A rainbow brought Ntozake Shange some peace.
"I was driving the No. 1 highway in Northern California and I was overcome by the appearance of two parallel rainbows," recalls the author of the famed play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf." "I had a feeling of near death or near catastrophe. Then I drove through the rainbow and I went away. Then I put that together to form the title," she explained in a phone interview.
At the time, Shange -- who speaks carefully and delicately, but with a subtle wit -- was in her mid-20s. She had reportedly tried to commit suicide four times. The rainbow gave her inspiration to write "For Colored Girls," becoming the colors -- the voices -- of the unnamed female characters in the work. 
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