NARRATOR
In Georgia, Tunis Campbell had moved beyond organizing laborers. He was now rewriting the codes of behavior for freedmen.

DUNCAN
Tunis Campbell was determined not to let whites overcome blacks in areas that he could control. Couldn't control what was going on at the state level any more. Couldn't control what was going on at the national level. But on the local level, through his office, he could make decisions that affected people's lives on a daily basis.

NARRATOR
Campbell told freedmen they did not have to yield to whites when they passed on the sidewalk, and they no longer had to address them as master and mistress. In Campbell's district, some blacks were even seen carrying hunting rifles.

NELSON
I do believe that Tunis Campbell aimed to be at least a little provocative. He was very idealistic about the possibilities for African American citizenship. But at the same time very savvy about the nature of power relations.

NARRATOR
Whites in the county were significantly outnumbered, and feared a black uprising. Fan Butler was terrified.

V/O Fan Butler
The Negroes seemed to reach the climax of lawless independence. I never slept without a loaded pistol by my bed.

DUNCAN
Democrats were relentless in their efforts to depose him. He's too famous to kill. They can't kill him. They're afraid of that. They're afraid of what might happen in the local community. So they kept him involved in a myriad of lawsuits, charging him with abusing his office.

NARRATOR
Whatever the charges, Campbell's real offense, according to court documents, was seeking to "give the Negro supremacy over the white man." Campbell was incensed.

V/O Tunis Campbell
Just before every election they commence trying to intimidate by arresting all prominent colored men. As usual they have arrested me again... The intention was to keep me out of my seat in the senate.

DUNCAN
When Campbell's called to trial, his lieutenants send out word, and African Americans come off the plantations. They stop work, they go home and get their shotguns, and they arrive at the courthouse. The wives come and children come as well, and they clog the streets with black bodies, saying emphatically to the white community, "Don't touch our man."

NARRATOR
In one tense hearing, the courtroom was packed with Campbell supporters. The judge released him. "If they had put him in jail," a white witness would later comment, "the niggers would have put the jail in the river."