The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974 TV Movie)

Cicely Tyson: Jane Pittman

Photos 

Quotes 

• Jimmy : That girl is gonna drink from the fountain tomorrow, Miss Jane.

  Jane Pittman : Well, God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. I'll wait for Him to give me the sign, Jimmy. And He's right most times. I'll wait on Him.

  Jimmy : That girl is gonna drink from the fountain tomorrow, Miss Jane.

• Jane Pittman : I'm 109, uh, 110. I'm too old. I can't even do nothin' but get in the way.

  Jimmy : You can inspire the others.

  Jane Pittman : Hey, Jimmy. What you got goin' in the back of your head?

  Jimmy : We're going to have one of our girls drink from the white peoples' fountain down at the courthouse.

  Jane Pittman : The white folks' fountain?

• Jane Pittman : Is this for radio? I'm gonna be on television? The Ed Sullivan Show?

• Jane Pittman : I've been carrying a scar on my back ever since I was slave.

• Jimmy : We don't have that kind of time, Miss Jane.

  Jane Pittman : What else do you got, Jim?

• Quentin : Are you 110 years old?

  Jane Pittman : So they tell me.

  Quentin : How far back can you remember?

  Jane Pittman : How far back do you wanna go?

• Quentin : Do you remember getting your freedom?

  Jane Pittman : I hope I never forget it.

• Jane Pittman : Man has to chop sugar cane for a while for a living to appreciate it. Most people ain't never eat sugar cane raw today, black or white.

• Jane Pittman : Ned started teachin' the peoples to write. He even wrote to Washington, D.C., but they never wrote back. You know, he found out about committees bein' formed that helped the coloreds with their rights, and so he formed one, too.

• Jane Pittman : Colored politicians used to come around and sign us up for votes and more than just a few got sent to Washington. But, Reconstruction never really worked. It wasn't too long before carpetbaggers, black and white, moved in to take from the South what the war didn't.

• Jane Pittman : I don't have what you have. I don't have the urge. I know the land, but you know the peoples. Go to 'em, Ned. Talk to 'em, show 'em.

• Jane Pittman : Why you always talkin' about killin' for?

  Cluveau : I'm the baddest. I don't brag so much.

• Jane Pittman : Read me the sports page. I wanna hear what they say about my Jackie.

  Jimmy - Age 7 : He stole three bases and he hit two homers.

  Jane Pittman : He did not!

  Jimmy - Age 7 : It say so right here, Miss Jane.

  Jane Pittman : Uh, I heard the game last night on the radio, smart boy. Dodgers lost.

  Jimmy - Age 7 : Yes'm. But so did the Yankees.

  Jane Pittman : Uh-huh. You see there? Jackie and the Dodgers is for the colored folks anyway. Just like Joe Louis was. You know who he is?

  Jimmy - Age 7 : You told me, Miss Jane.

  Jane Pittman : Yeah. Well, did I tell ya that he let Schmeling beat him the first time, just to teach us a lesson? Did I? Well, he did, but, oh, boy, that second time was somethin' else.

• Jane Pittman : You think I'm crazy?

  Quentin : Ma'am?

  Jane Pittman : I talk to this tree, you know? Ol' sister Oak. Look at me. I'm more than 110 years old. Now, if it ain't the Lord that's keepin' me going, what is it? See? I can sit in the sun, and I can walk. Not like I used to, but I do pretty well. Sometimes, when I feel very good, I walk all the way down to the road, and I looks at the river. Generally, though, I just come up the quarters a piece, and I sit here under this old oak. Look, the peoples done fixed me a nice clean place to sit and talk with my God. Or sometimes I'll sit here for an hour, just thankin' Him for His blessin'. And then I go back home. There's only just a few of us left, you know? And I have seen - enough years to last two lifetimes. I don't mind seein' a few more, though. He'll know when to call me. And when He call me, I'll be ready. 'Til then, I'll just have some of the children read me the Bible and the sports page and - and the funnies. I like the funnies, too, you know? And I do enjoy my vanilla ice cream. I have my vanilla ice cream. I like that. You know, this oak tree I'm sure has been here as long as this place been here. And I ain't ashamed to tell ya that I talk to it. And I ain't crazy, either. It ain't - it ain't necessary craziness to talk to the rivers and the trees. Of course, now, when you talk to the teches in the bayous, that's different, because a teche ain't nothin', and a bayou ain't much more. But, oh, the rivers and the trees. Unless'n, of course, you talk to a china ball tree. Anybody get caught talkin' to a china ball tree or a thorn tree, they got to be crazy. But an old oak, like this one here, that's been here all these years and knows more than you'll ever know, it ain't craziness, son. It's just the nobility you respects.

• Jane Pittman : Who shot him?

  Mister Robert : Nobody knows.

  Jane Pittman : Somebody knows.

• Cluveau : They talked to me about your boy there, Jane. They don't want he build that school there, no. They say he could just stir up trouble for niggers. They want him go back. Back where he come from. They don't know Albert tell you this. They want me stop him.

  Jane Pittman : You mean kill my boy?

  Cluveau : I tell them, I say, me, you, we all time fish on Saint Shaw River. I tell them I eat at your house.

  Jane Pittman : Can you kill my boy?

  Cluveau : They don't like he preach on the river, way he do.

  Jane Pittman : Can you kill my boy?

  Cluveau : I do whatever they tell Albert.

  Jane Pittman : Can you kill my boy?

  Cluveau : Yes! Yes. I can, Miss Jane.