Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

The Life of Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry was the very first black female writer to ever receive the Circle Award for best play in 1959. She was also the youngest American playwright to usher a new era of Theatre in the United States. Hansberry was born and raised in the state of Chicago, which was where she faced a significant amounts of racial discrimination. In which she later managed to overcome all odds and use it as an essential tool for many of her writings. (Patti, Nicholas) Hansberry was faced with a lot more negatives than positives as a child, with having to deal with racial discrimination, segregation and also dealing with the first hand experiences. Hansberry made the most of the racial discriminations by using for encouragement. Her love for theater began to grow, and also implemented some of her own personal experiences in her writings. Hansberry learned to find dignity through her youth days, and helped build and strengthen her ability to write captivating plays. It then later lead to a sudden rise of fame, and is considered as one of the most influential writer in the literary cannon.

In June of that year Hansberry earned a title of the “most promising playwright” of the season. A Raisin in the Sun would later become the longest- running black play in Broadway’s history. The reason behind the plays success and popularity was because it explored a “universal theme—the search for freedom and a better life.” (AAYA) The play’s original run on Broadway lasted for nineteen months and a total of 530 performances. Hansberry sold the movie rights of A Raisin in the Sun to Columbia Pictures, a few years later she wrote two more screenplays which involved some provocative new scenes that highlighted the problems African-Americans faced during that period of time but was declined by Columbia Pictures.