Bestselling author Charles J. Shields takes a sage and scholarly look at the life of playwright, activist and feminist Lorraine Hansberry. Her powerful intellect and innate sensitivities enabled her to overcome many of the barriers confronting her because of her race and gender.

Born to upwardly mobile, well-educated Black parents, Hansberry’s childhood was unusual, as her father Carl challenged and famously won a case involving his development of a Black apartment building in a white neighborhood. Although its desired result was the further enrichment of the family, the victory also served as a warning bell to the establishment for the changing times --- times in which a young Hansberry, who was quiet, studious and introverted, would play a signature role.

Writing became her passion, along with a growing realization of the differing ways she was treated by the white establishment. As she blossomed, she won people over with her warmth and was even assigned a room in Langdon Manor, a prestigious dorm facility at the University of Wisconsin.

"Shields has composed a remarkable work, his dedication to its central character depicted in intimate, almost daily vignettes."

After being immersed in arts-focused academia for two years, Hansberry set out on her own path. This would involve the embrace of Communism as a possible way up for American Blacks trapped in poverty with whom she identified, despite having a charmed childhood where she never had to want for anything. She explored Harlem, plunged into the writings of Simone de Beauvoir, enjoyed lovers both male and female, and married Jewish writer and leftist activist Robert Nemiroff, giving her another phase of education regarding the acceptance (or non-acceptance) of interracial relationships.

With Nemiroff’s encouragement, Hansberry composed the work that would make her famous: “A Raisin in the Sun.” The play opened in 1959 and later became a film; starring Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier, it centered on a Black family struggling to survive in a Chicago slum. Her fame well established, she began to be plagued by medical issues that led to her early death. 

Shields has composed a remarkable work, his dedication to its central character depicted in intimate, almost daily vignettes. He has mined Hansberry’s personal papers and interviews with her friends and colleagues to create a dynamic picture of someone battling with multiple obstacles at a time when her views were radical, even among those of her own race.

A meeting in 1963 with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to discuss his brother’s handling of racial issues highlight Hansberry’s unconventional wisdom. She predicted that such policies, propounded by “the best that white America can offer,” would ultimately lead to “our going in the streets…and chaos.” Her sentiments were always for the underdog, regardless of color, which separated her just slightly from many of the more liberal spokespeople of her era.

Shields gives readers the total picture, revealing Hansberry to be a thoughtful, often humorous and thoroughly human figure who chose to use her considerable artistic gifts to educate and touch the hearts of a wide, appreciative audience.