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The American Dream: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Can it become a reality for anyone willing to work for them? Lorraine Hansberry shows us that dreams do not always become reality even for those willing to put everything into their achievement. This story of the Younger family, who was eager to leave of the ghettos of Chicago, depicts the quandary of all who have failed dreams. The play shows the dangers of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination are as powerful today as they were over four decades ago; it also reveals a realistic reflection of racial attitudes of the 1950’s and of today. Civil Rights are defined as those “rights belonging to an individual by virtue of citizenship, especially the fundamental freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and by subsequent acts of Congress, including civil liberties, due process, equal protection of the laws, and freedom from discrimination” (Webster). Even when the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were enacted after the Civil War, southern leaders continued the traditional discrimination against blacks. They discriminated politically through poll taxes and literacy tests; economically through sharecropping; and socially through Jim Crow laws (segregation laws). Racism and discrimination were not reflected only in the south; the Younger family in A Raisin in the Sun experienced horrendous discrimination in 1950’s Chicago, mainly housing discrimination. The play is set sometime between 1945 and 1959, and illustrates many of the conflicts that surrounded the questions of race and housing during this period in Chicago. Although less well known than The Great Migration of 1910-1930, when large numbers of African Americans first moved to Chicago from the South, the period of 1940-1960 actually saw more African Americans arrive in the city, owing to such factors as the availability of industrial jobs during World War II and the collapse of the Southern share-cropping system. During the 1950’s the United States underwent monumental changes in both international and domestic affairs. International problems were increasing and the government had to deal with many angry Americans because of the decision to defend South Korea against the threat by North Korea and the onset of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
Approximate Word count = 1452
Approximate Pages = 5.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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