Personal Journeys: Pearl Cleage

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Personal Journeys: Pearl Cleage

A look at Pearl Cleage through the years as we offer an excerpt from her memoir "Things I Should Have Told My Daughter."

Pearl Cleage and her daughter, Deignan, in 1982. Contributed by the family

Bill Bolling (front, left) Phillip DePoy , Eric Moore (back, left), Rob Cleveland, Topher Payne, Betty Hart, Doria Roberts and Pearl Cleage organized and performed for WordFeast: Food for the Body and Soul in 2011 at the Fabrefaction Theatre Company. The event collects donations and raises hunger awareness for the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Photo: Devika Rao

Cleage, center, and director Susan Booth, left, talk with actor Eugene H. Russell IV, right, after he had a mustache put on him for the dress rehearshal of, "What I Learned in Paris." JASON GETZ / JGETZ@AJC.COM

Cleage talks with director Susan Booth (not pictured) during a break in the dress rehearsal of her play "What I Learned in Paris" in 2012. JASON GETZ / JGETZ@AJC.COM

Cleage poses for a portrait in the Spelman College theatre in 2007. (JESSICA MCGOWAN / SPECIAL)

Cleage (center in red) takes a photo with members of the Delta Sigma Theta Debutante and Ladies-in-Waiting program of Stone Mountain and Lithonia at "Book Club Night" at the Alliance Theatre prior to a performance of her play, "The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years," Sunday evening, October 24, 2010. Bita Honarvar bhonarvar@ajc.com

Pearl Cleage takes the stage to thank everyone as she is presented with the Gene-Gabriel Moore Playwriting award during the Suzi Bass Awards at the Fox Theatre in 2008. MIKKI K. HARRIS / mkharris@ajc.com

Cleage during an interview at the Shrine of the Black Madonna in 1997. (AJC Staff Photo/Nick Arroyo)

Cleage is seen with talk-show host Oprah Winfrey Oct. 22, 1998, during a taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show at Harpo Studios in Chicago. (Harpo Productions photo by George Burns)

Atlanta playwright Pearl Cleage in the balcony of the Woodruff Arts Center in 1997. (JEAN SHIFRIN/staff)

Pearl Cleage, daughter Deignan and husband Zaron Burnett Jr. Contributed by the family

Pearl Cleage making muscles at Tybee Island—circa 1985. photo contributed by Zaron Burnett, Jr.

Pearl Cleage in 1970, the year her new memoir, "Things I Should Have Told My Daughter," begins. Contributed by family

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Pearl Cleage and her daughter, Deignan, in 1982. Contributed by the family

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