Season 2021 | Episode 1

♪ ♪ JULY: Born a slave in Jamaica... Look how adorable the little one is.

JULY: Taken from my mama... Me missus call me Marguerite, but me true name be July.

Slavery, that dreadful evil, will be finally abolished.

WYNDHAM: They won't rise against us.

JAMES: We dance to no lash!

NIMROD: This island ablaze.

♪ ♪ JULY: This be my story.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (birds chirping) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ OLDER JULY (voiceover): The life of a white missus on a Jamaican sugar plantation be surely full of tribulation, from the scarcity of beef to the want of a fashionable hat to the almost impossible search on this so-small island for a suitable man to marry.

(fan rattling) CAROLINE: Marguerite.

Marguerite?

Marguerite!

(louder): Marguerite!

OLDER JULY: But if that is the story you wish to hear... (shouting): Marguerite!

OLDER JULY: ...then be on your way.

Go!

Yes, go!

♪ ♪ For the tale I have to tell is quite a different one.

(snipping, button clattering) CAROLINE (in distance): Marguerite!

Marguerite!

GODFREY: July, Missus calling you.

Yeah, soon come.

Me busy.

What you have there?

Missus' dress.

She want it.

Then go give it.

July, me can have some of them button?

Yeah, when the missus give you dress to mend, then you may have button.

(smacks lips) HANNAH: Molly, come.

CAROLINE: Marguerite!

The missus calling you!

July, go see to her now, she paining me head!

(buttons clattering) What are... (object lands) (July laughs) Yes!

HANNAH: She's fierce enough.

Marguerite!

GODFREY: She's too fierce.

HANNAH: She don't wanna listen to nothin', she don't wanna hear nothin', she feels it's too nice.

Mm-hmm, not our manners.

(exclaims): Do you have any milk?

You see me have milk?

You have any cold milk?

(conversation continues, sheep bleating) ♪ ♪ CAROLINE: Marguerite!

Marguerite!

(more forcefully): Marguerite!

♪ ♪ (screams): Marguerite!

JULY (breathless): Yes, Missus, me here!

Me come quick as me could.

Me did finish the dress.

(gasps) I have decided to arrange a grand Christmas dinner here at Amity.

In England, we used to have such parties and balls at this time of year.

Carol singers, roaring fires... (deep inhale, exhale) Fresh holly berries... ♪ If you have no penny A ha' penny will do ♪ ♪ If you haven't got a ha' penny, God... ♪ Careful!

(grunts) ♪ ♪ Breathe in, Missus.

(groans) Christmases here are so dreary.

This year, I am resolved... (grunts) Just a likkle more.

...to give a party the likes of which this island has never before seen!

(grunts): Ow!

That hurts!

That's enough!

(sighs) (Caroline breathes deeply) Didn't this dress use to have buttons on the sleeve?

No... Missus.

No, no, that be the yellow dress you think of.

No, no, look.

Look, here are the threads where they were.

(sighs): Missus... Mus' be them washer women in the river.

Them slap the dress against the rock and bash it till it... No, no, no, no, no!

How many times have I told you not to let those women anywhere near my dresses?

I did scream, and I shout, "This is mine, the missus' dress," I did tell them!

But look, the buttons come loose now, look!

No, but they were pearl buttons!

They were pearl buttons!

(quietly): They was pearls.

Well, um...

I fear them pearls be back down at bottom of the sea once more.

I could have you whipped for this.

I could have you sent back into the fields.

(both gasping) Come here!

JULY: Missus, no, please!

CAROLINE: Come here!

Marguerite!

(July gasping) OLDER JULY: But wait.

I cannot start my tale here.

For it not be plain how this crafty girl come to be a ladies' maid, nor why her mistress call her Marguerite when her name be July.

No.

Me mus' start at the beginning.

(people singing work song) OLDER JULY: The successful cultivation of the sugar cane crop requires a tropical climate and a fertile soil: plenty water, plenty sunshine, plenty (no audio).

And at the time of which I am speaking, plenty slaves.

(singing continues) July's mama was a field slave name Kitty.

(Kitty grunting, distant horn blowing) (horse nickers) Kitty had not felt the lash of the driver's whip for many a month now.

And there was a reason for this.

(man grunting, pounding) Thankfully, his part was small, and he was always done quick.

And if she kept quiet, he seldom hit her.

(breath trembling) Tam Dewar was his name.

From Scotch Land.

And she would never forget him.

KITTY: Miss Rose!

Miss Rose!

(panting, groaning) (Kitty screaming) Kitty, I come!

I come!

Oh... (Rose chuckling, July cooing) She's so, so pretty.

You not see him in her face.

She be your pickney.

What you gon' call her?

July.

But it be December.

Well... She be July.

(soft chuckle) (July fussing, Kitty shushing) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ You!

Back to work!

♪ ♪ July... (giggling) July!

Come!

(smacks lips) Come from out there.

We must not stop here.

(sighs) (soft chuckle) Here.

(soft chuckle) Now, come on, you naughty girl.

(hoofbeats approaching) (horse whinnying) JOHN: Hey!

(quietly): Come on, follow me.

Come.

You, where are you going?

Me have pass, Massa.

Me and the pickney.

We are go Unity Pen.

(gasps) Oh!

Look at the little one.

Isn't she pretty?

John, what's her name?

Tell your mistress the name of your child.

July, Massa.

(giggling) Come, sister, this will be an education for you.

(Caroline clears throat) Look at, look at the legs, Caroline!

Like tree trunks!

Feel the muscles.

Come on, she won't bite!

(John laughs) (John laughs) Imagine putting silk stockings over these, eh, Caroline?

(John laughing) There are some in England that say it should be done.

Come, let's, uh, get out of the heat.

Oh, but look how adorable the little one is!

(Caroline squealing) Well... (sighs) Well, bring her, then, if you like.

CAROLINE: What?

Can I?

JOHN: Of course, if she amuses you.

She's my property.

She'll be taken from the mother soon enough, anyway.

It will encourage her to have another.

They're dreadful mothers, these Negroes.

(stammering): Massa, me have pass.

We are go market... Well, I suppose if I am to stay on this island, I could train her to be my ladies' maid.

(laughs) (chuckles) They aren't very bright, you realize.

Please, Massa, no, no... ♪ ♪ Yes, yes, I'll take her.

Right.

KITTY: Oh, no, Massa, she too, she too small!

Quiet!

Have mercy, Massa!

Massa, Massa!

JULY: Mama!

Please, Massa, no!

Massa, no!

Please!

Please, Massa, no!

Be off with you.

She too small.

Off!

Massa, please!

♪ ♪ (horse neighs softly) Yes, I ... ...think I'll call you Marguerite.

Like the flower.

JULY: Mam... (John urges horse) (horse whinnying) ♪ ♪ OLDER JULY (voiceover): And that was that.

Happen all the time in them days.

Your pickney not your own.

(insects chirping) (July wailing) Your mother is sold away.

You are mine now.

You must do as I say, otherwise I will send you back into the field like any other filthy little piccaninny!

ROSE (whispering): Miss Kitty, Miss Kitty.

CAROLINE: You belong to me now.

You cannot keep comin' here!

Come!

Come!

CAROLINE: Stop crying!

ROSE: If them catch you, it will be the cat o' nine tail-- or worse!

Come!

JULY: No!

CAROLINE: Ow!

Marguerite!

Marguerite, come back here!

OLDER JULY (voiceover): Enough.

Let us rejoin our tale.

Suffice to say, that despite all her beatings and whippings... (both gasp) ...July realize that her missus never would return her to the fields.

Marguerite, come here!

OLDER JULY: For come, what would that fool-fool woman do without her?

She was stuck on that godforsaken island with no husband, friend, or companion.

All she had was that one little slave girl that she did call Marguerite, but who would forever cling to the name her mama give her.

(distant rooster crowing) Enough, Marguerite.

OLDER JULY: July.

CAROLINE: We must have the best turtle soup.

We must have mutton pies and pigeon pies and boiled ham, uh, two brace of quail, roasted.

And, of course, a turkey.

No, uh, let us have two turkeys and duck.

Three, if you can get them, Godfrey.

In aspic.

All this for seven people, Missus?

CAROLINE: Yes, yes!

And, Godfrey, inquire in town about cheese, and buy whatever you can.

I will inquire, Missus.

I want candles all over the walls, a, a hundred of them.

Yes.

Yes, I've seen it done in London.

Yeah, it looks quite magical.

(clears throat) All this be plenty, plenty money, Missus.

Well, how much do you need?

Well, to start, the beeswax candles which the missus do prefer be six shillings and eight pennies for the box.

What?

No, that's too expensive!

Now, the tallow candles be one shilling and one penny for the box.

Tallow?

Do you expect this room to smell like an abattoir?

Then it's six shillings and eight pennies for a box.

(scoffs) My brother says you cheat me.

How can they be that expensive?

It is not that the candles be expensive, Missus, it is just that you cannot afford them.

(stifling laughter) (grunts) How dare you talk back to me!

Just get me a good price for them, boy, or I will have you whipped!

GODFREY: Yes, Missus.

(birds twittering) Make sure you put the Irish linen upon the table.

That will impress Elizabeth Wyndham.

Marguerite!

♪ ♪ (various chatter) ♪ ♪ Morning, Mr. Godfrey.

HANNAH: Molly!

♪ ♪ HANNAH: I'm fed up with these people, making me do this, do that, like I have nothin' to do but chop!

Seven people never gon' eat all of these dead creature at one dinner, eh?

Not even them white greedy-guts.

GODFREY: Come, dinner not just be for eatin'.

Dinner be for show.

MOLLY: The mango woman say, one day soon we all be free.

Free?

HANNAH: What you chattin', girl?

MOLLY: The mango woman hear it from the fisherman.

The king in England say no more slaves!

Yeah, me hear say that the fisherman good friends with the king in England.

Come, we hear all this freedom chat before!

Morning, Miss July.

My, how you all grow up.

(July giggling) Morning, Mr. Nimrod.

MOLLY: The fisherman hear it from the white preacher-man at the Sunday chapel and he don't, him not lie!

HANNAH: What?

Go get more garlic.

GODFREY: Girl, you have no time this day to chat no freedom gossip.

Of course, me... Have me freedom already.

(chuckles) Me bought it.

Walked right up to the massa with 100 pound in me hand.

GODFREY: Yeah?

And where you get that money?

Me free to do anyt'ing me like.

(Godfrey sucks teeth slowly) Set up shop.

Take wife if me want.

MOLLY: Psst, Mr. Nimrod, you want mango juice?

Me make it fresh an' sweet.

Get me a house in town.

GODFREY: Miss July, come lay the table!

We got work to do here, Mr. Nimrod.

(mango bounces on floor) NIMROD: Of course, Mr. Godfrey.

Massa say jump and you jump.

But...

I is free.

(chuckles) GODFREY: Not in my kitchen.

Good day, Mr. Nimrod.

Come on.

Mr. Godfrey, this be a dirty bedsheet, not linen for the table.

I beg your pardon.

It be a bedsheet?

(silverware clattering) It be a fine linen tablecloth.

Then lay it 'pon the table.

(laughs) JOHN (voiceover): Why didn't you ask me first, Caroline?!

This monumental expense for a dinner, when we're hanging by a thread!

And at our busiest time of the year!

To what end?

It will do you good!

It will cheer you up.

John, please.

We need to meet more people.

I need company!

There is no reason that I should not marry again.

Nor even you!

We are still young.

I'm not young by a long chalk, sister!

And I shall never remarry.

You will not ruin this Christmas dinner for me, John!

It is high time we had some fun!

(grunts) CAROLINE: Where is he, Marguerite?

There, Missus.

You... John!

John!

John, please!

Listen to me.

(whipping continues) (fiddles playing "Silent Night" poorly) (horse nickers) (insects chirping) (fiddles continue) (playing poorly) How's business here at Amity, Dewar?

I hear it's been a little slow.

We're shifting 140 hogshead a month, Mr. Sadler, so I think we can still give you at Prosperity a run for your money.

(chuckles) You run things here with a firm hand, Dewar.

Come along, Evelyn.

Damn bloody racket.

(fiddles continue) Evelyn.

My, that's quite a dress, Caroline!

Look at all these candles!

I don't know how we shall stand the heat.

Oh, John!

(fiddles continue) (song ends with flourish, Godfrey snaps fingers) (indistinct chatter, clock chiming hour) (quietly): No, Caroline.

Yes.

Caroline, no.

Get up.

I will not.

No, I will not, sister!

(clears throat) (excited reactions) (Caroline chuckling) (John clears throat) Friends, neighbors, um...

Welcome, welcome to Amity.

As you know, these are dark days.

The abolitionists in England are gaining support.

And yet they are still happy to eat our sugar and drink our rum.

And thanks to them, mutinous talk has been circulating amongst the slaves.

Now, I have always prided myself on being a fair master.

(softly): Mmm.

But now more than ever, we must be vigilant.

(guests assenting) And stand together.

(guests murmuring approval) (clears throat) Yes, uh... (awkward chuckle) Your, your good health.

(loudly): Yes!

Your good health!

Merry Christmas!

(guests murmuring) (Caroline clears throat) (chair screeches, dishes clatter) SADLER: Those Baptist preachers are to blame, Howarth.

They've put it into the Negroes' heads that they're as good as a white man.

WYNDHAM (chuckling): It's true.

The Baptists are whipping up discontent, and it spells nothing but trouble for us.

DEWAR: We won't have problems with our slaves.

There are good ones and there are bad ones.

You just need to weed out the bad ones early on.

WYNDHAM: True enough.

They won't rise against us, for one simple reason: they lack any ability to organize themselves!

(laughter) OLDER JULY (voiceover): Oh, yes, all white folk did know for sure that slaves had not the wit to organize themselves.

So of course, it be impossible that they arrange a Christmas party of their own, to entertain the slaves of their masters' visitors.

No, them slaves could no more organize a Christmas party than they could start a rebellion.

(upbeat fiddle music playing) (lively chatter, laughter) (music continues) (music continues) ♪ ♪ Is it me dress you like, or me pretty fair face that make you both stare so?

Me just recalls there, me missus did give me cloth to make a white dress like yours.

Cast-off?

(laughs): I cannot abide to be dressed in cast-off.

No, no, no.

It be new.

It be the finest white muslin from ship just come from England.

(laughing) Your missus no give you fine muslin.

Yes, she do.

Then why she dress so bad herself?

No worthy white missus be wearing cotton print.

Well, your missus does have an ugly face.

(Molly stifles laugh) How dare you impudence me missus!

Me missus would never have a maid as dark as you.

I is a quadroon!

Me mother was a mulatto an' me papa was a naval man from Scotch Land.

Me papa be from Scotch Land, too!

(scoffs) You lie.

I is a mulatto.

Me papa be the Scotch overseer.

Mr. Godfrey, Mr. Godfrey!

What?

Tell Miss Clara say my papa be the Scotch overseer of Amity.

Miss July!

Take Byron and go get us some more wine.

(lively chatter and laughter continues) Yes, Mr. Godfrey.

Jus' the open bottles, you know!

And no come back with nothing.

Y'hear me?

Yes, Mr. Godfrey.

(lively chatter and laughter continues) Byron!

(indistinct chatter) (insects chirping) WOMAN: No, you must go to Kingston for silks.

It's where I go.

It's more expensive, of course, but... ♪ ♪ It's worth it.

Yes, one must make the effort.

♪ ♪ (indistinct chatter) SADLER: You.

What are you doing there?

WOMAN: What?

SADLER: I said, what are you doing?

Oh, Marguerite, there you are!

We've been waiting an age!

JOHN: Yes, where is the dessert?

Can't you see she's stealing from you?

Come here, girl!

WOMAN: How embarrassing.

SADLER: Come here!

♪ ♪ (shaky breath) (July gasps) You're a thieving little (no audio), aren't you?

(quietly): No... No, Massa, me no steal, Massa, me no steal!

Yes.

No... You're stealing wine!

JOHN: Sadler, let her go so she may bring the dessert.

(quietly): Please, Massa... SADLER: Not till she admits she's a dirty little thief who deserves a good lashing.

(distant pounding) (quietly): Please... (distant banging, men shouting) (fast approaching footsteps) SOLDIER: Sorry to disturb you.

What's going on?

Apologies.

(gasps) EVELYN: George, what's happening?

There's trouble in the West.

The slaves are burning down the plantations.

What?!

What?!

This is exactly what I feared.

SOLDIER: So we need every man to report for militia duty at once!

(overlapping chatter) CAROLINE: John, you can't leave me here!

JOHN: Marguerite, get up from there at once and look to your mistress!

She needs you now.

You can't leave me here!

You must not leave this house at any cost.

Just stay inside.

Oh, God... (distant shouting, hoofbeats) (crying): Misery ... (snorts, weeping) (sniffles, weeping) Marguerite?

(quietly): Yes, Missus?

(crying): This isn't the Irish linen!

Oh, my God!

Evelyn Sadler will testify to everyone that a soiled bedsheet was used on my table upon this beastly dinner!

(weeping) (Caroline sobbing, July exhales) (Jamaican Folksingers singing "Eva") OLDER JULY (voiceover): Some say that the Christmas rebellion of 1831 was start by Sam Sharpe up in Montego Bay.

Some say it start in Salt Springs, when the Negro driver refuse to flog his own wife.

I cannot say.

For when all that rage and fury was finally unleashed, all your storyteller could hear... (loud crunching) ...was the sound of old Miss Hannah sucking on a hambone.

(crunching continues) What?

(insects chirping) Can you see anyone?

Anyone?

Nobody, Missus.

Well, where's my brother?

Why has he... Why hasn't he not sent word?

What if something's happened to him and I'm all alone?

No be frettin', Missus!

True... You is all alone with no white people near.

No Massa... no friend... no bakkra... Oh, my God, what... Oh, my God!

What am I to do?

But no be feared!

Me two fists is raised!

Them no take you from me, Missus!

(distant horse whinnying) Is that a horse?

Is that my brother?

Tell me it's him!

(distant dog barking, insects chirping) JULY: It be no white massa.

It be a Black man, Missus.

(shrieks) (gasping) Me go see what him want.

No!

No, no, no... Missus, let me go!

No, don't go... Let me go so me can see what happen!

(clears throat) Now, me turn the key in the door just till the Negro be gone.

Then me soon come back and set you free.

All right?

♪ ♪ (whimpering) (door closes) ♪ ♪ NIMROD (voiceover): Them slaves jump on them white men!

Them seize them cutlass, bound them hands, blindfold them, and march them to the works.

Ah, Miss July.

Greetings.

Good evening, Mr. Freeman.

♪ ♪ (hand pounds table) Continue, Mr. Nimrod, continue!

And then them throw them white men in the boiling sugar.

No!

Oh, my Lord!

You say all this going on as we sit?

You hear me now: this island ablaze!

They be fighting in the streets and white men be running for their lives!

(gasps) CAROLINE: Marguerite!

Wait, Miss July, is that your missus?

Mm-hmm.

(chuckles) She not safe here!

She mus' go to town, Miss July!

Oh, come, there been plenty trouble here before.

Nothin' like this ever before!

I tell you now, there not be a white person left in town.

Them all dead or gone!

GODFREY: Where them all go to?

NIMROD: Them sail away when this trouble start.

Your missus mus' go town, Miss July.

There be a ship in the bay.

She must board that ship.

She not safe here.

This island ablaze.

CAROLINE: I am forgot!

Abandoned by my own brother!

Do I take the blue one or do I take the yellow one?

Or do I take both?

Hurry, Missus, hurry!

You mus' board that ship!

(murmuring) (heavy breathing) Byron!

(insects chirping, footsteps approaching) CAROLINE: Quick, Marguerite!

(excited chatter) CAROLINE: Have you packed my cloak?

I may be cold upon the ship.

Where's Godfrey?

Where's Godfrey?

Come on, Godfrey, let's be gone.

Quickly now, quickly!

What, you wan' me to lift all this into the cart and then drive you into town?

(word catches) Do not play the fool with me, Godfrey.

You know I need to go into town for my own safety.

Then you must pay me.

(laughs): Don't be ridiculous.

Pick up the trunk!

But, Missus, you see, if them fight-for-freedom slaves find me 'pon the road with you, then my throat be cut, sure as yours.

So, me wan' payment for taking you.

Marguerite.

Tell him.

Tell him.

Let her go.

Get up and do as I bid.

(yelping) CAROLINE: Marguerite, he's touching me!

(whimpering) GODFREY: Now.

Her name not be Marguerite.

It be July.

Speak it.

Speak her name!

(Caroline sobbing) (crying): July.

July.

Now say it to her.

Say, "Miss July."

Miss July.

(Caroline sobbing) GODFREY: Good.

Now, you wan' me take you into town?

(sobbing) How much?

(inhales, exhales) If my brother hears about this, he'll, he'll send you all back into the field.

It's so dark!

(Godfrey urging horse) He'll have you whipped.

GODFREY: Lady, shut up!

(indistinct chatter) BYRON: Mr. Godfrey, the cover!

Leave it!

The cover, sir.

I said leave it!

(July exhales) (chuckling) (exhales) (Jamaican Folksingers singing "Missa Bilban") ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (squealing, laughing) ♪ ♪ JULY: Marguerite!

Come do my hair!

(sniffs) (laughing) Marguerite!

(laughing) ♪ ♪ Whoo!

Mm, mm... Marguerite... Marguerite?

I am waiting for my plum pudding.

Marguerite?!

Quickly!

Ah, Miss July.

("Missa Bilban" ends) Greetings.

(chuckling) I am waiting for my plum pudding.

Ah, well...

Here, Missus.

(plates clatter, July gasps) Be careful, (no audio).

This is our finest wine.

(chuckling) Am I to peel it myself?

Oh, um... Mm-hmm.

Sorry, Missus... Mm-mm!

Not so close!

Don't beat me.

You stink!

No beat me, Missus!

You stink!

No beat me, Missus!

You stink!

(both laughing) (laughing): You stink!

(softly): Mr. Nimrod... (chuckles) Mr. Nimrod...

Yes, Miss July?

Is me pretty?

Oh, yes, Miss July.

Prettier than Molly?

Oh, yes.

You is definitely prettier than Miss Molly.

♪ ♪ (giggling) Miss Hannah say you have plenty women in town.

That be true, Mr. Nimrod?

No, Miss July, no.

But me are getting a house... (giggling) NIMROD (voiceover): ...in town.

You could come and live there with me as a free woman.

JULY (voiceover): A free woman?

♪ ♪ But this be the massa's room.

Massa gone.

There be no white bakkra here no more-- we done chase them from this island.

All gone?

Gone.

Black man gon' rule now.

♪ ♪ Mr. Nimrod, is me free now?

OLDER JULY (voiceover): And so, while the island burn and blaze, our July was abed, drifting upon a cloud of foolish dreams.

(banging, children shouting) Shoo!

Stop that!

Get away!

(giggling) (children squealing in distance) (exhales) (voiceover): How could she know that the consequences of her actions that night would change her life forever?

(rooster crowing) (grunting and stretching) (soft chuckle) (hoofbeats approaching) (gasps) Wake up.

(quietly): Nimrod!

Nimrod!

Wake up, wake up!

CAROLINE (distantly): How could you just abandon me here like a stray dog?

(footsteps ascending) (closer): If Tam Dewar hadn't discovered me on the quayside, then I don't know what would have happened!

JOHN: Oh, leave it, Caroline!

You're back now!

What more is there to it?

CAROLINE: He just disappeared into the night!

I need you to find him and I want you to punish him, John!

JOHN: For heaven's sake, will you let me alone, woman?

Let me to bed!

CAROLINE: Listen, I want your word that... Oh, for God's sake, will you just get out?

(heavy breathing) John... ♪ ♪ (sniffles) Lord, on this night I have taken more lives than I can count.

But still they keep coming.

(both panting) (voice trembling): We are done for here.

(softly): Forgive me.

(gunshot) CAROLINE: John?!

(panting) (footsteps rushing) John?!

John!

(muffled): Oh God, oh God!

(murmuring through hands) (footsteps approaching) Oh, God!

Oh, God!

DEWAR: He's dead.

CAROLINE: No, no!

No, no, no!

DEWAR: Aye.

Shot himself.

CAROLINE: No, no, no, it's...

It's a crime!

(shuts door) He put a pistol in his mouth.

(crying): No, no... We'll lose everything.

(July gasps) DEWAR: What the hell is...?

What in hell's name are you doing there?!

Get up!

(panting) Please have mercy!

Get up!

Stand still!

(Nimrod pleading) Stand still!

CAROLINE: It was him!

He shot my brother!

NIMROD: Not me, not me, Massa, not me!

CAROLINE: Listen, I saw him, with my own eyes, from behind.

NIMROD (crying): No!

Not me, Massa!

Not me!

DEWAR: If you want to save your plantation... Don't shoot me!

Don't shoot me!

All right.

But you got to tell the story as I say it.

(sobbing) Don't shoot!

Your brother was shot from the front.

So you got to say you saw this (no audio) here shoot him from the front.

CAROLINE: From the front, that's what I meant, from the front.

(groans) (gasps) DEWAR: When he tried to escape, you shot him.

Like this... Mm-hmm.

Have mercy, please...

Me?!

No, no, no, I can't.

NIMROD: Have mercy!

I am a free man!

DEWAR: I'll do it.

Remember, you shot him as he tried to escape.

CAROLINE: Uh-huh.

NIMROD (crying): Mercy, Massa!

Mercy, Massa!

(cocks gun) DEWAR: Keep still!

NIMROD: Mercy, Massa... Not me, Massa, not me... Massa...

I'll see you... (roaring) (Dewar grunts, gunshot) (glass shatters, grunting) (July exclaims, others shouting) ♪ ♪ (Dewar shouting in distance) OLDER JULY (voiceover): But where could July run?

Where could she hide?

All she could think was to go to them field slaves and beg for shelter.

(men shouting) ♪ ♪ JULY: Please, help us!

Help us, please!

(panting) (breathless): Please help!

Help!

Help!

Massa John be dead!

He shot hisself!

Help us, please!

Massa John shot hisself!

Please!

Mr. Nimrod did it.

They say Mr. Nimrod did it, but he never did, please!

ROSE: Wait, wait!

This be Miss Kitty's pickney!

(panting, shouting) Miss July?

(panting) Go find Miss Kitty!

Bring her here, quick!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no!

Mama sold away, she gone!

She not... She... She here, child.

(panting) ♪ ♪ ROSE: All these years.

She feel the lash many time for try come find you.

Wha'?

Come!

♪ ♪ MAN: Hey!

♪ ♪ (people shouting, hoofbeats approaching) (horses whinnying) (people shouting, screaming) (men shouting) Where are they?!

(sobbing) DEWAR: I said, where the hell are they?!

(men shouting) (woman screaming) ♪ ♪ (sobbing) (quietly): It's all right.

It's all right.

(sobbing harder) Shh... (men shouting) (Nimrod sobbing) Come, come, come, come, come, come, come.

♪ ♪ (gasps) (Dewar grunts) (panting, Nimrod sobbing) (horse whinnying) (panting, sobbing) I am a free man... (sobbing, sniffling) Him no kill Massa!

Him no kill Massa!

Him no kill Massa!

(July's voice fading) ♪ ♪ (grunts) DEWAR: Don't you dare look at me.

(Nimrod sniffling and crying) (cocks gun) ♪ ♪ (gunshot) ♪ ♪ (sobbing) ♪ ♪ (cocks gun) (knife penetrating, Dewar gasps) (gasping) (breathing heavily) Mama?

(both sobbing) (distant shouting) (breathing heavily) (distant shouting) Run, July.

Run.

(hoofbeats approaching) But, Mama... (horse whinnying) Run.

(sobbing) Run, my girl!

Run!

(distant shouting, horses whinnying) (Jamaican Folksingers singing "Eyes Don't See") ♪ ♪ OLDER JULY (voiceover): After that uprising, so many slaves hang that the pile did interfere with the drop.

For how else to make plain to them murderin' Negroes that they was not yet free?

♪ ♪ (apple crunching) ♪ ♪ (deep inhale, lever pulls) (hatch opens, rope tightens) (shaky breaths) (shaky breaths) (July wailing) (panting) (July wailing) (baby crying) ROSE: Miss July?

You have a fine son.

Strong and healthy!

Take him.

(baby crying) You gon' call him Nimrod after him papa?

(crying softens) Hush, now.

Me say hush.

(baby cooing) Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Aw... Me know you grieve bad for your mama, but see, all this suffering, all this death-- a new pickney is come!

A new slave.

Soon taken.

(crying) Aw... Oh, sure, oh, sure.

OLDER JULY (voiceover): But how?

How could she set this child free?

♪ ♪ She found no strength to smother him.

No will to hold him under the river's swell.

In God she had no trust.

(baby fussing) So she decide she must leave this child to fate.

(baby crying, footsteps approaching) (baby crying) Oh... Shhh, shhh... ♪ ♪ OLDER JULY: Time did stand still for our July.

(field driver shouting) She was not strung up like her mama.

Her missus did spare her that.

Instead, she was sent back to toil in them fields.

♪ ♪ (grunting) Hey!

Hey-- hey, hey, hey.

(field driver shouting) (hoofbeats approaching) (horse whinnying) (horse nickers) ♪ ♪ (horse nickers) OLDER JULY: And yet, the time came when her missus did need her.

For she was now left all alone at Amity.

Who else could she trust to press her petticoats?

Who else could make her morning tea just as sweet as she like it?

And who else could keep her idle, disobedient house slaves toiling at their task?

♪ ♪ DRIVER: Move on!

♪ ♪ (insects chirping) ♪ ♪ (distant shouting) (distant horse whinnying) (keys jangling) ♪ ♪ In the drawing room, yes?

Yes, Miss July.

OLDER JULY: And all the while, time was marching on.

Them troublesome Jamaican slaves would not be quelled, but kep' on rising up, till that king in England finally decree that all mus' prepare for the coming of the end.

(knock at door) JULY: Missus?

Him come.

New overseer.

Oh, yes.

He's quite young!

(hoofbeats growing louder) (horse nickers) Thank you.

Mrs. Mortimer?

Robert Goodwin at your service.

CAROLINE: Well... Well, how do you do?

I give thanks, Mrs. Mortimer.

I give thanks for the coming of this historic moment.

Because, in just a few days, slavery, that dreadful evil, will be finally abolished.

OLDER JULY (voiceover): Really?

How do you do, madam?

OLDER JULY: This blue-eyed bakkra be come to set all free?

And how do you do?

(Older July scoffs) (birds chirping) If only my tale were so simple.

♪ ♪ Me is now free.

ROBERT: The well-being of the workers is the key to the success of a plantation.

CAROLINE: A true gentleman come to us as overseer.

Ooh!

Ooh!

ROBERT: I will need you all to work seven full days a week from now on.

(murmuring) We be free now!

Just like you!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ 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.

♪ ♪