1. Lorraine Hansberry (May 19, 1930 - January 12, 1965) By Danielle Hart

2. United States (American) NationalityNationality She was a playwright and an author. She also campaigned and fought for racial justice and equality. OccupationOccupation Lorraine Hansberry died on January 12 th 1965 DiedDied Hansberry was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 19 th 1930 Born Born

3. Lorraine was born in Chicago, Illinois She was the youngest of four children of Carl Augustus Hansberry and Nannie Louise Perry She grew up in the Woodlawn area in Chicago When Lorraine was a little older the family moved into an all- white neighbourhood where they faced racial discrimination Lorraine there attended an “all-white” public school and her parents fought against segregation there Lorraine noticed how segregated and racially discriminative the neighbourhood she was living in was and this is reflected in her most famous work, ‘A Raisin in The Sun’

4. Hansberry attended The University of Wisconsin- Madison. In 1950 she left the university because she felt it was uninspiring and wanted to make the best she could of her future. When she left, she started to pursue her career as a writer, and began working on the staff of Freedom, a black newspaper in New York. She wrote her world famous play ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ whilst working for Freedom.

5. A Raisin in the Sun was the first African-American play to be shown on Broadway. It received the New York Drama Critics Award. Receiving this award made her the youngest and first African-American to receive it.

6. A Raisin in the Sun (1959). A Raisin in the Sun (film), screenplay (1961). A Raisin in the Sun (film), produced (2008). On Summer (Essay). The Movement: Documentary of a Struggle for equality (1964). The Sign in Sydney Brustein’s Window (1965). To be Young, Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her own Words (1969). Les Blancs: The Collected Last Plays/ by Loraine Hansberry, edited by Robert Nemiroff. Photo from A Raisin in the Sun (play)

7. Her grand-niece is actress Taye Hansberry. Lincoln’s University’s freshman female dormitory is named Lorraine Hansberry Hall. In San Francisco, The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre was opened which specialises in staging African-American plays and is named in her honour. When Hansberry died, she left behind an unfinished novel and three unfinished plays. Nina Simone was a close friend of Loraine Hansberry and as she was a singer and pianist, she wrote a song called “To be Young, Gifted and Black” together with Weldon Irvine. The single reached the Top 10 of the R&B chart.

8. Lorraine Hansberry died on January 12 th 1965, of pancreatic cancer, aged only 34

9. I hope that I have told you everything you’d like to know about Lorraine Hansberry!!!