Watching A Raisin In The Sun And Seeing Red

Keywords

A Raisin in the Sun; African American theatre; Communism; FBI; Historiography; Lorraine Hansberry

Abstract

"Watching A Raisin in the Sun and Seeing Red" argues that, while anti-Communism has of ten been discussed by historiographers of African American theatre, Communism itself and the influence of the Communist Party U.S.A. as a positive force in black theatre history have largely been ignored. As a way of exploring the Communist influence on black theatre, the article describes specific ways in which Lorraine Hansberry's 1959play is indebted to Communist political critiques. Following the FBI's own surveillance of the play before it came to Broadway, "Watching A Raisin in the Sun and Seeing Red" also uses the FBIs own internal memos about the play's Communist content to reassess the play's political critique of American individualism, racism, sexism, and capitalism.

Publication Date

12-1-2015

Publication Title

Modern Drama

Volume

58

Issue

4

Number of Pages

461-481

Document Type

Editorial Material

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.3138/md.0723

Socpus ID

84956648182 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84956648182

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