Question
What year did the United States enter World War?
What high school did Lorraine Hansberry attend?
How many years did Lorraine Hansberry’s family live on the Southside of Chicago?
What does segregation mean?
What is a Ghetto and where does the word come from?
Who is Paul Roberson?
What did Lorraine’s Dad do for a living?
What is a mob?
What is the NAACP?
Where and what is Greenwhich Village?
What is a household?
Who wrote Raisin in the Sun?
What is the song, “Cindy, Oh Cindy? Who wrote it?
When was Martin Luther King assassinated?
How many performances did To Be Young Gifted and Black have off-Broadway?
Name three major events that happened in 1963?
When did Hansberry die?
What happened on January 12, 1965?
What year was Hansberry in High School?
What elementary school did she attend?
Lorraine Hansberry Biography
Lorraine Hansberry was born at Provident Hospital on the South Side of Chicago on May 19, 1930. She was the youngest of Nannie Perry Hansberry and Carl Augustus Hansberry’s four children. Her father founded Lake Street Bank, one of the first banks for blacks in Chicago, and ran a successful real estate business. Her uncle was William Leo Hansberry, a scholar of African studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Many prominent African American social and political leaders visited the Hansberry household during Lorraine’s childhood including sociology professor W.E.B. DuBois, poet Langston Hughes, actor and political activist Paul Robeson, musician Duke Ellington and Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens.
Despite their middle-class status, the Hansberrys were subject to segregation. When she was 8 years old, Hansberry’s family deliberately attempted to move into a restricted neighborhood. Restrictive covenants, in which white property owners agreed not to sell to blacks, created a ghetto known as the “Black Belt” on Chicago’s South Side. Carl Hansberry, with the help of Harry H. Pace, president of the Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company and several white realtors, secretly bought property at 413 E. 60th Street and 6140 S. Rhodes Avenue. The Hansberrys moved into the house on Rhodes Avenue in May 1937. The family was threatened by a white mob, which threw a brick through a window, narrowly missing Lorraine. The Supreme Court of Illinois upheld the legality of the restrictive covenant and forced the family to leave the house. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision on a legal technicality. The result was the opening of 30 blocks of South Side Chicago to African Americans. Although the case did not argue that racially restrict covenants were unlawful, it marked the beginning of their end.
Lorraine graduated from Englewood High School in Chicago, where she first became interested in theater. She enrolled in the University of Wisconsin but left before completing her degree. After studying painting in Chicago and Mexico, Hansberry moved to New York in 1950 to begin her career as a writer. She wrote for Paul Robeson’s Freedom, a progressive publication, which put her in contact with other literary and political mentors such as W.E.B. DuBois and Freedom editor Louis Burnham. During a protest against racial discrimination at New York University, she met Robert Nemiroff, a Jewish writer who shared her political views. They married on June 20, 1953 at the Hansberrys’ home in Chicago.
In 1956, her husband and Burt D’Lugoff wrote the hit song, “Cindy, Oh Cindy.” Its profits allowed Hansberry to quit working and devote herself to writing. She then began a play she called The Crystal Stair, from Langston Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son.” She later retitled it A Raisin in the Sun from Hughes’ poem, “Harlem: A Dream Deferred.”
In A Raisin in the Sun, the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway, she drew upon the lives of the working-class black people who rented from her father and who went to school with her on Chicago’s South Side. She also used members of her family as inspiration for her characters. Hansberry noted similarities between Nannie Hansberry and Mama Younger and between Carl Hansberry and Big Walter. Walter Lee, Jr. and Ruth are composites of Hansberry’s brothers, their wives and her sister, Mamie. In an interview, Hansberry laughingly said “Beneatha is me, eight years ago.”
Her second play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, about a Jewish intellectual, ran on Broadway for 101 performances. It received mixed reviews. Her friends rallied to keep the play running. It closed on January 12, 1965, the day Hansberry died of cancer at 34.
Although Hansberry and Nemiroff divorced before her death, he remained dedicated to her work. As literary executor, he edited and published her three unfinished plays: Les Blancs, The Drinking Gourd and What Use Are Flowers? He also collected Hansberry’s unpublished writings, speeches and journal entries and presented them in the autobiographical montage To Be Young, Gifted and Black. The title is taken from a speech given by Hansberry in May 1964 to winners of a United Negro Fund writing competition: “…though it be thrilling and marvelous thing to be merely young and gifted in such times, it is doubly so, doubly dynamic, to be young, gifted and black!”
What high school did Lorraine Hansberry attend?
How many years did Lorraine Hansberry’s family live on the Southside of Chicago?
What does segregation mean?
What is a Ghetto and where does the word come from?
Who is Paul Roberson?
What did Lorraine’s Dad do for a living?
What is a mob?
What is the NAACP?
Where and what is Greenwhich Village?
What is a household?
Who wrote Raisin in the Sun?
What is the song, “Cindy, Oh Cindy? Who wrote it?
When was Martin Luther King assassinated?
How many performances did To Be Young Gifted and Black have off-Broadway?
Name three major events that happened in 1963?
When did Hansberry die?
What happened on January 12, 1965?
What year was Hansberry in High School?
What elementary school did she attend?
Lorraine Hansberry Biography
Lorraine Hansberry was born at Provident Hospital on the South Side of Chicago on May 19, 1930. She was the youngest of Nannie Perry Hansberry and Carl Augustus Hansberry’s four children. Her father founded Lake Street Bank, one of the first banks for blacks in Chicago, and ran a successful real estate business. Her uncle was William Leo Hansberry, a scholar of African studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Many prominent African American social and political leaders visited the Hansberry household during Lorraine’s childhood including sociology professor W.E.B. DuBois, poet Langston Hughes, actor and political activist Paul Robeson, musician Duke Ellington and Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens.
Despite their middle-class status, the Hansberrys were subject to segregation. When she was 8 years old, Hansberry’s family deliberately attempted to move into a restricted neighborhood. Restrictive covenants, in which white property owners agreed not to sell to blacks, created a ghetto known as the “Black Belt” on Chicago’s South Side. Carl Hansberry, with the help of Harry H. Pace, president of the Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company and several white realtors, secretly bought property at 413 E. 60th Street and 6140 S. Rhodes Avenue. The Hansberrys moved into the house on Rhodes Avenue in May 1937. The family was threatened by a white mob, which threw a brick through a window, narrowly missing Lorraine. The Supreme Court of Illinois upheld the legality of the restrictive covenant and forced the family to leave the house. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision on a legal technicality. The result was the opening of 30 blocks of South Side Chicago to African Americans. Although the case did not argue that racially restrict covenants were unlawful, it marked the beginning of their end.
Lorraine graduated from Englewood High School in Chicago, where she first became interested in theater. She enrolled in the University of Wisconsin but left before completing her degree. After studying painting in Chicago and Mexico, Hansberry moved to New York in 1950 to begin her career as a writer. She wrote for Paul Robeson’s Freedom, a progressive publication, which put her in contact with other literary and political mentors such as W.E.B. DuBois and Freedom editor Louis Burnham. During a protest against racial discrimination at New York University, she met Robert Nemiroff, a Jewish writer who shared her political views. They married on June 20, 1953 at the Hansberrys’ home in Chicago.
In 1956, her husband and Burt D’Lugoff wrote the hit song, “Cindy, Oh Cindy.” Its profits allowed Hansberry to quit working and devote herself to writing. She then began a play she called The Crystal Stair, from Langston Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son.” She later retitled it A Raisin in the Sun from Hughes’ poem, “Harlem: A Dream Deferred.”
In A Raisin in the Sun, the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway, she drew upon the lives of the working-class black people who rented from her father and who went to school with her on Chicago’s South Side. She also used members of her family as inspiration for her characters. Hansberry noted similarities between Nannie Hansberry and Mama Younger and between Carl Hansberry and Big Walter. Walter Lee, Jr. and Ruth are composites of Hansberry’s brothers, their wives and her sister, Mamie. In an interview, Hansberry laughingly said “Beneatha is me, eight years ago.”
Her second play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, about a Jewish intellectual, ran on Broadway for 101 performances. It received mixed reviews. Her friends rallied to keep the play running. It closed on January 12, 1965, the day Hansberry died of cancer at 34.
Although Hansberry and Nemiroff divorced before her death, he remained dedicated to her work. As literary executor, he edited and published her three unfinished plays: Les Blancs, The Drinking Gourd and What Use Are Flowers? He also collected Hansberry’s unpublished writings, speeches and journal entries and presented them in the autobiographical montage To Be Young, Gifted and Black. The title is taken from a speech given by Hansberry in May 1964 to winners of a United Negro Fund writing competition: “…though it be thrilling and marvelous thing to be merely young and gifted in such times, it is doubly so, doubly dynamic, to be young, gifted and black!”
Answers
GPT-4o mini
1. The United States entered World War II in 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
2. Lorraine Hansberry attended Englewood High School in Chicago.
3. Lorraine Hansberry's family lived on the South Side of Chicago for approximately 10 years, moving there in 1937.
4. Segregation refers to the enforced separation of different racial or ethnic groups in a country, community, or establishment.
5. A ghetto is a part of a city where members of a specific ethnic or religious group live, often due to social, legal, or economic pressure. The term originally referred to the segregated Jewish quarter in Venice, Italy, in the 16th century.
6. Paul Robeson was an American singer, actor, and political activist who was known for his contributions to the civil rights movement and his advocacy for social justice.
7. Lorraine Hansberry's father, Carl Augustus Hansberry, was a successful real estate businessman and the founder of one of the first banks for blacks in Chicago, Lake Street Bank.
8. A mob typically refers to a large crowd of people, often engaged in violent or unruly behavior.
9. The NAACP, or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is a civil rights organization in the United States that fights for the rights of African Americans and works to eliminate racial discrimination.
10. Greenwich Village is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, known for its bohemian culture, artistic community, and as a center for social and political movements.
11. A household is a group of individuals living together in the same dwelling, often sharing domestic responsibilities.
12. "A Raisin in the Sun" was written by Lorraine Hansberry.
13. "Cindy, Oh Cindy" is a song co-written by Lorraine Hansberry's husband, Robert Nemiroff, and Burt D’Lugoff.
14. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
15. "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" had 101 performances off-Broadway.
16. Three major events that happened in 1963 include:
- The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
- The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.
- The Birmingham campaign for civil rights, which included significant protests against segregation and racial injustice.
17. Lorraine Hansberry died on January 12, 1965, at the age of 34.
18. On January 12, 1965, Lorraine Hansberry passed away from cancer.
19. Lorraine Hansberry graduated from high school in 1948, so she was in high school from approximately 1944 to 1948.
20. Lorraine Hansberry attended the University of Wisconsin, but her elementary school is not specified in the provided biography.
If you have any more questions or need further clarification on any point, feel free to ask!
2. Lorraine Hansberry attended Englewood High School in Chicago.
3. Lorraine Hansberry's family lived on the South Side of Chicago for approximately 10 years, moving there in 1937.
4. Segregation refers to the enforced separation of different racial or ethnic groups in a country, community, or establishment.
5. A ghetto is a part of a city where members of a specific ethnic or religious group live, often due to social, legal, or economic pressure. The term originally referred to the segregated Jewish quarter in Venice, Italy, in the 16th century.
6. Paul Robeson was an American singer, actor, and political activist who was known for his contributions to the civil rights movement and his advocacy for social justice.
7. Lorraine Hansberry's father, Carl Augustus Hansberry, was a successful real estate businessman and the founder of one of the first banks for blacks in Chicago, Lake Street Bank.
8. A mob typically refers to a large crowd of people, often engaged in violent or unruly behavior.
9. The NAACP, or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is a civil rights organization in the United States that fights for the rights of African Americans and works to eliminate racial discrimination.
10. Greenwich Village is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, known for its bohemian culture, artistic community, and as a center for social and political movements.
11. A household is a group of individuals living together in the same dwelling, often sharing domestic responsibilities.
12. "A Raisin in the Sun" was written by Lorraine Hansberry.
13. "Cindy, Oh Cindy" is a song co-written by Lorraine Hansberry's husband, Robert Nemiroff, and Burt D’Lugoff.
14. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
15. "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" had 101 performances off-Broadway.
16. Three major events that happened in 1963 include:
- The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
- The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.
- The Birmingham campaign for civil rights, which included significant protests against segregation and racial injustice.
17. Lorraine Hansberry died on January 12, 1965, at the age of 34.
18. On January 12, 1965, Lorraine Hansberry passed away from cancer.
19. Lorraine Hansberry graduated from high school in 1948, so she was in high school from approximately 1944 to 1948.
20. Lorraine Hansberry attended the University of Wisconsin, but her elementary school is not specified in the provided biography.
If you have any more questions or need further clarification on any point, feel free to ask!