Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:00 [ Silence ]
00:00:11 >> Happy birthday to you.
00:00:14 Happy birthday to you.
00:00:18 Happy birthday, Miss Jane.
00:00:23 Happy birthday to you.
00:00:29 [ Applause ]
00:00:31 >> You know what you put all these candles on this cake for?
00:00:33 >> Never mind, just blow them out.
00:00:35 Just blow them out.
00:00:35 >> I ain't got enough breath to be blowing out these candles.
00:00:39 [ Laughter ]
00:00:41 >> See there?
00:00:43 [ Applause ]
00:00:45 >> Happy birthday, Jane.
00:00:46 [ Applause ]
00:00:48 >> You going to be here with me this time next year, Lena?
00:00:54 >> God willing.
00:00:56 God willing.
00:00:58 >> Don't want to be here by myself.
00:01:01 >> I'm going to be here with you, Jane.
00:01:03 >> Oh, man, I know you're going to be here.
00:01:05 >> Yeah, I promise.
00:01:07 >> Hello.
00:01:09 [ Applause ]
00:01:11 >> Happy birthday.
00:01:13 [ Laughter ]
00:01:15 >> Hello, Miss Jane.
00:01:17 >> Well, hello, Jimmy.
00:01:19 Come on in.
00:01:21 >> Happy birthday.
00:01:23 Can I speak with you, Miss Jane?
00:01:25 >> Well, Jimmy, Miss going outside for this stuffing full of cake, me help?
00:01:39 >> Going with us down to the courthouse when we get ready to move.
00:01:43 >> I'm 109, 110.
00:01:47 I'm too old.
00:01:49 I can't even do nothing but getting away.
00:01:51 >> You can inspire the others.
00:01:53 >> Jimmy, what you got going in the back of your head?
00:02:01 >> We going to have one of our girls drink from the white people's fountain down at the courthouse.
00:02:05 >> The white folks' fountain?
00:02:09 That old loon Edgar won't let her get anywhere near that fountain.
00:02:17 You know, when they pass that segregating law, that old loon come around slobbering and hollering, I tell him, Edgar, if you touch me, I'll take my cane and crack your skull.
00:02:35 >> We want Guidry to arrest her.
00:02:37 If one of us did it, we'd just get beat up.
00:02:41 >> Now, what you want old fat Guidry to arrest her for?
00:02:45 >> So we can march down to the courthouse.
00:02:47 >> Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy.
00:02:51 You see these folks around here ain't ready for nothing like that yet.
00:02:56 >> That's our job.
00:02:59 >> Talk to them, Jimmy.
00:03:01 Talk to the young ones.
00:03:03 >> We don't have that kind of time, Miss Jane.
00:03:06 >> What else you got, Jimmy?
00:03:09 >> I've been carrying a scar on my back ever since I was a slave.
00:03:16 >> That's precisely why we need you.
00:03:18 Your mere presence with us will bring forth the multitudes.
00:03:21 >> Jimmy, I understand.
00:03:27 Believe it or not, I was once young myself.
00:03:32 >> That girl is going to drink from the fountain tomorrow, Miss Jane.
00:03:39 >> Well, God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform.
00:03:53 I wait for him to give me the sign, Jimmy.
00:03:58 And he's right most times.
00:04:02 I wait on him.
00:04:04 >> That girl is going to drink from the fountain tomorrow, Miss Jane.
00:04:10 [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE]
00:04:16 [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE]
00:04:26 [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE]
00:04:36 [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE]
00:04:46 [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE]
00:04:56 [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE]
00:05:16 >> Excuse me.
00:05:19 I'm looking for Miss Jane Pittman.
00:05:21 >> Well, you'll find Miss Jane in the last cabin on your left, down that lane.
00:05:26 >> Thank you.
00:05:27 Thank you very much.
00:05:34 >> Tell me again.
00:05:36 What you want to know about Miss Jane for?
00:05:39 >> I'm writing a feature story.
00:05:44 >> A what?
00:05:46 Is this for radio?
00:05:48 >> It's going to be on television, dead cell phone show.
00:05:52 >> No, ma'am, it's for a magazine from New York.
00:05:56 >> I always prefer Brooklyn myself.
00:05:59 [LAUGHTER]
00:06:02 >> Oh, you want to know how come I live so long?
00:06:07 >> Well, I'd like to hear whatever you have to say.
00:06:09 >> About what?
00:06:11 >> You don't have to say a thing to him, Miss Jane.
00:06:14 >> I understand you were a slave.
00:06:17 Lots of peoples were slaves.
00:06:20 >> Well, yes, but you're still alive.
00:06:25 >> Just about.
00:06:30 >> Well, I thought maybe you could tell me what things were like in those days.
00:06:35 >> In those days?
00:06:57 Tomorrow.
00:07:05 Miss Jane's tired.
00:07:06 She'll decide tomorrow.
00:07:09 [CAR ENGINE]
00:07:18 [CAR ENGINE]
00:07:38 [CAR ENGINE]
00:07:56 >> This morning marks Bayonne's first brush with the so-called civil rights movement as a group of Negro agitators confronted Sheriff Guidry at the white folks only drinking fountain at the courthouse.
00:08:09 There were no serious injuries reported, although several arrests were made.
00:08:14 >> Well, his horse son Jimmy got in the jail there.
00:08:18 She could tell you.
00:08:20 >> Well, I want to do an interview with him as soon as things settle down.
00:08:24 >> I came down here to talk to you, Miss Jane.
00:08:27 Are you 110 years old?
00:08:30 >> So to tell me.
00:08:32 >> How far back can you remember?
00:08:35 >> How far back you want to go?
00:08:38 >> Well, the war.
00:08:40 Can you remember?
00:08:41 >> What war?
00:08:42 Second world, first world, or that Cuban war?
00:08:50 >> You remember the Spanish-American war?
00:08:54 >> Spanish-American war.
00:08:56 I can do a whole lot better than that.
00:09:00 >> Do you remember getting your freedom?
00:09:02 >> I hope I never forget it.
00:09:05 How far back you want to go?
00:09:07 You want to go back that far?
00:09:09 I'll go back as far as you want to go.
00:09:12 >> Now, you don't have to tell him nothing, Miss Jane.
00:09:16 >> I know that, Len.
00:09:18 But if I don't, he's just going to sit here and worry me half to death.
00:09:24 >> You mean it's all right?
00:09:25 >> How far?
00:09:27 You want me to go back as far as I can go?
00:09:31 That's even further than when the freedom come.
00:09:40 That thing ain't going to bite me, is it?
00:09:42 >> Oh, no, ma'am.
00:09:43 No, it's just a tape.
00:09:45 [laughter]
00:09:50 >> Oh, my, my, my.
00:09:55 Well, where to start?
00:09:58 Where to start, Lena?
00:10:00 >> Honestly, I wouldn't talk to this man here.
00:10:03 >> Oh, Lena, you just fill in the gaps.
00:10:07 >> Well, I can see who got their mind made up.
00:10:11 >> You might as well start with them over there.
00:10:15 >> What?
00:10:18 Oh, these?
00:10:19 >> Mm-hmm.
00:10:25 >> Lord, Lord, Lord.
00:10:29 I've had these things ever since I can remember.
00:10:34 >> Two rocks?
00:10:42 >> You don't know a whole lot, do you?
00:10:46 [music]
00:10:55 [horse whinnying]
00:10:58 [music]
00:11:02 [music]
00:11:05 [music]
00:11:08 [music]
00:11:11 [music]
00:11:14 [music]
00:11:17 [music]
00:11:20 [music]
00:11:23 [music]
00:11:25 >> Oh, it was a cold day.
00:11:28 Wet and muddy.
00:11:31 I will never forget it.
00:11:34 The Red Army, they come first.
00:11:37 Officers on horses and troops just walking.
00:11:43 They was half-dead, dragging their guns in the mud.
00:11:48 They was so tired.
00:11:51 Some of them were much older than I was.
00:11:54 [music]
00:12:18 >> Ma'am, we'll be asking too much if we could use some of your water.
00:12:24 We don't have very much time.
00:12:27 >> I'd be honored, sir.
00:12:31 Colonel, would you do me the pleasure of taking some brandy while?
00:12:35 >> Thank you kindly.
00:12:37 I would like that.
00:12:40 >> Ticey, Ticey!
00:12:42 Help just stand there gaping. Get them troops some water.
00:12:47 [music]
00:13:11 >> These are the same ones, mind you.
00:13:14 Told the peoples when the war was getting started.
00:13:18 Keep my food warm.
00:13:20 I'm going to kill me a few Yankees and be home for supper.
00:13:24 >> Colonel!
00:13:26 Colonel!
00:13:27 >> Over there!
00:13:29 [music]
00:13:36 >> Colonel, I seen them.
00:13:37 They're right down the road.
00:13:38 They're right behind me.
00:13:40 >> Ma'am, I'm truly grateful, and God bless you all.
00:13:44 >> Our hearts are with you.
00:13:51 >> Left up to me, I turn them niggers loose.
00:13:53 Left up to me.
00:13:54 >> Yeah, if the Yankees want them, let the Yankees have them.
00:13:57 [music]
00:14:26 >> Ticey, what are you doing standing there for?
00:14:28 You go get some more water.
00:14:29 >> What's the problem, Mrs. Brown?
00:14:31 They're all gone now.
00:14:33 >> Oh, you don't think Yankees drink water, too?
00:14:35 Don't you hear that, Ralph?
00:14:37 >> I got to haul that water for them Yankees, too.
00:14:40 >> You don't want to get boiled in oil now, do you?
00:14:43 [music]
00:14:57 >> They're coming, they're coming!
00:14:58 The Yankees are coming!
00:14:59 >> Where?
00:15:00 >> Over there.
00:15:01 >> Oh, my God, they're coming right through the field.
00:15:07 Where's the master?
00:15:08 >> Hey, there's one people around the street.
00:15:09 >> Where?
00:15:10 >> Over there.
00:15:11 >> Where's the master?
00:15:12 >> Hey, there's one people around the street.
00:15:13 >> They're pointing.
00:15:14 Watch your tongue, young Yankee, the devil.
00:15:16 Now, you hear me, don't you say one word about the master or one word about the silver,
00:15:20 or they're going to skin you alive before they boil you in oil.
00:15:27 >> About!
00:15:33 >> There they are.
00:15:34 >> Ma'am?
00:15:35 >> May I offer you some brandy wine?
00:15:37 >> Why, thank you, ma'am.
00:15:54 What happened to your shoes?
00:15:56 >> I took mine off.
00:15:57 They hurt my feet.
00:16:00 >> Hey, what's your name?
00:16:03 >> Ticey, master.
00:16:08 >> They ever beat you, Ticey?
00:16:15 You can tell me.
00:16:27 What did they beat you with?
00:16:30 >> Caternine tails, master.
00:16:33 >> Why'd they whip you?
00:16:36 >> I go to sleep looking after young mischievous children.
00:16:40 >> You're nothing but a child yourself.
00:16:42 How old are you right now?
00:16:45 >> I don't know, master.
00:16:47 >> Ticey, I'm not a master.
00:16:49 I'm a plain old ordinary soldier.
00:16:52 My name's Corporal Lewis Brown.
00:16:54 Now, can you say corporal?
00:16:56 >> No, master.
00:16:57 >> Bet you can.
00:16:58 Go on, try.
00:17:00 >> I can't say that.
00:17:02 >> Can you say Lewis?
00:17:04 >> Yes, master.
00:17:05 >> All right, well, you call me Lewis.
00:17:08 And I'm going to call you something besides Ticey.
00:17:10 Ticey's a slave name.
00:17:12 And back in Ohio, there's lots of pretty names for a girl like you.
00:17:16 >> What names you got?
00:17:18 >> Oh, Eloise.
00:17:22 Sophie, Marguerite, Jane.
00:17:25 >> I like Jane.
00:17:27 >> Okay, you take it.
00:17:29 Now, from now on, your name is Jane.
00:17:32 Not Ticey anymore.
00:17:33 Jane.
00:17:35 When you get older, you change it to anything you want.
00:17:37 But until then, your name is Jane.
00:17:47 If anybody gives you any more trouble, you just come on up to Ohio and tell me.
00:17:53 We'll fix it.
00:18:08 >> A year later, Master Brian called us all together.
00:18:13 We knew something big was happening because he had on his best suit and his top hat.
00:18:21 Anybody that can stand to crawl has got to hear this.
00:18:24 >> That's old, Master Brian.
00:18:28 >> All right, then.
00:18:31 I got something to read to you all.
00:18:35 These papers come through while the war was still going, but there wasn't any point in reading them until now.
00:18:46 "Whereas on the 22nd day of September in the year of our Lord, 1862, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States,
00:18:59 containing among other things the following, to which, that on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, 1863,
00:19:09 all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States,
00:19:18 shall be then, henceforward, and forever free."
00:19:34 Well, it just goes on like that.
00:19:38 Now, all I want to say is that you all can stay and work on shares.
00:19:48 I can't pay you enough since I ain't got nothing myself since them Yankees went through here last time.
00:20:01 You all can stay. You all can go, just as you please.
00:20:08 Now, if you all stay, I promise I'll be as fair, as fair with you as I always been with you all.
00:20:22 That's that.
00:20:37 You come, you shut up this noise.
00:20:43 Now, you shut up this noise here.
00:20:45 You come in here and talk about I'm leaving. Where to?
00:20:48 And what you gonna do?
00:20:50 Well, every week, Cal, we is free to choose.
00:20:53 There's all kinds of places to go.
00:20:55 Gold in California.
00:20:57 Hold it, hold it. What you gonna eat?
00:21:00 Well, a honky eats food.
00:21:04 How you gonna pay for all this food, you big young buck?
00:21:09 With money, huh? Same as any other free man.
00:21:13 And from where is you getting this fortune?
00:21:17 Honest wage for honest day's work.
00:21:21 You don't know nothing about outside.
00:21:23 You belong right here on this plantation.
00:21:28 Y'all do what y'all want. I'm heading for home.
00:21:32 What about them pilot rollers, honey?
00:21:34 They got Yankees now. No pay for them. Just to freeze the mouse.
00:21:40 They ain't gonna beat you.
00:21:43 And they didn't kill you before 'cause you've blown to somebody.
00:21:47 Now, you ain't owned but by fate, Tycee.
00:21:51 My name's Jane, and I'm headed for Ohio as soon as you point the way north.
00:21:56 North?
00:22:00 Very well, Miss Jane.
00:22:03 North be that-a-way from here.
00:22:06 Now, the sun's on the right in the morning...
00:22:10 and only left in the evening.
00:22:13 You got all this.
00:22:18 All right. Now, remember...
00:22:21 God bless you, child.
00:22:24 [indistinct chatter]
00:22:28 [indistinct chatter]
00:22:31 [indistinct chatter]
00:22:57 Mrs. had tears in her eyes.
00:23:02 She was kissing all the people's goodbyes.
00:23:07 [chuckles]
00:23:09 She even kissed me. [chuckles]
00:23:13 [footsteps]
00:23:16 [music]
00:23:38 We walked for days through the swamps, staying off the main roads...
00:23:44 'cause them paddlers would kill a free man quick as he would a runaway slave.
00:23:51 No one knew where we was heading.
00:23:55 So, Big Laura, tough as any man, showed us the way.
00:24:01 [music]
00:24:04 [music]
00:24:07 [music]
00:24:10 [music]
00:24:14 [music]
00:24:18 [music]
00:24:21 [music]
00:24:40 [music]
00:24:43 [music]
00:24:49 [music]
00:24:55 [music]
00:25:07 [music]
00:25:10 [indistinct chatter]
00:25:24 [indistinct chatter]
00:25:27 Come on, Jane. Come on.
00:25:48 [music]
00:25:51 The Betty Rose! The Betty Rose!
00:26:10 Get her!
00:26:12 [gunshots]
00:26:15 [gunshots]
00:26:18 [indistinct chatter]
00:26:21 [gunshots]
00:26:24 [indistinct chatter]
00:26:27 [gunshots]
00:26:30 [indistinct chatter]
00:26:33 [gunshots]
00:26:36 [indistinct chatter]
00:26:39 [gunshots]
00:26:43 [indistinct chatter]
00:26:46 [gunshots]
00:26:49 [music]
00:26:52 [music]
00:26:55 [music]
00:26:58 [music]
00:27:02 [music]
00:27:05 [music]
00:27:13 [music]
00:27:19 [music]
00:27:26 [music]
00:27:29 [music]
00:27:40 [music]
00:27:47 [music]
00:27:55 [music]
00:27:58 [music]
00:28:04 You want to go to Ohio with me?
00:28:16 If anybody asks, these are just two plain old rocks.
00:28:21 Not of iron and flint that big lawyers use,
00:28:24 but two plain old rocks.
00:28:27 Make sure to get to Ohio the same time we do.
00:28:30 So, big lawyers, little boy, and Ned and me,
00:28:41 we started walking to Ohio.
00:28:45 There wasn't much left of the South in those times.
00:28:49 All that the Yankees couldn't even take with them,
00:28:52 they burned.
00:28:54 Once in a while, though, you'd see something still standing.
00:28:59 You!
00:29:01 Get away from my fence!
00:29:03 Excuse me, ma'am.
00:29:04 Could you tell me which way to Ohio?
00:29:07 Please, ma'am.
00:29:12 If you don't get away from my fence,
00:29:14 I'm going to have that old dog there point the way to Ohio.
00:29:17 [barking]
00:29:20 I just wanted to know if I was headed the right way.
00:29:23 I don't know nothing about no Ohio.
00:29:26 Get away from my fence!
00:29:28 We had it on then.
00:29:30 Can you tell me if there's a spring around here?
00:29:33 You don't see no spring around here, do you?
00:29:35 Me and this boy are awful thirsty.
00:29:38 Stay there.
00:29:45 [barking]
00:29:47 Here.
00:30:02 You don't think I'm going to let you foul this cup
00:30:05 with your black mouth, do you?
00:30:07 Hold your hands out.
00:30:09 [liquid pouring]
00:30:12 [liquid pouring]
00:30:15 [liquid pouring]
00:30:18 [liquid pouring]
00:30:21 [liquid pouring]
00:30:24 [liquid pouring]
00:30:27 Don't y'all think I love niggers just because I'm giving you water.
00:30:30 I hate y'all.
00:30:32 Hate ya!
00:30:34 All of ya!
00:30:36 You are the cause of all the trouble we're having around here.
00:30:39 All this ravishing and burning.
00:30:42 Yankee and nigger soldiers all over the place.
00:30:45 And this stealing and killing.
00:30:48 They done killed my boy and my man.
00:30:52 And you are the cause of it.
00:30:54 And I hope to God they kill you.
00:30:56 I'd kill you myself if I weren't God-fearing.
00:31:00 Look what you've done to me!
00:31:03 Look what you've done!
00:31:06 Look what you've done to me!
00:31:09 [crying]
00:31:12 [music]
00:31:22 [music]
00:31:26 [music]
00:31:29 (gentle music)
00:31:31 (water splashing)
00:31:34 (gentle music)
00:31:37 - Oh, you two must be pretty tired.
00:32:02 Standing on that grave.
00:32:04 Oh, had so well dry, can't tell who it belong to.
00:32:08 Lot of men there though, whoever they was.
00:32:10 Where y'all going?
00:32:12 - We heading north.
00:32:13 We heading north.
00:32:15 - You ain't going nowhere standing there.
00:32:18 Come on now.
00:32:21 (leaves rustling)
00:32:26 (bicycle bell ringing)
00:32:32 (bicycle bell ringing)
00:32:35 - Heading north, eh?
00:32:38 For the big freedom, eh?
00:32:40 Well, you're gonna have to cross the river, you know.
00:32:43 - River?
00:32:44 - Mighty Mississippi.
00:32:45 - I ain't crossing no river, nut.
00:32:48 - You gonna cross the mighty Mississippi
00:32:49 or y'all ain't heading north.
00:32:51 - You two keep still.
00:32:59 I know these two.
00:33:00 Let me do the talking.
00:33:01 (bicycle bell ringing)
00:33:04 - See you got you some niggers there, Joe.
00:33:11 - Yes, sir.
00:33:13 For the Bondurant place.
00:33:15 Can't say any much,
00:33:17 but you got to start with something, sure.
00:33:19 - Feed 'em.
00:33:22 They'll grow.
00:33:23 - Will do, yes, sir.
00:33:25 (leaves rustling)
00:33:28 (bicycle bell ringing)
00:33:33 - You two get off here.
00:33:48 - For the river.
00:33:51 I don't see no river.
00:33:52 - Nevermind.
00:33:53 Just get off.
00:33:54 (leaves rustling)
00:33:57 - I don't see no river.
00:33:59 (bicycle bell ringing)
00:34:08 (dramatic music)
00:34:21 (upbeat music)
00:34:23 (upbeat music)
00:34:26 (upbeat music)
00:34:28 (upbeat music)
00:34:31 (upbeat music)
00:34:34 (upbeat music)
00:34:43 (upbeat music)
00:34:59 (upbeat music)
00:35:01 (upbeat music)
00:35:09 (upbeat music)
00:35:19 (upbeat music)
00:35:21 - Where do you think you're all going?
00:35:40 - Me and this boy here are headed for Ohio.
00:35:42 - Ohio?
00:35:44 Who your boy?
00:35:45 - We ain't fun nobody.
00:35:46 We just as free as you are.
00:35:49 - All right, little free nigga.
00:35:50 You got money?
00:35:52 It take a nickel to ride on here.
00:35:54 You got a nickel each?
00:35:55 - No, sir.
00:35:57 - Then get on back, Lucas.
00:35:59 Take care of this.
00:36:00 (gentle music)
00:36:11 - So we walked and walked,
00:36:13 round in circles probably,
00:36:17 keeping out of the way of rednecks and paddler rollers
00:36:21 who was on the lookout for free men.
00:36:23 Finally, we was so tired and hungry
00:36:28 and not knowing where else to go.
00:36:31 I signed on at the dye plantation.
00:36:35 I didn't know it was gonna take me 12 long, hard years
00:36:41 to get off in that place.
00:36:45 - There ain't no rocks.
00:36:47 Ned knew that.
00:36:51 They flints for making fire.
00:36:54 - Is she all right?
00:37:03 - Oh, yeah.
00:37:03 - That's just Miss Jane's way.
00:37:12 She like to take advantage of her age that way.
00:37:15 Skipping goodbyes and all.
00:37:18 Says she had too many anyway.
00:37:19 - Excuse me.
00:37:29 Got a whole bunch of telephone messages here for you.
00:37:31 - Oh, thank you.
00:37:33 - In slavery, you had two dresses,
00:37:37 a pair of shoes and a coat.
00:37:39 (guns firing)
00:37:43 (birds chirping)
00:37:46 - Hey, you like that stuff?
00:37:58 - Yes, ma'am.
00:37:58 - That's homegrown, you know, not from no cans.
00:38:03 Ever ate sugar cane before?
00:38:06 - No, ma'am.
00:38:07 - I know you ain't never chopped none.
00:38:11 (laughing)
00:38:12 - No, ma'am, I haven't.
00:38:14 Man has to chop sugar cane for a while
00:38:17 for it learns to appreciate it.
00:38:19 Most people ain't never eat sugar cane raw,
00:38:23 today, black or white.
00:38:25 I work on the dye plantation for 12 long years
00:38:32 and I know what went on.
00:38:34 I was there.
00:38:35 I guess I must have been about,
00:38:41 I guess I was about twin, two, twin dreams.
00:38:44 - All right, let's go.
00:38:46 (gentle music)
00:38:49 You, you.
00:39:02 Oh.
00:39:05 Oh.
00:39:06 - Oh, no, trust and love me.
00:39:21 Speak both of me, send me to Washington.
00:39:24 - Colored politicians used to come around
00:39:27 and sign us up for votes.
00:39:29 And more than just a few got sent to Washington.
00:39:35 But reconstruction never really worked.
00:39:38 It wasn't too long before copper, baggage, black and white
00:39:44 moved in to take from the South what the war didn't.
00:39:48 For a while there, it looked like things
00:39:53 was gonna be all right for us.
00:39:55 We had a little school on the place
00:39:58 where we could go at night.
00:40:02 - Ned, he must have been about 18 then.
00:40:06 (gun firing)
00:40:08 (men yelling)
00:40:09 - You want an education?
00:40:11 I'm gonna give you an education.
00:40:14 - Oh, no.
00:40:14 (sobbing)
00:40:17 No.
00:40:20 No.
00:40:21 Oh, no.
00:40:24 Oh, no.
00:40:25 No.
00:40:27 (sobbing)
00:40:29 Oh, no.
00:40:30 (screaming)
00:40:34 Oh, my God.
00:40:42 No.
00:40:46 (screaming)
00:40:58 (sobbing)
00:41:00 - Colonel Dye was getting crazier by the day.
00:41:06 Sometimes wearing his uniform like the war never ended.
00:41:10 - There's no more nigger politicians around here.
00:41:14 That schoolhouse up there is gonna stay shut down
00:41:18 till I can find you all a competent teacher.
00:41:21 Y'all don't need a pass to leave the place like before.
00:41:26 Y'all do right by me and any group stop you on the road,
00:41:29 you just tell me and I fix it right up.
00:41:32 I can't pay y'all till the end of the year,
00:41:38 but you can draw rations and clothing from the store.
00:41:43 That suit you?
00:41:46 Stay.
00:41:47 If that don't,
00:41:52 I'll catch up with them coat tail flying scallywags
00:41:56 and the rest of them hot footin' niggers.
00:41:59 - Ned started teaching the people to write.
00:42:13 He even wrote to Washington, D.C.,
00:42:17 but they never wrote back.
00:42:20 You know, he found out about committees being formed
00:42:25 that help the coloreds with their rights,
00:42:28 and so he formed one too.
00:42:31 - And there ain't no such tax as protection, Lenny.
00:42:33 If someone tries to bury your crop,
00:42:35 tell us, we know how to prosecute.
00:42:37 - The vigilantes heard about Ned's committee
00:42:43 and they started watching him,
00:42:46 but that didn't stop him none.
00:42:48 (dramatic music)
00:42:51 - Where's he at?
00:43:07 - Who, who, who?
00:43:09 - You know who I'm talking about.
00:43:10 - Who is it?
00:43:11 - Ned Stephenson.
00:43:13 That's who or whatever he's calling himself these days.
00:43:16 - I don't know him yet.
00:43:17 - She don't know, Pa.
00:43:18 - Still don't know where he's at?
00:43:21 - Where did he go?
00:43:23 - I'm telling you,
00:43:24 that boy of yours better stop being so serious.
00:43:27 I don't like him getting so serious, you understand?
00:43:29 - She understands.
00:43:31 (dramatic music)
00:43:33 - Come on, let's go.
00:43:36 - Let's go, Carney.
00:43:38 (dramatic music)
00:43:40 - Ma, what happened?
00:43:59 - What happened, Len?
00:44:02 Eat your food.
00:44:02 - This, what happened?
00:44:06 - They was here looking for you tonight, Ned.
00:44:08 They're fixing to kill you.
00:44:09 They will if you don't leave this place.
00:44:13 - I can't, Mama, you know that.
00:44:15 - You got to.
00:44:17 - I can't leave these people.
00:44:18 They haven't got anybody else who will fight for them
00:44:20 except the committee.
00:44:21 - Ned, you ain't worth nothing to nobody dead.
00:44:27 You pack your things now,
00:44:29 take the road to New Orleans,
00:44:31 and take a boat, leave them for California.
00:44:34 Take a boat, leave them for Kansas.
00:44:36 - You come with me then.
00:44:38 - I can't, I can't, Ned.
00:44:40 I'm tired here.
00:44:42 - You're coming with me, Mama.
00:44:49 They'll hurt you again.
00:44:50 - They can't do me nothing, Ned.
00:44:53 I don't have what you have.
00:44:54 I don't have the urge.
00:44:57 I know the land, but you know the peoples.
00:45:01 Go to 'em, Ned.
00:45:02 Talk to 'em, show 'em.
00:45:05 - You have to come with me.
00:45:06 - No.
00:45:09 It's not my time.
00:45:12 - I'll stop.
00:45:13 I'll stop the teachings.
00:45:15 I'll stop the writing, the letters.
00:45:18 - You know that's not right.
00:45:20 And that ain't what none of us wants.
00:45:21 - I don't want to leave, Mama.
00:45:25 I don't want us to separate.
00:45:27 - I know.
00:45:31 It has to be.
00:45:32 I knew the day would come.
00:45:34 You know, I never did tell you.
00:45:37 But the first time you ever read to us,
00:45:40 I knew that you was the one.
00:45:42 I won't hold you back, Ned.
00:45:46 I won't hold you back.
00:45:48 - Mama.
00:45:53 Mama.
00:45:54 Mama.
00:45:55 - Make me proud.
00:45:56 Make me proud.
00:46:01 (gentle music)
00:46:03 (birds chirping)
00:46:06 - Mom.
00:46:33 Keep them for me.
00:46:34 Make sure they get to our house same time we do.
00:46:40 (birds chirping)
00:46:43, (sobs) I love you.
00:46:48, (sobs) I love you.
00:46:53 (birds chirping)
00:46:55 (sobs)
00:47:12 (birds chirping)
00:47:15 (sobs)
00:47:19 (sobs)
00:47:28 (sobs)
00:47:35 (sobs)
00:47:39 (gentle music)
00:48:08 - I didn't hear from Ned for a whole year.
00:48:12 I guess that was about '75 or '76.
00:48:16 The same year I first saw Joe Pittman.
00:48:20 I had him over to supper,
00:48:24 and we started seeing each other from time to time.
00:48:28 And as things happened, dreams, people,
00:48:33 one thing led to another.
00:48:36 (sobs)
00:48:38 (gentle music)
00:48:42, (sobs)
00:49:08 But after a time there were too many and no jobs,
00:49:13 and people started freezing to death a cold.
00:49:17 Others got starving.
00:49:21 Then the protest riots came,
00:49:27 and people started going off to other states.
00:49:32 I am still going to school, college now.
00:49:38 When I'm ready, I'm coming back home.
00:49:42 In the meantime, here's $3.
00:49:48 And God bless you, Mama.
00:50:01 All my love, Ned.
00:50:03 Well, little mama, took a whole year,
00:50:07 but you finally heard from your boy.
00:50:09 Ever tell him about us?
00:50:10 When you gonna tell him about the Clyde Ranch?
00:50:16 - Ain't said I gonna go yet.
00:50:20 - Where you going?
00:50:20 That's all there is to it.
00:50:22 I'm leaving and you're going with me.
00:50:24 - Well, how's Ned gonna know where to write to me?
00:50:28 - Well, we'll send him a photograph
00:50:30 of us up on a horse, Wild West style. (laughs)
00:50:35 - I ain't getting on no horse or nothing.
00:50:37 - Yeah, you're coming with me, little mama.
00:50:39 (laughs)
00:50:42 - By then, girl, Dyer was so forgetful,
00:50:52 he'd call us all out to him,
00:50:54 and then he couldn't remember what we was there for.
00:50:58 (laughs)
00:51:00 (wind whistling)
00:51:02 - What you all doing standing and staring?
00:51:10 Go get on back to work.
00:51:13 - Colonel, we're leaving.
00:51:26 - You what?
00:51:29 Jane and me are going.
00:51:30 - What's the matter, Joe?
00:51:34 Ain't I treating you right?
00:51:36 - It ain't that at all, Colonel.
00:51:39 We've been treated very good here,
00:51:40 but I wanna go out and do a little sharecropping on my own.
00:51:44 - Listen, Joe, I'll turn over that piece
00:51:49 of good bottom land to you.
00:51:52 You can work it like you want.
00:51:58 - Joe, you a good man.
00:52:00 I need you all around here.
00:52:03 Ain't much happened since the war,
00:52:07 and there ain't another nigger on this place
00:52:09 that can work a horse like you.
00:52:11 You people's the happiest damn creatures
00:52:13 on God's green earth.
00:52:15 I wanna do right by y'all.
00:52:16 - Mighty grateful, Colonel, mighty grateful.
00:52:19 But Jane and me, we wanna go off on our own.
00:52:23 - You ain't grateful.
00:52:26 Well, you wanna sharecrop, sharecrop, see what I care.
00:52:31 - Thank you, sir.
00:52:33 - Just a minute.
00:52:36 Ain't you forgetting something?
00:52:40 Where are my $50?
00:52:55 - What $50?
00:52:56 - Oh, you forgot that, did you?
00:52:59 Well, I ain't.
00:53:02 Had $50 to get you all out of that trouble with the Cluxes.
00:53:07 - That ain't bothered me.
00:53:10 - Course it ain't.
00:53:11 Y'all mixed up in a little politics there after the war.
00:53:15 Everybody around here knew it.
00:53:18 - I didn't know you paid.
00:53:23 - The Cluxes don't stop doing what they do
00:53:26 just 'cause y'all say you hold it.
00:53:28 Now, you pay up, or else.
00:53:34 ♪ We had to steal everything we own ♪
00:53:53 ♪ A dollar for the chair ♪
00:53:56 ♪ Five for the horse ♪
00:53:58 ♪ Shotgun got him $7 ♪
00:54:01 ♪ Finally, Joe did what he had to do ♪
00:54:13 ♪ He sold his beautiful horse ♪
00:54:17 ♪ The one he dreamed special ♪
00:54:21 ♪ The one he rode so proud ♪
00:54:49 - Well?
00:54:50 - Here's the money, Colonel.
00:54:52 I'll count it out so you're sure it's all there.
00:54:54 - It's all there.
00:54:56 You're a smart one, ain't you?
00:55:06 Well, I got news.
00:55:10 Time lap come to five more dollars.
00:55:15 - You didn't say nothing about that.
00:55:19 - But you ain't got no more.
00:55:20 - I got legal rights, my interest.
00:55:24 - What are you doing, Jane?
00:55:30 That's your wedding ring.
00:55:31 - That's our freedom.
00:55:32 (gentle music)
00:55:49 - It took 10 days of hard walking
00:55:52 till we reached East Texas and the Clyde Ranch.
00:55:56 (gentle music)
00:55:58 (gentle music)
00:56:01 (gentle music)
00:56:04 (gentle music)
00:56:06 (gentle music)
00:56:09 (gentle music)
00:56:14 (gentle music)
00:56:19 (gentle music)
00:56:29 (gentle music)
00:56:33 (gentle music)
00:56:36 (gentle music)
00:56:38 (gentle music)
00:56:41 (gentle music)
00:56:43 (gentle music)
00:56:46 (gentle music)
00:56:49 (gentle music)
00:56:51 (gentle music)
00:56:54 (gentle music)
00:56:57 (gentle music)
00:56:59 (gentle music)
00:57:02 (gentle music)
00:57:04 (gentle music)
00:57:07 (gentle music)
00:57:09 (gentle music)
00:57:12 (laughing)
00:57:17 (gentle music)
00:57:29 (laughing)
00:57:38 - Joe was a chief breaker.
00:57:40 Everybody call him Chief Pittman.
00:57:44 They'd bring horses in from Texas
00:57:48 and he'd ride the ones nobody else could.
00:57:52 Oh, he was a poet, the way he rode.
00:57:56 (horse neighing)
00:58:00 (horse neighing)
00:58:03 (men shouting)
00:58:12 - The next summer, Joe rode in the horse
00:58:25 like I'd never seen before.
00:58:28 It sent a chill down my spine, the way it looked.
00:58:33 I knew it was something evil.
00:58:36 (dramatic music)
00:58:38 (horse neighing)
00:58:41, (horse neighing)
00:58:46 (horse neighing)
00:58:49 (knocking)
00:59:11 - And when I see that old white devil horse
00:59:16 coming to Clive Ranch, he just stand there
00:59:19 and keep laughing at me, laughing at me.
00:59:21 I know it, I know it.
00:59:22 - Be calm, be calm.
00:59:23 Before we go more, how many children
00:59:28 have you given Joe Pittman?
00:59:29 - I'm blind.
00:59:34 - Ah, that's it.
00:59:35 Have you told him?
00:59:40 - No.
00:59:44 (speaking in foreign language)
00:59:46 - This is why he ride the horses, to prove something.
00:59:51 This is man's way.
00:59:53 - You think that old horse gonna kill him?
00:59:57 - You want the true response?
01:00:02 - Yes.
01:00:04 (speaking in foreign language)
01:00:07 - Money.
01:00:08 (dramatic music)
01:00:11 (birds chirping)
01:00:14, (clattering)
01:00:19, (clattering)
01:00:47 - You may go if you want.
01:00:49 - I wanna know.
01:00:54 - You are brave, my dear.
01:00:57 - Does that mean that old white devil horse
01:01:03 gonna kill my Joe?
01:01:04 (speaking in foreign language)
01:01:06 - I did not say that.
01:01:07 - But that's the answer.
01:01:10 (dramatic music)
01:01:15, (clattering)
01:01:20, (clattering)
01:01:25 (dramatic music)
01:01:28 (dramatic music)
01:01:31 (dramatic music)
01:01:33 (horses neighing)
01:01:46 (dramatic music)
01:01:49 - Why Jane, why'd you do it?
01:02:09 - Let it be, Joe, please, let him be.
01:02:12 Let him be, Joe.
01:02:16 Oh, please.
01:02:16 Please, let him go, Joe, let him go.
01:02:25 Oh, let him be.
01:02:29 Oh, let him be.
01:02:34 (dramatic music)
01:02:41 (dramatic music)
01:02:44 (dramatic music)
01:03:06 - No, no, no.
01:03:07 (dramatic music)
01:03:10 No, no, no.
01:03:11 - We buried him at the ranch.
01:03:25 The rodeo went on as always, but before it started,
01:03:31 they told the bell for Joe Pittman.
01:03:37 (dramatic music)
01:03:39 - When Joe Pittman was killed,
01:03:56 part of me went with him to his grave.
01:04:05 No man would ever take the place of Joe Pittman,
01:04:09 and that's why I carry his name to this day.
01:04:14 I've known two or three other men,
01:04:20 but none took the place of Joe Pittman.
01:04:25 I let 'em know that from the very start.
01:04:33 (dramatic music)
01:04:35 (sniffling)
01:04:40 - Have I got to the part about Albert Klubow yet?
01:04:47 - No, ma'am.
01:04:48 - Or Ned, when he come back that time from Cuba?
01:04:53 - Not yet, Jane.
01:04:56 - Oh, I thought I did.
01:05:02 It was, I was taking in laundry then.
01:05:05 It was about the turn of the century.
01:05:12 I was fishing that day on my place at Falls River
01:05:17 when I saw him coming 'round the bend.
01:05:23 It was 20 years.
01:05:30 Since I'd seen him.
01:05:32 But I knew it was my Ned the moment I laid eyes on him.
01:05:38 Yes, I did.
01:05:42 (dramatic music)
01:05:46 (upbeat music)
01:05:48 (upbeat music)
01:05:51 (upbeat music)
01:05:53 (upbeat music)
01:05:56 (upbeat music)
01:05:59 (upbeat music)
01:06:15 (upbeat music)
01:06:18 (upbeat music)
01:06:28 (upbeat music)
01:06:37 (upbeat music)
01:06:40 (upbeat music)
01:06:42 (dramatic music)
01:06:55 - Oh, yeah.
01:07:07 (dramatic music)
01:07:09 - I'm getting mad 'cause I'm full.
01:07:29 - Well, you made some of my favorite pudding.
01:07:34 - You see, little baby?
01:07:36 (laughing)
01:07:39 - So anyway, we got used to that small shot
01:07:47 whizzing around us.
01:07:51 But when one of those big ones hit, whoa.
01:07:54 We sometimes found ourselves in a lively dispute
01:07:56 over the proprietorship of the nearest tree.
01:07:59 (laughing)
01:08:01 - Now, don't go talking like you spent
01:08:02 a whole Spanish-American war hiding behind a tree.
01:08:05 Tell her what the newspaper said.
01:08:07 - You get your name in the newspaper?
01:08:10 - Oh, no, not me personally, Mama.
01:08:13 But I guess folks by now know about the 10th Cavalry.
01:08:16 - Miss Jane, that newspaper in Washington said
01:08:19 that the Rough Riders would have never made it up
01:08:20 San Juan Hill if it hadn't been for the black soldiers
01:08:23 fighting beside 'em.
01:08:25 - Ahead of 'em sometimes.
01:08:26 (laughing)
01:08:29 - And you didn't get hit in all that shooting?
01:08:33 - No, never.
01:08:36 I saw men dead and dying all around me,
01:08:42 black, white, Spanish.
01:08:44 I began to feel that, well, I was alive for a reason.
01:08:50 - Come back to teach?
01:08:58 - I checked around, Mama.
01:09:00 You don't have a school on the river.
01:09:04 - Well,
01:09:06 he doesn't change here either.
01:09:11 - He hasn't stopped talking about
01:09:12 how much he has to do, Miss Jane.
01:09:15 You can get that way.
01:09:16 (laughing)
01:09:19 Yeah, we're both so pleased.
01:09:21 You know, I know my Ned can accomplish a great deal here.
01:09:27 You made up your mind, ain't you, Ned?
01:09:30 - That war in Cuba taught me a lot of things, Mama.
01:09:35 - Well,
01:09:36 Ned,
01:09:39 I want to tell you,
01:09:41 if you're fixing to use Elder Thomas' church,
01:09:46 he ain't gonna let you.
01:09:48 - I know that it is hard for you to come here
01:09:57 and discouraging when so many said
01:09:59 they would come and didn't,
01:10:01 but we must not give up.
01:10:03 We are not alone.
01:10:07 Listen to what Mr. Frederick Douglass
01:10:11 wrote to us from the North 50 years ago.
01:10:14 "Remember that we are one,
01:10:19 "that our cause is one,
01:10:21 "and that we must help one another if we would succeed.
01:10:25 "We have drunk to the dregs the bitter cup of slavery.
01:10:29 "We have worn the heavy yoke.
01:10:38 "We have sighed beneath our bonds.
01:10:42 "We have writhed to the bloody lash.
01:10:46 "Cruel mementos of our oneness
01:10:50 "are indelibly marked in our living flesh."
01:10:55 (horse whinnies)
01:10:57 - And this where Albert Globo come in.
01:11:06 He was a cager.
01:11:08 He already killed 12 people, black and white.
01:11:12 Like chopping wood, he used to say.
01:11:15 - Why you always talking about killing, sir?
01:11:19 - I'm debased.
01:11:21 I don't brag so much.
01:11:23 (laughs)
01:11:25 - Hey, Jen, you cook this for me tonight.
01:11:31 I tell you something important.
01:11:35 - What's important?
01:11:40 - They talked me about your boy there, Jen.
01:11:44 They don't want he build that school there, no.
01:11:50 They say he could just stir up trouble for niggers.
01:11:54 They want him go back, back where he come from.
01:11:58 They don't know Albert tell you this.
01:12:05 They want me stop him.
01:12:09 - You mean kill my boy?
01:12:12 - I tell them, I say, me, you,
01:12:17 we all come fish on St. Charles River.
01:12:20 I tell them I eat at your house.
01:12:23 - Can you kill my boy?
01:12:26 - They don't like he preach on the river the way he do.
01:12:30 - Can you kill my boy?
01:12:34 - I do whatever they tell I be.
01:12:37 - Can you kill my boy?
01:12:38 - Yes.
01:12:39 Yes, I can, Miss Jen.
01:12:45 (soft piano music)
01:12:47 (people chattering)
01:12:51 (people chattering)
01:12:54 (people chattering)
01:12:57 (laughing)
01:13:06 (people chattering)
01:13:09 (people chattering)
01:13:12 - Mama, Mama, where you been?
01:13:36 What you running all this way for?
01:13:38 - Ned, you gotta leave this place.
01:13:40 - I'm not going to, Mama.
01:13:42 - Gotta leave, Ned.
01:13:43 - Mama, that's just what they want me to do.
01:13:45 I ran once, never again.
01:13:47 - Make him take you and Elizabeth back to Kansas.
01:13:51 - Mama, Mama, look at all these people here.
01:13:54 These are my people, this is my home.
01:13:56 Now, they're not afraid.
01:13:58 They came to listen and I'm gonna speak.
01:14:02 - Ned.
01:14:03 (people chattering)
01:14:06 - You got some black men who'll tell you
01:14:30 that the white man's the worst thing on the earth.
01:14:34 But let me tell you this.
01:14:36 All men are the same.
01:14:38 The same evil you see in whites you see in blacks.
01:14:42 And likewise, the good to be found is in all men,
01:14:47 white and black.
01:14:48 The enemy is not skin.
01:14:52 It's ignorance.
01:14:57 It was ignorance that put us here in the first place.
01:15:01 Ignorance because the big tribes of Africa
01:15:03 warred against each other
01:15:05 or made slaves out of the smaller tribes.
01:15:09 Our own black people put us in pens like hogs,
01:15:13 destroying entire civilization with rum and beads.
01:15:18 And it was still the African,
01:15:22 this time the Arabs who sold us on the block.
01:15:27 The white man didn't need guns because we were weak.
01:15:31 The French, the Spanish, the Portuguese,
01:15:34 they took us because we were ignorant.
01:15:37 We were apart from one another.
01:15:41 You got folks here saying, "Let's go back to Africa.
01:15:45 "Let's go to Liberia."
01:15:46 Well, I am not African.
01:15:48 I'm American, a black American and proud of it.
01:15:53 Look inside yourself, say, "What am I?
01:15:56 "What else besides this black skin?"
01:16:00 Do you know what a nigger is?
01:16:07 First, a nigger feels below anything else on this earth.
01:16:12 He doesn't care about himself.
01:16:16 He doesn't care about anybody else.
01:16:19 He doesn't care about anything.
01:16:22 Now, he'll never be an American.
01:16:23 He'll never be a citizen of any other nation.
01:16:27 But there's a big difference
01:16:32 between a black American and a nigger.
01:16:35 A black American cares,
01:16:41 and he knows, and he'll struggle.
01:16:45 That's why I'm telling you this.
01:16:49 That's why I know that no son or daughter of mine
01:16:52 will ever be a nigger.
01:16:54 I want my children to be black and proud of it.
01:16:59 This land, America, belongs to us all.
01:17:16 Well, I don't mean that we own it.
01:17:22 But that it's God's,
01:17:24 and that makes it as much ours as any man's.
01:17:28 You are not bested by no man.
01:17:31 Be Americans, but first, be men.
01:17:36 (audience applauding)
01:17:42 (audience applauding)
01:17:45 - I'm gonna die, Mama.
01:17:56 (engine rumbling)
01:18:07 (fire crackling)
01:18:10 (fire crackling)
01:18:12 (fire crackling)
01:18:15 (fire crackling)
01:18:18 (fire crackling)
01:18:21 (fire crackling)
01:18:49 - Ned, I tell you, you get down out of the wagon.
01:18:53 (gun clicking)
01:18:59 Get down out of the wagon, Ned.
01:19:01 - Ain't got nothing but a double barrel, Ned.
01:19:06 Gonna need both of 'em to bring me down.
01:19:09 - Take the lumber and finish the school.
01:19:12 - Ned, let me take him.
01:19:14 - Talk to Mama.
01:19:18 Talk to Vivian.
01:19:19 It's important.
01:19:21 - Ned, you're important.
01:19:23 Let me take him.
01:19:24 - Ma'am, do as I say.
01:19:25 Else, he'll get us both.
01:19:31 (fire crackling)
01:19:34 (fire crackling)
01:19:36 (fire crackling)
01:19:39 (fire crackling)
01:19:42 - I tell you, Mama, about all this,
01:20:09 what took you so long?
01:20:11 - Our bear have all determined the world.
01:20:14 (gun firing)
01:20:22 - They tell our bear make you crawled first.
01:20:29 - No!
01:20:31 - Crawled!
01:20:33 Crawled, get down and crawled!
01:20:35 And we get you sober, wait!
01:20:37 - No!
01:20:38 (gun firing)
01:20:41 (crickets chirping)
01:20:46 (gentle music)
01:20:53 (footsteps thudding)
01:20:56 (footsteps thudding)
01:21:25 - I can't explain all my sorrow and feeling on that day.
01:21:30 I remember talking to him like he was still alive.
01:21:36 For days, weeks, folks always stayed with me
01:21:44 'cause they afraid I was gonna lose my mind.
01:21:48 - I believe that policy did not have a policy
01:21:52 which gave any assurances of success
01:21:54 in which the Soviet Union has already rejected.
01:21:58 - Thank you, Mr. Brown.
01:21:58 - Oh, thank you.
01:22:00 - In Massachusetts, the possibility
01:22:03 of JFK's younger brother, 30-year-old Teddy,
01:22:08 running for the 1962 Democratic nomination.
01:22:11 - Better to put your foot in your mouth again.
01:22:15 No, off the...
01:22:18 - Well, back again, huh?
01:22:21 - Yes, ma'am.
01:22:22 I tried to get in to see Jimmy, but...
01:22:24 - But Gidgery wouldn't let you.
01:22:26 That old Gidgery, he makes me sick.
01:22:30 Ain't had your fill of me yet?
01:22:33 - No, ma'am.
01:22:34 - Well, when did I come to this place?
01:22:41 - It was early 20s, 19 and 25.
01:22:51 - The time of the kingfish, you ain't long.
01:22:53 - Oh, I seem to remember.
01:22:58 It was before the high water, 19 and 27.
01:23:03 I'd slowed up in the field,
01:23:09 but I rode round to the people's
01:23:11 to let 'em know I was still alive and kicking.
01:23:14 - Well, well.
01:23:15 - Whoa, whoa.
01:23:16 - If it ain't Miss Highclere.
01:23:19 - Just my new stroll, Lena, my new stroll.
01:23:23 - Well, that's how it is with the Indian prince.
01:23:25 Me, I gotta work for a living.
01:23:27 - Whoa, Rags, whoa.
01:23:35 - Well, hey there, Miss Jane, how y'all?
01:23:38 - Mr. Rob, what you doing out here in the field for?
01:23:42 - How'd y'all like to come work inside the main house?
01:23:46 - What for?
01:23:48 You ain't thinking I'm too old
01:23:50 to work the fields anymore, is you?
01:23:52 - Oh, no, no, no.
01:23:53 Miss Aberdeen needs help with the two boys, that's all.
01:23:56 How old you now, Jane?
01:23:57 - 70, give or take a look.
01:24:02 - You all know how to cook?
01:24:04 - Well, now, I've been doing it for nine or six years.
01:24:07 Ain't passing nobody yet.
01:24:08 - Sometimes it seems like we was one big family.
01:24:14 We played baseball every Sunday.
01:24:17 The score would be 50 to nothing or 41 to eight.
01:24:40 - I was too old to play, so they stuck a cap on me
01:24:44 from my favorite team, the Brooklyn Dodgers,
01:24:47 and they made me do it.
01:24:49 I don't mind telling you, I was too old.
01:24:52 I was half blind, really, for them calls.
01:24:56 But they make no difference to me
01:24:57 'cause nobody played real well anyway.
01:24:59 - I say you out.
01:25:02 You out, on the own.
01:25:05 Out.
01:25:05 - We sure had some fun.
01:25:09 People's always looking for somebody to lead 'em.
01:25:12 They did it during slavery.
01:25:15 They did it during the war, and they're doing it now.
01:25:19 They always doing it all the time.
01:25:23 And the Lord always lodges 'em.
01:25:26 When a child's born, old folks look at him
01:25:30 and ask, "Is you the one?"
01:25:33 When Nina had her baby boy, all the folks
01:25:38 look at him and say, "You the one, Jimmy.
01:25:41 "Is you the one."
01:25:42 'Cause I always knew he was.
01:25:46 - You wanna dig traces?
01:25:51 - You done did your figures for the day yet?
01:25:55 - Yeah, some multiplication tables are coming out of my ear.
01:25:58 - All right.
01:26:00 I don't want no funnies today, though.
01:26:03 Read me a sports paper.
01:26:04 I wanna hear what they say about my jacket.
01:26:07 - He stole three bases and hit two homers.
01:26:09 - He didn't, no.
01:26:12 - It says so right here, Miss Jane.
01:26:15 - I heard the game last night on the radio.
01:26:21 Smart boy.
01:26:23 Dodgers lost.
01:26:25 - Yes, but so did the Yankees.
01:26:27 - Uh-huh, you see there?
01:26:29 Jackie and the Dodgers is for the colored folks anyway.
01:26:34 Just like me.
01:26:35 - You know who he is?
01:26:36 - You told me, Miss Jane.
01:26:38 - Yeah.
01:26:41 Well, did I tell you that he let Smellin
01:26:44 beat him the first time just to teach us a lesson?
01:26:47 Did I?
01:26:49 Well, he did.
01:26:52 But oh boy, that second time was something else.
01:26:58 (laughing)
01:27:00 - I'm gonna go get some water.
01:27:03 - Okay.
01:27:04 (laughing)
01:27:07 - Uncle Gilley used to show us all how Smellin fell
01:27:18 when Joe Louis hit him.
01:27:21 Oh, he was famous for that.
01:27:23 Old as he was.
01:27:32 And years later, that's how he died,
01:27:35 showing folks how Smellin fell when Joe hit him.
01:27:39 (laughing)
01:27:41 People in the quarters was taking notice of Jimmy,
01:27:46 how he recite numbers and liked school.
01:27:50 They was always saying he gonna be a credit
01:27:52 to his race, that one.
01:27:54 When he got older, he went away to school.
01:27:58 I didn't see him for 10 long years.
01:28:01 And that was the beginning of the civil rights troubles.
01:28:05 - Help us, oh Lord, and show us the way.
01:28:09 Amen.
01:28:30 - I'm here for your help.
01:28:31 You know what's going on all over the country,
01:28:36 all over the South.
01:28:37 I've met the Reverend King, I've eaten at his home.
01:28:42 I've been to his church, I've even gone to jail with him.
01:28:46 I was with him when he was winning the battle
01:28:49 in Alabama and Mississippi.
01:28:51 But you people here, my own folks,
01:28:57 haven't even begun to fight.
01:28:58 - Hold it, hold it right there.
01:29:01 - You don't come to our church no more, Jimmy.
01:29:04 - I'm here now and I have something to say.
01:29:07 - You have nothing to say.
01:29:09 You're just fixing to get us in a whole lot of trouble.
01:29:11 (gun firing)
01:29:13 - Shut up.
01:29:14 Listen to what Jimmy got to say.
01:29:17 - Some people are thinking of carrying guns.
01:29:21 We don't want anything to do with that nonsense.
01:29:24 Others wanna carry flags.
01:29:26 Well, what's a flag if you haven't got
01:29:27 any meaning behind it?
01:29:29 All we have is our strength, the strength of our people.
01:29:32 That's what gives us meaning.
01:29:33 We need your strength.
01:29:36 We need your prayers.
01:29:38 We need you to stand with us
01:29:41 because we have no other roots.
01:29:43 - Jimmy, I don't want no trouble for my people.
01:29:47 What you see here is all we are.
01:29:53 Nothing more than that.
01:29:57 We don't want to lose what little we have.
01:30:00 - I'm sorry.
01:30:03 I'm sorry I have disturbed the church.
01:30:08 I'm sorry.
01:30:10 - Jimmy.
01:30:19 (footsteps tapping)
01:30:22 - I was feeling poorly,
01:30:34 so Miss Amadine was taking me to the doctor that day when...
01:30:38 (siren blaring)
01:30:41 (siren blaring)
01:30:43 - I'm sorry, Miss Amadine, the trouble we're having here.
01:31:07 One thing after another since they passed
01:31:09 the desegregation law there.
01:31:11 How you do today, Granny?
01:31:13 - You have to remember, Sheriff,
01:31:15 she's over 100 years old.
01:31:17 Don't let all this upset you now, Chief.
01:31:21 It's gonna be all right.
01:31:22 - Y'all take care.
01:31:23 - That everybody?
01:31:28 Good.
01:31:30 I wanted to remind every last one of y'all,
01:31:38 y'all living on this place for free.
01:31:40 You pay me no rent, you pay me no water bill,
01:31:45 you don't give me a turnip out of your garden,
01:31:49 you don't give me one egg out of your hen house.
01:31:52 You pick all the pecans you can find on the place,
01:31:56 all I ask for is half what I never get.
01:31:59 I ask you for half the berries you find
01:32:02 and you bring me a pocketful so dirty
01:32:04 I wouldn't feed 'em to a hog I don't like.
01:32:07 All right.
01:32:08 I let all that go,
01:32:11 but this I will not let go.
01:32:16 There ain't gonna be no demonstratin' on my place.
01:32:22 Anybody around here who thinks he needs more freedom
01:32:27 than he got already is free to pack up and leave now.
01:32:32 That go for the oldest one?
01:32:35 That go for the youngest one.
01:32:37 Jane, too.
01:32:38 Who the last one had a baby down there?
01:32:42 - Eva's little boy, Peter.
01:32:45 - That go for Jane?
01:32:48 That go for Eva's little boy, Peter.
01:33:03 - You know, Mr. Doolawville,
01:33:05 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:07 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:09 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:11 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:13 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:15 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:17 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:19 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:21 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:23 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:25 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:27 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:29 I've been here for 30 years.
01:33:31 - Get off the place.
01:33:33 - And as is he the one
01:33:39 when Lena had her baby,
01:33:41 when Lena had her baby,
01:33:43 we all look at him and ask,
01:33:45 "Is you the one, Jimmy?
01:33:47 Is you the one?"
01:33:49 'Cause...
01:33:51 (phone rings)
01:33:59 (phone rings)
01:34:01 - Yes?
01:34:06 - I have a telephone call for you.
01:34:08 Coming in from New York City.
01:34:10 Hello? Hello, Quentin?
01:34:12 - Yes, sir. - I'm pulling you.
01:34:14 You get to cover the John Glenn story in two days.
01:34:17 - Look, I know this space shot is a big thing,
01:34:20 but this woman is--
01:34:22 she's not exactly another human interest story.
01:34:24 - Look, Quentin, I'm sure she's fascinating,
01:34:27 but a woman this size can't survive
01:34:29 on a story about an old woman.
01:34:31 Now, I need someone to cover that blast-off, damn it.
01:34:34 Now, if you can't go, then I'll send someone else.
01:34:37 Quentin?
01:34:41 Quentin, are you there?
01:34:43 - All right. - All right what?
01:34:48 - I'll be there.
01:34:52 - You have to be there tomorrow night.
01:34:54 - I said I'd be there.
01:34:57 - I'm leaving today, Miss Jane.
01:34:59 I'm, uh, gonna go watch a rocket
01:35:05 take a man around the Earth.
01:35:07 It's, uh, it's never been done before.
01:35:12 - You think I'm crazy?
01:35:18 - Ma'am?
01:35:20 - I talked to this tree, you know?
01:35:25 This tree, you know?
01:35:27 Oh, Sister Oak.
01:35:34 Look at me.
01:35:38 I'm more than 110 years old.
01:35:43 Now, if it ain't the Lord that's keeping me going,
01:35:46 what is?
01:35:48 See?
01:35:53 I can sit in the sun.
01:35:56 And I can walk.
01:35:59 Not like I used to.
01:36:03 But I do pretty well.
01:36:06 Sometimes, when I feel real good,
01:36:11 I walk all the way down to the road.
01:36:16 And I look at the river.
01:36:22 Gently, though,
01:36:24 I just come up the quarters a piece.
01:36:28 And I sit here
01:36:30 under this old oak.
01:36:33 Look, the people done fixed me a nice, clean place
01:36:42 to sit and talk with my God.
01:36:49 Oh, sometimes I sit here for an hour,
01:36:54 just thanking Him for His blessings.
01:36:59 And then I go back home.
01:37:04 There's only just a few of us left, you know?
01:37:14 And I done seen
01:37:18 enough years to last two lifetimes.
01:37:22 I don't mind seeing a few more, though.
01:37:26 He'll know when to call me.
01:37:32 And when He call me, I'll be ready.
01:37:36 Till then, I just have some of the children read me the Bible
01:37:44 and the sports page
01:37:47 and the funnies.
01:37:50 I like the funnies, too, you know?
01:37:53 And I do enjoy my vanilla ice cream.
01:37:59 I have my vanilla ice cream.
01:38:01 I like that.
01:38:03 You know, this oak tree,
01:38:15 I'm sure it's been here as long as this place been here.
01:38:21 And I ain't ashamed to tell you that I talk to it.
01:38:28 And I ain't crazy, either.
01:38:31 It ain't necessary craziness
01:38:36 to talk to the rivers and the trees.
01:38:40 'Cause now when you talk to the ditches and the bayous,
01:38:45 that's different, 'cause the ditch ain't nothing
01:38:48 and the bayous ain't much more.
01:38:52 But, oh, the rivers and the trees,
01:39:01 there's no cause you're talking to a China ball tree.
01:39:05 Anybody get caught talking to a China ball tree or a thorn tree,
01:39:10 they got to be crazy.
01:39:13 But an old oak like this one here,
01:39:21 that's been here all these years,
01:39:26 it knows more than you'll ever know.
01:39:32 It ain't craziness, son.
01:39:36 It's just the nobility you respect.
01:39:42 Well, you found all you come for?
01:39:56 Yes, ma'am.
01:39:58 That's good.
01:40:02 That's good.
01:40:28 Today's Sunday service is from the First Baptist Church of Baden-Rouge,
01:40:33 and we will continue with some of your favorite music.
01:40:38 You're staying right here in the quarters today.
01:40:55 There's been some trouble in Bayonne. Don't want nobody else to get hurt.
01:40:58 Who got hurt? Did my Jimmy get hurt?
01:41:01 They shot him.
01:41:03 Is he dead?
01:41:06 Oh!
01:41:10 Who shot him?
01:41:20 Nobody knows.
01:41:22 Nobody knows?
01:41:25 Somebody knows.
01:41:28 Well, I don't know nothing about it.
01:41:31 You all going back now?
01:41:34 I'm going to Bayonne.
01:41:36 What you think you're going to find there except trouble, Miss Jane?
01:41:39 You're too old for that.
01:41:42 Jimmy.
01:41:43 Didn't you just hear me say he'd been shot?
01:41:46 He ain't dead, no nothing.
01:41:49 Only a piece of him dead.
01:41:52 The rest of him is waiting there for us in Bayonne.
01:41:55 And I'm going.
01:41:57 Miss Jane, you've been on my place as long as I can remember.
01:42:02 You've been part of my family.
01:42:04 You raised me and both my boys.
01:42:09 But I'm telling you, you ain't going to Bayonne today.
01:42:15 Is you going to tell me now that I have to leave your place?
01:42:20 Those folks ain't your problem.
01:42:23 Mr. Roberts.
01:42:25 The other day, they throwed a girl in jail...
01:42:30 for trying to drink from the fountain.
01:42:34 Today, they killed my Jimmy.
01:42:40 And I say I'm going.
01:42:44 Bayonne was the scene of more violence today.
01:42:47 First reports indicate that a negro male prisoner...
01:42:51 died in a shooting incident at the jail.
01:42:54 [tires screech]
01:42:56 [tires screech]
01:42:59 [music]
01:43:02 [music]
01:43:04 [music]
01:43:06 [music]
01:43:09 [music]
01:43:12 [music]
01:43:14 (gentle music)
01:43:16 (gentle music)
01:43:19 (gentle music)
01:43:21 (gentle music)
01:43:24 (gentle music)
01:43:27 (gentle music)
01:43:29 (gentle music)
01:43:32 (gentle music)
01:43:34 (gentle music)
01:43:37 (gentle music)
01:43:40 (gentle music)
01:43:42 (gentle music)
01:43:45 (gentle music)
01:43:47 (gentle music)
01:43:50 (gentle music)
01:43:55 (gentle music)
01:44:00 (gentle music)
01:44:04 (gentle music)
01:44:09 (gentle music)
01:44:16 (gentle music)
01:44:18 (gentle music)
01:44:21 (gentle music)
01:44:24 (gentle music)
01:44:44 (gentle music)
01:44:48 (gentle music)
01:44:50 (gentle music)
01:45:03 (gentle music)
01:45:13 (gentle music)
01:45:16 (gentle music)
01:45:26 (gentle music)
01:45:35 (gentle music)
01:45:43 (gentle music)
01:45:45 (gentle music)
01:45:50 (gentle music)
01:45:58 (gentle music)
01:46:10 (gentle music)
01:46:13 (gentle music)
01:46:19 (gentle music)
01:46:25 (gentle music)
01:46:31 (gentle music)
01:46:37 (gentle music)
01:46:40 (gentle music)
01:46:50 (gentle music)
01:47:02 (gentle music)
01:47:04 (gentle music)
01:47:31 (gentle music)
01:47:33 (gentle music)
01:47:43 (gentle music)
01:47:53 (gentle music)
01:47:56 - On July 19th, 1962,
01:48:22 five months after the last of these interviews
01:48:24 was recorded, Miss Jane Pittman died at the age of 110.
01:48:28 (gentle music)
01:48:35 (gentle music)
01:48:39 (gentle music)
01:48:41 (gentle music)
01:48:44 (gentle music)
01:49:04 (gentle music)
01:49:06 (gentle music)
01:49:16 (gentle music)
01:49:27 (gentle music)
01:49:30 (gentle music)
01:49:33 (music)
01:49:35 [Music]