● Rita Dove: Award-winning poet and essayist Rita Dove in Akron, Ohio on August 28, 1952, has served as an educator and on several councils due to her work. She’s the youngest to hold the Poet Laureate position, and the second Black woman after Gwendolyn Brooks. Much like Brooks, she’s the second to receive a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry which she received in 1987. At 68 years old, Dove is continuously working and receiving gifts from her craft.