Freedom Sought

How can a person born in a country, never leaving the country, still not be a citizen of that country?

This monologue, written to celebrate Black History Month, tells the story of Dred Scott, the African American who in 1857 sought unsuccessfully to have the courts declare his right to freedom.

Cast: 1 monolog

Bible Reference: Galatians 3:28

Set:   blank set

Lighting:   standard

Sound:  wireless mic if available

Song:   none

SFX: none

Costumes:   standard

Props:  none

Special Instructions:

Time: 1.5-2 minutes

Bible Reference: Galatians 3:28

Sample of script:

actor comes on stage

How could this be?

How could a few men with blustery voices and prejudiced opinions have the right to decide which resident is, . . . which is not, . . . a citizen of these United States?

And yet it was that in 1857 one Dred Scott found himself in this position.

As a lifelong resident of these United States . . of what country could he be a citizen?

His ancestry African, yet his feet never touched African soil; . . . . He can’t be a citizen of Africa.

Every man must have a native land, be a citizen of somewhere, but if not a citizen of either these United States nor Africa . . . then where?

Born a slave in Virginia, his owners moved him to Missouri and from there to declared free states; Scott reasoned he had the right to be free. After trying, unsuccessfully, to buy his freedom Scott took the only alternative available: proceeding through the courts to gain his freedom.

The chief justice who stood in judgement declared that the authors of the Constitution viewed all blacks as, (deeper voice), “beings of an inferior order, unfit to associate with the white race, that they had no rights the white man was bound to respect.”

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