Lorraine Hansberry

To Be Young, Gifted and Black

Lorraine Hansberry was born into the American civil rights struggle in 1930. Her parents, a real estate broker and a schoolteacher, challenged Chicago’s restrictive housing covenants by moving into an all-white neighborhood because they believed that changing an unjust system demanded engagement with the other side. When they moved into an apartment in South Chicago where African Americans were prohibited from living, the Hansberrys fought eviction and became the center of a legal dispute that reached the Supreme Court in 1940.

From To Be Young, Gifted And Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words:

“The things he taught me were great things: that all racism was rotten, white or black, that everything is political; that people tend to be indescribably beautiful and uproariously funny.”

Hansberry left the University of Wisconsin before graduating. She moved to New York City and wrote for Freedom, a magazine overseen by Paul Robeson. In 1952, when Robeson was denied a passport to attend a peace summit in Uruguay, Hansberry attended in his stead.

One year later, while protesting segregation in professional sports, Hansberry met Robert Nemiroff, a Jewish music publisher/songwriter active in social causes. Later that year, on the night before they were married, they demonstrated in support of the Rosenbergs, who were subsequently executed for espionage. Two years later, in 1957, A Raisin in the Sun, her signature work, debuted on Broadway, a first for a female African American playwright.

Hansberry came to embrace her identity as a lesbian during her marriage. She and Nemiroff divorced in 1964 but remained in close collaboration. Hansberry died in 1965. She was 34.

ALSO RECOMMENDED:

A Raisin in the Sun. A groundbreaking play set on Chicago’s South Side about the hopes and dreams of the Younger family and the tensions and prejudice they face.

Maple Whiskey & Cranberry

In the essay “The Human Race Concerns Me,” Hansberry writes: “Would like to be with a company of friends…But I am alone. Spice, scotch and me…”

2 oz. maple flavored whiskey

1/2 oz. club soda

2 dashes cranberry bitters

Maraschino cherry (optional)

Pour whiskey and bitters into a cocktail glass. Stir and top off with club soda. Add cherry for garnish. Serves 1.