The Man Who Came Back

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What are y'all doing?

Get back in the field.

Slavery's over.

We can leave if we want.

Mr. Duke, you think them Union

soldiers come back

if they hear tell of

black folks gettin' stopped?

Well, maybe you can go,

but you sure as hell ain't

takin' one of my mules.

This here my mule,

Mr. Duke.

You, uh,

made my buy him.

Deducted from my pay.

Well, in that case,

your animal is looking at me funny,

like he wants to

bite me.

Bite?

He barely got no teeth.

That's why you made

Winton buy him.

There. Now you can carry

your own stuff to Kansas.

Oh no no no no.

We got rights!

Hold my horse.

- Take it!

- You ain't got no cause, Mr. Billy!

We been free

a dozen years now.

Ever heard of a little struggle

called the Civil War?

Emancipation Proclamation

ever go by your ear?

How about this?

Did it ever

pass your ears?

You're just opening

old wounds.

Now you turn 'em over

so it browns on

both sides, you see?

You remember what I told you

about the onions?

Mr. Reese?

Mr. Reese?

There.

Turn around.

Did he do this?

Junebug got

the worst of it.

Next time,

I don't know.

Ain't gonna be

a next time.

- Sir.

- 'Morning.

When I first invited you,

a Confederate war hero,

onto my plantation,

you didn't present yourself

as Negro-soft.

You hired me to

oversee the hands.

If Billy lays on

the whip again,

he's gonna have to

deal with me.

Reese,

he's my blood son.

Then you warn him.

Warn who?

About what?

Daddy,

look at that.

That is my idea.

Right, Daddy?

You know the hands want

to be paid in cash.

No, you're paid in cash

'cause you're a white man.

Here's your month's pay.

Go make sure to buy your wife

something pretty.

This means trouble.

I tell you one thing:

Once the crop's in,

we'll say "Fare thee well, Mr. Duke,"

and we'll set up housekeeping

wherever your pretty heart desires...

California, Timbuktu,

I don't care.

I would just prefer

our cabin by the swamp.

Why'd you choose me

anyway?

I was old and poor

and beaten down

even before the war.

Mm-hmm.

I adore you.

Just adore you.

- 'Morning to you all.

- 'Morning.

- Good morning, sir.

- 'Morning.

Cash is kind of short

since the war, Winton.

Short for the Negro?

Still spends like money.

Not anymore.

They done raised all

the store prices.

Mm-hmm. How much?

So you pay them funny money

they can only spend here,

then you double and

triple the prices?

Uh, Reese, that's just

sound business practice.

Taking advantage of

a captive market.

Wanna hit me?

Hmm?

You're fired.

I knew guys like you

during the war.

When the battle started,

you'd hide.

When the fighting stopped,

you came out.

And you bayoneted

the wounded,

then you bragged about

how many Yankees you killed.

You coward.

Get up.

You want me to

arrest him?

No, just throw

his ungrateful ass

out of my overseer's

house.

See how his pride holds up

once he can't feed his family.

Y'all listen up!

From now on, I'll be

supervising y'all directly,

you lazy Negros!

I'll be working you

can to can't...

when you can see in the morning to

when you can't see at night.

You hear me?

No, sir.

I'm on strike.

We on strike.

What you mean,

you're on strike?

You don't even know

what a strike is!

Yes, we do.

And you about to find out

what one is too, sir.

What do you coloreds

expect to achieve?

You already got freedom.

Freedom?

Well, it sure don't feel like

no freedom, Judge Duke,

not when your son can

beat us whenever he pleases,

then pay us in

worthless paper.

Right!

You don't work,

you don't eat.

You don't get no rations.

What are you gonna eat?

Mule meat make a fine stew.

Sure made a mess of things

this time, Billy.

Ho! Ho!

I want to go.

My wife at a planter's meeting?

You can't.

Then give me

some money then.

You never buy anything.

This time,

spend what I give you.

You can afford to

buy you a pretty thing.

Oh, you go see to

men's business

and leave it to your wife

how frivolous to be.

In the olden days, when the heathens

took over the Promised Land,

the Crusaders wore a big

cross on themselves...

Judge, please,

they were knights

on a war horse.

They scared the living sh*t

out of those infidels.

All right, shut your fans.

Let the judge talk now.

There is no way

we can negotiate

with the strikers.

They're demanding that we

work them no more

than 12 hours a day.

And no work at all

on Sunday.

Now what's next?

Christmas in July?

Is that all right

with you, Sheriff?

No, sir!

That all right with you?

- No! No!

- No!

Your Honor, uh, we could

just start busting some heads

and fix this real fast.

We all got some Negro-lovin'

white folks

could use

a head-whopping too.

This is not as big a cabin

as you're used to, my boy.

- What've you got there?

- Oh, this is heavy.

Oh, give me that.

Give it here.

- There we go.

- Thank you.

You want some water?

Here.

Darlin', heaven's

where you make it.

They ran us out.

Said if we won't chop cotton,

we can't stay in them quarters.

Them cabins weren't fit

for living in no-how.

Besides, back in

slavery days,

the runaway slaves used to hide

in these thickets and get fat.

- Ain't that right, y'all?

- Yeah.

We gonna be all right.

We gonna be

all right.

- Ain't that right, y'all?

- Yes, sir.

Whoa. Whoa.

This your wife and

boy here?

Just on patrol.

Don't want no trouble.

- Let's go.

- Junebug!

Come on.

Let's move.

You take 'em to the thicket. I'm gonna

stay here and give you some time.

I'll stay.

You go.

Junebug,

I'll stay.

You go.

Get on.

They comin'.

Y'all gonna quit

before my harvest?

We're striking.

Striking.

Listen, you stupid darky,

you still got to pay

room and board.

You gotta pay tool fees,

mule fees.

You gonna owe Duke Plantation

so deep,

I'm gonna work you a full year,

you're still gonna be in debt.

My hands're going

back to work.

What hands, master?

'Cause I don't see

nobody.

Wait! Please...

- Preacher!

- No. No worries...

Preacher, please please

please, don't let 'em do this.

Please don't let 'em

do this.

Preacher, Preacher,

don't let 'em do this.

Lord's work, boy.

You Negros got to learn to

render unto Caesar.

Please don't, please.

Please...

please don't do this!

Please don't do this.

Please please don't...

There you go.

What is...

Gabe,

come over here.

- Gabe, don't you look.

- Yes, ma'am.

No, you let him look.

Let him see what evil men

do when good men let them.

- We might have lost Vicksburg...

- Hey, Reba.

...we might have lost

Gettysburg,

but praise God for

our victory today, huh?

I believe my daddy may even

say things were handled well today.

This is your day off!

Most days we're

working in the fields.

My friend, who's the biggest

toad in this puddle?

Harder!

That wasn't a fur-ball,

that was a whole cat, wasn't it?

Sir, allow me to

introduce myself.

My name is Ezra Tarwell.

I am an attorney.

Bumpy road back there.

I'm an attorney.

Your accent hardly

hangs with Spanish moss, Mr. Tarwell.

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