Pageant of UU Principles and People

By Margaret Fleming
UU Congregation of NW Tucson, AZ
Tucson, AZ

The children's class will present a pageant of UU People and Principles based on our curriculum for this year. We have chosen three or four well-known Unitarian Universalists to represent each principle. We'll ask each one to say how the principle was important in his or her life.

Principle One: Each and every person is important.

Narrator: Dorothea Dix [she walks up]
Narrator: Maria Mitchell [she walks up]
Narrator: Whitney Young [he walks up]

Narrator: Will you each tell us how this principle was important to you?

DD: When I found out that people who were mentally ill were often kept in prisons or in horrible conditions, I spent the rest of my life trying to make sure they were treated better. Mentally ill people are important too.

MM: I was the first professor of astronomy at Vassar College. In addition to my scientific work, I tried all my life to get people to recognize that women are as important as men.

WY: I worked to get fair treatment for African Americans in all areas of life.

Principle Two: All people should be treated fairly and kindly.

Narrator: Florence Nightingale [she walks up]
Narrator: Antoinette Brown Blackwell [she walks up]
Narrator: Frances Harper [she walks up]
Narrator: Lousia May Alcott [she walks up]

Narrator: How was this principle important to all of you?

FN: During the Crimean War the hospitals were terrible places, dirty and cold and unsanitary. I was a nurse who helped improve conditions, and I helped make the profession of nursing more respectable.

ABB: As a Universalist minister, one of the things I preached against was the cruel practice of slavery.

FH: I was born before slavery was made illegal. As a well-known black poet, I wrote and lectured against it all my life.

LMA: In my book Little Women the March family agrees to give up their Christmas dinner to feed a poor family.

Principle Three: We should accept one another and keep on learning together.

Narrator: William Ellery Channing [he walks up]
Narrator: Hosea Ballou [he walks up]
Narrator: Olympia Browne [she walks up]

Narrator: How was this principle important to all of you?

WEC: As a Unitarian minister, I was known for my powerful sermons. I hope I helped my congregations keep on learning just as I did.

HB: As a Universalist minister, I helped found Tufts College, so that young people could continue to learn.

OB: I was the first woman in the U.S. to be accepted as a minister by a denomination, the Universalist church. I worked to help women be accepted as voters.

Principle Four: Each person must be free to search for what is true and right in life.

Narrator: Ralph Waldo Emerson [he walks up]
Narrator: Frank Lloyd Wright [he walks up]
Narrator: Sophia Fahs [she walks up]

Narrator: Please tell us how this principle was important in your lives.

RWE: I was a Unitarian minister, but gave up preaching to search for truth in other ways. I read about other religions, wrote essays, and talked with other searchers for truth.

FLW: I was an architect. My search for truth and meaning involved how to make buildings fit in with the landscape around them.

SF: My search for truth led me to become a Unitarian religious educator. I wrote many books for children.

Principle Five: All persons should have a vote about the things that concern them.

Narrator: John Adams [he walks up]
Narrator: Susan B. Anthony [she walks up]
Narrator: Charles E. Scripps [he walks up]

Narrator: How did your lives show this principle in action?

JA: I was the second President of the United States, and one of the authors of the "Declaration of Independence." The American colonies broke away from England in order to be able to vote on issues that concerned us.

SBA: I spent most of my life trying to get women to be allowed to vote. Before it was legal, I actually tried to vote. I was fined $100, but I refused to pay it.

CES: I'm president of a newspaper company that believes that newspapers should give people information so they will be better voters and citizens.

Principle Six: We believe in working for a peaceful, fair, and free world.

Narrator: Julia Ward Howe [she walks up]
Narrator: Adlai Stevenson [he walks up]
Narrator: Linus Pauling [he walks up]

Narrator: Please tell us how you followed this principle in your lives.

JWH: I was the author of "Battle Hymn of the Republic." It was sung during the Civil War, which freed the slaves in the U.S.

AS: I helped to found the United Nations to make the world more peaceful.

LP: I was a famous scientist, but I also won a Nobel Prize for Peace because I protested using nuclear weapons.

Principle Seven: We believe in caring for our planet Earth, the home we share with all living things.

Narrator: Charles Darwin [he walks up]
Narrator: Henry David Thoreau [he walks up]
Narrator: Beatrix Potter [she walks up]

Narrator: How did all of you show the importance of this principle in your lives?

CD: On a trip around the world as a young man, I observed many different kinds of animals. That helped me develop my theory of evolution, which changed the way scientists thought about the world.

HDT: I built myself a little cabin and went to live in the woods for 2 years. I observed plants and animals and wrote a book called Walden about my experience.

BP: I always loved animals, and I wrote books about them for children. Peter Rabbit is my best-known character.