5 iconic books by black women you must read this Women’s History Month

Bridget Boakye March 01, 2018

5 iconic books by black women you must read this Women's History Month

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enough by Ntozake Shange

Shange’s ‘choreopoem’, as she calls it, consists of a series of poetic monologues to be accompanied with dance and music. For Colored Girls… explores the stories of seven African American women and their double-edged plight in a racist and sexist society. As Shange writes, to “being alive and being a woman is all I got, but being colored is a metaphysical dilemma I haven’t conquered yet”.

Shange first performed her choreopoem in 1974 with four other artists at a women’s bar outside Berkeley, California. She took the play to Broadway in 1976, the second play by a black woman to reach Broadway after Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun in 1959.

The choreopoem has been performed Off-Broadway and on Broadway, adapted as a book, a television film, and in the highly acclaimed theatrical film produced and directed by Tyler Perry. Shage’s 1976 Broadway production was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play.

Last Edited by:Ismail Akwei Updated: March 1, 2018

Conversations

Must Read

Connect with us

Join our Mailing List to Receive Updates