Download four score and seven years ago

Olympia Junior Programs presents
FOUR SCORE
AND
SEVEN YEARS AGO
Produced by ArtsPower, Cedar Grove, NJ
February 19-21 & 24-25, 2014
The Washington Center for the Performing Arts
A Study Guide for Teachers of Grades 4 - 6
To Prepare Students for a Positive Theater Experience
THE STORY
In Gettysburg, in the summer of 1863, Lemuel, an escaped slave, works at the dry goods
store owned by Mrs. McIlheny, a Quaker widow. She teaches Lemuel to read, but what he really
wants to do is to be a Union soldier and fight for abolition. He has been told that black men are
not permitted to join the army.
Two soldiers come to the store. One is Sergeant Hitchborne of the Union Army and the
other is General Pickett of the Confederate Army. They are each seeking supplies for their
troops. Mrs. McIlheny’s nephew, Jacob, also comes to the store and refers to Lemuel as “Boy”
and orders him around. However, the two soon discover that they have more in common than the
difference in the color of their skin would have them believe.
Lemuel and Mrs. McIlheny witness the Battle of Gettysburg. They describe the regiments
of the soldiers in blue (Union) and gray (Confederate), the artillery, the cannon fire, the drummers, and the dead and wounded.
Jacob is among the wounded. Although they risk charges of treason, Lemuel and Mrs.
McIlheny help Jacob get back to his unit. Months later, recalling the words of President
Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, they reflect on people who fight for their beliefs.
BEFORE YOU ATTEND
1. Read the OJP Etiquette Guide regarding student behavior.
2. Prepare the class using some of the activities in this Guide and other resources.
THEATRE TERMS AND CONVENTIONS
1. This performance is a musical. In a musical, characters sing songs that tell stories or
reveal their inner thoughts.
2. Characters freeze on stage. Even though the audience can still see the character, “frozen”
characters are not part of the action on stage.
3. One character, Lemuel, speaks directly to the audience. He does this as a narrator who
provides background information or to comment on characters or events.
4. Some actors double which means they play more than one character.
5. Actors sometimes move in slow motion as a way to show speed or confusion.
VOCABULARY
CIVIL WAR - a war fought between two groups of people living in the same country. The
American Civil War is also known as The War Between the States
ABOLITION - a movement to rid the United States of slavery
CONDESCENDING - having a superior attitude
UNION – the northern states that remained loyal to the United States government
CONFEDERATE – referring to the association of states that withdrew from the United States
in 1860 to govern themselves
“BOY” – an insulting term for a black male, usually suggests servant or slave status
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG – a Civil War battle fought between Union and Confederate
forces July 1- 3, 1863
REGIMENTS – military units of ground troops
ARTILLERY – large guns and cannons
DRUMMERS – soldiers who beat rhythms on drums to send orders and to inspire the soldiers
TREASON – the crime of betraying one’s own country by purposefully acting to aid its enemies
FREE STATE – one of the United States in which owning slaves was illegal
DRY GOODS – textiles, clothing and other related items sold at a dry goods store
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD – a series of safe hiding places created to help escaping slaves
reach a free state
QUAKER - a Christian religion also known as the Society of Friends. Quakers spoke “plain
speech. They thought that “thee” was less formal than “you” and used “thee” to address every
person because they believed in equality among all human beings.
BLACK MARKET – an illegal way to sell goods. It means selling goods that are in short supply
for an even higher price.
WAR PROFITEER – someone who makes large amounts of money by selling items that are in
short supply at exorbitant prices
DIXIE – a term also used to describe the Confederacy because the northern boundary line
between the free states and the slave states was the Mason-Dixon Line
REBELS – a nickname for Confederate soldiers because they were in rebellion against the
United States
A CONFLICT OF IDEAS
The writers of Four Score and Seven Years Ago were careful to represent the different views of
what was happening in the Civil War:
THE CONFEDERACY (also known as the South or Dixie) was fighting to support the right of
individual states to choose which laws worked best for those states and to oppose the right of a
central government to impose laws on the whole country.
Many people were fighting to keep slavery, even though they knew it was morally wrong.
They knew that without slaves, the large farms of cotton and tobacco would fail. The farmers
didn’t make enough money to pay as many workers as they needed. Without slaves, the farms
would fail and the whole south would be an economic disaster.
THE UNION (also called The North and The Yankees) was fighting to retain the United States
as one country with one central government that could make laws for the whole country. Many
people were also fighting to abolish slavery in the whole country, not just in certain states.
PACIFISTS are people who hate all kinds of fighting or whose religions forbid fighting. During
the Civil War, pacifists felt both sides were wrong, and that the way to solve differences was
through talking, or “negotiation”.
DISCUSSION AND ACTIVITIES
1. Have students debate the issues of the war described above, having each student speak
from one of the three points of view. Remember, everyone thought they were on the side
of what was right.
2. Can you think of any contemporary issues in our society that remind you of the different
points of view in the Civil War? Current conflicts may not be wars but situations in
which there are two prevailing points of view which are not compatible with each other.
3. The Civil War divided many families. Not all southerners agreed with the Confederacy
and not all northerners agreed with Abraham Lincoln. In fact, Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd
Lincoln, came from a family that sided with the Confederacy. Imagine what it would be
like if you sympathized with the Confederacy but your brother enlisted with the Union.
Pick a partner and act out a conversation you might have.
4. As in many wars, during the Civil War, music played an important part. Much of the
music from the Civil War remains popular today. Listen to some YouTube pieces. Why
was it important to the soldiers to have this music? How do you think it helped them?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMRYTaILXA4 [historic photos also]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecIVIFLo0uE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQmO-WfEkk4
5. President Lincoln used notes when he delivered the Gettysburg address. Because there is
no audio of him delivering it, modern interpretations vary. The narrator can emphasize
different words do that the meaning may be a bit different. Listen to these readings of the text.
How are they similar? How do they differ? Invite students to recite it the way they think it should
be read. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3TgkH7VGSk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TCMHVmNc5w
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
On November 18, 1863, President Lincoln travelled to Gettysburg for the dedication of the
Soldiers’ National Cemetery where soldiers who died in the battle were buried. On November
19, he delivered his speech, which has become one of the most famous speeches in American
history. Lincoln wrote the speech himself. He delivered it standing in the middle of a crowd.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gettysburg_Address This site includes one of only two
photos known of Lincoln at Gettysburg.
“ Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are
engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to
dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that
that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger
sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave
men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add
or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget
what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here
dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased
devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new
birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not
perish from the earth.”
Information in this guide includes material from the Study Buddy produced for this play:
http://www.artspower.org/shows/four-score-and-seven-years-ago/assets/FS-study-buddy.pdf
THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST CONNECTION
February 17-July 6, 2014 the Washington State Historical Society (1911 Pacific Ave, Tacoma;
toll free 1-888-238-4373) will feature an exhibit called “Civil War Pathways of the Pacific
Northwest” http://www.washingtonhistory.org/visit/wshm/exhibits/featured/civilwar
Much of the information that follows is from the Washington State Historical Society.
Should nonwhites live in Washington? Should Washington become a separate nation?
How should the government deal with political dissenters? These were the debates of the day in
this area.
Many people assume the Civil War happened "back East." This misperception neglects
the impact the war had on other areas of the country, including the Pacific Northwest. In fact, the
Civil War was a national war about radically different ideas (slavery, state's rights, political
dissent, and federal power), not just a regional war on eastern battlefields. The people of the
Pacific Northwest made choices and went different ways.
At the time of the start of the Civil War, most of the United States Army was in the west,
protecting west coast ports and keeping peace with the Native Americans. When they were
called back to the east, soldiers had to travel by boat to the Isthmus of Panama, where they took a
train to the Atlantic and boarded ships bound for home. Because soldiers in the United States
Army were commissioned by their state, the soldiers from the southern states joined the Confederate forces, while those from the north went to the Union Army.
The 1st Washington Territory Volunteers was a unit of infantry raised for service in the
Union Army. The headquarters for the regiment was at Fort Vancouver. Some of its companies
were stationed throughout the territories of Washington, Idaho and Oregon, and were used for
the protection of miners and settlers, emigrant parties and other travelers.
Famous soldiers with a connection to the Pacific Northwest are:
George Pickett (the true life Confederate General who appears in the play) – Pickett, then a
Captain, served on the San Juan Islands where he was involved in the famous “Pig War”. At the
Battle of Gettysburg, he lost most of his division in what is known as “Pickett’s Charge.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pickett
Isaac Stevens – In 1853, Stevens was appointed the first Territorial Governor of Washington
Territory. A graduate of the United States Military Academy, he had served in the Army Corps
of Engineers. At the outbreak of the Civil War he re-enlisted in the Army and was promoted to
Colonel. He died in the Battle of Chantilly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Stevens
Ulysses S. Grant – President Lincoln appointed Grant as the Commander of the Union Army in
1863. Grant led the forces to victory and later served two terms as President. Prior to the war he
served as quartermaster at Fort Vancouver in the Oregon Territory in 1852.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_Grant
AFTER ATTENDING THE PERFORMANCE
Ask students about their reactions to the play, the characters, costumes or set. Letters can be sent
to Olympia Junior Programs, PO. Box 1371, Olympia, WA 98507-1371.
Teachers may complete the Evaluation Form provided by the school’s OJP Representative, or
post comments online at the Evaluation Tab of www.olympiajuniorprograms.com