Voila! Finally, the Lackawanna Blues
script is here for all you fans of the HBO movie starring Terrence Howard,
S. Epatha Merkerson, Mos Def, Macy Gracy, etc. This script is a transcript that was painstakingly
transcribed using the screenplay and/or viewings of Lackawanna Blues. I know, I know, I still need to get the cast names in there and I'll be eternally
tweaking it, so if you have any corrections, feel free to
drop me a line. You won't
hurt my feelings. Honest.
Hmm?
I'm on my way.
Come on, Nanny.
Come on, Mama, please.
Come on, Nanny.
Please, Nanny, come on.
Come on, Nanny.
Please, Nanny. Come on now.
Mama, please!
Mama, please, come on.
Come on.
Come on! Come on!
Come on.
Come on, Nanny.
Come on, Nanny.
That's right, Nanny. Come on.
Come on, Nanny.
Come on.
Please, Mama.
Please, Mama. Come on!
Come on.
Come on! Come on!
Hey!
You want these nice
and iced, Miss Samson?
Aw, he don't know
what to do with that!
Piss off now.
Come on!
Go on, man!
I better stop
before I hurt somebody!
Hey, baby!
In Lackawanna, New York,
like all Great Lakes cities
was jumpin'!
- Where's your mom at?
- Back home in Tennessee!
And in the middle
of it all,
Rachel Crosby... "Nanny,"
that's what
we all called her.
Or just plain "Mama. "
I want you to hit me
like Sugar Ray Robinson
do a white man!
That's the only place he can
and get away with it!
You hear me!
Now seeing what
a colored person could have
if they worked hard
and was in the right place,
Nanny rushed back
to her home town... Farmville, Virginia
- in that old Buick...
- Y'all having a good time?!
- Yeah!
- All right then!
...to bring more folks
up north.
Yeah! When I win this night,
I'm gonna send in some money
to the N.A.A.C.P.!
Help keep
Martin Luther King outta jail!
Hey, Mother!
Wish me luck.
Luck is you getting
outta Georgia alive!
Nanny was one of those country folk
to have a taste of the city.
Listen now, y'all, we've got to
get this food out of here!
We've got some
hungry people, baby!
And they partook
and they partied!
Here it comes!
Woo!
Yeah!
Oh, this man!
I dreamed about you
last night
and here you come.
Let me get you your key
and a plate, all right?
- Hey, Pauline.
- Hey, Nanny.
All right, girl!
Jimmy!
Yeah, Mama!
Pauline, come on,
girl, huh?
- You look so good tonight!
- Thank you, baby.
- You look so pretty!
- Thank you, Nanny.
Doll, how come you didn't
finish the back of your head?
I didn't want to be
late for the fish fry.
- You look pretty.
- Honey, I know I do. You do, too!
- Thank you, baby.
- All right, thank you.
- Where are you going?
- You know where.
You ain't gonna start
no mess up in here tonight, right?
- No, you know me.
- I know you better not.
Where are you from?
Segregation forced those folks
to make their own heaven on earth.
And Nanny's Friday night
fish fry was the place to be!
Hey, Daddy!
- Y'all like this new car, don't you?!
- Aha!
Now, for most folks, this was
just another Friday night.
But for me,
this night was special.
Whoo!
It was the night
my journey with Nanny began.
- Ma! Ma!
- Hey!
Ma, where's Ma?!
Whoa, whoa, whoa,
Hold it, Ruben. Calm down.
- She's going to have a baby right now!
- Oh my God! Okay.
Bitch, I will pitch it so loud,
throw it in your goddamn face!
Pauline!
Have you lost
your whole mind?
Please, Ma, you come, okay?
See the baby.
One minute. If you don't
straighten this out before I get back,
I'll do it for you! Bill, make sure
she stay out of trouble.
- Ma, come.
- Go, okay, okay.
Alean!
Oh, Lord have mercy.
Ruben, get me some hot water
and all the clean towels
you can find.
You ain't leaving yet,
is you?
- Ruben, move!
- Yes, right now.
Ruben! Where's
that hot water, boy?
I'm going right now, Ma.
All right, this baby
ready to come!
It's me and you now, okay?
Come on, you can do it.
You can do it!
Yes, Lord, have mercy!
Push, baby. Come on.
- Yes!
- Yeah.
- Yes!
- Yeah.
- Yes!
- Yeah.
Yes, push!
Ruben!
Push!
- You're crazy!
- Jimmy Lee, I love you, baby!
Calm down!
Give me the knife!
- You've done lost your mind, Pauline!
- Jimmy!
Shh, shh...
It's okay,
it's okay.
Ooh, thank you, Jesus.
Thank you.
That wouldn't be the last time
Nanny came to my rescue.
By the time I was two,
Alean and my dad had split.
Clean sheets.
She figured she'd make a pit stop
at Nanny's rooming-house
- till she got back on her feet.
- Here you go, Einstein.
Why must we equate
intelligence with white men?
What of W.E.B. DuBois?
Alain Locke!
Alexandre Dumas.
Next you'll tell me
Jesus was a Negro.
And Jesus! Mohammed!
Dinah Shore.
Clean sheets.
Clean sheets.
Excuse me.
- Where is she at?
- At the Flame, she's a barmaid there.
Run over there,
tell her the baby with me.
- I wanna see her when she get off work.
- Yes, ma'am.
Hey, I'm headed over to Maxie's,
so don't wait up for me.
Have I ever?
What you doing with the little curly-headed
rascal anyway?
He's spending the night with us.
Want some sherbet, baby?
Don't put him in my bed.
He'll keep me up
all night tossin' and turnin'.
We'll you ain't
gonna be in it.
Bill was Nanny's husband,
a big ol' yellow Geechee boy,
years her junior.
- I'll see y'all.
Mm-hmm.
Mm!
Show me how
what you do. Yeah.
Ooh, let me see
if I can do that.
He's sleeping good,
so I ain't gonna bother him.
- That makes sense.
- Nanny, we need to talk.
Yes, we do.
Just 'cause you
letting me stay here
don't give you no right to go
in my room and take my baby.
Alean, ain't nobody
took nothing from you.
You can't leave that child
in a room by hisself.
- That ain't right.
- It ain't right you invade my privacy.
Well, I'll invade Russia
when a baby is concerned.
Now, you ought to let his father
keep him when you're working.
Nanny, I can
take care of my baby.
I am working my ass off,
got two jobs, and I'm doin'
the best I can.
I'm just down
the street at The Flame,
and I'm running back and forth
checking on him every chance I get.
- He's asleep, Nanny.
- What if the child wake up?
- He'll be scared to death.
- Nanny.
Look, 'cause you and Ruben
can't make it,
don't mean the child
got to suffer.
Let me keep him
when you go to work,
that way you ain't got to worry about him
and I ain't got to worry about him.
- Plus, he'll get a nice hot meal.
- Nanny, I feed my baby!
You ain't got
to worry about him,
and I ain't got
to worry about him.
It ain't
no trouble at all.
Ricky come up in The Flame and she
putting my business in the street.
I know I'm a good mother.
We ain't worried about
what nobody else say.
This here is
between you and me.
Let me help you with this child
till you're able to help yourself.
Everybody need
a little help sometime.
Nanny, I appreciate
you trying to...
This my baby.
And I always...
Nanny, I love...
I take care of him.
Listen at me
good now.
We both want what's best
for this child.
I know how much
you love Junior,
but I also know you up
against a lot right now.
Now, I'm gonna always be here
for you and this baby,
you understand?
Now, we gonna try this.
See how it work out.
And things did work out
for a while.
See you later.
Can you wave
goodbye for me?
Yay, little man!
Hands up. Yay!
- Have you been practicing?
- Mm-hmm.
See you later.
That girl done gone and got
herself locked up again.
Alean? How come...
Hi, Nanny.
Hi, Ruben Daddy.
Breaking into some clothing store,
the policemen took them all downtown.
I went down there
and made bail for her.
- Where's Junior?
- He's upstairs getting his baseball.
- What she say to you, man?
- I didn't stay.
- I was too upset at her.
- How could she do something like this?
- Look, I want my son.
- Look...
No, how come she don't
give to me my son?
- That's his mother.
- You his mother.
You.
Listen,
go on to
the baseball game.
Try to have a good time and forget
about this mess for now.
- This is not right.
- I'll talk to her later.
She gonna be by here.
Hey.
Hey, Junior.
We're going
to the game, man.
Going to catch a ball.
Perfect!
No, I got it, man,
for real!
You better look out now.
You better not be out here
smoking that stuff.
Go on now, Bill. Your seat's
getting cold up at The Flame by now.
Alean, girl, Nanny up there
waiting on you.
Ricky, do me a favor
and go pull her to the side
and tell her I'm out here.
I'll split the cards.
- Go ahead, come on, come on.
- King of clubs.
- King of clubs.
- What you got over there?
- Who's winning?
- I'm winning. Bam!
What you tell Junior?
Nothing.
I'm gonna let you tell him.
This is the second time I had to
come down there and get you out of jail.
I don't know what you be
thinking sometimes.
Just trying to provide
for my child.
I can't do that
if I ain't got nothing.
That boy has been bouncing around
since he was two years old.
That's just the path
I've been on, Nanny.
Wherever I'm going,
my baby's going too.
Now what sense
does that make?
You in a stew, so he
got to be in a stew?
Nanny! I won.
Nanny, I won, I won, I won.
- Ma, I won!
- You did?
That's my baby.
Now you go on back in the house
and we'll be in soon.
- Nanny, are you gonna play again?
- Do like your mama said.
Aren't we going
to play one more game?
Why you have to go
and steal, huh, Alean?
- Ruben, don't start with me.
- What is wrong with your head?
You're supposed to be this boy's mother.
You're like a child yourself.
- Don't tell me how to be a mother.
- Go in the house.
I want my son.
You won't be with him anymore.
Go in the house,
get your things.
Ruben, take Junior in the house.
- Come on, Alean!
- Don't you touch...
- You better not touch her!
- You better get right back in your car.
Nanny, I wanna
live here with you.
- Just go on, we'll work it out.
- No! No!
For real, Nanny, I just
wanna live here with you.
It'll be all right, baby.
We'll talk about it.
Ruben? Son?
- Leave us a minute.
- Okay, ma'am.
Come on, Junior.
Come on.
Nanny, you don't know
what I'm going through.
You're right about that.
But I know this:
It's hard on little
black boys out there.
Now that boy
is something special.
Whatever he wants to be, I'm going to see
that he gets that chance.
I can do that
for him, Nanny.
I just wish everybody
would back up off me
and quit trying
to run my life. I'm grown!
Girl, hush!
I done heard enough
and I done weighed in.
Now I'm gonna take Junior
and park him right here
until he finishes school or until
you or his daddy can prove to me
you can take care of him
better than I can.
- We got an understanding?
- Nanny, I...
It ain't about you no more.
When I get myself together,
and I am,
you're gonna have to let him go
because I'm coming to get my baby.
Fair enough.
Nine of hearts.
Shit!
But I'm gonna be
right there, Nanny.
I ain't going nowhere.
I'm gonna come
pick him up every weekend,
and I'm gonna help you
with his clothes and stuff.
I'm gonna drop you off
some money every week.
Do what you can.
I'll get myself
on my feet by the summer,
then I'll come get him.
I pray for you
every day, Alean,
and I know you can do
whatever you
put your mind to.
Despite all this other mess,
I'm proud of you
for doing the right thing
about this child.
Yeah.
He don't need this life
I'm living right now.
He don't need it.
My mom did come see me
every weekend for a while.
Then I didn't see her
for a long time.
Nanny told me
she had to go away.
Then one Christmas,
I got a big box.
Nanny said, "Look what
your mama sent you!"
It was years later
that I found out
Nanny had
given it to me.
People used to say,
" Wasson Avenue ain't
no place to raise a child...
all them fools Nanny
done taken in. "
'Cause see,
all of Nanny's roomers
were ramblers
or drifters of some sort
and they each had
some experience with prison,
mental hospitals, alcohol,
drugs, pimping, gambling,
or church.
And every one of them
had a story to tell.
Hey, Ruben, when I was playing
ball with the Negro league,
we used to travel all over.
There was Ol' Po' Carl,
raconteur
and King of the Malaprops.
New York City,
now that's the city!
That's the city where they got
the Statue of "Delivery"!
Well, the French
give it to 'em,
deliver her, put her
right there in the harbor.
J., come on now!
I thought Ricky was
the coolest dude living there...
and she was.
Shakey Winfield
and Numb Finger Pete.
- Uh... Nile's the longest.
- Damn!
I told you, you ignoramus!
Shakey was Nanny's
second cousin.
Nanny brought his whole family
up from Virginia.
- That's a big river!
- Numb Finger Pete thought
he was smarter than everybody else
and was quick to bring up the point.
I spent more than a year
at Tougaloo College.
Yeah, what did they teach you?
How to be an ass?
- Pete got drunk and fell in the snow.
- You ain't got no education!
His fingers were frostbitten so bad, they
had to remove all of them,
except his forefinger
and thumb.
- Clean sheets.
- Jimmy Lee and Pauline.
One day they're trying to cut
each other's throats, the next day...
We're in love!
- Hey, Doc.
- That's Freddie Cobbs.
He was the first person I ever
saw signed his name with an "X."
And Mr. Paul.
Uncle Bill told me
he had killed somebody.
Doctor told me
to quit drinking.
He said I had
"roaches" of the liver.
I didn't know whether
to believe him or not,
but I did feel something
kind of moving around in there.
That's Lonnie.
Although he didn't
live at Wasson,
he was always standing around
outside jangling his keys.
Lonnie, Lonnie, baby?
- Nanny used to say...
- Come on, let's go inside.
- All of him went to Vietnam...
- I've got some cornbread,
nice, hot cornbread.
...but only half of him came back.
That's an E chord,
one of the first things
you learn about the blues.
Like John Lee Hooker say,
"You don't need to play
but one chord. "
See? This is our story.
This ain't in no history book.
- Mr. Lucius?
- Mm-hmm?
And just like me, they all had a story as to
how they ended up at Nanny's.
How did you
lose your arm?
I was just wondering.
I was courting
this gal named Annie Mae
for more than a year.
And I fully intended
to marry that gal.
One day she told me about
this ole white boy named Joe Tinsley...
who'd been picking with her
and saying things like,
"Well, you're
my little brown sugar. "
Now one day my uncle
gave me this straw hat
he'd brung back
from Cincinnati,
because he know
I love me some hats.
I put that hat on,
shined my shoes,
got my gal,
and we strut to church.
And on the way back home,
up comes Joe Tinsley
with his horse and buggy...
and he said something.
I act like I don't hear him.
So he stepped down and he
slapped my hat off my head.
- He slapped you?
- Mm-hmm.
Did you
hit him back?
Annie Mae was
holding on to my arm,
whispering,
"It's okay, Lucius. It's okay. "
Joe Tinsley climbed
back up on his perch,
and said,
"You girls have a nice day. "
Haul them.
And when I dropped Annie Mae off,
I just kept right on walking,
picking up a tree branch
along the way.
He was sitting
on the porch,
drinking
a jar of lemonade.
But he saw me
stepping up to him,
opened his mouth up
to speak,
and I slapped him upside his head
with that piece of lumber,
just like you would a hog.
When his body
hit the ground,
seemed like he wanted
to get back up, but I...
I hit him again...
and again.
Then I just walked away.
I didn't run, Junior,
I walked.
Now I took and put
some turpentine on my shoes
so the dogs
couldn't follow me,
and I took off
for the swamp.
I didn't sleep
for two days.
I was so tired.
And I dozed off finally,
and I woke up to this
sharp pinch in my arm,
and then I see
this snake squirm off.
So I pulled out
my case knife,
and I try to open up
the spot,
so the venom could ease out
with the blood and the puss.
But it started
swelling and bleeding,
so I stuck it in there again
until I hit bone.
I packed it
with mud and leaves,
and I kept on going.
Through the grace of God,
I got outta that swamp.
I got to Augusta, Georgia
where this colored doctor
told me I was
lucky to be alive,
but he had to take
that arm.
Come here.
When I came up north, that's when
I first heard about Miss Rachel,
that she had given
so many people a start.
When we met she asked me,
"What happened to your arm?"
I said, "I was defending
this lady's honor. "
Then she said...
"I'm just gonna
tell you right now,
just in case
you ever wonder,
I can handle
my own honor...
so your other arm
is safe. "
Now when folks got North,
Nanny would
find them jobs,
and if they
didn't have nothing,
she provided food,
shelter, clothing.
Nanny was
like the government,
if it really worked.
And she didn't just wait
for folks to come to her.
Mr. Taylor?
Mr. Taylor?
Oh! Miss Rae!
- How are you doing, huh?
- I'm fine, thank you, Mr. Taylor.
- How are you doing?
- Just fair to middling, ma'am.
- Just fair to middling.
- This here is my son Ruben.
He was a tall man with
a barrel chest and one leg.
I bet you're smart too, huh?
What's the matter?
You ain't never seen
a one-legged man before?
And with that tongue darting
in and out of his mouth,
- he looked like a giant Negro iguana.
- Huh?
Then watch this...
- Whoo!
- Whoa!
Now are you gonna stand there
and watch a one-legged man
throw a rock further
than you?
Try it.
Yeah!
Now, I don't allow no wild women
in and out of my place.
I don't do no cavorting,
no gallivanting
with none of these wild
and crazy women out there.
And your rent is due on time,
$ a week, room and board.
And when my rent come,
you know, I'll pay you in advance.
In fact...
I got me $ saved up.
You can have any part of that, ma'am.
No, Mr. Taylor.
You keep your money.
And you've got
to take your medication.
You ain't got no problems out of me.
I don't bother nobody,
I stick to myself, and take my medicine just
the way it says on the bottle.
Now, Miss Rae,
as long as I've known you,
you've been like a rock to all
the peoples that come to you in need.
Now...
Mother...
I'm in need.
I'm just asking
for a chance.
And that's how we all
ended up at Nanny's.
Now there wasn't
a person dead or alive
who hadn't asked Nanny
"What are you
doing with Bill?"
But Nanny told me,
"Sometimes a man and a woman
have an understanding
that no one else understands,
not even their own selves. "
- Yeah!
All right, Ricky Girl!
- Yo, big one, girl!
- Girlie-girl.
Y'all know that's awful!
You all see them Negroes walking
around shouting, "Black Power"?
- The Black Panthers?
- Mm-hmm.
Hair as nappy as can be.
I need to get them up
in my chair!
I got all the black power
they need right in this hot comb.
- Yeah.
- I like their hair natural like that.
- I might get me one.
- What?
What's wrong with that?
- You don't like to use this?
- No, too heavy.
It makes me feel trapped.
Here's your sandwich, baby.
Now when we go out tonight,
Mr. Paul's gonna be here
- in case you need anything.
- Okay, Mama.
- Are you all right, Mr. Taylor?
- Yes, ma'am.
- Ow! Ouch!
- Pauline, I'm sorry.
You're gonna have me going to the party
all burnt up around the forehead!
Well, you can't be
fidgeting like that.
Pauline don't scream like that when Jimmy
Lee be going upside her head.
She'll be right out
by Maxie's for him tonight.
- Huh-uh, I'm going with Nanny.
- Yes, indeed.
The ladies are gonna
show out tonight!
Bertha, you know you're always
welcome to come along with us.
Uh, let me check
with Jabble
'cause you know
how I loves my piece of man.
Maybe we outta take
all these piece of mens
we got together
and make one whole man
and spread him around.
I know that's right, Nanny!
Y'all are over there laughing,
but Rae knows she ain't
going nowhere without me.
She's going to sit right there
till I say, "Come on. "
Ooh!
- Nanny did you hear that?
- I see his lips flapping,
and I don't feel
nothing but a breeze.
Okay, well, if that's the case,
maybe I'll go out and get myself
a new girlfriend then.
- Ooh!
- And when you're all through,
why don't you bring her
back here so she can help me
do some of this work
around here?
- What makes your big head so hard?
- My!
At Maxie's Bar and Grill,
the ' s dance
was the event of the year!
Everybody would show out to party
and reminisce about its heyday
when Billy Extine, Billie Holiday,
Lionel Hampton,
and Hot Lips Page
would perform.
They would laugh
about that night
that Wynonie Harris
got drunk and fell off the barstool,
or talk about that day that
Malcolm X stood out in front,
admonishing the liquor and gambling
that was always flowing inside.
It didn't matter how you were
dressed from the ankle up
because it was the shoes
that made you sharp.
- Yeah!
- Yeah!
- What makes your big head so hard?
- My!
Hey!
And when folks weren't dancing,
they were dining
on Maxie's famous fish sandwich with
the special sauce and wilted lettuce.
They cook the lettuce
on these sandwiches.
Huh-uh, when they put the cold lettuce
on the hot fish, it's cooked.
No, the sauce is hot
and when they put that on there,
it wilts the lettuce.
And they were all there:
Sucking Finger Willie,
Buffalo Shorty,
Bo Jack, Big Wheel,
Pepper Red
and Dick Barrymore.
You know, my mama told me to leave
Caldonia alone, that's what she told me.
She said, "Son, leave that woman alone.
She ain't no good.
- Don't bother her. "
- Nanny, are you in?
But Mama didn't know
what Caldonia was hunting down.
I think I'm gonna let mine
ride on Dick Barrymore.
I'm going by Caldonia's house
to ask her
just one more time.
Gentlemen.
- Yeah!
- Yeah!
- What makes your big head so hard?
- My!
Hey!
Thank you so much,
ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you.
While they were at Maxie's
listening to jump blues,
the blues I was hearing had
a whole different kind of sound.
There were a lot of things
happening in .
That's the year
I was born.
- You know who that is?
- No.
That's Nat King Cole,
one of the world's
greatest song stylists.
That's the night that he performed
in front of an all-white audience
and a mob attacked him.
See, he was black,
you know, black and shiny
and his hair
was always perfect,
not a strand
out of place.
Those white folks jumped
on that stage that night,
and old Nat King Cole
jumped the hell off.
His hair was
messed up that night.
Talk about getting
your kicks on Route .
He got his kicks the hell
out of there that night.
When did you say Jimmy Lee
and Bill are gonna get here?
- I ain't studding Bill.
- Tell her. Ain't waiting for no man.
- Bertha, are we on?
- Come on, Bertha.
Come on, Pauline.
- I brought you your winnings.
- So, how've you been?
- Well, Miss Rachel,
I'm still vertical.
Now I know you're gonna
let me have one dance
before my bunions start
hurting in these Stetsons.
Damn Bill!
Girl, you and me, we go all the way back to
Farmville, Virginia.
In that same year,
they enforced
the Supreme Court decision
on mandatory segregation.
Everything's equal.
You can go
anywhere you want to.
My brother thought that...
and he got into a scuffle
with a white fella.
He ended up
breaking the guy's arm.
They took him to jail
and to court.
The judge says, "Second time
you hurt a white guy this year. "
My brother says, "I don't understand, Your
Honor. What you mean?"
He says, "The first time you hurt
a white man, you told him to go to hell.
You hurt his feelings.
Now you're breaking this guy's arm.
Two white men
you hurt in one year.
That's years. "
You understand what
I'm saying to you?
You can't go around hurting
white folks in any form or fashion,
even if you're white.
Hey, ask John Brown.
That's history, son.
You look it up.
You better do it, Shakey!
- Jimmy!
- Hey, baby.
The Dodgers played the Yankees
in the World Series.
A lot of people say
I sound like Jack Robinson.
I always admired
him because he sounded bla...
American.
I spent years in jail
learning how
to sound... American.
All right now.
All right now.
All right!
Are you gonna sit down at the table
and have a drink with us?
Well, I gotta go back and finish
taking these fools' money,
but I'll be back to wet my whistle
in a bit, if the offer's still good.
- You know it is.
- All right.
Hey, Lackawanna!
Are you having fun tonight?
Well, all right.
Those two are about
to work my last nerve.
But Ricky do look good
in that suit.
Welcome to the stage
Mr. Otis McClanahan.
Lord have mercy.
You better give it up!
Come on now, please!
That boy on that ax, mm!
was...
it was just
one of those years.
I had a gal...
that I was... in...
The hell with it,
I wrote a poem...
about it that can probably
tell it better than I can.
"Oh I loved,
loved that woman."
"When I'm with her,
I felt like a king."
- "When I'm with that woman,"
"I didn't need
a doggone thing.
Oh, Lord,
I went down to that
woman's house...
and knock, knock
on her door."
"She had the nerve to tell me
she didn't want me no more.
Oh, Lord."
Mmm, Lordy, Lordy,
Lord have mercy.
"As I walk away,
my heart in my hand,
I had the strangest feeling
she was with another man."
"I had the strangest feeling
she was with another man."
"I kicked down
that woman's door.
She was naked,
holding that man,
making love on the floor.
I lost my mind
for a time, Oh Lord.
I grabbed
that butcher knife.
He jumped up
in my face and I swung.
I swang
that butcher knife.
I dug it into his body.
I pulled it out.
I dug it in.
I pulled it out.
Oh, oh, Lord.
There was blood,
blood on my hands,
and there was blood,
blood on my face,
blood on the walls,
blood all over the place.
When I had finished
swinging that knife,
I had taken...
his... and her...
- life."
Otis McClanahan,
"Life stories." The blues.
Get off of him!
Damn it.
One, two, three!
- You want some of Jimmy Lee?
- You got to bring some to get some!
Bring it on, girl!
Come on!
- Bring it on, baby.
- Don't get that, girl!
Jimmy Lee!
I heard them fools
cut each other's throats.
I got drunk and fell asleep
at my sister Louise's house.
I'm gonna get me
a couple of hours of sleep
and me and Doc, we're going
fishing in the morning.
You can't hurt me
no more, Bill.
What, I can't go
to my sister's house?
I was looking for you
to show up at Maxie's tonight.
You're the one told me
you ain't need me for nothing.
That's a good thing
'cause when I do need you
for me... for me, Bill,
- you ain't nowhere to be found.
- Woman, what you talking about?
But you can't hurt me
no more. I'm numb.
Sometimes I look at you,
don't even see you.
You touch me
and I don't feel you.
But I can smell you
and I know I'm alive.
That stench ain't just some
other woman's cheap perfume,
it's your soul, Bill.
Your rotten soul!
- Morning.
- Morning.
- What happened to you?
- I had an accident.
What happened to her?
- Morning.
- Morning.
Doc, look what I got you.
Wow, a new fishing pole!
That ain't just no fishing pole,
that's a Zebco!
Come on if you're going.
They'll be done cut off the fish
if we don't get there soon.
- Take your sweater.
- Thanks.
Let's go! Boy, we're gonna
have ourselves a day!
Hello? Oh...
Nanny, it's Junior, collect.
Collect?
Hello?
Where're you at?
Where's Bill?
Say what?
- What happened?
- What do you mean?
You left here to go fishing with Bill and you
come back shivering to death.
I wanna know what happened.
Well...
Uncle Bill and I left
and he had to make a stop.
- Morning, sweetheart!
- What kind of stop?
- Just a stop.
- Then what?
Duke and I decided
to go swimming.
Here I come, Duke!
- Where was Bill?
- Huh?
Where was Bill?
- Busy.
- Then what?
We finished
swimming and...
Doc, what do we got?
- Boy, where are your clothes?
- I tell him I can't find them.
- What do you mean you can't find them?
- Then he starts yelling.
Where're the reels? Boy, that's
$ worth of good fishing gear,
you didn't watch them?
What else you have to do?
- He kept on yelling.
- Don't talk to that child like that!
Shut up. You don't know
nothing about this.
You find them reels and call me,
or you find another way home.
Bill, you just can't
leave this child!
I'll leave you!
Give me some
of that soup, woman.
If you ever mistreat
this child again,
man, I will blow
the back of your head off.
- You ain't the only one who got a gun.
- I ain't gonna say it no more.
I don't care. You can say it
as many times as you want to.
You could go pull out that
old gun of yours if you want,
- but I tell you, be ready to use it.
- I know the rules, Bill.
I'm supposed to be scared now?
Is that what I'm supposed to be?
I ain't no playtoy.
Better off going bear hunting
with a toothpick
than messing around
with me, huh?
Blow the back
of my head off. Shit.
- Nanny?
- Mm-hmm?
I'm not gonna be
Uncle Bill's friend no more.
Uncle Bill loves you.
He just...
He just act
the fool sometimes.
Bill knows he did something
silly and hurt you.
Nanny, I'm mad
so you should be mad too.
Child, I done had my share
of kicking ass,
kicking down doors, breaking out
windows, and acting the fool,
but that
didn't suit me.
I'm a lady and I'm
gonna conduct myself as such.
But I ain't no lady and when Uncle Bill
hurts you, I want to hurt him back.
Sometimes I hate him.
I don't ever want to hear
that word out of you. You hear me?
I done had to deal
with that poison my whole life.
It's all right
to be upset,
but not hate.
Now I know you're just
trying to help Nanny,
and I thank you.
But I've been taking care of myself
for -some odd years just fine,
and ain't had to hate,
nor hurt nobody to do it.
Now, you know Uncle Bill
loves you, right?
- Mm-hmm.
- Mm-hmm.
Are you gonna
give him another chance?
I'll tell you something,
if he do something else,
I'll hold him down
and you slap him!
After you blow
the back of his head off.
Oh, Lord!
You go to sleep, boy.
- Good night.
- Good night, Nanny.
Things between Nanny and Bill
were calm after that.
But everything came to a head the day
the social worker showed up.
Duke!
Don't give me that shit!
- I'm gonna learn you something.
- Go to hell with it.
I was in World War II
when your black ass
was still in Alabama
picking cotton.
Fought for my country,
stood on the front line
with bullets
whizzing by my head.
Don't tell me shit!
Come here, Doc, read it.
- Tell him what it says right there.
- "The United States Army .
Corporal Fred J. Cobbs,
honorable discharge."
- Shit!
- Did you hear him?
Did you hear him, ass?
That piece of paper
don't mean a damn thing!
You still wasn't nothing.
Honorable?
They ain't let you have no gun!
I knowed my job.
And I did my job.
Stacking bodies.
I was stacking them
one on top of the other,
just like you would
a -pound sack of potato.
Freddie, I got some
people here to see...
So I could take them and bury them
with some kind of dignity!
Something they couldn't get
over here and I'll be damned
if they weren't gonna
get it over there! I'm a man!
- Freddie!
- And I buried men
and I watched, they're
standing right there grinning.
No, they ain't give me
no gun to shoot at them,
but that ain't stop them
from shooting at me.
So don't you...
What on earth is going on?
How far did you go
in school, Mrs. Crosby?
Well, I had to start working
after my mama passed.
So... I went
to third grade, but...
Bill here, he went
all the way to sixth grade.
Hmph.
I've been looking after
children my whole life,
whether family
or somebody else's.
Junior is closer to me
than my own family.
Ruben, do you mind
if we ask you a few questions?
If you want to.
- You have excellent grades.
- Thank you.
Excuse me, would you like
something to drink?
No, we're fine, thanks.
- Do you like living here, Ruben?
- I love being with Nanny.
But are you happy here?
- Shh, quiet!
- Mrs. Carmichael asked you a question.
I have a lot of fun here.
Everybody is my friend.
They teach me stuff.
Sometimes I teach them stuff.
- Stuff? Like what?
- Like how to play Pokeno,
and the harmonica,
and history stuff too.
Like about
the Negro Leagues,
or like when the white people
beat up Nat King Cole.
Would you like to live
in a regular house?
- What regular?
- You know, a regular old family,
with a big yard
and a garage...
We have a yard
and Uncle Bill has a garage.
Think you'd like to look at
some of these other places?
No thank you.
- I'm happy here with Nanny.
- Doesn't hurt to take a look, Ruben.
- All right, come on.
- I beg your pardon?
- Let's go.
- Bill.
- Let's go, I say!
- Bill.
- Mr. Crosby, we're just...
- Get your ass outta here!
- Move!
- I'm sorry.
Bill gets a little wound up.
We'll definitely talk to you,
Mrs. Crosby.
They must be crazy
talking to Junior like that.
They ain't taking
that child nowhere.
See, that's what's
wrong with your brain.
They're liable to come back
and snatch him up
- 'cause they think you're crazy.
- No, that's why
they ain't coming back,
'cause they know I am!
And before I let them
take my best buddy out of here,
they're gonna have to
take me outta of here first.
'Cause we got
some more fish to catch.
Right, Doc?
I never heard any more talk
about me moving away
ever again.
I guess it's just
like Nanny said...
sometimes a man and a woman
have an understanding
that no one else
understands.
Nanny gave every drop
of herself to people.
Outstretched arms
reaching for her,
expecting Nanny to put
a stop to their fall.
Who knock?
Who knock, I say?
Nanny, it's Laura.
Laura, what you doing with them babies
out here this time of night?
- Mom.
- Come on.
You're gonna
catch your death.
Come on.
My biggest fear was that Nanny
would give all of herself away...
Let me look at you.
...there wouldn't be
anything left for her.
Let me see.
Come on, baby.
Let me see.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesse keeps
beating on me, Nanny.
I can't take it anymore.
He slapped me
with the back of his hand.
- I'm a mess.
- Here.
Put this ice
on your mouth.
- Want me to take you to the hospital?
- No.
Well, I could make a bed
for the kids right here on the couch,
and y'all can just
stay right on up here with me.
He'll come looking for us tomorrow,
Nanny. He knows I'll come here.
You let me
take care of that, hmm?
You just hush and keep
that ice on your mouth.
Your babies have got
to get some sleep.
- Nanny, what's wrong?
- Get back in bed, boy.
- But what's wrong, Nanny?
- You hear what I say?
Go on, get back in bed.
Go on now.
I'm just so tired
of this, Nanny.
L-I can't...
- I can't.
- I know.
Nanny got you. Come on.
Come on,
let it out.
It's gonna
be all right.
That's some pretty catfish.
That's a pretty catfish there.
Oh wow!
Junior, skin the catfish.
Snapping peas,
now these idiosyncrasies
are strictly Negro custom...
Man, go on away from here
with that silly talk.
- "Go on away"?
- Go on away.
- I live here.
- Go on away.
"Go on away"? That isn't even
a proper sentence.
See? I spent
more than a year at...
- "Boogaboo" College.
- Tougaloo College.
I'm not afraid
of my education!
I understand the psychological
workings of animosity.
Shakespeare called envy...
the green-eyed monster.
Nanny!
Nanny! Nanny!
Ryan and Crystal's
dad just...
Miss Rachel,
I come for my family.
Sit down, boy.
Are you hungry?
I don't need
to sit down, Miss Rachel.
Just tell Laura
I said to come home.
I got a fresh pot of neck-bones
back here and some...
Where's she at?!
Wherever she at,
you're gonna have to go
through me to get to her.
Now go on,
knock me down.
Go on.
If that's the only way
you know how to do things,
knock Nanny down,
'cause I can handle it.
I ain't got no beef
with you, Miss Rachel.
With all due respect, you all up in-between
me and mine.
No, what I'm up between,
is right and wrong.
Now when that gal
come up in here
in the middle of the night,
half-dressed
with her babies in tow,
blood all over
her swoll-up mouth,
I was there for her
and I ain't gonna turn back now.
So if you wanna give me
a dose of what you give her,
bring it on
'cause if you ever
touch that child again,
baby,
we gonna dance.
Now, when she's ready,
she'll call you.
I'll tell her
you was here.
Laura decided she didn't
want to go another round
with the Golden Gloves champ.
So that winter, Nanny huddled them
all in her Lincoln
and took them to Toronto
to be with Laura's mother.
And of course, Nanny took me
along for the ride.
I was nervous
the whole way thinking,
"Man, Nanny don't know how to act
in front of no rich white folk."
- Tea?
- Yes, thank you.
Thank you for saving
my daughter's life.
Anybody would have
done the same.
Young man?
You got
a cold Pepsi cola?
Tea. Yes, thank you.
Miss Rachel,
I understand
that you're the mother
of the community,
always an open hand,
and an open heart.
Thank you.
Mm.
These are delicious and you
don't skimp on the butter.
Ruben?
Mm.
These cookies are delicious
with lots of butter.
Come on, I'll give you
my secret recipe.
It was almost like
a fairy tale.
Laura's mother
treated us like royalty.
It was the first time
that I thought about
how tired Nanny
must really be.
And I couldn't help but think,
"In a couple of hours,
Nanny's gonna be right back
in the middle of whiskey and piss,
vomit and blood,
madness and mayhem.
They gonna give me
my goddamn keys!
They're mine and I want them.
I ain't afraid of no Viet Cong.
They're gonna give me my keys
or they're gonna have to kill me.
- What's the matter, child?
- Oh my God, he lost his mind!
Nanny, I'm gonna
call Bill.
I'm gonna
go get his sister!
Revolution is
your every action.
Revolution
is your every word.
They gonna give me
my goddamn keys!
Damn it, boy!
I'm gonna call the police!
Shakey, let me talk to him!
No, I ain't gonna
leave you in here with him!
Go, I say go!
- Nanny, go on!
- V.C.'s got my goddamn keys!
I want my goddamn keys.
Baby, now come on. Sit on down.
Them beans are almost ready.
They're gonna have to give me it
or I'm gonna have to kill somebody!
Nanny!
I want my goddamn keys!
Shh...
Revolution,
revolution or war...
There go your keys.
Okay, now sit on down, huh?
Sit down, now, and they'll
shut up all that noise.
Here, come on.
Sit down.
Eat that cornbread
till them beans warm up.
Hey, baby brother.
- Are you all right, Nanny?
- I'm all right, baby.
Bill.
Bill!
- Son of a bitch!
- Bill!
Are you all right, woman?
I'm all right, Bill.
I'm all right.
- Nanny?
- Hmm?
Do you ever get
afraid of death?
Death is your friend.
When this long
hard journey is over,
and I'm too tired to go on,
Death will say, "I understand."
Then there'll be no more
trouble, no more pain.
How long have you been
taking care of people, Nanny?
Since I was a child.
There's always been a part of me
that wanted to try to fix things...
and people, try to make them
feel whole again.
- That's why you got this rooming house?
- Not exactly.
That just kinda
come to me.
I was working out at Woodlawn
for this white couple...
had two beautiful boys.
On Saturday before my day off,
I'd bake cakes and pies
so they'd have some sweets
after their Sunday dinner.
The lady of the house
was so impressed, she said,
"Rachel, you don't have to do this.
You could be home.
This is so nice!"
I said, "Well, I'm just
looking out for my boys."
Then she told me
if I was gonna make cakes,
I had to make one
to take home to my family.
Well, one Saturday...
I'll never forget it.
She lit into me.
"Where're you going
with that cake?!
I can't afford
to feed you
and your whole family
every week!"
Then she stormed off
one way,
and I dropped
that cake on the table
and stormed off
the other.
On my drive home, there was
so much turmoil inside of me.
I could... I could
still feel the warmth
from the goodbye hug
them boys give me,
and I held on to it
'cause I knew that'd be the last hug
they was ever gonna give me,
'cause from that day forward,
I was gonna be my own boss.
And that I was.
Bought me a little place
on Simon Avenue.
The place had
five bedrooms.
I rented four of those out,
took my car,
started a little shuttle.
That lead to a cab stand.
Then I got this place here.
That made two roomin'-houses,
a cab stand, and a restaurant.
God has truly blessed
this little ol' gal
from a tobacco farm
in Virginia.
- Why didn't you ever had any kids?
- Oh, I had 'em.
- I had a little girl.
- You did?
Mm-hmm.
With my first husband
Dick Johnson.
Mm.
She was my heart.
I named her Lillian.
But God took her
early on.
She wasn't no more than
three years old.
Had a bout
with that pneumonia.
- You never talked about her, Nanny.
- No.
That was
the hardest thing
I ever had to face
in my life.
You know, they say
God don't make
no mistakes.
I know one thing:
It took me a long time to get on speaking
terms with God after that.
But, you know,
then I came to realize
that even though
God took that one
that was
so special for me...
He filled my life up
with so many others.
But most of all...
most of all,
He give me you.
Now get back
on that job, mister.
Don't wanna leave
them kitchens undone.
When Nanny first took me in,
she made a vow
to see me through school.
Little did I know
that going into one world
would signal
the end of another.
My father went
to have a simple bypass
and never made it
out of the recovery room.
He had always
been there for me.
Alean was still
battling her demons.
When it finally looked like
she might be winning,
she was gunned down
in a drive-by and killed.
My sophomore year, Nanny was
diagnosed with breast cancer.
When Death came by
to visit Nanny,
she told him,
"God ain't done with me yet,
so move on
down the line."
Stay on the speed limit.
The year I graduated, we found out
that Uncle Bill had lung cancer.
Within six months,
he was gone.
Businesses all up and down
Wasson Avenue started closing down,
'cause for every door
integration opened,
it meant the closing
of another in the community.
Maxie's,
The Flame, The Rim...
the vibrant world
of Lackawanna I'd always known,
started to fade away.
Come on.
Mm-hmm.
Thank you, sir.
That's fine indeed.
Fine indeed.
- Come on, Nanny.
- Mm-hmm.
We better get you home.
You know they're waiting on you.
- All right.
- I'll get you over there soon.
Probably start
marching over here for you.
Yeah, come on, come on.
- Let me get your cards here.
- All right.
Here she come!
- I want some tea.
- I'll get you some tea.
Surprise!
Y'all trying to give me
another heart attack?
- How're you doing, Nanny?
- Hey, baby.
- Nanny, you look good.
- Thank you.
Welcome back
to your palace, madam.
Told y'all
she was coming home.
Where else was I gonna go?
Anybody check on
Miss Francis lately?
Richard...
Oh Lord...
Boy, you know who
I'm talking to.
Uh, uh... Junior,
come here.
Stop by there
and take her a plate.
Pauline, Miss Madeleine,
her wake tomorrow, ain't it?
- Mm-hmm.
- So while you're out there...
Nanny, you can't
take care of these people.
- You're sick yourself.
- Baby, go and do what I ask you.
I'm all right.
This is what I do.
- Hmm? Go on now.
- Yes, Mama.
Ooh, Pauline what you got
over there smelling so good?
Everything!
I know how you like
the chicken and dumplings,
- so I got that.
- Mm-hmm.
- And I fried up some porgies.
- Ooh...
I got us some greens
and some turnips, and some mustards,
and some macaroni and cheese,
and for dessert,
- your favorite!
- It is.
Coconut layer cake!
Girl, you done
outdone yourself, baby.
I'm gonna go check on
something in the kitchen...
- Mother.
- Yes, baby.
- Come here.
- What?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Nanny.
Thank you, Nanny.
Thank you.
To take fragments
and make them whole,
that's what Nanny did.
Piecing together,
pulling together
a community.
The people of Wasson Avenue
wanted me to have more,
amount to more
than they did.
So they gave me
that bit of themselves
that they felt was their best.
And the blues I heard
and the stories they told
will live
inside of me forever.
Lord, have mercy.