Fascinating facts about Lorraine Hansberry

The playwright best known for A Raisin in the Sun only lived to age 34

It’s hard to believe that Lorraine Hansberry (1930 – 1965) has been gone for more than sixty years. This American playwright and author was best known for the now-classic drama A Raisin in the Sun (1959). And it’s incredible to consider all that she accomplished, given that she passed away months before her thirty-fifth birthday. Today’s Literary Ladies Lite Sunday edition is a homage to her brief, blazing life.

Someone here on Substack suggested that becoming a member of PBS is a fitting response to its funding being cut — a great idea. PBS offers such a wealth of programming, including an episode on Lorraine in the series American Masters. You can watch the trailer here. I just watched this wonderful documentary about Janis Ian. And with my nerd crush on Henry Louis Gates, Jr., I have never missed an episode of finding your roots. It’s such a small and worthy investment.

On my end, I’m wondering if July will ever end, and if I’ll ever finish the 3rd draft of my current manuscript, Women Writing Dangerously. Actually, I’m going to make a valiant effort to finish it by the end of this week. Then, I can take a breather before tackling the last two drafts, which are mostly about nit-picking and perfectionism. Here’s progress report #8 in my notes, in which I name-check A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I came to this book late in my reading life, and love it more on each re-read.

And now, back to Lorraine Hansberry

Though A Raisin in the Sun is the crown jewel in Hansberry's legacy, she was also known for the plays The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window and Les Blancs.

To Be Young, Gifted and Black was a posthumously produced play and collection of writings that capped a brief and brilliant career. When she died of pancreatic cancer in 1965, she was only thirty-four years old.

These fast facts illuminate her development as an activist and writer. This post was created with the assistance of one of my university interns, Norma Brickner.

Lorraine Hansberry was first Black woman to have a play staged on Broadway

A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway. By the age of twenty-nine, Lorraine became the youngest American and the first Black playwright to win the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play.