NM: The unrest in Ferguson is a good example of that.
BH: That’s what is so interesting about this story. There are a lot of contemporary stories and issues that still relate. It’s also a classic story of the tables turning. George the slave turned soldier, lived through several other battles, some really bad ones. George left the Army as a First Sergeant and became a really well-respected member of the community. He bought some property in an area that was plagued with malaria, but as the story goes, Black people seemed to have a resistance to it. So they formed this colony, and there he farmed and prospered, built a big house, and raised a family. He was very patriotic. He and the other Black soldiers in the First Kansas were finally granted their full pensions around 1890, and he was very proud of that. He hosted 4th of July parties that were attended by African-Americans and whites. According to Jimmy, George was quite a ladies’ man. Around 1905, sometime after his wife had died, he was courting a lady, and took her by horse and wagon in to town to a kind of 5 and dime lunch counter. They were refused service, and he was upset enough that he organized a boycott. That cost the store enough that they changed their policy.
NM: Quite the activist.
BH: According to Jimmy, he even owned a car. So in the film, in the opening, you hear the sound of a horse and wagon, and then you hear the putt-putt of an old car. Again, there’s that theme of connecting the past to the present. I want people to understand we’re just not that far removed from that.