A Street in Bronzeville.

Gwendolyn Brooks.

A Street in Bronzeville.

New York:

Harper & Brothers,

1945.

With Riot (Detroit: Broadside Press, 1970).

In his lecture, “From Poet to Publisher: Reading Gwendolyn Brooks by Design,” RBS faculty member Kinohi Nishikawa compares the physical form of Brooks’s first book of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville, published by Harper & Brothers in 1945, with her later chapbook Riot, published by Broadside Press in 1969. Like most debuting writers, Brooks (1917–2000) had little control over the design of the dustjacket for Bronzeville. However, the design of Riot serves as a visual cue expressing Brooks’ engagement with the Black Arts Movement and Chicago’s Southside community.

From the collection of Rare Book School