to parents Josephine, a musician and teacher, and Robert "Ike", founder and publisher of the Capitol Spotlight.

[4] She attended Dunbar High School where she began writing poetry, and went on to Miners Teachers College to study English.

She earned a master's degree in linguistics from Georgetown University in 1970 as part of the Experienced Teacher Fellowship Program.

[8] She adapted The Women of Plums into a CD, The Color of Dusk, with Wall Matthews and Aleta Greene.

[9] Kendrick died at her Washington, D.C. home on November 7, 2017, aged 90, from complications of cancer.