For the last day of Black History Month, we’re not doing a biopic but instead A Raisin in the Sun. A Raisin in the Sun is where a lot of Black History intersect.
A Raisin in the Sun is based off of the play of the same name written by Lorraine Hansberry, the first Black woman to write a play that appeared on Broadway. The title of the play was taken from Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem” (“A Dream Deferred”). The film stars Sidney Poitier, the first Black man to win an Academy Award for Best Actor.
A Raisin in the Sun artfully captures the struggle of a working class Black family in segregated America. A man wants to better his family’s living situation, making some bad choices along the way. We get to see character development from his sister, who shuns her materialism and seeks out her identity. And white folks were hating.
There have been several revivals of the play and film remakes, including one starring P. Diddy, but the 1961 film is a classic. It is available here.
