Read the full text of Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem ‘The Hill We Climb’ – By Jennifer Liu (CNBC) / January 20 2021
Amanda Gorman made history Wednesday when she became the youngest inaugural poet during President Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony in Washington.
The 22-year-old Los Angeles resident, youth poet laureate of Los Angeles, first national youth poet laureate and Harvard graduate was invited to speak at the event by First Lady Jill Biden, who had previously seen the poet do a reading at the Library of Congress.
Gorman told The New York Times she wasn’t given any direction in what to write, but that she would be contributing to the event’s theme of “America United.” She was about halfway finished with the piece when, on Jan. 6, pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol Building.
Gorman ended up staying up late following the unprecedented attack and finished her piece, “The Hill We Climb,” that night. The poet, whose work examines themes of race and racial justice in America, felt she couldn’t “gloss over” the events of the attack, nor of the previous few years, in her work.
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