Solange Francis Upper 6 Arts

Literatures in English Presentation: Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin in The Sun’

-Raisin’s Historical and Social Context

-The American Dream vs The African American Reality
-The Author
-Timeline
-Historical Meaning of Ghetto
-Langston Hughes’ ‘A Dream Deferred’

Historical Meaning of “The Ghetto” - From Anti-Semitism To Race and

Poverty

The Oxford Living Dictionary describes ‘ghetto’ as a part of a city in which

members of a minority group live, typically as a result of social, legal, or
economic pressure. While there is much uncertainty and debate surrounding
the origin of the word, early use can be traced to Middle Age Venice where it
was used in reference to the part of the city where Jews were segregated and
confined. Ghettos were always defined by lack of choice; it’s inhabitants were
forced to live, whether by anti-Semitic governments, discriminating neighbors or
racist practices.

In recent times, ‘ghetto’ has transcended from an era of anti-Semitism to

connote racial identity and poverty. Ghetto came to be associated with African
Americans and POC the influx otherwise referred to as ‘the invasion’ of
American Jewish Ghettos. After World War II, "white flight" from inner cities further
exacerbated racial segregation. By the '60s and '70s, cities like Chicago, New
York and Detroit also referred to as "negro ghettos" were central to the cultural
conversation about poverty. Ghetto not only refers to an urban slum, but it is a
celebration of identity and a symbol of prejudice.

o Critic Ta-Nehisi Coates opines that “ghetto, in its most un-ironic usage, is a word
for people you don't know. It's a word that allows you to erase individuals and
create boxes."
o “The Negro, like the immigrant, is segregated in the city into a racial colony.
Economic considerations, race prejudice and cultural differences combine to
set him apart." "Race prejudice" included laws and lending practices, from
redlining to restrictive covenants, explicitly design to separate white and
nonwhite city dwellers.
 The Author: Lorraine Hansberry

Hansberry proves not only culturally aware, but a connoisseur in the ….. Her use
of intertextuality skillfully applies Langston Hughes’ A Dream Deferred’ to her
work to capture the symbolism of the American Dream vs. The African American
Reality. Hughes’ poem captures the essence of….. further accentuated by
Hansberry’s

A Raisin in the Sun, a play written by Lorraine Hansberry, premiered on Broadway

in 1959 as a landmark piece of African American artistry and social criticism that
preempted the swell of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. At twenty-nine,
Hansberry became "the youngest American, the fifth woman, and the first black
playwright to win the Best Play of the Year Award of the New York Drama Critics"
[1]. In the public sphere, Raisin was confronted by both accolades and criticisms
because it made statement about American society and culture before it was
politically popular to question norms. Hansberry's 1961 film adaptation of the
play won a Cannes Film Festival Award and received a nomination for Best
Screenplay [2]. Despite Hansberry's early demise in 1965 at age thirty-four,
Hansberry's work, in particular Raisin, continues to be lauded by the public as
groundbreaking in establishing black theatre as a part of universal American
culture.
Consideration of the historical context in which the play was written and
received by artists and society along with an analysis of Hansberry's complex
characters and themes reveals the relevance of this writer and her noteworthy
first-effort A Raisin in the Sun. This site is an overview of the social and racial
atmosphere that birthed Hansberry's composition and led to its acceptance as
a classic piece of literature for its chronicled and contemporary significance.
Also, the central theme of dreams is analyzed through each character within
the framework of Langston Hughes' poem "Montage of A Dream Deferred"
which inspired the title of the play.
Domina (1998) explains that "Although many writers choose to use epigraphs, not all of
them are as thematically significant to the work as the one Hansberry has chosen"(p.1).
 Langston Hughes Harlem ‘A Dream Deferred’

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes was a black, African American poet whose work was
inspired by the limitations of the American Dream for African Americans. His
identity allowed Hughes to lend emotion, personality and an astute sense of
reality to his work, ultimately contributing the poem’s appeal and viscosity. ‘A
Dream Deferred’ first appeared in a collection of Hughes’ poetry in 1951, in
close proximity to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. As he delves
into the fate of a “dream deferred”, Hughes’ uses vivid analogies to evoke
slightly dark images the difference between the American Dream and the
African American Reality. Each being potent enough to make the reader
visualize, smell and feel these discarded dreams. According to Langston
Hughes, a discarded dream does not simply vanish, rather, it undergoes an
evolution, approaching a physical state of decay. Critic Arthur P Davis opines
that "When Hughes depicts the hopes, the aspirations, the frustrations, and the
deep-seated discontent of the New York ghetto, he is expressing the feelings of
Negroes in black ghettos throughout America." The “dream deferred” was the
dream in which all Americans, except blacks, were able to participate.

o “The poem discusses the consequences of a dream not realized soon

enough, illustrated in different ways that a deferred dream can die, and
consequently harm its dreamer”. The persona expresses his anxiety over his
deferred dreams as they relate to his many soured aspirations. Hughes
depicts fear of having dreams deferred by portraying only negative
 possibilities. He speculates that deferred dreams may dry, fester, stink, crust,
sag or explode. Hughes never supposes that his dream may wait, patiently
and without damage, for its moment to be realized because he thinks this to
be impossible; describing the deferred dreams with negatively-associated
words shows that Hughes has only fear, not hope, for that will occur if his
dreams are not realized promptly.

The presentation of many ways in which a dream may die in the poem
suggests that each dream has a unique death. Some dreams fade away slowly,
some dreams become unachievable in the time the dreamer takes to realize
them, and others collapse suddenly and dramatically.

American Dream Vs. African American Reality

The American Dream is the national ethos of the United States. It is the set
of ideals, in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and
success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children
achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers. It is of ardent
belief that every U.S citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve
success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.
However, post Emancipation, the American Dream proved unattainable
for the African American community due to the heavy presence of racial
prejudice, segregation. The American Dream was coming true for white
America, especially after World War II, when well-paying jobs were
plentiful; and a house, a car, appliances, vacations, and higher
education were affordable. There was a large and growing middle class
in the 1950’s and a sense of lasting prosperity, but that America was not
the America of black people. African Americans cannot dream or aspire
to great things because of the environment of oppression that surrounds
them. Thirty years after the Civil Rights era middle class African American
families faced the grim reality that their families were more likely to
experience downward mobility in today’s economy that they were to
move up.

o The injustices of American Apartheid created terrible frustration among

black Americans who had been liberated from slavery during the
American Civil War, but were still prevented from embracing their
citizenship fully. Hundreds of thousands of black Americans served in WWI
and at least one million black Americans in WWII. Yet, black people were
still second-class citizens, relegated to low-paying menial jobs, denied use
of the same public facilities as whites, and denied access to higher
education. Frustration with inferior status was becoming a powder keg
ready to erupt. Out of the groundswell of discontent, the Civil Rights
Movement was born.

Founding fathers, pursuit of happiness

o How can the dream be achieved if not every human being has the
same equal opportunities as the person standing next to them until
there is an end to racism and everyone is viewed as equals, the
American dream will never truly exist. Throughout the centuries
African Americans have faced the hardships of racism and
segregation within the United States and around the world there
have been battles protests and riots, in an attempt to end racism
and create equal opportunities in the black communities although
here has been an end to slavery and African Americans have
obtained the rights of Independence they are being denied their
rights by racism .

African Americans still faced the restrictions of the Jim Crow Laws that
mandated separate but equal status for African Americans these laws
meant that black people were legally required to attend separate
schools and churches, use specified coloured bathrooms, eat separately
and sit in the rear of the bus.

Startlingly almost 50 % of black children who were solid middle class end
up falling to the bottom of the income distribution compared to only 16%
of white children.