“Quite recently, there was an article in the New York Times on Lorraine Hansberry and a play downtown off-Broadway called To Be Young Gifted and Black, produced by her. And there was a picture of her there […] Photography, as you know, has its own way of communicating, just as all mediums do. And all I can tell you is that this picture caught a hold of me. And in her eyes–this will sound very strange, but not to people who are really hip–she kept trying to tell me something. […] Inspiration is a very strange thing, sometimes it just happens, like a light–and I remember getting a feeling in my body, and I said, that’s it, to be young gifted and black, that’s all. And I sat down at the piano at that moment, and I made up a tune.” -Nina Simone