Lorraine Hansberry

When Lorraine Hansberry was a child, her family moved to a previously all-white neighborhood in Chicago. Later, Hansberry recalled "being spat at, cursed, and pummeled" as she walked to and from school. A court order eventually threw the family out of their home. Hansberry became interested in drama while she was in college. Her first play, A Raisin in the Sun, is based partially on her childhood experiences of racism. Tragically, Hansberry died of cancer at the young age of 34.