![]() ![]() In his final years, he grew increasingly frustrated over the raw racism in our nation. The court found that Hansberry could sue over the covenant, but did not rule on the unconstitutionality of restrictive residential covenants in general. Carl challenged the racist notion of restrictive covenants in a long legal battle that went all the way to the U.S. Soon after, the Hansberry family was exposed to the rage of their white neighbors opposed to their moving in next to them.īoth Carl and his wife, Nannie Louise Hansberry, were active members of the Chicago chapters of the NAACP and Urban League (as well as the Republican Party, which was still known as the “party of Abraham Lincoln”). In 1938, he purchased a home in the predominantly white Washington Park subdivision of the Woodlawn section of Chicago’s south side. The play was based on the experiences of Lorraine’s father, Carl Augustus Hansberry, who was a successful real estate broker in Chicago. The matriarch hopes to buy a house in a predominantly white neighborhood but cannot because of the racially restrictive covenants of the day. Hansberry’s play tells the story of an African American family living in a cramped rental apartment in Chicago. What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? The play’s title comes from a line of poetry by the great Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes entitled “ Harlem:” Hansberry wrote “A Raisin in the Sun” between her 26th and 27th birthdays. ![]()
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