A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred") by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a black family's experiences on the south side of Chicago, as they attempt to improve their financial circumstances with an insurance payout following the death of their patriarch, and deals with matters of housing discrimination, racism, and assimilation. The New York Drama Critics' Circle named it the best play of 1959, and in the 21st century publications such as The Independent and Time Out have listed it among the best plays ever written.
Plot Walter and Ruth Younger, and their son Travis, along with Walter's mother Lena (Mama) and younger sister Beneatha, live in poverty in a run-down two-bedroom apartment on Chicago's South Side. Walter is barely making a living as a limousine driver. Though Ruth is content with their lot, Walter desperately wishes for more. He hopes to invest in a liquor store in partnership with Willy and Bobo, his street-smart acquaintances.
At the beginning of the play, Walter Lee and Beneatha's father has recently died, and Mama (Lena) is waiting for a life insurance check for $10,000. Walter has a sense of entitlement to the money, but Mama has religious objections to alcohol, and Beneatha has to remind him it is Mama's call how to spend it. Eventually, Mama puts some of the money down on a new house, choosing an all-white neighborhood over a black one for the practical reason that it is much cheaper. Later she relents and gives the remaining $6,500 to Walter to invest, with the provision that he reserve $3,000 for Beneatha's education. Walter gives all of the money to Willy, who takes it and flees, depriving Walter and Beneatha of their dreams, though not the Youngers of their new home. Bobo reports the bad news about the money. Meanwhile, Karl Lindner, a white representative of the neighborhood they plan to move to, makes an offer to buy them out. Vaguely threatening, he says he wishes to avoid tensions over the introduction of Black people into the neighborhood. Although they reject the offer at first, Walter prepares to accept it after he discovers that Willy fled with his investment, much to the horror of his family. Lena says that while money was something they try to work for, they should never take it if it was a person's way of telling them they were not fit to walk the same earth as them.
Meanwhile, Beneatha's character and direction in life are influenced by two different men who are potentially love interests: her wealthy and educated boyfriend George Murchison, and Joseph Asagai. Neither man is actively involved in the Youngers' financial ups and downs. George represents the "fully assimilated black man" who denies his African heritage with a "smarter than thou" attitude, which Beneatha finds disgusting, while dismissively mocking Walter's situation. Joseph, a Yoruba student from Nigeria, patiently teaches Beneatha about her African heritage; he gives her thoughtfully practical gifts from Africa while pointing out she is unwittingly assimilating herself into white ways. She straightens her hair, for example, which he characterizes as "mutilation".
When Beneatha becomes distraught at the loss of the money, she is scolded by Joseph for her materialism. She eventually accepts his point of view that things will get better with effort, along with agreeing to consider his proposal of marriage and invitation to move with him to Nigeria to practice medicine.
Walter is oblivious to the stark contrast between George and Joseph: his pursuit of wealth can be attained only by liberating himself from Joseph's culture, to which he attributes his poverty, and by rising to George's level, wherein he sees his salvation. Walter redeems himself and black pride at the end by changing his mind and not accepting the buyout offer, stating that the family is proud of who they are and will try to be good neighbors. The play closes with the family leaving for their new home but uncertain future.
The "Mrs. Johnson" scene Because of time constraints and the logistics of having an additional character who only appears once, the character Mrs. Johnson and a few scenes were cut from the Broadway performance and in most subsequent productions. Mrs. Johnson is the Younger family's nosy and loud neighbor, referenced throughout the play who makes a brief appearance shortly after the Youngers buy the house in Clybourne Park. She cannot understand how the family can consider moving to a white neighborhood and cattily jokes that she will probably read in the newspaper in a month that they have been killed in a bombing. Her lines are employed as comic relief, but Hansberry also uses this scene to mock those who are too scared to stand up for their rights. In the introduction by Robert B. Nemiroff, he writes that the scene is included in print because it draws attention away from a seemingly happy ending to a more violent reality inspired by Hansberry's own experiences.
Broadway production and reception
With a cast in which all but one character is black, A Raisin in the Sun was considered a risky investment, and it took eighteen months for producer Philip Rose to raise enough money to launch it. There was disagreement with how it should be played, with the focus on the mother or on the son. When the play hit New York, Poitier played it with emphasis on the son and found not only his calling, but also an enthralled audience.
After pre-Broadway touring to positive reviews, the play premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on March 11, 1959. It transferred to the Belasco Theatre on October 19, 1959, and closed on June 25, 1960, after 530 total performances. Directed by Lloyd Richards, the cast comprised:
Sidney Poitier – Walter Lee Younger Ruby Dee – Ruth Younger Ivan Dixon – Joseph Asagai Lonne Elder III – Bobo John Fiedler – Karl Lindner Louis Gossett Jr. – George Murchison (as Louis Gossett) Claudia McNeil – Lena Younger Diana Sands – Beneatha Younger Glynn Turman – Travis Younger Ed Hall – moving man Douglas Turner – moving man
Ossie Davis later took over as Walter Lee Younger, and Frances Williams as Lena Younger.
Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by a Black woman to be produced on Broadway, as well as the first with a black director, Richards. Waiting for the curtain to rise on opening night, Hansberry and producer Rose did not expect the play to be a success, for it had received mixed reviews from a preview audience the night before. Some reviewers argued about whether the play was "universal" or particular to Black experience. Nonetheless, upon opening, the play won popular and critical acclaim.Corley, Cheryl, "'A Raisin in the Sun', Present at the Creation" , National Public Radio, March 11, 2002. At opening night, after multiple curtain calls, the audience cried out for the author, whereupon Poitier jumped into the audience and pulled Hansberry onto the stage for her ovation.
Hansberry noted that her play introduced details of black life to the overwhelmingly white Broadway audiences, while director Richards observed that it was the first play to which large numbers of black people were drawn. Frank Rich, writing in The New York Times in 1983, stated that A Raisin in the Sun "changed American theater forever". In 2016, Claire Brennan wrote in The Guardian that "The power and craft of the writing make A Raisin in the Sun as moving today as it was then." Review of a revival in Sheffield, England.
In 1960 A Raisin In The Sun was nominated for four Tony Awards:
Best Play – written by Lorraine Hansberry; produced by Philip Rose, David J. Cogan Best Actor in Play – Sidney Poitier Best Actress in a Play – Claudia McNeil Best Direction of a Play – Lloyd Richards
West End production Some five months after its Broadway opening, Hansberry's play appeared in London's West End, playing at the Adelphi Theatre from August 4, 1959. As on Broadway, the director was Lloyd Richards, and the cast was as follows:
Kim Hamilton – Ruth Younger John Adan – Travis Younger Earle Hyman – Walter Lee Younger Olga James – Beneatha Younger Juanita Moore – Lena Younger Bari Johnson – Joseph Asagai Scott Cunningham – George Murchison Meredith Edwards – Karl Lindner Lionel Ngakane – Bobo
The play was presented (as before) by Philip Rose and David J. Cogan, in association with the British impresario Jack Hylton.
Historical background
Experiences in this play echo a lawsuit, Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940), to which the playwright Lorraine Hansberry's father was a party, when he fought to have his day in court despite the fact that a previous class action about racially motivated restrictive covenants, Burke v. Kleiman, 277 Ill. App. 519 (1934), had been similar to his situation. (This case was heard prior to the passage of the Fair Housing Act—Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968—which prohibited discrimination in housing). The Hansberry family won their right to be heard as a matter of due process of law in relation to the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court held that the Hansberry defendants were not bound by the Burke decision, because the class of homeowners in the Washington Park Subdivision had conflicting goals, and thus could not be considered to be the same class. The plaintiff in the first action in 1934 was Olive Ida Burke, who brought the suit on behalf of a property owners' association to enforce racial restrictions. Her husband, James Burke, later sold a house to Carl Hansberry (Lorraine's father), when he changed his mind about the validity of the covenant. Mr. Burke's decision may have been motivated by the changing demographics of the neighborhood, but it was also influenced by the Depression. The demand for houses was so low among white buyers that Mr. Hansberry may have been the only prospective purchaser available.Kamp, Allen R. "The History Behind Hansberry v. Lee," 20 U.S. Davis L. Rev. 481 (1987).
Other productions London, 1985 In 1985, Yvonne Brewster directed a production of for the Black Theatre Co-operative, performed at the Tricycle Theatre (11 April 1985 – 4 May 1985) and at The Drill Hall Arts Centre (9 July 1985 – 20 July 1985), with the cast featuring Carmen Munroe, Gary McDonald, Peter Harding, Jacqueline de Peza, Freddie Brooks, Guy Gregory, Ella Wilder and Kwabena Manso.
Off-Broadway revival, 1986 Roundabout Theatre Company staged a 25th-anniversary production of Raisin at the Union Square Theatre from July to September 1986, directed by Harold Scott and starring Olivia Cole as Lena, Starletta DuPois as Ruth, and James Pickens Jr. as Walter Lee, with John Fiedler reprising his Broadway and film role as Lindner. The production had a limited national tour including stops in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., with Esther Rolle taking over as Lena and Danny Glover as Walter Lee, respectively. The production served as the basis for the 1989 PBS American Playhouse proshot, with Rolle, DuPois, Glover, and Fiedler reprising their roles.
Broadway revival, 2004 A revival ran on Broadway at the Royale Theatre from April 26, 2004, to July 11, 2004 with the following cast:
Sean Combs – Walter Lee Younger Audra McDonald – Ruth Younger Phylicia Rashad – Lena Younger Sanaa Lathan – Beneatha Younger Bill Nunn – Bobo David Aaron Baker – Karl Lindner Lawrence Ballard – moving man Teagle F. Bougere – Joseph Asagai Frank Harts – George Murchison Billy Eugene Jones – moving man Alexander Mitchell – Travis Younger
The director was Kenny Leon, and David Binder and Vivek Tiwary were producers.
The play won two 2004 Tony Awards: Best Actress in a Play (Phylicia Rashad) and Best Featured Actress in a Play (Audra McDonald), and was nominated for Best Revival of a Play and Best Featured Actress in a Play (Sanaa Lathan).
Royal Exchange, Manchester production, 2010