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Gwendolyn Brooks had seen a stage show called "Opportunity, Please Knock" performed by members of the Blackstone Rangers, a Black youth organization in Chicago. Impressed, she asked its director, Oscar Brown, Jr., whether any of the group's members wrote prose or poetry, not only sang and danced. He answered enthusiastically, and Walter Bradford helped gather young writers for the project. Most contributors were twenty-something or younger when they wrote these pieces, yet many display remarkable maturity. Among them is Don L. Lee, who went on to become an influential voice.