Original subtitles

Last on Roots:

And there are times all a woman got to remember the rest of her life...

...is the soft, sad word of her love saying goodbye.

l'm talking about what's proper and decent.

Now, God forbid, Simon don't come back.

Now, you let them cling to each other and say goodbye!

Bertha, l love you.

l'm gonna come back to you. That's all that matters.

Oh, Simon, l love you.

Let's move out!

Darling, l missed you.

Oh, l missed you so much.

Oh, Simon, l'm so happy.

lt's been a happy day.

And l's real proud to announce that the bride and groom gonna be leaving soon...

...for Cornell University, lthaca, state of New York...

...where my son-in-law, Simon Haley...

...gonna be studying agriculture.

Moon...

...this here is the seventh generation since then.

This here is Alex Haley.

You watch over him.

You!

Oh, it ain't as easy as all that, is it, Alex Haley?

Okay, l give up, Grandpa. l give up.

Grandpa?

lt's Sunday.

Why are all those people going to the fields?

These is hard times, Alex.

We's in a depression.

There's a whole lot of folk ain't as fortunate as we.

The Lord don't like them no less.

He understands why they can't keep his Sabbath.

Pick up the paper.

Honey, what is it?

"Dear sirs, l am anticipating teaching offers from several colleges...

...but am especially interested in your institution.

Therefore, l would appreciate hearing...."

My Lord.

Well, l think it sounds fine.

l don't want to beg.

You just wanna find out where you stand. Honey, that's not begging.

Bertha, l'm not anticipating any other offers.

l was perfectly willing to lie. lf that's not begging...

...it's close as a man can come without falling on his knees.

Well, times as hard as they are, we lucky you can stay here with Papa...

...work at the lumberyard till something comes through.

Now, is that a fact?

Look, now, l know you and Papa don't see eye to eye on things...

...and l know he's a bit old-fashioned.

Old-fashioned?

That's putting it kindly.

l tried to show him a better way to keep his books, but he wouldn't even look.

Papa's never had to consult with anyone about anything...

...so why should he change?

That's how he built the lumberyard into what it is today.

Who knows what the lumberyard is today?

So many folks out of work. Seems he's giving credit to all of them.

l can't make sense of the books, and when l try to help him, he doesn't wanna listen.

Now, you know Papa is not used to opinions.

l have a master's degree in agriculture from Cornell University.

Now, there can't be more than a handful of colored men anywhere...

...with my credentials.

What do l do with my wonderful credentials?

l tote lumber.

l don't select it. l don't order it.

l totes it.

Well, if l have to go on much longer like this...

...it won't be my back that gives out.

lt'll be my soul.

King me, Grandpa!

All right, all right.

Ain't as if l got no choice.

l can get it.

l can get it.

l think l better let you get that.

Grandpa?

Are you gonna die?

You come on with me, boy.

l got something l want you to see.

l was gonna give you that on your birthday...

...but l want you to have it now.

That there is a slice of tree that come all the way from California.

Now, do you see them rings?

Each one of them rings means another year that tree's been growing.

That tree's got more rings than a man can count.

Now, look here.

This was when Columbus discovered America.

This here is the American Revolution.

And this was the war when President Abraham Lincoln...

...freed the slaves.

And that's when you was born.

Get that box there.

Give me your hand.

This here is when l was born.

And this here, that's today.

And all in there, that's my whole life.

But it seems so small.

Oh, it is small.

See, what seems like a long time to us...

...is nothing but a tiny span in the life of a tree.

And that same tree ain't nothing but a tiny span...

...in the mind of God.

Now, when you stand back and look at it...

...you don't see no wars, and you don't see no people's lives.

All you see is time...

...year upon year.

Everything has its time.

A time to be born and a time to die.

And when the time comes, Grandpa will die.

l got it! l got it!

l got it!

Come on! Let's go!

Hey, down here!

Thank you, thank you. l appreciate that.

All right.

l'll get somebody on that right away, Mr. Selby.

-Simon, you just the man-- -l'd like you to look at this, Papa.

What is all this here?

lt's an inventory on that shipment that came in this morning.

l'd also like to inventory all the rest of the stock.

And that way, we can keep track of overstock, and we'll know when to reorder.

l don't need no inventory.

l keeps it all up here.

Now, you come on. l got something else l want you to do.

This here is Mr. Leroy Selby, one of my oldest customers.

Pleased to meet you.

-And who might you be? -l'm Simon Haley.

He the boy that married my Bertha.

Now, l want you to take good care of Mr. Selby...

...because he got a mighty big order.

l'll write it up directly.

l wrote it up.

l want you to tote it.

Mr. Selby.

Simon!

From A&M lnstitute, Normal, Alabama.

Come special delivery.

Now, Simon, bad news don't come special delivery.

"We are pleased to offer you the position of director of agriculture...

...with the academic rank of professor.

Please advise us of your availability at your earliest convenience."

You got it! You got it!

Oh, l am a professor!

A college professor!

Simon Alexander Haley, college professor!

Hey, what's all that racket out here?

l'll go tell him.

Simon. He got the teaching job. They want him there as soon as possible.

lsn't it exciting?

Sure.

Without a doubt.

l's real happy for both of you.

Papa, are you gonna be all right?

l mean, running the lumberyard without Simon?

Never needed no help in the first place.

Now the truth can be told. That boy just--

He ain't got the aptitude for the lumber business.

Papa, why don't you admit it?

You like Simon.

Well, now, you handpicked the boy...

...and l wasn't gonna give you no whole lot of who-struck-Johnny about it.

Well, l'm grateful, Papa, because whether you wanna admit it or not...

...l couldn't have landed Simon without you.

Oh, what you talking about, girl?

You did your share.

Remember when he graduated from college...

...and you bought me that dress from Goldstein, the tailor?

Picked it out yourself.

Well, l wasn't gonna let you just run around buck-naked.

Then when l went to the graduation...

...you rode with me on the train all the way to Asheville.

l was so glad l had my daddy to turn to.

Well, you know l wasn't gonna...

...ever let you want for nothing.

Papa...

...this time, l be going off by myself.

l won't have my daddy to turn to.

l guess it's silly to be worrying at my age.

Simon, he--

He gonna take real good care of you.

He's a mighty fine man.

l love you, Papa.

Now, you just put that down.

Professor Simon Alexander Haley...

...you done toted your last tote.

Ruddy cheeks and face of tan, neatly shaved, what a man!

Burma-Shave.

Ain't a lot much farther, boys.

We can institute methods of farming based in science. Dr. Huguley, l have many plans.

Well, judging by these proposals...

...l would say very ambitious plans.

Oh, yes, sir, very ambitious, but achievable.

Given time, l believe you and l can change the face of agriculture in this entire county.

Professor Haley--

Excuse me. Come in.

Excuse me, Dr. Huguley. We've finished our tour of the campus.

Oh, well, bring them in, Faison. l want them to meet our new professor.

We are being visited by the Hickinger Committee.

Well, they are a philanthropic group from the North.

They are on their annual inspection tour of colored colleges in the South.

Now, l don't need to tell you that with their approval...

...we generally end up with a very handsome donation.

The funding from the Alabama Legislature is hardly adequate to run this institution.

But Mrs. Hickinger herself is with them, and l would very much like...

...to have her meet our illustrious new professor.

Well, it would be an honor, sir.

Doctor.

-Mrs. Hickinger. -Dr. Huguley.

l trust you and our distinguished guests had a pleasant tour?

Oh, yes. Yes, indeed.

l'd like you to meet Professor Simon Haley.

lt was through your generosity last year...

...that enabled us to bring him here with us now.

Professor Haley received his master's degree...

...from Cornell University.

Well, professor, you're the very embodiment...

...of everything we're trying to do down here.

Thank you for the kind words.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for our luncheon.

Yes.

Oh, l'm so sorry to hear that your magnificent choir won't be with us today.

No. Unfortunately, they are on a fundraising tour.

Oh, how sad.

l'm reminded of the opportunity l had to hear them last year in my own home.

lmagine Paul Robeson and this splendid chorus of colored voices...

...in the same evening!

Oh, the richness of tone.

The power and vibrancy of that music.

-Dr. Huguley? -Yes?

My colleagues weren't as fortunate as l last year...

...and now they're doubly disappointed that your choir is absent.

l wonder if you would favor us with one of those magnificent Negro spirituals.

What a magnificent voice you have!

Doesn't he, Professor Haley?

Just lovely.

We better be going.

Oh, yes. Yes, of course.

-Thank you again, Dr. Huguley, so much. -Thank you, Mrs. Hickinger.

-And l will see you shortly. -Yes.

-Yes. -Right this way, if you'll follow me.

What did l tell you? The power of that voice!

And, you know, the amazing thing is, they all have it.

Yes.

Well...

...l only hope it was satisfactory.

You see, my wife tells me that when l sing a cappella...

...l tend to stray from the key.

Bertha?

You're not going to believe a word of this.

l finally met Dr. Huguley.

The man is either a fool or a martyr.

Might as well be back changing sheets in a Pullman car.

Bertha, what's going on?

Papa died.

Bertha.

Honey.

l'm so sorry.

Well, it's not like we didn't expect it.

l'm taking George and Julius with me.

They'd only be under your feet.

But l think Alex should stay. You don't want him to miss a week of school.

ls that all right with you?

Of course it is.

lt's fine.

Bertha, you're taking their bathing suits.

You know how Papa loves to take the boys swim--

lt's all right.

Afternoon, sir.

Mr. Decker, isn't it?

Yes, sir.

My name is Simon Haley.

l'm a professor at the A&M college.

You is a professor, huh?

Well, go to war, Miss Annie.

For sure?

Bona fide.

Go on, Luke.

l'm....

l'm trying to meet all of the farmers in this area to see if l can be of any help.

You don't look to be no farming man.

No, sir, but l teach farming.

And l believe l can give you some good advice.

What kind of advice?

Well, sir, l know some ways you can get more out of this land.

Now, this soil here, it's never grown anything but cotton.

And you're burning it out.

Well, sir, this ain't my land.

All this here belong to Mr. F.R. Lewis...

...and when you crops for Mr. F.R. Lewis, you plants cotton...

...and you plants it plenty.

Now, that's where you're wrong, Mr. Decker.

You won't need any fancy fertilizer, and you won't need any certified seeds.

lt's just a question of changing some of the things you do...

...how you plow, when you plant, and what--

Him yonder, sir.

Hey, you!

Will you come on over here, please?

Ab here tells me you're from the Negro college. That right?

-Yes, sir. -And what's your name, boy?

Professor Simon Haley, sir.

Well, professor, l'm Mr. F.R. Lewis.

Yes, sir. l figured that.

Yes, and what you're standing on is my property.

What brings you on it?

Well, sir, l'm new here...

...and l'm just visiting the farmers in this area...

...to see if l can help them raise a better crop scientifically.

ls that a fact? That's all you're telling them?

Yes, sir.

Well, l don't hold much with this so-called scientific farming.

l always say there ain't nothing more scientific...

...than one good mule and one good nigger.

Sir, this is your land.

l'm just trying to help make it more productive.

Now, you look here, professor.

Ab here is a good boy.

He is a hard worker who don't give me any trouble.

So if trouble do start, l'm gonna know where it's coming from.

-Right, Ab? -Yes, sir.

Bye-bye.

Why don't you go on back to that college of yours.

Ain't nothing you can do for me here.

Lyle, what can l do you for?

Well, l got a problem with the radiator hose, Jake.

Well, let's take a look at it.

Dad, the toilet's over there by the sign.

Just a minute. l'll ask the man.

Dad!

Jake, why don't you take care of these folks.

l can wait.

Go ahead, son.

Hey, you! Hold it right there!

Now, you want gas, or what?

No, sir. l don't need any gas.

-l'd just like to have my boy use your toilet. -Maybe you'll just go someplace else.

We sell gas here. We ain't got no facilities.

Jake. He's just a boy, for Lord's sake.

Look at him.

You know l can't let that boy go in there and use the toilet.

l don't mean let him use the toilet.

Let him go back there in the bushes. Nobody's gonna see him.

Jake, he's just a boy.

All right, go on back there and do what you have to.

-Thank you! -You make it fast.

Stay well out of sight of the road, you hear?

Bet he kills them bushes.

Well, thank you.

You don't appear to be from around these parts.

No, sir. l'm new.

l teach at A&M.

My name is Simon Haley.

Haley!

Well, then you're the one that's been sending me all these farming proposals.

l'm Lyle Pettijohn, county agricultural agent.

Well, pleased to meet you, sir.

Where in the world did you come up with the notion of planting early...

...to get the drop on the weevil?

Did you get a chance to try it?

You betcha. Worked like gangbusters too.

Well, they developed that technique at the experimental farm at Cornell.

You went to Cornell?

l took my master's degree there.

lf that don't beat all.

Did you happen to run into a professor named Wilcox?

Yes. He directed my research project.

l sure wished l could have got up there.

Wilcox is about the best there is. l tell you what, Haley.

l'm on my way out to visit one of my farmers.

lf you have nothing better to do, you could follow me on out if you like.

-You think it'd be all right? -Well, the way l look at it...

...we can be of use to one another.

-Here's your change, Lyle. -Thank you.

Why don't you and your boy just follow me out.

We will. Thank you.

Ain't that just like a nigger?

Come and waste a man's time and then not even spend a red cent.

Excuse me, sir.

A nickel?

For the use of your facilities.

Alvin, what possessed you to do such a fool thing?

-Well, l didn't want to do it. -l told you exactly what to do.

l told you...

...if you needed money for growing season...

...you could get it from the federal office in Tuskegee.

That way, you wouldn't have to be obligated to the senator.

Well, l couldn't help it. He come down himself this time.

He wouldn't hear of me getting it from nowheres else.

l don't know what you expect me to do. You got me hamstrung.

You borrowed the money from the man.

You don't pay him, of course he's got a right to take your land.

But what about the subsidy, Mr. Lyle?

Now, the senator told me about some new kind of subsidies or something.

lt's too soon to be thinking about that.

Now, Mr. Roosevelt has promised to subsidize poor farmers like yourself...

...but you got a problem with that. He ain't president yet.

This fellow is telling the same thing to the colored farmers.

They're gonna give the subsidy to the nigger farmers too?

Yeah, l believe they are.

Damn it!

Boy, the senator sure told me true. That ain't right.

That ain't right.

What senator?

State Senator Griffin.

Him and F.R. Lewis own most of this land around here.

Well, sounds like they mean to own it all.

Push poor folks into debt, foreclose...

...set them right out on the road without batting an eye.

l got a whole book full of federal rules and regulations l'm supposed to enforce...

...but the two of them got such a hold on this county...

...l might as well give back my paycheck. Damn their hides!

Got no right to treat a white man like a nigger.

The truth is...

...they've got no right to treat any man like a nigger.

Come on, son, let's go home.

All right, you two, let's go. There ain't nothing to see here.

Dad, those folks aren't any better off than Mr. Decker.

Well, you don't have to be black to be poor, son.

Boll weevil doesn't care whose cotton it eats.

But why won't they listen to you?

Well, sometimes--

Sometimes people are afraid of the things that can help the most.

-You mean like those farm subsidies? -No, l'm talking about education, son.

There's one thing poor people have in common, no matter who they are.

They have no education. Education is the key. lt's the--

lt's the way up, the way out.

That's why you must do well in school, Alex...

...not only for yourself, but to help others as well.

l know, Dad. l'm doing my best.

Two C's out of five subjects is not your best.

Any son of mine is A material. Now, you work at it...

...you'll get those A's.

How l got talked into this is a mystery to me.

You were the one said we could work together.

Working together is one thing.

Paying a social call on F.R. Lewis is something else altogether.

lt's not my idea of a good time, either...

...but there's just no point in trying to convince the farmers...

...to change their methods when Lewis controls every spade of dirt they turn.

Man's an agricultural apeman.

Left to his own, he'd be planting seeds with his toe.

Then it's our job to ease him into the 20th century.

No, it's not our job. lt's my job. You listen to me, Haley.

When we get in there, you lay back and let me do the talking. You hear me?

l may not have a college degree, but l know how to handle these old boys.

How's that? With a snake stick?

Yeah. Well, that's the kind of smart remark...

...that's gonna get us both dropped into a baling machine.

l wouldn't be surprised.

Every piece of research we got says if you rotate your cotton crop...

...with a season of legumes, soybeans, alfalfa...

...you not only put the nitrogen back in the soil...

...you also reduce any infestation of nematodes.

And suppose nobody wants to buy no legumes?

Now, what's Mr. Lewis supposed to do? Use them to stuff his mattress?

l didn't know you were a agricultural authority, George.

-You here on official business too? -Sheriff Duffy just stopped by as a friend.

You see, l place a very high priority on friendship.

-Don't you, Lyle? -Yes, sir, Mr. Lewis, l surely do.

And as a friend, you know l'm in the cotton business...

...and l intend to stay in cotton because l like things just the way they are.

ls this whole thing your idea, Mr. Pettijohn...

...or his?

l do know a thing or two about rotation farming, Mr. Lewis.

And you also know you draw a paycheck every week...

...come hell or boll weevil, huh?

Now, l understand you two fellows, you mean well...

...but, after all, my family's been farming this land for 1 00 years or more...

...and our Negroes, our tenant farmers...

...have always derived a fairly good living off of it the way things are.

What Mr. Pettijohn is saying, sir....

What Mr. Pettijohn...

...is asking you to do, Mr. Lewis, is look to the future.

Another five, six years, this land won't be fit to raise dust, let alone cotton.

Lyle, do you realize there's a full-bore depression going on out there?

Couple of seasons of my not having cotton to sell...

...l might as well close this place down, join everybody else...

...on that bread line out there. No, l can't do it.

Well, sir, if you won't do it, l'm afraid someone is going to do it for you.

You talking about that New York Bolshevik...

...thinks he's gonna ride his wheelchair into Washington and tell me my business?

Yes, sir. l'm talking about Mr. Roosevelt.

Let me tell you something, Professor Haley.

There's not enough niggers and Jews in this country to vote that man into office.

And even if there was, this is still America...

...and no Congress gonna pass any law that's gonna tell a citizen...

...what he can plant and what he can't plant on his own God-given land.

Now, Mr. Lewis, that's not what Mr. Haley's trying to say...

...not what he meant to say.

Look, it's very clear to me what he's trying to say.

lt's also very clear to me that you best not going around...

...spreading ideas like that to my sharecroppers.

l can't stop that, Mr. Lewis.

And why is that, Mr. Pettijohn?

That's my job...

...and Mr. Haley is right.

l'm sorry to hear that, Lyle.

l'm very sorry.

You know, it's getting so the only way you can tell a white man...

...is by the way he votes and the kind of friends he goes around with.

And l'm worried about her.

l haven't heard from Mama in a month.

ls something wrong with Grandma?

No, l don't think so, son.

lf anything was seriously wrong, l'm sure we would have heard.

-We need more sugar, Mama. -Now, in national news...

...President Roosevelt,s legislation proposing sweeping agricultural reform...

...was passed by an overwhelming majority in the Senate.

-The bill provided... -Daddy?

...for the formation of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration.

The new administration, under the direction of Secretary of Agriculture Wallace...

...is expected to bolster sagging farm prices.

The bill,s most controversial article calls for a federal subsidy to farmers...

...who reduce production of cotton, wheat and dairy products.

The House passed its version of the measure last week...

...and members of both houses will discuss compromises in the different versions.

-He did it. -In the world of sports--

That's it. That's it. That's exactly what l've been waiting for.

They've passed the subsidy payments for small farmers.

Wait till l tell Ab Decker. Every farmer will get a check.

Not one in this district is going to go under.

Bertha, are you getting sick?

You don't look right.

Well, l just can't stop thinking about Mama.

Well, maybe you ought to give her a call, long-distance.

Well, l was thinking different. Couldn't we go see her?

You-- You was just there just a few months ago.

Simon, the school term ends in a few weeks.

Mama will be rattling around in that big old house.

You know how much it would mean to her to see the boys for a while.

-Honey, it'll be your vacation. -l don't know.

lf this had come up before l heard the news, l might have said yes...

...but now with the subsidy coming in--

Please.

Sure. l can start telling the farmers right away.

l can't wait to see Grandma.

Shoot, l knew it. l knew you couldn't have learned all that up North.

True. l got my early education in farming...

...on the acres my daddy sharecropped in Savannah, Tennessee.

Tennessee? My daddy sharecropped his acres in Greene County.

Morning.

-Well, if it ain't the college professor. -Morning, Mr. Decker.

-l have some good news for you. -Good news, huh?

Well, that's mighty fine. You're gonna have to bring it on around back.

l can't get my wagon rolling...

...and l done missed too much of the morning already.

Well, sir, things are different in the government now.

Mr. Roosevelt is running the country, and he cares about the poor farmer.

Do he, now?

Leave go, boy. You ain't that much of a man yet.

Mr. Decker, just yesterday the government passed a law.

They're going to pay a subsidy to you.

Well, they will pay you money if you plant less cotton this year...

...grow other things instead.

Well, that ain't what Mr. F.R. Lewis say.

-Mr. Lewis told you about the subsidy? -Yesterday afternoon.

Said there was some crazy talk out of someplace...

...about us poor farmers getting some money.

He just want to remind me that any money coming in off this land...

...go directly to him.

Now, when l lift, you just slide it on in there, you hear?

Mr. Decker, he lied to you. Mr. F.R. Lewis was lying.

That money goes to the farmers, not the owner.

Now, look here.

Soon as me and the boy get this wagon rolling...

...we going back out in the fields, like we always do.

And we gonna be all right.

Mr. Decker...

...all you've got to do is file for the subsidy yourself...

...and that check will come to you. lt will have your name on it...

...and nobody can get cash for it except you, not even Mr. F.R. Lewis.

lt's in.

ls that money really coming to me?

l give you my word.

What in the world is the matter with you? Telling that boy about subsidies.

Why shouldn't l? You're telling the white farmers about it.

Mr. Pettijohn, you are telling them, aren't you?

Yes, l'm telling them...

...but what l'm not doing is promising that money, come hell or high water.

But that's your job. Who's going to get them that money if you don't? lt's the law.

You've got a lot of gall, telling me my job.

There's laws on the books, and then there's laws that folks live by...

...and l'm sitting over here betwixt and between.

Mr. Pettijohn, if you don't make sure the farmers get that subsidy...

...the law says is theirs, then you're just playing into the hands of the landowners.

-Whose side are you on? -You got your way of handling this...

...and l got mine. Go off and have yourself a dandy fine visit with your kinfolk.

When you get back, you will see what kind of trouble you started around here.

So the men that been cropping for me and for Senator Griffin...

...just naturally been signing over these subsidy checks...

...to help us all out during this very difficult time.

Now, that's the way we think this law was meant to work to help us all.

Begging your pardon, sir, but l don't think so.

You don't think what, Ab?

l believe Mr. Roosevelt meant for me to have them $1 28.

Who been telling you that, that Haley fellow...

...or was it that other one, Pettijohn?

Now, come on, Ab, l know you didn't read it in the newspaper...

...because l know you don't read a diddly-damn.

Well, there's different ways for a man to be ignorant, Mr. Lewis, sir.

l expect giving up money that would feed my family...

...is a sight dumber than not knowing how to read.

What about me, Ab? How am l supposed to pay the taxes...

...on the land that supports you and your family?

Now, you've got to have a sense of fairness about this whole thing.

Well, l guess fairness...

...all come down to whose belly is growling, sir.

And what do you suppose is gonna keep me from making your mark...

...and cashing this check in anyway?

Because l know you, Mr. Lewis, 1 7 years.

You ain't a easy man...

...but you ain't no crook, neither.

That's right, Ab.

l'm not a crook.

But l'm not a damn fool, either.

Now, you get over here and you make your mark.

l say, get over here and make your mark.

Well, like l said, l'm not a damn fool, either. So l tell you what l'm gonna do.

l'm gonna keep this check for you until you're ready to make your mark.

Now, get the hell out of here.

On the one hand, l've been teaching farmers new scientific methods...

...that have improved their yields.

And on the other, President Roosevelt has provided the money...

...to see them through the hard times.

Between the two of us, l believe we can keep the farmers...

...in that county on their feet.

lt sound to me like from here on in...

...l'm gonna have to refer to you as Professor Haley.

Of course not, Cousin Georgia. You can keep right on calling me Simon...

...just so long as there's no students around.

Oh, well, l think l'd better be getting in. l've got a lot of reading to do.

-Good night, Grandma Cynthia. -Good night.

-Night, Aunt Liz. -Night, Simon.

Cousin Georgia.

Good night, son.

That man ain't been a professor for six months and already it seem...

...like he too big a muckety-muck to sit with his kinfolks.

Now, you know he wouldn't be thinking nothing like that.

lt take a whole lot of work being a professor of agriculture.

How much it take to teach somebody about dirt?

Now, you just hush.

We ain't got no cause to feel nothing but proud of that man.

There was a time, wasn't too long ago, neither...

...colored folks wasn't allowed no reading nor writing, like the African.

l remembers a whole lot of words by that African...

...like he called the river "Kambi Bolongo."

And the word for guitar was "ko."

And his word for head was "kungo."

And his word for hair was....

What was that word for hair?

Don't tell me l done lost one of them words.

What was the word for hair?

"Kuntinyo."

That's my grandson.

You sure listen good, Alex.

Hey.

You should never put a nigger ahead of a white man, Mr. Pettijohn.

You should never do that.

-Hey, Simon. -Simon Haley, you come on out here.

-Yeah, come on out. -Hey, professor.

We're gonna rotate your crops, boy.

Car's gone, Mr. Duffy. He don't be home.

Hey, maybe they're upstairs hiding under the bed.

Well, maybe we ought to go right on in anyway.

We don't have no key.

Now, just what do you think you got laced on that left foot of yours?

A boot?

Now, let's see if we can't fit that in the lock.

Yeah.

Haley?

-Here, l'll take that. Come on. -Get the light, Percy.

Well, look at the way this fella lives.

Yep.

You got a house this nice, Mr. Duffy?

No, l don't reckon.

Me, l got a tin roof so rusted out it leaks when dew settles on it.

Yep.

My boys ain't got what to wear on their back.

And this old boy's living better than a firehouse dog.

Ain't nobody upstairs.

You know what they've got upstairs, Mr. Duffy?

Beds with two sheets, Mr. Duffy, for under and on top.

Really?

Where do you reckon he got the money to live this good?

Well, l don't reckon it was from chopping cotton.

Well, you just take what you want there, Mr. Peacock--

-l ain't no thief! -Well, now, l didn't mean to--

l don't take what l don't work for...

...even from them that don't deserve it.

Well, now, l can respect that, Mr. Peacock.

We'll just come back and pay...

...Professor Haley another visit when he's home.

Now, y'all coming?

We'll come back again when Haley's here.

Morning, Mama.

Child, you practically scared me half to death.

l ain't been the second person in this kitchen since long as l can remember.

l thought l'd come down to help this morning since l was up.

You was up?

Child, you'd sleep through a fire if somebody didn't shake you.

l couldn't sleep, that's all.

Vacation time, you supposed to be sleeping in, not rising with the birds.

Bertha?

What is it, child?

Nothing, Mama.

Well, that nothing looks like a whole lot of something to me.

l've been bleeding, Mama.

lt won't stop, and it pains.

-Doctor says there ain't nothing he can do. -Oh, my baby.

My poor baby.

Don't tell Simon, please.

He don't know anything.

l just don't know how to tell him.

l'm afraid.

Oh, that's all right, child.

lt's all right. Everybody's afraid.

Next Sunday, after church...

...when you see Sister Will Ada Curry, you give her a dollar.

You ask her to pray.

All right, l'll do that.

Don't you worry. Don't you worry, honey.

Don't you worry.

Don't worry.

Alex is reading them a story.

l think they'll settle down now.

lt's only things they've broken, Simon.

We got to be thankful the children weren't here.

l know. l know.

That's why...

...l'm sending you and the boys back to Henning.

-And you? You'll be coming with us. -No, l can't go now.

l can't just cut and run...

...because some yahoos think they can frighten me off.

Them yahoos have done a pretty good job...

...because l'm frightened, aren't you?

Of course l am.

There's nothing l'd rather do this minute than pack and leave...

...but what about Ab Decker?

l promised him pie in the sky if he would go against F.R. Lewis.

-What about all the rest of them? -What about Simon Haley?

Who the hell is Simon Haley?

Some kind of...?

Some kind of oracle? Some five-and-dime Solomon telling people:

"When ye shall sow" and "When ye shall reap."

-You're a teacher, that's why you're here. -What l am, Bertha, is Aleck Haley's son.

lf l hadn't been wasted, been sent to school, l'd be Ab Decker today.

l'm nothing but a sharecropper's son with a three-piece suit.

And if l needed something to remind me of that, well, just look around you.

A master's degree from a white man's college...

...didn't stop them from violating my home, terrorizing my family.

And God knows it won't stop them from doing the same thing...

...to any farmer who fights back.

l know your sound when you done made up your mind.

l don't have a choice.

l got Ab Decker in. l've got to see him through, and all the others.

-Fine. Then we'll all stay. -No, l'll stay.

l'll stay. You and the boys are going back.

Well, l won't do it. l won't go.

Damn it, woman, you'll do what l tell you!

Bertha.

Bertha, l'm sorry. Bertha, l'm....

Well, it's just, l don't--

l mean, l don't know.

God, would you look what they've done to us?

Got me snapping at you like some kind of animal.

Last time l let you out of my sight, you were gone a year.

l worried so about you.

Sometimes l thought l'd just shrivel up and die.

-l know. -You don't know.

You don't know the half.

And l swore then if the Lord brought you back to me, broken or whole...

...that no war or nothing would ever separate you from me again.

l love you.

Don't send me away, please, not even for a minute.

Honey.

Honey, we've got the rest of our lives together.

Oh, please.

Okay. Okay.

Dr. Huguley, they broke into my home.

And you're making it sound as if somehow it was my fault.

When Senator Griffin and Mr. Lewis first came in here...

-...they were howling for blood. -l know about that.

They told me that if you were not fired...

...they could cut this school's appropriations down to nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Oh, for God's sake, Haley...

...what on earth could have possessed you...

...to tell that man to file for that government subsidy in his own name?

Sir, that's the way the law is supposed to work.

Not in this county!

l had to apply...

...a lifetime supply of soft soap...

...just to calm those two men down.

And did you sing your favorite spiritual?

No, but l would have.

Oh, l would have.

l would do anything to keep this school open.

You see, because l believe...

...that the only way blacks are going to be able to move up in this country...

...is through education.

So, yes, l would sing.

Yes, l would do the buck-and-wing...

...wearing blackface with oversized white lips on the steps of the state capitol...

...in order to keep this institution alive.

You know, the one essential principle...

...you do not seem to be able to grasp...

...that all of your wonderful programs and ideas...

...all of your wonderful pioneering methods for farming instruction...

...well, they don't mean a damn...

...unless the doors of this institution are kept open.

-l realize that, sir. -Do you?

But the college cannot close its eyes to what's going on outside its walls.

For the first time in history, we've got a chance to help the Ab Deckers--

Ab Deckers? Ab Decker. The man is not on this faculty.

The man is not even a student...

...and yet this man has the future of this college...

...hanging by a thread.

Sir, there's a clear issue of right and wrong here.

l'm fighting for a principle.

Well, then, let me give you something else to think about.

lf it comes down to Ab Decker or this college...

...professor, l expect you to make the proper choice.

l'm sorry to bust in on you at this hour of the morning, but something's come up.

lt's your friend Ab Decker.

What happened?

Lewis went to the sheriff...

...to get him to seize Decker's property.

Wagons, mules, everything.

But Lewis doesn't hold the mortgage on Ab's property.

-He can't take a thing. -He's gonna take it all.

He's going out there with deputies first thing this morning.

-Does Ab know about this? -l'd say that he does, yeah.

He went into Swickert's Hardware Store yesterday...

...come out with two boxes of shotgun shells.

Oh, my God. They'll kill him.

Wait for me.

-Will you come with me? -l can't do that.

Last time l got tied up with you, l near got myself drowned.

My job is these rednecks right here in this county.

lf l'm gonna help them, l can't stick my neck out any further with you.

l already broke most every rule l was raised with.

Now, you go or don't go...

...but l can't go, and that's flat.

Good luck.

You better go.

Honey, if there's something you can do to stop this trouble, then you have to go.

l'll get dressed.

Alex, what you doing up?

But, Mama, you're sick.

How can you let him go?

He can't stay here, baby.

He's got to help that farmer.

The man's in trouble.

But so are you, Mama.

Alex...

...l know this is hard for you to understand now.

Most people live their whole lives...

...without ever having anything important to do.

So when you've got something that's important like your daddy has...

...you can't let anything stand in your way. Not anything.

You just gotta see it through.

That's all anybody can do.

Just-- Just see it through.

Ab, we're waiting.

Ab!

Ab!

Sheriff?

You're the one that got all this trouble rolling.

Now, if l was you, l'd just move along.

Perhaps if l can go in and talk to Ab alone...

...l might be able to convince him to come out.

Now, look, Mr. F.R. Lewis wants them mules that are legally his.

And he wants them alive and kicking.

You ready, boys?

Sheriff, please! Let me talk to him.

All right. You got a couple minutes.

First one come through that door a dead man.

Ab, it's me. lt's Professor Haley. l wanna talk to you.

-ls you alone? -Yes.

Look, come around the side.

What you want?

Ab, they only gave me a couple of minutes.

l want you to come out with me.

No, sir. l ain't doing that.

Ab, you don't have a chance.

There are six deputies out there that l know of.

Well, they ain't coming in here.

Ain't no mortgage on my mule.

They got no right to take my property.

Don't matter if the sheriff himself come.

Ain't nobody taking my mule.

Haley, you're running out of time.

What about your family, Ab?

Oh, l think they be safe enough.

l took them to my sister over to DeKalb County.

l don't care where they are. You--

What good are you to them dead?

You see this here mule?

This is Captain.

Now, you can kick him, and you can whup him...

...and you can push him real hard, and he can take it...

...but if you pushes him too much...

...he just set himself and kick out at the next person who try to push him.

Haley, you coming out or not?

l wouldn't do that.

This ain't your fight, professor.

Ab, please...

...come outside with me.

Now, professor...

...you didn't come here to shoot me.

Come on.

He coming out?

No.

Sheriff, please...

...there's no need to use guns.

l believe that was his choice.

Now, you just get clear of that shack.

Now, l ain't gonna tell you again.

Haley, get the hell out of there!

-Mr. Pettijohn, what--? -There ain't nothing you can do now.

Clear out, like he says.

Help me!

l got him. Hey, l got him.

Ab, you all right?

Oh, mercy.

Okay, boys.

Let's load up.

-Thank God he's alive. -Yes, and you too.

l got halfway home before it come to me you'd walk right into the middle of it.

That's a damn pretty stunt, Haley.

Thanks for coming in, for everything.

But l know sharecroppers' sons from Tennessee ought to stick together.

That's the straight of it.

First the doctor, now you.

lt don't make sense.

A darky shoots up a deputy, gets the whole world on a silver platter.

Next they'll be sending one of them red lawyers down from the North.

Seems like we ought to just hang that boy and save the state a lot of money.

Here's somebody else to see you, Ab.

Professor.

This here the government check?

Well, go to war, Miss Annie.

Mr. Pettijohn leaked word to the federal office in Tuskegee.

That's when Lewis had to surrender it.

Let me see.

$1 28.53.

That's sure gonna be a help, yes, sir.

Now that l got my family all nice and settled with kinfolk over in Coffee Springs...

...this here money gonna see them to past a year.

And in two years, my oldest, he gonna be able to take on a farm himself.

All this time....

All this time, you never told Lewis l put you up to this.

Now look what l've done to you.

Professor.

You and me, we won.

l got my check.

There's--

Well, there's just no way l can ever apologize adequately--

Professor...

...can you do me a favor?

Take this to my family?

The one man l trust see it get done.

l'd be honored, Ab.

Just....

Just sign it on the back.

Oh, l think you gotta help me there too.

l figure you're pretty good at teaching.

Just right there. Yeah.

Thank you.

Professor Haley.

Dr. Crawford.

l'm glad you're here.

Mrs. Haley has had a relapse.

A relapse?

Oh, my God.

How serious is it?

Well, she was bleeding again, but l managed to control it.

-Well, is she in pain? -No, not right now.

Why don't you go on up and see her.

-l'll be outside for a minute. -Thank you, doctor.

l'm so glad you're here.

l never should have left.

Bertha, why didn't you tell me?

There wasn't nothing you can do for me.

But, Bertha--

Simon...

...we decided you had to go on.

Honey...

...he got his check.

We won.

l'm so glad.

l know you worked hard for it.

Don't it seem like there was always something trying to keep us apart?

Too often.

Much, much too often.

l missed you so when you were in the Army.

That's why l traveled to Chicago before you went overseas.

Well, you know l--

l just had to send for you.

Remember that party in Chicago at your friend Doxey's?

We only had that one night together.

Simon?

Simon, it's so crowded. Can't we go out on the fire escape?

Alex?

Promise me--

Promise me they'll visit Mama.

You know how she loves the boys.

l promise.

Bertha?

Oh, Bertha.

What are we ever gonna do without you?

-My God, just look at you. -Grandma. Grandma.

Well, bless my soul.

We gonna stay all summer.

Julius, of course you is.

You've come home where you belong.

For the whole summer.

What about you? You're not staying with us past the summer, are you?

No, l can't, Aunt Liz.

l've got some work to finish...

...with a friend of mine, a man named Pettijohn.

l understand.

You started something. You got to see it through.

Alex, come to Grandma.

What's troubling you?

You bothered, boy?

Alex?

Boy, what you doing out here kicking up a ruckus at this hour?

You knows Liz and me got to rise early.

l remembered this.

l was thinking about it, and l couldn't sleep.

Look what done become of it.

And your grandpa was so proud.

They all dead.

Oh, well, now.

Child, there's some of us still alive.

There's me and your daddy...

...and your auntie Liz and cousin Georgia.

But you're all gonna die.

Well...

...that be true.

We's all gonna die sometime.

Everybody leads a mortal life.

Like your grandpa used to say:

"One life ain't nothing but a tiny span...

...in the life of the tree.

And the tree...

...ain't nothing but a tiny span in the mind of God."

Everything looks small alongside time.

Everything but the family.

Now, look what you got here.

All these people, all from the same family.

As far back as we can go...

...it started with the African, Kunta Kinte.

Then come Kizzy and Chicken George...

...and Tom Harvey and me.

And your mama and now you.

The family goes on...

...in the flesh...

...and in the remembering.

And you got to remember...

...and go on.

And then one day...

...you'll tell the story...

...of this family...

...to your family.

Oh, Grandma.

Next on Roots:

-The Army? -Alex, two, three years...

...you'll come out a grown man.

We start with shining shoes...

...move on to bed-making, polishing silver...

...and if you turn out to be smarter than you look...

...maybe in nine or 1 0 years, you'll be up to waiting tables.

Girl wears herself out battling these sailor pants with the 1 3 buttons in front.

The buttons represent the 1 3 original states of the Union.

Honey, l know that.

Let's start with Delaware, move on to Pennsylvania...

...and work our way right down to little Rhode lsland.

You had no right to speak to my commanding officer...

...without consulting me first.

l'm a grown man. l'm not a wet-nosed kid.

l was just smoothing the path. You had to get out.

Dad, l don't want out.

-You have to enroll in school. -l'm not going back to school.

l am staying in the Coast Guard.

Alex, you're soaking me.

Will you marry me?

My medals were here, the United States eagle was here.

And you know what l saw? Not a war hero, no, sir.

Not a veteran, not a serviceman.

l saw what they saw.

A nigger in a fancy monkey suit.

Must be many stories like that.

You have something very special to say. Why not say it?

Please, don't go. Nan, you can't leave.

You left me a long time ago.

Maybe you were never with me. Maybe it was a mistake from the start.

-Maybe l was just a small-town girl-- -Don't say that. No.

You shut up!

You shut upI