by Lorraine Hansberry
Vintage (November 29, 2004)
Audience: Teens to Adults
Drama * African-American Life * Poverty
IndieBound | Amazon | Book Depository
For the first time in forever, I watched the entire Tony Awards show on June 12, 2016. The next morning, after spending several hours trying and failing to get tickets to Hamilton, I ran to Barnes and Noble and bought the book. Not the Ron Chernow Alexander Hamilton biography but the Lin-Manual Miranda Hamilton: The Revolution hardcover of awesome. And, of course, the soundtrack.
On my way to the register, I saw a table of High School Summer Reading List selections and A Raisin in the Sun caught my eye. I've always loved the poem*, A Dream Deferred, and had seen snippets of the televised version of the play.
I didn't think anything of it, just put the books on my ever-expanding TBR
A week and 1/2 later, I go to ALA Orlando (pics coming soon) and finally get a copy of The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon, which I rave about here. And guess what play consumes the mc's father? Yep! He loves the character of Walter Lee Younger, whose life mimics what he sees as his own circumstances. Serendipity?
Lorraine Hansberry was the youngest person (only 29), first female, and first African-American to have a play produced on Broadway. This story of how poverty eats at your will and limits your ability to rise up still resonates today.
The Evolution of A Raisin in the Sun
*What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
I woke up in the middle of the night to find yet another African American killed by police officers and I am afraid that the last line is what we have coming. We cannot deny that #BlackLivesMatter but we also need to show it. #AltonSterling - Here's a great article about the pushing down that is sure to come to no good end, called Heavy Load, that also references A Dream Deferred and A Raisin in the Sun!
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