Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.

Lorraine Hansberry

In this bonus episode of Change the Story, Change the World, we're going to share an audio portrait of a project currently taking place at the subject of our past 2 episodes, Pillsbury House & Theater. The project is called To Sit a While and celebrates the work and life of playwright, journalist, and activist Lorraine Hansberry, who also happens to be the subject to the song we just heard that was written and sung by a young Twin Cities audacious artist named Frida Ross.

Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago in 1930 and passed tragically in 1960. Despite her short stay on this planet, she lived large, large, artistically, large politically, and very large historically. Her play, A Raisin in the Sun was the first by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. More importantly, though it laid bare the systemic racism that was being visited on black families and communities in the plain-sight recesses of the American dream scape. Needless to say, this is a difficult story to tell anywhere, anytime in this country, let alone on Broadway in 1959.

Now, that was 63 years ago, but thankfully the curtain on Hansberry's influence in the theater as a journalist and as an advocate for the Black and LGBTQ communities has never been drawn. Her legacy endures through her writing and her plays certainly, but also through the story of her life. An inspiring life story that, in 2022 is being shared in communities across the country through the Lorraine Hansberry Initiative. This multi-year project is using public, art and artist scholarships to quote, honor this great American playwright and civil rights leader and invest in those following in her footsteps.

The initiative is produced by The Lilly's, An organization dedicated to celebrating, supporting, and advocating women theater artists