Lorraine
Hansberry's was born on May 19, 1930. Her parents
were both active in the black community in Chicago, including in social change
work. Her uncle, William Leo Hansberry, studied African history. Her
family moved, desegregating a white neighborhood in 1938, and though there were
violent protests, they did not move until a court ordered them to do so. The
case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court as Hansberry vs. Lee. Hansberry’s
brothers served in a segregated unit in World War II. He was discriminated in
the military. Lorraine Hansberry attended the University of Wisconsin for two
years, then left to work for Paul Robeson's newspaper, Freedom, first as a writer and then associate
editor. She attended the Intercontinental Peace Congress in Montevideo,
Uruguay, in 1952, when Paul Robeson was denied a passport to attend. She met
Robert Nemiroff on a picket line, and they were married in 1953 and divorced in
1964 with no children, spending the night before their wedding protesting the
execution of the Rosenbergs. Lorraine Hansberry left her position at Freedom, focusing mostly on her writing and
taking a few temporary jobs. Lorraine Hansberry completed her first play in
1957, taking her title from Langston Hughes' poem, "Harlem. “What
happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester
like a sore -- and then run?" She began to circulate the
play, Raisin in the Sun. This
was the first play written by an African American woman produced on Broadway. Trying to interest producers, investors, and
actors. Sidney Poitier expressed interest in taking the part of the son, and
soon a director and other actors (including Louis Gossett, Ruby Dee, and Ossie
Davis) were committed to the performance. Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway at the Barrymore
Theatre on March 11, 1959. The play, with themes both
universally human and specifically about racial discrimination and sexist
attitudes, was successful, and a screenplay soon followed in which Lorraine
Hansberry added more scenes to the story -- none of which Columbia Pictures
allowed into the film. Lorraine Hansberry was commissioned to write a
television drama on slavery, which she completed as The Drinking Gourd, but it was not produced -- NBC executives
apparently didn't support the idea of a black screenwriter writing about
slavery. Moving with her husband to Croton-on-Hudson, Lorraine Hansberry
continued not only her writing but also her involvement with civil rights and
other political protest, even after being diagnosed with cancer. In 1964, The Movement: Documentary of a Struggle for Equality was published for SNCC (Southern
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) with text by Hansberry. She divorced
Nemiroff in March, though they continued to work together. In October, Lorraine
Hansberry moved back into New York City as her new play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window began rehearsals. Although critical
reception was cool, supporters kept it running until Lorraine Hansberry's death
in January. After her death, on January 12, 1965, her ex-husband finished her
work on a play centered on Africa, Les Blancs. This
play opened in 1970 and ran for only 47 performances.
More Information
on Lorraine Hansberry:
Background, Family:
·
Father: Carl A. Hansberry
·
Mother: Nanny Perry Hansberry
·
fourth of four children
·
lived in Chicago until college
Education
·
University of Wisconsin, 1948-50
·
Roosevelt College
·
School of Art Institute
·
New School for Social Research
Marriage,
Children
·
husband: Robert Nemiroff (married 1953, divorced 1964)
·
children: none
Plays:
·
A Raisin in the Sun (1959);
screenplay 1960 (adapted as a musical, Raisin, in 1974)
·
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (1964)
·
To Be Young, Gifted, and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own
Words (adaptation of Hansberry's writings by Robert Nemiroff) (1969)
·
Les Blancs (completed and
edited by Robert Nemiroff) (1970)
·
The Drinking Gourd (television
script) (published 1972)
·
What Use Are Flowers? (television
script) (published 1972)
·
Les Blancs: The Collected Last Plays of
Lorraine Hansberry (completed and edited by Robert Nemiroff) (1972)
Awards:
·
New York Drama Critics Circle Award, 1959, for A Raisin
in the Sun
·
Cannes Film Festival special award, 1961, for A Raisin
in the Sun (screenplay)