The Hidden Black Narrative

  Truth and Hope: The Dual Visions of Liberation in Wright and Hansberry’s Writing All throughout history, literature has been used as a medium for more than just storytelling. Literature can be utilized as a way of resisting, preserving culture, and helping writers express their feelings. For Black writers in America, literature was used as both a weapon for rebellion and as a written proof of their struggles. Both Richard Wright and Lorraine Hansberry wrote during times when racism was not just a social issue, but rather a form of systemic oppression. This oppression had staged every part of African American’s lives, and often put them in lower positions. What makes their work special is how differently both of these authors responded to the same reality. Wright’s “Down by the Riverside” is a narrative which traps all of its characters in a society where they are surrounded by systemic oppression even in times of natural disaster. Hansberry’s "A Raisin in the Sun” carries a more...