Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Other Identities (1992), much like Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, is a part of Smith's On the Road series and uses the same storytelling method. The play centers on the Crown Heights riots in Brooklyn, sparked by the accidental death of a Black child caused by a Jewish rabbi. This text is available as an Anchor Book from Doubleday.

The Hunger Wall is a poetry collection by James Ragan, drawing inspiration from the 1992 civil unrest in Los Angeles and the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia a month later (Grove Press, 1995).

Spell #7 (1979), written by Ntozake Shange, presents a stark contrast to Smith's work in method, though both are African American women exploring the search for identity within a predominantly white society.

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), by James Agee, is a photo-essay that examines the lives of Georgia sharecroppers, giving a voice to the anonymous and unheard, much like Smith's On the Road plays.

Working (1974) and Coming of Age (1995) are two collections of oral histories compiled by Studs Terkel, known for chronicling the lives of ordinary people. Smith considers Terkel a mentor. Coming of Age is published by The New Press, while Working is available from Ballantine Books.

"The Street Scene" (1938), a short essay by Bertolt Brecht, discusses the concept of 'epic theater,' which avoids creating the "illusion" typical of traditional theater. Critics often analyze Smith's work through the lens of Brecht's ideas and practices.

I Am a Man (1995), by Oyamo (Charles Gordon), is a play centered on the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike, focusing on the civil rights movement from the viewpoint of the "unheard" common man, a theme Smith also explores. The narrative follows T. O. Jones, an Everyman figure striving to address social injustices.

The Coming Race War in America: A Wake-Up Call, by syndicated columnist Carl T. Rowan, delves into the country's "violent decline" and the minimal progress made for most minority Americans since the civil rights movements of the 1960s (available from Little, Brown, 1996).