A Reader's Guide to Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun - Pamela Loos 2008-01-01 Presents a critique and analysis of "A Raisin in the Sun," discussing the plot, themes, dramatic devices, and major characters in the play, and includes a brief overview of Hansberry's other works. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. . Fragments of a Life: Lorraine Hansberry | Flowers For Socrates The following year, she collaborated with the already produced playwright Alice Childress, who also wrote for Freedom, on a pageant for its Negro History Festival, with Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Douglas Turner Ward, and John O. Killens. Performers in this pageant included Paul Robeson, his longtime accompanist Lawrence Brown, the multi-discipline artist Asadata Dafora, and numerous others. 5 Things You Didnt Know, Godzilla is Officially on Twitter and Instagram Now, 10 Things You Didnt Know about Lovell Adams-Gray, Why General Grievous Should Get His Own Solo Movie, 10 Things You Didnt Know about Greg Lawson, Pearl Jam Gearing up For Big Tour and Announces New Album, 10 Things You Didnt Know about Tom Llamas, A Janet Jackson Biopic Might Be in the Works, 10 Things You Didnt Know about James Monroe Iglehart, 10 Things You Didnt Know About James Arthur, Marvels Touching Stan Lee Tribute on the One Year Anniversary of His Death, Five Things You Didnt Know about Michelle Dockery, The Reason Why Curly was Replaced by Shemp in the Three Stooges, Five Things You Didnt Know about Elise LeGrow, Five Things you Didnt Know about Seeta Indrani. ", James Baldwin described Hansberry's 1963 meeting with Robert F. Kennedy, in which Hansberry asked for a "moral commitment" on civil rights from Kennedy. Top 10 Interesting Facts about Lorraine Hansberry The play was also nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Play, and it has since become a classic of American theatre. Her mother, Nannie Hansberry, was a schoolteacher and a member of the NAACP. Lorraine Hansberry was an avid civil rights activist because she understood clearly, that people need a champion in this life. When Nemiroff donated Hansberry's personal and professional effects to the New York Public Library, he "separated out the lesbian-themed correspondence, diaries, unpublished manuscripts, and full runs of the homophile magazines and restricted them from access to researchers." Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun - Macmillan . Conversations with Lorraine Hansberry - Mollie Godfrey 2021-01-15 Comments (0). Her mother, Nannie Perry, was a schoolteacher active in the Republican Party. Hansberry may not have finished college, but she went on to make significant contributions to American culture and society through her art and activism. Tone Realistic. Environment & Conservation He even took his battle against racially restrictive housing covenants to the Supreme Court, winning a major victory in the landmark case Hansberry v. Lee. Hansberry was a critic of existentialism, which she considered too distant from the world's economic and geopolitical realities. Lorraine Hansberry was deeply influenced by her uncles activism and scholarship, and her work often reflected her own commitment to social justice and civil rights for African Americans. Lorraine Hansberry Biography | Chicago Public Library Her grandniece is the actress Taye Hansberry. In one of her stories, The Anticipation of Eve, Lorraine describes the moment the protagonist Rita is about to see her lover Eve with lush, tender language: I could think only of flowers growing lovely and wild somewhere by the highways, of every lovely melody I had ever heard. You think you're accomplishing something in life until you realize that at age 29, playwright Lorraine Hansberry had a play produced on Broadway. The moving story of the life of the woman behind A Raisin in the Sun, the most widely anthologized, read, and performed play of the American stage, by the New York Times bestselling author of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. Hansberry was the godmother to Nina Simone's daughter Lisa. Her friend Nina Simone said, we never talked about men or clothes or other such inconsequential things when we got together. Lorraine Hansberry was an African-American playwright, writer and activist who lived from 1930 to 1965. . Hansberry was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in a family that was deeply involved in the civil rights movement. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lorraine-Hansberry, BlackHistoryNow - Biography of Lorraine Hansberry, Lorraine Hansberry - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Lorraine Hansberry - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). There is a school in the Bronx called Lorraine Hansberry Academy, and an elementary school in St. Albans, Queens, New York, named after Hansberry as well. The award-winning playwright whose 90th birthday would have been this week first captured the public eye during the civil rights movement. Book Recommendation: 10 Best Books to Read About African History. The thing I tried to show was the many gradations in even one Negro family, the clash of the old and the new, but most of all the unbelievable courage of the Negro people.. Born in 1930, Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was the youngest of Carl and Nannie Hansberry's four children. 519 (1934), had been similar to his situation. She moved to Harlem in 1951 and became involved in activist struggles such as the fight against evictions. Copyright 2016 FamousAfricanAmericans.org, Museum Dedicated to African American History and Culture is Set to Open in 2016, Scholarships for African Americans Black Scholarships, Top 10 Most Famous Black Actors of All Time. It was at one of these demonstrations that Hansberry met her husband and closest friend, Robert Nemiroff. Biography of Lorraine Hansberry, Playwright and Activist - ThoughtCo However, Hansberry only attended university for two years before dropping out and moving to New York City where she went to the New School for Social Research. Hansberry's. In 1958 she raised funds to produce her play A Raisin in the Sun, which opened in March 1959 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway, meeting with great success. The presiding minister, Eugene Callender, recited a message from Baldwin, and also a message from the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. that read: "Her creative ability and her profound grasp of the deep social issues confronting the world today will remain an inspiration to generations yet unborn." On June 9, 2022, the Lilly Awards Foundation unveiled a statue of Hansberry in Times Square. Lorraine Hansberry was an American playwright whoseA Raisin in the Sun(1959) was the firstdramaby anAfrican American woman to be produced on Broadway. Her father founded Lake Street Bank, one of the first banks for blacks in Chicago, and ran a successful real estate business. . Lorraine Hansberry - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help Neither of the surgeries was successful in removing the cancer. also named Lorraine Hansberry the Godmother of her daughter, Lisa Simone. Leo Hansberry was a prominent figure in the Pan-Africanist movement, and he founded the African Civilization section at Howard University, where he was a professor of African history. . Among the likes: her homosexuality, Eartha Kitt, and that first drink of Scotch. Free shipping. Biography & MemoirDisability Posted at 04:07 PM in Beacon Staff, Biography and Memoir, Emily Powers, Imani Perry, Literature and the Arts, Looking for Lorraine, Queer Perspectives, Race and Ethnicity in America | Permalink She was 34 years old when she died after a two-year fight with pancreatic cancer. Beacon Press. Hansberry's funeral was held in Harlem on January 15, 1965. Heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it has since closed. Written and completed in 1957, A Raisin in the Sun opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on March 11, 1959, becoming the first play by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway. It was previously ruled that African Americans were not allowed to purchase property in the Washington Park subdivision in Chicago, Illinois. Carl died in 1946 when Lorraine was fifteen years old; "American racism helped kill him," she later said. . Lorraines papers, including her letters and unpublished works, were private for years, with the public hearing only whispers or half-formed truths about some of the most significant aspects of Lorraines identity: her sexuality and her radical political leanings. A New Biography of a Brilliant Playwright Who Died Too Young The Quiet Lesbian Biography of Lorraine Hansberry - Autostraddle Lorraine Hansberry Biography - eNotes.com 236 pp. 16 queer Black trailblazers who made history - NBC News - Breaking News She was the youngest of Nannie Perry Hansberry and Carl Augustus Hansberry's four children. Her promising career was cut short by her early death from pancreatic cancer. The play was later renamed A Raisin in the Sun and was a great success at the Ethel Ballymore Theatre, having a total of 530 performances. Hansberrys uncle, William Leo Hansberry, founded the Howard University African Civilization section of the history department, her cousin Shauneille Perry is an actress and playwright, and her younger relatives, Taye Hansberry is an actress and Aldridge Hansberry is a composer and flutist. Risking public censure and process of being outed to the larger community, she joined the Daughters of Bilitis, a lesbian organization, and submitted letters and short stories to queer publications Ladder and ONE. Her cousin is the flutist, percussionist, and composer Aldridge Hansberry. Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) wrote A Raisin in the Sun using inspiration from her years growing up in the segregated South Side of Chicago. Emily Powersjoined Beacon in 2016 after three years at Cornell University Press. Hansberrys work and activism were instrumental in advancing the cause of civil rights in America, and she remains an important figure in the history of the movement. Lorraine Hansberry, likely at a welcoming event for the African-American Students Foundation in 1959. 13 Fascinating Facts About Nina Simone | Mental Floss Also in 1963, Hansberry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Hansberrys contributions to American theatre and literature have had a lasting impact, and her work continues to be studied and performed today. Setting (time) Between 1945 and 1959 Setting (place) The South Side of Chicago Protagonist Walter Lee Younger . The Washington, D.C., office searched her passport files "in an effort to obtain all available background material on the subject, any derogatory information contained therein, and a photograph and complete description," while officers in Milwaukee and Chicago examined her life history. Lorraine Hansberry Biography, Life, Interesting Facts In his remarks, President Obama noted that Lorraine Hansberry refused to be confined by any identity but her own, and helped blaze a trail for generations of Americans who have been inspired by her example.. In 1944, she graduated from Betsy Ross Elementary. A Raisin in the Sun marked the turning point for black artists in professional theater. Lorraine Hansberry Elementary School was located in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Picture 1 of 1. Her father, Carl Augustus Hansberry, was a successful real estate entrepreneur involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Urban League. Since its original production, A Raisin in the Sun has been revived on Broadway several times, most recently in 2014 with Denzel Washington as Walter Lee Younger. With the help of the NAACP, he eventually won the right to stay, but never recovered from the emotional stress of their legal battles ("Lorraine Hansberry";Hansberry 21). Martin Luther King, Jr.s Radical Vision of Replacing Residential Caste with Communities of Love and Justice, Black Resistance Knows No Bounds in History: A Reading List, Black Poet Listening: Lessons in Making Poetry a Life, Beacon Behind the Books: Meet Catherine Tung, Editor, Martin Luther King, Jr.s Palm Sunday Sermon Celebrating the Life of Gandhi, The Scourge of the January 6 US Capitol Attack: A Citizens Reading List. Lorraine was taught: "Above all, there were two things which were never to be betrayed: the family and the race.". In 1959 her play A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway, an important theater district in New York City.