Original subtitles

Tamara. Tamara.

I'm under here.

Tamara, what are you still doing in bed? You're going to be late for school.

I'm not going.

What's wrong?

Time, life, destiny.

Tamara, does this have anything to do with your university registration forms

going all over the place?

I was up to 3 a .m. trying to figure those things out.

There are over 800 classes to choose from. There are fewer choices on the

I finished mine last Monday.

Have a good time at college.

It's just one little simple form, Tamara.

Now, you see, Tia, that's where you're wrong.

It's just the first of an endless string of forms that will make up the rest of

our lives.

Job applications, tax forms, loan papers, wedding licenses, death

I don't think you get to fill out your own death certificate.

Tia, you're missing the point.

Once we get out of high school, we're going to have to face the cold, cruel

world on our own.

And I'm not ready.

I just want to hide under the covers and be a kid for the rest of my life.

Yeah, well, I have one thing to say to you.

Move over.

Everybody see how different we have come to be Step, step, step, step Even

though I'm glad to be with ya I thought I'd feel a thrill for me Like you got to

do what's right for you

So many memories, so many skittles.

Oh, look, look, look, look, look.

The water fountain.

What can I say? We shared so many refreshing times.

Come here.

What are you doing?

What you should all be doing.

Cherishing the moment.

Hello, locker.

What's with your sister? She's been talking to everything in the hall. I

her say hello to a bench.

Just ignore her. She's on an I want to stay in high school and not go to

kick.

with wanting to stay in high school, where everything's the same.

Hey, Samira.

And everybody knows your name.

I know that song.

Wait, wait, wait. Don't tell me.

He'll be a while.

Listen to her. You're just a little freaked about leaving high school. It's

normal. So you feel the same way?

Girl, please. I already have my college wardrobe on and lay away.

What are you doing?

Open heart surgery.

Dad.

Dad.

Would you read me the funnies like you used to?

Sure.

Okay, how much money do you need?

I don't need anything.

I just miss the good old days.

Okay, here we go.

Oh, that's why I'm blondie.

Boy, that Dagwood was cool, wasn't he?

No blondie.

Let's try Steve Canyon.

Can't go wrong with Steve.

That's not in here either.

Who the heck is Dilbert?

Oh, hey, guys.

Where have you been? You're supposed to be studying with us. Yeah, girl, I have

some pizza. I'll take the pizza and pass on the studying.

But, Tamara, if you don't study, you don't pass.

And if you don't pass, you don't graduate.

Ooh, happy days, Marathon!

Now, you see, if Richie Cunningham can stay in high school for ten years, so

I. What is this?

Tamara doesn't want to graduate?

Look, don't listen to her, Tyree. She's graduating. I know that's right. Because

I'm not having a stupid girlfriend who didn't graduate from high school.

Just ain't me.

I'm sorry, dog. I didn't mean it like that. You know I didn't mean to diss

Hey, look, it's cool, man. I didn't graduate.

It's no biggie. So are we straight? Yeah, we're straight. You cool? I'm

You sure? I'm positive. Really? Now I'm getting mad. I should shut up? Yes.

Okay.

Hey, don't you guys have some studying to do? I think you should step up to the

plate and get to it. Yeah, good idea.

Come on, tonight. Let's go.

And pass by some finds to get his library card?

No, thank you.

Okay, but don't you come crying to me.

I know. Now, listen up, you guys. Stephen and I came up with the bomb way

to remember stuff for our Black History final.

You ready, baby? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hit it, hit it. Give me a little beat. Oh,

beat, beat, beat.

Hey.

Ayo, Mae Jemison set a brand new pace. She was the first Black woman to enter

into space. Shirley Chisholm was the first in the House to represent.

She also made a run to be the U .S. President.

Hey.

A,

B, negative, O, positive.

Loving poor people thanks to Charles Drew. The good marshal with his buds.

So he went all the way to the Supreme Court judge.

Y 'all was jamming like full house rock.

Hey,

hey, let's go down with some Black History Bowl. All right, wait. Me, Andy

Avion, again, Storton and Stephen. We go in.

You know, there's only one thing I have trouble remembering.

Sojourner Truth, what did she do?

No, Sojourner Truth was the abolitionist who established the first black

regiment right here in Michigan.

You don't have to grass away to read.

We got Tyreek, too.

Hey, Dad, Lisa.

Hi, sweetheart.

Would you guys like some help with the chili?

I thought you had a big history final to study for.

Nope. I'm going to be a kid forever.

Girl, now you know you can't do that.

Why not?

You've been 29 forever.

Wait, I'm not even going to respond to that.

Honey, we all go through our phase where we all wish that we could stop time.

Look at Ray there.

He's still living in the 70s.

But you, honey, you have to move forward.

Hey, Daddy, can you please make me a fried bologna sandwich?

Honey, Lisa may have a point. Except for that part about my hair, of course.

Remember, girls who don't grow up have to listen to their daddies lecture them

forever. I remember when I had to walk to school in three feet of snow.

Maybe I will go check out the study group.

Oh, honey, would you pass me that towel before you leave? I am making a mess

here. Here you go.

I thought about walking through the snow. It was a nice touch, wasn't it? Mm

-hmm. One day she's going to realize you grew up in Arizona.

The first black woman to get a pilot's license.

Betsy Coleman.

All right, the first woman of any color to become a self -made millionaire.

Madam DJ Walker.

You know, we're playing, too.

The brother to perform the world's first open -heart surgery. Daniel Wills.

Oh, man, you're cheating. You said brother. Right there, you let them know

was a black man.

Jordan, it's black history. They all brothers.

Oh, some of them were sisters.

That's right. And if you really think about it, in God's eyes, we're all

brothers in business. Jordan. Hang on. I'm in the middle of saying something

here. Go ahead. Now, I was just saying.

I'm finished. Go on.

And the last question, the black history ball, the first African -American to

play baseball in the major league. Jackie Robinson. For the Brooklyn

April 15th, 1947, Evansfield, Brooklyn. Ha! In your face.

Jordan, the girls still won.

Yeah, by seven.

I don't know why y 'all got to get so intense about everything. It was just a

little game.

Man, let it go.

I am glad my baby won.

You guys, this studying group is really helping, and I think I'm ready to fly

solo. Not me.

All this studying is giving me a major pain.

How can you complain about studying when people like Harriet Tubman weren't even

allowed to go to school?

I keep thinking, if it were me, would I have had all the coverage to do what all

those people did?

Probably not.

Excuse me?

Jordan, Harriet Tubman wasn't like us.

She was an extraordinary woman. I read all about her.

And you're saying because people like her were extraordinary, they weren't

human? They never had any doubts or got frustrated or scared?

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

You realize that's whack, right? I realize I'm wasting my time arguing with

when I could be in my comfortable bed where I plan to sleep carefree for the

rest of my life. What about the final?

Who cares about history?

Girl, that attitude's gonna come back to haunt you. You know what this is about,

right? You're just afraid to go to college.

Tamara, you're just afraid to go to college.

I think I'm ready to fly solo.

Open heart surgery.

It's time to step up to the plate.

I'm making a mess here. This is giving me a major pain.

Girl, that attitude is going to come back to haunt you. To haunt you. To

you.

Wave in the water.

me a single room, but I doesn't mind sharing with you.

Who are you?

I'm Harriet Tubman.

Wait a minute.

What's going on?

I was just in my safe warm bed in Detroit in 1998.

Calm yourself, honey. You was just having you a bad dream.

Everything's fine now. This is Philadelphia and it's 1849.

Well, gee, I feel a lot better now.

Harriet, are you getting ready to take the underground railroad back to the

south? Child, the south don't hold nothing for a runaway slave but a short

to the grave. Now I'm staying right here where I'm safe.

Oh, no, but you gotta go back, or things may never change.

Don't you realize?

There are a lot of slaves counting on you to lead them to the north.

You could be their only hope. Oh, girl, I'm nobody's hope. I'm just one colored

woman that God saw fit to help to the north. Excuse me.

But what about your husband?

He's still back there.

I do miss my John.

He's a good man.

Harriet, don't you want John to know freedom, too?

Of course I do.

Everybody should know freedom.

And you already know the path.

So why don't you go back and show them the way?

Fetch me that lamp.

If I'm going to do this, I need to make me a map.

Hurry, nurse. Bring that lamp closer to the patient.

Oh, my gosh. What happened to him?

Night fight.

Laceration for the heart.

Is he going to die?

I don't know.

There's nothing else I can do.

Well, of course there is.

You can open him up and suture his heart.

That's nonsense.

No one has ever performed a successful heart surgery.

Sure they have. I saw Noah Wiley do it last week on ER.

Young lady, I founded this hospital, the first bullet -on hospital.

You're Dr. Daniel Hale -Williams?

Yes.

I'm not about to risk my reputation on voodoo medicine.

Oh, but you can't give up.

If you'd done that, African Americans wouldn't have this hospital.

African -Americans.

Has a nice ring to it.

Dr. Williams, you can save this man's life.

Very well.

I'm going to need your help.

Here.

You will?

Yes.

Um, can I sit down for a second?

The room is starting to spin.

I'm going to need a nurse in here.

Sit down, put your head between your knees and a cold cloth on the back of

neck.

they use fabric softener.

Hey.

I know you.

You're Jackie Robinson.

Look, kid, you wasted your time sneaking in here. You don't want my autograph.

Oh, I'm sorry. I know you're busy getting psyched for your first major

game. Hardly.

I don't think I can make myself go out there.

What?

Oh, but you have to.

There's thousands of great athletes counting on you. Yeah, yeah, and there

thousands of white faces out there rooting against me.

But you're going to become one of the greatest players of all time.

Now, you get in that outfield and start shagging flies.

I play second base.

Whatever.

Now, just remember, as long as you know you can do it, nothing else

matters.

Tell that to the crowd.

No, you tell them.

Not yet.

Go show them.

Guess you can't always stay where it's safe.

You gotta move on, right?

Well, let's just keep this on you, okay?

Hand me a towel, kid.

I'm making a message.

Madam C .J. Walker?

No need to be so formal.

Call me Miss Sarah.

So, this is where it all started?

Yeah.

This is where I was silly enough to think that I could make up a batch of

something to stop us colored women from going bald.

You here for a refund?

No.

Going bald?

Mm -hmm.

I was talking about... you revolutionized black hair care.

You know, the walker system?

The pomade? The shampoo? The hot comb?

And I'm talking about throwing you out of my kitchen if you don't stop talking

so crazy.

Well, Madam, C .J. Walker... Oh?

Fair enough.

That's gonna make you the first self -made female millionaire in this

Honey, I'm the daughter of Cher Crampus. I've been a washerwoman for 18 years.

Does that sound like the makings of a millionaire to you?

It does if you believe it does.

But you know, you might have something there.

Lord knows women will spend money on that hair.

Give me that book over there.

Trying a new formula?

Trying a new gumbo recipe.

I got to eat me something if I'm going to be the first. Here you go.

Oh, and here I go, too.

No, thanks.

I won't be needing that book.

Why not?

Because I'm not sure if I'm ready to go to college.

I'm only 15.

Maybe I'll just stay here in my bed for the rest of my life.

Really?

I was thinking about doing the same thing.

In my bed, of course, not yours.

So, what college are you not going

to?

University of Michigan.

You? Morehouse.

I guess both schools will just have to go on without us. Yes, they will.

Man, my dad is all about going to college. You should hear my father going

it.

Why can't I just be an average guy?

Right, plain old Tamera Campbell. Yeah, and plain old Martin King.

Martin Luther King?

Oh, no, that's my dad.

I'm Martin Luther King, Jr.

Boy, you gotta go to college.

You're gonna change the world.

I don't think so.

No, so now you better take this suitcase and get going.

Wait, why do I have to go to college and you don't? Because I'm not going to

have a national holiday named after me.

In my dreams.

Exactly.

Martin, because of your dreams, one day people won't be judged by their skin

color, but by what's inside.

Wow.

That's a powerful thought.

I'm not sure if the wording's quite right, but... Well, feel free to tweak

bit. Well, I guess I'm off.

Good luck.

And good luck to you in Michigan.

Now, hold up.

I didn't say I was going... These

historical figures are wearing me out.

Wake up, Tamara.

Time to get up.

Lisa? No.

You're going to miss your final if you don't get to Vulcanating.

Get to what?

Sorry. 21st century slang.

You'll pick it up.

Who are you?

It doesn't matter who I am. But I sure know you.

You're Tamara Campbell.

This is where you grew up in Detroit.

You have a twin sister named Tia. You went to Roosevelt High. Okay, okay. Now

what's going on?

Your black history final.

Now hurry up because you have to graduate.

You have things to accomplish in the future.

I do?

Am I famous? Do I win something, cure something, free somebody?

Let's just say you make a difference.

I make a difference?

I make a difference.

Well, let me ask you this.

Do I ace the final?

B minus.

Oh, right!

Mission accomplished.

Tia? Tia!

Wake up!

We got a final to take! The world is waiting!

Let's get to vote Canadian!

It's just the first of an endless string of forms that is going on, that is

going to go on.

First black woman to get a pot.

Betsy Johnson.

Why not? You've been a...

Breathe, and they won't know anything happened.

Just breathe, and I'll just pick it right up.