Hansberry, Lorraine Vivian, 1930-1965

Variant names
Dates:
Birth 1930-05-19
Death 1965-01-12
Americans
English

Biographical notes:

Lorraine Hansberry (born May 19, 1930, Chicago, Illinois - died January 12, 1965, New York City), African-American playwright, writer and activist, is best known for her play, "A Raisin in the Sun." Born in 1930 in Chicago to real estate broker, Carl Hansberry and Nannie Louise Perry (her uncle was the Africanist scholar, William Leo Hansberry), Lorraine grew up on the south side of Chicago. "A Raisin in the Sun" was inspired by her father's legal battle against a racially restrictive covenant that prohibited African-American families from buying homes in certain neighborhoods.

In 1950 Hansberry moved to New York City to become a writer and served as an editor for Paul Robeson's newspaper, "Freedom." In 1959, "A Raisin in the Sun" became the first play written by an African-American woman produced on Broadway. The play received the New York Drama Critics Award making Hansberry the youngest and first African American to receive the Award. Hansberry's second play, "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window," was mounted as she battled pancreatic cancer. She died in 1965 at age 34.

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Subjects:

  • African American actors
  • African American authors
  • African American dramatists
  • African American families
  • African American men
  • African American political activists
  • African Americans
  • African American theater
  • African American women
  • African American women
  • American drama
  • American drama
  • Black author
  • Families, Black
  • Civil rights workers
  • Communists
  • Communists
  • Dramatists, American
  • Home ownership
  • Imperialism
  • Insurance claims
  • Political activists
  • Race relations
  • Racism
  • Television programs
  • Women in the theater
  • Women in the theater
  • African American women
  • American drama
  • Communists
  • Women in the theater

Occupations:

not available for this record

Places:

  • Chicago, IL, US
  • New York (State)--New York (as recorded)

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