The civilrightsmen were many. hit it out as hatchets with velvet on. – Gwendolyn Brooks featured in Ebony Magazine (Aug. 1971) Last spring, I spent three hours pouring over Gwendolyn Brooks’ papers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Brooks’ journals, manuscripts, and correspondence became source material for my memory work poetry and zines. While researching, I noticed drafts for the 2003 Third World Press publication: In Montgomery and Other Poems. The folder included a note written by Brooks about five months before her passing. It described the origin of her poem “In Montgomery.” This poem was based on a trip to Montgomery, Alabama with photographer Moneta Sleet Jr. for a feature in Ebony Magazine’s August 1971 issue. The two shared a “planning breakfast” each morning and walked through the streets during the day, talking with and photographing locals and “Civil Rights stars and starlets.”