- 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.
- US Army officer: I don't want them trained, I want them taught! The Red Man deserves to prove he can be educated beyond basic reading and writing. It is the same chance we gave you not so long ago.
- [to President Duquesne]
- 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!
- President Duquesne: Diseases have killed many more Indians than bullets Mr. Parker. Whole tribes were wiped out by cholera, smallpox, pneumonia, tuberculosis. Why do you think that is Mr. Hancock?
- Isaac: Because they didn't have any resistance, sir?
- President Duquesne: Does that strike a familiar chord Mr. Singleterry?
- Richard: Yes, sir. Many of the early slaves died of the same diseases. The same reasons.
- President Duquesne: Yes, we had that in common.
- 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]
- Mother: Diseases have killed many more Indians than bullets Mr. Parker. Whole tribes were wiped out by cholera, smallpox, pneumonia, tuberculosis. Why do you think that is Mr. Hancock?
- Simon Crow: Because they didn't have any resistance, sir?
- Mother: Does that strike a familiar chord Mr. Singleterry?
- President Duquesne: Yes, sir. Many of the early slaves died of the same diseases. The same reasons.
- Mother: Yes, we had that in common.
- President Duquesne: Your hair. The other were willing.
- [to cut it off]
- US Army officer: That is why they are not Chief!
- US Army officer: Booker T.'s work with the Indians got him a lot of attention.
- President Duquesne: I know what he did at Hampton.
- US Army officer: He's being considered for President of Morehouse, for governor's appointment, that should be you.
- President Duquesne: I have a place here, I'm respected. Outside these doors, I'm just another colored. So is Booker T. Washington.
- Lewis: I thought slavery was over.
- [both doing labor for the college]
- Simon Crow: Hunting buffalo is more fun.
- Lewis: Picking cotton makes more money.
- Simon Crow: This is better than learn science.
- Lewis: Washte.
- [Lakota phrase for it is good]
- Junius: I was in the calvary two years, I know Indians!
- Isaac: Maybe they won't be too red.
- Junius: I grew up in west Oklahoma, Indian Territory. The Indians there held slaves, treated them like niggers! Civil War wasn't over two days when some Choctaw bastard spit in my grandfather's skull.
- Lewis: I'm sorry, Junius.
- Junius: We should kill them all.
- Lewis: I didn't know. But suppose I had a drop of Indian blood, would you kill me?
- US Army officer: Noble words that mean nothing.
- Richard: Oh, I think they do. They set a standard for what is right.
- US Army officer: The words are useless because the white man does not live by them.
- Richard: Not yet, but one day they will because the words are there. They can never be erased.
- [debating the U.S. Constitution]
- Richard: Waka Mani, you must promise me one thing. I will be all six of your wives.
- US Army officer: All six. Then I will have to love you forever.
- Richard: That's long enough.
- Richard: That is why an education is so important to us. It shows us that we are free!
- US Army officer: The story is different but the result is the same!
- Richard: 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.
- US Army officer: Did your ancestors dress for dinner? This room is a prison. I need to be out!
- Jumping Elk: Booker T.'s work with the Indians got him a lot of attention.
- Mother: I know what he did at Hampton.
- Jumping Elk: He's being considered for President of Morehouse, for governor's appointment, that should be you.
- Mother: I have a place here, I'm respected. Outside these doors, I'm just another colored. So is Booker T. Washington.
- Richard: Did you say it!
- US Army officer: I did not mean you.
- Richard: My skin is black. If I said Indians were savages and blanketheads, would you believe I didn't mean you?
- US Army officer: No. It was wrong. I am sorry. Everyday we become like those we hate!
- Richard: Momma was born a slave. Her father was sold before she was born. All freedom meant to her was hard work for low wages.
- Richard: I'm not an Indian. I don't know how to live as an Indian. Your ways are...
- US Army officer: We will make our own ways.
- Jumping Elk: I don't want them trained, I want them taught! The Red Man deserves to prove he can be educated beyond basic reading and writing. It is the same chance we gave you not so long ago.
- [to President Duquesne]
- Waka Mani: I was in the calvary two years, I know Indians!
- Simon Crow: Maybe they won't be too red.
- Waka Mani: I grew up in west Oklahoma, Indian Territory. The Indians there held slaves, treated them like niggers! Civil War wasn't over two days when some Choctaw bastard spit in my grandfather's skull.
- Junius: I'm sorry, Junius.
- Waka Mani: We should kill them all.
- Junius: I didn't know. But suppose I had a drop of Indian blood, would you kill me?
- US Army officer: You should be angry at what the white people have done to your people.
- Richard: 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.