GWENDOLYN BROOKS SOCIAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE.

The article focuses on poet and essayist Roger Reeves's engagement with the Gwendolyn Brooks Papers through the Gwendolyn Brooks Social Justice Initiative (GBSJI) at the University of Illinois, which aims to increase access to Brooks's extensive archives and promote dialogue around her legacy. Reeves reflects on Brooks's archival materials, highlighting her chronicling of everyday life, political discourse, and evolving language, and discusses how her work influences his own poetry, particularly in addressing history and Black identity. He also explores the role of poetry in interrogating history by disrupting linear narratives and creating new aesthetic and sonic possibilities, drawing connections between Blackness and Western literary canons. Additionally, Reeves considers the intersections of Black and Indigenous futurity through cross-cultural dialogue about land and liberation. The initiative and Reeves's work emphasize Brooks's literary activism, community engagement, and enduring impact on contemporary poetry.