After two years at Columbia, Bennett transferred to the Pratt Institute.īennett published her first poem, “Nocturne,” in the November 1923 issue of Opportunity magazine. Bennett then enrolled at Columbia University’s Teachers College, while also studying in the university’s fine arts department. She attended Brooklyn Girl’s High School and graduated in 1921. Bennett had no further contact with her mother until she was an adult. Father and daughter lived on the run for a lengthy period, moving between Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, and New York.
Her parents divorced when she was around four. Bennett spent her early childhood in Washington, D.C. Gwendolyn Bennett was born on July 8, 1902, in Giddings, Texas, to Joshua Robin and Mayme (née Abernathy).
