Gwendolyn Brooks (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)

Biography

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born June 7, 1917, the first child of David and Keziah Wims Brooks. Her birthplace, Topeka, Kansas, was the home of her maternal grandparents, but at the age of five weeks, she and her mother returned to the Brooks's residence in Chicago, the city in which Brooks would live for most of her life. Her brother Raymond was born in 1918.

David Brooks, a janitor, made only modest wages. His children's lack of material luxury, however, was offset by a warm home atmosphere that nurtured culture and creativity. David loved to sing, tell...

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