This exhibition celebrates the life and work of American poet Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000). Though Brooks is generally well-known for her poetry, few recognize her expansive social and political impact. The first Black author to win a Pulitzer Prize in any category, Brooks's decades-long career was marked not only by the deep relationality and accessibility of her work but also by her engagement with struggles for racial justice. Her early writings centered around the people she grew up with and observed on the streets of Bronzeville, a predominantly African American neighborhood in Chicago. As her connections to this community grew along with the international struggles against anti-Black racism, so did the scope of her poetry and her influence. This back-and-forth between poet and community opened up surprising spaces of learning, empowerment, and institution-building.

Comprising more than 40 manuscripts, broadsides, and first editions, Magnitude and Bond will explore how Brooks’ roles as a poet, teacher, mentor, and community leader carried throughout her career. It will trace the effect of these relationships on her work and the work of other creatives such as Dudley Randall, Sonia Sanchez, and Jeff Donaldson. The exhibition will tell the story of Brooks as a young poet through her early published poetry, establish her relationship with the Black Arts and Black publishing communities of the 1960s and 70s, and illuminate her contributions as a mentor to future writers through her children’s books and self-published guides for young poets. Magnitude and Bond comes at an important time during our collective history, giving us a blueprint for how building community is essential to creative growth.