Page 2
March 21, 2001
Focus
A
S U P P L E M E N T
O F
Focus
— Gwendolyn Brooks ~
^ o rtb n th
(©bsemer
(Poet, Literary)
1917-2000
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Publisher
Editor
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1W» The Pordud Otnerver
ÿtartLuiô ffibaeruer
Celebrating National
Women’s History Month
w
Charles H. Washington
-------------------
B y F elicia S lider T he P ortland O bserver
o having her first south side o f Chicago where
poem published when her parents m oved when she
she was 14, to being was less than one year old, her
vision
the first black poet to win
the must have been quite
clear.
Pulitzer Prize for her collec­
“I wrote about what I saw
tio n o f p o e m s, th e late
and heard on
th e s tr e e t,”
she said o f her
first volum e
published in
1945, titled A
S tre e t
in
Bronzeville.
T
tions, and who would offer
m ore tan g ib le assistance
ea rly in her c a re e r
w h e n he w ro te
about her several
tim es in his new s­
paper colum n. At
s e v e n te e n , sh e
began subm itting
her work to “ Lights
and Shadow s,” the
poetry colum n o f the
Chicago Defender, an
A frican -A m erican
new spaper, in
w h ic h
sh e
would pub­
lis h m o re
th a n s e v ­
e n ty -fiv e
poem s. She graduated from
W ilson Junior College in 1936.
Graduating from Wilson Jun­
ior College during the
D e p re s s io n , she
could only find
work as a do-
m e s t i c
w orker and as
secretary to a
spiritual advi­
sor. Later, she
becam e public­
ity director o f the
youth organization
th e
NAACP
in C h i­
cago. She
continued
w ritin g
and by the
end o f the early 1940’s her
poetry was appearing in Harp-
Gwendolyn
B ro o k s, the
d a u g h te r o f
D a v i d
A n d e rso n
,'T H E LEGENDARY
/
B ro o k s, th e
son o f a run­
aw ay slave,
andofK eziah
C o rin n e
( W i m s )
Brooks, was
born
on June
Gwendolyn Brooks
7, 1917, in
American poet Gwendolyn Brooks was the first
CAFE, SALOON and ROCK & RO LL HOTEL
Topeka, Kan­
African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize. She
won the prize in 1950fo r her poetry collection
sas. At the age
HOTEL
Annie Allen.
o f one m onth,
ROOM
RATES
G w e n d o ly n B ro o k s w as
G w endolyn E l i z a b e t h
Queen $45
Brooks contributions to litera­ brought hom e to C hicago,
where
she
has
lived
for
her
ture and poetry made her an
Full
$35
entire life.
inspiration to many.
Bunk $25
n 1932, she entered Hyde
Park High School, which
W as this because she grew
European-style lodging
w as
p r e d o m in a n tly
up as an introverted and shy
with shared baths.
child, who grew up reading the
w h ite ; she la te r a tte n d e d
Room rates are the
Harvard classics and the po­ W endell Phillips High School,
same for single or
double occupancy.
ems o f the late Black poet, w h ich w as a ll-b la c k , and
P a u l L a w re n c e D u n b a r. Englewood High School, an in­
A .IJ II.5 % county room t.u.
Maybe, but as the late Brooks tegrated institution. W hile still
For in fo rm a tio n call to ll-fre e
a student, she met the poets
stated,
I -866-271-3377
“ I am interested in telling my James W eldon Johnson— who
or from Portland 503-335-8900
particular truth as I have seen suggested that she read such
m odem poets as T. S. Eliot and
it.”
McMENAMINS W HITE EAGLE
E. C u m m in g s — a n d
Shy then, maybe yes. But E.
836 NORTH RUSSELL • PORTL \NL) • (503) 282-6810
w h en G w e n d o ly n B ro o k s Langston Hughes, who encour­
www.mcmenamins.coin
started to see the truth on the aged her in her literary am bi­
M C M E N A M IN S
W H IT E
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