Role Of Civil Rights In A Raisin In The Sun

Issues before the Civil Rights Movement Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun portrays the struggles of an African American three generation family called the Youngers family in 1950 in the poorer side of Chicago. Around 1950, many couple, disregarding the race, desired to fulfill the American dream: to own a house in the suburbs. Numerous families were able to have the money to buy houses, but not everybody, unfortunately. The play also portrays the story of an African American family before the Civil Rights Movements seeking their dreams and the trials they overcome throughout the play. Adding a wide understanding to the play is the opposition between the apartments where they currently live and their dream house: one represents suffering

A minor part of the play that showed racial bigotry was how Willy Harris scammed an African American person, Walter, out of his money. The biggest part that showed this problem was how a white person, the owner of the Clybourne Park, and a black person, Mrs. Johnson were discouraging the Youngers family to move out and live in a place where no colored people lived. In Mrs. Johnson’s appearance in the play, she informs the Youngers family of the environment they were about to face, regarding racism, in the outside world. She backs this up by bringing a newspaper entitled “colored people that was bombed out their place…” She tries to discourage the Youngers family to move because they will experience a lot of racism and hatred from the white people because they will be the first colored people to live in Clybourne Park. The Youngers family disregarded Mrs. Johnson’s opinions by saying “there are two twings we, as a people, have got to overcome, one is the Ku Klux Klan-and the other is Mrs. Johnson.” (Hansberry 104). Lindner, the owner of Clybourne Park did not want the Youngers family to move to his property. He tries to discourage the Youngers family by explaining and reasoning in a very light tone that the people who already live in the property did not want any difference culture to live in

The actions that each character took and all the struggles they faced and overcame symbolized the issues of racial and gender discrimination in the society as a whole. The references of the Ku Klux Klan, Chicago, and in the 1950’s have represented a period of time when black people were fighting slavery out their way to freedom and equality in America. Issues of race and gender throughout the play played an important role. No hope were seen to be south until the scene two of act two. This section revealed that the Youngers are a family full of pride that struggled and hope to seek a better place to better their life and omit the corruption around