Born in Chicago to prominent parents, Lorraine Hansberry attended college at
Wisconsin
University for two years before leaving to pursue a career as a writer. In November of 1940, her parents won an Illinois Supreme Court case allowing the family to move to an all-white Chicago neighborhood. Her play “A Raisin in the Sun” was loosely based on her childhood experience.
Hansberry briefly studied to be a painter before taking a job as a reporter and editor for the Paul Robeson headed Freedom Monthly Journal. In 1953, she married Robert Nemiroff, a Jewish literary student and song writer. They developed marital problems and divorced in 1964. After her death due to pancreatic cancer in 1965, Nemiroff remained the person responsible for her literary affairs.
On March 11, 1959, Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway. The story examined the life of a black family as they attempted to move in an all-white neighborhood.
Lorraine Hansberry won many awards for A Raisin in the Sun:
- New York Drama Critics Circle Award 1959 (The first black woman to receive the award, winning
over Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill and Archibald MacLeish)
- Screenwriter’s Guild Nomination for best Screenplay of the Year 1961
- Cannes Film Festival Gary Cooper Award 1961
- Tony Award 1973 for Raisin the Musical
A Raisin In the Sun was also the first Broadway play written by a black woman and the first directed by a black person, Lloyd Richards.
Other works include:
- A Raisin in the Sun 1959
- A Raisin in the Sun (screenplay) 1961
- A Raisin in the Sun TV film) 2008
- On Summer (essay)
- The Drinking Gourd 1960
- The Movement: Documentary of a Struggle for Equality 1964
- The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window 1965
- To Be Young, Gifted and Black:
Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words 1969
- Les Blancs: The Collected Last Plays by Lorraine Hansberry edited by Robert Nemiroff 1994
Throughout her career, Lorraine Hansberry wrote and spoke out against racism and was an activist for the civil rights of blacks, gays and lesbians.
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PICTURES:
L: Lorraine Hansberry, from post card. R: Grave marker.
Picture of gravestone taken August 1, 2010. Black and white Public Domain.
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SOURCES:
Internet
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 8: Lorraine Hansberry." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. archive.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/hansberry.html, Web. 26 Nov. 2011.
Site Visit
Lorraine Hansberry gravesite. Bethel Cemetery. Croton-on-Hudson, NY. 1 Aug. 2010.
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INTERRED: Bethel Cemetery, located at the intersection of Radnor Avenue and Old Post Road, Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520
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SUBMITTED: August 4, 2010. Updated. January 31, 2012.
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