timeline

The birth of carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr.

Lorraine Hansberry’s father, Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr., is born in Gloster, Mississippi

The birth of Nannie louise perry

Lorraine Hansberry’s mother, Nannie Louise Perry, is born in Columbia, Tennessee

Dahomey opens on broadway

In Dahomey, the first Broadway musical written by an African American, opens

NAACP founded

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded

attended Alcorn A&M college

Carl Augustus Hansberry attends Alcorn A&M College

World War I

Attending university

Nannie Louise Perry attends Tennessee State University

The great migration

Great Migration of African Americans from the South to Northern cities begins. Carl Augustus Hansberry and Nannie Louise Perry take part

Chicago Urban League founded

Chicago Urban League is founded to help migrants adjust to city life

The meeting

Carl Augustus Hansberry meets Nannie Louise Perry working at Binga National Bank, the first Black bank in Chicago

Marriage

Carl Augustus Hansberry and Nannie Louise Perry marry

Dr. Lewis Johnston and his three brothers are lynched

Lorraine Hansberry’s uncle, Dr. Lewis Harrison Johnston, and his three brothers are lynched by a white mob in Elaine, Arkansas

The birth of carl augustus hansberry, jr.

Lorraine Hansberry’s brother, Carl Augustus Hansberry, Jr., is born

The birth of perry hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry’s brother, Perry Hansberry, is born

The chip woman’s fortune opens on broadway

Willis Richardson’s The Chip Woman’s Fortune, a one-act play and the first non-musical by a Black playwright on Broadway, opens

The birth of mamie hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry’s sister, Mamie Hansberry, is born

the birth of james baldwin

Writer James Baldwin is born in Harlem

Appearances opens on broadway

Garland Anderson’s Appearances, the first full-length, non-musical by a Black playwright on Broadway, opens

The birth of malcolm x

Malcolm X is born in Omaha, Nebraska as Malcolm Little

Start of the great depression

United States stock market crashes, signaling the start of The Great Depression

The birth of Robert Nemiroff

Lorraine Hansberry’s future husband, Robert Barron Nemiroff, is born

The birth of Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry is born

Mulatto opens on Broadway

Langston Hughes’s Mulatto, the longest-running, non-musical play by a Black playwright, opens on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theater

defiance of a restrictive covenant

Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr. moves his family to a home in the Woodlawn neighborhood’s all-white Washington Park subdivision in defiance of a restrictive covenant

HUAC established

U.S. Congress establishes House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

Unsuccessful run for congress

Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr. runs unsuccessfully for Congress as a Republican

Hansberry v. Lee

U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr. in the case of Hansberry v. Lee. Although the decision enables the Hansberry’s to remain in their home in Woodlawn and opens new homes to African Americans in Chicago, restrictive covenants remain legal

Under fbi surveillance

Paul Robeson is placed under FBI surveillance

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. The United States enters World War II

CORE founded

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), an interracial organization with the goal of obtaining racial equality in America through nonviolent resistance, founded in Chicago

Willie McGee arrested

Willie McGee, a married, African American, father of four, is arrested for the rape of Wilmetta Hawkins, a white woman

Senator Joseph McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy is elected to U.S. Senate

The Passing of Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr.

Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr. dies suddenly in Mexico of a cerebral hemorrhage while planning to move his family there

First round to HUAC hearings

HUAC begins first round of hearings

Enrolls at University of Wisconsin

Lorraine Hansberry enrolls at the University of Wisconsin

The inspirational spark

Lorraine Hansberry attends a performance of Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock at the University of Wisconsin, inspiring her to become involved in theater

Shelley v. Kraemer

U.S. Supreme Court abolishes restrictive covenants nationwide with the Shelley v. Kraemer decision

Participation in Henry Wallace’s campaign

Lorraine Hansberry participates in the Henry Wallace campaign. Wallace runs as a Progressive Party candidate for president

Executive Order 9981

President Harry Truman ends racial segregation in the U.S. military with Executive Order 9981

the communist party

Lorraine Hansberry joins the Communist Party

Henry Wallace’s loss

Progressive Party candidate Henry Wallace loses his run for president to incumbent President Harry S. Truman

first successful nuclear weapon test

The Soviet Union has its first successful nuclear weapon test

People’s Republic of China formed

Mao Zedong forms the People’s Republic of China

Arrival triggers a riot

Paul Robeson’s arrival in Peekskill, NY for a concert triggers a riot

Departure from University of Wisconsin

Lorraine Hansberry leaves the University of Wisconsin to pursue “an education of another kind”

Passport renewal denied

Paul Robeson’s attempt to renew his passport is denied by the State Department

Sindey Poitier’s first leading role

Sidney Poitier stars in No Way Out, his first leading role

Mattachine Society Founded

Mattachine Society, one of the first gay rights organizations, is founded in Los Angeles

Move to NYC

Lorraine Hansberry moves to New York City

Flag from a Kitchenette Window published

Lorraine Hansberry’s poem “Flag from a Kitchenette Window,” is published in Masses & Mainstream, an American Marxist monthly

Freedom newspaper founding

Paul Robeson founds Freedom newspaper in Harlem, publishing an “introductory issue” with the editor Louis Burnham. Lorraine Hansberry works for the paper as a “subscription clerk, receptionist, typist, and editorial assistant”

Robert receives his BA from NYU

Robert Nemiroff receives his Bachelor of Arts degree from NYU

Second round of HUAC hearings

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) holds its second round of hearings

First issue of Freedom

First issue of Freedom is published

Petition for a stay of execution

Lorraine Hansberry travels to Mississippi with a delegation of women to petition the Governor for a stay of execution for Willie McGee

Execution of Willie McGee

Willie McGee is executed after protests on his behalf and several stays of execution

Lynchsong is published

Lorraine’s poem about Willie McGee’s execution, “Lynchsong,” is published in Masses & Mainstream

Roosevelt Ward arrested

Roosevelt Ward, Lorraine Hansberry’s friend from the Labor Youth League, is arrested for draft evasion

The Sojourners for Truth

Lorraine Hansberry joins The Sojourners for Truth, a delegation of 132 Black women seeking an end to war and racial discrimination, in Washington, DC

Homosexuality labeled a mental disorder

American Psychiatric Association adds homosexuality to its list of mental disorders

Mau Mau uprising in Kenya

Mau Mau Uprising takes place in Kenya. Lorraine Hansberry will later portray these events in her unfinished play Les Blancs

Becomes associate editor

Lorraine Hansberry becomes associate editor of Freedom after eight months

Lifelong surveillance by FBI begins

Lorraine Hansberry travels to Montevideo, Uruguay to speak on behalf of Paul Robeson at the Intercontinental Peace Conference. Her passport is revoked upon her return to the U.S. and the FBI begins lifelong surveillance of her

The meeting

Lorraine Hansberry meets Robert Nemiroff

President Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president

Focus on creative writing

Lorraine Hansberry resigns from full time work at Freedom to focus on creative writing

The second sex is published

Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex is published in the U.S.

Debut of Diana Sands

Diana Sands makes her debut as Juliet in the off-Broadway production of An Evening With Will Shakespeare

ONE Magazine begins publication

Mattachine Society beings publishing ONE Magazine, a monthly periodical for homosexuals

Claudia McNeil broadway debut

Claudia McNeil makes her Broadway debut in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible

Joining protestors

Lorraine Hansberry and Robert Nemiroff join protesters against the execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, convicted for treason for selling nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union

Lorraine Hansberry marries

Lorraine Hansberry marries Robert Nemiroff in her mother’s home in Chicago

Broadway debut for Louis Gossett, Jr.

Louis Gossett, Jr. makes his Broadway debut in Take a Giant Step as Spencer Scott

Brown v. Board of Education Ruling

United States Supreme Court rules in Brown v. Board of Education, that “separate but equal” doctrine regarding school segregation is unconstitutional

NAACP’s first field secretary for Mississippi

Medgar Evers is named the NAACP’s first field secretary for Mississippi

Best Actress Academy Award Nomination

Dorothy Dandridge becomes the first Black woman nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Carmen Jones

Publication ends for Freedom newspaper

Freedom newspaper ends publication

The lynching of Emmet Till

14 year old Emmett Till is lynched by white men in Mississippi for flirting with a white, female store clerk

First issue

Village Voice begins publication

The founding of Daughters of Bilitis

Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), a lesbian organization, is founded in San Francisco

Rosa Parks arrested

Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, sparking the year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott

Focus on writing

Lorraine Hansberry is able to quit her part-time work and focus on writing after the songwriting success of her husband and his college friend Burt D’Lugoff. “Cindy, Oh Cindy,” written using pseudonyms, is released by Vince Martin and the Tarriers and Eddie Fisher

Separation

Lorraine Hansberry and Robert Nemiroff secretly separate

Southern Christian Leadership Conference formed

Martin Luther King, Jr., Charles K. Steele and Fred L. Shuttlesworth form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization dedicated to nonviolent resistance and founded to coordinate the actions of protest groups throughout the South

The play’s first draft

Lorraine Hansberry holds a dinner party with Phil Rose and Burt D’Lugoff to read her first draft of the play that became A Raisin in the Sun. Phil Rose wants to produce it and options the play for $500. Rose gets his friend Sidney Poitier to sign onto Hansberry’s play, and Poitier, in turn, recommends Lloyd Richards as its director

The ladder’s first issue

The first issue of The Ladder is published by the Daughters of Bilitis

Student integration

Nine Black students integrate Little Rock High School

Civil Rights Act of 1957 Signed

President Eisenhower signs Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law

The Budget is penned

Lorraine Hansberry writes a short story called “The Budget” for ONE Magazine under the pseudonym Emily Jones

Short story penned for the ladder

Lorraine Hansberry writes a short story called “Chanson du Konallis” for The Ladder under the pseudonym Emily Jones

Auditions begin

Nearly 1,000 Black actors show up for auditions for A Raisin in the Sun

Two short stories penned for ONE magazine

Lorraine Hansberry writes two short stories – “The Anticipation of Eve” and “Renascence” – for ONE Magazine under the pseudonym Emily Jones

First public appearance

A Raisin in the Sun has its first public performance at the Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut as part of a four-night tryout

Two-week tryout at Walnut Theatre

A Raisin in the Sun begins a two-week tryout run at the Walnut Theatre in Philadelphia, PA. Writer James Baldwin attends a performance, later writing about witnessing theater history. The FBI sends an agent to assess the play for Communist influences

Final tryout at Blackstone Theater

A Raisin in the Sun its final tryout, a four-week run at the Blackstone Theater in Chicago, IL

Academy award nomination

Sidney Poitier is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Defiant Ones

Delivers keynote speech

Lorraine Hansberry gives the keynote speech titled “The Negro Writer and His Roots” at the American Society of African Culture (AMSAC) Negro Writers Conference at the Henry Hudson Hotel in New York

Broadway premiere

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun premieres on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theater

New York Drama Critics Circle Award

Lorraine Hansberry wins the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for her play A Raisin in the Sun

Photographed for Vogue

David Attie photographs Lorraine Hansberry in her Bleecker Street apartment for Vogue

Roundtable discussion on Open End tv show

Lorraine Hansberry and Lloyd Richards are among the guests at a roundtable discussion on the state of Broadway on David Susskind’s Open End television show

Appearance on Look Up and Live

Lorraine Hansberry’s television appearance on the public affairs program Look Up and Live is broadcast

Interview by Mike Wallace

Mike Wallace interviews Lorraine Hansberry, but the interview never airs

Interview by Stud Terkel

Lorraine Hansberry is interviewed by Studs Terkel for his radio show in Chicago

Lecture at Roosevelt University

Lorraine Hansberry gives a lecture about American drama at Roosevelt University in Chicago for the school’s Women’s Scholarship Association

Appearance on At Random

Lorraine Hansberry and film director Otto Preminger appear on At Random, Irv Kupcinet’s local weekly television conversation on Chicago’s WBBM. The conversation becomes heated as Hansberry describes Preminger’s film Porgy and Bess as “bad art” for its depiction of racial stereotypes

A raising in the sun published

Random House publishes A Raisin in the Sun

the drinking gourd

Lorraine completes her teleplay The Drinking Gourd, for an NBC series commemorating the centennial of the Civil War. The series is cancelled before production begins due to lack of interest from funders

Screenplay complete

Lorraine Hansberry completes the screenplay for A Raisin in the Sun

Ossie Davis comes in as Walter Lee Younger

Ossie Davis replaces Sidney Poitier as Walter Lee Younger in A Raisin in the Sun. Poitier starred in 198 performances

Play moves to Belasco Theater

A Raisin in the Sun moves to the Belasco Theater

Lorraine Hansberry purchases a home in greenwich village

Lorraine Hansberry uses money from the success of A Raisin in the Sun to purchase a home at 112 Waverly Place in Greenwich Village, where Burt D’Lugoff and Hansberry’s on-again off-again partner Dorothy Secules live

Sit-ins at Woolworth Store lunch

Black students (The Greensboro Four) hold sit-ins at Woolworth Store lunch in Greensboro, North Carolina

The Passing of Louis E. Burnham

Former Freedom editor Louis E. Burnham dies at age 45 of a heart attack

Appearance on the The Mitch Miller Show

Lorraine Hansberry appears on the The Mitch Miller Show on WCBS radio

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee is founded

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded at Shaw University to provide young African Americans a place within the Civil Rights Movement

A Raisin in the Sun ends on Broadway

A Raisin in the Sun ends its Broadway run after 530 performances

JFK elected president

John F. Kennedy is elected president

A Raisin in the Sun premieres at the Cannes Film Festival

The film version of A Raisin in the Sun premieres at the Cannes Film Festival and wins the Gary Cooper Award for Human Values

The Freedom Ride begins

The Freedom Rides begin in order to test the new laws that prohibit segregation in interstate travel

Toussaint is performed on Playwright at Work

Lorraine Hansberry and Lloyd Richards discuss their work, and a scene of Hansberry’s work-in-progress, Toussaint is performed on Playwright at Work, a television series hosted by Frank Perry

Columbia Pictures releases a raisin in the sun

The film version of A Raisin in the Sun is released by Columbia Pictures in the U.S.

Lorraine Hansberry Interviewed on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Lorraine Hansberry is interviewed by Eleanor Fisher for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)

Lorraine Hansberry interviewed on WNYC

An interview of Lorraine Hansberry by Patricia Marx is broadcast on WNYC

Lorraine Hansberry moves to NY

Lorraine Hansberry moves to Croton-on-Hudson, NY

Lorraine Hansberry delivers “my government is wrong” speech

Lorraine Hansberry speaks at an anti-HUAC rally, delivering her “My Government is Wrong” speech

Alabama Governor George Wallace’s inaugural address

Alabama Governor George Wallace delivers his inaugural address in which he says, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever”

Lorraine hansberry diagnosed with cancer

Lorraine Hansberry has an attack and collapses in pain. She is subsequently hospitalized for 10 days, during which time doctors diagnose her with cancer. Hansberry is told she has anemia and bleeding ulcers

Martin Luther King, Jr. arrested

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested and jailed in Birmingham and begins writing “Letters from a Birmingham Jail”

The Children’s Crusade demonstration

Birmingham authorities use dogs and high-pressure fire hoses to repel demonstrators, many of whom were school-aged children taking part in the Children’s Crusade. The Children’s Crusade was a campaign, organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), to use young people trained in nonviolent tactics to bring about the end of segregation in Birmingham. These children were also arrested by the hundreds between May 2 and 10

A.G. Gaston Motel and King’s brother’s home bombed

A.G. Gaston Motel, where Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were staying, and King’s brother’s home in Birmingham are bombed, sparking a riot

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy meets to discuss racial tensions

A meeting between Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and a handful of civil rights activists, entertainers and artists, including Lorraine Hansberry, to discuss racial tensions is held at the Kennedy’s Manhattan apartment

Sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter

Under the direction of Medgar Evers, Pearlena Lewis, Memphis Norman, and others sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi and face violent backlash

Publicizing upcoming student nonviolent coordinating committee benefit concert

Lorraine Hansberry, Nina Simone and several other influential people attend a press conference at the home of actor and activist Theodore Bikel in order to publicize the upcoming Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) benefit concert at Carnegie Hall

Alabama Governor George Wallace attempts to block integration

Alabama Governor George Wallace personally attempts to block Vivian Malone and James A. Hood from integrating the University of Alabama. In an address, President John F. Kennedy calls civil rights a “moral issue”

Medgar Evers is Assassinated

Medgar Evers, NAACP field secretary for Mississippi, is assassinated in his driveway hours after President Kennedy’s address

Lorraine Hansberry chairs a fundraiser

Lorraine Hansberry chairs a fundraiser in Croton-on-Hudson to raise money for civil rights organizations’ work in the south. The event raises $5,000, some of which goes towards purchasing the Ford station wagon driven by Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney the following summer

A Benefit concert for Student Nonviolent coordinating committee

Lorraine Hansberry and a group of celebrities sponsor a benefit concert for Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), starring Mahalia Jackson and the Freedom Singers at Carnegie Hall

An unsuccessful operation

Lorraine Hansberry has an unsuccessful operation in New York

Lorraine Hansberry undergoes surgery

Lorraine Hansberry undergoes surgery at the Lahey Clinic at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts

The Passing of W.E.B DuBois

W.E.B. DuBois dies in Ghana

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom brings over 200,000 to Washington, DC. The event is best known for King’s “I Have a Dream Speech.”. Lorraine Hansberry is unable to attend as she is recovering from surgery at her home in Croton-on-Hudson

Four young girls killed by KKK members

Four young girls are killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church by KKK members

President JFK Assassinated

President John F. Kennedy is assassinated. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson sworn in later that day

The Movement: Documentary of a Struggle for Equality is published

The Movement: Documentary of a Struggle for Equality, a fundraising book for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), comprised of photos with commentary by Lorraine Hansberry, is published by Simon & Schuster

Robert Nemiroff Divorces Lorraine Hansberry

Robert Nemiroff obtains a divorce from Lorraine Hansberry in Mexico

Sidney Poitier wins an Oscar

Sidney Poitier becomes the first Black person to win an Oscar for best actor for his role in Lilies of the Field

Freedom Summer launches

Freedom Summer, a voter registration campaign in Mississippi, launches with hundreds of volunteers from across the country

Lorraine Hansberry delivers a speech to winners of a writing contest

Lorraine Hansberry, released from the hospital for the afternoon, delivers what becomes known as the “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black” speech to winners of a writing contest sponsored by the United Negro College Fund

Lorraine Hansberry leaves her sickbed to argue for a militant commitment to Black causes

Lorraine Hansberry leaves her sickbed to argue for a militant commitment to Black causes as a participant in “The Black Revolution and the White Backlash,” a Town Hall debate between Black artists and white liberals. The event is sponsored by the Association of Artists for Freedom, of which Lorraine is a member

Freedom Summer civil rights works go missing

Freedom Summer civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner go missing in Mississippi. The three are last seen in the Ford station wagon purchased with proceeds from Hansberry’s fundraiser

Burned ford station wagon discovered

The Ford station wagon, purchased with proceeds from Lorraine Hansberry’s fundraiser and driven by Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, is discovered, burned, in a swampy area near Philadelphia, Mississippi

The Signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal Investigators discover 3 bodies

The bodies of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner are discovered by federal investigators in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi

Robert Nemiroff named literary executor

Lorraine Hansberry names Robert Nemiroff literary executor of her will

Lorraine Hansberry moves to Hotel Victoria

Lorraine Hansberry moves to the Hotel Victoria on Seventh Avenue to be near rehearsals of her second Broadway play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window opens at the Longacre Theatre

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window opens at the Longacre Theatre, co-produced by Robert Nemiroff and Burt D’Lugoff and directed by Peter Kass. Lorraine Hansberry attends opening night

The cancer affects Lorraine Hansberry’s body

Lorraine Hansberry loses her sight, has convulsions and lapses into a coma as her brain is affected by the cancer. Two days later she regains sight and some movement

Lorraine Hansberry Critically Ill

Newspapers in New York and Chicago publish that Lorraine Hansberry is critically ill

A Midnight Strategy Meeting

Prompted by Robert Nemiroff, Mel Brooks and wife Anne Bancroft open up their home for a midnight strategy meeting to keep The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, which was struggling at the box office, open. The unusual celebrity campaign makes the play the longest-running show of that season

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window at Henry Miller Theatre

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window moves from the Longacre Theatre to the Henry Miller Theatre

Lorraine Hansberry dies of cancer

Lorraine Hansberry dies of cancer of the duodenum at the age of 34 at University Hospital. The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window closes

Memorial Service for Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry’s memorial service is held at the Church of the Master in Harlem. Over 600 people attend despite a huge blizzard, including Malcolm X, Ossie Davis, Diana Sands and Sammy Davis, Jr. Ruby Dee and Shelley Winters speak. Paul Robeson delivers the eulogy. Nina Simone performs. And a telegram from Martin Luther King, Jr. is read. James Baldwin, although not able to attend, sends his condolences to Robert Nemiroff and the Hansberry family, saying, “I think we must resolve not to fail her, for she certainly did not fail us.” Lorraine Hansberry is buried in Croton-on-Hudson at Bethel Cemetery

Malcom X Assassinated

Malcolm X is assassinated

Voting Rights Act Signed

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act

To Be Young, Gifted and Black Opens at Cherry Lane Theatre

To Be Young, Gifted and Black, a play about the life of Lorraine Hansberry using her own words, compiled by Robert Nemiroff, is first performed off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre

Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated

Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated

Nina Simone Performs To Be Young, Gifted and Black

Nina Simone performs “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” for the first time at a Morgan State College jazz festival. The song is inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s words

Les Blancs opens at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre

Les Blancs, an unfinished play by Lorraine Hansberry about colonialism set in Africa and edited by Robert Nemiroff, opens at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre. It runs for one month and has 40 performances

Les Blancs

Robert Nemiroff edits and publishes Les Blancs

To Be Young, Gifted and Black

Robert Nemiroff edits and publishes To Be Young, Gifted and Black

Queer Signifier

Lorraine is publicly identified as a queer signifier when Barbara Grier, former editor of the lesbian periodical The Ladder, names her as the author of two 1957 letters to the publication

The Passing of Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson dies of a stroke

The Passing of James Baldwin

James Baldwin dies of cancer

PBS Premiere

PBS premieres A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Bill Duke and produced by Chiz Schultz for American Playhouse. Danny Glover and Esther Rolle star in the television film

The Passing of Robert Nemiroff

Robert Nemiroff dies of cancer

On Broadway

A revival of A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Kenny Leon, opens on Broadway at the Royale Theatre. Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald and Sanaa Lathan star. The cast reprise their roles for the 2008 ABC television movie

Ethel Barrymore Theatre

A revival of A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Kenny Leon, opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre for the play’s 50th anniversary. Denzel Washington, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Sophie Okonedo and Anika Noni Rose star