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Lorraine Hansberry
(1930-1965)
American playwright and journalist
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Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best known work, the play A Raisin in the Sun, highlights the lives of Black Americans living under racial segregation in Chicago. The title of the play was taken from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" At the age of 29, she won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award — making her the first African-American dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so. Hansberry's family had struggled against segregation, challenging a restrictive covenant and eventually provoking the 1940 Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee.

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Born Lorraine Vivian Hansberry
19 May 1930
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Died
12 January 1965 (aged 34)
New York, New York, USA
Zodiac Taurus
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  • William Leo Hansberry
    William Leo Hansberry · Uncle · 1894-1965 · American historian edit info
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  • Shauneille Perry
    Shauneille Perry · Cousin · 1929-2022 · American stage director and playwright edit info
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  • Lisa Simone Kelly
    Lisa Simone Kelly · Goddaughter · 1962- · American actor and singer edit info
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  • William Leo Hansberry
    William Leo Hansberry · Uncle · 1894-1965 · American historian edit info
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  • Shauneille Perry
    Shauneille Perry · Cousin · 1929-2022 · American stage director and playwright edit info
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  • Lisa Simone Kelly
    Lisa Simone Kelly · Goddaughter · 1962- · American actor and singer edit info
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