(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
ALEX: Last on Roots...
This here my daddy, Massa Brent. He a free man.
We got a law here, Mr. Free Man.
You stay in this state more than 60 days,
you get to be plain nigger again.
Then you want me to go?
I'm married to a free man, George Moore.
I ain't about to live with no slave ever again.
Long live the Confederacy! It's war, boys! It's war!
Are we gonna whup them Yankees?
(CROWD CHEERING)
Now, look at that rib poking out right there. See that rib, Evan?
Hmm. Why don't you just tuck it in for him, Jemmy?
(GRUNTS)
You's all my friends.
You's the only friends I ever did know in all my life.
You's like my family.
I just want a little kiss.
(SOBBING) Tom.
Tom.
I do believe you are looking for a whipping.
No.
You ain't gonna do nothing to me.
'Cause I ain't gonna let you, Jemmy Brent.
Now, Captain Brent's brother has been missing for three days.
Any of you all seen Jemmy Brent, speak up.
You ain't seen the last of me, nigger.
Ha! Ha!
TELEGRAPHER: To all commanders in the field,
from General Robert E. Lee.
"After four years of arduous service,
"marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude,
“the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled
"to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources.
“I need not tell the brave survivors of so many hard-fought battles,
"who have remained steadfast to the last,
“that I have consented to this result from no mistrust of them,
"but feeling that valor and devotion
"could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the loss
"that must attend the continuance of the contest,
“I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice
"of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen.
"You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds
“from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed.
(WOMAN SOBBING)
"And I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you
"His blessing and protection.”
It's over, folks. The war is over.
God save the Confederacy.
(HOOVES CLACKING)
(DOG BARKS)
Freedom! Freedom!
We's free!
Freedom!
Freel We's free!
Freedom! Freedom! (LAUGHS)
Hey, we're free! We're free!
Freedom!
-Who that, Rufus? -Young Lewis, from the Harveys' place.
-What was he bellowing? -Something about we's free, sounded like.
Free? (SCOFFS)
-Nigger must be crazy. -Yeah, must be.
Come on, mule. Come on! Come on!
(RATTLING)
Lewis, what you standing around for?
We's free.
-Who say that? -It come over the telegraph.
The war is over. The Southland give up.
Slavery's no more!
Lewis, you be fooling with me, I'll...
Not fooling you about freedom, big brother.
I's here to tell you. It is the God's truth.
Free?
(COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING)
(ALL CHEERING AND LAUGHING)
-Mama? -Yes?
Why is you looking so sad? This is supposed to be a celebration.
I guess I'm thinking about your daddy, wishing he was here.
Don't you fret.
Chicken George be coming back soon enough now that freedom's come. (CHUCKLES)
Come dance with me.
Come on, Mama, instead of slaving behind this table.
-Come on, just one dance. -(STAMMERS) I can't... Don't...
-Come on, come on. -Don't...
Don't... I... I got to get... (LAUGHS)
(COUNTRY MUSIC CONTINUES)
(LAUGHTER AND CHEERING CONTINUES)
(HORSE NEIGHS)
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
(SHOUTING CEASES)
Well, uh...
I guess I don't have to ask if you've heard the news.
I don't know what it means, what it'll do to people's lives.
I guess no one does right now.
I'll try to hold on to the farm. I'm not sure just how.
You all may want to go off on your own.
You can stay here if you want.
(STUTTERS) It's just that I can't pay you anything.
Everything I have is tied up in this year's crop.
Maybe you could farm some of the land
and share the crop with me.
We all have to think about what we gonna do.
I don't...
I don't know what it means.
(CASH REGISTER DINGS)
Say hello to your mom for me, now, Piggy.
Uh, what'll it be, Harry?
Well, let's see now.
-Uh, I need-- -Mr. Brent.
I've been waiting a long time.
I'll take care of you when I'm good and ready. Now, you get.
I was here first.
Now, look here, you no-account black--
(STUTTERS) It's all right, Evan. I'll drop by a little later.
-No need for that now, Harry. -L ater.
(FOOTSTEPS RECEDING)
Well?
Loaf of bread and a bag of grits.
(BANGS ON TABLE)
36 cents.
(EVAN SIGHS)
(COIN CLANKS)
(EVAN SIGHS AND MUMBLES)
(CASH REGISTER DINGS)
Hello, Evan.
Senator! Doggone, it's good to see you! (CHUCKLES)
Just like old times.
Well, I thought you was still in England.
No, I've just returned.
Did you see that? Did you see it?
Senator, you won't believe
the way some of these niggers are carrying on.
Hell, you can't even call them niggers anymore.
At least, not to their faces.
Well, I wouldn't fret, Evan.
Let the niggras have their day.
What you mean by that?
The same thing as old Uncle Richard told me when I was a boy.
Old Brer Rabbit,
when he can't get through one way,
he change his way,
and by and by, he get where he want to be.
(LAUGHS) I get you now, sir! I get you!
That's right.
We is free at last.
ALL: Yeah.
All right. We is free at last!
-Yeah! We's free! -ALL: Free.
-Ain't got no more massas. -VIRGIL: No.
-Ain't nobody gonna whup us again. -ALL: No.
Ain't nobody gonna abuse our women folk.
WOMEN: No.
That's right.
Freedom sure tastes good, don't it?
-Yeah, I can taste it! -Yeah, baby!
Well, maybe it taste good,
but it sure ain't gonna fill our bellies.
How is we gonna feed our children?
How is we gonna put a roof over our heads?
Now we is free, what's we gonna do?
I say we go somewheres where the pickings is better.
WOMAN: Yeah, yeah. I'm all right with that.
Go where? Do what?
Well, I...
I don't know right off. Must be someplace.
You is ignorant, Virgil.
-Bone ignorant. -Here now, Tom.
It ain't your fault, Virgil. We's all ignorant.
We is just what the massas wanted us to be.
Ain't none of us been taught enough to earn our keep in the white man's world.
We gonna leave here,
we better learn how to do for ourselves first.
Well, what you say, Tom?
What you say we do?
I say
we stays here and farms,
just like we been doing all our lives.
But not just for Harvey.
It gonna be part our own land for our own selves.
Our dirt we farms!
Well, now, hold on a moment, Tom.
All I knows,
all I ever seen in my whole life is this here plantation,
and that little town of company shops.
I want to see some of the world, Tom.
What the good of freedom if you can't go nowhere?
Of course you can go.
That the whole idea of freedom.
Lewis,
you wants to wander for a while, ain't nobody gonna stop you.
Same for all of you.
But maybe we don't have to go.
Maybe now we can find what we wants right here.
I say we got to give freedom a chance.
And here is as good a place to start as any.
Besides,
what's our daddy gonna do
when he gets back and we's all gone?
(SCOFFS) How we know he come back?
All them years he been gone, and ain't no word.
He coming back because he say he gonna come back.
And your daddy, "Chicken" George Moore,
ain't never said nothing in his whole life he don't mean.
You hear me, boy?
Just asking, Mama.
Now, I don't want to hear no more about leaving.
'Cause ain't nobody going nowhere till my man come back.
We is a family,
and we is gonna stay a family.
(SIGHS)
Tom,
Martha and me, we sure would like to throw our lot in with you folks.
If you want us, of course.
Wants you?
You just try getting away, OlI' George,
and you'll hear hound dogs baying at your heels before long.
(OL' GEORGE CHUCKLES)
-Come with me, wife. -Where we going?
I's gonna spark you in moonlight.
(SNICKERS) Oh, yes, you is!
And that's gonna be some sparking
with these two young'uns hanging on our arms.
Don't argue with me, woman. Just come along.
Damned if I'm gonna give my niggers any part of my farm.
Well, that land has been in my family for over 100 years.
I'd as soon sell out to some carpetbaggers.
I'm with you, Fred.
Them niggers is putting on enough airs as it is
without making them land owners.
They can all own land, far as I'm concerned.
-What you saying, Archie? -Their graves.
They can own them all they want.
Now, boys, I respect your sentiments, but we got to be realistic.
Somebody has to work our land,
and the niggers are done being slaves.
I don't like breaking up my holding either,
but I got no cash to pay wages.
So, I got to parcel out shares.
I'll never owe nothing to a black except a whipping.
-And I always pay my debts. -(CHUCKLES)
Fred, you are living in the past.
You can't just go around whipping blacks.
The federal authorities ain't gonna allow it.
He's talking sense, boys.
There's going to be a circuit judge through here regular.
And the Army's here to back him up.
We ought to band together and string up a few of them
just to set a proper example for the rest.
-Now you're talking. -(MAN LAUGHS)
There's a lot more minus than plus to that notion.
It might sound good, but--
I'll tell you about plus and minus, yeah.
Plus is what I come out of the war with.
I come out plus a Yankee Minie ball in my knee.
Come out plus a limp that I'm gonna have the rest of my natural days.
And I'm minus my brother, Sheriff.
And I'm telling you no white man killed him.
No white man killed another in the last month of war.
Niggers killed him!
Every step I take,
every time my leg twinges on me,
I recollect who's responsible
for all the pluses and minuses that I got to live with now.
Uh, I recollect who done it to me.
Niggers!
Well, gentlemen, I think I'd better leave now.
I'm bound to uphold the law.
Gave my solemn word to do that.
And it seems to me that upholding the law just ain't what this meeting is all about.
Just a minute, Sheriff.
I'm going with you.
Senator.
These men respect you, and surely you're not for violence.
I agree that misdirected violence is dangerous, Mr. Jackson.
What do you have to say, Senator? We ain't heard from you yet.
Yeah, what do you think we ought to do about it, Senator?
It is my intention to acquire property in this county.
A great deal of property.
If it was anybody but you, Senator,
I'd say, out of hand, you was plumb crazy.
All the land in Dixie ain't worth a horse's apple
without slaves to work here.
Our niggra, under the misguided new business arrangements,
is to receive a share of the crops that he works.
But of course, before that profit is paid,
his share of costs must be deducted.
Grains, tools, wagons, mules, horses, feed.
And somehow he just never manages
to catch up on the costs, ain't that right?
It doesn't matter who works the land.
What counts is who owns it.
Property is power. It always has been, and always will be.
Whoever controls the land controls the people on it.
I guess you know what you're doing, Senator.
Be assured I do, sir.
By and by, old Brer Rabbit, he gonna get where he want to be.
(CHUCKLES)
IRENE: Tom! Tom!
Woman, where have you been with that water?
We got some powerful, thirsty mouths...
-Tom! -Reeny?
(SOBBING)
What? What is it? What?
Rufus just came in from town.
Telegraph say
a white man killed President Lincoln last night.
Shot him in the back of the head.
He's dead, Tom.
Still daylight left and work that needs to be done.
Did you hear her, Tom?
Lincoln's dead!
I heard! I know he's dead!
But it won't be for nothing!
I won't let his dying be for nothing!
(ALL SINGING "HUSH"
(ALL HUMMING)
-(MAN SCREAMS) -(DOGS BARKING)
Tom? What is it?
(DOGS CONTINUE BARKING)
(HOOVES CLACKING)
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
To your cabins, everybody. Quick!
(DOGS CONTINUE BARKING)
-Tom? -I don't know.
(GUNS FIRING)
(SHOUTING CONTINUES)
(GUNSHOTS ECHOING)
(THUDS)
(GUNSHOTS RICOCHET)
(SHOUTING CONTINUES)
You keep out of this, Harvey!
(GLASS SHATTERS)
(SHOUTING AND GUNFIRE CONTINUES)
(DUCKS QUACKING)
Lewis! Tom! Come on, come on!
Let's get a line out here! Get some water on this fire.
Jesse, come on, come on! Everybody!
-Hannah! Hannah! The barn's on fire! -Hurry, before it spreads!
-Everybody move. -Come on.
Come on! Hurry up.
Pass the bucket. Pass it.
Move it, move it, everybody.
Get the buckets! It's getting bigger!
Hurry, before it spreads.
-Let me get the bucket! -Get back! Get back!
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
-Back! Watch out! -Faster, faster!
MAN: Faster, Tom! Come on!
Free at last.
I don't understand it.
I just don't understand it.
We ain't gonna let them get away with this, hear?
We sweated too hard to raise our measly little crops.
Ain't nobody gonna just ride in here
and trample everything we've got in this world.
We ought to get us some guns and fight back!
Who we gonna fight?
Damn! I don't know.
Only thing I know is we can't just let them get away with this.
The white folks ain't gonna let us live here.
We should get out!
No!
We ain't gonna do no such thing.
We's staying because we has a right to stay.
This don't change nothing.
It just means that there's some few rebs around
still don't know the war is over.
They not gonna push us off our land.
We is free men.
Besides,
maybe they ain't gonna get away with this.
What do you mean, Tom?
Look here.
VIRGIL: / don't see nothing except some old hoofmarks.
That's right.
-So, what's so special about hoofmarks? -Nothing.
All hoofmarks are exactly the same. But supposing they weren't?
Supposing every hoofmark had a little something on it,
something that set it off from the others.
What you getting at, Tom?
I's getting at those nightriders, that's what I's getting at.
Stands to reason
these nightriders is some of our good neighbors, right?
And stands to reason
that most of them bring their horses to me for shoeing, right?
Now supposing every horse I shoes me from this day on,
I puts a little special mark on it.
Maybe here.
Then we'd have a way of knowing what horse the shoe belonged to.
And if we know where the shoe fits...
May I ask why you're selling?
Well, the place got run down during the war.
I thought I could hang on by parceling out shares to the niggras,
but nightriders took care of that.
And you have no idea who they are?
No.
They've been rampaging through the country, destroying crops,
scaring the niggras half out of their wits.
Last week, they tore up everything I planted.
I just don't have the heart for farming anymore, Senator.
Well, I'm sorry to hear about your troubles, Samuel.
Very sorry, indeed.
But business is business.
In anticipation of our discussion, I had this contract drawn up.
$5,000 isn't much for a man's lifework, Senator.
Well, I couldn't agree with you more.
Unhappily, that's quite beside the point.
Now, you yourself have indicated
that the place isn't in the best of condition.
And in all good faith,
$5,000 is the best I can manage.
Well, you think about it.
I'll understand if you decide to wait for a more satisfactory offer.
No, no, there won't be any better offers. We both know that.
I'll accept.
Good. That's it, then.
There's just one other thing, Senator.
My niggras owe me for seed and the like, it's a matter of a couple hundred dollars.
They worked hard for me over the years, I'd like to wipe the slate clean with ‘em.
Consider it done.
-Here's my hand on it. -Thank you.
-Ain't you done yet, boy? -(HAMMER CLANKS)
Yes, sir, Mr. Drake. I's trying, sir.
Gots to fix it just right.
(HORSE WHINNIES)
Well, I guess that's about it. Much obliged, boys.
Lila.
It's time, Lila.
Lila...
Oh, Sam, how can we? All those years.
I know, honey. There's nothing we can do about it.
(HORSE WHINNIES)
Well, I'm gonna miss this place, and you folks.
Sorry I had to sell, but I really didn't have much choice.
The new owner should be out in a few days to talk to you.
Meantime, I suggest you go on putting in your new crops.
I'm sure you'll find Senator Justin a decent man to work for.
He's agreed to wipe out your debts so you can start from fresh.
Mrs. Harvey and I wanna thank you
for all of your kindness and your help over the years.
Goodbye and good luck to you.
Goodbye, Mr. Harvey.
Mrs. Harvey.
Now, what's the matter with y'all?
Where's your manners?
Say goodbye to the Harveys and wish them well.
-Bye, Massa Harvey. -Bye, Massa.
-Bye, Massa Harvey. -Bye, Massa Harvey.
You was better than some, Massa.
(HORSE NEIGHING)
Now that we know who they is, I say let's kill them!
No.
Why not?
I didn't know you was so particular about killing whites.
There will be no killing.
We go to the law.
White man's law?
That's right.
I'm sorry I'm late. I had to help Martha with some chores.
-Now, what we got to do-- -What's that white man doing in here?
What white man?
They's only one white man in here as I can see.
Ol' George?
When the killing starts, like holds to like.
You got no call to talk like that.
He can't help that he white.
I don't care. I wants him out.
You does, does you?
And who is you to be giving orders around here?
I ain't the only one around here feels that way!
Well, I ain't listening to nobody say a word against OlI' George!
No, Tom. Tom, it's all right.
All right. I ain't one to tarry where I ain't wanted.
Ol' George--
Now, I say we ain't going to no law!
I say we even up our own tally!
Lewis, you best sit down and shut your mouth.
‘Cause you said enough for one day.
And you're lucky that Mama weren't here to hear you say that.
I said, sit down, little brother.
(SNORTS)
I ain't finished with you about OI' George yet.
We gots to go to the law, don't you see?
Ain't supposed to be no white man's law.
Only supposed to be one law.
-The law! -You daft, Tom?
Hmm?
You try to set the law on whites folks,
they gonna lynch you, brother.
TOM: Maybe, maybe not.
But we got to find out, don't we?
If we don't give the law a chance, freedom ain't worth a damn!
(CLICKS TONGUE)
Now, who going into town with me to see the sheriff?
You is a plumb stubborn fool.
-Damn youl! -What are you so all fired up about?
Why you got to be the one to step forward?
You ain't even the oldest.
Why you got to be the big man every time?
'Cause I wants to look my daddy in the eye when next we meet.
'Cause I want our children growing up in freedom.
'Cause too many suffered to bring us this far,
now ain't the time to go back.
'Cause somebody got to stand up, Irene.
That so?
Well, somebody got to mind his wife and babies, too.
Now who gonna do that after they shoots you or hangs you up?
-lIrene-- -(SOBBING) Oh!
-Don't go! -Irene. Irene.
-Oh, please. Please. -I gots to.
Oh, Tom, I'm so scared.
Tom...
I don't want them to hurt you.
I ain't nothing without you, Tom.
Hmm... I's scared, too.
But I just can't not go.
I hate you for doing this.
I'd give anything, say anything, do anything to make you stay.
But I's proud of you, Tom Harvey.
(CLICKS TONGUE)
Oh, I's terrible proud of you.
(IRENE SOBS GENTLY)
-Now... -What?
There's only one thing.
I am going into the company shops with you.
No, woman. You's talking crazy. There's no telling what's gonna--
-l am going with you. -Woman, you is... You is...
Yes, Tom?
Is one fine woman.
That's what you is.
You is one fine woman.
(GASPS)
Well, well, well.
You are one smart man, Tom Harvey.
(SCOFFS) Fancy you figuring out something like this.
There's no doubt about it.
You got them dead to rights.
You did good coming to me, though.
Had you told anybody else about this?
Just my Kin.
What you gonna do about it, Sheriff?
(STAMMERS) Well, I'm gonna get after them, Tom.
But I got to handle this careful.
I mean, this is not just locking up some Saturday night drunk.
I got to study.
I got to figure out how to handle this.
But I tell you what I want you to do.
Uh, you go on home and just go on about your business.
It's best that folks don't know you got anything to do with this just right yet.
Yes, sir.
You take care of it, then?
Well, I guess I got to, Tom.
I guess I got to.
IRENE: Tom?
I think we done right.
I think the law is the law.
What happened?
He heard me out, and he going after them, that's what happened.
What you two doing here?
Well, you one crazy fool.
But you still our brother.
-You sure? -He going after them, honey. Don't worry.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Yeah?
Can I come in?
Sure.
You all right?
Ol' George, I sorry about what happened.
You knows how we feel about you.
Yeah, I guess I do. After last night, I guess I do.
Don't go on like that. Lewis got no more sense than a bumblebee
when his blood's up.
Don't mean nothing.
If Lewis didn't mean what he said, then why ain't he here instead of you?
He come around, Martha.
He just needs more time to collect hisself.
Well, Tom.
I guess, maybe I need some time, too.
Well, sure you do.
George?
What?
Maybe we been here long enough.
Maybe we best be thinking of striking out for ourselves
while we still young enough.
Now, I'm sure you've all been concerned about what's going to happen
now that Mr. Harvey has left.
Well, let me reassure you that nothing is going to change.
Mr. Harvey's agreement with you will be honored.
You'll receive a fair percentage of the crops you raise.
Well, what do you say to that?
It's very kind of you, sir.
But if Mr. Brent gonna be in charge, I don't think my people wants to stay on.
Well...
You're free, uh, to go, of course.
Just as soon as you pay up your debt.
What debt?
According to the farm's ledger, you was advanced
$235 worth of seed, grain and other supplies against future crops.
But Mr. Harvey said he fixed that. Told us we was free and clear.
Hmm. That's peculiar.
The agreement's on file at the county clerk's office.
And I don't recall seeing that in the deed of sale.
Now, you work hard and your share, it'll reduce your debt considerably.
$235 ain't all that much.
But in the meantime, don't nobody try leaving here.
This here is a legal matter and we can get the sheriff to lock you up.
Senator, sir?
Is this what you wants?
I thought I made it clear, boy.
Mr. Brent speaks for me.
Ah, Mr. Johnson.
We're wondering what your plans are, now that Mr. Harvey's left.
Well, I ain't got no special plans, sir.
I'll just go and work on my share, I guess.
I'm afraid that won't do, George.
You see, me and the Senator, we got certain feelings
about the whites folks sharecropping alongside niggers.
Why should a smart young fella like you wanna work like a common field hand
when there are other opportunities to consider, huh?
EVAN: We need someone to keep his eye on things for us,
to make sure the work gets done.
The job's yours, if you want it.
Uh, I don't know, Mr. Brent, I ain't much about overseeing.
EVAN: I'll pay you a good wage.
And if things work out,
maybe someday you and your family can move into the main house here, huh?
Now, that's fair, ain't it?
(EXHALES)
All right. I'll do it.
Good boy, Georgie. Good boy.
Uh, we'll settle the details later. Senator?
I think that's everything for now, Evan.
I'm looking forward to a long and happy association.
You'll find me a fair man to work for
if you're willing to meet me halfway.
Next time I'm back here, George,
I expect to see all these darkies out in the fields where they belong.
I want you in town reporting to me regular.
I do hope you're gonna behave yourself, boy.
I surely do.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Oh, howdy, Sheriff. Come on in.
Howdy, Evan.
You know, Evan, we've been friends for a long time.
I want you to know that.
Sure I know that, Charlie. What's got into you?
And, uh, I'm on your side.
You understand that, don't you?
-Sheriff, you been drinking? -(SNICKERS)
No, I... I don't think I could get drunk tonight.
No. Why? Why can't you get drunk?
‘Cause I know who every single one of them nightriders is, Evan.
I got proof.
Proof I'm gonna turn over to the Federal Circuit Court judge
when he comes riding through here next weekend.
You got what?
You heard me, Evan. I got proof.
Tom Harvey gave it to me.
Now, I don't want the proof.
And I don't want to know what I know. But I know it for a real fact.
Unless somebody does something.
Then I'm sworn to do something that'll make me a hated man in this county
for the rest of my natural life.
Unless somebody does something to Tom Harvey
to make him pull back his evidence.
Uh, do something like what?
Evan, I'm sick enough as it is!
At myself, for letting it go this far.
Now, do I have to lay out the whole plan for you, too?
No.
No need for that.
You've done enough, Sheriff. You've done enough.
Uh, I guess I'll just have to see if I can--
Evan, I don't wanna know another word.
Now, I'm an officer of the law.
And sometimes an officer of the law, well,
he just ain't got no choice in some things.
You understand what I mean?
Hmm.
Won't nobody misunderstand, Sheriff.
I'll see to that.
Well, thank you, Evan. I... I'm much obliged to you.
Good night, Evan.
Hmm.
(HORSE NEIGHS)
EVAN: Tom Harvey!
We want you, nigger!
Tom. Tom!
Get yourself out here, boy.
Or we're gonna burn your kinfolk.
IRENE: Tom.
(HORSE SNORTING)
Move.
Now!
George.
They's six of them, Martha. Six!
Anyway, why should 1?
Like holds to like. That's what they told me, ain't it?
Ain't it?
EVAN: Thought you was pretty smart going to the sheriff, didn't you, boy, huh?
This here's a bad nigger!
He spend his time talking about the law
instead of doing his work, paying his debts.
So, we're gonna teach him how to be a good nigger!
And it's best you all study hard what's gonna happen
so you won't make any mistakes.
Because you ain't never gonna leave here!
Never!
All right! Get on with it!
-(WHIP CRACKS) -(GROANING)
(WHIP CONTINUES CRACKING)
God!
Damn it! Now you leave my nigger be!
EVAN: Johnson, you stay out of this.
This boy is spoiling for a lesson.
Yeah? What's he done?
He's fixing to set the law on us.
All right, well, then he's got it coming!
But you put me in charge here and nobody whips my niggers but me!
Let him do it.
-(WHIP CRACKING) (SCREAMING)
(GASPS)
-What you stopping for? -It ain't no use. He's senseless!
EVAN: That don't matter none.
He'll remember every stroke when he wakes up.
If he wakes up. Now, get on with it.
(WHIP CRACKING)
EVAN: Looks like you're on top of that man, OI' George!
You make sure you teach him how to be a nigger now!
(WHIP CONTINUES CRACKING)
(OL' GEORGE GRUNTING)
Tom!
IRENE: Tom! Tom! Tom!
God, let him be alive!
-IRENE: Oh, God, let him be alive! -(OL' GEORGE PANTING)
Please. Help him.
Let him be alive.
Irene? Irene. I'm sorry, Irene. I was just trying to
make them think I was doing their job for them.
Well, you ain't got nothing to be sorry about, OI' George Johnson.
You just saved my man's life!
You just saved my man's life.
I'm sorry, Ol' George.
I was wrong. Dead wrong.
-Let's get him inside. -Oh, he's gonna be all right.
-He's gonna be all right. -Easy. Easy.
Careful now. Be careful.
-Easy. -Oh, Tom.
(TOM GROANS SLOWLY)
What we gonna do?
-What we gonna do? -Ain't nothing we can do.
We ain't gonna never get away from here.
Never!
At least not alive, anyway.
All my fault.
I should've let y'all go when you wanted.
-Instead of-- -IRENE: Now, you just hush, Mama.
Don't you go blaming yourself.
We stayed here because we wanted to.
VIRGIL: Tom? What we gonna do?
Get my boy out of here.
I don't want him to see me like this.
Martha.
Lewis?
Yeah, Tom?
Take that shovel and dig up the floor
under Bud's bed.
-What you want me to do that for, Tom? -Do it!
Bud, you mustn't worry about your daddy. He's gonna be fine.
He's a strong man.
Ain't none stronger.
He'll be up and around in no time. You'll see.
I'm gonna kill those white men someday.
Bud.
You oughtn't to talk like that.
I'm gonna kill them.
Bible says it ain't right to kill people, Bud.
Do Bible say it was right for them to whip my daddy?
No.
It don't say that neither.
Then I'm bound to get them.
Which ones, Bud?
Couldn't see their faces.
I'll find a way to get the ones who done it.
Suppose you make a mistake?
Suppose you hurt some white folks that ain't done your daddy no harm?
I'll do what I got to do.
(SIGHS)
Then I guess you might as well start with me, Bud.
I didn't mean you.
Well, I sure am white.
I'm white as a cotton ball.
And if you starts hurting whites for being white,
then sooner or later, you'll get ‘round to me and Ol' George.
I don't want to kill you.
Well, that's what happens when you starts hurting folks
for the color of their skin.
You won't be any better than those men who hurt your daddy.
I hate 'em! Hate 'em!
Hate 'em for what they done.
Not because they is white.
Me and mine is white.
But we love you.
Just like our own.
If you let us love you.
Bud.
Oh, my poor little Bud.
This here's a cavalry officer's pistol.
It got "J.B." carved in the handle here.
Lord God.
It be Jemmy Brent's. Put it away.
Give it to me.
Husband, what is you thinking of?
When they catch you with that gun, they gonna kill you for sure.
I only knows one thing.
Ain't nobody ever gonna whip me again.
-(DOG BARKING) -Ever.
Someone's coming!
Blow out the candles.
(HORSE WHINNIES)
(WHINNYING AND BARKING CONTINUES)
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)
Open the door slow, whoever you is.
Or I'll blows you apart.
Now, you don't wanna do that, son.
Not unless you gonna make yourself an orphan child.
Daddy?
(LAUGHS)
My man.
BUD: Grandpa.
IRENE: Chicken George.
LEWIS: Boom! Daddy.
-Yes, baby! -(CONTINUES LAUGHING)
-Hey, wake up, man! -What's this?
Hold it. I got news for you, man.
The old chicken-fighter has come home to roost!
Look at you. (LAUGHS)
MATHILDA: Good thing you come home after dark, George.
Why you say that?
'Cause I so old and ugly, I might scare you to death...
-...in God's proper light. -(LAUGHS)
I don't see you with my eyes, honey.
I sees you with my heart.
-So, lis old and ugly? -Oh, what you talking about?
Was a time when you used to look at me with your eyes.
(CHUCKLES)
All right, I'll look at you now.
Come on. Oh, I said come around here. Come here.
(SIGHS)
You still is beautiful, Tildy.
You still my beautiful woman.
Oh.
Sure, time has left a few tracks in its passing, like it's done me.
But you got a sprinkling of moonbeam in your hair. Look.
(BOTH LAUGHING)
And your eyes...
Your eyes still have that little girl looking out of them.
I feel like a little girl tonight, George.
Been so long.
Just like the very first time.
-Tildy. -Hmm?
What's going on here?
Tom whipped, and this Evan Brent in charge.
Nothing that won't keep till morning.
-Yeah, but-- -Hush now.
Brent and his like done stole most our lives away.
Let's keep this one night for ourselves.
My sweet, sweet mama.
-(ROOSTER CROWING) -Yes, indeed.
The family sure owes a lot to these two birds.
With the money they won me, I bought us some land in Tennessee.
Land so rich and black, you can plant a pig's tail and a hog will grow!
(LAUGHS)
Daddy?
Ain't you heard a word we said?
We can't go to Tennessee.
Can't go nowhere.
Well, you mean Brent and his bunch?
Oh! I wouldn't worry about that none. (LAUGHS)
I been in worse situations in the war.
TOM: Daddy.
What you getting at?
All right.
Let's look at it like it was a military operation. Huh?
Here we are, surrounded by the enemy,
outnumbered, out-gunned,
and half our troops are women and children.
Now, on the face of it, looks pretty bad.
Look like we in a hopeless position.
And that's our one strong point.
Don't hardly sound like no strong point to me, Daddy.
Way I figure it,
Brent and this Senator must be feeling mighty smug riding through here.
Feel like they got us right where they want us.
Toeing the line, scared to death.
Well, from now on,
we gonna do everything we can do
to make sure they go right on feeling that way.
-(PEOPLE LAUGHING) -OL' GEORGE: Clumsy fool!
Here, look after Mrs. Randall.
I wanna see what's going on out there.
(RAUCOUS LAUGHTER CONTINUES)
OL' GEORGE: You dumb, black boy.
Now, can't I trust you to do nothing right?
I want every grain of that back in the sack!
TOM: I's trying.
(LAUGHTER CONTINUES)
I's trying, Mr. Johnson. I's trying.
You ain't trying hard enough. I don't want no sack full of dirt.
-You do it careful. -Yes, Sir.
Those darkies.
They was bad enough under slavery, now they's just downright useless.
I's done, sir.
Oh. What are you waiting on, boy?
Get the rest of the sacks out of there!
Yes, sir.
Would you move your black backside? Move it! Move it!
(ALL LAUGHING)
-Well, George. -Oh, Mr. Brent.
I see you've learned a thing or two.
Well, I wasn't too sure about taking this job
overseeing them darkies, as you well know,
but I wanna tell you, it beats farming all to hell. (CHUCKLES)
-l wanna thank you. -That's all right, son.
Just don't you let up, you hear?
Oh, don't you worry. I keeps on them all the time.
You'll do, Georgie, you'll do.
Oh, please, sir.
Please.
We don't want no more trouble.
If'n my man goes up in front of the judge,
they'll kill him for sure.
I got two little babies, sir.
(SNIFFLES) Now, what we gonna do if they kills my man?
Oh, please, sir.
You mean Tom wants to forget this whole thing
and drop the charges?
Sheriff, sir, I swears to God you ain't never gonna hear from him again.
Well, you seem like a good girl.
So, I'm gonna do something that I hadn't ought to do.
This is your husband's property.
You do with it what you want to do.
(GASPS)
God bless you, sir.
I think that's about everything he asked for.
Thank you, sir.
Just a minute there, boy.
I ain't done with you yet.
-Yes, sir? -Fetch me a dipper of water, nigger.
(HORSE WHINNYING)
Yes, sir.
Ah.
Yeah, I do believe that's the sweetest water I ever tasted.
Yes, sir.
Fetch you some more, sir?
No.
But I sure did appreciate it.
You're shaping up into a good boy, Tom. Good boy.
Thank you, sir. I's trying, sir.
Oh, you can run along now.
You see that uppity Tom Harvey fetch me a dipper of water nice and polite?
-Yes, I did. -Did my heart good.
Charlie tells me that Tom's wife was in begging to have them charges dropped.
I think we can rest easy about the Harvey place from now on.
Yes, it looks that way.
Something troubling you, Senator?
Well, it's been my experience that one should not depend
on an unbroken series of fortunate events.
All this idyllic behavior is either a concealment of some furtive activity
or a tribute to Mr. George Johnson's ability to work a miracle.
Johnson does seem to have things well in hand.
I do not reject the miracle.
I simply think it should be put to the test.
Have you been out to the farm yourself?
Uh, no, no. No, not recently. I've been kinda busy over at the store.
A little drive out there, unannounced, might teach us something we ought to know.
(HORSE SNORTING)
OL' GEORGE: All right, now stop the lollygagging
and put your backs into it!
What do you think this is? Some kind of picnic?
Tom and Virgil, I got my eye on both of you.
Now, you either put your black backsides into it, or I'll do it for you!
Oh.
Good day, Senator. Mr. Brent.
Hello, young man.
Just thought we'll drop by and see how you're getting on, George.
Well, I got to admit,
ain't far long with the planting as I'd like to be.
We's still cleaning up some what them nightriders done,
but things is coming along, they is coming along.
-Massa Johnson? Massa Johnson? -Yeah, Lewis, what is it now?
We sure would like for you to come over and take look at the fence
we's fixing around the pig sty.
See if it all right?
All right, you go on back there, Lewis, keep working, and I'll be there directly.
Yeah.
Thank you, sir.
Go on, now.
The blacks, they just like little kiddies.
Can't do nothing on their own. (LAUGHS)
Well, I guess we ought to get started back to town.
Seems like Mr. Johnson's got his work in order.
Be seeing you, George.
You keep after them, now, you hear?
-Don't you worry none, Mr. Brent. -(KISSING NOISE)
Good day, Senator.
OL' GEORGE: Oh, Mr. Brent! Mr. Brent!
Mr. Brent! Oh.
You know, them mules of Mr. Harvey's is on their last legs.
And they ain't hardly pulling worth their feed now.
It's up to you, of course.
But if I could have me six young mules,
I know I could plant at least another 100 acres.
Senator?
Well, I think Mr. Johnson's enterprise ought to be encouraged.
I'll get them out to you as soon as I can.
Anything else you need?
Uh, no, sir, I think I got everything I need right now, sir.
I'll get them six mules out first thing tomorrow.
I'm much obliged.
(WHISTLES)
(CHUCKLES SLOWLY)
Mr. Brent!
You got to come out to the farm. It's Georgie!
He... He... (CRYING)
All right, now, missy, all right now. Just calm down, tell me what happened.
Georgie had an accident. I think his leg is broke.
We better go get Doc Farrell.
I went to the doctor first. He's on his way.
But my husband want you to come out there.
He's afraid the darkies might take advantage and just run off.
Oh, Mr. Brent, you got to come.
All right, now, girl. All right, now. Calm down.
Everything's gonna be all right. Now, you get back to your husband, huh.
I'll ride out as soon as I can.
Get, get, get, you hear!
MARTHA: Over here, Mr. Brent!
(GRUNTS)
How's he doing, Doc?
Oh, he all right, Mr. Brent.
But you ain't.
What you think you about, boy? Put that gun down.
We getting out of this county, Mr. Brent.
And we just want to make sure that you ain't gonna stop us.
(LAUGHS) You been bamboozled, Mr. Brent!
Why, you dirty nigger lover!
Mr. Brent.
It ain't I loves niggers so much, it's just I don't like you at all.
You're not as smart as you think, Johnson.
No, that ain't the point, Mr. Brent. Sir.
The point is, we ain't as dumb as you think we is.
Because if we's that dumb, just what's that make you right now?
We're taking charge. Now, drop that gun.
You really think I was crazy enough to ride out here alone?
(EVAN SCOFFS)
I didn't live through no war to walk into an ambush with my eyes wide open.
Boy, if you got any skin left on that black carcass of yours,
you're about to lose it.
Now, where's the rest of them no-account niggers?
(MARTHA SCREAMS)
I believe I asked you a question.
-Did you hear me? -No! Please! They're in the barn.
(MARTHA SOBBING)
(GRUNTS)
Come on out of there!
I know you're in there.
I'll give you a fair warning.
It's gonna go hard on you if I have to come in and get you.
Break that door down.
(ROOSTERS CLUCKING)
Hold it right there, boss.
(GEORGE CHUCKLES)
Now, I'd, uh, drop them guns,
kind of nice and easy like.
(GEORGE LAUGHS)
Pick up the pop pistols.
Umm-hmm. Now, what if...
This is the way my captain, old captain, used to teach us to think.
He said, "What if the enemy figures out your first plan?
"Then what you gonna do?
(LAUGHING)
"Get yourself another plan!"
Who the hell are you?
Oh.
I'm the daddy of these boys, Mr. Brent.
Don't you remember me?
You chased me out of the county once.
Now, all I wants to do is leave the county peaceably.
Tie 'em up, boys.
Tom, he all yours now.
(TOM GRUNTS)
How do it feel, Mr. Brent?
To be tied up like a hog for slaughter
waiting for your flesh to turn to jelly?
What do you feel like, Mr. Brent, to be on the other side of the lash?
No, Tom.
Please. Tom.
Tom.
-(GRUNTS) -(WHIMPERS)
(GASPS)
(CHUCKLES SLOWLY)
Time to go.
Go on.
Get moving.
Get the children back there. You all sit down.
Maria Jane! Come on up, Bud.
OL' GEORGE: Got your young'uns, Tom?
My boy Tom has a good heart.
And, uh, I admire his thinking.
If you bother me or mine ever again,
I'll kill you.
Hold it, there.
-Let's go. -No.
Not yet.
Tildy, I know you's sorry to be leaving.
But we got to be moving.
I been sitting here, trying to remember.
Been living here maybe 14, 15 years.
I lost count.
I helped Irene birth all the grandchildren.
Seen them grow.
I held her second baby in my arms when she died.
We buried that sweet lamb at the end of the cabin row by the willow.
I knows every chink in every wall the winter wind blow through.
I know, it hard, old woman, leaving.
Hard?
(LAUGHING)
Chicken George, you is a foolish old man.
There ain't nothing hard about being happy.
This ain't never been our home.
Never belong to us no way.
This here is Massa Harvey's nigger quarters.
When we ride out of here, I ain't never gonna think of it again.
(BOTH LAUGHING)
Go on there, mule!
Ain't nothing gonna stop me now.
-Let's move on! -Whoo-hoo!
Hey, Mr. Brent! You be sure to thank the Senator for these new mules.
We never could've made it without them! (LAUGHS)
Yippee!
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
GEORGE: We's here!
This here our land! (LAUGHS)
Go on, mule, go on!
Hold up there.
Where you going? Oh!
Easy, Tildy. Easy, honey.
Here's home!
Bud.
GEORGE: The first slave in this family was my granddaddy
Kunta Kinte.
But he weren't always a slave.
Before he was a slave he was a free man in another country.
A country called Africa.
But then the slavers, they catch him,
when he went to find some wood to make a drum,
and they brung him to America.
A place called Annapolis.
But Kunta Kinte,
he never forget where he come from.
He never forget Africa.
He never forget the words he spoke as a child.
How ko mean a fiddle
and Kamby Bolongo mean a river.
And he never stop fighting against his chains trying to be free once more.
Not even after they cut off half his foot to keep him from running away.
And before he die,
he give that dream of freedom
to his daughter.
Kizzy.
My mama.
And before she die,
she give that dream to me.
And I've tried to keep that dream alive in all you children,
till that day come.
Hear me, O African,
the flesh of your flesh
has come to freedom.
You is free at last.
We is free!
ALEX: The family did settle in Henning, Tennessee.
Mathilda passed away before Chicken George.
And he enjoyed life among his children and his grandchildren
until he died at the ripe old age of 83.
The blacksmith, Tom, and his talented Irene prospered.
Their youngest daughter, Cynthia,
grew up and married a tall, quiet black man named Will Palmer,
who came to own the town's lumber mill.
The Palmers had a daughter named Bertha who attended Lane College,
where she met and married Simon Alexander Haley.
In 1921, the Haleys welcomed a son,
the seventh generation descendant of Kunta Kinte.
That boy was me, Alex Haley.
And I never forgot those stories which my grandmother Cynthia told me.
And in 1963, after I had retired from a career in the U.S. Coast Guard,
I became obsessed with a desire to know more about our family,
more about its history.
It was a search that would take me, finally, 12 years to complete.
And those things that I learned, I wrote in a book called Roots.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
English - SDH