Event Details

To mark LGBT+ History Month, the Library are presenting a display about the life of Lorraine Hansberry, a playwright and writer who was heavily involved in the US Civil Rights movement in the 1960s...

To mark LGBT+ History Month, the Library are presenting a display about the life of Lorraine Hansberry, a playwright and writer who was heavily involved in the US Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. She was the first African American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her life was cut short aged 34 from cancer, but she left a legacy of change and her works are still performed today.

She lived in an age when it was dangerous to declare homosexuality and never publicly acknowledged that she was a lesbian during her lifetime. Her contribution to the LBGT+ movement was only acknowledged when her archive held by the New York Public Library was fully opened in 2013.

The exhibition features materials relating to the UK production of her play, Raisin in the Sun from the Jack Hylton Collection from our Special Collections and Archives, as well as other materials from our Library resources.