Lorraine Hansberry

Date of Birth: May 19, 1930

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Date of Death: January 12, 1965

Biography

Lorraine Hansberry was an influential American playwright and writer, best known for her groundbreaking work “A Raisin in the Sun.” Born in Chicago, Illinois, Hansberry was the youngest of four children in a politically active family. Her father, Carl Augustus Hansberry, was a successful real estate broker who fought against racial segregation in housing, while her mother, Nannie Perry, was a schoolteacher and active participant in the civil rights movement. Hansberry attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison but left before completing her degree to pursue a career in writing. She moved to New York City, where she worked for the progressive black newspaper, “Freedom,” edited by Paul Robeson. Her experiences in New York, coupled with her own family’s struggles against racial discrimination, deeply influenced her writing. In 1959, Hansberry made history when “A Raisin in the Sun” became the first play written by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway. The play, which explores the dreams and struggles of a black family in Chicago, was a critical and commercial success, earning Hansberry the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play. Hansberry continued to write and speak out on social issues until her untimely death from pancreatic cancer at the age of 34. Despite her short life, her work has had a lasting impact on American theater and literature, inspiring generations of writers and activists.

5 Interesting Facts about Lorraine Hansberry

1. Lorraine Hansberry was the first African-American woman to have a play performed on Broadway.

2. She was a close associate of prominent civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

3. Hansberry was also an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and identified as a lesbian, though this aspect of her life was less publicized during her lifetime.

4. “A Raisin in the Sun” was inspired by her own family’s legal battle against racially segregated housing laws in Chicago.

5. Her unfinished works were published posthumously by her ex-husband, Robert Nemiroff, who also edited the collection “To Be Young, Gifted and Black.”

5 Most Interesting Quotes from Lorraine Hansberry

1. “Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.”

2. “The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely.”

3. “There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing.”

4. “All art is ultimately social: that which agitates and that which prepares the mind for slumber.”

5. “I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful and that which is love.”

Highest Net Worth Achieved

Lorraine Hansberry’s highest net worth is not well documented, but her significant contributions to theater and literature have left a lasting legacy that continues to generate revenue through adaptations and revivals of her works.