Inspired by Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, the play was originally written about a Polish American family.

The Broadway cast included Hilda Simms, Canada Lee, and Alice Childress.

The play Anna Lucasta was a breakthrough for writer Philip Yordan, who went on to a prolific career as a screenwriter.

[3] Originally titled Anna Lukaska, Yordan's three-act drama was conceived as being about a Polish-American woman and her predatory family.

When he was unable to find a Broadway producer for the play, Yordan offered it to the American Negro Theatre.

Anna Lucasta cast member Alice Childress was inspired to write the Obie Award-winning drama, Trouble in Mind (1955), based on her experiences in the production.

[4] According to Ben Maddow, Yordan based the script on "this B-girl that he knew from a Chicago bar whom he was tremendously in love with...

For Anna is not a degenerate, but a high spirited girl driven from home by her father's puritanical cruelty.

[9] "With the arrival of Anna Lucasta on Broadway," wrote Life magazine, "the 1944–45 theater season had its first worthwhile drama."

The New York Times writes, “Hilda Simms is a wonderful young lady who also understands what to do with the part...in a small role, Canada Lee, normally a star in his own right, but helping out his friends at this time and acting in a way that made him a star."

"[16] Even the director of the production, Harry Wagstaff Gribble, felt like it was not a perfect play but the forefront of what the future could hold for African-American actors in the theatre and it accomplished some of the ideas that he wanted to do with black theatre and how to represent African Americans as individuals.

A 1949 film directed by Irving Rapper and starring Paulette Goddard, was released by Columbia Pictures.

A 1958 film directed by Arnold Laven and produced by Sidney Harmon was released by United Artists.

The film starred Eartha Kitt in the title role and Sammy Davis Jr. as Danny Johnson.