Ellington Was Not a Street

In a reflective tribute to the African-American community of old, noted poet Ntozake Shange recalls her childhood home and the close-knit group of innovators that often gathered there. These men of vision, brought to life in the majestic paintings of artist Kadir Nelson, lived at a time when the color of their skin dictated where they could live, what schools they could attend, and even where they could sit on a bus or in a movie theater.Yet in the face of this tremendous adversity, these dedicated souls and others like them not only demonstrated the importance of Black culture in America, but also helped issue in a movement that "changed the world." Their lives and their works inspire us to this day, and serve as a guide to how we approach the challenges of tomorrow.

Ntozake Shange is the author of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, which won the Obie Award for Best Drama and the Outer Circle Critics Award and received Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award nominations; the picture book Float Like a Butterfly, illustrated by Edel Rodriguez; as well as numerous other plays, novels, and poetry collections. She counts among her many honors an NEA Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Medal of Excellence from Columbia University, the City of Philadelphia Artist's Award, and several citations from the Texas State legislature, as well as keys to the cities of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Los Angeles, California; and San Antonio and Austin, Texas. Ntozake Shange is a professor of drama and English at the University of Florida at Gainesville.