Gwendolyn Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1985 – 86. She was the first person of African descent to win the Pulitzer Prize when she won in 1950 for her collection of poems, Annie Allen. She was also the first African American woman inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and served as the Poet Laureate of Illinois from 1968 to 2000. Other honors include awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Robert Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Society of America, and the National Medal of Arts. In 2012, the U.S. Post Office issued a Gwendolyn Brooks stamp. Brooks taught at a number of colleges, including Columbia College of Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago State University, Elmhurst College, Columbia University, and City College of New York. Her numerous books include The Near-Johannesburg Boy (1987), Family Pictures (1970), In the Mecca (1968), and A Street in Bronzeville (1945).
