The Great Playwright 's Life Story

Black theater is as old as the first tribes in Africa who would dance with wooden masks to represent gods or legends (Kerr, p3). The playwrights of this time were the Griots, who were known as the keepers of history in African tribes and mark the beginning of African literary tradition (Freeman.) But when does the development of black playwright actually take off?

life in the mid to late twentieth century and the strains of society on African Americans. Set in a small neighborhood of a big city, this play holds much conflict between a father, Troy Maxson, and his two sons, Lyons and Cory. By analyzing the sources of this conflict, one can better appreciate and understand the way the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work.

A recurring theme in American history has been that of the American Dream, the idea that anyone, regardless of race, can achieve success through hard work. In his stirring 1990 play The Piano Lesson, August Wilson uses African-American characters to embody the American Dream. Throughout the play, set in Pittsburgh in 1936, Wilson traces the economic successes of several African-American characters, such as Boy Willie and Lymon. However, Wilson’s portrayal of this apparent progress conflicts with the true historical setting. The reality between 1877 and the 1930s was that social barriers, such as Jim Crow laws and sharecropping, precluded economic progress for most African-Americans. A few black Americans such as Madam Walker, an Indiana businesswoman, made some progress, but in general there was stagnation in terms of pecuniary growth during this time period. August Wilson’s interpretation of African-American economic progress through fictional characters in The Piano Lesson is flawed because it represents a few economically successful African-Americans of the time, but fails to capture the lack of progress made by the majority between 1877 and 1930.

Economic and societal poverty are the key forms of poverty highlighted in the three-act play, A Raisin in the Sun. Lorraine Hansberry, the playwright, discusses the hardships of African-Americans attempting to emerge in society in the 1950’s. The play is staged in ways where the audience can grasp the trifles of an African-American family continuously experiencing setbacks whilst attempting to achieve their notion of the “American Dream”. To Walter Lee Younger, his idea of the “American Dream” is that anything is possible for those who have money. Unfortunately, there is a minor problem: Walter Lee Younger is a working-class African-American man who struggles to make ends meet in the Southside of Chicago, Illinois. The family undergoes

Lorraine Hansberry was born May 19th, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois. She was the youngest of seven children, and was the granddaughter of a slave. Her mother was a school teacher, and her father was a real estate broker. In 1938, her family moved to an all-white neighborhood and were victims of racist crimes and violence. They refused to move until the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lee in the Hansberry v. Lee case. With the judge ruling in favor of Lee, who sued so that no African- Americans could live in their neighborhood, the Hansberry’s were forced to move. Hansberry, unlike her parents who went to southern, all black universities, attended the University of Wisconsin. She dropped out two years later after changing her major from fine art to writing and moved to New York where she attended the New School for Social Research. She then worked for the Freedom newspaper as a writer and associate editor from 1950 to 1953. Between the Freedom newspaper and working as a waitress she wrote in her free time. She decided she liked writing

Through her character Walter Younger, Hansberry created a real example of Black America's struggle to reach the American Dream. Walter’s Dream was to invest in a liquor store. He was going to achieve this dream by asking his mother to take the check and invest in the liquor store. His dream was deferred because his mother already made a choice on making a down payment on a house. Walter says “WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE LISTEN TO ME TODAY” (p.70). It shows that nobody wants to take the time to listen to what he thinks or wants to do.To him he’s trying to find a way to get the family out of poverty. Walter’s American Dream of getting out of the Chicago ghetto was also deferred because he isn’t making enough money on his own to invest into

Hansberry has gone through many challenging milestones having to move to a white suburb neighborhood at age of eight. Hansberry and her family had faced with multiple attacks against them. In the source About the Playwright: Lorraine Hansberry wrote “Shortly afterwards, Hansberry herself was nearly killed by a brick hurled through a window by angry whites” Mobs of white people surround her home since her family is African American. In which connects to her play A Raisin in the sun when Johnson said “NERGROS INVADE CLYBROURNE PARK BOMBED”

Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago on May 19, 1930, the youngest of four children. Her parents were well-educated, successful black citizens who publicly fought discrimination against black people. When Hansberry was a child, she and her family lived in a black neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. During this era, segregation—the enforced separation of whites and blacks—was still legal and widespread throughout the South. Northern states, including Hansberry’s own Illinois, had no official policy of segregation, but they were generally self-segregated along racial and economic lines. Chicago was a striking example of a city carved into strictly divided black and white neighborhoods. Hansberry’s family became one of the first to move into

Hansberry’s drama draws on her own experience growing up in segregated Chicago. An example is the redlining that had happened in 1938. “Redlining is the practice of denying key services or increasing their costs for residents in a defined geographical area” according to, “How We Built the Ghettos” Therefore, blacks were kept in an area to live in. In an article called, “How Redlining’s Racist Effects Lasted for Decades” it says that, “The lines they helped draw believe that the presence of blacks and other minorities would undermine property values.” This meaning that the lines helped blacks and other races undermine the values of the property’s. This article also states that, “ The maps didn’t create segregation and unequal cities today,

Lorraine Hansberry, author of To Be Young, Gifted, and Black, shows deep passion about the topic of discrimination and the idea of the American Dream throughout her writing.

Every word in a literary composition adds more sense, if it is presented in a meaningful way. We can see various differences between the presentation of Hansberry’s play in 1961 and 2008 Act 1 Scene 1, though they are trying to convey the same message. Both of the scenes are trying to show the dream of a middle class man, and their day to day circumstances while chasing their dream. The main notion of the play was to portray about the struggle of African-American in the society ruled by white people.

August Wilson was one of the most accomplished African-American playwrights of this century and was one of only seven to win the Pulitzer Prize. He dedicated his entire career to documenting the 20th century struggles of African-Americans in a cycle of ten plays. He completed the cycle shortly before he died on October 2, 2005. His plays were themed around The Middle Passage, The Underground Railroad, The Emancipation Proclamation, Reconstruction and Jim Crow, The Northern Migration, Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Oppression , Civil Rights Movement and Black Nationalism, Developing Personal “Songs” and Cultural Mythologies, Sports Discrimination, and City Politics Wilson’s main goal in life was to make sure a realistic view of how the African-Americans was put on stage for everyone to see the struggles of African-American. He bridged the gap in tradition, modified tradition when experience demanded it, and he translated experience into meaning and meaning into belief. He deserves a lot of praise, but did he also backtrack on his original thoughts? In this paper, I will give a short biography of him, discuss his plays, and discuss how his plays and his paper/film The Ground on Which I Stand contradicts each other.

It makes me tragic to realize that Lorraine Hansberry kicked the bucket so youthful and wonder what different plays were in her future. The tale of this play is both epic and straightforward. A family living on the south side of Chicago battles with destitution, battles to look after nobility, and longs for a superior life.

"Nothing will come of nothing." This quote is from Shakespeare's King Lear. “When you put nothing in, you get nothing back.” Quotes like this show how influential Shakespeare is today. Even from looking at events in his life, you can tell that he went by this quote during his life. He didn’t just become famous or rich overnight. He had to put in some work. He started out as the son of a man who dabbles in many things, and eventually after a lot of criticism, he performed in front of Queen Elizabeth the 1st and became rich enough to own the second biggest house in Stratford. His career began when he:

Lorraine Hansberry develops the theme that racial discrimination makes it hard to obtain the American Dream through the use of setting. The play takes place in Southside Chicago 1950. During this time the south was segregated by racist Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow Laws were laws requiring the separation of whites from persons of color. Many African Americans faced unofficial racial barriers in the North. Black and white communities were even segregated from each other. Black and white communities were very different. Buying a house in a black community was different from buying a house in a white community. Black communities were more expensive and were less well-kept, in contrast to white communities being cheaper, very clean, and well-kept. Linder states, “I want you to believe me when I tell you that race prejudice simply doesn’t enter into it. It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities.” Linder is trying to say that they are not trying to be racist but clearly are because they are telling the Younger’s that they can not live there because it is an all white community and blacks have their own communities. Linder offers money for the Younger’s to leave just so that they don’t have any blacks in their all white community. Galens states, “Mama Younger has the money to pay for a house she wants, but people attempt to