(Multicom jingle)
(train chuffing) (bell clanging)
(dramatic music)
- [Crowd] Moses, Moses, Moses,
Moses, Moses, Moses, Moses,
Moses, Moses, Moses.
- [Narrator] Harriet Ross Tubman,
former slave, former liberator of slaves.
Former army intelligence officer,
now suffragette, now lecturer,
journeying on this dusty, damned segregated train car
that breaks through space and time
as rapidly as the light of the moon
when it subdues the darkness.
War is done, the cannons are silent.
Reflections are memories,
now reaching back as far as the Moses time,
as far as those early years of midnight.
(woman screams)
- [Tillie] Help, help me, Harriet! (screams)
- Tillie!
(suspenseful music)
- Harriet!
- [McCracken] I got things to do, get her out of here.
(woman screaming)
Come on, get outta here!
(women sobbing) (women screaming)
- You there!
Now you do something with that gal, or she'll go too!
- All right, Robert, get her out of here.
- [Kelly] Harriet, Harriet!
- [Harriet] That's Buck's sister, Aunt Juba.
- You give me a lot to be sorry about, Master Ed.
(Harriet sobbing)
- What those two need to be is worked over with my whip.
- Dramatics, Yankee, dramatics.
That's the way slaves act when they can't help themselves.
You'll learn.
(suspenseful music)
- You told me the Holy Spirit
would stay with me all the time,
but they took my sister.
You let them take my sister.
- You talkin' to them voices again, huh?
- [Harriet] Don't you be sneaking up on me
like that no more, Jim.
- Hat, I wasn't teasing you.
Wait a minute, girl.
Hat, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry about your sister being sold off, too.
Know what I did when they sold
my momma and my daddy away?
- What did you do?
- I went to Master.
And I said, "Master, now I ain't got no momma
"and I ain't go no daddy, 'cause you done sold them off.
"I wanna let you know I appreciate you for it."
- Why you tell him a fool thing like that?
- Let me finish.
I said, "I appreciate you, Master,
"because I'm gonna show you I got the powers to be
"a man without a momma and a daddy."
- And what did he do to you for sayin' something like that?
- He said, "You better take your powers to the field, boy."
(Harriet and Jim laughing)
- You tellin' a tall tale, and you know it, Jim.
- I ain't tell him that out loud,
but that's what I had on my mind.
(snickers)
I done made up my mind, Hattie.
I'm gonna make my getaway.
I'm gonna make my getaway, join Nat Turner
and free all the slave folks.
- I'd like to go with ya.
- I'd like to take you along, Hat, but it won't do.
Two runaways always get caught quicker than one.
Will you cover for me as I make my getaway?
- Sure I will, Jim.
Sure I will.
I see you, Shadrack!
- What's he doing here? - That old Shadrack.
He's always up to some kind of dirt.
- [Jim] Let's get that devil there.
Go ahead nigger, you run!
(frantic music)
Get him!
- [Harriet] Head him off!
(Shadrack screams) (Harriet and Jim laughing)
- Well, well, that's what you get
for minding somebody else's business, fool.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
(laughing)
- Look at him!
Good old Shadrack.
(door slams)
(suspenseful music)
- [McCracken] I know you're here.
Here nigger, nigger, nigger,
nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger.
I know you're here somewhere. (lips smacking)
Come on, where are you?
Ah, yes.
I gotcha!
- [Harriet] Run, Jim, run!
- [McCracken] Come, come here!
Get away from that door, you, come here!
(Harriet screams)
(baby crying)
- Mammy Portia!
- [Portia] Yes, Miss Susan?
- [Susan] Can't you do anything with that baby?
- I done tried everything, Miss Susan.
But he just won't hush up.
He's been going on like this ever since Tillie went away.
- Don't you think I know that?
Now I want you to find a way to keep that baby quiet,
Mammy Portia, and I want you to do it quick.
- Yes'm, Miss Susan.
- You Yankee knobhead.
You don't kill slaves.
And you don't beat their heads in.
You capture slaves and you punish them.
But you don't do what you did.
- So what now?
- [Edward] You're fired.
Get off of my plantation and stay off.
(somber music)
- God Almighty's in the rain.
God Almighty's in the sun.
The Holy Spirit is here.
- How is she?
- Half dead.
Is this how you treat a slave, Master?
- She wouldn't be this way if she hadn't let
that runaway Buck mess with her.
- You were sick badly once
and your friend Doc Thompson couldn't do nothing about it.
So I came when you called.
Your life was dangling on a thread and I saved you.
You said you were gonna set me free, and you never did.
You say you'll never break up our family,
but you sold off Tillie and now this.
- You've got no right to talk to me that way, slave woman.
I let that gal have her way and I never beat her once.
I put Ben in charge of the timber yard.
I been good to y'all.
I had nothin' to do with that gal getting her head banged.
But no matter what I do, or don't do,
I don't have to keep promises to a slave woman
with her black magic auras and roots.
- You'll wish you had, Master.
(gasps)
- I let McCracken go.
(Harriet mumbling)
(gentle piano music)
- [Susan] Well?
- Same.
Ooh, I need a drink.
(groans)
She can't move, talk, do anything.
- [Susan] You're just gonna have to sell her, Edward.
- Who the hell's gonna buy a slave in the shape she's in?
- Worth a try.
Oh, Edward.
You know once you've put your mind to it,
you could talk anybody into anything.
- You really believe that?
- (laughs) You talked me into marrying you, didn't you?
- Hell, I love you. (chuckles)
- I know that, Edward.
But you also love money.
- Well, there she is.
Name your price.
She'll be one of the best breeders you'll ever own.
You'll be joking with the boys what a fool Edward was
for letting me have a prime gal
like this for almost nothing.
- I don't know, Edward.
She don't look too healthy to me.
Say something, gal.
- Well, she can't say anything, she's asleep.
Wake up, gal.
She was one of the strongest wenches I ever had
before this unfortunate mishap.
She'll be that way again, too.
Your price, sir?
- Nope, no price at all, Edward.
- Damn you.
(dramatic music)
- You still, Lord?
I don't know what it is you say,
just show me a way for Master Ed to be dead,
for Master Ed to be smite down.
(dog barking)
The devil's got him.
He don't know how to be right.
He oughta be dead with his evil ways.
I pray every morning, every day,
every night, that he be gone.
I pray now.
(suspenseful music)
(wind whistling)
You gone?
Did you hear me, Lord?
Did you?
Did you hear me?
- Edward?
(Edward gasping)
Edward, what is wrong with you?
Edward, let me help!
Edward, Edward!
Mammy Portia!
Edward. (crying)
- Oh my lord!
What's the matter with Master Ed?
- Nevermind.
Go to Mr. Caldwell.
Tell him to get Doc Thompson over here right away.
And send me two boys in here to help put
Master Edward to bed. - Yes'm.
- Edward, Edward, I'm trying. (Edward groaning)
(birds chirping)
(Edward wheezing)
- It's that old fever that's been with him
since he was a child and now it's gotten to his heart.
- His heart?
- Yes, and there's nothing we can do now
but wait for the fever to go down.
- Well, is, is he gonna die, Doc Thompson?
- I don't know, Susan.
I don't, I really don't know.
(Edward gasping)
- Edward?
Edward.
Edward, Edward, tell me what it is.
What is it?
Edward, I want you to hear so much.
I love you.
I've always loved you.
- Juba.
Juba.
- Mammy Portia, he wants Juba and her potions.
You get her up here right away.
- [Portia] Yes'm.
(Edward gasping)
- No use in sayin' it, Portia.
You want me to bring my herb.
- [Portia] Well, you better hurry,
'cause I don't think he's gonna last long.
- I'll be there.
(Edward gasping)
(dramatic music)
- Where is that Juba?
What is taking her so long?
- I'm afraid it won't matter when she gets here, Susan.
He's gone. - No!
No, no, no! (sobbing)
- Lord, I did it.
I wished it and prayed it on him.
Wicked though he was, I had no right to take a life.
Oh, mercy on me, Lord.
Wash my sins away.
Wash the blood from my body.
Wash my face with snow and clean the hate away.
Oh, mercy on me Lord.
(ominous music)
Lord?
Did you hear me?
Did you?
Wash my sins away.
Wash the blood from my body.
Wash my face with snow and clean the hate away.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Running as swiftly as the years of growth
came and went, running through time measured by endurance,
unaware of the future that would bear her
the crown of Moses.
(horses snorting) (man grunting)
- [Ben] Harriet!
(Harriet shouting from a distance)
Master Ed sure growed a lot
while he was away at that school.
- Do you think Master Doc's sleeping with Miss Susan, Daddy?
- No.
- How you know?
- Well, she away at Cambridge splitting around
with other men most of the time.
Now, if he was sleeping with her,
he wouldn't allow her to do that.
- He's always in the house with her,
just like Master Ed was.
- Harriet, Master Doc and Master Ed were good buddies.
That's why he left him to be guardian of this plantation.
Now you think old Master Ed woulda left a man
in his house who's gonna be messin' with his wife?
Mm-mm.
Now, that's why you leave good buddies
to be guardian, instead of just friends.
- Well, even if he is messin' with her,
Master Ed sure can do nothin', 'cause he dead.
- Get on over there and saw up that log, girl.
(Ben laughing)
(men shouting) (horse hooves pounding)
- [Patroller] Hey Doc!
- Well, what do you men want?
- Figured we'd come down here
and scare 'em up a bit in a quarter.
- You patrollers leave my slaves alone.
They behave themselves
and I don't need you trampling over them.
- Next time, we ain't gonna ask you.
Let's go, hyah!
(men shouting) (dramatic music)
- I don't like those men.
I never did.
- That's what you get for hiring trash like that.
- I never hired 'em.
Your dear departed husband, Edward,
he hired 'em a long time ago and you know that.
Why do you think I resigned from the Planter's Association?
(crickets chirping)
- I do apologize.
I didn't know that.
- [Mama] Ben, look what Hat made for her Mama.
- Well, now, that's a mighty fine lookin' bowl, daughter.
Who do you think taught her?
- Thank you, Hat.
- I sure am glad you like it, Mama.
- Can we eat now, y'all?
- [Mama] Come on outta there, Benji.
- [Benji] Coming, Mama.
- Now where is that Robert?
Where has you been, boy?
- Well, me and Elvina, we been walking.
- Y'all sure spend a heap of time walking
for two who ain't been over the broom yet.
- Well, that's why I brought Elvina here, Mama.
We want Daddy to talk to Master Doc
about us and getting married.
- You hear that, Ben?
You better get some kind of permission from Master Doc
before these walks of theirs get this girl's stomach
to lookin' like it's got a watermelon in it.
- Now, she didn't say that for laughing.
I'll talk to him about it, Robert.
But until I do, no more of these walks, you hear me?
- Yes, sir.
- Elvina?
Why don't you stay and have supper with us?
- Thank you, Daddy Ben.
- [Ben] We thank you Lord for the life you gave us today
and for the food on the table tonight.
Amen.
- [All] Amen.
- Daddy?
- Hmm?
- While you're seein' Master Doc
about Robert and Elvina,
can you ask him something for me?
- About what?
- About Master Stewart's place.
I hear he's lookin' for hire outs.
- Ain't you happy workin' in the timber yard with me?
- Course I is, Daddy.
But if I could get myself hired out,
I could go to Bucktown, take in washin',
get some other kinda jobs.
Maybe I make enough money one day
to buy us all our freedom.
- Now Harriet, you might as well
throw that notion out your head,
'cause you knows Master Doc ain't gonna allow it.
- We can still try, can't we, Daddy?
- (chuckles) Of course we can.
- What happened, Ben?
- She had another one of her fainting spells, Master Doc.
- That's the third time this week.
See what I was telling you, Edward?
Now I'm afraid this gal's gonna be more of a burden
than she is an asset.
- Master, does she still wanna work on the Stewart place?
- Does she, Ben?
- Yes, sir.
- Well, then, I suggest we sort of loan her to Mr. Stewart
and that way, she'll be his burden.
- That's a good idea.
Looks like the young master's learning fast, isn't he, Ben?
- Yes, sir, he sure is.
- All right, you have my permission
to send her over to Stewart's place.
But, under the condition that
she hands over to me $1 every week,
and that's whether she earns anything or not.
You understand me, Ben?
- Yes, sir.
Can I take her into the cabin now, sir?
- (sighs) Yes, Ben.
Come, Edward.
- [Ben] Thank you, sir.
(birds chirping)
(laughing)
- Young master's learning real fast, isn't he, Ben?
- [Ben] Yes, sir!
(both laughing)
♪ And I'm goin' about my free ♪
- Think you big stuff, just 'cause you goin'
to work for Master Stewart?
Lori May told me about you yesterday.
- What'd she tell you?
- Said it's true.
You and your daddy didn't wanna take me in
just 'cause I was a cast off.
- Oh, Shadrack, you still got that on your mind?
That was nine long years ago.
It wasn't true then and it ain't true now.
- It is and you know it.
The truth ain't in none of you Ross's.
Think you're something special,
just 'cause your daddy boss the lumber yard.
But you ain't doing nothing but lickin' Master Doc's boots,
just like you done with Master Edward.
- Shadrack, will you leave me be?
I'll wrap this stick right around your head.
- [Shadrack] Yeah, well, you just--
- I said I'll make you pray!
(horse whinnying) (men hollering)
(men laughing)
- Hey, what's going on?
Huh?
Where you going, gal?
- I'm working the field at Master Stewart's place.
- Well, let me see your pass.
(dramatic music)
- All right.
Get on your way.
(men laughing)
Hyah!
- [Stewart] You're my hire out from Thompson?
- [Harriet] Yes, sir.
- Well, I don't know why, but for some reason or other,
I thought you were a he.
What's your name?
- Harriet Ross, sir.
- Well, Harriet,
the rules here are this.
You work my fields five days a week
and on Saturdays and Sundays,
you're free to earn money on your own.
And that money is all yours.
Now, if you have to go to Bucktown to seek work,
you must come to me for a pass.
Everything you do must come from me.
I do not allow my overseers to beat
or abuse my slaves without my permission
and I will shoot the first patroller
that sets a foot on this plantation.
You will find that I am a fair man
from a refined stock of southern men and women
and I loathe with a passion
that white trash element amongst us.
Any questions?
- [Harriet] Oh, no, sir.
- You can go now.
Josh will show you to your cabin.
(dramatic music)
- Well, Harriet, since you're a hired out like me,
I can get you a job washing clothes
for a quaker lady in Bucktown.
- You think she would use me?
- Sure she will.
And I hear she help runaway slaves, too.
Girl, what you looking at?
- [Harriet] Is that a cabin up yonder?
- Yeah, belongs to Stewart.
Ain't nobody been in it for years.
- Keep goin', Molly.
I'm gonna run and look see.
- [Molly] Girl, what the devil is on your mind?
- [Harriet] Shh, I said walk.
(serene music)
- [Stewart] No, that land is worthless
and it would be a waste of manpower.
- Sir, my daddy taught me all the ways
of making land great for things to grow.
By the way the sun set,
the way the bark grow on the tree,
and how to change the color of the silo.
Master Stewart, I swear by my Lord up in heaven
I can make food grow up outta that land.
- And where would you sell your crops?
- At the Bucktown market.
- Hattie, you know what you are?
- A slave, sir.
I never forgets that.
- A slave, yes.
But you
are a gal with incentive.
- I is?
- You bet my bottom dollar, you are.
You got something the Yankee's ain't got.
Incentive.
- But,
do I gets the land, sir?
- Of course.
This'll be our little experiment, this plot of land.
And I'll give you
50% of the crop's market value.
Is that fair?
- Yes.
- You move in that cabin tomorrow
and you tell Joshua to give you
a cart and a mule
and whatever tools you need.
Well, get to it!
- Yes, sir!
- [Narrator] Cultivating freedom's garden
in the stifling heat of August with its bloodless skies
challenges the will.
Snatching at stumps and rocks
on a stretch of God's Earth
that seemingly will not yield.
A pause for breathing is
merely a pause for breathing.
For in the end, it must bend.
It will bend.
- I got seer, I got long pants, short pants,
skirt pants, skinny pants.
I got shirts with long arms and short arms, too.
Whoo wee, you ladies is sure lookin' good today.
I got the pants here.
I got the long pants, the short pants,
the fat pants, the skinny pants.
I got a lattice here, ladies.
I got to find some pants 'cause I got screened.
- That old John Tubman, the free negro he is.
Think God sent him to this world just to satisfy women.
- Where he get his wares from?
- Sweet talk, that's what he do.
- Sweet talk?
- Yeah, child.
He calls these free housemaids
and gets them to give him everything
the white folks throw out
and sometimes, he goes right to the white folks themselves
and talk 'em into what he wants.
John Tubman's a sweet talker from way back
and he can out sew and mend clothes
better than any woman anywhere.
Course, I don't like him myself.
- Shoot, why don't you?
- Child, would you trust a man who can
sit down like a woman and sew clothes? (chuckles)
- You never know, Molly.
You never know.
- Hi there, gal.
- What you want?
- I've been watching you off and on.
You know that, don't you?
- Watch here, mister.
I ain't no housemaid
and I sure ain't lookin' for no good time.
Get off, shoo! - I don't mean nothing,
I just thought-- - Get off!
- What's wrong?
You all right, gal?
- Oh, I.
I just got bored with the company, that's all.
Come on, shoo, get on!
Get up shoo!
Get on!
- All right.
I'm going for now.
But I'm telling you something,
we're gonna be friends, whether you likes it or not!
The Bible done told me that.
(bright music) (horse nickering)
- Go, shoo.
Come on.
Get on, shoo!
(somber music)
- How are thee today?
- Oh, just fine, Miss Rodham.
Just fine.
- That is Miss Carlisle they're burying today.
Poor thing, she was so young.
Harriet.
Thee are forgetting again.
Thee do not have to bring the clothes in
through the back door.
- John?
John Tubman?
- Who are you, get away from me!
Go on, get outta here.
- [Molly] Did you hear about John's sister?
- [Harriet] Didn't know he had one, Molly.
- Oh, he had one, all right.
But she gone now.
Had her funeral today.
- Was she a white gal, Molly?
- Yeah.
Had the same daddy, but different mommas.
Course old man Carlisle won't own up to none of it.
She and John used to meet
in the colored quarters all the time.
She sure did care for him.
And he wasn't scared to tell nobody
that he was her brother.
He was crazy 'bout her.
(coins jingling)
(knocking on door)
- Who there?
- [John] Tubman here!
- Just a minute, please.
(knocking on door) I'm coming.
- Um, I'm sorry about the way I talked to you that day.
- Oh, that's all right.
Molly told me about your sister.
Want some coffee?
- Wouldn't mind at all.
- [Harriet] Sit down.
- They wouldn't even let me see her.
- Yeah.
I know about that.
- [John] So how's your planting coming along?
- Oh, it's harvesting time now.
I got so much stuff growing out there,
I don't know how I'm gonna bring it in all by myself.
- Well, what about old Johnny?
I ain't doin' nothin' worthwhile these days.
- You?
Even if you knowed something about farm work,
Stewart wouldn't hire you when all he got to do
is send over another slave.
- Well, for one thing, I could take it to the market myself.
And being a free man,
I can get a better price for you.
And I'd be better company than just any old slave man,
don't you think so?
- Why you wanna help me?
- Don't rightly know.
Except when you keep crowding in
on my man all the time.
- You know a city gal, John Tubman, do your bidding,
so you best leave me alone.
- I ain't got no cause of what I do
anything outta keepin' with you.
It's just that when I lost my sister,
I got so blank. (sighs)
It brought my business down to nothing.
I just thought it would be good for me to help somebody
and have good company while I was helping.
- It's my comfort time now.
- [John] Thanks for the coffee.
- John?
Six o'clock my startin' time.
(bright music)
- I'll see you before the sun shines.
I guess it's true what folks say about you.
- Seems like folks is always mouthin' about me.
What'd they say?
- That you spend half the night counting them coins
over and over and over again.
- They'll mock all they want.
This is freedom money.
When you get back from market day after tomorrow,
I'm gonna have enough money to buy my freedom
from Master Doc.
Ain't nobody mock me then.
- You get your freedom, then what you gonna do?
- Reckon I'll go on workin'.
But I'll be workin' for myself.
- Don't you know nothin' but work?
- I knows how to foretell the weather.
- [John] Mm hmm. (laughs)
Stewart don't know he's got a conjure woman on his land.
- It's something I learnt from my daddy.
And there ain't nothing queery about it neither.
No stranger than that fancy stitchery
you learnt from your daddy.
- Shucks, I didn't learn nary a thing from that fool.
Only reason why I picked up tailoring tricks
'cause I watched him.
Not 'cause he showed me.
- Hmm.
Ain't your daddy taught you about nothing?
- Nah.
He's too busy dreaming about glory land up north.
He ain't thinkin' about nobody but himself.
- Didn't he love your momma?
- When my momma got sick,
he couldn't wait for her to die
so he could get on his way.
I don't learn nothin' off that fool.
- You think maybe he knowed old man Carlisle
was your real daddy?
- Dammit, gal!
I don't want talk about things like that.
- I'm sorry.
(John grumbles)
- I ain't got no cause to shout at you like that.
It's just that there's,
some things are so
mean about being colored,
whether you're a slave or not.
I better make it back to town now.
- Have you got your free man's papers on you?
Patrollers ride the road on that.
- See, I told you.
You done started fretting about me already.
(John laughing) (gentle music)
- I got your kale!
I got some onions!
I got your sweet corn!
I got your greens, mustard greens!
I got your yellow flour!
I got your sweet potatoes and I got your onions.
Got your onions.
I got your potatoes!
I got your (John drowned out by cart rattling).
Got onions.
Got good onions here.
Got good plants.
Good produce, come on Mary, come on, boy.
Whoa!
(upbeat music)
What can I do you for?
- The whole load?
- 37, the whole load.
It's good stuff here.
- $28.
- [John] All right, give me $30.
All right, 28, 28's a deal, 28's a deal.
All right, ha!
I got it, I got it!
I got it!
(laughing)
I told you!
I told you, hey!
(dramatic music)
These spells, what are they from?
- I got hit in the head by an overseer
for helping a slave run.
- [John] It's all there.
- [Harriet] John?
- Hmm?
- You been free all your life.
You ain't never been a slave.
What's this like?
- I don't know.
I think about it a lot and I...
I thank God I ain't one.
- You like slaves?
- (laughs) I ain't sure about that, either.
But I know I don't like slaveholders.
I like folks.
I like you, Miss Harriet.
(romantic music)
- That's the first time you didn't call me gal.
You called me Harriet.
You called me Miss Harriet.
- Well, I acts foolish sometimes.
- John, you know what I got in my hand?
I got me enough money to buy myself away
from old Doc Thompson.
I got to put this money away!
- Don't you ever think of anything but money and work?
- Money is what buys freedom.
Just think about it, man.
Tomorrow, I'm gonna be a free woman!
I'm gonna get all dressed up in my Sunday clothes,
go to church meeting with Mama and Daddy,
and then go see old Master Doc.
$200 gonna be my prize to him.
- Is that all you're worth?
- Of course I'm worth more.
But he always try to sell me at that figure
'cause of my fainting affliction.
He'll take my offer.
He has to.
Won't he, John?
- Sure. (mumbling)
Yeah, he'll take it.
- Oh, John.
I'ma be the gladdest woman in the whole world!
(romantic music) (laughing)
(upbeat music)
- (laughs) The way you look today, Miss Harriet,
Doc Thompson's gotta give you your freedom.
- He ain't givin' me nothing.
I'm buyin', he's sellin'.
(horse whinnying) (people laughing)
- Boy, they must be havin' a some kind of party over there.
- Yeah, Jon Stewart sure likes his Sunday morning party.
He has one just about every other Sunday.
- [John] Wonder who that could be?
- That look like Master Stewart.
And he's headed straight this way.
John, you best be leaving.
- Lots of luck, Miss Harriet.
Just think, the next time I see you,
you'll be a free woman. - Get out, I said!
- Can I have one kiss from you as a slave woman,
then when I see you again
I'll be kissing a free woman.
- I said get on with yourself.
- My, ain't we fancy today?
- Just goin' to church, Master.
- I see.
Well, you have time for that.
I have a special job to be done.
And you're the only one I can count on to do it properly.
- But Master--
- Now, gal.
I been too good to you for you
to give me any buts when I need you.
- What kind of job is it?
- I got a wagon of my goods over, late growers,
about a quarter mile from the weighing station.
I have to get them to the station before noon.
- But Master, the weighing station's closed on Sunday.
- Well, realizing how important this is,
they are open today as a special favor to me.
- I guess I better go change clothes then.
- No need for that.
All you have to do is sit up on the wagon,
tell them you're on the move
and you'll be there in no time.
I'll see you there in 10 minutes.
(people chattering) (birds chirping)
(insects chirping)
- [Harriet] Where the mule, Master?
- You mean to tell me that mule's not here?
- No, sir.
- Well, where is he?
Mule?
Mule!
I'm sorry.
Foolish mule must've wandered away.
You're just gonna have to do it yourself.
- No, sir.
I can't pull that wagon, Master.
- Oh, sure you can, gal.
- I can't.
- Come on.
Just step in it there.
There, there's nothin' to it.
- I can't. - There's nothin' to it.
- Don't make me. - It's gonna be real easy.
That mule has nothin' on you.
Come on.
You gonna thank me for givin' you this opportunity.
There you are.
Now you just remember what I told you
about the incentive.
(Harriet sobbing)
Now, gal, you don't want me to tell Master Doc
how you been a bad girl, now do you?
(people chattering)
(crowd jeering)
- [Crowd] Come on, now, you can do it, let's go.
Come on!
(dramatic music)
- You can make it!
- My God, what happened to you?
- Nothin', Master Doc.
- I see.
One of Stewart's donkey pageants again.
And you came here to tell me about it?
(Harriet breathing heavily)
- Here, Master.
- What's this for?
- $200.
$200, Master Doc.
$200 to buy my freedom.
- Oh.
Oh no, child.
Here, I wouldn't let you go for $200.
I wouldn't sell you if someone offered me 1,000.
- 1,000?
- Have to be more than that, I'm afraid.
- I thought. (crying)
- [Doc] Hey, gal!
(Harriet screaming)
(dramatic music)
(Harriet sobbing)
(crickets chirping) (somber music)
- Whatever it takes, John.
I got to be free fore I die.
If it takes 2,000, I'm gonna get it.
If I got to go crazy with a rifle in my hand,
I'ma do that, too.
I got to be free, John.
I got to be free.
(people chattering)
- Now, the Lord says a man is a man
and a woman is a woman
and they supposed to live by the words of the Lord
as husband and wife, one without sin.
- [Crowd] Amen.
- Now, you got the ring?
Well, put it on her, boy.
Put it on her!
(laughing)
Now, take your walk.
Now, you is married! (crowd cheering)
(John cheering)
(upbeat music)
- (laughing) Sounds like they're having
the time of their lives.
- They is, ma'am.
- Makes me feel like I wanna run down there
and join 'em myself.
I wonder who the devil was that ever
thought up something like slavery.
- [Narrator] A free man husband,
a slave wife,
a year of communal labor.
A year of parties and good times,
celebrations that the slave had not known before.
Yet, the blight of slavery remains
and monies that must be stored in freedom's purse,
must be stored in freedom's purse.
(John laughing)
And then, as quickly as the passing
of a bondsman's night sweep,
the free man, John, concedes to silence,
to brooding moods, to days of absence.
The good times have all dwindled
as if they had never been.
(John rustling)
- [Harriet] Goin' somewheres, John?
- Goin' up to Cambridge,
get my business started again.
- Find enough white folks' clothes for free, I's guess?
- That's right.
- Just gonna walk off and leave me alone again, huh?
- Harriet, you think you the only one who go problems?
I got my problems, too.
My free man's papers done run out.
- We can pay for that out of the money
we get from the crops this week.
- No!
Kinda man you think I am,
using my wife's money for my problems?
- John.
I can understand you not wanting to take a woman's money,
but ain't no point in you messin' around
up country with throwaways.
Why don't you try to settle down and
get yourself hired out at Stewart place or
somewhere.
- Like a slave?
You be good in the meantime, you hear?
I gotta get a move on.
- Yeah, I gotta get a move on, too.
Back to work.
'Cause I'm a slave.
(somber music)
- [Narrator] Two months alone, but not lonesome.
Just angry, restless. (patrollers hollering)
(dramatic music)
- Master Stewart gonna hear about this!
You don't belong on this land!
(John singing indistinctly)
- Sweet John is home.
I'm home.
Home to be with my baby. - Don't touch me!
- Didn't you hear me, I said sweet John--
- Don't touch me!
- What do you mean, a man can't touch his own woman?
- No sir.
Not when you go off and leave me alone for months.
Exactly when you feel like,
come back to me smelling of whiskey,
your body stinking with another woman's odor!
(John grunting)
- It wasn't another woman!
I was lookin' for work!
Went to that old lumber mill I used to work at.
I coulda got hired.
When they asked to see my free papers,
I told them I left them here,
'cause I was scared to tell 'em they'd run out.
I went everywhere, I even
tried to get a job
cleaning up outhouses.
Everywhere I went they'd push me back like I was dirty.
I was so scared
I went to a juke joint.
Beg drinks, just to get drunk.
(somber music)
- Hat?
Hat, young Master Ed just died of lung fever.
- He did?
- Yeah, Miss Susan movin' up country
and Master Doc is selling everybody off.
- Tell Mama and Daddy I'll be over in a bit.
- All right, Hat.
(upbeat music)
- Hey, fellas, big daddy's back
and I'm buyin' all the drinks.
Come on!
(crickets chirping)
I just don't understand y'all.
One white boy croak up in the big house
the whole quarter comes down with roaming sickness.
Ain't nobody gonna get sold.
Doc Thompson ain't about to sell
prime slaves like your folks.
- One thing my momma taught me, John Tubman,
never depend on any man standing
over your life with a whip.
Time for us to get outta here.
- Us get where?
- You, me, my whole family.
Escape up north.
- North my butt.
It's cold as sin up north.
Colored folks crammed in the mills,
towns, houses like rabbits.
- Lord Jesus.
Is you blind?
Look at me!
I said look at me John Tubman!
I'm bond.
I could be sold away from you any day.
Don't you care?
Ain't you scared?
Give me that damn bottle.
I want you to tell me straight up right now, John Tubman.
I wanna hear it from you right now.
- Yeah, I care.
As soon as I get myself goin',
we can start saving all over again.
- We can start saving all over again?
- I'll buy your freedom myself.
Dammit, gal, what are you gonna
drag out that old sack again.
That's what I was trying to tell you.
I borrowed it.
That's what I did, I borrowed.
- You yellow ...
All my freedom money gone!
- What's wrong with a man borrowing from his wife?
- Not borrowed, John, stolen!
You stole my freedom to save your own!
(Harriet sobbing)
(dramatic music)
No, John!
Mama!
Daddy?
Mama?
(patrollers hollering) (horses galloping)
Aunt Juba?
Oh God.
What did they do to you?
Aunt Juba?
Say something to me, please.
Aunt Juba, where they been?
Say something to me, please say something.
Aunt Juba, please.
(Harriet crying)
- [Benji] Hattie.
- Benji, look what they done to Aunt Juba.
Where's Mama and Daddy?
- They's locked up in the barn behind the big house.
- I gotta go up after them.
- You can't, Hat.
There's patrollers all around.
- Benji?
I done made up my mind.
I'm gonna run off tonight.
You gotta come, go with me.
- With Robert and Elvina hired out?
Somebody's gotta stay with Mom and Dad.
- Well, I gotta go get 'em, Benji.
- You can't, Hat, you can't go up there.
- Tell 'em I'm goin', Benji.
After I get myself settled up north,
I'll come back and get y'all, hear?
Take her inside, Benji.
And you stay here from the patrollers, you hear me?
Bye, Benji.
- [Benji] Bye, Hat.
(knocking on door)
- [Miss Rodham] Harriet, come in.
- I'm sorry to get you up like that, Miss Rodham.
But I'm--
- Are thee fleeing from bondage?
- Yes'm.
- The river heads north to the Delaware border,
where it gets smaller, and then on to the town of Dover.
Can thee remember that?
- Yes'm.
- One must be careful where one knocks, Harriet,
but thee will find an underground railway station in Dover
and a ticket to Philadelphia.
- You mean, they's gonna put me
on a train that runs under the ground?
- No.
It's not a real train.
The underground railway is people along the way
will help to clothe thee and feed thee
and rest at night.
And show thee the right way to Philadelphia.
Oh, Harriet.
This will be thy first underground railway station.
- Yes'm.
- And if thee get to the river before dawn,
thee may be fortunate enough to find
a boatman there at Reedy Cove.
He's often there during the night
and though we do not know who he is,
we do know that he is a friend.
You can trust him.
- Yes'm.
- Remember,
thee are journeying from midnight
through hope to God be praised.
Remember that.
- I sure will, Miss Rodham.
I sure will.
- God speed.
(somber music)
(uplifting music) (birds chirping)
- Now, this is as far as I go.
You just stay by the river and you'll be safe.
- Yes sir.
Thank you and God bless you sir.
- [Narrator] Tramping along the edge of the river
where waters crash by,
over and around ancient objects of nature
and their angry thrust upstream.
Touch the moss on the tree.
Yes, yes, yes.
The river flows north.
(uplifting music)
(dramatic music)
(water rushing)
(horse whinnying)
(dramatic music)
One does not drown in this river stream.
The river is the refuge now.
- Ah ha!
I'm always on the lookout, such as you.
Best come out now.
And you better be quiet.
Take it easy!
I'm a free man!
And this here is my place!
And I help runaways whenever I's able.
- I'm sorry, sir.
- No need to be.
I come upon a runaway once who was so scared and ornery
she almost bit my finger off.
See? (laughs)
You'll be to Wilmington soon and on wheels.
That's your last stop before you get to Philadelphia.
- On a train?
- Nope.
Train's ain't safe here momma.
We're goin' by cart.
Here, put these on.
- Thank you, sir.
- Though there are guards on the road with your poster,
those men's clothes oughta cover you real good.
- You mean, they got a wanted poster?
- Sure enough do now.
Pull that hat down over that scar.
You know that's on the poster, too.
- Thank you, sir.
Guess I'm all right now?
- I can still tell you a woman.
But the guards won't.
Come on.
Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up.
Giddy up, boy, giddy up.
Ho.
- Something wrong?
- Guards up the road.
- I don't see nothin'.
- Me neither, but I smell 'em.
Chew on this and just behave like natural.
- You mean chew on this tobacco?
I can't chew on this tobacco.
It'll make me cough and heave.
- With them guards up there,
you better chew, miss runaway,
and you better not cough or heave.
Hyah!
Hyah, come on!
(thunder crashing)
Morning, boss.
- [Harriet] Morning, boss.
- [Cart Driver] Giddy up here, come on now, giddy up.
Giddy up, come on, giddy up giddy up.
(laughing) (Harriet gagging and coughing)
Mornin' boss. (laughing)
(suspenseful music)
(knocking on door)
- Yes, yes, coming.
I'll be with thee.
Yes, boy?
- Is you Mr. Garrett?
- [Thomas] Yes.
- My name Harriet Ross Tubman
and I'm an escaped slave from Maryland.
- Harriet?
What is wrong?
Was thee followed?
- There's two men out there.
- They will do thee no harm.
They're my brothers.
Come in.
One moment.
Gentlemen, please, won't thee go home now?
I'm sure I'm most grateful,
but my supper must be waiting,
and thy wives, likewise.
All is well, assuredly.
(laughs)
Some of my brothers have been most solicitous
since my arrest.
Very kind of them, but sometimes they keep watch
until the wee hours of the morning.
Come along with me.
Come along, now.
Come on now, don't be afeard.
Thee needn't be afeard, come along, come along.
- [Harriet] Everything my daddy taught me
about the woods and the river
kept me from getting caught.
- Yes, great knowledge.
Many fugitives perish from a lack of such knowledge.
And what caused thee to first plan to escape from slavery?
- When I was a little girl,
voices used to come to me.
They told me that the Lord willed it.
- Spiritual voices?
- Yes, sir.
- I myself heard voices, when I was but a lad.
There are those that scoff
and call such occurrences wicked mysticism,
but I believe God chooses many devices
to lead us to the path of righteousness.
(thunder crashing)
- Yes, sir.
- And what kept thy spirit alive
through the worst of it?
(solemn music)
- I reasoned that as a slave
I had no rights,
but then I reasoned that I did have the right
to die or try to go free.
I was gonna have one or the other.
- Very well put.
(thunder cracks)
Eat child, eat.
(cart rattling)
Here we are.
Cappin' up, Cavalry.
Well, you's just about on thy way
to thy new home of freedom,
across the field to that road.
The road will lead you to the turnpike.
The turnpike will take you to Philadelphia.
Use the map.
It will lead you to the Lombard Street Church.
Ask for William Still,
President of the Anti-Slavery Society.
God speed.
- God bless you Mr. Garrett.
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] The last road from slavery,
the first road to freedom.
(bell ringing)
Philadelphia, Liberty City,
Harriet Ross Tubman,
in gratitude for what she should not be,
what she does not want to be,
what she is not going to be,
praises God.
She is no longer what she was.
Philadelphia, full of life,
laughing and good godly time.
Like this time she gives to the stalwart abolitionist
William Still, blessed William Still,
whose anti-slavery society is The Haven,
where men and women who were once slaves
are helped to their new life
in this baffling world of freedom.
And as Harriet Ross Tubman carries out her task,
she recalls all too well what the voices had once said.
Suffering produces endurance.
Endurance produces character.
Character produces faith.
And faith would not, in the end, disappoint.
- Hello.
- You the preacher here?
- No I'm not, the pastor's away.
You runaway slaves?
You want food and clothing?
Well, then you must be tired.
Let us show you to our sleeping quarters.
- He's gone to sleep.
He's gone to sleep for good.
- He's dead.
- He be dead all right.
- Said he'd be all right.
Said if he could just get north for one day,
it'd be all right.
He'd be just fine.
(somber music)
- The death of that old man,
the gray look in his eyes,
and the voice that old woman,
left me with a deep spirit of sadness.
All I could think of and mull over
was to have my Mama and Daddy with me.
To see them released from the evil of bondage.
I just had to endure it and bring 'em back.
(dramatic music)
I can't wait no more.
- Harriet, you don't seem to understand.
They're not merely trying to capture you now,
they're after your life.
- My life is with God.
Theirs is with the devil.
And with God on my side I got to go where he calls me,
no matter what evil is trying to stop me.
- Get her mom and daddy back on Doc Thompson's plantation
and I'll catch your gal for you.
- My people were gave up to this land.
Fought for this land.
Belongs to this land, I say.
Love this land.
And it's on this land where we gonna be free!
- I've waited a long time for this, Miss Moses.
(gentle music)
(Multicom jingle)