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Historical Background and Dramaturgy

Photo of Alfred H. Wilson, Ronald L. Conner, A.C. Smith, and Brian Weddington by Michael Brosilow.

Explore the historical context of The Piano Lesson and the dramaturgy underpinning Court Theatre’s production.

Historical Background

Jim Crow
The Great Depression
- The Great Depression (5:00)
- The Great Depression: Crash Course Black American History #28 (12:00)
- The Great Depression: Crash Course US History #33 (14:30)
- The Great Depression Explained Like You’re 5 (16:30)
- The Great Depression – America’s Biggest Economic Crisis | Free Documentary History (55:00)

Dramaturgy

Parchman Farm and the Mississippi State Penitentiary
- It’s a charged place’: Parchman Farm, the Mississippi prison with a remarkable musical history (Article)
- Parchman Farm 1975 (3:50)
- Joe Savage: Parchman Farm recollections and field hollers (1978) (5:00)
- “Exposing Parchman” Trailer (1:00)
- 1960s Mississippi, Parchman Farm, State Penitentiary Prison (4:12)
Pittsburgh
- These Pittsburgh-area roadhouses and resorts served Black travelers off the beaten path (Article)
- Then vs. now: See how Pittsburgh has changed since the 1920s (Article)

Prisoners wearing striped collared uniforms march in lines, 4 people across and 13 rows long. They each carry a hoe over their right shoulder, with the handles upward and extending behind them. — Prisoners at Parchman Farm march to work on cotton fields in December 1939.

Image courtesy of The Guardian.

An illustration of a resort house. There are several cars parked on the front lawn in two rows, with several more lined up by the door. The resort is two stories with an American flag at the top. Trees surround the building. — Bongiovanni’s Gardens in Hampton Township.

Photo courtesy of the Pine Creek Land Conservation Trust.

A black-and-white photograph of a street. There is a streetcar in the lefthand corner and a flower shop on the right. Tall brick buildings in the background with other cars in the distance. — A photo of a street view in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh in the 1930s.

Dilapidated railway tracks lead to two railway cars in the distance. Above them, a building labeled: PITTSBURGH LIMESTONE/BUFFALO CREEK MINE. — A photo of the railway many characters in The Piano Lesson worked nearby.

A wooden piano with a dark varnish, several figures are carved into all sides of it. Some faces, some full-body figures. — A photo of what the family’s piano could have looked like.

Posted on November 5, 2025 in Learning Guides, Productions

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