Strong dads raise strong daughters

Pearl Cleage’s father, Albert B. Cleage Jr., was a minister and founder of The Shrines of the Black Madonna, a national network of churches. He was also a leader in the African-American freedom struggle but the reverend was nothing like any TV dad, the Atlanta author and playwright said recently.

“He was more like Don Coleone in “The Godfather,” Cleage said in response to questions from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He was a leader and people depended on his wisdom and his courage.”

She was one of five local women, including Susan Booth, artistic director at the Alliance Theatre, author Kathy Hogan Trocheck, and singer-songwriter Emily Saliers of the musical duo the Indigo Girls, who took questions about their dads.