Hansberry was a playwright who penned A Raisin in the Sun. The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame's Web site states that Hansberry—who died in 1965 at age 35—"was an early supporter of equal rights regardless of sexual orientation." According to the book Out and Proud in Chicago, Hansberry joined the lesbian-rights group Daughters of Bilitis in 1957 and later lived with other closeted lesbians in New York City's Greenwich Village. Feminist poet Brooks, who passed away in 2000 at age 83, was named the Library of Congress's poetry consultant in 1985, according to Poets.org.

The Hansberry House was nominated three years ago by a teacher, parents and students from the South Side's Amelia Earhart Elementary School, according to the Chicago Tribune. The Sun-Times reported that the council also approved two other sites that are related to Chicago's Black Renaissance Literary Movement: the Richard Wright House, 4831 S. Vincennes, and the George Cleveland Hall Branch Library, 4801 S. Michigan.