Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in Clinton Hill
Updated: Oct 7
A note from our founder
Our sixteenth tribute goes to a playwright who made Broadway history at 29 and spent her final creative years in a home she bought herself in Clinton Hill. Lorraine Hansberry never stopped using her platform to push further, right up until pancreatic cancer cut her career tragically short.
A Childhood Forged in a Landmark Case
Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois, into a prominent, politically active Black family. Her childhood included a defining civil rights battle: when her family moved into a fiercely segregated white neighborhood, the resulting legal fight became the landmark Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee, which challenged racially restrictive housing covenants. She grew up, in other words, already living the fight her work would later dramatize.
Making History on Broadway
Hansberry moved to New York City in 1950 to pursue writing, working for Paul Robeson's progressive newspaper Freedom and writing in defense of anti-colonial movements around the world. In 1959, at just 29 years old, she made history with A Raisin in the Sun, becoming the first Black female playwright to have a play produced on Broadway and the youngest American playwright ever to win the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play.
Clinton Hill and a Radical Voice
Following that success, Hansberry bought a home on Waverly Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, where she spent her final, fiercely productive creative years. She used her platform to voice radical critiques of American racism and homophobia, even writing under pseudonyms for The Ladder, one of the era's earliest lesbian rights publications — work that placed her well ahead of most of her contemporaries.
A Void in the American Conscience
Hansberry's brilliant career was cut short when she died of pancreatic cancer on January 12, 1965, at the age of 34. Her close friend James Baldwin later reflected that her loss left an unimaginable void in the American conscience — a loss this city, and this borough, still feels.
Major Plays & Works
Stage Plays
A Raisin in the Sun (1959) — Her immortal masterpiece, tracking the Younger family — a working-class Black family living on the South Side of Chicago — as they clash over how to spend a life insurance payout to escape poverty and housing discrimination.
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (1964) — Her second Broadway play, set in Greenwich Village, exploring the political disillusionment, marital struggles, and social responsibilities of a group of white intellectuals and bohemian artists.
Les Blancs (Published posthumously, 1970) — A searing, deeply political drama set in a fictional African nation on the brink of revolution, confronting the brutal complexities of European colonialism and violent resistance.
Posthumous Compilations & Autobiographical Works
To Be Young, Gifted and Black (1969) — An acclaimed play and book compiled by her former husband, Robert Nemiroff, using Hansberry's letters, journals, and unpublished sketches to map her life and creative journey. Its title inspired the famous anthem by Nina Simone.
READ HANSBERRY
Start with A Raisin in the Sun — still the essential introduction to Hansberry's voice and
vision. From there, it's worth remembering that the woman who wrote it spent her last, most radical years just a few blocks into Clinton Hill, still pushing the conversation further than almost anyone else dared to. Get the book.
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