- 0:01:23 The Narrator's Speech
- Spirits of the Dead rise up,
Lingering Spirits of the Dead rise up and possess your bird of passage.
Those stolen Africans step out of the ocean from the wombs of the ships and claim your story.
Spirits of the Dead rise up,
Lingering Spirits of the Dead rise up and possess your vessel.
Those Africans shackled in leg irons and enslaved,
Step out of the acres of cane fields and cotton fields and tell your story.
Spirits of the Dead rise up,
Lingering Spirits of the Dead rise up and possess your bird of passage.
Those lynched in the magnolias,Â
swinging on the limbs of the weeping willows,
rotting food for the vultures,
Step down and claim your story.
Spirits of the Dead rise up,
Lingering Spirits of the Dead rise up and possess your vessel.
Those tied, bound, and whipped from Brazil to Mississippi
Step out and tell your story.
Those in Jamaica,
in the fields of Cuba,
in the swamps of Florida,
the rice fields of Carolina
You waiting Africans step out and tell your story.
Spirits of the Dead rise up,
Lingering Spirits of the Dead rise up and possess your bird of passage. Â
Fr
you African Spirits
Spirits of the Dead rise up,
Lingering Spirits of the Dead rise up and possess your bird of passage.Â
- 0:17:07 Mona's Plea for Mercy
- Wait a minute! You're making a mistake! STOP! I'm not an African! Don't you recognize me? I'm Mona! I'm an American!
- 0:39:38 The Whites Can't Hurt Nunu
- They can never do nothing to my soul!...
This flesh that's all!
If not because of this flesh and you know this is the only thing they have on us!
- 0:53:32 Noble Ali's Choices
- Nunu: The choice is either to be a true man or a beast.
- 1:11:55 Shola's Beliefs About Praying
- click here to hear this passage
Father Rafael kept tellin' me to pray.
Kept tellin' me about the punishment.
And the master kept on takin' advantage of me.
It didn't make no sense to me.
Seemed like the more I prayed the meaner the master got.
Prayin' wasn't working.
So I just stopped it all together.
I felt responsible even though deep down in my heart I knew that wasn't true.
After that I just fell out of favor all together.
- 1:28:01 Shola Receives the Sankofa Bird
- click here to hear this passage
Shango trusted me for the first time. He gave me this handmade bird that he had carved out of wood. He called it a Sankofa bird and he put it round my neck. Shango said the Sankofa was passed on to him by his Papa. But I tell you whatever that bird was all about after he put that bird on my neck I became a rebel. No more was I scared of being flogged, burned; even death didn't scare me. And when [chuckle] they got the notion to throw me out in the field suit me just fine.
- 1:42:10 Ain't She a Saint?
- click here to hear this passage
This woman you call heathen is my mother.
And you gonna' have to stop disrespecting her.
Her name is Afria [enunciated].
She's a saint.
Ain't she though father?
All her life she's been abused and betrayed even by her own son.
Now ain't she a saint?
Was even dragged through the desert of cruelty to suffer foreverybody
And for you.
Now tell me, ain't she a saint?
- 1:45:32 The Church is Burnt Down.
- click here to hear this passage
Joe was locked in that church for days. They tried to smoke him out but finally they just burnt the whole church down. Father Raphael - Joe - Church - nothin' but ashes. And Nunu; Nunu was nowhere to be found. They never did find a trace of her. Some folks believe to this day that she never died. They say they saw this big buzzard come swoop down and fly her back to her Africa.
- 1:53:35 Shola's Final Monologue
- click here to hear this passage
[chanting in the background]
Guns
Horses
Head Slaves
I can still hear it all now
And I heard the guns go off again
And the dogs I heard them as they scrunched one of us
I heard his voiceKeep on runnin' sister
Keep on runnin'
The horses' hooves got closer and closer right on our heels
And suddenly I heard another one go down
They were right on our heels
And I knew I was next
One cried out to me to go on as the dogs feasted on himKeep on runnin' sister
Run
Run
Run
My head started getting hot and I wasn't tired no more
Then I had this feelin' this light feelin'
And there wasn't no more pains in my feet
This big buzzard was flyin' next to me and he spread his wings and scooped me up and up and up
Just like what Shango said
Next thing I know I'm in the air goin' up and up and up and
This miserable earth is gettin' smaller and smaller
Turnin' into somethin' small
Dogs and Overseers
Head Slaves
Horses
Getting smaller and smaller
Just like what Shango said
The buzzard brought me
