Alice Childress, an African-American writer born on 12 October 1916 to middle class parents in Charleston, South Carolina, focused much of her writing on the African-American experience in the American South of the 20th century. At the age of nine Childress and her mother, separated from Childress's father, moved to Harlem and set up house with her grandmother. It was Childress's grandmother, Eliza Campbell White, who exposed her to the world of art and culture as well as to the plight of the poor. Childress left high school before completing her senior year. An eclectic writer, she wrote plays, essays, short fiction, young adult novels and one adult novel. Also a stage actress, she began her writing career in 1949 with the one-act play

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First published 24 January 2002

Citation: Novak, Terry. "Alice Childress". The Literary Encyclopedia. 24 January 2002.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=859, accessed 20 November 2009.]