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The 1959 theatrical poster for "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberryshows the face of African American actor Sidney Poitier highlighted in a white circle on a golden yellow ba
03.22.2021
 
In a recent conversation about Black radical artist and thinkers, Gwendolyn Brooks and Lorraine Hansberry, on their weekly program, The Tight Rope, Cornel West and Tricia Rose note that the work of these two revolutionary artists is often misunderstood and stripped of radical political content and possibility.
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American Masters Award
03.30.2019

Last night Tracy Strain was awarded an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Television), adding to the recognition of the documentary, Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart that aired on PBS in January 2018.

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Lorraine Hansberry: Reimagining Biography: drawing by Hansberry with text below: March 22, 2018, Schomburg Center, NYC. Panel conversation with Margaret Wilkerson, Imani Perry, Soyica Colbert, Tracy Heather Strain. Moderated by Joy-Ann Reid.
03.21.2018

On Thursday, March 22, 2018, the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture   will co-present Lorraine Hansberry: Reimagining Biography. In addition to the AMERICAN MASTERS documentary, Sighted Eyes|Feeling Heart, three biographical treatments of the artist, activist, and public intellectual will be published in the next several years. The four panelists will share how they navigated the feminisms, intersectionalities, political, and private-public voicings that shaped Hansberry’s life in their biographical treatments of the artist, activist, and public intellectual.

Over the last two weeks we have been sharing information about the panel participants as well as information about the Lorraine Hansberry Papers, held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.

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Lorraine Hansberry: Reimagining Biography: drawing by Hansberry with text below: March 22, 2018, Schomburg Center, NYC. Panel conversation with Margaret Wilkerson, Imani Perry, Soyica Colbert, Tracy Heather Strain. Moderated by Joy-Ann Reid.
03.21.2018

On March 22, 2018, the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture will co-present Lorraine Hansberry: Reimagining BiographyIn addition to the AMERICAN MASTERS documentary, Sighted Eyes|Feeling Heart, that aired on PBS in January 2018, three biographical treatments of the artist, activist, and public intellectual will be published in the next several years. Reimagining Biography panelists will be asked to address the feminisms, intersectionalities, political, and private-public voicings that shaped Hansberry’s life and her understanding of herself and the worlds she both lived in and created.

In 2010 the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture published an article, “Young, Gifted, Black, and Complicated: The Question of Lorraine Hansberry’s Legacy,” in their newsletter, Africana Heritage. In that article, Steven G. Fullwood, then Assistant Curator, Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture puts the incredible legacy of Lorraine Hansberry’s contribution as an artist, activist, public intellectual, and writer into context.

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Lorraine Hansberry: Reimagining Biography: drawing by Hansberry with text below: March 22, 2018, Schomburg Center, NYC. Panel conversation with Margaret Wilkerson, Imani Perry, Soyica Colbert, Tracy Heather Strain. Moderated by Joy-Ann Reid.
03.16.2018

On March 27, 2017, Georgetown University Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics presented Dreams Deferred: Crossing Continents and Cultures with ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ in celebration of World Theatre Day. The one-night event, moderated by Soyica Colbert, was in advance of the Arena Stage Mead Center for the American Theatre’s 2017 production of A Raisin in the Sun in Wahington, DC and productions in Sweden at the Riksteatern, directed by Josette Bushell-Mingo, OBE, and at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, directed by James Ngcobo.

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01.20.2018

In September 2017, the first-ever feature documentary, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, screened at the Toronto Film Festival; in January 2018, the film makes its television debut as part of the American Masters PBS series. Throughout 2018, the film will be joined by a number of new print biographies.

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Image of Lorraine Hansberry and title of documentary, Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart
01.19.2018

On Friday, January 19, the national broadcast premier of Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, the first-ever feature documentary about Lorraine Hansberry, will be televised on PBS stations across the United States as part of their American Masters series (9pm EST on PBS; check local listings for more details).

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Lorraine Hansberry was the first African-American woman to have a play produced on Broadway, with “A Raisin in the Sun.”
01.12.2018

Salamishah Tillet's essay, "For Lorraine Hansberry, 'A Raisin in the Sun Was Just the Start," discusses the upcoming debut of the documentary, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, noting Hansberry's commitment to the ongoing project of social change.

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04.29.2014

The Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s classic play picks up five Tony nominations.

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