CBS · Ended

Alex Haley's Queen

Drama, History · 1993

Last aired: S1 E3, Episode 3 · 1993-02-28

There are two sides to every story as the saying goes. For Alex Haley, one side was "Roots", the towering chronicle tracing seven generations of his mother's family. The other side comes to the screen in Alex Haley's Queen, the remarkable history of a paternal side of the author's family. Halle Berry plays Queen, daughter of a slave and a male plantation owner. During the turbulent decades of the antebellum South, the Civil War, Reconstruction and beyond, Queen searches for a home in the two cultures of her heritage and at times is shunned by both. Through it all, Queen experiences both sides of segregation and prejudice due to her light skinned complexion. However, the rejection and even hate are no match for her unconquerable will.

Cast

Halle Berry Queen

Jasmine Guy Easter

Danny Glover Alec Haley

Ann-Margret Sally Jackson

Madge Sinclair Dora

Martin Sheen Col. James Jackson Senior

Ossie Davis Parson Dick

Patricia Clarkson Lizzie

Paul Winfield Cptn. Jack

Sada Thompson Miss Mandy

Tim Daly Col. James Jackson Jr.

Christopher Allport Union Officer

Erik King Davy

Jane Krakowski Jane

LB Leo Burmester Henderson

Linda Hart Mrs. Henderson

Peter Maloney Perkins

Samuel E. Wright Alfred

Charlotte Moore Mrs. Perkins

Raven-Symoné Queen (age 5)

Season 1

E1 Episode 1 1993-02-14 · 100 min The first episode develops the relationship between James Jackson III, a wealthy plantation owner's son, and Easter, a slave. James marries a wealthy Southern lady, but he carries on with a lifelong affair with Easter, which will result in the birth of a girl, Queen. Queen's fair skin makes her soon notice that she is not as black as her fellow slaves. She is taken into the main plantation house to be the personal slave of James' daughter, where she spends her youth years trying to discern if Jackson is her real father. The Civil War seriously affects James' plantation putting an end to the old ways, and the family matriarch tells Queen to find some other place to live.

E2 Episode 2 1993-02-21 · 100 min Queen journeys away from the plantation and discovers the delight of passing for white. However, when she is about to marry an ex-Confederate soldier named Digby, she reveals her real roots and therefore faces his extreme anger. Abused and alone, Queen is forced into exile once more. Eventually, she gets employment at the home of two spinsters and starts a relationship with a black hired hand by the name Davis, shortly afterward becoming pregnant with his child. Abandoned by the father and abused by the ladies, Queen escapes the relative comforts of her employers' home, taking her child with her.

E3 Episode 3 1993-02-28 · 100 min Reunited with Davis, the father of her son, Queen finds love but also hate as the man is lynched. Taking the road once more, Queen finds a new job and meets Alec Haley, who will become his husband and the father of her second son, Simon. Though Queen never finds an answer to her quest for belonging, she is at least moderately at peace with the place in which she finds herself. A household fire seems to be the triggering event that, together with her sons' departure, causes Queen's nervous breakdown. She has serious issues seeing her first son Abner depart, and her mental state worsens to the point that she needs to be institutionalized.

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