I Have a Dream —Racial Discrimination in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun

Abstract

Racism is a major issue that has affected the United States of America since its infancy. Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun (1959) deals with the impact of racism on the life of the Younger, a poor black family living in the South Side of Chicago. As the play demonstrates, the Younger suffer from racial discrimination in housing industry, living space, and employment. Their attempt to challenge the racist policies takes the form of buying a house in a predominantly white neighborhood. The importance of the play is twofold. Firstly, it was the first play by an Afro-American woman to be presented on Broadway; and secondly, it foreshadows many of issues which the American society experience in the 1960s.