Sam, better known as Big Sam is a former slave at Tara and a friend of Scarlett O'Hara.
He was played by actor Everett Brown in the film version of Gone With the Wind.
Biography[]
Before the war, Big Sam was a slave and foreman of Tara. When Jonas Wilkerson, overseer at Tara, is dismissed by Scarlett's parents, Ellen states that, "Sam is a good foreman and he can take over the duties until you can hire another overseer." During the war, Frank Kennedy asks for slaves to leave Tara and assist with digging rifle pits on the outskirts of Atlanta for the Confederate soldiers prior to the siege on the city.
After the war, Sam remains loyal to the O’Haras even when he is no longer at Tara. It is during this time that he sees Scarlett on the outskirts of Atlanta and he tells about his journeys. He went with the Union soldiers and found work in the northern states, but was disillusioned with his apparent treatment by northern white people. He supported a Union army colonel as a body guard which he describes as an elevated position compared to his previous position as a slave field hand at Tara. Sam notes that, when he explained the hierarchy of slaves in the south to the colonel, the colonel didn't understand. He also describes being invited to dinner by white people and sitting at the table with them, but still not feeling equal to them. Sam is also wanted for murder and claims that the Union army is looking for him because he accidentally choked to death a drunk Union solider who said something that offended him. It's not stated in the book what the drunken northerner said to upset Sam.
Though never acknowledged for it, Sam risks his life defending Scarlett against his fellow shantytown residents in Atlanta. When Scarlett is attacked while riding her buggy through shanty-town, he saves her. Both Scarlett and her husband Frank Kennedy (who is a member of the Ku Klux Klan) thank him.
Trivia[]
- Sam is one of the more nuanced Black characters in the novel and film, along with Mammy. He is loyal, chivalrous, courageous and kind and it isn't brought as an exeption in the novel.