- Hansberry's father, Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr., is born in Gloster, Mississippi (Apr. 30)

- World War I Begins

- Lorraine Hansberry's mother, Nannie Louise Perry, is born in Columbia, Tennessee (Jun. 24)

- In Dahomey, the first Broadway musical written by an African American, opens.

- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.

- Carl Augustus Hansberry attends Alcorn A&M College.

- Writer James Baldwin is born in Harlem (Aug. 2)

- Nannie Louise Perry attends Tennessee State University.

- Great Migration of African Americans from the South to Northern cities begins.

- Chicago Urban League is founded to help migrants adjust to city life.

- Carl Augustus Hansberry meets Nannie Louise Perry working at Binga National Bank, the first Black bank in Chicago, marry on June 1st

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- Lorraine Hansberry's uncle, Dr. Lewis Harrison Johnston, and his three brothers are lynched by a white mob in Elaine, Arkansas (Oct. 2)

- Willis Richardson's The Chip Woman's Fortune, a one-act play and the first non-musical by a Black playwright on Broadway, opens.

- U.S. Congress establishes House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) (May 26)

- Garland Anderson's Appearances, the first full-length, non-musical by a Black playwright on Broadway, opens.

- Lorraine Vivian Hansberry is born (May 19)

- Langston Hughes's Mulatto, the longest-running, non-musical play by a Black playwright, opens on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theater (Oct. 24)

- Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr. moves his family to a home in the Woodlawn neighborhood's all-white Washington Park subdivision in defiance of a restrictive covenant (May 27)

- Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr. runs unsuccessfully for Congress as a Republican.

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- U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr. in the case of Hansberry v. Lee. Although the decision enables the Hansberry’s to remain in their home in Woodlawn and opens new homes to African Americans in Chicago, restrictive covenants remain legal (Nov. 12)

- Paul Robeson is placed under FBI surveillance.

- The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. The United States enters World War II (Dec. 7)

- Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), an interracial organization with the goal of obtaining racial equality in America through nonviolent resistance, founded in Chicago. (Mar.)

- Willie McGee, a married, African American, father of four, is arrested for the rape of Wilmetta Hawkins, a white woman (Nov. 3)

- Carl Augustus Hansberry, Sr. dies suddenly in Mexico of a cerebral hemorrhage while planning to move his family there (Mar. 11)

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- Joseph McCarthy is elected to U.S. Senate (Nov.)

- HUAC begins first round of hearings

- Hansberry enrolls at the University of Wisconsin (Jan.)

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- Hansberry attends a performance of Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock at the University of Wisconsin, inspiring her to become involved in theater (Apr.)

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- U.S. Supreme Court abolishes restrictive covenants nationwide with the Shelley v. Kraemer decision (May 3)

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-- Hansberry participates in the Henry Wallace campaign. Wallace runs as a Progressive Party candidate for president (Summer)

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- President Harry Truman ends racial segregation in the U.S. military with Executive Order 9981 (Jul. 26)

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- Lorraine Hansberry joins the Communist Party (Sep.)

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- Progressive Party candidate Henry Wallace loses his run for president to incumbent President Harry S. Truman (Nov.)

- The Soviet Union has its first successful nuclear weapon test (Apr. 29)

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- Paul Robeson's arrival in Peekskill, NY for a concert triggers a riot (Aug. 27)

- Mao Zedong forms the People’s Republic of China (Oct. 1)

- Lorraine Hansberry leaves the University of Wisconsin to pursue "an education of another kind"

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- Mattachine Society, one of the first gay rights organizations, is founded in Los Angeles

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- Disney releases Cinderella (Feb. 15)

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- Ralph Bunche wins Nobel Peace Prize (Feb. 22)

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- Truman approves the development of the hydrogen bomb (Mar. 10)

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- Gwendolyn Brooks receives Pulitzer Prize (May 1)

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- Juanita Hall awarded a Tony (June)

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- Paul Robeson's attempt to renew his passport is denied by the State Department (Jul. 25)

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- North Korea crosses the 38th Parallel, Truman orders U.S. Troops to aid South Korea, Korean War Begins (Jun. 25)

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- Sidney Poitier stars in No Way Out, his first leading role (Aug. 16)

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- Lorraine Hansberry moves to New York City (Fall)

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- Hansberry's poem "Flag from a Kitchenette Window," is published in Masses & Mainstream, an American Marxist monthly (Sep.)

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- Chuck Cooper and Nathaniel Clifton join the NBA (Oct. 31) 

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- Paul Robeson founds Freedom newspaper in Harlem, publishing an "introductory issue" with the editor Louis Burnham. Lorraine Hansberry works for the paper as a "subscription clerk, receptionist, typist, and editorial assistant" (Nov.)

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- United Nations offices open in New York.

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- House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) holds its second round of hearings.

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- First issue of Freedom is published (Jan.)

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- Nuclear testing begins in Nevada. (Jan. 27)

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- Hansberry travels to Mississippi with a delegation of women to petition the Governor for a stay of execution for Willie McGee (Spring)

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- The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, limiting the president to two terms. (Mar. 21)

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- The King and I opens on Broadway (Mar. 29)

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- Willie McGee is executed after protests on his behalf and several stays of execution (May 8)

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- Hansberry's poem about Willie McGee's execution, "Lynchsong," is published in Masses & Mainstream (Jul.)

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- A mob of between 3,500 and 4,000 White people try to keep a Black family from moving into an apartment building in Cicero, IL. (Jul. 11)

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- George Washington Carver receives the U.S. first National Monument to honor an African American in Joplin, MI. (Jul. 14)

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- Roosevelt Ward, Lorraine Hansberry's friend from the Labor Youth League, is arrested for draft evasion (Jul. 16)

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- Lorraine Hansberry joins The Sojourners for Truth, a delegation of 132 Black women seeking an end to war and racial discrimination, in Washington, DC (Fall)

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- I Love Lucy premieres. (Oct. 15)

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- Jet Magazine prints its first issue. (Nov. 1)

- American Psychiatric Association adds homosexuality to its list of mental disorders.

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- The Today Show premieres. (Jan. 14)

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- Lorraine Hansberry becomes associate editor of Freedom after eight months of employment there. (Feb)

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- Lorraine Hansberry travels to Montevideo, Uruguay to speak on behalf of Paul Robeson at the Intercontinental Peace Conference. Her passport is revoked upon her return to the U.S. and the FBI begins lifelong surveillance of her. (Mar. 13)​

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​- Mau Mau Uprising begin in Kenya. Lorraine Hansberry will later portray these events in her unfinished play, Les Blancs. (Mar.)

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- Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man published. (Apr. 14)

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- Puerto Rico becomes a commonwealth of the United States. (Jul. 25)

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- Operation Ivy, the detonation of the first H-Bomb completed. (Nov. 1)

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- Dwight D. Eisenhower elected president, defeating Adlai Stevenson. (Nov. 4)

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- NSA Founded. (Nov. 4)

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- Lorraine Hansberry resigns from full time work at Freedom to focus on creative writing. (Dec.)

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- 1952 becomes the first year in history that there are no reported lynchings.

- The Crucible opens on Broadway (Jan. 22)

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- Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States. (Feb. 19)

- James Baldwin's Go Tell it on the Mountain, the writer's first novel, is published. (May 18)

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- The Korean War ends: the United States, the People's Republic of China, North Korea, and South Korea sign an armistice agreement. (Jul 27)

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- ​Mattachine Society beings publishing ONE Magazine, a "monthly periodical for homosexuals" (Jun. 22)

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- Willie Thrower becomes the first Black Quarterback in the NFL (Oct. 18)

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- NSC 162/2 approved by the president, stating that the U.S. nuclear weapon arsenal will be maintained and expanded under communist threat. (Oct. 30)

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- First issue of Playboy Magazine printed. (Dec.)

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- Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex is published in the U.S.

- Mass vaccination against polio begins. (Feb. 23)

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- The Supreme Court hears Brown vs. Board of Education, rules the “separate but equal” doctrine regarding school segregation is unconstitutional (May 17)

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- Senator McCarthy condemned by the Senate for "conduct that tends to bring the senate into dishonor and disrepute" for his Communist witch hunts. (Dec. 2)

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- Frankie Muse Freeman leads the legal team for the successful Davis et al vs. the St. Louis Housing Authority in the Supreme Court. (Dec. 27)

- Marian Anderson performs with the Metropolitan Opera. (Jan. 7)

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- Claudette Colvin refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, sowing the seeds for the boycott and becoming a part of the Gayle vs. Browder Supreme Court case. (Mar. 2)

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- Charlie Parker, 34, dies in NY. (Mar. 12)

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- First McDonald's restaurant opens. (Apr. 15)

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- Albert Einstein dies. (Apr. 18)

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- Chuck Berry releases "Maybellene" (Jul.)

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- Geneva Summit begins (Jul. 18)

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- Emmett Till murdered (Aug. 28)

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- AFL-CIO labor organization merged. (Dec. 5)

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- Rosa Parks arrested in Montgomery, Alabama officially beginning the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. (Dec. 1)

- 96 Congressmen sign the "Southern Manifesto" protesting Brown vs. Board of Education decision. (Feb.-Mar.)

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- Gayle vs. Browder Supreme Court decision rules segregation on interstate travel unconstitutional, ending the Montgomery Bus Boycotts (Jun. 5)

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- Marilyn Monroe marries Arthur Miller (Jun. 29)

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- Hansberry is able to quit her part-time work and focus on writing after the songwriting success of her husband, Robert Nemiroff and his college friend Burt D'Lugoff. "Cindy, Oh Cindy," written using pseudonyms, is released by Vince Martin and the Tarriers and Eddie Fisher (Oct)

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- Elvis performs "Hound Dog" on the Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the nation (Oct. 28)

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- Nat King Cole becomes first African American to host his own primetime television show (Nov. 5)​

- Hansberry and Robert Nemiroff secretly separate

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- Dorothy Irene Height elected president of the National Council of Negro Women

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- KKK members force truck driver Willie Edwards off a bridge into the Alabama River. (Jan. 23)

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- Strom Thurmond filibusters for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (Aug. 28)

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- Hansberry holds a dinner party with Phil Rose and Burt D'Lugoff to read her first draft of the play that became A Raisin in the Sun. Phil Rose wants to produce it and options the play for $500. Rose gets his friend Sidney Poitier to sign onto Hansberry's play, and Poitier, in turn, recommends Lloyd Richards as its director (Fall)

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- Nine Black students integrate Little Rock High School (Sep. 4)

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- President Eisenhower signs Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law (Sep. 9)

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- West Side Story opens on Broadway (Sept. 26)

- Louis E. Lomax is hired by WNTA-TV, becomes the first African American newscaster for a major television network.

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- SCLC established in Atlanta, Georgia (Jan. 10)

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- Lorraine Hansberry writes a short story called "The Budget" for ONE Magazine under the pseudonym Emily Jones (Mar.)

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- The Alvin Ailey Dance Company is formed. (Mar.)

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- Elvis joins the U.S. Army (Mar. 24)

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- Paul Robeson, having had his passport reinstated, appears in two sold out performances at Carnegie Hall. This becomes his last public U.S. performance. (May 23)

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- NASA is created (Jul. 26)

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- Lorraine Hansberry writes a short story called "Chanson du Konallis" for The Ladder under the pseudonym Emily Jones (Sep.)

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- Althea Gibson becomes the first African American to win the U.S. Open (Sept. 8)

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- Nearly 1,000 actors show up for auditions for A Raisin in the Sun (Fall)

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- Ruth Carol Taylor becomes the first African American woman hired as a flight attendant by Mohawk Airlines (Dec.)

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- Lorraine Hansberry writes two short stories – "The Anticipation of Eve" and "Renascence" – for ONE Magazine under the pseudonym Emily Jones (Dec.) 

- Motown Records created by Berry Gordy (Jan. 12)

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- A Raisin in the Sun has its first public performance at the Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut as part of a four-night tryout (Jan 21)

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- A Raisin in the Sun begins a two-week tryout run at the Walnut Theatre in Philadelphia, PA. Writer James Baldwin attends a performance, later writing about witnessing theater history. The FBI sends an agent to assess the play for Communist influences (Jan. 26)

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- A Raisin in the Sun its final tryout, a four-week run at the Blackstone Theater in Chicago, IL (Feb. 10)

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- Sidney Poitier is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Defiant Ones (Feb.)

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- Lorraine Hansberry gives the keynote speech titled "The Negro Writer and His Roots" at the American Society of African Culture (AMSAC) Negro Writers Conference at the Henry Hudson Hotel in New York (Mar. 1)

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- Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun premieres on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theater (Mar. 11)

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- Lorraine Hansberry wins the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for her play A Raisin in the Sun (Apr. 7)

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- Lorraine Hansberry and film director Otto Preminger appear on At Random, Irv Kupcinet's local weekly television conversation on Chicago's WBBM. The conversation becomes heated as Hansberry describes Preminger's film Porgy and Bess as “bad art” for its depiction of racial stereotypes (May 26)

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- Random House publishes A Raisin in the Sun (Spring)

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- Hansberry completes her teleplay The Drinking Gourd, for an NBC series commemorating the centennial of the Civil War. The series is cancelled before production begins due to lack of interest from funders (Aug.)

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- Hansberry completes the screenplay for A Raisin in the Sun (Aug.)

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