To Be Young, Gifted, and Black: An Informal Autobiography

by Lorraine Hansberry, Robert Nemiroff (Adapted by), James Baldwin (Introduction)

In her first play, the now-classic A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry introduced the lives of ordinary African Americans into our national theatrical repertory. Now, Hansberry tells her own life story in an autobiography that rings with the voice of its creator.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, African American, Race, Autobiography, Classics

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was an American playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play A Raisin in the Sun, highlights the lives of black Americans in Chicago living under racial segregation. The title of the play was taken from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" At the age of 29, she won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award – making her the first African-American dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so. Hansberry's family had struggled against segregation, challenging a restrictive covenant in the 1940 U.S. Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee.
After she moved to New York City, Hansberry worked at the Pan-Africanist newspaper Freedom, where she worked with other black intellectuals such as Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Du Bois. Much of her work during this time concerned the African struggles for liberation and their impact on the world. Hansberry also wrote about being a lesbian and the oppression of gay people. She died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 34 during the Broadway run of her play The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window in 1965. Hansberry inspired the Nina Simone song "To Be Young, Gifted and Black", whose title-line came from Hansberry's autobiographical play.

Reviews

[Ify · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very imperfect book that I plan to hold near and dear to my heart. It was tricky to get into, because it's a collection of her journal entries, letters, and her unfinished plays. It's somewhat incohesive as a whole, but it turned out to be a highly rewarding read! Apparently this was initially made for media on the seond year anniversary of Hansberry's death, but was later turned into a book for posterity and access.

I just love having the letters and journal entries of a creative black woman on my nightstand, where she's ruthlessly honest about her insecurities, creative process, depression and her talent.

Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of these.

[leynes · Rating 3 out of 5]

After her death in 1965, Lorraine Hansberry's ex-husband Robert Nemiroff collated her unpublished writings and adapted them into a stage play that first ran from 1968 to 1969 off Broadway. The play was then converted into an equally successful autobiography with the same title: To Be Young, Gifted and Black.

"The poets have been right in all these centuries, darling; even in its astounding imperfection this earth of ours is magnificent. But oh this human race!"

I read Imani Perry's beautiful biography on Lorraine's life, Looking for Lorraine, and was thus familiar with large parts of her life. However, To Be Young, Gifted and Black is such a valuable read because so many excerpts of Lorraine's plays are included, from A Raisin in the Sun and The Drinking Gourd to The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (which I desperately need to read!!!) and Les Blancs, where some of them cannot be easily found in print. Lorraine was such a versatile artist and it's a shame that she's only remembered for Raisin. I vow to read everything that's out there from her – she was such a treasure.

The other reason why I'll cherish To Be Young, Gifted and Black is that it humanises Lorraine to an extent that I didn't think possible. Maybe it's a me-thing but I struggle to conceive as people from the past, especially when they were as iconic as Lorraine, as "real" people. Lorraine was born in 1930 and died (from cancer) in 1965. Her life is so far away. Her lived experience differs so greatly from mine. Her achievements are beyond what I can ever strive to do with my little life. But reading her autobiography, reading these excerpts from her letters, essays and speeches, made her come to life in a way that is incredibly special to me. Lorraine was a real person. I now understand why Jimmy thought of her as "a sister and a comrade". She was such a wonderful person, and she died way too young.

I have some issues with the structure of this book and with the fact that her husband, who was her literary executor and ultimately put this book together, omitted parts in regards to Lorraine's homosexuality etc. But all in all, it's a wonderful book that brought me closer to a wonderful writer and human. Instead of giving you a run down of Lorraine's, I wanna share my favorite quotes and annotations from my read of To Be Young, Gifted and Black. I think these will make you understand why Lorraine was so special, and above all, human.

"I am a writer. I'm going to write." is something Lorraine wrote down and it reminded me of Octavia E. Butler's manifestations on paper: "I shall be a bestselling writer. [...] So be it! See to it!!!" There is something so wonderfully empowering about Black women who have found their calling and who won't let anyone stand in their way of achieving it. In 1962, when Lorraine was struggling with loneliness and depression, she jotted down on paper: "Will work or perish." And that says so much about the power of literature and the role and meaning writing had for her.

One quote that shows up multiple time in this autobiography goes as follows: "I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful, and that which is love." It is depressing when you realise that she only got to live to the young age of 33 but LOVE was the current that ran through her life, and her work as well.

Lorraine, politicised in her childhood through her father, grew up and lived through the 1950s and 60s, so the Civil Rights Era in the US. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that large sections of her autobiography concern themselves with the Black struggle for liberation, equality and justice. She asks herself: "Do I remain a revolutionary? Intellectually—without a doubt. But am I prepared to give my body to the struggle or even my comforts?" — which is such a real question and so many of us can relate to. It's easy to be a revolutionary in theory, it is much harder to be one in practice. I struggle with that immensely and don't feel that my journey is over yet. I often feel like a coward and wish I would stand up more, participate in more boycotts and demonstrations etc. etc.

On schools for Black children, she writes: "That, after all, was why it existed: not to give education but to withhold it as much as possible, just as the ghetto itself exists not to give people homes but to cheat them out of as much decent housing as possible." If you're interested in that topic I'd highly recommend Carter G. Woodson's The Miseducation of the Negro, which precisely looks at the segregated American school system during the Jim Crow era.

One of my favorite quotes: "I can be all filled up that day with three hundred years of rage so that my eyes are flashing and my flesh is trembling—and the white boys in the streets, they look at me and think of sex. They look at me and that's all they think... Baby, you could be Jesus in drag but if you're brown they're sure you're selling." I LOVE IT BC I FEEL IT. I LOVE WHAT SHE SAYS HERE AND EVEN MORE SO HOW SHE SAYS IT.

I also love what she says here: "I think, then, that Negroes must concern themselves with every single means of struggle: legal, illegal, passive, active, violent, and non-violent. That they must harass, debate, petition, give money to court struggles, sit-in, lie-down, strike boycott, sing hymns, pray on steps—and shoot from their windows when the racists come cruising through their communities." Throughout the book, it becomes clear that Lorraine both sympathised with Martin's route (bc it prevented extinction) as well as Malcolm's ("by any means necessary").

In a letter to her mom, she writes about Raisin: "Mama, it 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—and just as mixed up—but above all, that we have among our miserable and downtrodden ranks—people who are the very essence of human dignity. That is what, after all the laughter and tears, the play is supposed to say. I hope it will make you very proud." I mean, I'm literally gonna cry. At the end of the day, we're all little kids who want to make their parents proud. And boy, did Lorraine do that. Not just her mom but all of us, too. I'm sappy. Don't talk to me.

I want to end this review on a more light note and share three of my favorite moments from this book. First of all, all of Lorraine's doodles. I had no idea that homegirl was an artists like that. So many of her letters have doodles that go along with whatever she's writing about. I particularly loved: "A portrait of the artist as a young woman contemplating Christmas". :D Lorraine also was a Shakespeare girl (DUH) and her literary interests (her favorite books, her comments on Hemingway's death etc.) made this book so interesting. Secondly, I loved what she wrote in a letter to her husband about her writing her characters for her play: "P.S. Above all—I'm beginning to think of the people as people... I talk to them now and all that sort of thing. I am either cracking or turning into a fugging genius. You decide." I mean, how iconic is that? And lastly I wanted to share what she wrote on a note to the postman when she over-stamped her package bc she didn't have the right stamps: "So—give the next poor fellow a break when he is short, please?" Lorraine was one of one. 10/10 beautiful human being! Love her guts!!!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first saw the play on PBS in the 1970s when I was a graduate student at Atlanta University. I was blown away with it. This still is one of my favorite plays. Unfortunately, Lorraine's Hansberry's talented career was cut short by cancer. I am sure that Nina Simone had Hansberry and herself in mind when she sang: "To Be Young, Gifted and Black." Hansberry lives on through her works and her life serves as an inspiration to us all.

[Claire S]

Had heard of this, and formed and impression of this, based on other things I read in Women's Studies in the 80's. But for the first time picked up a copy at my daughter's school library, waiting for a meeting to start. I really like the tone of it.. Another Chicagoan! Looking forward to reading it all.

Her description of the way the ghetto-izing schools of Chicago intentionally robbed their students of an education, and the effect on her, is shocking. Also her description of her Dad's efforts to gain justice the 'right' way, and, again, the effects on her, hard to even imagine.

The format - part prose, part play - is jangling, but worth it of course.

It's sooo tragic how young she died (at age 34 in 1965)! All sixty-one of the artists who took place in the telling of 'Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words' to commemorate her on the second anniversary of her death, including Anne Bancroft, Lauren Bacall, Ralph Bellamy, Bette Davis, Ruby Dee, Colleen Dewhurst, Rita Moreno, Paul Robeson, Sidney Poitier, Maureen Stapleton, Rod Steiger and so many more - I'm even bigger fans of all of them.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Baldwin's beautiful introduction alone is worth reading - warm, sincere, and very moving - but Hansberry absolutely sparkles throughout.

[The Black Geek]

Hansberry, in her short lifetime, produced wonderful work that should be categorized as "American Classics". This book is still a timeless and unique treasure that should be read and appreciated...

[Craig Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lorraine Hansberry was a brilliant playwright, author, and critic. It is very sad that she died so young. However, This brilliant account of her life, told in her own words, is a treasure. Many people do not even realize that her father's famous U.S. Supreme Court caseabolished the practice of restrictive covenants and the case still in which her retains the Hansberry name. Restrictive Covenants allowed for racial segregation in the purchase of real property, specifically residential property, and this became a theme of Ms. Hansberry's major play "Raisin in the Sun." I love this book

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this over a period of time, partly because I found it challenging to read at first before I realized what it was, which is a representation of Lorraine Hansberry through her letters, notes, speeches, plays, and other unpublished works. It helps us see a brilliant woman fighting for equal rights of Blacks and warning of the ultimate destruction of our entire nation if equality cannot be reached. It is such a prescient view. Over half a century later, not only are we still unable to claim equality, but trying to remedy that only strengthens the threats to our democracy and deepens the fissures in our political structures.

This book isn't, though, a creation solely by Hansberry herself, though it represents her work in a new form. It is, as noted in the Forward by its compiler/editor Robert Nemiroff--her former husband and executor of her estate--"an adaption, a portrait rendered through the perspective of another's eyes." He calls it a "biography and autobiography, part fact, part fiction, an act of creation and recreation." It isn't clear if Hansberry herself had already compiled any part of this reflection, but it is clear that it is Nemiroff who worked with her material to condense, compile, arrange, and present it in this form, and aided in its other presentations.

In the Afterword, Nemiroff calls this a play. Two years after Hansberry's death, a group of actors read her work in a radio presentation of 7.5 hours based on what Nemiroff presented them with--that appears to be the genesis of the book reviewed here. He was then approached to create a play and, says Nemiroff, "it was at this point that the idea for the present volume began to take shape." The book and script were being written simultaneously, so while this particular volume does not include the stage directions, it is, in fact, the basis for the play that was presented by Harry Belafonte and others in 1969 and then ran off-Broadway for 12 months and has continued to be staged since.

I found in Hansberry's words the portrait of a woman who seemed both down-to-earth and heroic; besieged by her own fears and also willing to bravely represent a world that our culture refused to accept as worth hearing, seeing, and understanding. The phrase, "to be young, gifted, and black" was from her words in a speech to the United Negro Fund writing competition in 1964. There and throughout, it is interesting to hear the echoes between her words and those of her friend, James Baldwin, who writes the Introduction to this work. In her book, Hansberry refers to Baldwin, including his essay that was published in The New Yorker (and later published as the book "The Fire Next Time") in which he, too, notes that it is at our collective peril that we fail to acknowledge the potential in all our citizens. Both could foresee the world today, and both tried to warn us how we need to change our world in order to reap benefits to all of us--something we have yet to accomplish.

[jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

sheeeet, i mean, if nina simone used the title for a song, you know it's gotta have weight. one of the most captivating, yet eloquent, voices in modern letters. it's tragic, not only to die of pancreatic cancer, but, too, that all the finest writer's works always end up becoming "as relevant today."

[FreeFormLady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out my quick review by clicking the link below
https://youtu.be/pVtPbUMf5DM

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué bonito todo lo que contó y la forma en la que lo hizo. Qué bonita su visión del por qué luchar. Qué bonita la fe que tenía en la humanidad. Y qué bonita Lorraine Hansberry.

[Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 STARS!!

After reading A Raisin in the Sun, I decided to check out this book from the library.

But, there were two major things I did not know about this book that affected my reading of it:

1. "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" is not a play written by Lorraine Hansberry.

2. The book was published posthumously.

What it IS, is a collection of Hansberry's letters, diary entries, interviews, play excerpts, artwork, and photographs. It is certainly challenging to weave all six elements and maintain an aesthetic and meaningful order. The book is a work of art in that way. I found myself anticipating the play sections just as much as the letters, photos, etc. And I appreciated the sections, which grouped sections of her life and stories into a topic.

It was not the play I excepted, but it has made me even more interested in her other works besides A Raisin in the Sun, and I feel the same will happen to others who read it. This book is a great resource to anyone wanting to learn more about Hansberry, her life, her cause, and her work.

[Brandon Archer · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books that I have ever read. This book is about Lorraine Hansberry, one of the most famous black female writers that left us far too soon. The book speaks about her various life stages from her birth, to growing up in segregated Chicago, coming to New York, and going into details about some of her works (e.g. Raisin in the Sun). The book also shows her views on society (e.g. Civil Rights Movement) and her views on life in general. The introduction by James Baldwin gives great insight into how truly talented Lorraine Hansberry was a writer before her career and life were tragically cut short by her illness.

[Helena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not knowing much about lorraine hansberry at first, I started this book without any expectations. Immidiately I found myself totally fascinated and drawn towards her beautiful words. I couldn't stop reading and it affected me so much. Telling of racism, sexism and other difficulties especially as a black woman she never fails to encourage people to use their voice, never stop dreaming and believing in a better world. Seriously I cried so many times while reading this! I recommend reading this to everyone :)

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

ENGAGING, ENTERTAINING, ENLIGHTENING AND POIGNANT.

“For them that will do ‘half’ when ‘all’ is called for; for them that will slip and slide through life at the edge of their minds, never once pushing into the interior to see what wonders are hiding there—content to drift along on whatever gets them by, ‘cheating’ themselves, ‘cheating’ the world, ‘cheating’ Nature! That is what “C” means, my dear child—”—page 44

“Eventually it comes to you: the thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely…”—page 137

Has it really been almost fifty-two years since ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ was first produced on the stage?

‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry In Her Own Words,’ adapted by Robert Nemiroff, is a different reading experience. It is a montage of journals, letters, articles, talks, interviews, musings and creative output of a gifted and eloquent mind that somehow works to tell her story.

Recommendation: As much as I’m loath to leave my eReader on the shelf, ‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black’ is one dead-tree-book for which sacrificing the forest was worth it. It might, however, be dated material. I’m not sure whether or not Ms. Hansberry’s life, and times, and wisdom will resonate with today’s young and gifted. I’d hope that they might.

A word and a warning about the Vantage Book edition: Although it is of a nice, compact, size for carrying about; unless you have exceptionally good eyesight, and have an affinity for reading incredibly tiny, tiny, tiny print, I’d suggest you avoid this edition.

Some more quotes from the book:

“I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful, and that which is love.”—page 11

“The only sinful people in the world were dull people.”—page 18

“…the world will go on thinking and doing as it wants regardless. Who’s counting. Who even cares?”—page 171

“In life, adequate respect must be paid to the tenacity of the absurd in both human and natural affairs.”—page 176

“The acceptance of our present condition is the only form of extremism which discredits us before our children.”—page 213

Vantage Books, A Division of Random House, hardcover edition, 261 pages

[Shelley Diamond · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a somewhat odd jumbled compilation of excerpts from Hansberry's plays and excerpts from her speeches and letters and essays, as well as an excellent introduction by James Baldwin.

If you have read nothing else of hers, this book gives you a sample of many of her different subjects and styles. I personally would recommend reading all her plays separately in full since the excerpts are a bit strange taken out of context and fragmented as they are.

Hansberry died too young to write a straightforward autobiography or memoir so her ex-husband put this book together as well as he could under the circumstances. I certainly would have edited it in a different way but I assume he had his reasons for doing it the way he did. There are pieces here that cannot be found anywhere else, so it's worth reading to find the gems mixed in.

Hansberry was an amazing woman who died young at age 34 and yet had written quite a few plays by that time. She was a brilliant intellectual and her political opinions and activism made her a leader of the 1960's. I wish she was here today. We need her and James Baldwin more than ever....

[Malikah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a thought-provoking, honest autobiography. I almost feel like the title is misleading because this book not only shares some of her life, it also takes a deeper look at racial issues that existed in the time it was written AND today, and it explores her thoughts about, and struggles with being an intellectual.

It forced me to reflect on my own identify; I consider myself to be the trifecta (Young, Gifted, and Black), which Hansberry believes is "doubly dynamic." I will say that if you are looking for a chronology of her life, and stories about summers with her cousins, you will not find it here. If you are looking for information about her romantic relationships, you will not find it here. It didn't matter to me because I had no expectations of the book as I picked it up during my random browse through the library.

At the beginning, I struggled to get into the shifting format, but writing is art, so I grew to appreciate the way the book is put together. It is comprised of letters, excerpts of plays, interview transcripts, correspondence with fans and others, illustrations, pictures, and words from Hansberry, and it is BEAUTIFUL!

[ShaiVaughn Crawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good! Lorraine Hansberry was extremely wise beyond her years. I particularly liked her journal entries, interviews, diary entries & letters-- you could really see how authentic & transparent she was in her writing. She wrestled with writers block, low self esteem & loneliness, and I felt that this book did a great job of letting us see how she handled these things.

The only thing that I did NOT like, was the formatting! The book would go from journal entry, to a snippet of an interview to a snippet of a play to a snippet of another entry & so in and so forth. It was horrible formatting. I'm sure that Robert Neimroff had a reason for doing this, but it would've been nice to just devote a chapter to each aspect of her writing--- it just kept things neater & much less confusing.

[Margaret Withers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something in Hansberry's writing strikes the heart so deeply. This volume overwhelms with such passionate, clever, insightful spirit, of the kind that I am unable to describe adequately. She writes with honesty, unflinching, and yet remains enamored with the beauty in this world; she is at once realistic and motivated and hopeful. The best I can summarize my thoughts is that I feel very fortunate to have lived and read in a world in which Hansberry wrote.

(P.S. Having ADHD, the unusual changes from one format to another actually helped to keep me engaged in the text. Stylistically, it won't work for everyone, but I did like reading that way.)

[Pamela Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story by a beautiful author. This is the story of the life of someone cut to short. Lorraine Hansberry is my favorite writer in the whole world! A Raisin in the Sun, is one of the best piece of works that was ever made. The play is brilliant and writtent by a briliant playwork, who died much too young therefore we dont' have many pieces of work to marvel. This is a glimpse of her short life. She inspired me to write and to just be.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my honest opinion this book was very enlightening and should be sought out by many teenage African Americans. As a fourteen year old African American girl of present day America I can not say I can or ever will relate to everything she writes in this book, but reading this book I could find two handfuls of things important things that I relate to my life. Even if not African American this book would be a very good example of life as a whole. It was especially helpful to see life back then and through someone else's eyes

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book made me wish Lorraine Hansberry had lived long enough to pen her own memoir and write more of the work she had envisioned. Even though she is known for her work as a playwright, I yearn for more of her prose, more of her letters and art work, without so many excerpts from her plays. While I found some of the dramatic excerpts relevant in context, I found myself more moved by the narrative sections, maybe because they captured more of Hansberry in her own words.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars only because I don't know know that I like the format.

Hansberry's letters strike me the way Harper Lee's did -- firecely opinionated, but humble about her talent and gracious to those who would receive her offering of art as a means of social change.

What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall when she and James Baldwin got together to talk.

[Kiki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, powerful, look into her life. It was more than just poems or a story. It was so many of our stories then and now. I'm re-reading this and am just thankful I found it at an old Oakland shop. This will always be on my bookshelf. Classic!

[Colette Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe that Lorraine Hansberry is one of the first African-American women playwrights and authors whose works I viewed and read as a teenager in the late 60's.

[Maya B · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was not your typical biography. it felt more like I was reading Hansberry's personal journal intertwined with the plays she wrote during her short life.

[EMMA · Rating 5 out of 5]

an unconventional autobiography composed of lectures, diary entries, and excerpts from hansberry’s plays. it was published over 60 years ago but in a lot of ways could have been written yesterday.

update: i was researching lorraine hansberry and found out her ex husband censored all of her lesbian writings from this book so fuck that guy

[Kara Corthron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring and gorgeous assemblage of Hansberry's writing, from scenes from unfinished plays to journal entries, to lists of her hopes and dreams. The world lost her far too soon.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are not already in love with Lorraine Hansberry, you should be by the end of this book. A beautiful, remarkable human being. And one of the greatest writers of the 20th century--up there with James Baldwin and Toni Morrison.

[Pam S · Rating 5 out of 5]

“….the portrait of an individual, the workbook of an artist, and the chronicle of a rebel who celebrated the human spirit.”
- Robert Nemiroff