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Important Stuff To Talk About
When The Children Marched……… & more
HAIRSPRAY is a vibrant musical comedy that touches on serious issues.
Theater For Young Audiences encourages parents and teachers to take advantage of this opportunity to discuss these points with their youth.
1.) Back in the 1960’s, one heard kids use derogatory words like “mental” and “retard”. Since the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990, our society has become more aware and inclusive. This legislation has improved the lives of all citizens by providing access and opportunities for those who are physically and mentally challenged.
a.) What did you think when you heard some Council Members refer to other students as “mental” and “retard”?
b.) What does it mean when someone calls another a “mental” or a “retard”?
c.) PUT YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES…. What effect does name-calling have on the CALLER? on the VICTIM? on the OBSERVER?
2.) In the early 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was gaining momentum. Brave boys and girls helped break the color barrier by the being the first African Americans to integrate “white only” schools and sit at “white only” lunch counters.
a.) Look at the photo on the other side. These boys are marching thru their town to protest school segregation. You can see a TV repair shop on the corner behind them and 2 police officers.
PUT YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES…. What do you think the boys are feeling in this photo? What might they be thinking? What are the police officers feeling? What are the officers thinking?
If you could go back in time, where would you be in the photo…Watching from a store? Standing on the sidewalk? Marching with the boys? What would you be thinking and feeling?
b.) Tracy Turnblad protests against injustice, is arrested, and ultimately helps integrate the Corny Collins Show. Many African Americans took great risks during the Civil Rights Movement.
PUT YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES….
+On February 1, 1960, well -dressed African American college students who had purchased school supplies, sat down at the “all white” lunch counter in at the Woolworth’s five and dime store in Greensboro, NC.
Role Play With a partner or a group, try-on the roles of the African American college students, the cook, the waitress, the store owner, lunch counter patrons. Try telling your character’s version of the “sit-in” or act it out.
+ In 1957, nine African American students faced an angry mob as they attended their first day of classes at the Central High School in Little Rock, AK under the protection of federal troops dispatched by President Dwight Eisenhower.
Role Play : With a partner, take turns playing a newspaper or TV reporter and “interview” a black student, the school principal, angry citizen, federal trooper, parent of black student, President Eisenhower.
+ In 1963 on May 2, 3, & 4; hundreds of school children joined the 3 day march now called the Children’s Crusade of Birmingham to protest for civil rights. Fire hoses and dogs were used to prevent them from seeing the mayor. Children marched, were arrested, set free, and returned to march again.
Role Play : Imagine that you attended the Children’s Crusade on May 2. Write an account in your diary or call your worried grandparents to tell them your story.