Understanding A Raisin in the Sun: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents (The Greenwood Press "Literature in Context" Series) [Hardcover]

Lynn Domina (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313303495 | ISBN-13: 978-0313303494 | Publication Date: September 30, 1998

A Raisin in the Sun is the first play by a black woman to be produced in a Broadway theater. First performed in 1959, before the civil rights and women's movements came to the fore, it raises issues of segregation, family strife, and relationships between men and women that are both representative of the time and timeless in their universality. This interdisciplinary collection of commentary and forty-five primary documents will enrich the reader's understanding of the historical and social context of the play. A wide variety of primary materials sheds light on integration and segregation in the 1950s and 1960s; relationships between African Americans and Africans; relationships between men and women within African American culture; Chicago as a literary setting for the play; and contemporary race relations in the 1990s. Documents include first-person accounts, magazine articles and editorials espousing opposing arguments, excerpts from the works of Toni Morrison, W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, bell hooks, Malcolm X, and Richard Wright, and a selection of pertinent government documents and eye-opening statistics. Many of the documents are available in no other printed form. Each chapter concludes with study questions and topics for research papers and class discussion, as well as lists of further reading for examining the themes and issues raised by the play. The casebook begins with a literary analysis of the play, its themes and dramatic structure. Two chapters on the historical context provide commentary and documents on the history of segregation and integration in the United States, focusing on segregation in employment and education as well as in housing, and relationships between African Americans and Africans and the back to Africa movement. A chapter situates the play within the context of the literature of Chicago, including articles about race problems, as well as excerpts from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Richard Wright's Native Son, Carl Sandburg's poem "Chicago," and other pieces. The topic of the relationship between African American men and women is explored in a variety of articles on the African American family, black fatherhood, black masculinity, and the problems of African American women. A chapter on contemporary race relations examines the current situation and includes first-person accounts by two African American teenagers, current employment statistics for African Americans, and articles on current problems facing them. Each document is preceded by an explanatory introduction, and each chapter concludes with study questions and topics for research papers and class discussion, as well as lists of further reading for examining the themes and issues raised by the play.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“...provide[s] new interpretations of Hansberry's work and new insights into the subject that she explored.”–MultiCultural Reviews

About the Author

LYNN DOMINA is Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities, Social Science, and Individual Studies at SUNY-Delhi. She has published articles on Zora Neale Hurston, Mary McCarthy, N. Scott Momaday, and others. Her first book of poetry, Corporal Works, was published in 1995.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (September 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313303495
• ISBN-13: 978-0313303494
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,154,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lynn Domina is a poet currently living in the western Catskill region of New York state--after stints in Michigan (where she was born), Alabama, and Illinois. She has earned degrees from Michigan State University, The University of Alabama, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In addition to her books, she has published poetry, reviews, and other articles in numerous periodicals. Among other honors, she has won the Intro Series Prize from Four Way Books and a Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Creative and Scholarly Activity from the State University of New York. She states that the best thing about being a poet is that you get to stare out of the window for hours at a time, all the while claiming to be working.