In Defense of Ourselves by Nikki Brake-Silla

In Defense of Ourselves occurs across three crucial time periods for Black America. Mary Church Terrell and Ida B. Wells-Barnett prepare for the Women's Suffrage March of 1913. In 1954, Mary and her grandson protest segregated eating establishments in Washington, DC., one year before Emmett Till's lynching and eleven years before the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The play concludes on November 9, 2016,...
In Defense of Ourselves occurs across three crucial time periods for Black America. Mary Church Terrell and Ida B. Wells-Barnett prepare for the Women's Suffrage March of 1913. In 1954, Mary and her grandson protest segregated eating establishments in Washington, DC., one year before Emmett Till's lynching and eleven years before the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The play concludes on November 9, 2016, when a conversation between two women leads to clarity after a recent turn of events.
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In Defense of Ourselves

Recommended by

  • Keenya Jackson:
    2 Mar. 2021
    “ This play demonstrates how layered Black leaders were/are and the impact that they've left on our world. It shows them as human beings with flaws and greatness and everything in between. And we watch how they were made to navigate through a society that didn't accept or appreciate them then and still doesn't today. ”
  • Quinn D. Eli:
    19 Nov. 2020
    “ In this stirring play that unearths the path between where we're headed and we're we've been, Nikki Brake-Sillá conjures a kind of theatrical alchemy--a sharp, explosive combination of struggle and triumph. Part documentary and part call-to-arms, the warmth, intelligence, and urgency of "In Defense of Ourselves" turns audience members into time travelers, illuminating the tangled threads of history that tie the present to the past. ”

Mary Church Terrell, (50) daughter of wealthy, former slaves. Oberlin educated, close friends
with "Webbie" W.E.B. DuBois, fluent in German and French
Ida B. Wells-Barnett, (51) former slave, school teacher, loud, militant, lonely. She has resolved herself that being liked and being heard are strange bedfellows.
Alice Paul (28) , a means well white suffragist

Mary Church Terrell, (80s) one generation removed from slavery, daughter of wealthy former slaves. Oberlin educated, close friends with "Webbie" W.E.B. DuBois, fluent in German and French
Ray (10), Mary's grandson, in order to go to his grandmother's house in the summer had to go with her to the picket lines.

Karen, (30-60s), white woman always wants to speak to the supervisor, proud member of the Pantsuit nation, (Alice and Karen double)
Tiana (30s-40s), great-great-grandaughter of Ida B. Wells-Burnett, tired of Karen's shenanigans (Tia and Ida double)

Development History

  • Commission
    ,
    Philadelphia Women's Theatre Festival
    ,
    2020
  • Reading
    ,
    Philadelphia Women's Theatre Festival
    ,
    2020

Production History

Awards