WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: Jesus Christ in Texas, by W.E.B. DuBois 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:08.760 Cool Zone Media. Hello and welcome to Cool Zone Media 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:10.960 book Club. The only book club where you don't have 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.760 to do the reading is I do it for you. 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:18.759 I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy and today this week we 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:22.279 are continuing our loose Black August theme. We like to 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:24.479 be loose with themes because it gives us a little 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:27.280 bit more freedom Black August as if you want to 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:29.920 hear me and Prince Shakur talk about it more at length, 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:32.760 go back a couple episodes to the beginning of August 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.080 twenty twenty six and you can hear us talk about it. 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:42.800 But in general black liberation. Prisoners should be liberated as 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.320 part of black liberation. And our theme is loose this 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:48.720 week because, to be honest, we had a bunch of 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:51.879 leads out for stories that we still have out. But 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.320 it actually it takes a while to track down authors 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.760 and get all the permissions and do everything right, and 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.640 so sometimes we end up doing old stories. And if 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.679 I'm telling you the truth, when we started off doing 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:08.320 old stories, it was because I didn't have anything else. 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:12.080 I was like, oh crap, what can I do without 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:15.440 getting permission in time? And the answer is old stories. 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:18.560 The answer is the public domain. But the thing is, 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:22.560 I read history all the time. I do it for 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:27.360 a living, and I actually really enjoy getting the chance 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:33.520 to read old fiction because it helps me understand the 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.480 history that I read. I think that fiction and literature 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:41.039 are just such an important thing to understand about periods 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:44.520 that we want to understand better, not just because fiction 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.040 doesn't just tell you how people acted in the time 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.320 period that it's being written, but it also tells you 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:55.160 about the author and what an author, like an actual 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.920 real person, was thinking about and wanted to express in 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.280 a given time. And actually it tells us so much. 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.880 So I'm actually really excited about this story. I'm excited 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:10.120 to read you another story from W. E. B. Du Bois, 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:13.760 And we did a story of his called The Comet 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:16.720 earlier this year. You might remember it. It was about 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:19.000 two people who have survived what seemed like the end 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.320 of the world in New York City, a black man 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:23.760 and a white woman, and they're trying to figure that out. 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:27.480 And I was really excited to read du bois stories 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.920 because I run across to boys in my history work 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:32.799 all of the time. He is one of the most 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:36.560 important black theorists from the turn of the century a 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:41.200 foundational thinker that so many people's work is based on, 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:45.480 and also kind of most specifically to me, the thing 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.959 that he really changed my understanding about the world with 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:55.120 is his conception of the general strike that happened during 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.560 the American Civil War and how what won the American 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:04.000 Civil War war was black enslaved people withholding their labor 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:10.120 from the South and turning their entire agricultural economy to dust. 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:15.960 And that's how you win wars. Is Battlefield victories are 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:21.280 great and they're important, but removing your opponent's ability to 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:25.919 feed itself and create weapons is the actual way that 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:31.720 most wars get won. And so instead of this version 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:36.320 of the American Civil War where like good white people 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.840 came and saved the people the enslaved people of the South, 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:46.000 an actual narrative is that the enslaved people freed themselves 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:51.560 with incredible help from northerners, white and black. But it's 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:53.680 just a really important way of thinking about things, and 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.640 that's what du Bois has done for us. So I'm 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.200 excited to read his fiction. Dubois was one of the 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.800 founders of the NAACP was the longtime editor of its newspaper, 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.960 The Crisis which is a fantastic name for a paper. 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:09.560 And the story we're going to read today is more 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:13.040 on the intent side. Like its name suggests, this story 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:17.320 is about Jesus Christ in Texas, but it's also about 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:20.360 the chain gangs and the prison system and the post 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:23.840 bellum South and the turn of the century South. It's 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.640 also about lynching, and it's about some of the more 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:29.720 mundane racism and exclusion that black folk can racialize folks 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:34.320 deal with in contemporary du Bois's time. So you know, again, 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.360 content warning for that kind of stuff. And of course 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:39.640 when the editor bleeps out the N word, I'm not 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.080 actually saying the word. Just want to clear that up 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.159 for everybody. Like the story of the comment, this story 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:48.680 is full of religious imagery, and it's worth noting that 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.120 Dubois himself was not particularly religious, but instead as pulling 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:56.080 from the broader tropes around salvation, goodness, sacrifice, and transcendence 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:57.960 that would have been available to him at this time. 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:03.480 And of course the long and complicated history of the 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.039 Black church and black liberation, which looks very different than 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:11.520 white leftism. It just looks different. It's not entirely different, 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.640 but it just looks very different, right, and so when 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.800 you're listening, just note that this is less evangelicizing and 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:20.440 listen more for the meaning behind how Dubois is describing 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:24.720 Jesus and using him for a literary shorthand. And this 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:26.840 story does u's language that would have been familiar to 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.400 du Bois in his community, but feel stated today. The 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.320 original text also contains racial slurs for effect, and these 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:38.200 have been bleeped out. Here we go Jesus Christ in 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:44.720 Texas by W. E. B. Du Bois. It was in Waco, Texas. 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.640 The convict guard laughed. I don't know, he said, I 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.640 hadn't thought of that. He hesitated and looked at the 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:57.080 stranger curiously in the solemn twilight. He got an impression 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:01.440 of unusual height and soft, dark eye. Curious sort of 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.039 acquaintance for the colonel, he thought. And then he continued aloud, 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:09.000 but that there is bad, a born thief, and ought 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.960 to be sent up for life. Got ten years. Last time. Here, 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:16.960 the voice of the promoter talking within broke in. He 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:20.160 was bending over his figures, sitting by the colonel. He 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.719 was slight, with a sharp nose. The convicts, he said, 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:28.080 would cost us ninety six dollars a year, and bored. Well, 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:30.640 we can squeeze this so that it won't be over 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.839 one hundred and twenty five dollars apiece. Now, if these 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:38.160 fellows are driven, they can build this line within twelve months. 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:41.800 It will be running by next April. Freights will fall 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.760 fifty percent. Why, man, you'll be a millionaire in less 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:49.720 than ten years, the colonel started. He was a thick, 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.400 short man, with a clean shaven face and a certain 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.640 air of breeding about the lines of his countenance. The 0:06:55.680 --> 0:07:00.240 word millionaire sounded well to his ears, he thought a 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.360 great deal. He almost heard the puff of the fearfully 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:06.760 costly automobile that was coming up the road, and he said, 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.800 I suppose we might as well hire them. Of course, 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.120 answered the promoter. The voice of the tall stranger in 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.000 the corner broke in here. It will be a good 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:21.920 thing for them, he said, half in question. The colonel moved. 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.360 The guard makes strange friends. He thought to himself, what's 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.840 this man doing here? Anyway? He looked at him, or 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.640 rather looked at his eyes, and then somehow he felt 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:37.240 a warming toward him. He said, well, at least it 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:42.240 can't harm them, they're beyond that. It will do them good. Then, 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:46.680 said the stranger. Again. The promoter shrugged his shoulders. It 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:50.720 will do us good, he said, But the colonel shook 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:54.160 his head impatiently. He felt a desire to justify himself 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:57.320 before those eyes, and he answered, yes, it will do 0:07:57.480 --> 0:07:59.680 them good, or at any rate, it won't make them 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.600 anyway worse than they are. Then he started to say 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.560 something else, but here, sure enough, the sound of the 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:09.320 automobile breathing at the gate stopped him, and they all arose. 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:14.800 It's settled, then, said the promoter. Yes, said the colonel, 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:17.880 turning toward the stranger again. Are you going into town, 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.600 he asked, with the southern courtesy of white men to 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:25.320 white men in a country town. The stranger said he was. Then, 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:27.480 come along in my machine. I want to talk with 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:31.880 you about this. They went out to the car. The 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.800 stranger as he went turned around to look back at 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:38.760 the convict. He was a tall, powerfully built black fellow. 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:43.240 His face was sullen, with a low forehead, thick hanging lips, 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:47.280 and bitter eyes. There was revolt written about his mouth 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:51.480 despite the hang dog expression. He stood bending over his 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:57.000 pile of stones, pounding listlessly. Beside him stood a boy 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:02.360 of twelve yellow with a hunted look. The convict raised 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.439 his eyes and they met the eyes of the stranger. 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:09.040 The hammer fell from his hands. The stranger turned slowly 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:12.439 toward the automobile, and the colonel introduced him. He had 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.600 not exactly caught his name, but he mumbled something as 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.840 he presented him to his wife and the little girl, 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.959 who were waiting. As they whirled away, the colonel started 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:24.680 to talk, but the stranger had taken the little girl 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.520 into his lap, and together they conversed in low tones 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.760 all the way home. In some way they did not 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:33.560 know exactly how, they got the impression that the man 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:36.680 was a teacher, and of course he must be a foreigner. 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.240 The long cloaklike coat told this. They rode in the 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.240 twilight through the lighted town, and at last drew up 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:48.800 before the colonel's mansion with its ghost like pillars. The 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.319 lady in the back seat was thinking of the guests 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:53.960 she had invited to dinner, and was wondering if she 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.439 ought not ask this man to stay. He seemed cultured, 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:00.000 and she supposed he was some acquaintance of the colonel. 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:03.320 It would be rather interesting to have him there with 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.640 the judge's wife and daughter, and the rector. She spoke 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.160 almost before she thought, you will enter and rest Awhile 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:15.160 the colonel and the little girl insisted for a moment, 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:18.360 the stranger seemed about to refuse. He said he had 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.959 some business for his father about town. Then, for the 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:26.560 child's sake, he consented. Up the steps they went and 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.320 into the dark parlor, where they sat and talked a 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:34.080 long time. It was a curious conversation. Afterwards they did 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.040 not remember exactly what was said, and yet they all 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:42.960 remembered a certain strange satisfaction in that long, low talk. Finally, 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:45.720 the nurse came for the reluctant child, and the hostess 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.600 bethought herself, we will have a cup of tea. You 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.719 will be dry and tired. She rang and switched on 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:57.280 a blaze of light with one accord. They all looked 0:10:57.280 --> 0:10:59.679 at the stranger, for they had hardly seen him well 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.480 in the looming twilight. The woman started in amazement, and 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:07.120 the colonel half rose in anger. Why the man was 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.160 a mulatto. Surely, even if he did not own the 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:13.880 Negro blood, their practiced eyes knew it. He was tall 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.920 and straight, and the coat looked like a Jewish garbadine. 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:20.680 His hair hung in close curls far down the sides 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:24.960 of his face, and his face was olive, even yellow. 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:29.280 A peremptory order rose to the colonel's lips and froze 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:33.880 there as he caught the stranger's eyes. Those eyes, Where 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:37.440 had he seen those eyes before? He remembered them long 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.559 years ago, the soft, tear filled eyes of a brown girl. 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:46.079 He remembered many things, and his face grew drawn and white. 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.920 Those eyes kept burning into him, even when they were 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:53.600 turned half away toward the staircase, where the white figure 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.360 of the child hovered with her nurse and waved good night. 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.679 The lady sank into her chair and thought, what will 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.440 the judge's wife say? How did the colonel come to 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:06.680 invite this man here? How shall we be rid of him? 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:11.920 She looked at the Colonel in reproachful consternation. Just then 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.960 the door opened and the old butler came in. He 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.120 was an ancient black man with tufted white hair, and 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.880 he held before him a large silver tray filled with 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:25.080 a china tea service. The stranger rose slowly and stretched 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.280 forth his hands as if to bless the viands. The 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:31.920 old man paused in bewilderment. Tottered, and then, with a 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.160 sudden gladness in his eyes, dropped to his knees, and 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:39.840 the tray crashed to the floor. My Lord and my God, 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:46.880 he whispered. And unrelated to things like that, dear listener, 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.840 unrelated to things that rule over us in the heavens 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:56.200 are the advertisers, the advertisers that support the show. Here 0:12:56.240 --> 0:13:15.199 they are hand We're back, my Lord and my God, 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:22.520 he whispered. But the woman screamed, mother's china. The doorbell rang. Heavens, 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:26.640 here's the dinner party, exclaimed the lady. She turned toward 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.120 the door, but there in the hall, clad in her 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:32.280 night clothes, was the little girl. She had stolen down 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:35.040 the stairs to see the stranger again, and the nurse 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:39.040 above was calling in vain. The woman felt hysterical and 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.199 scolded at the nurse. But the stranger had stretched out 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.880 his arms, and with a glad cry, the child nestled 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.480 in them. They had caught some words about the Kingdom 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:51.880 of heaven as he slowly mounted the stairs with his 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.959 little white burden. The mother was glad of anything to 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.120 get rid of the interloper, even for a moment. The 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:02.400 bell rang again, she hastened toward the door, which the 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:06.040 loitering black maid was just opening. She did not notice 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:08.680 the shadow of the stranger as he came slowly down 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.559 the stairs and paused by the nwel post. Dark and silent, 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.560 the judge's wife came in. She was an old woman, 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:20.920 frilled and powdered into a semblance of youth, and gorgeously gowned. 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.320 She came forward, smiling with extended hands. But when she 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:29.160 was opposite the stranger, somewhere a chill seemed to strike her, 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:33.400 and she shuddered and cried, what a draft. As she 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:36.600 drew a silken shawl about her and shook hands cordially, 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:40.360 she forgot to ask who the stranger was. The judge 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:43.640 strode in unsea, thinking of a puzzling case of theft. 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:49.280 Huh what? Oh? Or yes, good evening, he said, good evening. 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.440 Behind them came a young woman in the glory of 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:57.040 youth and daintily silked, beautiful and face and form, with 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.640 diamonds around her fair neck. She came in lightly, but 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:04.640 stopped with a little gasp. Then she laughed gaily and said, 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:08.640 why I beg your pardon? Was it not curious? I 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.000 thought I saw there behind your man she hesitated. But 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.400 he must be a servant, she argued, the shadow of 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.960 great white wings it was, but the light on the drapery. 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.800 What a turn it gave me, she smiled again. With 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:26.000 her came a tall, handsome young naval officer here and 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.280 his lady referred to the servant. He hardly looked at him, 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.640 but held his gilded cap carelessly toward him, and the 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:36.840 stranger placed it carefully on the rock. Last came the rector, 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:40.200 a man of forty and well clothed. He started to pass. 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:45.400 The stranger stopped and looked at him inquiringly. I beg 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:49.080 your pardon, he said, I beg your pardon. I think 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:52.840 I have met you. The stranger made no answer, and 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:56.280 the hostess nervously hurried the guest's song. But the rector 0:15:56.400 --> 0:16:00.800 lingered and looked perplexed. Surely I know you. I have 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.000 met you somewhere, he said, putting his hand vaguely to 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:08.720 his head. You you remember me, do you not. The 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:12.520 stranger quietly swept his cloak aside, and, to the hostess's 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:17.200 unspeakable relief, passed out of the door. I never knew you, 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:21.920 he said, in low tones as he went. The lady 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.720 murmured some vain excuse about intruders, but the rector stood 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:30.160 with annoyance written on his face. I beg a thousand pardons, 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:33.120 he said to the hostess absently. It is a great 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.240 pleasure to be here. Somehow I thought I knew that man. 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:40.400 I am sure I knew him. Once the stranger had 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:43.440 passed down the steps, and as he passed, the nurse, 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:46.960 lingering at the top of the staircase flew down after him, 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:51.600 caught his cloak, trembled, hesitated, and then kneeled in the dust. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.320 He touched her lightly with his hand and said, go 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.520 and sin no more. With a glad cry. The maid 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:03.200 left the house with its open door and turned north running. 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:07.480 The stranger turned eastward into the night. As they parted, 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:11.840 a long, low howl rose tremulously and reverberated through the night. 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:16.760 The colonel's wife within shuddered the blood hounds, she said. 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:21.480 The rector answered carelessly, another one of those convicts escaped. 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:26.240 I suppose really they need severer measures. Then he stopped. 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:30.720 He was trying to remember the stranger's name. The judge's 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:33.600 wife looked about for the draft and arranged her shawl. 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.600 The girl glanced at the white drapery in the hall, 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:39.399 but the young officer was bending over her, and the 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:44.240 fires of life burned in her veins. Howel after howell rose, 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:48.160 and the night swelled and died away. The stranger strode 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.160 rapidly along the highway and out into the deep forest. 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:56.639 There he paused and stood waiting, tall and still. A 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.600 mile up the road behind a man was running, tall 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:03.960 and powerful and black, with crime stained face and convicts 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:07.880 stripes upon him and shackles on his legs. He ran 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.600 and jumped in little short steps, and his chains rang. 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:14.959 He fell and rose again, while the howl of the 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:19.280 hounds rang louder behind him. Into the forest, he leapt 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.679 and crept and jumped and ran, streaming with sweat. Seeing 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:27.240 the tall form rise before him, he stopped, suddenly, dropped 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:31.000 his hands in sullen impotence, and sank, panting to the earth. 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:35.200 A greyhound shot out of the woods behind him, howled, whined, 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:39.600 and fawned before the stranger's feet. Hound after hound bayed, 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:43.760 leapt and lay there. Then silently, one by one, with 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:49.040 bowed heads, they crept backward toward the town. The stranger 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.200 made a cup of his hands and gave the man 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:54.960 water to drink, bathed his hot head, and gently took 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:58.280 the chains and irons from his feet. By and by, 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:02.800 the convict stood up. Day was dawning above the tree tops. 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:05.679 He looked into the stranger's face, and for a moment 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:09.320 a gladness swept over the stains of his face. Why 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:13.320 you are a negro too, he said. Then, the convict 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:17.280 seemed anxious to justify himself. I never had no chance, 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:22.000 he said furtively. Thou shalt not steal, said the stranger. 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:25.959 The man bridled, But how about them? Can they steal? 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:29.480 Didn't they steal a whole year's work? And then when 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:34.240 I stole to keep from starving? He glanced at the stranger. No, 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:37.840 I didn't steal just to keep from starving. I stole 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:41.040 to be stealing. I can't seem to keep from stealing. 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:45.080 Seems like when I see things I just might. But yes, 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:49.280 I'll try. The convict looked down at his striped clothes, 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.199 but the stranger had taken off his long coat. He 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:56.639 had put it around him, and the stripes disappeared. Much 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.840 like dear listeners, I am about to disappear or the 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:19.359 I'd break ah products and services and we're back. In 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.520 the opening morning, the black man started toward the low 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:27.520 log farmhouse in the distance, while the stranger stood watching him. 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.560 There was a new glory in the day. The black 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.560 man's face cleared up, and the farmer was glad to 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:37.000 get him. All day, the black man worked as hard 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.959 as he had never worked before. The farmer gave him 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:44.119 some cold food. You could sleep in the barn, he said, 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.040 and turned away. How much do I get a day, 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:51.560 asked the black man. The farmer scowled. Now see here, 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:54.560 said he. If you'll sign a contract for the season, 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.560 I'll give you ten dollars a month. I won't sign 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:01.359 no contract, said the black man, doggedly. Yes you will, 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:04.720 said the farmer threateningly, or I'll call the convict guard. 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:09.200 He grinned. The convict shrank and slouched to the barn. 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:12.240 As night fell, he looked out and saw the farmer 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:15.840 leave the place slowly. He crept out and sneaked toward 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:19.440 the house. He looked through the kitchen door. No one 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:21.800 was there, but the supper was spread as if the 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:25.240 mistress had laid it and gone out. He ate ravenously. 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.520 Then he looked into the front room and listened. He 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:32.000 could hear low voices on the porch. On the table 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:35.199 lay a gold watch. He gazed at it, and in 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:37.719 a moment he was beside it, his hands were on it. 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.960 Quickly he slipped out of the house and slouched toward 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:44.800 the field. He saw his employer coming along the highway. 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:47.600 He fled back in terror and around the front of 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.800 the house, when suddenly he stopped. He felt the great 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:53.639 dark eyes of the stranger and saw the same dark 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:57.119 cloak like coat where the stranger sat on the doorstep, 0:21:57.280 --> 0:22:01.639 talking with the mistress of the house. Slowly, guiltily, he 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:05.280 turned back, entered the kitchen and laid the watch stealthily 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:08.200 where he had found it. Then he rushed wildly back 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:13.680 toward the stranger with arms outstretched. The woman had laid 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:16.639 supper for her husband, and going down from the house, 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:19.639 had walked out toward a neighbor's. She was gone but 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:22.680 a little while, and when she came back she started 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:24.879 to see a dark figure on the doorsteps under the 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:28.280 tall red oak. She thought it was the new Negro 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:31.440 until he said, in a soft voice, will you give 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:34.840 me some bread? Reassured at the voice of a white man, 0:22:34.960 --> 0:22:39.040 she answered quickly in her soft southern tones. Why, certainly 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:42.479 she was a little woman, and once had been pretty, 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:45.280 but now her face was drawn with work and care. 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:49.960 She was nervous and always thinking, wishing, wanting for something. 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:52.960 She went in and got him some cornbread and a 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:56.600 glass of cool, rich buttermilk. Then she came out and 0:22:56.680 --> 0:23:01.080 sat down beside him. She began, quite unconscious, to tell 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:04.240 him about herself, the things she had done and had 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:07.359 not done, and the things she had wished for. She 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:09.760 told him of her husband and this new farm they 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:12.280 were trying to buy. She said it was hard to 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:15.720 get to work. She said, they ought to all be 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:18.600 in the chain gang, and made to work. Even then 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:22.320 some ran away. Only yesterday one had escaped, and another 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:26.000 the day before. At last, she gossiped of her neighbors, 0:23:26.000 --> 0:23:28.760 how good they were and how bad? And do you 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:33.400 like them? All? Asked the stranger. She hesitated most of them, 0:23:33.680 --> 0:23:36.119 she said, and then, looking up into his face, and 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:39.320 putting her hand into his as though he were her father, 0:23:39.800 --> 0:23:43.120 she said, there are none a hate, no none at all. 0:23:44.040 --> 0:23:47.080 He looked away, holding her hand in his, and said, dreamily, 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:52.639 you love your neighbor as yourself. She hesitated a try 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:56.359 she began, then looked the way. He was looking down 0:23:56.440 --> 0:23:59.800 under the hill where lay a little half ruined cabin. 0:24:01.320 --> 0:24:05.720 They are, she said briefly. He looked at her. Suddenly 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:08.600 a confusion came over her, and she insisted she knew 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:13.480 not why, but they are. With a sudden impulse, she 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:16.480 arose and hurriedly lighted the lamp that stood just within 0:24:16.560 --> 0:24:19.560 the door, and held it above her head. She saw 0:24:19.560 --> 0:24:23.160 his dark face and curly hair. She shrieked in angry 0:24:23.240 --> 0:24:25.919 terror and rushed down the path. And just as she 0:24:26.040 --> 0:24:30.000 rushed down, the black convict came running up with hands outstretched. 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:34.080 They met in mid path, and before he could stop, 0:24:34.400 --> 0:24:36.760 he had run against her, and she fell heavily to 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:41.080 the earth and lay white and still. Her husband came 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:43.679 rushing around the house with a cry and an oath. 0:24:44.800 --> 0:24:49.120 Ah knew it, he said, it's that runaway. He held 0:24:49.119 --> 0:24:51.399 the black man struggling to the earth, and raised his 0:24:51.520 --> 0:24:54.840 voice to a yell. Down the highway came the convict 0:24:54.880 --> 0:24:58.800 guard with hound and mob and gun. They paused across 0:24:58.840 --> 0:25:05.120 the fields. Armor motioned them. He attacked my wife, he gasped. 0:25:06.280 --> 0:25:09.920 The mob snarled and worked silently right to the limb 0:25:10.000 --> 0:25:13.280 of the red oak. They hoisted the struggling, writhing black man, 0:25:13.680 --> 0:25:17.160 while others lifted the dazed woman right and left. As 0:25:17.200 --> 0:25:20.160 she tottered to the house, she searched for the stranger 0:25:20.200 --> 0:25:23.359