Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry [...] elements of drama and literary qualities of the play. This play was anything but conventional when it debuted on Broadway in 1959. It explored issues of racism, prejudice, and the dreams of others that made playgoers stop and think about what they were seeing acted out on stage, including themes Broadway theatergoers did not expect and it made many firsts on the Broadway stage.

"A Raisin in the Sun" became Lorraine Hansberry's first play, and it made a lot of history in the American theater. One literary critic notes, "The first play by a black woman to win the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the first play by a black woman to be performed on Broadway, the longest-running play by a black writer on Broadway for a quarter of a century and a production which launched the career of a number...
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