THE MYSTERIOUS MR. CARVER
Introduction
A Misunderstanding
In the days following the Civil War
and Reconstruction, the South would endure a change that was welcomed by some
but despised by many. Many former
masters or plantation owners were left in a quandary when the backbone of what
made their fields profitable and their status elevated was free to now leave
and search out a place in the world for them and their families. Some owners decided that they would make
former slaves an offer that they could not refuse. They offered them a share of what they grew
on the farm and along with money, they would throw in ownership of the land
they tendered and the mules or implements that were needed to grow their
products. Since many former slaves still
was not allowed to own property, livestock, a bank account or establish credit,
many former slave owners would have the seeds and fertilizer placed on their
accounts to be paid off once the crops come in and were sold. This agreement stayed quite secretive and was
only shared with those closest to the owner and the former slaves. Some plantation owners were not able to hold
on to their family farms after the slaves left because none of those who
formerly resided on that property wanted to stay. Those owners ended up losing all they had,
packing up their families and moving to a more inviting and welcoming
place. For those large swaths of land,
many town and counties did whatever they could to re-capture that lost revenue
including entering a sharecropping deal with former slaves themselves. This allowed many former slaves to finally
collect on that promise of forty Acres and a mule. Because many of these farms were quite large
and often times connected, it also afforded former slaves to create their own
communities or “hollers” to finally live in peace and without fear of those
“midnight riders”. They still had big
issues with getting their crops and produce to market, getting a fair and
balanced price and purchasing the latest equipment to help their farms become
more successful. The former slave who
could secure a line of credit at the store was then seen as the unofficial
mayor of their community and was the one everyone looked to for guidance during
that time. The unofficial mayor would
assume the same responsibility as some former plantation owners by putting all
of the community needs on his account, selling them under his name, collecting
the money, paying off the account and then dividing the money equally among the
active participants. While there were
those who made every attempt to take advantage of those who had already been
taken advantage of, the majority of communities like this ran quite smooth and
to the enjoyment of all who lived there.
One such community was called Promised Land.
The Promised Land
Promised
Land began as many other communities like it did back in that time. It got its name from the portion of the Bible
were Moses took his people after escaping Egypt. It had been a promise to Moses and his people
and those in the community believed that now God had fulfilled. They were now free to follow their own rules
and to live as they saw fit. The
community first began as nothing but a bunch of farmers cultivating and
nurturing the land, taking what she gave them and being forever grateful for
it. They didn’t seem to mind the
shortness of how they were treated when they went into town or how they were
always underpaid for the crops that they grew.
It didn’t matter that much because they knew that as soon as they
crossed that bridge, they would be home and it was something about knowing that
which made them smile even though they really wanted to do something else. You see, change had come to this area and
even though many hated to see her come and once tried to block her way, change
came anyway and sometimes she would be driving a bulldozer. Pushing out of her way, those who thought
that their will alone could stop her or that for some reason or another, they
had the right to decide when she came and if she ever came at all. Change was not going to be denied in this
valley because she had been set by a master and not by those former or sons and
daughters of former ones. The Promised
Land started out like all the rest but soon became very much different than any
other. It stood out as the “holler” to
immolate when it came to creating other communities that was seen to work quite
well in an area once controlled by those who used to view slaves as nothing but
property themselves. Promised Land began
its transition by adapting to the conditions in which it found itself. Unfair market prices were a common theme in
town so Promise Land and its inhabitants decided to pool their resources and
create their own make-shift bank where everyone deposited their money to be
used by the community as a whole.
Because of this, no family would ever go hungry because if they had
nothing to trade like material or labor, the neighbors would voluntarily help
out or they would hold a vote to have their bank help them. The unofficial mayor, Samuel Carver, would
secretly discover hidden talents within the community and invite those
individuals to trade on them. There were
a gentleman in the community who could create something completely out of
nothing and since this community was denied access to the latest farming
implements which could help they become more successful, this gentleman was
convinced by Samuel to build something similar and sell them to those within
the community. Farmers would go to this
guy, tell them what they needed to help in the field and return later to see
that he had created the very thing as if it had been his dream. The community got together and decided that a
plot of land should be set aside to construct a place for him to conduct his
business and that became a blacksmith’s shop.
Samuel did this same thing with women who could sew quite well creating
a clothing shop and a place to gather after the crops had come in for the
farmers to unwind. He found adults who
had the talent to teach and created a school for the kids to go to who were not
needed in the fields and lo and behold, they created a church where they could
finally worship as they wished. Before
long the only reason to go to town now was to sell their crops because the bulk
of their produce and livestock was used within their community. The money they received from the sale of
their crops were divided and spent within their community and seemed never to
really go anywhere else. After many
years of this, the Promised Land was able to pay-off the bank completely for
their lands and even convinced by the banker to increase in size because there
were plenty of unoccupied land adjacent to them that no one wanted. No one really knew how Mr. Carver was able to
get all of this done in what seemed like to them in such a short period of
time. All they knew was he is their
leader and they swore a loyalty to him unlike anything anyone had ever
seen. Promise Land grew and with the
secret assistance of the banker and the road-making implements from their own
blacksmith was able to make roads connecting them to the other side of their
county where they were in dire need to the crops grown there and paid a much
fairer price than they had been getting before.
It wasn’t long before their trips which took them over the southern
bridge to town were not used at all. The sellers of crops from the Promised
Land would now take a northern route to hock their wares. It was also not long before the town’s people
began to feel the absences of Promised Land.
The
trouble started when it was leaked to the town folk on their southern border
that Promised Land was trading with the town north of them. At first, it seemed not to be a big deal to
those inhabiting the southern border town but as more information became
available and knowledge became fact that they were receiving more money and
growing at an alarming rate, it soon began to worry those in charge. On a visit to the southern town, Samuel
stopped in to see the banker and was surprised to find out that the banker had
been replaced by another man. This
replacement was looking over the signed agreement between the bank and Promised
Land and seemed quite unhappy with what he had read. He began to taunt Samuel about how he could
shut him down and destroy all that they had built simply by demanding the
balance on their debt immediately.
Samuel remained quiet as the replacement ranted and raved, claiming that
he had been cheating the bank all these years and threatening to have him
arrested. After the replacement banker
had completed his public rant and addressed the arrogance of Samuel, he did
demand immediate payment of the debt and only gave Samuel one week to
comply. He knew that the crops would not
be in and figured that they would have a very hard time coming up with the
money. He would be able to go back to
his fellow town folk and report that he had solved their problem. Samuel left town and returned to the Promised
Land. He called a community meeting to
explain what the situation was and when many began to panic and voices became
quite loud, he held up his hand and quietly informed them that everything would
be alright. Samuel Carver returned the
next day to that southern town and with him he had the entire amount demanded
by the replacement banker. As he
entered, there were many others gathered in that room and before he could
speak, he was told to shut up and listen to their proposal. He would pay more monthly than he had before,
bring all of his crops and produce to town and take whatever price the buyer
deemed appropriate. He would stop adding
on to Promised Land and sign over control of the community right then. Samuel waited patiently until they had
completed making their proposal. When he
was finally given his chance to speak, he presented them with the money they
had demanded. It was counted and
verified as being all there by one of the other men in the room. He was given a receipt for the money and on
that receipt it said paid in full. The
counter of the money was about to hand Samuel the deed to the land before he
was halted by one gentleman seated in the far back of the room. This gentleman had been hidden from view and
this was the first time Samuel had ever seen his face. Samuel did not know that gentleman’s name or
anything about him but he did know what type of person he was by the way he
carried himself. Samuel bowed his head,
closed his eyes and took a silent but very deep breath. As the man began to speak, Samuel raised his
head to meet his eyes; he folded his arms behind his back and smiled. Samuel saw the first punch coming and did
nothing to avoid it. As the punches kept
coming, Samuel stood still and often times got right back up to be knocked down
again and again. After what seemed like
hours, he finally could not stand anymore but did not try to avoid any of the
kicking that preceded the punches. He
did not hear any of the things being said by this man and the others who joined
in after he was down but the look on Samuel’s face as they beat him told them
that they will never break him. Samuel
returned to Promised Land, broken and beaten.
He did not have the deed as he thought he would and the community of
Promised Land was preparing an all-out assault on the southern town when he
finally caught up with them. Again he
waved his hand and looked at each and every last one of them in the eyes. He repeated the words of “everything will be
alright” and added a few more. “Any fool
can shoot a gun or use a knife but only a smart person can use their
brains. People can only break you if you
let them and they can only control you when you can’t control yourself”. “Violence never solves anything and it
doesn’t give you lasting peace. If we
are to achieve lasting peace, we have to use a talent that they do not believe
we have, we have to use our smarts.” “Be
aware, they are expecting you to come and they probably have plenty of people
sitting on the southern bridge waiting on you to storm down the middle of the
road. You make them happy when you do as
they think you will and I am in no mood to make them happy.” “We have a golden opportunity here to make
them do our biding and follow our lead.
We can make them finally see that we are much more than what they
believe us to be. The choice and control
is ours, let’s not give up the only thing we have that matters to any of us and
that is who we are. We are more than
former slaves, we are more than property, and we are more than mindless idiots
that come at the call of our master. God
is our master now and vengeance belongs to him.
If building all that we have built here has taught us anything, it
should have taught us that.” His words
comforted them like a warm blanket in the middle of winter; their anger quickly
subsided and was replaced by questions.
Their main question was what he wanted them to do, to which he answered,
return to your daily activities like nothing has happened, everything will be
alright. The next major question was
what about all of the money paid to the southern town and what’s to keep them
from advancing past the northern part of the southern bridge. Ah he said, this is where it gets
interesting. He explained that some time
ago, the previous banker and he had already seen that times were changing and
instead of trying to stop change, they embraced it and prepared for it. The previous banker had secretly relocated to
the northern area and re-wrote the deed on the land which removed any legal
right to the land from the southern town.
The money paid to the southern town did not require proof of payment by
Promise Land possessing the deed; they only needed the receipt of payment in
full to present to the previous banker in the northern town. He reached into his pocket and pulled out
that receipt to show all those gathered and you could hear a sigh of relief
floating through the crowd like a cool breeze on a summer morning. Now to answer that question of the southern
town folk advancing past the northern tip of the bridge, he informed the
community that he had incorporated the entire bridge and all the land that they
own which meant that Promised Land was now a town within itself and anyone
entering would then have to submit to their laws and ordinances. He had already informed the authority in the
northern town about what he thought would happen and was advised to incorporate
as well as given a direct line to call for help until he established his own
police force to service his community.
Anyone interested in becoming a part of their police department should submit
their name on Sunday in the box. They
will be chosen based on their family needs, their demeanor and then sent to the
northern town for four weeks of proper training. Yes, change had arrived in the Promised Land,
dressed in all her splendor. She was not
going to be deterred and to the people of Promised Land, she was more than
welcomed.
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