Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry: “Most Promising Playwright” Lorraine Hansberry was the first African-American woman to have a play produced on Broadway. She dedicated her life to pursuing racial and sexual equality in the United States. Hansberry was born into a middle-class family on the south side of Chicago in 1930. She recalled her childhood as a happy one: “The insulation of life within the Southside ghetto, of what must have easily been half a million people, protected me …

…a preview of the African-American spirit that engulfed the nation in the historic changes of the Civil Rights Movement. Her writing foresaw feminism, the Gay Liberation Movement and the demise of colonialism. She was a spearhead of the future, a woman who refused to be confined by the categories of race and gender. Lorraine Hansberry was a very important female playwright who broke many barriers in theatre. She lived a very achieving, but short life.