NOW LET ME FLY. The Struggle toward Brown v. Board. Marcia Cebulska. (Readers Theatre Version Y 1/05 Revision) COPYRIGHT 2005 by Marcia Cebulska

Transcription

1 NOW LET ME FLY The Struggle toward Brown v. Board by Marcia Cebulska (Readers Theatre Version Y 1/05 Revision) COPYRIGHT 2005 by Marcia Cebulska Now Let Me Fly was commissioned for the national celebration of the 50th anniversary of the U. S. Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, by The Brown Foundation with generous funding from Washburn University.

2 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version) p. ii Conditions of Use Thank you for your interest in Now Let Me Fly. Please read these conditions of use. If you are unwilling or unable to comply with any of the conditions outlined below please destroy any copies you have. The playwright, Marcia Cebulska, has graciously made Now Let Me Fly available on a royalty-free basis for all live performances or uses for which there is no admission charge and for which performers or students have received no payment. Any other productions or use are subject to royalties and must receive permission from the playwright. Now Let Me Fly is the original work and sole property of playwright Marcia Cebulska and is protected by copyright in ALL forms and manifestations. As such, no changes may be made to the script, including any changes to the dialog. You may NOT make the script available to others via the internet, an intranet or by any other electronic means. Please encourage others who would like the script to request it individually. You may print the files sent to you as attachments in sufficient quantity to provide each of the participants with a copy for their own use. Please stress, however, that the script may not be recopied and/or redistributed. REGISTERING YOUR USE: You are REQUIRED to register your use so we have an accurate record of the success of this project. You may register at: TEACHERS, PLEASE NOTE: Use of Now Let Me Fly in any fashion including classroom readings qualifies as a use, requiring completion of the registration form; please be sure to complete the form. Should you have any questions, please feel free to send them via to martin.wisneski@washburn.edu. THANK YOU!!!

3 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version) p. iii Now Let Me Fly (Traditional Spiritual) I heard a rumbling in the sky I thought the Lord was passing by It was the good old chariot drawing nigh Oh well, it shook the earth, swept the sky Now let me fly Oh, Lord, Lord... Now let me fly

4 NOTES ON PERFORMANCE Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version) p. iv Right version for your audience? This version of NOW LET ME FLY is best suited for a middle or high school audience. If you are performing for younger children or using middle or high school actors, do consider the EY version of NOW LET ME FLY. The EY version is shorter and easier to understand. Consider doing the shorter version with a Q and A period afterward for an elementary school student performance. How to make it entertaining? NOW LET ME FLY is an educational play with some highly entertaining options to make it appealing to young audiences, even for a reading. There are several opportunities to include music in the script. You don t need to learn any new songs or follow sheet music to include some songs. Talk with your performers about which spirituals and gospel songs they might know and include something they are comfortable singing. Almost everyone knows This Little Light of Mine, for example. It is perfect for the Farmville, Virginia scene in which the Barbara Johns character can lead the other actors in song. In the South Carolina scene, the minister can lead the other actors in a song of his choosing. Don t be surprised if your audience joins in on the chorus. NOW LET ME FLY was written with a strong visual metaphor in mind. The idea of many hands helping to create wings appears repeatedly. We strongly encourage you to incorporate some means of using handprints or thumbprints in your reading or production. We have seen a high school performance in which they used a simple easel with a large pad of paper for their visuals. One page had a large thumbprint on it. Another, a squiggle for the top of the wings. At the end of the play, all the actors came forward and put their thumbs to one of several colored ink pads. Each actor then placed his/her thumbprint on the paper, making the feathers for the wings. Another example comes from a fifth-grade teacher who reports having had students make outlines of their hands and decorating them, then using the overlapping hands to create wings during the course of the play. You might try overhead projection, slides or digital images. Be creative. Try out an idea or two in rehearsal. Doing something visual helps keep the interest of your audience and re-enforces the text.

5 Now Let Me Fly Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version) p. v Time: The present and , the period leading up to the Brown v. Board decision. Setting: The office of the Legal Defense Fund, NAACP, and A barbershop in Washington DC A school auditorium in Farmville VA A church office in Hockessin DE A burned-down church in Somerton SC A railroad yard in Topeka KS Story: Thurgood Marshall is exuberant in his enthusiasm to fly in the face of tradition and overthrow the Supreme Court ruling on segregation. But when the ghost of his mentor, Charles Houston, visits him, he is stricken with doubt. Houston takes Marshall on a journey, looking in on the lives and losses of the men and women working in the grassroots struggle against the legally enforced separation of the races. They collect the thumbprints of the ordinary people who became activists in all five of the cases that went to the Supreme Court. Together, the thumbprints form a picture of determination, dignity and success. Now Let Me Fly is the story of the unsung heroes and heroines behind the struggle to end legalized segregation in America. Images: In a fully realized production of Now Let Me Fly, there would be costumes, set pieces and also images shown by slides or PowerPoint projection. Some of the stage directions for these images have been included in this reading version of the script. The reader of stage directions should read these aloud so that your audience will be able to imagine these important visual elements of the play. Language: This play makes use of the language of the period it depicts. It occasionally uses non-standard English as well. There is no sexually explicit language in the text. Length: A reading should run approximately 45 minutes. Characters You ll need to cast 8 or more people. Two main characters run throughout the play. The other parts, many of which only have 2 or 3 lines, can be distributed among 5 or more other actors. Plus, you will need one more person to read stage directions.

6 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version) p. vi Note: This list may look long but don t worry! You really can do this play reading with AS FEW AS 8 PEOPLE! We ll help you figure out how to distribute roles -- see Casting Plans below. * Indicates actual names of people involved at the time. The Biggest Roles (legal strategists present throughout the play): Charles Houston*: African-American male, 50s. Law professor. Dean of the Howard University Law School (a historically black university). Mentor to Thurgood Marshall. Moses of the Civil Rights Movement. Known to his students as Cement Pants because he was formal, upright and strict. In the play, he appears as a ghost. Thurgood Marshall*: African-American male, 40s. Lawyer. Head of the Legal Defense Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Lead lawyer arguing the Brown case before the Supreme Court. He is wisecracking, has a grand sense of humor, is easy-going and smart. Good-sized Roles at the Heart of the Play: Cissy Suyat*: Filipino-Hawaiian female, 20s. Gardner Bish Bishop*: African-American male, 35. Barber. Woody: African-American male, 30. WWII vet, customer at barber shop. Eleanor: White female, 16. Student. Barbara Johns*: African-American female, 16. Student. Mrs. Gates: White female, any age. Secretary. Mrs. Sarah Bulah*: African-American female, 40. Mother, egg seller. Rev. Kilson*: African-American male, 45. Preacher. Rev. J.A. DeLaine*: African-American male, 40. Preacher. White Man with Gas Can: White male, any age. McKinley Burnett*: African-American male, 50. Railroad carpenter. Charles Scott*: African-American male, 30. Lawyer. The Smallest Roles (0-5 lines; may be cameo appearances or double-cast) Reporter 1: Any ethnicity, sex or age. Reporter 2: Any ethnicity, sex or age. Reporter 3: White Male Southerner. Eleanor s Father: white male, 40. Father. Congregation Member 1: African-American, sex or age. Congregation Member 2: African-American female, 30. Mother. Lucinda Todd* (and other female Topeka plaintiffs): African-American female, any age. Mother. Oliver Brown*: African-American male, early 30s. Railroad welder. Matthew Whitehead*: African-American male, 30s. Professor. Frederic Wertham*: white Jewish male, 50s. Psychologist. Louisa Holt*: white female, 30s. Psychologist. Kenneth Clark*: African-American male, 40. Sociologist. Silas Fleming*: African-American male, 30s. Father.

7 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version) p. vii James Nabrit*: African-American male, 30s. Lawyer. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren*: White male, 60s. Judge. NAACP Staff 1: any ethnicity, sex or age. NAACP Staff 2: any ethnicity, sex or age. NAACP Staff 3: any ethnicity, sex or age. Voice/Voices: unseen; single voice is male; chorus of voices can be mixed. CASTING PLAN #1. Here s an example of how, in a small group reading, one actor can play more than one role. This casting plan uses 8 actors: Actor 1: Charles Houston Actor 2: Thurgood Marshall Actor 3: Stage Directions Actor 4: Reporter 1, Gardner Bishop, Rev. Kilson, Congregation Member 1, McKinley Burnett, Matthew Whitehead, Silas Fleming, and NAACP Staff 1 Actor 5: Woody, Rev. DeLaine, Charles Scott, Oliver Brown, Kenneth Clark, James Nabrit, and NAACP Staff 2 Actor 6: Cissy Suyat, Eleanor, Mrs. Gates, and Louisa Holt, Voices Actor 7: Reporter 3, Eleanor s Father, Voice, White Man with Gas Can, Voices, Frederic Wertham, and Supreme Court Justice Warren Actor 8: Reporter 2, Barbara Johns, Mrs. Sarah Bulah, Congregation Member 2, Lucinda Todd, and NAACP Staff 3 CASTING PLAN #2. Here is a casting plan using 12 actors: Actor 1: Charles Houston Actor 2: Thurgood Marshall Actor 3: Stage Directions Actor 4: Gardner Bishop, Rev. Kilson, McKinley Burnett, Matthew Whitehead, and James Nabrit Actor 5: Woody, Rev. DeLaine, Charles Scott, Oliver Brown, Kenneth Clark, and NAACP Staff 2 Actor 6: Cissy Suyat and Eleanor Actor 7: Reporter 3, White Man with Gas Can, Voice, and Frederic Wertham Actor 8: Reporter 2, Barbara Johns, and NAACP Staff 3 Actor 9: Mrs. Sarah Bulah, Congregation Member 2, and Lucinda Todd Actor 10: Mrs. Gates and Louisa Holt Actor 11: Reporter 1, Congregation Member 1, Silas Fleming, and NAACP Staff 1 Actor 12: Eleanor s Father, Voices, and Supreme Court Justice Warren CASTING PLAN #3. Cast one person per role! Of course, these casting plans are just suggestions. You are free to combine roles differently. Get creative with your casting.

8 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--1 NOW LET ME FLY by Marcia Cebulska Scene 1 [An African-American gentleman in a fine suit addresses the audience.] They say I have my thumbprints all over it. Me, Charles Hamilton Houston. As if I started the whole thing. [A large thumbprint is seen on paper or screen.] Look at that thumbprint. Is that mine? Full of spirals and loops, a pattern so wild it looks like the map of a bumblebee s flight. Probably belongs to Thurgood Marshall. [More thumbprints and also handprints on page or screen.] Thumbprints. Handprints. Why even look at them? I will tell you why. Humans have been claiming and blaming with them since they lived in caves. Behind each and every one there s someone with a story: I did it, I mattered. [A few actors hold up their thumbs. Thumbprints are seen on a page or screen.] Unique. No two alike. Like people. Quite simple then, isn t it? We need to go back and find the other thumbprints. [HE holds his thumb up. A blank page or screen.] You didn t expect a ghost to make a mark, did you? [CHARLES makes hitchhiking gesture with his thumb.]

9 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--2 Scene 2 [New York, THURGOOD is at a press conference with his secretary at his side.] I promise you the end of segregation in 5 years and the end of racism in 10! The wall will come down! Questions? Mr. Marshall! Mr. Marshall! [ nods to one.] REPORTERS REPORTER 1 Mr. Marshall, you ve made some pretty bold statements for someone who just lost a case. The current law states that Negro children are not fit to go to school with white children. Jim Crow must go! I will usher him out the door myself, no matter how many cases it takes. Are you planning to appeal? REPORTER 2 We are considering an appeal and will announce our intention in the morning. REPORTER 1 The Supreme Court clearly established separate but equal. Isn t it your job to obey that law? Separate but equal? Show me the equal! Thank you. Thank you. [REPORTERS exit.]

10 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--3 Scene 3 [ is left in his office with secretary, CISSY SUYAT, who straightens the office.] SUYAT You had to lose that case, you know. Now, you can appeal. There ll be a new Supreme Court decision and you ll put your thumbprint right smack on it. That right? SUYAT People will be tearing down those ramshackle old colored schools left and right. You should be celebrating! You want a party, we ll have a party. We ll need a little music... [ sings a little.] Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho! I went to high school with Cab Calloway, did you know that? Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho Maybe we can turn it into a slogan. Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho, No more Jim Crow! [HE twirls her around in a little dance. Then, pause.] SUYAT I should be leaving. [SHE gets her hat and puts it on. He notices it.] Crushed velvet. Egret feathers. Point 2 rhinestones. SUYAT Pardon me?

11 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--4 You can tell a lot about a woman by her hat. SUYAT That right? Velvet--a warm personality. Egret feathers--a sense of style. Rhinestones-- not afraid to be noticed but not too flashy neither. SUYAT Where did you get all that? I worked for a hat store in Baltimore. I was 15. I delivered hats. Changed the course of my life. SUYAT That right? One day I had a stack of hatboxes this high. I was trying to get on the streetcar, not looking where I was going and, well, I bumped into a white man. He got mad and started calling me names. SUYAT What happened to the hats? Hey, I got into a scuffle! Don t you care what happened to me? SUYAT You re here to tell the tale. The poor innocent hats, on the other hand... I dropped the darn hats. Right in the middle of the street. Feathers flying, fists flying. Some people thought I was a bad boy. SUYAT

12 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--5 I can t believe that, sir. When I acted up in school, they sent me down to the basement with a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Had the whole thing memorized by the time I was 12. SUYAT So something good came out of something bad. Just like this case. I was just forgetting about the darn case! SUYAT Sorry...I should go. [SHE hesitates.] Something wrong? You got something on your mind? SUYAT If I were you, I d take a look at this mail! [SHE picks up a piece of mail, reads] Dear Mr. Marshall, you are the Number One Negro of All Time. Thank you for trying to make our lives a little bit better. We know you re going to do right by us. There s hundreds of them, Mr. Marshall. Porters, teachers, garage mechanics. They are all counting on you... Do you know what that feels like? When I am out there on the road, speaking in some church basement and I see those hungry faces looking up at me, I wonder what if... SUYAT What if...?

13 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--6 What if I get all the way up to the Supreme Court and fall flat on my face? What if I can t... SUYAT Make the world spin the other way? Is that what I m trying to do? SUYAT Oh, yes. And please, please don t you stop trying. [CISSY moves to leave, he waves.] Good-night, Mr. Marshall.

14 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--7 Scene 4 [, left alone, paces. HE calls out.] Charlie Houston! Old Iron Shoes! Wherever you are, you old ghost, you listen here! I m gonna win the next one. In the Supreme Court. Wahoo!! Do ya hear? WAHOO!! [enters] What is all this wahooing about? Why, Charlie Houston! Aren t you supposed to be sitting on a cloud playing a harp? Should I say Boo? You are looking at a ghost, Mr. Marshall, aren t you afraid? Just a little? Nope. Good. Now what is all this wahooing? You could have called quietly. I know why you re here--you don t trust me. I left you in charge, made you the boss man, isn t that trust? I know what you want me to do--stick with the local cases, go for gradual change. Well, that was your plan. I have mine. I have come for thumbprints. Thumbprints? Thumbprints?

15 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--8 In 15th Century Persia, it was against the law to draw images. So people made pictures with thumbprints. I ve got the most important decision of my life to make and you re talking about thumbprints! [ gets his briefcase, seemingly out of thin air.] Change the schools and you will change the world. We had dreams, didn t we, son? I still have dreams. I m going to win the appeal. I hear doubt. I ll take this one all the way... To the Supreme Court? You betcha. You want to change the law of the land. Upend the Supreme Court ruling. Reverse gravity. You don t think I can do it. You don t think you can do it. You re worried even if you don t admit it.

16 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--9 You re supposed to be cheering me on to victory, inspiring me with bits of wisdom. I am? You really don t think I can do it? For heaven s sake, straighten your shoulders and hold your chin up. You didn t do it in your life time so you don t want me to do it either? Do you think I am that selfish? I want what is best for our people. I m just starting to fly and you want to clip my wings. Do not fly too near the sun. Who do you think I am, Icarus? Ah, yes, Icarus. Icarus had a father, Daedalus... Dead-less, like you... An inventor... I know the story. Daedalus and Icarus were imprisoned behind gigantic walls. They could not climb over or dig under them.

17 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--10 So Daedalus made them-- Wings. Big beautiful wings for himself and his boy Icarus. Wings made of feathers and wax and string. They put on those wings... And flappity-fly, they took off. Right over those prison walls. Daedalus warned Icarus: Do not fly too near the sun... But Icarus, he was soaring so high, having the time of his life, so proud and happy, gliding and soaring, soaring and gliding...feeling so good...soarrring!! Until he flew too near the sun. The wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea. You sure know how to ruin a party. Mr. Marshall, you have been flapping your wings and you have been flying high. Now you had better take pause... And do what? Do what I taught you. Know every case. Know the people who brought them. Their lives are in your hands. Thank every bird whose feathers are in your wings.

18 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--11 I hereby thank you for having the brilliant idea of de-segregating the schools. If we bring up our children together, it will be the end of racism and... And what about the people? What, you want me keeping in mind every dishwasher who sent a dime to the NAACP? I m a lawyer. If I get stuck in the stories of every soldier in the struggle, I can t do my job. Is that right? I m designing a new society. I don t have time to write thank-you notes to every mama who made fried chicken for the cause. If you are changing more than the law, if you are changing society, if you are ending racism, you need every mama who made fried chicken for the cause. Now stop flapping. If you weren t such an old man... Supernatural being. Ghost. Are you afraid of me yet? Just a touch of the heebie-jeebies? Yes! Happy? Good.

19 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--12 What now? A good lawyer listens to the stories. Goes back to the beginnings. Gathers thumbprints. Come with me, Mr. Marshall.

20 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--13 Scene 5 Washington, D.C., U Street...the barbershop of Mr. Gardner Bishop. [ turns on the radio. The blues are playing. and watch from the sidelines. WOODY, a veteran wearing an army uniform, sits down to get his hair trimmed. BISH shakes out a towel, ready to cut hair.] BISH What can I do for our war hero today? WOODY You can start by turning that radio around. I don t like them blues rubbing off on me. [BISH goes to move radio] BISH Unsung hero, that s what you are. Hitler was mowing down everybody who didn t have blond hair and blue eyes, and you... [BISH stops short, looks out the window.] WOODY You gonna cut my hair or stare out the window? BISH Look at that sign across the street. On that new Capital Cafe. [WOODY rises to look. He reads.] WOODY White gentlemen and ladies only... They re not going to get much business on U Street. Only colored over here. [BISH continues reading sign.]

21 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--14 BISH It goes on: Dogs belonging to the appropriate persons also welcome, if on a leash. Look at that. They let you in the war to get shot at. Now you can t go in a restaurant they let a rat terrier in. WOODY I came here to relax and you re getting me all riled up! [WOODY picks up a newspaper with a purposeful snap. BISH clips a bit.] BISH It s right in that paper how that the brand new white school is only half full. WOODY I don t look at that kinda news. It gives me the blues. BISH Meanwhile ours is busting at the seams. Your boy and my girl, they re going to school only 3 hours a day. You can t fight City Hall. WOODY BISH [drops a bomb] I went to the school board meeting last night. WOODY What? Are you nuts? You are lucky you don t work for anybody because your black self would be fired quick as that. [WOODY snaps his finger and then picks up newspaper again.] BISH I figure there s barber shops all over the country where there s guys saying You can t fight City Hall. That s right. WOODY BISH Meanwhile, there s more signs going up about dogs going where we can t.

22 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--15 WOODY City Hall wall. Can t get over it, can t get around it. BISH Y know, they can turn me away from the movies and the cafes but when it comes to my little girl...when it comes to my Judine and her education... WOODY You re not goin back to that school board! BISH What you do for a livin, Mr. Woody? WOODY Taxi dispatcher and you know it. BISH What if every Negro taxi dispatcher in the whole U.S. sent out all the taxis taking our colored kids to the white schools. They couldn t stop us. If we all did it. WOODY Where you getting these wild ideas? BISH Nowhere. Okay, I went to a meeting and this lawyer, Mr. Houston...I told this lawyer how hopping mad I was. And he said to me... WOODY He said? BISH A little less mad and a little more do. WOODY I already risked myself for so-called freedom. I m not fighting any more white folks, you hear? [Enter ELEANOR, teenaged white girl looking for all the world as if she s playing hide-and-seek and just found her hiding place.

23 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--16 WOODY & BISH stop short.] ELEANOR Oh...good morning, Mister, Sir...Sirs. BISH You lost, Miss? ELEANOR Not at all, Sir, thank you. Just... [SHE notices where she is]...wanting a haircut. [WOODY rises to let her sit, shaving cream still on his face] WOODY Here you go, Missy. I can just stand right up. Do me good. Yes m. ELEANOR Thank you kindly. I ll wait my turn. Sir. [SHE paces. BISH pretends to continue working on WOODY.] WOODY Now when my wife get her hair done, she go down to the beauty shop. Maybe your mama s thinking you re over at the white woman s beauty shop. ` ELEANOR They don t play the blues in the white beauty shop. WOODY Them blues? [WOODY points to radio] ELEANOR I want to learn to sing like Bessie Smith--wear a red spangly dress and sing like I know something about the world. BISH Our Bessie Smith?

24 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--17 ELEANOR At John Philip Sousa High, we ve got teachers for Physics and French but not one to teach me how to sing the blues. WOODY I know your school. I been there for a basketball game. And I peeked in the science section... BISH Woody s son s got a special interest in science. ELEANOR We got more microscopes and butterfly collections than we got kids. If he likes that kinda thing, you ought to send him to my school. [ELEANOR S FATHER enters] ELEANOR S FATHER Eleanor Tompkins, I told you: when I m out here collecting my rents, you wait in the car! ELEANOR But, Daddy, I just wanted to listen! ELEANOR S FATHER [to men] She just doesn t have any sense. WOODY We just giving her directions is all, yessir, uh-huh. ELEANOR S FATHER [to men] My daughter does not need your directions. I own the cafe right across the street. And when I find out who your landlord is, I plan to own this building too, understand? ELEANOR Daddy, please!

25 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--18 ELEANOR S FATHER White people built this country and we are gonna take it back if we have to do it block by block. BISH Not this particular block because I own this barbershop and I own this building. And I not about to sell. ELEANOR S FATHER Well, Mr. Uppity Negro, let me tell you: white people are in charge and, by gum, we re staying in charge. [HE pulls ELEANOR outside the shop] ELEANOR S FATHER [to ELEANOR] What were you thinking? You start hanging around with colored, your own people will start looking down on you. [HE pulls HER off-stage. Inside, BISH bangs things around.] WOODY You hating that girl for walking in here like that? BISH No, I m hating you for shuffling like you some Step n Fetchit. WOODY Never seen anything like it. White girl walking in here like she got the right... BISH She got the right. WOODY And her daddy! Whew! BISH How you expect to be treated any different when you re shuffling and bowing.

26 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--19 WOODY And you think you re helping by going off to the school board and creating a big fuss? BISH Schools are where we re gonna change everything. WOODY Well, let me tell you about their schools. They got microscopes, lab tables, charts, scales...you think they gonna give that up? BISH And what kinda science equipment they got over at the colored school? [no answer] It s not your shame, so speak up! WOODY A Bunsen burner and a bowl of goldfish. BISH Excuse me? WOODY That s all what they got in the whole colored high school. One Bunsen burner and a bowl of goldfish. BISH What our kids gonna learn from watching them goldfish swimming around? The law of the land is Separate but equal! Show me the equal! Show me the equal! WOODY Simmer down, Bish. A little less mad and a little more do. BISH I don t care what that NAACP lawyer said. WOODY But he s right. Where s the do? What we gonna do? BISH

27 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--20 I ll give you do. I m gonna organize, proselytize, and deputize. We ll drive in a parade of taxi cabs to the white school! We ll have a strike, like they do in the unions! WOODY You re gonna need a whole lot of customers to carry that off. [BISH takes down a sign with prices. HE grabs a pen.] BISH Give me your good back, Woody. [HE writes on the back of the sign] We re gonna have us a meeting. And I m giving a speech. You? I said I m giving a speech! WOODY BISH [BISH holds up sign: MEETING HERE TONIGHT 7 PM. WOODY goes toward radio.] What you doing, Woody? Turning off the blues. BISH WOODY [BISH gives a thumbs-up sign. waves his hand and thumbprint appears projected on screen. Lights out on BISH & WOODY.]

28 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--21 Scene 6 [Return to /.] Thumbprints, Mr. Marshall. People once used them to sign contracts. And I thought you brought me here for a haircut. Barbers, cab drivers, and teachers all over the country meeting in cafes, truck stops, church basements... All the talk does not change the law. The law protects us. You throw away the law and what do you have? I m not throwing away the law, I m changing it. Don t worry, we ll survive. Will we? You have to know if your solution will work and if it is worth the risk. I ll give you five minutes. You want me to hear this speech... Farmville, Virginia. The R. R. Moton High School auditorium. What? [ puts his thumb out.] It is Spring of 1951 and a young woman, Barbara Johns, age 16, is about to speak. Listen to the people, Mr. Marshall.

29 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--22 Scene 7 [BARBARA JOHNS addresses school assembly.] BARBARA Every morning I get on a bus thrown away by the white high school. I sit on a torn seat and look out a broken window. And when my bus passes the shiny new bus that the white high schoolers have, I hide my face because I m embarrassed in my raggedy bus. And when we get to R. R. Moton High, the bus driver gets off with us, because he s also our history teacher. He comes in the classroom and fires up the stove and I sit in my winter coat waiting for the room to get warm. You know the rooms, the ones in the addition as they call it. We call them the tar paper shacks because that s what they are, am I right? I m embarrassed that I go to school in tar paper shacks and when it rains I have to open an umbrella so the leaks from the roof won t make the ink run on my paper. And later in the day I have a hygiene class out in that broken-down bus and a biology class in a corner of the auditorium with one microscope for the whole school. I m embarrassed that our water fountains are broken and our wash basins are broken and it seems our whole school is broken and crowded and poor. And I m embarrassed. But my embarrassment is nothing compared to my hunger. I m not talking about my hunger for food. No, I m hungry for those shiny books they have up at Farmville High. I want the page of the Constitution that is torn out of my social studies book. I want a chance at that Romeo and Juliet I ve heard about but they tell me I m not fit to read. Our teachers say we can fly just as high as anyone else. That s what I want to do. Fly just as high. I said, fly. You know, I ve been sitting in my embarrassment and my hunger for so long that I forgot about standing up. So, today, I m going to ask you to stand with me. Before we fly, before we fly just as high as anyone else, we got to walk just as proud as anyone else. And that s what we re going to do! We re going walk out of this school and

30 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--23 over to the court house. Do you hear me? We re going to walk with our heads high and go talk to the school board. Are you with me? We re going to walk out in a strike, yes, I said strike, and we won t come back until we get a real school with a gymnasium and library and whole books. And we will get them. And it ll be grand. Are you with me? Are we going to walk? Are we going to fly? [BARBARA sings This Little Light of Mine, others join in. MRS. GATES blocks her way.] BARBARA As citizens of Prince Edward County, we would like to address the school board. My name is... MRS. GATES I know who you are. I m sure your grandmother would rather you were in school, not stirring up any trouble. BARBARA We have a document to deliver to the board of education, ma m. MRS. GATES I am Mrs. Gates, secretary to the judge. I must tell you it would be considerable unwise to leave anything in writing, Barbara Rose. BARBARA There are 400 students, ma m. We are citizens... MRS. GATES You are children in over your heads. BARBARA We are protected by the Constitution and... MRS. GATES Hold your tongues, turn around in an orderly fashion and return to your classrooms.

31 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--24 BARBARA With all due respect, ma am, we are certain that members of the school board are not aware of the conditions of our school. We are citizens... MRS. GATES You are children. You have no idea what you are up against. Three hundred years of tradition. You walk in there and you are throwing oil on a fire. And trust me, you will be the ones to get burned. BARBARA We figure the Farmville jail is too small to hold us all... MRS. GATES Jail would be the least of your problems, girl. You don t want to be starting a second Civil War now, do you? BARBARA I am standing up for my rights and I am not afraid. MRS. GATES You are shaking in your mary janes and I can see it. Turn around, child... BARBARA As a citizen of Prince Edward County... MRS. GATES Barbara Rose, you have a responsibility to the children who ve followed you. Are you going to lead them into disaster? You walk in there and a plan of action will be set in motion. They will close your school. BARBARA No one would do that. Public education is a right... You stop me from being educated, you stop me from being an informed citizen... MRS. GATES This is reality, Barbara Rose, not a high school debate. These people don t want you in school with white children. Go home.

32 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--25 BARBARA We, as citizen of Prince Edward County, would like to exercise our right to address the school board... Let them in, Margaret... VOICE [SHE steps aside. BARBARA walks offstage. Lights out on MRS. GATES, up on /. gives a thumbs up and we see more thumbprints.]

33 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--26 Scene 8 The ancient Chinese sealed their legal documents with warm wax and put their thumbprints on the seal. What happens to her--barbara Johns? She leads the strike, speaks at community meetings, calls our lawyers. What happens to her? Even our lawyers tell the students to go back to school. But they don t, do they? WHAT HAPPENS TO HER? Threatened by the Ku Klux Klan, Barbara Rose Johns gets sent away to relatives for her safety. And then, when the law changes, the colored students will have a good school right? The public schools in Prince Edward County are closed for 5 years. Private white academies are set up. Black children are sent away to relatives or... Or don t get any education at all? This girl doesn t fall, like Icarus. She s shot down. More stories, more thumbprints, Mr. Marshall. Third stop. Hockessin.

34 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--27 I know the Delaware cases. Wilmington, Hockessin. Mrs. Sarah Bulah goes to visit her church leader.

35 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--28 Scene 9 [Hockessin, Delaware. MRS. SARAH BULAH carries a couple of shopping bags containing eggs and produce to the REV. MARTIN LUTHER KILSON.] MRS. BULAH Fresh eggs, Reverend. And I also got for you collard greens picked this morning, green as grass. REV. KILSON Sarah, you do know how to plow God s earth into yielding up His gifts. Now what do I owe you for the fruits of your toil? MRS. BULAH They is God s gifts and we are happy to share. REV. KILSON May the good Lord bless you and multiply your bounty. [SHE doesn t move] REV. KILSON Fred in good health? MRS. BULAH Oh, yes. Fred--Mr. Bulah, he is right fine, thank you. REV. KILSON And Shirley Barbara? What is she now, six years old? MRS. BULAH You were always good with numbers Reverend. REV. KILSON I see you driving her up the hill here to the school. MRS. BULAH It take me a whole hour to walk it! I can t let a 6-year-old child climb that hill, oh no.

36 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--29 REV. KILSON I m glad you ve seen fit to stop all that letter writing to the governor and what all. I mean, nobody was going to let Shirley Barbara on that white bus no matter how close it rode near your house. MRS. BULAH Thirteen feet, Reverend. Thirteen feet. REV. KILSON Did I ever tell you how much I admired what you and Mr. Bulah did, taking in that child? MRS. BULAH It s all because of you, Reverend. You re the one who preached it from the pulpit. You talked about that baby girl left abandoned over there in Wilmington. The way you talked about her, it broke my heart. You are such a gifted sermonizer, Reverend. The good Lord done give you the gift of gab. REV. KILSON I just said the facts. A 10-month-old baby left without parents. But you were the ones who took her in, made her your own child. MRS. BULAH You did the speaking and we did the doing. It s the power of your words, Reverend. REV. KILSON And you re still taking such good care of her, taking her to Mrs. Dyson s class. MRS. BULAH Mrs. Dyson, she s a good teacher. Sometime, if Shirley Barbara don t understand something, why, Mrs. Dyson she come to the house to teach it to her. REV. KILSON We are lucky to have her.

37 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--30 MRS. BULAH And she got such a hard job, teaching all them grades in one room like she does. She even takes in the little knee babies--3 and 4 years old. And it s not like she can send some of them out to play ball like they do at the white school cause we don t have a baseball diamond. And we don t have those roses to smell like they got over at the white school neither. Just a bunch of dirt and a one-room school house with one itty toilet next to the closet with the kids lunches. REV. KILSON Sarah... MRS. BULAH One room and dirt. That s what we got. REV. KILSON Mrs. Bulah, why are you here, bringing me twice as many eggs as usual and five times as many collard greens? MRS. BULAH Well, you were right about my letters getting me nowhere. I wrote the Superintendent of Schools and the Congressman... REV. KILSON And the governor. MRS. BULAH Three times. They all say the same thing. The state don t transport little black children in no white school bus even if it pass right smack by your house. REV. KILSON As I ve told you, Mrs. Bulah, we have to live in peace and harmony with our white neighbors. MRS. BULAH So I went and talked to this here lawyer, Mr. Redding. He s the one that

38 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--31 won the integration case over at the University. I figured if he could do that, he could do this. REV. KILSON Get Shirley Barbara a ride on the white bus? You bothered him... MRS. BULAH I was mistaken about that, for sure. REV. KILSON I should say. Taking up that busy man s time! MRS. BULAH He wants me to go all the way for complete integration of our public schools here in Hockessin. REV. KILSON Pardon me? MRS. BULAH He s got a case in Wilmington too. We re goin for the whole state of Delaware. REV. KILSON Mrs. Bulah! MRS. BULAH And the whole United States where we all supposed to be created equal. It s what Mrs. Dyson teach in that little run-down school though I don t see how she can make much of a case... REV. KILSON The law of the land, Mrs. Bulah, is Separate But Equal. MRS. BULAH I sees lots of separates but not much equals. We know that s not working. So I was thinking maybe you could preach about it like you done about Shirley Barbara and convince the others to sign on too cause there s strength in numbers.

39 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--32 REV. KILSON Sarah! Stop! What are you trying to do, woman, stir up trouble? MRS. BULAH Mr. Redding is going to court and get us colored folks a piece of the action. REV. KILSON A piece of the action? MRS. BULAH Equal education for our children. Mrs. Dyson is the best there is, but she doesn t even have a decent classroom. REV. KILSON If you succeed, Mrs. Dyson will be out of a job. You think they re going to let a black woman teach white children? They will fire her black self as quick as that. [HE snaps his finger] And what s going to happen to the parents who sign your letter? They will lose their jobs at the mill. Those children are going to starve if their daddies can t get work! MRS. BULAH I heard of preachers speaking out from the pulpit about the struggle, like Moses leading their people to the Promised Land. I thought about how you led us to Shirley Barbara and I thought if anybody could speak up a storm about what is right for the forgotten children it is you, Reverend Kilson. You got to tell them it s worth the sacrificing for the good of the future. They d listen to you. REV. KILSON When I talked to the congregation about that abandoned little Negro girl, I believed every word I said. About taking care of our own. MRS. BULAH It s the same thing.

40 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--33 REV. KILSON No, Mrs. Bulah, it is not. I am in favor of segregation. I am a man of peace. Now I have heard enough about agitating Negroes joining organizations... MRS. BULAH You mean the N double A... REV. KILSON Spells trouble. We will leave well enough alone. MRS. BULAH What you are saying is that our colored children, my little Shirley Barbara and the rest, aren t good enough to go to that nice school with the roses? They don t deserve it? Good Lord made them of cheaper cloth? Isn t that what we saying when we quiet about this? I not going to say it any more. God did not make the Negro child out of a cheaper cloth. I will not say it. I m leaving now, Reverend. It is clear to me you have less pluck than the chickens in my yard. [SHE moves to exit.] REV. KILSON Mrs. Bulah! I imagine you ll be wanting your eggs back. MRS. BULAH You re welcome to my greens and hens eggs any time, Reverend. But I reckon from now on you ll be shopping in town, buying them white eggs. [SHE exits. gestures and thumbprints are added.]

41 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--34 Scene 10 [ & alone again. s briefcase now has a few feathers sticking out of it.] Whatever you re doing with those thumbprints, hers belong up there. I like her pluck but... The Reverend? I don t get why our own people quit on us like that. Perhaps Reverend Kilson is afraid of ruffling feathers. If he goes on the way he does, he ll stay downtrodden. Under-served and under-privileged. Maybe he is afraid of what the future might bring. The future? Without racism we could have more architects, problem solvers, city planners. Mr. Marshall, black or white, we are all comforted by tradition. Family, community... That little girl in Virginia could take a chance. Try to fly a little higher, like she said. Why not him, a preacher, leader! He might have a clearer view of the risks.

42 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--35 You re defending him? I think you need to know what you are up against. You were my role model, my teacher, now you re trying to scare me? You need to stop and think, Mr. Marshall. About all our people. About consequences. Don t you worry about me falling down, old man. You think you gave me wings of wax and feathers? You gave me wings of steel. I gave you wings of paper. Wings of paper? Yes, the law is on wings of paper but it flies. Does it? Mr. Marshall, you are the one who is worried. This is your nightmare. I did what I could. I taught you what I knew. Change the schools and you ll change the world. You did teach me that, and then? It was time to pass on the baton. I had to... Leave? Quit? You quit! The NAACP, the Legal Defense Fund, me... I left you in charge.

43 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--36 You dragged me into this integration business and when the going got rough you... Went out of my way to make life hard for you? You left me behind. I left you in charge. I taught you everything I knew and then I left you in charge. An able-bodied, clear-thinking... Foolish... Well-educated... See-sawing... Brilliant, insightful... Terrified child! [pause] Look at me, son! I m here. You called me and I came. I didn t call you! You summoned me. No! It s you. You re...haunting...me. Like it or not, your thumbprints are all over this case. Your thumbprints are all over me.

44 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--37 We re not finished. What s wrong with wings of paper? They can burn.

45 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--38 Scene 11 Summerton, South Carolina. Look, Thurgood, these people are meeting in their burned out church! [The REV. DELAINE in a circle of light that widens during his sermon. A few congregants sit in the remaining burned seats, including a mother and child. Off to the side, and watch, occasionally speaking, unheard by the other characters in the scene.] Welcome, Brothers and Sisters. That s Reverend DeLaine. REV. DELAINE [to ] REV. DELAINE Every Sunday, I stand before you and ask you to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. This Sunday is no different. God s house is not four walls and a floor but a people. A community of faith and love. Let the Lord hear our voice, our hearts, and our prayer. Amen! CONGREGATION Amen! [then to ] This is my case. I know these people. REV. DELAINE Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go. Exodus, Chapter 8. Lord, our children walked 7 miles to the shanty they call a school and now, since the flood, they have rowed boats to school. We asked for a bus and were refused. We signed a petition for a better school. We knew there would be consequences, Lord. When your servant Harry Briggs signed the petition and his cow was put in jail for trespassing, we laughed a little, Lord. We laughed a little less when he was fired from his job at the filling station. On

46 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--39 Christmas Eve, Lord. When your servant Annie Gibson signed the petition... [to ] Because there weren t even desks in the school! REV. DELAINE...she lost her job as a chambermaid. And then she lost her land. They have burned our homes to the ground and our church to ashes. They have sent us into exile. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people. Exodus, Chapter 7. Today we have returned for one more meeting, Lord. Because this country of ours which preaches freedom, practices the racism of Nazi Germany. Because this land which calls out for equality practices the separatism of South Africa. And there is no equality in enforced separatism and there is no freedom in racism. Lord, we are weak human beings. We have been frightened by the thunder. We have been burned by the lightning. We have nearly drowned in the flood waters of the storm. But we are not beaten. We know that on the other side of the storm there is a brighter day. A day of hope and equality and freedom. Amen! & OTHERS REV. DELAINE For now, if there be thunder, we are the Children of Thunder. If there is lightning, we be its Brothers and Sisters. We will make friends of the Storm. We will weather the struggle for the sake of our children and our children s children. For that day, Lord. For their sake. [HE begins to sing a spiritual. Others join in. Outside the church, a drunken white man wanders on, carrying a gasoline can and talking to himself.]

47 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--40 MAN WITH A GASOLINE CAN So she says, Go get gas. Move it! Why can t she do it herself, walk down the road a piece. Move it. Who does she think I am, her slave boy? [HE spots boy on side of road. The boy is not portrayed by an actor. THE MAN acts as if there is. The actor creates the reality of the child.] Well, lookie here. Little Black Sambo. Don t worry, boy, I m just wondering if you could point me toward a gas station. [The MAN looks in the direction the boy has pointed.] Lookie, you did me a favor and I got a shiny penny for you. [HE searches in his pockets and pulls out a penny.] See? Only one more thing I wanna know. Is that your church down the road? The one all burnt to a crisp? The insane Reverend Delaine s church? Y know, he s preaching to you right. Uh-uh. If you look up in the sky, you don t see the buzzards and the crows mixing together, do you? Answer me, boy, do you? It s a law of nature, boy. Birds of a feather. [HE drops the penny.] There. I done give you a penny. Don t you want the penny? Buy yourself a little penny candy at the store? Pick it up now. Oh, no. [THE MAN watches as the boy goes to the ground to retrieve the penny. THE MAN steps on the child s hand with his boot.] MAN WITH A GASOLINE CAN Oh my, I just remembered. They won t let you in that store. I wonder why? Cause you re a little black Sambo, a little thief, isn t that right? Stealing the place of white boys. [HE kicks up with his foot, pushing the boy to the ground.]

48 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--41 You Negroes are causin all kinds of trouble these days. Stealin and rabble rousin. You and your insane Reverend Delaine. Stop it! [HE gives another nudge with his boot.] He can t hear you. MAN WITH A GASOLINE CAN Turning everything upside down. I ll show you to the way it s supposed to be. [HE kicks again and again.] The way it s supposed to be! [ gets up. HE is stopped by ] No! Stop it! You can t stop him. Way it s supposed to be! MAN WITH A GASOLINE CAN [HE kicks the boy over and over, angrily.] THE WAY IT S SUPPOSED TO BE!!! Noooooo! Noooooo! [HE kicks until the boy lies motionless on the ground. The MAN stops and then runs. The boy s MOTHER comes out looking for him. When SHE finds him, SHE throws herself on him and wails.] MOTHER [ runs into the scene to comfort the mother.]

49 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--42 She cannot see you. What can I do? [The MOTHER carries the child out of the scene, off-stage. REV. DELAINE and others also exit. Suggested music: Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.]

50 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--43 Scene 12 What can I DO??!! [HE sits down, deflated] What happens to this boy, this child kicked senseless? The child will die. God, is there any justice? And you wonder why I am not resting in peace. A child! I knew there would be costs but...a child! It s my fault. I blame myself. What? When I was walking this earth...i should have thought more about the people, Thurgood. What are you talking about? I should have been softer, warmer, more human. You were who we needed you to be. Our leader, our father...

51 Now Let Me Fly (Youth Version)--44 I led them into working for a better day, into making sacrifices for the sake of the law. These people gave their jobs, their land, and now their children for something I started. You said it yourself: my thumbprints are all over this! And what am I supposed to do? How do I go on knowing these people are getting burned and beaten? There are reasons to continue. You expect me to go on? I dreamed of a future that was free and equal and what? Segregation persists, racism triumphs. This child died for nothing! There are reasons to continue. What are you going to show me now? The Ghost of Negro Future? That I die a miserable failed old man? You? This is not about you. You go on... I go on...tell me....to become a judge... A judge? Circuit judge. Solicitor General. Supreme Court Justice. Satisfied?