Lorraine Hansberry, in her play "Raisin in the Sun", attempted to explain the feelings of the average African American man in the 1940s. This character, represented by the character Walter, had experienced a severe feeling of depression and despair. To understand this source of grievance, we must return to the Great Migration and the dreams it promised as well as the reasons why many African Americans sought to move North. The desire for freedom from racial injustices and poverty was the primary factor that encouraged blacks to abandon the South. However, these dreams were soon dashed when African Americans noticed that Northern whites still maintained unequal segregation and were a stumbling block to black advancement. The consequences of a “dream deferred,” as Langston Hughes called it, were dependence on others, alcohol addiction, and dysfunctional families. The Great Migration, which lasted from 1910 to 1930, was the world's first mass movement of African Americans. From south to north. There is one main factor that led to new job opportunities that attracted many African Americans to the industrialized cities of the North. World War I in Europe had increased American factories and their production, with European nations involved in the war depending on the United States to replenish their supplies. Likewise, the war reduced the workforce in the United States, as it reduced the migration of many European immigrants to the United States and took in many citizens as soldiers, causing a mass vacancy in the field of work. Philip Bonner of the University of the Witwatersrand explained this phenomenon saying: "It was only the outbreak of the First World War that cut off the flow... middle of paper... the abuses worked . as a catalyst to further ruin African Americans and destroy their families. A black mark in American history was the persecution and discrimination of African Americans. Dreams of freedom from racial discrimination and hopes of access to promising job opportunities were in vain and the Great Migration was only a relocation of black people to further segregation and racial injustice. The lack of well-paying jobs as well as excessive rent prices forced most African Americans to abandon all hope of improving their financial and social situation. Walter Younger was a true representation of a defeated black man who, dissatisfied with his life, sought redemption through the use of alcohol. Depression and lack of hope are the two ingredients that have led to the failure of African-American marriages and the conversion of optimistic men into drifters..