Would your students enjoy meeting a heroine from Black History? "Harriet Tubman, Alias Moses: Joe's Journey (Simplified)" is a true-to-life Readers Theater script from the original biography of Harriet Tubman by Sarah Bradford (1869). Harriet Tubman told Mrs. Bradford the story of her life, including some of her adventures as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Harriet had a strong faith in God and this script is true to her story. Join an adventurous trip with Harriet Tubman and some escaped slaves–including Joe–in this free Readers Theater script with curriculum links for lesson plans. This is the Simplified version of our original script (readability grade 3.4). (The original version has a readability of grade 4.2.)

TIME: about 9 1/2 minutes
CAST: 8-12
TONE: somber with joy
READABILITY: grade 3.4

Harriet Tubman, Alias Moses: Joe's Journey

Adapted from the second edition of Sarah Bradford's book,
Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People (1886)
Readers Theater By Carol Montgomery ©2010

Here is an excerpt:
After the narrators have introduced the story and Joe has come in, this interaction occurs on the second page...

Reader 3: That night Joe took a boat, rowed down the river, and visited Old Ben, Harriet’s father.

Joe: Next time Moses comes, let me know.

Old Ben: (nods) I sure will.

Reader 4: Joe didn’t have to wait long. Neither did the others who were
waiting for Harriet Tubman to rescue them from slavery.

Reader 2: Joe’s brother, William, also fled slavery with a couple of other slaves: Peter and Eliza.

William: Yes, sir! We hid in potato holes sometimes during the day. We
didn’t make a sound. We could hear them hunting us like we were animals! It was bad. One time they passed just a few feet away from us!

Eliza: We were passed from friend to friend wearing different disguises.
We never knew who could be a friend or who could be an enemy. But,
Moses knew! (Continued...)

***Click on the arrow below to download the full printable version of the free Readers Theater script "Harriet Tubman, Alias Moses: Joe's Journey."

This is a free Readers Theater script based on the biography of Harriet Tubman as Harriet told it to Sarah Bradford. Make sure you check out the curriculum links for easy lesson plans on the last page.

* Here's a link to the article describing the original Readers Theater script "Harriet Tubman, Alias Moses: Joe's Journey" with a readability of grade 4.2.