POLI 231 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Lorraine Hansberry, Les Blancs, Real Estate Broker
17 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
1
POLI231
Lecture 20 – 3 April 2018
Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965): Les Blancs
• All of the themes of the course in this play in a complex way
• Hansberry did not live long. As a result, she left her works unfinished and she was not as
active in society as she might have been
• Hansberry’s mother was a teacher and her father was a real estate broker
• Her family was sent to the ghetto, but when she was 8 years old, she and her family moved to
a white neighborhood
• She experienced racism:
- A brick was thrown through her house’s window
- She wore a fur coat to school and was beaten up (racism and class divisions)
• 1935: Italy conquered Ethiopia. This was a violation of the League of Nations. Mussolini
used an excuse to intervene and it was accepted. Hansberry lived to see the collapse of this
conquest in the 1960s
• Hansberry dropped out of university to be a writer
• Hansberry condemned racism and colonialism
• Hansberry married Robert Nemiroff in 1953; divorced in 1962
• Hansberry experimented with homosexuality, but feared homophobic treatment
• Play “Raisin in the Sun” was a success: Hansberry became the first black playwright
• Lost her father in the 1940s
• Hansberry was active in the civil rights movement
• The purpose of her plays is to create space for people to think about social change
• Hansberry started writing Les Blancs in 1960; she died in 1965 and so she couldn’t finish it.
She had discussed her intentions for the play with Nemiroff, who took notes, finished the
play. It was finally produced in 1970
Historical context:
• Set in Ztembe, a fictional African place; details link with Kenya
• Explores African quest for freedom from colonialism
• Hansberry studied African history
• The title is a response to “Les Negres.” Hansberry’s reaction was that it was a conversation
among whites. She tries to give black people a voice in her play
• In the play, a man returns home to bury his father
- Called on to fight
- Does not think its his problem
- Leader of resistance resembles Kenyatta → Hansberry had studied him
• 1920-1963: Kenya was a colony
• 2013: UK paid millions of pounds to the Kenyans who had suffered abuse (there is potential
for there to be more payment)
• Caroline Elgin: found evidence of mass detention and policies by British colonial
government
- Heavy patrol, barbed wire, torture, rape, murder, forced labor, rebels were hanged
• 1963: Kenya gains independence
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lorraine hansberry (1930-1965): les blancs: all of the themes of the course in this play in a complex way, hansberry did not live long. A brick was thrown through her house"s window. She wore a fur coat to school and was beaten up (racism and class divisions: 1935: italy conquered ethiopia. This was a violation of the league of nations. Mussolini used an excuse to intervene and it was accepted. She had discussed her intentions for the play with nemiroff, who took notes, finished the play. She tries to give black people a voice in her play. In the play, a man returns home to bury his father. Heavy patrol, barbed wire, torture, rape, murder, forced labor, rebels were hanged: 1963: kenya gains independence. 1500s spanish and the amerindians: the spanish asked why god made the amerindians so different. By deciding they were human, they justify conquering them and thereby subjecting them to natural law .
