Gallery

Lorraine Hansberry on the phone in the bedroom of her Greenwich Village apartment. Photo by David Attie. David Attie photographed Hansberry to accompany a 1960 Vogue magazine article. One of the images in the series is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute.

Lorraine Hansberry in front of her library of books in her Greenwich Village apartment. Photo by David Attie. David Attie photographed Hansberry to accompany a 1960 Vogue magazine article. One of the images in the series is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute.

Lorraine Hansberry in front of her library of books in her Greenwich Village apartment. Photo by David Attie.  David Attie photographed Hansberry to accompany a 1960 Vogue magazine article. One of the images in the series is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

Lorraine Hansberry at her desk in her Greenwich Village apartment. Photo by David Attie.  David Attie photographed Hansberry to accompany a 1960 Vogue magazine article. Note the photograph of herself on her desk. One of the images in the series is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

Caption: Lorraine Hansberry at her desk in her Greenwich Village apartment. Photo by David Attie. David Attie photographed Hansberry to accompany a 1960 Vogue magazine article. Note the photograph of herself on her desk. One of the images in the series is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. 

Lorraine Hansberry in front of her library of books in her Greenwich Village apartment. Photo by David Attie. David Attie photographed Hansberry to accompany a 1960 Vogue magazine article. One of the images in the series is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute.

Lorraine Hansberry at her desk in her Greenwich Village apartment. Photo by David Attie. David Attie photographed Hansberry to accompany a 1960 Vogue magazine article. One of the images in the series is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute.

Lorraine Hansberry at her typewriter in her Greenwich Village apartment. Photo by David Attie. David Attie photographed Hansberry to accompany a 1960 Vogue magazine article. One of the images in the series is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute.

A list of Lorraine's favorite things.  Note that Lorraine's hero is Toussaint L’Ouverture, the leader of the Haitian Revolution, who she would later write an opera about. While many middle-class black families sent their children to private schools in Chicago, the Hansberry’s sent Lorraine to the South Side public school, Betsy Ross Elementary, in solidarity with the poor and working-class black community.

A self-portrait on the cover of Lorraine’s grade school autograph book.  While many middle-class black families sent their children to private schools, the Hansberry’s sent Lorraine to the South Side public school, Betsy Ross Elementary, in solidarity with the poor and working-class black community.

Drawing by Lorraine while a college student, between 1948 and 1950. Lorraine enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in February 1949, where she took art classes. During the summer of 1949, Lorraine studied painting at the University of Guadalajara art workshop in Ajijic, Mexico and in the summer of 1950, she studied art at Roosevelt University.

A list of proposed writing projects from September, 1960. Included are a play about Mary Wollenstonecraft, the 18th century philosopher and advocate of women’s rights; an opera about Toussaint L’Ouverture, the Haitian revolutionary; a crossed out The Drinking Gourd, a teleplay about the Civil War and slavery that Lorraine was commissioned to write by NBC studios that was cancelled due to it being too radical; and a musical drama, The Sign in Jenny Reed’s Window, which was renamed The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window and would be the second—and last—Hansberry play to be produced on Broadway in her lifetime.

Drawing of a lynched man by Lorraine while a college student, between 1948 and 1950.  Lorraine enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in February 1949, where she took art classes. During the summer of 1949 she studied painting at the University of Guadalajara art workshop in Ajijic, Mexico and during the summer of 1950 she studied art at Roosevelt University. When Lorraine move to New York CIty, she worked at Freedom magazine, and became involved with anti-legal lynching campaigns, covering the case of Willie McGee, a black man sentenced to death for raping a white woman in 1945 Mississippi; she was also inspired to write the poem “Lynchsong” about his case.

Clown, a mixed-media self-portrait by Lorraine, date unknown.  Lorraine liked clowns, as they were a reminder not to take herself too seriously. Lorraine enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in February 1949, where she took art classes. During the summer of 1949 she studied painting at the University of Guadalajara art workshop in Ajijic, Mexico and during the summer of 1950 she studied art at Roosevelt University.