A Raisin in the Sun | Thoughts on A Raisin in the Sun

In this appraisal of A Raisin in the Sun, the author examines the play's dramatic qualities and offers his ideas as to why it won the New York Drama Critics' Award in 1959.

On the day that the New York Drama Critics' Award was announced, a student stopped me as I walked across the campus—where I pass as an expert on the theater—and asked a sensible question. Had A Raisin in the Sun won because it was the best play of the year, or because its author, Lorraine Hansberry, is a Negro? Even if the play is a good one (and, with reservations, I think it is), even if it were indisputably the best of the year, the climate of award-giving would make impossible its consideration on merit alone. Whenever an award goes to a playwright who is not...

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