MAYOR, ON MAY 15th, YOU CAN WATCH OUR FULL INTERVIEW WITH HIM, AND A TOUR OF THE COMMUNITY ON OUR WEBSITE.

>>> CHICAGO'S LONG HISTORY AS A CENTER FOR POETRY OWES MUCH TO GWENDOLYN BROOKS, WHOSE WORKS LARGELY DETECTED THE BLACK EXPERIENCE IN THE CITY.

IN THIS THROWBACK CLIP TO A 201 EPISODE, HER DAUGHTER TALKED ABOUT HER MOTHER'S INVOLVEMENT AND INFLUENCE IN THE 1960s BLACK ARC MOVEMENT IN CHICAGO.

>> WE HAVE 160 PEOPLE IN THIS LITTLE, TINY HOUSE.

DISCUSSIONS WOULD GO ON.

PEOPLE WOULD SOMETIMES BE OVER THERE UNTIL 4:00, 5:00 IN THE MORNING.

BUT, IT WAS REALLY WONDERFUL TO REALIZE THAT THIS WAS THE KIND OF THING THAT SHOULD BE GOING ON.

PEOPLE SHOULD BE TALKING TO EACH OTHER, TRYING TO RESOLVE ISSUES, YOU KNOW?

>> Reporter: GWENDOLYN'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT HAD A POSITIVE EFFECT ON MANY YOUNG BLACK AND WOMEN.

HAKIM, FOUNDER OF THIRD WORLD PRESS AND THE BLACK WRITERS CONFERENCE AT CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY, ATTRIBUTES MUCH OF THE LITERARY WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE HE GAINED IN THE '60s TO THE MOTHER-SON RELATIONSHIP HE DEVELOPED WITH BROOKS.

>> BAM, BAM, BAM!

>> SO, COMING THROUGH THIS BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT AND FINDING MOVEMENT TO 1967 SLOWED ME DOWN.

>> Reporter: THE TURBULENCE OF THE 1960s BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT TRANSFORMED MANY LIVES, INCLUDING THAT OF GWENDOLYN BROOKS.

IN 1968, SHE RELEASED IN THE MECCA, SELECTIONS OF POETRY FOR THE USE OF THE URBAN BLACK LANGUAGE AT THAT TIME.

AND IN 1959, GWENDOLYN BROOKS RECEIVED THE ELLIOTT POET AWARD, WHICH ALLOWED HER TO EXPAND HER LITERARY ANALYSIS WITH WORKSHOPS AND CRAYONS DEVELOPED TO INSPIRE POETS IN PERFECTING THEIR CRAFT.

>>> APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY