Coming in January 2014: lorrainehansberryliterarytrust.com”
In Lorraine’s own words…
Quotes
Don’t get up. Just sit awhile and think. Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.
Asagai to Beneatha, Act III. Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun. With an introduction by Robert Nemiroff. NY: Vintage, 2004.
Despair? Did someone say despair was a question in the world? Well then, listen to the sons of those who have known little else if you wish to know the resiliency of this thing you would so quickly resign to mythhood, this thing called the human spirit.
Lorraine Hansberry, “The Negro Writer and His Roots: Toward a New Romanticism,” The Black Scholar Volume 12 (March/April 1981), p.7
It isn’t a circle—it is simply a long line—as in geometry, you know, one that reaches into infinity. And because we cannot see the end—we also cannot see how it changes. And it is very odd that those who see the changes—who dream, who will not give up—are called idealists…and those who see only the circle we call them the “realists”!
Asagai to Beneatha, Act III. In Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun. With an introduction by Robert Nemiroff. NY: Vintage, 2004.
I have suspected for a good time that the homosexual in America would ultimately pay a price for the intellectual impoverishment of women. Men continue to misinterpret the second-rate status of women as implying a privileged status for themselves; heterosexuals think the same way about homosexuals; gentiles about Jews; whites about blacks; haves about have-nots.
Lorraine Hansberry, 1961 unpublished essay titled, “On Homophobia, The Intellectual Impoverishment of Women and a Homosexual ‘Bill of Rights.'”
Mama—Mama—I want so many things…I want so many things that they are driving me kind of crazy…
Walter to Mama, Act I Scene II. In Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun. With an introduction by Robert Nemiroff. NY: Vintage, 2004.
If by some miracle women should not ever utter a single protest against their condition there would still exist among men those who could not endure in peace until her liberation had been achieved.
Lorraine Hansberry, unpublished essay. As cited in Stephen Carter, Hansberry’s Drama: Commitment amid Complexity. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991.
Seems like God don’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams—but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worthwhile.
Mama to Ruth, Act III. In Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun. With an introduction by Robert Nemiroff. NY: Vintage, 2004.
If the world is engaged in a dispute between survival and destruction…then we, as members of the human race, must address ourselves to that dispute.
Lorraine Hansberry, “The Negro Writer and His Roots: Toward a New Romanticism,” The Black Scholar 12 (March/April 1981): 3
When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right…Make sure you done take into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got wherever he is.
Mama to Beneatha, Act III. In Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun. With an introduction by Robert Nemiroff. NY: Vintage, 2004.
I believe that one of the most sound ideas in dramatic writing is that in order to create something universal, you must pay very great attention to the specific.
Lorraine Hansberry radio interview with Studs Terkel, broadcast on WFMT Radio, Chicago, Illinois, May 12, 1959, “Make New Sounds: Studs Terkel Interviews Lorraine Hansberry.” American Theater (November 1984): 6
Children see things very well sometimes—and idealists even better.
Asagai to Beneatha, Act III. Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun. With an introduction by Robert Nemiroff. NY: Vintage, 2004.
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LORRAINE HANSBERRY RESIDENCE IS NOW CLASSED HISTORY
“The New York house of playwright and indelible activist Lorraine Hansberry is now officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Although she kept her sexuality private throughout her life, Hansberry has regularly covered LGBTQ + topics in her writing and has had romantic relationships with women.
The designation of his home as a historic site follows the advocacy efforts of New York’s LGBT Historic Sites Project.
′′ Paying tribute to the very place where Lorraine Hansberry lived and worked through these state and national register lists marks another milestone in our mission to highlight LGBT people’s contributions to American history “, said in a press release Amanda Davis, Project Leader, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.
The Chicago-born writer is best known for her play ′′ A Raisin In the Sun ′′ which was created on Broadway in 1959. The title of the play comes from a line in Langston Hughe s’ Harlem poem.
Hansberry linked with other writers and artists who were part of the LGBTQ community +, including James Baldwin and Nina Simone. She worked on the room in her apartment at 337 Bleecker Street in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village – a place where many historical events took place, including the Stonewall uprising in 1969.
She lived in the apartment from 1953, according to the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.
′′ Hansberry’s active involvement in the civil rights movement and his influential writings on gender expectations and being lesbian in 1950’s America make it a stimulating figure for our time “, Davis added. ′′ The proximity of Lorraine Hansberry residence to Stonewall National Monument also provides an invaluable opportunity for guided tours and school groups to expand their understanding of LGBT history beyond the Stonewall uprising of 1969 “.
In recent years, researchers have learned more about Hansberry’s life. She collaborated with The Ladder, the nation’s first lesbian magazine distributed nationwide, and many of these were quoted by journalists and academics, along with her newspaper articles.
In one of his ′′ Ladder ′′ articles, Hansberry says: ′′ What should be clear is that one is oppressed or discriminated against because one is different, not ‘ bad ‘ or ‘ bad ‘ in some way from another one.
People can see archival photos, video documentaries, and learn more about Hansberry on the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project website. https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/…/lorraine-hansberry…/
′′ For many students across the country, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is the first introduction to drama and drama writing. The playwright’s too-brief life is not included in many programs “, said the NYS Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner. Erik Kulleseid.”
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