A Raisin in the Sun

The play “A Raisin in the Sun” was written by Lorraine Hansberry. It was the first play to be produced on Broadway by an African-American woman. The play was a huge success having over 530 performances. The play was not always referred to as A Raisin in the Sun; it was first named the Crystal Stair. Hansberry later renamed it A Raisin in the Sun. This is a play about a black struggling family. The play writer Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19th, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. She was the first black playwright and the youngest to win a New York Critics’ Circle award. In her life she was heavily involved with civil rights. Her father was a successful real estate broker and her mother was a school teacher. Lorraine Hansberry was enrolled in the New School for Social Research and later worked for Paul Robeson’s progressive black newspaper, Freedom. She served as a writer and associate editor for her time being there. She worked part-time as a waiter, cashier and wrote in her spare. Eventually, she quit her jobs and took on writing full time. During her writing, she produced a famous play “A Raisin in the Sun.” Some people may have wondered where Lorraine Hansberry got her ideas from. Did she make them up or were they events from her own life? Well, Lorraine Hansberry interwove her actual real life events into her play. Lorraine and her family were African-Americans just like the Younger family in her play. The play writer and her family moved into a white neighborhood, it was said that they got attacked violently by the other residents. The Youngers moved into a white neighborhood as well, Clybourne Park. Mr. Linder a man who was a part of the Clybourne Park Association tried to convince the Youngers not to move into this neighborhood because the residents which were white did not approve. This may have been the reason why the Hansberry’s may have gotten attacked because their white neighbors may have not wanted them there. These families both