# My soul is a witness #
# Soul is a witness #
- # My soul is a witness # - # Yeah, yeah #
- # Soul is a witness # - # Oh, yeah #
- # Before I go # - # Oh #
- # Before I go # - # 'Fore I go #
# Before I go, soul is a witness #
Heavenly Father, we come before Thee,
knee bent and body bowed
in the humblest way that we know how.
Father, who controls and knows all things,
both the living and dying of all creatures.
Give us the strength and the wisdom to do Thy work.
In God's name we pray.
And all God's people say, "Amen."
- # My soul is a witness # - Amen.
- # Water, wine # - # So high #
- # Water, wine # - # Wine #
# Water, wine, soul is a witness #
# Soul is a witness #
- # Soul # - # Soul is a witness #
- # Soul # - # Witness #
- # Witness #
- # Soul is a witness #
When Agave sobered up,
she looked down and saw the head of her son Pentheus
- right there in her hands. - She thought he was a wild animal.
That's how Dionysus got his revenge.
You a heathen, Henry.
You know what I got right here?
- What? - Some of that very wine.
"When I was a child, I spake as a child.
"I understood as a child.
"I thought as a child.
"But when I became a man,
I put away all childish things."
- # Early one mornin' # - # Early one mornin' #
- # Down the road # - # Early one mornin' #
- # Early one mornin' #
# Down the road #
Freshman class...
I believe we are the most privileged people in America,
because we have the most important job
in America:
The education of our young people.
# I was traveling #
# Partner too #
# Goin' down the road #
# Goin' down to say #
# My soul is a witness #
- # Souls are born # - # Goin' home #
- # Soul is a witness # - # Goin' home #
# Souls are born #
- # Soul is a witness # - # Witness #
- # Before I go # - # When I go #
- # Before I go # - # Go #
Trudell!
- Who the hell is he? - Oh, he's just my husband.
I'm gonna cut your head off.
We must impress upon our young people
that there will be difficulties that they face.
Come on, Trudell. Come get this whuppin', boy.
- Get him down, Trudell. - Scared, ain't ya?
Huh? You with the razor and twice my size?
They must defeat them!
They must do what they have to do in order to do what they want to do.
Come on, now.
Come on, baby!
Education is the only way out.
Come on, baby. Get up! Get up, baby. Come on!
The way out of ignorance...
Like cuttin' people, huh, boy?
Want to cut people, Trudell, huh?
Get your hands off me!
The way out of darkness!
Into...
the glorious light.
Come on, now! Give it back!
- Give it back! - "To our precious Hamilton..."
This isn't funny. Come on. Dunbar, give it back.
Who do you think you are? Jesse Owens?
Have a seat.
"I am...
"the darker brother.
"They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes.
"But I laugh, and I eat well,
"and I grow strong.
"Tomorrow, I will sit at the table when company comes.
"Nobody'll dare say to me,
"'Eat in the kitchen' then.
"Besides, they'll see how beautiful I am,
"and be ashamed.
I, too, am America."
Who wrote that?
Langston Hughes, 1924.
1925.
"Hating you shall be a game played with cool hands."
"Memory will lay its hands upon your breast,
and you will understand my hatred."
Gwendolyn Bennett wrote that.
She was born in 1902.
Unofficially.
You see, in most states,
Negroes were denied birth certificates,
which means I can lie about my age the rest of my life.
You think that's funny?
To be born...
without record.
Mr. Reed, hand these out.
I'm going to introduce you to some new voices this semester.
There's a revolution going on.
In the North. In Harlem.
They're changing the way Negroes in America think.
I'm talking about poets like Hughes, Bennett,
Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen...
"Some are teethed on a silver spoon,
"with the stars strung up for a rattle.
"I cut my teeth as a black raccoon...
...for implements of battle."
Meet me after class.
What's a professor doing in the middle of the night
dressed like a cotton-chopper?
What is a student doing in the middle of the night
throwing his life away?
It's funny. I thought I was defending myself.
Mm.
I remember you.
Couple of years ago. Then you disappeared.
What happened?
I come and go whenever it suits me.
- Suspensions? - Leaves of absence.
Why'd you come back?
School's the only place you can read all day.
Except prison.
I want you to come by my house tonight, 7:30.
- Corner of June and Campus. - Why would I do that?
Holding tryouts for the debate team.
- You sure you want somebody like me? - No.
That's why you're trying out.
7:30.
June and Campus.
"Driven by the wind and tossed..."
Do well tonight, Junior.
Of the 360 students here at Wiley College,
only 45 of you were brave enough to try out for the debate team.
Of that 45, only four of you will remain standing
when the tryouts are over... why?
Because debate is blood sport. It's combat.
But your weapons are words.
Come on in.
Now that Mr. Farmer has joined us, we can begin.
Sit down, Mr. Farmer.
Not right there. Over there.
- Yes, sir. - James. Right this way.
Good evening, Mrs. Tolson.
- Evening. - Excuse me.
We're waiting for you, Mr. Farmer.
I'm going, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Farmer. You smell very good, Mr. Farmer.
- Thank you, sir. - You're very welcome.
Gentlemen and lady.
This is...
the hot spot.
You will enter it at your own risk.
Mr. Tolson, what about the debaters from last year?
Don't ask a question you already know the answer to.
Get up here. You'll be first.
Get right here. Hot spot.
Debate starts with a proposition.
With an idea..."Resolved:
Child labor should be regulated by the federal government."
The first debater argues the affirmative.
Affirmative means that you are for something.
Mr. Reed will argue the affirmative.
The second debater argues the negative.
Negative means that you are what?
Against.
Brilliant, Mr. Burgess.
You shall argue the affirmative, Mr. Reed. Go.
Well, sir, I'd begin with a quote from the poet Cleghorn.
"The golf links lie so near the mill,
"that almost every day,
"the laboring children can look out and...
and..."
# And watch the men at play #
Is that what you learned from last year, Mr. Reed?
To start something, and not finish it?
- Is it? - No, sir.
Sit down.
Who's next? You? Stand up.
Stand up.
It's getting late. How much longer can you hide?
I'm not hiding, sir. I transferred from my college
just to come here and try out for your team.
I am deeply moved. What's your name?
Samantha Booke.
- Book? - With an "e."
Arise, Miss Booke. With an "e."
Into the hot spot, Miss Booke with an "e."
You know, there's never been a female on the debating team, ever.
Yes, sir. I know that.
What makes you think you should be the first?
Because, sir, I am just as qualified as...
- Quit stammering, Miss Booke. ...anybody else here.
- My gender has nothing... - "Resolved:
Welfare discourages hard work."
- You'll argue the negative. - All right.
Welfare takes away a man's strongest reason for working,
which is survival.
And that weakens the will of the poor.
How would you rebut that, Miss Booke with an "e"?
I would say it does not.
Most of the New Deal goes to children, anyway,
and to the handicapped, and to old people...
- Is that fact, or conjecture? - It is a fact.
- Speak up. - It is a fact.
- What's your source? - The president.
- Of the United States? - Yes, sir.
That's your primary source? You spoke to President Roosevelt personally?
Of course not. I did not speak to him personally,
but I listened to his Fireside Chat.
- Oh, a radio broadcast. - Yes.
- Any other sources? - Well...
Any other sources?
Yes, there are other sources.
Like that look in a mother's eyes when she can't feed her kids.
Without welfare, Mr. Tolson, people would be starving.
Who's starving, Miss Booke?
- The unemployed are starving. - Mr. Burgess here.
He's unemployed. Obviously, he's not starving.
I drew you in, Miss Booke.
You gave a faulty premise, so your syllogism fell apart.
- "Syllogism"? - Your logic fell apart.
Major premise: The unemployed are starving.
Minor premise: Mr. Burgess is unemployed.
Conclusion: Mr. Burgess is starving.
Your major premise was based on a faulty assumption.
Classic fallacy. Who's next?
You were right.
Tell us your name.
I'm Henry Lowe. With an "e."
All right, Mr. Lowe. I will name a subject.
You speak a few words... a pertinent quote from world literature.
Go ahead.
Beauty.
"I heard the old, old men say,
all that is beautiful drifts away, like the waters."
Very good.
History. And name the author this time.
"History is a nightmare, from which I am trying to awake."
James Joyce.
Self-pity.
"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself."
D.H. Lawrence.
I love D.H. Lawrence. Have you ever read...
Mr. Farmer.
Yes, sir?
I have eyes in the back of my head and ears on both sides. Stand up.
Tell me the irony in the name "Bethlehem Steel Corporation."
Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus, Prince of Peace,
and Bethlehem Steel makes weapons of war.
Very good. Sit down.
Good.
Who's next?
That went well. How will we know how we did?
- Samantha.
Samantha.
Tolson's tough, isn't he?
He sure is.
I'm James.
Is your father Dr. James Farmer?
Yes... yes, he is.
I'm taking theology from him, and that man speaks in tongues.
French, Greek, Hebrew, Latin...
How many languages does he speak?
- Seven languages. - "Seven languages."
He must be the smartest man in Texas.
Well, that's not saying much.
So why do you want to be on the team?
- I think it would be good training. - For what?
Bein' a lawyer.
Lawyer? That's great.
You know how many Negro women practice law in this state?
- Two. - Exactly.
One of them's my aunt.
Well, look at you, Mr. Farmer.
How old are you, anyway?
I'll be 16...
in 21 months.
Young lady. James. I just wanted to thank you.
For what?
Well, for your performance tonight.
I mean, how many other students ever stand up to Tolson?
- I did. - No.
You answered a question, and I spouted a few quotes.
Miss Booke with an "e,"
- she fought back. - And lost!
But you didn't have to lose.
Why isn't a Fireside Chat a legitimate source?
Because Tolson says so?
Nobody has better access to those statistics than the president.
Now, if you'd have called Tolson on that, you would have won.
I don't know. I'm sure that man would have come up with something.
Good night, James.
Can you believe he's
- Good night, Samantha. - 14 years old, and he's in college?
You are gifted, all of you.
So I want you to know that I chose this team for balance,
and none of you should take it as a failure...
as a denigration of your intellect.
Denigrate. There's a word for you.
From the Latin word "niger," to defame, to blacken.
It's always there, isn't it? Even in the dictionary.
Even in the speech of a Negro professor.
Somehow, "black" is always equated with failure.
Well, write your own dictionary.
And mark this as a new beginning,
whether you make the team or not.
The Wiley College Forensics Society of 1935-1936 is as follows:
The debaters...
will be Mr. Hamilton Burgess from last year's team...
- Yea! - Sit down, Mr. Burgess.
Mr. Henry Lowe.
Our alternates.
Miss Samantha Booke. With an "e."
And finally...
Junior, slow down.
- Where's Dad? - Quiet. He's writing a lecture.
- Dad. - Junior.
What is the greatest weakness of man?
Not believing? Doubt?
That's it. Thank you, Junior.
Matthew 14:31.
- That will be the lesson. - Dad.
"O you of little faith, why do you doubt me?"
Dad?
What is it, son?
I made the debate team.
Well, congratulations.
And who is on your team?
Um, there's four of us. I'm one of the alternates.
Who's ahead of you?
Hamilton Burgess and Henry Lowe.
And the other alternate's Samantha Booke.
There's a girl?
She wants to be a lawyer.
- A lawyer? - She's very intelligent.
Is she pretty?
I don't know. I never really noticed.
Because extracurricular activities like the debate team are fine,
but you must not take your eye off the ball, son.
- Yes, sir. - Hmph.
So what do we do here?
We do what we have to do, so we can do what we want to do.
What do you have to do right now?
- My homework. - So get to it.
Yes, sir.
My daddy owns a grocery store that has apples, bananas, cookies,
doughnuts, eggs, figs,
and "gonzola" beans.
Right. What's a gonzola bean?
- Hogwash! - Hogwash!
"Gonzola" bean?
Ready, set, go!
- Apricots, uh... - Hogwash.
What, no apricots?
Look out!
What was that?
I'm not sure.
Sit down.
- You stay put.
Be still.
What is it?
It's a pig.
- Hit a pig.
Shut up, dog!
Junior, get in the car.
What the hell happened to my hog?
Sorry about that. Came out of nowhere.
I didn't see it coming.
You done killed my hog, boy.
Truly sorry. Gladly pay you for it.
How much... How much you want?
It's gonna cost you $25.
Only have a few bucks on me right now, but I can...
I do have a check.
My monthly check, for Wiley College in Marshall.
It's for $17.36.
You may have that.
I will endorse that over to you.
You'll do what?
I will sign the check over to you.
Well, let me see it.
It's in the car, with my wife.
Gonna walk to the car now.
Junior, get in the car.
Give me that salary check, Pearl.
We need that money, James.
Just give me the check.
Go on.
His wife has it.
I thought it was in here.
Just relax. It's all right.
It's in here. You'll find it.
Here it is.
That check better be good, boy.
It's good.
Well, pick it up!
Here it is.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where the hell do you think you're going?
You got to help us get this hog in my truck.
Come on. Grab the tail end of that, boy.
All right, on three.
One, two, three!
Town niggers. They think they're too good to get their hands dirty.
- Dad... - I told you to get in the car.
When I tell you to do something, Junior, you do it.
Who's the judge?
The judge is God.
Why is he God?
Because he decides who wins or loses,
not my opponent.
Who is your opponent?
He doesn't exist.
Why does he not exist?
He's merely a dissenting voice to the truth I speak.
Who's the judge?
- The judge is God! - The judge is God!
Why is he God?
Because he decides who wins or loses, not my opponent!
Who is your opponent?
He doesn't exist!
Why doesn't he exist?
Because he is merely a dissenting voice to the truth I speak!
Who's the judge?
The judge is God!
Why is he God?
Because he decides who wins or loses, not my opponent!
Who's your opponent?
He doesn't exist!
Why does he not exist?
Because he is merely a dissenting voice to the truth I speak!
Who's the judge?
The judge is God!
Louder!
The judge is God!
Why is he God?
Because he decides who wins or loses, not my opponent!
Who's your opponent?
He doesn't exist!
Why does he not exist?
Because he is merely a dissenting voice to the truth I speak!
Speak the truth!
Yes, sir, I do like to talk.
Is that a virtue or a vice?
Well, I have to admit I've always wanted to be the quiet, mysterious type,
only I couldn't keep my mouth shut long enough.
Would you punch yourself in a street fight, Mr. Burgess?
No, sir.
Then don't punch yourself in a word fight.
You don't have to make fun of yourself.
Use your humor against your opponent.
Mr. Farmer!
Yes, sir.
Happy Mr. Farmer.
Tell us one thing we don't know about your father.
He was the first Negro Ph...
One thing we don't know about your father, Mr. Farmer.
He walked from Florida to Massachusetts to go to college at Boston University.
He graduated magna cum laude.
Mr. Lowe!
Tell us about your father.
Why don't you tell us something about your father?
We're trying to get to know each other, Mr. Lowe.
I was trying to get to know you, Mr. Tolson.
I'm not the one on the debate team.
Are we not engaged in a debate right now?
All right.
I'll take the affirmative.
Take the meanest... most restless nigger,
strip him of his clothes
in front of the remaining male niggers, female niggers,
and nigger infants.
Tar and feather him.
Tie each leg to a horse facing an opposite direction,
set him on fire,
and beat both horses until they tear him apart
in front of the male, female, and nigger infants.
Bullwhip and beat the remaining nigger males
within an inch of their life.
Do not kill them, but put the fear of God in them,
for they can be useful for future breeding.
Anybody know who Willie Lynch was?
Anybody? Raise your hand.
No one?
He was a vicious slave owner in the West Indies.
The slave-masters in the colony of Virginia
were having trouble controlling their slaves,
so they sent for Mr. Lynch to teach them his methods.
The word "lynching" came from his last name.
His methods were very simple, but they were diabolical.
Keep the slave physically strong but psychologically weak
and dependent on the slave master.
Keep the body, take the mind.
I... and every other professor on this campus
are here to help you...
to find, take back,
and keep your righteous mind...
because obviously you have lost it.
That's all you need to know about me, Mr. Lowe.
Class dismissed.
Hey!
Here you go, honey.
Thank you.
Want to dance?
Yes.
Come on.
You're a good dancer.
Thank you. I...
I practice in my room.
Keep at it.
Excuse me.
Your punch.
- Thank you. - Mm-hmm.
I guess I better go get me some punch.
Here, you can have mine if you want.
It's good.
All right?
You know I can take you to a place
that plays real music, right?
I'm not leaving here, Henry.
Just for a spell.
I'll bring you right back.
And what would my chaperone say?
We'll be back before she ever knows you're gone.
Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm.
What's the matter? You afraid?
What's the matter?
You afraid?
Excuse me.
Mr. Tolson?
Mr. Tolson!
# Hoo #
# Woo-hoo #
# I remember down on block number 9 #
# Couldn't hear nothin' but them old convicts whine #
# Singin' "How long #
# Before I can change my clothes?" #
It's time. Let's go.
...break your back all day.
And it's not right when they lie to the government
and tell them that sharecroppers are just wage earners
so they don't have to split their farmer's subsidies with you.
And that's why the Southern Tenant Farmers Union
wants you to organize:
To make things right.
How? Strike?
Hell, they'll just bring in the Mexicans.
We'll organize them, too.
Yeah, so they can shoot us all down: White, colored, and Mexican.
That's exactly what they want you to believe.
The farm bosses want you to believe they'll make war.
They won't. They may be fools, but they're smart businessmen.
And once we're organized,
they'll see even guns can't stop us.
Stopped them in Elaine.
Why don't you talk about that?
About how they killed a hundred colored sharecroppers
for trying to organize.
That was 1919, friend.
And that was my daddy they gunned down, friend.
We're sorry about that.
But those men stood alone.
That's my point.
This is 1935.
We've got the National Labor Relations Board.
We've got the AF of L.
You ain't got shit!
He ain't got shit!
Here they come! Here they come!
Get the lights! Everybody get down!
Get down. Shh!
Shh!
Come on!
Let's get out of here!
This way! This way! This way!
Come on!
Come on. Come on!
Come on!
All right. All right.
What are you doing out here? Huh?
I saw you... I was walking by your house,
and I saw you dressed funny.
I'm dressed like them, son.
You think they'd listen to me if I was wearing a tuxedo? Huh?
No, sir.
Listen to me.
You listening?
You cannot tell anybody what you saw tonight.
You understand?
Not even my wife knows about this.
I won't tell anybody, I promise.
I promise on a stack of Bibles...
Jesus.
...I won't tell anybody.
Come on.
Junior?
Are you just going to stand there?
No, sir.
Sorry I'm late.
You're sorry?
It's 1:00 in the morning.
I've been looking everywhere for you.
I went to Mr. Tolson's house after the dance.
I thought you might have done that.
That's why I went over there.
And I talked to Ruth.
She said Tolson was gone and that you weren't there.
So I'm going to give you another chance.
Where were you?
I can't tell you, sir.
Good Lord, boy.
We've been worried to death about you.
Junior...
where were you?
I can't tell you, sir.
Why not?
I don't know.
"I don't know."
"I don't know" is not an acceptable answer, Junior.
Junior.
Silence is not an option, either.
Son, you been drinking?
Honey...
Because you must've been drinking coming up in my house
talking about you don't want to tell me where you been at 1:30 in the morning?
Baby, tell me, what's the matter?
Mom, nothing's the matter.
Something's the matter!
Something is wrong!
Were you with that girl?
- You were with that girl. - No.
Because you're 14 years old, Junior.
You've got plenty of time for girls later.
I wasn't with Samantha.
Junior.
Then where were you?
Where were you, honey?
You don't want to talk?
Fine.
But you're not leaving this house.
What do you mean?
Just what I said.
You're not leaving this house until you tell me the truth!
What about school?
Don't go questioning what I just said, boy!
Mom, what about school?
And don't raise your voice!
I'm not raising my voice!
You raising your voice in the house?
Apologize to your father.
I'm not raising my voice!
You get a job, pay your own way?
You're a man now?
I'm not raising my voice!
Just apologize!
I didn't say anything!
Why should I apologize?
Like you apologized to that pig farmer?
What did you say, boy?
You go to your room.
Okay, Junior...
I'm not going to be weak on this, Pearl.
I know.
I can't allow my son to be corrupted.
You're right.
Let's just go to bed.
I'll take him to school in the morning.
All right?
All right.
I'm going to be honest with you, boys.
I'm not well.
I'm not well at all this morning.
I'm sure sorry to hear that, sir.
You look well to me.
Don't he look well, Sam?
Yes, sir. He looks real good.
Now, we got some white fellas from up north come into our town.
They're stirring up trouble between our coloreds and our whites.
They say that we need to make a union:
The sharecroppers and the workers all together,
colored and white.
They need to make a union?
How do you boys feel about that?
I don't know, sir.
I really ain't thought much about that.
Well, it's a bad idea.
It's a bad idea, take my word for it.
Yes, sir.
And they say that there was some kind of secret meeting
last night down near the lake.
Now, do you boys know about that?
No, sir.
You don't know about that?
- Samuel? - No, sir.
- You didn't hear about that? - No, sir.
- You swear to me? - Yes, sir.
Yes, sir, I swear.
All right, then.
See you later.
Our first debate
is one week from today.
- One week? - That's right.
I thought Prairie View was first.
Prairie View is tough, so I thought we needed a warm-up.
With the best Negro college in the state?
That's right, Mr. Burgess.
Does that frighten you?
Yes, sir.
One week's not enough time to write our arguments.
You do the research. I'll write the arguments.
Wait. You...
You write the arguments?
And you deliver them, Mr. Lowe.
What the hell do I look like, a mailman?
Hell is where you're headed if you question me again.
In theory, you look like a student.
So what you're saying is I'm not capable.
It's not a matter of competence.
It's a matter of experience.
How do I know you write...
I write the arguments!
That's the way it's been!
That's the way it's going to be!
Any more questions?
One week.
I bring to you
our first affirmative debater:
From Paul Quinn College, Otheree Hubbard.
Resolved: Unemployment relief should be ended
when the Depression ends.
If the Depression ends.
I traveled back through history to 1536,
when the first Poor Laws of England were mandated.
In those days, the dole... or welfare, as we call it...
was funded by voluntary contributions.
But, as time passed,
the English devised the Allowance System,
the first unemployment relief,
only now it was paid with involuntary contributions,
more commonly known as taxes.
The Allowance System was a disaster.
The only real unemployment relief is to give a man a job.
But to do that, you have to give the economy life,
not tax it to death.
When capitalism was young,
the old puritanical concept of duty
was, "He who does not work shall not eat."
That made sense when there was more work
than men willing to do it.
But those days are gone.
Now there are millions who want to work,
but find themselves standing in breadlines.
Now, should they not eat because there are no jobs?
People, today we need a new concept of duty:
The right of the individual to demand from society
just as much as he gives to society.
We clutch at anything that even looks like a solution.
$60 million a month for public relief?
Pay it out if it'll sweep the hoboes off the streets.
One seventh of the population of the United States on welfare.
Fine, as long as it ends our misery.
A nation as desperate as this is a danger to itself.
- That's right.
Once,
a Roman general brought peace to a rebellious province...
by killing all its citizens.
Even his fellow Romans were shocked.
One of them wrote,
"Solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant, "
which means "They create desolation and call it peace."
Now, for all their facts and figures,
the Paul Quinn debaters would also create desolation and call it peace.
They would allow the unemployed to die so the economy can live.
A brilliant young woman I know
was asked once to support her argument in favor of social welfare.
She named the most powerful source imaginable:
The look in a mother's face when she cannot feed her children.
Can you look that hungry child in the eyes?
See the blood on his feet
from walking barefoot in the cotton fields?
Or do you ask his baby sister with her belly swollen from hunger
if she cares about her daddy's work ethic?
He's good.
Wiley! Wiley! Wiley! Wiley!
Wiley! Wiley! Wiley!
# Had a little girl #
# She's little and low #
# She used to love me #
# But she don't no more #
# You got to step it up and go, yeah #
# Yeah, and go #
The only thing that matters is that big fish eat little fish,
and the color of the fish does not count!
#...step it up and go #
If the state of Mississippi would have turned their heads
each and every time a Negro was lynched,
shouldn't the federal government intervene?
# Yeah, and go #
# Well, you can't stand pat #
# I declare you got to step it up and go #
# Front door shut, back door, too #
# Blinds pulled down, whatcha gonna do? #
Wiley! Wiley! Wiley! Wiley!
# Well, you can't stand pat #
# I declare you got to step it up and go #
# Got a little girl #
# Her name is Ball #
# Gave a little bit, but she took it all #
# You got to step it up and go now #
# Yeah, go #
And the winner is...
# I declare you got to step it up and go now #
Wiley College!
# Me and my baby walkin' down the street #
# Tellin' everybody 'bout the chief of police #
# You got to step it up and go now #
# Yeah, and go #
# Well, you can't stand pat #
# I declare you got to step it up and go #
# If you see my woman, tell her "Hurry home" #
# Ain't had no lovin' since she been gone #
# You got to step it up and go now #
Wiley! Wiley! Wiley! Wiley! Wiley!
# Well, you can't stand pat #
# I declare you got to step it up and go #
# Well, I'll sing this verse #
# Ain't gonna sing no more #
# Hear my gal call... #
That's right, Captain.
I think I've got the ringleader.
Uh, all right, if that's what you want.
Yeah. Okey-dokey, then.
Bye-bye.
Shit.
Who was that?
Captain Wainwright.
Texas Rangers?
Mm-hmm.
He wants me to, uh, hold off on picking this fella up
until him and his boys get up here.
Shit. Wants to get his picture in the paper.
Yeah.
We do all the work, they get all the glory.
Yep.
I guess that's just the way the world is.
Isn't that right, Samuel?
I have an announcement to make. Excuse me.
Recently, l... uh, we...
Mm-hmm.
...sent some letters to some major universities.
Told them all about us, our team,
what we've been doing,
and, uh, yesterday we got a response.
From Oklahoma City University.
Aren't they...?
Anglo-Saxon? Yes. Yes.
We'll be the first Negro college in America...
well, one of the first Negro colleges in America...
to ever debate a white college.
All right!
University of Oklahoma!
Not University of Oklahoma. Oklahoma City University.
The debate will take place at an off-campus site.
Wait. An off-campus site? Why?
Because sometimes, Mr. Lowe,
you have to take things one step at a time.
So what you're saying is the crackers in Oklahoma
ain't gonna let us on their campus.
No, what I'm saying is you have to take things one step at a time.
This is a great opportunity.
Thank you very much.
Master is going to give us a crumb off his plate, huh?
What? Wha...
I think Lowe here is afraid.
What am I afraid of, James?
I think you're afraid to debate white people.
- Anglo-Saxons. - Anglo-Saxons.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Tolson, let me debate.
I mean, I'll debate Anglo-Saxons anywhere:
In a dark alley, with no light,
with a candle lit and people chasing you down with guns.
Hell, I'll debate Anglo-Saxons anywhere.
I ain't afraid.
I am.
Mr. Tolson, when I came here today,
I saw the sheriff outside watching your house.
What's going on?
Maybe you should ask the sheriff.
I've been hearing a lot of rumors about what you're doing.
My dad just called the Dean last week
and asked, "What is a communist doing
teaching at a good Methodist college?"
My politics are my business, Mr. Burgess,
and I promise you that they will not endanger the team.
But, sir, it is being endangered.
I came to Wiley College to be educated, not investigated.
I understand that.
I don't want to be dragged into anything.
- You're not... - If my parents find...
I'm sorry.
Mr. Tolson, please.
Just tell me you're not a communist. Otherwise...
Otherwise what?
My father says I have to quit.
Nobody wants that.
Then tell me.
As I said, my politics are my business.
I guess I have to resign.
Mrs. Tolson, thank you for a wonderful dinner.
You're welcome, Ham.
Good luck in Oklahoma, y'all.
I know you'll win.
All right. Well,
if anybody else wants to quit, I'll understand.
Resolved:
Negroes should be...
should be admitted...
I can't hear you!
Speak up!
Resolved...
Negroes should be admitted to state universities.
My partner and I will prove
that blocking a Negro's admission to a state university
is not only wrong, it is absurd.
The Negro people are not just a color in the American fabric.
They are the thread that holds it all together.
Consider the legal and historical record.
May 13, 1865:
Sergeant Crocker, a Negro,
is the last soldier to die in the Civil War.
1918: The first U.S. Soldiers
decorated for bravery in France
are Negroes Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts.
1920: The New York Times announces
that the "N" in Negro would hereafter be capitalized.
To force upon the South what they are not ready for
would result in nothing but more racial hatred.
What?
Dr. W.E.B. DuBois...
he's perhaps the most eminent Negro scholar in America.
He comments...
"It's a silly waste of money, time, and temper
"to try and compel a powerful majority
to do what they are determined not to do."
My opponent so conveniently chose to ignore the fact
that W.E.B. DuBois is the first Negro
to receive a Ph. D from a white college called Harvard.
Dr. DuBois, he adds,
"It is impossible... impossible for a Negro
to receive a proper education at a white college."
The most eminent Negro scholar in America
is the product of an Ivy League education.
You see, DuBois knows all too well the white man's resistance to change.
But that's no reason to keep a black man out of any college.
If someone didn't force upon the South something it wasn't ready for,
I'd still be in chains,
and Miss Booke here would be running from her old Master!
I do admit it.
It is true.
Far too many whites are afflicted with the disease of racial hatred.
And because of racism,
it would be impossible for a Negro to be happy
at a southern white college today.
That's true.
And if someone is unhappy,
it is impossible to see how they could receive a proper education.
That's right.
Yes, a time will come
when Negroes and whites will walk on the same campus
and we will share the same classrooms.
But sadly, that day is not today.
As long as schools are segregated,
Negroes will receive an education that is both separate and unequal.
By Oklahoma's own reckoning,
the state is currently spending five times more
for the education of a white child
than it is spending to educate a colored child.
That means better textbooks for that child than for that child.
Oh, I say that's a shame,
but my opponent says today is not the day
for whites and coloreds to go to the same college,
to share the same campus,
to walk in the same classroom.
Well, would you kindly tell me when is that day gonna come?
Is it gonna come tomorrow? Is it gonna come next week?
In a hundred years?
Never?
No, the time for justice,
the time for freedom, and the time for equality
is always, is always, right now!
Thank you.
What is this?
I told you it was holy wine.
Put hair on your chest.
If you say so.
Good, ain't it?
Uh-huh.
You know where the bathroom is if you need it.
Yeah.
And my weapons were words.
I didn't need a gun. I didn't need a knife.
You see...
Meet me outside in five minutes.
And then what?
Yes, I did, honey,
and nobody knows that better than you know.
Oh, I'm fine.
How are you doing, Pearl?
Pearl!
Yes, I do. Where's your husband?
- He's in the study. - Okay.
Dr. Farmer.
Congratulations, Melvin.
Thank you.
You've put us on the map.
Well, your son is doing a great job.
His research is impeccable.
That's good to hear. That's good to hear.
Listen, there are people around town
who aren't very happy with your off-campus activities.
They're calling you a radical.
In fact, I wouldn't be a bit surprised
to find out one morning when I woke up
that you were strung up to a tree.
They'd have to catch me first.
This is serious, Melvin.
Very serious.
A hungry Negro steals a chicken, he goes to jail.
A rich businessman steals bonds, he goes to Congress.
I think that's wrong.
Now, if that makes me a radical, a socialist, a communist, so be it.
Amen... Amen on that.
- Jesus was a radical. - Careful.
Yes, He was. Jesus was a radical.
Mental institutions are filled with people
who have confused themselves with Jesus Christ.
I'm not confused.
You're convinced you're Jesus Christ now?
- No. - You're convinced you're Jesus Christ?
You know what words do.
- Okay. - Come on now.
Amen.
Don't want to confuse yourself with Jesus Christ.
I'm not confused. I'm convinced.
I'm not, uh, I'm not judging you.
I'm just concerned about your methods.
What methods?
James was there that night, wasn't he?
He was not with me.
Is he involved in this?
Of course not, James.
I've done everything in my power to keep him out of this.
- To keep him out? - Yes.
Are you telling me he wants to be involved?
Maybe this is something you should discuss with him.
I'm discussing it with you right now,
and I don't feel like I'm getting a straight answer.
You're getting a straight answer.
I think that you were there with him that night.
He was not with me.
He's a 14-year-old boy.
I understand that.
I'll do whatever I have to do to protect him.
Is anybody thirsty?
Here you are.
Thank you. Thank you, Ruth.
- You're welcome. - Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Ruth, this is a fine party.
- Thank you. - Mm-hmm.
I think it's time for some sweet potato pie.
Please.
I'll help you with that.
Not the time to talk about it.
Congratulations.
Thank you.