Actor delves into law behind ‘Color of Justice’

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Left to Right: Paul Whitty, Drew Bonadio, L. Roi Hawkins, Billy Eugene Jones, Lolita Foster, Carshenah W. Jefferson, star in TheatreWorks' "The Color of Justice." | Courtesy of TheatreWorks

Updated: February 17, 2012 2:11PM

For actor L. Roi Hawkins, who is playing Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense Fund in the TheatreworksUSA presentation of “The Color of Justice,” preparing for the role took some time and effort.

“I did a lot of reading,” Hawkins said. “I read books that chronicled that period of his life. I also met the playwright, Cheryl L. Davis, who is a lawyer. I asked her a lot of questions, especially about the legal jargon. I even watched old interviews of him on YouTube.”

Marshall, who went on to become the first African American justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, served from 1967 to 1991, but this play deals with his earlier career as civil rights lawyer.

Two performances of “The Color of Justice” will be presented Wednesday, Feb. 22, at the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin.

The play describes the landmark 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education, in which Marshall and the NAACP, on behalf of 13 families with 20 children in Kansas, challenged school segregation. “The Color of Justice” is a fictional account of one episode in the struggle of African-Americans to obtain equal treatment under the law. The fictional piece is based on fact. The family in the play is named Carter, not Brown.

Getting it right

Hawkins feels his preparation is necessary to portray a real-life person.

“With a fictitious character you have a little leeway to create your own character,” he said. “An actual person is more significant, so there is a lot of pressure to do it correctly.”

The play focuses on fictional eight-year-old Grace Carter, who wants to go to the all-white school instead of walking through the railroad yard to another (all-black) school. She also wonders why she and her classmates have to write thank-you letters to the white students for their hand-me-down books and supplies, many of which are outdated or torn. All this leads her parents to contact Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The play follows them from their first case in Topeka, which they lose, through their successive appeals, all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The judgment of this case proved to be a catalyst which brought new life to the civil rights movement. The play is recommended for audiences age 8 and up.

And although the show’s message is one of equality, Hawkins thinks there is a deeper message in the play.

“I think a stronger message for young African-Americans is that you are beautiful and important no matter what,” he said. “You can’t compare yourself to others.”

History lesson

Hawkins believes that through his portrayal he is also acting as a historian.

“It is rare that the students are being taught this part in history,” he said. “They know Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass, Jesse Jackson and Malcom X. But with Thurgood Marshall, they draw a blank.”

Hawkins also thinks that the people depicted in the play should not be forgotten.

“It is extremely important,” he said, “that they remember people who risked their lives for liberties we have now.”