The Long Walk Home (1990) - full transcript
Dramatizes the events in 1955-1956 in Montgomery, Alabama, when blacks boycotted public transport becuase they were forced to sit at the back. Odessa works as a maid for the Thompsons, and as well as she is treated, she feels it is her duty to walk to work, even if it means she is exhaused, and gets to work late.
Her name was Odessa Cotter.
I called her Dessie.
As best as anyone knows,
she was the first woman
to rock me to sleep.
There wasn't anything
extraordinary about her,
but I guess there's
always something
extraordinary about someone
who changes and then
changes those around her.
That's me.
Good morning, Mary Catherine.
I was only seven years old.
Excuse me, Odessa.
I didn't mean to run you down.
Is that a car or a boat?
It's a piece of sausage.
You tell her, sweetness.
Odessa, we're having a
cocktail party tonight,
so I'm sending you to Oak
Park with Mary Catherine
just as soon as
Claudia gets here.
Yes, ma'am.
Honey.
Look what you did.
Boop.
Gotcha.
Has anyone seen my racket?
- I know where it is.
- Bye-bye.
Bye.
My clubs.
I want to cut something.
Not today, young lady.
Your hands are sticky.
She's been beside
herself for weeks.
That's because you
never discipline her.
Where are you going?
One guess, Sherlock.
Trey and I are
playing at the club.
Well.
I want
to see Trey's car.
Here are my clubs, honey.
If you can just get
'em to the pro shop.
Honey, I'm giving
a party tonight.
Catch Sara.
She's on her way to the club--
Honey, I can't play
with the grips like that.
Thank you, sweetie.
I'll see you at 6:00?
See you at 6:00.
Odessa, just have 'em
waiting out here at 3:00.
I should be back from the
beauty parlor and Junior League
by then.
- Yes, ma'am.
And you be good,
Mary Catherine.
I will.
Bye.
Feel a tickling coming.
Go on.
Y'all come on now.
It's time to eat.
Hey!
Hey!
What you doing here?
Can't you hear me, nigger?
What are you doing in this park?
Just taking care
of Mrs.Thompson's--
Don't give me any of
that mealy-mouthed crap!
Now, this park is whites only.
And that means niggers like you
best answer with, "Yes, sir"
when you're spoken to here.
I don't care who
you're taking care of!
You don't understand
nothing, do you?
Go on.
Get your stuff together
and get on out of here!
Come on, Mary Catherine.
Get your friends.
We've got to go.
I've never heard such
nonsense in all my life.
We'll just see about this.
Hello, could I speak to
Commissioner Sellers, please?
Mrs. Norman Thompson.
Well, would you
tell Clyde Sellers
that one of his policemen threw
my 9-year-old daughter out
of Oak Park?
He knows who I am.
I really appreciate you
coming by this afternoon.
not at all, ma'am.
I'm just sorry about
the misunderstanding.
Thank you.
Mrs. Cotter, I would like to
apologize on behalf of myself,
the police department,
and the city of Montgomery
for what happened
today in Oak Park.
I hope y'all will come back
to the park someday soon.
And I hope I didn't
cause you too
much trouble, Mrs. Thompson.
I'm sorry if I embarrassed your
maid in front of the children.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome, ma'am.
I regret that this happened
in the first place.
Well, send the
commissioner my best.
I will, ma'am.
Shh.
Y'all come on inside.
Alabama's got a small
line, but they're agile.
My God.
Aw, how's my little Boo-Boo?
Tunker's here.
Tunker.
Tunker, welcome.
Hello, Norman.
I'm glad you could make it.
Yeah, it's a
nice-looking party here.
Yeah, we try.
We do.
Hi, Tunker.
Hello, Miriam.
Is that a bartender?
Yeah.
Does I has to tip him?
Well, be-- beings
your my baby brother,
why don't we just say that
the drinks are two bucks,
all inclusive.
Thanks, thanks.
Hey, y'all are lucky to
get a bartender at all.
The niggers are all
moving to Philadelphia.
Why is that?
Because they hear there
ain't no work in Philadelphia.
I don't get it.
Honey, you never get jokes.
What?
Tunker, don't be so loud
this close to the bar.
He didn't hear me.
Yeah, well, you
better be careful.
She'll have you out
there apologizing to him.
Well, what's this?
Nothing.
It was just something
stupid, that's all.
I'd like to know.
Go on, tell him.
Some young policeman threw
our maid out of Oak Park.
Mary Catherine and her
friends were right there,
and he was extremely rude.
So I called up
Clyde Sellers and he
had him come out and apologize.
Well, what were you
doing sending your maid
into that park anyway?
Tunker, she was taking
care of the children.
But you shouldn't have
the poor fellow come out
and apologize to
a nigger, Miriam.
That's plain old wrong.
Tunker, it's not
like she was parading
her own children around the
park, for heaven's sakes.
And you know, I did
grow up with a maid,
and I've had them all my
life, and I know what's right,
and I know what's wrong.
And I will not have
my judgment impugned
by some wet-behind-the-ears
patrolman or by you.
Excuse me.
Hi, Liz.
How are you?
She's a hellcat, Norman.
I always thought so.
MARY CATHERINE
My world
was a bubble when I was seven.
Wars could have been going
on outside our front door,
and I would have
been all the happier.
Thank you, darling.
MARY CATHERINE
In a way,
a war was about to
start in Montgomery,
a war of wills in the
cradle of the Confederacy.
It began on a
crisp December day.
Hey!
Give it back!
Give it back.
Give it back!
No!
Mama, where you at?
No!
What you coming in here
screaming like a banshee about?
A lady gave these out
to everybody after school,
and I'll read it to you.
"This is for Monday--"
Boy, you can't read.
We're gonna die of
consumption waiting for you.
Can so.
Give it back!
Franklin, give him the
paper and let him read it.
Watch it.
"Another Negro woman has been
arrested and thrown in jail
because she refused to
get up out of her seat
on the bus for a white
person to sit down.
It is the second time
since the Colvin case
that a Negro woman has been
arrested for the same thing.
This has to be stopped."
"We are therefore
asking every Negro
to stay off the buses
Monday in protest
of the arrest and trial.
Don't ride the buses to work,
to town, to school, or anywhere
on Monday.
You can afford to stay
out of school for one day
if you have no other
way to go except by bus.
You can also afford to stay
out of town for one day.
If you work, take a cab or walk.
But please--"
I heard about that last night.
That woman was Miss Parks.
Rosa Parks?
Yep, they had to bail her out
of jail for sitting on the bus.
See, the problem is--
I'll tell you
what the problem is,
and I have never seen
people get so worked up
over a piece of paper.
I think it's dumb.
I think you dumb.
Shut up, Franklin.
I bet
nobody rides the bus.
Franklin, sit up.
Well, if that don't get all.
Here we are without
a car and somebody
telling us not to ride the bus.
Theodore and Franklin ready
to follow along like lap dogs.
If that ain't cutting your
nose off to spite your face.
She's mad 'cause
she ride the bus
out to Newtown on
Saturday to see
that boy she think like her.
Shut up.
I'm tired of hanging my head
in the shadow of crackers.
I want to ride the
front of the bus.
Lord, we thank you for this
food we're about to receive.
Watch over our souls
tonight and help
us live your word tomorrow.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
All right, right
around the fence.
That bus is as
empty as my grave.
If it starts to rain,
people will get on that bus.
No, they won't.
Not unless they
stupid as you are.
Mama.
If we can't ride the bus,
do we have to go school?
Boy, you ain't never
took the bus in your life.
Now, get in there and help
me clean off that table.
Hello, Ms. Thompson.
This is Odessa.
Ms. Thompson, I think I'm gonna
be awfully late to work today.
Odessa, this is Monday.
You know how badly I
need you on Monday.
Yes, I know Ms.
Thompson, but as I said, I--
Well, this wouldn't have
anything to do with the boycott
business, would it?
Well, Ms. Thompson,
the buses usually come past
my house pretty near full.
But today, there ain't a soul
on 'em except the driver,
and this last one had a
police car following it.
So ma'am, I ain't likely
to ride the bus today.
Well, I was going to Curb
Market this morning anyway.
You live down on Cobb
Street, don't you?
Yes, ma'am.
Well then, I'll meet you at
the corner of Court and Mildred
in about an hour.
Thank you, ma'am.
OK, bye-bye.
Odessa, I'm not gonna be
able to carry you home.
Mama needs help with
Shelly's dinner,
so I'm gonna have
to go on over later.
Yes, ma'am.
Go ahead and show your
mama how you're helping.
That's sweet.
Good evening, ma'am.
Whose turn is it
to do the dishes?
Theo--
No, it ain't mine.
Well, who did them last night?
I did 'em.
It's Theodore's and
Franklin's turn.
You got a choice, clean the
dishes or clean the outhouse.
Mama's home!
Good, she can do the dishes.
After you called, we waited
for you to come home, Mama.
We just ate while we waited.
He's been waiting
all night to say that.
- Mama--
- Can I fetch you some supper?
Theodore and Franklin keep
making fun of my cooking
and daddy won't
get them to stop.
You still coming
to that mass meeting?
It's in 15 minutes.
Selma, get your coat.
What?
And listen to a
bunch of preachers
talking about us plain
folks wearing out our shoes
today while they drove
around in their cars?
No thank you.
I put in my time at church
on Sunday morning, not Monday
night.
Can I go, and
Selma watch Franklin?
I want to go, too.
I want to go, too.
Theodore
gets to have all the fun.
I think she cut up the
cleanest parts and fried it.
Shut up, fool.
Mama, I'm sorry about supper.
I think it got worse
as it got cold.
Just let me get my shoes off.
I'll be ready in a minute.
I got to give that girl
some cooking lessons.
Mama, your feet.
Just got to get me
some shoes that fit.
That's all.
I'll get up and change my dress,
and I'll be ready in a minute.
Don't want to be late.
Might not get a seat.
You quit that horsing around
in my-- get off my bed!
Get in there.
Daddy, you can't let
her walk down to the church.
Don't worry about it.
It'll make her
feel better to go.
It really will.
MARTIN LUTHER KING
JR: The only weapon
that we have in our
hands this evening
is the weapon of protest.
And we are not wrong.
We are not wrong in
what we are doing.
If we are wrong, the Supreme
court of this nation is wrong.
If we are wrong,
the Constitution
of the United States is wrong.
If we are wrong, God
Almighty is wrong.
And we are determined here in
Montgomery to work and fight
until justice runs down
like water and righteousness
like a mighty stream.
Well, now, ain't you
all full of the day.
I haven't felt this
good in a long time.
Of course, when I got up this
morning, I'd like to die.
Once I started moving
around, I felt pretty good.
You walked all of
that way across town?
Yes, ma'am.
Ooh, that's a
long walk, woman.
Yes, indeedy.
You know, you come into town and
go to one of the mass meetings,
you feel like you
could walk forever too.
I got me a ride
to work, and I sleep
through it most of the time.
I don't need no inspiration.
Odessa.
Now, I hear
that getting up early
and moving around does a
soul good in the morning.
I just wonder what it does
for them in the afternoon.
Pass me
not, gentle savior.
Hear my humble cry.
While on others though art
calling, do not pass me by.
Savior, savior,
hear my humble cry.
While on others though art
calling, do not pass me by.
Savior, savior,
hear my humble cry.
While on others thou art
calling, do not pass me by.
I think I'm going to have to
ask Ms. Thompson for some days
off.
You be careful.
A lot of folks
losing their jobs.
Christmas next week.
Mrs. Thompson
ain't as bad as some.
She called that
policeman out for me.
I ain't never seen a white woman
do nothing like that before.
Odessa, don't you
go fooling yourself
about that white woman.
She don't know us, and
she don't want to know us.
She may have a heart
of gold, but she
the one who sent
you to that park,
and you ain't have no say in it.
That policeman was
apologizing to her, not you.
Well, still and all,
I cannot keep coming
home too tired to do
the cooking and too
late to do the cleaning.
You can always take the bus.
What?
What did you say?
I guess it's like the
preachers say, there's
an easy answer for everything.
Nobody said it was
going to be easy.
Mary Catherine, will you stop
messing with that silverware
and sit down in that seat?
Just playing.
I'm sorry I yelled at you.
Odessa's got a
lot of work to do.
Odessa, I'm going
to the Junior League,
so you'll have Mary Catherine.
Yes, ma'am.
Is that all the
silver you've done?
I've been feeling a
little poorly today.
Well, you've been
feeling poorly all week.
And next week is Christmas.
Yes, ma'am.
Now, I know you
can't ride the bus.
And I'm not a taxi service.
But I can't have you come
in here in the morning
and dragging around
all day, Odessa,
not this close to Christmas.
I go to Curb Market early
on Tuesdays and Fridays.
So I can pick you up
between 7:30 and 8:00
on those mornings, until you
can start riding the bus.
And the other days,
you're just going to have
to get here on your own.
Mary Catherine?
Mary Catherine!
I don't want you to
go telling daddy I've
been carrying Odessa to work.
Now, I've got a good
reason for this, OK?
Yes, ma'am.
No slips.
Santa might get unhappy.
Understood?
OK.
Bye-bye.
MARY CATHERINE
Of course,
what I cared about
that Christmas
were the little things--
the presents I'd asked
for and the way I
thought my older
sister owned the world.
Mommy!
Mommy!
They're here!
They're here!
Hi, honey!
Hi, Mom.
Father says you never
wrote a Christmas list.
I did mine a month ago.
Jeepers, Boo-Boo.
I'm not Boo-Boo.
Yes, you are, Boo-Boo.
Let me get these
bags to Sara's room,
and then I want to take
you all out for a surprise.
You mean after dinner.
- No, I mean now.
- Honey--
It'll be a lot of fun, honey.
I know Sara's hungry.
And I just made her
favorite, chicken tetrazzini.
Ew.
Mother, I stopped
eating chicken tetrazzini
when I was nine years old.
Besides, I had my heart
set on eating at the Elite.
She made me promise
at the airport.
Honey, I've been
cooking all day long.
I promise I will eat cold
chicken tetrazzini all week.
This is the new subdivision.
It's 41 lots.
Well, I wasn't going to bring
you out here till Christmas.
But they put up these,
these street markers,
and I was just sure that somehow
you were going to find out.
Look.
Is that named after me?
It sure is.
And honey, over there--
that's Mary Lane.
And it runs into
Catherine Court.
So you have two streets
named after you.
Really?
Two streets?
Yes, indeed.
And way back there,
you can't see it,
but that's Miriam Street.
So now all the women
in my life have
something named after them.
And years and
years from now, you
can look back and know that
people lived their lives
on your street, and whenever
they said where they lived,
they used your name.
Merry Christmas.
This just in.
The Air Force has spotted an
unidentified object on radar
coming south over Alaska.
Fighters were launched
from bases in Alaska
to confirm the sighting.
They say it appears to be a
small sleigh flying in the air.
Could it be Saint Nick?
They've run the same Christmas
Eve story for centuries.
You'd think this entire
city would die of boredom.
What's wrong with it?
I mean, who do they
think they're kidding?
Nobody who really believes
in Santa Claus is listening.
You don't still believe
in Santa Claus, do you?
No.
Good.
If there was a Santa Claus, he
would have surely swooped down
and replaced that old thing.
Well, I wouldn't
hold my breath
waiting for that to happen.
I know.
I'm back in Montgomery again.
Harness the mule.
Time to go down the the
well and draw some water.
Miriam.
Shh.
I'm right here.
Shh.
Honey, you're going to have
to which pile to put these in.
Relax, honey, it'll be fine.
I like the layout.
Well, let's see.
Mary Catherine.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas, honey.
Now, wave.
Wave to the camera.
Good.
OK.
Sara?
Yeah.
Merry Christmas.
Sweetness?
Mary Catherine.
Woo.
Hold on.
Hold on.
Look at the presents.
Come on, Mary Catherine.
Merry Christmas, Odessa.
Miriam!
The Eighth Army has arrived.
Good morning, Odessa.
The turkey and the
ham are in the fridge.
They're thawed.
And the turkey is ready
to be stuffed and cooked.
Now, the casseroles
still need to be cooked--
375.
But not until 1:00.
We can't have cold casserole.
You could get started on
the deviled eggs, though.
And when Claudia gets here,
one of you has to vacuum.
Now, don't forget to
put out the milk punch.
Last year, we were
halfway through the day,
and nobody thought to
put out the milk punch.
I know I must be
forgetting something.
Merry Christmas, Odessa.
Merry Christmas,
Mrs. Thompson.
Mother, do I have
to wear this stupid dress?
Sara, I
ordered these dresses
specially for all of us.
Now, they're cute.
Mother!
I don't care--
Dessie, look what I got!
Isn't she pretty?
She's got three whole
outfits, with shoes
and socks and everything!
Three whole outfits!
Look at her bonnet,
and her dress,
and the ribbons, and the shoes!
She's beautiful.
Wait until you
see what else I got!
He'd come running
down the stairs.
He'd be so excited.
He'd fly right on and
hit his grand kiester,
land on the road.
Does he still do that?
Now, let's see--
let's see if Tunker
wants some of these limas.
Hey, did you see that thing
in the paper this morning?
I think Grover Hall
has lost his mind.
What are you talking
about, what thing?
Didn't you read the
paper this morning, Norman?
He's talking about
the ad that Grover
let the coloreds
put in the paper,
demanding that we
give in to them.
Well, it's stupid.
It's about one of the
stupidest things that
ever happened to this city.
Because who really
cares about the buses?
You don't understand.
This is just a test.
In the paper this
morning, they said they
want all the bus drivers' jobs.
Now, wouldn't that be great?
Now, it seems to me that
the way to handle this thing
is to play it down.
The Supreme Court's just itching
to force this whole issue.
Let them sit where they want.
It just won't work that way.
I, for one, won't stand for
the niggers in Montgomery
runnin' around yapping
about how they won.
And don't you think this
won't have consequences.
Norman, don't you understand?
If they get by with
this bus thing,
now, why, in a few
years, you won't even
be able to have this
Christmas dinner 'cause
you'll have to have the maid
sitting right beside you.
Communism is what it is.
It's a bunch of Communists.
All of them.
None of them are from
Montgomery, either.
That Martin Luther King, he
hadn't even lived here a year.
These niggers just
want too much,
and they're not
willing to work for it.
Rolls, Mrs. Thompson?
No, thank you.
Well, that's the way I feel.
I don't care who hears me.
Thank you, Odessa.
Thanks, Dessie.
Thank you.
Claudia.
Claudia, Odessa.
That was a magnificent meal.
It really was.
Here's a little
something for you.
Merry Christmas.
- Thank you.
Merry Christmas, Odessa.
We, we were just talking
about the bus boycott.
Now, Claudia, I know--
I know you-- you get a
ride with your husband.
Yes, sir.
But Odessa, you're
here five days a week.
How do you get to work?
Today, I walked.
I-- I mean on a normal day.
Well, I can't take
the bus, Mr. Thompson.
So I-- I just will find
me a ride where I can.
But if it was safe
to ride the bus,
you'd still rather walk
than sit in the back?
Yes, sir, I would
have to say I would.
That's a long walk.
Yes, sir.
Mighty long.
It was-- it was
a delicious meal.
It really was.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Thompson.
Well
Well, I see your point.
But I can't blame her because
I don't think she's a problem.
Well, the hell she's not.
Why don't you get a new maid?
Get a white maid?
She's been with
us for nine years.
She's a problem.
She's not uppity, like some--
not to your face.
But slowly, they all start
asking for more, doing less.
Norm, you got a good
family, good community here.
When was the last time you
locked your door at night?
Never.
If you give in,
what do you think is
going to happen to this city?
What do you think is going
to happen to your family?
No, you gotta hold the line.
We all do.
If she'd rather walk, bleed
out the soles of her feet
till she begs to ride that bus.
Ooh, Mr. Thompson
had a look in his eyes
when he asked you
about getting to work.
Girl, I can't believe
what you said.
One thing I learned
in this life is
when you got your hand
in the lion's mouth,
it's better just to
pat him on the head.
Mr. Thompson's all right.
He didn't mean nothing by that.
But I tell you, Mrs.
Thompson's mother
almost got a plate of rolls
busted upside her head.
Ooh, an on Christmas day.
Lord, spare that woman's soul.
Well, I know you've
got to work here.
But if she said that to me, I'd
have thrown those rolls down
and given her my apron,
told her the next time
I serve her is the day
after she walks to my house
and cooks my Christmas dinner.
Go ahead, girl.
I tell you, see, I'll sit
up there and let her call me
a lazy nigger, and I'll walk.
I'll walk till I
got no legs left
if I thought it was
going to give my children
a better shot in the world.
You work so hard.
Have some woman
say what that woman
said make you wonder
who's going to be sitting
in the backseat in heaven.
And on Christmas day.
See you tomorrow, girl.
OK.
I ain't taking that.
Listen, I gotta go.
All right.
Bye.
Merry Christmas.
Y'all ain't going to make
me late for Christmas service.
You ain't going
nowhere without Theodore.
Besides, you don't look
like you dressed yet.
What are you talking about?
Mama, you just
don't look ready.
Theodore, see if you can
find something in there
for your mom to wear.
Has everybody gone crazy?
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas, Mama.
Merry Christmas, Mom.
Open it.
I don't know how you did this.
I don't know how
I did it either.
Well, you know ain't--
they ain't gonna wait for
us over at the church now.
Come on, y'all.
Here.
Well, come on.
Mama's gonna find
out she's been hogging
that phone and tan her hide.
The weekend?
I gotta go in the shed.
Get them lights straight
before I get back here.
Hold on.
Well, yeah, I could get
there if I wanted to.
Yeah, why not?
Stop!
Get away, stupid.
Sorry.
Excuse me.
All right, hold on.
I'm gonna leave right now.
Yeah, I can get there.
I got a way.
I'm hanging up the
phone, all right?
All right?
OK, bye.
Shoot, everybody's
lost their minds.
Where's Selma?
She went down to Leticia's
for some hot chocolate.
Did Leticia call?
What you got behind your back?
Nothing.
What is it?
- It's just something.
- Let's see.
About worth a shit.
Open your hand
before I break it.
Did Selma give you that quarter?
Can't say.
You hurt my arm.
Damn!
I don't want no trouble.
I'm just riding the bus, sir.
I ain't caused no trouble.
I don't want any trouble.
You understand?
Yes, sir.
OK.
Selma.
Damn!
I don't care if God himself
comes down and asks.
You don't tell nobody
that Selma and I left!
I can't wait to get home,
see what my dad thinks.
I know.
Kicking us out of class.
My dad's not going to care.
It's his fault, not ours.
I know it's his fault.
His dad won't care.
Never does.
My dad will.
Hey, we got a
nigger on the bus.
She must be from out of town.
She must be.
Hey, you wanna have some fun?
Let's have some fun.
Have some fun.
She's kind of cute
too, for a nigger.
Yeah.
You from out of town?
He asked you a question.
No, I'm not from out of town.
You call him sir.
Sir.
In case you hadn't
heard, niggers quit
riding the bus around here.
Or ain't you a nigger, girl?
Say I'm a nigger, sir.
Say it!
Y'all are going to have
to sit down back there.
This girl's sitting
where I want to sit.
She's supposed to be
at the back of the bus.
All right, you three
get off the bus right now.
I said now.
I'll call the police and
have you thrown in jail.
Do you think I won't do it?
Do you think I won't do it?
You old fart.
Don't bring your trashy
ass back on my bus again.
I'll call your daddy.
Damn fools.
I'm gonna teach
you to ride our bus!
Your water's in
the ditch, nigger.
Mommy.
Never mind.
Come on.
Catch that nigger!
Come on back, nigger!
What do you want?
What did I do wrong?
Why'd you run, nigger bitch?
Get away from me.
Get away!
Don't talk that
way to me, nigger!
Leave my sister alone!
Why'd you push me, nigger?
Hit him!
No!
No!
Yeah, nigger!
Hey!
If you want to hit
someone, hit me!
I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to get you hurt.
I'm not hurt.
Get his ass in the car.
Let me take you home
before I get lynched.
I didn't want to fall.
You stood long enough.
Hello.
My god, what happened
to your face?
It's my fault. I
tried to ride the bus,
and Theo got beat up by some
white boys 'cause of it.
You tried to ride the bus?
Is that what you're telling me?
You tried to ride
the bus, and that's
why his face looks like that?
What's wrong with you?
Wash your face, Selma.
Get Theo cleaned up here.
If you own a car, but you
must be at work during the day,
we have fine young men
who can drive your cars,
allowing you to still
contribute to the boycott.
And now the choir will sing
"We're Marching to Zion."
Those of you who can help
us with the carpooling,
come forward during the
singing of this song.
We are marching--
We are marching--
Up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that
beautiful city of God.
That beautiful
city of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
City of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
City of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful
city of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
Come on, children.
- City of God.
- Hallelujah!
We are marching--
We are marching--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful
city of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
That wonderful--
That wonderful--
That glorious--
That glorious--
Victorious--
Victorious--
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're marching up to Zion
to that beautiful city of God.
I'm sorry I'm late.
I just had this stuff to
take care of downtown.
And I didn't see any sense in
making the trip out here twice.
I've got this club
luncheon, which
means I have to go to the beauty
parlor as soon as I get back.
And then I have this Junior
League thing this afternoon.
Now, what is he doing?
They're trying to
break the boycott.
They just follow behind people
and try to give them tickets.
You just drive nice and
slow, Mrs. Thompson.
He'll go back to the lot.
Is that the big
boycott carpool stop?
Yes, ma'am.
I believe it is.
Is that woman driving
for the carpools?
Well, I don't know if she is.
But I know there's a lot of
women from the Air Force Base
who do.
Let me tell you.
It was just--
So I come to
find out from Odessa
that they're driving these
maids around on a regular basis.
What?
There are white women
driving for the carpool.
Are you sure?
Yes.
Odessa says they're
from Maxwell Field.
I should have known
they were Yankees.
But they had
police out there,
and they were following
people around.
For a while, Odessa and I
thought they were following us.
Miriam, are you driving
your maid to work?
No, Laura Ann.
Two days a week I go
to the Curb Market,
and I just pick her
up on those days.
And you were talking
like you thought
those white women driving
the carpools were wrong.
You're just as bad.
Robert says this
whole boycott would
end tomorrow if people
like you would stop
driving their maids to work.
Is that
what Robert says?
Well, my maid has a car.
So I don't have
to worry about it.
Well, I told Cathy that
if she wanted to boycott,
that was fine.
But she'd be on her own.
She fed me all this junk about,
I's not wanting to boycott.
I's just walking 'cause
I can't ride with all
these police and stuff.
I told her, fine.
Just be at work on time
and don't leave early.
One club.
Well, you better well
believe she's sitting up
front at those church rallies.
Pass.
One spade.
Pass.
Well, I don't really care
what happens to the boycott.
But I do care if I have a maid.
And if that means
driving her sometimes,
well, that's what it means.
Two clubs.
40,000
local Negroes
continue to walk and ride
and carpool as the city
buses roll without passengers.
An announced settlement
with Negro ministers
proves to be an empty promise.
In day 49 of the
Negro bus boycott,
dramatic new developments
from City Hall.
Good evening, I'm Carl
Stephens, WSFA News.
Mayor Gayle announced today he
was calling off negotiations
in the Negro bus boycott--
Must be Tunker.
I have to go.
Call
for all Montgomery
to stand up against--
Honey, it's not polite
to sit at the table
when we have company.
Hi.
How's my little Boo-Boo?
She doesn't like to
be called Boo-Boo anymore.
They make fun of her at school.
Well, now, I will never call
you that again if you just--
Give your Uncle
Tunker a little--
--sugar.
--sugar.
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
I always liked Mary
Catherine better anyway.
That's the type of
name you'd expect
for a princess or a queen.
Because you are a princess.
My beautiful little princess.
We'd better be off.
Well, good luck.
Luck?
Citizens' Council
don't need luck,
not with men like your daddy.
I thought you were
going to a business meeting.
No, Citizens' Council meeting.
Norman, could I talk to
you for a minute, please?
Norman, these are the
people that you said
couldn't count to 10.
You're going to go to
one of their meetings?
The whole thing has
just gotten out of hand.
And now the mayor,
the city commission--
they've all joined.
So for me, it's either joining
this group or the Klan.
Honey.
That's not true.
The mayor and the
commissioner are politicians.
They'd join the
circus if they thought
it'd get them re-elected.
You're beginning to
let your little brother
lead you around by the nose.
Listen, I don't care whether
you like Tunker or not.
But don't you tell
me what to do.
I'll make up my own
mind, and I'll join
any goddamn group I please.
Are you ready?
Sure.
Well, this is, not
at all what I expected.
Yeah.
No white sheets,
no secret oaths.
You mean I don't get to
learn a coded handshake?
Is that what you're
trying to tell me?
- Norm Thompson.
- Yeah.
Hi.
Jeff Sewell with Avalon
Brothers here in town.
- Right.
- Nice to see you.
Glad you could be out tonight.
Thank you.
By the way, you
know, I've just been
put on the planning commission.
Now, if you ever have a zoning
problem, you give me a ring.
I can put you right.
Thanks, Jeff.
Over half of small
business owners in town
are members of the council.
You mean half the
white small businesses.
If you call what the
niggers do business,
Commissioner Sellers.
How are you doing, Clyde?
Holding on.
Didn't think you'd be out here
after that phone call I got
from your wife a while back.
She was right, though.
The police department's
got to keep its nose clean.
Hope you can get the
rest of that country club
crowd out to some
of these meetings.
Well, if the niggers keep
pushing the way they are,
we'll get them off the
golf courses for you.
No, no.
What I want is to
get them on a course.
Best caddy I ever
had was a nigger.
Testing.
One, two, three.
Testing.
One, two, three.
I know the journey
has been hard.
Yes.
Yeah.
Many of you are tired.
Yeah.
Real tired.
We've seen a city
that has turned
its back on its black children.
We have seen a mayor
and city commission
which has taken a stand
for injustice and bigotry.
Moses.
Moses.
Moses.
Yes, Moses.
Fought the pharaoh
long and hard for his people.
Yes.
What?
But Moses stood
tall for his people.
Tall, yeah.
When the
children of Israel
were led out into
the wilderness,
they didn't walk for
just one month or two.
They walked for 40 long years.
They just bombed
Reverend King's house.
Wait.
Let us pray.
Father, I've just
heard terrible news.
I've heard that
a bomb was thrown
at the house of a young
man's so full of spirit.
Yeah.
Father,
we pray in thanks
for sparing the life of
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Yes!
Lord, be by our side.
Yeah.
These dark
days, hold our hand
as we walk through the night.
Lord, don't pass Montgomery by!
Don't pass Montgomery
by tonight.
Yeah.
Is there anything
you need, honey?
No, no.
When is Odessa getting here?
Well she's probably
going to be a little
late on count of the rain.
Isn't she usually here by now?
Not really.
You mean, she
comes in late a lot?
Odessa gets here
just fine every day.
Now, I've got to go.
She'll be here soon enough.
Miriam.
Yeah.
Just how does
Odessa get to work?
Well, I was going over to
the Curb Market today anyway.
And that's over on Madison,
near where Odessa lives.
And I was just going to
go ahead and pick her up.
You're going to do what?
How often do you
drive her around?
Well, I go to Curb
Market twice a week.
That's it.
Here I am trying
to hold my head up
as a white man in this town, and
you're carting a nigger maid.
It's no wonder none of
them are riding the buses.
They have you to
carry them around!
What should I do?
Odessa walks to work
three days a week.
She can walk five.
You can just get her on
the phone and call her now.
Norman--
Now, damn it!
Hello?
Yes, ma'am.
I can be to work.
I'll just be a little late.
Miriam?
Damn.
I'm sorry I got
so upset before.
Can I talk to you for a minute?
Yeah.
I know you don't
keep up with things.
Even I thought this
boycott business was
silly when it first started.
Even if it wasn't being
made into such a circus,
by the coloreds, I'd
still think it was silly.
But it's not anymore.
Driving Odessa to work, it just
wasn't the right thing to do.
You know that.
I think Odessa has been
a wonderful maid for us.
But when she's here,
that's what she is, a maid.
That's not the real Odessa.
We don't know that woman.
Can't ever know her.
It's like a dog knowing a cat.
It's a different species.
And you driving her
to work is telling
her that she's just like us.
And she's not, and
she never can be.
Even if I thought you
didn't understand that,
and I know you do,
I still couldn't
let you drive her to work.
Do you know what
would happen to you
if the wrong people saw you?
You saw the pictures
in Tuscaloosa when
they kicked that Negro out.
There are people here now that
are ready to do those things.
Don't go off on your own.
You ask me.
I know what's best.
Mrs. Thompson?
Mrs. Thompson?
Odessa, I didn't
know if you'd make it.
I did the breakfast dishes.
Mrs. Thompson,
why did you call me
and tell me you couldn't
carry me to work anymore?
Well, if you
won't ride the bus,
Mr. Thompson doesn't see
why I should have to suffer.
I didn't ask you to
suffer, Mrs. Thompson.
It wasn't me, Odessa.
It was Mr. Thompson.
He was home with a cold
today, and he found out.
Let me get you something dry.
Here you are.
Thank you.
So what are you going to do?
I don't know.
I can't walk, and I
can't ride the bus.
Can't you just walk until
this whole mess is over?
Mrs. Thompson,
you're a good woman.
But I got to find
me another job.
I got to quit.
I got to be able to take
care of my children.
Well, I understand.
You know, it's funny
the way people are.
This morning, Norman
was acting so sick.
And then he found out I'd been
driving you, and he got so mad.
He jumped out of bed.
I guess that got
his blood going,
and he started feeling
better and went on to work.
Norman's just always been
where everything's segregated.
That's just the way he thinks.
When I was 15, my girls
club went on a bus trip
across the country.
It was in the '30s, but
my family had some money.
And I remember we went
to Portland, Oregon.
It was the middle of the
summer, and it was hot.
And the bus driver found
this public pool for us.
We went swimming.
And then these two colored
boys came and got in the water.
And let me tell
you, you've never
seen 20 girls get out of a
pool as fast in all your life.
We just-- we just
didn't know any better.
But I remember watching those
other kids in the water.
And they just kept
right on swimming
with those colored boys.
And they didn't seem
any the worse for it.
The rest of the world around
you is living that way.
And so you just
don't question it.
Years ago, I decided
I'd live with Norman
for the rest of my life.
And part of that means
living the way he lives.
But sometimes-- sometimes
Norman says things,
makes me wonder if he
saw as much of the world
during the war as
he thought he did.
But he's a good man.
He's a good provider.
In a lot of ways, he's a better
husband than I am a wife.
He's better with the children.
He can say a word
and make them smile.
I can't do that.
Mrs. Thompson, he can't
be a mother to them.
Odessa, you do the mothering.
I saw the way you
held Mary Catherine
when she had the chicken pox.
And you hadn't even had it.
Mrs. Thompson, anybody
would have done that.
I wonder, would I have
done that for you daughter?
Mrs. Thompson, I
don't want your children
to grow up scared of mine.
It's just that a lot
of the wives are scared.
I'm a little scared.
We're all scared.
What's scaring
you, Mrs. Thompson?
Who you are?
Or who Mr. Thompson
wants you to be?
- Hi.
- Hi.
- Here.
- Thank you.
Let me take your coat.
How's your cold?
I'm miserable.
I feel like crap.
Well, that's nice, honey.
Odessa walked to work today.
You told her she had to?
In the rain.
From Cobb Street.
But she's not walking again.
No?
No.
You have your job.
And I guess you do it just fine.
My job is to run this house.
And as long as it's
clean, supper's cooked,
and the laun-- the laundry
gets done, I don't--
I don't think
it's any of your business
how it happens.
Wait a second.
Aren't you forgetting who
pays the bills around here?
Well, then, what time
should I be ready tomorrow?
Ready for what?
Well, I'm going to go
downtown with you in the morning
and help you with your job.
You seem so intent on
helping me with mine.
If you don't like that idea,
I do have a college education.
So I'll just go out and
get a job of my own.
It will probably be
something secretarial.
But I'm sure I'll manage.
You will have to take on
a lot of the housework,
which will include finding
a maid who can get out here.
But the money I
earn will be my own,
and I'll do with it
what I damn well please.
You're serious?
And that includes giving
it all to that Reverend King
and the Montgomery
Improvement Association
so they can put an end to
this whole boycott mess.
I mean, do you really care
if I drive Odessa to work?
We're having pork
chops for supper.
And I told Mary Catherine
that you'd read to her
before she went to sleep.
Did you get Mary
Catherine to bed?
Yeah.
What are you doing?
Well, are you just not
going to talk to me?
Honey, there's no
reason to be so mad.
Norman, talk to me.
You already made up your mind.
No need to talk to me.
Honey, I'm doing
what I think is right.
Where are you going?
Norman, I'm still your wife.
Yeah, that's all you are.
Odessa, come on and
sit up front with me.
Odessa, how does that
carpooling system work?
Well, I don't use it
often, Mrs. Thompson.
But I believe that drivers
come at the end of the day
to places like Cloverdale,
and they pick up
the women that need the rides.
It's a little more
organized than that, isn't it?
Yes.
Yes, it is.
They look for the
ringleaders of the boycott.
And they pull them over
and give them tickets.
If they see too many
coloreds in the car,
they pull them over too.
I'll probably get
lots of tickets.
Mrs. Thompson, it
ain't just tickets.
Once you step over
there, I don't know
that you can ever step back.
But the boycott
needs the help.
Mrs. Thompson,
this boycott's going
to survive without you driving.
Odessa, I want to do this.
I want to help.
There's a lot of ways you
can help, Mrs. Thompson.
You could just write a check.
If I wrote you a check,
it would be Norman's money.
This is something I can do.
This whole mess is just
about riding the bus anyway.
That's what it is now.
But we going to win this
thing, Mrs. Thompson.
When it's all said
and done, people
are going to look at
you, Mrs. Thompson,
and they are going to say
that you were part of this.
Well, let people say
what they going to say.
And what about when
it isn't just the buses?
When it's the parks
and the restaurants.
When it's colored
teachers in white schools.
What about when we start voting,
Mrs. Thompson? 'Cause we are.
And when we do, we are going
to put Negroes in office.
What about when the
first colored family
moves into your neighborhood?
You know, Mrs. Thompson,
ain't nobody going
to think any less of you
if we just turn around
and go back to the house.
I don't want all
them beans, Selma!
Eat what you're going
to eat, and I'll let you
have the rest for breakfast.
Mama!
Don't be a crybaby.
But it's beans!
Hush up, and let's
say the blessing.
I'll say it.
I'll say the blessing tonight.
Lord, I'm going to ask you to
bless this food for which we
are thankful to receive.
Watch over our souls tonight.
And help us live
your word tomorrow.
And Lord, please watch
over Miriam Thompson too.
In Jesus' name, we ask this.
Amen.
I got my reasons.
Amen.
Amen.
Hi.
I'm with the carpool.
Y'all going downtown?
Yes, ma'am.
Morning, ma'am.
My mother began driving
five and six days a week.
My father knew she drove Dessie.
But he didn't know she
drove for the carpools.
I may be a little late.
So I'll get my own dinner.
You know, we're all going
down to this thing this evening.
You coming?
Well, I was planning on it.
Yeah.
Listen, I want you to come
see something with me first.
Say 6:00, 6:15?
OK.
Good.
Good.
When we started
staking this place out
and taking down tag numbers, we,
came up with few surprises.
That, wagon registered
to you was one of them.
She's been here the last
couple of nights at this time.
Driving for a few
weeks, apparently.
I didn't find out
until this morning.
Well, Norman, you had to know.
Not like this.
I'm sorry.
But now you can't
ignore it anymore.
Well, I won't.
Norman, now, she's got
Mary Catherine over there.
Don't go making a scene
in front of the child.
Let me go?
This is my problem.
I can handle it.
Yeah, handle it
at home in private,
not in front of the girl
and a bunch of niggers.
I can get rid of them.
I'll get them out of there.
Let it wait for a few
minutes till things start up,
then she'll want to leave.
Yeah, well, don't
you get cute with me.
Hey.
I made plans to be here
tonight a long time
before we found out about
your wife, and so did you.
Christ.
Give me five minutes?
Let's go.
Good to see you.
- Good to see you.
- Charlie.
Hi.
Police pulled out
about 20 minutes ago.
There are a couple of
folks already here.
All right.
All right.
You have a lot of
women that go every day.
We're talking about Gay Meadows
in the middle of the day.
We need some cars
on those routes.
OK.
Now what?
Miriam?
Do you know him?
Yes.
Is he trouble?
No.
I can handle it.
Excuse us.
Miriam, you shouldn't be here.
Is that Mary
Catherine over there?
You shouldn't be bringing
her into a place like this.
Well, Tunker, I don't think
it's any of your business.
I don't think you
heard me right, boy.
I'm OK.
Miriam, don't be telling me
this isn't any of my business.
Well, then don't
try to run my life.
You should leave.
Tunker, there
are some women--
Can I help you?
who are
depending on me for a ride.
They'll be here any minute.
I'll leave then.
Yeah, you got an ashtray?
Yeah.
Maybe you can--
If you don't have
any business here,
I'd appreciate it if
you'd leave the lot.
If you don't mind, I'd
appreciate it if you got
your black ass out of my face.
Miriam.
Miriam, in a few minutes,
150 men are going to shut
this lot down any way they can.
I think Norman might
be interested to find
out why his little girl was
smack in the middle of it.
Winston, what do
you think I should
do with a nigger like this one?
Charlie!
Charlie!
Get off my back, nigger!
What's happening?
Come on, baby.
Charlie!
You going
to hit me, black boy?
Odessa, we've gotta go.
You ain't driving your
nigger maid out of here.
Get away from my car.
No, you get away
from your car!
You want to act like a nigger?
Then you just get
your daughter and walk
with the rest of the niggers.
What do y'all think we
ought to do with Mrs.
Martin Luther Coon?
Get her out of here!
We're gonna show you what
we think about niggers!
Martin!
Martin.
All right.
If she leaves, she walks
with the rest of the niggers!
Miriam, you lost this one.
Let's go now.
Get her out of here!
Don't let him
treat you that way!
Shut this parking lot down!
Are you a man or a mouse?
Go to hell, Tunker.
Just go to hell, you
ignorant son of a bitch!
Let's get these
niggers out of here!
Mommy!
Mommy!
Mommy!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Come on!
Walk, nigger, walk!
You were told, nigger,
to get out of here.
And by God, I'm gonna move you!
Open up a space to
let her through,
and we can get her out of here!
Why are you still
standing there?
You bunch of niggers
think you can come in here
and cause trouble
without thinking we're
going to do anything about it?
Well, I got news for you.
We are gonna do
something about it.
You hear me?
We're going to move
you right out of here!
What are you looking at?
What are you looking at?
I said move!
I want you to move right now!
I said move, lady!
I don't want you staring at me!
Shining upon
me from within so right.
I've bade the world
and its follies adieu.
And I've started in Jesus,
and I'm going through.
I'm going through.
Yes, I'm going through.
I'll pay the price,
whatever others do.
I'm going through.
It would be years
before I understood
what standing
in that line meant to my mother,
and as I grew older, to me.
I'll take the way
with the Lord's despised few.
I started in Jesus,
and I'm going through.
50,000 boycotted
the buses in Montgomery.
I knew one.
Her name was Odessa Cotter.
We are marching--
We are marching--
Up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
City of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
To that beautiful--
City of God.
I come
to say to you this afternoon,
however difficult the moment,
however frustrating the hour,
it will not be long because
truth crushed to earth
will rise again.
- Yes, sir.
- How long?
Not long.
Yes, sir.
Because
no lie can live forever.
Yes, sir.
How long?
Not long.
Because you shall
reap what you sow.
Yes, sir.
How long?
Not long.
Because the arc of the
moral universe is long,
but it bends towards justice.
- Yes, sir.
- How long?
Not long!
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
City of God.
City of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
City of God.
Let those refuse to
sing who never knew our God.
But let all the children
of our heavenly King
spread their joy abroad.
Hallelujah!
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful
city of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
To that beautiful--
Wonderful--
That wonderful--
Glorious--
That glorious--
Victorious--
Victorious--
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
The beautiful city--
Come on.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful
city of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
That wonderful--
That wonderful--
Glorious--
That glorious--
Victorious--
Victorious--
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion,
that beautiful city of God.
I called her Dessie.
As best as anyone knows,
she was the first woman
to rock me to sleep.
There wasn't anything
extraordinary about her,
but I guess there's
always something
extraordinary about someone
who changes and then
changes those around her.
That's me.
Good morning, Mary Catherine.
I was only seven years old.
Excuse me, Odessa.
I didn't mean to run you down.
Is that a car or a boat?
It's a piece of sausage.
You tell her, sweetness.
Odessa, we're having a
cocktail party tonight,
so I'm sending you to Oak
Park with Mary Catherine
just as soon as
Claudia gets here.
Yes, ma'am.
Honey.
Look what you did.
Boop.
Gotcha.
Has anyone seen my racket?
- I know where it is.
- Bye-bye.
Bye.
My clubs.
I want to cut something.
Not today, young lady.
Your hands are sticky.
She's been beside
herself for weeks.
That's because you
never discipline her.
Where are you going?
One guess, Sherlock.
Trey and I are
playing at the club.
Well.
I want
to see Trey's car.
Here are my clubs, honey.
If you can just get
'em to the pro shop.
Honey, I'm giving
a party tonight.
Catch Sara.
She's on her way to the club--
Honey, I can't play
with the grips like that.
Thank you, sweetie.
I'll see you at 6:00?
See you at 6:00.
Odessa, just have 'em
waiting out here at 3:00.
I should be back from the
beauty parlor and Junior League
by then.
- Yes, ma'am.
And you be good,
Mary Catherine.
I will.
Bye.
Feel a tickling coming.
Go on.
Y'all come on now.
It's time to eat.
Hey!
Hey!
What you doing here?
Can't you hear me, nigger?
What are you doing in this park?
Just taking care
of Mrs.Thompson's--
Don't give me any of
that mealy-mouthed crap!
Now, this park is whites only.
And that means niggers like you
best answer with, "Yes, sir"
when you're spoken to here.
I don't care who
you're taking care of!
You don't understand
nothing, do you?
Go on.
Get your stuff together
and get on out of here!
Come on, Mary Catherine.
Get your friends.
We've got to go.
I've never heard such
nonsense in all my life.
We'll just see about this.
Hello, could I speak to
Commissioner Sellers, please?
Mrs. Norman Thompson.
Well, would you
tell Clyde Sellers
that one of his policemen threw
my 9-year-old daughter out
of Oak Park?
He knows who I am.
I really appreciate you
coming by this afternoon.
not at all, ma'am.
I'm just sorry about
the misunderstanding.
Thank you.
Mrs. Cotter, I would like to
apologize on behalf of myself,
the police department,
and the city of Montgomery
for what happened
today in Oak Park.
I hope y'all will come back
to the park someday soon.
And I hope I didn't
cause you too
much trouble, Mrs. Thompson.
I'm sorry if I embarrassed your
maid in front of the children.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome, ma'am.
I regret that this happened
in the first place.
Well, send the
commissioner my best.
I will, ma'am.
Shh.
Y'all come on inside.
Alabama's got a small
line, but they're agile.
My God.
Aw, how's my little Boo-Boo?
Tunker's here.
Tunker.
Tunker, welcome.
Hello, Norman.
I'm glad you could make it.
Yeah, it's a
nice-looking party here.
Yeah, we try.
We do.
Hi, Tunker.
Hello, Miriam.
Is that a bartender?
Yeah.
Does I has to tip him?
Well, be-- beings
your my baby brother,
why don't we just say that
the drinks are two bucks,
all inclusive.
Thanks, thanks.
Hey, y'all are lucky to
get a bartender at all.
The niggers are all
moving to Philadelphia.
Why is that?
Because they hear there
ain't no work in Philadelphia.
I don't get it.
Honey, you never get jokes.
What?
Tunker, don't be so loud
this close to the bar.
He didn't hear me.
Yeah, well, you
better be careful.
She'll have you out
there apologizing to him.
Well, what's this?
Nothing.
It was just something
stupid, that's all.
I'd like to know.
Go on, tell him.
Some young policeman threw
our maid out of Oak Park.
Mary Catherine and her
friends were right there,
and he was extremely rude.
So I called up
Clyde Sellers and he
had him come out and apologize.
Well, what were you
doing sending your maid
into that park anyway?
Tunker, she was taking
care of the children.
But you shouldn't have
the poor fellow come out
and apologize to
a nigger, Miriam.
That's plain old wrong.
Tunker, it's not
like she was parading
her own children around the
park, for heaven's sakes.
And you know, I did
grow up with a maid,
and I've had them all my
life, and I know what's right,
and I know what's wrong.
And I will not have
my judgment impugned
by some wet-behind-the-ears
patrolman or by you.
Excuse me.
Hi, Liz.
How are you?
She's a hellcat, Norman.
I always thought so.
MARY CATHERINE
My world
was a bubble when I was seven.
Wars could have been going
on outside our front door,
and I would have
been all the happier.
Thank you, darling.
MARY CATHERINE
In a way,
a war was about to
start in Montgomery,
a war of wills in the
cradle of the Confederacy.
It began on a
crisp December day.
Hey!
Give it back!
Give it back.
Give it back!
No!
Mama, where you at?
No!
What you coming in here
screaming like a banshee about?
A lady gave these out
to everybody after school,
and I'll read it to you.
"This is for Monday--"
Boy, you can't read.
We're gonna die of
consumption waiting for you.
Can so.
Give it back!
Franklin, give him the
paper and let him read it.
Watch it.
"Another Negro woman has been
arrested and thrown in jail
because she refused to
get up out of her seat
on the bus for a white
person to sit down.
It is the second time
since the Colvin case
that a Negro woman has been
arrested for the same thing.
This has to be stopped."
"We are therefore
asking every Negro
to stay off the buses
Monday in protest
of the arrest and trial.
Don't ride the buses to work,
to town, to school, or anywhere
on Monday.
You can afford to stay
out of school for one day
if you have no other
way to go except by bus.
You can also afford to stay
out of town for one day.
If you work, take a cab or walk.
But please--"
I heard about that last night.
That woman was Miss Parks.
Rosa Parks?
Yep, they had to bail her out
of jail for sitting on the bus.
See, the problem is--
I'll tell you
what the problem is,
and I have never seen
people get so worked up
over a piece of paper.
I think it's dumb.
I think you dumb.
Shut up, Franklin.
I bet
nobody rides the bus.
Franklin, sit up.
Well, if that don't get all.
Here we are without
a car and somebody
telling us not to ride the bus.
Theodore and Franklin ready
to follow along like lap dogs.
If that ain't cutting your
nose off to spite your face.
She's mad 'cause
she ride the bus
out to Newtown on
Saturday to see
that boy she think like her.
Shut up.
I'm tired of hanging my head
in the shadow of crackers.
I want to ride the
front of the bus.
Lord, we thank you for this
food we're about to receive.
Watch over our souls
tonight and help
us live your word tomorrow.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
All right, right
around the fence.
That bus is as
empty as my grave.
If it starts to rain,
people will get on that bus.
No, they won't.
Not unless they
stupid as you are.
Mama.
If we can't ride the bus,
do we have to go school?
Boy, you ain't never
took the bus in your life.
Now, get in there and help
me clean off that table.
Hello, Ms. Thompson.
This is Odessa.
Ms. Thompson, I think I'm gonna
be awfully late to work today.
Odessa, this is Monday.
You know how badly I
need you on Monday.
Yes, I know Ms.
Thompson, but as I said, I--
Well, this wouldn't have
anything to do with the boycott
business, would it?
Well, Ms. Thompson,
the buses usually come past
my house pretty near full.
But today, there ain't a soul
on 'em except the driver,
and this last one had a
police car following it.
So ma'am, I ain't likely
to ride the bus today.
Well, I was going to Curb
Market this morning anyway.
You live down on Cobb
Street, don't you?
Yes, ma'am.
Well then, I'll meet you at
the corner of Court and Mildred
in about an hour.
Thank you, ma'am.
OK, bye-bye.
Odessa, I'm not gonna be
able to carry you home.
Mama needs help with
Shelly's dinner,
so I'm gonna have
to go on over later.
Yes, ma'am.
Go ahead and show your
mama how you're helping.
That's sweet.
Good evening, ma'am.
Whose turn is it
to do the dishes?
Theo--
No, it ain't mine.
Well, who did them last night?
I did 'em.
It's Theodore's and
Franklin's turn.
You got a choice, clean the
dishes or clean the outhouse.
Mama's home!
Good, she can do the dishes.
After you called, we waited
for you to come home, Mama.
We just ate while we waited.
He's been waiting
all night to say that.
- Mama--
- Can I fetch you some supper?
Theodore and Franklin keep
making fun of my cooking
and daddy won't
get them to stop.
You still coming
to that mass meeting?
It's in 15 minutes.
Selma, get your coat.
What?
And listen to a
bunch of preachers
talking about us plain
folks wearing out our shoes
today while they drove
around in their cars?
No thank you.
I put in my time at church
on Sunday morning, not Monday
night.
Can I go, and
Selma watch Franklin?
I want to go, too.
I want to go, too.
Theodore
gets to have all the fun.
I think she cut up the
cleanest parts and fried it.
Shut up, fool.
Mama, I'm sorry about supper.
I think it got worse
as it got cold.
Just let me get my shoes off.
I'll be ready in a minute.
I got to give that girl
some cooking lessons.
Mama, your feet.
Just got to get me
some shoes that fit.
That's all.
I'll get up and change my dress,
and I'll be ready in a minute.
Don't want to be late.
Might not get a seat.
You quit that horsing around
in my-- get off my bed!
Get in there.
Daddy, you can't let
her walk down to the church.
Don't worry about it.
It'll make her
feel better to go.
It really will.
MARTIN LUTHER KING
JR: The only weapon
that we have in our
hands this evening
is the weapon of protest.
And we are not wrong.
We are not wrong in
what we are doing.
If we are wrong, the Supreme
court of this nation is wrong.
If we are wrong,
the Constitution
of the United States is wrong.
If we are wrong, God
Almighty is wrong.
And we are determined here in
Montgomery to work and fight
until justice runs down
like water and righteousness
like a mighty stream.
Well, now, ain't you
all full of the day.
I haven't felt this
good in a long time.
Of course, when I got up this
morning, I'd like to die.
Once I started moving
around, I felt pretty good.
You walked all of
that way across town?
Yes, ma'am.
Ooh, that's a
long walk, woman.
Yes, indeedy.
You know, you come into town and
go to one of the mass meetings,
you feel like you
could walk forever too.
I got me a ride
to work, and I sleep
through it most of the time.
I don't need no inspiration.
Odessa.
Now, I hear
that getting up early
and moving around does a
soul good in the morning.
I just wonder what it does
for them in the afternoon.
Pass me
not, gentle savior.
Hear my humble cry.
While on others though art
calling, do not pass me by.
Savior, savior,
hear my humble cry.
While on others though art
calling, do not pass me by.
Savior, savior,
hear my humble cry.
While on others thou art
calling, do not pass me by.
I think I'm going to have to
ask Ms. Thompson for some days
off.
You be careful.
A lot of folks
losing their jobs.
Christmas next week.
Mrs. Thompson
ain't as bad as some.
She called that
policeman out for me.
I ain't never seen a white woman
do nothing like that before.
Odessa, don't you
go fooling yourself
about that white woman.
She don't know us, and
she don't want to know us.
She may have a heart
of gold, but she
the one who sent
you to that park,
and you ain't have no say in it.
That policeman was
apologizing to her, not you.
Well, still and all,
I cannot keep coming
home too tired to do
the cooking and too
late to do the cleaning.
You can always take the bus.
What?
What did you say?
I guess it's like the
preachers say, there's
an easy answer for everything.
Nobody said it was
going to be easy.
Mary Catherine, will you stop
messing with that silverware
and sit down in that seat?
Just playing.
I'm sorry I yelled at you.
Odessa's got a
lot of work to do.
Odessa, I'm going
to the Junior League,
so you'll have Mary Catherine.
Yes, ma'am.
Is that all the
silver you've done?
I've been feeling a
little poorly today.
Well, you've been
feeling poorly all week.
And next week is Christmas.
Yes, ma'am.
Now, I know you
can't ride the bus.
And I'm not a taxi service.
But I can't have you come
in here in the morning
and dragging around
all day, Odessa,
not this close to Christmas.
I go to Curb Market early
on Tuesdays and Fridays.
So I can pick you up
between 7:30 and 8:00
on those mornings, until you
can start riding the bus.
And the other days,
you're just going to have
to get here on your own.
Mary Catherine?
Mary Catherine!
I don't want you to
go telling daddy I've
been carrying Odessa to work.
Now, I've got a good
reason for this, OK?
Yes, ma'am.
No slips.
Santa might get unhappy.
Understood?
OK.
Bye-bye.
MARY CATHERINE
Of course,
what I cared about
that Christmas
were the little things--
the presents I'd asked
for and the way I
thought my older
sister owned the world.
Mommy!
Mommy!
They're here!
They're here!
Hi, honey!
Hi, Mom.
Father says you never
wrote a Christmas list.
I did mine a month ago.
Jeepers, Boo-Boo.
I'm not Boo-Boo.
Yes, you are, Boo-Boo.
Let me get these
bags to Sara's room,
and then I want to take
you all out for a surprise.
You mean after dinner.
- No, I mean now.
- Honey--
It'll be a lot of fun, honey.
I know Sara's hungry.
And I just made her
favorite, chicken tetrazzini.
Ew.
Mother, I stopped
eating chicken tetrazzini
when I was nine years old.
Besides, I had my heart
set on eating at the Elite.
She made me promise
at the airport.
Honey, I've been
cooking all day long.
I promise I will eat cold
chicken tetrazzini all week.
This is the new subdivision.
It's 41 lots.
Well, I wasn't going to bring
you out here till Christmas.
But they put up these,
these street markers,
and I was just sure that somehow
you were going to find out.
Look.
Is that named after me?
It sure is.
And honey, over there--
that's Mary Lane.
And it runs into
Catherine Court.
So you have two streets
named after you.
Really?
Two streets?
Yes, indeed.
And way back there,
you can't see it,
but that's Miriam Street.
So now all the women
in my life have
something named after them.
And years and
years from now, you
can look back and know that
people lived their lives
on your street, and whenever
they said where they lived,
they used your name.
Merry Christmas.
This just in.
The Air Force has spotted an
unidentified object on radar
coming south over Alaska.
Fighters were launched
from bases in Alaska
to confirm the sighting.
They say it appears to be a
small sleigh flying in the air.
Could it be Saint Nick?
They've run the same Christmas
Eve story for centuries.
You'd think this entire
city would die of boredom.
What's wrong with it?
I mean, who do they
think they're kidding?
Nobody who really believes
in Santa Claus is listening.
You don't still believe
in Santa Claus, do you?
No.
Good.
If there was a Santa Claus, he
would have surely swooped down
and replaced that old thing.
Well, I wouldn't
hold my breath
waiting for that to happen.
I know.
I'm back in Montgomery again.
Harness the mule.
Time to go down the the
well and draw some water.
Miriam.
Shh.
I'm right here.
Shh.
Honey, you're going to have
to which pile to put these in.
Relax, honey, it'll be fine.
I like the layout.
Well, let's see.
Mary Catherine.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas, honey.
Now, wave.
Wave to the camera.
Good.
OK.
Sara?
Yeah.
Merry Christmas.
Sweetness?
Mary Catherine.
Woo.
Hold on.
Hold on.
Look at the presents.
Come on, Mary Catherine.
Merry Christmas, Odessa.
Miriam!
The Eighth Army has arrived.
Good morning, Odessa.
The turkey and the
ham are in the fridge.
They're thawed.
And the turkey is ready
to be stuffed and cooked.
Now, the casseroles
still need to be cooked--
375.
But not until 1:00.
We can't have cold casserole.
You could get started on
the deviled eggs, though.
And when Claudia gets here,
one of you has to vacuum.
Now, don't forget to
put out the milk punch.
Last year, we were
halfway through the day,
and nobody thought to
put out the milk punch.
I know I must be
forgetting something.
Merry Christmas, Odessa.
Merry Christmas,
Mrs. Thompson.
Mother, do I have
to wear this stupid dress?
Sara, I
ordered these dresses
specially for all of us.
Now, they're cute.
Mother!
I don't care--
Dessie, look what I got!
Isn't she pretty?
She's got three whole
outfits, with shoes
and socks and everything!
Three whole outfits!
Look at her bonnet,
and her dress,
and the ribbons, and the shoes!
She's beautiful.
Wait until you
see what else I got!
He'd come running
down the stairs.
He'd be so excited.
He'd fly right on and
hit his grand kiester,
land on the road.
Does he still do that?
Now, let's see--
let's see if Tunker
wants some of these limas.
Hey, did you see that thing
in the paper this morning?
I think Grover Hall
has lost his mind.
What are you talking
about, what thing?
Didn't you read the
paper this morning, Norman?
He's talking about
the ad that Grover
let the coloreds
put in the paper,
demanding that we
give in to them.
Well, it's stupid.
It's about one of the
stupidest things that
ever happened to this city.
Because who really
cares about the buses?
You don't understand.
This is just a test.
In the paper this
morning, they said they
want all the bus drivers' jobs.
Now, wouldn't that be great?
Now, it seems to me that
the way to handle this thing
is to play it down.
The Supreme Court's just itching
to force this whole issue.
Let them sit where they want.
It just won't work that way.
I, for one, won't stand for
the niggers in Montgomery
runnin' around yapping
about how they won.
And don't you think this
won't have consequences.
Norman, don't you understand?
If they get by with
this bus thing,
now, why, in a few
years, you won't even
be able to have this
Christmas dinner 'cause
you'll have to have the maid
sitting right beside you.
Communism is what it is.
It's a bunch of Communists.
All of them.
None of them are from
Montgomery, either.
That Martin Luther King, he
hadn't even lived here a year.
These niggers just
want too much,
and they're not
willing to work for it.
Rolls, Mrs. Thompson?
No, thank you.
Well, that's the way I feel.
I don't care who hears me.
Thank you, Odessa.
Thanks, Dessie.
Thank you.
Claudia.
Claudia, Odessa.
That was a magnificent meal.
It really was.
Here's a little
something for you.
Merry Christmas.
- Thank you.
Merry Christmas, Odessa.
We, we were just talking
about the bus boycott.
Now, Claudia, I know--
I know you-- you get a
ride with your husband.
Yes, sir.
But Odessa, you're
here five days a week.
How do you get to work?
Today, I walked.
I-- I mean on a normal day.
Well, I can't take
the bus, Mr. Thompson.
So I-- I just will find
me a ride where I can.
But if it was safe
to ride the bus,
you'd still rather walk
than sit in the back?
Yes, sir, I would
have to say I would.
That's a long walk.
Yes, sir.
Mighty long.
It was-- it was
a delicious meal.
It really was.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Thompson.
Well
Well, I see your point.
But I can't blame her because
I don't think she's a problem.
Well, the hell she's not.
Why don't you get a new maid?
Get a white maid?
She's been with
us for nine years.
She's a problem.
She's not uppity, like some--
not to your face.
But slowly, they all start
asking for more, doing less.
Norm, you got a good
family, good community here.
When was the last time you
locked your door at night?
Never.
If you give in,
what do you think is
going to happen to this city?
What do you think is going
to happen to your family?
No, you gotta hold the line.
We all do.
If she'd rather walk, bleed
out the soles of her feet
till she begs to ride that bus.
Ooh, Mr. Thompson
had a look in his eyes
when he asked you
about getting to work.
Girl, I can't believe
what you said.
One thing I learned
in this life is
when you got your hand
in the lion's mouth,
it's better just to
pat him on the head.
Mr. Thompson's all right.
He didn't mean nothing by that.
But I tell you, Mrs.
Thompson's mother
almost got a plate of rolls
busted upside her head.
Ooh, an on Christmas day.
Lord, spare that woman's soul.
Well, I know you've
got to work here.
But if she said that to me, I'd
have thrown those rolls down
and given her my apron,
told her the next time
I serve her is the day
after she walks to my house
and cooks my Christmas dinner.
Go ahead, girl.
I tell you, see, I'll sit
up there and let her call me
a lazy nigger, and I'll walk.
I'll walk till I
got no legs left
if I thought it was
going to give my children
a better shot in the world.
You work so hard.
Have some woman
say what that woman
said make you wonder
who's going to be sitting
in the backseat in heaven.
And on Christmas day.
See you tomorrow, girl.
OK.
I ain't taking that.
Listen, I gotta go.
All right.
Bye.
Merry Christmas.
Y'all ain't going to make
me late for Christmas service.
You ain't going
nowhere without Theodore.
Besides, you don't look
like you dressed yet.
What are you talking about?
Mama, you just
don't look ready.
Theodore, see if you can
find something in there
for your mom to wear.
Has everybody gone crazy?
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas, Mama.
Merry Christmas, Mom.
Open it.
I don't know how you did this.
I don't know how
I did it either.
Well, you know ain't--
they ain't gonna wait for
us over at the church now.
Come on, y'all.
Here.
Well, come on.
Mama's gonna find
out she's been hogging
that phone and tan her hide.
The weekend?
I gotta go in the shed.
Get them lights straight
before I get back here.
Hold on.
Well, yeah, I could get
there if I wanted to.
Yeah, why not?
Stop!
Get away, stupid.
Sorry.
Excuse me.
All right, hold on.
I'm gonna leave right now.
Yeah, I can get there.
I got a way.
I'm hanging up the
phone, all right?
All right?
OK, bye.
Shoot, everybody's
lost their minds.
Where's Selma?
She went down to Leticia's
for some hot chocolate.
Did Leticia call?
What you got behind your back?
Nothing.
What is it?
- It's just something.
- Let's see.
About worth a shit.
Open your hand
before I break it.
Did Selma give you that quarter?
Can't say.
You hurt my arm.
Damn!
I don't want no trouble.
I'm just riding the bus, sir.
I ain't caused no trouble.
I don't want any trouble.
You understand?
Yes, sir.
OK.
Selma.
Damn!
I don't care if God himself
comes down and asks.
You don't tell nobody
that Selma and I left!
I can't wait to get home,
see what my dad thinks.
I know.
Kicking us out of class.
My dad's not going to care.
It's his fault, not ours.
I know it's his fault.
His dad won't care.
Never does.
My dad will.
Hey, we got a
nigger on the bus.
She must be from out of town.
She must be.
Hey, you wanna have some fun?
Let's have some fun.
Have some fun.
She's kind of cute
too, for a nigger.
Yeah.
You from out of town?
He asked you a question.
No, I'm not from out of town.
You call him sir.
Sir.
In case you hadn't
heard, niggers quit
riding the bus around here.
Or ain't you a nigger, girl?
Say I'm a nigger, sir.
Say it!
Y'all are going to have
to sit down back there.
This girl's sitting
where I want to sit.
She's supposed to be
at the back of the bus.
All right, you three
get off the bus right now.
I said now.
I'll call the police and
have you thrown in jail.
Do you think I won't do it?
Do you think I won't do it?
You old fart.
Don't bring your trashy
ass back on my bus again.
I'll call your daddy.
Damn fools.
I'm gonna teach
you to ride our bus!
Your water's in
the ditch, nigger.
Mommy.
Never mind.
Come on.
Catch that nigger!
Come on back, nigger!
What do you want?
What did I do wrong?
Why'd you run, nigger bitch?
Get away from me.
Get away!
Don't talk that
way to me, nigger!
Leave my sister alone!
Why'd you push me, nigger?
Hit him!
No!
No!
Yeah, nigger!
Hey!
If you want to hit
someone, hit me!
I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to get you hurt.
I'm not hurt.
Get his ass in the car.
Let me take you home
before I get lynched.
I didn't want to fall.
You stood long enough.
Hello.
My god, what happened
to your face?
It's my fault. I
tried to ride the bus,
and Theo got beat up by some
white boys 'cause of it.
You tried to ride the bus?
Is that what you're telling me?
You tried to ride
the bus, and that's
why his face looks like that?
What's wrong with you?
Wash your face, Selma.
Get Theo cleaned up here.
If you own a car, but you
must be at work during the day,
we have fine young men
who can drive your cars,
allowing you to still
contribute to the boycott.
And now the choir will sing
"We're Marching to Zion."
Those of you who can help
us with the carpooling,
come forward during the
singing of this song.
We are marching--
We are marching--
Up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that
beautiful city of God.
That beautiful
city of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
City of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
City of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful
city of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
Come on, children.
- City of God.
- Hallelujah!
We are marching--
We are marching--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful
city of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
That wonderful--
That wonderful--
That glorious--
That glorious--
Victorious--
Victorious--
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're marching up to Zion
to that beautiful city of God.
I'm sorry I'm late.
I just had this stuff to
take care of downtown.
And I didn't see any sense in
making the trip out here twice.
I've got this club
luncheon, which
means I have to go to the beauty
parlor as soon as I get back.
And then I have this Junior
League thing this afternoon.
Now, what is he doing?
They're trying to
break the boycott.
They just follow behind people
and try to give them tickets.
You just drive nice and
slow, Mrs. Thompson.
He'll go back to the lot.
Is that the big
boycott carpool stop?
Yes, ma'am.
I believe it is.
Is that woman driving
for the carpools?
Well, I don't know if she is.
But I know there's a lot of
women from the Air Force Base
who do.
Let me tell you.
It was just--
So I come to
find out from Odessa
that they're driving these
maids around on a regular basis.
What?
There are white women
driving for the carpool.
Are you sure?
Yes.
Odessa says they're
from Maxwell Field.
I should have known
they were Yankees.
But they had
police out there,
and they were following
people around.
For a while, Odessa and I
thought they were following us.
Miriam, are you driving
your maid to work?
No, Laura Ann.
Two days a week I go
to the Curb Market,
and I just pick her
up on those days.
And you were talking
like you thought
those white women driving
the carpools were wrong.
You're just as bad.
Robert says this
whole boycott would
end tomorrow if people
like you would stop
driving their maids to work.
Is that
what Robert says?
Well, my maid has a car.
So I don't have
to worry about it.
Well, I told Cathy that
if she wanted to boycott,
that was fine.
But she'd be on her own.
She fed me all this junk about,
I's not wanting to boycott.
I's just walking 'cause
I can't ride with all
these police and stuff.
I told her, fine.
Just be at work on time
and don't leave early.
One club.
Well, you better well
believe she's sitting up
front at those church rallies.
Pass.
One spade.
Pass.
Well, I don't really care
what happens to the boycott.
But I do care if I have a maid.
And if that means
driving her sometimes,
well, that's what it means.
Two clubs.
40,000
local Negroes
continue to walk and ride
and carpool as the city
buses roll without passengers.
An announced settlement
with Negro ministers
proves to be an empty promise.
In day 49 of the
Negro bus boycott,
dramatic new developments
from City Hall.
Good evening, I'm Carl
Stephens, WSFA News.
Mayor Gayle announced today he
was calling off negotiations
in the Negro bus boycott--
Must be Tunker.
I have to go.
Call
for all Montgomery
to stand up against--
Honey, it's not polite
to sit at the table
when we have company.
Hi.
How's my little Boo-Boo?
She doesn't like to
be called Boo-Boo anymore.
They make fun of her at school.
Well, now, I will never call
you that again if you just--
Give your Uncle
Tunker a little--
--sugar.
--sugar.
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
I always liked Mary
Catherine better anyway.
That's the type of
name you'd expect
for a princess or a queen.
Because you are a princess.
My beautiful little princess.
We'd better be off.
Well, good luck.
Luck?
Citizens' Council
don't need luck,
not with men like your daddy.
I thought you were
going to a business meeting.
No, Citizens' Council meeting.
Norman, could I talk to
you for a minute, please?
Norman, these are the
people that you said
couldn't count to 10.
You're going to go to
one of their meetings?
The whole thing has
just gotten out of hand.
And now the mayor,
the city commission--
they've all joined.
So for me, it's either joining
this group or the Klan.
Honey.
That's not true.
The mayor and the
commissioner are politicians.
They'd join the
circus if they thought
it'd get them re-elected.
You're beginning to
let your little brother
lead you around by the nose.
Listen, I don't care whether
you like Tunker or not.
But don't you tell
me what to do.
I'll make up my own
mind, and I'll join
any goddamn group I please.
Are you ready?
Sure.
Well, this is, not
at all what I expected.
Yeah.
No white sheets,
no secret oaths.
You mean I don't get to
learn a coded handshake?
Is that what you're
trying to tell me?
- Norm Thompson.
- Yeah.
Hi.
Jeff Sewell with Avalon
Brothers here in town.
- Right.
- Nice to see you.
Glad you could be out tonight.
Thank you.
By the way, you
know, I've just been
put on the planning commission.
Now, if you ever have a zoning
problem, you give me a ring.
I can put you right.
Thanks, Jeff.
Over half of small
business owners in town
are members of the council.
You mean half the
white small businesses.
If you call what the
niggers do business,
Commissioner Sellers.
How are you doing, Clyde?
Holding on.
Didn't think you'd be out here
after that phone call I got
from your wife a while back.
She was right, though.
The police department's
got to keep its nose clean.
Hope you can get the
rest of that country club
crowd out to some
of these meetings.
Well, if the niggers keep
pushing the way they are,
we'll get them off the
golf courses for you.
No, no.
What I want is to
get them on a course.
Best caddy I ever
had was a nigger.
Testing.
One, two, three.
Testing.
One, two, three.
I know the journey
has been hard.
Yes.
Yeah.
Many of you are tired.
Yeah.
Real tired.
We've seen a city
that has turned
its back on its black children.
We have seen a mayor
and city commission
which has taken a stand
for injustice and bigotry.
Moses.
Moses.
Moses.
Yes, Moses.
Fought the pharaoh
long and hard for his people.
Yes.
What?
But Moses stood
tall for his people.
Tall, yeah.
When the
children of Israel
were led out into
the wilderness,
they didn't walk for
just one month or two.
They walked for 40 long years.
They just bombed
Reverend King's house.
Wait.
Let us pray.
Father, I've just
heard terrible news.
I've heard that
a bomb was thrown
at the house of a young
man's so full of spirit.
Yeah.
Father,
we pray in thanks
for sparing the life of
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Yes!
Lord, be by our side.
Yeah.
These dark
days, hold our hand
as we walk through the night.
Lord, don't pass Montgomery by!
Don't pass Montgomery
by tonight.
Yeah.
Is there anything
you need, honey?
No, no.
When is Odessa getting here?
Well she's probably
going to be a little
late on count of the rain.
Isn't she usually here by now?
Not really.
You mean, she
comes in late a lot?
Odessa gets here
just fine every day.
Now, I've got to go.
She'll be here soon enough.
Miriam.
Yeah.
Just how does
Odessa get to work?
Well, I was going over to
the Curb Market today anyway.
And that's over on Madison,
near where Odessa lives.
And I was just going to
go ahead and pick her up.
You're going to do what?
How often do you
drive her around?
Well, I go to Curb
Market twice a week.
That's it.
Here I am trying
to hold my head up
as a white man in this town, and
you're carting a nigger maid.
It's no wonder none of
them are riding the buses.
They have you to
carry them around!
What should I do?
Odessa walks to work
three days a week.
She can walk five.
You can just get her on
the phone and call her now.
Norman--
Now, damn it!
Hello?
Yes, ma'am.
I can be to work.
I'll just be a little late.
Miriam?
Damn.
I'm sorry I got
so upset before.
Can I talk to you for a minute?
Yeah.
I know you don't
keep up with things.
Even I thought this
boycott business was
silly when it first started.
Even if it wasn't being
made into such a circus,
by the coloreds, I'd
still think it was silly.
But it's not anymore.
Driving Odessa to work, it just
wasn't the right thing to do.
You know that.
I think Odessa has been
a wonderful maid for us.
But when she's here,
that's what she is, a maid.
That's not the real Odessa.
We don't know that woman.
Can't ever know her.
It's like a dog knowing a cat.
It's a different species.
And you driving her
to work is telling
her that she's just like us.
And she's not, and
she never can be.
Even if I thought you
didn't understand that,
and I know you do,
I still couldn't
let you drive her to work.
Do you know what
would happen to you
if the wrong people saw you?
You saw the pictures
in Tuscaloosa when
they kicked that Negro out.
There are people here now that
are ready to do those things.
Don't go off on your own.
You ask me.
I know what's best.
Mrs. Thompson?
Mrs. Thompson?
Odessa, I didn't
know if you'd make it.
I did the breakfast dishes.
Mrs. Thompson,
why did you call me
and tell me you couldn't
carry me to work anymore?
Well, if you
won't ride the bus,
Mr. Thompson doesn't see
why I should have to suffer.
I didn't ask you to
suffer, Mrs. Thompson.
It wasn't me, Odessa.
It was Mr. Thompson.
He was home with a cold
today, and he found out.
Let me get you something dry.
Here you are.
Thank you.
So what are you going to do?
I don't know.
I can't walk, and I
can't ride the bus.
Can't you just walk until
this whole mess is over?
Mrs. Thompson,
you're a good woman.
But I got to find
me another job.
I got to quit.
I got to be able to take
care of my children.
Well, I understand.
You know, it's funny
the way people are.
This morning, Norman
was acting so sick.
And then he found out I'd been
driving you, and he got so mad.
He jumped out of bed.
I guess that got
his blood going,
and he started feeling
better and went on to work.
Norman's just always been
where everything's segregated.
That's just the way he thinks.
When I was 15, my girls
club went on a bus trip
across the country.
It was in the '30s, but
my family had some money.
And I remember we went
to Portland, Oregon.
It was the middle of the
summer, and it was hot.
And the bus driver found
this public pool for us.
We went swimming.
And then these two colored
boys came and got in the water.
And let me tell
you, you've never
seen 20 girls get out of a
pool as fast in all your life.
We just-- we just
didn't know any better.
But I remember watching those
other kids in the water.
And they just kept
right on swimming
with those colored boys.
And they didn't seem
any the worse for it.
The rest of the world around
you is living that way.
And so you just
don't question it.
Years ago, I decided
I'd live with Norman
for the rest of my life.
And part of that means
living the way he lives.
But sometimes-- sometimes
Norman says things,
makes me wonder if he
saw as much of the world
during the war as
he thought he did.
But he's a good man.
He's a good provider.
In a lot of ways, he's a better
husband than I am a wife.
He's better with the children.
He can say a word
and make them smile.
I can't do that.
Mrs. Thompson, he can't
be a mother to them.
Odessa, you do the mothering.
I saw the way you
held Mary Catherine
when she had the chicken pox.
And you hadn't even had it.
Mrs. Thompson, anybody
would have done that.
I wonder, would I have
done that for you daughter?
Mrs. Thompson, I
don't want your children
to grow up scared of mine.
It's just that a lot
of the wives are scared.
I'm a little scared.
We're all scared.
What's scaring
you, Mrs. Thompson?
Who you are?
Or who Mr. Thompson
wants you to be?
- Hi.
- Hi.
- Here.
- Thank you.
Let me take your coat.
How's your cold?
I'm miserable.
I feel like crap.
Well, that's nice, honey.
Odessa walked to work today.
You told her she had to?
In the rain.
From Cobb Street.
But she's not walking again.
No?
No.
You have your job.
And I guess you do it just fine.
My job is to run this house.
And as long as it's
clean, supper's cooked,
and the laun-- the laundry
gets done, I don't--
I don't think
it's any of your business
how it happens.
Wait a second.
Aren't you forgetting who
pays the bills around here?
Well, then, what time
should I be ready tomorrow?
Ready for what?
Well, I'm going to go
downtown with you in the morning
and help you with your job.
You seem so intent on
helping me with mine.
If you don't like that idea,
I do have a college education.
So I'll just go out and
get a job of my own.
It will probably be
something secretarial.
But I'm sure I'll manage.
You will have to take on
a lot of the housework,
which will include finding
a maid who can get out here.
But the money I
earn will be my own,
and I'll do with it
what I damn well please.
You're serious?
And that includes giving
it all to that Reverend King
and the Montgomery
Improvement Association
so they can put an end to
this whole boycott mess.
I mean, do you really care
if I drive Odessa to work?
We're having pork
chops for supper.
And I told Mary Catherine
that you'd read to her
before she went to sleep.
Did you get Mary
Catherine to bed?
Yeah.
What are you doing?
Well, are you just not
going to talk to me?
Honey, there's no
reason to be so mad.
Norman, talk to me.
You already made up your mind.
No need to talk to me.
Honey, I'm doing
what I think is right.
Where are you going?
Norman, I'm still your wife.
Yeah, that's all you are.
Odessa, come on and
sit up front with me.
Odessa, how does that
carpooling system work?
Well, I don't use it
often, Mrs. Thompson.
But I believe that drivers
come at the end of the day
to places like Cloverdale,
and they pick up
the women that need the rides.
It's a little more
organized than that, isn't it?
Yes.
Yes, it is.
They look for the
ringleaders of the boycott.
And they pull them over
and give them tickets.
If they see too many
coloreds in the car,
they pull them over too.
I'll probably get
lots of tickets.
Mrs. Thompson, it
ain't just tickets.
Once you step over
there, I don't know
that you can ever step back.
But the boycott
needs the help.
Mrs. Thompson,
this boycott's going
to survive without you driving.
Odessa, I want to do this.
I want to help.
There's a lot of ways you
can help, Mrs. Thompson.
You could just write a check.
If I wrote you a check,
it would be Norman's money.
This is something I can do.
This whole mess is just
about riding the bus anyway.
That's what it is now.
But we going to win this
thing, Mrs. Thompson.
When it's all said
and done, people
are going to look at
you, Mrs. Thompson,
and they are going to say
that you were part of this.
Well, let people say
what they going to say.
And what about when
it isn't just the buses?
When it's the parks
and the restaurants.
When it's colored
teachers in white schools.
What about when we start voting,
Mrs. Thompson? 'Cause we are.
And when we do, we are going
to put Negroes in office.
What about when the
first colored family
moves into your neighborhood?
You know, Mrs. Thompson,
ain't nobody going
to think any less of you
if we just turn around
and go back to the house.
I don't want all
them beans, Selma!
Eat what you're going
to eat, and I'll let you
have the rest for breakfast.
Mama!
Don't be a crybaby.
But it's beans!
Hush up, and let's
say the blessing.
I'll say it.
I'll say the blessing tonight.
Lord, I'm going to ask you to
bless this food for which we
are thankful to receive.
Watch over our souls tonight.
And help us live
your word tomorrow.
And Lord, please watch
over Miriam Thompson too.
In Jesus' name, we ask this.
Amen.
I got my reasons.
Amen.
Amen.
Hi.
I'm with the carpool.
Y'all going downtown?
Yes, ma'am.
Morning, ma'am.
My mother began driving
five and six days a week.
My father knew she drove Dessie.
But he didn't know she
drove for the carpools.
I may be a little late.
So I'll get my own dinner.
You know, we're all going
down to this thing this evening.
You coming?
Well, I was planning on it.
Yeah.
Listen, I want you to come
see something with me first.
Say 6:00, 6:15?
OK.
Good.
Good.
When we started
staking this place out
and taking down tag numbers, we,
came up with few surprises.
That, wagon registered
to you was one of them.
She's been here the last
couple of nights at this time.
Driving for a few
weeks, apparently.
I didn't find out
until this morning.
Well, Norman, you had to know.
Not like this.
I'm sorry.
But now you can't
ignore it anymore.
Well, I won't.
Norman, now, she's got
Mary Catherine over there.
Don't go making a scene
in front of the child.
Let me go?
This is my problem.
I can handle it.
Yeah, handle it
at home in private,
not in front of the girl
and a bunch of niggers.
I can get rid of them.
I'll get them out of there.
Let it wait for a few
minutes till things start up,
then she'll want to leave.
Yeah, well, don't
you get cute with me.
Hey.
I made plans to be here
tonight a long time
before we found out about
your wife, and so did you.
Christ.
Give me five minutes?
Let's go.
Good to see you.
- Good to see you.
- Charlie.
Hi.
Police pulled out
about 20 minutes ago.
There are a couple of
folks already here.
All right.
All right.
You have a lot of
women that go every day.
We're talking about Gay Meadows
in the middle of the day.
We need some cars
on those routes.
OK.
Now what?
Miriam?
Do you know him?
Yes.
Is he trouble?
No.
I can handle it.
Excuse us.
Miriam, you shouldn't be here.
Is that Mary
Catherine over there?
You shouldn't be bringing
her into a place like this.
Well, Tunker, I don't think
it's any of your business.
I don't think you
heard me right, boy.
I'm OK.
Miriam, don't be telling me
this isn't any of my business.
Well, then don't
try to run my life.
You should leave.
Tunker, there
are some women--
Can I help you?
who are
depending on me for a ride.
They'll be here any minute.
I'll leave then.
Yeah, you got an ashtray?
Yeah.
Maybe you can--
If you don't have
any business here,
I'd appreciate it if
you'd leave the lot.
If you don't mind, I'd
appreciate it if you got
your black ass out of my face.
Miriam.
Miriam, in a few minutes,
150 men are going to shut
this lot down any way they can.
I think Norman might
be interested to find
out why his little girl was
smack in the middle of it.
Winston, what do
you think I should
do with a nigger like this one?
Charlie!
Charlie!
Get off my back, nigger!
What's happening?
Come on, baby.
Charlie!
You going
to hit me, black boy?
Odessa, we've gotta go.
You ain't driving your
nigger maid out of here.
Get away from my car.
No, you get away
from your car!
You want to act like a nigger?
Then you just get
your daughter and walk
with the rest of the niggers.
What do y'all think we
ought to do with Mrs.
Martin Luther Coon?
Get her out of here!
We're gonna show you what
we think about niggers!
Martin!
Martin.
All right.
If she leaves, she walks
with the rest of the niggers!
Miriam, you lost this one.
Let's go now.
Get her out of here!
Don't let him
treat you that way!
Shut this parking lot down!
Are you a man or a mouse?
Go to hell, Tunker.
Just go to hell, you
ignorant son of a bitch!
Let's get these
niggers out of here!
Mommy!
Mommy!
Mommy!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Walk, nigger, walk!
Come on!
Walk, nigger, walk!
You were told, nigger,
to get out of here.
And by God, I'm gonna move you!
Open up a space to
let her through,
and we can get her out of here!
Why are you still
standing there?
You bunch of niggers
think you can come in here
and cause trouble
without thinking we're
going to do anything about it?
Well, I got news for you.
We are gonna do
something about it.
You hear me?
We're going to move
you right out of here!
What are you looking at?
What are you looking at?
I said move!
I want you to move right now!
I said move, lady!
I don't want you staring at me!
Shining upon
me from within so right.
I've bade the world
and its follies adieu.
And I've started in Jesus,
and I'm going through.
I'm going through.
Yes, I'm going through.
I'll pay the price,
whatever others do.
I'm going through.
It would be years
before I understood
what standing
in that line meant to my mother,
and as I grew older, to me.
I'll take the way
with the Lord's despised few.
I started in Jesus,
and I'm going through.
50,000 boycotted
the buses in Montgomery.
I knew one.
Her name was Odessa Cotter.
We are marching--
We are marching--
Up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
City of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
To that beautiful--
City of God.
I come
to say to you this afternoon,
however difficult the moment,
however frustrating the hour,
it will not be long because
truth crushed to earth
will rise again.
- Yes, sir.
- How long?
Not long.
Yes, sir.
Because
no lie can live forever.
Yes, sir.
How long?
Not long.
Because you shall
reap what you sow.
Yes, sir.
How long?
Not long.
Because the arc of the
moral universe is long,
but it bends towards justice.
- Yes, sir.
- How long?
Not long!
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
We're
marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
City of God.
City of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
City of God.
Let those refuse to
sing who never knew our God.
But let all the children
of our heavenly King
spread their joy abroad.
Hallelujah!
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful
city of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
To that beautiful--
Wonderful--
That wonderful--
Glorious--
That glorious--
Victorious--
Victorious--
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
The beautiful city--
Come on.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful
city of God.
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion--
To that beautiful--
That beautiful--
That wonderful--
That wonderful--
Glorious--
That glorious--
Victorious--
Victorious--
We are marching--
We are marching--
On up to Zion--
Marching up to Zion,
that beautiful city of God.