activist

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.

On April 23, 1995, as a new Fellow, Margaret Wilkerson delivered the lecture “Lorraine Hansberry: The Making of A Woman of the Theatre” to the College of Fellows of the American Theatre at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.

Dr. Wilkerson reads an excerpt from her 1995 manuscript:

Photo of Reimagning Biography panelist Tracy Heather Strain

On March 22, 2018, the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture will co-present Lorraine Hansberry: Reimagining Biography. 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 next two weeks we will be sharing information about the panel participants as well as information about the Lorraine Hansberry Papers, held at the Schomburg Center. Today we are highlighting panelist Tracy Heather Strain, the director, producer, and writer of Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, the first feature documentary about Lorraine Hansberry, broadcast in January 2018 as part of the American Masters series on PBS.

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.

Filmmaker Tracy Heather Strain speaks with Stephanie Long of CassiusLife about the making of the documentary, Sighted Eyes Feeling Heart.

Photo of Reimagining Biography panelist Imani Perry

On March 22, 2018, the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture will co-present Lorraine Hansberry: Reimagining Biography. 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 next two weeks we will be sharing information about the panel participants as well as information about the Lorraine Hansberry Papers, held at the Schomburg Center. Today we are highlighting panelist Imani Perry, author of Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry forthcoming from Beacon Press, in September 2018.

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.

Dr. Imani Perry discusses Lorraine Hansberry in Salamishah Tillet's New York Times essay, "For Lorraine Hansberry, 'A Raisin in the Sun Was Just the Start,” noting Hansberry's commitment to the ongoing project of social change:

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.

On March 1, 2017, for the Princeton University African Amercian Studies AAS 21podcast, "A Through Line for African American Studies," Dr. Imani Perry was interviewed by colleague Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr. about her current book projects, ideas about methodology, and her habits of reading, including her forthcoming book on the life of Lorraine Hansberry (listen at 30:15) Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry (Beacon Press, September 2018).

Photo of Reimagining Biography panelist Soyica Colbert

On March 22, 2018, the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture will co-present Lorraine Hansberry: Reimagining Biography. 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 next two weeks we will be 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. Today we are highlighting Soyica Colbert, author of the forthcoming Lorraine Hansberry: Artist/Activist (Yale University Press, 2019) and professor of African American Studies and Theater & Performance Studies at Georgetown University.

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.

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.

Photo of Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust executive director, Joi Gresham, who sits in front of a portrait of Hansberry painted by Gladys Schwarz.

On March 22, 2018, the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture will co-present Lorraine Hansberry: Reimagining Biography. 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 week we have been sharing information about the panel participants as well as information about the Lorraine Hansberry Papers, held at the Schomburg Center. Today we are highlighting Joi Gresham, executive director of the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust, who will moderate the panel for Lorraine Hansberry: Reimagining Biography.