A Raisin the Sun Introduction
Use the PowerPoint Presentation to fill in these guided notes. This goes in the Raisin in the Sun Section
of your binder.
LORRAINE HANSBERRY BACKGROUND
-Lorraine Hansberry was born in _______________ and was the __________________ of
___________ children.
-She lived in __________________________________and grew up knowing some of the
greatest African Americans of their time, like _____________________________, Duke
Ellington, Joe Lewis, and her mentor,
_____________________________________.
-In 1938, Hansberry’s father, ____________________, challenged the
_______________________________
housing pattern in Chicago when he purchased a house in an
________________________________________.
-The family was __________________________________________________and forced to
leave by a court order.
-Carl Hansberry took the case to the ___________________________________________
where he won a favorable judgment.
-Despite the victory, the experience left Carl Hansberry _______________________ and
________________________________, something Lorraine Hansberry would not forget.
-As a child, Hansberry learned to love books, especially works of
__________________________and _______________________________.
-Hansberry felt inspired by early activists and abolitionists, such as
___________________________________.
-Hansberry attended the University of ______________________ and the
_____________________________________________ where she fell in love with theater and
playwriting.
-Hansberry also had an early fascination with ______________. She later spent a year studying
there with
____________________, ______________________ and _____________________ W.E.B. Du
bois.
-Another literary influence and family friend was ___________________________________.
Hansberry took
a line from one of Hughes’s __________________________and gave it to a play she was
working on.
-In 1957, _______________________________________________was completed and gained
critical attention, not only for its content, but also for the fact that it was written by a
_____________________________________________________________.
-After successful runs in __________________________, ___________________________, and
New York, A
Raisin in the Sun opened on _________________________________on March 11, 1959, and
critics raved.
-Hansberry’s play crossed social lines with powerful grace, appealing to ___________________,
______________________, __________________________ and
________________________________. It shed more light on the civil rights movement.
-The play won the _______________________________________________________ that
year, a first for any African American.
-Hansberry wrote several other plays, including
_______________________________________________, and Les Blanc.
-In _______________, Lorraine Hansberry died an early death from
_____________________________.
-Although her life and career were cut short, an informal autobiography by her ex-husband was
put together. It was called
_________________________________________________________. It is a tribute to
Hansberry’s literary, social and personal vision.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
-The play A Raisin in the Sun is set during the _______________. This was a pivotal time during
the
_________________________________________________ and changes in history.
-During this time period, it was legal to discriminate against people based on _______________
or
__________________, in terms of employment, education, and public accommodations.
-Many African Americans continued to move to ________________________________cities
from the South.
-_______________________________ was on of the cities that grew most from southern black
immigration.
-Between 1940 and 1950, the number of African Americans living in Chicago grew by
_______________. The number of whites grew by ______________.
-Many of the African-Americans living in Chicago were living in run-down neighborhoods which
became
___________________________________________________________.
-Most units were overcrowded and shared
________________________________________________ between multiple families.
-__________________ were increasingly hard to find for both black men and women
after___________.
Many women worked as ____________________________ and the men were working in
________________.
HISTORICAL DATES OF THE 1950’S
1954- Brown v. Board of Education
outlawed___________________________________________; however, it was left to local
officials to decide when they’d like to start desegregating.
1955-1956-_________________________________________________________
1956-Congressman from Confederate States called on their states to refuse to comply with
Brown v. Board.
__________________________________________________ also opposes Brown v. Board.
1957-The governor of ____________________________ refused to let
__________________ black students enter a local high school. The U.S. Army is called to
escort and protect the eight students. The governor closed high schools for the following
year so they wouldn’t have to ________________________.
1957-Martin Luther King forms the
__________________________________________________________.
1959-A Raisin in the Sun opens on Broadway and forever changes the American stage.
PLOT AND SETTING
-A Raisin in the Sun is set in ____________________________________in the early 1950’s.
-On stage we see the ______________________apartment, clean but clearly demonstrating
“_________________________________________
_________________________________________________.”
-The plot unfolds __________________________________________________.
-It builds on the promise of a _________________________________, symbolized by the
__________________________________________
____________________________________________held by the family’s late father.
-As the Youngers discuss the money, ______________________________________.
-Conflicts _________________________________add to the tension and underscore the
state of _________________________________in the world.
-The climax is ______________________________________________________.
-The ____________________________________ reveals both the
_______________________ of the family and the _____________________ that comes
when a person who feels beaten by life rejects the temptation to despair.
MAJOR CHARACTERS
-___________________________________- is a recent ___________________________,
and years of hard work are catching up with her. She
worries about her family and wrestles with decisions about
___________________________________.
-____________________________________-Mama’s thirty-five-year-old son, works as a
_______________________________ but dreams of
owning his____________________________. He neglects his marriage, drinks to excess
and betrays his mother.
-____________________________________ -is Walter’s wife and the mother of their son,
_____________________________.
She is desperate to see her family
_______________________________________________________. Ruth is torn between
her disgust with Walter’s present behavior and her love for the man he once was.
-____________________________________-Mama’s
___________________________________, dreams of becoming a _________________but
pursues other interests as well. She is attracted to both
________________________________, and ________________________________.
George Murchison:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Joseph Asagai
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Mr. Johnson
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Karl Linder
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Bobo & Willy
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
THEMES
-_______________________________________________-the play’s introduction asks,
“What happens to a dream deferred?” That establishes the major theme. For the most
part, the dreams of the major characters have been put
___________________________________________, but,
ironically, when the chance for their dreams to come true does arrive, it creates
_______________________________. Ultimately the characters
do find out that dreams can come true, ______________________________________.
-__________________________________________________-Set before the rise of the
_____________________________________________,
A Raisin in the Sun reveals a social undercurrent of ________________________________.
The Youngers know discrimination; in large part it is
the reason their dreams have been ___________________________. Prejudice in an allwhite community helps drive the play to its __________,
and at the play’s _____________________________ the Youngers seem likely to face
___________________________ again.
-________________________________________________-Years of “doing without” have
taken their toll on the Youngers, but the insurance
money seems to be the key to __________________________. The family also
accomplishes a moral victory at the end that empowers the
_____________________________________.
Sunlight versus Darkness- sunlight represents ______________________ and darkness
represents ______________________. The sun nourishes and allows everything to grow
and develop. All that darkness nourishes is dark thoughts; plants and people wither in
darkness.
Lena’s Plant- symbolizes her perpetual ____________________________________________.
By constantly caring for the plant, however feeble it becomes, she shows the audience that she
is keeping her hope alive.
Beneatha’s Hair-when Beneatha cuts her ______________________, she is rejecting
the social norms of the time.
Insurance Check/Money- for everyone in the play, money is the symbol of their
______________________,. All of them believe that money will be the key to their
dreams coming true.
George Murchison’s White Shoes-symbolizes the ______________________ between
the Younger’s poor lives versus George’s ______________________. Rich blacks
worked very hard to separate themselves from poor blacks as represented by his dress.
Asagai’s Nigerian Robes-symbol of ______________________, and the fight for
freedom from colonial rule, and their importance to Beneatha to find her roots.