Cold War & Civil Rights (1945-1975) U.S. History Bundle | 8 Readers Theater Scripts

Immerse students in the transformative era of postwar America from the Iron Curtain's descent through Cold War flashpoints, civil rights triumphs, and political upheavals to Watergate's corrosive revelations with this comprehensive Readers’ Theater Bundle, featuring 8 meticulously crafted scripts for grades 11–12. Students embody pivotal figures like Truman, Churchill, MacArthur, Kennedy, Ho Chi Minh, Warren, Parks, King, Malcolm X, Carmichael, and Nixon, delving into themes of containment, nonviolence versus militancy, executive overreach, and economic justice via primary sources on doctrines, speeches, rulings, and accords. Ideal for AP U.S. History, AP World History, and IB History, this bundle cultivates analytical rigor, ethical debates, and empathetic understanding through vivid role-plays and source integrations.

Can the struggles for freedom and accountability in postwar America guide today's battles against division and distrust?

Perfect For

• AP U.S. History, AP World History, IB History, and advanced social studies courses
• High school students (grades 11–12) exploring Cold War dynamics and civil rights
• Classroom debates, nonviolent simulations, and constitutional role-plays
• Units on diplomacy, activism, warfare, and governmental reforms

What’s Included

• 8 Scripts: ~10 pages each, 10 scenes, 15 characters, casting breakdowns, emotional tags, primary quotes (editable Google Doc/PDF/DOCX)
• 8 Teacher Guides: ~10 pages each, with summaries, source contexts, discussions, CCSS standards, keys (editable Google Doc/PDF/DOCX)
• 8 Student Worksheets: ~25 slides each, 10 SAT vocab, 10 short-answers, 5 challenges, 5 extensions (editable Google Slides/PPTX)
• 8 Self-Grading Google Forms Quizzes: 20 multiple-choice each, script-aligned

Skills Addressed

• Analyzing primary sources like Truman Doctrine and Brown v. Board rulings
• Building fluency via expressive, tagged dialogues in performances
• Encouraging collaboration through enactments and group analyses
• Mastering SAT-level vocabulary such as “containment” and “self-determination”
• Promoting critical thinking on ethics, imperialism, and historical legacies

Will this bundle of scripts meet your classroom's needs?

Try the free Korean War Script download below :)

Scripts Included

1. The Iron Curtain & Truman Doctrine (1947)
2. The Korean War (1950–1953) [FREE DOWNLOAD]
3. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
4. The Vietnam War and Protests (1955–1975)
5. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
6. Montgomery Bus Boycott & Civil Rights Act of 1964
7. March on Washington & Malcolm X (1963–1960s)
8. Nixon and the Watergate Scandal (1972–1974)

Primary Sources (Links provided)

Students analyze primaries across scripts to dissect postwar America's multifaceted tensions, from Churchill's Iron Curtain warnings via Kennan's containment analysis to MacArthur's farewell and JFK's quarantine address, Cuban standoff memos, Tonkin resolutions, MLK's anti-war critiques, Brown rulings on inequality, bus boycott speeches, civil rights legislation, dream orations, ballot threats, Black Power calls, smoking gun tapes, privilege rejections, and resignation evocations. Exploring heroism in frozen battles and social shifts through accords, they debate prejudice, strategy, and legacies for modern parallels in rights and conflicts.

• Winston Churchill, “The Sinews of Peace (Iron Curtain),” International Churchill Society
• Harry S. Truman, (Truman Doctrine), Avalon Project
• George F. Kennan, “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” Alpha History
• UN Security Council Resolution 83 (recommending assistance to South Korea)
• General Douglas MacArthur, Address to Congress (“Old Soldiers Never Die”), Emerson Kent
• Korean Armistice Agreement (Jul 27 1953) Excerpt (Article 1 ONLY)
• John F. Kennedy, Address on the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 22 1962
• Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between Secretary of State Rusk and the Under Secretary of State (Ball) - October 24, 1962
• Proclamation 3504, Interdiction of Offensive Weapons to Cuba (Oct 23 1962)
• The Tonkin Gulf Incident; August 5, 1964 President Johnson's Message to Congress
• Martin Luther King Jr., “Beyond Vietnam—A Time to Break Silence,” April 4 1967, American Rhetoric
• Paris Peace Accords (Jan 27 1973), full text on Wikisource
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Opinion of the Court, Justia
• Cooper v. Aaron (1958), Supreme Court opinion, Justia
• (1955) Martin Luther King Jr., “The Montgomery Bus Boycott”
• 42 U.S. Code § 2000a - Prohibition against discrimination or segregation in places of public accommodation, Cornell Legal Information Institute
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream” (Aug 28 1963), American Rhetoric
• Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet” (Apr 3 1964), American Rhetoric
• Stokely Carmichael, “Black Power” Speech (Jun 16 1966), Voices of Democracy
• “Smoking Gun” Tape Transcript (Jun 23 1972) — full transcript on Watergate.info
• United States v. Nixon (1974), Supreme Court opinion, Justia
• Richard Nixon, Address Announcing His Resignation (Aug 8 1974), Miller Center