Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

The playwright, Lorraine Hansberry, wrote many plays, but her most notable play was A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry won several awards for this play, and she achieved the honor of being the first African American woman to have her play produced on Broadway. The play emphasizes the theme of a family struggling to achieve their indiviual dreams while living in an era of extreme racial and gender oppression (Liukkonen). Living through the four major decades characterized by the fight for civil rights, Hansberry lived in the same culturally hostile enviroment as her characters. In the 1930s, the entire country was experiencing the Great Depression. Although some steps toward equality had already been proposed, senators were distracted with developing solutions for mass unemployment and hunger. The Great Depression hit the African Americans hardest because many of these programs, although meant to be equal opprotunity, were not forced to include minorities. The 1940s and 1950s were characterized by the power struggle between Northern and Southern Democrats. Northern Democrats constantly attempted …show more content…
Lorraine Hansberry was born, on May 19, 1930, into a time period where African Americans, especially women, were pushing for change. Hansberry's parents were actively involved in the fight for social change. Although one of her brothers served in a segregated unit in World War II, another brother, motivated by segregation and discrimination, decided to refuse his draft call. An example of her families determination is their move to a all-white neighborhood in 1938. Despite violent protests, the Hansberrys refused to move until a court ordered them to do so. When appealed all the way to the supreme court, in a case named Hansberry v. Lee, the restrictive covenants were ruled illegal (Lewis). The influence of her family and surroundings played a big role in Hansberry's