Lorraine Hansberry, 34, playright (Raisin in the Sun) pancreatic cancer

 

Lorraine Hansberry was an American playwright and painter. Her drama A Raisin in the Sun was the first drama written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway, and was the winner of the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best Broadway play. In 2004, A Raisin in the Sun received a Broadway revival earning Tony Awards for Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald. After her success with A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry became the foremother of African American drama and many who followed felt a great debt to her vision. She also contributed to the understanding of abortions, discrimination, and Africa. In San Francisco, The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, which specializes in original stagings and revivals of African-American theatre, is named in honor of her great contributions.Her 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun made her the first black woman to win the New York Drama Critics' Circle's Best Play award. The play has become a classic. She died of pancreatic cancer on January 12, 1965 at the age of 34. She left behind an unfinished novel and three unfinished plays. Hansberry's early death from cancer in 1965 shocked the New York scene of artists and the future Black Arts Movement supporters. Len Holt wrote a tribute to Hansberry after her death which was published in Liberator Magazine (Liberator). "Who's dead? Not our Lorraine. Yet, on Wednesday when the sun rose... the pulse was gone: our heart was missing."