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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1979)
Section II page 8 Portland Observer October 18. 1979 SH O W NO. 5 -- C h icken G eorge, w h o has taken a wife and now has children, is sent off to England to pay his owner's debt, w ith the promise that he will return a free man. Seventeen years later, when George returns home, he finds his son Tom, now a blacksmith and married himself, ser ving as head of the fam ily. C hicken George's freedom is deeply resented by two viciously racist bothers named Evan and Jemmy Brent. When the Civil War begins Tom is recruited - and cruelly * mistreated - as smithy for the Army. CHICKEN GEORGE AND HIS FAMILY Super Shopping Centers Help Lower Your Cost of Living . . . Your nearby Fred Meyer Super Shopping Center is filled with "People-Pleasing” services to make your shopping more pleasant. Wide, spacious aisles, friendly helpful clerks and un dercover parcel loading are just some of the "People Pleasing" services to you. Plus everyday low prices on thousands of items you use and need everyday help lower your cost of living. Because we re open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, including Sunday, you can shop when you WANT to, not when you HAVE to. Come in anytime and "funshop" in a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere. W alnut P ark „ ■ E. Killingaworth at Union Interstate N Lomb.,d Peninsula L Lombard Plenty of Free and Easy Parking Open 9 am to 10 pm daily, including Sunday. A hell-raising, fun-loving sporting man is 35-year-old Chicken George, easily spotted by his ever-present der by hat and long-flow ing scarf, and acknow ledged everywhere as the finest trainer of fighting game cocks in the South. Chicken George does not know Massa Moore is his father and Moore never acknowledges it, so the two of them - sharing the same interests and dreams - have a free and easy relationship. After many carefree years. C hicken G eorge has m arried the straitlaced, Bible-quoting M atilda, and they have several children. When Nat Turner’s rebellion sets Virginia country side ablaze, Massa Moore treats his trainer like all other slaves, someone never to be trusted. Chicken George’s mother, Kizzy, isn’t surprised. When Chicken George threatens to kill Massa Moore, she tells her son that Moore is his father. M oore prom ises that if Chicken George goes to England with him and beats Lord Russell in a cockfight, Moore will set him free. At the fight, Moore accepts a $10,000 bet and loses. Moore does not have $20,000 but Lord Russell accepts George’s service for a few years as payment. The slaves are sold, except for Kizzy. When George returns in 1859, he stops at the plantation and finds his mother is dead. Finding his fam ily in N orth C a ro lin a , Chicken George instills a measure of pride in them because he is a free man. He is now a grandfather: Tom has several children. C hickcn George is not allowed to remain in the state as a tree man. He offers to become a slave again, but his family sent him away. Leaving, he vows to come back and free them all. Just before leaving he reminds his son, lorn, of the family heritage, that they are descen dants of a proud African man named Kunta Kinte, who was son of Hinta and Omoro Kinte, who called a river Kamby Bolongo, who was captured when he went into the jungle to find wood for a drum. SHOW NO. 6 The Civil War is over but freedom has a bitter side effect, as most people seem in terested only In using and abusing the e m a n cipated Blacks in the same old w ay. Chicken George and his family are constantly harassed by hooded night riders and exploited by men such as Evan Brent and a carpet bagging Senator until finally, in a move that will truly affect generations to come, they move to start anew in the tiny town of Henning. Tennessee Out of nowhere. Chicken George suddenly reappear He is home again. During the war he fought on tf Union side. Since receiv ing his release from the Army f has been working his wav back home. He used his Arm pay to buy land and they will pay for the rest while fa ming it. As the dawn light breaks over the distant hills, if caravan begins its journey to the promised land of Ter nessee. In the lead wagon is Chicken George, wearin his distinctive detby and long-flowing scarf. As th caravan of tree Black people crosses the valley, Cicke George begins to recite the familiar family litany: "'And the fir s t one fro m our fa m ily to come to thi country was,he African. H , name was Kunta Kinte an, w Z n t, " nver Kamby M o w - Me was capture, when he went into the woods to make a drum . am K r^ h e" ' and ,heir chi,d was ° KiM name htzzy, who was my m other. . . ”
