(AURN News) — On May 1, 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her book “Annie Allen,” becoming the first Black American to receive the honor.
The collection, her second book of poetry, includes “The Anniad,” a 43-stanza poem centered on the life of an ordinary Black girl in Chicago.
The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry recognized her work as the year’s best volume of verse by an American author.
Brooks later received the National Medal of Arts in 1995 and served as consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress in 1985.
She continued writing and publishing for decades. Brooks died Dec. 3, 2000, at age 83, leaving a lasting legacy in American poetry.
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