[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 10115]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    PRAISING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF AN AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHT: LORRAINE 
                               HANSBERRY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 20, 2008

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate and recognize 
the birthday of Lorraine Hansberry, whose work, A Raisin in the Sun, 
became the first Broadway production of a black playwright. Lorraine 
Hansberry is the foremother of African-American drama. As the youngest 
American, the fifth woman, and the first black to win the New York 
Drama Critic's Circle Award as Best Play of the Year for A Raisin in 
the Sun, she has paved the way for many of her peers. To Be Young, 
Gifted and Black, an autobiographical portrait in her own words won the 
record for longest Off-Broadway running drama in 1968.
  Lorraine Hansberry's work does not stop at the stages of Broadway; 
her work provided many in White America with their first exposure to 
the reality of the pain and struggles associated with being Black in 
America. She used the success of A Raisin in the Sun as a platform, 
becoming a spokesperson for the American Civil Rights Movement. Ms. 
Hansberry's first brush with the struggles of civil rights occurred 
when her family moved into an all-White neighborhood. White landowners 
in the area had relied on a restrictive covenant in order to not sell 
property to any person of color. The legal struggle to permit them to 
move to and live in an integrated environment led to the landmark 
Supreme Court case of Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940). This 
experience later inspired her to write her most famous work, A Raisin 
in the Sun.
  Today marks the birth of this great American 78 years ago. Although 
her life was cut short, her impact on her peers and her field will 
continue to be a testimony to hard work and what it means to be deeply 
committed to the causes of justice and equality.

                          ____________________