Lorraine Hansberry Liked, Hated and Was Bored To Death With Being A Lesbian

Brittani’s Team Pick:

“Raisin in the Sun?” What are your thoughts. It doesn’t matter. Because Lorraine Hansberry herself was bored to death of it. So much so that she included it on her “I AM BORED TO DEATH WITH:” list. Now one of my greatest fears is that I will die unexpectedly and all of the random/weird/embarrassing slips of paper I have floating around my room, thrown in folders of keepsakes, and in pockets of pants that haven’t been washed yet will come to light. If any of them were as brilliant as the lists Hansberry wrote, I wouldn’t worry about this at all.

bored

In addition to the “I AM BORED TO DEATH LIST WITH:” list, she made a Ā few othersĀ of things she likes, things she hates, and things she wants. This is basically all I use the internet for so I’m impressed and jealous that she was able to come up with such a good list in probably one sitting and that these lists are some of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life.

i like

Highlights include putting “my homosexuality” in the like and hate columns, howĀ hotĀ she thought Dorothy Secules was, being bored with both being a Les AND Lesbians (with a capital L, so including herself?), hating Sidney Poitier, every time she said silly, cramps ā€” ok, who I am kidding. This entire thing is a gem. I want to print it out. I want to frame it. I want it to be the first thing I hang in my new apartment whenever it is I get a new apartment. But real talk, how much sex was she having that she was bored enough with it to list it in all caps? Nothing has ever made me more interested in any person in the history of everdom than these lists have made me in Lorraine Hansberry. God bless April 1, 1960.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today ā€” if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Brittani

Brittani Nichols is a Los Angeles based comedy person. When she's not tweeting about white people or watching television, she's probably eating pizza. Actually, she's probably doing all three of those things concurrently and when she's not doing THAT, she's sleeping. Brittani also went to Yale and feels weird about mentioning it but wants you to know.

Brittani has written 328 articles for us.

15 Comments

  1. This is probably my favorite primary document in the WORLD.

    My favorite gems:
    “Bored to death with…Lesbians (the capital L mostly)…Silly white people…sex…”
    “I like…older women…charming women…and/or intelligent women…”
    “I hate…my loneliness…Sidney Poitier…racism…cramps…”

    It’s like, regardless of time, queer women of color still like/hate/are bored to death with the same things (I hate cramps too girl).

  2. A contemporary Shonagon! I am adding this article to my own list of “Things that bring a warm feeling to the heart.”

  3. This is perfect. My favorite part is it looks like she wrote “lesbians” with a lower case “L,” but after considering it further went back and upper cased it (and added a parenthetical addendum).

  4. It sounds like she may have put some time into getting to know what “drinking without happiness”, was like. I agree.

    I would like to hope that she and Dorothy got to know one another and that she had some love.

    Great notes, most of it I can read.

  5. This is amazing. I wish I were Dorothy.

    Also, my guess is that by “SEX” she may have meant that thing she was up to with her husband from time to time. I imagine that bored her. Poor Robert. (Nah, not losing any sleep for his troubles.)

  6. Lorraine Hansberry is on my list of Favorite Humans Ever. “Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” and “To Be Young, Gifted & Black” are amazing pieces of theater/literature/revolution.

  7. I love this! On the bored to death list, I thought it said “Jelly white people” instead of silly white people. I was like, wait, did Lorraine coin the term “jelly” because that would be awesome.

  8. Could I ask that you include a transcript of the writing? I can’t read cursive very well :?
    Thank you thank you thank you thank you X 1000!

Comments are closed.