- Lord. - What?
lt's the school band, and they're outside.
What? Jesus!
l thought you said nobody ever comes around here.
Nobody ever does come here, Samantha.
- [knock on door] - Hold on! Hold on!
Henry, come on!
[knocking]
Henry.
Get dressed.
What's going on?
We're gonna go get Mr. Tolson and Samantha,
head back to the campus, and have a pep rally.
Come on, get dressed.
You know what? You go get Tolson,
and l'll meet up with y'all later on campus.
Come on, Lowe.
You know it's going to be fun.
l guess l'll tell them you're going to join us later?
He's going to join us later.
He just has to clean his house, that's all.
[sigh]
Great news. Great news. Great news!
My phone has been ringing off the hook.
University of Michigan wants to debate us.
So does SMU. So does Georgia.
Where's Mr. Lowe?
When do l get to debate?
Sooner than you think, James.
Sooner than you think.
When?
When you're ready.
l'm ready now.
Mr. Tolson, l do not mind if James--
What's wrong?
Maybe l'm tired of this.
Of what?
Of watching other people debate.
When am l going to get a chance to prove myself?
You're our best researcher, James.
We could not do this without you.
You do plenty without me.
Excuse me.
- James! - What?
James, you wait!
That was so mean what you said in there.
All right, uh, look,
l don't want to lose your friendship.
How can you lose something that you never had?
You were never my friend?
Maybe l don't want to just be your friend.
Maybe it hurts me to be your friend.
- What's going on? - What's going on?
[all murmuring]
[Officer] Grab his hands.
Mr. Tolson!
Where is he?
Calm down, Henry.
Have you seen him?
No, they won't let us.
They didn't do nothing to you, did they?
- No, we're fine. - Deputy,
l'm Dr. James Farmer of Wiley College.
This is William Taylor, Mr. Tolson's attorney.
And this is his wife Ruth.
Hello.
l'd like to see my client, please.
William!
Sheriff Dozier. Dr. James Farmer--
Hello, William. How you doing today?
Fine, sir, thank you. And you?
Oh, not too bad, not too bad.
Me and William, we go way back.
l knew William when l was a boy.
Could l see my client now, Sheriff?
Your client?
Well, the fact of the business is, William,
your client is kind of busy right now.
Busy doing what?
[Deputy] Sheriff. Sheriff.
[whispering] We have a situation.
[shouting outside]
Get some of your boys out there.
[Deputy] All right, men.
Let him go! Let him go!
They with you?
That's right.
See? This is what happens to a town when you let the unions in.
Starts trouble.
People get all riled up about nothing.
One of them's liable to get hurt, if you catch my drift.
Sheriff, since it's clear
that you have no evidence to arrest Mr. Tolson,
l suggest you let him go.
You suggest it?
Who the hell are you?
Couple of months ago,
there was a raid on Floyd Tillman's barn.
lt was a peaceful and lawful gathering of sharecroppers
who were brutally attacked by a gang of violent vigilantes.
Now, witnesses say that you were there.
lf you led that raid, Sheriff,
you're the one who broke the law, not Tolson.
Are you threatening me, boy?
No, sir.
l wouldn't do that.
But l cannot speak for those people outside.
An unjust law is no law at all.
What does that mean?
A mass slaughter
of citizens, both white and colored,
by Texas Rangers?
ls that really what you want as the Sheriff of this county?
Now, if you let Tolson go home,
l believe--
l believe that these folks outside, they'll go home as well.
[cheering]
That pig wasn't worth $25.
What?
You owe my father some money.
Have a seat, Mr. Farmer.
Oh, Lord.
Um...
SMU has cancelled.
University of Georgia sounds like they will follow suit.
Why?
l've been blacklisted.
They're talking about censuring me.
Dean Clay and the board have asked me
to stop working with the sharecroppers, or else.
They say that it is not my fight.
So...things are bad.
My academic career's in jeopardy.
My debate team has nowhere to go.
Anyone know who Antaeus was?
Sure. He was a gigantic wrestler in Greek mythology.
His mother was, uh, Gaea, the goddess of Earth,
and, uh, l mean, he was unbeatable
because anytime someone threw him down to the Earth,
it would make him stronger.
That's correct.
lt would make him stronger.
Defeat would make him stronger.
You are my students. l am your teacher.
l think that's a sacred trust.
So what do l say to you now?
Quit because the Dean says so?
Because the sheriff says so?
Because the Texas Rangers say so?
No.
l am diametrically opposed to that.
My message to you is to never quit.
We are not quitting.
Good.
What do you want us to do?
Debate Harvard.
- Harvard? - Harvard University.
They're the reigning national champions.
lf we defeat them, we defeat the best.
Mr. Tolson, sir, with all due respect,
um, Harvard ain't going to debate us,
not little old Wiley College in Marshall, Texas.
They know who we are, Henry.
l've been writing them letters, sending them articles.
But how do we get a letter back?
By continuing to win.
Dr. Farmer has informed me
that Howard University is going to be at Prairie View next week.
We annihilated Fisk.
lf we eliminate Howard, we will have beaten
the two best Negro colleges in America,
and l can guarantee you that l will see to it
that Harvard does not ignore that.
All right?
Yeah.
# You guys, scoodle um skoo #
# Oh, baby, let's scoodle um skoo #
# Come on, Mama, and scoodle um skoo #
# Scoodle um scoodle um, and scoodle um skoo #
[Tolson] Just look for it on there.
You see it on there?
[Henry] l've been looking the whole time.
Prairie View, Texas. The 127.
You show me where to look because it's not on--
127 near Waxahachie.
lt's not there.
lt's there. You just can't find it.
l see 2, and l see 7.
Right. Now look for a 1 in front of it, and you got it.
[Henry laughs]
- After 126-- - Okay.
Before 128.
l really don't think--
You don't see it.
When did you get this map?
What are you doing?
l'm gonna cut him down.
Get back in the car. Shut the door.
Nobody move.
Just get down.
Get down, get down.
Get down, too. You get down, too.
There's niggers in that car!
Come on, come on!
Get out of the car!
Get out of that car!
Stop that car right now!
[lynch mob shouting]
All right. Everybody sit tight,
and, uh...
l'll get the keys.
How you doing, Miss Becker?
l'm fine. You all right?
Yes, ma'am.
l got your rooms all ready.
- Thank you. - [door closes]
Henry.
Henry!
[car stops]
[laughter]
[chatter]
They ain't going to wake up.
Come on.
Ha!
[woman laughing]
[laughing]
See you.
All right. Be good, all right?
Hey, baby. How you doing?
Why are you still up? You waiting on me?
What's the matter, baby? Come on!
Hey!
Samantha!
Shut up. Let's go.
Hey, preacher boy.
Shut up. Let's go.
Come on.
Where are we going?
Back to our room.
Got him, Mr. Tolson.
# They come from Shevelstown #
Shh!
# Devil knocked my daddy down #
- # Run, nigger, run # - Shh!
# Master's gonna get you #
- # Run-- # - Shh!
Okay. Just sit-- sit--
Not in that bed, though. Get up.
Come here.
Give me a hug.
Stop!
[laughs]
# Look down yonder, what do l see? #
# Great big nigger hangin' from a tree #
# Run, nigger, run #
You're worthless.
What?
You think you're the only one hurting?
Um...
[sigh]
Okay, l'm sorry...for everything.
For, uh, for drinkin', yeah,
l apologize.
l'm not talking about me.
You're right.
l'm gonna go talk to her.
No, no, you won't, Lowe.
She doesn't need to see you like this, okay?
l'm just going to talk to her.
Leave me alone.
Lowe!
Calm down, boy!
Stop! Stop!
l'm not playing with you.
Calm-- Calm down!
You crazy?
You're never gonna forget what you saw out there, do you understand?
You're never gonna forget what you saw out there.
Hanging's the easiest part of it sometimes.
Sometimes they cut the little fingers off,
your toes, your nose, your ears.
Sometimes they cut your privates off.
Sometimes they skin you alive.
You'll never be able to forget.
[clatter]
What do you think he did?
He didn't have to do nothing, James!
He didn't have to do nothing!
ln Texas they lynch Negroes!
Do you understand?
So it doesn't matter how good we are, does it?
What are you talk-- What?
This is all useless.
What are you talking about?
l mean we're just a bunch of Negroes
debating each other on subjects we all agree on.
Now, James, don't talk like that, all right?
- Why not? - Because you can't!
Not you.
[liquid gurgles]
Bye! God bless you!
Where's Samantha?
She's not going with us.
Why not?
Why do you think?
l took her to the bus station.
She wanted to go back to school.
You wanted your chance.
This is it.
[applause]
[Student] But how can any Negro
defend the punishment of prison
when he's seen so much oppression in his own life?
[Man] Yeah!
How?
Because crime itself is a form of oppression,
and Negroes fall victim to more violent crime
than any other race in America.
[applause]
For us,
prison not only offers protection, but retribution.
[audience member] Yes, indeed!
And for the criminal, it is a dark gift:
the hardship that introduces a man to himself,
that rouses his passion for freedom--
[audience member] Yes, sir!
...his hope for redemption!
Oh, yeah!
[loud applause]
[Moderator] Our next debater from Wiley College,
Mr. James Farmer, Junior.
Mr. Farmer?
Mom?
Mom!
Honey.
Hey.
Hi.
Oh!
Mmm!
So?
We lost.
Oh. l'm sorry.
Uh, this came.
Harvard.
Wonder what it says.
Go on and open it and read it.
- Looks like somebody opened it already. - Not me.
You didn't open it already?
No.
You are not a good liar.
Out loud.
''Dear Mr. Tolson,
''thank you for informing us
''about your historic victory over Oklahoma City.
''l'm sure you realize our season is nearly over,
''but today we received another letter from Wiley College
written by Mr. Henry Lowe''?
Mm-hmm.
With an ''e''?
''He told us from a student's perspective
about your''-- ahem-- ''about your undefeated season.''
Well, we're not undefeated anymore.
Don't matter.
''We wish to extend an invitation to--''
''We wish to extend an invitation
''to debate Harvard Crimson here in Cambridge.
Let us know if this is agreeable to you.''
Honey--
Don't you tell anybody.
No.
[Henry] No, you don't have to thank me.
l just wanted to show you l could write, too.
That's good. Thank you.
But you could do me a favor.
What's that?
Keep Samantha on the team.
Why would l do that?
Mr. Tolson, it was a rough night.
Yes, it was, Mr. Lowe, for all of us.
And she walked out on us at the last minute.
No, sir. She did not walk out on us.
She walked out on me.
lt's good tea.
Resolved: Capitalism is immoral.
We will be arguing the affirmative.
[Henry] To a bunch of Wall Street bankers.
[knock on door]
Mr. Tolson, l owe you and my teammates--
You're late. Come in. Sit down.
Samantha, l am not--
Resolved.
## [''Wiley College Fight Song'']
Okay, you got macaroni and cheese, fried chicken,
black-eyed peas for good luck,
red beans and rice, corn bread, candied yams.
l put some peach cobbler in there, too,
and some bread pudding.
l know you don't like bread pudding, but l put it in there anyway.
Thank you, Mom.
Okay.
Good luck, son.
Dad?
Yes, Jim.
You give Boston my regards.
You hear?
Yes, sir.
[Henry] James!
Come on! Train's leaving.
Coming!
- Bye, Mom. - Bye-bye.
l love you.
Bye, sis.
Love you!
Love you, too.
[bell rings]
[Conductor] All aboard leaving for Texarkana, Little Rock,
St. Louis, and all points north!
All aboard!
l'm not going with you.
What?
l cannot leave this state.
lt's a condition of my bail.
You can't let them stop you.
They're not stopping me.
l just don't want to jeopardize your opportunity.
You can win without me.
This is what you wanted to do all along, isn't it?
He's right.
Why didn't you tell us this before?
Because l didn't want to hear your arguments.
l knew they'd be too good.
[train whistle blows]
All right, Mr. Lowe, you're in charge.
Whatever your instincts tell you, you listen.
Yes, sir.
Let's go.
What are we supposed to do without you?
Win.
[train whistle blows]
[Man over P.A.] Chicago Express, with service to Hartford,
New York, and Philadelphia,
now boarding, Track 29.
l thought somebody was supposed to meet us.
Wiley College?
- Yes. - Yes.
l'm Harland Osbourne.
Harvard has put me in charge of you for the time that you'll be here in Boston.
- How you doing? l'm Henry Lowe. - Mr. Lowe.
- James Farmer, Jr. - Mr. Farmer.
- Samantha Booke. - Of course. Miss Booke.
We should be going. My car's out front.
l've got it.
Oh, thank you.
Just so you know,
you'll be staying on campus in Douglas Hall.
l've got to tell you,
this debate is stirring up a lot of excitement.
- Really? - Oh, yeah.
lt's gonna be broadcast all over America.
Can we see where we're going to debate?
Of course.
[door opens]
Hello, Harvard!
[laughter]
[handclaps echoing]
[clicking tongues, echoing]
Excuse me.
You supposed to be here?
l guess we'll find out, won't we?
Ah!
Well, look.
''Mr. Farmer.''
$5.00?
Lowe, l got $5.00.
Yeah, l did, too. lt's called per diem.
Hoo-hoo!
You want me to hold it for you?
No, not my $5.00.
[knock on door]
[whistling]
l got $5.00. l got $5.00.
Me, too.
Well, mine is crispy.
James, this is high tea, all right?
We nibble. We do not devour.
- [knock on door] - How do you know?
l don't.
Hello. l'm Wilson.
This is for you.
Thank you.
l can't accept that, sir.
lt would be inappropriate.
[laughing]
Who's it from?
lt's from Harvard.
Maybe it's more money.
Hmm.
''We have been informed by Tau Kappa Gamma
''that your team delivers--
''canned speeches:
''arguments written by faculty rather than students.
''Therefore, we are changing the topic.
''You will have the same amount of time
''to write new arguments as the Harvard team:
48 hours.''
Coaches help students all the time.
[James] Yes, sir.
[Henry] ''Both teams will be delivered
the same reference books.''
Yes, sir.
''Our new topic: Resolved:
''Civil disobedience is a moral weapon in the fight for justice.''
Wiley College will be arguing the affirmative.''
Thank you, sir.
l can't reach Mr. Tolson. Nobody knows where he is.
They're setting us up to lose.
We can't win without him.
You're wrong. We can't win without him.
Thoreau?
[Henry, reading] ''...less desponding free spirits,
is in her prisons--''
''Under a government which imprisons any unjustly,
the true place for a just man--''
Here's your coffee, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Wilson.
Just Wilson.
Thank you, Wilson.
''...has provided for her freer
''and less desponding spirits--''
But you have to use the Massacre at Amritsar.
Agreed, James,
but we'll save it for the rebuttal.
We're going to save the best for last
because you have to leave the audience--
l think we should get into Gandhi's concept of Satyagraha.
l don't agree.
l don't think people are gonna understand what--
what-- Sadagara?
Sactchmaget? Sactchma--
Satyagraha.
From the Sanskrit.
Meaning truth and fairness.
l told you.
lt's-- lt's obvious to me
that we should begin the debate with Gandhi.
That's exactly why l won't do it.
Why should l do the obvious thing?
Because that's what wins debates!
Listen to what you're saying. This is Harvard, okay?
The first thing you think when you think civil disobedience is what?
That's why we should use Gandhi!
But Gandhi is a strong point!
l want to win! Do you want to win?
Yes, l want to win, but he's right!
This is not getting us anywhere!
Tolson told me l was in charge!
He didn't put you in charge!
You're ''in charge'' does not mean--
So l can make decisions.
We're not starting with Gandhi!
Yes, we are!
Do you hear yourself? You sound like a kid!
Well, you are a kid!
Fellas, come on!
- l'm an idiot? - Yes!
To hell with you! To hell with you!
To hell with this debate!
To hell with me? To hell with me?
Just because l disagree with you?
lf you're gonna walk out, fine!
We're not chasing you!
We are so tired of chasing you!
He's coming back, isn't he?
See if l care!
[distant train whistle blows]
[horn honks]
How you doing, man?
## [honky tonk piano]
You're beautiful when you're asleep.
Henry, l--
Yeah, l know, l know.
But you can't stop me from looking at you.
Can everybody shut up and go to bed?
James, come on, wake up.
No.
James.
Come on, James, get up.
What?
What is this?
That's my notes.
What are you giving them to me for?
Because you're debating, not me.
What?
lt's your turn, James.
You serious?
You're crazy.
At 1 4, you're just as good as me.
The judges will love you.
No. No. You can't quit.
l'm not quitting, Samantha.
Tolson made me captain, and he said you were ready.
Yeah, but you saw me at Howard.
l was horrible.
That's right. You did terrible, didn't you?
Stunk up the whole joint, right?
So you should just quit, right?
You should just give up.
No.
Who's the judge?
What?
Who's the judge?
The judge is God.
And why is he God?
Because he decides who wins or loses, not my opponent.
And who is your opponent?
He doesn't exist.
Why doesn't he exist?
[both] Because he is a mere a dissenting voice
to the truth that l speak.
That's right.
Speak the truth.
Direct from Harvard Memorial Hall
in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
this is WNBC Radio, bringing to you live
tonight's history-making debate
between little Wiley College from Marshall, Texas,
and the Harvard University Debate team,
the first time ever
a Negro college has faced the national champions.
Harvard's Dean of Students
is making his way to the podium now.
The crowd, as if on cue, falls silent.
[Dean] On this historic occasion,
we welcome the distinguished team from Wiley College,
our illustrious judges, you the audience,
and through the wonder of radio, the nation.
Harvard University celebrates its 300th anniversary this year,
and, in Franklin Delano Roosevelt, its fifth President of the United States.
But no university, no matter how grand or august in its history,
can afford to live in the past.
So, in the spirit of tomorrow,
l introduce to you today.:
the debaters from Wiley College:
Miss Samantha Booke,
Mr. James Farmer, Junior.
[applause]
What?
Mr. Farmer will argue the first affirmative.
Resolved:
Civil disobedience is a moral weapon
in the fight for justice.
But how can disobedience ever be moral?
Well, l guess that depends
on one's definition of the words.
Word.
ln 1919, in lndia,
10,000 people gathered in Amritsar to protest the tyranny of British rule.
Has it started?
- Shh! - Your brother's talking.
Just sit down.
General Reginald Dyer trapped them in a courtyard
and ordered his troops to fire into the crowd for ten minutes.
379 died--
men, women, children--
Shot down in cold blood.
Dyer said he had taught them a moral lesson.
Gandhi and his followers responded not with violence
but with an organized campaign of non-cooperation.
Government buildings were occupied.
Streets were blocked with people who refused to rise,
even when beaten by police.
Gandhi was arrested,
but the British were soon forced to release him.
He called it a moral victory.
The definition of moral:
Dyer's lesson or Gandhi's victory?
You choose.
[applause]
From 191 4 to 1918,
for every single minute the world was at war,
four men laid down their lives.
Just think of it.
240 brave young men were hurled into eternity
every hour of every day, of every night,
for four long years.
35,000 hours.
8,281 ,000 casualties.
240.
Here was a slaughter
immeasurably greater than what happened at Amritsar.
Can there be anything moral about it?
Nothing...
except that it stopped Germany
from enslaving all of Europe.
Civil disobedience isn't moral because it's non-violent.
Fighting for your country with violence
can be deeply moral,
demanding the greatest sacrifice of all:
life itself.
Non-violence is the mask civil disobedience wears
to conceal its true face--
anarchy.
Gandhi believes one must always act
with love and respect for one's opponents,
even if they are Harvard debaters.
[laughter]
Gandhi also believes that lawbreakers must accept
the legal consequences for their actions.
Does that sound like anarchy?
Civil disobedience is not something for us to fear.
lt is, after all, an American concept.
You see, Gandhi draws his inspiration
not from a Hindu scripture,
but from Henry David Thoreau,
who l believe graduated from Harvard
and lived by a pond not too far from here.
My opponent is right about one thing.
Thoreau was a Harvard grad,
and, like many of us, a bit self-righteous.
[laughter]
He once said, ''Any man more right than his neighbors
constitutes a majority of one.''
Thoreau the idealist could never know
that Adolf Hitler would agree with his words.
The beauty and the burden of democracy is this:
no idea prevails without the support of the majority.
The people decide the moral issues of the day,
not a majority of one.
Majorities do not decide what is right or wrong.
Your conscience does.
So why should a citizen
surrender his or her conscience
to a legislator?
No, we must never, ever kneel down
before the tyranny of a majority.
[applause]
We can't decide which laws to obey and which to ignore.
lf we could...
l'd never stop for a red light.
[laughter]
My father is one of those men
that stands between us and chaos:
a police officer.
l remember the day his partner, his best friend,
was gunned down in the line of duty.
Most vividly of all,
l remember the expression on my dad's face.
Nothing that erodes the rule of law can be moral,
no matter what name we give it.
Bravo!
Why doesn't he say something?
Shh!
ln Texas...
they lynch Negroes.
My teammates and l
saw a man strung up by his neck
and set on fire.
We drove through a lynch mob,
pressed our faces against the floorboard.
l looked at my teammates.
l saw the fear in their eyes...
and worse...
the shame.
What was this Negro's crime
that he should be hung, without trial,
in a dark forest filled with fog?
Was he a thief?
Was he a killer?
Or just a Negro?
Was he a sharecropper?
A preacher?
Were his children waiting up for him?
And who are we to just lie there and do nothing?
No matter what he did, the mob was the criminal.
But the law did nothing,
just left us wondering why.
My opponent says
nothing that erodes the rule of law can be moral.
But there is no rule of law in the Jim Crow South,
not when Negroes are denied housing,
turned away from schools, hospitals,
and not when we are lynched.
St. Augustine said,
''An unjust law is no law at all, ''
which means l have a right,
even a duty, to resist...
with violence or civil disobedience.
You should pray l choose the latter.
Bravo!
[Dean] ln tonight's debate
between Harvard University and Wiley College...
And the winner is...
[sigh]
Wiley College.
Yeah!
[cheering]
## [guitar]
# Veil my face #
# Got two wings #
# Veil my face #
# Got two wings #
# Veil my feet #
# Got two wings #
# Fly away #
# Can't no man #
# Do me no harm #
# Got two wings #
# Veil my face #
# Got two wings #
# Veil my feet #
# Got two wings #
# Fly away #
# Can't no man #
# Do me no harm #
# Gather 'cause my soul is #
# Callin' out my name #
# Got two wings ready #
# And me just the same #
# Oh, brothers and sisters #
# Meet me in the air #
# lf my wings fail me #
# l'll get another pair #
# l got two wings #
# Veil my face #
# Got two wings #
# Veil my feet #
# Got two wings #
# Fly away #
# Can't no man #
# Do me no harm #
# Ooh-ooh #
# Uh-huh-huh #
# Woo-ooh #
# Ooh-ooh #
# Woo-ooh #
# Hey, hey, hey #
# Hey, hey #
# Fly away #
# Fly-y-y #
# Fly away #
# Fly-y-y #
# Fly away #
# Fly-y-y #
# Fly away #
# Mm-hmm #
## [piano]
# Hmm #
## [gospel organ]
# Hmm #
# Hmm-mm-mm-mm #
# Hmm #
# Up above my head #
# Above my head #
# l hear music in the air #
# Music in the air #
# Up above my head #
# l hear music in the air #
# Music in the air #
# Up above my head #
# l hear music in the air #
# Music in the air #
# l really do believe #
# Yes, l do believe #
# Hey, hey #
# There's a heaven somewhere #
# Heaven somewhere #
# Up above my head #
# l hear music in the air #
# Music in the air #
# Up above my head #
# l hear music in the air #
# Music in the air #
# Up above my head #
# l hear music in the air #
# Music in the air #
# l really do believe #
# Yes, l do believe #
# There's a heaven somewhere #
# Heaven somewhere #
[ Skipped item nr. 2079 ]