Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks is born in Topeka, Kansas.
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born on June 7, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas, marking the beginning of the life of one of America's most insightful poets and the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. This birth date is celebrated in biographical references as pivotal, as it commenced the journey of a woman whose poetic voice would capture the experiences and emotions of the African American community.