A Raisin in the Sun

During the 1950's in Chicago's South Side, the struggling Younger family anxiously await the arrival of a $10,000 life insurance check made out to Lena Younger, the family matriarch, from the estate of her late husband, Walter Lee. Lena would like to retire from her job as a domestic for a white family and dreams of escaping the claustrophobic, one-room tenement apartment to own a house, a dream she shared with her late husband. Her son Walter Lee, Jr., currently employed as a chauffeur, hopes to own a liquor store business. His wife Ruth is also a domestic in a white household and also hopes to live in a larger home. His sister Beneatha wants to go to medical school while also being pursued by two very different suitors. One is a wealthy black man preoccupied with superficial things while the other is a fellow classmate who stimulates her interest in exploring her intellectual and spiritual roots in Africa. When Lena decides to buy a home in an all-white residential neighborhood, the Younger family meets resistance from the home improvement association who are against the prospect of a black family moving into their neighborhood. To complicate things, Walter's business investment goes awry and the family's dreams and future seem lost along with the money.

Drama, Period, Adaptation