Lorraine Hansberry - wikipedia Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Vivian Hansberry Lorraine Vivian Hansberry ( 1930 - 05 - 19 ) May 19, 1930 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. January 12, 1965 ( 1965 - 01 - 12 ) ( aged 34 ) New York City, New York, U.S. Occupation Playwright, writer, stage director Nationality American Education University of Wisconsin -- Madison The New School Spouse Robert Nemiroff ( m. 1953 -- 62 ) Lorraine Vivian Hansberry ( May 19, 1930 -- January 12, 1965 ) was an African - American playwright and writer. She was the first black woman to write a play performed on Broadway. Her best known work, the play A Raisin in the Sun, highlights the lives of Black Americans living under racial segregation in Chicago. Hansberry 's family had struggled against segregation, challenging a restrictive covenant and eventually provoking the Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee. The title of the play was taken from the poem `` Harlem '' by Langston Hughes : `` What happens to a dream deferred ? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun ? '' At the young age of 29, she won the New York 's Drama Critic 's Circle Award -- making her the first black dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so. After she moved to New York City, Hansberry worked at the Pan-Africanist newspaper Freedom, where she dealt with intellectuals such as Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Du Bois. Much of her work during this time concerned the African struggle for liberation and their impact on the world. Hansberry has been identified as a lesbian, and sexual freedom is an important topic in several of her works. She died of cancer at the age of 34. Hansberry inspired Nina Simone 's song `` To Be Young, Gifted and Black ''. Contents 1 Family 2 Education 3 Move to New York City 3.1 Freedom newspaper 3.2 Marriage 4 Success as playwright 5 Beliefs 6 Death 7 Posthumous works 8 Legacy 9 Works 10 See also 11 References 12 Sources 13 Further reading 14 External links Family Lorraine Hansberry was the youngest of four children born to Carl Augustus Hansberry, a successful real - estate broker, and Nannie Louise ( born Perry ) a driving school teacher and ward commiteewoman. In 1938, her father bought a house in the Washington Park Subdivision of the South Side of Chicago, incurring the wrath of their white neighbors. The latter 's legal efforts to force the Hansberry family out culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court 's decision in Hansberry v. Lee. The restrictive covenant was ruled contestable, though not inherently invalid. Carl Hansberry was also a supporter of the Urban League and NAACP in Chicago. Both Hansberrys were active in the Chicago Republican Party. Carl died in 1946, when Lorraine was fifteen years old ; `` American racism helped kill him, '' she later said. The Hansberrys were routinely visited by prominent Black intellectuals, including W.E.B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson. Carl Hansberry 's brother, William Leo Hansberry, founded the African Civilization section of the history department at Howard University. Lorraine was taught : ' ' Above all, there were two things which were never to be betrayed : the family and the race. ' ' Lorraine Hansberry has many notable relatives including director and playwright Shauneille Perry, whose eldest child is named after her. Her grandniece is actress Taye Hansberry. Her cousin is the flutist, percussionist, and composer Aldridge Hansberry. Hansberry became the godmother to Nina Simone 's daughter Lisa -- now Simone. Education Hansberry graduated from Betsy Ross Elementary in 1944 and from Englewood High School in 1948. She attended the University of Wisconsin -- Madison, where she immediately became politically active and integrated a dormitory. 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 ''. She worked on Henry A. Wallace 's presidential campaign in 1948, despite her mother 's disapproval. She spent the summer of 1949 in Mexico, studying painting at the University of Guadalajara. Move to New York City She decided in 1950 to leave Madison and pursue her career as a writer in New York City, where she attended The New School. She moved to Harlem in 1951 and became involved in activist struggles such as the fight against evictions. Freedom newspaper In 1951, she joined the staff of the black newspaper Freedom, edited by Louis E. Burnham and published by Paul Robeson. At Freedom, she worked with W.E.B. Du Bois, whose office was in the same building, and other Black Pan-Africanists. At the newspaper, she worked as `` subscription clerk, receptionist, typist and editorial assistant '' in addition to writing news articles and editorials. One of her first reports covered the Sojourners for Truth and Justice convened in Washington, D.C., by Mary Church Terrell. She traveled to Georgia to cover the case of Willie McGee, and was inspired to write the poem `` Lynchsong '' about his case. She worked not only on the US civil rights movement, but also on global struggles against colonialism and imperialism. Hansberry wrote in support of the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya, criticizing the mainstream press for its biased coverage. Hansberry often clarified these global struggles by explaining them in terms of female participants. She was particularly interested in the situation of Egypt, `` the traditional Islamic ' cradle of civilization, ' where women had led one of the most important fights anywhere for the equality of their sex. '' In 1952, Hansberry attended a peace conference in Montevideo, Uruguay, in place of Paul Robeson, who had been denied travel rights by the State Department. Marriage On June 20, 1953, she married Robert Nemiroff, a Jewish publisher, songwriter and political activist. Hansberry and Nemiroff moved to Greenwich Village, the setting of The Sign in Sidney Brustein 's Window. Success of the song `` Cindy, Oh Cindy '', co-authored by Nemiroff, enabled Hansberry to start writing full - time. On the night before their wedding in 1953, Nemiroff and Hansberry protested the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in NYC. It is widely believed that Hansberry was a closeted lesbian, a theory supported by her secret writings in letters and personal notebooks. She was an activist for gay rights and wrote about feminism and homophobia, joining the Daughters of Bilitis and contributing two letters to their magazine, The Ladder, in 1957 under her initials `` LHN. '' She separated from her husband at this time, but they continued to work together. A Raisin in the Sun was written at this time and completed in 1957. Success as playwright Opening on March 11, 1959, A Raisin in the Sun became the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway. The 29 - year - old author became the youngest American playwright and only the fifth woman to receive the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. Over the next two years, Raisin was translated into 35 languages and was being performed all over the world. Hansberry wrote two screenplays of Raisin, both of which were rejected as controversial by Columbia Pictures. Commissioned by NBC in 1960 to create a television program about slavery, Hansberry wrote The Drinking Gourd. This script was called `` superb '' but also rejected. In 1960, during Delta Sigma Theta 's 26th national convention in Chicago, Hansberry was made an honorary member. 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. It was written by Oscar Brown, Jr. and featured an interracial cast including Lonnie Sattin, Nichelle Nichols, Vi Velasco, Al Freeman, Jr., Zabeth Wilde and Burgess Meredith in the title role of Mr. Kicks. A satire involving miscegenation, the $400,000 production was co-produced by her husband Robert Nemiroff ; despite a warm reception in Chicago, the show never made it to Broadway. In 1963, Hansberry participated in a meeting with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, set up by James Baldwin. Also in 1963, Hansberry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She underwent two operations, on June 24 and August 2. Neither was successful in removing the cancer. On March 10, 1964, Hansberry and Nemiroff divorced but continued to work together. While many of her other writings were published in her lifetime -- essays, articles, and the text for the SNCC book The Movement -- the only other play given a contemporary production was The Sign in Sidney Brustein 's Window. The Sign in Sidney Brustein 's Window ran for 101 performances on Broadway and closed the night she died. Beliefs Hansberry was an atheist. According to historian Fanon Che Wilkins, `` Hansberry believed that gaining civil rights in the United States and obtaining independence in colonial Africa were two sides of the same coin that presented similar challenges for Africans on both sides of the Atlantic. '' In response to the independence of Ghana, led by Kwame Nkrumah, Hansberry wrote : `` The promise of the future of Ghana is that of all the colored peoples of the world ; it is the promise of freedom. '' Regarding tactics, Hansberry said Blacks `` must concern themselves with every single means of struggle : legal, illegal, passive, active, violent and non-violent... They must harass, debate, petition, give money to court struggles, sit - in, lie - down, strike, boycott, sing hymns, pray on steps -- and shoot from their windows when the racists come cruising through their communities. '' In a Town Hall debate on June 15, 1964, Hansberry criticized white liberals who could n't accept civil disobedience, expressing a need `` to encourage the white liberal to stop being a liberal and become an American radical. '' At the same time, she said, `` some of the first people who have died so far in this struggle have been white men. '' Hansberry was a critic of existentialism, which she considered too distant from the world 's economic and geopolitical realities. 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 Nègres. However, Hansberry admired Simone de Beauvoir 's The Second Sex. In 1959, Hansberry commented that women who are `` twice oppressed '' may become `` twice militant ''. She held out some hope for male allies of women, writing in an unpublished essay : `` If by some miracle women should not ever utter a single protest against their condition there would still exist among men those who could not endure in peace until her liberation had been achieved. '' Hansberry was appalled by the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which took place while she was in high school, and expressed desire for a future in which : `` Nobody fights. We get rid of all the little bombs -- and the big bombs. '' She did believe in the right of people to defend themselves with force against their oppressors. The Federal Bureau of Investigation began surveillance of Hansberry when she prepared to go to the Montevideo peace conference. 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. Later, an FBI reviewer of Raisin in the Sun highlighted its Pan-Africanist themes as dangerous. Death Hansberry, a heavy smoker her whole life, died of pancreatic cancer on January 12, 1965, aged 34. 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. '' Hansberry 's funeral was held in Harlem on January 15, 1965. Paul Robeson and SNCC organizer James Forman gave eulogies. The presiding minister, Eugene Callender, recited messages from Baldwin and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. which read : `` Her creative ability and her profound grasp of the deep social issues confronting the world today will remain an inspiration to generations yet unborn. '' The 15th was also Dr. King 's birthday. She is buried at Asbury United Methodist Church Cemetery in Croton - on - Hudson, New York. Posthumous works Hansberry 's ex-husband, Robert Nemiroff, became the executor for several unfinished manuscripts. 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 1968 -- 69 season. It appeared in book form the following year under the title To Be Young, Gifted and Black : Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words. She left behind an unfinished novel and several other plays, including The Drinking Gourd and What Use Are Flowers ?, with a range of content, from slavery to a post-apocalyptic future. Legacy Raisin, a musical based on A Raisin in the Sun, opened in New York in 1973, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical, with the book by Nemiroff, music by Judd Woldin, and lyrics by Robert Britten. A Raisin in the Sun was revived on Broadway in 2004 and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Revival of a Play. The cast included Sean Combs ( `` P Diddy '' ) as Walter Lee Younger Jr., Phylicia Rashad ( Tony Award - winner for Best Actress ) and Audra McDonald ( Tony Award - winner for Best Featured Actress ). It was produced for television in 2008 with the same cast, garnering two NAACP Image Awards. Nina Simone first released a song about Hansberry in 1969 called `` To Be Young, Gifted and Black. '' The title of the song refers to the title of Hansberry 's autobiography, which Hansberry first coined when speaking to the winners of a creative writing conference on May 1, 1964, `` t ) hough it be a thrilling and marvellous thing to be merely young and gifted in such times, it is doubly so, doubly dynamic -- to be young, gifted and black. '' Simone wrote the song with a poet named Weldon Irvine and told him that she wanted lyrics that would `` make black children all over the world feel good about themselves forever. '' When Irvine read the lyrics after it was finished, he thought, `` I did n't write this. God wrote it through me. '' In a recorded to the introduction of the song, Simone explained the difficulty of losing a close friend and talented artist. Patricia and Fredrick McKissack wrote a children 's biography of Hansberry, Young, Black, and Determined, in 1998. In 1999 Hansberry was posthumously inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Hansberry as one of his 100 Greatest African Americans. The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre of San Francisco, which specializes in original stagings and revivals of African - American theatre, is named in her honor. Singer and pianist Nina Simone, who was a close friend of Hansberry, used the title of her unfinished play to write a civil rights - themed song `` To Be Young, Gifted and Black '' together with Weldon Irvine. The single reached the top 10 of the R&B charts. A studio recording by Simone was released as a single and the first live recording on October 26, 1969, was captured on Black Gold ( 1970 ). Lincoln University 's first - year female dormitory is named Lorraine Hansberry Hall. There is a school in the Bronx called Lorraine Hansberry Academy, and an elementary school in St. Albans, Queens, New York, named after Hansberry as well. On the eightieth anniversary of Hansberry 's birth, Adjoa Andoh presented a BBC Radio 4 programme entitled `` Young, Gifted and Black '' in tribute to her life. In 2010, Hansberry was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. In 2013, Hansberry was inducted into the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display which celebrates LGBT history and people. This makes her the first Chicago - native honored along the North Halsted corridor. Also in 2013, Lorraine Hansberry was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Lorraine Hansberry Elementary School was located in the 9th Ward of New Orleans. It was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It has since closed. In 2017, she was inducted into the National Women 's Hall of Fame. Works A Raisin in the Sun ( 1959 ) A Raisin in the Sun, screenplay ( 1961 ) `` On Summer '' ( essay ) ( 1960 ) The Drinking Gourd ( 1960 ) What Use Are Flowers ? ( written c. 1962 ) The Arrival of Mr. Todog -- parody of Waiting for Godot 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 ) Toussaint. This fragment from a work in progress, unfinished at the time of Hansberry 's untimely death, deals with a Haitian plantation owner and his wife whose lives are soon to change drastically as a result of the revolution of Toussaint L'Ouverture. ( From the Samuel French, Inc. catalogue of plays. ) See also African American literature Clybourne Park Existentialist feminism References ^ Jump up to : Blau, Eleanor ( July 19, 1991 ). `` Robert Nemiroff, 61, Champion of Lorraine Hansberry 's Works ''. The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2013. Jump up ^ Lipari, Lisbeth. `` Queering the borders : Lorraine Hansberry 's 1957 Letters to The Ladder '' Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Marriott Hotel, San Diego, CA, May 27, 2003. Online. 2008 - 06 - 28. Jump up ^ Cheney, Anne. `` Lorraine Hansberry '' ( Boston : Twayne, 1984 ). Regenstein Bookstacks, PS3515. A595Z8C51. ^ Jump up to : Carter, `` Commitment amid Complexity '' ( 1980 ), p. 40. Jump up ^ Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 ^ Jump up to : Anderson, `` Freedom Family '' ( 2008 ), p. 263. Jump up ^ Anderson, `` Freedom Family '' ( 2008 ), pp. 268 -- 269. Jump up ^ Wilkins, `` Beyond Bandung '' ( 2006 ), p. 194. `` It was common for the Hansberry household to host a range of African - American luminaries such as Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Duke Ellington, Walter White, Joe E. Louis, Jesse Owens, and others. Indeed, Hansberry 's uncle, William Leo Hansberry, was a distinguished professor of African history at Howard University and had made a name for himself as a specialist in African antiquity. Thus Hansberry became deeply familiar with pan-African ideas and the international contours of black liberation at an early age ( 8 ). '' Jump up ^ Nadine Cohodas, `` Princess Noire : The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone '' ; Pantheon, 2010 ; online. ^ Jump up to : Carter, `` Commitment amid Complexity '' ( 1980 ), p. 41. ^ Jump up to : Wilkins, `` Beyond Bandung '' ( 2006 ), p. 195. Jump up ^ Carter, `` Commitment amid Complexity '' ( 1980 ), p. 47. `` While working at Freedom, Hansberry also demonstrated her dedication to the cause by marching on picketlines, by speaking on street corners in Harlem, and by helping to move the furniture of evicted black tenants back into their apartments. '' ^ Jump up to : Wilkins, `` Beyond Bandung '' ( 2006 ), pp. 196 -- 197. `` In an article titled ' Kenya 's Kikuyu : A Peaceful People Wage Heroic Struggle against the British, ' Hansberry presented an opposite view and applauded the Kikuyu for ' helping to set fire to British Imperialism in Kenya. ' Put off by the ' frantic dispatches about the `` terrorists '' and `` witchcraft societies '' in the colony ' that preceded the December 1952 publication of her article, Hansberry criticized anti -- Mau Mau coverage that only ' distort ( ed ) the fight for freedom by the five million Masai, Wahamba, Kavirondo, and Kikuyu people who ( made ) up the African people of Kenya. ' '' Jump up ^ Anderson, `` Freedom Family '' ( 2008 ), p. 260. `` No sooner had she joined Freedom, which had been founded by Paul Robeson as part of his tightening embrace of the Communist Party line in the increasingly frigid Cold War, than she was serving as a participant - correspondent : she accompanied the ' Sojourners for Truth and Justice, ' a group of 132 black women from 15 states which was convened in September 1951, in Washington by the long - time activist Mary Church Terrell ' to demand that the Federal Government protect the lives and liberties ' of black Americans. Hansberry 's full - page report detailed the graphic and, inevitably, frustrating encounter between officials of the Justice Department and women like Amy Mallard, the widow of a World War II veteran who had been shot to death for attempting to vote in Georgia. '' Jump up ^ Anderson, `` Freedom Family '' ( 2008 ), pp. 260 -- 261. Jump up ^ Hansberry, `` The Egyptian People Fight for Freedom '', quoted in Higashida, Black Internationalist Feminism ( 2011 ), p. 57. ^ Jump up to : William J. Maxwell, `` Total Literary Awareness : How the FBI Pre-Read African American Writing '', The American Reader, October / November 2012. Jump up ^ `` Lorraine Hansberry ''. New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2017 - 09 - 28. Jump up ^ Anderson, Melissa. `` Lorraine Hansberry 's Letters Reveal the Playwright 's Private Struggle ''. The Village Voice. Jump up ^ `` And at 29 : sheet of notepaper with handwritten lists by Lorraine Hansberry titled `` I like '' and `` I hate '' on front, and `` I am bored to death with '' and `` I want '' on back, April 1, 1960. ``. NYPL Digital Collections. Retrieved March 22, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Hansberry, Lorraine ''. glbtq : An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. glbtq, Inc. Archived from the original on March 14, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013. Jump up ^ Kai Wright, `` Lorraine Hansberry 's Gay Politics '', The Root, March 11, 2009. ^ Jump up to : Carter, `` Commitment amid Complexity '' ( 1980 ), p. 42. Jump up ^ Anderson, `` Freedom Family '' ( 2008 ), p. 267. Jump up ^ Still, Larry ( October 12, 1961 ). Johnson, John H, ed. `` Oscar Brown musical gets warm reception in windy city ''. Jet. Chicago, Illinois : Johnson Publishing Company. 20 ( 25 ) : 58 -- 61. After the first showing, co-producers Burt Charles D'Lugoff and Robert Nemiroff announced that original director Vinnette Carroll would be replaced by Nemiroff 's wife, prize - winning playwright Lorraine ( A Raisin in the Sun ) Hansberry in her first major directing spot. Jump up ^ Carter, `` Commitment amid Complexity '' ( 1980 ), p. 43. ^ Jump up to : Carter 1980, p. 43. Jump up ^ The Broadway League. `` Internet Broadway Database : The Sign in Sidney Brustein 's Window Production Credits ''. Retrieved November 29, 2014. Jump up ^ Janet Tripp ( 1997 ). Lorraine Hansberry. Lucent Books. p. 56. ISBN 9781560060819. Although Hansberry was an atheist -- that is, she did not believe in God -- she strongly disagreed with the absurdist philosophy and its logical conclusion, hopelessness. Jump up ^ Wilkins, `` Beyond Bandung '' ( 2006 ), p. 199. Jump up ^ Higashida, Black Internationalist Feminism ( 2011 ), p. 57. ^ Jump up to : Carter, `` Commitment amid Complexity '' ( 1980 ), p. 49. Jump up ^ Carter, `` Commitment amid Complexity '' ( 1980 ), p. 46. Jump up ^ Higashida, Black Internationalist Feminism ( 2011 ), p. 60. `` For Hansberry, existentialism encoded, politicized, and dramatized racial and sexual identities ( because Jean Genet and Norman Mailer represented Blacks, gays, and prostitutes who exposed the falsities upon which modern life was scaffolded ) but it denied the historical material conditions which gave rise to both oppression and social change. (... ) Hansberry 's review of Wright, then, was only an early salvo in an argument with the work of Genet and Mailer as well as that of Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett, and Edward Albee over human existence, responsibility, and freedom. While these writers and thinkers presented diverse, even incommensurable world views, Hansberry understood them to be linked by an intellectually, politicaly, and morally bankrupt nihilism and solipsism. '' Jump up ^ Higashida, Black Internationalist Feminism ( 2011 ), pp. 59 -- 62. Jump up ^ Higashida, Black Internationalist Feminism ( 2011 ), pp. 64 -- 65. `` Yet even in her unwavering criticism of existentialism, Hansberry did not dismiss it : she was strongly influenced by the existentialist feminism of Simone de Beauvoir 's The Second Sex, which she called a ' great book ' that might ' very well be the most important work of this century. ' '' Jump up ^ Carter, `` Commitment amid Complexity '' ( 1980 ), p. 45. Jump up ^ Buchanan, Paul D ( 2009 ), The American Women 's Rights Movement : a chronology of events and of opportunities from 1600 to 2008, Branden Books, p. 210, ISBN 978 - 0 - 8283 - 2189 - 1 Jump up ^ Baldwin, James, Sweet Lorraine, introduction to Hansberry, Lorraine, To Be Young, Gifted and Black : An Informal Autobiography ( Signet Paperback, 1970 ), p. xiv. ISBN 0 - 451 - 15952 - 7. Jump up ^ Peter D. Shaver ( August 1999 ). `` National Register of Historic Places Registration : Asbury United Methodist Church and Bethel Chapel and Cemetery ''. New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2010 - 12 - 24. Jump up ^ Les Blancs : The Collected Last Plays of Lorraine Hansberry, Introduction. Jump up ^ `` A Raisin in the Sun official website. ''. Retrieved November 29, 2014. Jump up ^ Lorraine Hansberry speech, `` The Nation Needs Your Gifts '', given to Readers Digest / United Negro College Fund creative writing contest winners, NYC, May 1, 1964. To be Young, Gifted, and Black : A Portrait of Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words. Jump up ^ `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 2015 - 10 - 17. Retrieved 2015 - 10 - 28. Jump up ^ Asante, Molefi Kete ( 2002 ). 100 Greatest African Americans : A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books. ISBN 1 - 57392 - 963 - 8. Jump up ^ `` The Nina Simone Database, `` To Be Young, Gifted and Black '' ( 1969 ). ``. Retrieved November 29, 2014. Jump up ^ Alfred Hickling, `` Sweet Lorraine '', The Guardian, April 23, 2001. Jump up ^ `` Lincoln University website ''. Retrieved November 29, 2014. Jump up ^ BBC Radio 4 programme Young, Gifted and Black aired on May 18, 2010, at 11 : 30. Jump up ^ `` Lorraine Hansberry ''. Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. 2010. Retrieved 2017 - 10 - 08. Jump up ^ `` Boystown unveils new Legacy Walk LGBT history plaques ''. Chicago Phoenix. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Cherry Jones, Ellen Burstyn, Cameron Mackintosh, and More Inducted into Broadway 's Theater Hall of Fame ''. Retrieved February 16, 2014. Jump up ^ Posted : Sep 17, 2017 12 : 53 AM EDT ( 2017 - 09 - 17 ). `` Ten women added to National Women 's Hall of Fame in Seneca ''. Localsyr.com. Retrieved 2017 - 09 - 28. Sources Anderson, Michael. `` Lorraine Hansberry 's Freedom Family ''. American Communist History 7 ( 2 ), 2008. Carter, Stephen R. `` Commitment amid Complexity : Lorraine Hansberry 's Life in Action. '' MELUS 7 ( 3 ), Autumn 1980. Accessed December 25, 2013, via JStor. Wilkins, Fanon Che, `` Beyond Bandung : The Critical Nationalism of Lorraine Hansberry, 1950 -- 1965. '' Radical History Review 95, Spring 2006. Accessed December 24, 2013 via Duke University Press. Higashida, Cheryl. Black Internationalist Feminism : Women Writers of the Black Left, 1955 -- 1995. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2011. Further reading Higashida, Cheryl, `` To Be ( come ) Young, Gay, and Black : Lorraine Hansberry 's Existentialist Routes to Anticolonialism, '' American Quarterly, 60 ( December 2008 ), 899 -- 924. James, Rosetta. Cliff Notes on Hansberry 's A Raisin in the Sun. Lincoln, Nebraska : Cliff Notes Inc., 1992 Tripp, Janet ( 1997 ). Lorraine Hansberry. Lucent Books. ISBN 9781560060819. External links Wikiquote has quotations related to : Lorraine Hansberry `` The Black Revolution and the White Backlash '' ( audio with transcript ) -- speech by Lorraine Hansberry, Forum at Town Hall sponsored by The Association of Artists for Freedom, New York City, June 15, 1964 Petri Liukkonen. `` Lorraine Hansberry ''. Books and Writers Voices from the Gaps : Women Writers of Color -- Lorraine Hansberry, University of Minnesota Lorraine Hansberry at Find a Grave Twice Militant : Lorraine Hansberry 's Letters to `` The Ladder '' -- Brooklyn Museum exhibition, November 2013 -- March 2014 Lorraine Hansberry at Library of Congress Authorities, with 43 catalog records FBI files on Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Hansberry 's A Raisin in the Sun Performances A Raisin in the Sun ( 1961 film ) Raisin ( musical ) A Raisin in the Sun ( 2008 film ) Related Clybourne Park Hansberry v. Lee Inductees to the National Women 's Hall of Fame 1970 -- 1979 1973 Jane Addams Marian Anderson Susan B. Anthony Clara Barton Mary McLeod Bethune Elizabeth Blackwell Pearl S. Buck Rachel Carson Mary Cassatt Emily Dickinson Amelia Earhart Alice Hamilton Helen Hayes Helen Keller Eleanor Roosevelt Florence Sabin Margaret Chase Smith Elizabeth Cady Stanton Helen Brooke Taussig Harriet Tubman 1976 Abigail Adams Margaret Mead Mildred `` Babe '' Didrikson Zaharias 1979 Dorothea Dix Juliette Gordon Low Alice Paul Elizabeth Bayley Seton 1980 -- 1989 1981 Margaret Sanger Sojourner Truth 1982 Carrie Chapman Catt Frances Perkins Belva Lockwood Lucretia Mott 1984 Mary `` Mother '' Harris Jones Bessie Smith 1986 Barbara McClintock Lucy Stone Harriet Beecher Stowe Gwendolyn Brooks Willa Cather Sally Ride Ida B. Wells - Barnett 1990 -- 1999 Margaret Bourke - White Barbara Jordan Billie Jean King Florence B. Seibert 1991 Gertrude Belle Elion 1993 Ethel Percy Andrus Antoinette Blackwell Emily Blackwell Shirley Chisholm Jacqueline Cochran Ruth Colvin Marian Wright Edelman Alice Evans Betty Friedan Ella Grasso Martha Wright Griffiths Fannie Lou Hamer Dorothy Height Dolores Huerta Mary Jacobi Mae Jemison Mary Lyon Mary Mahoney Wilma Mankiller Constance Baker Motley Georgia O'Keeffe Annie Oakley Rosa Parks Esther Peterson Jeannette Rankin Ellen Swallow Richards Elaine Roulet Katherine Siva Saubel Gloria Steinem Helen Stephens Lillian Wald Madam C.J. Walker Faye Wattleton Rosalyn S. Yalow Gloria Yerkovich 1994 Bella Abzug Ella Baker Myra Bradwell Annie Jump Cannon Jane Cunningham Croly Catherine East Geraldine Ferraro Charlotte Perkins Gilman Grace Hopper Helen LaKelly Hunt Zora Neale Hurston Anne Hutchinson Frances Wisebart Jacobs Susette La Flesche Louise McManus Maria Mitchell Antonia Novello Linda Richards Wilma Rudolph Betty Bone Schiess Muriel Siebert Nettie Stevens Oprah Winfrey Sarah Winnemucca Fanny Wright 1995 Virginia Apgar Ann Bancroft Amelia Bloomer Mary Breckinridge Eileen Collins Elizabeth Hanford Dole Anne Dallas Dudley Mary Baker Eddy Ella Fitzgerald Margaret Fuller Matilda Joslyn Gage Lillian Moller Gilbreth Nannerl O. Keohane Maggie Kuhn Sandra Day O'Connor Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin Patricia Schroeder Hannah Greenebaum Solomon Louisa May Alcott Charlotte Anne Bunch Frances Xavier Cabrini Mary A. Hallaren Oveta Culp Hobby Wilhelmina Cole Holladay Anne Morrow Lindbergh Maria Goeppert - Mayer Ernestine Louise Potowski Rose Maria Tallchief Edith Wharton 1998 Madeleine Albright Maya Angelou Nellie Bly Lydia Moss Bradley Mary Steichen Calderone Mary Ann Shadd Cary Joan Ganz Cooney Gerty Cori Sarah Grimké Julia Ward Howe Shirley Ann Jackson Shannon Lucid Katharine Dexter McCormick Rozanne L. Ridgway Edith Nourse Rogers Felice Schwartz Eunice Kennedy Shriver Beverly Sills Florence Wald Angelina Grimké Weld Chien - Shiung Wu 2000 -- 2009 2000 Faye Glenn Abdellah Emma Smith DeVoe Marjory Stoneman Douglas Mary Dyer Sylvia A. Earle Crystal Eastman Jeanne Holm Leontine T. Kelly Frances Oldham Kelsey Kate Mullany Janet Reno Anna Howard Shaw Sophia Smith Ida Tarbell Wilma L. Vaught Mary Edwards Walker Annie Dodge Wauneka Eudora Welty Frances E. Willard 2001 Dorothy H. 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Pipher Catherine Filene Shouse Henrietta Szold 2009 Louise Bourgeois Mildred Cohn Karen DeCrow Susan Kelly - Dreiss Allie B. Latimer Emma Lazarus Ruth Patrick Rebecca Talbot Perkins Susan Solomon Kate Stoneman 2010 -- 2019 2011 St. Katharine Drexel Dorothy Harrison Eustis Loretta C. Ford Abby Kelley Foster Helen Murray Free Billie Holiday Coretta Scott King Lilly Ledbetter Barbara A. Mikulski Donna E. Shalala Kathrine Switzer 2013 Betty Ford Ina May Gaskin Julie Krone Kate Millett Nancy Pelosi Mary Joseph Rogers Bernice Sandler Anna Schwartz Emma Willard 2015 Tenley Albright Nancy Brinker Martha Graham Marcia Greenberger Barbara Iglewski Jean Kilbourne Carlotta Walls LaNier Philippa Marrack Mary Harriman Rumsey Eleanor Smeal 2017 Matilda Cuomo Temple Grandin Lorraine Hansberry Victoria Jackson Sherry Lansing Claire Booth Luce Aimee Mullins Carol Mutter Janet Rowley Alice Waters Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame 1990 -- 1999 1991 Ortez Alderson ( posthumous ) Jon - Henri Damski James W. Flint Gay Chicago Renee C. Hanover Howard Brown Health Center Judith S. Johns Carol A. Johnson William B. Kelley Marie J. Kuda Chuck Renslow Adrienne J. Smith Max C. Smith Richard B. Turner Gary Chichester Ann Christophersen Thom Dombkowski Henry Gerber ( posthumous ) Richard Lee Gray Vernita Gray Peg Grey Pearl M. Hart ( posthumous ) Horizons Community Services Harley McMillen Scott McPherson Metropolitan Sports Association Dom Orejudos ( posthumous ) Mary D. Powers Daniel Sotomayor ( posthumous ) Valerie Taylor 1993 Ad Hoc Committee of Proud Black Lesbians and Gays Robert Sloane Basker E. Kitch Childs ( Posthumous ) Jerrold Cohen ( posthumous ) Robert T. Ford Richard Garrin Jeff Graubart - Cervone Joel Hall Nancy Lanoue Sid L. Mohn Mountain Moving Coffeehouse Kathy Osterman ( posthumous ) Richard W. Pfeiffer Linda S. Rodgers Ron Sable Bruce C. Scott Marge Summit Joanne E. Trapani Al Wardell 1994 Robert J. Adams Tracy Baim George S. Buse James A. Bussen Lori Cannon John Chester Chicago House and Social Service Agency Samuel F. Davis Jr. ( posthumous ) Adrienne J. Goodman Earnest E. Hite Jr. Bruce Koff Ellis B. Levin Lionheart Gay Theatre Company Open Hand Chicago Gregory A. Sprague ( posthumous ) Elizabeth E. Tocci Steven F. Wakefield 1995 Caryn Berman Samson Chan ( posthumous ) T. Chris Cothran Sarah Craig ( posthumous ) Frontrunners Frontwalkers Chicago Jean V. Hardisty Nick Kelly Dawn Clark Netsch José Pena Queer Nation Chicago David B. Sindt ( posthumous ) Armando L. Smith James Monroe Smith ( lawyer ) Tom Tunney Yvonne Zipter Jacqueline Anderson Bailiwick Repertory 's Pride Series Jack Delaney Gerber / Hart Library and Archives Arlene Halko Greg Harris Frankie Knuckles Tony Midnite Mary Morten Ifti Nasim Charlotte Newfeld Norm Sloan Tiffani St. Cloud Toni Armstrong Jr. Miguel Ayala Roger Chaffin James C. Darby Dignity Chicago Ida Greathouse ( posthumous ) John Hammell ( posthumous ) Rick Karlin Corinne J. Kawecki Larry McKeon David G. Ostrow Mary Ann Smith 1998 Carrie Barnett Thomas Chiola Laurie J. Dittman Jeannette Howard Foster ( posthumous ) Jorjet Harper Arthur L. Johnston Ira H. Jones ( posthumous ) Clifford P. Kelley Dorothy Klefstad LesBiGay Radio Renae Ogletree Dean Robert Ogren Victor A. Salvo Jr. Modesto `` Tico '' Valle Luule Vess 1999 Ava Allen John J. Balester David Brian Bell ( posthumous ) Randy Duncan Rick Garcia Lorraine Hansberry ( posthumous ) Derrick Allen Hicks Billie Jean King Lesbian Community Cancer Project Adrene Perom Norman L. Sandfield Gregg Shapiro Jesse White Phill Wilson 2000 -- 2009 2000 ACT UP / Chicago Association of Latin Men for Action Lorrainne Sade Baskerville Henry Blake Fuller Chicago Chapter of GLSEN Phil A. Hannema Sarah Hoagland Nancy J. Katz Danny Kopelson Patricia S. McCombs Helen Shiller Rene A. Van Hulle Jr. Israel Wright 2001 Lora Branch Robert Castillo Chicago Gay Men 's Chorus Keith Elliott Sara Feigenholtz Frank Goley ( posthumous ) and Robert Maddox Chuck Hyde Antonio David Jimenez Michael A. Leppen Ellen A. Meyers Kathryn Munzer Studs Terkel 2002 Affinity Community Services Evette Cardona C.C. Carter Jim Gates ( Chicago businessman ) Louis I. Lang Mattachine Midwest NAMES Project Chicago Chapter Charles Edward Nelson II Mona Noriega Christina Smith Lauren Sugerman 2003 Angel Abcede About Face Theatre AIDS Legal Council of Chicago Buddies ' Restaurant and Bar Tania Callaway ( posthumous ) Armand R. Cerbone Chicago Black Lesbians and Gays R. Sue Connolly Robert Bonvouloir Foster ( posthumous ) The Graham Family Tonda L. Hughes Patricia M. Logue John Pennycuff Laurence E. Spang Sheron Denise Webb Albert N. Williams Roger Brown ( posthumous ) Christopher Clason ( posthumous ) Charles E. Clifton ( posthumous ) Frank Galati Ralph Paul Gernhardt Suzanne Marie Kraus Lincoln Park Lagooners Mulryan and York, Attorneys at Law PFLAG / Chicago Julio Rodriguez Nan Schaffer Terri Worman 2005 Alexandra Scott Billings Megan Carney Aldo Castillo John D'Emilio Equality Illinois Merry Mary Mike McHale Jim Pickett Juan Reed Carol Ronen C. Michael Savage ( posthumous ) Catherine Sikora Lawrence E. Sloan ( posthumous ) Test Positive Aware Network 2006 Margaret C. Anderson and Jane Heap ( posthumous ) Congregation Or Chadash Jacques Cristion ( posthumous ) Richard M. Daley Marigold Bowl Jill M. Metz Charles R. Middleton Edward Negron Laird Petersen Sidetrack Star Gaze Richard M. Uyvari 2007 American Veterans for Equal Rights David Blatt and David Moore Carol Moseley Braun Robbin Burr Chicago Games, Inc. Tarrina Dikes Martin Gapshis Jeffrey E. McCour ( posthumous ) Carlos T. Mock Chilli Pepper A Real Read Karen C. Sendziak Patrick Sheahan Harold Washington ( posthumous ) Vera Washington 2008 Jane Addams ( posthumous ) Suzanne Arnold Artemis Singers Kevin G. Boyer Michal Brody Sam Coady Gregory R. Dell Katherine ( Kit ) Duffy Eddie Dugan ( posthumous ) Murray Edelman Wanda Lust ( posthumous ) Joe La Pat ( posthumous ) Jesus Salgueiro and Art Smith Guy Warner 2009 AIDS Foundation of Chicago Paula Basta Lou Conte Lori A. Cooper Marcia J. Lipetz Amy Maggio Joey McDonald Mike Quigley Frank M. Robinson Jane M. Hussein Saks Zaida Sanabia Patrick Sinozich Marilyn Urso 2010 -- 2019 Claudia Allen American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois Asians & Friends -- Chicago Chicago History Museum Dan Di Leo ( Posthumous ) Scot Free Bob Gammie International Mr. Leather E. Patrick Johnson David Ernesto Munar Achy Obejas Paul G. Oostenbrug Jose R. Rios Stan Sloan Mark E. Wojcik 2011 Paul Adams ( posthumous ) Greg Cameron Antonia Flores ( posthumous ) Grant Lynn Ford Robert Garofalo Good Shepherd Parish Metropolitan Community Church Ted Grady Marcia Hill Tony Jackson ( posthumous ) Jenner & Block LLP Owen Keehnen Lakeside Pride Music Ensembles The Night Ministry Brett Shingledecker Jon Simmons ( posthumous ) 2012 Lois L. Bates ( posthumous ) Chi - Town Squares Chicago Black Gay Men 's Caucus St. Sukie de la Croix Sanford E. Gaylord William W. Greaves Keith R. Green Mark Ishaug David Orr Proud to Run, Chicago Bill Pry Chuck Rodocker Heather C. Sawyer Laura S. Washington Honey West 2013 Gaylon Alcaraz James L. Alexander James L. Bennett Jorge Cestou Rocco J. Claps Rudolph Johnson Jr. ( posthumous ) Lambda Legal - Midwest Regional Office Lee A. Newell II Paté Andrew Patner POW - WOW Laura Ricketts Neil Steinberg Burr Tillstrom ( posthumous ) Brenda Webb David Zak 2014 Gerald Arpino Jennifer Brier Kelly Cassidy Terry Cosgrove Christina Kahrl Edward Mogul Lisa Marie Pickens Debra Shore Ross A. Slotten, M.D. Bennet Williams Out & Proud in Chicago Silk Road Rising Lucretia Clay - Ward Heather A. Steans Clarence N. Wood VIAF : 71424350 LCCN : n50017744 ISNI : 0000 0001 0913 6877 GND : 119284960 SUDOC : 029693667 BNF : cb12126289m ( data ) BIBSYS : 90128679 IATH : w6hx2440 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lorraine_Hansberry&oldid=805925993 '' Categories : 1930 births 1965 deaths African - American atheists African - American women writers African - American dramatists and playwrights American dramatists and playwrights American atheists Deaths from cancer in New York ( state ) Deaths from pancreatic cancer Lesbian writers LGBT African Americans LGBT writers from the United States LGBT people from Illinois University of Wisconsin -- Madison alumni American women dramatists and playwrights Writers from Chicago LGBT dramatists and playwrights American Theater Hall of Fame inductees 20th - century American dramatists and playwrights 20th - century American women writers 20th - century American writers Hidden categories : Pages using Infobox writer with unknown parameters Find a Grave template with ID not in Wikidata Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Aymar aru تۆرکجه Català Deutsch Eesti Español فارسی Français 한국어 Italiano עברית Polski Suomi Yorùbá Edit links This page was last edited on 18 October 2017, at 14 : 42. 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Question: how did the author of a raisin in the sun die
Answer: pancreatic cancer