A Raisin in the Sun

Lorraine Hansberry

• born in Chicago in 1930• Her father fought

against segregation• her parents bought a

house in a white neighborhood, where they were welcomed one night by a racist mob

• Their experience of discrimination there led to a civil rights case.

Lorraine Hansberry

• She was an author and a playwright • She fought for racial justice and

equality

A Raisin in the Sun

• The first African American play to be shown on Broadway

• Received the New York Drama Critics Award

• This made her the youngest and first African American to win this award

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Your American Dream

• Go back to where you wrote your American Dream

• Compose a paragraph about your life goals. – Use complete sentences– See rubric

Your dream is not possible

• How would you feel if you were told you could not accomplish your dreams because of your appearance or social status?

• Do you think this happens today?• Compose a second paragraph which

answers the question above.

A Dream Deferred

• Defer: postpone, put off, suspend• Simile: compares two unlike things using

“like” or “as”• Identify the verbs in the poem• Identify all simile • Read each section of the poem• In your own words, write what Hughes

means• What can happen to a person who is not

allowed to live his/her dream?

A Dream Deferred…A Raisin in the Sun

• The play is based on the poem “A Dream Deferred”

• Presents a radically new representation of black life, one that was authentic and unsentimental and unflinching in its telling of what happens when people are told they cannot live their dream.

Characters Needed

• Ruth• Walter• Travis• Beneatha