Enchanted Circle Theater Enchanted Circle Theater

Ida B. Wells (1862 – 1932)

How to use this Resource

Ida B. WellsWatch the short catalyst film on Ida B Wells.

Review sample tasks and step-by-step exercises on how to:

Create a Monologue (about Ida B. Wells)

Produce Timeline Theater (on Ida B. Wells)

Create an Accordion Book (on Ida B. Wells)

Use the Social Justice Movers and Shakers Flipbook to find other notable people to apply the activities and exercises from this curriculum.

Creative Catalyst

FY18 Ida B. Wells filming at Open Square_1Ida B. Wells Film  

A 6 minute dramatic monologue based on primary and secondary source material, with historic photographs.

PLEASE NOTE:  The film includes explicit content and photographs of lynching.

Based on a passage from the play:
Inherent Dignity: Women Change Makers in the Progressive Era
Written by Steve Angel and Priscilla Kane Hellweg
Performed by Amina Jordan–Mendez
Directed by Priscilla Kane Hellweg
Film directed and edited by John Reuter Productions 

Arts Integrated Activities

The following arts integrated activities are designed to actively engage your students in hands–on, project–based learning. They directly correspond to an exploration of Ida B. Wells’ life – and can be adapted to any content area or theme.

MonologueWriting & Performing Social Justice Monologue

How to write and perform a dramatic monologue based on primary and secondary source materials.

Please see the digital reference below: Social Justice Movers & Shakers Flipbook for students to select a historic or contemporary figure as a subject for their own Monologue. Alternatively, students can pair up to collaboratively write a monologue – with one student choosing to direct and the other choosing to perform.

Time-Line TheaterTime–Line Theater

How to create a performance with multiple scenes based on chronological events.

Please see the digital reference below: Timeline of Ida B. Well and Flipbook of Ida B. Wells. Each event in these resources offers beginning text for a Time-Line Theater scene.

Use the Social Justice Movers & Shakers flipbook for students to select a historic or contemporary figure as a subject for their own Time-Line Theater.

Digital Classroom Logo tightAccordion Book (coming soon)

DIY Instructional video detailing how to create an Accordion Book.

Please see the digital reference below: Flipbook of Ida B. Wells, as an example of an online accordion Book. 

Use the Social Justice Movers & Shakers flipbook for students to select a historic or contemporary figure as a subject for their own accordion book.

Digital Reference Materials

SJMS CoverSocial Justice Movers & Shakers Flipbook

Brief biographies of one hundred historic and contemporary social justice activists, organized around eight categories of social activism.

TimelineTimeline of Ida B. Wells

A graphic illustration of key events in Ida B. Wells life.

Ida Flip BookFlipbook of Ida B. Wells

An online accordian book of key events in Ida B. Wells life.

IMG_9298Inherent Dignity: Women Change Makers in the Progressive Era

An Enchanted Circle play that dramatically tells the story of five women change–makers in the progressive era, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Addams, and Ida B. Wells. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is woven throughout the play, as historical context for each monologue.

  • Students can engage in a “table reading” of the script, the process actors and directors go through when they read a script prior to working on it. In a table read, roles are cast, and the assistant director (or teacher) reads the stage directions out loud.
  • Reader’s Theater is another option. In Reader’s Theater, actors dramatize the scenes with simple blocking options and costume/prop suggestions, which requires prior rehearsals.

“You made me WANT to come to school!”

” Many of the children I work with have never felt success, and you make them feel safe and empowered.”

~ 5th grade teacher, Holyoke, MA