Description
Black History Guided Reading Play Scripts
Black History Guided Reading Play Scripts is a set of 5 Guided Reading Play Scripts and 5 quizzes, which can be used for guided reading (or Readers Theater), was written in celebration of Black History, identifying some of the heroes and heroines who made such an impact in the process of eliminating racial discrimination and segregation. Each ‘mini play’ in Black History Guided Reading comes with a quiz – questions and answers.
- The Slave Trade – Discussion on Racism
- Heroes of the Underground Railroad
- Amazing Women of the Civil Rights Movement
- Martin Luther King
- Nelson Mandela
Play 1: The Slave Trade – Discussion on Racism (incl. Martin Luther King)
Link with PSHCE Living in a Diverse World: The Slave Trade and its consequences for African ancestors, including discussion around keywords: discrimination, segregation, prejudice, racism.
Plus R.E. link to key figure in racial equality struggle- Martin Luther King
Speakers:
- John Hawkins
- Slave
- Martin Luther King
- White American Child (Maisie)
- Black American Child (Joel)
- Teacher
Play 2 Heroes of the Underground Railroad – an example of ‘Good Triumphing over Evil’ and ‘ordinary’ people leading ‘extraordinary’ lives
Speakers:
- Ex-Slaves: Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas and Josiah Henson
- White Abolitionists: Laura Haviland, Levi Coffin and Thomas Garret
Play 3: Amazing Women in the American Civil Rights Movement
Speakers:
- Interviewer
- Sojourner Truth
- Harriet Tubman
- Ida Wells
- Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer
- Rosa Parks
Play 4 Martin Luther King
Speakers:
- Interviewer Martin Luther King
- Coretta (King’s wife) James Earl Ray (alleged assassin)
- President Lyndon Johnson Campaigner
Play 5 Nelson Mandela
Speakers:
- Nelson Mandela
- Winnie (second wife)
- Desmond Tutu
- P.W. Botha (Nationalist Party – hardliner)
- F.W. de Klerk (Nationalist Party – moderate)
- Nobel Peace Committee
Also available is the collection called Famous People of the 20th Century (set of 5 plays, covering Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, John Lennon and Famous Women)
PLUS
Martin Luther King Play – Cast of 30.
Black History Guided Reading Text extracts:
Play 1 Black History Guided Reading : The Slave Trade – Discussion on Racism (incl. Martin Luther King)
Maisie:
So, was that the reason slavery was allowed to continue? Just because those people claimed Africans were an inferior race?
Slave:
That’s pretty much it. It’s now called racial prejudice, when people are treated differently because of the color of their skin.
Joel:
Thank goodness slavery did end! After 250 years – I guess it was about time! Who ended this misery?
Maisie:
That was President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He led the states of the Union which won the American Civil War, fought between the 15 slave-owning states of the South against the 19 free-labor states of the North.
Joel:
Civil rights for my people at last! Even if segregation and racism continued in the South.
Teacher:
Yes, those southern states sure weren’t impressed at having to give up their slaves. And they sure weren’t going to make life easy for those they still regarded as being their inferiors.
Slave:
But it was a start. And in 1866 Black Americans were given full citizenship including the right to vote.
Play 2 Black History Guided Reading: Heroes of the Underground Railroad – an example of ‘Good Triumphing over Evil’ and ‘ordinary’ people leading ‘extraordinary’ lives.
Coffin: All of us prepared to risk our lives to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
Garret: Those on the run! Shows how desperate they were – running against all odds on the small chance they’d find freedom.
Tubman: But then we all played our parts in reducing those odds. I was a guide
Douglas: And one of the finest! What was it they called you?
Tubman: Moses! Maybe because of my part in leading around 300 slaves, on 19 trips, from slavery in the South to freedom in the North.
Douglas: An amazing woman! Though one you really wouldn’t want to fall out with!
Tubman: If you’re referring to my “Go on or die” routine, you’re right! I had to be tough and I never lost a soul!
Haviland: Would you really have shot any who refused to carry on?
Tubman: Reckon so! Too many other lives at stake to mess with weakness!
Coffin: A tough exterior! But underneath beat a heart of gold! What about those nursing duties you performed during the civil war?
Garret: And all the work you did after the civil war, trying to improve the lot of African Americans?
Douglas: Exactly! Look at all you did to further our education!
Henson: To say nothing of actually converting your own home into a shelter for the poor and elderly.
Haviland: And campaigning for voting rights for women! Was there no limit to your energy?
Coffin: No wonder you were buried with military honors! Recognition at last!
Play 3 Black History Guided Reading: Amazing Women in the American Civil Rights Movement
Interviewer: You ladies never gave up!
Fannie: Well, as I said at the time “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired”.
Interviewer: And your bravery, Harriet, knew no boundaries.
Harriet: Well, like I said “I can’t die but once”!
Interviewer: And you, Sojourner, will certainly never be forgotten.
Sojourner: As I said on my death bed “I’m not going to die honey; I’m going home like a shooting star!”
Interviewer: And to think of all the injustice you, Ida, brought to light…
Ida: 700 cases of false charges against victims of those terrible lynchings – innocent people hanged by the mob.
Interviewer: And not forgetting you, Rosa – “the great fuse that led to the modern stride toward freedom” – the words of Martin Luther King himself!
Rosa: I feel honored to have been symbolic of the power of the individual.
Play 4 Black History Guided Reading: Martin Luther King
Campaigner:
Yes, and that was just the beginning. It took a lot of patience. We were up against white ministers, mayors, governors, police chiefs and judges, all telling us to “Wait”. But we were tired of waiting.
King:
Indeed. As I said at the time, “Wait! For years I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ We have waited more than three hundred and forty years for our rights”.
Play 5 Black History Guided Reading: Nelson Mandela
Mandela:
Yes, but no one could doubt the huge contribution this churchman has made to our cause! Sometimes strident, often tender, never afraid and seldom without humour, Desmond Tutu’s voice will always be the voice of the voiceless.
De Klerk:
Quite right that he should receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984!
Tutu:
Just nine years before you received it with Nelson Mandela!
De Klerk:
A wonderful moment when the world could witness the coming together of two peoples whom had seemed such worlds apart!
