Review: Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry
In honor of black history month, I will be writing this month's review on Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry. I was extremely excited to read this book because very rarely do biographies about gay black women get told. Lorraine Hansberry is a famous playwright whose most notable work is A Raisin in the Sun. I never heard about Lorraine until very recently when I heard about this book on a podcast and became fascinated by this prolific artist and her life, especially her relationships with James Baldwin and Nina Simone.
Lorraine was born in Chicago to a black middle-class family. A significant event that occurred in her childhood was the constant oppression her family faced when they moved into a white neighborhood where they were the only black family and later the events that took place that forced them out of the house. Despite the hardships, though, her parents were very supportive of her education and pushed her to continue. She would later go on to university, where she felt she had to play the role of a well-behaved black woman. It would not be until she studied away in Mexico that she was able to experience the authentic self she wanted to be and later dropped out to move to New York.
Her years in New York were life-defining as she connected with many artists in Harlem. Also, she was connected to well-known academics such as W.E.B. de Bois through her uncle. She was active in politics, traveled to give speeches on various issues in the United States and was under the watch of the F.B.I. for her suspected communists' activities. In her personal life, Lorraine was married to a man, but they separated as she came to terms with her sexuality, and she had relationships with women. Through her networking, she was able to write and direct the numerous plays she wrote. Lorraine would go on to be the first black woman to have their theater show staged on Broadway. Sadly, she died very young from cancer at the age of 34, which cut her career drastically short.
This biography, while groundbreaking, was challenging to get through. The author, Imani Perry, spent a lot of time analyzing the plays Lorraine wrote verses on her actual life. Most pages were taken up by huge quotes that were not necessarily beneficial to the point that was brought up. Some chapters felt very bogged down by quotes or play analysts. I was more interested in knowing about Lorraine's personal life, especially with other women during this time, and very rarely did Perry bring up her relationships. Her same-sex relationships always came up as a passing thought, not a focus, unless it was her relationship with her husband.
The part I was impressed by was the chapters about the relationship between Lorraine, Nina Simone, and James Baldwin. I found this to be the author's most substantial section because she was able to dive into Lorraine's personal life more. It was fascinating to read about how she and James inspired specific themes in each other's works and how connected they felt with one another. Then with her and Nina Simone, how Lorraine encouraged her to become political and to write certain songs. What I found very curious though was how I know about both Nina and James but not of Lorraine, and how that was possible. That was another topic I hoped the author would touch on was Lorraine's legacy, but Perry did not.
This biography is a pleasant read to learn more about Lorraine and has excellent potential. Still, it seems to be lacking the personal aspect of Lorraine's life that most readers are searching for in a biography.
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