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In 1950, poet Gwendolyn Brooks (June 7, 1917-December 2, 2000) became the first black writer to receive the Pulitzer Prize. She was only thirty-three. Five years earlier, she had made her debut to great acclaim with the collection A Street in Bronzeville - a series of poetic portraits of people and life in her Chicago neighborhood, which earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship.

In 1956, Brooks released Bronzeville Boys and Girls (public library) - a wonderful collection of poems for and about children, illustrated by painter, sculptor, and prolific children's book artist Ronni Solbert, a Fulbright fellow who had studied folk and tribal art in India.

Considering that even today only 3% of children's books feature characters of color, the collection was a revolutionary act of creative courage in its era, a decade before the peak of the civil rights movement. It granted a generation of children the tremendous gift of being seen, of having the validity of their experience mirrored back by the page, of being assured that they belong in literature and art.

It's hardly surprising that the book was carried on the wings of encouragement by legendary children's book editor Ursula Nordstrom - a patron saint of childhood who fought censorship fiercely, cultivated young Maurice Sendak's genius, and stood up for the creative integrity of her authors in the face of commercial cowardice on behalf of publishers and booksellers. In 1955, Brooks submitted twenty-five children's poems to Nordstrom, who replied with one of her characteristically warm and wise notes of encouragement, requesting more. Vitalized by the opportunity, Brooks put herself on a rigorous writing regimen, writing a poem a day for fifteen days. Of the forty final poems, Nordstrom selected the thirty-four that became Bronzeville Boys and Girls, published the following year.

Although the poems are inspired by Brooks's neighborhood, they emanate the universal spirit of childhood with its enormous kaleidoscope of capacities for joy and sorrow, courage and vulnerability, loneliness and connection, darkness and light, and most of all immense imaginative freedom.

Each of the poems is titled after a child, and the children's names bear a certain nobility, a delightful datedness, a literary quality evocative of Victorian royalty and Greek mythology - a choice reflecting the singular dignity that Brooks confers upon childhood.

GERTRUDE

When I hear Marian Anderson sing,
I am a STUFFless kind of thing.

Heart is like the flying air.
I cannot find it anywhere.

Fingers tingle. I am cold
And warm and young and very old.

But, most, I am a STUFFless thing
When I hear Marian Anderson sing.

CYNTHIA IN THE SNOW

It SUSHES.
It hushes
The loudness in the road.
It flitter-twitters,
And laughs away from me.
It laughs a lovely whiteness,
And whitely whirs away,
To be
Some otherwhere,
Still white as milk or shirts.
So beautiful it hurts.

One poem speaks to the complexities of race and privilege, which Margo Jefferson addressed in her memoir, - one of the best books of 2015 - more than half a century later:

ELDORA, WHO IS RICH

"A RICH girl moved in there," they said.
And thought to find a golden head,
Almost, with diamond ears and eyes!
But soon there came a nice surprise.
They saw a child run out to see
Themselves. She yelled, "Please play with me!"
And brought her doll, and skipped, and smiled,
Like any other little child.

Many of the poems touch on the perplexities of the self that reach beyond childhood and into the lifelong tempest of being human, from the puzzling continuity of personal identity to the ceaseless dance of time and transformation:

ROBERT, WHO IS OFTEN A STRANGER TO HIMSELF

MARIE LUCILLE

That clock is ticking
Me away!
The me that only
Yesterday
Ate peanuts, jam and
Licorice
Is gone already.
And this is
'Cause nothing's putting
Back, each day,
The me that clock is
Ticking away.

Bronzeville Boys and Girls, dedicated to Brooks's own daughter and son, is a fine addition to other little-known and often forgotten children's books by celebrated authors of literature for "grownups," including Sylvia Plath's The Bed Book, Mark Twain's Advice to Little Girls, Anne Sexton's Joey and the Birthday Present, Carson McCullers's Sweet as a Pickle and Clean as Pig, Maya Angelou's Life Doesn't Frighten Me, James Joyce's The Cats of Copenhagen, Aldous Huxley's The Crows of Pearblossom, Gertrude Stein's , Virginia Woolf's Nurse Lugton's Curtain, Ted Hughes's The Iron Giant, and Donald Barthelme's The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine.

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Gwendolyn Brooks's Trailblazing Vintage Poems for Kids, Celebrating Diversity and the Universal Spirit of Childhood

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In 1950, poet Gwendolyn Brooks (June 7, 1917-December 2, 2000) became the first black writer to receive the Pulitzer Prize. She was only thirty-three. Five years earlier, she had made her debut to great acclaim with the collection A Street in Bronzeville - a series of poetic portraits of people and life in her Chicago neighborhood, which earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship.

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Real cool. Gwendolyn Brooks' poem is a staple, for sure. So we had to offer our rendition. This video is also a homage to Richard Wright's 12 Million Black Voices, for like Wright, we've utilized images from the Farm Security Administration archive to complement the words.

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We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks Music Video (HD) - WORLITE

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FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. No copyright infringement intended. Song (instrumental) used: Kiss Kiss by Chris Brown. Lyrics: We Real Cool poem by Gwendolyn Brooks. Final project in Worlite DMA2 - Prof. Jocas of DLS-CSB.

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We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks (Reenactment and Analysis by The Disco Biscuits)

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(Sorry for the low quality, this didn't want to export properly) Mrs. Stump's English 2 Period 5 Group: The Disco Biscuits Lit choice: We Real Cool Written by: Gwendolyn Brooks I do not own the rights to some of the above content.

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Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks

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Get information, facts, and pictures about Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks at Encyclopedia.com. Make research projects and school reports about Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks easy with credible articles from our FREE, online encyclopedia and dictionary.

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Gwendolyn Brooks Centennial: Our Miss Brooks 100

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Presented as part of a centennial initiative honoring the legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African American poet to receive the Pulitzer Prize, Our Miss Brooks 100 brings together five...

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Uploaded by danieldefoegroupie on 2009-07-23.

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TRY ONE OF THESE!

Fictionalizing a true moment: Start a flash piece with a specific memory of your own grounded in the five senses (touch, smell, feel, seeing, hearing) – For example: the feel of an aunt scratching your scalp or the smell of your child’s bedroom. This memory should be specific enough to work into a moment. Find the story from there.

Use pictures, paintings, or music to inspire a flashpoint.

Tell the story backward or play with the idea of memory and nonlinear time in a story.

Think of writing a flash piece as a scene when working on something longer, say a longer short story or as a novel chapter.  Flash is inherently raw with emotion. When wanting to draft a pivotal moment, take the time to draft a flash piece – with a beginning, middle and end — to represent that moment between your characters.  Break down the action to its bare essentials for more impact.

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"We are each other's magnitude and bond."
"Exhaust the little moment.  Soon in dies.  And be it gash or gold it will not come Again in this identical guise."
"Art hurts.  Art urges voyages - and it is easier to stay at home.

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The Bean Eaters - Written by the Famous African American Poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Send this poem to a friend. "African - American Poetry"

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Welcome to Mr. Africa Poetry Lounge! You have entered into The

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TO BE IN LOVE - Love Poem Written by the Famous African American Poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Send this poem to a friend. "African - American Poetry"

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Welcome to Mr. Africa Poetry Lounge! You have entered into The

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Early years, middle years, and beyond

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Gwendolyn Brooks Biography - life, family, childhood, children, parents, wife, school, mother

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Brooks spent her time encouraging others to write by sponsoring writers' workshops in Chicago and poetry contests at prisons. In short, she took poetry to her people, continuing to test its worth by reading and speaking in taverns, lounges, and other public places as well as in academic circles.

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Questions for Analyzing Poetry

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Listen to 5 famous poems by Gwendolyn Brooks

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Listen to 5 famous poems by Gwendolyn Brooks

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Youth Council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

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Gwendolyn Brooks 1917-2000 In Remembering Gwen, Nikki Giovanni tells an anecdote about Soul! TV host Ellis Haizlip's reticence to meet Gwendolyn Brooks unaccompanied. "She has an afro. She works with that gang the Blackstone Rangers[1]. She is dangerous," he said, imploring her to join him. Giovanni retorted: "Don't be silly.

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Gwendolyn Brooks - Life and Career

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lthough she was born on 7 June 1917 in Topeka, Kansas--the first child of David and Keziah Brooks--Gwendolyn Brooks is "a Chicagoan." The family moved to Chicago shortly after her birth, and despite her extensive travels and periods in some of the major universities of the country, she has remained associated with the city's South Side.

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Gwendolyn Brooks and the Poetry foundation

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Gwendolyn Brooks and the Poetry foundation

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Gwendolyn Brooks is one of the most highly regarded, highly influential, and widely read poets of 20th-century American poetry. She was a much-honored poet, even in her lifetime, with the distinction of being the first black author to win the Pulitzer Prize.

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Ms. Borah's ramblings:                          *Our school was renamed "Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School" when the old building was torn down and this building was created (2001).  During construction, the students and teachers were squeezed into half of the building while the other half was being built.           *I shared a tiny room with another teacher (imagine one of your classrooms with two teachers inside it...with two sets of students listening to two teachers at the same time).  Half the room was hers, while the other half was mine.  I faced one way while I taught, and she faced the other.  This was all in preparation for the arrival of the first class of sixth graders.                            *Why tear down a perfectly good building to build a brand new one?  Believe it or not, the old building did not have air conditioning.  The old building was also not wired for technology in the way that we needed it to be.  Back then, we had a "Tech Bus" that helped meet our needs.  Even the bathrooms were inadequate: the stalls were more appropriate for young children rather than adolescents.                                                     *Our school was called "Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High" back then.  Emerson's population consisted of seventh and eighth grade students only.  Maybe your parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings went there (maybe I taught them...ha ha).  Our current media center kept the name Ralph Waldo Emerson so we could remember our past.                                          *Ralph Waldo Emerson and Gwendolyn Brooks were both poets.  Many of our village's schools are named after important people.  However, our District 97 schools were mostly named after men.  That is why some Emerson Junior High staff members wanted to call the new school Gwendolyn Brooks, so we could have a female represented in our village schools.            *Gwendolyn Brooks was an integral part of The Chicago Black Renaissance.  Like the Harlem Renaissance, this was a creative movement on the South Side of Chicago during the 1930's and 1940's.

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Ms. Borah's ramblings:                          *Our school was renamed "Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School" when the old building was torn down and this building was created (2001).  During construction, the students and teachers were squeezed into half of the building while the other half was being built.           *I shared a tiny room with another teacher (imagine one of your classrooms with two teachers inside it...with two sets of students listening to two teachers at the same time).  Half the room was hers, while the other half was mine.  I faced one way while I taught, and she faced the other.  This was all in preparation for the arrival of the first class of sixth graders.                            *Why tear down a perfectly good building to build a brand new one?  Believe it or not, the old building did not have air conditioning.  The old building was also not wired for technology in the way that we needed it to be.  Back then, we had a "Tech Bus" that helped meet our needs.  Even the bathrooms were inadequate: the stalls were more appropriate for young children rather than adolescents.                                                     *Our school was called "Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High" back then.  Emerson's population consisted of seventh and eighth grade students only.  Maybe your parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings went there (maybe I taught them...ha ha).  Our current media center kept the name Ralph Waldo Emerson so we could remember our past.                                          *Ralph Waldo Emerson and Gwendolyn Brooks were both poets.  Many of our village's schools are named after important people.  However, our District 97 schools were mostly named after men.  That is why some Emerson Junior High staff members wanted to call the new school Gwendolyn Brooks, so we could have a female represented in our village schools.            *Gwendolyn Brooks was an integral part of The Chicago Black Renaissance.  Like the Harlem Renaissance, this was a creative movement on the South Side of Chicago during the 1930's and 1940's.

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*Kathy Schroer (former Emerson/Brooks Media Specialist) led the campaign for the name change.  Many of us (teachers) who believed in the cause gathered signatures of support for renaming the school.  However, not everyone agreed on the name change.  In fact, several teachers/staff members (who attended Emerson as young adults) were angry about the name change.  They wanted their Alma Mater to remain Emerson Junior High.

This caused some conflicts amongst staff.  Signatures were collected and the name change was approved.  Unfortunately, Gwendolyn Brooks passed away before the name change ceremony.  Her daughter attended the event instead.

Most people were happy about the name change.  In addition to being a gifted poet, Gwendolyn Brooks was an amazingly generous soul who often funded poetry writing contests with her own money.  She was close friends with Langston Hughes (poet).
Poetry is our next focus in 6th grade Language Arts (all classes).  Enjoy our first Gwendolyn Brooks Day and explore this page to learn about a strong, smart, and intellectually gifted African American woman.

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The pool players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.

We real cool.  We
Left school.  We

Lurk late.  We
Strike straight.  We

Sing sin.  We
Thin gin.  We

Jazz June.  We
Die soon.

*(this is one of Gwendolyn Brooks' most famous poems...we will explore this poem in Ms. Borah's class)

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Poetry Out Loud encourages the nation's youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation.