A Raisin in the Sun, the first Broadway play produced by a Black woman, Lorraine Hansberry, debuted at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on March 11, 1959.
On March 11, 1959, Lorraine Hansberry, a Croton-On-Hudson resident, made history on Broadway with the opening of her play, A Raisin in the Sun. A story about a Black working-class family living in Chicago, the play was the first on Broadway to be written and produced by an African American woman.
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, the first Broadway play written by a Black woman, opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York on March 11, 1959.
Taking its title from the Langston Hughes poem “Harlem,” Hansberry’s story follows a working-class Black family from the South Side of Chicago hoping to improve their lives. Raised herself on Chicago’s South Side, Hansberry’s parents were racial justice activists, and A Raisin in the Sun was inspired by her life.
It was also the first Broadway show to feature a Black director, Lloyd Richards, and its stars included Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, and Louis Gossett.
The New York Drama Critics Circle Award named “Raisin” the best American play in 1959, and it received four Tony Award nominations for best play, best direction, and best performances for Poitier and McNeil. It ran for 530 performances until it closed in 1960 and was adapted for the big screen in 1961, with Hansberry writing the script. Broadway revivals took place in 2004 and 2014, and the play is credited with bringing Black audiences to the stage.
“Never before, in the entire history of the American theater, had so much of the truth of black people’s lives been seen on the stage,” James Baldwin later wrote of the production. “Black people had ignored the theater because the theater had always ignored them.”
March 11, 1874 – Frederick Douglass named president of The Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Company, commonly referred to as The Freedmen’s Bank. It was created by the United States Congress along with the Freedmen’s Bureau to aid the freedmen in their transition from slavery to freedom.
March 11, 1926 – Civil Rights Activist and Baptist Minister Ralph David Abernathy was born in Linden, Alabama. He was ordained in the Baptist tradition in 1948. Being the leader of the civil rights movement, he was a close friend and mentor of Martin Luther King Jr. He collaborated with King and E. D. Nixon to create the Montgomery Improvement Association, which led to the Montgomery bus boycott and co-created and was an executive board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He became president of the SCLC following the assassination of King in 1968; he led the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, D.C., as well as other marches and demonstrations for disenfranchised Americans. He also served as an advisory committee member of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE).
March 11, 1950 – Grammy Award winning Singer Bobby McFerrin, most well known for his #1 hit “Don’t Worry Be Happy”, born in the UK.
March 11, 1957 – Singer Cheryl Lynn, most well known for her 1979 disco classic “Got to Be Real,” was born in Los Angeles, California. Got To Be Real became a staple for DJs to cut up as emcees spit rhymes over in the early days of Hip-Hop and has been sampled over 151 times, including on early Hip-Hop classic “Rappin and Rocking the House” by Funk Four Plus One More, released on Enjoy Records in 1979. Other Hip-Hop artists who sampled Got To Be Real include Full Force, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, NWA, Eric B & Rakim, Nate Dogg featuring Fabolous & Lil Mo, 2 Live Crew, Grand Master Flash, Too Short, Too Poetic, and many more. Yonkers native Mary J. Blige made her background vocal debut on Father MC’s song “I’ll Do 4 U” in 1990, the second single from Father MC’s debut album, Father’s Day. MJB also appeared in the music video for the song.
