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“When you use the term minority or minorities in reference to people, you're telling them that they're less than somebody else.” This quote was from Gwendolyn brooks, one of the most famous African American poets of the twentieth century. The quote means that when you tell label someone a minority then you are labeling them as a lesser form of human being compared to someone else that is not a minority. Gwendolyn Brooks was important for american history because she carved a significant spot in African american authors of the 20th century by creating poetry that would address and make aware experiences of the urban African Americans. The quote says that minorities are less the other people, the African Americans where a mistreated minority at the time. Racism ran rampant through the culture of the 20th century, and as a part of that culture was also the civil rights movement that wanted African Americans to be treated like other Americans.
Gwendolyn brooks was born the seventh of July, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas to David and Keziah Brooks. Brooks’ early life was like most other African Americans at the time, where racism and hate was a natural part of life. Around the time she was thirteen, she wrote her first poem and it was published in a children publishing company. “Eventide” was the first poem Gwendolyn Brooks ever had published. This first poem sparked something inside of her to create her love and passion as a poet. Brooks attended Hyde Park High school, a predominantly white school. When she moved to Wendell Phillips high school for a short while, until schools were integrated and she attended Englewood High School.
The beginning of Gwendolyn’s career really started when she was thirteen and wrote her first poem “Eventide,...
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...ngs in her life and saw potential for a greater future, that can be discovered in all of us.”
Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
"Gwendolyn Brooks - Poetry Archive." Gwendolyn Brooks. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
"Gwendolyn Brooks." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 10 May 2014.
"Gwendolyn Brooks Quotes." Gwendolyn Brooks Quotes (Author of Selected Poems). N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
"Lesson Plan - Gwendolyn Brooks." Lesson Plan - Gwendolyn Brooks. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May
Poet: Gwendolyn Brooks - All Poems of Gwendolyn Brooks. "Poet: Gwendolyn Brooks - All Poems of Gwendolyn Brooks." Poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
"Urban Rage in Bronzeville: Social Commentary in the Poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, 1945-1960."IDEALS @ Illinois:. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
Throughout Brooks’ life she received numerous of honors and awards. She was one great poet and her poems were well-known. Brooks carried a great influence and her legacy still lives in the life of many modern poets.
Kay Ryan, born 1945 in California, is an exceptional author who is renowned for her work (Poets.org). Her poems may seem simple to some, but they have the power to leave an everlasting mark in your mind. It is no surprise that distinguished writers and critics, such as Dana Gioia, have complimented her writings for its “sheer intelligence” and “indeed wisdom” (“Discovering Kay Ryan”).
The life and art of the black American poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, began on June 7, 1917 when she was born in Topeka, Kansas. She was the first child of Keziah Corine Wims and David Anderson Brooks. When she was four, her family moved to their permanent residence on Champlin Avenue in Chicago. Her deep interest in poetry consumed much of her early life. For instance, Brooks began rhyming at the age of seven. When she was thirteen, she had her first poem, 'Eventide', published in American Childhood Magazine. Her first experience of high school came from the primary white high school in the city, Hyde Park High School. Thereafter, she transferred to an all-black high school and then to the integrated Englewood High School. By 1934, Brooks had become a member of the staff of the Chicago Defender and had published almost one hundred of her poems in a weekly poetry column. In 1936, she graduated from Wilson Junior College.
13th Ed. -. Jo Ray McCuen-Metherell and Anthony C. Winkler. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2011. 428.
The poem Sadie and Maud was written by Gwendolyn Brooks and is included in her first volume of poetry known as A Street in Bronzeville. Gwendolyn was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1917, but moved to Chicago at a young age. Her first poem was published when she was thirteen years old, and it was called Eventide. By the time Gwendolyn was seventeen, she was publishing poems for the Chicago Defender, a newspaper for the black population. After attending junior college, Gwendolyn began writing the poems that were included in her first collection, A Street in Bronzeville”, which was published in 1945. These poems focused on portraying the black urban poor. In the 1940s, when these
...minorities, but they face more extreme consequences and struggles. Perhaps this is because they have to deal with the dynamics of all the minority groups they belong to. In the case of African American women, they have to struggle with African American problems as well as the dilemmas women face. However, African American women seem to have overcome their double minority status to a degree. African American female writers are much more popular today than their male counterparts.
During the time of World War II, there was a dramatic change in the society of America and its way of life. Men were needed at war and the women were left at home. People were mistrusted and were falsely accused of something they didn’t do. Some people were even pushed away because they were different. These people were the minorities of America. Some of the minorities it affected the most were the African Americans, women, Japanese Americans, and even young adults. What is a minority? A minority, in this case, is a person or group of people who are discriminated against because there is something about them that makes them different. Some of these reasons why they are different are things like race, gender, and even age. However, the real question is how were the roles of American minorities change after World War II?
Gwendolyn Brooks is the female poet who has been most responsive to changes in the black community, particularly in the community’s vision of itself. The first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize; she was considered one of America’s most distinguished poets well before the age of fifty. Known for her technical artistry, she has succeeded in forms as disparate as Italian terza rima and the blues. She has been praised for her wisdom and insight into the African Experience in America. Her works reflect both the paradises and the hells of the black people of the world. Her writing is objective, but her characters speak for themselves. Although the idiom is local, the message is universal. Brooks uses ordinary speech, only words that will strengthen, and richness of sound to create effective poetry.
Pulitzer Prize- winning author, Gwendolyn Brooks has gained much attention, but not without comparable controversy and criticism (Appiah 313). The Chicago-based author has built a sturdy reputation in both mainstream and African American literary circles. Nonetheless, her more popular works has won most of the poet laureate's recognition. "No white poet of her quality is so undervalued, so unpardonably unread. She ought to be widely appreciated... as one of our most remarkable woman poets" ("Voices"). Brooks challenged the existing approach to romanticism, the fairy tale nature of the Amer...
Born in Texas, on July 8th, 1902, Gwendolyn Bennett had always been interested and passionate for writing and art. Bennett was the child of two educators, who taught on a Native American reserve in Nevada, but was kidnapped by her father once her parents divorced and her mother was awarded custody. She then settled in Brooklyn where she became the first African-American member of the Girl’s High School’s theatre and literature student organizations. Bennett was highly successful at her school; she was awarded first place in a school-wide art competition, wrote a play and acted in it, while writing her class graduation speech and song. She blossomed alongside the Harlem Renaissance, becoming of age as the Harlem Renaissance gained traction.
"Robert Browning." Critical Survey of Poetry: English Language Series. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Vol. 1. Englewood Cliffs: Salem, 1982. 338, 341.
notice people of different backgrounds. The part that is most surprising is the statement about people of unlike races are becoming clearly defined as being lesser than. Although some white people are stereotyped, most people view whites as being greater for no clear reason. First, we can see the cruel cycle of how American culture reveals ethnic stereotypes, and how society has such negative thoughts about minorities because of the way other races are described on television, movies, music, sports, books, magazines, media, etc. Omi continues to disapprove on popular culture and explain how
...t social injustices (Weidt 53). Because of her quest for freedom, she gave way to writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Countee Cullen. Countee Cullen wrote "Heritage," which mixes themes of freedom, Africa, and religion. It can be said, then, that he gave way to writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks wrote "Negro Hero," which is about the status of the African American during the 1940s. Clearly, these poets followed the first steps taken by Phillis Wheatley towards speaking out against social issues, and today's poetry is a result of the continuation to speak out against them
Kasdano, Michelle. "Poetry: The Legacy of Anne Sexton." Helium (2007). Web. 31 Aug 2011. .
St. Vincent Millay, Edna. "Time Does Not Bring Relief." 1917. Renascence and Other Poems. Kessinger, 2005. 1-52. Print.