1. “A Raisin in the Sun”
By Lorraine Hansberry

2. Social Background
Published in 1959, four years after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person to a bus, sparking the Civil Rights Movement.
Hansberry’s play illustrates African Americans’ struggle to gain equal access to opportunity and expression of cultural identity.

3. Rosa Parks

4. Social Background
In the 1950’s, African Americans faced discrimination often and racially motivated lynchings, bombings and fires were not uncommon.

5. Social Background
African Americans faced discrimination in housing. White people living in certain neighborhoods all agreed not to sell their homes to African Americans.

6. Social Background
In 1949, New Jersey and Connecticut became the first states to outlaw segregation of public places.
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional.
But that did not mean that states and cities enforced desegregation rulings.

7. Social Background
Because of segregation and discrimination, African Americans often had to work in low-paying jobs. (For example, in the play Walter is a chauffeur and Ruth cleans houses.)
The 1950’s were also a time when African Americans united together to fight for their civil rights.
African Americans were also beginning to find ways to celebrate their unique identity and their African heritage.

8. Sentiments in “A Raisin in the Sun” will be echoed by Martin Luther King in later speeches, marches, and rallies.

9. Continued “Dreams represented in the play and later echoed by King”
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
“I have a dream where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.”

10. In 1956, King leads a boycott of the bus laws.

11. In 1954, the Supreme Court found in favor of the plaintiffs in the Brown v. Board of Education case. However, the de-segregation of schools didn’t begin to take effect until Moreover, the case’s decision did not abolish segregation in other public areas, such as restaurants and restrooms.

12. Lorraine Hansberry’s Background

13. Hansberry:
A “Raisin in the Sun,” is the first play by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway.
Other Works:
What Use Are Flowers?
The Movement: Documentary of a Struggle for Equality
To Be Young, Gifted and Black

14. Themes Present in “A Raisin in the Sun”
Realism v. Idealism
The Value and Purpose of Dreams
The Need to Fight Racial Discrimination
The Importance of Family
The Reality of Achieving “The American Dream”