High school students re-enact play to remember and share story of the Wrightsville Boys

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – In 1959, 69 African American boys were locked inside a dormitory when it caught fire and killed some of them. This all happened just about 15 miles away from Little Rock in Wrightsville.  

Now some high school students are educating more people about the story with a special project. Death by Design is the name of the play. Many of the people behind the production said they feel like this story hasn’t been told enough. Up until now there is only one book published about this story. The Black History Commission hopes by talking and learning about the Wrightsville Boys, people will remember it.  

The moment in history is also known as the Secret Holocaust of Wrightsville Arkansas. Some people have heard about the story but the Black Arkansas Commission invested money into the play to make sure everyone knows this story.  

“It’s absolutely important because how will you know where you going if you don’t know where you been,” Coordinator of the African American History Program for Arkansas Archives, Tatyana Oyinloye said. “This is all a part of our past.” 

Friday the students of Meridian High School’s Department of Theatre and Performing Arts took folks back to March 5^th 1959. That’s when 21 African American boys burned to death inside a dorm at the Arkansas Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville, Arkansas. The doors were locked from the outside and it’s still a mystery on how the fire started that morning.  

“I like to captivate stories that aren’t normally told or people don’t normally know about,” play director Randy Wayne said.  

Director Wayne said when he first heard about the moment, he knew it needed to be told.  

“You want to remember them and let everybody know what they went through, and what they endured,” Wayne said.  

The room echoed during the lifting of all 21 victim’s names. Some of the families of the victims were present. Folks in Arkansas said they hope the community will continue to learn more about the state’s history.  

“I think it’s vital that we both celebrate the achievements of Black Arkansans but also memorialize and really remember the names, of these young boys and of things like this in Arkansas history,” Executive director of Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Christina Shutt said.  

There is another showing Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. Click here for more.