Lorraine Hansburry

Both the Hansburry and Perry family legacies reflect ambition and a search for knowledge, which nourished Lorraine in her childhood and throughout out her life. .
             The examples of strength and determination provided to Lorraine by her family helped to mold her into both the woman and the artist she later became. On the 19th of May 1930 Lorraine Hansburry was born. Upon receiving the birth certificate her parents made an unmistakable alteration, replacing the word "Negro" under race with a "B" for black. At the time of Lorraine's birth, Carl Hansburry was a moderately wealthy and well-respected landlord on .
             Chicago's racially divided south side. Despite class division within the segregated community, people from many different classes were forced to be neighbors. " It was not uncommon for a college Graduate to live across the street from a school drop out. A racketeer often lived a few apartments away from a preacher. A domestic worker might live next door to a woman with a maid of her own" although Lorraine's family belonged to the upper middle class, and she was expected to act befittingly, her parents also made sure that she remained grounded as a human being. She said that living in a ghetto brings it's inhabitants to a certain level of intimacy with each other and that it helps to unify the "Negroes as one people". Her father's influential status often attracted prominent dinner guests, including NAACP's director Walter White, W.E.B Dubois, who edited the NAACP's newspaper, and later taught Lorraine, poet Langston Hughes, and performer Paul Robeson, who she later worked for.The Hansburry children were always encouraged to participate in the dinner table conversations alongside their intellectual and influential guests. In .
             1937, the family moved to a new home in an all white neighborhood. After being attacked by an angry mob, it is ruled by the courts that they must move. Outraged, Carl Hansburry appealed to the Supreme Court who ruled in his favor.