Lorraine Hansberry

A photo of the late Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry was one of the most influential African American playwrights and writers of the 20th century. She is most well known for her play *A Raisin in the Sun.*

## Biography

### Early Life

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. Her family was middle class, and valued social and political activism. The Hansberry family was very involved in politics; her family was involved in the Hansberry vs Lee case in 1940 that challenged restrictive property laws against African Americans. In addition, her father, Charles Hansberry, ran for office, but lost, likely due to racial prejudice of the time. It is likely that her family's history in activism is what inspired her writing and lifestyle.

### Education

Hansberry was the first in her family not to attend a Southern black college, attending the University of Wisconsin as a writing major. However, after two years she dropped out in order to move to New York City. There she attended the New School for Social Research.

### Personal Life

Hansberry met her husband Robert Nemiroff at a picket line and married him in 1953. The two worked together both creatively and as activists, and, despite their divorce in 1962, they remained close. After Hansberry's death in 1965, Robert took charge of her unfinished works, eventually publishing them as the stage play *To Be Young Gifted and Black.*

## Notable Works

### Journalism

Hansberry worked for *Freedom*, a newspaper founded by Paul Robeson and Louis E. Burnham. She wrote about topics such as desegregation, colonization, and anti-war efforts. It is here that she began to be recognized as a contributor to social justice movements.

### *A Raisin in the Sun*

Hansberry's most well known work as a playwright is *A Raisin in the Sun.* This groundbreaking play details the story of a poor black family during the civil rights era, a story that, until *Raisin,* had yet to have been told on a Broadway stage. *A Raisin in the Sun* was the first play produced on Broadway that was written by a black playwright, with a black director and black cast. This play also won her the New York’s Drama Critic’s Circle Award at age 29, making her the first black dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so.

## Lesbianism and Letters to *The Ladder*

*The Ladder* was a lesbian magazine that discreetly ran in the 50s and 60s. Due to the Comstock Laws duirng this time, which made the "promotion of immoral acts" illegal, *The Ladder* was forced underground, often being delivered in brown paper bags to avoid notice. Long after Hansberry's death it was discovered that she had written several letters to this magazine expressing her admiration for their bravery. It is also important to note that, in these letters, Hansberry expressed the difficulties of being a woman who loves women in a heterosexual marriage: "Isn't the problem of the married lesbian woman that of an individual who finds that, despite her conscious will oft. times, she is inclined to have her most intense emotional and physical reactions directed toward other women, quite beyond any comparative thing she might have ever felt for her husband-- whatever her sincere affection for him?" (Hansberry, 1957). Due to the content and nature of these letters it is widely speculated and accepted that Hansberry was indeed a closeted lesbian herself, which makes her discussions of homophobia in *The Sign in Sidney Bruinstien's Window* all the more poignant.

## Criticisms

In addition to the expected sexism and racism that came with Hansberry's fame and success during the Civil Rights Era, most of the criticisms she received were on her writings. Hansberry wrote two other full plays in her lifetime. Her second play, *The Sign in Sidney Bruinstein's Window* did not have nearly the same amount of success as *A Raisin in the Sun.* The former dealt with racism, politics, prostitution, and homosexuality. It was met with mixed reviews, likely due to its controversial subject matter. Her last play, *Les Blancs,* was staged after her death, and showcases the violence that can occur in the fight for freedom. However, many theatergoers of the time were not ready to see this kind of violence, and it was met incredibly negatively.

## Sources

“Lorraine Hansberry.” *Biography.com*, A&E Networks Television, 20 Feb. 2018, www.biography.com/people/lorraine-hansberry-9327823.

McDonald, Dionn. “Lorraine Hansberry · Big Lives: Profiles of LGBT African Americans · Outhistory.org.” *Outhistory.org*, outhistory.org/exhibits/show/aa-history-month-bios/lorraine-hansberry.

Baim, T., and J. DEmilio. *Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the Citys Gay Community*. Surrey, 2008.

Higashida, Cheryl. “To Be(Come) Young, Gay, and Black: Lorraine Hansberry’s Existentialist Routes to Anticolonialism.” American Quarterly, vol. 60, no. 4, Dec. 2008, pp. 899–924., doi:10.1353/aq.0.0044.

Jones, Chris. “You Know 'A Raisin in the Sun.' But What about the Lorraine Hansberry Play That Few Understand?” *Chicagotribune.com*, 7 May 2016, www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-lorraine-hansberry-chicago-legacy-ae-0508-20160505-column.html.

Tripp, Janet. Lorraine Hansberry. Lucent Books, 1998.