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Meet Amanda Gorman, 22-year-old poet at Biden's inauguration

Gorman makes history being the young poet ever at an American Presidential inauguration.

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STP Team
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The 22-year-old poet narrated her poem, "The Hill We Climb" at the Biden-Harris inauguration and now everyone wants to know who Amanda Gorman is. Until a few days ago this powerful young poet was wondering what appropriate words to find to speak at the inaugural but the recent violent incidents at the U.S. Capitol Hill became her inspiration. Gorman is believed to have said, "I was like, 'Well, this is something we need to talk about."

A part of her poem is reproduced below as shared by NPR:

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.

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Here's all you need to know about Gorman and her journey to this day.
 
  • Gorman is the young poet ever at an American Presidential inauguration.
  • "It was really daunting to begin the poem because you don't even really know the entry point in which to step into the murk," she said in an interview with NPR.
  • Gorman was born in LA in 1998. She became LA's youth poet laureate at 16.
  • Amanda Gorman went on to study at Harvard University.
  • In 2017, she became the United States of America's first National Youth Poet Laureate
  • Gorman joins the likes of Maya Angelou in being a poet at an American Presidential inauguration.
  • Gorman has performed at the U.S. Library of Congress to the observation deck at the Empire State Building.
  • The young poet had a speech impairment growing up, something she shared with Biden who too stuttered in his early life.
  • "Now more than ever, the United States needs an inaugural poem. We have to confront these realities if we're going to move forward," Gorman said to New York Times.
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