Topics for Presentation

-A brief background on William Wells Brown

-The role of "Mr. White"-the importance of his character. A northerner who in the South for his views on slavery and who responds to this attack by hiding and returning to the safety of the North.

-Black self-determination, coordinate action in the The Underground Railroad, and the songs that they sang.

-Marriage Issues, (Dr. Gaines & Mrs. Gaines) and (Melinda & Glenn) differences between a white marriage and a forbidden enslaved marriage, and their battles.

-Views on Race

-Religion 

-Sexual violence under slavery

-Mixed Race- Melinda and the slave whom a visitor takes to be the child of Dr. and Mrs. Gaines

-National Identity: William Wells Brown being a former slave, and a northern "free black" the child of a white father and black mother, embodied these roles, containing within himself a collective drama of national identity.

-The character, Cato a slave (as suggested by Brown's other writings) is the black-face minstrel type who is a presence throughout the play. Interesting character because he is the character in The Escape who is based most directly on Brown's own experiences.