A Raisin in the Sun

(May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965)

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born March 19 1930 in Chicago to father Carl (real estate broker and founder of one of Chicago’s first Black banks) and mother Nannie (schoolteacher). Uncle William Leo Hansberrry was professor of African history at Howard University, among the first in the US to study the history of the African continent. W. E. B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Joe Louis and Jesse Owens were among the prominent African Americans to visit her home. In 1938, Hansberry’s father buys house in a white suburb of Chicago. Then in 1943, her father wins an anti-segregation case (against Chicago’s restrictive real estate covenant system) in the Illinois Supreme Court.

Hansberry studies art, literature, drama and stage design for two years at University of Wisconsin, beginning in 1947. During this time she contributes to the mounting of a production of O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock. After graduating in 1950, she moves to New York City. Then a year later she begins working full time as a reporter and editor for Paul Robeson’s journal, Freedom. She meets her future husband, Robert Nemiroff (first-generation Jewish-Russian writer and activist) and they marry in 1953. They formally divorce in 1964 after a separation of seven years, but they remain close friends and Hansberry designates Nemiroff as her literary executor. Hansberry identifies more openly as a lesbian from the time of their separation.

In 1956, Hansberry starts writing The Crystal Stair that becomes A Raisin in the Sun. In 1957, she reads the play to publisher and friend, Philip Rose. 11 March 1959, A Raisin in the Sun opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, with Lloyd Richards as director. It is given 530 performances, awarded the New York Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play of 1959, with Hansberry the youngest playwright, fifth woman and first African American to win the award. In 1961, a film version is released for which Hansberry produces the screenplay. In 1963, Hansberry was first hospitalised with cancer. 15 October 1964, The Sign on Sidney Brustein’s Window opens at the Longacre Theatre. Hansberry dies from pancreatic cancer on 12 January 1965, and The Sign on Sidney Brustein’s Window closes on the evening of her death after 101 performances. She is thirty-four years old. At her funeral, Martin Luther King paid her the following tribute: “Her commitment of spirit… her creative ability and her profound grasp of the deep social issues confronting the world today will remain an inspiration to generations yet unborn.”