Please read the overview and all the descriptions of the suspects before the party. Sometimes we hide clues in these descriptions.

Suspect descriptions

The suspects present at the party are:

Benjamin Franklin

(1706-1790) I am one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Even though I was the son of a poor candle maker, I managed to take on a variety of different roles in my life. I was an author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, I was involved in the American Enlightenment and I made important discoveries regarding electricity. I invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass harmonica. Dress suggestions: Carry the kite you used when you captured electricity in a storm.

Rosa Parks

(1913-2005) In 1955, when I was a seamstress returning home from a long day’s work, I refused to obey a white bus driver’s order that I give up my seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled. And that’s how I became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation, and an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress later called “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”. I organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dress suggestions: Wear dignified clothing, a dark wig and glasses. Carry a bus pass.

Andrew Carnegie

(1835-1919) Although I was born in Scotland, I’ve always considered myself as an American as I moved here when I was 13. My parents were very poor. I started out as a telegrapher and by my late 20s I had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. I built further wealth as a bond salesman. I created the Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel Company, which I sold in 1901 for $480 million. Then I devoted the remainder of my life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education and scientific research. Dress suggestions: Wear a white haired wig and beard. Carry some books.

Susan B. Anthony

(1820-1906) I was a prominent American civil rights leader and I campaigned to get women the right to vote in the United States and for women’s rights in general. I co-founded the first Women’s Temperance Movement and the women’s rights journal called “The Revolution”. I traveled the United States and Europe, and averaged 75 to 100 speeches per year. I led the way for women’s rights to be acknowledged and instituted in the American government. Dress suggestions: Wear demure, prim and proper clothing and a long skirt if possible. Have your hair tied back and wear glasses.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jnr.

(1929-1968) I am a US black civil rights leader and Baptist clergyman. I pioneered nonviolent resistance in the black civil rights movement and I’m famous for my speech “I Have A Dream”. I received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence. I helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches and I took the movement north to Chicago. I also focused on reducing poverty and ending the Vietnam War. I was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., called the “Poor People’s Campaign”. I was assassinated. Dress suggestions: Wear a dark haired wig and a small moustache. Wear a suit and tie.

Eleanor Roosevelt

(1884-1962) I was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, holding the post from 1933 to 1945. I was later nicknamed “First Lady of the World” in tribute to my human rights achievements. I persuaded my husband to stay in politics following his partial paralysis from polio, and began to give speeches and campaign in his place. Some saw me as controversial because of my outspokenness, especially on racial issues. I held press conferences, wrote a newspaper column, and spoke at a national convention. I pressed the US to join and support the United Nations and I became one of its first delegates. I served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights. Dress suggestions: Wear dignified clothes and a string of pearls (fake ones are fine).

Mark Twain

(1835-1910) Samuel Clemens was my real name but I became better known by my pen name. I am most famous for writing “The Adventures of Tom Sawye” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. I worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to my older brother’s newspaper. I later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before trying my hand at mining. After no success at that, I became a journalist. I was praised as being a master at rendering colloquial speech and helped to create and popularize a distinctive American literature built on American themes and language. I became a friend to presidents, inventors, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. But I invested in ventures that lost a great deal of money, notably the Paige Compositor. I filed for bankruptcy and eventually repaid my creditors (even though I had no responsibility to do this under the law) and overcame my financial troubles. I was born shortly after a visit by Halley’s Comet, and I predicted that I would “go out with it,” too and I did. I died the day following the comet’s return. Dress suggestions: Wear a wild haired wig and a moustache. Carry a copy of one of your most famous books.

Harriet Tubman

(1820-1913) I was born into slavery, and I was beaten badly by my masters but I escaped from it and I made more than 19 missions to rescue more than 300 other slaves using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the “Underground Railroad”. Some people called me “Moses”. Traveling by night, I “never lost a passenge”. After 1850 when law officials in free states were made to recapture slaves, I helped guide fugitives further north into Canada, where slavery had been abolished. When the American Civil War began, I worked for the Union Army as a scout and spy. I led an armed expedition, when I guided the Combahee River Raid, which liberated more than 700 slaves. Later I became active in the women’s suffrage movement. Dress suggestions: Wear a scarf over your hair and plain respectable clothes (a long dress if possible).

Optional characters descriptions

Pearl Bailey (1918-1990) I’m a singer and actress. I started off in nightclubs as a singer and dancer and doing vaudeville but ended up in Broadway musicals, and in movies. I had a top ten hit song in the 1950s. In the 70s I had my own TV show. I was appointed America’s “Ambassador of Love” in 1970 by Richard Nixon. Dress suggestions: Wear a black wig and glamorous stage outfit.

Louis Armstrong (1900-1971) I am a black US jazz musician, scat singer (a type of wordless singing), and trumpeter. I’m also known as “Satchmo”, which means satchel mouth. I like to see people smile. Dress suggestions: Wear a tight short curly black wig. Carry a trumpet. Speak with a gravely voice.

Annie Oakley (1860-1926) My real name is Phoebe Ann Moses. I’m an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. I ended up starring in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. One of my tricks, which everyone seems to love, is that I can repeatedly split a playing card, edge-on, and put several more holes in it before it touches the ground, using a rifle at 90 feet. Dress suggestions: Wear a cowboy hat, a longish skirt and carry a cardboard cutout of a rifle.

Buster Keaton (1895-1966) I am a US comedian, actor, stuntman, director. I never smile on film. I spotted Lucille Ball and gave her tips on being a comedienne. Houdini saw me fall down some stairs when I was only 6 months old and said “What a buster your kid took!” and that was how I got my name.I let a real wall fall around me in a movie, which was a very dangerous thing to do. Dress suggestions: Handkerchief tied on his head or dark hair, slap shoes and a flat hat and suspenders.

Georgia O’Keefe (1887 – 1986) I am an American painter mainly of flowers, still lifes, desert landscapes and sometimes abstracts. Dress suggestions: O’Keefe is famous for wearing a dark outfit with a white shirt complete with a leather hat. You may like to add a cow horn or skull. She liked to paint outdoors so her skin was dark brown in color. Bring along a sketchpad too.