Unbowed (1999)

Tembi Locke: Cleola

Photos 

Quotes 

• Cleola : We are Christian and free.

  Waka Mani : Free to be white.

• Cleola : Did you say it!

  Waka Mani : I did not mean you.

  Cleola : My skin is black. If I said Indians were savages and blanketheads, would you believe I didn't mean you?

  Waka Mani : No. It was wrong. I am sorry. Everyday we become like those we hate!

• Cleola : There is no place for us here. We will make our ways.

• Cleola : Momma was born a slave. Her father was sold before she was born. All freedom meant to her was hard work for low wages.

• Cleola : I'm not an Indian. I don't know how to live as an Indian. Your ways are...

  Waka Mani : We will make our own ways.

• Cleola : That is why an education is so important to us. It shows us that we are free!

  Waka Mani : The story is different but the result is the same!

  Cleola : Learning is a victory. It doesn't break out spirit. We know we are black, we're not trying to be like the white man.

  Waka Mani : Did your ancestors dress for dinner? This room is a prison. I need to be out!

• Cleola : Waka Mani, you must promise me one thing. I will be all six of your wives.

  Waka Mani : All six. Then I will have to love you forever.

  Cleola : That's long enough.

• Waka Mani : Noble words that mean nothing.

  Cleola : Oh, I think they do. They set a standard for what is right.

  Waka Mani : The words are useless because the white man does not live by them.

  Cleola : Not yet, but one day they will because the words are there. They can never be erased.

  [debating the U.S. Constitution] 

• Waka Mani : You should be angry at what the white people have done to your people.

  Cleola : If I worried about every indignity the negro suffered during the course of a normal day, I'd wouldn't be able to think of much else.