The Long Song

ROSE: You have a fine son.

JULY: A new slave.

ROBERT: Slavery will be finally abolished.

I love you.

I am to be married to Robert Goodwin!

ROBERT: You are my true wife, July.

(screaming) I will need you all to work seven days a week.

It be Christmas.

This is for the good of us all.

ALL: Christmas a come, me wan me lama ROBERT: I'll make them beg to work for me.

(insects chirping) OLDER JULY (voiceover): That Christmas, the sugar cane grew sweeter and taller than ever before seen in Jamaica.

Now it must be cut, boiled, barreled, and sold.

Or Amity Plantation would be finished.

But how all this get done now slaves be free?

(rooster crowing) Robert Goodwin could think of nothing else but bringing his harvest home.

(Emily crying) Where you going?

(crying continues) I have to work.

Just go back to sleep.

OLDER JULY: And July did fear her sweet, sweet husband prepare for battle.

(grunts, horse nickers) (chickens clucking, dog barking) Dublin?

Dublin!

Come!

Come now!

Come!

(goat bleating) Come!

What it say?

Come read it.

DUBLIN: Massa gone double our rent!

PEGGY: No true!

True!

And hear this: start from today.

(worried murmuring) JAMES: Him try force us work seven days!

(grabs paper, tears it up) Slavery.

Slavery has returned to Amity.

OLDER JULY (voiceover): And so did battle commence.

(disgruntled chatter) (chatter growing louder) Them coming from the village!

(disgruntled chatter) It's quite all right, I'm expecting them.

(birds twittering) Massa, we not...

I know why you've come.

And I wish to explain that I have taken this measure of increasing your rents for your own good.

You've all lived too long as slaves to really understand what's now in your own best interests.

But Massa, that not be right.

No, no, listen... You must understand that your houses, they belong to me.

Therefore I can rent them out to whomever I choose for whatever price I choose.

That's my right, you see, as a landowner.

So, it will now be better for you to work seven days a week, because then you will be able to pay the new rent.

And anyone who does not pay the rent in full will be evicted.

(disgruntled murmurs) I am doing this for your own benefit.

(claps hands softly) I am.

(claps hands softly) Because whatever benefits the plantation, it benefits you, the workers.

But Massa... (yells): Let me finish!

Let me finish.

(birds twittering) Let's put the past behind us, right?

For once.

And let's come together, seven days a week, and let's make Amity Plantation once more the pride of Jamaica, of England, and of her great empire!

Yes?

(forcefully): Yes?

(more forcefully): Yes?!

(slowly): No.

(Robert breathing heavily) (soft chuckle) OLDER JULY (voiceover): One small word 300 years coming.

(Caroline chuckles) Mm, well spoken, husband.

(breathing heavily) (deep inhale, exhale) (Robert breathing heavily) (workers shouting) (fire crackling) ROSE: Me see it!

Him ride up and him nail it to the tree!

JAMES: Hush up, hush up, hush up.

Hush up, hush up now!

Shhh!

Massa no hear we.

(muttered responses) Him say we mus' work as him direct or him will t'row us out of we home!

Not fair, he can't t'row we out!

JAMES: 'Tis what him say.

We not pay more rent!

ROSE: No more rent!

(group agreeing) Where we gone get the money?

Hush up, hush up!

Hear me now!

There be lands to the west of here, pas' the cotton tree, where no white man go.

No rent be paid, no bakkra come.

And there we could live, free.

(crowd agreeing) EZRA: But the land be bad there.

Too many stone and rock!

No water, we can't make it work there.

PEGGY: We have we home here!

Our garden feed we!

It's here we must stay!

(shouts of agreement) JAMES: There be only one way to make the massa listen.

PEGGY: How?

We stop work, and we pay no rent!

(cheers) Then him gone hear we!

(group agreeing) OLDER JULY (voiceover): Next daybreak, the conch was not blown.

For three long days, the fields lay empty, the ripe cane rotting in the sun.

And for three long nights, Robert Goodwin did not sleep.

(audio distorted): No.

(Emily crying) (footsteps) (Emily crying) (making lines on paper) (crying) Shh... (writing) (making lines) (writing) (Emily crying) (heavy breathing, Emily's cries muffled) JULY (voiceover): Molly!

Molly!

(sucking teeth) (panting) JULY (yells): Molly!

(water sloshing) (distant shouts) (sets bucket down) (sucks teeth) (July picks up bucket, door opens and closes) (tea pouring) (yelping in terror): For pity's sake!

Get it away, get it away!

Get it away!

(Emily starts crying) No, it's all right, it's all right It's all right.

God Almighty!

It be gone, it be gone!

No, no-- it be gone!

How many times have I told you to rid this place of them?

Come, come, come, come, sit.

Sit down, eat.

Me have bread and boil egg and tea.

No, no.

Do you want mango?

The men will be here soon.

And I want to be there to meet them.

So just join me there once you've seen to the child.

And bring the map.

(door opens and shuts) (sighs) (rooster crowing) Molly.

You can keep her close to you.

Make her stay inside?

All right.

You have cow milk?

Mm.

Fresh?

Fresh this morning.

All right.

Give it to her if she wake, all right?

(Emily crying) Oh, Mama soon come.

(kisses) (Emily wailing) (horse neighing, distant voices) Elias, come.

ROBERT: Firstly, I want to make this plain.

This day is to serve as a warning to all the workers on this plantation, understood?

(muttered responses) Right, show the map.

(horse neighs) Come on, boy, show the map!

JACKSON: Whoa, easy, whoa, whoa, whoa, easy.

(horse neighs) ROBERT: Come on, come on, quickly!

The workers' village is there, do you see it?

Our first task will be to ride in and set fire to their gardens.

Burn their crops to the ground.

We should burn them out?

No, no, no.

Do not burn their houses down.

They'll be needed again once the Negroes have agreed to return to work.

Now, these fires should bring the workers out into the fields to try and save their crops.

That will be our cue to move inside their houses where only the women and children will remain.

But you can throw their belongings out into the lanes, kill their animals, trample their crops, make as much noise as possible.

And we can use our guns?

Yes, yes, but with care-- I do not want anyone killed.

And be in no doubt, gentlemen, I mean to frighten every last one of those Negroes and make it plain that I will evict anyone who does not work exactly as I direct-- yes?

(men agreeing) May God protect and help us this day as we do Thy work!

(urges horse) Come on!

(men urging horses) ELIAS: That be all?

(scoffs) CAROLINE: Marguerite!

(insects chirping) Marguerite, where are you?

(breathing slowly) Marguerite!

(dog barking in distance) (latch undoing) Marguerite, he hasn't come back.

Is he in here with you?

No, him not here.

What...

It's actually quite pleasant in here.

(sucks teeth) (voice trembling): I'm so worried about him.

What if he's been set upon?

What if he's lying somewhere, injured?

What if...

I don't know what to do.

Would you come up and sit with me?

Me must look after me pickney.

Emily, me little girl.

She mus' be fed.

(Emily cooing) You may, you may bring the child.

Me no have to serve you no more.

(softly): Please.

The Negroes drove him to this action.

What other course could he have taken?

He's tried so hard, he's done everything he could.

Negroes cannot be reasoned with.

If these abolitionists in England had actually lived with slaves, they would know that... freeing them is folly-- is folly!

I've been here before, I know how this happens.

(Caroline continues, voice fades) (screaming) It's not his fault.

(horses neighing, people screaming and running) (indistinct shouting) (woman screams in distance) (Emily cooing) CAROLINE: Oh, this dear little one.

So light-skinned.

You look just like him.

Not like a (no audio) child at all.

(Emily fussing) She's adorable-- what did you say she was called?

(door opens) CAROLINE (gasps): Robert, oh, God, what's happened?

ROBERT: It's been a great success.

We've triumphed.

They finally understand where their duty lies.

Robert... To their master and to God.

CAROLINE: Robert, you're safe!

They're to commence taking off four of the cane pieces tomorrow morning at conch blow.

(Caroline laughs) They've assured me of it.

CAROLINE: Well done!

Yes!

Yes, if my father were here today, I believe he would shake my hand.

Yes, he would!

He would.

Sit down.

All right.

Yes.

Yes-- oh, God, you've been hurt!

Oh, will you bring some water quickly, Marguerite?

ROBERT: No, it's fine.

(breathing heavily): Yes.

ROBERT: You heard your mistress, Marguerite.

Bring some water.

CAROLINE: You've done it!

Will they cut the cane now?

It'll get in on time?

James has told me they will.

(insects chirping) OLDER JULY (voiceover): That night was the first night since him baby born that Robert Goodwin did not come to his maidservant's bed.

And though she lay awake all night in hope, the new day dawned silent once again.

(breathing evenly) You're still here, husband.

(sniffs) What?

Did the conch blow?

Did you hear the conch?

No.

(panting) Jackson!

Jackson!

Bring my horse!

Where's Papa, hm?

(chickens clucking) When's Papa coming home?

ELIAS: Where be Miss July?

Miss July!

Miss July!

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Where be the massa?

Massa in the east field.

Him not right, Miss July.

Him hurt?

Him not hurt, but him not good.

CAROLINE: What is it?

What's wrong with him, boy?

He not speak, Missus!

JULY: Molly!

Molly.

Take Emily, keep her safe with you till we get back, yeah?

And what are you doing?

Bring him home, him not right.

CAROLINE: What?

Wait!

Wait!

Help me, boy, help me!

(July murmurs) (Elias urges horse) JULY: Husband!

(urging horse) CAROLINE: Robert!

JULY: Where he be?

ELIAS: He be here before, right here.

(Elias urging horse) CAROLINE: Robert!

(urges horse) Where, where... Where are all the Negroes?

(sugarcane rustling) Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Husband!

(Robert grunting, hacking sugarcane) (softly): Come.

Come, husband, what you be doing?

(murmurs) Please, you mus' stop this!

(grunting heavily) You cannot cut cane.

Husband, please!

The Negroes have all gone.

Every one of them.

They've deserted me.

(chuckles) There's not one left on the whole plantation.

There's not one left!

You come.

Come, mm?

Come.

Just come back to the house and rest.

You is... No, no, no!

You is not right, Robert!

No!

I've no need for Negroes now, look.

Look, I can do it myself, look!

Robert, please, stop!

Come, come, stop this.

Do not touch me!

(murmuring): Robert!

(choking) How dare you touch me!

I told you not to touch me!

I told you not to touch me!

Mercy, Massa!

Don't touch me!

Mercy, Massa!

Robert, what are you doing?!

(shrieking and sobbing) (panting) (crying) ROBERT: I'm not...

I'm just trying to... (sobbing) OLDER JULY (voiceover): What had become of July's so-sweet, true-true husband?

Gone.

(shuts book) (insect wings flapping, crickets chirping) (gasps, objects clattering) (gasping and panting) OLDER JULY: But what of the workers who once toil so hard at Amity?

Where did they go?

Them flee that burning village to find the lands that Dublin Hilton did speak of.

James Richards did make the plan for the felling of trees and the building of huts.

Clearing the land for the planting of crops was driven by Peggy Jump.

Here, at last, they would be undisturbed by white men.

Come now.

All for this...

This...

This be free.

OLDER JULY (voiceover): And without them, all Robert Goodwin's fine dreams lay in tatters.

(chickens clucking) (Caroline speaking softly) (sniffles) Robert?

Robert, I beg you.

(whimpers) I beg you.

Whisper what is wrong so that it might be made right.

Talk to me.

(exhales softly) Robert, you must take water.

You must!

(Robert breathing softly, Caroline panting) Robert, you must take water, otherwise, you will die.

Come on, please!

Me mus' try!

No, no!

He will take water from me.

You!

No, out, out, get out!

CAROLINE: He cannot see any Negroes now-- the doctor has made it quite plain.

It is Negroes that have caused him this illness!

But me make him well again-- him need no bakkra doctor!

It is absolutely out of the question!

I forbid you from going into that room-- get away!

(Emily crying) And keep that child quiet!

(crying continues) (approaching footsteps) ROBERT (mumbling): Emily?

Robert!

(Emily crying) (Robert exhales heavily) ROBERT: Emily.

Shh... Hush, shh, hm?

You were shouting.

Mm-hmm.

Hm.

(Emily cooing) (footsteps retreating) (July clicking tongue softly) Marguerite.

I would like to take the child to see Robert.

I think it might help him.

(Emily crying) No.

No, me can take her to him.

That's simply not possible.

You know I cannot risk him being any further upset.

Marguerite.

It's his life.

It's life.

(Emily's crying softens) When he wakes and he asks for you, then you may go in.

Until then, I cannot take the risk.

(Emily crying) Then me can see him?

When he asks for you, yes.

May I?

(Emily crying) (Emily crying) CAROLINE: Here.

Here she is.

Robert, I've brought you Emily.

(Emily cooing) OLDER JULY (voiceover): After that, Emily was brought to Robert Goodwin for a short while every day.

Soon he would take water, tea, and milk.

(chopping) Why, hm?

Miss July, why you stay here?

Wha'?

Well, him not even look 'pon you no more.

Only have eyes for him Miss Emily.

That not be true.

That be true.

All do know it.

No, no, no, no, no.

Yes, yes!

Him try kill you!

(chopping stops) Him be sick.

And me make him well again.

No, it's no good, Marguerite.

Byron is under strict instruction not to let you in.

But me mus' see him.

No.

No, no, I've told you a hundred times.

He hasn't asked for you, so... You cannot keep me from him.

Me is a free woman now, jus' like you.

No.

He does not want to see you.

He said so himself.

Then him no see Emily no more.

Well...

It matters not.

He's getting stronger by the day, and as soon as he is well enough, we will leave for England.

That day can't come soon enough-- Molly.

Molly!

(keys jangling) (Emily fussing) Come on... Mamma gon' rock... (muffled voices, wood creaking) Mm, Papa... Mamma gon' rock... (Caroline gasping in distance) (moaning, heavy breathing) Robert, my love.

Yes, yes!

(moaning, heavy breathing from house) (softly): Hey.

You is to place this dish before the massa, do y'hear?

Yes, Miss July.

(indistinct chatter) The massa, not the missus.

Mm-hmm.

And don't drop it!

Yes, Miss July.

All right.

ROBERT: Well, that is the idea, yes?

CAROLINE: What does he have to say in his letter, my dear?

ROBERT: Father says we shouldn't take the stagecoach from London when we arrive, but hire a carriage and pair to bring us to Chesterfield instead.

CAROLINE: Mm-hmm.

More comfortable, he says.

And safer.

(sighs): I can only hope our voyage home is calmer than the one that brought me here.

It was the worst possible journey-- storms were appalling.

Well, they can be dreadful, yes, of course.

What's this?

Christ Almighty-- Jesus!

What?

Oh, my God!

Get them off!

Get them off me!

(yelling, panicking) (chuckling) (shouting, panicking) (distant chatter) Byron, Byron.

(softly): Remember Miss July is not to be allowed anywhere near the house or the garden, hm?

Do not let her return to her room until we've quite departed.

And do not under any circumstances permit her to approach either the mistress or myself.

Understood?

BYRON: Yes, Massa.

(loudly): Neither of us wishes to bid her any sort of goodbye.

Savvy?

Savvy-- savvy, boy?

Yes, Massa.

Good, right, go!

SERVANTS: Mistress... (driver urges horse) (driver urges horse) Me have milk-- fresh.

You wan' me take Miss Emily an' feed her?

(Emily fussing) (birds chirping) (wind blowing) (waves lapping) (Emily cooing) ROBERT (voiceover): I love you.

Never, never doubt that.

(Emily crying) I'm yours.

(horse neighing loudly) Molly!

Molly!

Molly!

(chickens clucking) Elias.

Hm?

Where Molly be?

Miss Molly not here-- she gone.

Wha'?

Where she go?

She be gone to England with the missus.

Me took them in the cart.

Did she... Did she have pickney?

Mm-hmm.

She carried the massa's pickney with her.

Wha'... No, no, no, no... ELIAS: Them gone!

Ship sail!

(yells) Miss July, ship already sail.

(sobbing) (screams and sobs) OLDER JULY (voiceover): And what did become of our July?

She did pack up her belongings into a cloth bag and walk in upon the town.

And there did she rent for herself a fine shop and lodging house.

And such was the demand from travelers of the very highest rank that our July grew richer and richer.

(exhales) (horses neighing and trotting) OLDER JULY: So there is no need to feel pity for the plight of our July, oh, no.

(door shuts) Tcha!

If only that were true.

(footsteps shuffling) After Emily was taken, there was only one place our July knew to go.

By the time she reached there... (falls to ground) She barely had breath left in her.

Lord!

Hey, come 'ere!

Me think it be the girl from the house!

(indistinct chatter) (people clamoring) Give me space!

July.

(July whimpering) Shh, you're safe...

OLDER JULY (voiceover): Here, she was tenderly nursed back to health.

(whispering) OLDER JULY: And them free Negroes did give her food and shelter, and with them she did settle.

(whispering) We gon' take care of you.

WOMAN: We'll make you well again.

(July murmuring) Shh.

(women whispering, water trickling) OLDER JULY: But I have not the stomach to tell of the trouble them all did see on that stony scrap of land.

Must I write of the planters come to burn them out?

(children playing) OLDER JULY: Of drought and flood and earthquake?

Of hunger and of yellow fever?

Or of digging the earth for so many graves?

No.

(indistinct chatter) OLDER JULY: All I will say is that July did grow old.

Until one day... Oi!

Where d'you get that chicken?

I, I don't do nothin!

You stole it!

I don't do nothin.

Take your hand offa me, what you doing?

Let me go!

(gavel banging) MAGISTRATE: Silence!

Quiet!

CLERK: The next case concerns the larceny of a domestic hen, your worship.

Very well, get on with it.

CLERK: Place your hand upon the Bible.

Tell the court your full name.

(ragged breathing) M... M...

Speak up to the court!

(magistrate sighs) For pity's sake!

Someone fetch her some water.

(sighs) While we're waiting, let's hear the facts.

(clears throat): Your worship, the accused was found by the town constable at 2:00 yesterday afternoon.

She was in possession of a fowl which he established had been stolen from one of the market vendors.

MAGISTRATE: Hm, well, I see.

Where does she live?

Where does she work?

CLERK: She is a squatter on the lands that border the old Amity plantation, your worship.

Used to be a number of Negroes living there, but the land is poor and many have succumbed to starvation.

There's only a handful left.

(July sips water) (slowly, clearly) Can you now speak your name?

July.

MAGISTRATE: July?

July what?

Me no steal the hen!

Someone 'pon Allen Pen did give it to me to raise, and me did raise it!

MAGISTRATE: Is she saying she owned the hen herself?

JULY: Me place me hand 'pon the book and Lord strike me down if me not speak true!

MAGISTRATE: What?

CLERK: She is prepared to swear upon the Bible, your worship.

MAGISTRATE: Has she been in front of us before?

CLERK: It seems not, your worship.

(magistrate groans) Let her go!

It's too hot to be dealing with this kind of trivia.

Case dismissed.

(gavel pounds) And what of me hen?

He make me lose it!

It was the only hen and now me have none!

(door slams) (indistinct voices, approaching footsteps) Excuse me, madam.

Madam, you are July... July of Amity plantation?

You were once a slave on that plantation, I believe.

No, not me.

But I believe you are, I...

I was in the courtroom just now.

Madam... My name is Thomas Kinsman.

Please.

Would you permit me to escort you to my house, to give you some food and drink?

OLDER JULY (voiceover): At first, I did not trust this shiny-shoe Black man.

I believed his charity to be a trick.

And yet, my belly was empty.

Come, what did I have left to lose?

Hm.

Are you quite comfortable, madam?

Why you talk so?

I was brought up in England.

I went to school in the great city of London.

I was just 12 years old when I was apprenticed to a printer in that city.

Although I was the only Black boy in his employment, he treated me fairly and judged me on my merit alone.

In time, he taught me everything he knew about his trade, that printer.

OLDER JULY: Did this man desire a servant to scurry and run?

No, no, no.

I would never serve again.

Here we are.

Come, meet my wife, Lilian.

(children playing) (driver calls to horse) (footsteps) Thank you, my dear.

(Lilian speaks softly) (chair slides on floor) Come.

You see... madam...

I, I sold up that printing business in London and, and decided to start afresh here in Jamaica, because... All my life I've had a question-- a, a burning question.

I, I had these papers, you see...

OLDER JULY (voiceover): Why this man was recounting this long, long tale I did not know.

I resolved to eat his food and leave.

Madam, I have been searching ever since I arrived here.

Public records, the court lists, libraries.

(chuckles): I'd nearly given up hope of finding you alive.

Madam, these papers tell of a baby left on the steps of a Baptist church 34 years ago.

The minister's wife, she found out the name of the young slave girl who left the child.

July.

Of Amity plantation.

Madam...

I was that baby.

(children giggling) OLDER JULY (voiceover): And I have lived within my son's house from that day to this.

LILIAN: Corine!

Louise!

OLDER JULY: My son, him bid me write my story down and he will make it into a printed book, bound in leather and stamped in gold.

It is important, him say.

I still think of my baby girl, grown up now in England.

Does she know her true mama was born a slave?

Maybe my book reach her.

One day.

(indistinct chatter) THOMAS: Mama, come!

We have a feast!

OLDER JULY: My story is finally at an end.

The long song has come full up to date.

("Hill and Gully Rider" playing softly) But my voice is only one among so, so many that are now lost, but whose lives should never be forgotten.

Hill and gully Hill and gully rider Hill and gully Hill and gully rider Hill and gully ("Hill and Gully Rider" fades out) ANNOUNCER: Go to our website, listen to our podcast, watch video, and more.

To order this program, visit ShopPBS.

"Masterpiece" is available with PBS Passport and on Amazon Prime Video.