Our Night Out

Thomas was excited to see Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre. President Lincoln would be attending, and he was overwhelmed with contentment that he’d be there on the same night.

Inside the theater, Thomas took his wife’s gloved hand and offered her a seat before seating himself.

The play was amusing and colorful with a copious audience.

Above, Lincoln sat with his wife Mary enthralled with the actors, then a shot fired, and screams erupted. A man jumped onto the stage and yelled before fleeing, “Thus always to tyrants.”

That would be the one and only time I’d see Lincoln.

From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher

The New Continent

Sophia forced her way down to the wharf. After six weeks at sea, she felt nauseous, unholy, drenched. Stepping into the teeming crowd was like her first baptism. Her sins were washed away by the dirt. Sophia was free.

But life on the New Continent never proved that easy. For would be tyrants, her accent was an invitation. Sophia would never be entirely free of her cursed heritage.

Sophia dreamed not for herself, but for her children and grandchildren. She lived in their future, among the accepted, in a world where being descended from Americans was no longer a crime.