The Plays
In Blood Done Sign My Name, Mike Wiley brings to life the recollections of author Tim Tyson surrounding the 1970 murder of Henry “Dickie” Marrow in Oxford, NC and the events that followed. Marrow, who was black, was chased from a local store by three white men after reportedly making a crude remark to one of the men’s wives. They brutally beat Marrow then killed him with a bullet to the head in view of multiple witnesses. Despite the eyewitness reports, an all-white jury acquitted the men. The town’s black community responded to the events with an uprising that destroyed downtown businesses and several tobacco warehouses holding at least a million dollars in harvested crops. Tyson, who was 10 at the time, recounts how the conflagration of events shaped his life and offers all of us an opportunity to examine our own roles in the complex and often confusing racial fabric of America.
Acclaimed gospel scholar and singer, Mrs. Mary D. Williams reinforces the action on stage with powerful and moving renditions of spirituals such as Oh, Freedom, Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Soon I Will Be Done.
Production is 90 minutes in length and appropriate for a mixed audience. There is also a 50 minute student version for grades 8 and higher.
Downloads/Video- College/Community Audience Discussion Guide
- High School Audience Discussion Guide
- Spirituals As Protest Songs
- Go Down Moses Lyrics
- North Carolina Now Coverage