Actress Phylicia Rashad is lending her voice to a new audio play about Black women and the battle for the right to vote.

“I am the elder who is remembering her parents trying to vote, not being able to vote because there were not voter’s rights in those times,” says Rashad.

The Tony Award winner is known for her roles in “The Cosby Show” and “This is Us.” She says that understanding the history of voting rights is important, especially in today’s social climate.

“This is a hard-won right. I grew up during the Civil Rights movement. That urgency to secure the right to vote began long before the Civil Rights movement,” she says.

“Pulling the Lever” is one of three new audio plays produced by the American Slavery Project dramatizing the past and present in the fight for the right to vote.

“I want people to feel inspired by what historically people have gone through in order to get the right to vote,” says playwright and director Judy Tate. “I want them to realize these are human beings just like we are today.”

Crossroads Theatre Company, a member of the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, is among the organizations that will stream the plays Friday evening on its website. It is keeping with the theater’s mission of social justice.

“Not only the movement of women, but how we all have to become involved in this crusade for justice,” says Anthony Carter of Crossroads Theatre Company.

The plays will be streamed on June 19, which marks the date the last slaves in the United States received word of their freedom.