In honor of the 70th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation in America’s public schools, Words That Made the Difference: Brown vs. the Board of Education will be returning to Alameda on Friday and Saturday, May 10 and 11 at 7 p.m. at Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding Avenue.
The powerful play will also be part of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series on Saturday, May 18, at 7 p.m. at the Valley Center for Performing Arts in Oakland (formerly Holy Names University).
Written and directed by Dr. Cindy Acker, Ed.D, Words That Made the Difference is set in the courtrooms of history, with the plaintiffs, witnesses, and justices whose courageous words culminated in the unanimous decision issued by Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren on May 17, 1954. The script draws from the actual words in the late Chief Justice’s memoirs and from the trial transcripts of the five cases that were brought together before the Supreme Court.
Warren was the former governor of California, yet ironically Marin County was the last in the nation to adhere to the desegregation law when Sausalito Marin City School District was hit with the state’s first school desegregation order in 2019. As our nation continues the work to be a truly just, fair, and anti-racist society today, Words That Made the Difference sets the scene for exactly what the conversation within the courtroom looked like 70 years ago—and remains powerfully relevant today.
Cindy Acker is a six-time award-winning educator and playwright who lives and works in the City of Alameda. She is the founder of The Child Unique and The Montessori Elementary Intermediate School of Alameda (MEISA) and has served as principal for over 40 years. She has several degrees in education, human development, spirituality, and cultural studies, as well as a doctorate in Educational Leadership from UC Berkeley. She has also been involved in public policy, representing Montessori schools in California. She is a published author and a national keynote speaker. Her play, In Our Hands, won an award in Canada, and her news feature, Creative Parenting was nominated for an Emmy.
Tickets for Words That Made the Difference: Brown vs. the Board of Education at Rhythmix are $35/General admission or $50/Angel (helps support full cost of production). Purchase online at the Rhythmix website.
Tickets to the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series presentation of the play are free. Reserve in advance by calling the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center office at (510) 434-3988.
Words That Made the Difference: Brown vs. the Board of Education was last presented in Alameda at Altarena Playhouse in July 2022.
