Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was an African-American playwright, essayist, journalist and activist. Hansberry was the first black female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best known work, the play A Raisin In The Sun.
Hansberry died in New York City of pancreatic cancer on January 12, 1965 at the age of 34. Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Baldwin spoke at her funeral on January 15 in New York.
References
Other websites
"The Black Revolution and the White Backlash" (audio with transcript) – speech by Lorraine Hansberry, Forum at Town Hall sponsored by The Association of Artists for Freedom, New York City, June 15, 1964 Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color – Lorraine Hansberry, University of Minnesota
Twice Militant: Lorraine Hansberry's Letters to "The Ladder" – Brooklyn Museum exhibition, November 2013 – March 2014
1930 births
1965 deaths
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Cancer deaths in New York City
American essayists
Democrats (United States) American atheists American LGBT writers LGBT people from Chicago Lesbian feminists American feminist writers American playwrights American civil rights activists American LGBT rights activists African American writers Journalists from Chicago