Spotlight Reading Series

This year’s Spotlight Reading Series will feature works authored and inspired by Lorraine Hansberry. Over three days, we will explore her literary and political voice as a playwright, an activist, and a queer author from Chicago’s South Side.

The Spotlight Reading Series is from July 31 – August 2, 2024, and all events will be held at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts (915 E 60th Street). All events are free and open to the public, and reservations are required. 

Walking Tour with Essence McDowell: Lifting As They Climbed | July 25, 2024 at 4:30pm

In this special preamble to the series, explore the remarkable story of Lorraine Hansberry’s life – along with the lives of other powerful women throughout history – in this immersive walking tour.

This event is currently SOLD OUT. Please join our email list to be the first to learn about future events.

To Be Young, Gifted and Black: A Portrait of Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words | July 31, 2024 at 6:30pm

Join us for a staged reading of To Be Young, Gifted and Black: A Portrait of Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words, a play adapted from Lorraine’s own writings – unpublished plays, letters, interviews and journal entries.

This event is currently SOLD OUT. Please join the waitlist in case reservations open up and join our email list to be the first to learn about future events.

Community Reads: To Be Young, Gifted and Black, A Memoir by Lorraine Hansberry | August 1, 2024 at 5:30pm

Explore Lorraine Hansberry’s memoir – To Be Young, Gifted and Black – through dinner and discussion. Dive into the text and Lorraine’s innermost thoughts, and connect with community members in small group conversations. 

This event is currently SOLD OUT. Please join the waitlist in case reservations open up and join our email list to be the first to learn about future events.

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Screening of Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart | August 1, 2024 at 7:00pm

While most may know the widely studied and performed A Raisin in the Sun as their only reference point for Lorraine Hansberry, the documentary Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart makes abundantly clear that there is much more to know about the author. Meet the real Lorraine in this intimate film screening.

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The Anticipation of Eve | August 2, 2024 at 7:00pm

As part of the official repository of the Lorraine Hansberry papers at the Schomburg Center, The Anticipation of Eve is part of a series of queer short stories Hansberry wrote under the pseudonym Emily Jones. Experience a performed reading and discussion of this rare text by artists zakkiyyah najeebah dumas-o’neal, AJ McClenon, and Bimbola Akinbola.  

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Artwork: to render the infinite by zakkiyyah najeebah dumas-o’neal. 

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