The Arts Make History: Gwendolyn Brooks and Your Identity in Art

By Bri Neves

Gwendolyn Brooks was a world-changer from the time she was born. Ambitious and dedicated to her craft, Brooks had around 75 poems published by the time she was 16.

Later on, in her adult life, she sought higher pursuits for her writing, eventually winning several prizes and fellowship for her writing, including becoming the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. In her lifetime, she had published over 20 books of poetry, a fiction novel, and several prose works, including an autobiography.

But besides this impressive list of accomplishments, how else is Brooks defined? As a “black poet”? A leader in the civil rights movement? Yes, but she was much more than that.

She was a poet, a conveyer of language, and contrary to popular belief, her works did not only explore racial issues. Embedded within many of her poems include religious themes, sexual issues (such as prostitution), and many of her poems, such as those in her Gay Chaps At the Bar poetry collection, depict life in World War I from soldiers’ perspectives.

Gwendolyn Brooks was someone who cared about many different things and those cares, along with her rhythmic lines and riveting imagery, were second nature to her. She used forms such as sonnets and ballads to get her point across and even experimented a bit with free verse. She had ideas and was moved to write them down.

Along with all of her success, Brooks led a relatively low-key lifestyle. She married her husband Henry Blakely in  1939 and had two children. She worked many odd jobs, including secretarial work, before she finally got a job as a Creative Writing instructor.

All in all, Brooks was an ordinary person with an extraordinary life fueled by her passion for the craft of writing. Which brings me to my next point…

How does your craft identify you? Look at your works. What do you write about? Or sing? Or play? Or paint? If somebody only were to know you based on your creative input, what would they have to say about you?

With your creative gift, you not only have the gift of impact, but a medium (or multiple mediums) in which to channel it from. You have a way to reach people. Use it. You may not become the next Gwendolyn Brooks, but one thing is for certain; the work you do will not be wasted.

Happy crafting!