Pearl Cleage

Pearl Cleage was born on December 7, 1948 in Springfield, Massachusetts to Doris Cleage, a school teacher, and Rev. Albert Cleage, a minister who founded the Pan African Orthodox Chrisitan Church and the Shrine of the Black Madonna. Due to backlash from her father’s radical teachings, the family moved to Detroit, Michigan. Her father was a strong activist and civil rights leader, which led to Cleage’s involvement in the activist community. After graduating from Detroit Public School, Cleage studied playwriting at Howard University in Washington, D.C. from 1966-1969. In 1969, Cleage married politician Michael Lomax and moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Cleage earned a bachelor’s degree in drama from Spelman College in 1971 and continued her studies at graduate school at Atlanta University. Cleage has a daughter with Lomax, but the two divorced in 1979. In 1994, Cleage married Zaron Burnett Jr., who is a writer and director at the Just Us Theater Company.

Pearl Cleage is one of few African-American women to have their plays produced on a national, and international, scale. Some of her most famous works include Flyin’ West (1992), which had a successful run at the Kennedy Center and was the most produced play of 1994; Blues for an Alabama Sky (1995), which was performed as part of the Cultural Olympiad during the 1995 Summer Olympics in Atlanta; and Bourbon at the Border (1997). Her works have been the subject of many scholarly analyses, especially for her feminist lens and intersectionality of sexism and racism.

Cleage’s writings are not limited to plays. In 1971, Cleage worked as the press secretary and speechwriter for Maynard Jackson, the first Black mayor of Atlanta. Cleage is the founder of the literary magazine Catalyst, and has been its editor since 1987. She has also worked as an essayist, novelist, and poet. From 1986-1991, Cleage was the Cosby Endowed Chair professor of Spelman College, and was dubbed Playwright in Residence at Spelman in 1991. Cleage is the Playwright in Residence and artistic director of the Just Us Theater Company, and also held the title of Playwright in Residence at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta from 2013-2019. In addition to her work as a writer, Cleage is a prominent activist, especially in regards to racism, AIDS, sexism, and women’s rights.