PLAYWRIGHT THE
Lorraine Hansberry (1930- 1965) Born in 1930 Loraine Hansberry was a playwright, essayist, and poet. A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway when she was only 28 and its instant success won her the 1959 New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Starting a legacy of firsts, Hansberry was the youngest person and the first black woman to have ever won the award. She was also the first black woman to have a play produced on Broadway. A native of Chicago IL, Hansberry was born to influential parents who taught her the importance of civil responsibility, racial pride, and of challenging exclusionary policies and social practices. They themselves started the Hansberry Foundation; an organization meant to inform African-Americans about their civil rights.
Lorraine’s father, Carl Hansberry actively challenged exclusionary housing practices by moving the family into an all-white neighborhood covered by a racially restrictive building covenant. This covenant made it illegal for AfricanAmericans to own or occupy any of the property in that neighborhood. Yet, the family found a way to make that neighborhood their home. The Hansberry’s however were forced to leave after an incident where an angry mob threw a
16