The Waltons (1971) s07e09 Episode Script
The Illusion
Verdie, Esther, wait! You left your groceries.
I don't think I'll ever show my face in Ike Godsey's store again after what was just said.
You didn't say it.
I did.
You're my daughter.
I'm my own person, Mama.
I'm the only one accountable for what I say or do! A mother never stops feeling responsible.
I don't recall inviting you to meddle, Mrs.
Walton.
Your mother's so proud of you.
Mama's been lying to herself about me.
Now the truth has come home and everybody has to live with it, like it or not! In my family, one of the earliest truths we learned was the inevitability of change.
We saw this in the march of the seasons across the land, and in the sometimes bewildering growth of our brothers and sisters.
As World War II edged closer to us all, the patterns of change accelerated, carrying some of us far from home, bringing others back to the mountain with painful consequences.
- You need some new shirts.
- I got a new shirt.
You ought to have a clean shirt for every day you're away.
Why don't you come along with me then, and do my laundry? Now there's a romantic proposal.
Well, we could do other things besides laundry.
You need a new suitcase, too.
Liv, I like my new work but I'm not interested in remodeling John Walton to suit the newest fad.
And I do wish you'd come along with me more often.
Once in a while, fine.
But mostly, I know I'd just be in the way.
Besides, there's plenty here to keep me busy.
I'll be back next Thursday or Friday, and I'll call you in between.
I still say you need a new suitcase.
After you finish your cereal.
Why does he have to have his cereal first? Because it's good for him.
Well, peaches are good for him.
Elizabeth, will you just stay out of this? I'm off to win the war.
The war hasn't even started yet.
- That's the time to win it.
Goodbye, honey.
- Goodbye, Daddy.
I'll get your suitcase, Daddy.
- Come on.
John Curtis, you take care of everybody, all right? Goodbye, honey.
Bye, bye, Daddy.
- Erin, I hope you get that job.
- Bye, Daddy.
- Bye-bye, Daddy.
- What job is he talking about? - At Pickett's.
Pickett Fork and Hoe? I though they'd been closed for years.
No, Jefferson Davis Pickett, Jr.
Has taken his daddy's old factory and turned it into a defense plant.
It's hiring everybody and anybody.
So maybe, just maybe, Erin might get a job.
Thanks, Elizabeth.
I better get started.
These days I have to rush just to stay behind.
- Good morning, Mama.
Open wide.
You know, Mary Ellen, you remind me of a dentist.
Painless Willard, "Open up, it won't hurt a bit.
" Jim-Bob, I would smack you if I didn't think it would be setting a bad example for John Curtis.
Why is it that I always forget that teenagers are still seven parts children? At least, it looks like they've finished their breakfast.
Yeah, everyone except for John Curtis.
I don't think he ever will finish this cereal.
Of course, he will.
He will for me.
Won't you, John Curtis? Oh, that's Jason.
Are you ready to go, Mary Ellen? Yeah.
Mama, don't feel like you have to entertain him every minute.
We entertain each other.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.
Come on, sweetheart.
- Hi, Verdie.
- Oh, Olivia.
I followed the mail truck over.
I'm due a letter from Esther, and Mr.
Godsey's sorting the mail now.
I'll wait with you.
Corabeth is having one of her Ladies' Aid Society meetings.
We're gonna roll some bandages.
I said I'd help out.
Oh.
You've got mighty fine company.
My! How that boy is growing! It seems every time I turn around, he's an inch taller and a pound heavier.
Well, hello, everybody.
Now, I got something for everybody.
John Curtis, look what I got.
Yeah.
And I got a letter here for you, Olivia.
And Verdie, it looks like this one's for you.
It's from John-Boy.
Yes, he sure is faithful.
Boy, he writes no matter where he is.
It's from the north of England.
It makes the job of sorting mail much more interesting.
I get to see those foreign postmarks from all over the world.
Mr.
Godsey, I don't understand.
I wrote this letter to Esther last week and now it comes back to me.
Oh.
Well, don't you see? It says "Moved, no forwarding address.
" But my daughter wouldn't move, not without letting me know.
Post office must have made a mistake.
Verdie, you say the word, we'll send it through again.
No, no, I'll take it along, maybe add more to it.
Why don't you telephone, set your mind at ease? I don't have a number for her.
Oh, did you ladies see the new honor roll? I had it special-made in Charleston.
It certainly is colorful.
Yes, sir.
Every time one of our boys goes into the service, his name goes right up there.
You see, Verdie, we got your son's name right there.
Right there with the rest of them.
I see.
Oh, Olivia! I was just saying, it's not like Olivia Walton to be tardy.
I'm sure Mr.
Godsey has been detaining you.
Now, Corabeth, let's not start that again.
Sometimes I think Mr.
Godsey was born to be a bottleneck.
All right, Mrs.
Godsey, I will remove myself.
Mrs.
Foster.
Do come in, Olivia.
The other ladies are underway.
I hate to leave you, Verdie.
Oh.
Well, Mrs.
Foster, um, perhaps you could form another branch of the auxiliary with your own friends.
My friends and I are already doing our part.
Bye, Verdie.
Bye.
Well, I was just trying to make her feel a part.
You do understand? I understand.
- Sure is a lot of people here.
- Yeah.
Hmm.
- Can you see J.
D? - Nope.
- Wonder what kind of work they're doing.
- I have no idea.
Hey, Jason, Erin! Am I glad to see you.
Ain't this something? These folks are spilling out of the hills, all going to get rich working for J.
D.
Pickett, Jr.
, that is.
Nobody ever got rich working for my daddy.
- Then you are hiring? - You bet I am.
We get rolling, gonna be working three shifts a day, seven days a week.
What are you making? Top secret, but I'll tell you.
Mess kits and canteens.
Doesn't sound like much, now, does it? But you should see the contract the Defense Department gave me.
Didn't know there was that many zeroes.
What do you pay? Start you off at 60 cents an hour.
Forty hours a week.
With overtime, you can easy make yourself $30, $35 a week.
Who else is offering that in this old tater patch? - Oh, I'd like to apply, J.
D.
You got yourself a job.
How about you, Jase? I'm tied up right now, maybe later.
Do I fill out an application? What for? I know you, you know me.
- What kind of work will I be doing? Easy as pie.
The only other jobs I've had were at the switchboard and Relax.
No problem.
Well, what shift will I be working? Um, come in tomorrow at 7:00.
We'll get you going.
I have to deal with some of these other folks now.
Anybody else in your family wants a job, tell them to come talk to J.
D.
- Congratulations.
- I guess.
Can we give you a lift? Esther? Erin? Is that you, Erin Walton? Yes! I thought I recognized you.
Get in.
- You got room? - We'll make room.
I'll put this in back.
- What have you got in here? Gold bullion? - It's mostly the baby's things.
Oh, come here.
- Oh, it's so good to see you.
- You too.
Oh, come in.
Can you hold her for a minute? Oh, sure.
Oh.
You remember my brother Jason, don't you? Are you Verdie's daughter? - That's me, Esther.
- I think you've made a friend.
- She's beautiful.
Better beautiful than smart.
Remember how I used to tag along when you were delivering laundry for your mama? I made you think you were tagging along.
All the time I was getting you to help.
You always were way ahead of the rest of us.
Your mama told us how well you've been doing up north.
Mama's favorite subject, and so boring.
Oh, not to me.
I'd like to have a business career like you.
But I don't know if I have enough courage to do it like you, all alone.
Maybe it looks like courage to you.
I'd say it was being too dumb to know better.
Nobody would ever take you for dumb, not with that college degree and those honors.
Some of the dumbest people I know have college degrees.
Hi.
What are you doing? Reading Favorite Short Stories, and Ancient History.
Both at once? Well, the short story is keeping me from falling asleep while I read the ancient history.
- Oh.
- How did the meeting go? Well, mostly, we tried to keep this young man from unrolling the bandages we just finished rolling.
He gets into everything.
After a whole afternoon at that, one of us is ready for a nap.
How about a little cooperation, John Curtis? You're not making things easy for your grandma.
Here, let me take him upstairs.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
- Oops.
- There you go.
- Come on.
- Take this, too.
Got it.
I'll go start supper.
Esther! Hello, Mama.
Oh.
Josh, it's Esther! I can't believe it.
Hello, Erin.
- Jason.
- Hi, Verdie.
Oh.
- And this must be Harriet.
- Yes.
- Say hi to your grandma.
- Yes, it's all right, darling.
Yes, yes.
Oh, look this side.
You got to get to know your Uncle Josh.
- Hi - Hi, Josh.
- Hi.
- Where's Clint? Clint's gone, Mama, for good.
Gone? We just couldn't work things out.
He claimed he was worn out trying to live up to me and my education.
And I Well it's It's just over.
Oh, honey, I'm sorry.
Oh, but it's so good to have you home for a visit.
Home, period, Mama.
Home to stay.
- There you are, Mama.
- Thanks, son.
I'll chop more kindling after school.
You better run along now or you'll be late.
Won't miss much.
Reading the same old stories.
I know them by heart.
Reciting the nine times tables and the ten times tables.
They are important to know.
At the white kids' school they study science.
What makes things grow, how the stars move in the sky, what they're called.
Well, you'll get all that by and by.
They figure you're black, you don't need to know much.
- Colored.
- Esther says black.
That's New York talk.
Black, colored, still don't give us new books.
That's enough of that kind of talk.
You be glad you're learning what you're learning now, instead of having to wait until you're grown up, the way I did.
Run along now, son.
- Bye, Ma.
- Bye, son.
Ow! This is so nice, watching you fix breakfast, like I was a child again, like I had never been away.
You You've been talking to Josh, haven't you? He was a little late getting started this morning.
Mama, Josh has a head on his shoulders.
I said what I said because I care about him.
Honey, Walton's Mountain and Rockfish, they are not New York City.
I guess I'll have to learn to watch my northern ways.
Well, what do you want to do today? Anything, nothing, I don't really care.
I noticed.
- Esther - Now, Mama.
Give me a little room to breathe.
For a little while, let me just be happy being here.
All right.
And 10 cents' worth of marshmallows.
Josh likes them melted over yams.
Yeah.
Esther, you going to be staying on here with us for a while? I haven't decided yet.
I see.
Well, it must be kind of quiet being around here, after all those years you were in New York.
You know, I was in New York once.
Three days and two nights, and I saw everything.
- Verdie.
- Olivia.
Esther, I heard you were back.
- Esther, you remember Mrs.
Walton? - Of course.
Hello.
We need some more sacks, Mr.
Godsey.
And, oh, Olivia, please go on in.
Excuse me.
Good afternoon, Mrs.
Foster.
This must be your daughter.
I'm sure you're relieved to have her safely back home again.
Those stories about New York City, particularly Harlem.
All the squalor and overcrowding.
I didn't know you'd ever been to Harlem, Corabeth.
Well, Olivia, one reads.
One knows.
I just don't understand why you prefer to live in such hideous conditions.
We might have gone up there to try to improve ourselves.
Oh, but you'd be so much better off here.
Where we care, we understand.
Ah, Esther, come and help me pick out something for the baby.
You're so right, Mrs.
Godsey.
How much happier everybody would be if we forgot about improving ourselves, stayed in our places.
Oh, but don't misunderstand.
I am all for education.
But don't overdo it.
That can be dangerous.
And I'm the living proof.
- Esther.
- I mean, look at me.
An over-educated negro.
College degree.
Magna cum laude.
Not only black but female, a double waste.
Absolutely no utilitarian value, bizarre and an oddity.
Like training a jackass to sing Mozart.
How can that help the dumb beast bear his burden? Now, Esther, wait a second.
Corabeth didn't mean all that.
Esther, please, let's go.
You see, it's the dreams, the false hopes, the illusions that cause pain.
Telling ourselves being black makes no difference, makes all the difference.
The smart people know that.
Like you ladies rolling bandages.
White bandages for white soldiers.
Right? Same as with the blood.
You give white blood, it goes into white bodies, black blood into black bodies.
Now, Mama, you should be rolling black bandages for all the black boys gonna get themselves shot to hell defending this glorious country.
Esther, let's go.
Oh, wait a minute.
Now, what do we have here? Honor roll of our boys in service.
And sure enough, it is segregated.
White boys up there, black boys down there.
War, peace, a place for everybody.
And everybody in his place! I'm sorry.
What's the problem at the table? Hey, Erin, got to get moving, girl.
This table isn't meeting its quota.
I'm sorry, J.
D.
, but I just can't 'cause there's smoke, and it's crowded I can't do it! You just have to try harder, that's all.
Isn't there some other job I could try? Look, this here's a factory.
You do the job you're set to do.
Well, I can't! You'll get the hang of it.
Oh, please, just let me try something else.
- You're staying right here! - No, I'm not! I can't do it.
I quit! Yeah, but you can't quit! What about the defense effort? What about Hitler? Esther! Esther! All right.
I don't argue with a word you said, but it was how you did it.
I have to live here, you know? I'm sorry, Mama.
Now, things have got to change, and they will, but not the way you're going about it.
I'm really sorry, I'll go back and say the same to Mrs.
Godsey.
Mrs.
Godsey can wait.
I want to know what's going on with you.
You move from New York, you leave no forwarding address, you walk in here and tell me you are home to stay, you've got nothing to say that isn't mean-mouthed and bitter Why are you carrying on like this? The years you spent to get where you are.
And what are you doing? Throwing it all away? Is that because your husband walked out on you? No, Mama.
Then why? I've got some stake in this, too, you know.
All those years you scrimped, saved, denied yourself.
For what? To give you a college education.
Thanks to you, I got it, and it means nothing, Mama.
- Less than nothing.
- Oh, how can you say that? Oh, Mama, you and your damn dream! A college-educated daughter.
Someone to point to, and brag about.
Well, what it did was ruin my life.
You wanted it! I wanted it, till I found out what it would do to me.
But you wrote all those letters.
You said it opened doors for you.
You were given opportunities no colored woman had ever had before.
I lied to you, Mama.
I couldn't bear to tell you what was really going on.
Why? How did it go wrong? I took on your dream.
That was enough.
More than enough.
Then I took on the dream of my professor.
Professor August.
He convinced me I was special.
You were special.
You are.
"Esther," he said, "you know people.
You have a gift for working with people.
"You have a glorious future in personnel work.
" Ah! I was so intelligent, so brilliant.
What a future ahead for this girl.
All the leaders of industry would be hammering at my door the day after I graduated.
Nobody hammered at any door.
Except me.
Me! I beat my fist bloody and no door opened! But you had the diploma.
You had the training.
That's supposed to open doors.
Mama, a black woman screening white job applicants? A black woman telling a white boss how to treat his white workers? There are colored businessmen.
Yes, they were worse.
No uppity college kid coming into their place, taking over their power.
Power to hire and fire, power of life and death.
Get back to your place, girl, get yourself a mop, and a dust rag, and take out the garbage.
And if you're so unhappy, climb in the can and put on the lid.
All these years, I've been believing a lie.
What have you been doing? Don't ask, Mama.
Don't make it worse.
All those years in schools, I never learned the most important thing.
I didn't find out till it was too late.
Nobody wants an educated black woman, Mama.
Nobody.
Whites don't want her.
Her own people don't want her.
And even her husband resents her.
I shouldn't have come back here, Mama.
Now I've taken away what you had.
Your dream.
I'm sorry.
I don't belong here.
There is no place I do belong.
Hey, any luck with the job hunting, Erin? Oh, there's a few possibilities, but they don't pay enough.
Hmm.
Too bad it didn't work out over at Pickett's.
Yeah.
Ben, you're taking stuff out of there faster than I can put it in.
Well, I'm sorry.
No, well, maybe I should have hung on there.
But it was so terrible.
All those mess kits piling up, and J.
D.
Red in the face and yelling.
I'm glad you quit.
Well, I know that there's jobs at that factory that I could do, but J.
D.
Just won't listen.
You're not the only one to quit.
He's lost a lot of people already.
How did J.
D.
Pickett get to be boss anyhow? Who hired him? The way I heard it, the Defense Department put him in business overnight.
Yeah, but if he doesn't deliver, he'll be out just that quick.
I'll bet Esther could help him.
Well, what could she do? Well, she could put the right people in the right jobs.
- Erin, J.
D.
Won't hire Esther.
- Why not? She has the training.
All the training in the world isn't going to impress J.
D.
Pickett.
Her skin's the wrong color, is that what you mean? Erin, I understand how you feel about Esther.
You've admired her for a long time.
We all do but you've got to face facts.
The fact is, she's got something that J.
D.
Needs.
I wish I could take her over there myself.
I'm proud that you feel that strongly but you'd only be letting her in for more hurt.
From what I heard, she can't hurt any worse than she does now.
It's a good thing it's not a sin to be born with red hair.
In that case, half our family would be in trouble.
Mama? Josh, what in the world are you doing out of bed this time of night? I can't sleep.
Child your age can always sleep.
I'm scared, Mama.
Oh, now.
What's there to be scared of? You're not happy.
That scares me.
You're not to worry, understand? I'm gonna be just fine.
Your mama's learned a lesson.
A hard lesson.
From Esther? That's right.
If it's true, what Esther tells me, I have to be careful not to do to you what I did to her.
Make you act out my dream, which will just make you miserable.
I'm sorry Esther feels so low but I don't believe what you wanted was bad.
I don't believe you'd ever want anything that was bad for me.
We think we know.
We want to believe we know what's going to be best for our children, what will give them happiness.
But who knows? Who really knows? I'm going to trust you, Mama.
Any time I'm not sure, I'm going to trust you.
- Harriet asleep? - Mmm-hmm.
Not a worry in the world.
I'd like to trade places.
Esther, I've been thinking a lot about what you said and I'm sorry for what I did.
It hurts to say, but I guess you're right.
I had a dream, and I tried to use you to make it come true.
I lied to myself saying it was your dream and you wanted it too.
But I believed in it, Mama.
To please me.
From now on, please yourself.
It's your life.
Whatever you want to do is fine.
You want to do nothing, nothing at all, that's fine, too.
That's not your way, Mama.
Forget my way.
It doesn't work for you.
Find a way of your own.
Come in.
- Hello.
- Oh, hi, Erin.
- Hi, Erin.
- Come and sit.
I was just going to make some mint tea.
Oh, thank you, Verdie, but I'm on my way over to see J.
D.
Pickett.
Your boss.
Well, he was my boss, till I quit.
And now he wants me to come back.
He must need your help pretty bad.
Well, he can't keep his workers.
And I thought with your training, there might be a job for you over there.
If you were interested.
Well, I'll ride along with you, out of curiosity.
- That is, if you don't mind, Mama.
- I don't mind.
I'll be just a minute.
I'm gonna change.
- I'll take that chair then.
- All right.
- Let me help you with one of these.
- Thank you.
Ah, hi.
Hey, Erin! Good to see you.
No hard feelings.
J.
D.
, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine.
- Esther Grant.
- I'll put you back on the same table.
- I can't do that kind of a job.
- Anybody can do that job.
Okay, who else we got here? I'll use you in the office.
Number three spot on D table.
J.
D.
, would you please talk with Esther? Can't you see I have to deal with all these people? She has special training that can help you.
I already got a good cleaning woman and janitor.
If they need extra help, I'll keep you in mind.
She is a college graduate! She knows more about personnel, hiring It's all right, Erin.
Actually, Mr.
Pickett, I'm not too experienced in mopping toilets and cleaning up white folks' mess.
More what I had in mind was taking over your job.
She's crazy.
This negro is out of her mind.
This negro is better qualified to run this place than you are.
I don't believe what I'm hearing.
This is a nice little plant.
You might have made it pay off with the right approach to personnel.
But, Mr.
Pickett, you are sinking, going under, just like the old Titanic.
Get out of here! You're going to lose your government contract, Mr.
Pickett.
Not because you can't make a good mess kit, but because you have no idea how to find the right people, put them in the right jobs, and keep them happy while they're doing it.
I'm not listening to any more of this! I'll bet you lose half your workers every week, Mr.
Pickett, don't you? And the half that stays does lousy work.
You need help.
Well, I'm going to get help.
From the sheriff, if you ain't off my property in 30 seconds.
I'm leaving! Come on, Esther.
As you go under, Mr.
Pickett, remember a sassy black gal tried to throw you a lifeline, but you were too blind and bigoted to grab it.
Don't take it so hard.
At least you tried to change the way things are.
That was very brave.
It was very stupid.
I don't blame any of you, if you said, "I told you so.
" Well, you stuck your neck out.
That's got to mean something to Esther.
You haven't had a bite to eat.
- Can I fix you some supper? - No.
I wish I'd been there to hear Esther tell old J.
D.
Where to get off! Well, she wasn't doing too much talking by the time we got home.
And the look in her eye was the saddest thing I've ever seen.
That kind of anger takes it out of you.
I've known J.
D.
Pickett all of my life, and tonight I hate him.
Unfortunately, J.
D.
Doesn't know any better.
Verdie is highly thought of around here.
Esther is too.
It's just that they have a different place in the way of things.
It's that place that's keeping them poor, and dependent on people like J.
D.
For work.
I'm glad to see that you care.
Enough people start caring, maybe things will change.
But by that time it'll be too late for Esther.
- Can I give you a hand? - That's very kind of you, Olivia.
Grandma says you can always read a family by its clothesline.
A pair of coveralls means a hard-working man, sparkling sheets, a woman who loves her home.
I'd say there's a very active baby in this family.
You know, Harriet's good and bright and happy, the same way Esther was.
Erin feels real bad about what happened yesterday.
It wasn't Erin's fault.
It was me who taught Esther to think she could step outside of her place.
What's she going to do now? - I don't like thinking about it.
- Have you talked to her? Oh.
A daughter gets to be 26, has a college degree, a mother can't tell her what's right and wrong anymore.
Especially since the daughter thinks the mother's already ruined her life.
You did what you thought was best.
She can't hold that against you.
I wonder.
You don't have to have a college degree to know the hurt of being shut out because you're colored.
Verdie.
You're a good person, Olivia.
A good friend.
Verdie, you forgot this.
Esther hasn't been a mother for very long, but give her time and she'll understand that we all dream of better things for our children.
You stop packing.
Harriet and I are heading north, Mama.
Sit down.
I said, "Sit down.
" We've got some hard truths to face, girl.
- There's no point.
- Hush.
Listen.
Now, first off, I will not have my dream thrown on the trash.
It was a good dream.
Just having it carried me through many a bad times.
It's still a good dream, seeing to it that a smart colored girl gets a college education.
There's nothing wrong in that.
But what does she do when she has the education? That's where the dream goes sour, Mama.
Some people get knocked down a few times, they quit.
They don't even try to get up anymore.
They just lay there where they've been knocked, and they blame their mamas and their professors, anybody that comes to mind.
Only fools keep getting up when they know they're just gonna be knocked down again.
Well, miss, you come from a long line of fools, a line that stretches from here to Africa.
No one in this family has ever been willing to stay down.
And it shames me to think you're setting yourself up to be the first.
You, that's had it the easiest of any.
Easiest? Oh, Mama, you don't know.
I don't know all you've been through and suffered.
But I do know that your great-grandma and your great-grandpa were born into slavery, just as their folks before them.
They came out of slavery, and they struggled their whole lives to show the world they deserved to be free.
I know your grandpa kept walking a path he believed in, no matter how rough it was, so as his children would be a little further along than he was.
Me, I didn't learn how to read and write until I was a woman with grown children, a daughter getting ready to graduate from college.
But I learned.
You've got a daughter now.
What you doing for her? I don't want her to feel what I have felt.
To take what I have had to take.
Then do something about it.
Every generation in this family has boosted the next a little further along.
Nobody ever said it was going to be easy.
Get back in the fight.
I'm tired, Mama.
Tired? Girl, you're too young to be tired.
Time to be tired when you're dead and in your grave.
You've got the best tools to work with of anybody in this whole family.
Use them.
Mama, it is so hopeless.
- We can't win.
- Oh, yes, we can.
We get knocked down a lot, but they can't count us out till we stop getting up! Esther, please get up! Mama, you know, I think you're a little crazy.
And I've tried not to be, but I guess it's part of It's part of being in this family.
What you doing here? We heard that you were lonely, so we came to keep you company.
I'm not hiring.
You're not hiring because there's nobody left to hire.
Word is out on this place, and the way you're running it.
I'm getting along just fine.
But you need help, Esther's help.
Here are my credentials and references.
No way.
You had a big opportunity here, Mr.
Pickett, probably the chance of your lifetime.
But it's going down the drain because you're too stubborn to admit there are a few things you don't know.
Look, I don't need advice from any From you.
Do yourself a favor, Mr.
Pickett.
For one minute, try to forget I'm black.
I'll try to forget you're white.
Look at me and see a college-trained expert in personnel.
Somebody who can screen the job applicants, keep the best, and put them in the jobs they're qualified to do.
Somebody who's trained to deal with absenteeism, employee morale.
One person decides who works here and who don't.
Me! You had it that way, J.
D.
Look where it's gotten you.
There'll be a government inspector in here to find out why you're not meeting your quotas.
Well, he's not coming for a couple of weeks.
You'll be worse off by then.
Mr.
Pickett, if you were bleeding to death, and a doctor knelt down beside you to try and save your life, would you send him away because he was black? All right, so I've been having a little trouble and maybe you could help.
But do you think folks around here are gonna let some Someone like you ask them personal questions, decide whether or not they're gonna get a job? You'll lose some workers if you hire me, but do you really think you'll be worse off than you are this minute? I'll make a deal with you.
Give me a chance.
Two weeks.
If I haven't straightened things out by the time the government inspector comes, I'll quit.
And you won't owe me a cent.
Two weeks? On the other hand, Mr.
Pickett, if you don't give me a chance, I'm going over to the phone and call the FEPC in Washington.
Call the what? The Fair Employment Practices Commission, set up by President Roosevelt to eliminate racial bias in companies working for the government.
You'll be a man without a defense contract.
- You're bluffing.
- Try me.
All right.
Two weeks.
- I'm hired? - You're hired.
But don't get the idea you're going to walk all over me the way you've done today.
You be careful where you step, too, and we're likely to get along just fine.
Now, my first official act as Personnel Director of Pickett Metal Works is to hire Erin Walton as my assistant.
For you that'll be $1.
15.
Well, I understand that your daughter is helping Mr.
J.
D.
Pickett, Jr.
Operate his defense plant.
Esther's personnel director.
My! Isn't that remarkable? She's a remarkable woman.
Yes.
Then, I guess if it works out, she's gonna stay on, huh? Mmm-hmm.
We found a little house Esther can rent, and my sister Alice will come in and take care of the baby.
Well, the war is certainly changing people's lives.
Some changes are long past due.
- Are you ready? - John Curtis is raring to go.
Oh, Mr.
Godsey, would you put my son's name where it rightfully belongs on this sign, under the "F's," or kindly remove it altogether? Thank you.
In those anxious days when the rest of the world seemed to be collapsing under the assault of the Axis Powers, my family and our friends were reassessing the attitudes and illusions that had sustained us in the past.
Under stress, new insights were revealed, the enduring values were reaffirmed, and out of the emotional crucible of the time emerged the strength and confidence on which we could stand to face the critical days ahead.
I see you've come back with the same old suitcase.
Same old suit, same old husband.
Same old wife.
Same old house.
Same old room.
Not quite.
What's different? There's a new lump on my side of the bed.
You want to trade sides? How about we just sleep in the middle? - Goodnight, John.
- Goodnight, Liv.
English - SDH
I don't think I'll ever show my face in Ike Godsey's store again after what was just said.
You didn't say it.
I did.
You're my daughter.
I'm my own person, Mama.
I'm the only one accountable for what I say or do! A mother never stops feeling responsible.
I don't recall inviting you to meddle, Mrs.
Walton.
Your mother's so proud of you.
Mama's been lying to herself about me.
Now the truth has come home and everybody has to live with it, like it or not! In my family, one of the earliest truths we learned was the inevitability of change.
We saw this in the march of the seasons across the land, and in the sometimes bewildering growth of our brothers and sisters.
As World War II edged closer to us all, the patterns of change accelerated, carrying some of us far from home, bringing others back to the mountain with painful consequences.
- You need some new shirts.
- I got a new shirt.
You ought to have a clean shirt for every day you're away.
Why don't you come along with me then, and do my laundry? Now there's a romantic proposal.
Well, we could do other things besides laundry.
You need a new suitcase, too.
Liv, I like my new work but I'm not interested in remodeling John Walton to suit the newest fad.
And I do wish you'd come along with me more often.
Once in a while, fine.
But mostly, I know I'd just be in the way.
Besides, there's plenty here to keep me busy.
I'll be back next Thursday or Friday, and I'll call you in between.
I still say you need a new suitcase.
After you finish your cereal.
Why does he have to have his cereal first? Because it's good for him.
Well, peaches are good for him.
Elizabeth, will you just stay out of this? I'm off to win the war.
The war hasn't even started yet.
- That's the time to win it.
Goodbye, honey.
- Goodbye, Daddy.
I'll get your suitcase, Daddy.
- Come on.
John Curtis, you take care of everybody, all right? Goodbye, honey.
Bye, bye, Daddy.
- Erin, I hope you get that job.
- Bye, Daddy.
- Bye-bye, Daddy.
- What job is he talking about? - At Pickett's.
Pickett Fork and Hoe? I though they'd been closed for years.
No, Jefferson Davis Pickett, Jr.
Has taken his daddy's old factory and turned it into a defense plant.
It's hiring everybody and anybody.
So maybe, just maybe, Erin might get a job.
Thanks, Elizabeth.
I better get started.
These days I have to rush just to stay behind.
- Good morning, Mama.
Open wide.
You know, Mary Ellen, you remind me of a dentist.
Painless Willard, "Open up, it won't hurt a bit.
" Jim-Bob, I would smack you if I didn't think it would be setting a bad example for John Curtis.
Why is it that I always forget that teenagers are still seven parts children? At least, it looks like they've finished their breakfast.
Yeah, everyone except for John Curtis.
I don't think he ever will finish this cereal.
Of course, he will.
He will for me.
Won't you, John Curtis? Oh, that's Jason.
Are you ready to go, Mary Ellen? Yeah.
Mama, don't feel like you have to entertain him every minute.
We entertain each other.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.
Come on, sweetheart.
- Hi, Verdie.
- Oh, Olivia.
I followed the mail truck over.
I'm due a letter from Esther, and Mr.
Godsey's sorting the mail now.
I'll wait with you.
Corabeth is having one of her Ladies' Aid Society meetings.
We're gonna roll some bandages.
I said I'd help out.
Oh.
You've got mighty fine company.
My! How that boy is growing! It seems every time I turn around, he's an inch taller and a pound heavier.
Well, hello, everybody.
Now, I got something for everybody.
John Curtis, look what I got.
Yeah.
And I got a letter here for you, Olivia.
And Verdie, it looks like this one's for you.
It's from John-Boy.
Yes, he sure is faithful.
Boy, he writes no matter where he is.
It's from the north of England.
It makes the job of sorting mail much more interesting.
I get to see those foreign postmarks from all over the world.
Mr.
Godsey, I don't understand.
I wrote this letter to Esther last week and now it comes back to me.
Oh.
Well, don't you see? It says "Moved, no forwarding address.
" But my daughter wouldn't move, not without letting me know.
Post office must have made a mistake.
Verdie, you say the word, we'll send it through again.
No, no, I'll take it along, maybe add more to it.
Why don't you telephone, set your mind at ease? I don't have a number for her.
Oh, did you ladies see the new honor roll? I had it special-made in Charleston.
It certainly is colorful.
Yes, sir.
Every time one of our boys goes into the service, his name goes right up there.
You see, Verdie, we got your son's name right there.
Right there with the rest of them.
I see.
Oh, Olivia! I was just saying, it's not like Olivia Walton to be tardy.
I'm sure Mr.
Godsey has been detaining you.
Now, Corabeth, let's not start that again.
Sometimes I think Mr.
Godsey was born to be a bottleneck.
All right, Mrs.
Godsey, I will remove myself.
Mrs.
Foster.
Do come in, Olivia.
The other ladies are underway.
I hate to leave you, Verdie.
Oh.
Well, Mrs.
Foster, um, perhaps you could form another branch of the auxiliary with your own friends.
My friends and I are already doing our part.
Bye, Verdie.
Bye.
Well, I was just trying to make her feel a part.
You do understand? I understand.
- Sure is a lot of people here.
- Yeah.
Hmm.
- Can you see J.
D? - Nope.
- Wonder what kind of work they're doing.
- I have no idea.
Hey, Jason, Erin! Am I glad to see you.
Ain't this something? These folks are spilling out of the hills, all going to get rich working for J.
D.
Pickett, Jr.
, that is.
Nobody ever got rich working for my daddy.
- Then you are hiring? - You bet I am.
We get rolling, gonna be working three shifts a day, seven days a week.
What are you making? Top secret, but I'll tell you.
Mess kits and canteens.
Doesn't sound like much, now, does it? But you should see the contract the Defense Department gave me.
Didn't know there was that many zeroes.
What do you pay? Start you off at 60 cents an hour.
Forty hours a week.
With overtime, you can easy make yourself $30, $35 a week.
Who else is offering that in this old tater patch? - Oh, I'd like to apply, J.
D.
You got yourself a job.
How about you, Jase? I'm tied up right now, maybe later.
Do I fill out an application? What for? I know you, you know me.
- What kind of work will I be doing? Easy as pie.
The only other jobs I've had were at the switchboard and Relax.
No problem.
Well, what shift will I be working? Um, come in tomorrow at 7:00.
We'll get you going.
I have to deal with some of these other folks now.
Anybody else in your family wants a job, tell them to come talk to J.
D.
- Congratulations.
- I guess.
Can we give you a lift? Esther? Erin? Is that you, Erin Walton? Yes! I thought I recognized you.
Get in.
- You got room? - We'll make room.
I'll put this in back.
- What have you got in here? Gold bullion? - It's mostly the baby's things.
Oh, come here.
- Oh, it's so good to see you.
- You too.
Oh, come in.
Can you hold her for a minute? Oh, sure.
Oh.
You remember my brother Jason, don't you? Are you Verdie's daughter? - That's me, Esther.
- I think you've made a friend.
- She's beautiful.
Better beautiful than smart.
Remember how I used to tag along when you were delivering laundry for your mama? I made you think you were tagging along.
All the time I was getting you to help.
You always were way ahead of the rest of us.
Your mama told us how well you've been doing up north.
Mama's favorite subject, and so boring.
Oh, not to me.
I'd like to have a business career like you.
But I don't know if I have enough courage to do it like you, all alone.
Maybe it looks like courage to you.
I'd say it was being too dumb to know better.
Nobody would ever take you for dumb, not with that college degree and those honors.
Some of the dumbest people I know have college degrees.
Hi.
What are you doing? Reading Favorite Short Stories, and Ancient History.
Both at once? Well, the short story is keeping me from falling asleep while I read the ancient history.
- Oh.
- How did the meeting go? Well, mostly, we tried to keep this young man from unrolling the bandages we just finished rolling.
He gets into everything.
After a whole afternoon at that, one of us is ready for a nap.
How about a little cooperation, John Curtis? You're not making things easy for your grandma.
Here, let me take him upstairs.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
- Oops.
- There you go.
- Come on.
- Take this, too.
Got it.
I'll go start supper.
Esther! Hello, Mama.
Oh.
Josh, it's Esther! I can't believe it.
Hello, Erin.
- Jason.
- Hi, Verdie.
Oh.
- And this must be Harriet.
- Yes.
- Say hi to your grandma.
- Yes, it's all right, darling.
Yes, yes.
Oh, look this side.
You got to get to know your Uncle Josh.
- Hi - Hi, Josh.
- Hi.
- Where's Clint? Clint's gone, Mama, for good.
Gone? We just couldn't work things out.
He claimed he was worn out trying to live up to me and my education.
And I Well it's It's just over.
Oh, honey, I'm sorry.
Oh, but it's so good to have you home for a visit.
Home, period, Mama.
Home to stay.
- There you are, Mama.
- Thanks, son.
I'll chop more kindling after school.
You better run along now or you'll be late.
Won't miss much.
Reading the same old stories.
I know them by heart.
Reciting the nine times tables and the ten times tables.
They are important to know.
At the white kids' school they study science.
What makes things grow, how the stars move in the sky, what they're called.
Well, you'll get all that by and by.
They figure you're black, you don't need to know much.
- Colored.
- Esther says black.
That's New York talk.
Black, colored, still don't give us new books.
That's enough of that kind of talk.
You be glad you're learning what you're learning now, instead of having to wait until you're grown up, the way I did.
Run along now, son.
- Bye, Ma.
- Bye, son.
Ow! This is so nice, watching you fix breakfast, like I was a child again, like I had never been away.
You You've been talking to Josh, haven't you? He was a little late getting started this morning.
Mama, Josh has a head on his shoulders.
I said what I said because I care about him.
Honey, Walton's Mountain and Rockfish, they are not New York City.
I guess I'll have to learn to watch my northern ways.
Well, what do you want to do today? Anything, nothing, I don't really care.
I noticed.
- Esther - Now, Mama.
Give me a little room to breathe.
For a little while, let me just be happy being here.
All right.
And 10 cents' worth of marshmallows.
Josh likes them melted over yams.
Yeah.
Esther, you going to be staying on here with us for a while? I haven't decided yet.
I see.
Well, it must be kind of quiet being around here, after all those years you were in New York.
You know, I was in New York once.
Three days and two nights, and I saw everything.
- Verdie.
- Olivia.
Esther, I heard you were back.
- Esther, you remember Mrs.
Walton? - Of course.
Hello.
We need some more sacks, Mr.
Godsey.
And, oh, Olivia, please go on in.
Excuse me.
Good afternoon, Mrs.
Foster.
This must be your daughter.
I'm sure you're relieved to have her safely back home again.
Those stories about New York City, particularly Harlem.
All the squalor and overcrowding.
I didn't know you'd ever been to Harlem, Corabeth.
Well, Olivia, one reads.
One knows.
I just don't understand why you prefer to live in such hideous conditions.
We might have gone up there to try to improve ourselves.
Oh, but you'd be so much better off here.
Where we care, we understand.
Ah, Esther, come and help me pick out something for the baby.
You're so right, Mrs.
Godsey.
How much happier everybody would be if we forgot about improving ourselves, stayed in our places.
Oh, but don't misunderstand.
I am all for education.
But don't overdo it.
That can be dangerous.
And I'm the living proof.
- Esther.
- I mean, look at me.
An over-educated negro.
College degree.
Magna cum laude.
Not only black but female, a double waste.
Absolutely no utilitarian value, bizarre and an oddity.
Like training a jackass to sing Mozart.
How can that help the dumb beast bear his burden? Now, Esther, wait a second.
Corabeth didn't mean all that.
Esther, please, let's go.
You see, it's the dreams, the false hopes, the illusions that cause pain.
Telling ourselves being black makes no difference, makes all the difference.
The smart people know that.
Like you ladies rolling bandages.
White bandages for white soldiers.
Right? Same as with the blood.
You give white blood, it goes into white bodies, black blood into black bodies.
Now, Mama, you should be rolling black bandages for all the black boys gonna get themselves shot to hell defending this glorious country.
Esther, let's go.
Oh, wait a minute.
Now, what do we have here? Honor roll of our boys in service.
And sure enough, it is segregated.
White boys up there, black boys down there.
War, peace, a place for everybody.
And everybody in his place! I'm sorry.
What's the problem at the table? Hey, Erin, got to get moving, girl.
This table isn't meeting its quota.
I'm sorry, J.
D.
, but I just can't 'cause there's smoke, and it's crowded I can't do it! You just have to try harder, that's all.
Isn't there some other job I could try? Look, this here's a factory.
You do the job you're set to do.
Well, I can't! You'll get the hang of it.
Oh, please, just let me try something else.
- You're staying right here! - No, I'm not! I can't do it.
I quit! Yeah, but you can't quit! What about the defense effort? What about Hitler? Esther! Esther! All right.
I don't argue with a word you said, but it was how you did it.
I have to live here, you know? I'm sorry, Mama.
Now, things have got to change, and they will, but not the way you're going about it.
I'm really sorry, I'll go back and say the same to Mrs.
Godsey.
Mrs.
Godsey can wait.
I want to know what's going on with you.
You move from New York, you leave no forwarding address, you walk in here and tell me you are home to stay, you've got nothing to say that isn't mean-mouthed and bitter Why are you carrying on like this? The years you spent to get where you are.
And what are you doing? Throwing it all away? Is that because your husband walked out on you? No, Mama.
Then why? I've got some stake in this, too, you know.
All those years you scrimped, saved, denied yourself.
For what? To give you a college education.
Thanks to you, I got it, and it means nothing, Mama.
- Less than nothing.
- Oh, how can you say that? Oh, Mama, you and your damn dream! A college-educated daughter.
Someone to point to, and brag about.
Well, what it did was ruin my life.
You wanted it! I wanted it, till I found out what it would do to me.
But you wrote all those letters.
You said it opened doors for you.
You were given opportunities no colored woman had ever had before.
I lied to you, Mama.
I couldn't bear to tell you what was really going on.
Why? How did it go wrong? I took on your dream.
That was enough.
More than enough.
Then I took on the dream of my professor.
Professor August.
He convinced me I was special.
You were special.
You are.
"Esther," he said, "you know people.
You have a gift for working with people.
"You have a glorious future in personnel work.
" Ah! I was so intelligent, so brilliant.
What a future ahead for this girl.
All the leaders of industry would be hammering at my door the day after I graduated.
Nobody hammered at any door.
Except me.
Me! I beat my fist bloody and no door opened! But you had the diploma.
You had the training.
That's supposed to open doors.
Mama, a black woman screening white job applicants? A black woman telling a white boss how to treat his white workers? There are colored businessmen.
Yes, they were worse.
No uppity college kid coming into their place, taking over their power.
Power to hire and fire, power of life and death.
Get back to your place, girl, get yourself a mop, and a dust rag, and take out the garbage.
And if you're so unhappy, climb in the can and put on the lid.
All these years, I've been believing a lie.
What have you been doing? Don't ask, Mama.
Don't make it worse.
All those years in schools, I never learned the most important thing.
I didn't find out till it was too late.
Nobody wants an educated black woman, Mama.
Nobody.
Whites don't want her.
Her own people don't want her.
And even her husband resents her.
I shouldn't have come back here, Mama.
Now I've taken away what you had.
Your dream.
I'm sorry.
I don't belong here.
There is no place I do belong.
Hey, any luck with the job hunting, Erin? Oh, there's a few possibilities, but they don't pay enough.
Hmm.
Too bad it didn't work out over at Pickett's.
Yeah.
Ben, you're taking stuff out of there faster than I can put it in.
Well, I'm sorry.
No, well, maybe I should have hung on there.
But it was so terrible.
All those mess kits piling up, and J.
D.
Red in the face and yelling.
I'm glad you quit.
Well, I know that there's jobs at that factory that I could do, but J.
D.
Just won't listen.
You're not the only one to quit.
He's lost a lot of people already.
How did J.
D.
Pickett get to be boss anyhow? Who hired him? The way I heard it, the Defense Department put him in business overnight.
Yeah, but if he doesn't deliver, he'll be out just that quick.
I'll bet Esther could help him.
Well, what could she do? Well, she could put the right people in the right jobs.
- Erin, J.
D.
Won't hire Esther.
- Why not? She has the training.
All the training in the world isn't going to impress J.
D.
Pickett.
Her skin's the wrong color, is that what you mean? Erin, I understand how you feel about Esther.
You've admired her for a long time.
We all do but you've got to face facts.
The fact is, she's got something that J.
D.
Needs.
I wish I could take her over there myself.
I'm proud that you feel that strongly but you'd only be letting her in for more hurt.
From what I heard, she can't hurt any worse than she does now.
It's a good thing it's not a sin to be born with red hair.
In that case, half our family would be in trouble.
Mama? Josh, what in the world are you doing out of bed this time of night? I can't sleep.
Child your age can always sleep.
I'm scared, Mama.
Oh, now.
What's there to be scared of? You're not happy.
That scares me.
You're not to worry, understand? I'm gonna be just fine.
Your mama's learned a lesson.
A hard lesson.
From Esther? That's right.
If it's true, what Esther tells me, I have to be careful not to do to you what I did to her.
Make you act out my dream, which will just make you miserable.
I'm sorry Esther feels so low but I don't believe what you wanted was bad.
I don't believe you'd ever want anything that was bad for me.
We think we know.
We want to believe we know what's going to be best for our children, what will give them happiness.
But who knows? Who really knows? I'm going to trust you, Mama.
Any time I'm not sure, I'm going to trust you.
- Harriet asleep? - Mmm-hmm.
Not a worry in the world.
I'd like to trade places.
Esther, I've been thinking a lot about what you said and I'm sorry for what I did.
It hurts to say, but I guess you're right.
I had a dream, and I tried to use you to make it come true.
I lied to myself saying it was your dream and you wanted it too.
But I believed in it, Mama.
To please me.
From now on, please yourself.
It's your life.
Whatever you want to do is fine.
You want to do nothing, nothing at all, that's fine, too.
That's not your way, Mama.
Forget my way.
It doesn't work for you.
Find a way of your own.
Come in.
- Hello.
- Oh, hi, Erin.
- Hi, Erin.
- Come and sit.
I was just going to make some mint tea.
Oh, thank you, Verdie, but I'm on my way over to see J.
D.
Pickett.
Your boss.
Well, he was my boss, till I quit.
And now he wants me to come back.
He must need your help pretty bad.
Well, he can't keep his workers.
And I thought with your training, there might be a job for you over there.
If you were interested.
Well, I'll ride along with you, out of curiosity.
- That is, if you don't mind, Mama.
- I don't mind.
I'll be just a minute.
I'm gonna change.
- I'll take that chair then.
- All right.
- Let me help you with one of these.
- Thank you.
Ah, hi.
Hey, Erin! Good to see you.
No hard feelings.
J.
D.
, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine.
- Esther Grant.
- I'll put you back on the same table.
- I can't do that kind of a job.
- Anybody can do that job.
Okay, who else we got here? I'll use you in the office.
Number three spot on D table.
J.
D.
, would you please talk with Esther? Can't you see I have to deal with all these people? She has special training that can help you.
I already got a good cleaning woman and janitor.
If they need extra help, I'll keep you in mind.
She is a college graduate! She knows more about personnel, hiring It's all right, Erin.
Actually, Mr.
Pickett, I'm not too experienced in mopping toilets and cleaning up white folks' mess.
More what I had in mind was taking over your job.
She's crazy.
This negro is out of her mind.
This negro is better qualified to run this place than you are.
I don't believe what I'm hearing.
This is a nice little plant.
You might have made it pay off with the right approach to personnel.
But, Mr.
Pickett, you are sinking, going under, just like the old Titanic.
Get out of here! You're going to lose your government contract, Mr.
Pickett.
Not because you can't make a good mess kit, but because you have no idea how to find the right people, put them in the right jobs, and keep them happy while they're doing it.
I'm not listening to any more of this! I'll bet you lose half your workers every week, Mr.
Pickett, don't you? And the half that stays does lousy work.
You need help.
Well, I'm going to get help.
From the sheriff, if you ain't off my property in 30 seconds.
I'm leaving! Come on, Esther.
As you go under, Mr.
Pickett, remember a sassy black gal tried to throw you a lifeline, but you were too blind and bigoted to grab it.
Don't take it so hard.
At least you tried to change the way things are.
That was very brave.
It was very stupid.
I don't blame any of you, if you said, "I told you so.
" Well, you stuck your neck out.
That's got to mean something to Esther.
You haven't had a bite to eat.
- Can I fix you some supper? - No.
I wish I'd been there to hear Esther tell old J.
D.
Where to get off! Well, she wasn't doing too much talking by the time we got home.
And the look in her eye was the saddest thing I've ever seen.
That kind of anger takes it out of you.
I've known J.
D.
Pickett all of my life, and tonight I hate him.
Unfortunately, J.
D.
Doesn't know any better.
Verdie is highly thought of around here.
Esther is too.
It's just that they have a different place in the way of things.
It's that place that's keeping them poor, and dependent on people like J.
D.
For work.
I'm glad to see that you care.
Enough people start caring, maybe things will change.
But by that time it'll be too late for Esther.
- Can I give you a hand? - That's very kind of you, Olivia.
Grandma says you can always read a family by its clothesline.
A pair of coveralls means a hard-working man, sparkling sheets, a woman who loves her home.
I'd say there's a very active baby in this family.
You know, Harriet's good and bright and happy, the same way Esther was.
Erin feels real bad about what happened yesterday.
It wasn't Erin's fault.
It was me who taught Esther to think she could step outside of her place.
What's she going to do now? - I don't like thinking about it.
- Have you talked to her? Oh.
A daughter gets to be 26, has a college degree, a mother can't tell her what's right and wrong anymore.
Especially since the daughter thinks the mother's already ruined her life.
You did what you thought was best.
She can't hold that against you.
I wonder.
You don't have to have a college degree to know the hurt of being shut out because you're colored.
Verdie.
You're a good person, Olivia.
A good friend.
Verdie, you forgot this.
Esther hasn't been a mother for very long, but give her time and she'll understand that we all dream of better things for our children.
You stop packing.
Harriet and I are heading north, Mama.
Sit down.
I said, "Sit down.
" We've got some hard truths to face, girl.
- There's no point.
- Hush.
Listen.
Now, first off, I will not have my dream thrown on the trash.
It was a good dream.
Just having it carried me through many a bad times.
It's still a good dream, seeing to it that a smart colored girl gets a college education.
There's nothing wrong in that.
But what does she do when she has the education? That's where the dream goes sour, Mama.
Some people get knocked down a few times, they quit.
They don't even try to get up anymore.
They just lay there where they've been knocked, and they blame their mamas and their professors, anybody that comes to mind.
Only fools keep getting up when they know they're just gonna be knocked down again.
Well, miss, you come from a long line of fools, a line that stretches from here to Africa.
No one in this family has ever been willing to stay down.
And it shames me to think you're setting yourself up to be the first.
You, that's had it the easiest of any.
Easiest? Oh, Mama, you don't know.
I don't know all you've been through and suffered.
But I do know that your great-grandma and your great-grandpa were born into slavery, just as their folks before them.
They came out of slavery, and they struggled their whole lives to show the world they deserved to be free.
I know your grandpa kept walking a path he believed in, no matter how rough it was, so as his children would be a little further along than he was.
Me, I didn't learn how to read and write until I was a woman with grown children, a daughter getting ready to graduate from college.
But I learned.
You've got a daughter now.
What you doing for her? I don't want her to feel what I have felt.
To take what I have had to take.
Then do something about it.
Every generation in this family has boosted the next a little further along.
Nobody ever said it was going to be easy.
Get back in the fight.
I'm tired, Mama.
Tired? Girl, you're too young to be tired.
Time to be tired when you're dead and in your grave.
You've got the best tools to work with of anybody in this whole family.
Use them.
Mama, it is so hopeless.
- We can't win.
- Oh, yes, we can.
We get knocked down a lot, but they can't count us out till we stop getting up! Esther, please get up! Mama, you know, I think you're a little crazy.
And I've tried not to be, but I guess it's part of It's part of being in this family.
What you doing here? We heard that you were lonely, so we came to keep you company.
I'm not hiring.
You're not hiring because there's nobody left to hire.
Word is out on this place, and the way you're running it.
I'm getting along just fine.
But you need help, Esther's help.
Here are my credentials and references.
No way.
You had a big opportunity here, Mr.
Pickett, probably the chance of your lifetime.
But it's going down the drain because you're too stubborn to admit there are a few things you don't know.
Look, I don't need advice from any From you.
Do yourself a favor, Mr.
Pickett.
For one minute, try to forget I'm black.
I'll try to forget you're white.
Look at me and see a college-trained expert in personnel.
Somebody who can screen the job applicants, keep the best, and put them in the jobs they're qualified to do.
Somebody who's trained to deal with absenteeism, employee morale.
One person decides who works here and who don't.
Me! You had it that way, J.
D.
Look where it's gotten you.
There'll be a government inspector in here to find out why you're not meeting your quotas.
Well, he's not coming for a couple of weeks.
You'll be worse off by then.
Mr.
Pickett, if you were bleeding to death, and a doctor knelt down beside you to try and save your life, would you send him away because he was black? All right, so I've been having a little trouble and maybe you could help.
But do you think folks around here are gonna let some Someone like you ask them personal questions, decide whether or not they're gonna get a job? You'll lose some workers if you hire me, but do you really think you'll be worse off than you are this minute? I'll make a deal with you.
Give me a chance.
Two weeks.
If I haven't straightened things out by the time the government inspector comes, I'll quit.
And you won't owe me a cent.
Two weeks? On the other hand, Mr.
Pickett, if you don't give me a chance, I'm going over to the phone and call the FEPC in Washington.
Call the what? The Fair Employment Practices Commission, set up by President Roosevelt to eliminate racial bias in companies working for the government.
You'll be a man without a defense contract.
- You're bluffing.
- Try me.
All right.
Two weeks.
- I'm hired? - You're hired.
But don't get the idea you're going to walk all over me the way you've done today.
You be careful where you step, too, and we're likely to get along just fine.
Now, my first official act as Personnel Director of Pickett Metal Works is to hire Erin Walton as my assistant.
For you that'll be $1.
15.
Well, I understand that your daughter is helping Mr.
J.
D.
Pickett, Jr.
Operate his defense plant.
Esther's personnel director.
My! Isn't that remarkable? She's a remarkable woman.
Yes.
Then, I guess if it works out, she's gonna stay on, huh? Mmm-hmm.
We found a little house Esther can rent, and my sister Alice will come in and take care of the baby.
Well, the war is certainly changing people's lives.
Some changes are long past due.
- Are you ready? - John Curtis is raring to go.
Oh, Mr.
Godsey, would you put my son's name where it rightfully belongs on this sign, under the "F's," or kindly remove it altogether? Thank you.
In those anxious days when the rest of the world seemed to be collapsing under the assault of the Axis Powers, my family and our friends were reassessing the attitudes and illusions that had sustained us in the past.
Under stress, new insights were revealed, the enduring values were reaffirmed, and out of the emotional crucible of the time emerged the strength and confidence on which we could stand to face the critical days ahead.
I see you've come back with the same old suitcase.
Same old suit, same old husband.
Same old wife.
Same old house.
Same old room.
Not quite.
What's different? There's a new lump on my side of the bed.
You want to trade sides? How about we just sleep in the middle? - Goodnight, John.
- Goodnight, Liv.
English - SDH