What's the quote on Lorraine Hansberry's grave?
March 24, 2008 8:11 PM   Subscribe

What is Lorraine Hansberry's epitaph?

Recently saw the experimental film "Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind" (for a wordless montage of static field shots of grave sites, it was engrossing) and I made a note to find Lorraine Hansberry's epitaph online. But i can't seem to find it! Who can tell me the quote written on her grave?
posted by greggish to Writing & Language (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: or, alternatively and more appropriately, who has suggestions for the best way to research epitaphs? (yes i sort of want to know that bad)
posted by greggish at 8:12 PM on March 24, 2008


Best answer: Well it looks like she's buried here

Bethel Cemetery
Croton-on-Hudson
Westchester County
New York, USA

and here's a photo.

"I care. I care about it all. It takes too much energy not to care. The why of why we are here is an intrigue for adolescents. The how is what must command the living which is why I have lately become an insurgent again."
posted by jessamyn at 8:16 PM on March 24, 2008 [2 favorites]


And to your other question, my main searches are wikipedia and then a generalGoogle search for "person name" and grave/burial/headstone/epitaph. In this case "grave" was the way to go.

Often you can also get someone's obituary and figure out where they are buried and sometimes call the local library and see if they have that sort of thing in local history, if it's a person not as well known as Lorraine Hansberry. At the public library I used to work with, we'd have cemetary records for a lot of the bigger cemetaries which would not only tell you if someone was buried there but also, sometimes, interesting or notable things about their headstone or gravesite.
posted by jessamyn at 8:22 PM on March 24, 2008


Much the same worked for me (and then Firefox crashed).

It's from her play The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, according to a review of a recent production.
posted by Ponsonby Britt at 8:27 PM on March 24, 2008


Best answer: Findagrave.com

Here is Lorraine Hansberry, but I'm glad someone found it upthread as it's hard to read the stone.
posted by Violet Hour at 11:35 PM on March 24, 2008


Response by poster: "my main searches are wikipedia and then a generalGoogle search for "person name" and grave/burial/headstone/epitaph. In this case "grave" was the way to go."

huh, yeah, tried that a few ways (even excluding refs to her play "Raisin in the Sun") but i guess my search muscle is a bit lame these days. hat's off, as they say. thanks!
posted by greggish at 4:22 AM on March 25, 2008


Croton is an awesome place. I'll have a look for the headstone next time I visit.
posted by Nick Verstayne at 7:51 AM on March 25, 2008


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