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May 19, 1930 –
January 12, 1965
African American playwright
– Also an author of political speeches, letters, and essays

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Youngest of four children of Carl
Augustus Hansberry (a prominent real estate broker) and Nannie Louise
Perry
She grew up on the south side of
Chicago in the Woodlawn neighborhood.

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The family then moved into an all-white neighborhood, where they faced racial discrimination
Segregation in
Chicago was not forced; but racial tensions naturally divided the city

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Hansberry's father engaged in a legal battle against a racially restrictive covenant that attempted to prohibit African-American families from buying homes in the area.
Though victors in the Supreme Court,
Hansberry's family was subjected to what
Hansberry would later describe as a
"hellishly hostile white neighborhood."
This experience later inspired her to write her most famous work, A Raisin in the Sun .

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Finding college to be uninspiring, Hansberry left in 1950 to pursue her career as a writer in New
York City.
She worked on the staff of a Black newspaper called Freedom . It was at this time she wrote
Raisin in the Sun .
A

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The story is based upon her family's own experiences growing up in
Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood.
A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway, as well as the first play with a black director (Lloyd
Richards) on Broadway

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A Raisin in the Sun can be considered a turning point in American art and drama because it addresses so many issues important during the 1950s in the United States
Hansberry creates in the Younger family one of the first honest depictions of a black family on an
American stage

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She uses black vernacular throughout the play
Broaches important issues and conflicts, such as poverty, discrimination, and the construction of
African-American racial identity

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Dreams
Money
Family
Women’s Rights
Racial Tensions and Discrimination
Assimilation
Cultural Heritage
Self-Identity and Self-Expression

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Definition: Some reoccurring image that stands for an idea beyond itself
Be out on the lookout for symbols throughout the play!

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To what extent do our dreams define who were are? When is it OK or right to “defer” our dreams?
How and where did racism occur after slavery and segregation? Where does it exist today?
What about sexism?
What does one need in order to find selfidentity? To “know thyself?”

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To trace two themes throughout the play, from a) introduction to b) development to c) ending statement
To recognize how Hansberry successfully uses the vernacular in a powerful and poetic manner