Lorraine Hansberry, African American playwright and writer, was the first African American woman to have a play produced on Broadway. Lorraine Hansberry completed her first play in 1957, which opened in March of 1959, taking her title from Langston Hughes ' poem, "Harlem” and that play was A Raisin in the Sun. Lorraine Hansberry was a great playwright that lived a short life. Hansberry died at the age of 34 but her work lived on. A Raisin in the Sun put Hansberry in the ranks of being a great playwright because it made a controversial statement about American society and culture before it was politically popular to question norms. Also, the play was groundbreaking in establishing black theatre as a part of the universal American culture.(umich.edu)
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Michelle Gordon is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Southern California. Her critical study is titled “Somewhat Like War: The Aesthetics of Segregation, Black Liberation, and A Raisin in the Sun”. The critical study includes a variety of topics that she thought were important to discuss. Gordon’s critical study starts with the controversial Supreme Court case Hansberry vs. Lee which involved “an injunction against the Hansberrys, on the grounds that blacks could not legally occupy any residence in any neighborhood covered by a race restrictive covenant.”(Gordon 121) Chicago’s housing segregation and the racism surrounding it is acknowledged early. Hansberry firsthand experience with urban segregation in Chicago assisted her with creating A Raisin in the Sun as stated before. Gordon believes that Hansberry’s exposure to urban segregation has “shaped her thoughts, actions, self-consciousness, radical politics, and revolutionary art.” Gordon states, “A Raisin in the Sun (1959) directly engages segregation struggles in Chicago as a penultimate symbol of black oppression and resistance. In doing so, Hansberry brought local, individual struggles of African Americans- against segregation, ghettoization, and capitalist exploitation- to the national stage.” (Gordon 121-122) Gordon explains how Hansberry “dramatized Chicago’s white supremacist social order, and exposes its connections to the Jim …show more content…
Brown. Lloyd W. Brown is an American author, writer, and literary critic. Brown’s critical study is titled “Lorraine Hansberry as Ironist”. His critical study includes discussing the ironic structure of the American dream, the controversial ending to the play, the ironic structure of integration, and how the Younger family’s socioeconomic problem will not be solved. Brown sees Hansberry as an ironist and he explains how she was an ironist throughout his critical study. Some critics see Hansberry 's work in A Raisin in the Sun as a form of social protest while other critics see her work as a pro-integrationist manifesto. Brown believes that the title of the play has an ironic context which is crucial to an understanding of the play’s themes and design. (Brown 239) The ironic context of the title of Hansberry play is based on “an acceptance of the dream ideal-spiritual and material fulfillment in America- and, simultaneously, on a realistic recognition of those whose dreams, or hopes, have dried up.” (Brown 240) Brown does not think that Hansberry reject integration or the economic and moral promise of the American dream but Hansberry always looked at reality keeping in mind the corruption in the United States. Until a critic understands the fundamental strategy that Hansberry employed throughout her play, he will not accept the ironic nuances in the play as dramatic insights, and he will see it as unintentional
Michelle Gordon is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Southern California. Her critical study is titled “Somewhat Like War: The Aesthetics of Segregation, Black Liberation, and A Raisin in the Sun”. The critical study includes a variety of topics that she thought were important to discuss. Gordon’s critical study starts with the controversial Supreme Court case Hansberry vs. Lee which involved “an injunction against the Hansberrys, on the grounds that blacks could not legally occupy any residence in any neighborhood covered by a race restrictive covenant.”(Gordon 121) Chicago’s housing segregation and the racism surrounding it is acknowledged early. Hansberry firsthand experience with urban segregation in Chicago assisted her with creating A Raisin in the Sun as stated before. Gordon believes that Hansberry’s exposure to urban segregation has “shaped her thoughts, actions, self-consciousness, radical politics, and revolutionary art.” Gordon states, “A Raisin in the Sun (1959) directly engages segregation struggles in Chicago as a penultimate symbol of black oppression and resistance. In doing so, Hansberry brought local, individual struggles of African Americans- against segregation, ghettoization, and capitalist exploitation- to the national stage.” (Gordon 121-122) Gordon explains how Hansberry “dramatized Chicago’s white supremacist social order, and exposes its connections to the Jim …show more content…
Brown. Lloyd W. Brown is an American author, writer, and literary critic. Brown’s critical study is titled “Lorraine Hansberry as Ironist”. His critical study includes discussing the ironic structure of the American dream, the controversial ending to the play, the ironic structure of integration, and how the Younger family’s socioeconomic problem will not be solved. Brown sees Hansberry as an ironist and he explains how she was an ironist throughout his critical study. Some critics see Hansberry 's work in A Raisin in the Sun as a form of social protest while other critics see her work as a pro-integrationist manifesto. Brown believes that the title of the play has an ironic context which is crucial to an understanding of the play’s themes and design. (Brown 239) The ironic context of the title of Hansberry play is based on “an acceptance of the dream ideal-spiritual and material fulfillment in America- and, simultaneously, on a realistic recognition of those whose dreams, or hopes, have dried up.” (Brown 240) Brown does not think that Hansberry reject integration or the economic and moral promise of the American dream but Hansberry always looked at reality keeping in mind the corruption in the United States. Until a critic understands the fundamental strategy that Hansberry employed throughout her play, he will not accept the ironic nuances in the play as dramatic insights, and he will see it as unintentional