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Learn About the Play Now Let Me Fly

Based on hundreds of oral histories and personal interviews, Now Let Me Fly brings to life the real stories and real people behind the Brown v. Board case. Considered the most important U.S. Supreme Court decision ever, Brown v. Board pronounced "Separate But Equal" education illegal and started unraveling the chains of legal segregation.

Synopsis

It is 1950 and Thurgood Marshall is exuberant in his enthusiasm to fly in the face of tradition and overthrow the United States Supreme Court doctrine of "Separate But Equal." 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 segregation. Together they visit Washington D.C., Virginia, Delaware, South Carolina, and Kansas. 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 heroic individuals behind the struggle to end legalized segregation in the United States. To get a feel for the play, see excerpts below).

Youth versions of the script are available: http://anationacts.brownvboard.org/

The Cast of Characters

When casting, try to match readers to the roles they fit best. However, if the fit isn't happening, don't let that stop you! For example, a woman could certainly play Thurgood Marshall. In a middle school reading, Charles Houston can be 13.

Character Descriptions

Two main characters run throughout the play. Many other parts only have 2 or 3 lines. Plus, you will need a person to read stage directions. You can do this play reading with as few as eight people.Or cast one person per role! That's 22 people! See anationacts.brownvboard.org for casting plans.

* Indicates actual names of people involved at the time.

Two Largest Roles

Two legal strategists present throughout the play:

• * Charles Houston: African-American law professor, 50s. Dean of the Howard University Law School (a historically black university). Mentor to Thurgood Marshall. 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 lawyer, 40s. Head of the Legal Defense Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Lead lawyer arguing the Brown v.Board case before the Supreme Court. Grand sense of humor, easy-going and smart.

A Dozen More Roles

• * Cissy Suyat: Filipino-Hawaiian woman, 20s.
• * Gardner Bishop: African-American barber, 35.
• Woody: African-American WWII vet, 30.
• Eleanor: White student, 16.
• * Barbara Johns: African-American student, 16.
• Mrs. Gates: White secretary.
• * Mrs. Sarah Bulah: African-American egg seller, 40.
• * Rev. Kilson: African-American preacher, 45.
• * Rev. J.A. DeLaine: African-American preacher, 40.
• Man with Gas Can: White.
• * McKinley Burnett: African-American carpenter, 50.
• * Charles Scott: African-American lawyer, 30.

Other Roles

These characters have 0-5 lines; may be double-cast.

• Reporter 1, Reporter 2 and Reporter 3.
• Eleanor's Father: White, 40s.
• Congregation Member 1: African-American.
• Congregation Member 2: African-American mother, 30.
• * Lucinda Todd: African-American mother.
• * Oliver Brown: African-American welder, early 30s.
• * Matthew Whitehead: African-American professor, 30s.
• * Frederic Wertham: Jewish psychologist, 50s.
• * Louisa Holt: White psychologist, 30s.
• * Kenneth Clark: African-American sociologist, 40.
• * Silas Fleming: African-American father, 30s.
• * James Nabrit: African-American lawyer, 30s.
• * Chief Justice Earl Warren: White judge, 60s.
• NAACP Staff 1, NAACP Staff 2 and NAACP Staff 3.
• Voice/Voices: unseen; single male voice; chorus of voices.

Excerpts

From Scene 7 -- Barbara Johns -- Farmville, Virginia

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 ... I'm embarrassed that our water fountains are broken and our wash basins are broken ... 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 just as high as anyone else, we gotta walk just as proud as anyone else.

And that's what we're going to do! We're gonna walk out of this school and over to the court house. Do you hear me? We're gonna walk with our heads high and go talk to the school board. Are you with me? ... We're gonna 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 gonna walk? Are we gonna fly?

From Scene 9 -- Hockessin, Delaware

Sarah Bulah: He wants me to go all the way for complete integration of our public schools here in Hockessin.

Rev. Kilson: Pardon me?

Sarah Bulah: He's got a case in Wilmington too. We're goin' for the whole state of Delaware.

Rev. Kilson: Mrs. Bulah!

Sarah Bulah: And the whole United States of America where we all supposed to be created equal. It's what Mrs. Dyson teach in that little run-down school tho' I don't see how she can make much of a case, lookin' at the white school sittin' across from the country club...

Rev. Kilson: The law of the land, Mrs. Bulah, is "Separate But Equal."

Sarah Bulah: I sees lots of separates but not much equals. We know that ain't workin'. Mr. Redding he say we got a fightin' chance and I just need to sign a letter which he was so kind to put together in the proper—he call it "legalese." Here, I brought it with me so you could sign it, too...

See Teacher Talk for more information about Now Let Me Fly and A Nation Acts.