Former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, one of the poets featured in African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song, reads her poem "The Wardrobe Lesson," from her 2009 collection Sonata Mulattica. As Dove explains in her introduction, "Sonata Mulattica" was inspired by the life and career of the biracial violinist George Polgreen Bridgetower (1780–1860), whose place in music history was overlooked until very recently.