Transcript Lorraine Hansberry - College Street Nottingham

Lorraine Hansberry
(May 19, 1930 - January 12, 1965)
By Danielle Hart
Born
Died
Occupation
Nationality
Hansberry was born in
Chicago, Illinois on May
19th 1930
Lorraine Hansberry died on
January 12th 1965
She was a playwright and
an author. She also
campaigned and fought for
racial justice and equality.
United States (American)
Lorraine was born in Chicago, Illinois
She was the youngest of four children of Carl Augustus Hansberry
and Nannie Louise Perry
She grew up in the Woodlawn area in Chicago
When Lorraine was a little older the family moved into an allwhite neighbourhood where they faced racial discrimination
Lorraine there attended an “all-white” public school and her parents
fought against segregation there
Lorraine noticed how segregated and racially discriminative the
neighbourhood she was living in was and this is reflected in her
most famous work, ‘A Raisin in The Sun’
Hansberry attended The University of Wisconsin- Madison.
In 1950 she left the university because she felt it was
uninspiring and wanted to make the best she could of her
future.
When she left, she started to pursue her career as a writer,
and began working on the staff of Freedom, a black
newspaper in New York.
She wrote her world famous play ‘A Raisin in the Sun’
whilst working for Freedom.
A Raisin in the Sun was the first African-American
play to be shown on Broadway.
It received the New York Drama Critics Award.
Receiving this award made her the youngest and first
African-American to receive it.
A Raisin in the Sun (1959) .
A Raisin in the Sun (film), screenplay
(1961).
A Raisin in the Sun (film), produced
(2008).
On Summer (Essay).
The Movement: Documentary of a
Struggle for equality (1964).
The Sign in Sydney Brustein’s Window
(1965).
To be Young, Gifted and Black:
Lorraine Hansberry in Her own Words
(1969).
Les Blancs: The Collected Last Plays/
by Loraine Hansberry, edited by Robert
Nemiroff.
Photo from A Raisin in the Sun (play)
Her grand-niece is actress Taye Hansberry.
Lincoln’s University’s freshman female dormitory is named Lorraine
Hansberry Hall.
In San Francisco, The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre was opened which
specialises in staging African-American plays and is named in her
honour.
When Hansberry died, she left behind an unfinished novel and three
unfinished plays.
Nina Simone was a close friend of Loraine Hansberry and as she was a
singer and pianist, she wrote a song called “To be Young, Gifted and
Black” together with Weldon Irvine.
The single reached the Top 10 of the R&B chart.
Lorraine Hansberry died on January 12th 1965, of
pancreatic cancer, aged only 34
I hope that I have told you everything you’d like to know about
Lorraine Hansberry!!!