On March 11, 1959, when A Raisin in the Sun premiered at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry became the first African-American woman to have a play produced on Broadway. Prior to her death from pancreatic cancer at the age of 34, Hansberry also wrote The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window and, with her husband Robert Nemiroff, co-wrote To Be Young, Gifted and Black: An Informal Autobiography. That title inspired Nina Simone to compose a song (with lyrics by Weldon Irvine) that was also...
On March 11, 1959, when A Raisin in the Sun premiered at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry became the first African-American woman to have a play produced on Broadway. Prior to her death from pancreatic cancer at the age of 34, Hansberry also wrote The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window and, with her husband Robert Nemiroff, co-wrote To Be Young, Gifted and Black: An Informal Autobiography. That title inspired Nina Simone to compose a song (with lyrics by Weldon Irvine) that was also...
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