The opening of the play A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway on 11 March 1959 was an event of immerse magnitude. It was the first play written by a black woman to be performed on Broadway and to receive huge critical acclaim. It went on to win the prestigious Drama Circle Critics Award for 1958-1959 competing with works by outstanding playwrights such as Tennessee William and Eugene O’Neill.

The story of A Raisin in the Sun is one about which the New York Times has said, “The events of every passing year add resonance to A Raisin in the Sun. It is as if history is conspiring to make the play a classic.”

A Raisin in the Sun in indeed a classic, not only in the quality of its writing, the breakthrough it represents in the politics of the time and its historical significance, but in its universal appeal and relevance. While the play depicts the desires, hopes and dreams of a working-class American family, the story is in fact the story of the lives of people everywhere; its truth are universal truths the world over.  Its is hardly surprising that the play has been translate into more than thirty language and has been produced in different parts of the world, across many diverse cultures.

The title of this play comes from a line in the poem Harlem by Langston Hughes, which talks about how a dream might “dry up like a raising in the sun”; a truth to which people everywhere can relate.