A Little Known Black History Fact

On this day in black history in 1959, the first play written by a woman of color premiered on Broadway. A Raisin in the Sun was the story of a black family living in a time of racial segregation in a large American city, in this case Chicago.  Lorraine Hansberry, the author, knew what it was like to grow up in an atmosphere of racism and segregation, as her family, in an attempt to move into a ‘better’ neighborhood, came up against a ‘racially restrictive covenant’ which stated that  people of color could not purchase or lease land in that community. The Hansberrys had challenged the restrictive covenant which led to the Supreme Court case of Hansberry v Lee. 

The name of the play came from a poem by author Langston Hughes in which he wrote: "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" (Wikipedia)

On March 11, 1959, A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway.

 

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Lorraine Hansberry. Retrieved March 11, 2014, from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorraine_Hansberry