Dialogue Examples

Fifth Grade Dialogues about the Civil War

By Mrs. Inman's Fifth Grade Class

We Must Fight

Characters:
Tanisha, 14, a freed African girl
Latisha, her younger sister
Roger Truman, a slave holder
Bess, his wife
Dante, his field slave
Miss Abigail, a Quaker who has a “safe house” on the
Underground Railroad
A mother and her two children who escape on the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad conductor
Brutus Culp, a slave owner

Settings:
Miss Abigail’s kitchen
The Street
Roger Truman’s plantation and field
A forest in the South
Miss Abigail’s living room
The Quaker meeting hall

Scene 1. Miss Abigail’s kitchen.
(Tanisha is seated, holding a book, teaching Latisha to read. Latisha is seated on the floor next to her.)

Tanisha: See the consonants? B, t and r? The u makes an
“uh” sound. What do you suppose this word is?

Latisha: Bu. . .

Tanisha: Yes? And the rest of it?

Latisha: Bu – tter?

Tanisha: Yes! You’ve got it? (She pauses and lays the
book down in her lap.) Do you remember how the food was so different when we were at home with mother and father?

Latisha: No, what were mother and father like?

Tanisha: They were very kind. Father used to play with
you. Mother taught me many things about keeping the house, fetching water – and she even let me help prepare the meals.

Latisha: Tell me again about how we got here.

Tanisha: It is a terrible story. These awful men came into
our village in the middle of the night. Papa rose to fight them off. I never saw him again. (pause) They came back into our house and took my arm. I grabbed you so you wouldn’t get hurt.

Latisha: And what about Mama? I remember Mama. I miss
her. She used to hold me on her lap. And the other children. Oh, how we played.

Tanisha: I do not know what happened to mother. She was not with us. They took us to a big boat. There were hundreds of us – and so little room. There was one lady who gave us a bit of her food. . .it stank! It was just awful.

Latisha: I don’t think I remember.

Tanisha: That is good! (pause) When we got to land the
awful men put us up on a block. I didn’t understand English then, but I think they were asking people to buy us.

Latisha: When did we find Miss Abigail?

Tanisha: She found us. I think she paid lots of money, but
she was angry at the men and she came right up and took us away. (Pause) And now we have to set the fire and bake the cookies.

Latisha: Can I have one??

Tanisha: Oh, I forgot! We’ve got to get the groceries first!

Scene 2. On the way to the grocers

Tanisha: We need the butter and eggs, but we also need to
go to the butchers and. . .

Truman: (Rushes at them and grabs Tanisha) There you
are, you run away!

Latisha: But she’s my sister! She’s my sister!

Truman: (Dragging Tanisha off) I’ll show you where you belong!

(Latisha is left huddled on the street crying.)

Scene 3. The porch to Roger Truman’s house.

Truman: Well, Bess, look what I’ve brought you. I think
she would be good in the kitchen.

Bess: (Inspects Tanisha) I don’t want her in the kitchen!
Look, her hands are dirty! Take her to the field.

Scene 4. In the field.

(Dante is hoeing.)

Tanisha: I was sent here. (Dante continues hoeing.) What
are you doing?

Dante: Hoeing to get rid of the weeds.

Tanisha: I guess I could do that. How long have you been
here?

Dante: Ten years.

Tanisha: How do they make you work?

Dante: They whip you if you don’t work or if you don’t work
fast enough.

Tanisha: Have you been whipped?
(Dante shows her his back with the healed wounds.)

Tanisha: That’s just terrible. Give me the hoe. Show me
how to do this.

Scene 5.

(Dante and Tanisha are sitting. They have a short break because they have been working so hard in the hot sun.)

Tanisha: Oh – oh – oh. Have you ever tried to escape?

Dante: Yes, but I got caught and was whipped for it.

Tanisha: If we could just get to the North – it’s just
wonderful. You’re not told what to do. I didn’t realize how lucky I was. I do so miss my sister, but I’m sure she’s safe.

Dante: I’ll try to find a conductor for you.

Scene 6. A mother is meeting with a conductor for the Underground Railroad, arranging for her escape with her children.

Scene 7. The mother tells her children they are leaving. The kids are scared. They ask lots of questions about where they are going and what they will do.

Scene 8. Miss Abigail’s living room, very late at night. The escaped slaves enter. She hides them and returns to reading her book. There is a very loud knocking.

Scene 9. Brutus Culp has entered. He demands his slaves. He pulls down the curtain, overturns some chairs. Miss Abigail remains very calm. Culp finally leaves.

Scene 10. A Quaker meeting.

(The escaped slaves are sitting at the front of the room. There is a lectern facing the seated Quakers. We don’t see them.)

Miss Abigail: Hello, my fellow Quakers. I want to introduce
Tanisha. She was stolen from my house and taken South, but the Underground Railroad rescued her. She’s here to share her thoughts about slavery and the Civil War.

Tanisha: Being a slave is absolutely horrible! Dante here
was at the plantation a long time. If we didn’t do our work we were punished. Dante was beaten.

No human should be treated this way. They could have used machines. But they forced us to work. And nobody, nobody deserves that!

Everybody who can, should support the Civil War. Those Southerners are afraid of change, but they need to change. We must see that the slaves are freed. We need to make certain that nobody, that nobody in the United States is enslaved! We need to fight this war!!