When The Ordinary Becomes An Extraordinary Story...Lorraine Hansberry

"The most ordinary human being has within him profound anguish. You don't have to go to Kings and Queens of the earth. Every human being is in enormous conflict about something. Even if it's how you get to work in the morning. And I thought that it would be very interesting to explore the most ordinary man say on the South Side of Chicago."

--Lorraine Hansberry, Author and Playwright

Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930 in segregated Chicago, Illinois to Carl and Nannie Louise Hansberry. She was the youngest of four children and grew up on the South Side of Chicago. Hansberry was an extraordinarily gifted writer who made history as the first black female author to have her play, "A Raisin In The Sun", opened on Broadway in New York City. Active in the Civil Rights Movement, she worked with the likes of Paul Roberson, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, and Harry Belafonte, and was known by Nina Simone and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Her life story has been wonderfully told in a documentary in the PBS American Masters series entitled, "Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart". For more information on Hansberry's life, you may also visit the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust.