Ragtime - Shaw Festival Theatre

EMMA GOLDMAN
Anarchist Emma Goldman immigrated
to the US from Russia and began a life
of political dissent.
She fought for women’s right to be
financially independent from men.
Having suffered with other women in
harsh ‘sweat shops’ in the garment district of New York
City, she helped organize labour unions to fight for
workers’ rights. As a feminist, she persuaded women to
use birth control and to take control of their bodies. As
a pacifist, she protested the draft when the U.S. entered
WWI. She rejected societal institutions such as
wage slavery, religion, marriage, private property and
militarism. She spent a lot of time in jail! She was deported
back to the USSR in 1919, became a British subject
through a fake marriage. The final years of her life
were spent in Toronto.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFoMfoQSCh8
BOOKER T.
WASHINGTON
America's most
prominent African
American orator
and educator.
He was born a slave on a Virginia plantation. After
Emancipation, he laboured as a coal miner by day and
at night was taught to read and write by a local school
teacher. He worked his way through college as a janitor
and went on to advocate for black rights, political and
legal change through peaceful means.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hsd55AK53U
HARRY HOUDINI
Born Ehrich Weiss, Houdini became
a professional magician in 1891.
Among his most sensational illusions
were "The Vanishing Elephant"
and his escape from a milk
can in a strait jacket. This amazing
feat will be performed in Ragtime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=XMuh-l-Eqfs
EVELYN NESBIT
Model and chorus girl, Evelyn Nesbit
married the jealous, volatile Henry
Thaw. Her romantic entanglement with
the famous architect, Stanford White,
ended with White’s murder at the hands
of Thaw. The press labeled it "The Crime
of the Century." The original Gibson Girl,
Nesbit was the era's living definition of what was beautiful
and fashionable. The Gibson Girl personified beauty, independence,
personal fulfillment (she was depicted attending
college and vying for a good mate, but she was never depicted
as part of the suffrage movement).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z04robb91Z8
J.P. MORGAN
Capitalist and financial mogul. He
was the most powerful figure in
American finance and industry.
FUN FACT: The Monopoly guy,
“Rich Uncle Pennybags” was
modeled on J.P. Morgan!
http://www.youtube.com/
watchv=st3_8LEQvck&feature=related
http://www.biography.com/people/john-pierpontmorgan-9414735
HENRY FORD
Automobile inventor and innovator. Introduced
the first moving automobile assembly
line.
http://www.biography.com/people/henry-ford-9298747/
videos/henry-ford-a-car-for-the-people-2087064480
ADMIRAL ROBERT PEARY
An American explorer. He’s best known for
his claim to be the first man who reached
the North Pole in 1909.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtT5Zj_9vo
ACTIVITIES - In preparation for the performance, ask your students to research the significance of each of these
historical characters and share their findings with the class.
7
C ONNECTIONS
- Have students choose a historical character to incorporate into their own work of fiction. Discuss why
they chose this person. What did they change about them? Why? What attributes remained true to life
or historical accounts?
Shaw Festival Study Guide