Hansberry's recognition of the close relationship between art and propaganda is the reason she chose the environment of the powerless as a backdrop for her work about American culture. Her objective was to be a spokesperson for those who, prior to Raisin, had no voice. The thought that anyone outside of the black community would care about the struggles of a black family in Southside Chicago, prior to the opening of Raisin, was all but preposterous. Not only did Hansberry choose as the voice of her theme a black family (and a poor black family, at that), but she also threaded information about Africa throughout the fabric of her play, mainly through her most stable character, Asagai, Beneatha's suitor from Nigeria.
Through Asagai (and sometimes through Beneatha), the audience gains valuable insight into African history, politics, art, and philosophy. Even the character of George Murchison glorifies, by default, the ancient African civilizations when he derisively mentions "the African past," "the Great West African Heritage," "the great Ashanti empires," "the great Songhay civilizations," "the great sculpture of Benin," and "poetry in the Bantu." Although George is being facetious, still he uses adjectives that praise and laud the accomplishments of a continent with which many theatergoers, at the time of the opening of Raisin, were extremely unfamiliar.
