Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart

Sidney Poitier, Lloyd Richard and Ruby Dee reflect on the unprecedented casting of black actors in the Broadway debut of Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun."

With her health failing, Lorraine Hansberry left the hospital to speak to the teenage winners of a national writing contest. She described the young writers as "young, gifted and black" - the words that inspired the Nina Simone song of the same name - and urged them to represent their community in their work.

As "A Raisin in the Sun" broke new ground on Broadway, Lorraine Hansberry raised her voice for activism. Hear Lorraine Hansberry's speech of "sighted eyes and feeling heart" against injustice and racism.

Lorraine Hansberry drew inspiration from personal experience when she sat down to write a play about a working class family on the South Side of Chicago. See how she worked to find the words to describe their hopes and struggles, and how she pressed on to complete "A Raisin in the Sun."