[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S11931]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 393--COMMEMORATING THE LIFE OF GWENDOLYN BROOKS OF 
                           CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

  Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. Fitzgerald) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 393

       Whereas Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, on 
     June 7, 1917, and moved one month thereafter to the South 
     Side of Chicago;
       Whereas Gwendolyn Brooks was educated in the Chicago public 
     school system, graduating from Englewood High School in 1934;
       Whereas Gwendolyn Brooks was the author of over twenty 
     works of poetry spanning 46 years;
       Whereas Gwendolyn Brooks in 1950 became the first African-
     American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry with her 
     publication, Annie Allen;
       Whereas Gwendolyn Brooks was showered with numerous other 
     accolades as a poet and artist, including a lifetime 
     achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts;
       Whereas Gwendolyn Brooks has been poet laureate of Illinois 
     since 1968, succeeding the late Carl Sandburg;
       Whereas Gwendolyn Brooks leveraged her prestige as Illinois 
     poet laureate to inspire young writers, establishing the 
     Illinois Poet Laureate Awards in 1969 to encourage elementary 
     and high school students to write;
       Whereas Gwendolyn Brooks taught future poets and writers at 
     the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the City College of New 
     York, Columbia College of Chicago, Northeastern Illinois 
     University, Elmhurst College, and Chicago State University; 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) commemorates the life of Gwendolyn Brooks and 
     celebrates the accomplishments she made not just to the State 
     of Illinois, but to the entire United States of America as a 
     poet and artist; and
       (2) extends its deepest sympathies to her daughter Nora and 
     son Henry.

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