We Shall Overcome
An original classroom play by Mack Lewis
Based on Events from Martin Luther King’s Birmingham Children’s Crusade
Cast of Characters:
Reporters #1 and #2
Addie Mae Moore -- a young girl
Mr. Moore – Addie’s father
Mrs. Moore – Addie’s mother
Denise – Addie’s friend
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth
Rev. Charles Billups
Bull Conner
Police Captain Evans
Teacher
Marchers
SCENE I (Birmingham, April 1963)
REPORTER #1: We’re here at the city jail in
Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. has just been released.
REPORTER #2: Here comes City Commissioner Eugene Conner. Mr. Conner? Mr.
Conner? Why was Dr. King arrested?
CONNER: He broke a court order banning
protests.
REPORTER #1: There’s Dr. King. Dr.
King? What are you trying to accomplish?
DR. KING: An end to segregation. Birmingham is the
most segregated city in
America.
REPORTER #1: Will you
continue the marches?
DR. KING: Absolutely.
Once we’ve filled the jails,
we’ll fill downtown with a
sea of black faces not
spending any money.
REPORTER #1: What of Mr. Conner’s statement that blood will run in the street?
DR. KING: He said that? Well, our crusaders
are trained in non-violence. If blood runs in
the street, it will be on Mr. Conner’s hands.
◊◊
SCENE II (The 16th Avenue Church)
REPORTER #2: How many others have
been arrested?
SHUTTLESWORTH: Brothers and Sisters,
America can hear the noise we’re makin’!
CONNER: Just a few hundred so far.
MARCHERS (with fervor): That’s right!
REPORTER #2: What will happen if the
marches continue?
SHUTTLESWORTH: Now is not the time
to quiet down!
CONNER: Blood will run in the street.
MARCHERS: No, Sir!
Page 2 of 6
© 2008 Mack Lewis. All Rights Reserved.
SHUTTLESWORTH: So let me introduce a
booming voice in the Civil Rights Movement: fresh from the city jail, the Reverend
Dr. Martin Luther King!
MARCHERS (while clapping): Yes, sir!
ADDIE: Look, Mama, it’s Dr. King!
DR. KING: When it comes to standing up
for our civil rights, some say wait; the injustice of segregation will end in its own due
time. But I say when it comes
to segregation, a slow death is
no death at all.
MARCHERS: No, sir!
DR. KING: We mustn’t let
our crusade slow down. So I
want to challenge our high
school and college students to
bring their energy to the
march.
MARCHERS: That’s right!
ADDIE: Do you hear that, Daddy. He
wants students to march, too.
MR. MOORE: He said high school and college students, Addie, not eight year olds.
DR. KING: There will be those that say asking our sons and daughters to march is
wrong, but where is their concern when our
children are living in poverty and suffering
in bad schools?
MARCHERS: Where is it?!
DR. KING: We can wait no longer. We
must press on!
◊◊
Page 3 of 6
SCENE III (Addie’s Segregated School)
TEACHER: Listen, students. I understand
Dr. King has many of you worked up about
the civil rights crusade. But let me remind
you, the school board has made it clear: any
children leaving class to protest will be expelled.
DENISE (whispering): Are you going to
march, Addie?
ADDIE: I thought it was just for older kids.
DENISE: Nu uh. I’m going.
ADDIE: Aren’t you afraid of
getting arrested?
DENISE: Yes, but I’m going
anyway.
TEACHER: And just to make
sure none of you get any funny
ideas, the principal has locked all
the doors and closed the gates.
DENISE: It’s time, Addie. Are you coming?
ADDIE: You heard the teacher. Everything
is locked up tight.
DENISE: Not everything. Look outside.
Look at all the kids scrambling out windows
and climbing over the gate. You coming?
ADDIE: No. I . . . I can’t.
DENISE: It’s all right, Addie. I’ll see you
soon.
REPORTER #1: We’re here with Commissioner Bull Conner. Mr. Conner, were you
surprised by all the children in today’s
march?
© 2008 Mack Lewis. All Rights Reserved.
CONNER: Lawbreakers are lawbreakers
whether eight or eighty.
REPORTER #1: How many children were
arrested today?
CONNER: Nine hundred and fifty-nine.
When we ran out of paddy wagons, we
hauled ‘em off to jail in school buses.
◊◊
Scene IV (At the Church)
Scene V (The next morning)
REPORTER #1: Nearly two thousand children have gathered at the Sixteenth Avenue
Church to march. Inside they’ve been instructed on King’s policy of non-violence.
They’re just now beginning to file out into
the street.
REPORTER #2: That’s Reverend Shuttlesworth leading today’s march. What spirited singing! It’s the old gospel hymn, “We
Shall Overcome.”
REPORTER #2: Hundreds of parents have
jammed the church hoping Dr. King’s calm
voice will ease their fears about the children
in jail.
ADDIE: What’s going to happen, Mama?
DR. KING: Don’t worry about your children. They know in their hearts if segregation can be defeated in Birmingham, it will
begin to crumble all across the nation.
CAPTAIN EVANS (using a bull horn): It’s
my duty to inform you that it’s against the
law to protest. You are ordered to go home!
ADDIE (aside): Daddy, Martin Luther King
wants me to march to jail.
MR. MOORE: Now, Addie, I don’t think
that’s a good idea. The jailhouse is a terrible place. I won’t allow it.
ADDIE: Daddy, I don’t want to disobey
you, but I’ve made up my mind.
MR. MOORE: You heard me, Addie!
ADDIE: I want to do this because I want
freedom for you and Mama . . . and I want it
to come before you die.
MR. MOORE (after a sigh): That’s my girl.
That’s my little crusader.
◊◊
Page 4 of 6
MRS. MOORE: They’ll just march us into
the paddy wagons, Addie. Don’t be afraid.
MRS. MOORE: Just keep marching and
singing, Addie.
MARCHERS (singing): We shall overcome /
We shall overcome / We shall overcome
some day . . .
ADDIE: Mama, what’s the fire department
doing here?
MRS. MOORE (alarmed): Oh my! Don’t let
go of me, Addie.
CAPTAIN EVANS: Now listen here! We’ve
set up these high-pressure fire hoses. Trust
me, you don’t want to get hit with a blast
from one of these.
REV. SHUTTLESWORTH: Oh, deep in my
heart / I do believe / We shall overcome
some day!
© 2008 Mack Lewis. All Rights Reserved.