A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry 1959

Time Period • The play directed addressed the issue of segregated neighborhoods in Chicago during the 1950s • In 1954, Brown vs. Board of Education was tried and found the “separate but equal” was against the law • By the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement was fully under way

Literature and Arts • The 1950s were considered a repressed decade, but by 1959, the definition of obscenity changed • The Miracle Worker and The Sound of Music were popular during this time

Life during the 1950s • Was thought of a time of prosperity, but 30% of families still lived at or under the poverty line. • Auto makers began creating compact cars and computers were being developed. • Television was popular in most homes • The Barbie was created in 1959

Lorraine Hansberry • Born in Chicago in 1930 • Youngest of four children • Father was a successful real estate agent and she grew up middle class which was rare • She studied drama at the University of Wisconsin and painting at the Art Institute of Chicago

Hansberry cont. • Moved to New York in 1950 and supported herself with odd jobs while she continued to write • Raisin debuted on Broadway in 1959, and it was the first play by a black woman produced in a Broadway theatre. • Hansberry died at the age of 35 after a brief battle with cancer

The Play • It was originally titled The Crystal Stair, also a line from a Langston Hughes poem • It originally opened in New Haven, Connecticut, because it did not have the funding to open in New York, but it quickly made it to Broadway and ran for 530 performances, received a New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and, eventually, a Tony.

Play cont. • It received positive criticism for being a “realistic” play that allowed the characters to come across as genuine and understood by audiences, who were generally white. • While Hansberry does address social issues of the time, she chooses to do it in a subtle way that allows the audience to be persuaded to consider the negative effects of racism

Characters • Lena “Mama” Younger • Mother of the family • Is receiving a $10,000 insurance check for the death of her husband • Woman of strong conviction who loves her family

Walter Lee Younger • Oldest child • Works as a chauffer, but he hates his position in life and wants to improve it • Wants to use the inheritance money to buy a liquor store

Ruth Younger • Married to Walter Lee • She loves her husband, but she is strained by the stress of being poor • She wants to support Walter’s dreams, but she doesn’t know how

Beneatha Younger • Walter’s younger sister • Going to college to be a doctor • Struggling to find her identity as an adult, but is only treated as a child when it comes to family decisions

Themes • The effects of stereotyping and prejudice • What happens to a person when their dreams are deffered? • The conflict between expectations and reality • The strength of family

A Raisin in the Sun