9. Gwendolyn Brooks
On May 1, 1950, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry was awarded to Gwendolyn Brooks for her work, Annie Allen, published the preceding year. Brooks was the first African-American to receive the Pulitzer Prize. She never pursued a four-year college degree, instead of attending a junior college and supported herself by working as a typist in Chicago. She published her first poetry in American Childhood Magazine at the age of 13. Her poems reflected the rhythms and characters of the city, and drew the attention of critics and fellow poets including Langston Hughes and Robert Frost. She taught American literature at the University of Chicago, and eventually taught at Chicago State University, City College of New York, and Columbia University, among other schools.
In 1953 she published her only narrative work, a novella which followed the life and experiences of an urban black woman. Titled Maud Martha, the book described the racism within the American black community, in which lighter skin toned black Americans looked down upon the darker-toned, often with even more bitterness than that from white Americans. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Brooks received accolades including the Robert Frost Medal (1989); the National Medal of Arts (1995); and the Poet Laureate of Illinois (1968), a title she retained until her death in 2000, among many others. Brooks was controversial throughout her life, leading her to once comment, “Truth tellers are not always palatable”.