We used to go to hear Latin music, jazz and symphonies, to see ballets.... I was always aware that there were different kinds of black people all over the world.... So I knew I wasn't on this planet by myself. I had some connections with other people."
The family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when Shange was five years old, and she was one of the first children to integrate the public school system. However, the young Shange rebelled at an early age against her parents' middle-class complacency, identifying with the live-in domestic help who took care of her when she was a child. In 1961 the Williams family moved to Lawrenceville, New Jersey. At Morristown High School, Shange wrote poetry centered on black themes and subjects. Although she was published in the school magazine, her choice of subject matter was criticized, and she began to realize her need for black women role models.
This is a free page. This page contains 155 words. This
biography contains 2,000 words (approx. 7 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our Ntozake Shange Access Pass.
