Legacy: The Artists Behind The Legends

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was an American playwright, activist, and writer active throughout the middle of the 20th century. She is probably best known for being the first African American female author to have a play performed on Broadway – this of course being her masterpiece, A Raisin in the Sun. What is remarkable about Hansberry’s work is her ability to argue for political, economic, social, racial, and sexual liberation while simultaneously satisfying her own urge for self-expression through aesthetics, almost as if she were walking a political-artistic tightrope. Though her life was cut far too short at the age of 34, Lorraine’s genius inspired everyone around her, particularly in regards to the Civil Rights Movement, and that includes the other artist we will be discussing today, a personal friend of Lorraine’s: Nina Simone.Eunice Kathleen Waymon, or as we know her, Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist, also active throughout the middle to late 20th century. Simone o