`A Rasin in the sun` By Lorraine Hansberry

A RAISIN IN THE SUN : REFLECTIONS ON

SEGREGATION AND POVERTY . A Raisin in the Sun was writing by Lorraine Hansberry . It was the first play that appeared on Broadway that was written by a black woman Hansberry explains this is a play that tells the truth about people Negroes and life and I think it will help a lot of people to understand how we are just as complicated as they are ' in a letter written to her mother . The play centers around a poor black family , The Youngers The family members waver

between cruel reality and daydreaming about the future . It is a powerful character study about the effects of discrimination and racism on the human soul , and the buoyancy of the human spirit . In A Raisin in the Sun , segregation induced poverty is the driving force behind all the decisions and dreams of the Younger Family

Segregation refers to the practice of separating the races . It was a common practice in the American South until the late 1960s to have separate race facilities for washrooms , theaters , schools neighborhoods , and subsequently limited professions . Segregated schools offered notoriously poor education because the schools for African Americans were not well funded . Lack of a solid primary education left very little hope of having the qualifications to attend university , and even if students were qualified the positions available were limited Black Colleges were scarce and other higher learning institutions that were integrated worked on a quota system for the admittance of black students . Inadequate education coupled with the societal limits of what jobs for blacks were acceptable or not , African Americans struggled to make career advancements past blue collar and domestic help positions (Polednak 45 . This left the bulk of the black population in America below the poverty line and just barely surviving . Discrimination and segregation by the white community was a major factor in not only causing the poverty suffered by minorities in the 20th century but also maintaining that race related poverty into the 21st century

The Younger 's frustration with segregation and the poverty which it causes is the single determining factor in each family member 's decisions and dreams . Many of the problems the Younger 's suffer through are caused by segregation . The actual attention given to the in the play is minimal but the consequences drive the plot . Walter , the oldest son , is married and has a child . He works for a white family as a chauffer . Being a chauffer is one of the only jobs that is available to young black men . He takes the job because his family needs the money (Abell . His mother assures him that it is a good job but understands that he has been "forced to function as a white man 's servant (Domina 10 . His family shares a small apartment with his mother and sister Beneatha . Walter laments about his discontent of his current living situation and the need to provide better for his family . He states I got...