1. A Raisin in the Sun
Introduction

2. Sanya Richards Nike Ad ~A Dream Deferred~ (2008)
Watch this clip from a Nike commercial and pay attention to the words used in it.
Sanya Richards Nike Ad ~A Dream Deferred~ (2008)
The above commercial uses a poem by Langston Hughes entitled “Harlem”

3. “A Raisin in the Sun”
Lorraine Hansberry took the title of A Raisin in the Sun from a line in Langston Hughes's famous 1951 poem “Harlem.” Hughes was a prominent black poet during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance in New York City, during which black artists of all kinds—musicians, poets, writers—gave innovative voices to their personal and cultural experiences. The Harlem Renaissance was a time of immense promise and hopefulness for black artists, as their efforts were noticed and applauded across the United States.
Langston Hughes was one of the brightest lights of the Harlem Renaissance, and his poems and essays celebrate black culture, creativity, and strength. However, Hughes wrote “Harlem” in 1951, twenty years after the Great Depression crushed the Harlem Renaissance and devastated black communities more terribly than any other group in the United States.

4. Harlem by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore –
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over –
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

5. “Harlem” questions What is Hughes’ message about dreams deferred?
How do “dreams deferred” relate to the American dream?

6. “Let America Be America Again”
Read another poem by Langston Hughes entitled “Let America Be America Again” and then answer the following questions:
According to stanza 1, what does the poet want?
Who are the dreamers in this poem?
What is the dream?
What specific things have interfered with the dream?
Which lines in the “America” poem compare to the poem “Harlem”?
Hand out the poem

7. “I Have A Dream”
Listen to Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech
Pass out a copy of the speech so that the students can follow along

8. Making Connections
After reading Langston Hughes’ poems about dreams and listening to Martin Luther King’s speech, predict what you think the play A Raisin in the Sun will be about. Write at least a paragraph.