Your source for the best in historically-accurate, classroom-proven plays about the Civil Rights struggle! From the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-ins, this is the place to find engaging  plays suitable for “Zoomer’s theater,” podcast, or full stage performance. My Black History plays have been a mainstay of Scholastic’s Storyworks magazine for more than 20 years. Plays are generally priced between $3 and $4 and include comprehension activities and keys, performance rights, and license to print a full class set each school year. Make no mistake, black history is American history. We’ve placed these plays in a separate category only because Civil Rights is one of our specialties! 

MLK Free Preview Pack

Here’s an easy way to check out my professionally-published read aloud plays from the pages of Storyworks and Scope magazines. Click on the title heading to immediately download this free preview pack. It includes summaries and the first page of seven different reader’s theater scripts focused on Dr. King and Civil Rights including MLK’s Freedom March, which is about the March on Washington where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin’s Big Dream, which is about an incident in Martin’s childhood that helped him understand prejudice firsthand, In the Jailhouse with Dr. King, which tells the story of a young man who encounters King in jail, and Gonna Let it Shine, which covers the “Bloody Sunday” events in Selma.

Martin’s Big Dream

Reader’s theater from the pages of Scholastic’s Storyworks magazine, this original play is based on a true story from Dr. King’s childhood in which neighborhood boys refused to play baseball with him due to the color of his skin. King wrote that it was a pivotal moment in his becoming a civil rights leader. Suitable for reader’s theater or stage performance, it includes parts for ten to twelve actors. Use it with students in grades 3 through 7 to improve fluency, build comprehension, and meet the CCSs. Includes a comprehension activity, teacher notes, and answer key. Fully reproducible: the original purchaser is licensed to reproduce one classroom set per year. Click here to download a free preview. Click on the cover to purchase on Etsy.

Box Brown’s Freedom Crate

Now available in my Etsy store! Historically accurate, carefully researched, and kid-friendly! Based on real events, Box Brown’s Freedom Crate tells the story of Henry Brown, a slave in 1848 Virginia. When Henry’s wife and children are sold away, Henry devises a plan to mail himself to the North in a wooden crate. With help from members of the Underground Railway and Philadelphia’s Ant-Slavery Society, Henry defies death as his crate is tossed from one train to the next. The play was originally published in the Feb/Mar 2001 issue of Storyworks, and it’s based on Brown’s own slave narrative, The Narrative of the Life of Henry “Box” Brown. It’s also the subject of a picture book, Henry’s Freedom Box (Scholastic, 2007), which can be useful as an interesting compare and contrast activity. This script is well-suited to reader’s theater, or decorate a cardboard box and stage a poignant yet laugh-out-loud yet stage production. Includes parts for eight to twenty students, depending upon casting needs. Use it with students in grades 3 through 8. Includes comprehension activity and key. Click here to download a free preview, or click on the cover to purchase.

There are many great sites dedicated to Henry Brown’s original slave narrative. Dickinson University offers lessons plans centered around a virtual field trip through Brown’s life and times. They also provide a “virtual book.” You turn the original pages and read the original text from William Still’s book, The Undergound Rail Road . . . it’s just all digital! To see and read the original text from The Narrative of the Life of Henry “Box” Brown, follow this link to Documenting the American South. 

The Girl Who Got Arrested

Did you know Rosa Parks wasn’t the first? Here’s an original play from the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Girl Who Got Arrested adds a new perspective on the Civil Rights Movement. As the first passenger to be arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Claudette Colvin has only recently been receiving her due. The play is based on actual events and includes text from Claudette’s actual court hearings–powerful all by itself! Use it in conjunction with Phillip Hoose’s award winning book, Twice Toward Justice. Parts for eight to seventeen performers depending on your casting needs. Read it once or practice it daily with students in grades 4 through 8. Originally published in Scholastic’s Scope and Storyworks magazines. Preview it here, or purchase at my Etsy storefront.

MLK’s Freedom March

One of the hallmarks of a quality historical play is that the story is told through the eyes of a child witnessing the events firsthand. Freedom March is told through the eyes of  eleven-year-old Lucy. Her grandmother is dying of cancer, her father is worried about losing his job, and her brother is fired up about The March for Jobs and Freedom, the iconic event where Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. It’s a powerful play with multidimensional characters backed by King’s awe-inspiring speech. Eleven parts and roles for innumerable extras, use it with students in grades 4 through 8. Fully reproducible: the original purchaser is licensed to reproduce one classroom set per year. Download a free preview here, or purchase it at my Etsy storefront for just a few bucks.

You can also view Dr. King’s speech on YouTube by clicking here and download a printable PDF of the speech here.

We Shall Overcome

Now available in my Etsy store! Based on real events, We Shall Overcome tells the story of Martin Luther King’s Birmingham Children’s Crusade, the 1963 march in which authorities used fire hoses and police dogs to suppress crowds of students. Kids! Suitable for reader’s theater or stage performance, it can be adapted to include music from the Crusade. From eight to fifteen parts in grades 4 through 8. Fully reproducible: the original purchaser is licensed to reproduce one classroom set per year. Download a preview here.

For an extensive collection of historical photos from the Birmingham Children’s Crusade, visit the Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement website. To hear the song, We Shall Overcome, click here. Also be sure to check out Cynthia Levinson’s book, We’ve Got a Job: the 1963 Birmingham Children’s March, and Birmingham 1963: How a Photograph Rallied Civil Rights Support, by Shelley Tougas, both available through Amazon. Be sure to preview these books before using with students.

Sitting Down for Dr. King

Temporarilly unavailable. Liven up your MLK Day lessons, Black History Month activities, or your Civil Rights unit with this powerful classroom play set during the Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-ins of 1960. The event is viewed through the eyes of a middle class white boy who gets angry when the protests prevents him from enjoying his family celebration at the Woolworth. As the events unfold, he begins to understand the plight of the young protesters, choosing in the end to stand with them. Originally published in the January 2003 issue of Scholastic’s Storyworks magazine, Sitting Down for Dr. King’s dramatic conclusion has made it one of the most frequently republished in the Civil Rights series. Grades 4-8; 7 to 14 parts, includes comprehension activity and key. Fully reproducible: the original purchaser is licensed to reproduce one classroom set per year. Click here to download a free preview.

In the Jailhouse with Dr. King

Imagine if your first encounter with Martin Luther King took place behind bars. In the Jailhouse with Dr. King is set during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and is loosely based on King’s own writing about his first incarceration. It tells the story of a 13-year-old African-American boy’s struggles with violence and racism in 1956 Alabama. While in jail for a short while, he questions the wisdom of King’s commitment to peace. Later, when an angry crowd gathers outside King’s bombed home, the boy witnesses firsthand the depth of Dr. King’s beliefs and the power of his words.  Suitable for reader’s theater or stage performance and can be adapted to include music from the Civil Rights Movement. From 7 to 14 parts. For grades 4 through 8. Includes comprehension activity and key. Fully reproducible: the original purchaser is licensed to reproduce one classroom set per year. Click on the cover to purchase at my Etsy store, or click here to download a free preview.

For more information about the bombing and to view a photo of King’s destroyed porch, Visit Stanford University’s MLK timeline.

How Jackie Saved the World

Enrich your Black History Month activities with this compelling play about Jackie Robinson. Over my twenty years of using drama in the classroom kids say this is one of their favorites to enact. This original script recounts the events surrounding Jackie’s breaking of the color barrier through the narration of the Hot Dog Man and the Peanut Vendor at an “actual” ballgame today. Historical photos and comprehension questions are embedded in the script, which was originally published in Scholastic’s Storyworks magazine. Six pages, parts for from 7 to 13 actors, and suitable for reader’s theater or stage performance. Fully reproducible: the original purchaser is licensed to reproduce a full classroom set each and every year. Click on the cover to preview or purchase at my TpT storefront. You can also check out a recording of a student presentation on our podcast page!

Immerse your students in Robinson’s contribution to equal rights with these lesson plans from LearningToGive.org and with primary resource documents from The National Archives. Also be sure to visit JackieRobinson.org and JackieRobinson.com.

Gonna Let it Shine

Students will quickly connect with eight-year old Sheyann Webb. When African-Americans were being denied the right to vote, she became Martin Luther King’s “Smallest Freedom Fighter” during events in 1965 Selma, Alabama. She was there on the Edmund Pettus Bridge when Selma exploded with tear gas and Billy clubs. It became known as Bloody Sunday, and it directly led to the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But what makes this story compelling is the perspective. We’re used to hearing about the Civil Rights struggle from the viewpoint of adults, yet here is the true story of a little girl who not only saw it, but was there on the front lines risking the same dangers as her adult counterparts. “Gonna Let it Shine,” shares Sheyann Webb’s emotional, often frightening childhood experience. Carefully researched, it improves upon an earlier version that appeared in Storyworks in 2012. It includes freedom song lyrics from the movement and parts for 10 to 14 students. Click on the cover to purchase from my storefront at Etsy.  It includes a vocab and comprehension activity that aligns the play to specific Common Core standards.

Be sure to share with your students the Disney movie, Selma, Lord, Selma. It depicts Sheyann’s story with typical Disney flare. There’s also an accurate and intriguing YouTube video detailing Sheyann’s contribution to Civil Rights that can be found here. Consider comparing and contrasting all three. Finally, the Sheyann Webb of today has remained an advocate for children and civil rights. Find out more about her work by visiting the Sheyann Webb Group.

Freedom for the First Time

This powerful “Juneteenth” play is based on actual slave narratives. It’s historically-accurate, kid-friendly, and comes embedded with comprehension questions and historic photos. Freedom for the First Time is the narrative of ten-year old Tyree, a slave during the time of the Civil War. Like many slaves, Tyree believes whatever her masters say. But when Tyree’s brother, Sweet Walter, arrives with a band of Union soldiers to tell her the war is over, she and her family experience their day of Jubilee, the day they know freedom for the first time. Includes parts for 8 to 11 students plus extras, depending upon your casting needs. Use it with students in grades 3 through 8 to improve fluency, build comprehension, and inspire interest in US History. Click on here for an audio preview of 5th graders performing this play. Click here to download a free PDF preview.

The Library Card

Now available in my Etsy store. American author Richard Wright wrote numerous books of significance during the middle of the 20^th-century including Native Son and the autobiographical Black Boy. This play is based on an incident from Wright’s youth in which he was denied access to the public library due to his race. The story was popularized in William Miller’s inspiring picture book, “Richard Wright and the Library Card” (Lee & Low, 1997). The play was originally commissioned for and published in the September 2001 issue of Scholastic’s Storyworks magazine. Young Richard teaches himself how to read, moves to the city, and gets a job. When he’s turned away at the library, he seeks help from his employer. His boss takes the risk, allowing Richard to check out books in his name. The suitability of its themes for children including racism, trust-worthiness, and grace is obvious. Sure to inspire a love of reading at a time when so many kids take their reading for granted. Click here for a free preview or purchase it on Etsy.

The Ruby Bridges Story

Ruby Bridges was headline news in 1960 as she naively trudged into the all-white William Frantz School. Her compelling story, that of a first grader integrating New Orleans Public Schools is indelible. Famed American author John Steinbeck wrote about it. Norman Rockwell painted it. And Ruby herself, nearly forty years later, revisited it in her stunning book, Through My Eyes. By pairing Ruby’s book with this lovely reader’s theater script, you’ll inspire learning that’ll stay with your students for years to come. There are parts for from 12 to 24 actors. It’s suitable for reader’s theater or full stage production. Use it with students as young as 3rd grade and up to seventh to build fluency, satisfy the CCSs, and recognize Black History Month. It includes two comprehension activities specifically designed to help students with standardized testing, answer keys, extension ideas, and teacher notes. You can also use it in conjunction with the Disney film, The Ruby Bridges Story. Click here to purchase A Simple Act of Courage from my Etsy storefront.