Raising in the Sun

Black Women in History and Today According to Dorothy Height, “Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals.” Black women in history have always been overshadowed by “superior” male figures, and even by fellow black men. In her debut book Female Chauvinist Pigs, Ariel Levy aptly states that women have absorbed the rhetoric of the male mentality and ideology as it relates to commoditized versions of the female identity, reducing half the world’s population to a state of being “lesser than.” However, the role of black women has been increasing tremendously, and today there are numerous African American female figures positioned high in the society. From key black female figures in the American civil rights movement, business, entertainment industry, and even in politics, black womens’ influence has been growing exponentially in many different areas in the society. The issue of feminism is also widely engraved in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, Raisin in the Sun. Throughout the play, the issue of feminism is presented through numerous symbols, characters, conflicts, and in the entire plot itself.
The play, Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, deals with a family’s own experiences growing up in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood in 1950s. Hansberry’s most obvious attempt to point out the issue of feminism in her play reside in the three generations of women in the household, each possessing a different political perspective of herself as a woman. Mama, Lena Younger, has a point of view towards woman based on her experience with her husband. Ruth, about thirty, openly voices her feelings to her own husband more than Mama was, but still, Ruth is liberal and traditional in perspective of woman. Beneatha on the other hand, pursues a career that, in 1959, the society considered as male-dominated profession; a doctor. She has much more enlightened views about a woman’s place in the society than Mama and Ruth.
In the play, Walter’s chauvinistic view of Beneatha causes much conflict between them. Beneatha’s gola to become a doctor obviously does not please him. He complains that medical schooling will cost more than the family can afford, which he bases his argument on the fact that since Beneatha is a woman, she does not even have a right to want to become a doctor. Near the beginning of the play, Walter blows out his frustration and resentment towards Beneatha, “Who in the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy about messing around with sick people, then go be a nurse like other women, or just get married and be quiet.” Furthermore, his chauvinistic point of view even causes conflicts between him and his wife, Ruth. When Travis asks Ruth for 50 cents, Ruth tells him that the family doesn’t have that kind of money to give to Travis, but Walter comes out of the bathroom and gives Travis 50 cents, obviously to present his alpha male status to his son and to the rest of the family. It is evident in the plot that Ruth constantly tries to change herself in order to please everyone in the family, especially to please her husband. On the other hand, Mama, the current head of the family, entrusts Walter with the remaining insurance money. She is ready to pass down the torch of the head of the family to Walter, simply because he is a man, denying his inability to take care of the entire family, and even himself. She simply has a mindset that the man should be in charge of his family. She feels that she hasn’t provided or supported him to play out his plans and dreams. In today’s American society, black women have gained much more power and have influence over many different areas of the society. From civil rights movement, to singers, actresses, athletes, to even in politics, black women today are nothing like black women of the 1950s, the setting of the play. Rosa Parks, for example, famous for her part in igniting the Montgomery Bus Boycott when she refused to give up her seat on a bus, is one of the many black women in the history of America who contributed in civil rights movement. The boycott ended in a huge success, which eventually led to desegregation in buses. In addition, Dorothy Heights was one of the few women to participate at the highest levels of the civil rights movement, with such others as A. Phillip Randolph, Martin Luther King, jr., and Whitney Young (“Dorothy Height”). At the 1963 March on Washington, she was on the platform when Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1986, she founded the annual Black Family Reunion, an annual national festival, to address the problem of negative images of black family life, and in 1994, President Bill Clinton presented her with the Medal of Freedom. Besides Rosa Parks and Dorothy Heights, Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress, Alice Walker worked against female circumcision through her novels and poems, Faye Wattleton was the first African American and youngest president of Planned Parenthood, and numerous other black women have contributed to the society and taken roles in the history of America.
As clearly evident through numbers of big black women figures in the society, they have slowly fought against chauvinistic views of male figures and earned their positions as equal to men in the society. Not only had they risked their lives in order to bring freedom to the rest of Americans, they also had dedicated themselves to earn African American women to receive the position they deserve in American society. Black women’s influence in the society has increased in many aspects, and is even evident in people’s everyday lives today. Oprah Gail Winfrey, often referred to simply as Oprah, is an American television host, media mogul, and philanthropist (“Oprah Winfrey”). Her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, has earned multiple Emmy Awards and is the highest-rated talk show in the history of television. She is also an influential book critic, an Academy Award nominated actress, and a magazine publisher (“Oprah Winfrey”). She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century, the most philanthropic African American of all time, was once the world’s only black billionaire, and is also the most influential woman in the world. Note that she not only is the most successful African American women today, but is actually the most successful African American, period. CNN and Times.com called Winfrey as, “arguably the world’s most powerful woman.” Her life, single handedly demonstrates black women’s change of status in the society. Compare to three women in the play, Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha, the tremendous changes brought by Winfrey definitely deserves an attention in a sense that people’s view towards black women have evolved from a state of being lesser than to individuals valued and thought as equal to any other human beings. African-American women today have also stepped up in business world. Camille Young worked at big businesses for years until she discovered an idea for her own company during a South Pacific vacation (Hopkins). She quit her bank job last year to open the first of two juice bars in her BaGua Juice chain in Jersey City, and she hopes the company will grow to as many as 50 locations (Hopkins). She is one of thousands of African-American women starting businesses in the world today. Some women, equipped with their own personal experiences in everyday lives, have taken entrepreneurship’s lead with ideas appealing to common people’s convenience needs. Camille Young started a fresh-juice bar in New Jersey, because she couldn’t find any fresh-juice bars near home. In a sense, women have advantages in some areas because they know what people want and need around the community, simply in people’s everyday lives. The new research, published by the Small Business Administration, shows that women drove much of the growth in black entrepreneurship (Hopkins). More than just starting up small businesses here and there, black women have literally taken the lead in the world of business. Beneatha, who sometimes seems to be obnoxious and self-centered, would be the most suitable example of leading black woman figure in the society. Even though, she knows that she can’t afford to go through medical school due to her family’s harsh finance situation, she believes that she can become a doctor, someday. She considers education as a privilege, and she believes that she deserves to achieve for higher education. Because of women like Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha, black women could have progressed and earned their position in the society today. In the play, Raisin in the Sun, Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha could not even dream of excelling in the society as individuals. They had to be always ready to hand over the head of the household position to men, and they had to place the entire family’s lives on Walter’s hands simply because he was a man. However, because the society had women like Mama, Ruth, and Beneatha, black women were able to fight the chauvinistic views of women, contribute to the freedom of the country through involvement in the civil rights movement, and take entrepreneurship’s lead. Throughout the play, the issue of feminism is presented through numerous symbols, characters, conflicts, and in the entire plot itself. She presents this issue of feminism in the society at the time, 1950s, wishing to encourage the black women popularity at that time. Perhaps, she felt the need for black women to start changing, voicing their opinions, and earning equal place as men in the society.

Works Cited
Hopkins, Jim. “African-American women step up in business world.” USA Today. 3 Nov 2008. <http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/2006-08-24-women-biz-usat_x.htm>
Lewis, Jone Johnson. “Dorothy Height.” About.com. 3 Nov. 2008. <http://womenshistory.about.com/od/civilrights/p/dorothy_height.htm>
“Oprah Winfrey.” Wikipedia. 4 Nov 2008. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey> “Raisin in the Sun Script – The dialogue.” Script-o-Rama. 3 Nov 2008.
<http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/r/raisin-in-the-sun-script.html>
Sharife, Khadija. “The Black Female in Modern History.” New African. Oct 2008 Issue 477: 10-13. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Cypress College Library., Cypress, CA. 3 Nov. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com>

Cited: Hopkins, Jim. “African-American women step up in business world.” USA Today. 3 Nov 2008. &lt;http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/2006-08-24-women-biz-usat_x.htm&gt; Lewis, Jone Johnson. “Dorothy Height.” About.com. 3 Nov. 2008. &lt;http://womenshistory.about.com/od/civilrights/p/dorothy_height.htm&gt; “Oprah Winfrey.” Wikipedia. 4 Nov 2008. &lt; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey&gt; “Raisin in the Sun Script – The dialogue.” Script-o-Rama. 3 Nov 2008. &lt;http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/r/raisin-in-the-sun-script.html&gt; Sharife, Khadija. “The Black Female in Modern History.” New African. Oct 2008 Issue 477: 10-13. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Cypress College Library., Cypress, CA. 3 Nov. 2008 &lt;http://search.ebscohost.com&gt;