"Last on Roots:" "Make a lesson of him." "You let him get away and every nigger on your place will be gone." "Can't find a way to run, then I just lay here and die." "You surely are some brave Mandinka fighting man, Toby." "What is it you're fighting now?" "I think you gonna make it!" "Lord, be praised, Toby." "You can walk!" "Jump the broom into the land of matrimony." "You talking escape?" "I ain't never wanted nothing more in my life." "Got a name for her." "We're gonna call her Kizzy." "You ain't gonna leave?" "This is your home." "It's not my home." "But this my child." "And we family." "Your name means, "stay put." But it don't mean stay a slave." "It will never mean that." "Ninsemuso!" "Ninsemuso, girl!" "Yes!" " Kizzy!" " Papa!" "Kizzy!" "She knows her name!" "What you laughing at?" "That's the Africa talk you told me." "Like you teached me yhiro is the tree and tilo is the sun." " You got that right, Kizzy." " Ninsemuso!" "I'm laughing because Africa ain't the talk." "It's the place." "Mandinka is the talk and the people." "This horse ain't gonna answer to the name Ninsemuso." "Because in Mandinka talk, ninsemuso mean "cow."" "Kizzy!" "Been looking for you, Toby." "I want to talk to you if you has time." "Ain't got no time now." "Massa wants this filly groomed and curried proper." "Besides, I know what you want to talk to me about." "Come, Ninsemuso." "Come." "Papa thinks you want to ask him about us jumping the broom." "Marrying up." "Know what it be like when you jump the broom?" "I would dress up in a brand new dimity Mama make just for the wedding." "Not for wearing any other time in my whole life." "And you be in a new black suit, finer than the preacher himself." "The preacher will put the broom down on the ground." "And the preacher says, "Now, you two gotta hold hands and jump over the broom into the land of matrimony."" "Now!" "Kizzy?" "You know what you gotta do so the wedding be real?" "Kiss." "Ever kiss a boy before?" "Of course not." "You the only boy I know and I ain't never kissed you." "Want to?" "I do." "Right out there is profit on the hoof." "Young Noah." "Yes, fine field hand." "What we need, speaking as overseer is one of those new Whitney cotton gins." "Do the work of 10 lazy niggers." "Purchase of a gin, Mr. Ordell, wants cash." "You've cash, sir." "Farmers in Georgia and Alabama pay high for a slave to clear out new fields for planting." "Noah would bring in cash more than enough for a down payment on a gin." "You're new here, Mr. Ordell." "Most of my chattel were born on this place." "Like Noah." "Young Kizzy." "That's Mammy Bell's girl." "I have a covenant with my slaves, all of them." "They know if they obey my laws and rules they can live their lives on this plantation and never be sold." "And if they break your rules?" "Disobey your laws?" "Well, that's quite another matter." "Of course." "Kizzy is a child." "And look at her flouncing around with that Noah like they's fixing to jump the broom." "If they ain't already has." "Know what I mean?" "I do." "You her mama!" "Don't it fret you that she can walk in with a big belly and that Noah be to blame?" "We know that boy from birth." "I know his mama since I was sold here over 30 years now." "Noah got the look of the Wolof people." "I remember them from when I was in Africa." "Keep to himself, don't say much." "If he say "Good morning," it be his last good word of the day." "Well, I like Noah." "He's quiet and proud." "Only one thing wrong with him." "What's that?" "He's just like you." "Maybe you two so much alike you'll never get along." "I didn't say I couldn't get along with him." "Glad to hear that, 'cause Kizzy wants him." "That's for sure." "And if that gal gets herself a man like the one I got me she can't help but turn out to be one happy woman long as she live." "Mama!" "Papa!" "You all hear the news?" "Missy Anne gonna be here tomorrow!" "She's coming back!" "First time in four years!" "I heard." "Massa got me grooming that filly on account of it." "Missy Anne!" "Ain't that fine, Mama?" "Surely fine." "I remember the way you two young'uns used to go morning till night." " I remember." "I never forget when she saw you after you was born." "She was just old enough to talk." "She said:" ""Mammy Bell, she look like a little nigger baby doll!"" "She give me a doll when I was sick." " She was my best friend." " Can't be." "She was, Papa." "The bestest friend I ever had." "Even if she be toubab." "Don't you use that word, "toubab"!" "You teaching her that African stuff?" "You want her whipped?" "I don't say "toubab" with white folks." "I say "white folks."" " See to it Missy Anne's room be ready." " Yes, Mama." "See to it that them andirons be polished up shiny and..." "What's that?" "They's letters spell out my name." "Missy Anne showed me." "She showed me about reading and writing." "That say Kizzy." "K-l-Z-Z-Y." "Don't you never do that again!" "No reading." "No writing." "Never!" "You hear me?" "White folk know a nigger can write, that nigger be whipped!" "That nigger be sold!" "Yes, ma'am." "Massa be in the best mood when Missy Anne be here." "Happy as can be." "It's good for him and for everybody." "Don't you do nothing to cause trouble." "Go sit and eat." "Yes, Mama." "Missy Anne teached me the reading and writing." "You was children, playing games!" "Now you all growed up." "Are you saying Missy Anne ain't my friend no more?" "What I saying, honey, is when people is children it don't matter who or what they is." "When they grow up, things change." "Especially with white folks." "You and Missy Anne, things could be different now." "If things ain't the same, don't you fret none." "You got enough love washing over you from your papa and me that it won't make no never mind." "Eat." "Missy Anne coming back." "It don't seem possible." "She's truly coming back." "The happiest white man in all Spotsylvania today be Massa Doctor." "He got more than just a niece to set his eyes on." "More true flesh and blood than a niece." " Hush up with that gossip." " Can't hush up the whole county." "Everyone heard how Squire John Reynolds called out massa about carrying on with his missus." "Good thing he didn't find out she not his child." "We don't want her to find out." "So hush up." "It's impressive, isn't it?" "The affection they feel for my niece." "A white woman's a rare sight here, doctor." "Yes, it's rare." "Times past, my sister-in-law used to be a frequent visitor here but those were times past." "Oh, Uncle William!" " Oh, I can scarcely believe it!" " Welcome back." "Mammy Bell!" "Mammy Bell!" "Oh, Mammy Bell!" "Mammy Bell!" " Toby." "Mama Ada." " Welcome back, Missy Anne." "Where is she?" "Where is she, Mammy Bell?" "Kizzy!" "Kizzy!" "There you are!" "There you are!" "Oh, my friend!" "My dearest friend!" "Oh, Kizzy, look at you." "You're all grown up!" "You're not my little nigger baby doll anymore!" "Help me unpack." "I want you to see all my new things." "Oh, Kizzy!" "Toby." "I wants to talk with you, if you has the time." "If it's about jumping the broom with Kizzy, I ain't got the time." "It ain't that." "Wants to talk to you about your crippled foot." "Noah, what you care about my old foot?" "I heard you got it trying to escape." "Folks say you know everything about escaping." "I need to learn." "I know about chores." "Massa want that filly cleaned up for Missy Anne." "You wanna know about currying, you welcome to come along." "Let me see this one again." "I just don't know, Kizzy." "Which should I wear to supper with Uncle William?" "Why not wear both?" "I'll starch and iron up the ruffles and when you want, I'll help you change." "Oh, Kizzy, you do have the most wonderful ideas!" "Kizzy?" "I'll tell you a secret if you promise never to tell anyone in the world." " I just have to tell somebody." " I promise." "All right." "My great-great-great-grandfather lived in England before he came here." "Now, his father was a baron." "Next to the king, that's very important." "My father said that my great- great-grandfather was the griot of the Mandinka tribe back in Africa." "Next to the chief, that's the most important thing to be." "I'm serious, Kizzy." "Anyway, the one who's the baron now is my..." "See, that would be..." "He's my fourth cousin." "And he's very young." "And tall." "And handsome." "And I let him kiss me!" "More than once." "Lord of mercy!" "And when I left he wrote me a letter." "A love letter." "I must have read it a thousand times." "Would you like to hear it?" "Oh, dear, I hid it so well I've hidden it from myself!" "I declare, Kizzy, just the thought of him makes me feel I'm about to swoon." "I'm all aglow." "Feel my hand, Kizzy." " You surely flushed." " I know." "Mama made you lemonade because it's your favorite." "I'll get it." "Dear Mammy Bell." "Where is that letter?" ""Miss Anne Reynolds."" "What I want to know is why you so set on trying to escape." "Me, I was born a free man in Africa so I wanted to be free again." "But you were born here." "You got no idea what freedom is." "Well, I feel in my bones that freedom is a good thing I don't has." "If I stay here, the overseer get massa to sell me away from Mama Ada." "Away from Kizzy!" "You be sold, you stay alive." "You run away, you be dead." "You wrong, old man." "I takes my chances and I gonna live." "I'm not just gonna try to escape." "I'm gonna do it!" "I'll show you something." "Stole me this." "White folks got knives." "Guns." "Whips." "Axes." "Dogs." "Lowlife trash to help track you down." "Even got no-good niggers to help them." "Ain't gonna stop me." "I'm going North where white folks called abolitionists and Quakers helps niggers be free." "I'll come back and fetch Kizzy and take her to freedom." "Gonna do it, Toby." "Ain't nothing gonna stop me." "Nothing." " Maybe Bell was right." " What you mean?" "Maybe there ain't no difference between some niggers born here and those born in Africa." "Then you tell me what you know?" "Yeah." "I'll tell you." "A stock barn ain't no place for a field hand to be." "I just helping out Toby, sir." " Always in the wrong place, ain't you?" " No, sir, Mr. Ordell, sir." "You've been breaking the rules." "Squire's rules." "My rules." "You hankering to be sold off, keep it up." "One more time, and you'll be heading south as fast as I can boot you!" "Now, get!" ""And I can only hope that you return some small part of the affection, nay, love I feel for you." "Your adoring servant."" " Adoring, Kizzy." " That's a love letter, all right." "You must swear you'll never tattle about this." " I swear." " On the Bible." "Where is it?" "Here it is." "My old Bible." "Now kiss your little finger and swear." "I swear." "If you ever tattle, you'll be damned to hell." "Oh, I wouldn't never, Missy Anne." "Remember when we used to play school?" "I'd be the teacher and you, the pupil?" "I remember." "You were such a good student, Kizzy." "You even read from the Bible." "I remember you reading this exact thing." "See if you can still." "No, Missy Anne." "I couldn't do that no way." "Massa ever find out..." "Who's gonna tell?" "I want to see if you've forgotten what I taught you." ""And I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly." "I per..." "Perc..."" "It's "perceived." It means, "you saw, you knew."" ""I perceived that this also is vexation of the spirit."" ""For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom..."" "Is that you reading, Kizzy?" "Uncle William, it was only a trick." "Kizzy and I are making up a joke to play on Mammy Bell." "We're gonna make her think Kizzy knows how to read." " Her eyes will pop out of her head!" " I forbid it." "Whatever you say, Uncle William." "But it was only a trick." "I'm not blaming you, darling." "Miss Anne doesn't understand the importance of such things." "But I'm surprised at you, Kizzy." "You want to play a cruel joke on a fine woman like your own mama, Mammy Bell?" "Get dressed as soon as you can." "I've got a special present for you." "Finish unpacking Miss Anne's things." "And no more tricks." "Yes, sir, massa." "Mammy Bell's as true a woman as the Almighty ever let draw breath." "You come along as soon as you can." "It's all right, Kizzy." "You needn't be afraid." "You keep my secrets and I'll keep yours." "You mustn't be a fraidy cat." "I'll protect you." "I'll always protect you." "You know that." "I gots to talk with you." "Wait." "Got to tend Missy Anne." "She's leaving tomorrow." "She come around, you got no time for nobody." "Especially me." "She gone, we have all the time we wants." "Ain't all that much time left, Kizzy." "There was a plot by runaway niggers to kidnap the governor massacre the white people and set fire to Richmond." "The plot was hatched by a handful that was part of a slave ship revolt led by that African nigger, called himself Cinque." " Where did you hear this, Mr...?" " Moore." "Tom." "Got a place on the west edge of the county." "Nothing so grand as this." "It was in Valhalla." "I was buying chickens." " You're a chicken farmer?" " Fighting chickens." "I farm some cotton but I don't have much land or a flock of slaves." "Who can afford them with prices rising the way they are?" "Like some more, though." "I got a mind to get me a couple and breed my own." "Maybe I'll only need one, if I find the right one." "You heard news in Valhalla?" "Yes, sir, it was in Valhalla I heard the news." "Thank God and a few niggers who found out about it and told." "The plot's been crushed and most that started it is behind bars." "Patrols are on every road from here to Richmond looking for the rest." "I figured it was only neighborly to warn other plantation owners..." "On my way back home, sir." " Very neighborly, Mr...?" " Moore, sir." "Tom Moore." "Mr. Moore." "Best thing about this trip was seeing you." "And getting that fine filly for a present." "I have a better idea for a coming-home present." "You're part of it, Kizzy." "The most important part." "What you talking about?" "It's going to be a surprise." "I have to ask Papa first." "I've made a traveling pass so you can come along with your papa, Toby when he brings the filly next week." "I'm coming over with Papa?" "Hooray!" "Special for the surprise." "Now, run tell Uncle William I'm ready to go." "Got everything there." "Much obliged." "Cotton-picking time makes for dry throats." "Go on about what you were saying." "Well, some of these patrollers are catching these runaway slaves and skinning them alive." "Some set them on fire right on the spot." "As an example, you might say." "It puts the fear of God in other niggers." " Yes, what is it, Kizzy?" " Missy Anne ready to go." "Yes, all right." "Fine-looking wench." "You'll have to excuse us." "It was very considerate of you to come." "Maybe I'll bring my missus by for a social visit." "She'd surely like to see this fine place." "Very considerate, indeed." "You children wanna get bit?" "Get out of here!" "Goodbye, sir." "Oh, my dear." "William!" "Oh, thank you for a lovely time." "Kizzy." "Good to see you." "And Mammy Bell." "I'll see you soon." "I'll send Toby with your new filly." "I'd appreciate it." "I'm looking so forward to seeing Mama and Papa." "Bye!" "Got to go tonight." "Maybe not get another chance like this." "Things'll be quiet here next few days." "You and Toby be off at Missy Anne's." "Massa be gone on his doctoring rounds." "Overseer be checking the wagons come to ship cotton." "Maybe ain't only the bestest chance." "Maybe my last chance." "Overseer just waiting to find some reason to ship me off." "Bound and sold." "No different from a bale of cotton." "Patrollers are catching runaways." "Burning and skinning them alive!" "I heard." "Just got to find my way past them." "Oh, Noah." "Wouldn't it be fine if things were different?" "And you could stay here, and we could marry up and raise young'uns to be strong and happy as we'd be?" "It surely would be fine." "Got no time for dreaming." "Excepting about you, Kizzy." "Then ain't nothing for it but to find you a way past them patrollers." "Protect him, sweet Jesus." "From the patrollers and the slave catchers." "Be to Missy Anne's plantation before long." "Where we at?" "First time I think about where I was." "Why, we be where everybody is." "Between east, west, north and south." "East, where the sun come up and the water is that takes moons to cross." "West, where the sun sets." "Don't nobody know what's out there." "South, that's where they work niggers till they drops dead." " North the place to be." " Not for you." "Don't think about north." "That be trouble." "Stay right where you at." "Don't know where that be." "Don't matter." "You stay here." "That's why I name you Kizzy." "In Mandinka talk that mean "you stay put."" " Where you going?" " On our massa's business." " Horse thieving?" " No, sir." "We got traveling passes." " What's your names?" " Toby and Kizzy." "Show the passes, Kizzy." "Show the passes!" "Virgil, get over here and read this." "Yep." "That's what it says." "Toby Reynolds and Kizzy Reynolds." "He belongs to Dr. Reynolds." "He know my Massa Greaves." "I ain't no runaway!" "I was stole!" "They stole me away to sell me south!" "Tell my massa!" "Tell Massa Greaves!" "Here, get out of here." "Don't pay no mind." "Lying niggers say anything." "Get!" "Yes, sir, boss." "That could be Noah." "Same thing could happen to him." " What you talking about?" " He took off." "He be a runaway now." " When?" " Last night." "Oh, Papa, I'm so scared." "Well, overseer didn't miss him before we left." "He'll have a day's start." "Longer he gone, better chance he got." " You mean it?" " Yeah." "Each day go by, it be harder to follow." "Trail get cold." "Just like tracking an animal." "Dogs will lose the scent." "How long, Papa?" "If he can stay free a week, he got a good chance of staying free." "I'm gonna pray for that." "Papa said it's okay." "Isn't that wonderful?" "Isn't that a fine surprise?" "It means that Uncle will make a present of you." "You'll be my slave." "We'll be together forever." "You won't have to be afraid because I'll protect you." "Always." "Wouldn't you like that?" "I likes you." "You my best friend." "Always was." "But..." " But what?" " Seems so much happening suddenly." "It's wonderful!" "You'll come here to live." "Here with me." " Never lived no place but massa's." " It'll be nicer." "You'll have a room of your own." "Right next to mine." "Never been away from Papa and Mama." "Papa Toby will be back and forth." "We'll be over to see Mammy Bell." "Oh, it will be better than ever for us." "And it will be legal!" "You hear me, Kizzy?" "Legal." "Don't know about legal." "Well, legal is..." "It's just the law." "Blacks are slaves, we own them." "That's how it is." "I know." "Just don't understand it, I guess." "Think of it this way, Kizzy." "It's the natural way of things." "It's because white folks are smarter than niggers." "Like men are smarter." "Everyone knows that, for heaven's sake." "You mean, that's how God made it?" "Exactly." "If it wasn't right, he'd change it, wouldn't he?" "Expect so." "Abolitionists want to change it." "If we weren't friends, I could have you punished for mentioning them." "I know that." "But we are friends." "So I'll explain it to you." "They are evil people." "Like Quakers." "They're against God." "They is?" "Kizzy!" "Papa wants to get back." "Don't want to run into patrollers after dark." "Kizzy, don't you want to be my slave?" "Aren't you my friend?" "Of course I'm your friend." "I has to ask my mama and my papa." "Oh, no, I'll ask." "I want to." "I'll be at Uncle's in a week." "I'll ask then." "It's to be our secret." "Just yours and mine." "Oh, how happy Mammy Bell will be!" "She'll cry just from joy when I tell her." "Oh, Kizzy, isn't it wonderful?" "We have the most wonderful secret of all." "Noah's just slipped off to visit a girl." "He's that age." "Only gal he's interested in is here." "Bell's Kizzy." "He's run off, doctor." "I'd swear on it." "The longer we wait, less chance we have." "As it is, we'll have to use the dogs." "All right, Mr. Ordell, do what you have to do." "The past two weeks been as grim a time I have seen on this place and you two get cheerier every day." "We cheery for the reasons the white folks is angry." "Noah been gone a week and ain't been caught." "You ain't the only cheery ones." "Missy Anne drove in smiling." "She got a surprise." "She gonna tell us tonight." "I been doing nothing but thinking of Noah since Missy told me." "She gonna ask if I can be hers." "If I can be her slave, legal." "And live at Massa John Reynolds' plantation." "Damn white folks!" "They got no right to take a child from us." "Go easy, Toby." "Kizzy still with us." "I'll ask massa." "He listens, not like most whites." "I don't like it." "Every time Missy want something, she get her way." "I wish Noah were here to make me free like he be." "He is free, Papa." "I know it." "I just feel it in my bones." "He's free!" "That's Ada." "Oh, Lord, have mercy!" "Oh, my child!" "My child!" "Oh, my child!" "Oh, my child." "Mama Ada, come on now." "Come on back to your cabin." "My boy!" "He put up a fight, sir." "Noah?" "He had a traveling pass." "He ain't told me how he got it yet, but he will." "Honey, why don't you just sit down and wait?" "Toby?" "Dr. Reynolds says he'll be wanting to see you and Bell." "Yes, sir." "He ain't interested in seeing you." "Just your papa and your mama." "Bell." "Toby." "This plantation here is home." "It's home for all of us." "All being part of the same family." "Negro as well as white." "Members of a family have responsibilities." "They have rules." "Or it'd be impossible to live together in peace." "Understand?" " Yes, sir." " Yes, sir." "If any of you break the rules, my rules, I have no choice but to remove him for the good of the rest." "I could forgive, but that would be like leaving a rotten fruit in the barrel to spoil everything around it." "It's not fair." "You come." "I have to show you this." "This is a traveling pass." "Noah confessed it was forged for him." "By Kizzy." "It's a copy of one Miss Anne gave her." "All right." "Noah's been sold, what's left of him." "And Kizzy..." "Oh, God, no." "No, massa." "You can't sell Kizzy too." "No, massa, not my baby, not my child!" "Oh, massa, not my child, not my baby!" " Massa, massa, please!" " Bell." "Massa, beat her!" "Do anything you want to her, massa." "Tear the skin off her worthless hide." "Please, massa, in the name of Jesus, have mercy." "Me and Toby, we give you our lives, massa." "Massa!" "Forty years!" "Forty years I serve you." "Don't that count?" "You did your job." "She disobeyed." "She must suffer the consequences." "Please?" "Please, massa, I beg you." "Please don't sell her." "Please, massa." "She's already been sold." "Oh, then, massa, please sell us with her." "Don't split the family." "You never been that kind of man." "Tom Moore owns Kizzy now." "Ordell will take her away." " Massa..." " I don't want to go!" " God, my baby!" " No, no!" "Uncle William." "Poor Mammy Bell." "Mama!" "Papa!" "No!" "Mama!" "No!" "Papa!" "Get back there!" " Get back!" " Missy Anne, please!" "Missy Anne, please!" "Please help me!" " Missy Anne!" "Please help me!" " Back!" "Mama!" "Papa!" "I don't want to go!" "Missy Anne, please!" "Oh, Kizzy." "My baby..." "I swear, Uncle William, in all my life I have never been made such a fool of." "To choose that buck when she had such an opportunity." "She's no different." "She's as stupid as all the rest of them." "What a shame." "What you doing?" "Mandinka people believe that if you save dust from a footprint someday they come back." "Like naming her Kizzy was supposed to make her stay put." "Well, either you lied to me, old man, or you been lied to." "That child's gone from us and she ain't never coming back." "You hear me?" "Never!" " Boy!" " Yes, sir?" "Know where she belongs?" "Yes, sir." "He say put her in the cabin at the end." " You know your name?" " Kizzy." "Kizzy Reynolds." "Kizzy Moore." "I bought you." "You're my property now." "Cost a fair price." "Enough for a payment on a cotton gin." "Well, Kizzy, I'm gonna get my money's worth right now." "I'd rather not hurt you, but I ain't got no time to play..." "You gonna be all right." "You'll be all right." "My name's Malizy." "I's the cook." "You best know about Massa Tom Moore." "He's one of them white men that likes nigger women." "Young ones." "He'll be bothering you most every night for a while." "Used to bother me, but no more." "No sense in fretting." "Ain't nothing you can do." "He stud you till you has a baby." "Then he leave you alone." "Massa Tom Moore no worse than most white men." "Even fair." "Depends on you." "He figures you gotta deserve what you get." "When I has my baby he gonna be a boy." "And when that boy grow up I promise you one thing:" "Massa Tom Moore gonna get what he deserve." "Welcome, Mr. Bennett." "Welcome to our home." "It's not so fine as what you're used to." "Your smile will make any house a mansion." " For heaven's sake." " Well said, sir." "You have a gift." "No, not in comparison to my boy, Sam, here." "He's a terrible one for the ladies." "Yes, sir." "Not much to choose from here." "I don't keep many slaves." "Mr. Bennett, won't you step inside and rest yourself?" "Thank you, ma'am." "Kizzy, girl." "That driver got his eye glued on you." "Just glued!" "Smile at him." "Bee needs a sniff of honey to keep him buzzing around." "I'd sooner die than smile at that peacock." "Girl, pride is a deadly sin and you is too young to die." "Mama?" "I..." " I can't eat supper with you tonight." " Why you can't?" "Gotta get the chickens ready." "Massa showing off to some gamecocker." "Massa!" "I made you a special supper, all the things you like." "Can't help it." "Me and Mingo gonna be getting them birds ready." "Now, what you getting all fussed about?" "It ain't my fault." "Go on and say it." ""Georgie, I swear you loves them roosters more than you loves your own mama." "Why can't you be like your granddaddy, the African and get some learning?" I'll tell you why." "Nobody gonna cut off my foot for no damn fool runaway." "Keep your mocking tongue off my daddy!" "Least he weren't like you, slave down to your bones." "You think you smart?" "I may not be much older than you but I am your mama and I'll make something of you." "You gonna do as I say." "All right, Mama." "I'll tell massa, "I can't tend your chickens tonight." "My mama wants me to eat supper with her."" "Get on out of here." "Thank you, Mama." "I think Massa Bennett wants to see old red." "Yes, sir!" "Come on there, red." "Show him that gamecock, boy!" "Here he is, old red!" "Come on, now." "Come on." "Catch it if you can, now." "You badass, come on." "Bad chicken." "Look it." "Come on." "Come on." "Time you got pitted anyway." "Catch it." "Catch it." "Enough." "Don't run him to death." "Nothing gonna kill that red devil, except a spur." "It's a fine bird." "Your stock will strengthen our breed." "That's all, boys." " Boy?" " Yes, sir?" "You have a sure hand with a gamecock." "Thank you, sir." "But ain't nothing I knows except what massa and Mingo teached me." "Where's that fancy nigger of yours?" "Last I saw, he was chasing a plump chicken with a speckled bandanna." "I bet you give that man of yours one devil of a time." "I be by myself, thank you." "Look here..." "How is you called?" "Kizzy." "Look here." "These are for you, pretty Kizzy." "Thank you." "Massa Moore be mighty obliged, you weeding his garden." "Woman, you has a sharp tongue!" "But I likes you." "Yes, I likes you in spite of yourself." "What you say me and you go out walking this evening?" "What you want with me?" "What any healthy man want with a fine-looking woman." "You can want what you want all you want." "Now, look here." "I ain't gonna be here but for this week." "Ain't you got any heart?" "If I do, Mr. Fancy Driver nobody take it free or buy it cheap." "His ears must be ringing!" "Well, Sister Sara, my lungs is in the service of the Lord." "Amen!" "Daddy, you supposed to baptize Joshua Clayborne." "Yes." "Thank you, Matilda." "Excuse me, ladies." "Always good to see you, angel." "How's Georgie been treating you?" "It's my hope you and my boy gonna jump the broom." "Good wife like you just what he need to steady him down." "Miss Kizzy." "I so partial to that sinful boy of yours that I ashamed of myself." "But I ain't gonna give him time until he mends his ways." "That's what I'm saying!" "We got to grab the evil, a scaly creature by his slimy neck, you see and then you just shake him out!" "I say you shake him good!" "And then you tussle him on down, you see and then you tell him straight out." "Tell him straight out." "You say, "Get thee behind me, Satan." "I say, get thee behind me."" ""The Lord, the Lord am with me!"" "I say, "Get thee behind me, Satan!"" "George Moore, you stop this second!" "Oh, well, it's always so nice to see a new face at the services." "I'm so glad you could join..." "You is mocking my daddy!" " You is no-account, George Moore!" " Wait..." "Excuse me a minute." "Tildy!" "I's sorry." "You know I don't mean nothing against your daddy." " Don't nothing matter to you?" " You matter to me." "Even though you always a preacher's daughter." "Save that for them giggling ninnies who follows you around." " Come here, Tildy." " Leave me alone, George Moore." "Go on, do what you want." " It ain't nothing to me." " Oh, it ain't, huh?" "Then how come you shaking?" "I wanna show you what does matter." "Something I ain't showed other girls." "If you's handing out kisses, where do the line start?" "I ain't handing any out." "What you giving that chicken trainer, young George?" "George is special." " He anything to you, girl?" " He my son." "You the boy's mama, huh?" "Well, Lord, Lord, don't that beat all!" "Look here if you's going home, I thought I'd see you safe to your cabin." "You thought wrong as usual." "Come on now, what you scared of, girl?" "I ain't scared of nothing, least of all you." "Shouldn't be no reason I can't see you home, should there?" "Do the boy know the massa's his daddy?" "He used to ask, but I never told him." "If he has a notion, he don't ask no more." " He gonna find out someday." " Not from me." "Ain't nothing I wants to crow about." "I used to pray that George'd kill Massa Moore when he was old enough." "But I got older and wanted my boy to be older too so I give it up." "Don't you be talking about niggers hurting white folks." " You know it ain't healthy." " Ain't no fear of that." "They closer than finger and thumb off to those cockfights with old Mingo every week." "Well, this is my place." "Do the boy stay here with you?" "He stay where he's happy, with his chickens." "Well, what we standing out here for?" "Let's go inside." "You wanted to see me home safe." "I's safe now." "Thank you and goodbye." "I thinks you powerful lonesome, Kizzy." "Well, if I is, it ain't for the likes of you." "Woman, you has a lot of pride." "But I admire you for it." "But I's a prideful man myself." "And you ain't nourishing it." "Now, you can go on in there and shut the door on me but if you do, do it for good." "Because I ain't gonna come knocking no more." "Well?" "What you standing out there for, fool?" "Look at them stags go at it." "Ain't it something?" "Easy, easy!" "You'll have your day." " Ain't you scared?" " Scared?" "I love these birds." "They like my babies." "Good boy." "It's time they mated." "That's what the ruckus is about." "Nothing's more ornery than a game bird without a covey of hens to soothe him." " It's the way of nature." " It's the way of dumb critters." "It's fine for them." "I ain't no dumb critter." "Won't think or live like one." "And I sure don't want to be treated like one." "Tildy..." "Time I was getting home." "What you looking at me like that for?" "You is a gentle man." "Something about you brings out the gentle in me." "Sam Bennett." "What's your real name, Sam?" " Just that." " No, it ain't." "That's your slave name." "My slave name's Kizzy Moore." "My real name's Kizzy Kinte, after my daddy." "What is you talking about?" "About where we come from." "About Africa." "What we was before we were slaves." "Nothing's a bigger pain than a nigger with Africa on his mind." "What's so grand about Africa?" "You know I drive and see more than most Africans dream about." "You don't know how much an African can dream." "While driving, ever come upon the Reynolds plantation?" "I reckon I have passed it." "It's about four hours away from here." "Why?" "I got some folks I know there." "At least I think I do." " Who that?" " My mama and my daddy." "And I'm longing to see them." "You're a girl full of longings, ain't you?" "Yes, I is." "Girl, don't put no hex on me!" "I'm not putting a hex on you, fool!" "I'm writing your name." "S-A-M." "Where you learn that?" "Young Missy teach me, on another plantation." "Well, best you just forget it." "Massa don't like black folks reading and writing." "Why you worried what massa like?" "I's only worried about you." "I don't want no harm to come to you is all." "Come here." "Kizzy, if I didn't know better I'd say you was working on getting me fat." " All this food you handing out..." " Don't want you fat, Sam." "Just trying to keep up your strength." " Come here." " Leave me be." " I got work to do." " So has I!" "Come on, now, stop." "Lord, Lord." "Look here..." "I sure is thirsty, girl." "Has you got any water in here?" "Fetch me some." "I glad to do that." "Got some lovely fresh spring water." "I'm taking it from the bottom of the barrel so it'll be nice and cool." "Oh, that's good." "Here's your water, Samuel, dear." " Why'd you do that?" "!" " Never say "Fetch me."" "You want something from me, I glad to give it." "But you ask." "Bedding me don't mean you can abuse me." "I slave enough." "I won't be your slave." "Come here." "I mean, please." "Pretty Kizzy, please come here." "See now?" ""Please" gets his self pleased." "Honey, what's wrong?" "Come on, tell me what's wrong." "Oh, Sam, I loses everybody." "Everybody." "The first boy I ever loved." "Noah, he was sold away." "Then they took me from my mama and my daddy." "Now you'll go away." "Hush, girl, come here." "Oh, Sam, what am I gonna do after you're gone?" "What am I gonna do?" "Same as me." "Go on living one day at a time just like we always done." "Come here." "We got a whole lot of night left." "Mama!" "Mama, I wanna talk to you!" ""Good morning, Mama." "How you feeling this morning?" " Fine..."" " I want to talk about you." "Ain't you ashamed of yourself?" "Everybody knows that driver's been in your cabin these nights." "Don't you care about how I feel?" "It's a scandal." "I can't go nowhere without people laughing and winking." " I won't stand for it." " What won't you stand for?" "You let my mama be." "I know all about you." "And I's warning you." "You leave my mama be." "Afraid I can't do that, boy." "I'm marrying your mama." " Sam?" " Massa always told me if I find a girl I want to marry, he'd buy her." "Well, I asked him." "And he's agreeable." "Kizzy, I can't leave you." "And it ain't for lack of trying." "The boy's right about me, far as I know." "I've had a bunch of girls." "That ain't no secret." "I've been a rolling stone so long I don't know any other way." "I never stopped being lonely till I met you." "Scared me half to death, wanting somebody so much." "But I want you, Kizzy." "Will you have me?" "I can't answer you now, Sam." "I got to puzzle things out." "Puzzle fast." "We ain't got much time." "I admire the way you stand up for your mama, boy." "Does you proud." "I reckon he's a good man, Mama." "I reckon I could be wrong." " I can't leave." "You need me." " Don't you fret." "Besides, we'll see each other all the time." "He being a driver and all, and me..." "I travel with Massa Moore." "Mama..." "You give me all you could give me." "You got some happiness coming to you in your life." "Oh, Georgie." "I loves you." "It's gonna be all right, Mama." "Don't you fret." "It'll be all right." "Everything has its price." "How much for the boy?" "I'll be straight with you." "No amount of cash could pry George from me." "He's the best natural-born chicken fighter there ever was." "That nigger's my fortune and my future." "I don't disagree with you, Tom, but I was obliged to try." "Selling him would be foolish and you're no fool." "Thank you, sir." "I've dined on French food from Philadelphia to New Orleans." "Nothing lingers on the palate like good country cooking." " That was a fine meal, ma'am." " Thank you, sir." "Mr. Bennett, can I offer you the hospitality of my slave row?" " Not tonight, thank you." " You sure?" "Nothing rounds off a meal better." "A great tradition of civilized living." " Some other time." "I'm a bit tired." " Up to you, sir." "Can I get you anything more?" "No, thank you, ma'am." "If you'll excuse me, I'm about to retire." "Mrs. Moore, Tom." "Fine meal." "I'm feeling sluggish myself." " Mind if I walk and enjoy a cigar?" " Of course not." "I may be a while." "If you're tired, don't wait up." "That's very considerate of you." "Well, good night." "Good night." "Don't catch anything on your walk." "There's a little nip in the air." "Sam?" "It's been quite a while, huh, Kizzy?" "I haven't got all night." " No!" " What did you say?" "No, massa, please." "I'm gonna be married." "I know that." "I agreed to it, didn't I?" "Got me another boot." " Massa loan me the rig today." " He treat you good letting you have this rig." "And traveling passes too." "Oh, he one fine massa." "Treat me just like I's white!" " Yes, you gonna like it up there." " Sam?" " What?" " Take me." "Where?" "What you talking about?" "To Mama and Daddy at the plantation." "I don't know about that." "That's four hours away." "Please." "I ain't been away since I got here." "I'd do anything to see my folks to tell them about us." "Sam, take me there." "I won't ask you anything again as long as we live." "Come on, now, back off." "You'll have us in a ditch." "OI' Toby went about two years ago." "After your mama, Bell, was sold to the traveling slaver he just faded." " Lord, that crazy African." " What do you mean, crazy?" "All he ever talked about was running away." "Plotting about escaping till he die and him not hardly able to walk." "I was with him when he passed to glory." "Did he say anything before he died?" "Nothing I could make no sense of just jabbered away in African." "He kept saying something like:" ""Belong..." "Belong" something." "Were it Kamby Bolongo?" "That's right." "He kept saying it over and over." "Like he were praying." " Kamby Bolongo?" "What that mean?" " It mean "river."" "It was one of the first things he ever taught me." "I sorry about your folks, miss." "I sure miss that old African." "I'd like to be alone for a while." "Daddy, Mama." "Wherever you be oh, I miss you so." "I'm sorry you died without my comfort." "I guess you worried about what happened to me." "Well, it ain't so bad." "I've had my sorrows just like you, and my joys." "I got me a son, George." "I wish you could see him." "He's tall and strong and he got a grin that'll break your heart." "You'd like him, Daddy, I know you would." "I told him how you were looking for a log to make a drum when the slave catchers took you." "And about your real name being Kunta Kinte." "And Kamby Bolongo mean river, and ko, a fiddle." "Sometime he seems to forget." "But he's a good boy, Daddy." "He's just young, that's all." "Soon, I'm gonna get married and I'm gonna have more children." "And I'm gonna teach them about freedom so they can teach their children." "I promise you, Daddy, your dream will not die." "Someday we gonna be free." "I don't mean to trouble your mourning but we better be getting back." "Get up, there." "You won't work in them fields no more, neither." "You gonna be in the big house with the missus." "Oh, and one other thing." "I knows you a proud and sassy woman..." "Lord knows I loves you for it." "But massa massa can't abide a nigger gets above herself." "You gonna have to walk softer when you're up there in the big house." "That sun getting low." "We gonna be in a world of trouble." "Step lively, lazy beasts!" "Come on." "Get up there!" "You abused my good nature." "I said be home before dark." " I'm sorry..." " I'll put you back in the fields." " No, massa." " Give you real work." " Maybe you'd appreciate the good life!" " I'm sorry, massa." " I might not buy her!" " No, massa, please don't." "Bed down the horses." "They're lathered up!" "Yes, sir, massa." "I'm sorry, massa, powerful sorry, massa." " I'll deal with you tomorrow." " Bless you." "Bless you." "Oh, he powerful mad but he'll be all right." "He gonna be all right." "I don't ever, ever wanna come that close to trouble again." "I'll take care of the horses and come back and help you get your things together." " Is you all packed, darling?" " No." "What you mean, no?" "We's leaving here early." "No, Sam, I ain't going with you." " I thought you loved me." " I do love you, Sam." "You is a good and loving man." "You've made me happier this week than I've ever been." "I won't forget you, but I can't marry you." "Sure, you just got the last-minute wobbles." "No, Sam, I can't marry you and no two ways about it." "Oh, now, Kizzy." "Tell me what I done wrong, huh?" "I'll make it up to you." "It ain't your fault." "There ain't no making up to do." "It's just that we're too different, that's all." "I forgot who I was for a while." "I'm sorry." "Forgive me." " You think you better than I is." " I didn't say that." "No, but I hear it just the same." "Funny part is, you do the massa's business same as me." "Think I don't know Massa Moore was here?" " You knew?" " I seen him come from the house." "Why didn't you say anything about it today?" "Kizzy, now, what you expect me to say, huh?" "What you expect me to say?" "That's the way it is." "Weren't nothing I could say about it." "Yes, there was!" "You could have cared." "You could have cared!" "The massa can take my body, but he can't touch my spirit." "He can't touch my dream of being a free woman." "When they bought you, you gave them your soul for free." " Kizzy..." " Oh, goodbye, Sam." "Kizzy, don't say I ain't got no dreams, 'cause I has." "It just ain't big as yours." "Well, I hope it come true for you, Sam." "Now that Bennett's birds are packed, we better crate these." "We got us some dates to fill around this county." "These birds is raring to go, and so is I." "Them birds is going, Mingo, but you're staying here." "You ain't looking too good lately." "You need rest." " I all right, massa." " Anyway, you too old for this travel." "George here can handle things on his own now." "But, massa, cockfighting is all my life." "I ain't taking away the chickens, you can still tend and train them." "Massa, Mingo, he fine, just fine." "Sure, he been feeling a bit poorly but he's one of the finest cockfighters alive." "You know that." "I made up my mind, boy." "Mr. Bennett admired you too much for me to overlook it." "You is my main trainer now." "We'll make a pile of money." "Gonna be two names gamecockers talk about:" "Tom Moore and his boy, George." " One more thing." " Yes, sir." "Find a wife quick, you hear?" "I don't want you catting around, spending up your gumption." "Yes, Massa Moore." "Mingo, look, I..." "Don't fret, boy." "It been coming a long time." "And he right." "You is ready." "I teached you everything about chickens." "There's things you know nobody can teach nobody." "Old man, I..." " Thanks for what you give me." " You the only one to give it to." "And I wanna thank you." "Georgie." "Yes, sir." " Take it, boy." " No, no, I can't." "Take it, boy." "You the cock of the walk now." "Take it!" " Thank you, ma'am." "Much obliged." " Thank you, sir." "Okay, giddap there!" "Mama!" "Wait till you hear the news!" "Mama..." "Why didn't you marry him?" "Sam wasn't like us." "Nobody told him where he come from." "He didn't have a dream of where he's going." "I's sorry." "Hey, look here." "Master made me head trainer today." "That nice." "Mama, I know how you feel about cockfighting and all." "But listen to me one time." "I'm gonna tell you something." "I loves being a cockfighter." "I's proud." "Ain't nobody know them birds better than I do." "I'm gonna make a name for myself." "And get me some respect." "But not by running like your daddy." "No." "I'll pit them birds until I can buy myself free." "I'll look straight ahead the rest of my life, not over my shoulder." "Another thing I'm marrying Matilda." "She don't know yet." "I don't think she'll put up a fuss." "There's hope for you yet." "Hope for us, Mama." "Hope for both of us." "A little for me." "But a whole lifetime of hope for you yet." " One thing, Georgie." " What's that?" "Don't believe everything massa says." "Don't you trust that man." "What you talking, Mama?" "Why, massa, he treat me fine." "Why, he more like a daddy to me!" "Subtitles by SDI Media Group" "[ENGLISH]"