Indigo's first section is full of informal mappings, remedies, and tales such as 'Moon Journeys: cartography by Indigo' and 'To Rid Oneself of the Scent of Evil: by Indigo'.

Before the reader learns much about the other sisters or mother, Indigo begins menstruating, is gifted an old fiddle by Uncle John, and consequently initiated into a cult-like group of pre-adolescent boys called the Jr. The story starts with Indigo, the youngest daughter of the family, sitting amongst her beloved hand-made dolls, which each have names and personalities that emerge over the course of the novel. The book deals with several major themes, including Gullah/Geechee culture, women in the arts, the Black Arts Movement, and spirituality, among many others. As is common in Shange's work, the narrative is peppered with interludes that come in the form of letters, recipes, dream stories and journal entries, which provide a more intimate approach to each woman's journey toward self-realization and fulfillment. Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo integrates the whole of an earlier work by Shange called simply Sassafrass, published in 1977 by Shameless Hussy Press. The family is based in Charleston, South Carolina, and their trade is to spin, weave, and dye cloth unsurprisingly, this tactile creativity informs the lives of the main characters as well as the style of the writing. The novel, which took eight years to complete, is a story of three Black sisters, whose names give the book its title, and their mother.

Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo is a 1982 novel written by Ntozake Shange and first published by St.

Sassafrass cypress and indigo