Family Pictures

by Gwendolyn Brooks

An early book of poetry by this publisher.

Genres: Poetry

23 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Annie Allen and one of the most celebrated Black poets. She also served as consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress—the first Black woman to hold that position. She was the poet laureate for the state of Illinois for over thirty years, a National Women’s Hall of Fame inductee, and the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her works include We Are Shining, Bronzeville Boys and Girls, A Street in Bronzeville, In the Mecca, The Bean Eaters, and Maud Martha.

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every year I set my Goodreads challenge to one book so I can still participate but not be bogged down by the pressure of challenges or deadlines. If I learned anything in 2021 it is that reading is going to be at a premium as I moved from the stage of stay at home mom to that of full time worker. Needless to say I will not be participating in any reading challenges this year and just pick up a book from time to time when I am able. By making reading into a pleasure again, the act itself becomes that much more enriching and no longer something I do to meet goals, personal or otherwise.

In order to complete my Goodreads “challenge” I have been choosing an easy reading book of 150 pages or less to read on January 1. Usually it’s a childhood favorite, but this year I selected a slim volume of Gwendolyn Brooks’ poems that I hadn’t read yet. Brooks’ birthday is January 3, and I like to honor her each year by reading her works. That task becomes harder each year as I’ve read most but I’m up for this challenge of finding new poems with each new year. Brooks was the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for her Annie Allen. Later she became Poet Laureate of Illinois, a post she held for the second half of her illustrious life. As a Chicagoan, I feel an obligation to read Brooks, and her writing is so poignant that the obligation is more of a joy than a task.

Family Pictures was published in 1970, nearly 20 years after Brooks won the Pulitzer. Although things had changed, sadly much had stayed the same, as Brooks takes readers back to her now familiar Bronzeville neighborhood and paints a picture of race relations there. In “The Life of Lincoln West,” Brooks writes:
Black, ugly, and odd. You
can see the savagery. The blunt
blankness. That is the real
thing.

The future for an African American urban child looked bleak fifty years ago, and Brooks desired a positive future and life for her two children, to whom she dedicated this collection. Although short at fifteen pages, Brooks words pack a punch and are of higher quality than nearly anything else I may choose to read. Through the course of her life, Brooks worked tirelessly to promote better lives for minority children, even if at times her words spoke to a tired audience.

Having read fifteen pages, however, my 2022 Goodreads reading challenge is complete. Hopefully this jumpstarts me into reading again as I have a lineup of award winners and classics awaiting me. Of course if I don’t read anything as quality as Gwendolyn Brooks over the course of 2022 that will be ok too. She was among the best of the best and I’m honored to read her to start each year.

4+ stars

[jada alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

so good. so so good.

[Jack Heller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I continue to hope for a complete works of Gwendolyn Brooks. These are okay.