Lorraine Hansberry
In the 1950's, black women were a minority, and it was nearly impossible for them to make history, but Lorraine Hansberry did. She not only wrote a famous play, A Raisin in The Sun, but she was the first African American woman to do so. Starting with crossing out the word "Negro" on Lorraine's birth certificate, Lorraine's family showed strong signs of trying to break through the system to reach racial equality. Carl, Lorraine's father, proved himself to be one of the only successful African Americans during the great depression. Along with the age difference between her and her siblings, the Hansberry family's affluence created a barrier between Lorraine and her peers. Although she grew up in a successful family in an all-white neighborhood, Lorraine was still subjected to harsh racism. These continuous racist attacks gave Lorraine the inspiration to write A Raisin in The Sun. Her parents began to break family tradition by sending her to an all-white high school and living in an all-white neighborhood. She excelled greatly in her school and took her educational success to an all-white college in Wisconsin. During her college years, she met the following African American leaders of literature: Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, and Paul Robeson. The latter provided Lorraine with a job as a writer in the Freedom newspaper. Lorraine and her future husband, Robert Nemiroff, met while protesting against segregated sports teams at New York University. As a married couple, Nemiroff and Hansberry worked many jobs to support each other. Robert's hit song, "Cindy, Oh Cindy," and Lorraine's popular plays supported her and her husband until Lorraine's tragic death at the young age of 34. Lorraine Hansberry proved to us all that the amount of time you have in this world is not what matters--it's how you use it.
In the 1950's, black women were a minority, and it was nearly impossible for them to make history, but Lorraine Hansberry did. She not only wrote a famous play, A Raisin in The Sun, but she was the first African American woman to do so. Starting with crossing out the word "Negro" on Lorraine's birth certificate, Lorraine's family showed strong signs of trying to break through the system to reach racial equality. Carl, Lorraine's father, proved himself to be one of the only successful African Americans during the great depression. Along with the age difference between her and her siblings, the Hansberry family's affluence created a barrier between Lorraine and her peers. Although she grew up in a successful family in an all-white neighborhood, Lorraine was still subjected to harsh racism. These continuous racist attacks gave Lorraine the inspiration to write A Raisin in The Sun. Her parents began to break family tradition by sending her to an all-white high school and living in an all-white neighborhood. She excelled greatly in her school and took her educational success to an all-white college in Wisconsin. During her college years, she met the following African American leaders of literature: Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, and Paul Robeson. The latter provided Lorraine with a job as a writer in the Freedom newspaper. Lorraine and her future husband, Robert Nemiroff, met while protesting against segregated sports teams at New York University. As a married couple, Nemiroff and Hansberry worked many jobs to support each other. Robert's hit song, "Cindy, Oh Cindy," and Lorraine's popular plays supported her and her husband until Lorraine's tragic death at the young age of 34. Lorraine Hansberry proved to us all that the amount of time you have in this world is not what matters--it's how you use it.
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"Take away the violence, and who will hear the men of peace?" -Lorraine Hansberry |
sources
http://www.biography.com/people/lorraine-hansberry-9327823
http://www.gradesaver.com/author/lorraine-hansberry/
http://socialjustice.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/index.php/Biography_of_an_Intellectual
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/254536/Lorraine-Hansberry
http://www.biography.com/people/lorraine-hansberry-9327823
http://www.gradesaver.com/author/lorraine-hansberry/
http://socialjustice.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/index.php/Biography_of_an_Intellectual
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/254536/Lorraine-Hansberry