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.