Kathleen York Videos : Nightjohn

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Nightjohn

Sarny (Allison Jones), a 12-year-old slave girl in the ante-bellum South, faces a relatively hopeless life. Her chief duties at the plantation of Clel Waller (Beau Bridges) are serving at table, spitting tobacco juice on roses to prevent bugs, and secretly conveying intimate messages between Waller's wife, Callie (Kathleen York), and Dr. Chamberlaine. Then Nightjohn (Carl Lumbly) arrives. A former runaway slave who bears telltale scars on his back, he takes Sarny under his wing and, in exchange for a pinch of tobacco, secretly begins to teach her to read and write, a crime punishable by death. "Words," he says, "are freedom. Slavery is made of words: laws, deeds and passes." He starts by drawing letters in the dirt, and cautions her that no one must know. At her baptism, Sarny steals a Bible that belongs to Waller's son, Jeffrey, and practices reading by lantern-light in the slave quarters. The same Bible serves another purpose when, on a blank page taken from it, Nightjohn forges a pass for Outlaw (Gabriel Casseus), a young slave, to use in escaping to freedom in the North with his beloved Egypt, a slave on another plantation. Waller finds the Bible and demands to know who stole it. Delie (Lorraine Toussaint), who cared for Sarny as a child, fears for her now and accepts the blame. But Nightjohn forestalls the lashing Delie is to receive, saying he's the one, for he can read. He tries to run away but is caught, and his hand is tied to a chopping block. With an ax, Waller ...

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