For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf Lesson Plan

Shange was inspired by many other black writers whose careers spanned numerous genres. To contextualize for colored girls thematically and in terms of formal elements, you might include readings from Amiri Baraka, who was both a poet and a playwright. It might be useful to pull from one of his major poetic anthologies, such as 2015's S O S: Poems 1961-2013. Shange's work is also directly inspired by Sonia Sanchez, also a poet and a playwright. You might consider focusing on Homecoming: A Blues Book for Blue Black Magical Women. You might also include Paul Laurence Dunbar, who penned poems and short stories. Shange was also greatly influenced by Zora Neale Hurston. Her novel Their Eyes...