Lorraine Hansberry is an African American writer who achieved a number of important firsts during her short life; she was the first black woman to write a play that was produced on Broadway as well as the first black and youngest woman to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. This play, titled A Raisin in the Sun, was also the first Broadway play to be directed by an African American--Lloyd Richards--in over fifty years. During her short life, Hansberry completed two plays and left three others uncompleted; a sixth piece would be assembled after her death from excerpts from her writings. Although she only lived until the age of thirty-four, her achievements helped to pave the way for other African Americans who wanted their plays to be produced.

Hansberry was born into a middle class family on the South side of Chicago in 1930. Her father was...