Lucille Clifton was a poet and author from Baltimore. She inspired people of all ages with her writing. Clifton often visited and conjured her writing in notable places around the city, making her mark on the community.

Angel’s Tavern was a small bar in a historic neighborhood in Baltimore where Clifton read her poems to a reoccurring audience. From 1974-1985 she served as a trustee of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, yet another place where she connected and inspired young writers. Her passion for educating young adults through literature naturally led her to work at Coppin State University and St. Mary’s College.

Sidney Clifton described her childhood century-old home, The Clifton House, as the setting for her mother’s famous poems. In 2018, Sidney began working on regaining possession of the house after it had been lost due to foreclosure in the 80s.

Sidney was able to buy back the house and in 2020 the house received an African-American Cultural Heritage Action Fund project planning grant. The project’s plan was to begin the transformation of the house into a new cultural arts space.

 

Original post by Orilonise D. Yarborough/National Trust for Historic Preservation-Saving Places

Read more here:

https://savingplaces.org/stories/a-place-to-grow-lucille-cliftons-life-in-baltimore#.YYRMdNbMLPY