Black History Month: Past, Present & Future (Amanda Gorman)

AMANDA GORMAN (1998-Present) - Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, as well as an award-winning writer and cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied Sociology. She has written for the New York Times and has three books forthcoming with Penguin Random House. She is the recipient of the Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and is the youngest board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States.

Gorman received international fame as our nation's first-ever youth poet laureate at this year's Presidential Inauguration. Born and raised in Los Angeles by a single mother and sixth-grade English teacher, Gorman started writing poems when she was a child, but found it terrifying to perform due to a speech impediment. She overcame that fear by drawing confidence from former President Barack Obama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and practicing songs from the Broadway musical "Hamilton".

It's no surprise that this young lady recently received a modeling contract with IMG and had a stage at this year's Super Bowl. No doubt, these and other opportunities will further her platform of activism.