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Raisin, her best-known work, would eventually become a highly lauded film starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, and Diana Sands. Bottom Row (left to right): T. S. Eliot; Lorraine Hansberry; Martin Buber; Otto Neurath. The show ran for more than two years and won two Tony Awards, including Best Musical. MLS # 3441616 Hansberry worked on not only the US civil rights movement, but also global struggles against colonialism and imperialism. An author, a playwright and an activist, Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois. In 2013, Hansberry was inducted into the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display that celebrates LGBT history and people. Lorraine Hansberry was a history-making playwright and author who became the first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway. Hansberry was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1930. Lorraine Hansberry, a celebrated African American playwright and writer, was not openly gay during her lifetime. It was always, Marx, Lenin and revolutionreal girls talk.. Due to racial differences, Lorraine and her family faced racism when she was just eight. Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930 at Provident Hospital on the South Side of Chicago. Lorraines papers, including her letters and unpublished works, were private for years, with the public hearing only whispers or half-formed truths about some of the most significant aspects of Lorraines identity: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. Hansberry was the godmother to Nina Simone's daughter Lisa. Hansberry wrote The Crystal Stair, a play about a struggling Black family in Chicago, which was later renamed A Raisin in the Sun. If the name Lorraine Hansberry doesnt ring a bell, we have some interesting information that may just give you an aha moment. In 1944, she graduated from Betsy Ross Elementary. 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. In 1959 her play A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway, an important theater district in New York City. Hansberry and Nemiroff moved to Greenwich Village, the setting of her second Broadway play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. The Hansberry family had many friends and relatives that were involved in the arts. Despite not finishing college, Hansberry went on to achieve great success as a playwright and activist. This gave her a platform for sharing her views. She is a tremendously important historical figure and through the documentary, Strain and her crew are making the public aware of just who Lorraine Hansberry was, what she stood for, and why her radical work is so important to the world today. She herself, knew what it was to be discriminated against.. However, many scholars and historians believe that she may have been a closeted lesbian. Her father, Carl Hansberry was an activist who fought against racial discrimination in housing. . Lorraine Hansberry, (born May 19, 1930, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.died January 12, 1965, New York, New York), American playwright whose A Raisin in the Sun (1959) was the first drama by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway. . Fact 5: Indeed, Lorraine was an outspoken political activist from a young age. When the play opens, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000. A Raisin in the Sun portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, a Black family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. Discuss these differences and how they conflict with one another. Her father, Carl Augustus Hansberry was Leos brother. Lorraines experiences growing up in this environment informed her writing, which often dealt with issues of race, class, and identity. Picture 1 of 1. . Du Bois. Lorraine Hansberry Elementary School was located in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. At the same time, she said, "some of the first people who have died so far in this struggle have been white men.". . Since that time, other artists including Aretha Franklin have covered the song, whichbegins: To be young, gifted and black Lorraine Hansberry was born in 1930, in Chicago, Illinois, into a family of civil rights activists. To be young, gifted and black When Irvine read the lyrics after it was finished, he thought, "I didn't write this. The granddaughter of a slave and the niece of a prominent African-American professor, Hansberry grew up with a keen awareness of African-American history and the ongoing struggle for civil rights. Hansberry herself led an extraordinary life, which is profiled in the . Also in 1963, Hansberry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In 2013, Hansberry was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama, in recognition of her contributions to American culture and civil rights activism. In April 1959, as a sign of her sudden fame just one month after A Raisin in the Sun premiered on Broadway, photographer David Attie did an extensive photo-shoot of Hansberry for Vogue magazine, in the apartment at 337 Bleecker Street where she had written Raisin, which produced many of the best-known images of her today. A penetrating psychological study of the personalities and emotional conflicts within a working-class black family in Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun was directed by actor Lloyd Richards, the first African American to direct a play on Broadway since 1907. . Holiday House, 1998. Hansberrys work broke barriers and paved the way for more diverse voices to be heard on the Broadway stage. Hansberry wrote two screenplays of Raisin, both of which were rejected as controversial by Columbia Pictures. After two years, she left college for New York to serve as a writer and editor of Paul Robesons left-wing newspaper Freedom. How true, Clifford so sad that she left this world at age 34. Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 - January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. Lorraine Hansberry became involved in the Civil Rights Movement in 1963 and joined people like Lena Horne and James Baldwin to test Robert Kennedys position on civil rights. Language English. She was a member of the National Organization for Women and wrote about womens issues in her personal journals and in her writing. To those around them, the Hansberrys were inspirational both parents were college. Her civil rights work and writing career were cut short by her death from pancreatic cancer at age 34. A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway. She was a trailblazer in the civil rights movement and an advocate for social justice. Feminism & Gender To Be Young, Gifted and Black 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. The play was a critical and commercial success. Hansberry's evolving politics were groundbreaking, and many questions remain about how they impacted her workboth plays she wrote after Raisin included gay charactersand how her ideas . 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). Louis Sachar Facts 8: Sideways Stories from Wayside School. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. He added minor changes to complete the play Les Blancs, which Julius Lester termed her best work, and he adapted many of her writings into the play To Be Young, Gifted and Black, which was the longest-running Off Broadway play of the 196869 season. Taken from us far too soon. Born in 1930, Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was the youngest of Carl and Nannie Hansberry's four children. Like Robeson and many black civil rights activists, Hansberry understood the struggle against white supremacy to be interlinked with the program of the Communist Party. James Baldwin wrote the introduction to Hansberrys biography, Literary Ladies Guide to the Writing Life. Hansberry was associated with very important people. Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) was born on this day, May 19. Fact 8: Though she married a man, Lorraine identified as a lesbian. . She was raised in a strong family, the youngest of three children born to Nannie Perry Hansberry and Carl Augustus Hansberry. She was an anti-colonialist before independence had been won in Africa and the Caribbean.. As well as being a political activists, Lorraine Hansberry was also a brilliant writer. Her friend Nina Simone said, we never talked about men or clothes or other such inconsequential things when we got together. 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. Fact 1: The one fact you might already know! I am in Houston and may go see Clybourne Park at the Midtown A&T Center before I leave town next week. While she struggled privately to maintain her health, Lorraine never quelled her radicalism and role in the liberation. At the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust, which represents and oversees the late writer's literary work, there's a guiding mantra: "Lorraine Is Of The Future." Rachel Brosnahan and Oscar . I saw it on Broadway, its an excellent play and homage to Lorraine Hansberry! On March 11, 1959, Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway and changed the face of American theater forever. James Baldwin wrote the introduction to Hansberrys biography, To Be Young, Gifted, and Black with an endearing letter to Hansberry titled Sweet Lorraine.. James Baldwin believed "it is not at all farfetched to suspect that what she saw contributed to the strain which killed her, for the effort to which Lorraine was dedicated is more than enough to kill a man.". ", In a Town Hall debate on June 15, 1964, Hansberry criticized white liberals who could not accept civil disobedience, expressing a need to "encourage the white liberal to stop being a liberal and become an American radical." Though A Raisin in the Sun is the crown jewel in Hansberrys legacy, she was also known for the playsThe Sign in Sidney Brusteins Windowand Les Blancs. Hansberry originally wanted to be an artist when she attended the University of Wisconsin, but soon changed her focus to study drama and stage design. Before her death, she built a circle of gay and lesbian friends, took several lovers, vacationed in Provincetown (where she enjoyed, in her words, "a gathering of the clan"), and subscribed to several homophile magazines. Read all About It. Image by The Public Domain Review from Wikimedia. The FBI began surveillance of Hansberry when she prepared to go to the Montevideo peace conference. 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. In 1959, Hansberry was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play for A Raisin in the Sun, making her the first black playwright and the youngest playwright to win the award at the time. Lorraine herself became involved in the civil rights movement at a young age, participating in protests and joining organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Lorraine Hansberry was an African-American playwright, writer and activist who lived from 1930 to 1965. . Despite a warm reception in Chicago, the show never made it to Broadway. Paul Robeson and SNCC organizer James Forman gave eulogies. Fact 9: This isnt a major life milestone of Lorraines, but its too fascinating not to include it!) Conversations with Lorraine Hansberry - Mollie Godfrey 2021-01-15 519 (1934), had been similar to his situation. Hansberrys father died in 1946 when she was only fifteen years old. 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. How could we improve it? between family and gender expectations and the way homophobia could crush intimacies in the most heartbreaking of ways even as romantic love made space for them (86). A Raisin in the Sun Mass Market Paperbound Lorraine Hansberry. . In 1963, Hansberry participated in a meeting with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, set up by James Baldwin. She was brought up alongside three siblings. In her early twenties, having just arrived in New York from the Midwest, she published poems in radical journals; worked as a journalist for Freedom, a black leftist newspaper published by the. Book Recommendation: 10 Best Books to Read About African History. Additionally, Hansberry was known to be a champion of civil rights and social justice, and she was involved in several LGBTQ+ organizations and causes during her lifetime. She underwent two operations, on June 24 and August 2. Lorraine died at age thirty-four from pancreatic cancer. Hansberry attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison in the late 1940s, but she left before completing her degree. She was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, among the four Tony Awards that the play was nominated for in 1960. Posthumously, "A Raisin . I could think only of beauty, isolated and misunderstood but beauty still . Theatre Nation Partnerships network extends to every region in England. . 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.. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Date of first performance 1959. It was, in fact, a requirement for human decency (150). Learn more about Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Hansberry is often viewed as a visionary because of her ability to predict many of the relevant issues to the African-American community today. Carl died in 1946 when Lorraine was fifteen years old; "American racism helped kill him," she later said. Lorraine Hansberry was 28 when she met James Baldwin, 34 at the time. Lorraine Hansberry (1930 - 1965) was an American playwright and author best known for A Raisin in the Sun, a 1959 play influenced by her background and upbringing in Chicago. The American dream means something different to each character in A Raisin in the Sun. . The 15th was also Dr. King's birthday. In 1961, Hansberry was set to replace Vinnette Carroll as the director of the musical Kicks and Co, after its try-out at Chicago's McCormick Place. Born on the 19 th of May in 1930, in Chicago, Illinois, Lorraine Hansberry was a bright daughter of Carl Augustus Hansberry, a political activist, while her mother, Nannie Louise, was a schoolteacher. The NYDCC was founded in 1935, and its first awards were given in 1936. And thats a fact! 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. Louis Gossett, Jr., credited her with being a bit ahead of here time, but nonetheless, an effective female activist. She later joined Englewood High School. Discover the life of Lorraine Hansberry, who reported on civil rights for Paul Robeson's newspaper Freedom and later penned "A Raisin in the Sun". At Freedom, she worked with W. E. B. 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. This made her the first Chicago native to be honored along the North Halsted corridor. Hansberry was born May 19, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of four children. Pointing to these letters as evidence, some gay and lesbian writers credited Hansberry as having been involved in the homophile movement or as having been an activist for gay rights. Lorraine Hansberry has many notable relatives including director and playwright Shauneille Perry, whose eldest child is named after her. Tell us what's wrong with this post? Patricia and Fredrick McKissack wrote a children's biography of Hansberry, Young, Black, and Determined, in 1998. Lorraine Hansberry was an avid civil rights activist because she understood clearly, that people need a champion in this life. . 190-71 111th Ave , Saint Albans, NY 11412 is a single-family home listed for-sale at $799,000. She is remembered for her first play, A Raisin in the Sun, which opened on Broadway in 1959, just six years before her death - and sometimes for her memoir, which was the inspiration for Nina Simone . In 1964, Hansberry and Nemiroff divorced but continued to work together. Lorraine Hansberry (19301965) was a playwright, writer, and activist. According to Baldwin, Hansberry stated: "I am not worried about black men--who have done splendidly, it seems to me, all things considered.But I am very worriedabout the state of the civilization which produced that photograph of the white cop standing on that Negro woman's neck in Birmingham. These were important voices for the movement to bring equality for all people as a basic right of all within the United States. In 1951, Hansberry joined the staff of the black newspaper Freedom, edited by Louis E. Burnham and published by Paul Robeson. Photo of a scene from the play A Raisin in the Sun. In 2004, A Raisin in the Sun was revived on Broadway in a production starring Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Phylicia Rashad, and Audra McDonald, and directed by Kenny Leon. Her mother, Nannie Perry, was a schoolteacher active in the Republican Party. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. The song has also famously been recorded by artists including Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway. Her most famous play, A Raisin in the Sun, is an exploration of the challenges faced by a black family in Chicago as they struggle to achieve the American Dream in the face of systemic racism and poverty. Hansberrys next play, The Sign in Sidney Brusteins Window, a drama of political questioning and affirmation set in Greenwich Village, New York City, where she had long made her home, had only a modest run on Broadway in 1964. It was previously ruled that African Americans were not allowed to purchase property in the Washington Park subdivision in Chicago, Illinois. They must harass, debate, petition, give money to court struggles, sit-in, lie-down, strike, boycott, sing hymns, pray on stepsand shoot from their windows when the racists come cruising through their communities. She was also a lesbian who kept her sexual preference as classified information, not able to come out during the tumultuous era in which basic human rights were denied on a regular basis, for certain groups of people in society. 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, Freedom, concerning governmental issues. Her own familys landmark court case against discriminatory real estate covenants in Chicago would serve as inspiration for her seminal Broadway play, A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry may not have finished college, but she went on to make significant contributions to American culture and society through her art and activism. Her promising career was cut short by her early death from pancreatic cancer. On June 20, 1953, Hansberry married Robert Nemiroff, a Jewish publisher, songwriter, and political activist. Among the hates: being asked to speak, cramps, racism, her homosexuality, and silly men. She was the daughter of a real estate entrepreneur, Carl Hansberry, and schoolteacher, Nannie Hansberry, as well as the niece of Pan-Africanist scholar and college professor Leo Hansberry. Upon his ex-wife's death, Robert Nemiroff donated all of Hansberry's personal and professional effects to the New York Public Library. Biography & MemoirDisability She spent the summer of 1949 in Mexico, studying painting at the University of Guadalajara. Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 - January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. Heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it has since closed. Lorraine Hansberry Speaks! . She wrote about her experiences as a lesbian in her unpublished journals and letters. She was the fourth child born to Nannie Perry Hansberry and Carl Augustus Hansberry in Chicago, IL. Founded in 2004 and officially launched in 2006, The Hansberry Project of Seattle, Washington was created as an African-American theatre lab, led by African-American artists and was designed to provide the community with consistent access to the African-American artistic voice. She was the president of her colleges chapter of Young Progressives of America, she and worked on progressive candidate Henry Wallaces presidential campaign. It went on to inspire generations of playwrights and performers. Queer Perspectives Hansberry wrote her first play, The Crystal Stair, during the same period, based on a struggling family in Chicago. There's something of an inside joke tucked into Lorraine Hansberry's rarely-produced second Broadway play, which director Anne Kauffman has brought to life in a starry revival at BAM. Lorraine Hansberry, (born May 19, 1930, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.died January 12, 1965, New York, New York), American playwright whose A Raisin in the Sun (1959) was the first drama by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway. She moved to New York City and became involved in the arts scene, working as a writer and editor for various publications. 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. Hansberry often explained these global struggles in terms of female participants. . The title of the play was taken from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred? 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. An innovative network of theatres and community organisations, founded by the National Theatre in 2017 to grow nationwide engagement with theatre, expands. 236 pp. Setting (time) Between 1945 and 1959 Setting (place) The South Side of Chicago Protagonist Walter Lee Younger Lorraine was inspired by her father and the play that she wrote may have been a little ahead of its time, but it won top prize from the prestigious New York Drama Critics Circle, which was no small feat. In 1959, Hansberry made history as the first African American woman to have a show produced on BroadwayA Raisin in the Sun. 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. To Be Young, Gifted and Black was a posthumously produced play and collection of writings that capped a brief and brilliant career. She is buried at Asbury United Methodist Church Cemetery in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. May 19, 1930 Lorraine Vivian Hansberry is born to Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr. and Nannie Louise Hansberry in Chicago, Illinois. Genre Realist drama. In the same year, Hansberry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which took her life at a mere age of 34. 1937 Carl moves his family to a home in the Woodlawn. McKissack, Patricia C. and Fredrick L. Young, Black and Determined: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry. Her father, Carl Hansberry was an activist who fought against racial discrimination in housing. She even wrote anonymous letters to the publication alluding to her own lesbian relationships. Hansberry resided in a third-floor apartment in this building from 1953 to 1960, the period in which she created her . . The African-American historian and scholar who is best known for his research on African history and culture. 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. However, Hansberry admired Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. The title of Hansberrys now-iconic play A Raisin In the Sun was inspired by Hughes poem Harlem. One could argue that the play illustrated the poems sentiment: Quotes from A Raisin in the Sun She was also an active participant in the civil rights movement, and her writings and speeches inspired many people to take action against racial inequality and injustice. 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. American Society Three years later, Hansberry devoted all her attention towards writing joining the Daughters of Bilitis the year after. Norma Brickner is a Journalism and Digital Media major at SUNY-New Paltz. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Fact 3: Lorraine was a talented visual artist. | Her parents both engaged in the fight against racial discrimination and segregration. Discover Walks contributors speak from all corners of the world - from Prague to Bangkok, Barcelona to Nairobi. And how amazing that she had already accomplished so much. She used her writing to redefine difference. The curtain rises on a dim, drab room. She died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 34. Type of work Play. Required fields are marked *. While working as a part-time waitress and cashier, Hansberry worked as the writer and associate editor of the black newspaper, Freedom, from 1950 to 1953 under Paul Robeson. We may all come from different walks of life but we have one common passion - learning through travel. Although the couple separated in 1957 and divorced in 1962, their professional relationship lasted until Hansberry's death. Lorraine Hansberry was the first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway. . Hansberry attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison but left before completing her degree to pursue a career as a writer. Hansberry's funeral was held in Harlem on January 15, 1965. The youngest of four siblings, she was seven years younger than Mamie, her . Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" 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. 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. The statue will be sent on a tour of major US cities. Lorraine Hansberry, the author of A Raisin in the Sun, grew up in an activist family. She wrote in support of the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya, criticizing the mainstream press for its biased coverage. When she was young, her family famously fought against racial segregation, attempting to buy a home that was covered by a racially restrictive covenantultimately leading to the Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee. Also in 2013, Hansberry was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Full title A Raisin in the Sun. 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. Hansberry inspired the Nina Simone song "To Be Young, Gifted and Black", whose title-line came from Hansberry's autobiographical play. Hansberry was raised in an African-American middle-class family with activist foundations. On the eightieth anniversary of Hansberry's birth, Adjoa Andoh presented a BBC Radio 4 program entitled Young, Gifted and Black in tribute to her life. Lorraine Hansberry, child of a cultured, middle-class black family but early exposed to the poverty and discrimination suffered by most blacks in America, fought passionately against racism in her writings and throughout her life. 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.