READERS THEATER PLAY The Brave of Greensiftro Would you risk your life for the right to sit down to eot lunch in o restaurant? At a time of racial inequality in the U.S., four teens did just that.

Reading Tip \ Dramatization: This play is based on events that really happened. The characters are real people. But most of the words they say and some of the scenes were made up to help tell the story in a dramatic way. That is what makes this play a dramatization. Prologue N1: In the United States, slavery officially ended Characters in 1865. But nearly 100 Check the character you're going to read. years later, prejudice *Starred characters are majar roles. against African-Americans continued. U*Narrator1 (NI) D*EzellBlairJr., a N2: Many states in the 17-year-old college D ^Narrator 2 (N2) student South had Jim Crow laws. D *Narrator 3 (N3) These unfair rules kept D Waitress black Americans apart from U Martin Luther King Jr., • Counter Maid white Americans in places 1 a civil rights leader like schools and restaurants. n *r» • J B- u J LJ Mr. Harris, the manager U *David Richmond, a of Woolworth's N3: In the 1950s, a 17-year-old college movement was started to student I I Customer change that. Blacks and D *Joe McNeil, a 17-year- D Police Officer whites worked together— old college student i—¡ organizing marches and I—I I ^ Jo Spivey, a female other peaceful protests. I I ^Franklin McCain, a news reporter NI: But they risked their lives 17-year-old college i—i student I I Bettye, a black to do so. Many were arrested college student or attacked. Some had their

12 Scholastic Action | January 13, 2014 ricCain, and two friends on the second day of the lunch counter sit-ins

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Scene 1 about how we don't like NI: It is January 31, 1960, in the way blacks are treated. Greensboro, North Carolina. We're all talk, talk, talk, and N2: Four boys are sitting in no action. Maybe it's time to their college dorm room. do something. David: Joe, how was your Ezeii: How can the four of Christmas break? us change the entire city Joe: I went to New York of Greensboro? homes burned down. Others to see my family. Coming Franiclin: We could do were even murdered. back to the South, I was OK something that will get N2: One of the great leaders until I got to the bus station people's attention. of this in Greensboro. I tried to Joe: Let's go somewhere was Dr. Martin Luther buy a sandwich, but they that's for whites only and King Jr., who said . . . wouldn't serve me. try to buy something. Martin Luther King Jr.: David: I heard they might Ezeli: Like where? Nonviolence is a powerful close the public pool rather Joe: Woolworth's. We're not and just weapon, which than allow black people to allowed to sit at the lunch cuts without wounding . . . swim there. counter there. it is a sword that heals. Joe: How have our parents Ezeil: You're suggesting we N3: This is the story of four lived like this for so long? go to Woolworth's, sit down teenage boys who took up Frankiin: You know, we where no African-American that sword. stay up every night talking has ever sat before, and

www.scholastic.com/actionmag | January 13, 2014 13 Across the South, African-Americans were kept apart from whites in buses, bathrooms, theaters d

asked to be served? all last night. Scene 3 Joe: Exactly. Ezeii: Neither did I. N1: The four boys sit, Ezell: They'll beat us up. Franiciin: We can't back waiting to see if they will be Franklin: Not if we are out now. arrested or thrown out. quiet and respectful. Ezeii: This will never work. N2: For many minutes, David: I'm in. But let's do David: What's the worst nothing happens. The it tomorrow, before I lose thing that could happen? waitress ignores them. my nerve. Jae: We get arrested. Many of the white patrons Ezeii: They'll never serve us. Franiciin: Or we end up glare, but no one moves. Franiciin: Then we'll sit at with our heads split open. Franiciin: Excuse me, the counter until they do. Joe: Let's stick to the plan. ma'am. We'd like to And remember, whatever be served. Scene 2 happens, no violence. Waitress: I'm sorry. I can't N3: The next day, the friends N1: They walk downtown serve you here. meet up at the library. and right into Woolworth's Joe: We would just like a Ezeii: Are we really going to Department Store. cup of coffee, please. do this? N2: Their hearts are Waitress: You can go Franiciin: Absolutely. pounding. to the stand-up counter David: I didn't sleep at N3: Franklin and Joe downstairs. silently walk to the N3: She walks off. The black WHTr lunch counter. counter maid comes over. MENS REST NI: They sit down. David Counter iVIaid: What are and Ezell join them. you boys doing? You're N2: The waitress stares stirring up trouble. Making at them in shock and it harder for the rest of us. amazement. Go back to campus. Please! N3: The room gets NI: She storms off. The very quiet. manager comes over.

14 Schoiastic Action | January 13, 2014 ¡Mr. Harris: Is there a Police Officer: I can't the balcony at the movie problem here? arrest them for just sitting theater? Why do we have to Ezell: Not at all, sir. We'd like there. Have they started sit at the back of the bus? to order some coffee, please. any fights? NI: Some white hecklers Mr. Harris: Boys, I can serve Mr. Harris: No, they have threaten the boys, who you downstairs. Not here. been nothing but polite. ignore them. David: Thank you, but we Police Officer: Then I Jo Spivey: Do you think want to eat here with your suggest you close the store you are accomplishing other customers. early. This will all blow over anything with this sit-in? Mr. Harris: You can't in a day or two. Ezell: It is time for someone sit here. It's just the way to wake up and change the things are. Scene 4 situation. We decided to Franklin: Do you think "the N1: The next morning, the start here. way things are" is fair? boys show up at Wool worth's Mr. Harris: It doesn't with two more fiiends. Scene 5 matter what I think. It's N2: They sit at the lunch N2: On day three, more store policy. counter for the entire day. than 60 students show up at Joe: With respect, sir, No one serves them. Woolworth's. we don't agree with your N3: Word spreads about Bettye: We're here to sit policy. And we're going to what they are doing. with you. sit here until we're served. Newspaper reporters N2: An elderly white and TV crews show up. customer walks toward them. Jo Spivey: Boys, what i I \ IHK Customer: Boys, I am so brought this on? proud of you. I just wish you Why now? had done this 10 years ago. Franklin: I was N3: The boys swell with taught that all men SMents sía?, pride knowing someone is are created equal. on their side. But we are not NI: By now a crowd has treated as equals. gathered. People stare Joe: Why do we and point. have to sit in N2: A police officer walks in. Ezell (whispering): We're done for. Newspapers all N3: The officer stalks over the country up and down the aisle reported on the lunch counter behind them, slapping his protests. nightstick into his hand. Police Officer: What's the problem? Mr. Harris: Everybody knows that this counter is for whites only.

www.scholostic.com/octionmog | January 13, 2014 15 Franklin: We need all the help we can get. But I must warn you, you will probably be called nasty names. Bettye: We can handle it. N3: The students take out their books, sit at the counter, and start studying. Jo Spivey: Are you missing school to be here? Franklin: We promised each other not to miss classes, to behave politely, and to turn the other cheek if taunted. catching on. counter at Woolworth's Jo Spivey: Has there been Franklin: Students in is desegregated. any progress? Raleigh read about us. They N2: Soon, every restaurant Joe: Woolworth's are planning a sit-in too. in Greensboro is serving all headquarters said their Jo Spivey: You guys are customers, no matter what policy is to abide by getting a lot of attention. race they are. local custom. David: Yeah, but not all of Jo Spivey: So it's up to it's good. Last night I got a Epilogue Mr. Harris? phone call. Some guy said if N3: Today, more than Ezell: It seems so. He's just I came back to Woolworth's, 50 years later, those waiting for us to get tired I was a dead man. four teenage boys are and go away. But we're not N2: By the end of the remembered as heroes of going to do that. week, more than 1,000 the civil rights movement. students come together Ezell: Lots of people never Scene 6 at Woolworth's. stop to wonder why things N1: On day four, N3: By the end of the month, are the way they are, no 300 students show up sit-ins are taking place in matter how bad. They just at Woolworth's. more than 30 communities accept it. Jo Spivey: It seems like in seven states. Franklin: We felt a moral this movement is really N1:By July, the lunch need to take a stand. Joe: My grandchildren find it hard to believe that there was a time when a black person couldn't walk into a restaurant and order a cup From left: Ezell of coffee. Blair, Franklin David: There's no better McCain, Joe feeling in the world than McNeil, and standing up for what you David Richmond at the end of day believe is right and true. one of the sit-in —By Spencer Kayden ANALYZING PAIRED TEXTS Attacked by a Mob When they sat down to protest unfair laws, Anne Moody and her friends were kicked, slapped, and spattered with food.

In 1963, many businesses in the South Moody: "The mob started smearing us were still segregated. That means that they with ketchup, mustard, sugar, pies, and kept black people and white people apart. everything on the counter... we sat there On May 28 of that year, students and for three hours taking a beating. " teachers from took action. In the group were black people and white Finally, the President of Tougaloo College people. They held a sit-in at a Woolworth's came and brought the group out to safety. lunch counter in Jackson, . When photos of the sit-in were published, Anne Moody, then 23, was there that day people around the country were shocked She later wrote about her experience. at the terrible treatment the protesters had suffered. A year later. President Lyndon B. Moody: "Our waitress.. . told us that we Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. would be served at the back counter, which This law banned segregation in public places. was for Negroes. 'We would like to be served here, ' I said. " Instead, the waitress left. Angry crowds began to form. They yelled racist insults. Someone made a rope noose and tried to put it around the protesters' necks. Suddenly, a Í man attacked protester Memphis Norman. Moody: "A man rushed forward, threw Memphis from his seat, and slapped my face.... I saw Memphis lying near the lunch counter with blood running out of the corners of his mouth .. .the man who'd thrown him down kept kicking him against the head. " The protesters refused to fight back. The crowd grew to as many as 300 people.

Compare and Contrast Use this text and the play "The Brave Boys of Greensboro" to answer the questions. 1 • In what ways were the sit-ins in Greensboro and Jackson similar? How were they different? List two similarities and two differences that you found in the texts.

Z. Which text gave you a better understanding of what it might have felt like to be at a lunch counter sit-in in the 1960s? Explain why.

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