Gwendolyn Brooks wrote hundreds of poems during her lifetime. She was known around the world for using poetry to increase understanding of black culture in America. 

During the 1940's and the 1950's, Gwendolyn Brooks used her poems to describe conditions among the poor,racial inequality and drug use in the black community. She also wrote poems about the struggles of black women. 

But her skill was more than her ability to write about struggling black people. She combined traditional European poetry styles with the African American experience. 

Gwendolyn Brooks once said that she wrote about what she saw and heard in the street. She said she found most of her materials through looking out of the window of her second-floor apartment in Chicago, Illinois. 

In her early poetry, Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about the South Side of Chicago, where many black people live. In her poems, the South Side is called Bronzeville. It was "A Street in Bronzeville" that gained the attention of literary experts in 1945. Critics praised her poetic skills and her powerful descriptions about the black experience during the time. The Bronzeville poems were her first published collection. 

In 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. She won the prize for her second book of poems called "Annie Allen". "Annie Allen" is a collection of poetry about a Bronzeville girl as a daughter, a wife and a mother. She experiences loneliness, loss, death andpoverty . 

Gwendolyn Brooks said that winning the prize changed her life. 

Her next work was a novel written in 1953 called "Maud Martha". "Maud Martha" attracted little attention when it was first published. But now it is considered an important work by some critics. Its main ideas about the difficult lives of many women are popular among female writers today.
What was Brooks known as?
What kind of works did she usually write?
Did she ever write anything else?
What?
When?
What was the name of it?
Was it a bestseller in 1953?
What part of society did she write about?
Women and men?
What kind of house did she have?
Where?
What floor was it on?
Did it help her get ideas?
What did she win in 1950?
For which book?
Was it a novel?
Who is it about?
What does she experience?
What part of the city does she write about?
What does she call it?
the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature.

In 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. 
poems
Gwendolyn Brooks used her poems
yes
Her next work was a novel written
a novel
a novel
in 1953
 in 1953
"Maud Martha".
a novel written in 1953 called "Maud Martha".
no
 "Maud Martha" attracted little attention 
African Americans
She combined traditional European poetry styles with the African American experience. 

mostly women.
he also wrote poems about the struggles of black women.
an apartment
apartment
in Chicago, Illinois.
in Chicago, Illinois.
on the second-floor
second-floor
yes
he said she found most of her materials through looking out of the window of her second-floor apartment i
Pulitzer Prize for Literature
n 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature
"Annie Allen"
her second book of poems called "Annie Allen".
no
 book of poems
a Bronzeville girl
 is a collection of poetry about a Bronzeville girl
loneliness, loss, death and poverty
She experiences loneliness, loss, death andpoverty 
the South Side
 the South Side of Chicago
Bronzeville
 the South Side is called Bronzeville