Freedom's Gate: Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone Live at the New York Nightclub that Shaped the Civil Rights Movement

An illuminating portrait of five Black woman artists and the New York nightclub that helped inspire the civil rights movement.

Before they were household names, Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone needed a place to practice and perform. That place was the Village Gate, a New York City nightclub that Art D’Lugoff opened at the dawn of an unprecedented decade in civil rights. In the heart of the West Village, the women of the Gate created something t...