In the Mecca

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (1917–2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher born in Topeka, Kansas, and raised in Chicago's South Side, where she drew inspiration from inner-city African American life. She published her first poem at age 13, gained acclaim with A Street in Bronzeville (1945), and won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Annie Allen, becoming the first African American to receive it. U.S. Read more →