Lorraine Hansberry

Abstract

Born on May 19, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois, Lorraine Hansberry studied art at Roosevelt University before moving to Harlem to write for Paul Robeson’s monthly magazine Freedom. In 1952, Hansberry was promoted to associate editor of Freedom and married writer Robert Nemiroff. She joined the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian rights organization in the United States. In 1957, she completed Raisin in the Sun, the first Broadway production written by an African American woman and directed by an African American. In 1962, Hansberry began her involvement in the burgeoning civil rights movement. On May 12, 1959, she spoke at the Women’s Scholarship Association Luncheon held at Roosevelt University in Chicago. This chapter presents Hansberry’s speech, delivered just weeks after the lynching of Mack Charles Parker in Poplarville, Mississippi. Hansberry first explained how drama reflects civilization before comparing her protagonist, Walter Lee Younger, in Raisin in the Sun to the angst-ridden characters created by Archibald McLeish, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller.