Does anyone know the significance of James Jacksons Jr.'s last words to Queen as she's leaving the plantation? They were "Remember, there is God in everyone." What exactly was his rationale for saying that as a parting? Was it the typical white southern religious preaching, urging slaves and former slaves to remember God as their benefactor, albeit in his case with a more tender eye as she was his daughter?
His father said it to him before he died.
shareIn the book, he watched Queen leave until he couldn't see her anymore. In the movie, he just rode back to his house without looking back.
shareI think the book was more indepth. I know after reading the book I would cry because they portrayed it as more of a love between James and Easter and that James and his mother loves Queen a lot. In the movie you could tell they did but more guarded. It became even more hush once Queen got older.
shareBook was definitely more in depth. I remember when James wanted Queen to live in his house. Somebody had said that he wanted to use her as a maid to take care of his other children. In the book, it was his way of protecting her. He didn't like watching the slave children treat her badly. I also think that he wanted to watch her grow. There is one part that I didn't like. In the movie, James kept quiet when his wife said that Queen always reminded him of how he loved another woman more than he loved her. In the book, he said that he didn't love Easter b/c she was black and didn't have a soul. It also said that sometimes his wife didn't feel like having sex and then he turned to Easter and she was willing. That part made it sound like he was using Easter for sex when in the beginning that wasn't the case. It seemed like he loved her. I don't know.
shareI missed that in the book that she didn't have a soul. I remember the one part where he was talking about his friends who were all losing their virginity to the slave girls and he thought that was wrong. Then if I recall there was more about Lizzie's dad having sex with slaves.
shareThen I missed that about Lizzie's father. I have to feel sorry for the white women back then. The white men seemed not to respect them. Why sleep with other women when you have a wife or a girlfriend? I know that James would have married Easter if she were white. He cared for Lizzie, but he wasn't in love with her.
shareYeah it's in the movie too, right after Captain Jack announces Queen's birth. Lizzie runs to a bedroom and her mother says all men do that. Then at the wedding Lizzie's mother is talking to Miss Sally and says "I don't know what I'd do without the slaves girls, Mr. Perkins is a regular demon".
shareRight I remember that now. Lizzie's father was a rapist. Interesting as I'm writing this I'm watching an episode of the Golden Girls where Ruby Dee comes back and tells Blanche that she and Blanche's father were in love, but couldn't be together b/c she was black and he was white. Didn't James father mess with slaves too? Men were crazy back then!
shareNo I don't think James father did, but yes Lizzie's father raped them. I do think it did happen where white men loved slave women but not that common. Later on I do believe many did love black women but were pressured not to marry them. Same with white women/black men.
shareI don't know if it wasn't that common. I'm sure that there are a lot of James/Easters stories that were out there. I believe that some did fall in love with their slaves, but couldn't marry for obvious reasons, so they had to marry a white woman. Remember James telling Miss Sally that he was waiting to fall in love with Lizzie and she told him that it would come in time. I guess people didn't love each other back then. They just got married b/c they were supposed to.
shareI took it that way. Obviously that's going by the movie but I suspect real life was different. I know from looking online there was a few things way off so this may have been. Otherwise it really is sad thinking that they couldn't be together.
shareWhat did you find online?
shareI can't remember where (I think it was find a grave)I found Queen's birthdate was way off. She was born right before the Civil War ended not long before. Also, Lizzie died before James, not after. Queen was born in the middle of his other kids, not the first. I found it: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=10780396&page=gr. I didn't read this particular book but in another section here someone mentions a book about Alex Haley (her grandson)and says that according to the book James raped Easter. Now, I like to think it was a love match that wasn't allowed to be but we will never know as anyone who was there is long dead.
shareOh, wow! I don't want to think about it like that either b/c after reading the book and seeing the movie(Jasmine Guy & Tim Daily had excellent chemistry) I liked seeing their love story. I always wondered if their love story were true how come they didn't have more kids b/c from the book, they were having sex regularly. I saw something, on Youtube, one time. It was one of those not cartoons, but something like people do on computers that have images. I forgot what it was called. Anyway it was about a slave owner and his slave. It showed how much he loved her and how she loved him. I wish that I could remember it, so that I could tell you what the name is, so you can see it.
shareThat sounds interesting. I think the slave/owner relationship dynamic is sad because at its best it was two people in love and at its worse it's rape. I like to think James and Easter were in love but we'll never know. The movie shows it and the book even more. Btw thanks for making this forum active again. I've posted a few threads where no one answered. One of the saddest things to me was that James could never acknowledge Queen as his daughter. Everyone knew but he couldn't actually say (though he did mention it to his cousin).
shareI also think that it was sad that James couldn't acknowledge Queen as his daughter too. She finally got it, at the end, that James and his family would never accept or love her. I really felt bad for her when she told him that she was leaving for good. I think that she should have left with those 2 other slaves that asked her to go with them. Hmm I'm going to have to go to your other threads to see what you were talking about. I'm enjoying our conversations. How did you like Halle Berry's performance? I loved it. I remember my co-worker back then saying that she wasn't a good fit, for Queen, b/c she was too dark. BTW, I found that video, on Youtube, that I was telling you about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QXyDeyIan0 Let me know what you think.
shareThanks for that video, I'll go and check it out. I thought Halle Berry was fantastic though I do question if she was white enough. If I recall the real Queen was lighter because Easter was only part black (and apparently also had white if a recall along with Cherokee). But yeah one part that saddened me was when Lizzie said she was pregnant (the second time)and James said "I need a daughter". Broke my heart. Then Sally saying "don't think of him as your father" was sad too. The one guy (Ozzie Davis played him)saying they won't acknowledge her was so true. I do know there have been cases where a master did acknowledge a child but it was usually a son and he wasn't married or didn't have sons. I read about a case like this, the master and slave apparently loved each other, there was no other wife or kids and he wanted the son to inherit. That was a very rare case though.
I'm enjoying our conversations. I think this is a book/movie that really opens so many ideas about society, race, customs and so much more.
Queen should have told Miss Sally that her son should have kept his pants zipped. From the book, James was sleeping, with Easter, regularly. Also speaking of sons, it said that James was happy that Queen was born a girl and not a boy b/c he would have wanted to be a part of her life if she were a boy, but it made it easier. I don't know what that has to do with anything. I guess it's that whole men want a son thing. I heard about what you were talking about. I also think that some slave owners wanted some of their off springs to inherit things, but it's basically unknown. I did feel for Queen when Miss Sally told her that, but when Raven Symone was playing her and the slave children talked about her I kind of got the feeling that she thought that she was better than them b/c she was light. I remember watching Tony Brown Journal a show in the 90's, how light & dark black people used to separate themselves. It seemed that the lighter ones thought that they were better. I didn't like seeing that at all b/c when it comes down to it they are still black.
shareTo this day there is still that light/dark issue in the black community and it goes back to slavery from what I understand. For example, most of the black actors/actresses have been lighter and there was this idea that lighter means prettier. This is common in the white community too (the whole blonde thing)but not as much. I've never understood any of that because attractive doesn't have much to do with coloring but facial features. Yes Miss Sally should have told him to keep it zipped but from what I understand there was this idea that men should have had sex but not women. I've heard stories of men taking their teenage boys to brothels for their first sexual experience. I'm sure it still goes on but no one I know would think the double standard is cool. I do think it was better she was a girl I suppose because she wouldn't be a problem. A male child inherited everything then so if Lizzie only had girls and Queen was a boy there would be a different dynamic perhaps.
shareYeah, the whole white woman thing was supposed to be that they were pure and they weren't supposed to be having sex while black women were just used for sex b/c they were supposed to be made for that. And yes, to this day I think that the men taking their sons to prostitutes still happens. I didn't think about the whole blond and brunette thing, but you're right. I still think that goes on today, but blonds get a bad rap for being dumb, so it's not always a good thing. Did you get to watch the video that I sent you? If so, what did you think?
shareI watched it and was curious to find out more. The one thing that threw me off was the clothes looked more like the 20's.
shareHmm I didn't think about that. You can't hear what is going on. You just have to guess what is happening. It basically shows them together having sex and being happy and him telling his parents that he wants to marry her. What did you get out of it?
shareI didn't get that he wanted to marry her but did get he loved (or at least lusted after)her. His parents didn't look like slave owners which threw me off.
shareThere was a part where he had a ring. Did you see it? Also you keep saying that his parents didn't look like slave owners. What were they supposed to look like? Lusted huh? Yeah, maybe. They sure did go at it at a lot in that video huh?
shareBy not looking I mean the costumes. They looked like people of the 20's. Women during slave times tended to wear bigger dresses. Yeah they did have sex a lot. No, I didn't catch the ring, I'll have to look.
shareYeah, I know that the clothes, for women, were bigger. I wonder if they all dressed like that though. I do wonder what that story was based on. I wish that we could hear what they were saying to each other. Have you ever watched Mandigo? Brenda Sykes plays a slave and it appears that her owner cares about her until one of the very last scenes.
shareNo, I've never seen Mandigo I'll have to watch that. Yeah I'd like to know the story on Youtube, I asked the person if they could tell the story or link to a page.
shareOh, wow! I wonder if they'll answer. Let me know if they do. Mandigo might make you angry if Queen did. It's very graphic.
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