Hansberry Tales. In A Time Of Immense Racial Strife, Lorraine

Hansberry Tales In a time of immense racial strife, Lorraine Hansberry -a well respected African American author, civil rights and sexual equality advocate- wrote some of the most influential works of her time. Tenacious and resilient, Hansberry explicitly shared her views on sexual identity, race relationships and identity. Being a successful, black, woman playwright during the 1900’s meant that she had encountered not only racism in her time, but also had to go through deciding just what being black meant during the Civil Rights Movement. A Raisin in the Sun follows a black family in Chicago, which what Hansberry was born into. She was the youngest of four children, born in 1930, in Chicago (Biography.com). Like the Younger family, her†¦show more content†¦In her work, Hansberry frequently addresses the strained, sensitive topic of race relations. She comments on the extensive, prolonged and painful tension between black and white people that still exists today. In her play Les Bl ancs, a scholarly African man Tshembe, returns from Europe to Africa to attend his father’s memorial service. His home is imbued with the intense hatred that is a result of the ongoing struggle between European colonies and those native to Africa, strongest around a small, make-shift hospital made by missionaries. There is underlying tension between him and the white colonists at first. There are a few snide remarks that him and the colonist casually woven into every conversation they have. Very quickly, their implicit hatred warps into a full blown feud. Most of the colonists believe that Africa is their rightful â€Å"home† since the Africans had it for so long and â€Å"did nothing with it† (90). The colonist had a specific standard of civilization which Africa did not meet. Therefore, when the colonist got there and started to form Africa into something that loosely resembled their homeland, they felt that they were entitled to Africa. Additionally, they bel ieve that there is â€Å"sacredness of a white life† (105) and that white people must be protected and valued at all cost because â€Å"one white life taken