Black History Month: Week 3

We’re into week three of black history month, and this week’s notable figure is Amanda Gorman.  She is a poet, activist, and writer.  Amanda was the first person in history to be named Youth Poet Laureate and her work generated international acclaim, after her beautifully delivered poem “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of President Joe Biden. 

Amanda Gorman ’20, the first Youth Poet Laureate of the United States, is pictured in Harvard Yard at Harvard University. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

In her senior year of High School she was awarded the Milken Family Foundation scholarship which helped her attend Harvard University, in which she graduated Cum Laude in 2020 with a B.S in Sociology.

Gorman’s art and activism focus on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African Diaspora. She has said she was inspired to become a youth delegate for the United Nations in 2013 after watching a speech by Pakistani Nobel Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai.