OVER BLACK

We hear voices singing the call-back song, “Long John.”

LINE SLAVE
Well it’s a-long John-

SLAVE CHORUS
It’s a-long John-

LINE SLAVE
He’s a-long gone.

SLAVE CHORUS
He’s a-long gone.

FADE IN

EXT. AQUIA CREEK SANDSTONE QUARRY – DAY (1834)

Clouds of sandstone dust rise into the air on this scorching summer day.

CARD: AQUIA CREEK SANDSTONE QUARRY, 1834.

A LINE SLAVE leads the song. He paces near a group of unchained SLAVES, all muscles and sweat. Their pickaxes rise and fall with the beat.

A lazy white GUARD rests with loaded gun in the shade. He is not worried. The real chains are there.

[For ease of reading, only the Line Slave’s lyrics will be indicated from this point in the script.]

LINE SLAVE
In two to three minutes-
Let me catch my wind.
In two to three minutes-
I’m going again.
Well it’s a-long John-
He’s a-long gone.
Like a turkey through the corn,
Through the long corn.
Well, my John said,
In the ten chapter ten,
“If a man die,
He will live again.”
Well, they crucified Jesus
And they nailed him to the cross;
Sister Mary cried,
“My child is lost!”
Well it’s a-long John-
He’s a-long gone.

An OLD SLAVE in the row has a violent coughing fit, breaking the unison. He keeps coughing, covers his mouth to hide it.

He leans against the wall of stone. When he pushes off, a bloody palm print remains.

He stops coughing, looks up at the burning sun overhead, and falls flat on his back – dead.

The GUARD takes notice. He stands and drapes the long gun behind his neck and twists, giving his back a nice stretch.

Two SLAVES drag the dead body over to the waiting GUARD.

The other SLAVES don’t skip a beat, forbidden to look or even react, but the Line Slave sings louder now, looking directly at the GUARD and stomping his foot in rage.

LINE SLAVE
What-a you call John,
Well you beat on John,
Well you read on down-
Like in chapter sixteen-
I’m a droppin’ on down-
All are in my hand-
Gonna kill every weed-
That is in this land.

The GUARD smiles. Briefly aims his rifle at the LINE SLAVE’S head.

Oxen pull a loaded cart past the OLD SLAVE on the ground, carrying away the heavy load.

EXT. THE UNITED STATES CAPITAL BUILDING – DAY

The seat of liberty looms into view. Its white stone has a scaffold skeleton in preparation for the fitting of a new dome. The work song fades as the finished stone is moved by Irish immigrant CONSTRUCTION WORKERS.

We follow the stone with the bloody palm print on the rough edge side. That side that won’t show.

It moves from cart to dolly.

Rises up the scaffold.

An older man’s deep voice begins to testify. He is a slave pastor we will come to know as CLARK.

PASTOR CLARK (OVER)
Look at these stones! What magnificent buildings. I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.

It reaches the top and changes hands.

The stone is positioned into place, shrouding us in darkness.

INT. HOTEL ROOM – DAY (1855)

Silhouette of a man in prayer. Soft light from the window paints the antebellum hotel room in warmth.

A pair of hands dip into a bowl of water on the sideboard. They belong to ANTHONY BURNS (20), an ex-slave with deep scars around his wrists. BURNS splashes water on his face, pats dry with a towel. His right hand is also scarred and mangled. Old wounds.

In the mirror above the sideboard, he catches his reflection. His eyes, almond shaped and heavy lidded, carry the weight of spiritual gravity, yet his countenance bears a secret joy.

LATER

BURNS is dressed in a fine suit. He fiddles with his necktie.

A gentle knock at the door. BURNS answers, necktie in hand.

REVEREND LEONARD GRIMES (60) enters. He is a mulatto freeman with loose jowls and kind eyes. A zen bulldog.

GRIMES
Good morning, Anthony.

BURNS
Good morning, Reverend. I’m sorry, I am not ready. I cannot remember the cravat.

Burns holds up the tie, looking defeated. Grimes obliges.

GRIMES
Are you ready for this?

BURNS
No. I have been thinking I should wait. Today, everything is new. So many things- I need time.

GRIMES
Tell them the truth. That is all you need to do today.

BURNS
What is truth?

GRIMES
Your story, Anthony. That is your truth.

EXT. STREET – DAY

Burns and Grimes climb into a horse-drawn carriage.

INT./EXT. CARRIAGE, MOVING – DAY

The carriage plods along.

In the distance, a whistle- faint, yet insistent, like a kettle approaching boil. Burns closes his eyes to block out the sound, but it grows louder. Steel gliding on steel.

A horn, loud as an angels’ trumpet, startles Burns. A steam engine catches up, running on tracks alongside the road.

Grimes watches him.

EXT. NEW YORK BAPTIST CHURCH – DAY

A piano taps out “Amazing Grace.” The hymn floats out through the open doors of the Church.

Card: Six years before the civil war.

INT. CHURCH – DAY

A mostly African American congregation mingles before service. Burns is in the crowd surrounded by friends.

The song ends. The PREACHER climbs into his pulpit.

PREACHER
You may be seated.

Soft rumbling as the congregation sits, then silence. His voice is thunder.

PREACHER
Today, I want everyone to listen not to me, but to another man called forth to be a servant of God. His name is Anthony Burns.

Eyes shift to Burns in the front pew.

PREACHER
Anthony Burns was delivered out of bondage through his faith in the almighty God. But the devil would not let him go easy. He was arrested and persecuted. He was deceived and falsely accused. He was tempted and tormented before he was convicted and sentenced to Hell’s Half Acre. Now, it would have been easy for him to give up, when the Devil was laughing in his face. He may have thought, ‘God! Why have you forsaken me?’ But Anthony Burns never lost his faith in the living God. And just as a precious debt had to be paid to ransom mankind from the devil, a ransom was paid to set Anthony Burns free! Now, he is here with us today and I have asked him to speak to you.

A welcoming applause from the congregation. Burns shakes the Preacher’s hand as he takes his place in the pulpit.

A glance to Grimes in the front pew, who nods in approval.

He carefully chooses his words. His truth.

BURNS
My friends, I am very glad to have it to say – have it to feel – that I am once more in the land of Liberty. That I am with those who are my friends.

The congregation welcomes this with ‘amen.’

BURNS
Until my 10th year, I did not care what became of me. But soon after I began to learn that there is a Christ who came to make us free. I began to hear of a North and to feel the necessity for freedom of body and soul. I heard of a North where men of my color could live without any man daring to say to them, ‘You are my property;’ and I determined by the blessing of God one day to find my way there…