For Fans of Ntozake Shange, Finally, A Memoir

Ntozake Shange, feminist author of the critically acclaimed choreopoem for colored girls who’ve considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, as well as numerous poetry collections and novels (most recently the 600-page Some Sing, Some Cry, co-written with her sister Ifa Bayeza), gets personal, political and lyrical in her latest work, Lost in Language and […]

For Colored Girls: The Reviews Are In

The 70’s saw an efflorescence of works by and about African American women, spurred by the overall women’s movement. Black women have always been telling their stories, whether in formal literature–see Harriet Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl from 1861 or Ann Petry’s The Street from 1946–or around kitchen tables or in […]

Beyond “For Colored Girls”: The Quiz

The recent release of Tyler Perry’s film For Colored Girls has sparked a resurgence of interest in Ntozake Shange’s work. But let’s not forget about all the other incredible African American women who have shaped our view of the world through their plays, poetry, prose and dramatic performance. How well do you know these trailblazing […]

For Colored Girls, When One Blog Post Is Not Enuf

We have had such a tremendous interest among our bloggers in Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls that we’ve posted a number of their analyses, both before and after the film’s premiere this past Friday. It’s not hard to understand why the hoopla: Ntozake Shange’s beloved For Colored Girls, Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, […]

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For Colored Girls: When the Men Are Not Enuf

No one has ever accused me of being an apologist for men. But I felt like one as I walked out of For Colored Girls. Men don’t get a fair shake in the movie; they are bashed and trashed from start to finish. Of course this movie is not about them. It’s about a group […]

Peek At the Week

Welcome to our new weekly events calendar, where I’ll give you a rundown of all the fabulous feminist and progressive (and sometimes cheesy pop culture) events that I would be attending if I could be in multiple places at once and had an inheritance. The first and most important event this week is Election Day, […]

For Colored Girls … Is Representation Enuf?

The Tyler Perry film version of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls opens this coming week. What better moment to consider the representation of black women in popular U.S. culture. Forgive us if we cringe in anticipation … I was talking to my homegirl the other day about why she hadn’t yet seen the movie Precious: […]