Introduction to Lorraine Hansberry’s

A Raisin in the Sun

Social Background

Published in 1959, four years after Rosa Parks’ was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a bus, sparking the Civil Rights Movement, Hansberry’s play illustrates black America’s struggle to gain equal access to opportunity and expression of cultural identity.

Martin Luther King, Jr.Civil-Rights Leader

1929-1968

I have a dream… a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all

men are created equal.’                                                                       

Sentiments in A Raisin… will be echoed by MLK in later speeches, marches, and rallies

Cont’d dreams represented in the play and later echoed by King

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream…where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

In 1956, King leads a boycott of the bus laws.

In 1954, the Supreme Court found in favor of the plaintiffs in the Brown v. The Board of Education case. However, the segregation of schools didn’t begin to take effect until 1957. Moreover, the case’s decision did not abolish segregation in other public areas, such as restaurants and restrooms.

Hansberry’s Background

1930-1965

A Raisin…is the 1st play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway

Other Works:

WHAT USE ARE FLOWERS? THE MOVEMENT: DOCUMENTARY

OF A STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY, THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN'

WINDOWTO BE YOUNG, GIFTED, AND BLACK:

LES BLANCS: THE COLLECTED LAST PLAYS: The Drinking Gourd / What Use Are Flowers?

A Raisin in the Sun

Setting: Chicago’s south side; after World War II. 1950’s.

List of Main Characters

Walter Lee Younger 

Beneatha Younger (Bennie)

Lena Younger (“Mama”)

Ruth Younger Travis

Walter Lee Younger

Walter Lee Younger -  The protagonist of the play. Walter is a dreamer. He wants to be rich and devises plans to acquire wealth with his friends, particularly Willy Harris.

Beneatha Younger

Beneatha Younger (“Bennie”) -  Mama’s daughter and Walter’s sister. Beneatha is an intellectual. Twenty years old, she attends college and is better educated than the rest of the Younger family.

Lena Younger

Lena Younger (“Mama”) -  Walter and Beneatha’s mother. The matriarch of the family, Mama is religious, moral, and maternal. She wants to use her husband’s insurance money as a down payment on a house with a backyard to fulfill her dream for her family to move up in the world.

Ruth Younger

Ruth Younger -  Walter’s wife and Travis’s mother. Ruth takes care of the Youngers’ small apartment. Her marriage to Walter has problems, but she hopes to rekindle their love.

Travis Younger

Travis Younger -  Walter and Ruth’s sheltered young son. Travis earns some money by carrying grocery bags and likes to play outside with other neighborhood children, but he has no bedroom and sleeps on the living-room sofa.

Themes present in ARITS

Manly Pride

Themes present in ARITS

Cultural Pride

Themes present in ARITS

Family Pride

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over– like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?