Amanda Gorman Becomes Youngest Inaugural Poet, Meet The Young Woman Behind The Brilliant Words

Today is a historical day with many emotional moments passing as Joseph R. Biden, is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, and Kamala Harris is sworn in as the new Vice President. Many game-changing women have participated in this momentous occasion, from Jennifer Lopez singing “This Land is Your Land” to Justice Sonia Sotomayor – the first woman of color to serve on the Supreme Court – swearing-in our new VP.

One of the notable performances in this morning’s ceremony was given by Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history.

Amanda Gorman may not be a name you’ve heard before, but this brilliant 22-year-old woman is now not only the youngest inaugural poet in American history, but she’s an award-winning writer and cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied Sociology.

Gorman was born and raised in Los Angeles, where she began writing at an early age. This incredibly talented young woman has written for the New York Times and has two forthcoming books with Penguin Random House, including a children’s storybook, Change Sings. Her award-winning works have brought her invitations from the Obama White House, from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Al Gore, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, and multiple commissions from CBS This Morning.

In 2017, UrbanWord and the Library of Congress named Gorman as the first National Youth Poet Laureate for the United States.

Gorman told the New York Times that she desires the poem she wrote for the inauguration today to inspire hope without ignoring the dark history of violence and racism from the long past and in today’s world. “In my poem, I’m not going to in any way gloss over what we’ve seen over the past few weeks and, dare I say, the past few years. But what I really aspire to do in the poem is to be able to use my words to envision a way in which our country can still come together and can still heal. It’s doing that in a way that is not erasing or neglecting the harsh truths I think America needs to reconcile with.”

Her message of truth, unity, and perseverance emanate through both her poems “The Hill We Climb”, performed on January 13 in front of the Capitol at the request of the Joseph R. Biden transitional team, and today’s poem.

Below is the text/transcript of the poem:

The Hill We Climb

When day comes we ask ourselves

Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

The loss we carry,

A sea we must wade.

We braved the belly of the beast;

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace.

And the norms and notions of what just is

Isn’t always justice.

And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.

Somehow we do it;

Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed

A nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished.

We, the successors of a country and a time

Where a skinny black girl descended from slaves

And raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president,

Only to find herself reciting for one.

And yes we are far from polished, far from pristine,

But that doesn’t mean we aren’t striving to form a union that is perfect.

We are striving to forge a union with purpose,

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.

And so we lift our gaze not to what stands between us,

But what stands before us.

We close the divide, because we know to put our future first,

We must first put our differences aside.

We lay down our arms

So we can reach out our arms to one another.

We seek harm to none and harmony for all.

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:

That even as we grieved, we grew,

That even as we hurt, we hoped,

That even as we tired, we tried,

That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious—

Not because we will never again know defeat

But because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision

That everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree,

And no one shall make them afraid.

If we’re to live up to our own time,

then victory won’t lie in the blade but in all the bridges we’ve made.

That is the promised glade,

The hill we climb if only we dare it.

Because being American is more than a pride we inherit,

It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it,

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.

And this effort very nearly succeeded,

But while democracy can be periodically delayed

It can never be permanently defeated.

In this truth, in this faith we trust,

For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.

This is the era of just redemption.

We feared at its inception.

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour,

But within it we found the power

To author a new chapter,

To offer hope and laughter,

To ourselves sow. While once we asked:

How could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?

Now we assert: How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?

We will not march back to what was,

But move to what shall be,

A country that is bruised but whole,

Benevolent but bold,

Fierce and free.

We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation

Because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation.

Our blunders become their burdens

But one thing is certain:

If we merge mercy with might and might with right,

Then love becomes our legacy

And change our children’s birthright.

So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left.

With every breath of my bronze pounded chest,

We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.

We will rise from the golden hills of the West.

We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution.

We will rise from the lakeland cities of the Midwestern states.

We will rise from the sunbaked South.

We will rebuild, reconcile and recover

In every known nook of our nation,

In every corner called our country,

Our people, diverse and beautiful,

Will emerge battered and beautiful.

When day comes we step out of the shade,

Aflame and unafraid.

The new dawn blooms as we free it.

For there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it,

If only we’re brave enough to be it.

UNITED is the theme for the new presidential administration. During his speech this morning, President Biden sums it up well. “History, faith, and reason show the way, the way of unity. We can see each other, not as adversaries, but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature. For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury.”

Gorman’s poem calls us all – no matter what side of the issues we’re on – to be a part of that unity.

Watch Amanda recite the poem in the video below, in case you missed it or in case you want to relive the brilliance: