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Tim Wells, starring in the play as NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall, sings on the floor of the Alabama Supreme Court.
(Valerie Downes) |
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The chamber of the Alabama Supreme Court was transformed into a stage when a play was performed here in early May to commemorate the 1954 historic Supreme Court decision ordering school desegregation.
A Teaching Tolerance grant gave central Alabama students the opportunity to see Cross That River: Brown vs. Board of Education and the People Who Lived It, an original production designed to put a "human" face on the dramatic event.
Starring as Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP lawyer who successfully argued against segregation, was singer Tim Wells of South Carolina. All the other actors were local schoolchildren, lawyers and other citizens.
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A young actress plays Ruby Bridges in the play's re-enactment of the famous Rockwell scene.
(Alabama State Bar) |
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The playwrights used actual lines spoken by Marshall when he argued for Brown before the Supreme Court. It also relayed the touching story of little Ruby Bridges, who integrated New Orleans public schools in 1960 and whose bravery was poignantly portrayed in a famous Normal Rockwell painting, "The Problem We All Live With." A highlight of the play was a tableau re-enacting that scene.
To make the production appealing to its audience, original music and lyrics were composed to further enhance the telling of the important story.
The goal of the production was to help students recognize the significance of Brown and appreciate the hardships of the people who brought suit to integrate American schools, said Jane Garrett, a Baldwin Middle Magnet School educator who co-wrote the play with retired teacher Rebecca Gregory.
"It also helped them analyze the role of the judicial system in social and legal change and gave them the opportunity to compare attitudes about race in the 1950s with those in the U. S. today, she said.
Garrett said that the resources in the special Brown vs. Board issue of Teaching Tolerance magazine, published earlier this year, were particularly helpful in her research for the play.
Supreme Court librarian Tim Lewis produced the play, which was sponsored by the Alabama State Bar's Bench and Bar Historical Society.
"The cast really bonded and didn't want the experience to end," Lewis said. "It was pretty cool."
The Alabama State Bar is hosting a special performance of Cross That River at its July 22-24 state convention in Sandestin, Florida.
SPLC Report
June 2004
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