A LIFE OF Gwendolyn Brooks GEORGE E. KENT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY This page intentionally left blank A LIFE OF Gwendolyn Brooks This page intentionally left blank A LIFE OF Gwendolyn Brooks GEORGE E. KENT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY CorrespondenceofHarper& RoweditorswithGwendolynBrooks isquotedbypermissionofHarper& RowPublishers,Inc.,and PrincetonUniversityLibrary. Copyright© 1990bytheestateofGeorgeE. Kent PublishedbyTheUniversityPressofKentucky ScholarlypublisherfortheCommonwealth, servingBellarmineUniversity, BereaCollege, CentreCollegeofKentucky,EasternKentuckyUniversity, TheFilsonHistoricalSociety,GeorgetownCollege, KentuckyHistoricalSociety,KentuckyStateUniversity, MoreheadStateUniversity,MurrayStateUniversity, NorthernKentuckyUniversity,TransylvaniaUniversity, UniversityofKentucky,UniversityofLouisville, andWesternKentuckyUniversity. Allrightsreserved. EditorialandSalesOffices:TheUniversityPressofKentucky 663SouthLimestoneStreet,Lexington,Kentucky40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Kent, GeorgeE. AlifeofGwendolynBrooks/GeorgeE. Kent p. cm. Bibliography:p. Includesindex. ISBN0-8131-0827-6 1.Brooks,Gwendolyn, 1917- -Biography. 2. Poets,American- 20thCentury-Biography. 3.Afro-Americans-Intellectuallife. 1.Title. PS3503.R7244Z73 1989 811'.54-dc20 89-31738 [B] ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-0827-8 Thisbookisprintedonacid-freerecycledpapermeeting therequirementsoftheAmericanNationalStandard forPermanenceinPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials. ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica. ~...T",,.; MemberofrheAssociarionof ~~. AmericanUniversityPresses Contents Foreword. D. H. Melhem vii 1. Beginnings 1 2. Into the Morrow 35 3. Struggles, Triumphs 45 4. Bright Waters 76 5. A Complicated Universe 103 6. Reachings 117 7. ForeshadQwings 153 8. Changes 181 9. Recognized in HerCountry 203 10. Brave New World 231 Afterword. D. H. Melhem 259 Notes 265 Selected Bibliography 273 Index 275 This page intentionally left blank Foreword George Kent completed his biography ofGwendolyn Brooks only a short time before his death in 1982. As professor ofEnglish at the University of Chicagofor the lastthirteenyearsofhis life, Kentcame toknowChicago's Black literary world intimately. He first met Brooks at the celebration honoringher'attheAffro...ArtsTheatre inChicagoonDecember20, 1969. Having admired her poetryfor years, he introduced himselfto Brooks and askedpermissiontowriteherlifestory. Sheagreedimmediately. Thusbegan an association that was to last until Kent's death. Kent was born in 1920 in Columbus, Georgia, the son of a master blacksmith and aschool principal. His teachingcareerbegan at the age of sixteen in the school his mother had established in the backwoods of Georgia. He later earned a B.A. at Savannah State College and, after serving in the military, took his M.A. and Ph.D. at Boston University. Kent knew the intellectual life ofBlack America because he lived the 1960sand1970sasdidfewhavinghistrainingandsensibility. Athisfuneral, Brooksnoted thathe"respectedandenjoyedallkindsofpeople. Hewasan intense scholar. Authors he took very seriously, and he expected them to takethemselvesseriously, toworkashardasheworked."Asensitiveobserver ofliterature and humanity, hegained areputationfor his workon Richard WrightandWilliamFaulkner. Kenthadhopedtowritestoriesandmemoirs. Itisnotsurprising, then, thathiscriticismhasdepthandanenablingvision into the creative process. Kent's most sustained research and criticism concerned Gwendolyn Brooks. He workedon the biography, revisingandediting it, until theend ofhislife, despite thedebilitatingeffectsoflungcancerandchemotherapy. Earlier, he had spent many hours interviewing the poet, members ofher family, and close friends. He went with Brooks to all the homes she had occupied and even traveled with her to California to interview her aunt,