Snake Walkers

In 1961, Anthony Andrews is hired as the first Negro newspaper reporter in Little Rock, Arkansas. A series of events that develop from his investigation of a deserted town where fourteen Klansmen are missing challenges his views about race and enables him to confront his own personal demons. Twenty-six year old Anthony Andrews is six foot tall, handsome, and intelligent. He desperately wants to be the first Negro newspaper reporter in Little Rock, Arkansas in the early 1960s. Like many upper class Negroes in the south during that period, Anthony, influenced by his father's beliefs that people like them are "above the fray," takes a dispassionate view towards the civil rights movement. Not having to be involved suits Anthony since he becomes distressed when confronted with acts of violence because of the trauma he suffered witnessing a hanging in the woods as a teenager.Anthony is hired by the Arkansas Sun after three years of interviewing with other papers. To increase readership, he is given the task of writing about racial atrocities. He eagerly pursues the charge even though the thought of violence continues to torment him. In the investigation of a Negro doctor's death, Anthony finds that fearful residents abandoned the once vibrant town of Evesville because fourteen men and the sheriff mysteriously disappeared. The Coulters, a colored farming family, are considered the primary suspects because the missing men, who Anthony eventually discovers were Klansmen, had hung the Coulters' son. Since Anthony has no idea where the Coulters are, he follows the Williams family who were considered close to the Coulters, to Cleveland, Ohio, hoping they will provide a clue to the Coulters' whereabouts. Anthony enlists the help of Carla Monroe, a beautiful, strong willed, college history professor to help in his investigation. Although they have many things in common, their first meeting is contentious because Carla's and Anthony's approach to equal rights are at two different ends of the spectrum. She does, however, agree to help Anthony because of a study she is conducting at the college.Once in Cleveland Anthony provides information that helps save the life of Raymond Williams, a nineteen year old who is heir apparent to head the Williams family. Although the family is cautious about strangers, Anthony is accepted after he explains that his purpose for being there is to write a story about black migration from the south. Even though the family is from a lower socio-economic class, Anthony eventually becomes attached to them, and discussions with Thompson Williams, the patriarch, convince Anthony to reconsider his racial views. As Anthony gathers additional information on the missing men, he finds to his dismay that the Williamses and not the Coulters might be responsible for the missing men. While Anthony finds his feelings for Carla growing, she shows no interest in him and is opposed to his deception. Anthony has to make a decision: Should he pursue the story and lose any chance of being with Carla or become a star reporter for the newspaper? With Carla's urging, he decides the latter, and after Anthony tells his editor he won't be writing the story, he is fired.The Williams family finds that Anthony is investigating them and after an agonizing debate, decide they have to kill Anthony to maintain their secret. As Raymond Williams, who Anthony considers a little brother, approaches Anthony's home to take Anthony's life, Anthony, relieved of the burden of deceit, saves Raymond's life again from the same people that tried to hurt him before. This time, in spite of his aversion to violence, Anthony becomes physically involved. After the confrontation, an emotional Anthony breaks down and confesses to the family his real intentions, and even though he still doesn't know the truth, tells them he won't be writing any story primarily because of his admiration for them.While listening to conversations among the men in the Williams family who now feel free to discuss their past, Anthony realizes that as a child, he witnessed the hanging of the Coulter boy. Recognizing that they and Anthony are connected by that event, the family confides in Anthony that they did kill the missing men because the Klan was coming after their son, Johnny. Anthony finally realizes that his approach to racial issues has been wrong and confesses to Carla that he now realizes his past and his perceptions were shaped by trying to please his father and also suppress the trauma of the hanging. Having suffered from an event in her own past, Carla understands. She also senses a change in Anthony who has become stronger after his last confrontation, and they become closer.With the help of a former reporter and other allies, Anthony exposes the editor and others as Klansman and gets the editor fired. When Anthony returns to Arkansas, the Klan seeks revenge. This results in a car chase that takes Anthony and the Klansmen into the woods similar to those Anthony ran from when he witnessed the hanging as a child. There is a struggle, a Klansman dies, and the others call off the pursuit. About a year after his last encounter in the woods, Anthony returns there with his wife, Carla, so that for once he can leave the woods under his own terms and end that stage of his life. His experiences have enabled him to cope with his personal demons, and he realizes that he has become wiser from his association with people he first felt were beneath him just as Carla hoped he would.