The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom

Last updated

The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom is a play written by African American abolitionist William Wells Brown. While the play was published in 1858, it was not officially produced until 1971 at Emerson College. [1] It was one of the earliest extant pieces of African American dramatic literature. Williams Wells Brown would tour and give readings of his play at Anti-Slavery rallies and political events. [2]

Contents

This is a typical play from the late 1800s in 5 acts.

Scene Breakdown

Act 1, Scene 1: A Sitting-Room in the house of Dr. Gaines

Act 1, Scene 2: Doctor's Shop of Dr. Gaines

Act 1, Scene 3: A Room in the Slave Quarters

Act 1, Scene 4: Dining Room of Dr. Gaines and Mrs. Gaines

Act 2, Scene 1: The Parlor of Dr. Gaines

Act 2, Scene 2: View in Front of the Great House

Act 2, Scene 3: A Sitting-Room in the house of Dr. Gaines

Act 3, Scene 1: Sitting-Room

Act 3, Scene 2: The Kitchen- Slaves at Work

Act 3, Scene 3: Sitting Room

Act 3, Scene 4: In the Forest near Dr. Gaines's Property

Act 3, Scene 5: Room in a Small Cottage on the Poplar Farm

Act 4, Scene 1: Interior of a Dungeon, likely the basement of Dr. Gaines's Estate

Act 4, Scene 2: The Parlor of Dr. Gaines

Act 4, Scene 3: In the Forest near Dr. Gaines's Property

Act 5, Scene 1: Bar in the American Hotel

Act 5, Scene 2: Forest at Night

Act 5, Scene 3: A Street

Act 5, Scene 4: Dining Room of a Quaker Family

Act 5, Scene 5: The Niagara River and a Ferry Boat.

Characters

Dr. Gaines, Proprietor of the farm at Muddy Creek.

Rev. John Pinchen, Clergyman.

Dick Walker, Slave speculator.

Mr. Wildmarsh, Neighbor to Dr. Gaines.

Major Moore, Friend of Dr. Gaines.

Mr. White, Citizen of Massachusetts.

Bill Jennings, Slave speculator.

Jacob Scragg, Overseer to Dr. Gaines.

Mrs. Gaines, Wife of Dr. Gaines.

Mr. and Mrs. Neal and their Daughter, Quakers in Ohio.

Thomas, Mr. Neal's hired man.

Glen, Slave of Mr. Hamilton, brother-in-law of Dr. Gaines.

Melinda, Slave of Dr. Gaines, Mixed Raced.

Sampey, Slave and Son of Dr. Gaines.

Cato, Slave and Assistant of Dr. Gaines.

Sam, Dolly, Susan, and Big Sally, Slaves of Dr. Gaines.

Pete, Ned, and Bill, Slaves.

Officers, Loungers, Barkeeper, etc.

Plot summary

The play follows the story of two slaves from different owners who marry in secrecy. Melinda, who is owned by Dr. Gaines, is a biracial slave who marries Glen, who is owned by Mr. Hamilton. Mrs. Gaines fears that her husband Dr. Gaines has taken a liking to Melinda and orders Dr. Gaines to sell her. Dr. Gaines then hides Melinda in a Cabin on the Property of the Poplar Farm. Dr. Gaines makes a move on Melinda which causes her to tell about her secret marriage with Glen. Dr. Gaines becomes furious and promises Melinda he will kill Glen. Melinda becomes mad and heartbroken when hearing this. Dr. Gaines lies to his wife about selling Melinda. However, Mrs. Gaines does not believe him and one night follows him to the cottage. After Dr. Gaines leaves the cottage, Mrs. Gaines breaks in and tries to force Melinda into drinking poison to kill herself. Melinda escapes and runs into the forest. Meanwhile, across on the Gains Estate, Glen is being tortured by Jacob Scragg. Sampey, another mixed race character who is a slave to his father, informs Glen of what happened to Melinda. Glen manages to escape the dungeon and meets Melinda in the forest. The couple follow the North Star to Canada to escape for freedom. Meanwhile, Dr. Gaines gets a group of men together to hunt down the runaway slaves. There is a last confrontation on the docks of a ferry that is heading to Canada. Mr. White, a northern gentleman, saves the day by holding up the slave hunters while the ferry takes off. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Brown (abolitionist)</span> American abolitionist (1800–1859)

John Brown was a prominent leader in the American abolitionist movement in the decades preceding the Civil War. First reaching national prominence in the 1850s for his radical abolitionism and fighting in Bleeding Kansas, Brown was captured, tried, and executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia for a raid and incitement of a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry in 1859.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Proctor</span> American actor

Philip George Proctor is an American actor, comedian and a member of the Firesign Theatre. He has performed voice-over work for video games, films and television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poplar Forest</span> Plantation and historic house in Forest, Bedford County, VA, US

Poplar Forest is a plantation and retreat home in Forest, Virginia, United States, that belonged to Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and third U.S. president. Jefferson inherited the property in 1773 and began designing and working on his retreat home in 1806. While Jefferson is the most famous individual associated with the property, it had several owners before being purchased for restoration, preservation, and exhibition in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fugitive slaves in the United States</span>

In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th centuries to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called freedom seekers to avoid implying that the enslaved person had committed a crime and that the slaveholder was the injured party.

<i>Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl</i> 1861 autobiography by Harriet Jacobs

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, written by herself is an autobiography by Harriet Jacobs, a mother and fugitive slave, published in 1861 by L. Maria Child, who edited the book for its author. Jacobs used the pseudonym Linda Brent. The book documents Jacobs's life as a slave and how she gained freedom for herself and for her children. Jacobs contributed to the genre of slave narrative by using the techniques of sentimental novels "to address race and gender issues." She explores the struggles and sexual abuse that female slaves faced as well as their efforts to practice motherhood and protect their children when their children might be sold away.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Travers</span> British-American actor (1874-1965)

Travers John Heagerty, known professionally as Henry Travers, was an English film and stage character actor. His best known role was the guardian angel Clarence Odbody in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. He also received an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in Mrs. Miniver (1942). Travers specialized in portraying slightly bumbling but amiable and likeable older men.

<i>You Never Can Tell</i> (play) Play by George Bernard Shaw

You Never Can Tell is an 1897 four-act play by George Bernard Shaw that debuted at the Royalty Theatre. It was published as part of a volume of Shaw's plays entitled Plays Pleasant.

<i>A Room with a View</i> (1985 film) 1985 British romance film by James Ivory

A Room with a View is a 1985 British romance film directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant. It is written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who adapted E. M. Forster's 1908 novel A Room with a View. Set in England and Italy, it is about a young woman named Lucy Honeychurch in the final throes of the restrictive and repressed culture of Edwardian England and her developing love for a free-spirited young man, George Emerson. Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench and Simon Callow feature in supporting roles. The film closely follows the novel by the use of chapter titles to distinguish thematic segments.

<i>Parallax</i> (TV series) Australian TV series or program

Parallax is an Australian children's television series that screened on the Nine Network. It is a 26-episode series funded by the Film Finance Corporation Australia and supported by Lotterywest. The series was filmed in various locations around Perth. These include Kings Park, East Perth, and many beach and South West forest locations.

St. Mary High School is a secondary school located in the Highgate area of St Mary, Jamaica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lapham–Patterson House</span> United States historic place

The Lapham–Patterson House is a historic site at 626 North Dawson Street in Thomasville, Georgia. The house, built between 1884-85 as a winter cottage for businessman C.W. Lapham of Chicago, is a significant example of Victorian architecture. It has a number of architectural details, such as fishscale shingles, an intricately designed porch, long-leaf pine inlaid floors, and a double-flue chimney. Inside, the house was well-appointed with a gas lighting system, hot and cold running water, indoor plumbing, and modern closets. Its most significant feature is its completely intentional lack of symmetry. None of the windows, doors, or closets are square. The house is a Georgia Historic Site and is also a National Historic Landmark, designated in 1973 for its architecture. It is also a contributing building in the National Register-listed Dawson Street Residential Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shields Green</span> American slave executed for murder (1836–1859)

Shields Green, who also referred to himself as "'Emperor"', was, according to Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave from Charleston, South Carolina, and a leader in John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, in October 1859. He had lived for almost two years in the house of Douglass, in Rochester, New York, and Douglass introduced him there to Brown.

<i>The Bondwomans Narrative</i> 19th-century slave narrative by Hannah Crafts

The Bondwoman's Narrative is a novel by Hannah Crafts who claimed to have escaped from slavery in North Carolina. The manuscript was not authenticated and properly published until 2002. Some scholars believe that the novel was written between 1853 and 1861. It is one of the very first books by an African-American woman, others including the novel Our Nig by Harriet Wilson, published in 1859, and the autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, published in 1861.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Top Cottage</span> United States historic place

Top Cottage, also known as Hill-Top Cottage, in Hyde Park, New York, was a private retreat designed by and for Franklin D. Roosevelt. Built in 1938 to 1939, during Roosevelt's second term as President of the United States, it was designed to accommodate his need for wheelchair accessibility. It was one of the earliest such buildings in the country, and the first significant building designed by a person with a disability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry</span> 1859 effort by abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in Southern states

John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown, from October 16 to 18, 1859, to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. It has been called the dress rehearsal for, or tragic prelude to, the Civil War.

<i>The Drunkard</i> 19th century American temperance play

The Drunkard; or, The Fallen Saved is an American temperance play first performed on February 12, 1844. A drama in five acts, it was perhaps the most popular play produced in the United States until the dramatization of Uncle Tom's Cabin premiered in 1853. In New York City, P.T. Barnum presented it at his American Museum in a run of over 100 performances. It was among the first of the American temperance plays, and remained the most popular of them until it was eclipsed in 1858 by T. S. Arthur's Ten Nights in a Bar-Room.

<i>Trooper OBrien</i> 1928 film

Trooper O'Brien is a 1928 Australian silent film from the team of John and Agnes Gavin. It was a melodrama set during the "Ned Kelly era" about an orphaned girl raised by a policeman in the bush. It is one of the rare early Australian films that still exist in its entirety.

<i>Kathleen Mavourneen</i> (1906 film) 1906 American silent drama film

Kathleen Mavourneen is a 1906 silent short film by Edwin S. Porter, produced and distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company. It is based on the song “Kathleen Mavourneen” by Annie Crawford and Frederick Williams Nichols Crouch, which inspired the play by Dion Boucicault.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis and Harriet Hayden House</span> Historic abolitionists house in Boston

Lewis and Harriet Hayden House was the home of African-American abolitionists who had escaped from slavery in Kentucky; it is located in Beacon Hill, Boston. They maintained the home as a stop on the Underground Railroad, and the Haydens were visited by Harriet Beecher Stowe as research for her book, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). Lewis Hayden was an important leader in the African-American community of Boston; in addition, he lectured as an abolitionist and was a member of the Boston Vigilance Committee, which resisted the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

On Sunday night, October 16, 1859, the abolitionist John Brown led a band of 22 in a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

References

  1. Hatch, James; Shine, Ted (2011). Black Theatre USA: Plays by African Americans from 1847-1938. New York: Free Press. pp.  37. ISBN   1451636504.
  2. Farrison, William Edward. (1969). William Wells Brown: Author & Reformer. University Of Chicago. p. 97.
  3. Brown, William Wells (1858). The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom. Phila, PA.: Rhistoric Punlications.