The City of Sausalito will host an outdoor production of the play Words That Made the Difference: Brown vs the Board of Education at Dunphy Park at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 12. This special event is in honor of Juneteenth, which is celebrated on the following Sunday. The play is being staged on June 12 so as not to conflict with the Juneteenth Festival in Marin City on June 19.
Juneteenth commemorates the effective end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to carry the announcement that all enslaved people were free, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
Words That Made the Difference is based on actual events in the fight to end school segregation and is set in the courtrooms of history, capturing the real words in court cases that culminated in the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. The play is a reminder that emancipation was only the beginning of a struggle to end systemic racism that continues to this day.
This is a free event presented by the City of Sausalito and community partners the Sausalito Marin City School District, Friends of the Sausalito Library, and Friends of the Marin City Library. Chairs will be available in front of the temporary stage in Dunphy Park. Lawn seating will also be available.
The play is one hour and 45 minutes long and will be followed by a Q&A session led by playwright and director Cindy Acker.
Dr. Cindy Acker, Ed.D. is an international racial and social justice consultant and the founder of the Montessori Elementary Intermediate School of Alameda. Among her several degrees is a doctorate in Educational Leadership from UC Berkeley. In June, she will be presented with the 2022 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award from the Alameda Chamber of Commerce.