The America Play

by

Suzan-Lori Parks

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The America Play makes teaching easy.

Derringer

A kind of small old-fashioned pistol, which John Wilkes Booth used to kill Abraham Lincoln. One of the Foundling Father’s clients uses a Derringer reenact the assassination, and the Foundling Father comments on… read analysis of Derringer

Ear Trumpet

A funnel-shaped listening device, which functions like a megaphone in reverse, as a kind of hearing aid. Throughout Act Two, Lucy uses an ear trumpet to help her listen for the Foundling Father’s “… read analysis of Ear Trumpet

Gettysburg Address

Arguably the most famous speech in American political history, a brief (less than 300-word) address delivered by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War in 1863. The speech honored fallen Union soldiers and emphasized the “great… read analysis of Gettysburg Address

Our American Cousin

A 1858 play by British dramatist Tom Taylor, which ran primarily in the United States. Abraham Lincoln was watching this play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., when he was assassinated by the actor Johnread analysis of Our American Cousin