The Road to A Raisin in the Sun:The Link Between the Hansberry Family of Gloster, MS & Alcorn A&M
108 S. Commerce St.
Natchez MS, 39120
(601) 442-2500
Date: February 28, 2023
Time: 5:30 pm
The Natchez Historical Society will present J. Janice Coleman, professor of English at Alcorn State University. Professor Coleman will trace the critically acclaimed play, “Raisin in the Sun” (1959), to the influence of the cherished home library of Lorraine Hansberry’s grandfather, an 1891 Alcorn graduate, in Gloster, Amite County, Mississippi. The play, set in Chicago, where Lorraine Hansberry came to reside, deals with issues of housing discrimination, racism, and assimilation. In the year it debuted (at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York), “Raisin” was named best play of the year by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. Try to imagine the power of the seeds planted in that library in Gloster that so grew to fruition on Broadway. Professor Coleman will bring them back to life.
The program will be at the Historic Natchez Foundation, 108 S. Commerce St., Natchez. All are welcome.
