Harlem Renaissance Radio Script

Host, Ida Wells: Hello listeners of Harlem, today we have the famous Web du Bois and Marcus
Garvey with us!
WEB DuBois: Glad to be here.
Marcus Garvey: Hello my people!
Ida B: So in light of the recent movement, the Harlem Renaissance, an important question
comes up. What is the best way, in your opinions, to achieve equality for blacks in this country?
WEB DuBois: The best way is for everyone to accept both aspects of the African American
culture. By accepting both African and American culture, we can unite blacks and whites.
Ida B: Well said Mr. DuBois.
Marcus Garvey: With all due respect Mr. DuBois, you have absolutely no idea what you are
talking about. There is absolutely no part of American culture that we must accept.
WEB DuBois: And why do you say that? Thats foolish thinking.
Ida B: Now now, were getting off topic. I have another question for you both, What do you think
about this Harlem Renaissance?
Marcus Garvey: Well, obviously, I support everything that these artists are doing, but why must
we do this in Harlem. We have to go back to our roots. We have to go back to Africa. Are you
familiar with my fleet of steamships the(cut-off)

WEB DuBois: Go back to our roots?! And what does that mean? We give up on all the progress
we've made? We give up on expanding a culture with a double consciousness? As humans it is
our nature to teach and explore, not abandon something because it has become challenging.
Equality is something we will get otherwise all the sacrifices made will be for nothing and we will
be treated like slaves again.
Ida B: You want us to abandon everything we have sacrificed here? Id rather go down in history
as one lone Negro who dared to tell the government that it had done a dastardly thing than to
save my skin by taking back what I said.
Marcus Garvey: This would not be in any way cowardly. This would be the bravest thing that
we could possibly do. We can show these horrid people that we will not just stay here and take
all of the abuse that we are given. We will take a stand! Nobody can keep us down! It is time to
say goodbye to America, and go back to where we are from.
Ida B: And thats exactly the kind of thinking that leads to so many blacks in our country falling
victim to the whites lynching every single day.
WEB DuBois: Mr.Garvey please. Understand that running away will do nothing to help us. It will
degrade us as a race. We need to prove that we are equal and we cannot unite with another
race if even we arent united. Running away does nothing but say that we are weak.
Marcus Garvey: There is nothing about my plan that is weak. We are not running away. We are
setting ourselves free.
WEB DuBois: Free from what? Opportunity to change this government, this world? We are
already free. We can do great things here but the fact is running away will not make us equal.

Marcus Garvey: Is seeing our people lynched on a regular basis free? Is having a government
that doesnt care about us free. Open your eyes Mr. DuBois. We are not free.
Ida B: Mr. Garvey, Im sorry but I have to disagree with you completely. We must continue to
fight back and strive to regain the country weve spent centuries building. One had better die
fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap.
Marcus Garvey: We have tried to adjust to living in this country. It is clearly not a good fit. It
would be best for us to set up colonies on the only continent where we are accepted.
Ida B: Well whatever preposterous ideas you have, thats all we have time for today. Thank you
all for listening to this. We will now take questions from callers.
Caller #1: Mr. Garvey, youre saying that we need to go back to Africa. Can you elaborate on
that, and explain how we would manage to do this?
Marcus Garvey: Thank you for asking. I am sick of seeing black men and women being
oppressed in this terrible nation? I regularly read the newspaper and think to myself why do we
have to live somewhere where all of these terrible things happen. Fortunately, there is a
solution. I own a fleet of steamships, the Black Star Line, that is designed to take our people
back to where we came from: Africa. We no longer have any use for this country. Its time to
take a stand, and go back to the only place that is truly home.
Caller #2: Mr. Dubois, how can I hear more about your views on equality.
WEB DuBois: If you're interested in sociology or race issues and how to fix them, The Souls of
Black Folks is the book for you. In this book I have written many essays about my experience as
an African American and essays about African American history. Our history is important and it

can help us understand how to gain equality. If equality is something you support pick up a copy
of The Souls of Black Folks today!
Caller #3: Ms. Barnett, how can I learn more about what is happening to African Americans in
America?
Ida B: Do you want to learn about the atrocities of lynching of black people in this country? Do
you wish to expose these hideous injustices that monopolize the everyday life of an American
Negro? Then read my book The Light of Truth : Writings of an Anti-Lynching Crusader and we
can all fight back together!
Ida B: Now for a poem by our special guest Claude McKay
Claude McKay: *Read Dramatically
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!

Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,

And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men well face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!