1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:02,200 Speaker 1: The Stay in History Class. It's a production of I 2 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:08,840 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello, Hello, everyone, Welcome to this Day in 3 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:12,120 Speaker 1: History class, where we bring you a new tidbit from 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 1: history every day. Today is May nineteenth, nineteen. The day 5 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:30,319 Speaker 1: was May nineteenth, nineteen thirty. Lorraine Vivian Handsbury was born 6 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: at Provident Hospital in Chicago to Nanny Perry Handsbury and 7 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: Carl Augustus Handsberry. Over the course of her life, Lorraine 8 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: would write several plays, participate in political protests, and become 9 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: the first black playwright and youngest American to win a 10 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Lorraine was the youngest 11 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: of four children. Her mother was a teacher and Ward 12 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: committee woman, and her father worked in real estate. Her uncle, 13 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: William Leo Handsbury, was a professor of African history at 14 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: Howard University. Lorraine went to kindergarten in Chicago's South Side, 15 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: where she said, quote, the kids beat me up, and 16 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: I think it was from that moment I became a rebel. 17 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: As a child, Lorraine was around artist and activists like 18 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:24,320 Speaker 1: Paul Robinson, Walter White, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, and W. E. B. 19 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:29,279 Speaker 1: Du Bois, who visited her family. In eight, the family 20 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: bought a house on the South side of Chicago in 21 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: an all white neighborhood. The white residents there attempted to 22 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: impose a restrictive covenant that barred the hands Buries from 23 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: living there, but her family challenged Chicago's discriminatory real estate 24 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: practices in a test case for integrated housing, and they 25 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 1: emerged victorious in the nineteen forty u. S. Supreme Court 26 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 1: decision and Handsbury versus Lee. Lorraine's father's activism and involvement 27 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 1: with the Inn Double a c P. Had a huge 28 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: impact on her active bis um, and her uncle's influence 29 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: likely helped shape her views on the Black liberation movement. 30 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: She graduated from Inglewood High School in Chicago in nineteen 31 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: forty eight, and then went to the University of Wisconsin 32 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: for two years, where she worked to integrate her dorm. 33 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: After that, she briefly attended the Art Institute of Chicago 34 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:23,079 Speaker 1: to study painting, but she wanted to pursue writing in theater, 35 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 1: so after a summer of studying art at Roosevelt University, 36 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:29,959 Speaker 1: she moved to New York and began attending the New 37 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: School for Social Research. While she was there, she wrote 38 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: articles for the Young Progressives of America magazine and became 39 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: a reporter for Paul Robeson's radical monthly magazine Freedom. She 40 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: covered the civil rights movement other freedom movements around the world, 41 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: and she was active in the fight for black civil rights. 42 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: By nineteen fifty three, she was an editor at the magazine, 43 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,359 Speaker 1: but that same year she resigned from her position at 44 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: Freedom to further pursue playwriting and married Robert Nimrov, a 45 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: writer and graduate student at New York University. In nineteen 46 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: fifty seven, Lorraine completed the manuscript for A Raisin in 47 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: the Sun, a play about a black family living in 48 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: south Side Chicago in the nineteen fifties, and in March 49 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine, the play opened on Broadway, making Handsbury 50 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: the first black woman to have a play produced on Broadway. 51 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: The play ran for five hundred and thirty performances and 52 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 1: put actor Sidney Poittier in the spotlight. The play also 53 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: got Handsbury national recognition, and she won the New York 54 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: Drama Critics Circle Award for it. Lorraine was praised for 55 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: the plays commentary on race and Black American culture, but 56 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: when NBC commissioned her to write a TV drama about 57 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: slavery for a commemoration of the Civil War. Her resulting work, 58 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:54,400 Speaker 1: The Drinking Gourd, was deemed too controversial and discontinued. Handsbury 59 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: also wrote other plays, including The Sign and Sidney, Bruce, 60 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: Deean's Window, and Le Blanc, and She continued her work 61 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 1: in the civil rights movement, raising funds for the Student 62 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: Non Violent Coordinating Committee and writing the text for a 63 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: snake photo book called The Movement Documentary of a Struggle 64 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: for Equality. Handsbury took part in a meeting with Attorney 65 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,239 Speaker 1: General Robert Kennedy to get him to help protect civil 66 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,040 Speaker 1: rights workers in the South. She also supported the American 67 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: lesbian liberation movement, writing about radical feminism, misogyny, and homophobia. 68 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty three, Handsbury was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. 69 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: The next year, she divorced her husband. She died in 70 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five at thirty four years old. More than 71 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:45,200 Speaker 1: six hundred people attended her funeral in Harlem that January. 72 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 1: Lorraine was working on several projects that remained unfinished at 73 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,559 Speaker 1: the time of her death, including an epic opera about 74 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: Toussaint l'overture and an autobiographical novel called All the Dark 75 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:01,160 Speaker 1: and Beautiful Warriors. I'm each of Coach and hopefully you 76 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 77 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: If you have any burning questions or comments to tell us, 78 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: you can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at 79 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: t D i HC Podcast. Thank you for joining me today. 80 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: See you same place, same time tomorrow. For more podcasts 81 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 82 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,599 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.