Many stories by Black authors are still relevant decades later. “A Raisin in the Sun” (1958) by Lorraine Hansberry was the first play on Broadway to be written by a Black woman. It follows the lives of the Youngers, a Black family facing financial struggles. The story is a great depiction of race relations and class struggle as they try to decide how to use a life insurance check.

My favorite character is the daughter, Beneatha Younger, because she has a very spirited personality and is not afraid to speak out against her family. Throughout the play, she finds comfort in her boyfriend, Joseph Asagai, who helps her better understand her African heritage and the ways that white culture has infiltrated her life. It feels satisfying to witness Beneatha’s self-confidence grow through her fulfilling relationship with Joseph.

The most powerful moment in the play comes at the end, when the family refuses to accept a white man’s payment to leave a white neighborhood. It’s a great moment when the whole family denies the man’s offer because they all recognize that, even though the money would help them, the principle of accepting it only because the man didn’t want a Black family in his neighborhood is wrong.

“A Raisin in the Sun” is a very compelling story that conveys the importance of self-worth and family. In the 1950s, the prospect of putting a play on Broadway with nearly an all-Black cast was considered very risky, and getting investors was difficult. But once the play made it to Broadway, it stayed for over a year, and its words written by Hansberry still speak to many that experience racial discrimination and class struggle today.