Synopsis of
Free At Last
Period Drama
WGAw Reg.# 1835935
Original Screenplay by Bruce Macintyre
Marcus, a black slave in his early twenties, is being chained behind a wagon as his grief-stricken wife, Teeka, and his frightened two-year-old daughter, Rajeen, and other slaves look on helplessly. He tells them, "Stay strong. I be coming back for you." But the nasty plantation owner tells him, "No you won't, nigga," and leads him away down the road.
Seven years later, Marcus is in a very different situation on the plantation where he’s a valued member, though still a slave. The owner has been wounded returning from the war and Marcus fetches him and gets him home. The owner calls the slaves together and tells them it is a new day, that slavery is over with, and makes a proposal they all like for working the plantation together. Marcus, however, tells him he can’t stay, the owner knowing why. Marcus has to find his wife and daughter.
With a horse given to him by the plantation’s owner along with a map directing him to the plantation he was taken from seven years earlier, Marcus sets off. Letting his horse graze in a field as he prepares to camp for a night, a farmer tries to take his horse, assaulting Marcus who's forced to defend himself, knocking out the farmer and riding away.
Marcus finds his former plantation deserted by its owners, the owner who dragged him away having been killed, the former slaves running it on their own. He learns that Teeka and Rajeen were sold five years earlier to a slave trader from Charleston named Leffert. He also gets a group photograph one slave saved from the burned manor house that shows Teeka and Rajeen.
In Charleston, he watches the freed slaves celebrate “A Jubilee of Freedom” then finds the slave trader who refuses to help him. Marcus breaks into the office that night and finds the sales receipt showing that Teeka and Rajeen were sold the a New Orleans slave trader called Schumer and Son.
On his way to New Orleans, he camps for a night with two freed slaves who steal his horse. He reaches Mobile, Alabama, tired and out of funds, asking at a blacksmith shop if they need any help. The blacksmith, Seth Selmer, is dismissive, but then tells Marcus his cousin, Albert Selmer, needs help fishing. Albert offers to sail Marcus to New Orleans and pay him a bit if Marcus will assist in the fishing on the way. Marcus agrees and they set off. But Albert pulls a gun on Marcus and forces him to chain himself hand and foot, revealing to Marcus that he intends to sail Marcus to Cuba and sell him back into slavery which is still legal there. In a storm, however, Albert is thrown onto the chained Marcus who tosses him overboard into the raging seas.
Marcus frees himself from being chained to the boat, but can’t get out of his wrist and leg irons, drifting helplessly in the crippled boat until he’s rescued by a British sailing ship heading to Galveston. Captain Niven has Marcus’s boat repaired and drops him at the mouth of the Mississippi, Marcus rowing the boat up to New Orleans.
He obtains the address for Schumer and Son, but it’s no longer there, the premises now a printing shop. From the friendly print shop owner, Andrew Dreesen, he gets the address of the landlord of the building who curtly informs him that both Schumer and his son are dead, no records remaining. When Marcus goes back to the print shop to see if perhaps Andrew found some records after moving in, Andrew offers to help him after hearing his story. He wants to obtain black business and offers Marcus a job giving out fliers along with a place to stay in the back of the shop. Even better, he’ll print up fliers telling of Marcus’s search for his wife and daughter, including a photograph of them from the picture Marcus has.
Giving out the fliers, Marcus meets a woman, Dolly Tilson, who’s sympathetic to his search and invites him to a church dinner. Andrew also has found someone who may want to purchase the boat Marcus came in, Tony Angelo, who buys it from Marcus for $100 dollars, the first significant money Marcus ever has had.
At the church dinner with Dolly, the other parishioners agree to use their church newspaper to print Marcus’s story along with that of other newly freed slaves trying to locate their families. Marcus walks Dolly home and she tells him that it’s wonderful he’s looking for his wife and daughter, but, if he should be unsuccessful, he needs to go on with his life.
Marcus learns from a free black who’d been a slave trader that Schumer dealt almost exclusively on the frontier, in Texas and with the Cherokee Nation.
Marcus gets closer to Dolly attending a church service and having lunch with her. It makes him uncomfortable, however, as he realizes he’s been getting too settled and that he needs to get on with his search. He tells Andrew he has to get on his way, Andrew offering to support him by sending fliers when he needs more and take in any leads generated and letting Marcus know wherever he may be.
At that moment, however, a detective and a police officer come into the shop accompanied by Tony Angelo and Seth Selmer who accuses Marcus of murdering his fisherman cousin to steal the boat he’s sold Angelo. Taken to the police station, Marcus admits throwing Albert Selmer overboard though insisting it was self-defense in his kidnapping. He’s remanded to the Parish Prison as matters are worked out. The only witness he can think of is the captain of the ship that rescued him and freed him from the chains, thinking the captain’s name was Evan.
In the jail, Marcus is approached by an inmate who was the property of Schumer and Son and knew Marcus’s wife and daughter, telling Marcus they were sold to the Cherokee Indians.
Dolly gets Marcus a lawyer from her church while Andrew goes to Galveston to try to locate Captain Niven. At the writ of habeas corpus hearing, things don’t look good until Andrew comes in with Captain Niven who’s also brought the chains cut from Marcus. The charges are dismissed.
At a dinner with all his friends celebrating the dropping of the case against him, Marcus thanks them all but tells them he has to be on his way, the silver lining of his having been jailed being that it allowed him to learn where his wife and child are. The problem is that in the Indian Nation slavery is still legal and being practiced so that Teeka and Rajeen are not yet free, Marcus as a free black not even allowed on the Indian’s land.
He sets off by train to the north, disembarking in a small Arkansas town from where he’ll journey to Fort Smith on the edge of the Cherokee Nation. He purchases a run-down wagon that he repairs, along with an elderly horse to pull it.
Fort Smith has a lot of free blacks from the Cherokee Nation in it and Marcus is hopeful that his fliers will quickly bring him information. Just as he’s getting discouraged, a recent runaway slave from the Cherokee, attracted by the reward on the flier, tells Marcus he was with Teeka and Rajeen on the plantation owned by Stand Watie, leader of the Cherokee forces that supported the confederacy, actually the last confederate general to surrender. The man tells Marcus that Watie’s men brought them back up from Texas to put together the ruined plantation on Spavinaw Creek, the war having destroyed much of the Cherokee Nation infrastructure.
Marcus is warned that if he’s caught on Cherokee land, he may end up a slave again; but that doesn’t deter Marcus in the least. Getting directions to Watie’s plantation, he sneaks into the Cherokee’s lands and manages to locate Teeka and Rajeen.
There’s little time for their emotional reunion as they have to flee in the night and try to make it back to sanctuary in Arkansas before Watie’s men catch up to them. They almost make it, but the Cherokee come upon them short of the border, Watie leading the search party.
Marcus is defiant, telling Watie that he, Teeka and Rajeen are willing to die before returning to slavery. Watie is impressed especially by the nine-year-old Rajeen's attitude and complimenting her on her beauty. He tells them his fifteen-year-old son has just died and he needs to return to Texas to bury the boy. Teeka tells him they’re sorry for his loss and that they'll pray his son rests with Jesus. Watie’s men are surprised when Watie tells them in Cherokee to leave, that the slaves go free. He tells Marcus, Teeka and Rajeen that his son has told him he wishes them well and they’ll meet again someday in the presence of the spirits. He and his men leave.
Marcus, Teeka and Rajeen embrace, “Free at last, free at last.”
Riding in the wagon together, the old horse now joined by a second, Teeka and Rajeen exclaim at the beauty they’ve never seen before. The wagon is heading west at the edge of the great plains, the majestic peaks of the Rocky Mountains ahead of them. “Free forever,” Marcus says as they head towards their new life together.
Free At Last
Period Drama
WGAw Reg.# 1835935
Original Screenplay by Bruce Macintyre
Marcus, a black slave in his early twenties, is being chained behind a wagon as his grief-stricken wife, Teeka, and his frightened two-year-old daughter, Rajeen, and other slaves look on helplessly. He tells them, "Stay strong. I be coming back for you." But the nasty plantation owner tells him, "No you won't, nigga," and leads him away down the road.
Seven years later, Marcus is in a very different situation on the plantation where he’s a valued member, though still a slave. The owner has been wounded returning from the war and Marcus fetches him and gets him home. The owner calls the slaves together and tells them it is a new day, that slavery is over with, and makes a proposal they all like for working the plantation together. Marcus, however, tells him he can’t stay, the owner knowing why. Marcus has to find his wife and daughter.
With a horse given to him by the plantation’s owner along with a map directing him to the plantation he was taken from seven years earlier, Marcus sets off. Letting his horse graze in a field as he prepares to camp for a night, a farmer tries to take his horse, assaulting Marcus who's forced to defend himself, knocking out the farmer and riding away.
Marcus finds his former plantation deserted by its owners, the owner who dragged him away having been killed, the former slaves running it on their own. He learns that Teeka and Rajeen were sold five years earlier to a slave trader from Charleston named Leffert. He also gets a group photograph one slave saved from the burned manor house that shows Teeka and Rajeen.
In Charleston, he watches the freed slaves celebrate “A Jubilee of Freedom” then finds the slave trader who refuses to help him. Marcus breaks into the office that night and finds the sales receipt showing that Teeka and Rajeen were sold the a New Orleans slave trader called Schumer and Son.
On his way to New Orleans, he camps for a night with two freed slaves who steal his horse. He reaches Mobile, Alabama, tired and out of funds, asking at a blacksmith shop if they need any help. The blacksmith, Seth Selmer, is dismissive, but then tells Marcus his cousin, Albert Selmer, needs help fishing. Albert offers to sail Marcus to New Orleans and pay him a bit if Marcus will assist in the fishing on the way. Marcus agrees and they set off. But Albert pulls a gun on Marcus and forces him to chain himself hand and foot, revealing to Marcus that he intends to sail Marcus to Cuba and sell him back into slavery which is still legal there. In a storm, however, Albert is thrown onto the chained Marcus who tosses him overboard into the raging seas.
Marcus frees himself from being chained to the boat, but can’t get out of his wrist and leg irons, drifting helplessly in the crippled boat until he’s rescued by a British sailing ship heading to Galveston. Captain Niven has Marcus’s boat repaired and drops him at the mouth of the Mississippi, Marcus rowing the boat up to New Orleans.
He obtains the address for Schumer and Son, but it’s no longer there, the premises now a printing shop. From the friendly print shop owner, Andrew Dreesen, he gets the address of the landlord of the building who curtly informs him that both Schumer and his son are dead, no records remaining. When Marcus goes back to the print shop to see if perhaps Andrew found some records after moving in, Andrew offers to help him after hearing his story. He wants to obtain black business and offers Marcus a job giving out fliers along with a place to stay in the back of the shop. Even better, he’ll print up fliers telling of Marcus’s search for his wife and daughter, including a photograph of them from the picture Marcus has.
Giving out the fliers, Marcus meets a woman, Dolly Tilson, who’s sympathetic to his search and invites him to a church dinner. Andrew also has found someone who may want to purchase the boat Marcus came in, Tony Angelo, who buys it from Marcus for $100 dollars, the first significant money Marcus ever has had.
At the church dinner with Dolly, the other parishioners agree to use their church newspaper to print Marcus’s story along with that of other newly freed slaves trying to locate their families. Marcus walks Dolly home and she tells him that it’s wonderful he’s looking for his wife and daughter, but, if he should be unsuccessful, he needs to go on with his life.
Marcus learns from a free black who’d been a slave trader that Schumer dealt almost exclusively on the frontier, in Texas and with the Cherokee Nation.
Marcus gets closer to Dolly attending a church service and having lunch with her. It makes him uncomfortable, however, as he realizes he’s been getting too settled and that he needs to get on with his search. He tells Andrew he has to get on his way, Andrew offering to support him by sending fliers when he needs more and take in any leads generated and letting Marcus know wherever he may be.
At that moment, however, a detective and a police officer come into the shop accompanied by Tony Angelo and Seth Selmer who accuses Marcus of murdering his fisherman cousin to steal the boat he’s sold Angelo. Taken to the police station, Marcus admits throwing Albert Selmer overboard though insisting it was self-defense in his kidnapping. He’s remanded to the Parish Prison as matters are worked out. The only witness he can think of is the captain of the ship that rescued him and freed him from the chains, thinking the captain’s name was Evan.
In the jail, Marcus is approached by an inmate who was the property of Schumer and Son and knew Marcus’s wife and daughter, telling Marcus they were sold to the Cherokee Indians.
Dolly gets Marcus a lawyer from her church while Andrew goes to Galveston to try to locate Captain Niven. At the writ of habeas corpus hearing, things don’t look good until Andrew comes in with Captain Niven who’s also brought the chains cut from Marcus. The charges are dismissed.
At a dinner with all his friends celebrating the dropping of the case against him, Marcus thanks them all but tells them he has to be on his way, the silver lining of his having been jailed being that it allowed him to learn where his wife and child are. The problem is that in the Indian Nation slavery is still legal and being practiced so that Teeka and Rajeen are not yet free, Marcus as a free black not even allowed on the Indian’s land.
He sets off by train to the north, disembarking in a small Arkansas town from where he’ll journey to Fort Smith on the edge of the Cherokee Nation. He purchases a run-down wagon that he repairs, along with an elderly horse to pull it.
Fort Smith has a lot of free blacks from the Cherokee Nation in it and Marcus is hopeful that his fliers will quickly bring him information. Just as he’s getting discouraged, a recent runaway slave from the Cherokee, attracted by the reward on the flier, tells Marcus he was with Teeka and Rajeen on the plantation owned by Stand Watie, leader of the Cherokee forces that supported the confederacy, actually the last confederate general to surrender. The man tells Marcus that Watie’s men brought them back up from Texas to put together the ruined plantation on Spavinaw Creek, the war having destroyed much of the Cherokee Nation infrastructure.
Marcus is warned that if he’s caught on Cherokee land, he may end up a slave again; but that doesn’t deter Marcus in the least. Getting directions to Watie’s plantation, he sneaks into the Cherokee’s lands and manages to locate Teeka and Rajeen.
There’s little time for their emotional reunion as they have to flee in the night and try to make it back to sanctuary in Arkansas before Watie’s men catch up to them. They almost make it, but the Cherokee come upon them short of the border, Watie leading the search party.
Marcus is defiant, telling Watie that he, Teeka and Rajeen are willing to die before returning to slavery. Watie is impressed especially by the nine-year-old Rajeen's attitude and complimenting her on her beauty. He tells them his fifteen-year-old son has just died and he needs to return to Texas to bury the boy. Teeka tells him they’re sorry for his loss and that they'll pray his son rests with Jesus. Watie’s men are surprised when Watie tells them in Cherokee to leave, that the slaves go free. He tells Marcus, Teeka and Rajeen that his son has told him he wishes them well and they’ll meet again someday in the presence of the spirits. He and his men leave.
Marcus, Teeka and Rajeen embrace, “Free at last, free at last.”
Riding in the wagon together, the old horse now joined by a second, Teeka and Rajeen exclaim at the beauty they’ve never seen before. The wagon is heading west at the edge of the great plains, the majestic peaks of the Rocky Mountains ahead of them. “Free forever,” Marcus says as they head towards their new life together.