Within both of these films, the black male played by Strode is shown as poised,
dignified, and loyal, yet also isolated and underappreciated. It is Tom who commands, or pulls
Pompey out of the classroom when the black servant is attempting to gain an education. It is
Tom who seemingly respects Pompey, for his physical strength and “manliness,” yet it is Tom
who neglects to treat Pompey like a man. Moreover, one need only compare the scene in
which Tom pulls Pompey from the classroom, education and a greater step toward “liberty,”
with the scene where Pompey saves Tom’s life by pulling him from his burning house, to see
what Ford is getting at within both of these films. If Liberty Valence has as one of its themes
“liberty” and self-determination," then clearly Tom Doniphon, the great white hero, is portrayed
as acting antithetically to the spirit of “liberty for all.” Within this film, perhaps not only the black
man, but America is on trial, as John Ford uses the characters portrayed by Woody Strode to
signify the alienation and injustice experienced by blacks. Whether through the lynch mob of
white men who wish to hang Braxton Rutledge, or those who walk by Pompey while he sits
outside the saloon which they enter to vote, it clear that Ford uses these two characters to
highlight American racial injustice.
Not enough attention has been paid to the entirety of Strode’s work with John Ford, and
also to the complex yet close, almost kinship relationship, between Ford and Strode. John
Ford was an Irish Catholic who felt that his own background helped him understand the plight
of blacks. At one point, recounting his own war experiences, Ford talks about how, after
landing at Omaha Beach, he saw “scores of black bodies lying in the sand. Then I realized that
it was impossible not to consider them full-fledged American citizens" (McBride, 607). It is Ford
who fights for Strode when the studios wish to cast either Harry Belafonte or Sidney Poitier in
the role of Braxton Rutledge. It is Ford who casts Strode in several of his other films, including
Two Rode Together (1961), and 7 Women (1966). Along with Ford’s own sons, Strode who
was one of the few people allowed to call John Ford, “Papa.” Of their relationship, in response
to criticisms of racism within his work, John Ford countered with the following statement, “The
people who say such things are crazy. I am a Northerner. I hate segregation, and I gave jobs
to hundreds of Negroes at the same salary the whites were paid . . . Me, a racist? My best
friends are black: Wood Strode and a caretaker [Bill Ramsey] who has worked for me for thirty
years” (McBride 607). Indeed, during Ford’s declining years, it was Strode who moved into
Ford’s house, for four months, sleeping on the floor of Ford’s bedroom, taking care of his dear
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