Step Johnson

In June of 1936 Step Johnson of Savannah Georgia a brilliant black odd-jobs man part-time thug full-time womanizer is a cynical rebel with numerous causes usually negative. His sweet and unselfish girlfriend twenty-year-old Gancy Miller deserts him to care for her ill sister Sweet Annie in Lourdes called Lordies in the next state. Angry as well as desolate he hitchhikes after her.<p> Gancy rebounded is now involved with Lonnie Milsaps a white Lourdes barber and gun-dealing entrepreneur whose twin fixations are hiding his misalliance and frantically chasing a franchise for the sensational new Royal Crown Colas.<p> Step's nightmarish pilgrim's progress through emotional and physical abuse inspires soul searching that is long overdue. Persecution and introspection continue in Lordies where he's blackjacked for deliberately taking a white bus seat. He also acquires an unwarranted and undesired yet unshakable reputation for miracle-working. Lordies' black establishment resents Step as a rival. White folk loathe him as an agitator especially the power hungry chief of police Hershel Laycock.<p> Step becomes the reluctant yet committed leader of a tragically isolated civil rights awakening. Its unexpected climax is both deadly and inspiring.