March 11, 1959
On this day, Lorraine Hansberry's 'A Raisin in the Sun'
opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City
with Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil in the lead roles.
The play ran for 530 performances, becoming the longest
running Broadway play written by an African-American.
This was also the first Broadway drama written and directed
by an African-American woman. In 1961 'A Raisin in the Sun'
was made into a movie, again starring Sidney Poitier as the
chauffeur Walter Younger. Hansberry's landmark career was cut
short when she died of cancer in 1965 at the age of 34.