A Raisin in the Sun: Whose "American Dream"?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

NCSS.D2.His.6.3-5. Describe how people’s perspectives shaped the historical sources they created.

NCSS.D2.His.10.3-5. Compare information provided by different historical sources about the past.

NCSS.D2.Geo.3.6-8. Use paper based and electronic mapping and graphing techniques to represent and analyze spatial patterns of different environmental and cultural characteristics.

NCSS.D2.Geo.5.6-8. Analyze the combinations of cultural and environmental characteristics that make places both similar to and different from other places.

Activity 1. Conceptualizing "The American Dream"

The opening reflection and discussion can be done individually, as a pairing of 2-3 students, and/or with the use of a digital platform that allows students to share their thoughts on the compelling question in a collective space: What constitutes "The American Dream" and in whose interest does this concept exist?

1. What is meant by and implied when discussing "The American Dream"?
2. In what ways has what constitutes "The American Dream" changed over time? (That is, would someone in 1950 describe "The American Dream" in a similar way as someone today?)
3. Is what is included within "The American Dream" unique to the United States?
4. Why have some groups had more access to what is considered "The American Dream" than others? 
5. Should all people aspire to achieve "The American Dream"?

Activity 2. Building the context for A Raisin in the Sun

Before analyzing the following resources, draw upon the background you have established based on the documents and discussion completed for Activity 1 to design inquiry questions that help answer the guiding question: To what extent have the arts been informed by the social and political realities of the time and vice versa?

• "Harlem": A 1951 poem by Langston Hughes in which the line "...like a raisin in the sun?" appears. You can also view this video clip on Yale University's exhibition: "Langston Hughes at 100" (scroll down to the third entry "Langston Hughes reading "Harlem"). How do "dreams deferred" relate to "The American Dream"?
• Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America. Analyze maps of Chicago and other major cities in the U.S. to learn about the intersections of race and geography in the 1930s and 40s and discuss how this informs one's reading of the play.
• NEH's Created Equal: Slavery by Another Name. Resources and analysis questions on Jim Crow during the New Deal era. 
• "The Black Laws" B.W. Arnett (American Memory Collection/African American Perspectives: The Progress of a People)
• "Lynch Laws in Georgia" Ida B. Wells (American Memory Collection/African American Perspectives: The Progress of a People)

Activity 3. Learning about Ms. Hansberry

Before analyzing the following resources, draw upon the background you have established based on the documents and discussion completed for activities 1 and 2 to design inquiry questions that frame your analysis of the following texts.

• "Let America Be America Again," by Langston Hughes available from The Academy of American Poets. Have each group respond to one or two of the following questions:

• Excerpts from Hansberry's autobiography To Be Young Gifted and Black.
• “Make New Sounds: Studs Terkel Interviews Lorraine Hansberry.” Studs Terkel's conversation with Lorraine Hansberry about her intentions behind writing A Raisin in the Sun and her broader artistic philosophy. (WFMT Radio, Chicago, Illinois, broadcast May 12, 1959).

• "Young, Gifted, and Black": The 1969 song that Nina Simone wrote in memory of Lorraine Hansberry who died in 1965. 
  
  Consider the following questions when analyzing and comparing these texts:

1. According to stanza 1 of Hughes' "Let America Be America Again," what does the poet want?
2. What do stanza's 2, 4, 6, 12, and 16 have in common?
3. What is the dream, who are the dreamers, and is the dream attainable?
4. Compare the tone, theme, and perspective of "Let America Be America Again" with "Harlem"
5. What was Ms. Hansberry's life like growing up?
6. Based on the excerpts, what issues were important to Hansberry? If she were alive today, what causes might she support?
7. According to Hansberry, what is the purpose behind her play, A Raisin in the Sun?

Task:

Imagine a conversation between Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry on a theme that has emerged from their lives and work. What would they talk about? What might they say? What would they create?

Activity 4. The Youngers and "The American Dream"

Use Hansberry's play to respond to the guiding question: How does A Raisin in the Sun mirror and provide a window into the intersections of race and the social, political, and economic climate of the U.S. during the mid-twentieth century?

Given what we have learned about Hansberry, Jim Crow, and the African American Experience between 1850 and 1954, why do you think Hansberry chose to use a play to illustrate the experiences of African Americans at the time?

Engage students in a dramatic reading of the play while also discussing stage design, costuming, stage directions, and how the research students have conducted qualifies as dramaturgy work in the theater. In doing so, students are part of a decision making process that draws them into the staging as well as the performance of the play. For example: If A Raisin in the Sun were staged today, who would students cast for each role?

At the end of each Act, have students work in groups to analyze the play while also referring to research and their own creative insights for how subsequent scenes can be staged.  

Characterization. Use the "Character Analysis" handout (downloadable as a PDF) to record important information about each member of the Younger family.

• How is "The American Dream" expressed in each member of the Younger family: Walter, Ruth, Lena (Mama), and Beneatha?
• How do the supporting characters, George Murchinson and Joseph Assaigai, add to our understanding of the Younger family members?

Plot/Conflict. Use the "Plot Outline" handout (downloadable as a PDF) to map the dramatic structure of the central conflict.

• Explain the existing conflicts between the Younger family members, Mama and Walter, Walter & Ruth, and Walter and Beneatha, the Youngers and society.
• How are these conflicts associated with the American Dream and a dream deferred?

Symbolism. Use the "Analyzing Symbols Chart" handout (downloadable as a PDF) to analyze the symbolic elements below.

• Joseph Assaigai, George Murchinson, Ruth's Pregnancy, Beneatha's hair, Mr. Lindner, the new house, the money from the insurance policy, and Lena's plant. In what sense are these people, events, and/or objects symbolic? How do they further our understanding of the play?

Allusion

• Explain George's allusion to Walter as Prometheus. Have students go online to EDSITEment-reviewed The Perseus Project and use the Greek and Roman Materials Perseus Encyclopedia to refresh their knowledge of Greek Mythology and the figure of Prometheus. According to Greek mythology, who is Prometheus? What does Walter have in common with Prometheus? How does this allusion help us to understand Walter's role in the family? How does this allusion help us to understand Walter's conflict with Mama and the rest of the family? How does this allusion help us understand Walter and the Younger family's quest for the American Dream?

Theme

• Analyze the following quotes: "We ain't no business people Ruth, we just plain working folks."
• "Once upon a time freedom used to be life now money is life," What important issues do they raise? How do these issues help us to understand the American Dream? How do these quotes help us to understand the Younger’s quest for the American Dream?

Choose one of the following to bring together your reading of the play, the history you have researched and learned, and your own reflection on the relationship between the arts and society in order to answer either of the compelling questions: Why does A Raisin in the Sun remain relevant today? or To what extent have the arts been informed by the social and political realities of the time and vice versa?

1. Rewrite the last scene of the play or add one more scene to end the play. In the newly added scene, address what happens to the Younger family six months after the original play concludes. Was the American Dream fulfilled, was it still deferred, or is it a work in progress?
2. In a comic or graphic novel format, design a prequel or sequel to Hansberry's play by drawing upon events and phenomena relative to the long civil rights movement. Will you need new characters? What new perspectives will your creation bring to the narrative? 
3. Create a soundtrack for A Raisin in the Sun by using music from the time period of the play and from its historic debut on Broadway in 1959. Explain why the songs were chosen, the lyrical relationship between the songs and the poetry you analyzed during these lesson, and the cultural significance of the music and the play.
4. The Youngers experienced what is known as redlining. Based on the maps analyzed during Activity 1 and research on local and state history, create updated maps that include current data on demographics, home ownership, and property taxes and information from newspaper articles about how the city and state were connected to the civil rights movement (available at Chronicling America).  

• Academy of American Poets
• Langston Hughes, "Let America Be America Again"
• African American Odyssey: The Civil Rights Era
• Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine Letter
• "Dark Laughter"
• Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Forces
• Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Saving the Race
• The Genesis of Racial Identification and Preferences in Negro Children
• African American Perspectives: Progress of a People
• Protection of American Citizens: Pamphlet—"The Black Laws" by Bishop B.W. Arnett
• Mob-Violence and Anarchy, North and South: Pamphlet—"Lynch Laws in Georgia" by Ida B. Wells-Barnett

National Archives Educator Resources

• Document Analysis Worksheets
• Written Document
• Photograph Analysis Worksheet
• Documents Related to Brown V. Board of Education

We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement

• "Let America Be America Again" (The Academy of American Poets)
• "Jim Crow-Close Up" (Africans in America/part 3)
• Written Analysis Worksheet (Digital Classroom)
• Photo Analysis Worksheet (Digital Classroom)
• "The Black Laws," and "Lynch Law-Georgia"

Each of the following documents are located on the same page of African American Odyssey: The Civil Rights Era from American Memory Collection

• "Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in Armed Forces" (Appears under the section entitled "President Harry Truman Wipes Out Military Segregation"),
• "Dark Laughter" (Appears under the section entitled "Land Where Our Fathers Died"),
• "The Genesis of Racial Identification and Preferences in Negro Children" (Appears under the section entitled "Psychological Effects of Racism"),
• "Saving the Race" (Appears under the section entitled "Thurgood Marshall on 'Saving the Race'"),
• "Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine Letter" 
• "Montgomery Bus Boycott"
• "Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in Armed Forces" (Appears under the section entitled "President Harry Truman Wipes Out Military Segregation")
• "Dark Laughter" Oliver Washington (Appears under the section entitled "Land Where Our Fathers Died")
• "The Genesis of Racial Identification" Kenneth B. Clark (Appears under the section entitled "Psychological Effects of Racism")
• "Saving the Race" Thurgood Marshall (Appears under the section entitled "Thurgood Marshall on 'Saving the Race'")

Worksheets for this lesson (downloadable as PDFs)

• Figurative Language Chart
• Dramatic Elements
• Character Analysis
• Plot Outline
• Analyzing Symbols Chart