Reading Contemporary African American Drama: Fragments of History, Fragments of Self - Paperbackby Carlyle V. Thompson (Other), Trudier Harris (Editor), Jennifer Larson (Editor) Contemporary African American dramatists such as Amiri Baraka, James Baldwin, August Wilson, and Suzan Lori Parks as well as Lorraine Hansberry, Alice Childress, and Pearl Cleage find their creative inspiration in historical events from slavery to the civil rights movement. From the Emmett Till inspired character in Baldwin's Blues for Mister Charlie to Parks's