Lorraine Hansberry Essay, Research Paper

Lorraine Hansberry rejected the restrictions of her race and gender and through her written plants, became a societal militant and expanded the function of a black adult female in America. Lorraine Hansberry wrote many plants that allowed her to explicate her positions. She besides explored these thoughts through dramatists. Lorraine Hansberry was said to be a spearhead of the hereafter. She was a adult female who refused to be confined by the classs of race and gender ( Tripp 3 ) .

Lorraine Hansberry was born in 1930. Both of her parents? were militants disputing favoritism Torahs. Many celebrated black people often visited her place because of her parent & # 8217 ; s authorization ( Tripp 2 ) . Two of these celebrated black Americans that frequently visited Lorraine? s place were Paul Robeson and Langston Hughes. They were her? reflecting visible radiation? so to talk. Particularly when it came clip for her to happen her ain topographic point in the New York literary universe ( Cheney 36 ) . Paul Robeson provided great inspiration for Lorraine? s Hagiographas. On the other manus, Langston Hughes gave her a societal consciousness of her poetic possibilities of her ain race. He besides gave her an grasp of the black American civilization. She had besides learned from Hughes that in malice of obstructions, black people remained a powerful force in America ( Cheney 46-53 ) . Although the Hansberry household was comfortably settled as middle-class economic position, they were still capable to the racial segregation and favoritism feature of the period, and they were most active in opposing it ( Smith 147 ) .

Lorraine? s composing calling was started in the country of magazines. She was composing for Paul Robeson? s Freedom magazine. At this clip, Lorraine would ever state, ? I was born black and female, ? these were the twin individualities that would rule her life and her work. This was her beginning of motive, by reciting this statement to herself and the others around her. Another concern of hers was the human conditions as inkinesss experienced it. She spent much of her life doing an attempt to alter these conditions ( Cheney 140 ; Tripp 2 ) .

Lorraine Hansberry? s foremost drama was named, ? The Crystal Stair. ? It was named after a line in the Langston Hughes verse form, ? Mother to Son. ? Lorraine subsequently changed the rubric of her drama to, ? A Raisin in the Sun. ? This was every bit good taken from one of Langston Hughes? pieces, ? A Dream Deferred? ( Draper 951 ) . Lorraine? s 2nd drama was named? The Sign in Sidney Brustein? s Window. ? This drama ne’er matched the success of her first drama? A Raisin in the Sun. ? This drama did utilize a realistic format that was drawn from her ain life ( Magill, Great Women? 201 ) . Lorraine wrote at least five dramas. All of which revealed the deepness of her concern for the black race and for all of the downtrodden races in America and abroad ( Cheney 52 ) .

Lorraine Hansberry used a realistic manner and had a emphasis on the possibilities for gallantry. This emphasis for gallantry within each of her features had everything to make with the intent that she saw in play ( Magill, Great Women? 200 )

The bulk of Lorraine? s plants were about the black household of her clip. She showed many of import features in each piece. Some of which were the importance of African roots, the equality of adult females, and the exposure of matrimony ( Draper 953 ) .

The drama? The Crystal Stair, ? subsequently changed to? A Raisin in the Sun? , was about a adult male with a supplication for racial tolerance over the incentive society in his clip ( Draper 950 ) . This was simply based on Lorraine? s childhood experiences of the disintegrating of white vicinities. It besides portrayed bondage as unmanageable and wholly the work victimizing establishments designed to work cheaper labour. This drama besides focuses on the job of what a household should make with $ 10,000 that a female parent receives as an insurance payment after the decease of her hubby. Lorraine got the thought for that portion of the drama straight out of her ain place, in the manner that this was the same job Lorraine? s female parent faced at the clip of her hubby? s decease. ( Magill, Gre4at Women? 200 ) . ? Because the drama explores a cosmopolitan theme-the hunt for the freedom and better life- the bulk of its first audience loved the work ( Draper 951 ) . ? ? A Raisin in the Sun? won the award as the Best Play of the Year in the New York Drama Critic? s Circle Award. By winning this award, Lorraine opened the door for coevalss to come of black authors who were encoura

ged by her. She was the first black individual every bit good as the first female to win this award ( Tripp 2 ; Smith 151 ) .

A traveling testament to the strength and endurance of the human spirit, ? A Raisin in the Sun, ? is a quiet jubilation of the black household, the importance of African roots, the equality of adult females, the exposure of matrimony, the true value of money, the endurance of the person, and the nature of a adult male? s dream ( Cheney 53 ) .

Lorraine Hansberry used the success she gained from A Raisin in the Sun as a platform to talk out for the American Civil Rights Movement and for the African battle to liberate itself from white regulation. At this clip? the Whites? did non hold entire control, but felt they were superior to? the inkinesss and other races. ? She helped raise money, gave impassioned addresss, and took portion in panels and interviews to farther causes ( Tripp 3 ) . Lorraine used her success in away that was utile to the society. Alternatively of taking the money she earned from her dramatists and maintaining it for herself and household, she put it towards the Civil Rights Movements. She used her foremost play to do her a public figure and she used her new found celebrity to defend the causes of civil rights and African independency ( Magill, Great Women? 200 ) . Hansberry succeeded in her end, which was in making credible rounded black people. An early interview in the New York Times misquoted her as stating that? A Raisin in the Sun, said? non a Negro drama, ? and that she was a author who? happened to be a Negro. ? This caused much disturbance in the humanistic disciplines and her life until it was cleared as untrue ( Smith 155 ) .

After Lorraine Hansberry wrote her few dramas, she rapidly took on the undertaking of going an articulate interpreter for black Americans in the battles for civil rights. Lorraine was a good vocal critic of racial favoritism. She besides spoke extremely of sexual and category favoritism. These subjects were the footing for most of her dramas and her calling ( Draper 147 ) . As the Civil Rights Movement intensified, she had the demand to assist out with anything she could. Hansberry helped be after fund-raising events to back up organisations such as Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ( SNCC ) . She publically agreed that Negroes should support themselves against terrorist onslaughts when necessary ( Smith 152 ) .

Lorraine ne’er gave up her dedication to her work. She began holding bad wellness jobs. Although her wellness was in rapid diminution, she greeted 19634 as a twelvemonth of glorious work. Despite Hansberry? s trips in and out of the infirmary, she continued with the many undertakings on her authorship agenda ( Smith 153 ) . One newsman noted that, ? The black experience creates a batch of emphasis, and? . A signifier of malignant neoplastic disease can germinate from emotional emphasis of racism. ? This was so to be the state of affairs of Lorraine Hansberry ( Cheney 31 ) . Lorraine struggled to make addresss, but still attempted to stay involved in civil right activities.

Lorraine Hansberry was really much both a black and female militant. In being this manner, she felt she could make anything that a individual with full regard and rights could make. Feeling this manner, Lorraine began to claim her individuality as a sapphic in a missive, to a sapphic periodical, ? The Ladder. ? At the clip of her decease, the fact that she was a tribade was non widely known factor to the populace, every bit good as the fact that she had divorced her hubby ( Tripp 3 ) .

Lorraine Hansberry? s calling was really brief. She died of malignant neoplastic disease at the age of 34 old ages. Merely two of her dramas were produced in her life-time, yet she did enter some really impressive theatrical accomplishments. As mentioned earlier, she was the first black individual, the youngest individual, and the first adult female to win the New York Drama Critics Award which was voted Best Play. Since Hansberry, no author has captured the spectrum, deepnesss, and highs of the black experiences as she did ( Cheney 65 ) .

This bookman feels that Lorraine Hansberry has given each and every one of us a opportunity to make what we fell is best for ourselves. It is a shame that Lorraine Hansberry died at such a immature age because this author feels that she would hold added great hope and self-respect to the universe we live in today. Lorraine Hansberry did non let the limitations of her race and gender to keep her dorsum from going the adult female she wanted to be. Lorraine used these two restrictions to unlock the door for others to follow in her footfalls and farther the ends she helped to set up.