About the Author

"Black" was the word handwritten on Lorraine Vivian Hansberry's birth certificate on May 19, 1930. The hospital had printed "Negro", but Carl and Nannie Perry Hansberry crossed out the hospital's label and asserted the right to designate their child's racial identity on the Challenging the system was part of the Hansberrys' way of life. Carl had achieved success in real estate and banking even in the middle of the Great Depression. He and his wife raised four children on the South Side of Chicago. Lorraine  was the youngest of the children. She was 7 years younger, she often played alone. In addition, her family's ways separated her from her peers. Her inspiration to write this play was based on current struggles at the time that she endured. They had very similar problems at the time with a house in a completely white neighborhood. Her family was heavily sued at the time and they had to go through very similar things the younger's had to at the time.