Daily Almanac for
Jul 25, 2008
Info search tips
Bio search tips

Encyclopedia

Hansberry, Lorraine

Hansberry, Lorraine, 193065, American playwright, b. Chicago. She grew up on Chicago's South Side. In 1959 she became the first black woman to have a play produced on Broadway when A Raisin in the Sun opened to wide critical acclaim. The play dealt in human terms with the serious and comic problems of a black family in modern America. Her next play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (1964) was less successful. Hansberry died of cancer at 35. A collection of her writings, To Be Young, Gifted, and Black, was published in 1969.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

    • Cite
    • Print
    • Bookmark

More on Lorraine Hansberry from Infoplease:

  • A Raisin in the Sun - Starring Sanaa Lathan, John Stamos, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs
  • Sidney Poitier - Poitier, Sidney Poitier, Sidney, 1927–, American actor, b. Miami, raised in the Bahamas, ...
  • Lloyd Richards - Lloyd Richards Age: 87 pioneering force in theater and Broadway's first African American ...
  • May 19 Birthdays: Malcolm X - May 19 birthdays: Malcolm X, Pete Townshend, Nora Ephron, Ho Chi Minh, Johns Hopkins, Lorraine Hansberry, Nancy Astor
  • African-American Literature - Black Books Required reading in African-American literature by Ricco Villanueva Siasoco Who said ...

See more Encyclopedia articles on: American Literature: Biographies