On this week’s From The Vault, We celebrate The Birthday of one of America’s most gifted playwrights, Lorraine Hansbury. At the age of 29 she was the youngest playwright and first Black dramatist to win the New York Drama Circle critics Award for her play A Raisin In The Sun.

About a year later Lorraine Hansbury visited the Pacifica Radio WBAI studios with fellow writing legends Langston Hughes, James Baldwin and Alfred Kazin and Emile Capouya. The topic of the day. The Negro in American Culture.

But First we hear from actor Louis Gossett Jr. Former host Brian DeShazor and I drove out to his Malibu Beach home where we spoke to him about his experience with Lorraine Hansberry in early 2016. It turns out Louis was a New York Knickerbacker basketball player making good money when he went for an audition to this upcoming play A Raisin in the Sun. He got the part and now he had to choose between Professional Basketball and Acting… Let’s hear from Mr. Louis Gossett Jr. to hear his moment in history with Lorraine Hansberry in his own words.

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FTV 0565 Lorraine 1961 with Louis Gossett Jr. 2016

Organizing, describing, and preserving listener-supported Pacifica Radio programming from 1949 to today. We are the archives of the broadcasts of KPFA in San Francisco, KPFK in Los Angeles, WBAI in New York City, KPFT in Houston, and WPFW in Washington, D.C. We also produce the weekly show From the Vault, featuring gems from our collection. 

FTV 0565 Lorraine 1961 with Louis Gossett Jr. 2016

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