Lorraine Hansberry : Award-Winning Playwright and Civil Rights Activist

In 1959, Lorraine Hansberry became the first black woman playwright to be produced on Broadway. Her play, A Raisin in the Sun -- based loosely on the experiences of her own family in Chicago -- was an overnight sensation with both black and white audiences. In the wake of its phenomenal success, Hansberry became a spokesperson for black Americans during the 1960s civil rights movement. Then in 1964, just before the Broadway opening of her second play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, Hansberry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Her brilliant career as a writer was cut short a year later, when she died at age 34.Sinnott, Susan is the author of 'Lorraine Hansberry : Award-Winning Playwright and Civil Rights Activist', published 1999 under ISBN 9780613791977 and ISBN 0613791975.