• Listen to this segment

A Raisin in the Sun

Back in the day on March 11th, 1959, “A Raisin in the Sun” became the first play written by an African-American woman and directed by an African-American man to stage on Broadway. The storyline centered on the decision of a black family to move from the south side of Chicago to an all-white neighborhood. Named after a line in the famed Langston Hughes poem “A Dream Deferred,” the play echoed the life experience of the playwright Lorraine Hansberry whose own family had to file litigation under similar circumstances in Chicago. The cast and crew of “A Raisin in the Sun,” featured the talents of the likes of Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier who help the production open to acclaim.The Ethel Barrymore Theater erupted in applause on opening night and critical praise followed soon thereafter. Hansberry’s work brought new black audiences to the theater, but also introduced existing white audiences to an artistic representation of African-American life they had previously been unexposed to.

Perhaps this is part of the reason why the New York Times would go on to call “A Raisin in the Sun,” a play that “changed American theater forever.”

For Uprising, this is your truth professa’ saying it’s no mystery why they conceal our people’s history