Jaleel WhiteReeves during his enslavement and conscription in the Civil War, alongside Shea Whigham’s slave owner.Many of those projects treat Reeves more as a pop culture figure than a historical one, and Oyelowo says the eight-hour run of his show allows time to more fully explore the nuance of the man—as well as the era in which he lived. “I truly believe his life was so sprawling and epic, I just don’t know that you could really do it justice in a movie,” he says.
“His very existence questions the nature of justice. If we can now say that the enslavement of people was unjust, then freeing yourself from that unjust circumstance, can that truly be deemed unlawful?” Oyelowo says. “I think that’s one of the biggest themes of the show. This is all playing out at a time that in many ways defines who and what America is. We watch the birth of America, in a sense, through the personal eyes of one Black man and his family.”Courtesy of Paramount+.
Reeves fled into the Indian Territory, land set aside for forcefully relocated Native tribes, where the laws of the United States did not reach. At least, not yet. It could be a harsh and unforgiving landscape, but Reeves was given shelter and aid by the Seminole: learning their languages, honing his skills as a hunter and tracker, and becoming an expert shot with a firearm.