Lorraine Hansberry
The first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway, Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun, which became a landmark of American theater and civil rights culture. She died of cancer at 34, leaving behind a body of work that transformed what American drama could say about race and identity. Her journals and unfinished works reveal a major intellect cut short.
Works
- A Raisin in the SunTragedy about African-American family's struggle for dignity against systemic oppression
- The Sign in Sidney Brustein's WindowDrama about idealist activist confronting personal loss and political disillusionment
- To Be Young, Gifted and BlackEssay-play about dreams, identity, and the African American experience
- Les BlancsDrama about African revolutionary and his complicated alliances during political struggle
- The Drinking GourdDrama depicting enslaved people's struggle for freedom and identity