This week, we are discussing Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun which premiered on Brodway in 1959- right in the fire of the Civil Rights Movement. As you consider many of the key themes in the play, how do you understand the term "Civil rights" in relationship to the story told? Here are some prompts to consider as you blog "Civil Rights": In what way(s) does Hansberry consider the realtionship between race, class, gender and its relationship to American citizenship? How do the Youngers' social postion engage particular topics of concern in the Civil rights Movement such as restrictive covenants, assimilation, integration, etc.? How do narratives of the American Dream in the play relate to larger civil rights struggles?
Lorrain Hansberry expresses the struggle of Civil Rights through Beneatha. Bennie is an African American woman in conflict with not only her race, but her family and gender. The other Youngers see equality in a way that is assimilation; moving into a white neighborhood, owning a business, all to gain the same respect that they associate with the “success” of the white class. In her education it takes her along two roads. One of assimilation with a college education that in both that time and now is considered something many successful people do to gain a job that would put her in a position of power for an African American woman. The other is a discovery of her own roots that puts her at odds with her family, as does her dream of becoming a doctor.
ReplyDeleteBeneatha’s search puts into perspective her gender. She’s encouraged by her family to put away her dreams to become a nurse instead of a doctor, and to marry George who fits with the Youngers’ ideals of assimilation. Asagai encourages her to leave her education to marry him and go to African where she would be able to satisfy her curiosity of her roots. She never gives an answer to either suitor by the end of the play, which I see as a movement of Civil Rights in terms of gender, and even sexuality as she breaks out of the mold of a traditional woman of her time, let alone a traditional African American woman.
The Civil Rights movement within the United States changed the way we live in this country forever. The fight for equality amongst every race in the United States was a struggle but the Civil Rights movement opened the eyes of America to the internal problems we had yet to truly face. A Raisin in the Sun helps bring to light racism and freedom while each character tries to achieve what they believe is the American dream. Lorraine Hansberry is able to also address the idea on women’s rights with all female characters in A Raisin in the Sun. Beneatha poses an interesting situation as a African-American women who hopes to be a doctor one day which is not common during the Civil Rights era. Hansberry also addresses women in a position on equality and power in Les Blanes: The African women warrior. This aspect of the Civil Rights Movement is very important and is obvious in A Raisin in the Sun. In Les Blanes it shows an uproar from the African tribes after using a non violent approach to equality which could represent what could have happened in the United States. Hansberry uses different characters in A Raisin in the Sun to shows the different aspects of the Civil Rights movement. Fighting for Civil Rights the way Hansberry did it will be able to live forever in her work.
ReplyDeleteThe great thing about the American Dream is that is dreamed about by all Americans unequivocally. The dream itself does not discriminate against anyone based on race, religion, or creed. However, the ability to believe in the achievement of the dream has greatly varied over the course of American history based upon the laws that have been in place. The Civil Rights that have been afforded to citizens that are not of white European descent have not always been equal to those of white European descent. As seen in A Raisin in the Sun, for many years prior to the Civil Rights movement, many black American citizens would dream the same dream as white American citizens, however, they would generally not expect it to be fulfilled. This is evident when Mama is talking to Ruth and says, “”Seem like God didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing by dreams – but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worth while.”” After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and the gradual (arguably still being fully accepted) acceptance of African Americans into “mainstream society” (i.e. integration), many more African Americans were able to finally achieve the American Dream that had been dreamed by so many of their ancestors.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading A Raisin in the Sun I believe Lorraine Hansbury focused so much on the idea of class, race and gender and its relationship to citizenship because this was a “problem” that anyone could have if you were not the right class, race, gender, etc. in America. For example, it is obvious the theme of the play is about African American’s race and the problems that came along with it. But also, Hansbury knew what it was like to be a woman (who also at the time was not looked at approvingly, depending on what she did). Although Hansbury did not know what it was like to be poor like the Younger’s, she did see people during her time that were suffering from poverty. Because of these reasons, it is easy to see why the play was well liked among people and why we still talk about it today. We can also see a blend of these three “problems” in the characters of Beneatha, Lena and Ruth. They are all black women who happen to be in the working class. Hansbury was smart to talk about the issues of race during the Civil Rights Era, but also class and gender, because those were and still are considered a “problem” when trying live the American Dream
ReplyDeleteI love the use of this topic and "A Raisin in the Sun," due to the issue of what "making it" and "realizing the American dream" mean to different parts of the African American Community. In class we discussed how Walter wished to be an entrepreneur because that is what the American dream meant to him and that was his idea of arriving in society. Ruth is fighting a different more complicated battle that is often overlooked in the civil rights discussion, because she is not only battling all of the hatred and oppression that Walter is battling, she is also battling the oppressive African American male that refuses to consider the struggles that she is going through. The clip that we watched in class perfectly shows my argument, Walter is talking about getting his and being oppressed, but is also refusing to consider his wife's feelings on the issue.
ReplyDeleteIt is so interesting to me that a play like Raisin in the Sun can captivate so many people and cause such a rift in the artistic realm. She was the first African American women to ever have a play produced on Broadway. As the civil rights movement was going on at this pivotal point in our countries history, it became apparent that Lorraine Hansberry’s need to be that strong voice for blacks in the theater and it was needed. This play really showed the white culture how tough it was for blacks at that time. It forced them to pay attention to how blacks were being treated. But as we take an even closer look at the magnitude of plays being produced today, there still aren’t hardly any black women play writes getting their work put on Broadway stages. Which is pretty sad because there are so many great writers out there.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is an enormous political statement on what was happening at the time. African Americans at this time and in the show are trying to create a better life for themselves. I feel like this show being on Broadway during this struggle helps to show that it was a vital topic at this time. Also, this show addresses this issue in a realistic way instead of in a caricature. The movie made the characters easy to fall in love with. Although this show focuses on African Americans and their achievement of a better life or the ‘American dream’ this show can be applied to any person. This has helped to the shows great success.
ReplyDeleteHansberry uses the Younger family’s experiences as examples of integration, assimilation and restrictive covenants. When the Younger family is finally able to purchase a home, it is in a white neighborhood and the community isn’t happy about the new colored neighbors they will soon be getting. A rep from the community approaches the Younger’s and wants them to sale their house back at a profit instead of moving in. This is similar to a racially restrictive covenant. Though the Younger’s were still able to choose for themselves to move there, it reminded me of the contracts we learned about in class where certain racial groups were not allowed to purchase or occupy properties. It’s insane to think about something like that happening today; and it’s even crazier to think this was happening only like 50 years ago! I think Hansberry uses integration and assimilation issues in many ways. One example of assimilation is for Mr. Asagai. He is from Africa but because he is a black man he is thrown into the category of African American. He is trying to keep his African identity while learning and growing in a completely different country. It seems those in the US would rather just stick him in a box labeled African American rather than consider him a different ethnicity. It is as if they consider him already assimilated into a different group because of his color of skin. Also, because he is an African American he must deal with not only being different because he is Nigerian but being discriminated against because he is African American as well.
ReplyDeleteHansberry shows the struggles of Civil rights through Beanie. She is the one who struggled with her race gender and her family. Beanie was the only one in her family who did not see equality as assimilation. While off to college, Beanie found herself lost; she no longer wanted to become a doctor because of the struggles that came along with being a “black” in college. It did not help that her family was making her choose between what career she wanted and who she would be “better off” marrying. If she was to marry George it would fit with the Younger’s belief in assimilation and if she was to marry Asagi it would be as if she is running away from what her family believes in.
ReplyDeleteEach Character displays their own undertone of inner conflicts that exemplify their character and attitudes in the play. So as far as the civil rights movement issues that picture is painted clearly. Assimilation in my opinion is not entirely a bad thing in general. To have one’s own identity is to be oneself and without regard for whosoever is watching is being oneself. But wanting a better life for oneself and desiring what other have are two different things. Walter Lee seems to be imprisoned in his life, his job, and surroundings but not in his mind. Walter Lee wants a better life for his son so he claims. But his motives are just by measuring what others have and equating their possessions as the good life. Bennie obviously struggles with her identity and looking for reason to become more like her African predecessors to be comfortable with herself. However, if you realize that through her insecurity she is also fighting her inner self to become a doctor. In her mind she feels that if she begins this task she can free her mind of doubt and unbelief of who she can or cannot be. If anyone noticed the very last scene when mama grabs the plant, Lorraine Hansberry was making an obvious point. In my opinion the plant correlates the human hearts of each Younger. Many can be defeated by what they see or hear but one cannot tell the heart how to die.
ReplyDeleteAmerican citizenship in A Raisin in the Sun is exemplified through the characters desires and dreams. Each a bit different, however each with a definite defining passion. Before the Civil Rights Movement dreams were just that, “ a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep”, however with the Movement it was possible to manifest and bring those dreams to fruition and waking life. As I mentioned in class my family was building our home and my brother’s were in elementary school at the onset of modern Civil Rights concerns. When speaking of restrictive covenants, assimilation, and integration topics my family strongly affirms that it was not about wanting to live in a “white” neighborhood, however it was definitely about being able to own and build a home of your dreams in whatever neighborhood you chose. It was not about their children receiving a better education in a White school, but getting an equal education in any American school that they attended.
ReplyDeleteA Raisin the Sun presents the larger struggles of the Civil Rights Movement through one, enduring family, the Youngers. As Wilkerson points out, Hansberry was revolutionary in her portrayal of not only race relations in Chicago but of her portrayal of gender issues. The triad of race, gender, and class issues viscerally lived by each member of the Younger family grounds Hansberry’s play with a kind of lasting, restless power giving the text what Amiri Baraka in his second take on Raisin calls “the life that only classics can maintain.” Raisin speaks beyond its important genesis during Civil Rights in America as evidenced by the reclamation of Hansberry’s work through such revolutionary voices as Baraka himself. Raisin continues to speak from the stage with a fire that burns away the sticky residue of time that so many “classics” succumb to as they smother in the dust of age. But it is Hansberry’s story of one family dreaming of something more, of choosing to live where they want to that gives the play both a universal quality applicable to other races and ethnicities and a surprisingly simple radicalism. As Baraka himself notes, Hansberry portrays a family not willing to endure the urban segregation of Chicago EVEN in the face of a sweet talking, sweet acting, “just-looking-out-for-them” white man. As strong as they are, Ruth, Beneatha, and Mama’s future and happiness depend directly on the actions of the central male patriarch of the family, Walter. Here again, the fire of Hansberry’s play and the “life” it maintains as a classic lies in the painful negotiation between race, class, and gender.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading and watching Raisin in the Sun, it helps give you an aspect of life during the civil rights movement. You can see the struggle for their rights through Beneatha because she is basically trying to find the origins of the African American identity. While she is doing that and trying to be something unheard of at the time, which is a doctor, her family is just trying to fit in with the white society. Here are the gender issues because nobody thinks it’s a good idea for her to try this because women are not doctors but only nurses. She talks about the issues of race the whole play with them trying to live the white dream by making the white money. When they get a chance to live they dream of the big house in the white neighborhood it gets taken away by the white folks. This play helps to see a lot of aspects of the African American society at the time. You see the ones who want to learn and go back to Africa and the ones that just want to live like the white folks
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Raisin in the Sun and reading the bio of Lorraine Hansberry I can tell how she brought much of her life into the play. It has to take someone who experienced the Civil Rights movement from the less fortunate side to be able to write such an effective play such as this, because it was so realistic. Hansberry showed that during this movement because of all the struggles blacks encountered on a day to day basis, no matter how much money they had, living the American Dream was basically impossible. You’re finally financially able to move into a nice and safer neighborhood then the neighborhood rejects you. You’re able to open a business of your own and for some reason you can never succeed. As sad as this was, I admire the way Hansberry wrote this play because she did not make living in a black community seem like a piece of cake because it was very far from that.
ReplyDeleteIt is evident in the biography of Lorraine Hansberry that she was greatly affected by the Civil Rights movement from a young age. Growing up she witnessed, and personally experienced, the struggles faced by African Americans and was deeply troubled by the terrible discrimination that occurred in everyday life; racially restrictive covenants being just one example. In addition, she was - as stated by Hatch and Shine - shocked that the only portrayals of African Americans on Broadway were stereotypical and designed to please white audiences. These shows probably revealed nothing of the kind of life Hansberry had experienced. When reading the play I thought that Hansberry used “A Raisin in the Sun” as way of addressing these issues and conveying a strong message to her audiences. She challenged Broadway stereotypes by creating a real family, with real problems that audiences had to take seriously. She also, cleverly, made the Youngers a family that white audiences could identify with, highlighting the fact that they shared the same “American Dream” - namely owning a home and succeeding in business. Therefore, when the Youngers were requested to leave the white neighbourhood and give up on the dream they were so close to achieving, it must have appeared even more unjust. Hansberry forced audiences to witness the kind of discrimination that prevented African Americans from achieving the dreams shared by people across America.
ReplyDeleteThe play A Raisin in the Sun to me did show some type of segregation as far as, the family being told that they were not wanted in the neighborhood but it was not a lot of Civil Right issues that were shown, and when I say that I mean that there was not a lot of fighting between black and whites or a lot of racial tension. But with this play Hansberry perfectly depicted the opposite of what, at that time blacks were thought to be. I guess you can say with Beneitha, she has race issues when it came to her trying to find out who she is a person and what role she should play as a women, when she was being told that she did not have any business being a doctor. When everyone thinks of the “American dream” they automatically think of the perfect house, with the perfect family, with the perfect job, and not having in financial issues and for me Hansberry created the Younger family and each member had a different dream but when you look at the bigger picture and put it all together each one of their dreams equaled the “American Dream”
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing a Raisin in the Sun, I took it as a very interesting commentary on the ‘American Dream’, in its various forms. The American dream can be seen evolving through the generations. A dream simply to escape the oppression of the south to a northern city and everything would be alright. This evolved in the next generation to a point where this northern opportunity must be turned into financial success. It is also interesting that this financial success is sought with the money of a dead man, someone who couldn’t enjoy the only substantial money he ever brought to the family. This money, or means of ‘success’ is sought through a liquor store. Why? Because this is where people go when they’re unhappy, and that can be capitalized upon in such a community. But what would be the result of such success? Only further escorting a community along a downward spiral that will never generate positive outcomes in the community as a whole. I think Margaret Wilkersons discussion of the evolution of the consensus opinion about Hansberry’s work, from ‘old-fashioned’ to political radical offer very interesting insights on the differing generational perspectives. This reading also highlights Hansberrys idea of almost the silent women warrior, something very evident in her characters in the idea that the gesture is greater than the word.
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Week 2 Civil Rights
Lorraine Hansberry portrayal of the Younger family in A Raisin in the Sun is a good example of civil rights. Within the Younger family, there are members who are fighting to achieve civil rights for themselves in the family.
Beneatha is fighting for her own civil rights. She wants to be an independent woman, something that is very uncommon in women in general let alone African American women during this time. She is wanting her rights as a free woman who does not need to get marry to live. She wants the ability to support herself by becoming a career woman and not needing to rely on a man. This is a first in her family, whereas her mother and sister-in-law cleaned houses. Neither were educated and while they work outside of the home, it is to help their husbands and family out of necessity. This puts Beneatha in conflict of not only her race and ethnicity but also her gender.
Walter Younger is fighting for his gender ( unlike Beneatha) and against his race in order to assimilate to what is portrayed as the American dream. He is working hard and while he is unable to support his family financially, he has a dream to be able to and has to fight against those who are telling him that it is not possible including his members of his family. Walter is having to fight for his own civil rights for his race and also for himself as a man, and being able to achieve what other men have.
The raisin in the sun is built on dreams. Just as the civil right movement were at first dreams put into action. The family in raisin in the sun started out dreaming and then allowed those dreams to become active. Each character in their own way deal with oppresive circumstances that they have to learn to not let govern their lives. Even the title has to do with dreaming and whether or not our deams are pursued or left out to dry in the sun. Hints the name raisin in the sun derived from a famous Langston Hughes Poem. Beneatha dreams of being a doctor, Walter wants to have money, but seldom people pay attention to mama. Unity of the family is the biggest dream of all. Just as unity of the black community would be vital to our civil rights. Not just within the family but as a country, as a world we all inspire to be unified. In the play mama has a plant and she complains that the plant doesn’t get enough water or light but it still grows and she still tends to it. This plant is just like her family it doesn’t get what it needs at times but she finds away. This is what our civil rights leaders also did. They found ways regardless of the threats or the trickery or the unlawful acts commited to them. Dreams became reality.
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