All language subtitles for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday, Miss Jane

Happy Birthday to you.

Lena, whatchu put all these
candles on this cake for?

Ma'am, now just blow 'em out.
Just blow 'em out.

No, I ain't got enough breathe
to be blowing out these candles.

See there!

Happy Birthday, Jane!

Mmm, gonna be here with
me this time next year, Lena?

God willin', God willin'.

Don't wanna be here by myself now.

I'm gonna be here with ya, Jane.

Oh Mary, I know you gonna be here.

Yeah, child.

Oh,

Happy Birthday!

Hello, Miss Jane.

Well, hello, Jimmy. Come on in.

Happy Birthday.

Can I speak with you, Miss Jane?

Jimmy, let's go on outside
before they stuff me full a cake.

Me help? How?

By goin' with us down to the courthouse,
when we get ready to move.

I'm 109, 110. I'm too old.

Can't do nuttin' but get in the way.

You can inspire the others.

Jimmy,

whatchu got goin' in the back of your head?

We gonna have one of our girls drink from the
white people's fountain down at the courthouse.

The white folks' fountain?

Ha Ha. That old Lou and Edgar won't let
her get anywhere near that fountain.

You know, when they passed
that segregation law,

that old Lou come 'round
slobberin and hollerin', I tell 'em

Edgar, if you touch me,
I take my cane and cut your skull!

We want Gidry to arrest her.

If one of us did it, we'd just get beat up.

Now, what you want old fat Gidry to arrest her for?

So we can march down to the courthouse.

Oh Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy, you see,

these folks around here ain't
ready for nuttin' like that yet.

That's our job.

Talk to 'em, Jimmy. Talk to the young ones.

We don't have that kinda time, Miss Jane.

What else do you got, Jim?

I've been carryin' a scar on my
back ever since I was a slave.

That's precisely why we need you;

your mere presence will
bring forth the multitudes.

Jimmy, understand, believe it or not,
I was once young myself.

That girl is gonna drink from the
fountain tomorrow, Miss Jane.

Well,

God moves in mysterious ways,

His wonders to perform.

I'll wait for Him to give me the sign, Jimmy,

and He's right most times. I'll wait on Him.

That girl is gonna drink from
the fountain tomorrow, Miss Jane.

Excuse me,

I'm a, I'm looking for Miss Jane Pittman.

Well, you'll find Miss Jane in the last
cabin on your left, down that lane.

Thank you, thank you very much.

Tell me again, whatchu wanna
know about Miss Jane for?

I'm writing a feature story.

A what? Is this for radio?

I'm gonna be on television,
the Ed Sullivan Show.

No, ma'am. It's, it's, ah,
for a magazine from New York.

Oh, always prefer Brooklyn myself.

Oooh, you wanna know
how come I live so long?

Well, I'd like to hear whatever you have to say.

'Bout what?

You don't have to say a thing to him, Miss Jane.

I understand you were a slave.

Lots of peoples was slaves.

Well, yes, but you're still alive.

Jus 'bout.

Well, I, I thought maybe you could tell me
what things were like in those days.

In those days?

Hmm.

Tomorrow.

Miss Jane's tired.
She'll decide tomorrow.

This morning marks Bayonne's first brush
with the so-called Civil Rights Movement.

There's a group of negro agitators
confronted Sherriff Gidry

at the white folks-only drinking
fountain at the courthouse.

There were no serious injuries reported,
although several arrests were made.

Well, it's her son, Jimmy,
that got into jail there.

She can tell ya.

Well, I want to do an interview with
him as soon as things settle down,

but I, I came down here to talk to you,
Miss Jane.

Are you a 110 years old?

Hmmpf. So they tell me.

How far back can you remember?

How far back you wanna go?

Well, ah, the war. Can you remem-

What war?

Second World, First World,
or that, that Cuban War?

Y - you remember the Spanish American War?

Spanish American War!

I can do a whole lot better than that.

Do you remember getting your freedom?

I hope I never forget it.
How far back you wanna go?

You wanna go back that far?

I'll go back as far as you wanna go.

Now you don't have to
tell him nothing, Miss Jane.

I know that, Lena, but if I don't,

he's just gonna sit here
and worry me half to death.

You mean, it's alright?

How far?
You want me to go back as far as I can go?

That's even further than
when the freedom come.

That thing ain't gonna bite me, is it?

Oh no, ma'am, no. It's just a tape.

Oh my, my, my.

Well, where to start, where to start, Lena.

Honestly, I wouldn't talk to this man here.

Lena, you just fill in the gaps.

Huh, well, I can see who
got their mind made up.

You might as well start
with them over there.

What. Oh these?

Hmm.

Lord, Lord, Lord.

I have had these things ever since I can remember.

Two rocks?

You don't know a whole lot, do ya?

Oh, it was a cold day.

Wet and muddy, I will never forget it.

The red army they come first,
officers on horses and troops just walking.

They was half dead, dragging their guns in the mud,
they were so tired.

Some of 'em weren't much older than I was.

Ma'am, would it be asking too much if
we could use some of your water?

We don't have very much time.

I'd be honored, Sir.

Colonel, would you do me the
pleasure of taking some brandy wine?

Well, thank you kindly. I would like that.

Tycee!

Tycee! Don't just stand there gaping.
Get them troops some water.

Here you go, boy.

"Keep my food warm.

I'm gonna kill me a few Yankees
and be home for supper."

Colonel! Colonel!

Over there!

Colonel, I seen 'em.
They're right down the road.

They're right behind me.

Ma'am, I am truly grateful, and God bless ya'll.

Our hearts are with you.

If it was left up to me, I'd turn them
niggers lose if it was left up to me.

Yeah, if the Yankees won.
Have to give the Yankees hell!

Tycee, what are you
doing standing there for?

You go get some more water.

What for, Mistress Bryant.
They're all gone now.

Oh, you don't think Yankees drink water too?

Don't ya hear that rifle fire?

I gotta haul all that water for them Yankees too?

You don't want to get boiled in oil now, do ya?

They're comin', they're comin'! The Yankees are comin'!

Where?

Over there.

Oh my God, they're coming right through the fields!

Where's the Master?

He's there sw'mping 'round the tree.

Stop pointing.

You watch your tongue; there may be the devil.

Now you hear me.

Don't you say one word about the
Master or one word about the silver,

or they gonna skin you alive before they boil you in oil.

Dismount!

How'd ya do?

Ma'am.

May I offer you some brandy wine?

Why, thank you, Ma'am.

What happened to your shoes?

I took mine off. They hurt my feet.

What's your name?

Tycee, Master.

They ever beat you, Tycee?

You can tell me.

What do they beat you with?

Cat-of-Nine tails, Master.

Why they'd whip you?

I go to sleep lookin'
after the young mistress's children.

You're nothing but a child yourself.
How old are you right now?

I don't know, Master.

Tycee, I am not a Master.

I am plain old ordinary soldier.

My name's Corporal Lewis Brown.
Now can you say Corporal?

No, Master.

I bet you can. Go on, try.

I can't say that.

Can you say Lewis?

Yes, Master.

Alright. Well, you call me Lewis,

and I'm gonna call you
something besides Tycee.

Tycee is a slave name.

Now, back in Ohio, there's lots of
pretty names for a girl like you.

What names you got?

Oh, Eloise,

Sophie, Margeurite, Jane.

I like Jane.

OK, you take it.

From now on, your name is Jane.

Not Tycee anymore. Jane.

When you get older, you change it to anything you want,

but until then your name is Jane.

Load up!

Come on!

If anybody gives you any more trouble,
you just come on up to Ohio and tell me.

We'll fix it.

Come on!

A year later, Master Bryant
called us all together.

We knew somethin' big was happenin',

'cause he had on his best
suit and his top hat.

Now everybody that can stand or crawl gotta hear this.

That's all of them, Master Bryant.

Alright then.

I got something to read to ya'll.

These papers come through while
the war was still goin', but

there wasn't any point in reading them until now.

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,

containing among other things the following:

To wit, that on the first day of
January in the year of our Lord 1863

all persons held as slaves within any state
or designated part of a state,

the people where are shall then
be in rebellion against the United States

shall be then thence forward,
and forever, free.

Well, it just goes on like that.

Now, all I want to say is that

ya'll can stay and work on shares;
I, I, I can't pay ya nothin',

since I ain't got nothin' myself,

since them Yankees went through here last time.

Ya'll can stay.

Ya'll can go.

Just as you please.

Now, if, if ya'll stay,

I promise

I, I'll be as fair, as, as fair with ya,
as I've always been with ya'll,

and that's that.

Now, you just shut up your mouths here.

You comin' in here,
telling about I'm leaving.

Where to? What you gonna do?

What do we care? We's free to choose.

There are all kinds of places to go.

Gold in California.

Hold it, hold it. Whatcha gonna eat?

We'll all to eat food!

How you gonna to pay for
all this food, you big young buck?

With money, Unc, same as any other free man.

And from where is you getting this fortune?

Honest wage for an honest day's work.

You don't know nothing about outside.

You belong right here on this plantation.

Ya'll do what ya'll want. I'm headin' for Ohio.

What about them padaroes, honey?

They got Yankees now. No papers now.

I'm just as free as a mouse.

They ain't gonna beatcha,
and they didn't kill ya

before because you belonged to somebody.

Now you ain't owned but by faith, Tycee.

My name's Jane, and I'm headed for
Ohio so as you point the way North.

Very well, Miss Jane.

North bes that a way from here.

Now, the sun's on the right in the
morning and on the left in the evening.

You got all this?

All right, now remember.

God bless you, child.

Missus had tears in her eyes,
and she was kissin' all the peoples goodbye.

Hmm. She even kissed me.

We walked for days through the
swamps, staying off the main roads

cause them padaroes would kill a free
man quick as he would a runaway slave.

No one knew where we was headed,

so, Big Laura, tough as any man,
showed the way.

Come on, Jane, come on.

The padaroes! The padaroes!

You wanna go to Ohio with me?

If anybody asks, these just two plain old rocks,

not the iron and flint that Big
Laura used but two plain old rocks.

Make sure they get to Ohio the same time we do.

So, Big Laura's little boy,
Ned and me, we started walking toward Ohio.

There wasn't much left
of the South in those times.

All the Yankees couldn't lift
and take with them, they burned.

Once in awhile though,
you'd see somethin' still standin'.

You! Get away from my fence.

Excuse me, ma'am.
Could you tell me which way to Ohio?

Please, ma'am!

If you don't get away from my fence,

I'm gonna have that dog
there point the way to Ohio!

I just wanted to know if
I was headed the right way.

I don't know nothin about no Ohio.
Get away from my fence!

We headed on then.

Can you tell me if there's
a spring around here?

You don't see no spring around here, do ya?

Me and this boy are awful thirsty.

Stay there.

You don't think I'm gonna let you foul
this cup with your black mouth, do ya?

Hold yer hands out.

Don'tcha all think I love niggers
just because I'm given you water.

I hate cha'll. Hate cha! All of ya!

You're the cause of all the
trouble we're having around here.

All this ravishin' and burnin'.

Yankee and nigger soldiers
all over the place.

They stealin' and killin'.

They done killed my boy and my man,
and yer the cause of it,

and I hope to God they kill you!

I'd kill ya myself if I weren't God-fearin'!

Look whatcha done to me! Look whatcha done!

Look whatcha done to me!

Whoa! You two must be pretty
tired standing on that grave.

Hat so well dried,
can't tell who it belonged to.

Lot of 'im in there
though, whoever they was.

Where ya'll goin?

We headin' north.

We headin' north

Ya ain't goin' nowhere standin' there.

Come on now.

Headin' north, eh?
Where the big freedom, hey?

Well, you gonna have
to cross a river, you know.

River?!

The Mighty Mlssissippi.

I ain't crossin' no river, nothin'!

You gonna cross the Mighty Mississippi,
or you all ain't headin' north.

You two keep still. I know these two.
Let me do the talking,

See you gotcha you some niggers there, Joe.

Yessir! For the Bonduron's place.

Can't say they much, but you got
to start with somethin', sure!

Feed 'em. They'll grow.

Will do, yessir.

You two, get off here.

Where the river? I don't see no river.

Never mind. Just get off!

I don't see no river.

Where do ya think ya'll goin'?

Me and this boy here are headed for Ohio.

Ohio? Who ya'll for?

We ain't for nobody!
We just as free as you are.

Well, alright, little free nigger.
You got money?

It take a nickel to ride on here.
You got a nickel each?

No, sir.

Then got on back. Lucas, take care of them.

So, we walked and walked.

Round in circles, probably.

Keeping out of the way of
rednecks and padaroes,

who was on the lookout for freemen.

Finally, we was so tired and hungry,
and not knowing where else to go,

I signed on at the Dyer plantation.

I didn't know it was going to take me twelve long,
hard years to get off that place.

They no rocks. Ned knew that.

They flints for making fire.

Is she all right?

Oh yeah.

That's just Miss Jane's way.

She'd like to take advantage of her age
that way, skipping goodbyes and all.

Says she had too many anyway.

Uh, excuse me.

Gotta whole bunch of telephone
messages here for ya.

Oh, thank you.

In slavery, you had two dresses, a pair of shoes, and a coat.

Say, you like that stuff?

Yes, ma'am.

That's homegrown, you know.
Not from no can.

You ever ate sugar cane before?

No, ma'am.

I know you ain't never chopped none.

No, ma'am, I haven't.

Man has to chop sugar cane for awhile
'for it learns to appreciate it.

Most people ain't never ate sugar
cane raw today, black or white.

I work on the Dyer plantation for 12
long years, and I know what went on.

I was there.

I guess I must have been about,

I guess I must have been about 22, 23.

All right, let's go!

You, you.

Woah.

You all know and trust and love me.

So, vote for me!
Send me to Washington, to assure...

Colored politicians used to come
'round and sign us up for votes,

and more than just a few
got sent to Washington,

but Reconstruction never really worked.

It wasn't too long for carpetbaggers,
black and white,

moved in to take from the South what the war didn't.

For awhile, yes, it looked like
things was gonna be alright for us.

We had a little school on the
place where we could go at night.

Ned, he must have been about 18 then.

... an education!
I'm gonna give you an education!

God, no! No!

Oh, my God! No!

Colonel Dyer was gettin' crazier by the day.

Sometimes, when it was June 4,
like the war never ended.

There's, uh, no more nigger
politicians 'round here.

That schoolhouse up there is gonna stay
shut down until I can find ya'll a competent teacher.

Ya'll don't need a pass to
leave the place like before.

You all do right by me, and any
group stops you on the road,

you just tell me, and I'll fix it right out!

I can't pay ya'll until
the end of the year,

but you can draw rations and
clothing from the store.

If that suits ya, stay!

If that don't,

I catch up with them coattail-flying scalawags
and the rest of them hot-footin' niggers.

Ned started teaching the people to write.

He even wrote to Washington DC,
but they never wrote back.

You know,
he found out about committees being formed

that helped the coloreds with their rights,

and so he formed one too.

... and there ain't no such
taxes for protecting living.

If someone tries to burn
your crop, tell us.

We know how to prosecute.

The vigilantes heard about Ned's committee,
and they started watching him,

but that didn't stop him none.

Where's he at?

Who? Who? Who?

You know who I'm talking about!

Ned Stephen Douglas!

That's who,
or whatever he's calling himself these days.

I don't know where he is.

She don't know, Bull!

Still don't know where he's at?

We'll get him.

I'm telling you, that boy of yours
better stop being so serious.

I don't like him getting so serious, you understand!

She understands!

Come on, let's go! We'll find him.

Ma, what happened?

Eat your food!

This! What happened?

They was here lookin' for you tonight, Ned.

They're fixin' to kill ya.

They will, if you don't leave this place.

I can't, Mama. You know that.

Ya got to!

I can't leave these people.

They haven't got anybody else who will fight for them, except the Commitee.

Ned, you ain't worth nothin' to nobody dead.

You pack your things now.

Take the road to New Orleans,
and take a boat leaving' for Kansas.

You come with me then.

No, I can't. I can't, Ned. I'm tired here.

You're comin' with me, Mama.
They'll hurt you again.

They can't do me nothin', Ned.
I don't have what you have.

I don't have the urge.
I know the land, but you know the peoples.

Got to 'em, Ned. Talk to 'em. Show 'em.

You have to come with me.

No. It's not my time.

I'll stop. I'll stop the teachin's.
I'll stop the writing, the letters.

You know that's not right,
and that ain't what none of us wants.

I don't wanna leave, Mama.
I don't want us to separate.

I know, but it has to be.
I knew the day would come.

You know, I never did tell ya,
but the first time you ever read to us,

I knew that you was the one.

I won't hold ya back, Ned.
I won't hold ya back.

Mama, Mama, Mama

Make me proud. Make me proud.

Mama, keep them for me.

Make sure they git to Ohio same time we do.

I didn't hear from Ned for a whole year.

I guess that was about '75 or '76,
the same year I first saw Joe Pittman.

I had him over to supper, and we started
seein' each other from time to time.

and, as things happened b'tweens people,
one thing led to another.

But after a time, there
were too many and no jobs,

and people started freezin' to death of cold.

Others got starvin'.

Then the protests, riots came,
and people started going off to other states.

I am still goin' to school, college now.

When I'm ready, I'm comin' back home.

In the meantime, here's $3.00

and God bless you, Mama. All my love, Ned.

Well, Little Mama, took a whole year,
but you finally heard from yer boy.

Ever tell him about us?

When you gonna tell him about Clyde Ranch?

Ain't said I'm gonna go yet.

Oh, you're goin'. That's all there is to it.

I'm leavin', and you're goin with me.

Well, how's Ned gonna
know where to write to me?

Well, we'll send him a photograph
of us up on a horse, wild west style.

I ain't gettin on no horse or nuttin.

Yeah, you're comin' with me, Little Mama.

By then, Colonel Dyer was so forgetful.
He'd call us all out to him,

and then he couldn't remember
what we was there for.

Whatcha all doin', standin' and starin'?

Go get on back to work.

Colonel, we're leavin'.

You what?

Jane and me are goin'.

Whatsa matter, Joe?
Ain't I treatin' you right?

It ain't that at all, Colonel.
We've been treated very good here,

but I wanna go out and
do a little share croppin' on my own.

Listen, Joe. I'll, ah, turn over that piece
of good bottom land to ya.

You can work it like you want.

Joe, you a good man.
I need ya'll around here,

and there ain't much happened since the war,

and there ain't another nigger on
this place that can work a horse like you.

You people's the happiest damn
creatures on God's green Earth.

I wanna do right by ya'll.

Mighty grateful, Colonel, mighty grateful,

but, Jane and me, we want to go off on our own.

You ain't grateful. Hell.

You wanna share crop, share crop!
See what I care!

Thank you, Sir.

Just a minute. Ain't you forgettin somethin?

Where my $50?

What $50?

Oh, you forgot that, did ya?

Well, I ain't.

That $50 to get you all outta that trouble with the Klutchers.

That ain't bothers me.

Course it ain't!

Ya'll mixed up in a little
politics there after the war.

Everybody around here knew it.

I didn't know you paid.

Those Klutchers don't stop doin what they do,
just cuz ya'll say it holy.

Now, you pay up, or else.

We had to sell everything we own.

$1.00 for the chair, $5.00 for the hoe.

Shotgun got $7.00.

Finally, Joe did what he had to do.

He sold his beautiful horse,

the one he trained special,
the one he rode so proud.

Well?

Here's the money, Colonel.

I'll count it out,
so as you're sure it's all there.

It all there.

You're a smart one, ain'tcha?

Well I got news.

Time lap come to five more dollars.

You didn't say nuttin about that.

But you ain't got no more!

I got legal rights, by interest.

What are ya doin', Jane?
That's your wedding ring.

That's our freedom!

It took ten days of hard walkin' til
we reached east Texas and the Clyde Ranch.

Joe was a cheap beggar.

Everybody call him, Cheap Pittmann.

He'd bring horses in from Texas,
and he would ride the ones nobody else could.

Oh, he was a poet the way he rode.

Get'em in there. Come on. Get 'em in!

Yah! Yah! Yah! Get 'em in there!

The next summer, Joe brought in
a horse like I've never seen before.

It sent a chill down my spine the way it looked.

I knew it was something evil.

And when I see that old white
devil horse coming to Clyde Ranch,

he'd just stand there,
keep alaughing at me.

Laughing at me, I know it! I know it!

Be calm. Be calm.

Before we go on, how many
children have you given Joe Pittman?

I'm barren.

That tis it. Have you told him?

No.

This is why he ride the horses,
to prove something.

This is man's way.

You think that old horse gonna kill him?

You want the true response?

Yes.

Money.

You may go if you want.

I want to know.

You are brave, my dear.

Does that mean that old white
devil horse gonna kill my Joe?

I did not say that.

But that's answer.

My Jane, whatcha doin'?

Let it be, Joe. Please!

Let him be. Let him be, Joe! Oh!

Please!

Please! Let him go, Joe! Let him go! Oh!

Let him be! Oh!

Let him be. Let him be.

No!

No!

No! Noooo! No!

We buried him at the ranch.

The rodeo went on as always,
but before it started,

they tolled the bell for Joe Pittman.

When Joe Pittman was killed,
part of me went with him into his grave.

No man would ever take
the place of Joe Pittman,

and that's why I carry his name to this day.

Well, I known two or three other mens,

but none took the place of Joe Pittman.

I let them know that from the very start.

Have I got to the part about Albert Cooper yet?

No, Ma'am.

When Ned, when he'd come
back that time from Cooper.

Not yet, Jane.

Oh, I thought I did. It was...

I was takin' in laundry then.

It was about the turn of the century.

I was fishing that day on
my place in Forrest River,

when I saw him coming around the bend.

It was 20 years since I'd seen him,

but I knew it was my Ned the
moment I laid eyes on him.

Yes, I did.

Put me down.

Mm,mm, mm.

I'm getting made 'cause I'm full!

Well, I made some of my favorite puddin'.

And for you, little bitty.

Thank you, Miss Jane.

That's for you.

So anyway, we, we got used to the
small shot whizzing around us,

but when one of those big ones hit, whoa!

We sometimes found ourselves
in a lively dispute

over the proprietorship of the nearest tree.

Now don't go talkin' like you spent the whole
Spanish American War hiding behind a tree.

Tell her what the newspaper says.

You get your name in the newspaper?

Not me personally, Mama,

but I guess folks by now
know about the 10th Calvary.

Miss Jane, the newspaper in Washington say that

the Rough Riders would never made up Sandmond Hill,

if it hadn't been for the black soldiers fightin' beside 'em.

Ahead of them sometimes.

And you didn't get hit in all that shootin'?

No, never.

I saw men, dead and dying all around me,
black, white, Spanish.

I began to feel like I was alive for a reason.

Come back to teach?

I checked around, Mama.

You know you don't have
a school on the river.

Well... ain't nothing change here either.

Yeah, he stopped talking about
much he'd have to do, Miss Jane.

It can get that way. Hmm, mm hmm.

Yeah, we both so pleased.

I know my Ned can accomplish
a great deal here.

You made up your mind, ain't ya, Ned?

That war in Cuba taught me a lot of things, Mama.

Well,

Ned, I want to tell ya,

if you're fixin' to use O' Thomas's Church,
he ain't gonna let ya.

I know that it is hard for you to come here

and discouraging when so many said they would come and didn't,

but we must not give up.

We are not alone.

Listen to what Mr. Frederick Douglas wrote
to us from the North 50 years ago.

Remember that we are one,
that our cause is one,

and that we must help one
another if we would succeed.

We have drunk to the drags
the bitter cup of, of slavery.

We have worn a heavy yoke.

We have sighed beneath our bonds.

We have rised to the bloody lash.

Cruel mementos of our oneness are
indelibly marked in our living flesh.

And that's where Albert Cooper come in.

He already killed 12
people, black and white.

Like chopping wood, he used ta say.

Why you always talking about killing for?

I'm the best.
I don't brag so much. He, hee! Oh!

Hey, Jane! You cook this up for me tonight.

I, ya, tell you something important.

What's important?

They talk to me about your boy there, Jane.

They don't want him build that school there,
no?

They say he could just stir
up trouble for niggers.

They want him go back,
back where he come from.

They don't know Albert tell you this.

They want me stop him.

You mean kill my boy?

I tell them, I say, me, you,
we all can fish on Saint Char River.

I tell them I eat at your house.

Can you kill my boy?

They don't like he preach
on the river way he do.

Can you kill my boy?

I do whatever they tell Albert.

Can you kill my boy?

Yes!

Yes, I can, Miss Jane.

Mama, Mama! Where you been?
What ya runnin' all this way for?

Ned! You gotta leave this place.

I'm not going to, Mama.

You gotta leave Ned!

Mama, that's just what they want me to do!
I ran once, never again.

Make him take you and
Elizabeth out to Kansas.

Mama. Mama, look at all
these people out here.

These are my people; this is my home!

Now, they're not afraid!

They came to listen, and I'm gonna to speak.

Ned.

You got some black men who'll tell you,
that the white man's the worst thing on the Earth,

all men are the same.

The same evil you see in Whites, you see in Blacks,

and likewise, the good to be found is in all men, White and Black.

The enemy is not skin!

It's ignorance.

It was ignorance that put us
here in the first place.

Ignorance, because the big tribes of
Africa warred against each other,

or made slaves out of the smaller tribes.

Our own black people
put us in pens like hogs,

destroying entire civilizations
with rum and beads,

and it was still the African,
this time the Arabs who sold us on the block.

The white man didn't need
guns because we were weak.

The French, the Spanish, the Portuguese,
they took us because we were ignorant.

We were apart from one another.

You got folks here saying,

Let's go back to Africa.
Let's go to Liberia.

Well, I am not African!

I'm American, a black American,
and proud of it!

Look inside yourself and say, What am I?

What else besides this, this black skin?

Do you know what a nigger is?

First, a nigger feels below anything else on this Earth.

He doesn't care about himself.

He doesn't care about anybody else.

He doesn't care about anything.

He'll never be an American.

He'll never be a citizen
of any other nation,

but there's a big difference between
a black American and a nigger.

A black American cares, and he knows, and he struggles.

That's why I'm telling you this.

That's why I know that no son or
daughter of mine will ever be a nigger.

I want my children to be black and proud of it.

This, this land, America, belongs to us all,

but, I don't mean that we own it, but that it's God's,

and that makes it as much ours as any man's.

You are not vested by no man.

Be Americans, but first, be men!

I'm gonna die, Mama.

Ned. I tell you, you get down outta da wagon.

Get down out of da wagon, Ned!

Ain't got nuttin' but a double barrel, Ned.

He gonna need both of them to bring me down.

Take the lumber and finish the school.

Ned, let me take him.

Talk to Mama. Talk to Vivian. It's important.

Ned, you're important. Let me take him.

Sam, do as I say. Else he'll get us both.

I tell you mama about all dis.

What took you so long?

Albert have all de time in de world.

They tell Albert, Make you crawl first!

No!

Crawl! Crawl! Get down and
crawl, and we get this over with!

No!

I can explain all my
sorrow and feeling on that day.

I remember talking to him like he was still alive.

For days, weeks, folks always stayed with me

'cause they were afraid I was gonna lose my mind.

... to not have a policy
which gave any assurances of success

in which the Soviet Union has already
effectively, has rejected.

Thank you, Mr. President.

No, thank you.

In Massachusetts,
the possibility that JFK's younger brother,

30-year-old Teddy, running for
the 1962 Democratic nomination...

There to put your foot in your mouth again.
No, oaf it the...

Well, back again, huh?

Yes, Ma'am.

I, I tried to get into see Jimmy, but uh...

But Gidry wouldn't let ya?
That old Gidry. He makes me sick.

You ain't hadn't yer fill of me yet?

No, Ma'am.

Well, when did I come to this place?

Was early 20's, 1925,
the time of the Kingfish, you in law.

No.

I seem to remember it was
before the High Water, 1927.

I'd slowed up in the field,
but I rode around to the peoples

to let them know I was still alive and kicking.

Well, well, if it ain't Miss High Class.

Just my noon stroll, Lena. My noon stroll.

Well,
that's how it is with the Indian prince.

Me, I got work for a living.

Whoa, Rex, whoa!

Well, hey there, Miss Jane. How ya all?

Mr. Ralph, what ya doing
out here in the fan for?

How'd ya'll like to come work
inside the main house?

What for? You ain't thinking I'm too
old to work the fields anymore, is ya?

Oh no, no, no.

Miss Aberdeen needs help with the two boys,
that's all.

How old you now, Jane?

70, give or take a little.

Ya'll know how to cook?

Well now,
I've been doing it for nigh on six years.

Ain't poisoned nobody yet.

Sometimes, it seemed
like we was one big family.

We played baseball every Sunday.

The score would be 50-0 or 41-8.

... We need another one of those home runs.
Bring it down a little...

I was too old to play, so they
stuck a cap on me from my favorite team,

the Brooklyn Dodgers,
and they made me the ump.

I don't mind tellin' ya, I was too old.

I was half-blind, really, for them calls,

but they made me ump by a
new-batted plate anyway.

I say, you're out.
You're out! I'm the ump. Out!

Oh! We sure had some fun.

We was always looking for

somebody to lead em'.
They did it during slavery,

they did during the War,
and they doing it now.

They always doing the hard times,
and the Lord always obliges 'em.

When a child is born,

whole folks look at him and ask,

Is you the one?

When Lena had her baby boy,
all the folks looked at him and say,

You the one, Jimmy? Is you the one?

'Cause I always knew he was.

You want Dick Tracy?

You done did your figures for the day yet?

Yes'm. Multiplication tables are coming out of my ears.

All right.
I don't want no funnies today though.

Read me the sports page.

I want to hear what they say about my Jackie.

He stoled three bases and hit two home runs.

He did not.

It says so right here, Miss Jane.

Unh. I heard the game last
night on the radio, smart boy.

Dodgers lost.

Yes'm, but so did the Yankees.

Uh huh! You see there?

Jackie and the Dodgers is for
the colored folks anyway,

just like Joe Louis was. You know who he is?

You told me, Miss Jane.

Yeah.

Well, did I tell ya that he let Schmeling

beat him the first time just
to teach us a lesson? Did I?

Well, he did, but oooh, boy,
that second time was somethin' else!

Mmm, hmm, mmm.

Unc Gilly used to show us all how
Schmeling fell when Joe Louis hit 'im.

Oh, he was famous for that, old as he was,

and years later, that's how he died,

showing folks how Schmeling
fell when Joe hit 'im.

Peoples in the quarters was takin'
notice of Jimmy,

how he recite numbers and like school.

They was always sayin',
he gonna be a credit to his race, that one.

When he got older, he went away to school.

I didn't see him for 10 long years,

and that was the beginning
of the civil rights troubles.

Help us, O Lord, and show us the way.

Amen.

I'm here for your help.

You know what's going on
all over the country,

all over the South. I've met the Rev. King.

I've eaten at his home.
I've been to his church.

I've even gone to jail with him.

I was with him when he was winning
the battle in Alabama and Mississippi,

but you people here, my own folks,
haven't even begun to fight.

Hold it! Hold it right there.

You don't come to our church no more, Jimmy.

I am here now, and I have something to say.

You have nothing to say!

You're just fixing to get
us into a whole lot of trouble.

Shut up, and listen
to what Jimmy got to say.

Well, some people are
thinking of carrying guns,

but we don't want anything
to do with that nonsense.

Others want to carry flags.

Well, what's a flag if you haven't
got any meaning behind it?

All we have is our strength,
the strength of our people.

That's what gives us meaning.

We need your strength. We need your prayers.

We need you to stand with us
because we have no other roots.

Jimmy. I don't want
no trouble for my people.

What you see here is all we are,
nothing more than that.

We don't want to lose what little we have!

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I have disturbed the church.
I'm sorry.

Jimmy.

I was feeling poorly, so Miss Aberdeen
was taking me to the doctor that day, when

I'm sorry, Miss Aberdeen,
the trouble we having here.

One thing after another since they
passed that desegregation law there.

How you doing today, Granny?

You have to remember, Sheriff,
she's over 100 years old.

Don't let all this upset you now, Jane.
It's gonna be alright.

You all take care.

That everybody? Good.

I wanted to remind every last one of ya'll,

ya'll living on this place for free.

You pay me no rent.
You pay me no water bill.

You don't give me a turnip
out of your garden.

You don't give one egg out of your henhouse.

You pick all the pecans
you can find on the place.

All I ask for is half, what I never get.

I ask ya for half of the berries you find,
and you bring me a pocketful so dirty,

I wouldn't feed to 'em to a hog I don't like.

All right. I let all that go,

but this, I will not let go.

There ain't gonna be no
demonstratin' on my place.

Anybody around here who thinks he
needs more freedom than he got already

is free to pack up and leave now.

That go for the oldest one.

That go for the youngest one. Jane too.

Who the last one had a baby down there?

Eva's little boy, Peter.

That go for Jane.
That go for Eva's little boy, Peter.

There sure enough is somethin' goin' on.

You know Batlow and Rose
down there in Dulaville's place?

Been there now 30 years?

Batlow got mixed up in a demonstration
in Baton Rouge yesterday.

Mr. Dulaville give 'em 24
hours to get off the place,

after 30 years!
Gave them 24 hours to get off the place.

... and ask, Is he the One?

When Lena had her baby,
we all look at him and ask, Is you the One, Jimmy?

Is you the One? 'Cause -

Yes?

I have a telephone call for ya,
comin' in from New York City.

Hello! Hello, Quintin!

Yes, sir.

I'm pulling you; you get to cover
the John Glenn story in two days.

Look, I know this space shot is
a big thing, but this woman is -

well, she's not exactly
another human interest story.

Look, Quintin.
I'm sure she's fascinating, but

a magazine this size can't survive
on a story about an old woman.

I need someone to
cover that blast off, dammit!

Now, if you can't go,
then I'll send someone else.

Quintin?

Quintin, are you there?

All right.

All right, what?

I'll be there.

You have to be there tomorrow night.

I said I'd be there.

I'm leaving today, Miss Jane.

I'm, uh, gonna go watch a rocket
take a man around the Earth.

It's, uh, it's never been done before.

You think I'm crazy.

Ma'am?

I talk to this tree, you know.

Old Sister Oak.

Look at me. I'm goin' on 110 years old,

and now if it ain't the Lord that's
keepin' me goin', what is it?

See? I can sit in the sun,

and I can walk, not like I used to,
but I do pretty well.

Sometimes, when I feel fair good,
I walk all the way down to the road,

and I look at the river,

gently though,

I just come up the quarters apiece,
and I sit here, under this old oak.

Look.

The peoples done fix me a nice,
clean place to sit and talk with my God,

or sometimes, I sit here for an hour,
just thanking Him for his blessings,

and then I go back home.

There's only just a few of us left, you know,

and I've seen enough years
to last two lifetimes.

I don't mind seeing a few more though.

He'll know when to call me,

and when He call me, I'll be ready.

Til then, I just have some of the children
read me the Bible and the sports page, and,

and the funnies.
I like the funnies too, you know,

and I do enjoy my vanilla ice cream.

I have my vanilla ice cream. I like that.

You know, this oak tree,

I'm sure it's been here as
long as this place been here,

and I ain't ashamed to tell ya that I talk to it,

and I ain't crazy either.

It ain't, it ain't, necessary craziness

to talk to the rivers and the trees,

'cause now when you talk to the ditches in
the bayous, that's different,

'cause a ditch ain't nothin',
and a bayou ain't much more!

But oh, the rivers and the trees,

that's unless, of course,
you talking to a China Ball tree.

Anybody gettin' caught talkin'
to a China Ball tree or a thorn tree,

they got to be crazy!

But an old oak, like this one here,
that's been here all these years

and knows more
than you'll ever know,

it ain't craziness, son. It's just the nobility you respects.

Well, you've found all you've come for.

Yes, ma'am.

That's good.

Today's Sunday's service is from
the First Baptist Church of Baton Rouge

and we will continue with some of your favorite music.

Ya'll stayin' right here on the quarters today.

Been some trouble in Bayonne don't
want no body else to get hurt.

Who got hurt? Did my Jimmy get hurt?

They shot him.

Is he dead?

Who shot him?

Nobody knows.

Somebody knows.

Well I don't know nothin' about it.
Ya'll go on back now.

I'm going to Bayonne.

What cha think you gonna find
there except trouble Miss Jane.

You're to old for that.

Jimmy.

Didn't you just hear me say that he'd been shot.

He ain't dead no nothin'.

Only a peace of him dead.

The rest of him is waiting for us in Bayonne.

And I'm going.

Miss Jane, You'd been on my
place as long as I can remember

You been part of my family.

You raised me and both my boys.

But I'm telling you ain't going
to Bayonne today.

Youz gonna tell me now that
I have to leave your place?

Those folks ain't you're problem.

Yes they are.

The other day they throwed a girl in jail
for trying to drink from the fountain.

Today they killed my Jimmy and I say I'm going.

Bayonne was a scene of more violence today.

First reports indicate that

negro male prisoner died in a
shooting incidence at the jail.

On July 19th 1962, 5 months after the last
of these interviews was recorded

Miss Jane Pittmann died at the age of 110