Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet Laureate of Illinois, reads poems at a public event in Chicago in the 1980s. Excerpted from a reel of loosely assembled Super 8 footage shot by Bill Stamets, labeled "Dangerous Chemicals - Daley - Art Jones - Gwendolyn Brooks." | Chicago Film Archives

Did you know these two legendary poets, Nikki Giovanni and Gwendolyn Brooks, both share the same birthday? They were born exactly 26 years apart on June 7th.Gwendolyn Brooks, born in 1917, made history as the first Black person to win a Pulitzer Prize—and she was later honored with a U.S. postage stamp.Nikki Giovanni, born in 1943, became one of the most influential poets of her time, winning multiple awards—including a Grammy nomination for her spoken word album The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collec