Meanwhile, the mill employees are rioting and refusing to work, making Caesar furious.Ĭitizen confesses the secret that has been weighing on his soul to Aunt Ester. Aunt Ester decides to help Citizen redeem himself by leading him to “the City of Bones.” She tells Citizen that first, he needs to go up the river to find two pennies lying side-by-side. Still waiting to be seen by Aunt Ester, Citizen sneaks into her house through the window, telling her he can’t wait for her to “wash his soul.” He tells her about his troubles. Aunt Ester comforts Citizen and allows him to stay and work at her home. Solly wants to go down to Alabama to rescue her. Solly Two Kings, a former Underground Railroad conductor who is courting Aunt Ester, shares a letter from his sister in Alabama, who is increasingly concerned about the racist violence and lynching there. Caesar accused Brown of stealing a bucket of nails, but Brown insisted he did not do it. Brown jumped in the river and drowned while being chased by Caesar the constable, who is also Black Mary’s brother. When the traveling peddler Rutherford Selig asks Eli about a group of people standing near the church, Eli explains that a funeral is being held for a mill worker named Garret Brown. Upon being told he can’t see her that night, he stands across from Aunt Ester’s home through the morning, desperate for her help. Late one night, a man named Citizen Barlow begs to see Aunt Ester for guidance. In 1904 Pittsburgh, 285-year-old Aunt Ester is a spiritual advisor and former slave living with her protégé Black Mary and gatekeeper Eli.

Gem of the ocean play