Thurgood Marshall | Civil Rights Leader | Readers Theater Script

This Thurgood Marshall Historical Figure Readers Theater Script engages students in an interactive narrative instead of reading a dry history textbook. Abigail and Benjamin trace Thurgood Marshall’s journey from a child facing segregation to a trailblazing lawyer who dismantled “separate but equal.”

Script Summary:

This script shows how legal skill, moral courage, and steady perseverance can advance equality and inspire future generations. Explore mentors like Charles Hamilton Houston, who teaches Marshall to use the Fourteenth Amendment to challenge school segregation, culminating in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case. Using logical arguments and evidence, Marshall convinced the Supreme Court to declare that separate schools were inherently unequal. Although enforcement was slow, his victory strengthened the civil rights movement. He later became the first African American Supreme Court Justice, shaping U.S. jurisprudence for decades.

This product includes a zip file consisting of:

1) Readers Theater Script

• ~10 Characters, 1600 words, PDF & Editable DOCX Formats (7 pages)
• Includes factual historical information, primary source quotes, and narrative storytelling
• Themes & Discussion Question Prompts

2) Comprehensive Script Worksheet

• Includes Answer Key, Google Slides & PDF Formats (4 Pages | 17 Slides)
• 10 Vocabulary Words: Definitions based on the context of the script to build historical literacy
• 10 Short-Answer Questions: Comprehension and recall questions based solely on the script, ensuring students can analyze the content without requiring additional research.
• Long-Format Writing Questions: Encourage deeper reflection and analysis, including one primary source exploration question.

3) 1 Primary Source Document

• Thurgood Marshall, “Argument Before the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education” (1953)
• Full Primary Source Text, PDF & DOCX Formats (2 pages)

Teaching Tips for Using the Script:

• For digital classrooms, upload the DOCX Script and convert to Google docs
• For More Students: Main character can be read by multiple students.
• For Less Students: Minor characters can be read by just one student.
• This script should take about ~25 minutes and depending on your classroom's level it may be suitable for other grade levels.
• An extra ~25 minutes for prep, discussion, vocabulary or short answer comprehension questions should also be planned.

This resource is part of a bundle dedicated to notable Civil Rights Leaders:

SAVE 50% and get the bundle here: Civil Rights Leaders Reader's Theater Scripts Bundle (12)