A woman who is willing to be herself and pursue her own potential runs not so much the risk of loneliness, as the challenge of exposure to more interesting men - and people in general.
– Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Vivian Hansberry, African American playwright, was born May 19, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois. Hansberry grew up in a middle-class family with ties to many prominent African American, including W.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, and Duke Ellington. Despite their socioeconomic status, her family was not spared from the racial bigotry of that time, when their home- in a restricted neighborhood- was targeted by a “white mob.” Hansberry went on to attend the University of Wisconsin, before leaving and eventually settling in New York City, where she began her writing career and met Robert Nemiroff, a Jewish writer, and the two wed in June of 1953. Benefitting from the success of her husband’s songwriting career, Hansberry was able to quit her job; and, inspired by the Langston Hughes play Mother and Son, she began writing The Crystal Stair, which was later titled A Raisin in the Sun. Through this story, she depicted the ills of the working-class black people on Chicago’s South Side. After raising funds to produce her play, A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in the spring of 1959, enjoying great success. With this, Hansberry made history, becoming the first black female author to have a play performed on Broadway. She was also the first black playwright and youngest American to win the New York Critic’s Circle Award. Hansberry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died on January 12, 1965.
To learn more about Lorraine Hansberry visit:
https://www.chipublib.org/lorraine-hansberry-biography/
https://www.biography.com/people/lorraine-hansberry-9327823
https://www.thoughtco.com/lorraine-hansberry-biography-3528287