Good Lord Bird

Onion!

What are you doing here?

I got to give your pa the password

for the railman before it's too late.

Who goes there?

I said, who goes there?!

Don't take another step.

Jesus is walking!

Onion, did you see our friend the railman?

I shot him.

I shot him.

Ain't nobody coming, is they?

We just took over the nation's largest armory.

We're here to free the Negro people,

and you are my prisoner.

Insurrection!

Cook, Robert,

take Onion, go find Owen.

Reinforcements are coming.

No, say, "I'm here to exchange myself

and my Negroes for all the white prisoners

inside the engine house."

-It's them! -Ah!

Hey, get down!

Hey, put your head down.

Bob, B-B-Bob. Bob!

You're in a pickle now, Brown.

You're surrounded.

All right, we're gonna begin

the exchange of hostages

for the freedom and safe passage

of every Negro in this building.

Why would they do that?! Why would they...?

They shot my son!

Why would they do that?!

They shot my son.

The question is,

did John Brown fail?

He certainly did fail to get out of Harpers Ferry

before being beaten down by United States soldiers,

and to lead a liberating army

into the mountains of Virginia.

So, did John Brown draw his sword against slavery

and thereby lose his life in vain?

And to this I answer 10,000 times no.

No man fails or can ever fail

who so grandly gives himself and all he has

to a righteous cause.

If John Brown did not end the war that ended slavery,

he did at least begin the war that ended slavery.

If we look over the dates, places and men

for which this honor is claimed,

we shall find that not Carolina but Virginia,

not Fort Sumter but Harpers Ferry.

John Brown's zeal in the cause of freedom

was infinitely superior to mine.

I could live for the slave.

John Brown could die for him.

The war being waged in this land

is a war for and against slavery.

And the Brown army fired the first shot.

upbeat gospel music

Hallelujah

Come on, children, let's sing about the goodness

Of the Lord, my Lord

Come on, children, let's shout

All about God's rich reward

Guide our footsteps every day

Keeps us in the narrow way

Come on, children, let's sing

About the goodness of the Lord

Yeah, come on, children, let's sing

About the goodness of the Lord, my Lord

Come on, children, let's shout

All about God's rich reward

Guide our footsteps every day

Keeps us in the narrow way

Come on, children, let's sing

Come on, children, let's shout

How the Lord Almighty has brought us out

There's none like Him, without a doubt

Come on, children, let's sing

About the goodness

Of the Lord

Oh, Lord, we invite You into this room,

and... we invite You into this room, and, uh,

-and what and what and what? -

We invite You into this room and into-into my heart.

Lord, we know that Satan speaks loudest to the wealthy.

-Few can resist his lies. -

Fuck you, John Brown.

We pray for the good people of Harpers Ferry!

We know that Samson defeated his enemies

not with a victory but with death.

Oh, Lord, come to me now.

Please, Lord, come into my heart.

Come into this place, please, right now.

Please, please, please, please.

Well, all the Old Man's

hammering on God finally fell on me.

I'd never noticed how beautiful the world was

till I was about to leave it.

And I started thinking about poor Jesus,

wondering why His Father left Him all alone and forsaken.

And then I looked at the Old Man and realized

he looked exactly like the way white folks picture God.

And that's when I knew it.

This shit was gonna work.

Why'd they stop shooting?

That's a bad sign.

Who are you?

It's Lieutenant Jeb Stuart of the United States Cavalry.

-You remember me? - I remember ye.

John Jr., are you in there?

I'm here.

Jason?

He's dead.

I'm sorry for your loss.

I have orders from my commanding officer Robert E. Lee.

He is approaching the gates and demands your surrender.

Tell him we demand the immediate emancipation

of every Negro in bondage in this land.

What is it that you want in this direct moment?

The freedom of every Negro in this building.

Safe passage for all of my men across the B&O bridge.

And then I will...

surrender myself directly to you.

Mr. Brown, you're in no position to negotiate.

Give me a hundred yards head start.

John Jr., may I look you in the eyes?

John...

Jeb.

John, no amount of your father's

ploys or theatrics are going to get you

or these Negroes out of this, you understand?

You are now surrounded by 1,200 U.S. troops.

You must surrender.

We will do no such thing.

We will exchange the prisoners we have

for safe passage across the B&O bridge.

That cannot be arranged.

Then our business is done.

John...

Jeb... you heard my father.

Our business is done

if you cannot free the Negro from bondage.

You know the speech.

You have until daybreak. Have a good night.

foreboding music

John, verse 16, chapter eight.

Jesus came to the world to show us how wrong

we are about sin and who's truly right.

You'll hang, Brown.

You've committed treason.

You ought to give yourself up.

You'll look good ducking that thick neck

through a hangman's noose.

Huh? Huh?

Emperor.

Captain.

I know what to do.

All right, look, you see the hinges there?

-Yeah. - You know...

We're gonna take apart those hinges.

...there was a time I actually thought you were above me.

But watching you wet yourself and

getting a whiff of your nature doings in here with no privy,

I come to understand the human situation.

One stalk of corn don't grow no higher than the other.

But you... you really think that

crazy old man is going to save all o' you Black people?

Oh, he ain't gonna save us.

He's trying to save you.

Hey, Coachman.

Here you go.

So...

So this the way it is.

If we live through this next fight,

all us is gonna hang.

Now, we done fought hard.

Shit, we-we done fought too hard.

And enjoyed our freedom

a bit too handily.

So, so just before the first light,

the Old Man, he-he gonna start up a good fight up front.

Let all us coloreds sneak out the back vent with the hostages.

Make a run for the river when the shooting starts.

And what if we get caught?

Lie your ass off.

Say you was a hostage.

Else you gonna swing for sure.

Even you, Onion.

So it's best you don't get caught at all.

Look, the Old Man, he giving us a way out.

Take it or not.

You gonna do it?

Y'all ought to get some sleep.

You think there's any chance I won't swing?

They gonna hang every colored in here.

Hell, even if you looked at them white prisoners funny,