The Hansberry's were routinely visited by prominent black people, including sociology professor W. E. B. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. For local insights and insiders travel tips that you wont find anywhere else, search any keywords in the top right-hand toolbar on this page. 1. Suggested Posts. Carl Hansberry was also a supporter of the Urban League and NAACP in Chicago. To support our blog and writers we put affiliate links and advertising on our page. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940), to which the playwright Lorraine Hansberry's father was a party, when he fought to have his day in court despite the fact that a previous class action about racially motivated restrictive covenants, Burke v. Kleiman, 277 Ill. App. She moved to Harlem in 1951 and became involved in activist struggles such as the fight against evictions. . Louis Gossett, Jr., credited her with being a bit ahead of here time, but nonetheless, an effective female activist. One of her first reports covered the Sojourners for Truth and Justice convened in Washington, D.C., by Mary Church Terrell. Her father was brave and daring enough to move his family into an all white neighborhood during tumultuous times. At Freedom, she worked with W. E. B. Along these lines, she wrote a critical review of Richard Wright's The Outsider and went on to style her final play Les Blancs as a foil to Jean Genet's absurdist Les Ngres. This made her the first Chicago native to be honored along the North Halsted corridor. . After two years, she left college for New York to serve as a writer and editor of Paul Robesons left-wing newspaper Freedom. Her experiences with discrimination and activism served as inspiration for her most famous work, the play A Raisin in the Sun, . Hansberrys work as a writer and activist was groundbreaking in its exploration of the experiences of African American women. Her first play, A Raisin in the Sun, continues to be her most influential piece and has managed to find new audiences through the decades, wining Tony Awards in 2004 and 2014 and also the title of Best Revival of a Play. In the book, readers get bits and pieces of Perry, too, as she describes her journey with Lorraine, detailing her thoughts as both an admirer, and a biographer. Additionally, she wrote scripts at Freedom. She used her writing to redefine difference. Hansberry was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in a family that was deeply involved in the civil rights movement. The play was the first one to be produced on Broadway by an African-American woman and won an award at the Cannes Film Festival when its motion picture came out. Hansberry's. She was best known for her play A Raisin in the Sun, which highlighted the lives of black Americans in Chicago living under racial segregation. . 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. She was both a civil rights activist and a feminist deeply involved in the civil rights movement in the United States and her writing often dealt with issues of race and inequality. She tries to rouse her sleeping child and husband, calling out: "Get up!". In 1969, four years after Lorraine Hansberrys death, Nina Simone wrote a song titled Young, Gifted, and Black after being inspired by a talk that Hansberry delivered to college students. After Simone died on. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honour in the United States, awarded by the President to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of the country, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavours. 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. Hansberry wrote her first play, The Crystal Stair, during the same period, based on a struggling family in Chicago. Whether you want to learn the history of a city, or you simply need a recommendation for your next meal, Discover Walks Team offers an ever-growing travel encyclopaedia. Image by Eden, Janine and Jim from Wikimedia. To be young, gifted and black The latter's legal efforts to force the Hansberry family out culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940). 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. All rights reserved, Playbill Inc. National Museum of African American History & Culture. Not only did Hansberry address social and racial issues in her novels and plays, but she also wrote articles true to her voice and beliefs for a progressive Black journal, James Baldwin was her close friend and confidant. 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 Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. :). Hansberry traveled to Georgia to cover the case of Willie McGee, and was inspired to write the poem "Lynchsong" about his case. Fact 2: Lorraine was raised in the South Side of Chicago. Perry explains that though the term radical has negative associations, for Lorraine, American radicalism was both a passion and a commitment. Hansberry was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1930. In January 2018, the PBS series American Masters released a new documentary, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, directed by Tracy Heather Strain. She attended the University of Wisconsin in 194850 and then briefly the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Roosevelt University (Chicago). She also enjoys creative writing, content writing on nearly any topic, because as a lifelong learner, she loves research. Lorraine Hansberry Elementary School was located in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Hansberry's most famous work, "A Raisin In The Sun" remains one of the best known plays ever written by a Black female playwright. In 2004, A Raisin in the Sun was revived on Broadway in a production starring Sean "P. 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The granddaughter of a freed slave, Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930, to a successful real estate broker and a school teacher who resided in Chicago, Illinois. She was the president of her colleges chapter of Young Progressives of America, she and worked on progressive candidate Henry Wallaces presidential campaign. 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 was graceful, poised, and elegant (journalists and critics always also seemed to mention her petite frame or collegiate style), but could be icy and confrontational when the situation demandedand sometimes it was demanded. After the writers demise in 1965, her ex-husband, Nimroff, adapted a collection of her writings and interviews in To Be Young, Gifted and Black, which opened off at Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre and ran for a period of eight months. She was also a civil rights activist and a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In 1959, Hansberry made history as the first African American woman to have a show produced on BroadwayA Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry inspired the Nina Simone song "To Be Young, Gifted and Black", whose title-line came from Hansberry's autobiographical play. She wrote about her experiences as a lesbian in her unpublished journals and letters. Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) Hansberry was an activist and playwright best known for her groundbreaking play "A Raisin in the Sun," about a struggling Black family on Chicago's South Side. Lorraine Hansberry, a celebrated African American playwright and writer, was not openly gay during her lifetime. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Bella Sanchez is a recent graduate from Boston University, and the marketing intern for Beacon Press. The Hansberrys were a proud middle class family, who valued social and political involvement. Hansberrys contributions to American theatre and literature have had a lasting impact, and her work continues to be studied and performed today. Holiday House, 1998. Happy travels! We may all come from different walks of life but we have one common passion - learning through travel. Lincoln University's first-year female dormitory is named Lorraine Hansberry Hall. Hansberry was a closeted lesbian. Picture 1 of 1. Hansberry's classmate Bob Teague remembered her as "the only girl I knew who could whip together a fresh picket sign with her own hands, at a moment's notice, for any cause or occasion". In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Hansberry in the biographical dictionary 100 Greatest African Americans. These were important voices for the movement to bring equality for all people as a basic right of all within the United States. The production won Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play for Rashad and Best Featured Actress in a Play for McDonald, and received a nomination for Best Revival of a Play. A Raisin in the Sun, her most famous work, debuted on Broadway in 1959 and was the first play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway. Fact 5: Indeed, Lorraine was an outspoken political activist from a young age. 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. A documentary has been made about her writing, Filmmaker Tracy Heather Strain is so taken with Lorraines work that she put together a powerful documentary so people would know who she was and what she stood for. Hansberrys father died in 1946 when she was only fifteen years old. Picture Information. The show ran for more than two years and won two Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The group told Kennedy that the federal government was not doing enough to protect the civil rights of African Americans, but the attorney general didnt agree. The statue will be sent on a tour of major US cities. ", James Baldwin described Hansberry's 1963 meeting with Robert F. Kennedy, in which Hansberry asked for a "moral commitment" on civil rights from Kennedy. The play opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on March 11, 1959, and was a great success. MLS # 3441616 . Her cousin is the flutist, percussionist, and composer Aldridge Hansberry. The awards are considered one of the most prestigious in American theatre and winners are often considered to be among the best productions of the year. Her grandniece is the actress Taye Hansberry. She wrote about her love for women and her struggles with her sexuality in personal papers published posthumously. Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) was a playwright, writer, and activist. Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born in Chicago on May 19, 1930, the youngest of four children born to Carl Augustus Hansberry, a prominent real estate broker, and his wife, Nannie Louise Hansberry, a schoolteacher and ward committeewoman.