She was 34 years old when she died after a two-year fight with pancreatic cancer. Hansberry wrote her first play, The Crystal Stair, during the same period, based on a struggling family in Chicago. Lorraine Hansberry (May 19, 1930-January 12, 1965) was a playwright, essayist, and civil rights activist. Book Recommendation: 10 Best Books to Read About African History. Hansberry attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison but left before completing her degree to pursue a career as a writer. Neither of the surgeries was successful in removing the cancer. The single reached the top 10 of the R&B charts. The New York Drama Critics Circle Award (NYDCC) is an annual award given by an organization composed of theatre critics who review plays and musicals in New York City. In 2017, Hansberry was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 - January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. Lorraine Hansberry was a U.S. writer in the mid-1900s. The Hansberrys were a proud middle class family, who valued social and political involvement. Fast Facts: Lorraine Hansberry . The moving story of the life of the woman behind A Raisin in the Sun, the most widely anthologized, read, and performed play of the American stage, by the New York Times bestselling author of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. Leo Hansberry was a prominent figure in the Pan-Africanist movement, and he founded the African Civilization section at Howard University, where he was a professor of African history. Paul Robeson and SNCC organizer James Forman gave eulogies. . [1] She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. She reached out to the world through her plays. She moved to Harlem in 1951 and became involved in activist struggles such as the fight against evictions. 519 (1934), had been similar to his situation. This gave her a platform for sharing her views. In 2013, Nemiroff's daughter released the restricted materials to Kevin J. Mumford, who explored Hansberry's self-identification in subsequent work. . 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 Ngres. In 1938, the family moved to a white neighborhood and was violently attacked by its inhabitants but the former refused to vacate the area until . Biography. Louis Sachar Facts 8: Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Lorraine Hansberry was 28 when she met James Baldwin, 34 at the time. It appeared in book form the following year under the title To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words. Fifteen years before Lorraine was unsealed, Harris meticulously and accurately charted Hansberry's queer life; she did not rely on institutions, but New York City dykes. Louis Gossett, Jr., credited her with being a bit ahead of here time, but nonetheless, an effective female activist. Written by Oscar Brown, Jr., the show 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. She came from a well-established family where both her parents had successful careers.. Lorraine's father, Carl Augustus Hansberry, was a real-estate speculator and a proud race man. Suggested Posts. In 1963, Hansberry participated in a meeting with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, set up by James Baldwin. Publisher Random House. Lorraine Hansberry The Member of the Wedding The Metamorphosis The Natural The Plague The Plot Against America The Portrait of a Lady The Power of Sympathy The Red Badge of Courage The Road The Road from Coorain The Sound and the Fury The Stone Angel The Stranger The Sun Also Rises The Temple of My Familiar The Three Musketeers Like Robeson and many black civil rights activists, Hansberry understood the struggle against white supremacy to be interlinked with the program of the Communist Party. Lorraine Hansberry's ex-husband and dear friend, the songwriter and poet Robert Nemiroff, became her literary executor after her death in 1965. Both Hansberry's were active in the Chicago Republican Party. In 1938, her father bought a house in the Washington Park Subdivision of the South Side of Chicago, incurring the wrath of some of their white neighbors. To those around them, the Hansberrys were inspirational both parents were college. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940), to which the playwright Lorraine Hansberry's father was a party, when he fought to have his day in court despite the fact that a previous class action about racially motivated restrictive covenants, Burke v. Kleiman, 277 Ill. App. She later joined Englewood High School. Commissioned by NBC in 1960 to create a television program about slavery, Hansberry wrote The Drinking Gourd. Although the couple separated in 1957 and divorced in 1962, their professional relationship lasted until Hansberry's death. Taken from us far too soon. She wrote about her love for women and her struggles with her sexuality in personal papers published posthumously. Du Bois, the Civil Rights activist, author, sociologist, and historian, and Paul Robeson, the musician and actor, were friends of the Hansberry family. Hansberry was the godmother to Nina Simone's daughter Lisa. Simone wrote the song with the poet Weldon Irvine and told him that she wanted lyrics that would "make black children all over the world feel good about themselves forever." . The production also led Hansberry to become the first black playwright and the youngest American to win a New York Critics Circle Award. How true, Clifford so sad that she left this world at age 34. Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 - January 12, 1965) was an African-American playwright and writer. Hansberry often explained these global struggles in terms of female participants. When Nemiroff donated Hansberry's personal and professional effects to the New York Public Library, he "separated out the lesbian-themed correspondence, diaries, unpublished manuscripts, and full runs of the homophile magazines and restricted them from access to researchers." . Lorraine Hansberry was a history-making playwright and author who became the first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway. Sadly, she passed away from pancreatic cancer on January 12, 1965. $5.42. Time and place written 1950s, New York. Hansberrys work broke barriers and paved the way for more diverse voices to be heard on the Broadway stage. At the age of 29, she won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award making her the first African-American dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so. The statue will be sent on a tour of major US cities. Best known for her plays, Hansberry was the first black woman to write a Broadway drama; A Raisin in the . Du Bois, whose office was in the same building, and other Black Pan-Africanists. The FBI began surveillance of Hansberry when she prepared to go to the Montevideo peace conference. Environment & Conservation Her promising career was cut short by her early death frompancreatic cancer. Whether you want to learn the history of a city, or you simply need a recommendation for your next meal, Discover Walks Team offers an ever-growing travel encyclopaedia. She was the president of her colleges chapter of Young Progressives of America, she and worked on progressive candidate Henry Wallaces presidential campaign. The granddaughter of a freed slave, Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930, to a successful real estate broker and a school teacher who resided in Chicago, Illinois. Lorraine Hansberry was the niece of Leo Hansberry, who was a Pan-Africanist scholar and college professor. Read more. Here are five important facts about her that you most likely didnt know. Lorraine Hansberry became involved in the Civil Rights Movement in 1963 and joined people like Lena Horne and James Baldwin to test Robert Kennedys position on civil rights. Hansberry's evolving politics were groundbreaking, and many questions remain about how they impacted her workboth plays she wrote after Raisin included gay charactersand how her ideas . In 1938, the family moved to a white neighborhood and was violently attacked by its inhabitants but the former refused to vacate the area until ordered to do so by the Supreme Court where the case was addressed as Hansberry v. Lee. Many icons of the early African American Civil Rights Movement, e.g., Langston Hughes, visited the Hansberry home In the same year, her second play, The Sign in Sidney Brusteins Window, was released on Broadway but was unable to become a major hit. Lorraine was inspired by her father and the play that she wrote may have been a little ahead of its time, but it won top prize from the prestigious New York Drama Critics Circle, which was no small feat. Hansberrys contributions to American theatre and literature have had a lasting impact, and her work continues to be studied and performed today. According to Baldwin, Hansberry stated: "I am not worried about black men--who have done splendidly, it seems to me, all things considered.But I am very worriedabout the state of the civilization which produced that photograph of the white cop standing on that Negro woman's neck in Birmingham. A documentary has been made about her writing, Filmmaker Tracy Heather Strain is so taken with Lorraines work that she put together a powerful documentary so people would know who she was and what she stood for. Not only did Hansberry address social and racial issues in her novels and plays, but she also wrote articles true to her voice and beliefs for a progressive Black journal, Freedom, concerning governmental issues. Posthumously, "A Raisin . Fact 9: This isnt a major life milestone of Lorraines, but its too fascinating not to include it!) Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) wrote A Raisin in the Sun using inspiration from her years growing up in the segregated South Side of Chicago. The presiding minister, Eugene Callender, recited a message from Baldwin, and also a message from the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. that 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." In 1969, four years after Lorraine Hansberrys death, Nina Simone wrote a song titled Young, Gifted, and Black after being inspired by a talk that Hansberry delivered to college students. . Her play premiered on Broadway in 1959 and made history by being the first Broadway production written by an African American woman. Dana Hanson-Firestone has extensive professional writing experience including technical and report writing, informational articles, persuasive articles, contrast and comparison, grant applications, and advertisement. Thanks for reading! Due to racial differences, Lorraine and her family faced racism when she was just eight. After moving to New York City, she held various minor jobs and studied at theNew School for Social Researchwhile refining her writing skills. Lorraine died at age thirty-four from pancreatic cancer. Du Bois , poet Langston Hughes, singer, actor, and political activist Paul Robeson, musician Duke Ellington, and Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens. She became close friends with James Baldwin and Nina Simone. . In her award-winning Hansberry biography Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry, Imani Perry writes that in his "gorgeous" images, "Attie captured her intellectual confidence, armour, and remarkable beauty.". In 2004, A Raisin in the Sun was revived on Broadway in a production starring Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Phylicia Rashad, and Audra McDonald, and directed by Kenny Leon. It ran for 101 performances on Broadway and closed the night she died. 236 pp. She was the youngest of Nannie Perry Hansberry and Carl Augustus Hansberry's four children. 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. Lorraine Hansberry, the author of A Raisin in the Sun, grew up in an activist family. Fact 8: Though she married a man, Lorraine identified as a lesbian. Omissions? The Hansberry's were routinely visited by prominent black people, including sociology professor W. E. B. Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930 at Provident Hospital on the South Side of Chicago. It was the first play written by an African American woman to appear on Broadway. In 2014, the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust published a wealth of never-before-seen letters, writings, and journal entries, her heart and her mind put down on paper. Perry pored over these pages, and four years later wrote Looking for Lorraine. We get rid of all the little bombsand the big bombs," though she also believed in the right of people to defend themselves with force against their oppressors. The granddaughter of a slave and the niece of a prominent African-American professor, Hansberry grew up with a keen awareness of African-American history and the ongoing struggle for civil rights. American Society Gift of Kayla Deigh Owens, Playbill used by permission. After the writers demise in 1965, her ex-husband, Nimroff, adapted a collection of her writings and interviews in To Be Young, Gifted and Black, which opened off at Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre and ran for a period of eight months. She herself, knew what it was to be discriminated against. September 27, 2022. Discover the life of Lorraine Hansberry, who reported on civil rights for Paul Robeson's newspaper Freedom and later penned "A Raisin in the Sun". We followed her. (James Baldwin, The Cross of Redemption). Theatre Nation Partnerships network extends to every region in England. Lorraine's uncle, William Leo Hansberry, taught African history at Howard University. When Lorraine was seven years old, the family bought a house in a mostly white neighborhood. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Copyright 2023 All Rights ReservedPrivacy Policy, Film & Stage Adaptations of Classic Novels, The first Black woman to have a play staged on Broadway, In 1969, four years after Lorraine Hansberrys death, Nina Simone wrote, Princeton Professor Imani Perry, author of, She addressed social issues in her writings. The granddaughter of a freed enslaved person, and the youngest by seven years of four children, Lorraine Vivian Hansberry 3rd was born on May 19, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois. An alarm sounds, and a woman wakes. . Hansberry originally wanted to be an artist when she attended the University of Wisconsin, but soon changed her focus to study drama and stage design. She attended the University of WisconsinMadison, where she immediately became politically active with the Communist Party USA and integrated a dormitory. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Lorraine Hansberry attended theUniversity of Wisconsinin 194850 and then briefly the School of theArt Institute of ChicagoandRoosevelt University(Chicago). Image by Columbia Pictures from Wikimedia. 190-71 111th Ave , Saint Albans, NY 11412 is a single-family home listed for-sale at $799,000. Fact 3: Lorraine was a talented visual artist. She is remembered for her first play, A Raisin in the Sun, which opened on Broadway in 1959, just six years before her death - and sometimes for her memoir, which was the inspiration for Nina Simone . 1. The familys home was frequently visited by prominent African American leaders, such as W.E.B. . Hansberry was a closeted lesbian. Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Lorraine identified as an American radical and believed that extreme change was necessary to fight against racism and injustice internationally. If people know anything about Lorraine (Perry refers to her as Lorraine throughout the book, explaining why she does so), theyll recall she was the author of A Raisin in the Sun, an award-winning play about a family dealing with issues of race, class, education, and identity in Chicago. Unfortunately, Lorraine Hansberry passed away in 1965, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom was not established until 1969. We may all come from different walks of life but we have one common passion - learning through travel. In his remarks, President Obama noted that Lorraine Hansberry refused to be confined by any identity but her own, and helped blaze a trail for generations of Americans who have been inspired by her example.. Terkel, Studs. Date of first publication 1959. In 1938, after her father bought a house in the south side of Chicago, the family was subject to the wrath of their white neighbors, resulting in U.S. Supreme CourtsHansberry v. Leecase. Her civil rights work and writing career were cut short by her death from pancreatic cancer at age 34. Near the end of her life, she declared herself "committed [to] this homosexuality thing" and vowing to "create my lifenot just accept it". According to Kevin J. Mumford, however, beyond reading homophile magazines and corresponding with their creators, "no evidence has surfaced" to support claims that Hansberry was directly involved in the movement for gay and lesbian civil equality. Despite a warm reception in Chicago, the show never made it to Broadway. That was what formed their bond at the time when Lorraine was developing her own Black, feminist, and queer politics. B. 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). In 2013, more than twenty years after Nemiroff's death, the new executor released the restricted material to scholar Kevin J. Mumford. Thank you for this detailed and well-written article about an amazing young woman! Check another American writer in Lorraine Hansberry facts. She was a trailblazer in the civil rights movement and an advocate for social justice. The sq. Lorraine Hansberry was deeply influenced by her uncles activism and scholarship, and her work often reflected her own commitment to social justice and civil rights for African Americans. When Irvine read the lyrics after it was finished, he thought, "I didn't write this. There are a million boys and girls As well as being a political activists, Lorraine Hansberry was also a brilliant writer. Her mother, Nannie Hansberry, was a schoolteacher and a member of the NAACP. Hansberry was particularly interested in the intersections between race, class, and gender, and she believed that these issues were all interconnected. She moved to New York City and became involved in the arts scene, working as a writer and editor for various publications. For their magazine, the Ladder, Hansberry contributed articles which talked of feminism and homophobia, revealing her homosexual nature. Lorraine believed that the artists voice in whatever medium was to be as an agent for social change. also named Lorraine Hansberry the Godmother of her daughter, Lisa Simone. . Much of her work during this time concerned the African struggles for liberation and their impact on the world. Her cousin is the flutist, percussionist, and composer Aldridge Hansberry. When she died of pancreatic cancer in 1965, she was only 34 years old. Full title A Raisin in the Sun. . Required fields are marked *. It won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and the film version of 1961 received a special award at the Cannes festival. Lorraine Vivian Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun exploded onto American theater scene on March 11, 1959, with such force that it garnered for the then-unknown black female playwright the Drama Circle Critics Award for 1958-59 in spite of such luminous competition as Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth . These were important voices for the movement to bring equality for all people as a basic right of all within the United States. Her promising career was cut short by her early death from pancreatic cancer. Hansberry graduated from Betsy Ross Elementary in 1944 and from Englewood High School in 1948. He even took his battle against racially restrictive housing covenants to the Supreme Court, winning a major victory in the landmark case Hansberry v. Lee. In the introduction of the live version, Simone explains the difficulty of losing a close friend and talented artist. This script was called "superb" but also rejected. 'The Black Revolution and the White Backlash . Lorraine Hansberry was an American playwright whoseA Raisin in the Sun(1959) was the firstdramaby anAfrican American woman to be produced on Broadway. It was, in fact, a requirement for human decency (150). Her father, Carl Augustus Hansberry was Leos brother. Lorraine surrounded herself with many people who were important to the civil rights movement, as well as people who held a measure of influence and celebrity status in the world. Clybourne Park is a "spin-off" of Lorraine Hansberry's famous 1959 play, A Raisin in the Sun, meaning that it centers around some of the play's peripheral events and characters.Specifically, the main characters of A Raisin in the Sun the Younger familywill eventually move into the house in which Clybourne Park is set. This experience is reflected in Raisin in how unwelcoming the white community was to the Younger family in Clybourne Park. Imani Perrys Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry is a watershed biography of the award-winning playwright, activist, and artist Lorraine Hansberry. It went on to inspire generations of playwrights and performers. Hansberry kept a low profile of her identity as a lesbian. Fact 6: In 1963, she met with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in New York City days after the protests and unrest in Birmingham Alabama (along with her close friend James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte, Clarence Jones and Jerome Smith, among others). Since its original production, A Raisin in the Sun has been revived on Broadway several times, most recently in 2014 with Denzel Washington as Walter Lee Younger. Additionally, Hansberry was known to be a champion of civil rights and social justice, and she was involved in several LGBTQ+ organizations and causes during her lifetime. Tone Realistic. This penetrating psychological study of a working-class black family on the south side of Chicago in the late 1940s reflected Hansberry's own experiences of racial harassment after her prosperous family moved into a white neighbourhood. Hansberry's. She was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, among the four Tony Awards that the play was nominated for in 1960. She is a tremendously important historical figure and through the documentary, Strain and her crew are making the public aware of just who Lorraine Hansberry was, what she stood for, and why her radical work is so important to the world today. Lorraine Hansberry has many notable relatives including director and playwright Shauneille Perry, whose eldest child is named after her. Carl died in 1946 when Lorraine was fifteen years old; "American racism helped kill him," she later said. Hansberry's funeral was held in Harlem on January 15, 1965. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Upon his ex-wife's death, Robert Nemiroff donated all of Hansberry's personal and professional effects to the New York Public Library.