English I

 May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965  African American playwright  Also an author of political speeches, letters, and essays

 Youngest of four children of Carl Augustus Hansberry (a prominent real estate broker) and Nannie Louise Perry  She grew up on the south side of Chicago in the Woodlawn neighborhood.

 The family then moved into an all-white neighborhood, where they faced racial discrimination  Segregation in Chicago was not forced; but racial tensions naturally divided the city

 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.

 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.

 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

 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

 She uses black vernacular throughout the play  Broaches important issues and conflicts, such as poverty, discrimination, and the construction of African-American racial identity

 Dreams  Money  Family  Women’s Rights  Racial Tensions and Discrimination  Assimilation  Cultural Heritage  Self-Identity and Self-Expression

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

 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?”

To trace two themes throughout the play, from a) introduction to b) development to c) ending statement To recognize how Hansberry successfully uses the vernacular in a powerful and poetic manner