Antiracist films in American History

From "need" to awareness

A Raising in the Sun (1961)

In 1961, the film "A Raisin in the Sun" , directed by Daniel Petrie, was shot by Columbia Pictures. For the first time, the cast of the film was entirely black. Until then, blacks performed small and characteristic roles in the films. The screenplay was by Lorraine Hansberry, who had also written the play. She was the first black creator to stage her work on Broadway. The protagonists of the film were the same actors who also played in the play, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Ivan Dixon, Louis Gossett, Jr. and John Fiedler. The play focuses on the adventures of a Chicago black family during their settlement in a neighborhood of whites. It is a family drama, which touches on issues created by the diversity of people, genealogical, religious, political. Ruby Dee won the National Board of Review Award as best actress. Poitier and McNeil were nominated for the Golden Globe Awards, while Petrie received a special "Gary Cooper Award" at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2008, the remake of the film was shot.