Original subtitles

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

NARRATOR: Last on Roots...

AUNT SUKEY: Jump the broom into the land of matrimony.

(APPLAUSE)

You're talking escape?

Me never wanted nothing more in my life, Boteng Bediako.

You listen for the signal. Come as quick as you can.

Got a name for her already. We're gonna call her Kizzy.

You ain't gonna leave us here, Toby? This is your home.

It's not my home.

(GROANS)

But this my child.

And we family.

Your name means, "Stay put." But it don't mean, "Stay a slave."

It won't never mean that.

(BEE BUZZING)

Ninsemuso!

(HORSE NEIGHING)

Ninsemuso. Ninsemuso, girl.

Ninsemuso, Ninsemuso, girl! Yes!

-Kizzy! -Papal

Kizzy!

She knows her name, Papa. I teached her her name. I truly did.

-Ninsemuso. -(LAUGHING)

What you laughing at, Papa? That's the Africa talk you told me.

Like you teach me

yiro means the tree and tilo means the sun.

You got that right, Kizzy. You got it right.

(CHUCKLES) Ninsemuso.

I'm laughing ‘cause you still got it a ways wrong.

Africa ain't the talk. It's the place.

Mandinka is the talk. The talk and the people.

This horse ain't gonna answer to the name Ninsemuso.

On account of your Mandinka talk, Ninsemuso mean "cow."

-(BOTH LAUGH) -Kizzy!

Been looking for you, Toby.

(STUTTERING) I wants to talk with you if you has the time.

Ain't got no time to talk with you now.

Massa want this filly groomed and curried proper.

Besides, I think I know what you want to talk with me about, Noah.

Come, Ninsemuso. Come.

Papa thinks you want to ask him about us jumping the broom, Noah.

Marrying up.

You know what it'd be like when you jumps the broom, Noah?

I would dress up fine in a brand new dimity

Mama make just for the wedding.

Not for wearing any other time ever in my whole life. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

And you be in a new black suit.

Finer than a preacher himself.

And the preacher, he put the broom down on the ground afore us.

And the preacher says, "Now, you two gotta hold hands

"and jump over the broom into the land of matrimony."

(BOTH CHUCKLE)

Now.

(BOTH LAUGHING)

Kizzy.

You know what you got to do

in front of everybody so as the wedding be real?

Kiss.

You ever kissed a boy before, Kizzy?

Of course not. You the only-est boy I know and I ain't never kissed you.

Want to? I do.

(HORSE NEIGHING)

(GIGGLING)

Right out there, Doctor, is profit on the hoof. Young Noah.

DR. WILLIAM REYNOLDS: Yes, fine field-hand.

What we need, begging your pardon, Doctor, but speaking as overseer,

what we need is one of those new Whitney Cotton gins.

Do the... The work of 10 bone-lazy niggers.

Purchase of a gin, Mr. Ordell, wants cash.

Well, you have cash, sir.

Farmers in Georgia, Alabama pay high dollar for a slave to come in and

just clear out new fields for planting.

Now, that Noah is a strong young buck, sir.

He'd bring in cash that's more than enough for down-payment on a gin.

You're new here, Mr. Ordell.

Most of my chattel were born on this place.

Like Noah, young Kizzy. It's Mammy Bell's girl.

You know, I have a covenant with my slaves, all of them.

They know that if they obey my laws and obey my rules,

that they can live out their lives on this plantation.

And never be sold.

And if they break your rules? Disobey your laws, Doctor?

Well, that's quite another matter.

Of course.

Kizzy ain't nothing but a child.

Just out from behind your skirts

and look at her, flouncing around with that Noah

like they is fixing to jump the broom.

If they ain't already has.

-You know what I mean? -I do.

Well, Bell, you the girl's mama.

Don't it fret you none that she liable to walk in here one day with a big belly

and that Noah be the one to blame?

We know that boy since he was born.

And I know his mama Ada since I was sold here more than 30 years now.

I tell you, that Noah got the look of the Wolof people.

I remember them from when I was back in Africa.

Keep to his self, don't say much.

Used to say, "If a Wolof man say, 'Good morning,'

"it'd be his last good word of the day."

Well, I like Noah.

He's quiet and proud.

-There's only one thing wrong with him. -What's that?

He's just like you.

Only's problem you two have,

maybe you so much alike you'll never get along.

I didn't say I couldn't get along with him.

Well, glad to hear that ‘cause Kizzy wants him, that's for sure.

And if that gal gets herself a man like the one I got me,

she can't help but turn out to be one happy woman long as she live.

Mmm.

Mama, Papa. You all hear the news?

Missy Anne gonna be here tomorrow. She be coming back.

-Ooh, first time in four years. -(BOTH CHUCKLING)

I heard. Massa got me currying and grooming that filly on account of it.

Missy Anne. Ain't that fine, Mama?

Surely fine.

I remember the way you two young ‘uns used to just go from morning till night.

(CHUCKLES) I remember.

I never forget the first time Missy Anne saw you after you was born.

She was just old enough to talk. She look at you and she say,

"Why, Mammy Bell, she look just like a little nigger baby doll."

She give me a doll once when I was sick.

-She was my best friend. -Can't be.

She was, Papa. The bestest friend I ever had.

Even if she be toubab.

Don't you use that word, foubab.

You be teaching her that African stuff? Now, you know Massa don't hold with that.

You want to see her whipped?

KIZZY: Don't worry, Mama.

I don't say toubab when I'm with white folks. I say, "white folks."

BELL: You got to get up early before daylight, Kizzy.

See to it Missy Anne's old room be ready for her.

Yes, Mama.

And you see to it that them andirons be polished up and shiny and...

What's that?

These letters spell out my name.

Missy Anne showed me when we used to play school.

And she showed me about reading and, and writing.

That say Kizzy. K-I-Z-Z-Y.

Oh!

Don't you never do nothing like that again.

No reading. No writing.

Never, ever, you hear me?

White folks know a nigger can read and write,

they see to it that nigger be worse than whipped.

That nigger be sold.

(SOBBING) Yes'm.

BELL: Massa be in his bestest mood when Missy Anne be here.

He's happy. Happy as can be.

And it's good for him and it's good for everybody.

Don't you do nothing that will cause no trouble.

-Go sit and eat. -Yes, Mama.

Missy Anne knows about the reading and writing. She teached me.

That was when you was children, playing games.

Now, you all growed up.

Are you saying that Missy Anne ain't gonna be my friend no more, Mama?

What I saying, honey, is that when people is children

it don't matter who they is or what they is.

But when they grow up, things can change.

Especially with white folks.

You and Missy Anne, well, things could be different now.

Oh, if things ain't the same between you, don't you fret none.

You got enough love washing over you from your papa and from me

that it won't make no never mind at all.

Hmm?

Eat.

(SOFT INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)

Missy Anne coming back.

It don't seem possible. She's truly coming back.

Reckon the happiest white man in all Spotsylvania County today be Massa Doctor.

He got more than just a niece to set his eyes on after all this time.

More true flesh and blood than just a niece, that's for sure.

Ada, just you hush up with that old gossip now, you hear?

Can't hush up the whole county, Bell.

Ain't a soul black or white ain't hear

how Squire John Reynolds done called out Massa

about carrying on with his missus.

Good thing the Squire didn't find out Missy Anne not his child.

And we don't want her to find out. So just you hush up.

(HUFFS)

(GASPING)

It's impressive, isn't it, Mr. Ordell?

The affection these darkies feel for my niece.

Well, a white woman's a rare sight on this plantation, Doctor.

Yes, it's rare.

Mmm.

Times past, my sister-in-law used to be a frequent visitor here, but

those were times past.

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)

(APPLAUSE)

MISSY ANNE: Oh, Uncle William. Oh!

Oh, Uncle William.

-l can scarcely believe it. (SIGHS) -Welcome back.

Mammy Bell. Mammy Bell.

Mammy Bell. Oh, Mammy Bell. Oh, Mammy Bell.

-Toby. Mama Ada. -Welcome back, Missy Anne.

Where is she? Where is she, Mammy Bell?

Kizzy. Kizzy. There you are. There you are.

My friend. My dearest friend.

Oh, Kizzy, look at you. You're all grown up.

You're not my little nigger baby doll anymore.

Kizzy. Come on, help me unpack. I want you to see all my new things.

Oh, Kizzy.

Toby.

I wants to talk with you, Toby, if you has the time.

If it's about jumping the broom with my Kizzy, I ain't...

I ain't got the time, I got chores.

It ain't that.

Wants to talk to you about that crippled foot of yours.

Oh, but, Noah, what you care about my old foot?

Well, I heard...

I heard you got it trying to escape.

Folks all say you know everything about escaping.

And that's what I needs to learn about. Escaping.

Only thing I know about is chores.

Right now, the massa want that filly cleaned up for Missy Anne.

Now, you wanna know about currying, you welcome to come along.

(BOTH LAUGHING)

Let me see this one again. I just don't know, Kizzy.

Which one should I wear to supper with Uncle William tonight? You choose.

Why not wear both of them, Missy Anne? I'll starch and iron up the ruffles fine,

and whenever you want, I'll help you change.

Oh, Kizzy, you do have the most wonderful ideas.

(GIGGLES)

Kizzy?

I'll tell you a secret if you promise never to tell anyone in the whole world,

most of all, Papa and Uncle William.

-I... I'just have to tell somebody. -l promise.

All right.

Well, my great-great-great-grandfather

lived in England before he came to Virginia.

Now, his father was a baron.

And next to the king, that's a, that's a very important thing to be.

My father told me that my great-great-grandfather

was the griot of the Mandinka tribe back in Africa.

Next to the chief, that's the most important thing to be.

(SCOFFS)

I'm serious, Kizzy.

Well, anyway, the one who's the baron now is my... See, that would be...

He's my fourth cousin.

And he's very young. And tall. And handsome.

And I let him kiss me. More than once.

(GASPS) Lord of mercy.

And when I left, he wrote me a letter.

-A love letter. -(GASPS)

Oh, I must have read it a thousand times. Would you like to hear it?

Dear, I hid it so well I've hidden it from myself.

-(BOTH GIGGLE) -(SIGHS)

I declare, Kizzy, just the thought of him makes me feel I'm about to swoon.

I'm all aglow. Feel my hand, Kizzy.

-You surely flushed, Missy Anne. -I know.

You need a cooling drink.

Mama made you some lemonade just ‘cause it's your favorite. I'll get it.

Dear Mammy Bell. Where is that letter?

Oh.

"Miss Anne Reynolds."

(SIGHS)

What I want to know is why you so all fired set on trying to escape.

Me, I was born a free man in Africa,

so I wanted to be free again.

But you were born here.

And you ain't got no idea what freedom is.

Well, 1, I feel in my bones

that freedom is a good thing I don't has.

And I know if I stays on here,

the overseer get massa to sell me off away from Mama Ada.

Away from Kizzy.

You be sold, you stay alive.

You run away, you be dead.

You wrong, old man.

I takes my chances at something good and I gon' live.

I'm not just gonna try to escape. I gon' do it.

(STUTTERING) I'll show you something.

Stole me this. Mmm-hmm.

White folks got knives.

Guns.

Whips.

Axes.

Dogs.

Low-life trash to help track you down.

Even got no-good niggers to help them.

They ain't gonna stop me.

I gon' go north where white folks

called abolitionists and Quakers helps niggers be free.

I'll come back and fetch Kizzy and take her to freedom with me.

Gonna do it, Toby.

Ain't nothing gonna stop me. Nothing.

Maybe Bell was right.

What you mean?

Maybe there ain't no difference between some niggers born here

and those born in Africa.

Then you, you tell me what you know?

Yeah. I'll tell you.

A stock barn ain't no place for a field hand to be, boy.

(STUTTERING) I just helping out Toby, sir.

Always in the wrong place at the wrong time, lately, ain't you?

No, sir, Mr. Ordell, sir.

You've been breaking the rules is what you been doing.

Squire's rules. My rules.

You hankering to be sold off and shipped out if you just keep it up.

Just one more time, and you'll be heading south as fast as I can boot you.

Now, get!

"And I can only hope that you return

"some small part of the affection, nay, love

"I feel for you. Your adoring servant."

-"Adoring," Kizzy. -That's a love letter, all right.

Now, you must swear you'll never tattle about this to a living soul.

-I swear. -On the Bible.

Where is it? Oh, here itis.

My old Bible. Now kiss your little finger and swear.

I swear.

Now, if you ever tattle, Kizzy, you'll be damned to hell.

Oh, I wouldn't never, Missy Anne.

(GIGGLING) You remember when we used to play school

and I'd be the teacher and you'd be the pupil? What fun we had.

I remember.

You were such a good student, Kizzy.

You learned so fast. You even read from the Bible.

Oh.

Land sakes alive, I remember you reading this exact thing.

Here, Kizzy. See if you can still read it.

Oh, no, Missy Anne. I couldn't do that, no way.

Massa ever find out--

Oh, poo. Who's gonna tell 'em? Here, I just want to see

if you've forgotten everything I taught you.

Kizzy, come on.

"And I gave my heart to know wisdom

"and to know madness and folly. I... Per... Per..."

Oh, it's "perceived." It means, "You saw, you knew."

"I perceived that this also is vexation of the spirit."

"For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom."

Is that you reading, Kizzy?

(LAUGHING) Uncle William, it was only a trick.

Kizzy and I are making up this joke to play on Mammy Bell.

We're gonna... We're gonna make her think Kizzy knows how to read.

-Her eyes will just pop out of her head. -I forbid it.

MISSY ANNE: Whatever you say, Uncle William, but...

It was only a trick.

I'm not blaming you, darling.

Miss Anne has been gone for a good while

and doesn't understand the importance of such things.

I'm surprised at you, Kizzy.

You really want to play a cruel joke like that?

On a fine woman like your own mama, Mammy Bell?

Now, you get dressed as soon as you can, darling.

I've got a special present for you.

(CHUCKLES)

You finish unpacking Miss Anne's things. And no more tricks.

Yes, sir, Massa.

Mammy Bell is as true and loyal a woman as the Almighty ever let draw breath.

You come along as soon as you can.

It's all right, Kizzy. Oh, Kizzy, you needn't be afraid.

You keep my secrets and I'll keep yours.

Oh, you mustn't be a fraidy cat. I'll protect you, Kizzy.

I'll always protect you. You know that.

I gots to talk with you.

Have to wait, Noah. Got to tend Missy Anne.

She be leaving first thing in the morning.

Oh, Missy Anne come around, you got no time for nobody else.

Especially me.

She gone, we have all the time we wants, you and me.

Ain't all that much time left, Kizzy.

Turns out, there was a plot by a whole gang of runaway niggers

to kidnap the governor,

massacre the white people of Richmond and set fire to the city.

(SLURPS)

It seems the plot was hatched by no more than a handful of bad-blooded hands

that was part of a slave ship revolt

led by that African nigger, called himself Cinqué.

-Where did you hear this, Mr...? -Moore. Tom Moore.

I got me a place out on the west edge of the county.

Nothing so grand as this, of course.

Yes, it was in Valhalla. I was buying chickens.

-You're a chicken farmer? -Fighting chickens, sir.

Cocks. Though, I farm some cotton,

but, uh, I don't have much land or a whole flock of slaves.

Who can afford them with prices rising the way they are, nowadays?

I'd like some more, though.

I got a mind to get me a couple and breed my own.

(LAUGHING)

Maybe I'll only need one, if I find the right one, eh?

You heard some news in Valhalla?

Yes, sir, it was in Valhalla I heard the news.

Thanks be to God and a few smart niggers

who found out about it and told what they knew.

Anyways, the plot's been crushed and,

most of 'em that started it is already behind bars.

Armed patrols are on every road between here and Richmond, looking for the rest.

I figured it was only neighborly to, uh,

warn other plantation owners, on my...

On my way back home, sir.

-Very neighborly, Mr... -Moore, sir. Tom Moore.

Mr. Moore.

Best thing about this trip was seeing you again, Kizzy.

And getting that fine filly for a present.

Oh. I have a much better idea for a coming-home present than that.

And you're part of it, Kizzy. The most important part.

-What you talking about, Missy Anne? -(CHUCKLES)

It's going to be a surprise. I have to ask Papa first.

Now, I've made out a traveling pass

so there won't be any trouble about your coming along with your papa, Toby,

when he brings the filly over to our place next week.

I'm coming over with Papa? Oh, hooray! (LAUGHING)

Special for the surprise. Here.

Now, run tell Uncle William I'm packed and ready to go.

Got everything there.

(SIGHING)

(BLOWS NOSE)

Oh, much obliged. Cotton-picking time makes for dry throats.

(SLURPING)

Go on, Mr. Moore, about what you were saying.

Well, sir, like I was saying, uh,

some of these patrollers are catching these runaway slaves

and taking them and skinning them alive.

Some set them on fire right on the spot.

As an example, you might say.

It sure puts the fear of God in other niggers.

(CLEARS THROAT)

Yes, what is it, Kizzy?

-Missy Anne ready to go. -DR. REYNOLDS: Yes, all right.

Fine-looking wench.

(DOOR CLOSES)

You'll have to excuse us. It was very considerate of you to come by.

Well, maybe I'll bring my missus by sometime for a social visit.

She'd surely like to see a fine place like this.

Very considerate, indeed.

(SIGHS)

Say, you children wanna get bit? Go on. Get out of here!

(KIDS SHOUTING)

Well, goodbye, sir.

(CHICKENS CLUCKING)

Ah.

-Oh, my dear. -Uncle William!

Oh, thank you for a lovely time.

Kizzy. It was so good to see you.

And Mammy Bell.

I'll see you soon.

Now, I'll send Toby over with your new filly in the morning.

I'd appreciate it, Uncle William.

I'm looking so forward to seeing Mama and Papa again. Bye, Kizzy.

Got to go tonight.

Maybe I'll not get another chance like this.

Things will be quiet around here next few days.

You and your Papa be off at Missy Anne's.

Massa, he be gone on his doctoring rounds.

And the overseer be checking the wagons to come to ship off cotton.

Maybe it ain't only the bestest chance, maybe be my last chance.

Overseer just waiting to find some reason to ship me off, too.

Bound and sold. No different from a bale of cotton.

There is patrollers out there catching runaways.

Burning them and skinning them alive.

I heard.

Just got to find my way past ‘em.

Oh, Noah, wouldn't it be fine if things were different?

And you could stay here, and we could marry up and,

raise young 'uns just to be strong and happy as we'd be?

It surely would be fine.

I got no time for dreaming.

Excepting about you, Kizzy.

Then ain't nothing for it,

but to find you a sure way past them patrollers.

Protect him, sweet Jesus.

Protect him from the patrollers and the slave catchers.

Be to Missy Anne Papa's plantation before long.

Where we at Papa?

First time ever I think about where I was.

Why, we be where everybody is.

Between east and west and north and south.

East, that's where the sun come up

and the big water is at, and it takes three, four moons to reach across.

West, that's where the sun sets. Don't nobody know what's out there. Mmm.

South, oh, that's the place where they work niggers

till they drops dead like a old horse.

-Sounds like, north the place to be. -Not for you child.

Don't you think about north. That be trouble.

You just stay right where you at.

I still don't know where that be.

Don't matter. Thing is you stay here.

That's why I name you Kizzy.

‘Cause in Mandinka talk that mean, "You stay put."

-(HORSE WHINNYING) -Whoa! Whoa, now, whoa.

-Where are you two going? -We're on our massa's business, boss.

-What's that, horse thieving? -No, sir. No, we got traveling passes.

-What's your names? -Toby and Kizzy.

Show the passes, Kizzy. Show the passes!

(HORSE NEIGHS)

Virgil, get over here and read this.

Yeah. That's what it says. Toby Reynolds and Kizzy Reynolds.

He belongs to Dr. Reynolds.

He know my Massa, Massa Greaves.

I ain't no runaway! I was stole off the plantation.

These are slave stealers. They stole me away to sell me south!

Tell my Massa! Tell Massa Greaves!

(EXCLAIMS)

(HORSE NEIGHING)

Here, get out of here.

Don't pay him no mind.

Lying nigger'll say anything.

You hear me? Get!

Yes, sir, boss.

That could have been Noah, Papa.

Same thing could be happening to him right now.

-What you talking about? -He took off.

He be a runaway now.

-When? -Last night.

Oh, Papa, I'm so scared.

Well, overseer ain't miss him before we left this morning.

Come night fall, he'll have a full day's start.

Longer he gone, better chance he got of staying free for good.

-You mean it, Papa? -Yeah.

Each day go by, he be harder to follow. Trail be getting cold.

Just like tracking an animal.

After a while, even dogs will lose his scent.

How long, Papa?

A week. If he can stay free a week,

he got a good chance of staying free for good.

Oh, I'm gonna pray for that, Papa.

MISSY ANNE: And Papa said it'll be all right.

Isn't that wonderful, Kizzy? Isn't that a fine surprise?

Well, what it means is that Uncle William will make a present of you.

You'll be my slave, Kizzy.

We'll be together forever.

And you won't ever have to be afraid of anything again.

Because I'll protect you, Kizzy. Always.

Wouldn't you like that?

I likes you, Missy Anne.

You my best friend. Always was. But...

But what?

There seems just so much happening all of a sudden.

And it's wonderful! All of it.

You'll come here to live, Kizzy. Here with me.

-Never lived no place but Massa's. -Oh. It will be much nicer here.

You'll have a room of your own. Right next to mine.

Never been away from my mama and my papa.

Well, Papa Toby will be back and forth with Uncle William.

And we'll be over to see Mammy Bell nearly as much as we'll be here.

Oh, it will be better than ever for you and me, Kizzy.

And it will be legal.

You hear me, Kizzy? Legal.

Don't know nothing about legal.

Oh. Well, legal is, uh... It's just the law.

Uh, black people are slaves, and white people own them.

That's just the way it is.

I know. Just don't understand it, I guess.

Well, think of it this way, Kizzy. It's the natural way of things.

I suppose it's because white folks are just naturally smarter than niggers.

Like men are smarter than women. (CHUCKLES)

Now, everyone knows that, for heaven's sake.

You mean, that's the way God made it?

Exactly.

So, if it wasn't right, why, he'd change it, wouldn't he?

Expect so.

Abolitionists wants to change it, Missy Anne.

If we weren't friends, Kizzy,

I could have you punished for even mentioning the abolitionists.

I know that.

But we are friends. So I'll explain it to you.

They are evil people.

Like Quakers. They're against God.

-They is? -Mmm-hmm.

Kizzy!

Papa wants to get back to Massa's.

Don't want to run into any patrollers after it gets dark.

Kizzy, don't you want to be my slave?

Aren't you my friend?

Of course I'm your friend, Missy Anne.

I just has to ask my mama and my papa.

Oh. No, I'll ask 'em.

I want to be the one.

I'll be back at Uncle William's in a week. I'll ask 'em then.

Till then, it's to be our secret. Just yours and mine.

(CHUCKLES)

Oh, how happy Mammy Bell will be!

She'll probably start to cry just from joy when I tell her.

Oh, Kizzy, isn't it wonderful?

This time we have the most wonderful secret of all. (CHUCKLES)

No. Likely, Noah's just slipped off to some other plantation to visit some girl.

(SIGHS) He's that age.

The only gal that Noah's interested in is right here.

Bell's Kizzy.

He's run off, Doctor. I'd swear on it.

The longer we wait, the less chance we're gonna have of tracking him.

As it is now, we're gonna have to use the dogs.

(SIGHS)

All right, Mr. Ordell.

Do what you have to do.

(HUMMING)

(CHUCKLES)

Mmm.

(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

I swear, the past two weeks been as grim and miserable a time

as I have seen on this place

and you two get cheerier every day.

(CHUCKLES)

Yeah, we cheery for the same reason the white folks is angry.

Noah been gone a whole week and ain't been caught.

Well, you ain't the only one who's been cheery.

Missy Anne just drove in smiling, fit to bust.

Says she got a surprise. She gonna tell us tonight and celebrate.

Oh.

I've been doing nothing but thinking about Noah

and praying for him since Missy told me.

Missy gonna ask Massa if I can belong to her.

If I could be her slave, legal.

And live at Massa John Reynolds' plantation.

Damn white folks!

They ain't got no right to take a child from his mama and papa.

Go easy, Toby. Kizzy still with us.

I'm gonna talk to Massa. He always listen to me.

He's not like most white folks.

I don't like it at all.

Every time little Missy Anne wants something from the massa,

all she's got to do is ask. She'll get her way.

Oh, I wish Noah were here right now to make me free like he be.

He is free, Papa. I know it.

I just feel it in my bones. He's free.

(SCREAMING)

That's Ada. Oh, Lord, have mercy!

(ADA SOBBING)

(SOBBING) Oh, my child!

My child!

Oh, my child!

Oh, my child!

WOMAN: Mama Ada, come on now. Come on back to your cabin with me.

Come on. There. That's it.

ADA: (SOBBING) My boy!

(ADA SOBBING)

He put up a fight, sir.

(COUGHING)

Noah?

(GROANS)

He had a traveling pass, sir.

He ain't told me how he got it yet, but he will.

(HORSE GRUNTING)

(DOG BARKING)

(SOBBING)

-(WHIP CRACKING) (NOAH SCREAMING)

(SOBBING)

-(WHIP CRACKING) (NOAH SCREAMING)

Honey, why don't you just sit down and wait?

Mmm.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

Toby?

Dr. Reynolds says he'll be wanting to see you and Bell.

Yes, sir.

He ain't interested in seeing you, girl.

Just your papa and your mama.

Bell.

Toby.

This plantation here is home. It's home for all of us.

All being part of the same family almost.

Nigger as well as white.

Members of a family have responsibilities.

They have to keep the rules.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for us to live together in peace.

You understand that?

-Yes, Sir. -Yes, Sir.

If any of you break the rules, my rules, I have no choice,

but to remove the offender for the good of all the rest of us.

Yes, I, I...

I could forgive the transgressor,

but it would be like leaving a rotten piece of fruit in a barrel

to spoil everything around it. It's not fair.

You come. I have to show you this.

This is a traveling pass.

Noah confessed it was forged for him

by Kizzy.

It's a copy of one Miss Anne gave her.

All right.

Noah's been sold off, what's left of him.

And Kizzy...

Oh, God, no. No, Massa. You can't sell Kizzy, too.

No, Massa, not my baby, not my child.

Oh, Massa, no. Not my child, not my baby!

-Massa, Massa, please. -Bell.

Massa, beat her.

Do anything you want to her, anything, Massa.

Tear the skin off her worthless hide.

She an awful nigger to do such a thing, Massa.

Please, Massa, in the name of Jesus, have mercy.

Me and Toby, we give you our lives, Massa.

Massa...

Forty years, Massa. Forty years I serve you. Don't that count?

Bell, you were doing your job. She disobeyed the rules.

She has to suffer the consequences. That's all there is to it.

Massa, please. Please, Massa, I beg you.

Please, don't sell her. Please, Massa.

She's already been sold.

TOBY: Oh, then Massa, please sell me and Bell with her.

Don't split up the family, Massa.

You ain't never been that kind of man. Please, Massa.

Mr. Tom Moore owns Kizzy now.

Mr. Ordell will take her away today.

-Massa... -KIZZY: No. I don't want to go!

-God, my baby! -KIZZY: No, no!

Uncle William. Poor Mammy Bell.

No! No!

Mama! Papa! No!

Mama! No! Papa!

(BELL SCREAMING)

Get back there!

-ORDELL: Get back! -Missy Anne, please.

(SOBBING)

-Missy Anne, please! Please help me! -BELL: My baby!

-KIZZY: Missy Anne, please! -(GUN CLICKS)

-(SOBBING) -Hyah!

Mama! Papa! I don't want to go!

Missy Anne, please!

BELL: No. No. (SOBBING)

Mama! Mama!

(BELL SOBBING)

(SOBBING) You promised, Missy Anne. Please.

(SOBBING) Oh, Kizzy. My baby.

(BELL SOBBING)

I swear, Uncle William, in all my life I, I have never been made such a fool of.

To choose that young buck when she could have had such an opportunity.

(SCOFFS) She's no different.

She's just as stupid as all the rest of 'em.

What a shame.

BELL: What you doing?

Mandinka people believe that if you save the dust from someone's footprints,

someday they come back.

Like naming her Kizzy was supposed to make her stay put.

Well, either you lied to me, old man, or you been lied to.

That child's gone from us and she ain't never coming back.

You hear me? Never!

-ORDELL: Boy! -MAN: Yes, sir?

You know where your Massa wants this girl put?

Yes, sir. Massa Moore, he say, put her in that cabin at the end.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

(LOCK CLICKS)

-You know your name? -Kizzy. Kizzy Reynolds.

Uh-uh-uh. Kizzy Moore. I bought you. You're my property now.

Cost a fair price.

Enough for a payment on a cotton gin, your overseer said.

Well, Kizzy, I'm gonna get my money's worth right now.

Well, Kizzy, I'd rather not hurt you, but I ain't got no time to play--

(CLATTERING)

No. No.

(SCREAMS)

(KIZZY SCREAMING AND PANTING)

(SCREAMING)

You gonna be all right, honey. You'll be all right.

(SOBBING)

My name's Melissa. I's the cook.

-You best know about Master Tom Moore. -(SNIFFLING)

He's one of them white mens that likes nigger women.

Young 'uns.

Reckon, he'll be bothering you most every night now for a while.

He used to bother me, but... But no more.

(SNIFFLING)

No sense in fretting, child. Ain't nothing you can do about it.

He keeps studding you till you has a baby. Then he leaves you alone.

Massa Tom Moore no worse than most white men.

Even fair.

Depends on you.

He figures you gotta deserve what you get.

(SOBS SOFTLY)

(PANTING)

When I has my baby, he gonna be a boy.

And when that boy grow up,

I promise you one thing,

Massa Tom Moore gonna get what he deserve.

(SNIFFLES)

That driver got his eye glued on you.

NARRATOR: Next, Roots continues with a special

two-hour segment.

I drive and see more than most Africans can dream about.

You ain't one to know how much an African can dream, Sam.

Lord, you sure is a girl full of a whole lot of longings, ain't you?

(BOTH CHUCKLE)

-Mmm-hmm. Yes, I is. -(CHUCKLES)

I told you to get that carriage home before dark!

NARRATOR: The all-star cast is joined by Richard Roundtree,

George Hamilton and Ben Vereen as Kizzy's son, Chicken George.

Mama? I, uh...

I come to tell you, I can't eat supper with you tonight.

Why you can't?

Gotta get the chickens ready for tomorrow.

Massa showing off his stock to some gamecocker from Georgia!

The Speckled Red wins,

-I'll set you free. -(BOTH LAUGH)

NARRATOR: Roots, the triumph of an American family continues...

Master Moore's Speckled Red will be the winner!

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

ENGLISH - SDH