This guide should be distributed at least one week before the beginning of formal class discussion. You may make it worth points (I find that to be the biggest motivator among students of any age!) or you may make it optional. Encourage them not to read until after they have studied these questions. You may take time to discuss their answers or just suggest that they bring them to class for the formal discussion.

1. August Wilson cites Romare Bearden and the Blues as his biggest influences. Who was Romare Bearden? With what period of African American arts and letters is he most associated? Speculate briefly on the types of things you expect to find in an August Wilson play which suggest Bearden's influence. What are some of the characteristics of the Blues? How do you think such an influence might integrate itself in the works of Wilson?
    
2. Many of Wilson's works incorporate the Yoruba way of life. Who are the Yoruba? What do you think Wilson meant by including such elements in both Joe Turner and Piano Lesson?
    
3. Who was Joe Turner? With that information what do you think Joe Turner's Come and Gone might be about?
    
4. What was the Great Migration? Who migrated and to where? When did it take place? Why did it take place? What were some of the fictions and realities of migration?
    
5. The Piano Lesson takes place in the 1930s, characteristically defined as the era of the Great Depression. What was the Great Depression? Considering what you have discovered in your research what do you expect to find in the play regarding the character's life styles?
    
6. What do you know about slavery? Both plays deal with slavery and attitudes about it. Without doing any research, free write about what you know about slavery and its effects on both the African Americans who lived through it and their succeeding generations.
    
7. Now, do some real research on slavery. Find out what it was, when it occurred and consider whether your response to ques. 6 is still valid.