Lorraine Hansberry was born in 1930. Both of her parents' were activists challenging discrimination laws. Many famous black people frequently visited her home because of her parent's authority (Tripp 2). Two of these famous black Americans that often visited Lorraine's home were Paul Robeson and Langston Hughes. They were her "shining light" so to speak. Especially when it came time for her to find her own place in the New York literary world (Cheney 36). Paul Robeson provided great inspiration for Lorraine's writings. On the other hand, Langston Hughes gave her a social consciousness of her poetic possibilities of her own race. He also gave her an appreciation of the black American culture. She had also learned from Hughes that in spite of obstacles, black people remaine

Lorraine Hansberry was very much both a black and female activist. In being this way, she felt she could do anything that a person with full respect and rights could do. Feeling this way, Lorraine began to claim her identity as a lesbian in a letter, to a lesbian periodical, "The Ladder." At the time of her death, the fact that she was a lesbian was not widely known factor to the public, as well as the fact that she had divorced her husband (Tripp 3).

A moving testament to the strength and endurance of the human spirit, "A Raisin in the Sun," is a quiet celebration of the black family, the importance of African roots, the equality of women, the vulnerability of marriage, the true value of money, the survival of the individual, and the nature of a man's dream (Cheney 53).

Lorraine Hansberry's first play was named, "The Crystal Stair." It was named after a line in the Langston Hughes poem, "Mother to Son." Lorraine later changed the title of her play to, "A Raisin in the Sun." This was as well taken from one of Langston Hughes' pieces, "A Dream Deferred" (Draper 951). Lorraine's second play was named "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window." This play never matched the success of her first play "A Raisin in the Sun." This play did use a realistic format that was drawn from her own life (Magill, Great Women...201). Lorraine wrote at least five plays. All of which revealed the depth of her concern for the black race and for all of the downtrodden races in America and abroad (Cheney 52).

The play "The Crystal Stair," later changed to "A Raisin in the Sun", was about a man with a plea for racial tolerance over the incentive society in his time (Draper 950). This was merely based on Lorraine's childhood experiences of the disintegrating of white neighborhoods. It also portrayed slavery as uncontrollable and completely the work victimizing institutions designed to exploit cheaper labor. This play also focuses on the problem of what a family should do with $10,000 that a mother receives as an insurance payment after the death of her husband. Lorraine got the idea for that part of the play directly out of her own home, in the way that this was the same problem Lorraine's mother faced at the time of her husband's death. (Magill, Gre4at Women...200). "Because the play explores a universal theme-the sear

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Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)