SUPPORT:

STUDY GUIDE Hartford Stage Education Programs are supported by:

MAJOR SPONSORSAllied World Assurance CompanyAnonymousBeatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, as recommended by Linda & David GlicksteinJ. Walton Bissell Foundation Ensworth Charitable Foundation Greater Hartford Arts Council Lincoln Financial Foundation SBM Charitable Foundation, Inc. Travelers Foundation

SUPPORTING SPONSORSBarnes Foundation, Inc.Elizabeth Carse FoundationCitizens BankDSJJ Fund of Tides FoundationEnterprise Holdings FoundationMr. & Mrs. William Foulds Family FoundationThe Ellen Jeanne Goldfarb Memorial Charitable TrustGreater Hartford Automobile Dealers AssociationHartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance CompanyHartford Wolf Pack Community Foundation, Inc.Aaron Hollander and Simon Hollander Funds Kaman Corporation LEGO Children’s Fund NewAlliance Foundation Charles Nelson Robinson Foundation TD Charitable FoundationWells Fargo

For more information about Hartford Stage’s innovative education programs, visit education.hartfordstage.org or call 860.520.7206

By Matthew Lopez Directed by Hana S. Sharif

PRODUCTION SPONSOR:

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT:

HARTFORDSTAGE.ORG 860-527-5151FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 18, 2012

“HAUNTING, STRIKING AND POWERFUL.”— The New York Times

THE WHIPPING MAN IS PRESENTED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.

PRODUCTION SPONSOR:

THE WHIPPING MAN IS PRESENTED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.

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Study Guide ObjectivesThis 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.

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.

Matthew Lopez on The Whipping Man

“History is the story of life interrupted,

suspended momentarily, and then

put back differently. History is the constant reshuffling of the deck

of cards that is the human experience.”

— “When History Ends and Life Begins,”

Performances

“I think what most surprised me is how unbelievably fragile the specific sequence of events were that went into making the play possible. If only one thing had gone awry, if one of the generals had dug in his heels a little longer, if rational thought had trumped emotional action on the part of everyone in this history, I simply wouldn’t have a story. It was a perfect storm of history.” — “An Interview With the Playwright,” Stagebill

“I hate plays in which if one of the characters could end the play by simply saying ‘screw this, I’m outta here’ and doesn’t. I made a solemn vow never to write one of those. Hence all the things keeping my characters in this house…” — “An Interview With the Playwright,” Stagebill

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TIMELINE OF HISTORICAL EVENTS

• 1777—The American colony of Vermont is the first government entity to abolish slavery.

• 1780—Pennsylvania is the first state to abolish slavery with laws that call for gradual abolition.

• 1783—The state of Massachusetts abolishes slavery and grants voting rights to blacks and Native Americans.

• 1787—Delegates at the Constitutional Convention debate whether the Congress should end the importation of slaves. Delegates from Georgia and South Carolina threaten that their states will not join the Union and win concessions that the slave trade cannot be restricted for 20 years. Congress passes the three-fifths clause, which allows each slave to be counted as three-fifths of a person for representation in Congress. The power of slave states is strengthened as a result.

• July 1787—Congress passes the Northwest Ordinance, preventing slavery from existing in newly acquired territories.

• 1790—Of Richmond, VA’s approximately 3,700 residents, about 100 are Jewish.

• 1791—Vermont enters the Union as a free state.

• 1792—Kentucky enters

Playwright Matthew Lopez.

“I was drawn to the Civil War because it provided two calamities in one event: war and slavery. How do you go from being a slave all your life to being free? What are the psychological mechanics of that? I wanted to write about slaves who have just recently been set free. “But how does that shift work? For Caleb, the white character in the play, the question was: what do you do after four years of war and your home is destroyed? How do you rebuild not just your infrastructure, but your way of life, particularly when it was your very way of life that started the war in the first place?” — “Interview: Matthew Lopez Explains…” Berkshire On Stage

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“In terms of the role of onstage violence throughout history, it is as old as theatre itself—the Greek and Shakespearian eye-gouging, infanticide, beheadings, poisonings, shootings and all those wonderful run-throughs with a sword. Theatre-goers are bloodthirsty people by and large. It harkens back to the Roman gladiatorial exhibitions. I think the difference, of course, is the effect the violence has on the story. At the risk of sounding flippant about human suffering, it’s no different than a song in a musical: if it helps reveal character or propel the plot, I say go for it. If it doesn’t, it’s gratuitous.” — “An Interview With the Playwright,” Stagebill

the Union as a slave state.• February 1793—Congress

passes the first Fugitive Slave Act, requiring all runaway slaves to be returned to their masters and imposing a fine of $500 on anyone found aiding a fugitive.

• 1796—Tennessee enters the Union as a slave state.

• 1800—The national census finds that approximately 17% of the population of the United States consists of slaves. There are virtually no slaves in the northern states but percentages are quite high in the south, including 42% in South Carolina and 39% in Virginia.

• August 1800—In Richmond, Virginia, slave Gabriel Prosser leads a rebellion in which he and a group of armed slaves plan to seize Capitol Square and take Governor James Monroe hostage. The rebellion is unsuccessful, and Prosser and many of his followers are captured and executed.

• 1803—Ohio enters the Union as a free state, per the terms of the Northwest Ordinance.

• 1804—The New Jersey state legislature introduces a gradual emancipation act.

• March 1807—The U.S. Congress bans the importation of any new slaves into the United States, effective January 1, 1808.

“It illustrated for me how pernicious and unavoidable

slavery was: that Jews, with their own history of enslavement could own

slaves themselves. It seemed to me the most regrettable

of hypocrisies and one that might resonate with a modern audience, both Jewish and non-Jewish.

We are all the result of the mistakes and the hypocrisies of our American forebears.”

— “Interview: Matthew Lopez Explains…” Berkshire

On Stage

“What fascinates me are the moments that

history skips over: when calamity subsides and life is free to return to normal.” —“When History Ends and Life Begins,” Performances

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Themes for DiscussionFreedom and Identity Fellow Jews or master and slaves? Best friends, brothers, fellow free men . . . or owner and property? As one army surrenders to another, a nation, once torn in two, begins the painful process of reconstruction, and the word “freedom” takes on new meaning. For three men, two black and one white, who they are as a people and as a household is forever altered and they are forced to redefine themselves and each other within a new normal. In Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man, freedom is a condition that governs who each man was, is, and can be. In the days following General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, Confederate Captain Caleb DeLeon returns home to find his home city of Richmond, Virginia, in ruins. Caleb’s leg, wounded in battle, has become gangrenous and needs to be amputated. For help, he must rely on Simon and John, two longtime slaves in the DeLeon household. The news of the Northern victory has brought Simon and John new identities as free men, and this new status is an immediate factor. As Caleb orders Simon to find more whiskey to aid in the leg amputation that

SIMON: Bein’ FREE means more than just broken chains . . . It means FREEDOM from anything that breaks your SPIRIT or muddies your MIND. Because there’s MORE

THAN JUST ONE WAY a man can be a SLAVE. (Act II, Scene 2)

Simon will perform, Simon issues Caleb a gentle reminder: “All these things you’re telling me to do, by rights now you need to be asking me to do” (I, 1). John, too, muses over how freedom has instantly redefined the men’s roles. “What do I call you now,” John wonders. “‘Master’ doesn’t quite fit no more . . . ‘Sir?’ Do I address you as ‘sir,’ now” (I, 1)? For Simon and John, freedom from slavery in mid-19th century America is more than the victory at the end of a civil war. It is the fulfillment of an ancient promise made to them as God’s chosen people. The DeLeon family shared their Jewish faith with their slaves and encouraged them to adopt it as their own. But while the Jews depicted in the stories of the Torah were freed from bondage, the DeLeons’ Jewish slaves remained as such until the Civil War’s Union victory allowed for a new exodus. From childhood, John fixated on the hypocrisy of Jewish slave owners, descendants of a people who were once enslaved themselves and who held it as a tenet of their faith to never enslave fellow Jews. Existence as a Jewish slave to a Jewish master created crises of identity and of faith for John. “I poured over the books of the Torah . . . It certainly got me to thinking,” he confesses in Act I, Scene 3. “Were we Jews or were we slaves? Were we the children of Israel or were we just the heathen that were round about you? Because we couldn’t be both, that was clear.”

• 1810—The census finds that slaves still constitute 17% of the country’s population. 47% of South Carolina’s population and 42% of Georgia’s population consists of slaves.

• 1812—Louisiana enters the Union as a slave state.

• 1816—Indiana enters the Union as a free state.

• 1817—Mississippi enters the Union as a slave state.

• 1818—Illinois enters the Union as a free state.

• 1819—Alabama enters the Union as a slave state.

• 1820—The census finds that slaves are now 15% of the country’s population. The percentage of slaves in southern states is as high as 51% in South Carolina and 45% in Louisiana.

• March 1820—The Missouri compromise is negotiated. It allows Maine to enter the Union as a free state and Missouri to enter as a slave state, thus keeping an even balance of free and slave states. The 36°30’ north parallel of latitude is also established as a dividing line between free and slave-holding areas of the territories.

• 1827—The state of New York abolishes slavery.

• 1830—The census finds that slaves are 16% of the total population of the United States, including 54% in South Carolina and 51% in Louisiana.

• January 1831—William Lloyd Garrison publishes

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Despite his enslavement in the DeLeons’ home, Simon never allowed his Jewish faith to waver in the face of such questions. “Whether you like it or not,” Simon tells John in Act I, Scene 3, “we are a family. We shared a faith. And that faith came to us from Caleb’s family. A gift. Generations brought up together in this house in the faith of God.” When Passover, the celebration of the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt, coincides with the freeing of the slaves in the American South, it propels Simon to further embrace his Judaism. For his entire life, he has been both a slave and a Jew. Now that he is no longer a slave, Simon even more fully inhabits his Jewish identity. The new Exodus has begun, and Simon demands that he, John, and Caleb not only observe it, but also proclaim their identities as free Jews.

SIMON: Pesach calls us to be what?CALEB: Free.SIMON: Pesach calls us to freedom. FREEDOM!CALEB: Freedom.SIMON: Let freedom ring in this house!(Act II, Scene 2)

Questions:• Was Mr. DeLeon successful in his goal of teaching Caleb and John

the “true relationship between a master and his slave” (I, 3)? Why did Mr. DeLeon want to remind them that one was free and the other was not? How did Caleb’s and John’s experiences with the Whipping Man that day help shape their identities? What changes did this event prompt in their relationship?

• During the Seder in Act II, Scene 2, Simon says that John is still a slave to the bottle and Caleb is a slave to his old ideas. What does he mean? Besides physical, what other kinds of slavery exist? How can John and Caleb free themselves from their enslavement? How does Caleb’s identity as an army deserter contribute to his enslavement? At the end of the play, what challenges must John and Caleb face if they want to become free?

The Power of Ownership What does it mean to own something, or more specifically, someone? How can the power derived from ownership be wielded to control people and events? In the pre-Civil War South, these questions were at the forefront of personal, political, and economic interactions. As the men in The Whipping Man begin to find their bearings in the first few days of Reconstruction, they explore what it means to hold the power of an owner when you were previously the owned. In the years before the Civil War, the objectification of human beings was a major force in the DeLeon household. The DeLeons took full advantage of the legality of owning both material objects and human beings, and exercised their owner’s rights to do with their possessions as they chose. John claims this is the reason why he and Caleb were never truly friends. “It wasn’t a friendship Simon,” he says in Act I, Scene 3. “Not

the first issue of the Liberator, an abolitionist journal.

• August 21-22, 1831—In Southampton County, Virginia, Nat Turner leads a group of about 70 enslaved and free blacks in a rebellion against their white oppressors. The rebels kill approximately 60 white men, women, and children. The rebellion is put down by a white militia within 48 hours. Nat Turner and 55 other slaves will eventually be executed, and between 100 and 200 more blacks who are unassociated with Turner will be killed by white militias and mobs, who fear further rebellion.

• 1834—Slavery is abolished throughout the British Empire.

• May 1836—The U.S. House of Representatives passes a resolution to postpone action on all petitions and legislations regarding slavery without hearing them.

• June 1836—Arkansas enters the Union as a slave state.

• January 1837—Michigan enters the Union as a free state.

• 1838—The Underground Railroad is formally organized, led by black abolitionist Robert Purvis.

• 1840—The census shows that 15% of the country’s population consists of slaves. In South Carolina, slaves are 55% of the population and 52% in

Ruins of Richmond, VA, 1865. Photo by Mathew Brady. Brady National Photographic Art Gallery, Washington, DC.

when one friend owns the other. Orders him around. Sends him off for whippings.” John is keenly aware of the authority being an owner carries. His report to Caleb in Act I, Scene 3, of Mr. DeLeon’s sale of Simon’s wife, Elizabeth, and daughter, Sarah, is a blunt articulation of the power dynamic between an owner and those he owns. When Caleb reacts to the news with disbelief, John’s response is simple: “He owned them. He could sell them if he wanted to.” Caleb maintains that despite the fact that he has carried the title of “owner” himself, he is not like his father. He has always seen the family’s slaves as people he cared about, not as possessions. “I loved [Sarah],” he tells Simon in Act II, Scene 2. But Simon believes that love takes many forms and that Caleb’s feelings for Sarah were more rooted in his control over her than in true emotion. “YOU OWNED HER,” Simon reminds him. “How did you love her, Caleb? Like you love a dog. You love a dog, you feed a dog. But when he acts up, you also—(boom-SMACK!)—beat a dog. You might have thought you loved Sarah but you also owned her. And if this hadn’t all just happened, you would have owned your baby, too. You would have owned your own child, Caleb” (II, 2). Simon and John equate the ownership of possessions with power and authority. For John, his theft of food, clothes, and other items from destroyed Richmond homes is his first step in asserting his new power. He has seen owners acquire, possess, and sell things for no particular reason, other than to show that they can do it. As a free man, John can do that, too, as he explains to Caleb in Act I, Scene 3:

CALEB: What’s all this?JOHN: Things.CALEB: Whose?JOHN: Mine, now.CALEB: What are you going to do with it?JOHN: Own it.CALEB: Why?JOHN: Because I can.

But abandoned effects in demolished houses are not the only things John steals. John goes through Caleb’s belongings, where he finds a stack of Caleb’s letters to Sarah, a slave with whom Caleb fell in love and who also happens to be Simon’s daughter. When Caleb confronts John about taking

Mississippi.• 1845—Former slave

Frederick Douglass publishes his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

• March 1845—Florida enters the Union as a slave state.

• December 1845—Texas enters the Union as a slave state.

• December 1846—Iowa enters the Union as a free state.

• May 1848—Wisconsin enters the Union as a free state.

• 1849—Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland, but returns to the South nineteen times to help others do the same. She is credited with helping more than 300 slaves find their way to freedom.

• 1850—The census shows that 15% of the country’s population consists of slaves. In South Carolina, slaves are 58% of the population and 51% in Mississippi.

• September 1850—Congress passes the Compromise of 1850, allowing California to enter the Union as a free state, the territories of New Mexico and Utah to be organized with no restrictions on slavery, and for slave trading in Washington, DC, to be abolished as of January, 1851. The Compromise also strengthens the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

the letters in Act II, Scene 2, John admits that he had no right to go through Caleb’s property. But possessing the letters gives John unmistakable power over Caleb. “They are not yours,” Caleb asserts. But John defends himself with the understanding that possession and ownership are closely tied. Besides, the letters “are not yours, either,” he reminds Caleb. “They are Sarah’s.” In Sarah’s absence, it is whoever possesses the letters that controls them and the sentiments they contain. Simon, too, believes ownership is a vital factor in having power and control over his own life. Despite being illiterate, Simon has held on to the one thing he could own as a slave: a copy of the Haggadah, a Jewish religious text. When Caleb asks Simon in Act I, Scene 3, if he is able to read it, Simon confirms, “Not a word. But I have it,” and having it is what counts. Now that he is a free man, Simon plans to own more than just a book, and he is going to do it by purchasing, not stealing, as John has. He claims that Mr. DeLeon promised him money and already knows what he will do with it. “We gonna build a house. Lizbeth and me,” he says in Act I, Scene 3. “Own something. Be something.” For Simon, there is no better way to show his power over his fate than to purchase and own something.

Federal soldiers at Appomattox Courthouse, April 1865. Photo by Timothy O’Sullivan. Library of Congress.

Questions:• John takes a variety of objects from the ruins of Richmond and

brings them home to the DeLeon house. When Caleb accuses him in Act I, Scene 1, of stealing, John replies that the whiskey he holds “was liberated and is now being occupied by me.” What does he mean? Do John’s actions count as theft if the items he took come from abandoned homes? If the owners of the items return, to whom do the items belong?

• What does the phrase “possession is nine-tenths of the law” mean? How does it apply to John’s possession of Caleb’s letters to Sarah? Who do the letters really belong to: John, Caleb, or Sarah?

• Why does Simon equate owning something with being something? How will building and owning a house satisfy that need?

Deception and Secrecy In The Whipping Man, all three men keep secrets that bind them to each other and to the ruins of the DeLeon family home they inhabit. Each character is repeatedly faced with disclosures of new information that could enact permanent change on his life. All three men withhold some

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to allow slaveholders to retrieve slaves from free states and territories and to require fugitive slaves to be returned to their masters.

• 1852—Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

• 1854—Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which overturns the Missouri Compromise and opens the Northern territories to slavery.

• May 1856—Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner delivers a speech attacking slavery supporters in the Senate, in which he singles out South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler. Butler’s nephew, South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks, attacks Sumner on the Senate floor two days later, beating him with a cane. It takes Sumner three years to recover. Brooks is not expelled or censured by the House of Representatives.

• 1857—Virginia Senator Robert M. T. Hunter proposes the dispersal of the federal government’s budget surplus through a major tax reduction. The resulting Tariff of 1857 is primarily supported by export-dependent southern states and some northern wool manufacturers. Much of the North opposes the bill, increasing the tension between the northern and southern states.

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of what they know, only revealing it at the moment that will most benefit them, or when they have no other choice. But when valuable information is kept from those who need it, the result is a deeply personal deception with consequences that last a lifetime. Caleb arrives home carrying a secret that could cost him his life. Caleb reports that he sustained his gangrenous leg wound in battle at Petersburg and claims that when he surrendered with General Lee at Appomattox Courthouse, the Union doctors were too focused on taking care of their own men to tend to his leg. His resistance to Simon and John’s proposals to bring him to Chimborazo Army Hospital for help almost immediately draws suspicion from John, who sees no logic in Caleb’s insistence that Simon perform the amputation at home when he could have it done by a doctor in a medical facility not far away. It is not long before John poses his theory of the cause of Caleb’s behavior in Act I, Scene 3:

JOHN: I think you weren’t anywhere near Appomattox. I think you surrendered long before the rest of your army did. I think you’re a deserter . . . I bet I can prove it, too. It’s why you didn’t want to go to the hospital, isn’t it? You go there, someone’s gonna figure out your story. So you have your surgery here. Have Simon care for your wounds, get you food. Oh and, of course, hide you if anyone comes looking for you.

Caleb rejects John’s reasoning, but confirms John’s hypothesis by refusing to show his official pardon, which any surrendered Confederate soldier would have. Caleb’s secret makes him dependent upon Simon and John: he needs both their care and their discretion if he is to survive. Despite his resentment, John keeps his knowledge of Caleb’s desertion to himself. John has his own secret reasons for hiding. When Simon informs John that Freddy Cole was looking for him while he was asleep and asks what Freddy would want with him, John is defensive. He refuses to disclose the reason why Freddy is seeking him because it is rooted in another secret he carries: the fate of Simon’s wife and daughter. Simon believes that his family fled to safety with Mr. DeLeon, but John knows otherwise. He was there the day that Mr. DeLeon sold Elizabeth and Sarah while Simon was away. John also knows the truth of why they were sold, and surprises Caleb with his knowledge of Caleb’s romantic relationship with Sarah.

JOHN: I saw it with my own eyes. Watched them taken away. In chains. Caleb: they are gone.(take a moment)CALEB: Why would he do that?JOHN: You can’t think of a reason? Why your father might not want Sarah in the house anymore?CALEB: Did you tell my father?JOHN: No. When was the last time you were home on leave?CALEB: I don’t remember.JOHN: September. Seven months ago. Things started to become

• March 6, 1857—The United States Supreme Court reaches a decision in Dred Scott v. John F. A. Sandford, ruling that people of African descent brought to the United States as slaves (and their descendants) were not protected by the Constitution and cannot be United States citizens.

• 1858—Minnesota enters the Union as a free state.

• 1859—Oregon enters the Union as a free state.

• October 16-18, 1859—Abolitionist John Brown and 21 others attempt to start a slave rebellion in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, by attacking and capturing the United States Arsenal there. Colonel Robert E. Lee leads 90 United States Marines in capturing Brown. Five men (four white and one black) are killed.

• December 2, 1859—John Brown is hanged after being found guilty of conspiracy, inciting servile insurrection, and treason against the state.

• 1860—The census shows that slaves are 13% of the country’s population. 57% of the population of South Carolina consists of slaves.

• November 6, 1860—Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th President of the United States, receiving 40% of the popular vote and 59% of the electoral votes. He receives only 1% of the

quite . . . apparent in that time.(I, 3)

For a week, John has kept Mr. DeLeon’s sale of Elizabeth and Sarah a secret, and Caleb’s personal anguish motivates him to push for them to bring the information to Simon’s attention. “How long are we going to lie to him?” Caleb asks in Act II, Scene 2. “They are out there, John. Sarah and Elizabeth. With my child. He needs to know.” But John cannot allow that to happen. John had tried to stop Mr. DeLeon from selling Elizabeth and Sarah and was sent to the Whipping Man for his actions. But as Freddy Cole witnessed, John’s visit to the Whipping Man on that day ended quite differently than all those before, and to help ensure that he and Freddy never meet face to face again, John leverages his knowledge of Caleb’s secret to secure his silence. “Then tell him. And let him go find them. I’ll gladly take you to the hospital,” John threatens. “Why don’t we just grab your pardon and go?” But it is Simon who keeps the oldest, deepest secrets of all. “You could put the things you know inside the things you don’t and still have room for more,” he tells John in Act I, Scene 3. All of his life, John has been ignorant to much of his own past, but as a constant presence in the DeLeon household, Simon knows even the most hidden chapters of its history. Simon reveals that John was born in the DeLeon house before being sold, with his mother, to a man in another part of Richmond. “You was six when your mama died . . . And Caleb’s mama talked Mr. DeLeon into buying you back to have a mother in my Lizbeth and to be near young folks like Caleb and Sarah,” Simon recounts in Act I, Scene 3. The information is a revelation to John and Caleb, but its impact is short-lived and they quickly return to their adversarial stances. But after Caleb forces John to confess that Simon’s family was sold, Simon divulges another secret to prove to the younger men that they have more in common than they know. “I wouldn’t feel too badly if I were you, Caleb. You ain’t the only man in your family to have a baby with a slave. It’s time you knew that fact. Things don’t change that much from father to son. That much I can see. Or, I guess, from brother to brother. That much I can see now, too” (II, 2).

Questions:• Why does Caleb lie to Simon and John about being at Appomattox

Courthouse with General Lee? • Why does Caleb initially agree not to reveal what John has told

him about Mr. DeLeon’s decision to sell Simon’s family? Why has John kept the secret for as long as he has? Why does Caleb eventually choose to reveal what happened to Sarah and Elizabeth? Is withholding the truth the same as telling a lie?

• Why did Simon conceal the truth of John’s origins for so many years? What does he accomplish by revealing the truth at the moment he does?

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vote in Virginia and is not included on the ballot in the Deep South.

• December 20, 1860—The South Carolina Convention passes an ordinance of secession, making it the first state to secede from the Union.

• December 26, 1860—Major General Robert Anderson, a former slave owner from Kentucky who remained loyal to the Union, moves his troops into South Carolina’s Ft. Sumter. Ft. Sumter remains under Union control until April 13, 1861, and is the Union’s last post in the Deep South.

• January 9, 1861—A merchant ship, Star of the West, arrives in Charleston, South Carolina, with supplies to reinforce Ft. Sumter, but is fired upon and forced to retreat. Mississippi secedes from the Union.

• January 10, 1861—Florida secedes from the Union.

• January 11, 1861—Alabama secedes from the Union.

• January 19, 1861—Georgia secedes from the Union.

• January 26, 1861—Louisiana secedes from the Union.

• January 29, 1861—Kansas enters the Union as a free state.

• February 1861—The Virginia Convention begins in Richmond to consider the possibility of secession.

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For Further ExplorationLocations in The Whipping Man

• Richmond—The capital city of Virginia which became the capital of the Confederacy on May 20, 1861. The city was evacuated when General Grant captured it on April 2, 1865, just days before the war ended. Chimborazo was the city’s army hospital.

• Williamsburg—Virginia’s capital city from 1699-1780. The Union army took control of the city following the Battle of Williamsburg, May 5-6, 1862.

• Petersburg—For 292 days from June 9, 1864-March 25, 1865, Petersburg and the surrounding area were the site of intense trench warfare. The Union army, aiming to cut off supply lines between Petersburg and Richmond, defeated Confederate forces, causing General Lee to retreat to Appomattox and eventually leading the Confederates to surrender.

• Appomattox—The site of the final battle of the Civil War on April 9, 1865. Confederate General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered to Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant.

• Sharpsburg—The Battle of Sharpsburg, also known as the Battle of Antietam, was fought on September 17, 1862 and was the first major battle of the Civil War fought on northern soil. With more than 23,000 total casualties, it is the bloodiest single-day battle in American history.

• Fredericksburg—A city of significant strategic importance during the Civil War, due to its being a midpoint between Washington, D.C., and Richmond, the two opposing capital cities. The Battle of Fredericksburg (December 11-15, 1862) resulted in a Confederate victory with Union casualties totaling more than twice that of the Confederates, making it one of the most one-sided battles in the war. The Second Battle of Fredericksburg took place on May 3, 1863, as part of the Chancellorsville Campaign. A Union victory resulted when Major General John Sedgwick’s forces overpowered the much smaller Confederate force, left to hold the city by General Lee.

• February 1, 1861—Texas secedes from the Union.

• February 8, 1861—The Provisional Constitution of the Confederacy is adopted at the Montgomery Convention in Montgomery, Alabama, establishing the Confederate States of America.

• February 9, 1861—Delegates at the Montgomery Convention unanimously elect Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederacy.

• February 18, 1861—Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as President of the Confederate States of America.

• March 4, 1861—Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States of America.

• March 6, 1861—The Confederate Congress authorizes an army of volunteers.

• April 12-13, 1861—The Civil War begins when Union-held Ft. Sumter is bombarded by the Confederates.

• April 17, 1861—Virginia secedes from the Union.

• May 6, 1861—Arkansas secedes from the Union.

• May 20, 1861—North Carolina secedes from the Union. The Confederate Congress votes to relocate the capital of the Confederacy from Montgomery to Richmond, Virginia.

• July 1861—Congress defeats a bill that would

Sharpsburg

AppomattoxWilliamsburgPetersburg

Fredericksburg

Richmond

allow ordained rabbis to serve as chaplains in the army. The 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry elects one of its men, Hebrew teacher Michael Mitchell Allen, to serve as its regimental chaplain anyway. Allen later resigns when a YMCA worker discovers that Allen, as the regiment’s chaplain, is not an ordained minister or a Christian. The regiment nominates ordained Rabbi Arnold Fishcel to replace him. A year of lobbying begins to update the law to allow rabbis to serve as chaplains.

• June 8, 1861—Tennessee secedes from the Union.

• July 21, 1861—The first Battle of Manassas occurs, in which Union troops are defeated by Confederate Generals Joseph E. Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard.

• January 1862—House Republican Leader Thaddeus Stevens calls for war against the rebel states to include the emancipation of slaves, believing the loss of enslaved labor would ruin the Confederate economy.

• April 1862—The Confederate government approves the first military draft in American history.

• September 17, 1862—The Battle of Antietam is the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with more than 23,000 total casualties.

• September 18, 1862—

Passages from and References to the TorahTranslation of prayers:

• Act I, Scene 1 SIMON: Baruch atah adonai elohenu melech haolam mechaye hametim (A blessing for some one whom has returned or whom has not been seen in a long time. It means: “Blessed are You, Lord, Our God, King of the Universe, who revives the dead.”)• Act I, Scene 3— SIMON: Baruch attah Adonai elohenu melekh ha-olam shehakol niheyah biduaro (“Blessed are you, Adonai, Our God, who brings about all things by His word.”)• Act II, Scene 2 SIMON: Mah nishtanah, ha-laylah ha-zeh, mi-kol ha leylot (“Why is this night different from all other nights?”)

ExodusExodus is the second book of the Torah. It tells the story of the Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt and God’s command that they be released. Their emancipation is commemorated in the annual observance of Passover, also known as Pesach.

Act I, Scene 3SIMON: John, you say today is April fourteenth?JOHN: It is.SIMON: You know that puts us as Passover.JOHN: Imagine that. Couldn’t come at a better time.CALEB: It comes every year at this time.JOHN: You know what I’m talking about.SIMON: I think he’s talking about—CALEB: I know what he means.SIMON: —the fact that here we are this year, where we are this year, in the middle of all we are this year and Pesach happening at the same time.JOHN: Why is this year different from all other years?SIMON: It’s a miracle, is what it is.

LeviticusLeviticus is the third book of the Torah and explains the religious laws governing sacrifices, diet, and morality.

Act I, Scene 2—Leviticus 25JOHN: Already before she started to teach me, I was asking questions. Like when was God going to set us free like he did the slaves in Egypt. Or whether Nat Turner was our new Moses.

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Congress changes the law to allow ordained members of non-Christian religions to serve as chaplains. Rabbi Arnold Fishcel is officially commissioned as the first Jewish chaplain.

• December 13, 1862—Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia defeat Union General Ambrose E. Burnside and the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

• December 17, 1862—Convinced that the area’s black market in southern cotton is primarily organized by Jews, General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling all Jews from “the Department of Tennessee,” an administrative district of Union army occupation that was composed of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The forced evacuations of Jewish families prompt protests by the Jewish communities of the North’s major cities.

• Late December 1862—Cesar Kaskel leads a group of Jewish merchants from Paducah, KY, in sending a telegram to President Abraham Lincoln calling Order No. 11 an “enormous outrage” and a violation of their constitutional rights.

• January 1, 1863—President Abraham Lincoln issues

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A postcard, c. 1914, with a picture of Richmond, VA’s Beth Ahabah, the sixth oldest synagogue in the United States.

That’s when our lessons ended. But I kept reading. I poured over the books of the Torah. And I kept asking questions, if only to myself. You ever read Leviticus?CALEB: You know I have.JOHN: Then you’ll remember this:

“Both thy bondman and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. They shall be your possession and ye shall take them for your children to inherit for themselves. But over your brethren, the children of Israel:Ye.Shall.Not. Rule.”

DeuteronomyThe Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth and final book of the Torah, and contains three speeches by Moses in which he summarizes and interprets God’s laws for the Israelites.

Act I, Scene 3—Deuteronomy 5:13JOHN: As it says in the Torah: “When you set him free, do not let him go empty-handed.”

PsalmsThe Book of Psalms is a collection of 150 sacred writings traditionally sung or recited in Temple services. Psalms 120-134 are known as the 15 “Songs of the Ascents,” each of which corresponded with one of the 15 steps the priests in ancient Jerusalem climbed to reach the altar.

Act II, Scene 2—Psalm 126SIMON: When the Lord returns the exiles of Zion, we will have been like dreamers . . . Then our mouth will be filled with laughter, and our tongue with songs of joy . . . Then they will say among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all slaves in Confederate-controlled regions are free and authorizing the enlistment of black men in the Union army.

• January 3, 1863—Cesar Kaskel meets with President Abraham Lincoln at the White House. Lincoln commands Grant to revoke Order No. 11, which he does three days later.

• March 1863—The Confederate Impressment Act goes into effect, allowing the Confederate government to seize food, slaves, and supplies to support the Confederate armies. The resulting hoarding and speculation drive up commodities prices.

• April 2, 1863—The Confederate Congress passes a tax-in-kind law, allowing it to seize, and negotiate prices for, farmers’ crops. A mob protests inflation and hunger by attacking government warehouses, grocery stores, and merchants in the Richmond Bread Riot. It is the largest and most destructive in a series of civil disturbances in Confederate states in the spring of 1863.

• August 26, 1863—The Restored government of Virginia refuses to recognize Virginia’s secession from the Union

“The Passover Question”What is Passover? Passover, or Pesach, is a festive, multiday Jewish holiday, celebrated in the spring, which commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from decades of slavery in Egypt. According to the Passover story, God sent Moses to the Egyptian pharaoh with a message to release the Israelites. Despite multiple warnings that there would be dire consequences if the Israelites remained enslaved, the pharaoh refused to free them. As a result, God sent ten plagues down upon the Egyptians: water that turned to blood, frogs, lice, flies, disease on livestock, unhealable boils, hail and thunder, locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn. In preparation for the last plague, the Israelites marked their front doors with the blood of sacrificed lambs, and the plague passed over their homes, sparing the Israeli families (thus, the name of the holiday). Meanwhile, the firstborn son of every Egyptian family, including the pharoah’s own, perished. Finally convinced of God’s power, the pharaoh ordered the Israelites to leave Egypt immediately. People of the Jewish faith celebrate Passover over the course of seven to eight days.

What is a Seder? A Seder is a 15-step ceremony held on the first two nights of Passover. The following are focal-points of the ceremony:

• Eating matzah, a cracker-like flatbread. When the Israelites were freed, they were forced to leave Egypt so quickly that the bread they were baking did not have time to rise. The matzah represents this bread.

• Eating bitter herbs, a reminder of the bitter slavery endured by the Israelites. The herbs are dipped in Charoset, a mixture of chopped apples and nuts.

• Drinking four cups of wine. The four cups represent the four expressions of deliverance God promised the Israelites: “I will bring out,” “I will deliver,” “I will redeem,” and “I will take.”

• Reading from the Haggadah, the religious text that tells the story of the Israelites’ enslavement and release in the Book of Exodus.

Why is this night different from all other nights? One of the components of the Seder is “The Four Questions,” which are actually variations on the question, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” During a Seder, the youngest child in the family is prompted to ask the Four Questions and the Seder leader will invite the young person to identify the differences he or she notices.

• Question: On all other nights, many kinds of bread are eaten. Why on this night do we eat only matzah? Answer: On Passover, only matzah is eaten to symbolize the unleavened hard bread eaten by the Israelites on their journey out of Egypt.

• Question: On all other nights, many kinds of vegetables and herbs are eaten. Why on this night do we eat only bitter herbs? Answer:

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and designates Alexandria as its capital.

• July 1-3, 1863—The Battle of Gettysburg takes place. Both armies hold their positions.

• July 4, 1863—General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia retreats south.

• July 14, 1863—The Union cavalry attacks the retreating Army of Northern Virginia, disrupting, but not stopping, the Confederate retreat.

• February 13, 1864—The Virginia Convention, called by the Restored government of Virginia, takes place in Alexandria. In the coming weeks, the seventeen delegates will vote in favor of abolishing slavery, adopting a new state constitution, excluding Confederate officeholders from voting rights, and recognizing Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States.

• June 15, 1864-April 2, 1865—Union General Ulysses S. Grant lays siege to Petersburg, Virginia, for 10 months.

• January 31, 1865—The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution by a vote of 199 to 56. The amendment abolishes slavery.

• March 4, 1865—The Confederate Congress votes to arm African

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On Passover, only bitter herbs are eaten as a reminder of the bitter slavery the Israelites endured.

• Question: On all other nights, one food is not dipped into another. Why on this night do we dip twice? Answer: On Passover the herbs are dipped in Charoset, which resembles the clay the enslaved Israelites shaped into bricks. Parsley is dipped in salt water as a reminder of the salty tears shed by the slaves.

• Question: On all other nights, meals are eaten sitting up straight. Why on this night do we eat reclining? Answer: On Passover, the meal is eaten while leaning on a comfortable pillow as a reminder that those who were once slaves are now free and can relax if they so choose.

Jewish Confederate soldier Isaac J. Levy, a member of the 46th Virginia infantry. Levy was killed at Peters-burg on August 21, 1864, and is buried in the He-brew Cemetery on Shockoe Hill in Richmond.

Questions:• Compare and contrast the makeshift Seder

held by the characters in The Whipping Man with a traditional Seder. What elements are executed in the traditional way? What elements are improvised? In light of the chaotic events around them, why is it so important to Simon that they hold a Seder?

• Passover is a holiday of remembrance; its traditions are full of symbolism and storytelling. What symbols are used and what stories are told over and over again on holidays that you celebrate? Of what do the symbols and stories serve as reminders? The Seder dinner is a ritual intended to be participated in as a family. Do you and your family participate in any ritual meals? What specific foods do you always eat at these events? Do these foods hold any special meaning?

• In a play’s structure, the inciting incident is the first sign of disharmony in the world of the play. There is a hint of change in the status quo—something is different than it was before. This moment is the first signal the audience receives that gives them a clue of what this play is really about. When preparing to direct a play, many directors begin by considering the play in terms of “the Passover question” in order to determine the play’s inciting incident—why is this night different from all other nights? Why is this moment in time for the play’s characters different from all other moments? Why is this play happening now? What has changed? Consider the lives of the characters in Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man. If you were the director, how would you answer “the Passover question?” For Simon, John, and Caleb, why is this night different from all others?

American men as soldiers. Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States for the second time.

• April 1, 1865—Union General Grant captures Petersburg and approaches the Confederate capital of Richmond in the Battle of Five Forks. Thousands of Confederate soldiers desert.

• April 2, 1865—Richmond, Virginia, is evacuated. General Grant captures the city.

• April 6, 1865—Confederate General Lee loses 20% of his army to capture and surrender at the Battles of Sailor’s Creek.

• April 9, 1865—General Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.

• April 11, 1865—The first day of Passover.

• April 13-15, 1865—Events depicted in The Whipping Man take place.

• April 14, 1865—Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre.

• April 18, 1865—The last day of Passover.

• May 5, 1865—Jefferson Davis meets with his cabinet for the last time. The Confederate States of America is officially dissolved.

• May 10, 1865—Jefferson

The Jewish Confederates The first Jewish congregation in Richmond was established in 1789 and grew quickly as German and eastern European Jews immigrated to the newly established United States. In 1790, 100 of Richmond’s 3,700 residents were Jews. New Orleans, Louisiana, was also home to a large Jewish population and Charleston, South Carolina, had the country’s largest Jewish community at the time of secession. Given Richmond’s strategic location for trading (a seaport in a central position between the north and the south), the city’s earliest Jewish residents were primarily merchants. Jews fully embraced the southern way of life, including the owning of slaves. Those few who were plantation owners, similar to their Christian counterparts, had many slaves who performed long hours of physical labor under harsh conditions. Jewish merchants, who made up the majority of Richmond’s Jewish population, had a few house slaves if they could afford them. While there is a curious contradiction in the descendants of an enslaved people becoming slave owners themselves, the power of southern culture is not to be underestimated. Slavery was extremely important to the southern way of life in colonial America and in the early days of the United States. The pressure to adhere to and fit in with an accepted lifestyle would

Judah P. Benjamin in an undated photo by Mathew Brady. Benjamin was a United States Senator representing Louisiana and also served as Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State in the Confederate government.

have been overwhelming, particularly for those who had only recently emigrated from Eastern Europe to escape anti-Semitism. Already ostracized by much of Southern society, members of the Jewish community were not about to put their opportunities for financial and social success at risk, or to subject themselves to increased scrutiny by the white plantation owners whose values dominated the Southern way of life. There were certainly Jews and non-Jews in the Old South who did not particularly care for the system of slavery. However, “very few southerners of any race, religion, or creed stepped forward to challenge the planters’ slavocracy. And when they did . . . they usually found themselves either figuratively or literally exiled” (Silverman, 80). As a religious and ethnic minority, Jews hoped that if they fully embraced and supported all the Confederacy stood for, they would be rewarded with acceptance in the new nation that would form at the conclusion of the

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Davis is captured by Union soldiers in Georgia and imprisoned for two years.

• December 18, 1865—The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution goes into effect.

• 1866—Jefferson Davis is indicted for treason. The case is dropped in 1869.

• June 5, 1866—Mrs. Abraham Levy writes a letter “to the Israelites of the South” explaining that the Ladies’ Hebrew Association of Richmond, VA, plans to place a headstone at the grave of each soldier buried at Hebrew Cemetery on Shockoe Hill and build a monument in memory of their service.

war. Until then, “if most southern Jews were asked about their attitudes toward slavery per se, they would have been very comfortable quoting the Talmud that ‘the law of the land is the law’” (Silverman, 81). The opportunity to rise in status within Southern society depended heavily on the maintenance of a system that kept blacks subjugated, which made it easy for southern Jews to overlook certain aspects of their own history in an effort to blend in and avoid becoming targets themselves. It is impossible to determine just how many Confederate soldiers were Jewish, but estimates range from 2,000 to 6,000. While more Jews served in the Union army (estimates range from 6,000 to 8,000), the proportion of the southern Jewish population serving in the Confederate army was much higher. In 1860, there were approximately 25,000 Jews living in the Confederate states, while there were about 150,000 living in the Union. For recent immigrants, loyalty to their new home and gratitude for the opportunities afforded to them that were beyond their reach elsewhere in the world were strong motivation to volunteer for military service. One of the most prominent Jewish Confederates, Judah P. Benjamin, was a lawyer and plantation owner from Louisiana, and has been called “the brains of the Confederacy” by many Civil War historians. Benjamin became the first openly Jewish United States Senator when he was elected in 1852, and while serving in the Senate, he befriended then-Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis. When Davis became President of the Confederate States of America following secession in 1861, he appointed Benjamin as his Attorney General. Benjamin would also serve the Davis administration as Secretary of War and Secretary of State. While Benjamin

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did own a sugar plantation and 140 slaves, he also proposed targeted emancipation as an army recruitment strategy late in the Civil War. In 1864, Benjamin made a speech before a crowd of 10,000 in Richmond, Virginia, in which he advocated granting freedom to slaves who agreed to fight for the Confederacy. Some generals, desperate for men, supported Benjamin’s idea, but most Confederate citizens and politicians stood in fierce opposition. Though the Confederate Congress took steps toward implementing the plan, Richmond was surrendered less than a month later, effectively ending the war. Other prominent Jewish Confederates included Moses Jacob Ezekiel, a Richmond native and cadet at the Virginia Military Institute, and West Point graduate Abraham Myers. A classmate of General Grant, Myers went on to serve as the Confederacy’s Quartermaster General. Dr. Simon Baruch, an immigrant from Germany who settled in South Carolina, served in battalions based out of both South Carolina and Mississippi, and would eventually become surgeon general of the Confederacy. Phoebe Pember worked as the chief matron at Chimborazo Army Hospital in Richmond. Despite their military service, volunteer work, and government leadership, Jews on both sides of the Civil War continued to feel the sting of anti-Semitism. Non-Christian chaplains were not legally permitted in the Union army until September 1862, despite at least one unit’s selection of a Jew from their own ranks to serve in that role. Newspapers across the country published inflammatory anti-Semitic statements made by Union generals, and both sides blamed Jews “when any aspect of the war effort went wrong, accusing them of espionage, racketeering, and conspiracy” (Winner, 195). In December 1862, Union General Ulysses S. Grant, believing the black market in cotton to be orchestrated by Jews, commanded that all Jews be expelled from his military district, which encompassed Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi (President Lincoln would force Grant to reverse the order a month later). When the war began to go poorly for the Confederacy and food and supplies became scarce, Jewish merchants were accused of speculating and profiteering. As the highest ranking Jew in the Confederate government and one of Jefferson Davis’s chief advisors, Judah Benjamin was a frequent scapegoat for the Confederacy’s strategic failings.

With so much suspicion of their loyalty to the Confederate cause, some Jews felt pressure to convert to Christianity. However, those who actually did convert, believing their acceptance of the Christian god would prove their allegiance to their largely Christian nation, were met with mixed results. While some Christians were satisfied by the conversions of those in their immediate circles, others maintained that Judaism was a fixed personal characteristic that could not be changed and that the negative qualities they associated with Judaism could not be erased. Despite many Jews’ concentrated efforts at assimilation, the suspicion and distrust that marked relations between Jews and Christians before and during the war continued even after the Civil War’s conclusion.

Questions:• The existence of Jewish slaves, as depicted in

The Whipping Man, is not without historical precedence. According to Jewish historian Jonathan Sarna, “at least one Southern synagogue limited membership to whites in its constitution . . . implying the existence of non-white Jews. Some slaves converted to Judaism . . . most commonly if they were the product of liaisons between a Jewish master and a slave” (Lee). Why would southern

Did you know . . . ?

Passover is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew calendar’s festival year (Nisan usually falls during March or April). The fourteenth night of Nisan begins on the night of the first full moon after the northern hemisphere’s vernal equinox, so Passover begins the following day. In 1865, Passover began on April 11 and ended on April 18. The events depicted in The Whipping Man take place on April 13-15 of that year.

Richmond, VA, is home to the Hebrew Confederate Cemetery, one of only two Jewish military cemeteries outside of Israel. The other is in Weissensee, Germany, and has a section reserved for Jewish soldiers of the Kaiser’s army who were killed in World War I.

Richmond’s Beth Ahabah is the sixth oldest synagogue in the United States. The old-est is K.K. Beth Elohim in Charleston, South Carolina.

Jews exclude even free blacks from their congregations? If Jewish slave owners passed their faith on to their slaves like the DeLeons did in The Whipping Man, how would they have rationalized the keeping of Jewish slaves?

• Some black Jews, who had learned their faith as slaves in Jewish households, converted to Christianity after the Civil War. Many white Jews converted to demonstrate their loyalty to the Confederacy and to Southern society; what do you think may have motivated black Jews to convert? How would the change in status from enslaved to free have impacted black Jews’ religious identities?

• Consider the phenomenon of recent immigrants volunteering to fight for their new country. Besides gratitude for new opportunities, why else might people put their lives on the line for a country they have lived in for only a short amount of time?

• Many of today’s southern Jews can trace their families back to 19th century slave owners. Research your own family tree. Where were your ancestors during the Civil War? What roles did they play? Are there any stories or details that are surprising, memorable, or frustrating?

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Amputation in the 19th CenturySoldiers in the field In The Whipping Man, Captain Caleb DeLeon arrives home with a serious leg wound that requires immediate medical attention. Simon, a former slave, determines that if Caleb’s leg is not amputated quickly, Caleb will certainly lose his life. “You shoulda had the wound cleaned days ago. You shoulda had that leg off by now,” Simon tells him in Act I, Scene 1. When Caleb refuses to go to Chimborazo Army Hospital for treatment, Simon must improvise by standing in as surgeon and using whatever tools are available to amputate Caleb’s leg. During the Civil War, chloroform was widely

SIMON: How ‘bout your leg, there? You’re FOREVER BRANDED,

just like a slave.(Act II, Scene 2)

used for anesthesia and the instruments used in performing amputations were highly specialized. However, army regiments frequently only had one or two surgeons with one or two assistants in their ranks, so the medical personnel’s time was stretched thin. Wounds from gunshots and explosions were common and impacted large numbers of soldiers at a time, and it was not unusual for patients to have to wait a day or two before receiving necessary treatment. Bone fractures, particularly those that impacted joints, and infected wounds often led to amputation. Comminuted fractures, in which a bone is shattered, splintered, or crushed, were the most severe and were frequently accompanied by ruptured arteries and nerves. Compound fractures, in which the bone protrudes through the skin, also sometimes required amputation if very large bones, such as those in the forearm and thigh, were involved. Amputations involving the joints were also referred to as “disarticulations” and usually were made to prevent the upward spread of infection or gangrene. According to Civil War medical historian Kevin Thompson, “the goal of the surgeon in all cases of amputation was to leave as much of the limb intact as possible while giving the patient the best chance of

survival” (Thompson). Two methods were commonly used in the field. The flap method was generally used in situations in which time was a pressing factor, and involved two incisions on opposite sides of the limb, each of which moved on angles inward to the limb’s center and up towards the body. This created two flaps that used deep muscle tissue to cover over the bone. This method proved problematic, however, as the deep muscle tissue often became gangrenous in situations in which the patient had to be transported long distances shortly after surgery. The other frequently used amputation method, the circular

method, was done by making a cut through the limb at a 90 degree angle to the bone, and rolling back the skin to cut deep muscle tissue away from the bone. The surface muscle and skin were then rolled back over the bone and sewn closed to cover the wound. In either method, it was important that the limb’s main artery be tied off to

prevent the patient from bleeding to death.

Punishment for runaways Amputation was also a common punishment for captured runaway slaves. Some runaway slaves returned to the plantation when they were unable to survive on their owb in the wilderness or find the help of free blacks or abolitionist whites. When runaway slaves were captured or returned, their owners were permitted to execute any punishment they deemed appropriate. Common punishments included whippings, branding, hanging, or amputation of one or more limbs, and were often carried out in front of other slaves to send a message. It is not without irony, then, that the amputation of Caleb’s leg follows his desertion of the army and that his fate could be similar to a runaway slave’s if he were to be found. Having returned to his home, Caleb is dependent upon Simon and John

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Amputation being performed in a hospital tent, Gettysburg, July 1863. National Archives and Records Administration.

to survive. But as John reminds him, Caleb deserted the men he was charged with leading. “It’s why you didn’t want to go to the hospital, isn’t it? You go there, someone’s gonna figure out your story. So you have your surgery here. Have Simon care for your wounds, get you food. Oh and, of course, hide you if anyone comes looking for you . . . They’ll hang you from the nearest branch the second they find you” (I, 3). Caleb has become a runaway himself, forced back to the plantation with nowhere else to go and no one else to help him.

Questions:• The amputation of a runaway slave’s foot was

meant as a preventative measure so that they could not escape again. For Caleb, what is the practical, long-term impact of the removal of his leg? Besides deserting the army, has Caleb committed any other crimes for which the amputation can be viewed as punishment?

• What method does Simon use to amputate Caleb’s leg, flap or circular? How do you think he learned how to do the procedure?

“Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are about you, of

them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you,

of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your

possession. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren

the children of Israel, ye shall not rule.”

Leviticus 25

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Suggested ActivitiesENSEMBLE PEFORMANCE

Rituals The Whipping Man takes place during the Jewish festival of Passover, which commemorates the release of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. The Seder dinner is an important Passover ritual with a detailed script of lines, props, and procedures. In groups of 4-5, take 3-5 minutes to make a list of as many different kinds of rituals as possible. The rituals on the list can range from common daily rituals (getting ready for bed, eating dinner with family) to seasonal (harvest, going back to school) to more specific events (marriage, burial). Next, each group should choose one ritual to focus on.

• One person will be designated as the writer. The writers will leave the room for about ten minutes to write something that relates to the chosen ritual—It could be a journal entry, a poem, a short story, a song, a prayer, anything.

• The rest of the group should create a physical performance of the ritual. The performance must have a beginning, middle, and end. It cannot use words but it can use rhythmic sounds or music. Props may be used.

• After ten minutes, the writers should return to their groups and share what they wrote. The rest of the group should share the performance with the writer.

• Each group must find a way to combine the two components into one performance.

• After about ten minutes, each group should share their full performance.

After each group has performed, consider the following:

• How do we define ritual in our society?• What rituals were included on the lists but

not chosen?• What impact did knowing that you were

going to create a performance around the ritual have on the content of the performance, both in terms of written words and movement?

• How are rituals also performances? In what ways is the Seder in The Whipping Man a performance?

Poem of . . . “Freedom” Matthew Lopez has said that he was inspired to write The Whipping Man by the question of what happens to real people in the aftermath of a major, world-changing event. History books tell the stories of the decisions, actions, and policies of government and social leaders; what interested Lopez was the impact of these things on everyday existence. How do people carry on their lives in the new normal? In light of the event’s impact, what do these people do next? In this activity, students will creatively explore a theme or issue from the play, combining their understanding of the theme’s significance in the play with understanding of the theme’s implication in their own lives. For the purposes of an example, the theme of “freedom” is used, but the activity can be done replacing “freedom” with any other theme or subject matter from the play. Students should brainstorm and make lists of each of the following, considering the characters in The Whipping Man as they work:

• Five emotions related to freedom. • How each of the senses (sight, touch,

smell, taste, and hearing) responds or reacts to freedom.

• Three people or groups of people freedom could impact and how.

• Two possibilities for what those people could do after freedom.

Next, students should divide into groups to share their responses. Are there similarities or differences among the responses? What images and phrases stand out? Each group should then select which responses they will link together into a poem and perform. At least one response from each group member should be used. Performances should be physical as well as vocal. When creating a performance, consider the following:

• How can the performers create clear images that will communicate the theme in a powerful way?

• How can the group use the entire classroom space creatively to communicate the theme? Play with distance and closeness, height and depth.

• What props or costume pieces can help communicate the emotions, sense responses, people, and possibilities associated with the theme?

• Can music or sounds contribute to the overall tone of the poem?

After all performances have been shared, discuss how the groups took different approaches to exploring the theme. What did the performances have in common? How were they different? Apply the poetic interpretations of the theme to The Whipping Man. How do the performances relate to the choices available (or not available) to the play’s characters?

CREATIVE WRITING

Letters from Sarah In The Whipping Man, John goes through Caleb’s personal belongings and discovers a stack of unsent letters intended for Sarah, a slave with whom Caleb was in love. When John and Caleb have a confrontation about the letters, John reveals that Caleb’s father sold Sarah and her mother because Sarah was pregnant with Caleb’s child. Though the characters of Sarah and Mr. DeLeon do not appear on stage, they each play a

vital role in pushing the play towards its climax. Explore the events that occurred before the action of The Whipping Man takes place by imagining that you are Sarah. Caleb is off fighting in the war, your father, Simon, is temporarily away, and you suspect that Mr. DeLeon plans to sell you and your mother before either of them return. Write a letter to Caleb in which you share news of your pregnancy and tell him of your suspicions. Things to consider:

• How long has Caleb been gone? How do you feel about him and his decision to fight for the Confederacy? Have your feelings for Caleb changed since you were last together? What has been happening at the DeLeon home since he left?

• How do you think Caleb will react to the news of your pregnancy?

• How has Mr. DeLeon treated you since discovering your pregnancy? How did he find out that the child is Caleb’s?

• What do you think Mr. DeLeon will do next? Why do you think that?

• What are your hopes and dreams for the future?

• What is the worst thing that could happen at this point? What is the best thing that could happen at this point?

• What will you do next? Why?• What do you want Caleb to do? Why?

22

23

REFERENCES

Brody, Seymour. “Jewish Heroes in America.” Welcome to Florida Atlantic University. Florida Atlantic University, 12 May 2011. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. <http://www.fau.edu/library/brody28.htm>.

“Chapter 126 - Book 5.” Judaism, Torah and Jewish Info - Chabad Lubavitch. Trans. Y.B. Marcus, Nissen Mangel, and Eliyahu Touger. Kehot Publication Society. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. <http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/6426/jewish/Chapter-126.htm>.

“Civil War, American (1861-1865).” Encyclopedia Virginia. Ed. Peter Carmichael. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org>.

“Civil War Events Leading to War Timeline.” The Civil War Home Page. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <http://www.civil-war.net/pages/timeline.asp>.

Cypress, Rebecca. “Synagogue Music - My Jewish Learning.” Judaism & Jewish Life - My Jewish Learning. MyJewishLearning, Inc. Web. 19 Dec. 2011. <http://www.myjewishlearning.com/culture/2/Music/Synagogue_and_Religious_Music/Synagogue_Music.shtml>.

Downey, Brian. “Confederate Surgeon Simon Baruch.” Behind Antietam on the Web. Antietam on the Web, 11 Dec. 2006. Web. 29 Dec. 2011. <http://behind.aotw.org/2006/12/11/confederate-surgeon-simon-baruch/>.

“General Grant’s Infamy.” Jewish Virtual Library - Homepage. America-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. <http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/grant.html>.

“Interview: Matthew Lopez Explains His New Play, “The Whipping Man”” Interview by Larry Murray. Berkshire On Stage. 11 May 2010. Web. 21 Dec. 2011. <http://berkshireonstage.com>.

Isaacs, Ronald H. “A Summary of the Torah - My Jewish Learning.” Judaism & Jewish Life - My Jewish Learning. MyJewishLearning, Inc. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. <http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/Bible/Torah/Portion_by_Portion.shtml>.

Jacobs, Louis. “Traditional & Modern Views of the Book of Psalms, and the Role of Psalms in Jewish Liturgy.” The Jewish Religion: a Companion. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1995. Judaism & Jewish Life - My Jewish Learning. MyJewishLearing, Inc. Web. 19 Dec. 2011. <http://www.myjewishlearning.com>.

“Jews, Slavery, Civil War: Historian to Speak at College of Charleston Conference.” Interview by Adam Parker. The Post and Courier, Charleston SC - News, Sports, Entertainment. Evening Post Publishing Co., 22 May 2011. Web. 27 Dec. 2011. <http://www.postandcourier.com>.

Lee, Felicia R. “Writing the Play His Curiosity Led Him To.” The New York Times 28 Jan. 2011, New York ed.: C1. Print.

Lopez, Matthew. “When History Ends and Life Begins.” Performances Magazine June 2010: 15-16. Web. 28 Dec. 2011.

“An Interview With the Playwright.” Interview by Edward Sobel. Stagebill 27 Oct. 2011: 24-25. Print.

Silverman, Jason H. “’The Law of the Land Is the Law’: Antebellum Jews, Slavery, and the Old South.” Ed. Jack Salzman and Cornel West. Struggles in the Promised Land: Towards a History of Black-Jewish Relations in the United States. New York: Oxford UP, 1997. 73-85. Print.

Thompson, Kevin. “Amputations in Military Surgery - Civil War.” Civil War Medical Books and Civil War Surgical Sets. 24 May 2011. Web. 20 Dec. 2011. <http://www.civilwarmedicalbooks.com/civil_war_amputation.html>.

“What Is Passover? - Study & History - Passover.” Judaism, Torah and Jewish Info - Chabad Lubavitch. Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. <http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/871715/jewish/What-Is-Passover.htm>.

Winner, Lauren F. “Taking Up the Cross: Conversion Among Black and White Jews in the Civil War South.” Ed. Catherine Clinton. Southern Families at War: Loyalty and Conflict in the Civil War South. Oxford [England: Oxford UP, 2000. 193-201. Print.

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For more information about education programs at Hartford

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Contributing EditorAlexandra Truppi

Education Programs Associate

With Contributions byChris Baker

Senior Dramaturg

Jennifer RobertsDirector of Education