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The Extraordinary Life of Nina Simone was Tragic and Empowering

Tim Flight September 16, 2019 26 min

Nina Simone - Jazz — Nina Simone in October 1969. Consequence of Sound

14. Nina credited her friend Lorraine Hansberry with inspiring her to political activism

Lorraine Hansberry, a friend and mentor to Nina. PSMag

One of Nina’s best-known songs, To Be Young, Gifted and Black, is a tribute to her friend Lorraine Hansberry, an African-American playwright who died of pancreatic cancer at the tragically young age of 34 in 1965. Nina credited Hansberry with encouraging her to act on the bitter injustices she felt and get involved in the Civil Rights movement. Hansberry berated Nina for not taking a more public stand against events in the South, and Nina realized that she needed to get involved. ‘We never talked about men or clothes, always about Marx, Lenin and the Revolution. Girly things’, quipped Nina.

Written by

Tim Flight

I am a freelance historical and literary writer based in West Yorkshire, UK. I read for a funded PhD in English at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) and graduated in 2016. I am a former lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. My publications include peer-reviewed articles in academic publications, and pieces in mainstream magazines such as History Today and Fortean Times. For more information, please see www.drflight.co.uk

The Extraordinary Life of Nina Simone was Tragic and Empowering

14. Nina credited her friend Lorraine Hansberry with inspiring her to political activism

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