Lorraine

Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine
#10,467
Most Influential Person Across History

African-American playwright and author

Lorraine Hansberry's Academic­Influence.com Rankings

Lorraine Hansberry
Literature
#1618
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Writing
#356
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Why Is Lorraine Hansberry Influential?

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According to Wikipedia, Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was an American 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 in Chicago living under racial segregation. 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 in the 1940 U.S. Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee.

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What Schools Are Affiliated With Lorraine Hansberry?

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