Down by the River

This is the story of a town, a county, and the South. Following the US Supreme Court ruling on Brown versus Board of Education in 1954, change across the South was inevitable. That change would impact everyone in its path, black and white. This story chronicles the attitudes of the citizens of one small town in eastern North Carolina in 1955-1956 as the civil rights movement gained momentum. Some fought for the status quo while others saw the need for transformation, a need for people to live up to the Founding Fathers' words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Scooter: A young, illiterate black man whose goals are limited to his next meal, his next pair of shoes, his next menial job. Judge Jackson: Local Recorder's Court Judge, who aspires to become a Superior Court Judge. Henry Flanagan: Editor of the local newspaper and a transplanted New Yorker who cringes at his adopted town's attitude toward blacks. Debbi Patterson: A war widow happy with her situation in life while struggling with loss. Big Man: A con artist always looking for an edge. The Burdette brothers: Racists, through and through. Each of these people, and many more, are drawn into the vortex of the civil rights movement.