“There is always something left to love.”
- Name: Lorraine Hansberry
- Born: May 19, 1930
- Died: January 12, 1965 (Age 34)
- From: Chicago, Illinois
- Pronouns: She/her
- Contribution/Impact: Hansberry is an accomplished playwright and activist.
- Occupation: Writer
- Known For: A Raisin in the Sun
- Awards: New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play for “A Raisin in the Sun” (1959)
- Interesting Facts: The title for Hansberry’s most popular work “A Raisin in the Sun” gets its title from the Langston Hughes poem “Harlem.”
Despite living a short life and dying at the age of 34, Lorraine Hansberry lived a successful life as she was not only the first African American woman to have a play on Broadway but she was also the youngest person to ever receive the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play. Hansberry’s childhood directly inspired “A Raisin in the Sun” due to the racism Hansberry had to face from an early age. Her parents moved into a white neighborhood and as a result were terrorized which led her father into a court case that made it all the way to the supreme court. Her many experiences from an early age allowed her to foster a deep understanding of the world around her that led her to create a dynamic and captivating play that live on well beyond herself.
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