The first female African-American to win the Eunice Prize and the Pulitzer Prize, Gwendolyn Brooks made a big impression on America, (Shor 2006). She was an amazing poet who “committed herself to black pride”, (Shor 2006). As Brooks was an outcast due to her lack of social skills and race, she found comfort in writing poems that correlated her nationality, (Kent 1990). As a result of this, Gwendolyn Brooks grew up and saw the cruel outside world. In her poetry she writes with some humor about the stereotypes of the poor blacks, and the devastating consequences that the racist world sprung upon her ethnicity.
As Gwendolyn Brooks grew up, she was living in the 1900’s when segregation was taking place (Shor 2006). Brooks used her own life experiences along with current events of the time and channeled that into poetry. In one of Gwendolyn’s poems she writes about the tragic funeral of Emmett Till. Emmett Till was only a teenager when he was viciously murdered by two white men for flirting with a white women in Mississippi. In her poem about Emmett Till, she uses symbolism to convey
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Her father had to give up his lifelong dream of becoming a doctor because he was unable to afford school and take care of his growing family. Due to this he ended up becoming a janitor . Throughout her work she draws on her own life experiences. In one poem she states “And i shall prime my children/ pray, to pray”(brooks11-12). As she writes she reflects upon herself and what she had growing up. Brooks simply does not want that for her children. She is just like any other ordinary mother and wants what's best for her children and will go to extremes just to make that happen, (shor 2006). As she writes she also states that she wants her children to strive for the best they can achieve without stopping. Gwendolyn was a great mother who wanted nothing but the best outcome for her children as read in this particular