1. Lorainne Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun
English 11

2. The Great Migration
The Great Migration is a term used to describe the mass migration of African Americans from the southern United States to the industrial centers of the Northeast and Midwest between the 1910s and 1960s.
Up South: African American Migration to Chicago

3. 5
                                                                                                                                       
The First Wave of the Great Migration ( ) - part I
"The factory owners had to find new workers to replace those who were marching off to war."
Jacob Lawrence
Migration
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4. 5
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"Although they were promised better housing in the North, some families were forced to live in overcrowded and unhealthy quarters."
Jacob Lawrence

5. A Raisin in the Sun was written in the 1950’S
A Raisin in the Sun was written in the 1950’S. What do you know about the 1950’S?
1950's Video

6. Lorraine Hansberry May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965
African American playwright
Also an author of political speeches, letters, and essays

7. Early Life
Youngest of four children of Carl Augustus Hansberry (a wealthy, real estate broker in segregated Chicago) and Nannie Louise Perry
She grew up on the south side of Chicago in the Woodlawn neighborhood.

8. Controversial Move
In 1937, her father purchased a home in the Washington Park Subdivision an all-white neighborhood, where they faced racial discrimination
Washington Park had a restrictive covenant that said no black person could live in or own a home in the subdivision
Washington Park fought Hansberry and they went to court in 1937

9. Supreme Court case of Hansberry versus Lee
Hansberry's father engaged in a legal battle against a racially restrictive covenant that attempted to prohibit African-American families from buying homes in the area.
Though victors in the Supreme Court, Hansberry's family was subjected to what Hansberry would later describe as a "hellishly hostile white neighborhood."
This experience later inspired her to write her most famous work, A Raisin in the Sun.

10. “Hansberry Decision Opens 500 New Homes to Race” The Chicago Defender Saturday, November 16, 1940

11. Later Hansberry
Finding college to be uninspiring, Hansberry left in 1950 to pursue her career as a writer in New York City.
She worked on the staff of a Black newspaper called Freedom. It was at this time she wrote A Raisin in the Sun.

12. The Play Opened on Broadway on March 11, 1959
Cast includes Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, and Ruby Dee
The New York Drama Critics name it the Best American Play of 1959
Ran for nearly 2 years on Broadway
Made into a film starring most of the Broadway cast in 1961

13. Basics of the Play
The story is based upon her family's own experiences growing up in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood.
A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway, as well as the first play with a black director (Lloyd Richards) on Broadway

14. Importance of the Play
A Raisin in the Sun can be considered a turning point in American art and drama because it addresses so many issues important during the 1950s in the United States
Hansberry creates in the Younger family one of the first honest depictions of a black family on an American stage

15. …Importance of Play Broaches important issues and conflicts,
such as poverty,
discrimination,
and the
construction of
African-American
racial identity

16. Themes to Look For Dreams Money Family Women’s Rights
Racial Tensions and Discrimination
Assimilation
Cultural Heritage
Self-Identity and Self-Expression

17. Symbols
Definition: Some reoccurring image that stands for an idea beyond itself
Be out on the lookout for symbols throughout the play!

18. Big Questions
To what extent do our dreams define who were are? When is it OK or right to “defer” our dreams?
How and where did racism occur after slavery and segregation? Where does it exist today?
What about sexism?
What does one need in order to find self-identity? To “know thyself?”