"Black" was the word handwritten on Lorraine Vivian Hansberry's birth certificate on May 19, 1930. The hospital had printed "Negro," but Carl and Nannie Perry Hansberry crossed out the hospital's label and asserted the right to designate their child's racial identity on their own terms. Challenging the system was part of the Hansberrys' way of life. Carl had achieved success in real estate and banking even in the midst of the Great Depression. He and his wife raised four children on the South Side of Chicago. Lorraine was the youngest of these children. Separated from her siblings by seven years, she often played alone. In addition, her family's affluence separated her from her peers....
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