"Whoa there." "Giddyup now." "Where can I eat?" "There's tables for niggers in the back." "She may sit here with me." "well, Miss Benson, I can't let her...." "She's Negro." "Just for a moment." "Come here, girl." "What will you have?" "There's" "I can read." "The world is changing very fast." "Sit." "How old is...?" "Abner." "Six month." "So you have lots of milk." "I don't suppose you're looking for a job?" "No." "I going north." "This would only distract you for a while." "I have a boy, william, of 1 5 months." "I cannot feed him." "I have a wet nurse, but she's uppity, and her milk, I think, a little sour." "Anyway, william doesn't like it." "I pay quite well." "I couId." "But" " Excuse me for asking." "But is you very religious?" "It's none of your business." "But yes, I believe in the Lord." "Is you on a mission for Negro folk?" "Saving they soul?" "I don't believe that you Negroes have souls." "AII right then." "We can work for you." "Just for a little while." "Where they going, Micah?" "They on strike." "Strike?" "Sick of working for pennies in the field." "They want better pay." "well, I ain't never heard of it." "Negro folk on strike." "I don't like it, Miss Queen." "There gonna be trouble." "I need a hundred strong boys." "I'm paying 75 cents a day." "Come on." "Come on." "We is be free." "I need a hundred of them." "Seventy-five cents a day." "Come on, boys." "Come on up here." "Hundred of you." "Seventy-five cents a day." " Seventy-five cents a day." " Money." "Pay us more money." "Whoa there." "Whoa." "Move out the way." "I ain't going." "Don't be afraid, sweetheart." "Don't cry now." "Don't be afraid." "Take him, honey." " Thank God you're here." " Niggers in control?" "What happened to law?" "That's why we sent for you." "This is the Iaw here now." "I'II bring order." "I'II send them all to hell." " Get over there." " Hurry up here." "AII right." "Come on now, y'aII." "I want good fresh fruit." "I don't trust that hotel." "There?" "No, not there." "They are Semitic." "What's Semitic?" "Jews." "Semites." "We do not give them our business." "There's another down the street." "Our cause is just." " Decent pay for a decent day's work." " You tell them, now." "Cash instead of vouchers good only at the plantation stores." "They promised us better things and better times." " Yes, they did." " But those better days never seem to come." "And I am overflowing with their unkept promises." " I don't care what they say they will do." " Yeah." "I judge them only by what they have done." "And up until now they have done nothing." " So from now on, we take..." " Yeah." "...only what is ours." "only what has been promised to us." "only what we have been promised." "Look, boy, he's your pappy." "Come along, Queen." "Don't dawdIe." "It is now." "The time is now." "It's getting out of hand." "Arrest that boy." "These warrants are illegal." "They've not been signed." "Then sign them, for God's sake." "They're just a bunch of blacks." "What are the charges?" "There's no law against free men withholding their labor in this country." "If white men can strike, why can't blacks?" "release the prisoners." " Yeah!" " Yes!" "We is free." " Freedom, freedom, freedom." " You need to let loose." "Freedom, freedom, freedom." " Freedom, freedom, freedom." " It ain't over, friends." "Freedom, freedom, freedom." "It ain't over yet." "AII right." " Freedom, freedom, freedom." " That's right." "Freedom, freedom, freedom." " Freedom, freedom, freedom." " Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Yes, Davis!" "Him." "Freedom, freedom, freedom." "Freedom, freedom." "Come on." "There's a woman." "She say she know you." "Hey, boy." "You got any idea what it's like for a woman stuck on her own with a child?" "No man to turn to." "I felt safe with you for the first time in my Iife." "I trusted you." "You're like all men." "You gets what you want then the hell with us women." "You wanted my child." "I gave you that." "I wanted part of you." "And you got part of me." "And you got him." "But you can't have all of me." "There are too many battles to be fought." "This is where the black man draws the line and says, "Enough." "No more."" "That's real fine brave talk from a man who didn't even have the guts to say goodbye." "Not even a word or a letter." "I can't write and you know it, woman." "Then you should have sent a piece of paper with your mark on it." "Something." "Anything." "That's my mark." "You had that." "You got that." "You're a liar!" "You're a liar!" "You liar!" "Liar." "Left me all alone with that boy." "How could you?" "How could you leave me with that...?" " I gotta get back." " She be mad, your missus?" "I don't care." "A little time with you is worth a day of her anger." "I'd ask you to stay, but it ain't safe." "You the leader?" "Not the leader the center." "I scared for you." "I scared for me too." "There you are at last." "I sorry, missus." "The boy's been awake all night long." "I haven't had a wink of sleep." "And poor Mr. Benson with so much on his mind." "I suppose you've been with Abner's father." "Yes, but" "well, I'm very angry with you, Queen." "But perhaps the circumstances are somewhat unusual." "You're a good nanny, so I shall simply dock you a day's pay." "Yes, missus." "Thank you." "You must go to him." "Abner's father, warn him." "He's in terrible danger." "Go to him." "Get him away." "They know where he is." "There'II be terrible work done this night." "He is the klan." "Thank you, missus." "I'II keep Abner safe with me." "You gotta warn him." "They coming for him." "They coming for you." "You gotta go." "They won't find me." "They know." "Then let them come." "Can't run forever." "Then I going to stay here with you." "No, no." "No, no, you go to the boy." "You keep him safe." "He's the future." "No." "I'II help you, Queen." "I'II help you, girl." "Miscegenation is our destruction." "The African black was a harmless, docile creature that could be kept in the place that God and the bible had assigned him." "But the liberal Yankee and the lecherous Jew have inbred with the animal to creature a new and impure race that think of themselves our equal." "They take food out of your mouth." "They take the land from our people." "They're gonna take our women." "I'm not afraid to die in defense of my country and my way of Iife." "I'm not afraid to kill for my way of Iife." "It is my sacred duty to God." "It is my sacred duty to God." "It is my sacred duty to God." "Say "it's my sacred duty to God." Say it, say it." "It's my sacred duty to God." "Say it loud." "It's my sacred duty to God!" "You must chop them out." "You gotta chop them out." "You gotta chop them out, root and branch if the tree of white hope is gonna survive." "So you let them burn." " Come on, say it!" " Burn." " Say it." " Burn!" "Burn!" " Let the nigger burn in hell!" " Burn!" "Abner?" "child, you in here?" "He isn't here, Queen." "Abner is doing God's work tonight." "It's for william, you see." "And all the little white children of America." "It is our sacred bound and duty to make sure they inherit a world of peace and order." "It is God's law, a pure and clean America unsuIIied by animal blood." "I see the hand of Providence here." "The Lord sent you to us to make his nice work easier." "The Lord had deserted us for our sins." "But now he has returned to us in glory." "Come on out, nigger." " Rot in hell." "I ain't coming out." " Come on." "We have Abner, your son." "You watch him burn." "Let this be a lesson to all niggers." "Let this be a lesson to the boy." "You watch him burn and you remember, boy." "Yeah, you watch your daddy burn." "Watch him." "Watch him." "Lord!" "What have we done to you?" "Why hate us so much?" "No!" "Abner." "Abner." "Abner." "Oh, God." "No." "AII aboard." "AII aboard." "Come on aboard now." "Come on aboard." "Five cents, ma'am." "Where you heading?" "North." "Seems there's an endless river of niggers going north." "Yes, sirree." "Goes north on my ferry." "And after a few months comes back south with nothing in their pockets but broken dreams." "Besides, what's up north but cold weather and coId-hearted Yankees?" "Jobs." "There are jobs down here." "old Master Cherry looking for a new kitchen maid." "But everybody wants to go up north." "Good job for someone." "Room and board good eating." "You know Dora, who cooks for Master Cherry?" "Hog ribs with sauce." "Mm!" "That's some kind of eating." "well, hush up, man." "I ain't ate yet." "I just saying can't find a good hog up north." "It's skinny old things up there." "Here we is folks." "Everybody off." "I'II see you right soon though." "If you staying on, lady that's another 5 cent." "I ain't got 5 cent." "I ain't got one red cent." "I ain't got nothing." "I can't hardly charge you for taking you back where you just came from." "only, don't you let all these other folks know." "Otherwise they all want a free ride." "I don't want no charity." "I gonna pay you back soon as I get a job." "Yes, ma'am, I understand that." "I just ain't sure how much interest to charge you." "Henry, you had schooling." "How much interest we gonna charge this lady on 5 cent?" "Making fun of folks down on they luck." "It ain't right." "Hey, boy." "By myself." "What you looking at?" "Take your eyes off me." "You men are all the same." "You just got one thing on your mind." "Keep your eyes off me, you hear me?" "Yes, ma'am, I hear you." "Not going to look at you." "Promise." "glory be, Pa." "That is one mean-tempered woman." "Ain't she just?" "That squash yesterday was just fine." "Pretty day." "You look better." "How's the job?" "If you're looking for me to say thanks or something, forget it." "I'd have managed somehow." "Sure you would." "Did you pull some of those carrots for me?" "Ain't you got a ferry to run?" "Saturday, my boy does it." "I work my land." "I've got the biggest block of land that we could buy." "And with the ferry, we do pretty well." "Get me some of the big ones in the back." "How well you do or how well you don't do ain't nothing to me." "Soon as I get a few dollars saved, I going north." "Just saying." "Hey, there now, little fella." "What's your name?" "You leave that child be." "He mine." "Ain't nobody ever gonna take him away." "Lord, woman, I just asking him his name." "Ain't no business of yours." "Now, I got work to do even if you ain't." "The child's called Abner." "Fine name for a boy." "biblical." "well, you must be Queen." "Yes, sir, master." "And don't call me master." "My name is Mr. Cherry." "Yes, sir, Mr. Cherry, sir." "well, I'm pleased Dora was able to find a job for you." "If you work hard, I'm sure you'II be with us a Iong time." "Oh, no, I ain't staying." "I just here till I get back on my feet, then I going north." "I going to open me a flower shop." "Oh, I understood from Dora it was to be a more permanent situation." "Oh, no." "I ain't going to be no kitchen skivvy all my Iife." "well, I'm glad to see you're ambitious, Queen." "But since I'm paying you as a maid and you don't plan to be with us very long maybe you'd better be about your work." "Yes, sir, Mr. Cherry, sir." "I suppose my position has always seemed to be a paradox." "An abolitionist who kept slaves." "But it made sense to me and to the slaves, apparently." "Most of them stayed with me after the war." "although Queen is new to us." "girl, get me some cool spring water." "Has this house been in your family a Iong time?" "well, actually, the house and the land belonged to my dear late wife." "They were a wedding gift from her father." "And the slaves came with the land." "I said cool water, girl." "This is positively tepid." "Get me some ice." "I always knew that slavery must end someday and so I organized the farm with that in mind." "fool girl." "My socks are sopping wet." " I'm sorry." " Get me a cloth, you stupid nigger." "You have no right calling other people names when you know nothing about them." "My pappy was white." "And his before him." "And they came from ireland." "I got more Irish blood in me than anything." "I may not look Irish, but that's what I am." "And if you go shaking your family tree, you just may find you got a little itty-bitty bit of Negro blood in you too." "And if you ain't, that ain't give you no right to go calling other people names." "well, how dare she?" "I am so sorry." "Our Queen is somewhat highly strung." "You'II dismiss her, of course." "well, I will certainly have very stern words with her." "She could be right, Daphne, old girl." "You never know what your pappy or grandpappy..." "...got up to with those slave girls." "Don't be vulgar, charles." "Queen, what were you thinking of?" "She insulted me." "well, it is not your place to embarrass my guests." "I don't care how they behave." "Now, unless you can learn to keep your temper under control, I'm...." "I'm just gonna have to make other arrangements." "well, that suits me just fine." "It's high time you figured out who your friends are, missy." "Mr. Cherry's been kind enough to offer you a home here." "A home." "That's where folks love you." "It's time you let go of all that pain that's eating on you and let somebody love you." "We gonna be fine, boy." "We gonna be just fine, you hear me?" "We don't need them." "We ain't need nobody." "Mr. Cherry likes a happy house." "If she carry on like that, she won't have a job." "You try talking to her?" "She won't talk to me sit with me." "She just stays up in that room and nurses that boy." "We gotta do something about it." "You wouldn't be looking for another Mrs. HaIey, by any chance?" "I-- Dora, don't you start, now." "well, it's time you were." "That boy of yours, Henry, needs a mammy." "And you be needing somebody to take care of you too." "You know I'm not in the market." "And I told you that I" "Uh-huh." "You told me a thousand times." "I still don't believe you." "Dadgum it." "Where Abner?" "You seen Abner?" " Ain't he with you?" " He was in the garden, but he gone." "well, he can't have gone too far." "Oh, God." "Maybe he down by the river." "He can't swim." "He too little." "AII aboard!" "He lost." "You seen him?" "You seen my little boy?" "I seen him." "Where?" "He's at my pappy's place." "What's he doing at your pappy's place?" "The hare was so far ahead, he thought:" ""I'II just lie down and have a little nap."" "And when he did old Man Tortoise came lumbering along and passed him by and won the race." "Passed him by?" "Yeah, before the hare woke up." "Woke up?" "Yeah." "That's a very old story by a black man called Aesop." "You give that child to me." "I'm just telling him stories." "I don't want you telling him stories." "Keep away from him." "The whole world seem to think they know what better for my boy than me." "I can't wait till I get out of here." "As soon as I get a few dollars saved, I going." "well, how much you need?" "I told you before." "I don't want your charity." "You been told before no one offering you charity." "We all be glad to see the back of your bad temper." "But if it get you on your way any quicker you can work for me in your spare time from Mr. Cherry." "Bit of housekeeping." "Looking after my boy, Henry." "But it wouId be worth it in the Iong run just to get you out of here." "How much?" "A quarter an hour." "How many hours?" "As many as you can manage." "When can I start?" "Right now if you want." "I ain't going to talk, except when I have to." "And keep away from my boy, you hear me?" "Suits me just fine." "AII right, Abner." "You sit right here while I clean up this mess." "Lord knows it's a pigsty." "I done with my work." "could I have the afternoon off?" "Dora said to ask you, sir." "well, of course, Queen." "What for?" "well, it's Saturday and I wanted to spend time with my family." "With Abner." "AII right." "well, the thing is could I have every Saturday afternoon off?" "Ain't make no difference." "I gonna get all my work done around here." "And Dora said that" "AII right." "As long as you're not spending these afternoons working for somebody else." "What I do with my time is my business." "well, I shall have to make an adjustment in your salary, of course." "well, that ain't fair." "I gonna be working double hard to get everything done." "And I ain't a slave no more." "Queen, I have tried to be fair with you from the moment you came to us but you have never returned the compliment." "You tell me you're not staying." "You insult my dinner guests." "And now you expect me to pay you for time you're not working." "You are the most ornery maid I have ever had." "It will not do, Queen." "You may have Saturday afternoons off, but your other boss can pay for them." "Fine, Mr. Cherry, sir." "Thank you, sir." "Gotta get back to the house." "You look tired." "Working two jobs, it ain't easy." "You don't want this job?" "I didn't say that." "well, take the weight off your feet." "Just for a spell." "I fine." "What is the matter with you, woman?" "You think I'm gonna bite you?" "I just asking you to sit a little." "To talk a little bit." "I don't wanna sit." "Why not?" "You got something against sitting next to a man?" "You so scared of people?" "You ain't have no right to talk to me like that." "AII right, no, I ain't." "But it's time somebody did." "You may not know who you are." "black, white, yellow or sky-bIue pink." "And it don't matter a bit." "Because I know what you are, toting that boy around here." "What I do with my boy is my business." "Never talking peaceabIe to a living soul." "Hating the world for whatever the world done to you." "If you think you can live in that glass case for the rest of your life, you're a fool." "You the biggest damn fool the Lord ever put on this earth." "That's what you are." "well, maybe for a minute." "What you want to talk about?" "Nothing." "comfortable chair." "It's you." "Being there is something." "Ain't nobody done sit in that chair since Tinny died." "It was her chair." "They all knowed it." "They don't sit in it." "You miss her?" "Very much." "I miss having someone to talk to." "How's the savings going?" "I getting there." "I getting there." "I best be going now." "I see you tomorrow." "Tomorrow." "pickled beef with a mustard sauce and a nice pie for dessert." "Oh, pecan pie would be nice." "Or whatever you decide, Dora." "You always serve a fine table." "Oh, I sorry." "I come back later." "That's all right, Queen." "You can do it now." "No trouble." "I gonna start on the bedroom." "well, she really lights up this old place when she smiles, doesn't she?" "Don't look at me." "Ain't nothing to do with me." "well, Iet's just hope it continues." "Why can't I take a bath on my own?" "I a man." "Maybe." "Yes, Henry, I guess you are." "So I going to turn my back." "Next year, I'II be old enough to work on the farm." "Then no more school." "I hate school." "I sorry to hear that, Henry." "Why you hate it so bad?" "Just because." "Just because you ain't good at it?" "school ain't the way around here." "Boys go to school because they have to till sixth grade." "Then they work the land, sharecrop." "well, since you got a little ways longer, why don't you try something for me?" "Instead of waking up each morning saying, "I hate it"  try waking up each morning saying, "I Iike it."" "would you do that for me?" "Good boy." "Abner's asleep in the big bed." "I guess I just gonna leave him there." "Ain't no use waking him now." "Got another pipe?" "Mm-hm." "Tobacco?" "No." "This fine." "How's savings going?" "Not too good." "I reckon it going to be a Iong, long time before I have enough money saved to leave here." "That's all right then." "Yeah, that's fine." "Do you, Queen Jackson take this man, alec HaIey, to have and to hold in sickness and in health for richer or poorer for better or worse as long as you both shall live?" "I do, with all my heart." "I now pronounce you man and wife." "Go get the broom." "Thank you." " You're doing real good." " Okay." " You gotta help me now." "Come on." " It coming." " Come on." "Come on." " It coming." " Give me more." "Give me more." " It coming." "Come on." "AII right, all right, all right." "I hope it's a boy." "More hands for the food." "If it is, it'II be a while before he old enough to go sharecropping." "well, I'II be." "Mama sure do yell." "That's your mammy." "Never could stand a lick of pain." "well, Mr. HaIey, it's a boy." "Oh, thank you, Jesus." "Hey, come on and sit down, boy." "Consecrate this food, oh, Lord, we beseech you and we ask that you bless and protect our new son" "Simon!" "bless and protect our new son, Simon." "For Jesus' sake, amen." "Amen." "Now eat." "I'II sit with her." "Hey." "He's fine." "He beautiful." "welcome, Simon." "I hope it'II be a good life for you." "We'II do our best for you." "And when you grown, there's a hundred acres for you to share with your brothers." "What if he don't wanna be no sharecropper?" "Can't map out the boy's whole life for him." "There ain't nothing else for a boy in these parts to be." "unless you want him to be a bootblack." "well, he ain't gonna be no bootbIack." "Lord only know what he gonna be." "But he gonna be magnificent." "Simon!" "Simon!" "Lord have mercy." "Where that boy done got to now?" "Mrs. HaIey, you should be very proud of him." "He has done so well this year." "We are all gonna miss him." "He worked real hard." "He seems to love to Iearn." "It seems a pity that all that work will go to waste." "well, his pappy need him on the farm with Abner." "Oh, Lord." "Simon is never gonna learn one end of a hoe from the other." "It makes me mad, you know?" "Other boys should have stayed at school." "But, no, their pappies need them on the land." "Lord, there ain't that much land for all those boys to work." "It's just such a terrible waste." "His pappy just can't see the use of no more schooling." "Somebody better see the use of it one day." "else all we'II have is a race of sharecroppers." "Sorry, Ma." "I was swapping marbles." "Next time your mammy call, you come, you hear?" "You have a good vacation, Simon." "Yes, ma'am." "No point telling him to study hard when he's not coming back next year." " Bye-bye." " Bye." "Going home now, Ma?" "Yeah, we going home." "Simon, if you had your druthers, what would you be?" "Oh, I'd Iike to be all sorts of things, Ma." "And do things." "I want to see the world." "Most of all, I wanna stay in school." "And maybe even go to college." "No." "Ha!" "I said no." "I heard you." "Simon's leaving school just like Abner did." "That's what boys do in these parts." "I need him on the land, you hear?" "I heard you the first time." "Just can't believe what I'm hearing." "Dadgum it!" "Ugh!" "We ain't rich but we certainly ain't wondering where our next meal coming from." "It been hard, but it been good because I thought it had a purpose." "But now, I just wondering what has it all been for?" "It's been for us and the children." "So they have a better day to look forward to than we ever had." "Where's the better day for that boy?" "He work hard too." "Get the best grades of any boy in the district." "And now he got to throw it all away because his old pappy say boys got to work on the farm." "I thought you had become somebody." "Thought you were somebody who could afford to waste just one boy so he could follow his own star to his own better day." "Wasting a boy?" "Since you seem to think schooling a waste you'II be wasting him." "Because some folk think schooling is a way to better yourself." "Ain't too many men in the district can afford to do that, black or white." "AII right." "I'II waste him." "Ha!" "He said yes." "Yahoo!" "But you gonna have to work." "Yes, Mama." "Find the money..." "...for your books." "Yes, Mama." "Yes, Mama." "Abner, come take my shoes off for me." "It's good he going back to school, Mama." "He sure ain't never gonna be a farmer." "I know." "Don't you get no idea about leaving, Abner." "Don't ever leave your poor mama." "You hear?" "Yes, Mama." "I dare you." "What you selling?" "What it says." "Reckon I'II have me one." "Five cents." "Don't give me lip, nigger." "Pour the lemonade." "What you gonna do with all our money?" "Buy books for school." "Books?" "My, my." "You must be your teacher's pet." "I likes reading." "Wasn't a whole lot of lemon in it." "Tasted like old dishwater to me." "Look, there's 1 0 Iemons in that." "Now, give me my money." "Get him!" " Get off of me!" " Yeah, you get him." "Get off of me!" "That him?" "Yeah." "You give my boy his money." "I don't know what you're talking about." "You drank his lemonade and you ain't pay for it." "Crazy nigger, I didn't touch his stuff." "Don't you call me nigger, you trash." "And don't call me crazy neither." "Ma!" "You go crying for your mammy." "Get out of here." "She hit me." "What's going on, Tommy?" "That crazy nigger woman hit me." "He drank my boy Iemonade and he ain't pay for it." "How dare you hit my boy?" "He hit my boy first." "I gonna get the Iaw on you." "You better get out of here." "He has been in the house all day you understand me?" "Come on, Mama, Iet's go." "Let's go home." "What's all this commotion?" "He and his friend drank lemonade and ain't pay for it." "And they beat up on my boy." "Now, they owe him 1 0 cent and I ain't leaving here till I gets it." "That true?" "Give her the money." "I ain't giving her the time of day." "She beat up on my boy." "I'm gonna have her in court." "I ain't leaving here till I gets it." " Oh, you leaving here all right." " For the love of Pete." "Oh, here." "What, you think I want your charity?" "I just want what's truthfully mine." "You think I'm just some poor Negro you can beat up on, cheat and lie to like you beat and cheat and lie to all Negroes?" "How much white blood you got in you?" "You keep your hands off me." "Much as me?" "Look at me." "Look at me!" "I Iook as white as you do." "But I ain't." "I black because my mammy was Negro." "But that don't give you the right to cheat me out of what's mine by rights." "Now, I don't want your damn white charity." "AII I want is what's rightfully mine!" "What's due me!" " Are you gonna get rid of her?" " Give her the money." "The woman's mad." "She ain't." "She's just suffered, that's all." "We don't need your money." "We got money." "We can manage." "Come on, Mama, Iet's go home." "Let's just go home." " What kind of law are you?" " You hush your mouth, woman." "Run you down the poke." "Ain't nothing for you to be afraid of." "You're home now." "I scared." "Ain't nothing for you to be scared of." "I scared of me." "Why we coming here, Mama?" "Because it's important." "Because it's part of me." "This where I was born." "I growed up here with my mammy." "Ya!" "hath but a little time at his full measure." "For as much as it hath pleased almighty God in his wise providence to take out of this world the soul of our deceased brother we therefore commit the body of James Jackson, Jr to the ground." "Earth to earth ashes to ashes dust to dust." "Amen." "Who's James Jackson, Jr.?" "Our grandpa." "This here where my mammy resting." "Why ain't she buried at the other place?" "The nice place?" "Because she was a slave." "AII these here were slaves." "Was you a slave?" "Mm-hm." "I was born in the little weaving house." "Come on." "I'II show you where it is." "Come on." "Look, Mama." "My, my." "My pappy gave these to my mammy." "How ever many years have they been here?" "old Captain Jack used to read to me from them." "Who Captain Jack?" "He was my grandpappy." "He taught me to read and write with these here cards." "Wasn't supposed to." "Wasn't legal for blacks to read back then." "It is now though, ain't it?" "Yes, it is now." "And you gotta make good use of it, boy." "You gotta do your learning, read your books, and do good in school." "You gotta make something of yourself." "You got it in you to be more than a field hand." "Now, read your books and do your learning." "Promise me." "Yes, Mama." "Good boy." "Now, we gonna go visit the big house where I growed up." "Come on." "Mama, I did try hard at school." "I know you did, boy." "I know." "It smell funny." "That because it so old." "Used to be pictures on the walls Iacy curtains, all bright and airy." "You really lived here?" "For years and years this was my home." "What are you doing here?" "Miss Lizzie, these here my sons." "I came by to show them my old home." "I can't imagine why, Queen." "There's nothing for you here." "This was never your home, merely a house in which you lived." "This was my home." "My growing up, my Iife." "My dreams and my nightmares." "It was part of my Iife and it's part of theirs too." "Whatever relationship you Iike to think you had with this house is over now." "Buried with my husband." "I don't like to think, Miss Lizzie." "I know." "You don't belong here." "You never have." "Come on." "Mama, who was that?" "Let's go home." "Ain't this your home?" "No, child." "Home is where you are loved." "I hope you're all as proud of yourselves today as I am proud of you." "I would mention each one of my students if we had the time but there is one boy in particular I would Iike to mention." "Simon HaIey has been an inspiration to me as a teacher and an example to his fellow students and is the first black boy in Savannah who has ever finished grade school." "Must be doing pretty well for yourself if you can afford to raise a boy like that." "Pretty well." "I don't suppose you'd be good for a Ioan?" "Just a couple of dollars, you know, till harvest." "It's extraordinary what you've done, Simon." "It's always been my dream to bring a boy to what you've done." "Yes, ma'am." "would you go on down and enjoy yourself?" "I wanna have a little talk with your mammy." "Yes, ma'am." "Let's walk down by the river." "Go ahead." "Wonder what those two brooding hens are hatching up." "I think they're hatching up Simon's future." " No." " You think I Iike it?" "Simon only 1 5." "Too young to be going out in the world all on his own-some." "Then why you bring it up?" "Because he got to." "He can." "Ain't no "got to" about it." "You was a slave, and I was a slave." "We free now, but we still think like slaves." "We still think it our place to serve." "And that's all Negroes ever gonna be if we go on thinking like that." "We got to start taking what we can get instead of just getting what we allowed to have." "You ain't gonna do it." "I ain't gonna do it." "We too set in our ways." "But the young'uns, they can do it." "well, I ain't letting him." "I may be too set in my ways, but he ain't going and that's it." "Nigger boy going to normal school." "I ain't heard the like of it." "That your final word on the subject?" "That's my final word." "I think he should go, Pa." "He useless on the farm, and we don't need another hand." "The two of us could work this." "He ain't going." "I must be getting old or something." "well, you are." "You're getting old, and you got no idea what the modern world is coming to." "And if it helps any, I feel the same way." "colored boy going to normal school." "It'II be college next." "Dadgum it." "But then, if he can do it, why not?" "You be way past the age when you should be working." "And you ain't working, and you should be." "Yes, Pa." "You be a useless damn worker now anyway." "So ain't a Iot of point in putting you on the land." "We gotta do something with you." "So I'm sending you to normal school." "If you Iike it or not." "And you better like it, and you better do good!" "Yes, Pa." "Thank you, Pa." "And you better not get into trouble." "You know about girls now." "Or you should." "And I don't want you getting in any trouble with girls." "No, sir." "No trouble at all." "I promise." "Good Lord knows what this is gonna cost." "I ain't made of money." "But I'm giving you $50." "That's it." "Ain't no more." "You got this darn scholarship thing." "And if you need anything else, you're gonna have to work for it." "Yes, sir." "I'II work hard." "I promise." "Thank you, Pa." "Thank you." "Most fool thing I ever done." "Oh, Mama." "Thank you, Mama." "Nothing to do with me." "AII your papa idea." "Ain't you pleased?" "Why should I be?" "My little boy going off to the big, bad world." "Of course I'm pleased." "What you think?" "I touched in the head?" "Oh, Mama." "Now, you go tell all your friends." "Don't be late now." "I ain't got long with you." "Mama." "You'd better go on, boy." "Something wrong, Abner?" "You gonna tell me or not?" "I wanna go too, Mama." "Go where?" "I ain't know." "someplace." "Any place." "I ain't know." "Memphis with Simon." "Chicago, maybe." "Oh, Abner." "That fool talk." "No, it ain't." "well, you ain't going nowhere." "How come Simon can go, I can't go?" "Because that different." "He going for a purpose." "For a reason." "And what you gonna do?" "End up on the street like half the other niggers go up north?" "I couId find me a job, Mama." "well, there ain't much use for no sharecroppers up north." "And there ain't nothing else you know how to do." "Abner, you my first-born and I Iove you." "But you ain't have no idea what it's like out there." "I don't care what you say, Mama." "I going." "What's all this nonsense your mammy told me, Abner?" "Ain't nonsense." "I wanna go." "Do what?" "There's nothing for you up there." "But that's what you think, Papa." "I can't be doing the same thing day in and day out." "Coming home every night, cotton tuft in my hair." "Going to the same place, doing the same thing seeing the same people." "I don't wanna end up with my gut bust from throwing cotton bale." "I just gotta go." "You did it, Mama." "You left home to find your place in the world." "Simon is going." "Why can't I go?" "simple truth is I can't afford you go." " Henry can help work the farm." " I know that." "I mean I can't give you any money to go." "Sending Simon cost me enough." "Papa, I ain't want no money." "I got a few dollars of my own saved up." "And I gonna find a job." "That's fair." "He can't go." "But Papa said." "Don't listen to your papa." "He ain't your real papa." "You listen to me." "You hear me?" "I sorry." "I sorry." "I didn't mean it." "Papa?" "Maybe we go fishing later." "What's that, Pa?" "Some animal, probably." "That's ferryman's woman." "Lord Jesus." "Fetch your ma, boy." "This here ain't no man's work." "She ain't hurt bad." "She cold." "She hungry." "She a little sick?" "She touched in the head." "It's real kind of you to bring her." " We'II fix you something to eat." " Ain't no need." "We're right sorry to see her this way." "Come on, Queen." "You're loved here." "You're home now." "You're home." "Come on." "You're safe." "You're safe now." "It's all right now." "See?" "That's good." "That's good." "Come on." "Go ahead." "Whoa." " I ain't mad." " My hair is perfect." "Perfect." "Perfect." "Perfect." "Perfect." "Perfect." "Perfect." "Perfect." "Thank you, ma'am." "I ain't mad." "You're here." "There must be something wrong." "Been asking myself for days now what I did wrong." "I thought we had a good life." "What else has these 1 5 years been about?" "I tried to make a good home for us." "Tried to be a good pappy to all our boys." "I Ioved them all but I tried hardest with Abner." "Because he wasn't mine." "It was some part of you that I couId never reach." "And I thought if I reached him, I might reach you." "I can't figure out what I did wrong." "Wasn't nothing you done wrong." "I promise." "But you're here." "So one of us did." "If it weren't me...." "I want you to be well and happy." "But if you can't be well, I want you to be happy." "And if you can't be happy, I want you to be well." "AII my Iife I tried to work out where I belong." "I tried to fit in with what other people wanted." "Nobody ever asked what I wanted." "Nobody ever really cared." "You're wrong about that, woman." "I cared for you." "I Ioved you with all my heart." "I loves you with all my heart." "Leave me alone." "Leave me alone." "Leave me alone." "Queen." "You asked to see me?" "I know we ain't always seen eye to eye, Mr. Cherry." "But I need a favor from you now." "My boy Simon going away." "Leaving for Memphis." "Going to normal school." "always been my dream that he go to college." "well, you have every reason to be very proud of him, Queen." "Now, why did you want to see me?" "The thing is...." "My first-born, Abner, wanna go too." "Not for school, just away." "He wanna find his own place in the world." "I tried to stop him." "Tried to talk him out of it." "I was wrong." "He got the right to be his own man." "We done gave all our money to Simon." "Ain't nothing left for Abner." "So I need some money." "Just $50." "If you can lend it to me, I'II work for you when I get out of here and pay you back." "Do you really want him to go away, Queen?" "No." "I don't." "But I ain't got no right to stop him." "well, I would be pleased to lend you the money, Queen." "And as for paying it back well, we'II worry about that another time." "Very kind of you." "Now, Queen, perhaps it's time for you to return to your room." "Leave me alone." "Leave me alone." "Thank you, Mr. Cherry." "Perfect." "If I don't go, will that make Mama better?" "That ain't the real problem." "She tried to keep you in a glass cage all your life because of things that happened." "She won't talk about them." "But she's gotta let you go eventually." "What's ailing her, Pa?" "Guess I keep wondering if it's me." "Mine." "Mine." "Mine, give it to me." "Mine." "Mine." "Give it to me." "Where you think you're off to, Queen?" "Home." "What's all this foolishness?" "Come on, back to your room." "Don't you touch me." "I ain't going back there." "You can try dragging me if you want to." "You'II be wasting your time." "I leaving here today and there ain't nothing you can do about it." "We'II get a doctor for you." "But now let's get back to your room." "I ain't moving." "What is all this, Queen?" "I wanna go home." "That's not a very good idea." "But I have to." "My two boys, they're going away." "They leaving and I wanna say goodbye to them." "Queen, you're too sick to" "I ain't that sick." "I know I got a few demons in me." "I don't suppose they're gonna ever go away." "But I ain't a danger to nobody." "Except maybe me." "And we can protect you look after you here." "You think I gonna get better here?" "Doctor I should be home where I'm loved." "Even if that were true, how you gonna get home?" "It's 50 miles." "And look at you." "You haven't even tied your shoes." "please." "please." "I gotta go home." "I'II come back if you want me to." "I promise." "I gotta go." "Gotta say goodbye." "I their mama." "Be careful now." "I was wrong." "I done the wrong thing by you." "I just loved you so much, I didn't wanna let you go." "I was wrong." "Mama" "Hush now." "Go on." "You go with my blessing." "You just promise me one thing." "Anything, Mama." "Just one." "Wherever you go whatever you do always remember that you're loved." "And if you don't find what you're looking for out there in that big, bad world and if you got troubles or you're lonely, you're scared just can't manage no more remember no matter how far you done traveled it ain't such a Iong road home." "Put them up there, son." "I'II make you proud of me, Mama." "I know you will." "You work hard, okay?" "I will." "Remember what I told you." "Simon time to go." "That's all the money I have." "Now, you get on there." "Get going." " Bye." " They're too young." "They can't go." "It's too late." " Bye, Pa." " Come on." "Bye, Mama." "Bye." " Bye, Papa." " Bye." "You miss them?" "Mm-hm." "Just gonna have to make do with you then won't I?" "Mm-hm." "When I was a little girl I lived in my pappy's big house." "My half-sister, Jane slept in the same room." "only she had a big four-poster and I slept on a pallet at the foot of her bed." "We'd lie in our bed, dream of our future." "I always said that I was gonna marry a prince on a white horse." "Jane would laugh at me." ""Who gonna marry a raggedy, itty-bitty slave girl like you, Queen?" she'd say." "She shouIdn't have laughed." "She was wrong." "only thing is how could I possibly have known that when I did see my prince he wasn't gonna be on no white horse but he'd be riding on a ferryboat crossing the mighty river?" "That's all right then."