{"id":17,"count":3,"description":" Susan Glaspell\u2019s three-act play, Inheritors, has been revived recently for good reason. Written in 1921, in the aftermath of World War I and the Alien and Sedition acts, it tells the story of three generations of Americans and the erosion of fundamental American rights, particularly free speech, in a time of overt nationalism.  The play opens in 1879 with Grandmother Morton\u2019s stories of her pioneering migration west and the taking of rich Mississippi valley land from the Indians, resulting in the Blackhawk war of 1832. \r\nHer son, Silas Morton, an uneducated yet visionary farmer, dedicates a piece of the land to create a \u201ccollege in the cornfields\u201d in a tribute both to Blackhawk and Silas\u2019s beloved friend, a Hungarian revolutionary and immigrant named Felix Fejevary. \r\n\r\nIn the second and third acts, the play moves to the \u201cpresent\u201d \u2013 1920 \u2013 and charts a conflict between the son of Felix Fejevary, now a wealthy banker and trustee of Morton College, and Silas Morton\u2019s granddaughter (as well as Felix\u2019s niece), Madeline, a student there.  Attempting to gain state appropriations for the college, Felix finds that political protestors among the students, as well as an outspoken professor, must be stifled in order to conform to the \u201cAmericanness\u201d demanded by the state.  Coming into her true inheritance from her idealistic grandfather, as well as her inheritance as an American, Madeline sacrifices her privileged social position to defend the rights of Hindu students who have been arrested for protesting British oppression of India, as well as those of a conscientious objector who remains imprisoned in a solitary 3 x 6-foot cell, even though the war is over. \r\n\r\nInheritors expresses Glaspell's lifelong concern with social justice and the delicate balance between law and rights that is fundamental to American democracy.  The play evokes questions about what it means to be an American, raising issues central to American identity: individuality, conformity, immigration, racism, and nationalism.  In addition, it is a classic coming-of-age story in which a young woman defies her family and her gender to stand up for what she believes in, committing herself to a moral act that will define her adulthood.  ","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/glaspellsociety\/category\/performances\/inheritors\/","name":"Inheritors","slug":"inheritors","taxonomy":"category","parent":5,"meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Inheritors Archives - The International Susan Glaspell Society<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/glaspellsociety\/category\/performances\/inheritors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inheritors Archives - The International Susan Glaspell Society\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Susan Glaspell\u2019s three-act play, Inheritors, has been revived recently for good reason. Written in 1921, in the aftermath of World War I and the Alien and Sedition acts, it tells the story of three generations of Americans and the erosion of fundamental American rights, particularly free speech, in a time of overt nationalism. The play opens in 1879 with Grandmother Morton\u2019s stories of her pioneering migration west and the taking of rich Mississippi valley land from the Indians, resulting in the Blackhawk war of 1832. Her son, Silas Morton, an uneducated yet visionary farmer, dedicates a piece of the land to create a \u201ccollege in the cornfields\u201d in a tribute both to Blackhawk and Silas\u2019s beloved friend, a Hungarian revolutionary and immigrant named Felix Fejevary. In the second and third acts, the play moves to the \u201cpresent\u201d \u2013 1920 \u2013 and charts a conflict between the son of Felix Fejevary, now a wealthy banker and trustee of Morton College, and Silas Morton\u2019s granddaughter (as well as Felix\u2019s niece), Madeline, a student there. Attempting to gain state appropriations for the college, Felix finds that political protestors among the students, as well as an outspoken professor, must be stifled in order to conform to the \u201cAmericanness\u201d demanded by the state. Coming into her true inheritance from her idealistic grandfather, as well as her inheritance as an American, Madeline sacrifices her privileged social position to defend the rights of Hindu students who have been arrested for protesting British oppression of India, as well as those of a conscientious objector who remains imprisoned in a solitary 3 x 6-foot cell, even though the war is over. Inheritors expresses Glaspell&#8217;s lifelong concern with social justice and the delicate balance between law and rights that is fundamental to American democracy. The play evokes questions about what it means to be an American, raising issues central to American identity: individuality, conformity, immigration, racism, and nationalism. In addition, it is a classic coming-of-age story in which a young woman defies her family and her gender to stand up for what she believes in, committing herself to a moral act that will define her adulthood.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/glaspellsociety\/category\/performances\/inheritors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The International Susan Glaspell Society\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"CollectionPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/glaspellsociety\\\/category\\\/performances\\\/inheritors\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/glaspellsociety\\\/category\\\/performances\\\/inheritors\\\/\",\"name\":\"Inheritors Archives - The International Susan Glaspell Society\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/glaspellsociety\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/glaspellsociety\\\/category\\\/performances\\\/inheritors\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/glaspellsociety\\\/category\\\/performances\\\/inheritors\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/glaspellsociety\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Performances\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/glaspellsociety\\\/category\\\/performances\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Inheritors\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/glaspellsociety\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/glaspellsociety\\\/\",\"name\":\"The International Susan Glaspell Society\",\"description\":\"A TLTC Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.shu.edu\\\/glaspellsociety\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Inheritors Archives - The International Susan Glaspell Society","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/glaspellsociety\/category\/performances\/inheritors\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Inheritors Archives - The International Susan Glaspell Society","og_description":"Susan Glaspell\u2019s three-act play, Inheritors, has been revived recently for good reason. Written in 1921, in the aftermath of World War I and the Alien and Sedition acts, it tells the story of three generations of Americans and the erosion of fundamental American rights, particularly free speech, in a time of overt nationalism. The play opens in 1879 with Grandmother Morton\u2019s stories of her pioneering migration west and the taking of rich Mississippi valley land from the Indians, resulting in the Blackhawk war of 1832. Her son, Silas Morton, an uneducated yet visionary farmer, dedicates a piece of the land to create a \u201ccollege in the cornfields\u201d in a tribute both to Blackhawk and Silas\u2019s beloved friend, a Hungarian revolutionary and immigrant named Felix Fejevary. In the second and third acts, the play moves to the \u201cpresent\u201d \u2013 1920 \u2013 and charts a conflict between the son of Felix Fejevary, now a wealthy banker and trustee of Morton College, and Silas Morton\u2019s granddaughter (as well as Felix\u2019s niece), Madeline, a student there. Attempting to gain state appropriations for the college, Felix finds that political protestors among the students, as well as an outspoken professor, must be stifled in order to conform to the \u201cAmericanness\u201d demanded by the state. Coming into her true inheritance from her idealistic grandfather, as well as her inheritance as an American, Madeline sacrifices her privileged social position to defend the rights of Hindu students who have been arrested for protesting British oppression of India, as well as those of a conscientious objector who remains imprisoned in a solitary 3 x 6-foot cell, even though the war is over. Inheritors expresses Glaspell&#8217;s lifelong concern with social justice and the delicate balance between law and rights that is fundamental to American democracy. The play evokes questions about what it means to be an American, raising issues central to American identity: individuality, conformity, immigration, racism, and nationalism. 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