INDEX

Please note that page numbers are not accurate for the e-book edition.

NOTE: LH refers to Lorraine Hansberry; RN to Robert Nemiroff; Raisin to A Raisin in the Sun; and Sign to The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window

“Abide with Me” (hymn), 191

Abioseh (character in Les Blancs), 141–43

activism, radical: and activities in Harlem, 47–48, 50–52; and armed struggle, 142, 168–71; Black nationalist vision, 2, 44, 161–62; and the Daughters of Bilitis, 80–81; early exposure to, 4, 19, 24; emphasis on direct action, 89, 160; fiction reflecting, 54, 57; and fight against cancer, 193; and friendship with Simone, 117, 129–30; the Inter-American Peace Conference, 57–59; at 1963 AAF forum, 171–73; at 1963 RFK meeting, 163–65; O’Casey’s revolutionaries, 30; as response to despair, nihilism, 180; support for Wallace, 34. See also anticolonial internationalism; Baldwin, James Arthur; communism; Du Bois, W. E. B.; feminism

Actors Studio, New York, 118

aesthetics, personal, 31, 95, 119, 130. See also beauty; nature; writing craft

African independence movements. See anticolonial internationalism

Airlift Africa, 1960, 152–53

Ajijic, Mexico: changes since the 1950s, 200; poetry written at, 38–40; summer art program, LH at, 35–38

Algren, Nelson, 110

All the Dark and Beautiful Warriors (Hansberry), 124

Alton (character in Sign): experience of racism, injustice, 146–47; mocking of romanticism, 175

ambition, 32, 119, 135

The Amen Corner (Baldwin), 120

American Labor Party, 50

American Negro Exposition, 18

American Negro Theater, 53

American Student Movement, 46–47

Andrea (character in “Renascence”), mourning of lover by, 194

anger, rage, 3, 14–15, 59, 68, 154, 162–165, 190, 192. See also activism, radical

“Annie” (Hansberry), 77

Another Country (Baldwin): comparison with Sign, 128–29; controversies caused by, 128, 187; exploration of intimacy and grief in, 128; letter to LH about, 127

“The Anticipation of Eve” (Hansberry), 84–87

anticolonial internationalism: and apartheid, 67; Beneatha Younger’s interest in, 140; and the Inter-American Peace Conference, 57–59; and the joy of freedom, in Raisin, 140; LH’s commitment to, 48, 150, 196; Malcolm X’s commitment to, 196; ongoing support for African independence movements, 152–57; in SNCC, 168; and uprisings in Latin America, 58, 65, 157; and worldwide ghettoization, 22

Antoine (character in 400 Blows), LH’s love for, 96

Árbenz de Guzmán, Jacobo, 65

“Arnold” (Hansberry), 75–76

The Arrival of Mr. Todog (Hansberry), 180

art, as political, 47, 52, 161. See also social criticism; writing craft

assimilationist politics: Bunche as symbol of, 154, 159, 161, 202; and criticisms of Raisin, 112–13; LH’s rejection of, 122–23, 179, 202; and the popularity of Raisin, 100

Association of Artists for Freedom (AAF), 170–72

Atkinson, Brooks, 107

Attie, David, 102–3

Avon Books, 73–74

Bachrach, Marion, 193

Baker, Ella, 197

Baldwin, David, 136

Baldwin, David, Jr., 163

Baldwin, James Arthur (Jimmy): and the AAF, 171; on art in the struggle for liberation, 16; on Wright, 123; basis for friendship with, 118–19, 127; critique of Gide, 129; critique of Wright, 124–25; descriptions, memories of LH, 117, 119, 121, 150, 162–63; echoes of Les Blancs, 143; father, David, 136; on impact of Raisin on Black audiences, 100; on LH as a martyr, 187–88, 196; LH’s admiration for, 117–18; “Liberalism and the Negro” roundtable, 122–23; literary give-and-take with LH, 120, 123–27; loneliness, 134; message read at LH’s funeral, 192; and Nation of Islam, 159–60; at 1963 RFK meeting, 162–63; personality, similarities to LH, 127–28; politics, 125; post-movement life, death, 135; questioning of American Christianity, 126; recounting of LH at 1963 meeting with RFK, 162–64; respect for LH’s intellect and character, 119. See also specific works by Baldwin

Baltimore Afro-American, 47

Bandele Matoseh (character in “Metamorphasis”), exploration of politics of, 156–57

Baraka, Amiri (LeRoi Jones), 101, 111–12, 171

Barnes, Essie, 185

Beat writers, hipsters, views on, 109–10

beauty: in Ajijic, 36; Black, LH’s appreciation for, 54; Camp Unity, 68–69; Croton-on-Hudson home, 176–78; female, LH’s appreciation for, 87–88; importance in the Emily Jones writings, 87; Millay’s “Renascence” as meditation on, 195; natural, as solace and rebirth, 2–3, 38, 52, 68–69, 82, 86–87, 130, 176, 194

Beckett, Samuel, 180

“begging,” in Black vernacular, 120

Beier, JoAnn, 27–29, 33, 40

Belafonte, Harry, 53, 163

Belgian Congo, 51–52, 153. See also colonialism, imperialism; Lumumba, Patrice

“The Belgian Congo: A Preliminary Report on Its Land, Its History and Its Peoples” (Hansberry), 51–52

Belvin, Shawn, 184–85

Bendiner, Elmer, 57

Beneatha Younger (character in Raisin): ambitions, 97, 139; Cruse’s questioning verisimilitude of, 113–14; as self–portrait, 126

Bennett, Gwendolyn, 51

Bergman, Ingrid, 40

Berry, Edwin, 163

Betsy Ross Elementary, Chicago, 20

Bigger Thomas (character in Native Son): Baldwin’s critique, 124–25; Raisin as answer to, 124; as result of racism, 20

A Big White Fog (Ward), 139

Birmingham, Alabama, 167

Black Americans: beauty of, 54; housing discrimination, 9, 12–13, 17, 27; humanity and strength, LH’s sensitive depictions of, 76–77; 105, 124–25, 149, 154, 160; and mother wisdom, 138–39; perceptions of white Americans, 100–11; realities faced by, LH’s portrayals, 14, 105, 151, 160; stereotyping, 132; as survivors, 89, 105; working class, admiration for, 3–4, 19, 23. See also the ghetto; specific characters and writings

“Blackbird” (Simone), 134

Black elites. See Black middle class

Black Left: criticisms of Raisin, 102, 111–13

“Black Magic” (song), as LH’s favorite song in high school, 20–21

Black masses, and LH’s Black “man of the people,” 157

Black Metropolis (WPA Negro in Illinois publication), 104, 139

Black middle class: and acceptance by whites, 103–4, 159; Carl Hansberry’s business success, 9, 11; and Carl Hansberry’s activism, 17; and the civil rights movement, 167; and criticisms of Raisin, 104, 112–13; expectations for women, 26, 90; ghettoization of, 104, 113; LH’s experience of, 9, 11, 24; and life insurance, 113; “success of,” as excuse for inaction, 161

Black radical traditions: and the Black Power movement, 197; calls for radical militancy, 170–73; and efforts to work within the system, 17, 170; LH’s writings as reflection of, 14, 24–25, 100–10, 154–55, 158–59, 174; and LH’s views on need for militancy, 170–73; “Pirate Jenny,” Simone’s version, 133; and “radical” as term of praise, 150; separation from mainstream Black politics, 66–67; and the slowness of progress toward liberation, 187–88. See also activism, radical; Du Bois, W. E. B.; liberation

Black Renaissance, 17–18

“The Black Revolution and the White Backlash” forum (AAF), 171–73

The Blacks (Genet), LH’s response to, 110

Black vernacular: “begging,” 120; “down home” talk, 121–22; “little girl,” 185; “Mr. Charlie,” 126, “Sweet Lorraine,” 119, 121

Black writers, artists: American Negro Theater, 53; special challenges faced by, 100, 106–7, 111, 117; and today’s Broadway theater, 200. See also racism; specific writers/ artists

Bleeker Street apartment, 94

Blues for Mr. Charlie (Baldwin), 126

Bontemps, Arna, 178

Bradley, Omar, 32

Brandeis University, Martin Weiner Distinguished Lecture, 107–8, 110

Brecht, Bertolt, 108, 132–33

brilliance, genius, LH’s, 96, 118, 121, 137, 180, 192

Brooks, Gwendolyn: and Black women’s writing tradition, 88; influence on LH, 44; “Kitchenette Building,” 44, 98; “Negro in Illinois” WPA project, 18

Brown v. Board of Education, 65–67, 168

Buck, Pearl, 21

Bunche, Ralph: dismissal of protests following Lumumba assassination, 154; interest in among Ghanaians, 48; as symbol of assimilationist politics, 154, 159, 161, 202

Burgum, Edwin, 82

Burnham, Louis, 46–47. See also Freedom (newspaper)

Butterlin, Ernesto (Linares), 37–38

Callender, Eugene, 195

Camp Unity, Wingdale, NY, 68–69

cancer, pancreatic cancer: activist view of, 193; LH diagnosis and treatments, 177–78; LH’s death from, 186–87

Cane (Toomer), 89

capitalism: Brecht’s rejection of, 132–33; Chicago as reflection of, 36; debates about during LH’s youth, 21; LH’s experience and rejection of, 49, 56, 138, 150, 153, 159. See also Hansberry family

Cayton, Horace, 18–19

Cha, Theresa (Sappho), 79

Chakamoi, Oyil, 159

Chaney, James, 173

“Chanson Du Konallis” (Hansberry), 88–90

Charlie (character in Les Blancs), as white liberal, 142

Chicago, Illinois: American Negro Exposition, 18; arts scene in the 1930s, 17–21; Black press in, 17–18; Hansberry home in, 201; housing discrimination in, 9, 12; LH’s birth in, 9; LH’s returns to, reflections on, 45, 69, 74; segregation in, 201; tryouts for Raisin in, 97. See also childhood, LH’s; Hansberry family; South Side, Chicago

childhood, LH’s: admiration for working-class children, 3, 19, 23, 61; cultural experiences, 17–19; elementary and high school, 20; intellectual home environment, 4, 10–11, 19, 66, 214; leadership activities, 19; Mother, May I game, 10–11; political debates, 21–22; shame experienced during, 11, 24; teenaged heroes and preferences, 20–21; trauma and violence experienced during, 12–14

Childress, Alice: at Camp Unity, 68; friendship with LH in Harlem, 53; production of plays written by, 72–73

Childress, Alvin, 53

“Chitterling Heights,” Croton-on-Hudson, New York, 175, 203–4

Christianity, American, Baldwin’s questioning of, 126

Church of the Master, New York, 190–91

“Cindy, Oh Cindy” (Nemiroff and D’Lugoff), 74

Civil Rights Act of 1964, John Kennedy’s proposal for, 165

civil rights movement: and Brown v. Board of Education, 65, 168; JFK’s views, 165; LH’s critique of, 179; as long-term, messy struggle, 174; portrayal of, in Raisin, 102; and questioning of nonviolence, 142, 168–69. See also activism, radical

Clark, Kenneth, 163–64

Cohen, Edythe: letters from LH, as source material, 41; LH letter to, about passion for racial justice, 49; LH letter to, mentioning coming marriage, 60

Colbert, Sonya, 7

college education: Beneatha’s ambitions for, 113–14, 124; as expected within the Hansberry family, 9; Navy Pier campus of the University of Illinois, 113–14; New School for Social Research, 43. See also University of Wisconsin

colonialism, imperialism: Freedom’s focus on, 47; and LH’s activism against, 66, 150–51; and LH’s global perspective, 22, 24–25, 65–67

“Come Ye Disconsolate” (hymn), 196

Commentary magazine, “Liberalism and the Negro” roundtable, 122

Committee for the Negro in the Arts, 47

communism: Camp Unity, 68; Ellison’s distancing self from, 55–56; and the execution of the Rosenbergs, 63–64; LH’s attraction, commitment to, 32, 47, 49, 52; and the 1930s Chicago art scene, 18, 21; youthful debates about, 22, 32–33, 42. See also Community Party; Inter-American Peace Conference; Robeson, Paul

Communist Party: Burnham’s affiliations with, 46–47; Foley Square Trial treason trial, 34–35; Ray Hansborough’s membership in, 21; and Jefferson School of Social Science, 51; LH’s retreat from, 68; LH’s support for, 56; and Robeson, 57, 68. See also US State Department

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE): LH’s Croton fund-raiser for, 166–67, 173; shooting of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, 173; “Stall In,” critiques of, 170

Cook, Molly Malone, 91–93

Cordero, Ana Livia, 155–56

Cottom, Cornelia, 182–83

courage, fearlessness: depictions of, in Les Blancs; depictions of, in Raisin, 139, 142–44; Du Bois’s, 179; Carl Hansberry’s, 136; LH’s, 127–28, 170, 184. See also activism, radical

The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (Cruse), 113

critical essays on art and politics: on art as illumination, 108; LH’s skill at, 106–7; on liberalism, 172–73; response to responses to Raisin, 107–8, 100, 112–14; support for Baldwin’s work, 119; Provincetown art show opening, 82; views on Ellison, 54, 99, 113; views on Wright, 123–24. See also Freedom (newspaper); specific writings and writers

Croton-on-Hudson, New York: LH’s gravesite, 197, 202–3; LH’s home, 175–76, 203–4; radical activists in, 176

Cruse, Harold, 113

Cuban Revolution, 157–58

Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, 131

Daily Worker (newspaper), 82, 84

Daley, Richard M., 137

Danny Rogers (character in A Big White Fog), as villainous entrepreneur, 139

“Dark Symphony” (Tolson), 19

Daughters of Bilitis, 79–80

David (character in Sign), homosexuality of, 147–49

Davis, Ossie: and the AAF, 171; Carnegie Hall memorial for Du Bois, 178; as pallbearer at LH’s funeral, 195; support for LH’s radical voice, 155; as Walter Lee Younger in Raisin, 101

Death of a Salesman (Miller), 105–6

de Beauvoir, Simone: disparagement of female beauty, 87; LH essay on, 89; The Second Sex, impact on LH, 75, 77–78

Dee, Ruby: and the AAF, 171; and the American Negro Theater, 53; as Ruth Younger in Raisin, 98; tribute at LH’s funeral, 191

depression, emotional ups-and-downs: efforts to manage during illness, 183; LH’s frequent experience of, 45–46, 99, 134–35, 181; reflection of in letters to RN, 68–70, 74–75; and response to Provincetown, 81–82; and the short story “Arnold,” 76–77

diary, datebook entries: about intellectualizing deep emotions, 79; about desire to remain active despite illness, 180; lists of likes and dislikes, 95–96, 115; and mood swings, 181; nostalgia for Chicago, 45; plans for year before her death, 186; and self-exploration, questioning in, 69–71, 95–96, 107, 129; writings about lovers and love, 93–94. See also depression; personal qualities

Dirty Hands (Sartre), 170

D’Lugoff, Art, 72

D’Lugoff, Burt, 74

dogs, 176, 183

domestic workers, 113

Drake, St. Clair, 18

Drama Critics Circle Award, 1, 98

drawing skill, 28

The Drinking Gourd (TV series, Hansberry), 158–59

Du Bois, Shirley Graham, 178

Du Bois, W. E. B.: on art as political, 48, 52; Carnegie Hall memorial, 178; on the day of Awakening, 97; death, 178; LH’s admiration for, tributes to, 52, 178–80; mentorship of LH, 48, 51–52; mentorship of Leo Hansberry, 51; passport revocation, 56; split from the NAACP, 66–67

Dufty, William, 114

dying, death: Carl Hansberry’s, 22, 195; LH’s illness and final days, 182, 184–85, 187, 195. See also cancer

Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama, 197

education. See college education; Englewood High School, Chicago

Eisenhower, Dwight D., 63

Elbein, Joseph, 42

Ellison, Ralph: distancing from Communist Party, 55–56; “Harlem Is Nowhere,” 54, 99; Invisible Man, 55; LH’s criticisms of, 54, 99, 113

Emily Jones (Hansberry pseudonym): “Chanson Du Konallis,” 88–90; explorations of gender and lesbian sexuality, 83–84, 87; “Renascence,” 194; separation of race from sexuality, 88

Englewood High School, Chicago: academic performance at, 20; debates and discussions, 22, 24–25; inscriptions in LH’s yearbook, 25–26; integration of, 23; strike by white students at, 23

Eric/Ngedi (character in Les Blancs), homosexuality and courage, 141–43

Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York, 98, 200

Excelsior (Mexico City newspaper), 157

fame, stardom: and cultural diplomacy, 151–52; desire for, changing views, 119, 135; impacts of, 95–96; and the Raisin film, 115–16. See also Raisin in the Sun

Fast, Howard, 47

Faulkner, William, 55, 123

Fauset, Jessie, 88

FBI surveillance: concerns about Raisin, 99; decision not to interview LH, 99–100; following the Montevideo conference, 59; of LH’s Greenwich Village apartments, 94; physical description of LH, 102

fears and vulnerabilities, 91

Federal Negro Theater, 53

feminism: connection with lesbianism, 81; criticisms of Gide’s misogyny, 129; criticisms of LH’s use of strong male voices, 140–41, 144; and female activism at the Montevideo conference, 58; and female roles in “The Anticipation of Eve,” 84–86; and male vs. female artists, 72; messages about in LH’s and Simon’s work, 133–34; and The Second Sex, 77–78; and women’s intellectual rights, 81. See also the Ladder; lesbians, lesbianism

Fields, Sidney, 103

The Fire Next Time (Baldwin), 125, 136–37

Fisher, Eddie, 74

“Flag from a Kitchenette Window” (Hansberry), 44, 98

Florence (Childress), 72–73

Flowers for the General (Hansberry), 79

“Foreign paper told me about Miss Bergman” (Hansberry), 40

Forman, James (Rufus), 21–22, 184, 191

For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway), 62–63

400 Blows (Truffaut), 95–96

Fourteenth Amendment, 17

Franklin, John Hope, 178

Frederick Douglass Educational Center, New York, 53

Freedom (newspaper): content, 47; coverage of Nkrumah’s election, 48; critique of Invisible Man in, 113; LH’s book and movie reviews, 47–48; LH’s hiring, 46; LH’s resignation from, 65; LH’s writings about international politics, 48

Freedom Negro History Festival pageant, 53

freedom riders, 166–67

funeral, 190–93, 195

Garcia Lorca, Federico, 29, 30

gay and lesbian people. See lesbians, lesbianism

gender: early concerns about, 14; explorations of, Les Blancs example, 144; and male vs. female artists. See also feminism

generosity of spirit, LH’s, 71–72, 192, 195, 199

Genet, Jean, 95, 110. See also Les Blancs

George Murchison (character in Raisin), assimilationist perspective, 140

Ghana, 48. See also Pan–Africanism

the ghetto: and the Black middle class, 9, 104, 113; international ghettoization, 22; LH’s experience of, 9–10, 23; and Native Son, 124; and potential for violence, and Raisin, 97–99, 103–4, 115; vignettes portraying, 14–15; violence in, 3, 13–15, 169–70; West Side, Chicago, 201. See also housing discrimination; segregation, South Side, Chicago

Gibson, Truman J., Jr., 138

Gibson, Truman, Sr., 18

Gide, André, 129

Giovanni, Nikki, 130

Giovanni’s Room (Baldwin), 88, 118–19

globalism. See colonialism, imperialism

Gloria (character in Sign): truths spoken by, 148–49; work as prostitute, 146

Gold Through the Trees (Childress), 73

Goldwasser, Evelyn (Evie), 177

Gonçalves, Carlos, 159

Goodman, Andrew, 173

“good uncolored,” 14

Goss, Margaret Taylor, 18

Go Tell It on the Mountain (Baldwin), 119, 136

Grant, Joanne, 192

Great Depression, 9, 11, 17–18, 139

Great Migration, 10, 16, 54–55, 139

“green land. Dark land.” (Hansberry), 27, 38–39

Greenwich Village, New York: artistic and personal freedom, 43; dominance of whites in, 88; gentrification, 200; Washington Square Park, 45

Gregory, Dick, 195

Gresham, Joi, 7, 198

Grifalconi, Ann, 93

Guare, John, 200

Haitian Resolution against racial discrimination in the Americas, 39

Haley, Alex, 184

Hamilton (Miranda), 200

Hannibal, 21

Hansberry, Carl: at the Chapultepec Conference, 39; consciousness of race, 12; death, 22; education, 9; enduring impact of LH’s life and work, 22, 98, 136–38; experience of being swindled, 138; LH mourning for at Ajijic, 38–39; as middle class capitalist, 9, 11; parenting style, 11–12; patriotism, 22, 39, 170; Rhodes Avenue property dispute, 12–13, 17

Hansberry, Elden, 4

Hansberry, Mamie, 13

Hansberry, Nannie Perry: birth of Lorraine, 9; education and teaching career, 9; illness, LH’s care for during, 74; LH letter to about Raisin, 98; at LH’s funeral, 191; parenting style, 11–12; references to in LH’s poetry, 50; response to LH’s marriage, 65

Hansberry, William Leo: Du Bois’s mentorship of, 48, 51, 66; founder of African Studies, 4; friends, LH’s exposure to as child, 11, 66; teaching career, 26; visit to LH in hospital, 182

Hansberry family: commitment to, desire to remain in touch with, 71–72, 149; as middle class, 9, 11, 24; intellectual interests, 4, 10–11, 19, 66, 214. See also 6140 Rhodes Avenue

Hansberry Foundation, 138

Hansberry v. Lee, 17

Hansborough, Ray, 21

“Harlem” (Hughes), 98

Harlem, New York: artist community in, 53; Frederick Douglass Educational Center, 53; LH’s move to, 46; modern, echoes of LH in, 200; rioting in following police shooting of Powell, 173; vigil demanding end to school segregation, 197

“Harlem Is Nowhere” (Ellison), 54–55, 99

Harry (character in “Metamorphasis”), internalized racism of, 156–57

Hemingway, Ernest, 62

Hentoff, Nat, 122

Higashida, Cheryl, 6

Hiroshima (film), 47

Holiday, Billie, 114

homosexuality: embracing of term by LH, 125; and LH’s and Simon’s struggles with, 131; in the Village during the 1950s, 43. See also lesbians, lesbianism

honesty, importance to LH and Baldwin, 3, 31, 45, 125, 195

Hoover, J. Edgar, 99

Horne, Lena, 163

housing discrimination: Carl Hansberry’s approach to, 9, 17; racially restrictive covenants, 12–13; racism and, 27; at the University of Wisconsin, 27–28. See also ghettos; kitchenettes

Hovey, Serge, 70

“How to Write a Play” (Kerr), 109

Hudson Valley, New York, culture, 176

Hughes, Langston: American Negro Exposition, 19; ashes, 200; Childress’s dramatizations of stories by, 73; “Harlem,” 98; on new paternalism, 111; poetic tribute to LH, 186, 189–90; on the quandary of Black artists, 100

human nature, messiness of: LH’s focus on, 182, 193; O’Casey’s skill at portraying, 30

humor, wit, and charm, LH’s, 2, 28–29, 62, 91, 107, 192

Hunton, Alphaeus, 52–53

Hurston, Zora Neale, 199

illnesses, chronic disease, 177–78, 182, 186–87

“I Loves You Porgy” (Gershwin), Simone’s rendition, 129, 132

“In the Evening by the Moonlight” (Simone), 186–87, 192

indigenous culture, exposure to in Mexico, 37

Ingram, Rosalee, 50

inheritance. See paternal legacy

integration. See racism; segregation; white supremacy

Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, Chapultepec, Mexico, 39

Inter-American Peace Conference, Montevideo, Uruguay, 57–59, 58, 59

interior spaces, role in LH’s work as Emily Jones, 87

international perspective. See anticolonial internationalism

interracial intimacy: Baldwin’s and LH’s explorations of, 126–28, 187; in bohemian culture, 43, 72; in Smith’s Strange Fruit, 20. See also Nemiroff, Robert (Bobby)

Invisible Man (Ellison), 55, 113

Iris Brustein (character in Sign), rejection of Sidney’s paternalism, 134, 146

Irish culture, O’Casey’s skill at capturing, 30

Jackson, Roosevelt “Rosie,” 61

Jefferson School of Social Science, New York, 51

Jenny Reed (discarded character from Sign), 144

Jerome, Alice, 196

Jimmy (character in The Fire Next Time), on costs of white supremacy, 125

Jitney (Wilson), 200

John Brown Community Theatre, prospectus for, 115–16

John Henry (Hansberry pseudonym), 84

Jonas, Irma, 36–37

Jones, Emily. See Emily Jones (Hansberry pseudonym)

Jones, Claudia, 52–53, 73

Jones, LeRoi. See Baraka, Amiri (LeRoi Jones)

Joseph Asagai (character in Raisin): commitment to African independence, 140; as LH’s voice and favorite, 140; and the “religion” of activism, 143

Journal of Negro Education, 160

journals. See diaries, datebooks

Julien, Isaac, 4

Juno and the Paycock (O’Casey), 29–30

Kaplan, Renee, 83, 183, 195

Kennedy, John F., 152–53, 165

Kennedy, Robert F., 162–64

Kenyatta, Jomo, 65–66

Kerr, Walter, 109

“The Kerry Dance” (song), 21

Killens, John Oliver: and the AAF, 171; description of Trouble in Mind, 73; on LH’s politics, 2; as narration for Freedom Negro History Festival, 53; as pallbearer at LH’s funeral, 195

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 167–69, 196

kitchenettes: “Flag from a Kitchenette Window” (Hansberry), 44, 98; “kitchenette building” (Brooks), 44, 98; and Raisin, 98; as solution to Black housing problem, 9. See also Hansberry, Carl

Kitt, Eartha, 95–96

Konallia Martin Whitside (character “Chanson Du Konallis”), sexuality of, 89–90

Labor Youth League, New Challenge Magazine, 65

the Ladder (Daughters of Bilitis): “Chanson Du Konallis,” 88–90; LH’s letters to, 80–81; story published in, 83

La Farge, Oliver, 182

Langdon Manor, University of Wisconsin, 27–28

Larsen, Nella, 88

Latin American politics, 157

Laughing Boy (La Farge), 182

leadership abilities, LH’s, 19–20, 35

Leaks, Sylvester, 180, 192

Lee, George, 21

leftist politics. See activism, radical; communism

legal system, as vehicle for change, cynicism about, 17, 160, 168

Lena Younger (character in Raisin): affirmation of Black humanity, 124; desire for own home, 97, 139–40; Marxist messages, 139; strength, 141

lesbians, lesbianism: “The Anticipation of Eve,” 84–85; among Black women, 89; connection with feminism, 81; exclusion from cultural mainstream, 201–2; in Flowers for the General, 79; LH’s embracing of term, 125; lovers and love as inspiration, 93–94; Molly Cook, 91–93; RN’s saving of LH’s writing on, 83; Dorothy Secules, 83, 93–95, 182, 187, 195; writings about, characteristics, 87. See also Emily Jones (pseudonym); Simone, Nina

Les Blancs (Hansberry): as “call and response” with Baldwin, 126; early notes, original focus on women, 144; homage to Lumumba in, 156; and interracial relationships, 142–43; and the revolutionary moment, 143–44; RN’s editing of, 197; theme of inheritance in, 141; work on during illness, 182

liberalism: anticommunist stance, 35; Ellison’s move toward, 56; Hansberry’s parents adherence to, 56; LH’s criticisms of, 142, 172–73; “Liberalism and the Negro” roundtable (Commentary magazine), 122–23; portrayal of, in Les Blancs, 142

liberation, freedom: and armed self-defense, 168–69; dreams of, while in Mexico, 38–39; importance for both LH and Baldwin, 129; Simone’s militancy, 131; slowness of progress toward, 187–88; and “the Village” of the 1950s, 43. See also activism, radical; Black radical traditions

Liberation Committee for Africa, 159

life insurance, importance for working-class Blacks, 113

lilies, symbolism of, 202

Lily (character in “What Use Are Flowers?”), as fighter, 133, 202

loneliness, sense of isolation: LH early experience of, 12; reflections of in journal writing, 45–46; as shared by LH, Baldwin, and Simone, 121–22, 130, 134–35

Looking for Langston (film, Julien), 4

Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust, 198

Lorraine Hansberry Park, Chicago, 201

L’Ouverture, Toussaint, 21

Louys, Pierre, 80

Low-Dive Jenny (character in The Three-Penny Opera), anger of, 132

Lumumba, Patrice, 153–54

“Lynchsong” (Hansberry), 50

Lyon, Phyllis, 80–81

Lysistrata (Aristophanes), 29

Madame Nielsen (character in Les Blancs), as representative of the revolutionary moment, 143–44

Madison, Wisconsin, LH reflections on, 45–46. See also University of Wisconsin

Mailer, Norman, 109–12

The Making of Black Revolutionaries (Forman), 21–22

Malcolm X: Airlift Africa, 1960, 152; assassination, 196; “by any means necessary” speech, 169; at LH’s funeral, 196

“Male Prison” (Baldwin), 129

male voice, LH’s use of, 140–41, 144

March on Washington for Jobs and Justice, 1963, 177–78

marriage: Chicago Defender article on, 63; complexity of, ambivalence about, 69–70; divorce, 181; and execution of the Rosenbergs, 64; LH’s employment following, 65. See also Nemiroff, Robert

Marshall, Burke: at 1963 meeting with RFK, 163; efforts to get Smith and the freedom riders to stop their protests, 166

Marshall, Paule, 171

Martaslund (Hansberry), 182

Martin, Del, 80–81

Martin, Helen, 53

Martin, Vince, 74

Martin Weiner Distinguished Lecture (Brandeis University)

Masses and Mainstream (magazine): “Flag from a Kitchenette Window,” 44; “Lynchsong,” 50

Mau Mau, 66

Mavis (character in Sign): racism shown by, 146–47; view of father, 146

Mayfield, Julian, 155–56, 162

McCarran Act, 67–68

McComb, Mississippi, Smith’s beating in, 163, 166

McCullers, Carson, 123

McGee, Willie, 48, 50

Medina, Harold, 34–35

Mekas, Jonas, 110

Melville, Herman: Pip in Moby Dick, 194; sense of vocation, 76–77

Merida, Carlos, 37

Merriam, Eve, 184

“Metamorphasis [sic]” (Hansberry), 156

Mexico: Ajijic experience, 35–40; Chapultepec Conference, 39; Carl Hansberry’s death in, 22; relocation of Blacks to, 22

middle class. See Black middle class

migrants from the South: Ellison’s disparagement of, 54–55, experience of, 10, 16; as the Great Migration, 139. See also the ghetto

Millay, Edna St. Vincent, 194

Miller, Ann, 27

Miller, Arthur, 105, 106

Miller, Monica, 7

Mirine Tige (character “Chanson Du Konallis”), and portrayal of lost love, 89–90

“Mississippi Goddam” (Simone), 172

mob violence. See violence

Moby Dick (Melville), 194

Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, 73

Moore, Richard B., 188

Moore, Thomas, 196

Moreno, Rita, 195

Mother, May I game, 10–11

Mother Courage and Her Children (Brecht), 133

Mount Airy section, Croton-on-Hudson, New York, 176 The Movement (Baldwin and Hansberry), 167

Mr. Rector (fictional character), sadness, impotence of, 15

Muhammad Speaks (newspaper), Leaks’s obituary for LH, 192; LH’s tribute to Du Bois, 180

Murphy, George B., 47

Museum of Natural History, New York City, racist depictions of Blacks, 151

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): expulsion of Du Bois from, 66–67; and Hansberry v. Lee, 12–13; and representation of Blacks in the media, 48; representative from, at LH’s funeral, 67; separation from the radical left, 67, 155, 160

National Negro Commission, 21

National Negro Congress, 47

National Review, obituary for LH, 190

Nation of Islam, 159–60

“The Nation Needs Your Gifts” (Hansberry), 197

Native Son (Wright), 20, 123–25

nature, out-of-doors. See beauty; nature

“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (Hughes), 100

“Negro History in Poetry and Prose” presentation (Hansberry), 53

“Negro in Illinois” project (WPA), 18

Nemiroff, Leo, 192–93

Nemiroff, Robert (Bobby): appreciation for LH’s genius, 72; “Bob Rolfe” pseudonym, 65; “Cindy, Oh Cindy,” 74; divorce from LH, 181, 183; friendship with D’Lugoff, 72; first meeting with LH, 60; hiding of LH’s cancer diagnosis from, 178; letter from Edythe Cohen to, 41; LH letter to, about Camp Unity, 69; letter to, about Provincetown art opening, 82; LH letter to, about their differences, 59; LH letter to, complaining about Tubbs, 71; LH letter to, declaring her love, 61–62; letter to, complaining about Chicago 74; mother, LH’s affection for, 65; promotional work for Avon Books, 73–74; as protector of LH’s life and legacy, 59, 61–62, 72, 84, 92, 131, 197–98; pseudonymous songwriting, 73–74; vigil at LH’s deathbed, 187; wedding to LH, 63–64

New Challenge Magazine (Labor Youth League), 65

New School for Social Research, New York, 43

New York City: Black theater world, 53; LH’s early poems written in, 44; move and returns to, 42, 72. See also Greenwich Village, New York; Harlem, New York; theater

New Yorker (magazine), 75

New York Post, LH letter praising Dufty, 114

New York Times: criticisms of CORE “Stall In,” 170; LH article on radical activism, 170; LH article on Sidney, 145; LH letter about Lumumba assassination, 154; Skirvanek letter about LH, 199; “Stanley Gleason and the Lights That Need Not Die,” 150–51; “Willie Loman, Walter Younger, and He Who Must Live,” 105

New York University, protest of racial discrimination, 60

New York World-Telegram, “Slum Play Author Sued as Slumlord,” 137

Nkrumah, Kwama, 48

nonviolence. See activism, radical; civil rights movement

Nottage, Lynn, 189

O’Casey, Sean, 29–30, 104

Oliver, Mary, 91–93

ONE (homophile publication), “The Anticipation of Eve” in, 84–86

Organization of African American Unity, 169

The Outsider (Wright), 47, 113

Painter, Mary, 27

Pan-Africanism: and the Black diaspora, 65–66; Du Bois’s, 179; LH’s, 153–54, 159

Parker, Theodore, 168–69

Parks, Gordon, 99

Parks, Suzan Lori, 189

passport revocations, 56–57, 59

paternal legacy, inheritance: as theme in Les Blancs, 141, 143; as theme in Raisin, 139–41; as theme in Sign, 144, 146–49

paternalism, paternalists: complexity of, for LH, 139; LH’s characterizations of Beat writers as, 110–11

paternal legacy: reflections of, in Sign, 144; as theme throughout Sign, 146–49

patriarchy: and Alton’s character in Sign as reflection of, 146–47; and Beat writers, 110–11; questioning of, 118; in “What Use Are Flowers?,” 133

patriotism, uncritical: Carl Hansberry’s, 22, 170; LH’s rejection of after father’s death, 22–23; Vincent Tubbs’s, 71; at the University of Wisconsin, 32

Paul Whitside (character in “Chanson Du Konallis”), sexual appetites, 90

Pendleton, Larry, 188

People’s Rights Party, 50–51

Perry grandmother, childhood visit to, in Tennessee, 16

personality, force of, 28–29, 34, 162–65

Philadelphia, PA, tryouts for Raisin in, 97

physical appearance: beauty, 3, 28, 102; FBI description, 102; photographs, 2, 63, 91, 99, 102–32

Pip (character in both Moby Dick and “Renascence”), 194

“Pirate Jenny” (Brecht), Simone’s version, 132

Poitier, Sidney: and the American Negro Theater, 53; in cast of Raisin, 97; LH’s views on, 115; as narrator for Freedom Negro History Festival pageant, 53

police racism, LH’s portrayal of, 15

police violence, depictions of, 14–15, 24, 55

politics, political views: evolution of, 12, 21, 44, 81; Carl Hansberry’s, 170; holistic perspective, 77–78, 91, 100, 130; integrating with art, 107–9, 115–16; LH’s commitment to racial justice, 24, 47, 49, 129; LH’s, compared with Baldwin’s, 125; and LH’s connection with Simone, 131–31; LH’s increasing militancy, 126, 150, 159, 169–73; and LH’s sense of purpose and responsibility, 21, 134, 168, 170, 179, 190. See also activism, radical; Black radical traditions; communism; liberation, freedom

“Pomp and Circumstance,” 21

Poston, Ted, 103

Potpourri (Nemiroff family restaurant), 65, 72

Powell, James, 173

Price, Leontyne, 161

private papers and writings of LH, publication of, 198

the professor (character in “What Use Are Flowers?”), as symbol of the patriarchy, 133

Provident Hospital, Chicago, 9

Provincetown, Massachusetts: as bohemian enclave, 200; Cook’s photographs of LH, 91; description of first visit to, 82

Publicists Guild of America, 71

racial justice, importance, 24, 47, 49, 149

racism: anger, rage as response to, 14–15, 56; apartheid, 67; and the challenges facing Black artists, 106–7; childhood lessons, 12; Childress’s indictment of, 73; in critical assessments of LH and Raisin, 103–4; global/holistic perspectives, 77–78, 88, 129, 145, 160; Carl Hansberry’s bitterness and pessimism about, 22; and LH friendship with JoAnn Beier, 33; lynch-law and Jim Crow courts, 50; resistance to through writings, 23–24, 118–19, 146–47; and the “romantic racism” of the Beats, 110; as structural and need for radical change, 173. See also activism, radical; Black radical traditions; the ghetto; segregation

“radical,” as term of praise, 150

A Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry): autobiography and memory in, 13, 98, 137–38; awards and honors, 1, 98; as both conventional and radical, 100–102; Broadway production, 97–98; criticisms of as racist, 102–6; critical evaluations, 100, 104, 198–99, 112–14; early draft, 92; enduring fame and popularity, 1, 99, 100–104, 198; faithful depictions of characters’ dreams and aspirations, 98–99, 139–40; FBI investigation triggered by, 99; film version, 114–15, 158; LH’s response to misunderstanding of, by critiques, 113–14; LH’s views on weaknesses of, 106; Marxist and radical influences, 104; plot, 97; presentation of diversity of Black Americans, 140; tryouts for, 93, 97, 119

rat metaphor, 124

real estate, and the fight over integration, 13

realism, O’Casey’s artistic model, 30–31

religion, rules of, questioning of, 118

“Renascence” (Hansberry), as story of loneliness and grieving, 194

“Renascence” (Millay), 195

Reporter (magazine), LH’s letter to supporting Kenyatta, 65–66

Republican Party, Hansberry family affiliation with, 11

restlessness, distractibility, LH’s, 52, 62, 68–69, 99, 137, 181–82

the revolutionary moment, 143–44

Rhodes Avenue, Chicago: Carl Hansberry’s purchase of property at 6140, 12; eviction of Hansberry family from property at 6140, 12–13, 16–17; Hansberry v. Lee, 17; mob violence against the Hansberry family, 13–14, 98

Richards, Lloyd, 97, 120

“The Riot” (Hansberry), portrayal of Black resistance in, 24

Rivera, Diego, 37

River George (Lee), 21

Robeson, Eslanda Goode, tribute at Du Bois memorial, 178

Robeson, Paul: and the Communist Party, 57, 68; eulogy at LH’s funeral, 191; passport revocation, impacts, 56, 67; as publisher, editorial-writer of Freedom, 47; taped greeting to delegates at the Inter-American Peace Conference, 58

Rochester (character on the Jack Benny Show), as racial stereotype, 156

Roosevelt University, Chicago, 42

Rose, Philip, 92, 97, 107

Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel, 63–64

Rougeau, Weldon, 184

Rowe, Izzy, 7

Rufus Scott (character in Another Country), interracial romance, 128

Russak, Mary, 57

Ruth Younger (character in Raisin): desire for own home, 97, 139–41; quietness, silence of, 141

Said, Edward, 175, 181–82

Sands, Diana, 195

Sanford, Isabel, 53

Sarah (fictional character), in LH’s story about childhood trauma, 16–17

Sartre, Jean-Paul, 95, 145, 170

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem, New York, LH’s papers at, 7, 198

Schwerner, Michael “Mickey,” 173

The Second Sex (de Beauvoir), 75, 77–78, 86

Secules, Dorothy: care of LH during illness, 182; love affair with LH, 83, 93–95; as pallbearer at LH’s funeral, 195; residence at 112 Waverly Place, 94; vigil at LH’s deathbed, 187

segregation: continuation of, in Chicago, 201; and Jim Crow laws in the South, 12, 17, 50, 167–68; sustaining through ghettoization, 160, 167; and violent responses to integration, 13. See also racism

self-criticism, self-exploration, 69–71, 95–96, 107, 129

Selma, Alabama, Edmund Pettus Bridge march, 197

sexuality, sex: ambiguities about, 79; and LH’s love for women, 79–80. See also lesbians, lesbianism

Shagaloff, June, 163

Sidney Brustein (character in Sign): as failed radical, 144; paternalism and sexism of, 134, 146

Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart (Strain, documentary), 7

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (Hansberry): Broadway opening, closing, 186–87; comparison with Another Country, 128–29; focus on a father’s legacy in, 144; LH article about, 145; on need for action as well as dreams, 175; portrayal of countercultural politics, 145; portrayal of sexism, 134; reviews, criticisms of, 144–45

Signoret, Simone, 131

Silberman, Charles, 171, 173

“Simone,” as a name, 131

Simone, Nina: “Blackbird,” 134; creative discipline, musical brilliance of, 131–34; depression and rage after LH’s death, 196–97; friendship with LH, 117–18; “I Loves You Porgy,” 129, 132; “In the Evening by the Moonlight,” 186–87, 192; LH as godmother to daughter, 130; on LH’s influence, 129–30; loneliness of, 134–35; “Mississippi Goddam,” 172; musical background and style, 131; “Pirate Jenny,” 132; political awakening, 129, 132; post-movement life, death, 135; “Sinnerman,” 105; songs and eulogy at LH’s funeral, 192; struggles around sexuality, 131; visit with the dying LH, 186; “Young, Gifted, and Black,” 197

Simple Speaks His Mind (Hughes), Childress’s dramatic adaptation of, 73

“Sinnerman” spiritual (Simone), 105

Siqueiros, David Alfaro, 157

Six Degrees of Separation (Guare), 200

Skirvanek, Camille, 199

slave rebellions, white reactions to, 170

slavery: and Black female adornment with, 87; escape from by LH’s grandfather, 16; impact on Black American perspectives, 172–73; slave rebellions, white fears about, 170

slum landlord accusations, impact on LH, 137–38

“Slum Play Author Sued as Slumlord” (New York World–Telegram), 137

smile, laugh, LH’s, 103, 107, 121, 135, 164, 183, 188, 192

Smith, Anna Deavere, 189

Smith, Gene, 120

Smith, Jerome, 163–66

Smith, Judith, 6

Smith, Lillian, 20–21

social criticism. See critical essays on art and politics

“social dramatist” label, 108–9

socialism, LH’s ongoing belief in, 150. See also communism; politics, political views

Social Security, exclusion of domestic workers from, 113

Son (character in All the Dark and Beautiful Warriors), as answer to Wright’s Bigger Thomas, 124

The Songs of Bilitis (Louys), 80

the South: and Jim Crow laws, violence against Blacks, 12, 17, 50, 163, 167–68; LH’s rootedness in, 16; and limitations of Southern white writers, 123; reflection of, in Simone’s music, 131; as symbol of struggles past and to come, 16

South African apartheid, protests against, 67–68

South Side, Chicago: depiction of, in Raisin, 97, 101, 137; Hansberry family in, 28, 104, 115; LH’s childhood and youth in, 9–26; LH’s return visits to, 84; Wright’s description, 20

Spartacus (Fast), 47

Spectator, 192

Spingarn, Arthur, 178

Spottswood, Stephen Gill, 178

stagecraft, staging, LH’s natural skill at, 91–92

“Stanley Gleason and the Lights That Need Not Die” (Hansberry), 151

Starborin, Joseph, 82

station wagon, purchase of, for CORE, 167, 173

Strain, Tracy, 7

Strange Fruit (Smith), 20–21

A Street in Bronzeville (Brooks), 44

Stroud, Andrew (Andy), 130–31

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), 161, 167–68. See also activism, radical

Supreme Liberty Life Insurance, 12, 113

Susskind, David, 115, 171

Swarthmore College, LH lecture at, 108

“Sweet Lorraine,” 119, 121

Tallmer, Jeremy, 190

tendonitis, 181

Tennessee, visit to grandmother in, 16

Terkel, Studs, 117

theater: American Negro Theater, 53; Childress’s refusal to change Trouble in Mind, 73; Federal Negro Theater, 53; John Brown Community Theatre prospectus, 115–16; LH’s influence on, 200; O’Casey’s influence, 29–30, 104; opening of Raisin on Broadway, 97; opening of Sign on Broadway, 186; skill at staging, stagecraft, 91; studies at the University of Wisconsin, 28–29

Theory of the Leisure Class (Veblen), 104

Thompson, Daniel, 160

Thoreau, Henry David, 176

“Thoughts on Genet, Miller, and the New Paternalism” (Hansberry), 110

Till, Emmett, 73

To Be Young, Gifted, and Black (Hansberry and Nemiroff), 5, 6–7, 24, 197

“To Lorraine” (Pendleton), 188

Tolson, Melvin, 19

Toomer, Jean, 89

Torn, Rip, 163

Torres, Angel, 57

toughness, admiration for, 19–20, 201

trauma, LH’s repeating of in fiction, 14–15

trauma, childhood: LH’s recreations of 16; story about, 16

Trouble in Mind (Childress), 73

Truman, Harry, 33–34

Tshembe (character in Les Blancs), and debates about revolution, 141–43

Tshombe, Moise, 156

Tubbs, Mamie Hansberry, 12–13, 71–72

Tubbs, Vincent, 71–72

United States Progressive Party, 33–34

United States of America: Carl Hansberry’s disillusionment with, 22, 170; hypocrisy about freedom in, 158; LH’s commitment to, 183; role in Lumumba’s assassination, 153. See also activism, radical; patriotism, uncritical; politics

University of Illinois, Navy Pier campus, 113–14

University of Wisconsin: diaries, journals written at, 31; Frank Lloyd Wright’s lecture at, 31–32; Langdon Manor housing, 27–28; LH’s decision to attend, 26; racial, political tensions at, 28, 32–33; theater studies at, 29–31; World War II veterans at, 32

US presidential election, 1948, 33–34

US State Department: Airlift Africa, 1960, 152–53; criminalization of the Inter-American Peace Conference, 59; revoking passports of Du Bois, Robeson and LH, 56–57, 59

US Supreme Court, Hansberry v. Lee, 17

Veblen, Thorstein, 104

Vietnam War, 172

Village Voice: Cook’s photography for, 91; “Thoughts on Genet, Miller, and the New Paternalism” in, 110

violence: against activists, civil rights workers, 163, 173; against Black women, 13–14; and colonialism, 143, 148; as commonplace in the ghetto, 13–15, 169–170; LH’s childhood experience of, 13–16, 98; police violence, 14–15, 24, 55; and racism, 50, 109, 126. See also the ghetto

Vivaldo (character in Another Country), interracial bisexuality, 128

Vogue magazine, article about LH, 102–3

Waiting for Godot (Beckett), The Arrival of Mr. Todog as answer to, 180

Walker, Alice, 199

Walker, Margaret, 18

Wallace, Henry, 33–34

Wally (character in Sign), on need for action as well as dreams, 175

Walter Lee Younger (character in Raisin): ambitions, yearnings, 97, 104, 139; comparison of with Willie Loman, 105–6; essential dignity of, 105; LH frustration with critics’ misunderstanding of, 106; swindling of, 138

Ward, Douglas Turner, 53, 61, 162

Ward, Theodore, 139

Washington, Mary Helen, 6

Waverly Place, New York, LH residence at, 94, 199

Wechsler, James, 171, 173

Western intellectualism, postwar, reflections of in Sign, 145

West Side, Chicago, 201

“What Use Are Flowers?” (Hansberry), 132–33

White, Charles, 18

White, Walter, 48

“The White Negro” (Mailer), 109–10

white supremacy: Baldwin’s excoriation of, 125–26; and Black perceptions of whites, 110–11; LH’s writings on, 56, 142–43; and limitations of Southern white writers, 123; whites’ need to accept responsibility for, 142

Whitman, Steve, 4, 6

Wiener, Ed, 82

Wilkerson, Margaret, 7

Williams, Robert, 168

“Willie Loman, Walter Younger, and He Who Must Live” (Hansberry), 105–7

Willy Loman (character in Death of a Salesman), comparison with Walter Lee Younger, 104

Wilson, August, 3, 189, 200

Winters, Shelley, 192–93

Wolfe, Thomas, 70

Wollstonecraft, Mary, 182

women. See feminism; lesbians, lesbianism

Woodlawn Property Owners Association, 16

Workers World (newspaper), tribute to LH in, 188–89

working class: fighting, resistance by, LH’s admiration for, 3, 9, 61; importance for effecting change, 165; LH’s portrayals of, 14, 113; mischaracterizations of LH as, 51, 104; work in New York on behalf of, 60–61

“Working Class Poets of the Negro People,” 51

Works Progress Administration (WPA): American Negro Exposition, 18; Federal Negro Theater, 53; Negro in Illinois project, 18

World War II, political discussions following, 22, 32–33. See also communism

Wright, Frank Lloyd, 31–32

Wright, Richard: American Negro Exposition, 19; Baldwin’s and LH’s criticisms of, 123–24; fame and influence, 20; LH’s review of The Outsider, 47, 113; mentorship of Baldwin, 123; Negro in Illinois project, 18; social determinism of, 139

Wright Junior College, controversy over Another Country at, 187

writing craft: aesthetics of, appreciation for, 87; anger and rage in, 14; attention to detail, 1, 76–77, 82–83, 98, 113–14; experimentation, 13–14, 54–55, 57, 99; impact of fame on, 95–96; O’Casey’s influence, 30–31; and respect for skill and quality, 44–45, 120, 130; reworking themes in multiple forms, 13–14; self-criticism, 69–71, 95–96, 107, 129; and sense of vocation, mission, 1, 24, 46, 61–62, 76–77, 120, 182; skill at verbal portraiture, 91, 105, 148, 151; struggles with focus, 62, 71–72, 74; synthesis of politics and art, 77; work process, 75. See also Emily Jones (Hansberry pseudonym); specific works

Yerma (Garcia Lorca), 9

You Can’t Go Home Again (Wolfe), 70

“Young, Gifted and Black” (Simone), 6, 197

Young Communist League, 46–47

Young Progressives of America, 33–34