Free Custom «The Life and Achievement of Lorraine Hansberry» Essay Paper

Lorraine Hansberry was born on the 19th of May 1930 in Chicago. She was the daughter of Carl Hansberry and her mother was Nannie Louise Perry. Initially, she grew up in Woodlam, which is located in the southern side of Chicago. Thereafter, her family moved to neighborhood that was all-white, here her family faced a lot of racial segregation and discrimination. Hansberry attended white public schools when she was subjected to racial restrictions, at the same her father was involved in a legal tussle against the racial prohibition which was aimed at preventing African-Americans from acquiring homes in the area. This experience inspired Lorraine to write down her most popular works, A raisin in the sun which is based on her experiences (Molefi 65).In 1950, Lorraine went to college in the University of Wisconsin-Madison; nevertheless, she decided to pursue a writing career in New York City as she found college to be not motivating enough. She attended the new school and later worked with Freedom, a black newspaper. This saw the beginning of her play writing career, a raisin in the sun was Lorraine's first huge success. In addition to being a run away success, this was the first play that was ever written by a woman who was an African American. At only 29 years old, Lorraine was the youngest in the field of American playwright ands this earned her drama critics circle award in New York for best play (Bloom 78).

Thereafter, Lorraine decided to write inspirational articles and essay writing works which were published in the movement a SNCC book. Moreover, she wrote another play entitled the sign in Sidney Brustein's window which was performed 110 times on Broadway. Lorraine's husband was Robert Nemiroff, who facilitated the changes and releases to numerous unfinished articles and plays upon her death in 1965. The unfinished works include; the drinking gourd, to be young, and les Blancs which were focused on issues of racial discrimination, slavery, and the black community's future (Lisbeth 105).