NOW LET ME FLY The Struggle toward Brown v. Board by Marcia Cebulska (Readers Theatre Version EY) COPYRIGHT 2004, 2014 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.
Conditions of Use Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. ii 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 e-mail 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: http://nowletmefly.com/signup/ 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 e-mail to martin.wisneski@washburn.edu. THANK YOU!!!
Now Let Me Fly (EY 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
NOTES ON PERFORMANCE Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. iv Right version for your audience? This version of NOW LET ME FLY is best suited for a elementary school audiences, special education classes, classroom readings with young student actors, and those needing an abbreviated version. If you are performing for older children or using middle or high school actors, do consider the Youth version of NOW LET ME FLY. The Youth version is longer and contains more details about the cases. 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.
Now Let Me Fly Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. v Time: The present and 1948-54, 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: In being true to the language of the period it depicts, the 1950s, the play uses the words colored and Negro. Please explain this usage to your class. If necessary, you may change the word to black for it to be better understood. The play occasionally uses non-standard English as well. There is no sexually explicit language in the text. Length: A reading should run approximately 20 minutes.
CHARACTERS-- Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. vi Legal strategists who appear throughout the play: Charles Hamilton Houston -- African-American male, 50s. A ghost. Thurgood Marshall -- African-American male, 40s. Lawyer. Individual scene roles (several could be played by one actor): Washington, D.C. roles: Gardner "Bish" Bishop -- African-American male, 35. Barber. Woody -- African-American male, 30. WWII vet, customer. Virginia role: Barbara Johns -- African-American female, 16. Student. Delaware roles: Mrs. Sarah Bulah -- African-American female, 40. Mother, egg seller. Rev. Kilson -- African-American male, 45. Preacher. North Carolina main role: Rev. J.A. DeLaine -- African-American male, 40. Preacher. North Carolina, other roles: Adam -- a messenger. Mother -- mother of injured child. Kansas main roles: McKinley Burnett -- African-American male, 50. Railroad carpenter. Charles Scott -- African-American male, 30. Lawyer. Kansas, other roles:. Lucinda Todd (& 11 other Topeka plaintiffs): African-American females. Oliver Brown-- African-American male, early 30s. Railroad welder. Supreme Court witnesses and judge: Matthew Whitehead -- African-American male, 30s. Professor. Kenneth Clark -- African-American male, 40. Sociologist. James Nabrit -- African-American male, 30s. Lawyer. Silas Fleming -- African-American male, 30s. Father. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren -- White male, 60s. Judge. Chorus -- students, congregation, and small roles; could also sing.
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. vii CLASS ROOM ACTIVITIES 1. Thumbprints to Wings You can easily make a visual aid for the play. You will need: ink pad and paper a sheet of paper showing a pre-made outline to form the framework for a pair of wings. Start with one thumbprint in place. wet wipes to clean up inky thumbs How to do it: Instruct the readers to put their thumbprints down on the ink pad and then to the paper, in an overlapping pattern, so that the thumbprints are like the overlapping feathers of a wing. As the play progresses, the various characters in the play can put their thumbprints on the paper, accumulating and filling in the wings so that by the end of the play, the pair of wings is feathered. 2. Map Activity Using a blank U.S. map, students can find and mark or color in the states and areas that come up in the play. This will help demonstrate that the Brown cases did not just come from one girl in Kansas but was more widespread in origin. The class can compare the map for the original case sites with the sites map for Now Let Me Fly.
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 1 Scene 1 [to the audience.] Hello and welcome. I am Charles Hamilton Houston. Once, I was a teacher and a lawyer. But now, I collect thumbprints. I love thumbprints. I even tell stories and make pictures with them. [thumbprint] Look at that thumbprint! It looks like the path of a bumblebee. Thumbprints. Handprints. Why look at them? Because people have been making these marks since they lived in caves. They said, I did it. I made a difference. Today, you and I are going back in time to tell a story with thumbprints. A story about real people who tried to make things fair and equal for children in schools. Now, we just need to find the right thumbprints. Lucky for us, I am a ghost so we can do it with magic. What s that? You want to see my thumbprint? [no mark] Ah yes. We ghosts do not leave a mark. But here s someone who can Mr. Thurgood Marshall. [enters] Mr. Houston! What are you doing here? Why aren t you sitting on a cloud, playing a harp? I came for thumbprints. Thumbprints! I m working on the most important court case ever and you re talking about thumbprints! I know about the court case, Mr. Marshall. You want to change the law. The one that puts colored children in separate schools from white children.
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 2 Many colored children are going to school in old shacks. Their books are torn. They don t even have tables or desks. If we change the law, all children will go to the same schools and use the same books. They will all be treated equally. But you know that changing the law is hard. It is like trying to fly. Then, I will fly, if that s what it takes. But you are worried. You think that if you change the law too quickly, there could be trouble. People could get hurt. I want to take this case to the United States Supreme Court. If we change the schools, we will change the world! You do think big, Mr. Marshall. You don t think I can do it, do you? More to the point: you don t think you can do it. I want to make things better, not worse. You are worried, I can tell. But guess what? I am here to help. I think it is best to face a worry head on. So, let s go! What? Am I dreaming? Where are we going?
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 3 There are five cases going to the Supreme Court. We are going to all five places. Now, in the middle of the night? As a ghost, I have special magical powers. We can travel with a snap of my fingers. We can see people who cannot see us. Come with me. You will see the people who started the cases. Thank them. I don t have time to thank every mama who made fried chicken for the cause. I have to read my law books. [HE snaps his fingers.] Too late! First stop--washington, D.C. We are going to the barbershop of Mr. Gardner Bishop. His friends call him Bish. He is cutting the hair of a soldier named Woody. Scene 2 Washington, D.C. BISH Woody, look at that sign across the street at the Capital Cafe. It says: White men and ladies only. Dogs of white people also welcome. WOODY So, what s new? BISH You were a soldier in the war. But now, because you are colored, they won t let you in a restaurant. And look, they ll let a dog in! WOODY Don t get me upset. I came here to relax! [HE picks up a newspaper.]
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 4 BISH Relax? Did you read in the paper about the white high school? WOODY I don t read that kind of news. It gives me the blues. BISH They say the white school is only half full. But our colored school is crowded! Your boy and my girl go to school only 3 hours a day. WOODY You can t fight City Hall! BISH But I think we can. I have an idea! WOODY Hey, I just want to get my hair cut! BISH You work for the taxi company, right? WOODY You know I do. BISH We could put our colored children in taxi cabs and just drive them right on over to the white school. Then, walk them right in. If there are a lot of us, they can t stop us! WOODY I already fought in a war. I m not going to fight any more wars! BISH Have you ever seen the white school? WOODY I went there for a basketball game once. BISH What s it like?
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 5 WOODY Oh, it s nice! They have a big gym and their players have uniforms. I peeked in a classroom and saw a butterfly collection and lots of books. BISH And what about our colored school? WOODY Our players have old shoes with holes in them. There is no cafeteria. No gym. Just old torn books and a bowl of goldfish. BISH The law says, Separate but equal. Show me the equal! WOODY Oh, no, you got me all riled up! Now, I m mad! BISH Woody, we need a little less mad and a little more do. We ll have a meeting. We ll ask the parents to come. And I ll give a speech. There s going to be some changes! We ve had enough of singing the blues. [Blues song. BISH & WOODY add their thumbprints. ] Scene 3 People used to sign papers with thumbprints. Did you know that, Mr. Marshall? I saw a barber and a taxi driver talking. Talking does not change the law. You must listen to what the people have to say. Fine. You want me to hear a speech, I ll hear a speech!
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 6 [snaps his fingers.] People are giving speeches about the schools all over the country. We are going to Farmville, Virginia. To a high school. A young girl named Barbara Johns is talking to her whole school. Scene 4--Virginia 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. I ride in a raggedy bus. When I get to school, I keep my coat on because the room is so cold. My classroom is in a tar paper shack. When it rains, the roof leaks and I must open an umbrella. The water fountains are broken and our books are broken and torn. Our whole school is broken and crowded and poor. Our teachers say we can fly just as high as anyone else. That s what I want us to do. Fly just as high. I said, fly. But before we can fly as high as anyone else, we have to walk as proud as anyone else. And that s what we re going to do. We re going to walk with our heads high. We will walk to the school board. And we will ask them for a real school with a gym and a library and whole books. And we will get them. And it will be grand. Are you with me? Are we going to walk? STUDENTS Yes!!! BARBARA Are we going to fly? STUDENTS YES!!!! [BARBARA leads the STUDENTS in marching and singing, This Little Light of Mine. BARBARA s thumbprint is added.]
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 7 Scene 5 MARSHALL What happens? What happens to that girl and her school? HOUSTON Some of the white people in the town get angry and they close down the colored school for a long time. MARSHALL They close down the school? The children have no school? No education? The public schools are closed for five years. That isn t right! [snaps his fingers.] Next stop is Delaware. Mrs. Sarah Bulah goes to visit Reverend Kilson. Scene 6--Delaware MRS. BULAH Fresh eggs for you, Reverend. And also collard greens, green as grass. REV. KILSON What do I owe you, Sarah? MRS. BULAH Not a thing. We are happy to share, Reverend. REV. KILSON How is your little girl, Shirley Barbara? I see you driving her up the hill here to the school. MRS. BULAH That s because the white school bus drives right past her but does not pick her up.
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 8 REV. KILSON Yes, but we do have a good teacher here at our colored school. MRS. BULAH Mrs. Dyson is a very good teacher. But the colored school is just one room with a dirt floor. The white school has a baseball diamond and rose bushes. One room and dirt, that s all we have! REV. KILSON Sarah, we have to live in peace with our white neighbors. MRS. BULAH Well, I wrote letters to the governor he just say the same thing. The state will not take little black children in the white school bus even if it passes right smack by your house. REV. KILSON No more letter writing, Mrs. Bulah! We must live in harmony. MRS. BULAH So I went and talked with a lawyer, Mr. Redding. REV. KILSON How could you take up that busy man s time MRS. BULAH Because the law says we are all created equal. REV. KILSON The law of the land is Separate but equal. MRS. BULAH Reverend, I see plenty of separate but not much equal. So I was thinking you could preach about it at church on Sunday. REV. KILSON I do not want to stir up trouble. MRS. BULAH You could get us colored folks a piece of the action.
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 9 REV. KILSON Mrs. Bulah! If you get people all stirred up, there could be trouble. Mrs. Dyson could lose her job. The parents could lose their jobs. We must leave it alone. MRS. BULAH But think, Reverend! You could tell the people it is for the good of the future! You could be like Moses leading the people to the Promised Land! REV. KILSON No, Mrs. Bulah. I am a man of peace. I am in favor of segregation. MRS. BULAH Are you saying our colored children are not good enough to go to that nice school with the roses? That the good Lord made them of a cheaper cloth? Isn t that what we are saying when we are quiet about this? I will not say it any more. God did not make the colored child out of a cheaper cloth. I will not say it. I am leaving now, Reverend. It is clear to me you have less pluck than the chickens in my yard. [MRS. BULAH s thumbprint is added.] Scene 7 That s right. Her thumbprint belongs there too. I like her. I m not so sure about him though. Maybe he is afraid of what might happen. Next stop is Somerton, South Carolina. We will go to the church of Reverend DeLaine. I know these people. The colored people of the town tried to get a better school.
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 10 And then some of the white people got angry and they burned down the colored church. Listen and learn, Mr. Marshall. [HE snaps his fingers.] Scene 8 South Carolina REV. DELAINE Let my people go. Exodus, Chapter 8. Lord, our children had to walk 7 miles to school. We asked for a school bus. They said no. We asked for a better school. They said no. Our colored children have no desks. Their mothers and fathers asked for desks. What happened? Some of the white people got angry. Our people have lost their jobs. They have lost their land. The angry white people have burned our homes and church to the ground. We have become afraid, yes. But we are not beaten. We know that on the other side of the storm there is a better day. A day of hope and equality and freedom. CONGREGATION Amen! REV. DELAINE For the sake of our children, we will go on. CONGREGATION Amen!! [REV. DELAINE leads the congregation in singing a spiritual.] [ADAM, a black man, rushes in.] ADAM There s a boy down by the river. One of our own. He s hurt bad. REV. DELAINE Lord, help us.
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 11 ADAM They re not only burning down our houses and our church, they re hurting our little ones now! MOTHER What child got hurt? Who? What child? ADAM I don t want to be the one to tell you. MOTHER No! No! No! [Suggested Song: Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child. Scene 9 Those people were trying to get a better school. Now their homes are burned to the ground and their children are getting hurt! I can t go on to the court if children are going to get hurt. I can t do it. It makes me want to quit. There are reasons to go on. We have one more stop to go: Topeka, Kansas. There is a lawyer there who is a little bit like you. Watch. Scene 10--Kansas MR. SCOTT My mind is made up, Mr. Burnett. I quit. I cannot be a lawyer any more for this school case. MR. BURNETT Why not? MR. SCOTT People are losing their jobs, getting shot at, their houses are getting burned.
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 12 MR. BURNETT We can t quit now. We ve worked too hard. MR. SCOTT And for what? Our children are still in separate schools. MR. BURNETT That s why we have to keep on trying. MR. SCOTT I got holes in the bottoms of my shoes. I ve been walking door-to-door. I v been asking people to take their children to the white schools and register. Everyone is saying No. MR. BURNETT Then we will have to ask our friends to do it. MR. SCOTT What if something happens to them? MR. BURNETT Think, Charlie. Where did you get that sandwich? MR. SCOTT From the cafe around the corner. MR. BURNETT You had wait out in back, next to the garbage cans. You had to wait like a begging dog to get this sandwich, am I right? MR. SCOTT That s nothing new. MR. BURNETT You are a lawyer. You should be able to walk in the front door like a man. Let s not quit now. MR. SCOTT But there s trouble out there. Who s going to stand up to it?
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 13 Scene 11 He s right. Who s going to stand up now? Now that there s danger. How can I ask anyone to register their child or testify in court? I can t ask people to do that. Thurgood, our people were suffering long before this. Our children will suffer even if you never take the case to court. But if I stop, maybe a life will be saved. Or a job, a home. We have visited five places. In all these places people are fighting for freedom. You can help them. You can protect them with the law. It is what you can do. Okay, Mr. Magic Houston. You have shown me some of the bad that can happen. If the law is changed, will it do any good? I have been waiting for you to ask. Will there be separate drinking fountains? No more. Separate restaurants, swimming pools, schools? No more. Will there be any colored people in office, in the courts?
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 14 You yourself will become a Supreme Court Justice. A colored man on the Supreme Court? I can t believe it. There will even be a black president one day. MR. MARSALL What? A black president? Impossible! Like I said, there is reason to go on. But the people are afraid. They might be too afraid to stand up now. With danger all around, who is going to stand up now? Who will stand up now? Scene 12--Kansas LUCINDA TODD My name is Lucinda Todd of Topeka, Kansas. I live in this district. I m here to register my child for school. OTHERS My name is Mrs. Richard Lawton. I m here to register my child for school. My name is Vivian Scales. Mrs. Andrew Henderson. Lena Carper. Shirley Hodison. Darlene Brown. Marguerite Emerson. Sadie Emmanuel. Iona Richardson. Alma Lewis. Shirla Fleming. TOGETHER I m here to register my child for school. OLIVER BROWN My name is Oliver Brown. I live in this district. I m here to register my child for school.
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 15 TOGETHER I m here to register my child for school. [Thumbprints are added to the picture.] Look at them, Thurgood. The people are coming to the white schools with their colored children. They know the danger but they are coming anyway. They are not going to stop. They are truly brave. And I want to help them. Now we need witnesses. We need to tell the court that the law must be changed. Yes. Mr. Marshall. Let s go forward to the court. The Supreme Court. Scene 13 Supreme Court MR. WHITEHEAD Yes, your honor, I will tell you what I saw. The chairs in the Negro school were broken. The children could not sit in them. The tables had holes and cracks. There was no running water in the school. MR. CLARK I showed children a white doll and a brown doll. I asked them to tell me which one was the nice doll and which one was the bad doll. Most children said the brown doll was bad. These are small children. These children have learned to think this way because of the law. It is time to change the law. MR. NABRIT It is a question of liberty. You either have liberty or you do not. There is no place for segregation in a free country. We have a harmful law that keeps children separate. We must change the law.
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 16 MR. FLEMING My children and I are craving light. The entire colored race is craving light. The only way to reach the light is to put our children together when they are young and let them grow up together. MR NABRIT It is a matter of liberty. [THE WITNESSES put their thumbprints down.] Scene 14 [addresses the audience.] What happens when there are more and more thumbprints? What becomes of them? Mr. Houston, what are you doing? I am doing what parents and teachers always do. You mean, give me warnings? I mean, giving you wings! But you told me I could not do this. That s right. You cannot do it. Not alone. But the people are with you. We are with you. Go ahead, Mr. Marshall. You have worked long and hard. It s time now. Go, speak to the court!
Now Let Me Fly (EY Version) p. 17 [ steps forward to address the court.] We cannot have separate but equal. There never was and there never will be any separate equality. America stands for freedom. We must change the law. [ thumbprints.] Mr. Marshall. You prepared the cases. You presented the witnesses. You spoke in the court. Now, listen. The Supreme Court Justice is going to speak. JUSTICE EARL WARREN We conclude that in the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. You heard him, son. The law is changed. Go ahead now, fly! Let s give thanks. To our teacher, Mr. Houston, for leading the way. And to everyone who helped--dishwashers, barbers, students, teachers--your thumbprints are here. We did it! We worked together and made ourselves wings. Now we are all going to fly! Wahoo!!! [Thumbprints are added until they form wings. Celebration. SUGGESTED SONG: This Little Light of Mine. Audience can join in.] END OF PLAY WAHOO!!