Lorraine Hansberry

1. Lorraine Hansberry

2. Lorraine Hansberry • Born Lorraine Vivian Hansberry May 19,1930 • Place: Chicago, Illinois • Parents: Carl Augustus and Nannie Louise Hansberry (Carl was a real estate broker, Nannie was a school teacher) • The youngest of four children by seven years • Her parents contributed lots of money to both the NAACP and Urban League. • Died of pancreatic cancer January 12, 1965

3. Lorraine Hansberry • Education? • College: University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin • College: University of Guadalajara (for a summer), studying painting • Broke her family’s tradition of attending Southern black universities • Originally majored in painting, but then changed to writing • Dropped out after two years to move to NYC

4. Lorraine Hansberry • While in NYC, attended New School for Social Research • Worked for Paul Robeson’s progressive black newspaper, Freedom, as writer/associate editor from 1950 – 1953 • At Freedom, she worked with famous writer, W.E.B. DuBois (the first African-American to earn a Ph.D.) • Worked as a part-time waitress • Quit her jobs and began writing fulltime in 1956.

5. Lorraine Hansberry • 1957 she joined Daughters of Bilitis, which strove for feminist rights • While writing for the Daughters of Bilitis’s paper, The Ladder, she wrote The Crystal Stair, which was later named A Raisin in the Sun. • Was married to Robert Nemiroff, a Jewish songwriter, for nine years • Was godmother to Nina Simone’s daughter, Lisa (Simone)

6. Lorraine Hansberry • Very politically active • Integrated a dormitory at University of Wisconsin • Worked on Henry A. Wallace’s presidential campaign in 1948 • Helped fight for women’s equality in America as well as Egypt • Attended a peace conference in Uruguay in place of Freedomnewspaper’s owner, Paul Robeson

7. A Raisin in the Sun • Debuted on Broadway March 11, 1959 • A play about a family obsessed with assimilation into “white American society,” and accumulation of wealth and the struggle for success and acceptance • Setting: Chicago, late 1940s • Title came from a line in Langston Hughes’s poem “A Dream Deferred.” (What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?) • Named “best play of 1959” by New York Drama Critics’ Circle • Ran for nearly two years on Broadway as the first play with a black director, Lloyd Richards

8. Raisin in the Sun • Nominated for four Tony Awards: • Best Play – Written by Lorraine Hansberry; produced by Philip Rose and David J. Cogan • Best Actor in a Play – Sidney Poitier • Best Actress in a Play – Claudia McNeil • Best Direction in a Play – Lloyd Richards • Was made into a film in 1962 • Made into a musical, titled Raisin, in 1973

9. Raisin in the Sun • First play written by an African-American woman • Earned New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best play for Hansberry at age 29, making her the youngest American playwright to win the award at the time and also only the fifth woman to win the award • Was translated into 35 languages

10. The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window • The last play written by Hansberry • About a man struggling with pitfalls in his personal life and living in Bohemian (poor artist) culture • Premiered on Broadway October 15, 1964 • Closed on January 12, 1965… The day Lorraine Hansberry died.