Lorraine Hansberry

Playwright of A raisin in the Sun

Basic Info
• Lorraine Hansberry who 1930-1965 who was
a play writer and author and was best known
for her activist speeches and the play “A raisin in
the Sun” the play was written in 1959.
• She grew up in a family that was deeply involved
in civil rights.
• Lorraine herself was an activist. Her father Carl
Hansberry, having influenced her by fighting
against racial discrimination in housing.
• Her mother Nannie Hansberry was a
schoolteacher. Lorraine dropped out of college
to become a writer.
• Lorraine was also a closeted lesbian who was in
a long-term relationship with Dorothy Secules a
LGBTQ+ activist .
Childhood
• Lorraine grew up of the south side of Chicago, where racial
segregation was rampant
• In 1937 Lorraine’s parents challenged this racial segregation by buying
and moving into a house in an all-white neighbourhood, this received
a lot of push back by their neighbours resulting in a mob throwing
bricks at them and their house
• After this her father went to court and won. Taking his case to the
supreme court he was able to help outlaw housing discrimination
Adult Life
• After growing up Lorraine became an activist herself. Her political views were
heavily influenced by Paul Robeson, a left-wing radicalist
• Later on Lorraine moved to New York, where Robeson gave her, her first job as a
writer for his paper. After being dogged by anti-communists, Lorraine left to study
Social Research while continuing with her writing skills
• After writing A raisin in the Sun, she gained a more prominent voice for black
struggles. She gave speeches at rallies and Town halls trying to end racial
segregation. Her last speech was in 1964, when she sick with cancer. Lorraine
wished to go back to the south to find out what revolucionary she was. Sadly she
passed away shortly after at 34.
Inspiration for A Raisin in the Sun

• Lorraine drew inspiration from personal experience she wrote about a

working-class family who came from the south side of Chicago who
immigrated from Africa.
• The play mainly focuses on Lorraine’s hard years of growing up how
hard it was being a black woman in South Chicago. The purpose of
the raisin in the sun is while people may `have to defer or put of
realizing their dreams to a later time they can still make their dreams
a reality.