#sparkchamber 020524 — Lorraine Hansberry
February is Black History Month and #sparkchamber will celebrate each of its weeks, highlighting four fierce women who came up during the Black Arts Movement, “the name given to a group of politically motivated black poets, artists, dramatists, musicians, and writers who emerged in the wake of the Black Power movement.”
“The Black Arts Movement began — symbolically, at least — the day after Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965. The poet LeRoi Jones [soon to rename Amiri Baraka] announced he would leave his integrated life on New York City’s Lower East Side for Harlem. There he founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre, home to workshops in poetry, playwriting, music, and painting.” Using art as activism, and passionately active during the 1960’s and 1970’s, the movement elevated Black culture and inspired an attitude of Black pride.
Though the Black Arts Movement was largely male dominated — prominent figures include writer/activist James Baldwin, spoken-word poet/musician “the revolutions will not be televised” Gil Scott-Heron, and jazz pianist/composer Thelonius Monk — a number of female artists also came to be recognized for their work during that time period. We shine a light on four of them this month, starting today with playwright, journalist, and activist Lorraine Hansberry.
“A native of Chicago, Illinois Lorraine Hansberry is known as one of the most significant and influential playwrights of the 20th century. She wrote the landmark play A Raisin in the Sun, which opened at Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City in 1959. A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway. The play depicted the characteristics, emotions, and struggles of an urban Black family and eventually won a New York Drama Critics Circle Award and four Tonys for best play, director, actress, and actor. Because of the success of the play, Hansberry was credited for breaking down racial barriers on Broadway and ushering in a new opportunity for African American women playwrights.
“In 1961, she wrote the screenplay to A Raisin in the Sun in order to turn the play into a movie. The movie starring Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee became as successful as the play and allowed the actors to gain considerable recognition for their roles. Hansberry’s second play, and only other production put on in her lifetime, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window ran for 101 performances. The day that the play closed was the same day that Hansberry died at the age of 34 from pancreatic cancer.”
A brilliant, shining star lost too soon to the world. Thank you for your voice, Ms. Hansberry.
1.] Where do ideas come from?
One cannot live with sighted eyes and feeling heart and not know and read of the miseries which affect the world.
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
For above all, on behalf of an ailing world which sorely needs our defiance, may we, as Negroes or women, never accept the notion of – “our place”
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
Sometimes, I can see the future stretched out in front of me — just as plain as day. The future hanging over there at the edge of my days. Just waiting for me.
