A Response To Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

I found Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun to be one of the most fascinating stories I have read. There were several characters in this story. All with different perspectives, feelings, and opinions. While reading A Raisin in the Sun I found myself feeling as if I was actually sitting in the living room with the Younger’s listening to them talk to one another. In Hansberry’s story there were a few issues that existed. One of the issues being, the opportunities for home buying in the African American community. In this response paper I would like to focus on the issues the Younger’s faced during the time of making their new home purchase. I also want to discuss what it was like for the typical African American family to buy a home …show more content…
Here you have a family who is cramped inside of a small apartment trying to move into a home were they would have more space. Then you have Karl from the “welcome committee” letting the Youngers know that they are not welcomed because of the color of their skin. I just cannot imagine what the Youngers felt like in that moment. Though A Raisin in the Sun is fictional, during the early 1950s African Americans really did face discrimination within the housing market. According to Charles M. Lamb the author of Housing Segregation in Suburban America since 1960, “Federal public housing policy, long characterized by racial discrimination and segregation, is frequently linked to urban renewal. Until the 1960s, the federal government allowed local housing authorities to practice a “separate but equal” policy with public housing typically assigned on segregated basis. In some metropolitan areas, local housing authorities were responsible for creating racial segregation where it did not exist before. Segregation still persist in public housing in some cities in the United States, although it is not mandated or condoned by public policy” (15). By creating this story Hansberry was shedding light on a real issue that African Americans faced during this time. The most upsetting aspect of the conversation between Karl and the Younger family was that he did not get …show more content…
“The Fair Housing Act of 1968 is the centerpiece of the federal legal arsenal for fighting discrimination in housing. This act prohibits discrimination on ground of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the sale, rental, and financing of housing and in the performance of real estate brokerage services. As the most comprehensive federal fair housing law ever passed, the Fair Housing Act declares fair housing to be official national policy, forbids specific discriminatory practices that prominently contribute to housing segregation” (Lamb 21). After this Act was passed several other Acts were pasted to prevent discrimination in the housing