me.”
VOICE ONE:
Although she was well-known, Gwendolyn Brooks lived a quiet life.She said her greatest interest was being involved with young people.She spent time giving readings at schools, prisons and hospitals.She also attended yearly poetry competitions for Chicago children.She often paid for the awards given to the winners.
Haki Madhubuti directs the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for CreativeWriting and Black Literature at Chicago State University. He saidMizz Brooks felt children would help lead the way toward healing thewounds of the United States civil rights movement of theNineteen-Sixties. One young student talked about how Mizz Brooks’poetry affected her. She said that Gwendolyn Brooks’ writingsinfluenced her to write down how she truly feel deep inside.
VOICE TWO:
Gwendolyn Brooks influenced many African-American writers.Friends say her prize-winning works also helped other blackAmericans to develop their own sense of identity and culture.
Doctors discovered Mizz Brooks had cancer in November,Two-Thousand. She died December Third at her home in Chicago. Shewas eighty-three.
The funeral service was held on the South Side, the same area ofthe city that had been a window for much of Mizz Brooks’s poetry.The service was at times filled with laughter. There were warmremembrances of a woman whose life and words had touched peopleforever. African drums sounded and dancers leaped.
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written and produced by CynthiaKirk. I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Sarah Long. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE INAMERICA program on the Voice of America.