Profile via TMDB · Courtesy of TMDB
Lorraine Hansberry
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1930
- Died
- 1965
- Works
- 32
Top works
- Prentice Hall Literature -- Platinum
- Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--Gold Level
- Prentice Hall Literature
- Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--Gold
- Prentice Hall Literature--Florida--Language and Literacy
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Lorraine Hansberry was born May 19, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois. Her family challenged legal segregation, giving rise to the Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee. This might have inspired Hansberry to accomplish a first: The opening of A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway on March 11, 1959, which was adapted to screenplay form for two feature films. No black female author had done the former before. The…
Known for
- Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes / Feeling Heart — Self (archive footage)2017
- Black Theatre: The Making of a Movement — Self (Archive Footage)1978
- The David Susskind Show — Self1959
via TMDB
Key facts
- Born
- Lorraine Vivian Hansberry , ( 1930-05-19 ) May 19, 1930, Chicago, Illinois , U.S.
- Died
- January 12, 1965 (1965-01-12) (aged 34), New York City, New York, U.S.
- Education
- University of Wisconsin–Madison , The New School
- Occupations
- Playwright, writer, stage director
- Notable work
- A Raisin in the Sun
- Spouse
- Robert B. Nemiroff ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1953 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 1962 )
- Father
- Carl Augustus Hansberry
- Relatives
- Shauneille Perry (first cousin) William Leo Hansberry (uncle)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Lorraine
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Chicago
- Place of death
- New York City
- Occupation
- activist
- Political party
- Democratic Party (United States)
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Religion
- atheism
- Notable work
- A Raisin in the Sun
- Image
- "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window", by Lorraine Hansberry (cropped).tif
Show 10 more facts
- cause of death
- pancreatic cancer
- date of birth
- 1930-05-19
- date of death
- 1965-01-12
- manner of death
- natural causes
- ethnic group
- African Americans
- sexual orientation
- lesbianism
- birth name
- Lorraine Vivian Hansberry
- Commons category
- Lorraine Hansberry
- nominated for
- Tony Award for Best Play
Sources (9)
via Wikidata · CC0
~25 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was an American playwright and civil rights activist. She was the first Black American female author to have a play performed on Broadway.
Hansberry's 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. At the age of 29, Hansberry won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, making her the first Black American dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so. Her family challenged a restrictive covenant in the 1940 U.S. Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Lorraine Hansberry” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.