When I was in high school in the 1990s, I discovered To Be Young, Gifted and Black then immediately searched for more books by Lorraine Hansberry only to discover that she died. Even though she had died in 1965, her words were still so radical, rigorous and relatable that they are still relevant and revolutionary over a half-century later, and no one has ever captured her trenchant and intellectual style. I never knew her and would not have been worthy to bother her for an autograph, but I mourn the loss of her.
Getting a glimpse of her with every viewing of I Am Not Your Negro reassured me that I had not imagined this woman’s style, words and courage. She existed and measured up to my memories. So when I heard there was a documentary about her life playing at the Brattle Theater, I was eager to go, but Murphy’s Law temporarily won, and I missed an opportunity to hear from the director, Tracy Heather Strain. I did not realize that Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart was also airing on PBS and was delighted that I had another opportunity to see it. (It will be pulled from the PBS website on 2/16/18.)
Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart is a conventional PBS, expository, comprehensive documentary about her life. I learned plenty about her that I didn’t know perhaps because it never occurred to me to look behind her words. Her father was a wealthy man frustrated by segregation up north and used litigation to advance civil rights, but probably died of a broken heart and certainly inspired A Raisin in the Sun. Because his proper protest was wounding and ineffective, she embraced more radical rhetoric, which is a common theme for most black people (Trayvon Martin and Presidon’t, anyone). She was a lesbian in a heterosexual marriage (I didn’t even know that she got married).
Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart spoke to my soul when the narrator said that she had no interest in sports and just wanted to talk about politics, plays, books and write. While watching this documentary, I would ask viewers to ask themselves if problems that are being described still occur today for instance, the difficulty of getting funding for productions with black actors or black actors unable to find serious roles. “You achieve the universal through the specific…It is bad art because it doesn’t tell the truth.” Someone please drop this word into Christopher Nolan’s inbox.
There are delicious moments about other pivotal black artists. For example, I did not know that Glynn Turman started off as a child actor in A Raisin in the Sun because he was her neighbor! It was also a real treat to see surviving critics try to backtrack and revise history as if a certain someone was always a fan. Misogynoir! We see you! I was surprised about how angry I was at the end of the documentary. I not only wanted more, but when I discovered that her ex-husband and doctors kept her cancer diagnosis a secret from her, I was ready to flip tables.
I can understand that for the doctors, it was patriarchal business as usual, but how can anyone who knew her withhold essential information about her life from her. She certainly deduced that she was dying, but if she had known her diagnosis, would she have lived life just a little differently? The gall that she spent her life using her voice to erase regressive barriers from progress only to have a serpent in her final moments! A bunch of men that she was not even married to, including one of her staunchest allies, decided what she should know about herself. To me, it is emblematic of her frustration with the US and a sick bookend to a hero’s life.
Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart is a must see documentary, but if you can get a hold of her audio recordings or read her words, the undiluted stuff is the best!