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study guide

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT:

Directed by Hana S. Sharif

gem ocean

of the

August WIlson’s

PRINCIPAL UNDERWRITER: PRODUCTION SPONSOR:

This study guide serves as a classroom tool for teachers and students, and addresses the following Connecticut curriculum standards for grades K-12:

• English Language Artso 2.4: Exploring and Responding to Literature. Students recognize that readers and

authors are influenced by individual, social, cultural, and historical contexts.• Theatre

o 5: Researching and Interpreting. Students will research, evaluate and apply cultural and historical information to make artistic choices.

o 6: Connections. Students will make connections between theatre, other disciplines and daily life.

o 7: Analysis, Criticism and Meaning. Students will analyze, critique, and construct meanings from works of theatre.

Study Guide Objectives

Guidelines for Attending the TheatreAttending live theatre is a unique experience with many valuable educational and social benefits. To ensure that all audience members are able to enjoy the performance, please take a few minutes to discuss the following audience etiquette topics with your students before you come to Hartford Stage.

• How is attending the theatre similar to and different from going to the movies? What behaviors are and are not appropriate when seeing a play? Why?

o Remind students that because the performance is live, the audience can affect what kind of performance the actors give. No two audiences are exactly the same and no two performances are exactly the same—this is part of what makes theatre so special! Students’ behavior should reflect the level of performance they wish to see.

• Theatre should be an enjoyable experience for the audience. It is absolutely all right to applaud when appropriate and laugh at the funny moments. Talking and calling out during the performance, however, are not allowed. Why might this be?

o Be sure to mention that not only would the people seated around them be able to hear their conversation, but the actors on stage could hear them, too. Theatres are constructed to carry sound efficiently!

• Any noise or light can be a distraction, so please remind students to make sure their cell phones are turned off (or better yet, left at home or at school!). Texting, photography, and video recording are prohibited. Food and gum should not be taken into the theatre.

• Students should sit with their group as seated by the Front of House staff and should not leave their seats once the performance has begun. If possible, restrooms should be used only during intermission.

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The Playwright: August Wilson August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel, Jr., in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1945, the fourth of seven children born to Frederick Kittel, a German immigrant baker, and Daisy Wilson, an African American cleaning woman from North Carolina. Wilson spent his childhood living in the city’s Hill District, which was settled by predominantly black families during the “great migration” of former slaves from the rural south to the industrial north, and would later become the setting of many of his plays. Wilson encountered racism as the only African American student in his high school, and eventually quit school at the age of 15 when a teacher accused him of plagiarizing a paper. He was mostly self-educated from then on, spending a significant amount of time at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, where he independently studied literature, sociology, theology, and philosophy. During this time, he also began studying the works of black writers such as Ralph Ellison and Langston Hughes. After serving one year in the United States Army in 1962, Wilson worked odd jobs while refocusing himself on writing, mostly producing poetry. After his father’s death in 1965, Wilson changed his name, in part to honor his mother, but also as an act of defining his own identity. As a writer, Wilson “was intent on using his plays to increase self-awareness and self-determination among African Americans” and in 1968, he and Rob Penny “founded Black Horizons Theater, a local community theater aimed at raising social consciousness within the black community” (Heinz Awards). Wilson began flourishing as a playwright after moving to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1978, where he frequently collaborated with Penumbra Theatre Company. The plays he wrote early in his career in St. Paul included Jitney, which would become the “1970s” installment in his Pittsburgh Cycle, a series of ten plays, one for each decade, depicting the African American experience in the 20th century. August Wilson is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for Fences (1987) and The Piano Lesson (1990); his plays have received critical accolades and awards for their poignant explorations of the themes of racism, poverty, and the development of African American culture. Shortly after his death from liver cancer in 2005, Broadway’s Virginia Theatre was renamed the August Wilson Theatre in his honor.

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Playwright August Wilson

TIMELINE OF HISTORICAL EVENTS

• 1619—A Dutch ship brings 20 African indentured servants to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia. The captain exchanges his human cargo for food. The Africans become indentured servants, similar in legal position to many poor Englishmen who traded several years of labor in exchange for passage to America.

• 1717—Michael Bezallion, a Pennsylvania fur trader, passes the future site of Pittsburgh en route from the Illinois country to Philadelphia. White traders begin to establish trading posts in the territory of the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela valleys.

• 1739—One of the earliest slave revolts takes place in Stono, South Carolina. More than twenty whites and twice as many black slaves are killed as the armed slaves try to flee to Florida.

• 1754—Quaker preacher John Woolman addresses his fellow Quakers in “Some Consideration of the Keeping of Negroes” and uses his influence in leading the Society of Friends to recognize the evil of slavery. The London Yearly Meeting of Quakers issues a statement condemning slavery in its Epistle for the first time.

• 1758—The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Quakers appoints a committee to visit those Friends still holding slaves.

• 1772—At the Yearly Meeting of Quakers in London, John Woolman presents an

Themes for DiscussionGuilt, Innocence, and Absolution In August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, Citizen Barlow arrives at 1839 Wylie Avenue in Pittsburgh, PA, in desperate need of Aunt Ester’s help. A recent transplant to industrial Pittsburgh from rural Alabama, Citizen expected to find opportunities for gainful employment. Risking his life to escape the poverty and racism of the south, Citizen’s hopes are shattered when he finds nothing but more racism and poverty. Enraged by his discovery of a seemingly endless cycle of injustice with no means of escape, Citizen’s actions soon place him at the center of a preventable tragedy. Citizen’s guilt over his role in a man’s death quickly becomes more than he can bear, but he knows that the laws of men hold no chance for redemption. According to the locals, Aunt Ester is a washer of souls, so Citizen seeks her out, believing that she is his only chance of being absolved of

Image of African American men and women standing and sitting near a building by a pedestrian railroad crossing during the 1904 Stockyards Strike in Chicago. DN-0000973, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.

his sin and starting a new life. “I feel like I got a hole inside me,” he tells her in Act One, Scene Three. “People say you can help me. I don’t want to go to hell, Miss Tyler.” When she hears the entirety of Citizen’s story, Citizen’s description of his inaction in the face of the other man’s certain death brings to Aunt Ester’s mind a particular Bible story. “The Bible say Peter denied Christ three times,” Aunt Ester tells Citizen. “I always wondered about that. He had his redemption handed to him on a silver platter but he didn’t take it. I wonder will you take yours, Mr. Citizen” (Act I, Scene 5). Aunt Ester agrees to take Citizen underwater to the City of Bones, where she says he will have to face the truth of what he has done. Aunt Ester, Black Mary, and the other inhabitants of 1839 Wylie believe this form of restorative justice will bring Citizen the moral salvation he seeks. Water, which served as a refuge for the innocent when the other man chose to die with his innocence by drowning in the river, can also bring Citizen new life. “1839 Wylie Avenue is a house of sanctuary,” Black Mary tells her brother, Caesar, in Act II, Scene 4, when he arrives intending to search the house for an arson suspect. As the local constable, Caesar is more interested in prosecuting the law than absolving the repentant of their guilt, but Black Mary emphatically declares:

“The Bible say, ‘A place of refuge shall be given unto you and whosoever seeketh counsel therein shall he be made

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anti-slavery certificate from Philadelphia.

• 1775—George Washington allows free blacks to enlist in the Continental Army. Approximately 5,000 do so. The British governor of Virginia promises freedom to slaves who enlist with the British. In a convention held at Pittsburgh, frontiersmen of the territory set up a Committee of Safety to approve the action of the colonies in their revolt against the Crown, and resolve that it is the “indispensable duty of every American” to resist tyranny.

• 1776—The Declaration of Independence is signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A passage condemning the slave trade is removed from the document due to pressure from the southern colonies. By the Treaty of Pittsburgh, the chiefs of the Native American tribes in the area pledge friendship and neutrality in the conflict between Great Britain and the colonies.

• 1791—Slaves revolt in Haiti against the French rulers and slave owners. Toussaint L’Ouverture, a former slave, leads them to several victories. Benjamin Banneker publishes the first almanac by an African-American and is appointed by President George Washington to help survey Washington, D.C.

• 1800—Absalom Jones and other free Africans in Philadelphia petition Congress against the slave trade and against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. Pittsburgh commercial life revolves around 63 shops, including 23 general stores, six shoe

also clean, for I have given unto the master of that abode a place above the law, for the law is a punisher of men, and I seeketh their redeption.”

Questions:• Is Citizen Barlow a good man? Why or why not? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.• Describe how Citizen Barlow changes as a result of visiting the City of Bones. What kind of future can he expect for himself?• What do you think would have happened to Citizen, both literally and spiritually, had he confessed his crime to the police rather than seeking Aunt Ester’s help? • Black Mary, Ester’s protégé, is not yet ready to cleanse souls, so for the time being, her major responsibility is to wash clothes, as well as washing vegetables and Aunt Ester’s feet. What are some other stories in which water is used to represent new life or absolution? What qualities do the characters who use water in this way have in common?

Links to the Past“People say you crazy to remember. But I ain’t afraid to

remember. I try to remember out loud. I keep my memories alive. I feed them. I got to feed them otherwise they’d eat me up. I got memories go way back. I’m carrying them for a lot of folk.”

–Aunt Ester (Act I, Scene 5)

In August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, the past is a constant presence. It is 1904 and 39 years have passed since the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, legally abolishing slavery in the United States, but the ramifications of slavery still abound. Work opportunities for African Americans in the South are limited to mostly agricultural labor for nominal wages; people are struggling to survive. Violence against blacks is commonplace and, as Solly’s sister, Eliza, writes to him from Alabama, “the people are having a hard time with freedom . . . the white peoples is gone crazy and won’t let anybody leave . . . It is a hard time for everybody” (Act I, Scene 1). Those who, like Citizen Barlow, do find a way to head north in hopes of fully experiencing the freedom that was promised to them, find little but false promises. “I just left [the South]” Citizen tells Solly and Eli in Act I, Scene 3. “I’m up here looking for a job. Ain’t no jobs down there.” Citizen’s words weigh heavily on Solly, who, as an Underground Railroad conductor, helped many runaway slaves escape to freedom in the North, only to find the benefits of freedom closed off to them. “The people think they in freedom,” Solly says. “. . . [But] what good is freedom if you can’t do nothing with it? I seen many a man die for freedom but he didn’t know what he was getting. If he had known he might have thought twice about it” (Act I, Scene 3). Despite his former role as a bridge between enslavement and the supposed freedom of the future, Solly is still inextricably linked to the past. As a good luck charm, he still carries a “piece of chain used to be around [his] ankle” when he was a slave, and a walking stick on which he marked off reminders of each of the sixty-two

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shops, four bakeries, and four hat shops. Perkins Store, the first “department store” west of Philadelphia, is opened. A Virginia slave named Gabriel, attempts to organize a massive slave insurrection. Pittsburgh’s second newspaper, Tree of Liberty, is published by John Israel, with Hugh Henry Brackenridge as chief backer and chief editorial writer. Off the coast of Cuba, the U.S. Navy detains two American ships, carrying 134 enslaved Africans, and charges them with violating the 1794 Slave Trade Act. The traders are brought to Philadelphia for adjudication in federal court by Judge Richard Peters. Peters turns the custody of the Africans over to the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, which attempts to assimilate them into Pennsylvania using the indenture system with many local Quakers serving as sponsors.

• 1802—Toussaint L’Ouverture is betrayed and captured. The revolt in Haiti continues.

• 1804—Haiti declares independence from France. Americans, particularly Southerners, are terrified by these events.

• 1822—Denmark Vesey, a freedman, plans a massive rebellion of thousands of slaves in Charlestown, South Carolina. He is betrayed, however, and he and 34 others are hanged. N. Holmes and Sons, Pittsburgh’s first family-owned bank, is established. Segregated public schools for blacks open in Philadelphia. Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes her anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin,

people he helped to escape (Act II, Scene 2). But while these mementos are sources of pride, the letters from Eliza, struggling with her family to survive, serve as melancholy reminders of what (and who) was left behind. In Aunt Ester, the Hill District community finds a link to the past that supercedes the limitations of their so-called freedom and the confines of their previous bondage. Ester claims to be 285 years old, which means she would have been born in 1619, the year the first West African slaves arrived in the American colonies. Her role as a mystical, spiritual guide and advisor is a key link to the people’s ancestral home, transformed by repeated acts of theft, violence, and oppression into a distant, unknown land. When Aunt Ester takes Citizen Barlow to the City of Bones, it is no coincidence that she creates the boat that will serve as their means of transportation by folding up her Bill of Sale. Detailing an American colonist’s purchase, the Bill of Sale symbolizes Ester’s involuntary reclassification: on the eastern side of the ocean, Ester was a human being. On the western side, she was a piece of human merchandise as detailed in a document. The Bill of Sale is Ester’s link to a past life and when Citizen finally travels with Aunt Ester to the City of Bones, the heritage of slavery and the echoes of those who did not survive the transatlantic voyage are more alive than ever.

Questions:• How is it possible for Aunt Ester to be 285 years old?• In a 2003 article in American Theatre magazine, August Wilson stated that the bones that make up the City of Bones “are symbolically representative of the Africans who were lost during the Middle Passage—those whose ships sank into the ocean, the Africans who never made it to America.” In the world of Gem of the Ocean, is the City of Bones a real or imaginary place? Use evidence from the text and from history to support your answer.• What relics and reminders of the past exist in your community? What role did they play in the community’s past? What is their importance today? What buildings, traditions, or objects from today do you think should be preserved for future generations wanting to learn about or understand the people who lived in 2011?

Individual and Community Identity As they struggle to survive in a society that defines them as lesser beings, the characters of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean strive to create their own identities, free from the confines of perception and history. Solly Two Kings is experienced at redefining himself on his own terms, having rejected the name given to him by his white masters and choosing a new name befitting who he wanted to be. “My name is Two Kings,” he says in Act I, Scene 3. “Used to be Uncle Alfred. The government looking for me for being a runaway so I changed it . . . Some people call me Solomon and some people call me David. I answer to either one. I don’t know which one God gonna call me. If he call me Uncle Alfred then we got a big fight.” Names carry significance for other characters’ identities as well. Citizen, named as such by his mother “when freedom came,” is looking

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which is an immediate bestseller and helps turn public opinion against the Fugitive Slave Act and slavery itself.. The Pennsylvania Railroad opens an all-rail route from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, utilizing the Portage and Columbia railroads.

• 1857—In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court decides that African Americans are not citizens of the United States and that Congress has no power to restrict slavery in any federal territory, and that Africans or their descendents held as slaves could never be citizens of the United States.

• 1861—The Civil War begins when the Confederates attack Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The war will rage for another four years. The Union’s victory will mean the end of slavery in the U.S. President-elect Lincoln, in a reference to the secession from the Union of southern states, declares that “notwithstanding the trouble across the river, there is no crisis but an artificial one.”

• January 1, 1863—President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation as the nation approaches its third year of civil war. The Proclamation declares “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” Although the Emancipation Proclamation does not end slavery in the nation, it fundamentally transforms the character of the war. The Proclamation announces the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the

for opportunity and to fully inhabit the rights and qualities that his name indicates, and Black Mary, Aunt Ester’s protégé, will be granted both her mentor’s role in the community and her name when Ester deems her ready. Black Mary’s brother, Caesar Wilks, a member of the local law enforcement, serves as constable in the Hill District. As a black man in a white man’s world, the appearance of lawfulness is Caesar’s gospel. He strives to maintain the image of himself as the one in charge in the Hill District, and believes that his cut and dry view of right and wrong will get him a better place in a hierarchy created by whites. “I told you I’m the boss man around here,” he tells Citizen in Act I, Scene 3. “Ask anybody. They’ll tell you who Caesar is.” Caesar asserts his authority in the neighborhood without hesitation, evicting tenants who are late on their rent, arresting anyone he believes is loitering, literally chasing down those accused of crimes, and evaluating the moral standing of the deceased in advance of Christian funerals. Stealing for any reason, according to Caesar, is “about the worst thing you can do. To steal the fruits of somebody else’s labor . . . Stealing is against the law. Everybody know that” (Act I, Scene 3). Caesar is also a thorough capitalist, believing that “money ain’t got nobody’s name on it. It’s floating out there go on a grab you some” (Act I, Scene 3). Despite his efforts to maintain his position as “boss man” and enforcer of morality in the Hill District, he is unable to avoid a persistent struggle over identity with his sister, Black Mary. Caesar worries about how his sister’s associations will reflect on him. Already looking down on Solly for his practice of collecting dog feces to be used in mystical rituals, Caesar complains to Black Mary, “You got [Solly] walking around talking about, ‘Caesar’s sister does my laundry.’ How that make me look? My sister a washerwoman” (Act I, Scene 3). Furthermore, Caesar’s focus on the laws of Christianity is directly in conflict with Black Mary’s work with Aunt Ester. Aunt Ester uses soul washing and visiting the City of Bones as a way of easing others’ spiritual grief, and Black Mary is in training to do the same. This spirituality is closely tied to West African orisha (powerful gods and goddesses), a tradition carried to the New World by African slaves and suppressed by white masters—precisely the people whose religious and economic systems Caesar has adopted. Through Aunt Ester, Black Mary has made her choice of cultural identity clear.

Questions:• Describe how the other characters in the play view Caesar. How is this different from or similar to how Caesar views himself?• Examine your own heritage. Does your family follow or practice any religious or cultural traditions that are historically practiced by the ethnic group(s) or communities to which you belong? Is it important to you to keep these traditions alive? Why or why not?

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war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors have fought for the Union.

• 1863—In a Sunday Meeting at the Monongahela House, Pittsburgh businessmen and manufacturers, fearing a raid by the Confederate cavalry forces of J.E.B. Stuart, decide to suspend business and set up a defense. The Union’s 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first African American regular army regiment, assaults Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina, losing half its men. By the war’s end, nearly 180,000 African American men will have served in the Union army.

• November 19, 1863—Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg address.

• 1864—Ulysses S. Grant, en route to take command of the Army of Potomac, is the guest of honor at a dinner in the Monongahela House in Pittsburgh, PA.

• April 9, 1865—General Lee surrenders to the Union at Appomattox. Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery, and establishes the Freedmen’s Bureau to assist former slaves. Reconstruction begins.

• April 14, 1865—Lincoln is assassinated.

• 1866—Oakland Township is incorporated into the city of Pittsburgh. Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, which confers citizenship on African Americans and grants them equal rights with whites. The white supremacist organization known as the Ku Klux Klan is founded in Tennessee.

• 1867—Andrew Carnegie acquires the controlling

For Further ExplorationThe Century Cycle From 1979 to 2005, August Wilson chronicled the 20th Century African American experience in a series of plays known collectively as the “Century Cycle” or the “Pittsburgh Cycle.” Each of the ten plays depicts the challenges of a different decade, and while the plays do not tell a single ongoing story, the plays are closely linked by their setting (Pittsburgh’s Hill District) and characters who are either descendents of those appearing in earlier plays, or who recur in multiple plays at various ages. For example, Aunt Ester, the spiritual matriarch introduced in Gem of the Ocean, also appears in Two Trains Running and dies during the events of King Hedley II. Additionally, Radio Golf revolves around plans to demolish 1839 Wylie Avenue, the house in which Gem of the Ocean takes place.

“Sixth Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.” c. 1908. “G 495” on negative. Detroit Publishing Co. no. 070742.

1904—Gem of the Ocean (written 2003)

1911—Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (written 1984)

1927—Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (written 1982)

1936—The Piano Lesson (written 1986)

1948—Seven Guitars (written 1995)

1957—Fences (written 1983)

1969—Two Trains Running (written 1990)

1977—Jitney (written 1979)

1985—King Hedley II (written 2001)

1997—Radio Golf (written 2005)

Questions:• Read and research Two Trains Running and King Hedley II, the other Century Cycle plays in which Aunt Ester is mentioned. How is she depicted at different ages? How large or small a role does she play in the story’s main action? How does the character change, or not change, over time?• Which other writers of drama and fiction set many of their works in the same city or region? Why do they choose to do so?

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interest in the Union Iron Mills. The first fire-alarm telegraph system is established in Allegheny, PA. In Nashville, TN, Fisk University is established for former slaves by the American Missionary Association. The Basic Reconstruction Act restores congressional representation to South.

• 1868—The 14th amendment (civil rights), which includes the Due Process Clause guaranteeing life, liberty, property, and equal protection under the law to all citizens is passed. The Klu Klux Klan evolves into a hooded terrorist organization known to its members as “The Invisible Empire of the South.” An early influential Klan “Grand Wizard” is Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was a Confederate general during the Civil War. The cornerstone is laid for the new Pittsburgh City Hall on Smithfield Street. The city of Pittsburgh extends its eastern boundary by annexing the townships of Pitt, Peebles, Liberty, Collins, and Oakland.

• 1869—James Lewis, John Willis Menard, and Pinckney B.S. Pinchback, all black men from Louisiana, are elected to Congress but are never seated.

• 1870—The 15th Amendment, guaranteeing right to vote to all (male) citizens regardless of race, color, or servitude, is passed.

• 1871—National Equal Rights League leader, Octavius V. Catto, is assassinated by a white man attempting to discourage black voting in a key Philadelphia election. Catto’s funeral is the largest public funeral in Philadelphia

West African Spirituality When they were taken to the New World as slaves, West Africans brought with them deeply rooted spiritual belief systems that were quickly suppressed by the white colonial masters. Even in its earliest days, the New World contained a unique blend of cultures, values, and traditions brought there by settlers from a variety of European countries. Similarly, the slaves brought by white Europeans across the Atlantic originated in different communities across West Africa. As they strived to maintain their cultural memory in America, enslaved Africans found commonalities within their beliefs that allowed them to forge a united identity from their intermingled traditions. Fearing the alliances that could grow from the sharing of these beliefs, white masters forbid enslaved Africans from worshipping their orisha (gods and goddesses). However, slaves found ways to conceal their orisha in the Christianity their masters forced upon them, equating the orisha with Catholic saints and developing storytelling that reflected the shared experiences of a specific region.

AUNT ESTERDo you see the Gate, Mr. Citizen?

CITIZENI see the Gate.

BLACK MARYThere are Twelve Gates, Mr. Citizen.

SOLLYAnd Twelve Gatekeepers. You got to go through the

Gatekeeper to get into the city.

AUNT ESTERThere are twelve ways to get into the city, Mr. Citizen.

(Act II, Scene 1)

August Wilson deeply weaves this unique blend of faith into Gem of the Ocean. Two orisha, Ogun and Oshun, and their representative elements (iron and water, respectively), are particularly dominant. As an industrial city built on a river and with mining as its primary industry, Pittsburgh provides a fertile backdrop for the integration of West African spirituality. When they arrive at the City of Bones, Aunt Ester, Black Mary, and Solly tell Citizen that there are twelve ways to get into the city. He must

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since Lincoln’s and his death is mourned in black communities throughout the country.

• 1872—The city of Pittsburgh annexes the boroughs of South Pittsburgh, Monongahela, Allentown, St. Clair, Lawrenceville, Temperanceville, Birmingham, Sligo, Mount Washington, West Pittsburgh, and Ormsby. The new Pittsburgh City Hall, erected at Smithfield and Oliver Way at a cost of $600,000, is officially opened.

• 1873—Armed African Americans surround the county seat in Colfax, Louisiana, fearing whites will illegally overthrow the Republican government. About 300 African Americans are killed in what becomes known as the “Colfax Massacre.”

• 1874— The Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, a bank for African Americans which many thought was guaranteed by the U.S. government, fails and leaves a legacy of mistrust of white-run institutions.

• 1875—The U.S. Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The law protects all Americans, regardless of race, in their access to public accommodations and facilities such as restaurants, theatres, trains and other public transportation, and grants the right to serve on juries. However, the law is not enforced, and the Supreme Court declares it unconstitutional in 1883.

• 1878—Nashville’s Fisk University becomes the first black American college to receive a class “A” rating by

pass through one of twelve gates guarded by twelve gatekeepers. The following are the twelve houses ruled by the major West African orisha:

House Ruling Orisha Symbolic AssociationsFirst Ogun iron, steelSecond Oshun fresh water, motherhood, wealthThird The Ibeji (twins), Esu positive and negative energiesFourth Yemoja ocean, the moonFifth Orumila breath of life, destinySixth Esu crossroads, communicationSeventh Oshun love, marriage, balanceEighth Oya storms, wind, crossing to the spirit worldNinth Obatala growth, wisdom, the physical bodyTenth Babalu-Aiye earth, sickness and diseaseEleventh Shango fire, thunder/lightning, rebellion, changeTwelfth Olokun the ocean floor, dream states, subconscious

Questions:• Research your own cultural heritage. When your ancestors came to the United States from their country of origin, what traditions, stories, and beliefs did they bring with them? Are any of those traditions still followed, stories still told, or beliefs still held by your family?

First African Baptist Church, Savannah, GA. Built 1777. New York Public Library Digital Library Collections Records, 1873-1977.

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the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

• 1879—Electric Street Lighting begins in Pittsburgh. Thousands of African Americans migrate from the South to the West to escape exploitation and oppression. Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, a former slave, is one of the leaders of the “Exodus of ‘79.”

• 1881—Tennessee passes the first of the “Jim Crow” segregation laws, segregating state railroads. Other Southern states pass similar laws over the next 15 years. The Homestead Mill of the Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Company, built by Andrew Kloman and a group of other Pittsburgh industrialists, goes into operation. Booker T. Washington begins to work at the Tuskegee Institute and builds it into a center of learning and industrial and agricultural training for blacks. Andrew Carnegie makes his first move to create a free library for Pittsburgh. He offers $250,000 on the condition that the city government agree to appropriate $15,000 annually for its maintenance. The city is unable to accept the gift due to a lack of funds for maintenance. Blanche K Bruce, Mississippi Republican, ends his term in the U.S. Senate. He is the last African American to serve in the Senate until Edward Brooke, Massachusetts Republican, in 1967. With Reconstruction replaced with segregation, voting rights for African Americans cease in many areas and are greatly curtailed in others.

What’s in a Name? Etymology is the study of the sources and development of words and language, and is often a major influence when writers choose names for their characters. What does the name mean? What does it translate to in other languages? Where did it originate? Will this name call to mind a particular person or event? Is this name significant in the context of the story? What impression does this name give of the person it belongs to? These questions are among those that writers consider when crafting their characters. August Wilson said: “Anything you can name you can control and define; that’s what the power of naming is.” African slaves in the United States were frequently given their masters’ surnames, but after abolition, it became common for former slaves to choose new names for themselves and their children. The names of the characters in Gem of the Ocean reflect the practice of choosing names with biblical or historical origins, or that specifically represented a person’s newfound promise of freedom.

• Aunt Ester—In Gem of the Ocean, she is “a very old, yet vital spiritual advisor for the community” (Wilson, p. 5). In the Old Testament, Esther was the Jewish wife of the king of Persia who saved the Jews from extermination. This name also means “star” in Persian.

• Citizen Barlow—“A young man from Alabama who is in spiritual turmoil” (Wilson, p. 5). The World English Dictionary defines “citizen” as “a native or naturalized member of a state, nation, or other political community,” and as “a native or inhabitant of any place.”

• Solly Two Kings—“Suitor to Aunt Ester, former Underground Railroad conductor” (Wilson, p. 5). In the Old Testament, David and Solomon were the second and third kings of Israel. This character answers to either name. “David” is derived from the Hebrew name “Dawid” meaning “beloved,” and Solomon from the Hebrew word “shalom” meaning “peace.”

• Black Mary—“Aunt Ester’s protégé and housekeeper” (Wilson, p. 5). Several characters with this name appear in the New Testament, most notably Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus. Possible meanings include “sea of bitterness,” “rebelliousness,” “wished for child,” and “love.”

• Eli—“Aunt Ester’s gatekeeper and longtime friend of Solly” (Wilson, p. 5). In Hebrew, this name means “ascension.” In the Old Testament, Eli was the high priest of Israel.

• Caesar—“Black Mary’s brother and local constable” (Wilson, p. 5). The World English Dictionary defines “caesar” as “any emperor, autocrat, dictator, or other powerful ruler.

Questions:• Research the origins of your own name both historically and within your own family. Why did your parents choose this name for you? Do you share a name with anyone else in your family? Are there any historical, religious, or literary figures with whom you share a name? From what language is your name derived?

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• 1882—The Homestead Mill of the Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Company has its first strike when millworkers refused to sign “yellow dog” contracts, which would have barred them from organizing as a union. A nationwide strike results from a general stoppage of work called by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers in a wage dispute. Black historian George Washington Williams publishes his History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880, the first comprehensive and objective history of African Americans.

• 1888—W.E.B. DuBois graduates from Fisk University.

• 1890—Mississippi enacts a poll tax, which most African Americans cannot afford to pay, to try to keep blacks from voting. Andrew Carnegie repeats his original library proposal first made in 1881, and offers to increase his gift to $1,000,000 to include funds for a museum of natural history and art gallery, and for branch libraries. The Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital is opened. Timothy Thomas Fortune, a freed slave and journalist, founds the National Afro-American League, considered a precursor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

• 1893—African American cardiologist Daniel Hale Williams performs the world’s first successful open-heart surgery. Construction work started on “steel headquarters”—the 15-story Carnegie Building on Fifth Avenue, regarded as

Pittsburgh PlacesHill District: A collection of neighborhoods in Pittsburgh consid-ered the center of African American life in the city. Nine of the ten plays in August Wilson’s Century Cycle, including Gem of the Ocean, are set in “the Hill” as it is referred to by those who live in the area.

Brady Street Bridge: A bridge crossing Pittsburgh’s Monongahela River, connecting the South Side with Uptown, Oakland, and the Hill District. Demolished in 1978 and replaced with the Birming-ham Bridge.

Arcena Street: A residential street in the Hill District in between the Cliffside and Bedford Reservoir Parklets.

Logan Street: A residential Pittsburgh street north of the Allegh-eny River.

Colwell Street: A residential street in the Crawford-Roberts sec-tion of the Hill District, not far from Duquesne University.

Monongahela River: A river that intersects with the Allegheny River to create the unique, triangular shape of downtown Pitts-burgh.

Blawnox: A Pennsylvania borough on the Allegheny River, not far east of Pittsburgh.

Rankin: A Pennsylvania borough on the Monongahela River, not far east of Pittsburgh.

Scotch Bottom: A Pittsburgh neighborhood that is now part of the Hazelwood area east of downtown, bordering the Mononga-hela River. The name comes from the first settlers in the area, who were of Scottish descent.

And Elsewhere...

Opelika, Alabama: A city in the east central part of the state that doubled in size between 1870 and 1900, and was locally governed by unelected military leaders (appointed by the state) from 1882-1899.

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Pittsburgh’s first skyscraper.• 1896—As the result

of recurring typhoid epidemics in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Filtration Commission is created to study water problems. The Supreme Court establishes the “separate but equal” doctrine with Plessy vs. Ferguson. This law enables the expansion of growing segregation or “Jim Crow” practices across America, with many states codifying segregation in state constitutions, and local laws and ordinances. By 1910, every state in the former Confederacy fully establishes a system of legalized segregation and disfranchisement. Northern areas also embrace “Jim Crow” practices, some codified in law. The 22nd Street Bridge, first toll free bridge to be built in Pittsburgh, is dedicated to public use.

• 1898—Robert “Bob” Cole produces A Trip to Coontown, the first full-length musical written, directed, performed, and produced by African Americans, on Broadway. Louisiana tries to disenfranchise its African Americans by passing a “grandfather clause” limiting the right to vote to anyone whose fathers and grandfathers were qualified on January 1, 1867. (No African Americans had the right to vote at that time.)

• 1903—Sarah Breedlove MacWilliams, better known as Madam C. J. Walker, starts an African American hair-care business in Denver and eventually becomes America’s first self-made female millionaire. The first

Learning AssessmentsCREATIVE WRITING

Writing the Inner Monologue In the final moments of the play: Citizen takes off his coat. He puts on Solly’s coat and hat and takes Solly’s stick. He discovers the letter from Solly’s sister in the hat . . . Without a word Citizen turns and exits. (Act II, Scene 5) This symbolic transfer of identity occurs as the characters hold Solly’s funeral and Citizen is forced to become a fugitive. Consider what could be going through Citizen’s mind at this moment.

• How does he feel about Solly’s death?• What would he say to Solly if he could speak to him one last time?• What do Solly’s coat, hat, stick, and letter from his sister mean to Citizen?• How does Citizen feel about Caesar, who is not only searching for him but is also responsible for Solly’s death?• What will Citizen’s life be like now that Solly is dead?• How has Citizen changed during the time he has known Solly?• Where does Citizen plan to go and what will he do?• What will Citizen remember most about Solly?• Why does he take Solly’s coat, hat, and stick?

Write a monologue (speech by one person) in which Citizen speaks out loud the thoughts that are going through his mind in the final moments of the play as described in the stage directions above.

Hometown Inspiration August Wilson’s Century Cycle is also known as the Pittsburgh Cycle because nine of its ten plays are set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. The playwright actually grew up in the Hill District, giving him intimate knowledge of the people and places he would later write about. Consider your own hometown and neighborhood.

• What makes the place where you live unique? • How does your neighborhood fit into the historical and cultural heritage of your community? • Are there any recurring events or traditions?• Who are the characters who reside in your city, town, or neighborhood? • What are the conflicts and challenges of the area’s past, present, and future?• What is the best thing about your community? The worst?• Is there anything, good or bad, that your neighborhood is known for?• What is the most important thing people should know about the place you call home?• What is something people would never know or expect unless they actually lived there?

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of baseball’s modern World Series ends in Pittsburgh before a crowd of 7,455 at Exposition Park when the Pittsburgh Pirates are defeated 4 to 3 by the Boston Americans and lose the Series three games to five. Robert S. Abbott begins publishing The Chicago Defender, Chicago’s first African American newspaper. Within a decade, it is one of the country’s most influential African American weekly papers.

• **1904—Events depicted in Gem of the Ocean take place.**

• 1909—Race riots occur in Springfield, Illinois. Several African Americans are lynched and four Caucasian men are killed. A bi-racial group of activists establish the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in New York City. The founders, Ida Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. Dubois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard (a descendant of William Lloyd Garrison) and William English Walling, make a renewed call for the struggle for civil and political liberty. DuBois becomes editor of the organization’s publication, Crisis magazine, which presents exposés on conditions and issues in the black community. African American explorer Matthew Henson reaches the North Pole along with Admiral Robert Peary. They are the first men known to have reached the North Pole.

• 1915—All steel mills in Pittsburgh operate 24 hours a day to meet steel demands of nations involved in WWI.

Choose an event, real or imagined, that depicts something you believe is a unique or defining facet of your community. Create a short piece of dramatic writing about this event. Guidelines:

• Use minimal exposition. Focus on the action and jump right into what is actually happening.• Choose a protagonist. Whose story is this? How does this person change from the beginning to the end of the story?• Define objectives for your characters. What do they want?• Include a climactic moment—when the protagonist must make a choice and there is no going back.• Make sure every detail supports the story. What characteristics of your setting are vital to who the characters are and how they behave?

DESIGN—Creating the City of Bones Aunt Ester describes the underwater City of Bones and those who built it to Citizen Barlow, saying that it is:

only a half mile by a half mile but that’s a city. It’s made of bones. Pearly white bones. All the buildings and everything is made of bones . . . That’s the center of the world. In time it will all come to light. The people made a kingdom out of nothing. They were the people that didn’t make it across the water. They sat down right there. They say, ‘Let’s make a kingdom. Let’s make a city of bones.’ The people got a burning tongue . . . Their mouths are on fire with song. (Act II, Scene 1)

Consider your vision of the City of Bones. • What adjectives would you use to describe it? • How would the city be laid out? • What would the buildings look like? • What do the people who live there look like?

Research reference images in magazines and books and on the internet. Use the images to sketch your vision. Then make a design presentation to the class in which you explain your design choices.

THEATRE HISTORY—African American Theatre

“I believe in the American Theatre. I believe in its power to inform about the human condition. I believe in its power to heal. To hold the mirror as it were up to nature. To the truths we uncover, to the truths

we wrestle from uncertain and sometimes unyielding realities. All of art is a search for ways of being, of living life more fully.”—August Wilson

August Wilson is known as one of the preeminent writers of the African American experience. Actor John Douglas Thompson, playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, and director Kenny Leon are just a few of the African

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American artists who are considered important voices in the theatre today.Research African American theatre in the United States and choose an artist or organization committed to the development of artists of color. Research and report on the artist or organization’s work and achievements. How do they embody August Wilson’s statement that “all of art is a search for ways of being, of living life more fully?”

If researching an individual artist, include information on:• How did the artist become involved in theatre?• Does he or she have any formal training in theatre?• What projects is the artist best known for? Has he or she won any awards?• Does he or she have an artistic philosophy? If so, what is it?• What does the artist hope to achieve in the future?

If researching an organization, include information on:• When and why was the organization founded?• Who were the founders?• What did the founders hope to accomplish?• What are some of the organizations most successful projects or endeavors?• Who is in leadership of the organization today?• What is the leadership’s vision for the organization’s future?

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For more information about Education programs at Hartford

Stage, please call (860) 520-7206 or email education@hartfordstage.org

Contributing EditorAlexandra Truppi, Education Assistant

With Contributions byMichelina Pollini, Education ApprenticeJennifer Roberts, Director of Education

Chris Baker, Senior Dramaturg

REFERENCES

“August Wilson.” 2011. Biography.com. 18 Apr 2011. <http://www.biography.com/articles/August-Wilson-9533583>.

Balls, Edward K. “Chronology on the History of Slavery 1619 to 1789.” Columbia Heights. 1999. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://www.innercity.org/holt/slavechron.html>.

“Behind the Name: Biblical Names.” Behind the Name: the Meaning, Etymology and History of First Names. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/bibl.php>.

Bellamy, Sarah. “The Birth of a People: Spirit, Self and God in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean” Penumbra Theatre Company. Penumbra Theatre Company, Spring 2008. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://www.penumbratheatre.org>.

Bradford, Wade. “August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycles - The Plays of August Wilson.” Plays / Drama. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://plays.about.com/od/plays/a/augustwilson.htm>.

Chapman Smith, V. “American Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights Timeline.” Ushistory.org. National History Day Philly, 4 July 1999. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://www.ushistory.org/more/timeline.htm>.

“Complete List of August Wilson’s Plays.” Welcome to the August Wilson Homepage. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.augustwilson.net>.

Cox, Claire. “August Wilson’s Coming of Age.” The Berkeley Rep Magazine Nov. 2008: 21. Print.

“Featured Document: The Emancipation Proclamation.” National Archives and Records Administration. 1 Jan. 1863. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/>.

Gabriel, Daniel. “August Wilson’s Early Days in Saint Paul.” Editorial. Saint Paul Almanac 1 Aug. 2010. Saint Paul Almanac. 1 Aug. 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.saintpaulalmanac.com>.

Gates, Henry Louis., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. African American Lives. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

Gener, Randy. “Salvation in the City of Bones.” American Theatre May-June 2003. American Theatre. Theatre Communications Group, May 2003. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://www.tcg.org/publications/at/MayJune03/marainey.cfm>.

“Hill District.” City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Pghgov.com. Pittsburgh City Council District 6. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. <http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/district6/html/hill_district.html>.

Lorant, Stefan. “Historic Pittsburgh - Chronology.” Historic Pittsburgh. Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 1999. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology/>.

“Odds & Ends: Chronology.” Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Chronology, 2000. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/chron.html>.

Ogunbusola, Soyinka I. “West Africa’s Orisha and Astrology.” ILE IFA. 19 Sept. 2009. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. <http://ileifa.org/west-africas-orisha-and-astrology/>.

Patten, Janice E. “Historical Time Line of Race Relations in the U.S.” The Literary Link: Home Page of Janice E. Patten. 2 June 1998. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://theliterarylink.com/race.html>.

“RACE - History - Race in the U.S.A.” RACE - Are We So Different? A Project of the American Anthropological Association. 2007. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://www.understandingrace.org/history/>.

“The Heinz Awards: August Wilson Bio.” The Heinz Awards. Heinz Family Foundation, 2003. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.heinzawards.net/recipients>.

Young-Wilson, Sue. “African American World . Timeline | PBS.” PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 2002. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/timeline/early_04.html>.

Wilson, August. Gem of the Ocean. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2006. Print.