Trial & Tribulations 2010

Trial & Tribulations is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 16-18, 2010 with programs for school groups on Thursday and Friday mornings and in the evenings each day for the general public. Watch here for more details as they evolve.

News Coverage of the Event

COLUMN: 'Trials, Tribulations' a polished portrayal of an historic event By Bill Lair, Managing Editor Mattoon Journal Gazette, Charleston Times Courier

'Trial & Tribulation' program brings Matson slave case, characters, to life By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer Mattoon Journal Gazette, Charleston Times Courier

Tickets on sale for Oakland Sept. 18-19 production of Lincoln, Rutherford roles in Matson slave case By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer Mattoon Journal Gazette, Charleston Times Courier

Play examines Lincoln's role in Matson trial By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer Mattoon Journal Gazette, Charleston Times Courier

Weekend performances re-live famous 1847 Matson slave trial By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer Mattoon Journal Gazette, Charleston Times Courier

Interactive event to commemorate Oakland slave trial By Amy Rose, Champaign News Gazette

New Lincoln Event in Oakland September 18 and 19 Paris Beacon News

Groups to re-enact Matson slave trial: Lincoln took part in precedent setting case By Bob Fallstrom, Decatur Herald-Review

Trial & Tribulations More Than a Play

Three Fifths of a Man, the original drama by David Jorns about the Matson Slave Trial is just one feature of the Trial & Tribulations program. The September 18 and 19 program will add a new layer to the familiar historic sites with interpreters who will portray seven of the characters from the Matson Slave Trial Story.

“This story is rather complex and has many fascinating elements besides Lincoln,” explains project coordinator, Renee Henry, “we have added the living history so Dr. Jorns’ play could be freed from so much historical detail. We hoped it would be a dramatic piece that would pull people emotionally into the story.” By meeting the seven interpreters and conversing with them as if they were in the 1870s, visitors will learn the historical and educational side of the story.

Ticket holders will find Dr. Rutherford outside his office ready to tell about his involvement in the saga. He will explain how his family had been involved in abolition and the Underground Railroad for decades before the trial. He will recount his altercation with Lincoln, and details of his life in 1847. Rutherford is portrayed by Kim McGee, Newman.

Gideon “ Matt” Ashmore will be found next to the Rutherford Garden across the Pike Street from where his tavern was in 1847. Matt will talk about his abolitionist beliefs and his life in Wisconsin after the trial. He will recant what was done to assist the Bryants and how his interest in the American Colonization Society resulted in the family’s emigration to Liberia. Roger Ashmore will depict the nephew of his great, great, great, grandfather.

Before leaving downtown, ticketed participants can view an exhibit at the Oakland Historical Foundation Museum, Independence: A Town and A Way of Life. Jeannie Rankin has designed a display of items used in the 1840s on the central Illinois prairie and which tells the story of early Oakland. The independent way of life refers to the Brushy Fork community of free people of color north of Oakland. The exhibit will explain how this bastion of freedom came to be just six miles from Matson’s slave-run farm.

A video, Shadows of the Past: the history of African-Americans in Coles County, can be viewed in about 17 minutes and will cover the Brushy Fork through the 1970s. It will be located two doors to the east of the museum.

Rebecca Coon and Nova Hunt have worked hard to create an enticing shopping experience at the gift shop located at the Meeting House. Antiques, crafts, Lincoln publications, t-shirts and a souvenir booklet about Trial & Tribulations will be for sale.

Of course, if you haven’t toured the Rutherford Home, you will want to do that. Local students and Landmarks, Inc. volunteers will allow ticket holders to tour the 1847 house and see family heirlooms.

Additional interpreters will be located at Independence Pioneer Village, as will historian, Ron Keller. Keller teaches history and curates the Lincoln College Museum; and formerly taught history at Oakland High School. He will talk about Lincoln and Slavery for about a half hour at 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. in the evenings and 11:30 and 12:30 on Saturday afternoon.

Abraham Lincoln will be found resting at the general store (yeah, we know he was dead in the 1870s, but go along with us anyway. Reverend Bob Lee will regale participants with stories of Lincoln’s law practice and his career on the 8^th Judicial circuit. He will also reflect on why he decided to be involved in the Matson Trial, especially on Matson’s side.

Singing from the church will draw listeners to Anthony Bryant, the freedman husband of Jane. He will talk about his life as a freedman since 1830 and his role as a Methodist exhorter, or lay minister. Anthony will proudly explain how he tenaciously sought aid for his family.

Jane is here, too, and will tell about her life as a Matson slave. She and her children would spend fifty-eight days in jail before gaining their freedom. Visitors will learn about that and the family’s decision to immigrate to Liberia in hopes of finding a new and better life of freedom.

Lucy Dupee was the matriarch of the Brushy Fork community, all free people of color. She will explain what life was life as a free black in Illinois under the Black Codes and recall how she and her family became free. Professional interpreters from Freetown Village of Indianapolis are portraying her, Anthony and Jane.

The final character ticket holders will meet is the Bryant’s enslaver Mary Corbin, Matson’s lover, housekeeper, and eventual wife, who caused all the trouble. She will converse with people about Matson’s and her own history, which included a divorce, while making the case for slavery as essential to the southern lifestyle. Marylee McGee will bring her to life and talk about her lonely life on the Illinois prairie.

Ticket holders will be able to wander among all these activities and have dinner for the first three and a half hours of the program. Dinner is served in four sessions to ease the crowding, so participants should be sure to eat at their assigned time. The play will be performed at the Columbian Building during the final hour of the program.

Historical Costuming Adds to Trial & Tribulations

What to wear? We each deal with this question everyday, but Gretchen Phillips is tackling it for fourteen people. She has volunteered to clothe the actors and interpreters for Trial & Tribulations: The Story of the 1847 Matson Slave Trial program on Sept 18 and 19 in Oakland.

Ticket holders to the program will meet seven of the main characters in the story: Dr. Rutherford, Matt Ashmore, Mary Corbin, Lincoln, the Bryants and Lucy Dupee at the Rutherford Complex and Independence Pioneer Village. These interpreters will be working under the premise that they are from the 1870s and are reflecting back on their involvement with the trial. After conversing with these folks, and enjoying an 1840s dinner, the visitors will watch a play where the younger version of these characters portray the events of the 1847 trial in a play, Three Fifths of a Man.

Hence, Phillips is challenged to costume from two time periods. “The men’s styles don’t change much over these thirty years, but the ladies style is dramatically different,” notes Phillips. The 1840s style is elegant and simple compared to the excesses of the periods before and after. The sleeves are moderate in size; the fit is flattering and feminine. Since the 1840s costumes are for a play, they have to help convey the character to the audience, so our costumes for the three women Interlocutors or narrators are more neutral than those typical of the period, explains Phillips. We will use more beiges and less of the “poison green,” magentas and teals that were popular at the time of the trial.

The 1870s style on the other hand is a time of transition from hoops to outlandish bustles. The interpreters will be wearing the early, less prominent bustle. “Luckily, the Freetown Village interpreters have costumes from this period, so we won’t have to worry about them,” mentions Phillips.

The biggest challenge for the men is the amount of clothing. “The actors and interpreters are hoping that this cooling weather sticks around,” jokes Phillips. They will wear long–sleeved shirts, vests and a frock coat in most instances. Back then, suspenders were considered underwear, never to be seen, so if you took off your coat to get comfortable, you would still have your vest on. In fact, a volunteer will be needed to wash the shirts late Friday night so that they are fresh for Saturday.

Phillips is making two of the 1840 dresses and Katrina Bohn, one of the actresses, is making her own costume. Phillips points out, “There are lots of interesting sewing techniques in these dresses: piping, boning, seams in different places and cartridge pleating.” The latter is a method of gathering fullness that must be done by hand and will allow more fabric to be used than today’s methods. But she quickly adds, “We aren’t doing it all by hand, or we wouldn’t have them ready until next September.”

The program is renting the remaining women and men’s costumes from Grand Ball Costumes in Charleston. In fact, Phillips is looking forward to choosing the costumes tomorrow so that there is time for altering them if necessary.

Phillips has always loved history, and finds that manifesting itself in creating dresses from various eras for herself. She was home schooled and when they studied the Revolutionary War, she made a dress to wear to the Feast of the Hunters Moon in Lafayette, Indiana. Unfortunately, when she arrived she discovered that the zipper wasn’t accurate and the fact that her elbows showed meant that she was being immodest. Phillips wasn’t daunted, she just decided to learn more and make the gown more accurate. She now owns clothing of her own making from the 1820s, 1830s, Civil War era, the time of Titanic and the 1930s. “This is the first time I have made something from the 1840s and it is lots of fun,” she enthuses.