The Knock-Kneed Man

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom of me. And before I'd be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave. and go home to my lord and be free. Destination Freedom.

In cooperation with the Chicago Defender, WMAQ brings you Destination Freedom, a special radio series dramatizing the great democratic heritage of the Negro people, a part of the pageant of American history. The second president of the United States, John Adams, once said, the world will never forget the noble daring and excusable rashness of Christmas ethics in the holy cause of liberty.

On Boston Common, there stands a monument to his deed. Today, destination freedom tells the story of Christmas ethics, the first American to give his life for American independence, a story entitled The Knock Need Man.

In Boston, the soldiers looked all day and half the night for the not-need men. In the year 1770, when a king wrote the laws of the land, they looked for the not-need men. In Virginia, young Tom Jefferson had just passed the bar.

In James, Thomas Laveship docked with half its cargo dead. In Boston in 1770, freedom was a whisper, while the soldiers searched for the not-need men. In the main square, Captain Cox surprised the guard. God.

Who's there? Well, have you seen him? Who's there? Your Captain, you fool lower that gun. Oh, I thought it was one of the rebels, sir. I thought... I asked you, have you seen him? I don't know what all I've seen tonight, sir.

Just a uniform of the King's soldiers makes the crowds fighting mad. They threw stones at us all day, and tonight an old woman spat on me. We beeped them down, we knocked their heads in, but still they mill around, waiting for a sign to attack us.