Miss Hanzo, I'd like to begin by discussing some of the problems you raised in the sun,

and I wonder so that everyone will know what we're talking about if you become enough

to describe the story briefly.

Well, what it involves is an examination of a family, the south side of Chicago, where

I was born, who belonged to the lower classes, a family of domestic workers.

I hope are fairly typical of people who think that there is something more to do with

your life than accept it as it is.

It's notes from America, I'm Kai Wright, and this is a recording from 1961 of Lorraine

Hansberry, talking about her play a reason in the sun.

In terms of a statement, I think what the play tries to say is that we really don't have

very much in the world at all if we allow any aspect of money values to transcend the

requirements that are necessary for human dignity.

A reason in the sun was the first show ever staged on Broadway, written by a black woman.

Today it is still the most often produced show by a black playwright, and it has just

come back to the stage.

A new production has just opened at the public theater here in New York City, and that's

notable because for those who aren't familiar, the public is where dozens of titanic shows

ranging from a chorus line to Hamilton were first produced.

Hansberry was a towering presence in black artistic and intellectual life in the mid-20th

century, but her life and her work has until quite recently largely gone unexamined.

Her close friend James Baldwin, he is a household name, but why isn't she?

And what can we learn from her even now?

...