To Be Young Gifted and Black

The Life of Lorraine Hansberry & Introduction to A Raisin in the

Sun

by Cam Matthews (Modified by Kael Moffat)

Hansberry Childhood

Born May 19, 1930 Grew up in Chicago’s

Southside Youngest of 4 children Father was a successful

real estate broker Relatively wealthy by

neighborhood standards

Early Experiences

At 8 moved into a hostile white neighborhood Her father in conjunction with the NAACP was

protesting against “restrictive covenants” that segregated housing.

Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940)—Supreme Court case that her father was involved in that challenged laws that enforced segregation.

He won the case, but they later moved out of the white neighborhood because of prejudicial behavior by the white kids and neighbors.

Education Chicago public schools for first through senior year Showed an early talent for writing and drawing Later attended University of Wisconsin and The New

School for Social Research in New York Became editor of Freedom, a journal for African

Americans

Adult Life

Married Robert Nemiroff, a Jewish student Began to write plays after seeing a play about

African Americans by a white writer that bothered her:

“I suddenly became disgusted with the whole body of material about Negroes. Cardboard characters. Cute dialogue bits. Or hip-swinging musicals from exotic scores.”

-Lorraine Hansberry

A Raisin in the Sun Instant success when it opened in 1959; (opened in

New Haven, CT in January, then on Broadway in New York in March)

Marked the beginning of a vigorous black theater movement

Directed by Lloyd Richards; cast included Sidney Poiter, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Ruby Dee, and Louis Gossett (all very important African American actors)

Won the New York Drama Critics Award (at 29 she was the youngest person and first black playwright to ever win this award)

Hansberry on the Play

“Mama, it's a play that tells the truth about people, Negroes, and life and I think it will help a lot of people to understand how we are just as complicated as they are—and just as mixed up—but above all, that we have among our miserable and downtrodden ranks—people who are the very essense of human dignity. That is what, after all the laughter and the tears, the play is supposed to say.”

-Lorraine Hansberry in a January 19, 1959 letter to her mother

Important Themes

A family play—focusing on the most intense and basic human relationships

What is the value of dreams or aspirations?

Can money really bring happiness? Do we live just for ourselves?

Other Plays and Her Death

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window opened 3 weeks before she died.

Died of cancer at 34 To Be Young Gifted and Black

(collection of letters, journal entries, speeches, and play excerpts) published in 1969

Play named after lines from a poem by Langston Hughes, one of the greatest African American poets of all time.

Harlem

What happens to a dream deferred?Does it dry upLike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore—And then run”Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over —Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sagsLike a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Mid-Century African American Art

Harlem Renaissance--from the 1920s through the early 1960s Flowering in popularity and quality of African-

American art and music Artists tried to communicate the pain and

hopelessness of being on the losing end of racism. They also tried to communicate optimism and

hope that things could get better!

Jacob Lawrence

Born in New Jersey & painted in New York Tried to “Americanize” African art techniques

Jacob Lawrence II

Important concept for him was Northern Migration—African Americans moving up from the South

1950s Jazz Music of protest

Black jazz musicians had mixed feelings about all the white money in the jazz world.

They played in popular “swing” bands to make money, but after hours played in smaller “bebop” bands.

Made music they thought white people wouldn’t like or wouldn’t “get”

Bebop is about two things: Showing off “chops” or skill Letting out anger and negative feelings about life

Eventually, many white musicians did get it and were sympathetic with black struggles for civil rights!

Review of Play Structure

Plays are meant to be performed, not read silently. Radio plays were meant to be heard Stage plays and screen plays are meant to be both seen and

heard.

Plays are divided into acts and scenes. Scenes are shorter than acts and usually focus on 1-2

incidents Acts are longer and focus on important bits of action or

different times or locations

A Raisin in the Sun has three acts