A Raisin in the Sun

Required reading for 11th grade English class English 500: American Literature Courses

Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning drama about the hopes and aspirations of a struggling, working-class family living on the South Side of Chicago connected profoundly with the psyche of black America -- and changed American theater forever. The play's title comes from a line in Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem," which warns that a dream deferred might "dry up/like a raisin in the sun."

Mass Market Paperback. Published by Vintage, 2004. 151 pages. ISBN 968-0679755333