Slave narratives, a folk history of slavery in the United States from interviews with former slaves. Georgia Narratives, Volume IV, Part 4: a machine-readable transcription.

Plantation life as viewed by an ex-slave. 004 001

:~ Et ~1 .()0129 PIANT~TION LIFE AS VIEWED BY AN EX-SLAVZ GEORGIA TELFAI~ R.P.D. # 2 Athens, Ga. Written by: ~di ted: Mi s s Grace Mc Cune Athen~, Ga. Mes. Sax~ah H. Hall Athens, Ga. r and Mrs. Lei .a kiarris Augusta, Ga. I

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2.. I { )O129 ~a9~GIA T~LFAXR x-Siaie, ge ~4 ~ Boxl3l,R.Y.D.#2 Athens, Geor~ja Yes chile, I. lI be glad. to tell you de story of my life I can t tell you much bout slav ry cause I wuz j six months old when freedom come, but I iia~h~ared q,uite a lot, and. I will tell you all I kin xuember bout everythuxi. Said. o ,d Aunt Georgia Telfair, who live$. with her son to whom her devotion is quite evident. Both Aunt Georgia and the little home show the excellent care tnat Is given them. ~ My pa, she said, wuz Pleasant Jones, an he b 1on~ed to Marse Young L. G. Harris. Deylived at de Harris place out on Dearing Street. Hit wuz all woods out dar den, art not a bit lak Dearin~ Street looks now. Rachel wuz my ma s am. Us dont know what her las naine wuz cause she wuz sold o1~t wnen she wuz too little to p~n ber. Dr . Riddin (Redd~ing) bought her an his fanibly always jus called her Rachel Riddin . De Riddin place wuz whar Hancock % Avenue is now, but it wuz all in woods rowi .. 4ar~, jus lak de place whar my pa wuz. Atter dey wuz married ma had to stay on~ wid de Rlddixi fanibly an her chiliuns b lon~ed to de Riddin s t cause dey. ow~edher. ~issMaxey. Riddin ~ wuz my brudder s young Missus, an I wuz give to her sister, MissLu~~la Riddin for to be her own maid, but us didn t git to wuk ior em none cause it wuz jus at dis time all de slaves got sot free. Atter dat my pa

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2 ~ tuk US ai . wld him an went to farm on de old Widderspoon (Wither$poon) place. . ~ It wuz way or1~ in de woods. Pa ~it down trees an built us a log cabin. 11e maae de chimbly OU~\\O11 sti ks an red mud, an put iron bars crost de fireplace to h~ g pots on ~ to bile our vittuls an made ovens for de bakin . De bes ~y to cook tatoes wuz to roas em in de ashes .wld de jackets on.. Deyain nothin better tastth dan ash~roasted tatoes wid goo4 hoine-niade butter to eat wid e~ An us had de butter, cause . us kep two good cows. ~ia had her chickens an tukkey~ an us raised plenty of hogs, so we nebber wuz widout meat. Our reg ~ lar Sunday breakfas wuz fish what pa cotch out of de crick. I used to ~it tired oui~ of fish den, but a mess of fresh crick fish would sho be jus right now. . U~ always kep a good gyarden Lull of beans, corn, on~ ions, peas an ~ an dey warn t nobody could beat Us at raisin lots of greens, speci~lly turnips an colla d greens. ~ Us saved heaps of dry peas an beans, an dried lots of peaches an apples to cook in winter. When de wind wuz a howlin an de ~roun all kivvered wid. snow, tua would make ~dried fruit puffs f r us, dat sho did hit de spot. ~ t?When I wuz bout eight years old, dey sont me to school. I had to walkfrom Bpps Bridge Road to Knox School. Dey calls it Knox Institute now. ~ I toted my blue back speller in one han and fly dinner bucket in de other. Us wore homespun dresses wid bon7

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~3 ~ 4 nets to match. De bonnets wuz all macle ir~ one piece an had. drawstrings on de back to make em t~it, an slats in de brims to make eni stifi~ an straight. Our dresses WUZ made long to keep our legs warm. I don t see, i~or to save me, how dey keeps dese young-uns rom 1~reezin now sii ce cey let em go r u.n Inos naked. . DOur brush arbor church wuz nighwhar Brooklyn Iviount Pleasant Church is now, an us went to Sunday school dar evvy Sunday. It warn t much oi a church tor looks, cause it wuz ruade out of poles stuck in de ~roun an de roof wuz jus pine limbs an brush, but dere sho wuz some good meetin s in dat old. brush church, an lots 01 souls roun dc way to de heb enly home riGht aar. ~ S ~ S Our reg lur preacher wuz a colored. man named b~horrison, but i ;ir. Cobb preacneci to us lots oi~ times. he wuz a white dem man, an he say Lie co ld a sot all fli~iit an lissen lon~ as us sunc~ deni old songs. ~o:ie oi~ eu I done dar rorgot~, but de one I lak bes ~ o~s s orter lak ais: ~ I want to be an angel An viid. c~e an~els stan A crown upon my i~orehead ~nd a harp wi in my han . t not~ier tune wuz Roll, Jordan Roll. Little ohillun wuz iarnt to s1fl~ , L~ow ~3weetly do de i ime i~ly, VThien Please Xll~ i.~rother,t an us enillun siio woula do our best a singin dat little old sons, so Preacher Cobb would. praise us.

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Ji1~~3n :A~ jlflCd ae church dere wuz ~ 01 US baptized de Same day in da crick hack o~ LiC church. .~huie i~reacher iirowri wuz a haptizin us, a bi~ cro~vd wu~~ sta~cLin on ~e oank a shout in an sifl~ii~ Dis is cie ~ealin ~Jater, &n Liak~in i or cie Promise i.an~ 3on~e 01 ei~1 wuz a 1~r~yin too. ~tter cie uaptizin v/uz doii~ uey uiad a bi~ dinner on c~e ~roun s ~or de new members, but us didn t see no jujs c~at uay. Jus nad plenty 01 ~OOci some thin t eat. tt~T.~Clj ~3 warn t in sch)Ol, L~ an ray brucicier wukke in dC fiel V~~1u pa. In COttOn p~antin time, ua lixeci uu de rows an us trap ~ seeds in t~1 Lex aay us woulc~ rake ~irt over Cid ~1Li WOO~CIi raKes. ~a lilacie ~ rakes nisse I. L~ey riaa. sLlort woouen teel Jus ri~)~V ~or tu kivv~r ~e S~Cu. oIkses buys wnat day uses flOVT ant don t ~ak~ u~ ~o tixi~ makin notnin lak ci.at. ~In dem ciays x oun ~e house ax~ in d~ fiel bu:is Jus D1i:~ icce o:L: olo es. it. WU~ Jus a loU:~~ s:uirt. ~~ey uldfl t notilin else ~en, bui ~. SilOt WOU..Ld laK t-i see you try to boys ~D tI~OUflt lookin lak dat novr. - %oL~y ~irsci ~ ou; to ~ Jac~ eir~ ~ vi~ien I vzuz t oo~.; ~:o taon :~ear3 O~ ~C) dO wasuin ironin an cleanin up (:13 il)US~, an I wukk~ lor ~ ~ i iaarii c~c~. ~y iCiflhC ~3~-t all I W.~flt3~ ~ at ~ ~~ou~e an paid me in o1c~ clo~s, niidc~lin ~ sirup, t:.~toes, an ~~1e~t ilour, but i. nev:~r aic~ ~it no i~ioi~ ~27 ~or day. Lot nary u cent. w o~ kn o~

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-5 Us wukkec~ rai~)ity hard, but us had ~ ood times too. De bigues tun us had wuz at candy pu1lin s~ I~a cooked de candy in de wash pot out in Le yard. 1ust sne poured in sorae iiome~niade sirup an ~ut in a heap 01 brown su:~ar irora de old sirup barrel an aen silo bileu it c~~own to vihar ii you urapped a iitile o~ it in coiL wa~er it ~ot liard quick. It wuz ready Jen to be poureci out in ~rea~y plates an pans. Us ~reased our I~an a wici lard to keep cie candy IroLl stickin to ein, an soon as it ~ot 0301 enou~h de coup1~ would start pullin candy an si1TL::~ir1 . LL~.t ~ iu1i;~:; i:)y tiap~y IiiUS1C~ v1~ien you i~s sin~in an pul liii candy ~7id yo bes :eller. ~ien c~e candy ~ot too stift an hard to pu l no mo , 3 started catin , an it siio wouic~ ever rio :1: away ~rom .~ar in a hurry. You ain t nebber seed no han ciii 1jij1~f~ Is c~ancin lessen you lias ~atciied a crowd ciai~ce atter de: et ae candy ~7iIat aey done heer~ ~uliin . ~~Uiit1fl s ivu~ a i~~U o~. i~un. ~oLIeti~es ~WO 01 three ramblies uiad ?~ ~uiltin~ ta~etner. i~oikses would c1ul2t soxue an den dey ~assec~ roun a~ today. c01:1O would b3 cookin wkaile de D~iei ~3 WUZ a uuiltint an LCI1 vi~ien sup~r ~7U~ reaciy dey all stopped to eat. i)elU colla d ~roens wid cornpone an plenty oi ~in~er cakes an fruit pu:rs an oi~ olu pots o.. CD~i~CC wuz LIi~.;UtY Line ~atin ~ to us den. u~~~? dere lduTfll t r~~tiiin 1~~:in w~ien us ui~ cornsauck in s. ~. ~en ral ~ w~ cornsiiuckin wuz appointed to lead ofi in

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~&*. .1 de fun. lie sot up on top of de big pile of corn an hysted de song. ile woula. ~it em started orf singin soniethin 1a~c, Salue is a GOod Gal, an evvybod.y kept time shuckin an a sirigin . De ~en ra1.icept singin 1~aster an? 1~aster, an shucks wuz jus flyin .. When pa started passin de jug !rouxi dem Ni~er3 $110 xiufi begun to s1n~ loud an rast au you wu.z b1i~ed ror to low ~a11ie mus be a U-ood ~a1, de v~ay de shucks wuz commt oft or daicorn so I~as . Dey kep it up ttil de corn wuz all shucked, an ma ho11ere~, ~3upper ready~ Den dey made tracks ~or de kitchen, ant dey didn t stop eatin an drinkin dat hot coffee iOfl~ as c~ey could swallow. Ain t nobody led eni no better backbones, an spareribs, turnip greens, tato pies, an sich lak dan my ma set out tor ein. Old time v~ays lak dat is done gone ror gool now. Folkses ain t laic dey used to be. L)ey s all done ~ot ~reecty an? don t keer bout dom nothin. ~or nobody else no moi e. Ma combed our hair wid a Jim Crow comb, or. cyard, as soiiie rolkses called em. J~ our hair wuz bad nappy she put sortie cotton in de comb to keep it irom j~u111fl so oud, cause it wuz avn~u1 nard to comb. t~vvybody tried to raise plenty o1 gourds, cause c~ey wuz so iiandy to use I~r dippers den. Water wuz toted irom ~ae sprin~ an kep in pi~ins. Don t spec you ebber did see a pi~ ~~in~ i)aDs a woocien bucket wid wire hoops roun it to keep it from

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..~7.. s leakint . De wash place wuz nex to de spring. Pa fixed us . up a big old stump wriar us hao. to battle de cIo es wid a bat- tlin stick. it tuk a s1~iit of battlin ~o ~it de dirt out soLietinles. . Ulf you turned a chunk over in ~e l~ire, bad luck wuz SIlO to come to you. It a dog howled a certain way at night, or ~ a scritch owl corne in de fl1~iIt, death wuz on de way to you, an you always i~iad to be keerflul so maybe had spirits would leave you alone. Pa built us a flew kitc~~en, jus lak what de white folkses had dem days. It sot out in de back yard, a little piece of a way from our nouse. de iaade it oui oi logs an put a big old chirably wid a bi~ fireplace at one end. 3enciies wuz built roun de sides tor seats. i~ere wa~n t no floor in it, Out just dirt floor. Dat wu~ one ~ran ~dtciien an us wuz mighty proud -c~ 4~ O.L iL . ~ My w .ite folkses beg:ed me riot to leave em, when I told em I wuz gwine to r~iarry Joe Telfair. I d d ~ie been wukkin i or ein fl1~i1 on to six years, ~n wuz mos twenty year~i old. Dey gini~ r~~e ray weadiri cio es, an when I seed ciera clo es I wuz one proud Nig~ er, cause dey wuz jus ~ak I wanted. De nightgown wuz made out of white bleachin an nad lots oi tucks aii rutiles an it even nad purr sleeves. ~~3uio nougii it ciid De petticoat had rur lICS an puffs plum. up to ue wais ban i)ei ~ wuz a cosset kiver

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~8- 9 dat wuz cul; to ~it an all tancy wid tucks an trimmth , an de drawers, dey sho~ wuz pretty, jus i~u11 or ruiTles an tUCkS ~ ~OUfl! de 1e~. Liy dress ruz ucrearil ountin , lak 1~~iiiat o.ey calls serge dese days. It had a pretty lace tront what my ma bou~ht from one oi~ de Lioss ladies. ~ hen I got all dressed up I wuz one I.iO~ ;ran lo3kin brlie. - * % ~ Ifs ~ ot married in de new kitC.LIefl an lt WUz pluxu 1~ull, caUse nia ~ad done axed 76 t~olkses to ~e weu~din . ~orae ot em WUZ JOC ~3 ~olkses, an us iiad eight waiters: rour gals, an tour boys. Dc same Pre~eher Brown what baptized lilO, married us an den us i~iu~I a bid; su~p.e.r. My Liissus, Lula Weir, ~iacL done baked a ~:::reat big pretty cake cL~or nie an it tasted jus as good as it Ipoked. .~ttteT us ~t &t11 Us could, one Oi de waiters called de sets lorus to ~ance e res o1 de night. An sich ciancin as Us did iiave~ Folkses.d n t know how to dance dat good no run . Dat WU: sh~o nu1~f happy c~ancin . Yes ivIa arn, I ain t nebber sonna fo1-~git w~iat a iran w~c~din us had. Next day us move~ ri~ht here an I~ done been here ever since. Dis place b lon~ed to Joe s gran raa, an she willed it to him. Us had lb cuijilufl, out ain t but five o~ ein livin flow, an Toe he s been daid tor years. Us alway$ ruade a good livin on de tarm, an still raises mos ci~ wAaat us needs, but I done got so. po ly I can t wuk no more. I ~3e still tryin to live right an walk de narrow way, so as I kin go to heb en when I dies. I se gwine to pray tor

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you an ax de Lawd. to bless you, ror you has been so good au patient wid me, an I se shot thank~i~uI my son sont you to se~e me. You done helped me to feel lots better. Good bye, an God bless you, an? please Lia am, coriie back to see rue again. ****~~*~~ ****** g ~ :11)

Plantation life. Cordelia Thomas. Ex-slave - age 80. 014 011

CORDELIA THOIvIAS 130 BERRY STREET ATHENS GEORGIA Written byF ~: ~. Grace MeCune (~/~ ~.~:xi~c Athens - . ~J Edited by: Sarah Ei. ll&i1 Athens - Leila .aarris Augusta - arid JohnT~ Booth District Supervisor Federal Writers Project Residencies & 7. ii-~ c~i4 o PLANTATION LIFE

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. ~rOO~# . 12 Cc3RDELIA THOMAS Ex-Slave ~ Age 80. ~ . long, hot walk over rough, hilly roads brought the visitor to Cordelia s place just after the noon hour of a sweltering ~Tu1y d~ay, and the shade of the tall water oaks near the.little eabinwas a most welcome sight. The house stood. only a few feet from a spur of railroad track but the small yard was enclosed by a luxurious green hedge. Roaes predominated among the many varieties of flowers in evidence on the otherwise drab prerriises. A dilapidated porch across the front of, the residence had no roof and. the floorboards were so badly rotted that it did not seem quite safe to walk from the steps to the front door where ~orde1ia stood waiting. Come right in, Missy, she invited, but be keerful not t fall through dat old porch floor. The tall, thin Negress was clad in a f8ded but scrupulously clean blue dress, a white apron, and a snowy headeloth crowned by a shabby black hat. Black brogans completed her costume. Gordelia led the way to the rear of a~narrow hall. t s will be cooler back here, she explained. Sunlight poured through gaping holes in the roof, and the coarse biown wra~oing paper pasted on the walls was splattered and streaked by rain. The open door of Cordelia s bedroom revealed a wooden bed, a marble-topped bureau, and a washstand of the Victorian period. A rocker, two straight cnairs, a small table, arid a trunk completed the furnishings of

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2.- j3 the rooni and left but little space ror its occupant to iuove about. ~. I se jus a mite tired, Cordelia stated, cause I jus got back from dc courthouse whar dein. ~ e1fare omans done girnrae a sack o flour and some other bundles what I ain t opened up yit, but I knows dey s got somepin in em to hoip me, cause dein folks is sho been :~ii~i ty good to me since ray rheuinatiz is been so bad I couldn t wuk enough to make a livin . De doctor, he say I got de blood presser. I don t rightly know jus what dat is, but it looks lak somepin s a~ pressin right down in my haid tu i feels right foolish, so I reckon he s right bout it a~bein de birod presser. When I gits down on my knees it takes e long time for me to git straight up on my eet again. De Lord, He s done been wid ~e all dese yesrs, and old Uordelia s~oin to keep right on kneelin fore Hir:i and praisin irn often tu lie eides de time has come for her to go home to heben. I was borned. on ~vi~rse ~ndrew ~ackson s plantation down in Conee (Oconee) Count~y, twixt here and 1ij~h shoals. ~arse kndy, he owned ray iviemmy, and she was named Lrn lyJackson. Bob Lovve WaS rr~y Daddy, and he b Ionged to Marse Ike Lowe. The Lowe plantation was nigh whar Marse Andy s was, down dar in Conee County. Cause neither one of deir marsters wouldn t sell one of em to de other marster, i~iamniy had to stay on de Jackson plantatien and Daddy was kept right on wu~in on de Lowe place atter dey

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3. 14 had. done got married. I~&arse Bob, lie give Daddy a ticket what let hirn go to see Mammy evvy ~ednesday and Sadday night, and dem patterollers couldn t bother him long as he kept dat ticket. ~Vhen dey did find a slave oft his niarster s plantation widout no ticket, it w~s jus too bad, for dat meant a beatin what most kilt him. Mammy said dey didn t never g t ray Dacidy, cause he allus had his ticket to show. 1 don t ricollect much bout days fore de big war ended cause I was so little den, but many s de time I heared Mammy arid A)addy and de other old folks tell bout dein times. Us chillun hsd de bestes time of anybody dera days, cause dey didn t low us to do nothin but jus eat all us could and play de rest of de time. I don t know how it was on other places, but dat was de way us was raised on our old rnarster s plantation. De cracks of de lo~ cabins wtiar de slaves lived was chin1~ed wid red mud to keep out de cold and rain. Dere warn t no glass in de windows, dey jus ha~i plank shutters what dey tasten~ ed shut at night. Thin slide blocks kivvered de peepholes in de rough plank doors. Dey had ~o have de~ peepholes so as dey could see who was at de door fore dey opened up. Dein old stack chimblies what was made out of sticks and red clay, was all time gittin on fire. Dein old home- rriade beds had h~i~h posties and us called em teesters. To take de place of springs, what hadn t never been seen round dar in dem days, dey wove heavy cords lengthways and crostways. Over dem cords dey laid a flat mat wve out of white oak splints and on dat dey put de homespun bed ticks stuffed wid~ wheat straw. Dey could have right good pillovis if deywas a mind

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4. . 15 to pick de scrap cotton and fix it up, but dere warn t many of eni keered dat much bout no pillows. ~ Slaves didn t do no cookin on cur place cause Marster fed evvybody up at de big house. Missy, I ain t never gw~ine to forgit dat big old fireplace up dar. Dey piled whole sticks of cord wood on it at one time, wid little sticks cross~ ways under ein and, let me tell you, dat was a fire what would ~ cook anythi ng and evvyth Ing . De pot s hung on swingin racks and dere was big ovens, little ovens, long-handled fryin pans, and. heavy iron skillets wid tight, thick lids. It sho was a sight de way us chillun used to raake way wid dem ash-roasted taters and. dat good, fresh butter. Ils chillun had to eat s.upper early cause all chillun 1I~d to be in bed fore dark. It warn t lak dese days. Why Missy, chilluns now stays up most all night run fin? round dese parts. Marster was sho good bout seem dat his Niggers had plenty to eat and wear. For supper us et ourbreadand milk wid wooden spoons out of wooden bowls, but for dinner dey give us veg ables, corn pone, and taters. Marster raised all de sorts of veg ables what dey knowed anything bout in dein days, and he had big old fields of wheat, rye,oats, end corn, cause he lowed dat stock had to eat same as folkses. Dere was lots of chickens, tur~ keys, cows, hogs, sheej, and some goats on dat plantation so as dere would allus be plenty of r~ieat for evvybody.

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5, ~ 1G ~Our Marster evermore did raise de cotton ~ Iots~ of it to sell, and plenty for clothes for all de olkses, white and black, what lived on his. place. 11 de cloth was home-naade cept de calico for de best Sunday dresses. Chillun had to spin dethread and deir rnamniies wove de cloth. Fore de end or de war, whilst I was still so little I had to stand on a box to reach de sp~nnin wheel good, I could spin six reels a day. Chillun was happy iithen ho~- k1llin time corne, Us warn t lowed to help none, cept to tetch in de wood to keep de pot bum whar de lard was cookin . Our Mist ess all s had de lard rendered in de bigges washpot, what dey sot on rocks in de fireplace. Us didn t mind gittin de wood for dat, cause when dein cracklin s got done, dey let us have all us could eat and, jus let nie tell you, iviissy, you ain t never had nothin good lees you has et a warm skin cracklin wid. a little salt. One tinie when dey was renderin lard, all us chillun wascrowdin round close as us could git to see which one could git a cracklin fust. Mist ess told us to stand back fore somebody got burnt; denl4aramy said she was gwine to take de hides of our backs bout gittiri so close to dat fire, and bout dat time somebody hind me girrinie a quick push; and in de fire I went. Marster grabbed me most time I hit dem red coals, but one t~and and arm was burnt so bad I had to wear it In a sling for a long time. Den Marster laid down de law and told us what he would do if he cotch us chillun harigin round de Lire whar dey was cookin lard again.

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6. Folkses said our Marster must have a powerful sweet tooth on account ot he kept so manybee hives. When bees swarmed tolkses rung bells end beat on tin pans to git ein settled. Veils was tiea over deir haids to keep de bees from gittin to dei.r faces when dey went to rob de hives. Chillun warn t never lowed to be nowhar nigh dunn dat job. One day I sneaked out and got up close to see how dey done it, and dem bees got all over me. Dey stung~ue so bad I couldn t see for days and days. Marster, lie jus fussed and said dat gal, Cordelia, she was allus whar she didn t b long. Missy, I ain t never wanted to fool wid no more bees, and I don t even lak honey no more. Slaves all went to church wid deir white folkses cause dere wern t no Nigger churches dem days. All de preachin was done by white preachers. Churches warn t nigh and convenient dein days lak dey is now and dey was such a fur piece from de plant tions dat most of de folkses stayed all day, arid dem meetin days was big days den. De cooks was told to fix de bestes dinners dey could git up, and chillun was made to know dey had better mind what dey was boutwhendeywa sin demeetin houseorit was gwine to be irnade mighty hot for ein wh en dey got back home . Dat was one thing our Marster didn t low no foolin bout. His Niggers had to be-have deyselfs at de meetin house. Long bout August when craps was laid by, dey had brush arbor rneetin s. White folks brought deir slaves and all of em listened to a white preacher from Watkirisville named Mr. Ualvin Johnson. Dere was lots of prayin

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7. ~ 18 and shoutin at dem old brush arbor vival meetin s. Dey had cainpxneetin s too. De old Freeman place was whar dey had sonie ot dein tust carnpmeetin s, and Hillsb~ro, Mars Hill, and Bethabara was some of de other places whar Marster tuk us to cazripmeetin s. Missy, you jus don t know nothin bout citernent if you ain t never been to one of dem old-tirne c~rnp~ rneetin s. . When tolkses would git ligion deywould holler and shout a-testityin for de Lord. ~tter de rneetin dey dammed up de crick and let it g t deep enough for de baptizin . Dey dipped de wtiite folkses tust, and den de Niggers. You could hear em singin a xriile away dem cid songs lak: On rordan sstormy anks I Stand, Roll, Jordan Roll, ~ All God s Chilluns isa-goin Home, and Whar de Livin Waters Flows I jus can t in~iber halt of dem good old songs cause my rnem ry ain t good as it used to be. ilere Gordelia paused. She seemed oblivious to all around her for several minutes, and then she suddenly smiled. Lordy, Missy, she began, if I could jus call back dem days wid our good. old Marster to look atter us and see dat us had what us .needed to eat and wear and a good coiaf table cabin to live in, ~ouldn t dis be a happy old oman? Lots of de other old folks would lak it too, cause our white folkses d~y sho did take good keer of deir slaves. Did you ever hear of dein lo rollin s? On our place dey spent bout two whole days cookin and gittin ready. Marster axed evvybody from fur and nigh, and dey allus corne cause dey knowed he was gwine to give em a good old time. De way dey

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8, 19 rolled dem. logs. was a sight, and de riore good corn liquor Marster passed round, d faster dein logs rolled. Come night time, Marster had a big bonfire built up and sot lots of pitchpine torches round so es dere would be plenty of light for ein to see how to eat dat fine supper what had done been s t out for ein. Atter supper, dey danced nigh all de rest of de night. Mammy used to tell us bout de frolics next day, cause us chillun was rr1ade to go to bed at sundown. Corne day, go day, no niatter what might happen, growin chillun had to be in bed at deir reg lar time, but Marn~ny never forgot to tell~us all bout de good times next day. ~ Mammy said dem cornshuckin s. meant jus as much !un and jollification as wuk. Dey gathered Marster s big corn crap and ranged1it in long, high piles, and sometimes it tuk sev ral days for dem corn)huckers to git it all shucked, but evvybody stayed right dar on de job tu it w~s finished. At night, dey wukked by de light of big tires and torches, den dey had de big supper and started dancin . Dey stopped so often to swig dat corn liquor Marster pervid ed for em dat fore midnight folkses started fallin out end drappin down in de middle of de dance ring. De others would git em by de heels and drag em off to one side tu dey come to and was ready to drink more liquor and dance again. Dat was de way dey went on de rest of de night. Corpses~ Buryin s Graveyards~ Why, Miss, dere warn t nigh so many folkses a-dyin all de time dem days as dere is

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9. now. Folkses lived right and was tuk better keer of and dere warn t so much reason for em to die out den. When somebody did die, folkses corne from miles and miles around to de buryin . Dey give de slaves de same sort ot funerals de white folkses had. De corpses was washed good all over wid hot water and home-raade soap, den dey was dressed and laid out on de COOilfl boards tu de cyarpenter rrlafl had time to make up de coffins. Lordy, Missy, ain t you never seed no coolin board? I spects dey is all gone fl(~W though. Dey looked a good ueal lak ironin boards, only dey had laigs to stand on. Lots of times dey didn t dress de corpses, but sus wropped ein in windin sheets. Dem home-made, pine coffins didn t look so bad atter dey got em painted up and lined nice. Dey driv de wagon what had de corpse on it right sl w to de graveyard. De preacher talked a little and prayed; den atter de mourners had done sung sornepin on de order of Harps From DeTomb, dey shovelled in de dirt over de cofrin whilst de preacher said comfortin words to de fambly of de daid. Evvy plantation had its own. graveyard wid a fence around it, and dere was a place in it for de sleves nigh whar deirvthite folks was buried. Honey, didn t you never hear tell of Dr. ~ rank Jackson? He was sho a grand doctor. Dr. J~ackson made up his own medicines and toted em round wid him all de time. ~e wes close kin to our Marse Andy Jackson s faxnbly. All dem ~Tacksons down in Gonee was good white folks.

024 021

io..$ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ stayed on wid Old ~ Ma~ster f or a little while atter de war ~as ~ver, afld den ri~htawayMaxniny died and Daddy hired me out to Mrs. Sidney Rives (Reaves ?). I spect~ one reason she was. so mighty good to me was cause I was so littieden. I was nigh grown when I left her to wuk tor Dr. Palmer s faxnb1y~ All his ehillun was little den arid I was deir nuss. One of de best of his chillun was little Miss~inice. 8~ie is done growed to be~ a school teacher and dey tells me she is still a-teachin . Itwarn t long atter my Daddy died dat I left de Palmers a~d started wukkin fOr Mr. Dock Dorsey s fambly. If dere ever was agood~ Christian oman in dis here old world it was Miss ~3a1iie Dorsey, Mr~ Dock Dorsey s wife. She had been Miss ~allie Chappell fore she married Mr. Dorsey. Miss Sallietried togit evvybody what stayed round her to live right too, and she wanted all her help to go to church reg lar. If Miss Salue and Marse Dock Dorsey was livin now, dey would pervide for Old Delia jus lak dey used . to do. All deir ehillun was nice. Miss Fannie and Miss3ue, dey was extra good gals, but someh9w I jus can t call back de names f dem other ones now. Dey all had to be good wid. de sort of man~my and daddy dey had. Miss ~lli, she was sick a long time fore she died, and dey let me wait on her. Missy, I tell you d.e gospel truth, I sho did love dat oman. Not long fore she passed on to Heben she told her husband dat atter she was gone she wanted him to merry up wid her cousin, Miss liargrove so as he would havre ~

025 022

I J,1. som!bQd~y to help him ralseupherchillun, 8nahedone zact1y~ what she axed hurt to. ~ ~11 of ray own white folkses haS d~one died out, and Old De Ja won t be heremuch longer. One of de~Thorntons here ~ I forgits which one married up wid my young Mjst ess, Rebecca Jackson. lier gal got xaarried up wid Dr. rago, a horsedoctor. . ~ insurance man n~xaed Mr. Speer married into de 3ackson fambiy t o o . Ee nioved ~ hi s fambly from here to de mount ains on acC ount of hi s s on s health and I J los track o f era d en. % Lordy, Chi1e~ What you want to know boUt my weddin fQr, nowhow? Dere ain t never gwine to be no. more: weddin s lak dey had back dere in dem times cau~se folkaes thinks dey got to have too much nowadays. Then olkses got married den dey was a-thinkin bout makin sho nough homes for deyse1fs~, 8.fld gittin~ ~iarried meant somepin sort of holy. )Laminy said dat niost times when slaves got married dey jus juzixped backwards over a broomstick whilst deir Marster watched and den he pernouriced dat dey was man and wife. Now dey is got to go to de courthouse and pay out good money for a license and d~en go git a preacher or seinebody. lak a jestice jedge to sa~r de marriage words over em. Me and Solomon Thoxiias had to go buy us a ~ li cerise too but us did.n t mind bo ut ~uttin out dat money cause us was so rauch in love. Iwore a pretty ~i1te dress and a breakfast shawl, and atter us had dx~ne went to de preacher mants house and got married, us come right on here to dis very house what had b longed to aolomon s daddy fore it was Solomon s. ~Js built two more rooms

026 023

. . . ~ 12. on de house, but all de time Solomon lived us tried to keep de* place lookin a good deal lak it was de day us got married. ~ Atter ~olomon died, I sold oft most of de land to de railroad for de right of way 2or dat dere track what you sees out dere, and it sho has raade plenty ofwuk for meto keep dat soot what dem engines is ~ll time a ~spittin out cleaned ofT my things in de house. It draps down through dem big holes overhead, and I can t git hold or no money to have de roof patched up. Me and ~olonion, us had 11 chiliun, but dey is all daid out but three. One of niy boys is in I~altimore and another boy lives in Louisiana somewhar. ~1y gal, Delia, she staysover in de Newtown part of ~thens here She would love to help he~ old Mammy, but my Delia s got ehillun of her own and she can t git nothin to do cept a little washin for de white foikses, and she ain t able to pervide i~iat her oi~n household needs to eat. Dem boys of raine is done got so fur oft dey s done forgot all boixt deir old I~arnmy. When us fust got n~rried, Solomon wukked at Mr. Orr s cotton house, and he stayed dere a long time fore he went to wuk for i~1r. Moss and Mr. Levy. All dem white folks was good to nie and. ~o1omon. I kept on wukkin for de Dorseys tu us had so iriany chillun I had to stay home and look atter em. Solomon got sick and he laydere sufl erin a long, long time, but Mr. Moss and Mr. Levy seed dat he didn t want for nothin . Even atter

027 024

13~ 24 Solomon died dein good white mens kept on commt out now and den to see if rue and. Solomon s ehullun had what us needed. Solomon, ray Solomon, he went out of dis here world, in dat dere room whar you sees dat old bed, and. dat is perzactly wh~ir I wants to be when de Blessed Loi~. lays his hands on me and tells rr~e to come on liome to Glory. I wants to be toted out of dat room., through 5is hail sind on out to de graveyard sus lak my man was. I knows dat evvything would be done nice jus lak I wants it if Mr. Moss and kir. Levy was a-livin cause dey was both. Masons, and members of de 1~sons is all done swore a oath to look atter deir own follcses. Dey said ~$o1ornon ~nd his farnbly was lak deir own folkses, i~1r. Moss and i~1r. Levy did. Most of de folkses, both white and black, dat I has knowed. and loved has done gone on over de Jordan, out of dis world of trouble, and it will be happy days for all of us when us nieets again in de place of many mansions whar dere won t be noth~n for nofle of us to pester ourseifs bout no more. All of ray life, I se had a great desire to travel, jus to go evvywhar, but atter all dese years of busy livin I spects all de trav ~uin I ll ever do will be on de road to Glory. Dat will be good enough for rae cause got so many more of em I loves over dar dan is left tiere. As the visotor passed out of earshot of ~ordelia s cabin the last words she he~ird from the old Negress were: Good-bye again, Missy. Talkin to you has been a heap of consolation to me.

Jane Mickens Toombs of Washington-Wilkes. 032 029

~ ~ ~ :- ~ ~1t~- :: / / :1. ~Oii~G 29 k~:2~ I s, JANE MICKENS TOO~BS of WASHIN TON-.WILK~ by Minnie Branham St ones tr ee t Was h ngtonJilkes GEORGIA

033 030

3() JAN~~ ~IIC~ENS POO~tB~ of WASHINGTON.J1.LKES A story of happiness and contentment on a big plantation where there were a heap of us slaves is told by Jane Miokens ~Poombs who said she was five er six years oie whende Wah corne on (1860 ) or rnab,~ y a li t ? le o I er . She is a bright old woman, well and spry despite the fact she wuz conjured onst when I wuz young an dat lef me lame an dis eye plum out an de t other bad. ~ When asked about the conjuring she said: No m, I don t I zackly know how t wuz, but enyhow somebody what knowed how ter. I wu k root~ ~got me laine on dis side, an ray eye out, jess kase I wuz a decent, nice ookin gal, an went on tendin ter my . us me s s an pay i d ein no mind . Da t s d e way d ey d one in d ein ~ days, jess jealjous of nice co ored niggers. Yassurn, I wuz sick fer nigh on ter two years an de doctuhs never knowed what ailed nie, ~ey clone everything dey could, but I wuz conjured an dey couldn t hep me. ~ doctuh man fruui up yander in New Talk culli down here ter see his folks, an he tried to ~re me, but doctuhs ka,~n t ~~ conjured folks, so I had ter lay an suffer tu de conjure wore out. Dem whut done dat knowed dey done me wrong, but I kept trustin .tin my Lawd, an now dey s gone an I se er sturnblln rou.a yit. No mai, I never knowed jess whut dey done ter rae, but hit wuz bad, I kin tell yer dat, hit might nigh ~kilt me,

034 031

31 . page 2 Aunt Jane was born on the G~u11att Plantation on the line of ~ii1kes and Lincoln counties. Her I~1other was Liza Gu.llatt and her father ~o1m Mickens who lelonged to Mr. augustus I~IcMekin. Yassum, lily Pa ~uz John Mickens an his J~Iarster bought him in A1abam~. All de slaves whut belonged to de i~ cJ~ekins oalled deyselves Mickens. I wuz one of fifteen chillun an? ~ er long in betweenst de oldest tj~t~ ~e de youngest su.m ers. I v~uz named fer ray Mistess Jane Gtillatt whut died. Young Marse G~eorge Gullatt choosed me out, dough, an~ Pd er be~ his en ef Freedom ha d t er c orne . You know dat ? ~ d e way d ey us e t er d o bac k in slavery time, de young Mistesses an Marsters choosed oat de little niggers dey wanted fer their n. ~ This is another case where the father and Mother belonged to different families. The father had a pass to go and come as he pleased, although his family lived a little distance away. Jane said her father s master would have bought her mcther i ~ the War hadn t come on and they were set fr e. Jane told of the log cabins in the Quarters where all the negroes lived. She said they were all in a row wid er street in de front, er wide street all set thick wid white mul berry trees fer ter inak shady fer de chillun ter play in. They ~ 4~ never had any punishment 44 switchings by their ~iistess, and that was not often. ~ ~ They played dolls, us had home made rag dolls,. nice uns, an we d git dem long grass piumes (Pampas grass) an mak dolls out n dexntoo. ~ Us played all day long every day.

035 032

32 page ~3 r ~Y Mistess chillun wuz all growed up so jess us little niggers played tergether. ~ ~ ~ My Mother spun an wove de cloth, an dyed hit, but our. 1~Iistess made our clothes. My Grandma, Nancy, wuz de cook ant shefed all de little u.ns in de Mg oie kitchen whtit sot out in de yard. She had a tray she ~ut our victuals on an Ub, Uh, whut good things we had ter eat, an er plenty of everything! et ~ss whut our white folks had, dey didn t mak no difference in us when hit ~uin ter eatin . My Grandaddy looked atter de meat, he done everything bout dat, an he sho k.nowed h w ter fix it, too. De fust thing I recollects is bein round in de kitchen. when dey wuz makin ginger cakes an my Mistess givin nie de pan she made ein in fer me ter sop hit out.J Dey ain t nothin whut ~ smells go~1~kdi~ki~ iii~1em days, I kain t smell no viotuals lak dat now. ~verything wuz cooked on a big oie open fire place in one end of de kitchen. Dem good oie days done gone now. Folkes done got wiser an wickeder ~ dey ain t lak dey use ter be. At Christmas Santa Ulaus found his way to the Quarters on the Gollatt plantation and each little slave had candy, apples, and sich good things as dat. Aimt Jane gave a glowing description of the preparation for the Ohristmas season: Lawdy, how de folks wu ked gittin ready fer Ohris inus, fer three er b days Us

036 033

) ) )k) (- pa~e- 4 dey stayed in de kitchen er cookin an er bakin ~ daye wuz de bes light bread great big loaves baked on de fire place, an cakes an mo good ginger cakes. Dey wuz plenty cooked up to las er long time. An another thing, dare want no cookiLL on Sunday, no niam, no wu k of no kind.~ My Mistess had de cook cookin all day Fridays an Saddays so when Sunday conie darewuz hot coffee madean dat wuz all, everything else wu~ cooked up~ an cold, Everybody went to Church, de grown folks white and black, went to de preachin an den all de little niggers wti~ called in an de Bible read an ~sp1ained ter dein. Dare wuz preachin down in de Quarters, but dat waz at night an wuz~ led by de colored preachers.~i recollects one night dare wuz a servl g~ont~~~of de cabins an all ; us wuz dare an oie Uncle Alex Frazier wuz up a 1mm off a ~: hymn bout Broad is de road dat leads ter Death An there an here we travel. when in come some mens atter a colored fellerwhut had stole some sheep an hogs. Dey kotch im, but sho broke up de meetin . ~ ~ ~ de hot summer time Uncle ~oorge ~u1latt use ter preach ter de slaves out under de trees. Uncle (george waz a kind of er preacher. ~(y Pa didn t low his chillun ter go roun . No m, he kep us home keerful lak. Young folks in dein days didn t go all over de country lak dey does now, dey stayed at home, an little chillun wuz kep back an dey didn know no. badness lak de chillun do

037 034

page-5 terday. Us never even heared de oie folks talk nothin whut we oughtn t ter hear. Us jess played an stayed~ in a child s place. When we wuz sick de white folks seed dat we wuz tended t o . Dey us e t er mak ~T erusal em Oak candy an g i ye us . Dey to ok de leaves of dat bush an boiled eni an den use dat water dey wuz boiled in an put sugar nough in hit ter mak candy. An dey used plenty of turpentine on us too plenty ov hit, an~ I be- lieves in dat terday, hit s er good medicine. ~1hen asked about the ~iar, Aunt Jane said she didn t remember much about it.~~1 But dare s one thing bout hit I sho does I member, an dat s my young ~iistess Beckie s husband, ~1r. Frazier, : being off fightin in de Wah, an she gittin er letter fr.um him : sayin he wuz commt home sich an sich er day. She wuz so happy she had all de grown slaves wu kin gittin ready fer him. Den dey brung her er letter sayin he had been kilt, an she wu~z in de yard when she read hit an if dey hadn t er kotch ~er she d OV fell. I members de wonien takin her in de housean gittin her ter bed. She wuz so up sot an took hit so hard. Dem wuz ~__~j~T hard times an sad uns too. Course I wuz too small ter know rauch whut wuz gwine on, but I could tell hit wuz bad fr~im de way de older folks looked. \\ I recollecta when dey say ~reedom had cum. Dare wuz a speakin fer de slaves up here in town in Barnett s ~~Ote. Dat ruornin 01e kiss sont all de oldes niggers to de speakin an kep us little uns dat day. She kep us busy sweepin. de yards an sich as dat. An she cooked our dinner an give hit to us herself.

038 035

35 page. 6 ~. I members de grown folks leavin early dat mornin i~ a great big waggin. ~ t~ while after de Wah, Pa took us over to de ~cMekins place an~ we lived dare fer a long time. He died an lef us an den us had ter do de bes we could. Col. Tolbert hired me fer ter nusshis chilluri an ~went over ter his place ter live. ~ Jane said she isa t superstitious but likes to see the \~ new moon clear and bow to it for good luck. She said it is 1~etter ~ to show it a piece of money, but as she doesn t always have money ;~~handy, she jess bows to hit nice an polite . She keeps up with the weather by her rheumatism and the cat: ~ Ef I has de reumatics I knows hit s gwine ter rain, an when de cat comes round an sets washin her face, look fer rain, kase hit s er coniin . I ve heared folks say dat hit s bad luck ter stump yo lef foot, but I don t know boud dat. But I tell yer, when I meets er cati allus turns er round fore I goes on, dat turns de bad luck er way. 1 When 19 years of age Jane married Albert Tooinbs. He belonged to the Tooriths family of ~iikes county. ~u.nt Jane said Albert brought her many gifts while he was courting: He warnt much on bringin candy an nothin la~dat ter eat, but he brung nie shawls an shocs surnpin I could wear, t They had four children, but only one is living.

039 036

36 page~ 7 ~hen I wuz a growin up , said aunt Jane, folks had ter wu . She worked on the farm spun wov e . d ofl~e S earns t er wu k and knitted stockings, sox and ~1oves. She said she carded too, an in dem times ef a nigger wanted ter git de kinks outtn dey hair, dey combed hit wid de cards. Now dey puts ail kinds ov grease on hit, an buy straightenin~ combs. Swnpin dat costs money, dat s ail dey is, old fashion cards ll straighten hair jess as well as all dis high smellin stuff dey sells now. Lint Jane likes to tell of those days of long ago. Her zneniory is excellent and she talks well. She says she is living o~ herMissJan~e!..s .time. ~ J Yassum, my ~Iiss Jane died wh~ she /wuz so young, I specks I jess livixi out her days kase I named lier her. But I does miss dem good oie days whut s gone. I se hungry fer de sight o.v a spinnin wheel ~ does you know whare s one? ~ Th lags a t b ok lake ~ d ey us e t er ~ a s ~ f er whut . we has ter eat, dare ain t no victuals ever smelled ~ et as good as dein whut dey use ter have on de plantation when. I wuz acomin on.jYassum, folkes has got wiser an know mo dan dey did, but ~dey s!~.wickeder ~ dey kills now stid er conjurin ~lak dey ~did me. ~ ~

Phil Towns. Old slave story. 040 037

(p s~1 . 1.()O~11- p ~ M/ckr ~) g . &della S. Di~n ~ Old Slave Story On rune 25 1824 a son was born to Waahington and Clara Towns who resided In Richniond, Virginia. This was the fourth child 1~a a t~iily which finally nuinbei ed thirtec~n. Phil, as he was called, does not recall many incidenta on this eatate aa the family moved when he was in hi8 s ~ei13. ~ ~ia grandtather aad grandmother ~re brought here trc~n Ati~ica and ~. their ieecription ot tue cruei treat~nt they received is his most vivid recollection. His grandmother, Hannah, livd to be 129 years ot age. ~ --- - Mi . George Towns, called ~~overnorR ~y ai . of his alavea as well aa hie intimate friande, moved to Georgia and settled at Reynolde in Taylor County. Th~i e he purchased a huge tract ot land-.- 1350 acrea~- and built hie new hox~ upon this level ax e~ on the Flint River, The big house a large unpainted atxucture which housed a ~iily of eighteen, wae in tiz mici~t of a grove of treea near ti e highway that foi~d one of the divisions of the plantation. It was again divided by a. local railway nearly a mile froxit the rear of the house Eighty.~e igIit slave s were housed in the ~quarters which were on -~ each side of the I4ghway a little below the ~ a hoene. These quartera diffei ed fran those foi~nd iii the surrounding territory as the size of the hOuses varied with the niniiber in the f~aily. The interiors ~ lie nicely furnished and in most instances the fatailie s were able to secure a~y furniture they desired. Feather rnattreasea, trundle beds and cribs were coemnon and in families where there were many children, large fireplaces some as niany as eight feet wide - ~re provided so that every o~a might be Y~7

041 038

District 7 A~eUa S. Dixon 2- ~:&-~to-4~ ~ comfortable in winter. A variety of cooking utensils were given and large numbers of waffle irons etc. then considered luxuries are found here. To co~asider only the general plan of operation, this Dlantation was no different from the average one in pre-civil war days but there was a phase of the life here ithlch made it a most unusual home . Governor was so except ionally kind to his slaves that they were known as ~Gov. Towns free negroes to those on the ne ighboring tamis. He never separated familles, neit1~r did he strike a slave except on rare occasions. Two things which might provoke his anger to this extent were : to be told. a lie and to find that a person had allod sons one to take adTantage of him. They ~re never given passes but obtained verbal consent to go w1~re they wished and always remained as long as they chose. Phil Towns father worked in the field and. his mother did light ~rk in the house such as assist Ing in sp inning. Mothers of three or more children were not ccxnpelled to work, as the master felt that their children needed care. Fr i early childhood boys and gii~1s were given excellent training. A boy who robbed a bird s nest or a girl who frol~ieked in a boisterous manner was severely reprimanded. Separate bedro~ns for the two sexes were maintained until they married. The girls passed t1~ru two stages.-- childhood, and at sixteen they becairie gala . Three years later they might marry if they chose but the husband had to be older-- at least 21. Courtah ips differed from those of today because there were certain hours for visiting and even though the girl might accc~npany her sweetheart away fran houe she had to be back at that hour. They had no clocks but a titse inarkw was set by the sun. A young man

042 039

District 7 Ad&.la S. Dixon -3- was not allowed to give his girl ~ny i~orm of gift, end the efforts of acme girls to secretly receive gifts which they clalnied to have found , ~re in vain, for the se ~ere taken frc~n them. After the proposal, the procedure was practically the same as is observed today. The oonaent of the parent and the master was ne ce asary. Marriage s were mostly held ~t night and no pains ~re spared to maic them occasions to be remembered and cberi&~ed. ~autif~1 clothes --her own selections -~re given the bride and friends usually gave gifts for the house. These celebrations, attended by visitors from many plantations, and always by the Towns family, ended in gay frolica with cakes, wine etc. for i~fres1nnent s. I~ii ing the first year of married 1~fe the couple remained with the a mother who instructed her in the household arts. Disputes between the newly~ds were not tolerated and punishment by the parents was the result of snagging . At the end of a year~ another log cabin was added to. the quarters and the couple began housekeeping. The moral code was exceedingly high; the penalty for otfendera - married or ein~le white or colored - was to be banished from the group entirely. Thus illegitimate children ~re rare enough to be a novelty. Young Phil was in his teens when he began his first job - coach driver for 00v. TOWE8. ThiS W~S JUSt before they moved to eorgia. Ii~ traveled with him wherever he went, and as the Goy. purchased a plantation in Talbot County, (the house still stands) and a home in Macon, (the site of Mt. I~ Sales Academ), a great deal of his time was spent on the road. Phil never did any other work except to occasionally assist in sweeping the large yard. The other xt~bera~o~

043 040

Di5trict 7 ~h a1 .a S. Di~n ~ this group apilt rails, did ~ie1d work, spinning, tailoring and any of the many things that had to be done . ~aoh person might chooae the type of work ~ ~:4~ S~ he liloed beet. ~ Opportuiiltles to mai~ cash money ~re plentiful. ~y made basket8 and did hand work which was sold and the money given the maker. A man or woman who paid GOT. Towns ~15O. 00 might hire him3e1~ to the Goy. for a year. When thia was done he waa paid caah for aB. the work he did and ma~ are able to clear aeTeral hundred dollars in a year. In addition to thia opportunity tor earning money, every adult had exi acre of ground iliich he might cultivate as he choae. Any money made from the sale of this produce waB hia own. 1~creation was not conaidered bnportant ~d so no provision was made in. the regular routine. It was, bo~ver, poaaible to obtain time off at frequent interval8 and theas might be tex~ned irregular vacation periode. ! vsning enter- tainment at which aquare dancing was the main attraction, ~re conmion. t~uiU music, from a hon~made harmonica, was played ~en banjoes were not available. Theas instrumenta iore made by binding with cane five to ten reeds of graduated lengths. A hole was cut in the upper end of each and the mueic obtained by blowing up and down the acale Guesta came froen all neighboring ternie and engaged in the ~Green Corn dance which was similar to what is now called Buck dancing. Near the end of auch a hilarous evening the gue ate were aerved with persimmon be.~r and ginger cake 3) ~ then considered e delicac.~ ~ 7; Goy. Towns waa intere ated. in assi sting any one 1etIO -~ learn4~. The little girls who expressed t~ae desire to become ~ladiea~ ~re kept in the big house end very carefully trame d. The taste a of the ae few were developed to the extent that they excelled the ordinary Rq,uarter~ children end ~re the envy of the group at social affaira.

044 041

District 7 Ad.efla S. Dixon 41. Sunday was a day of ~e~erence and all adults were required to attend rel igious servi ces. The trip was usually niade in wagons ozearts etc., although the yowig wcanen of ~ big house rode handaon~ sad.&le horses. At each church there ~a placed a stepping block by which they de~nded frcni their at,eecls. Thite and colored uorshipped at the saine church, consthtct~d with a partition separating the two parts of the congregation but not extending to the pulpit. Proteseions of faith were accepted at the a~ne altar while Baptianal services ware held at a local creek and ail candidates ware baptizad on the aan~ day. Regular clothing was ~rn at this service. Children were not allov~d to attend church, and chriatenings were not c~mnon. &~a1l boys, reared entirely apart from t~ strict religious observances, used to slip away and shoot marbles on Sunday. The health probleri was not ~ ery acute e~e as these people were provided with everything ~a~e ~ contented mind ~ ~ ~ lar~ p~?t i~ ~i~4Mn~ a robust body. Hoiever, a Lbctor who lived nearby cared for the sick. Two Cees were set - tbe larger one teing eharged if the patient recovered. Haine remedies were used for minor ills ~ catnip tea for thrash, tea tro~n Samson ~akeroot ~or cramps redwood and dogimod. bark tea,~or ~ ~ ~ ~ 44t~-CL~ ~ .~ ~ ~ ~ ~1ao~4e~?~-woT!!t*. ~ ~ ~ root teas ueed~ by this A generation. Peach brandy was giTon to anyone suspected o~ having ~tetmonia~ ii, the patient coughed, it was certain that he was a Tictim of the disease. In these days, 4t e-e~y~ bhsu~h~ bse~Pe~i 4~ mother t nan~her children. -~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ during pregnancy. I~ another naine was given the child, the correct one would be so timly ituplanted in his subconscious mind that he would never be able to resiet

045 042

District 7 Ad~11a S. Dixon the impulse to turn his head ehen that nai~ was called. E~he ~ven.th child ~a ~ ~ ~ ~z ~*v~I 4A~m ~ ~ ~: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ was always thought ~o be exceptionafly lucky, ~ the be~n~t~t dfl~U~i1 bet1N~5!1 tK~ ~ This bel let persista today in many localities. :~very family was giTen a weekly supply of rood but this ~s moie tor convenien than anything else as. they ~re free to eat anything their appetites called for. They killed chickens, ate vegetables, meats, etc. at any time. The ~m~nce of guests at the quartera roused Mrs. Towns to activity and ehe always helped to prepare the me~u. One of ber favorite items 1ft8 chicksii ~ prepard four different ways, in pie, in stew, fried, and baked. She gave full directions ~tu t -4-.~-~ for the preperation of t1~ss delicacies ~ ~&-~u~th ~ &d iU.Od cooks. Poinid cake was another favorite and she Insisted that a pound of butter an~d a dozen eggs be used. in each eal . Then the neal ~.e nearly ready, al* usually made a trip to the cabin to see if it had been i~b~r prepared. The hostess could always tell without any ccnixnent whether she had satisfied her mistress for if she had a serving was carried back to the b 1g house .btbk~rh~~. FishiDg was a form of roenunerative reozeation enjoyed by all. ~mryone usually ~nt on Saturday afternon, but if only a few made the trip ~ the catch was shared by all. Sowing was no easy job as there ~re few small ~r~en among the iervente. The cloth made at home, was plentiful, however, and sufficient clothing was made for all. Scr~ie persons preferred making their own clothes and this privilege was granted; otherwise they were made in a caimton aewing room. ~n yards was the amrage amount of cloth in a dress hoir~apnn and gingham,

046 043

Diitiiet 7 AdeUa 3. Dixon u ~P ~7i~ the usual materials. ~e men wore .uite of ~abuz g end/~~t This vas dyed to more durable colors ~ .~a~i.#aig$~~a ~e mate rront railroad bark (brown). Phil believes that the screeching of an ow5i. .a~ -si ba~k~ -~$ the ____ ~ bellowing of a COW) UILI~ ~ U111~ is a -s~ii~ ~f Liath. . . ~ howling of a dog ~ ~ after de~t k ~ t si& of death becauae tI~dsath ot a h~mtw be Ing is xs~a1sd ~LJ~k ~w ~ tWA4 ~fMMt4~ to e~1thDaie. ~ ~ ~t ~&L TS~ ~ho~gh ~ may IA ~g_J1 find soene way to rid ourselves of the ~ithrp w~es ot the ~ - tbe death will occur just the sane. __ ~)~ L~ ~4~L4~ ~1 nearly ail plantations ~r were some si~es ~ ~W~St wLsk 4e ..ais isat1y,~_r~r thiL er st~tla~ ~easeiie, hi~ thenasiTo. 1* the ~od.s. ~3O7 em~gglsd food to tiisir hiding pia~ by night, end reitiainsd i~y in ~ sc~ inatancss, many months. Their belier in IitChSa~eft caused them to xseort to most ridiculous u~ene of avoiding diacovery, Phil told the story of a rn : who visitsd a siijurez~ to obtain a hend for ~iich be paid fifty dollars in gold. ~3 a~mbol va. a hickory Itiak which he ud ihenevor h vas bsing e~d, end in this i~n~er ~rdot off hie pursuers. I~ws vas es~ oi~ tifficulty in this ~ 4m~1~~ 4 ~i ~~4:r~ ~ ~ ~ iL ~ pro~*dure, The ati~I! alma I~ad. is- ~ *~ up ~ at a fork or cross roads. ~ ~ ~~4~)~A&L4A ~ F ~t~ ~-Of~~A~ -t5~~ quite a distance to reach such a spot but then the stick was so placed htwian beings end sven bloo~h~iiide lost hts trail. With ~his assistance, he vas able to rsaain in tus woods as long as he iikot. ~.ai a ~rs trsquent visitors in t1~ sabine of tia vquarters~~. ~ . morning while B.tty, a cook, vas confined to bed, abe sent for Mrs. Towns to teil her that a ~iske bad lain across her chest turing the ia~eriou. night end had

047 044

District 7 . ~ . A4eUa 8. Mx i tried to get wider taie ~ovsr ihere ber ye~ng baby lay asleep. M~ a. ~bwns was skeptical about the size td activities of the1~ tl but aent ror several n~n to asareh tbe houes. They had given up thi search tien one chanced to glance above the sick ionien a bsd end there lay the reptile on a shelf. Th. bed was roped and moqed to another part ot the rocmi and preparations made to shoot biia. ~uilte imre piled high on the bed so that the noua. of the gun would not frighten the baby. Then all was ready Mi s. ~vns asked tI~ ld man with the gun -- ~ddy Luke San 70U i ~ the snake? Yeeata, mistress, he repli.d. ~ddy Luke, can you ~4 the snake? Yess~mi, mistre as. 1~ddy Luke can you ~ i~ the snake? ~!OSSUDt, mistress. wSlioot j V, He took careful aim end fired. ~ huge r.ptil rolled to the tloor. /(t~t4A~ ~ U)~M 1T~.r returned to the yard to Ieu ~ work near the woodpile~ ~e zn~ts .s discoverad by ie ot the doge ~ barked until a lo~ e moved end the cond snake killed. ~ ~ $nall snakes were not feared *~ bksas .IJJ ~ and for several years ~ it was cuatanar~ toe women to carry a tiny green snake in their bo~ms. Itis fad was discontinued when one of the women was severely inju~s4 tIU OUgh a bite on her chest. Phil remembers ihen the stars feil in 1833. Thy ca~ dom like rain, ! be said. ~en aake why he tailed to keep scm, he replied that he was afraid to touch thea svsn after they basana black.

048 045

District 7 AdeUa S. Dixon ~ 9- . . ~ ~ ~- )A~ -~ ~ - Freedom was discus~d o~th~4-w, plantatjon~ffor many years before the Civil Lt~~ ~t~~1c~4J ~ ~i War began. &a contented as ~ey ~re ~beva-so~ !~i~g ~ L.e~f.mr4.~ . ~ t ~ ~ b~ thg abaolulely free. An ex&.ve e dscription of the . v~ ~ ~al cause O f the Civil War de aerves a place here ~4: ~ ~ that Lincoln had sent ~ a vere~ message a to T~via rsque et ing that he free the slave s. Ne favorable- response was mce ived. Lincoln had a conterenee with IvJr. I~vi s a~d~to ~ a Bible and a gun. He tried in vain to convin~-~ Davis ~. that he wa~ wrongaecoi ding to the Bible so he finally threw the two upon t1~e table and aI~s4 I~vis te-~te)~e hie ehoice Be chose the gun. Lincoln grasped the Bible and ~ home ~e Davis began the war but ~ Liucoln had Godonhisside and so heen~it. Oxie f GOT. TOiIiB sons went to the ai~ny and Phil ~s sent to care for him . while he was there; ~ an ariatocrati ~~~~r went to ~ war without his ~ Valet. ~ duty ~as to cook tor him, keep his cloth~i~ clean, and ~e bring the ~ ~ ~ &~L1J41 t2&L~.t~L/ body home if he was killed ~ ~ poor p.e~ e ~re either buried ~ior.~ or left lying on the field for vultures to cons~mie. Food ~a not so plentiful in the ~ . ~ ~ : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ! t ~ !~. t ~ L ~ and #.hs4r diet ot tlapjacke end canne d goods was varied only t~~urjh 4~ ~t ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~-~t*~A~: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~:;;;f coffee end ihiskey w~e~ uaa ~tvew ~ All cooking was done 4~t~r between two battles or during the lui . in a battle. M~Q ~? ~ ~ ~ ~ VAA~ ~Lt ~ t J obn Toms was so on sent back hoitm as ~ felt he was too ~ ttLbJ~1~ to be killed in batt1e~ ~iis servi a were needed at home. Near the close ot the war, Sherman made a visit to this vicinity. As was his .1~4~k ~ usual habit, he had s~to1i~d this reputation o~ Go,. Towns before he arrived .*_.~t. ~? ~ ~ -.:~~: ~ ~ ~ 8t_~I~_I 1~r~e He tound condit ions 80 ideal that &~t ~ ~ usi- tou~~J~- ~: ~

049 046

Di ~ot V 44~Ua 8. :Dj~n ~ \ ~1O~: 4 ; ~ ~ ~4 .~ L~ ~ ~-Ta1L~,& ~ ~L ~it ~4&7 Ofl his ~ Phil i~8 0 iW.~d A~ ~z~aan tims ~ touo~ h r~ ~ nd epst iith the Y~UkB. gbow~ ( 1~1,1u Central city pax~ t, nov. ~ i~o~igitt ti*~t anytiiin~ a rank., iait ~ ~ S \ waa t1 uh. ~ne~gave hbi a .~ti~e and told him to go end aut the tirpt man \ !) be met, he fo11o~d instruetioni mii though ba I L w the man. ~R9a1tZiflg how 4f too .ish\he had acted, he rsadi1~ apo1ogi~d end~ explained lby. ~ ~14iers ~ ~-L. 4~ ~ ~4 u~ ~i~5k~i~ v~ j ~A A ~r~ri;;~i:~it ~ ~ ~ ~ s~ch ~l~i ~t~u1d run in terror at the ight o~ one ~ %s con.~.rat.. ne~~ iiacoisred thi.. ~ kt-ue~4~311;!1LIa~at ~ma~ ~ ~httsr ~. c1o~ 1~1J~ ~Uwh4 S ot the ~r ~j~imr. atatioi~d in th toia to keeP erde?. Uni~u t1a~i ~re p .a d~ eveiijhez, end a 8ouths~1.zs ~ ae~i*d ot not rss~soting tbe tlag it he STOIk paa sd under on uithout bowing. Penalties ror this oft n~ ers, to b hung up by the $h~uab~, to srry gr.a~po1sa toi a cs~tain ti , and ninnei ous otbs~ pmiahments ~iich saud a dsa3. of diaootnfort to the. ~ictias bu~ aent the soldiers an4 .~a .awss Into p.ala of 1aiighte~. Th. sight of a Ysaka. so1di.r~:wa,; sno4o~e~4~a COntSdaI at. e~ into hy3tsa4.&. $~R_~ &#~4 4~V%~ ~ a3~avsi laughed wben told they ~ free, ~it Goy. T,*ii mii e3aos$ jn&it% tarent. Hie slav.a, he said, ~rs alwaya practically Irs., so a little 1sg&~ foz~Ik did not ~ mtteh~~4r ~. Narly avery oz~ x~1ned t~rs and vorksd for ia~s.. Tor tI~ put thirty-five ysa~i, Phil To*ia baa bsn abnoat totally dissbLd. Lan Lit. a eaua no novslty to him fo~ hi a~i eir~n uasd to U,. IongSr whin they honored thir e Asra mors. H. baa ighty.~tour rslativea in Tiiginia a13~ oLde~)~ tMfl h but atatsa tb&t friendi ibo have Yiaitd th.r y he looks

050 047

Di~i;Z~iet 7 4eUa 3. Dixon -Il- 4? more a~d ~ then ~ of tham. Hi8 great ~O8fre is to return to Virginia, a. he be1ie~sa he viU be able to ~ ~ tamiliar lendmerke in ip:Lte of the chenge~ that have teken place. Mr. Alaz Biosk, oZ MacOn, mekee no chai gea tor th o34 shaek in w 4ch liys~ his tood tuz~nieIM bi the i~per~ment of Pablic 1~l~exs is .upplem.nted b~y intereate( fri.Rd*o I

Plantation life. Neal Upson. Ex-slave age 81. 051 048

-~-~ ~ . . -. ~ ~ . ~ - .-..~- ~ ~ -~- ~ ~48 .~ WiJ ~i:i I ~ PL~NT TION LIFE NEAL UPS ON 450 4th Street Athens, Georgia Miss ~race.McGune ~ ~) Athens Vdritten by: Edited by: Mrs. ~arah if. liall ~Athens - and ~~ohn N. Booth Dist rict Supervisor Federal ~rit ers Pro je et Reeidendies 6 & 7 Augusta, Ga. August ~ 1~8

052 049

~ UH ~ ~ J.~flJ~~Lt)~17 ~ ~ . 49 NEAL UPSON . . Ex-~S1ave .. . ~ ~ ~ . ~ . AlterrIste rein and sunsMne had. continued for about 10 days and the ditches half filled with water, slippery banks of red clay, and. the swollen river necessitating a detour, added to the various difficulties that beset the interviewer as she trudged through East Athens in search of Neal Tjpson s shabby, three~roorn, fratrie house. A magnificent.water oak shaded the vine~cOvered porch ;there a rocking chair and swing offered a coir~fortab1e place to rest. Good rnornin , Miss, was the srnilin~ greeting ~of the aged Negro man who answered a knock on the front door~ How is you? Won t you come in? I would ax you to have a cheer on the porch, but I has to stay in de house cause de light hurts my eyes. He had hastily removed a battered old felt hat, several sizes too large for him, and as he shurried down the hail I~is ~iair a~~peared almost white as it framed his black face. his clean, but fa ded blue overalls and shirt were patched in several places and heavy brogans cornp ete~ his~cos~ tunic. The day was hot and hunild and he. carefully pisced two cheirs v~here they would iiave trie advantage of any breeze that ~fligbt find its way thr~ugh the open flaliway. Miss, I se mighty clad you cone today, he began, cause I does git so lonesonie here by myself. ~y old oman

053 050

ii. ~ ~ wuks up to de eourt ouse, cookin for de folkses in jail, ar4 lt s ailus late when she gits back home. Souse rae for puttin my old hat backon, but dese old eyes jus can t stand de light even here in the hail, less I shades em. ~h~n asked to tell the story of his life, he chuckled. LaWSY, ~iissy ~ he seid Does you mean dat you is willin to set here and listen to old N~e~i talk? Tain t many foikses i,~that wants to heer us old Niggers talk no more. I jus loves to think back on dem days cause dem was happy times, so much better n times is now. Folkses was better den. Dey was allus ready to hoip one another, but jus look how dey is now~ 1 was borned on Marster L~ rank ~ Upson s place ~ down in Oglethorpe County, nigh Lexin ton, Georgy. Marster. h~ad a plantation, but us never lived d~ar for us. stayed at de home place what never had rnore n bout80 acres or lend round it. Us never nad. to betrottin to de sto evvy time us started to cook, cause what warn t raised on de home place, ~Aarster had em raise out on de big plantation. . Evvything us n~eded t eat and wear was groWed on ~~rse Frank s land. ~9Iarold and ~Tane Upson was my Daddy and Mammy; only folkses jus called Daddy Hal. Both of em vies raised right der on de Upson place whar dey played together whilst dey was hlIlUnb Mammy said she h8d washed and ~ewed for Daddy ever since she was big enough, and when dey got grown dey jus up and

054 051

~. 1114 ~: got married. Xw~s deir only boy and I was de baby ahile, but ~ dey had four ~is older n me . Dey was : Gordelia Anna . Par~ thene, ~:jfld Eus. Ella was named for ~1arse ~rank s onliest chue, little Mss Ellen, and our little Miss was sho a gpod. little chile. Daddy made de shoes for all de slaves on de ~ ~ ~ plantation and Mammy was called ~eho~se oraan. She done de cookin up at de big ouse, and ~nade de cloth for her own fambly s clothes, and she was so smart us allus had. plenty t eat and wear. I was little and stayed wid. Mainnyup at d.e big ouse and jus played all over it and all de folkses up der petted iae. Aunt Taiua was a old slave too old to wuk. She was all de tinte cookin gingerbread and hidin it in a little trunk what s ot by de firepla e in her rooni. ~ When us chillun was good Aunt Tame give us ~~erbread, but it us d.jdn t mind wI:wt she said, us didn t :it none. Aunt Tame had de rheumati~ and walked vid a stick and I could git in dat trunk jus bout anytime I wanted to. I h did. git bout evvyt1iin~ dem other ~ ~ chillun had swappin Aunt ~i s gingerbread . . ~When our ~ wh ite . folkses went off, Aunt Tarna toted de keys, and she evermore did mal ~ dem Niggers stand round. Marse Frank jus laughed when dey ~nade coraplaints bout her. In surwnertirae dey cooked peas and other vegttables for us chillun in a wasilpot out in de yard in de shade, and us et out of de pot wid our wooden spoons. Deyjus give u~s wooden bowls full of bread anc~ milk for supper.

055 052

Iv. ~ ~ ~ 52: Marse Frank said he wanted ein to lam me how to wait on de white rolkses tabI~ up at de big ouse, Sand dey started me off wid de job of fannindefliesaway. Mistress Serena, Marse Frank s~wife, niade me a white coat to wear in de dinin room. ~ Missy, dat little old white coat n~de me git de onliest whuppint Marse Frank ever dId. give me. Here old Neal paused for a hearty lau~h. Us had eoxap ny for dinner ~at day and I felt so big showin off fore em In dat white coat dat I jus couldn t xaake dat. turkey 1kTing fan do right. Dem tiirkey wines we~s fastened on long handles ~nd a~ter Marster had done warned ~~ie a time or two to mind what I was bout, the old turkey winC went d own I n de gravy bowl and when I j erked it ou~t it splattered all over de preacher s beat Sunday suit. Marse drank got up and tuk me right out to de kitchen and when he got through brushin me off I never did :~ave no more trouble wid den. turkey wings. ~vvybody cooked on open fireplaces dem days. Dey. had swingin racks what dey celled cranes to hang de pots on for bum . Dere was ovens for bakin and de heavy iron skillets had long handles, One of dem oldakillets was so big dat Mammy ~ cook~~bisuis in it at one time. I allus did love biscuits, and I would ~o out in de yard end tradeAunt Tama s ~1ngerbread to de other chilluris for deir sheer otbiscuits. Den dey would be skeered to eat de gingerbread cause Itold. ein I d teli ~ p on ein. Aunt rr~a thought dey was sick and told Marse Frank de

056 053

V. chuliuns warn t eatin riotM . lie ax d m what was &e matter and d. y told him dey h~d done traded all deir bread ~ to me. Marse Frank den axed me if I warn t gittin enough t f eat caus e he lowed dere was enou~h dar for all. Den Aunt Tarna had to go and tell on me. She said. I was v~iss dan a hog atter biscuits, so our good Marster ord~ered her to see dat li l Neal had enough t eat. ~ n.I ain t never gwine to forgit dat whuppin my own daddy give rae. lie had jus sharpened up a fine new axe for hisseif, and I t ~eided it off to a white boy named Roar what lived nigh usvthen I seed~him out tryin to eut wood w~ a ) sorry old dull axe. I siold Mm ray daddy ~ fine new axe for 5 biscuits. When he found out bout dat, he lowed he waa gwthe to give me somepin to niake me think fore I done any more tradin of his th1n~s. Mist ess, let me tell you, dat beatin he gi~ve nie ever~orewasa-layi~tonOfderod. One day Miss Serena put me in de cherry tree to pick cherries for her, and she told. me not to eat none tII I finished; den. I could have all I wanted, but Ididn t mind her and I et so many cherries I got sick and fell out of de tree. Mist ess was skeered, but ~arse Frank said: It s good enough for hin, cause he didn t mind. ~ MaIELmy never did give me but one whup~pin neither. Daddy was gwine to de circus ~nd I sus cut up bout it cause I wanted to go so bad. Mist ess give tac some cake arid I hushed

057 054

vIe~ ~ 54: l4ng a~ I w~ eatin bu:t. soon as de~ last cake er~ib was swallowed I start~d bawlin again. ~ ahe give ~ a stick of .~andy and soon as I et dat I was squallin wuss dan ever. Mammy told ~jst ess den da~t~ she knowed how to quiet rae and. she retch under de bed. for a siaoe. Niien she had done finished layin daTe. shoe on tue and put it back whar she got it I was aho willin to shet my mouth e~nd let eni all ~o to de circus wid.out no more racket from me. De Lust school \~~eflt to was in a little one room rouse in our white folkses back yard. Us had a~~te teacher and all he larrit slave hillun was jUSt plain readin ~ ~ -.-----~-~- and wri.tin . I had to pass Dr. Villinghamn s office lots and. he was all de time pesterin me bout spellin . Oneday he stopped me and axed rae if I could spell bunible bee widout its tail, and he said dat when I lernt to spell it, he would ginime sonie candy. L~r. Sanders, at Lexin ton, girnrae a dime onet. It was de rust money I ever hac.. I w~s plumb richand I never let my Daddy ~ave no peace tu he retched me to town to do my tradin . I w~~s ail sot to buy myself a h~t, a sto~bou~at suit of clothes, and some shoes what warn t brogans, but Missy, I wound up wid. a ~in~ercake and a nickel s wuth of candy. I used to cry and holler evvy tinie kiss ~erena went o~f and left ~e. ~nenever I seed em gittin out de carriage to hitch it up, I started beg~ gin to go. Sometimes she laughed arid said: All right Neal. ~ut w~~en skie said) No Neal, I snuck out and bid under de high~

058 055

VII. 55 ~~i~eseat and went along jus de same. Mist ess ailus. f ound me f o re us go t ba ck home but s he j us la ugh ed and sai d: Well, Neal s ray little ~/igger anyhow. Dem old cord beds was a sight to look at, but dey slept good. Us cyarded lint cotton into bats for mattresses and put ein in a tick what us tacked so it wouldn t git lumpy. Us never seed no. iron springs dein days. Dera cords, crisscrosse~ from one side of de bed to de other, was our springs and us had keys to tighten era wid. If us didn t tighten em evvy few days dem beds was apt to fell down wid us. De cheers was homemade too and de easiest settin~ ones had bottoms made out of rye splits. Dem oak~-split cheers was all right, and some times us used cane to bottom de cheersbut evvybody laked to set in dem cheers ~iat haci bottoms wove out of rye splits. tt~~rster had ne of dem ol& cotton gins wi~at did~n t1 rn---. ~ ~ have ri~ engines, It was ~iked by mules. Dem old mui ~s was hitched to a long pole ~that dey pulled round and round to make de gin do its wuk. Dey lied some gins in dem days what had treadi~jliS for th~ mules to w8lk In. Dem old treadrillis looked sorter lak stairs, but most of ein was turned by long poles what de mules pulled. You had to feed de cotton by hand to dem old gins end you SilO had to be keErful or you v~s gwine to lose a hand and maybe a airm. You had tc jump in dem o~d cotton presses and treed de cotton down by hand. It tuk most all day long to gin two bales of cottn and if dere w~-s ti~ree bales to be ginned ~is tad. to wuk

059 056

rrios~t all night tc finish up. ~ ~ ~ ~ Dey mixed wool wid de lintootton to~pirithread to make cloth for our winter clothes. Mammy wove a lot of dat cloth iindde clothes made out o~ it sho would keep out de cold~~ Most of our stockin s and socks was knit at honie, but now and den somebody would githold of:a sto ~bought pairfor $unday-go- toraeetin wear. . ~ ~ ~~oIored folkses went to churen wid deir own whit % ~ . -- -~ folkses Ei~r~d sot in de gallery. One Sunday us was all settin in ~ ~ . :~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ .. dat church listenin to de white preacher, Mr~ Eianaford, telLin how c~e old debbil wa~ gwine to ~it dem what didn t do ri~htil ffere Neal burst into unoontro11~b1e laughter. i~is sides shook ani tears ran down his Lace. Finally he be~n h1S~ StQry a aiti: Missy, I just ~ to tell you bout dat ay in deineetin ouse. done A Nigger had/run off from his marster and was hidin~ out rrorii one place to enother. At night he v:ouid go steal his somepin t eat. Ee had done stole some chickens and had em wid. hirn. up in de ~ ~ ~ church steeple whar he was hidjn dat day. When daytizae corne. he ~ ~ .. went off to sleep lak ~iggers will do when ~eyain t got to hustle, and when ne woke. up ircacher ~ansford was tellin e~ bout de debbil was gwine to git de sinners. Right den a old rcoster what he had stole up ~nd crowed so loud it seemed lak Gabriel s truiupet on Judzaent Day. Dat runaway Nigger was skeered cause he knowed dey vias gwine to find him silo, but he warn t skeered nuffin compered to dein Ni~gers settin in de gallery. Dey jus

060 057

Ix.. ~) t knowed dat was de voice of de debbil what ha& done come atter . era. Dem Ni~ers never stopped prayin and testifyin to de Lord, tu de white foikses l~ad~ done ~ot dat runaway slave arid de rooster out of ~Ie steeple. ~!is marster was dar and tuk him home end ~ ive hi~r~ a good snurid thrashin . ~3laves was lowed to ~~ave ~raycrmeetin on . - ~ ~ Chue~day (~ues~y) and ~ri~id~y round at de d~jftUrit plantations wnsr deir marstcrs didn t 1eer, end dere warn t rn~~ny what objected. De good rnar~ters Cli give aeir slaves ~rayermeetixi ~asse~ on dem nights so de ~.etteroliers ~.~ou1dn t ~it era and beat cia up for heIn off deir ~fiarSt~r S 1an~s. Dey x:~ost nigh kilt some sieves what dey catch out when dey didntt have no ~ass. ~hite preachers done de ~.lkin at de Lle tin bouses, but at dein ~.diuesday and friday ni.~ 1t ~rayermeetin s, it was all done by i~i~gers. I was too little to je~iber much boL~t dem ~ect~~ s, but ray older sister~ used to talk lots bout c~ lone otter e viar h&; brurlg our freedom. Dere warn t ~any sl~v~s w!~ot co Id re~. so dey ~us talked bout w~~at dey ~LE~d done ~~cared de white j~re~ci~ers s~y on ~unday. One of de C~v rite texties ~as de third er~~t ~r of ~ and ~nost of em 1jus ~ae:nberecI ~ line or two from dat. ~issy, from wriat folkses said bout dem meetin s, dere w~ sho e lot ot~ good ~rayin and testify~n , tC~:~USC SO many sin~icrs rej.;orite~~. and was saved. Some times at dem ~und~y :~e tin s at c~e white tolkses church dey would have t~:) or three ~jreachers de same day. Dc fust one would give

061

~x. de text and preach for at least a hour, den another one would cive a text and. do his preachin and bout dat time another one would rise up end say dat dem rust two brudders had. done ~ but 4~~hewas~wine o tnT to double dat number. Den he would do his preachin and atter d~t one of dem others would g t up ~nd say: Brudders and Sisters, us is all here for de s~rae end only purpose - dat of savLn souls. Dese other good brudders is done preached,. talked, and preyed, and let the g~p down; now I m. gwine to raise it. Us is ~wine to ~it ligion enough to take us straight through dem pearly gates. ~row, let us sing whilst us gives de new brudders and sisters de right hand o~ rellowship. One or dem old songs went sort of lak dis.: Must I be born to die And l~y dis body down? When dey i~ac~ done finished ~l1 de verses ~mnd choruses o1~ dat dey started: J~niazin Grace, dow sweet de sound Dat saved a wretch lak me. Fore dey stopped dey usually gp~ round to singin : tOn Jordan s stormy banks I stand, And cast a wishful eye, ~ro Uanaan s fair and happy land ~ t b~r mypossessions lie. Dey could keep dat up for hours arid it was sho good singin for dat s one thing iiggers was born to do - to sing when dey gits ligi n.

062 058

U~T ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ;~tf~ 4 Old Aunt fl~ ra c me ttp atx~ wanted t6 Jine de ~hurch she told ~bout how she had done seed de flebenly ii~ht and changed her ~way of livin ~ ~ ~ Thlkses t stitled den bo t de . goodness of de Lord and a1E~ I~I~t17 b1esS1fl~S what 11e give t s~!~ts and sinners, but dey is done stopped givin lUxa rnuc1~ th~ks any more. Derri days, dey zaxnined folkses: ~f~rl~ dey let em jine up ~: -- - ~--~- ~ - ~r ~ ~ ~ wid de ch reh~ When dey started zarninin Aunt Flora, de- preacher axed her: is you done been borned again and does yc,u believe dat ~Tesus (~hrist done died to sav~ sinners? Aunt Flora she started to cry, and she said: Lordy, Is 11e daid? Us didn t know dat. it my old manhad done seribedfor de pap r laic I. told hirn to, us would have knowed when ~Tesus died?~ seal ~ lak giggled, : fl~j~y.9 he said, ain!t dat ~jus /one of d: m ol~tt~ie Niggers? ~ey just tuk dat for ign aneeandiet her corne du into de church. Dem days it was de oiistorn$or marsters to hi ~ out what slaves dey had dat warn t needed to wuk on 4elr. o~ land, so our marster hired out~ ~wo of irty sisters. Sis ~ ~ hired t o a fambly bout 16 miles front our plac She didri t 14k it d a r s o s he run away and I foun d h e r hi d out I n our t at e ~r ~ ouse ~ ~ . One day when us was playin she called to me right l w end soft lak a~Ad told me she was hongry aud for me to git her s rnepln t eat but not to tell nobody she was dar. She said she had be n dar widout nothi n t eat f r s everal days . She was s k eered ~ Marst er might whup her. She looked so thin and bad I thought she was gwine to s

063 059

.)~ 59 die so I told Mammy Her arid Marst er went arid brung Anna ~ to de ~ ouse and fed her. )at pore chile was starved moat to death. Marster kept her at honie for 3 weeks and fed her up good, den he carried her back and told dem. folkses what had hired her dat dey had better treat Anna ood and see dat she had p1ent~ t eat~. Marster was drivin a fast hoss dat day, but bless your heart, Anna beat hirn back nome dat day. She cried and tuk on eo, beggin him not~ to take her back dar no more dat he told her she could stay hone. My other sister stayed on whar 8he was hired out tu de war was over and dey cive us our rreedom. ~Daddy had done hid all Old Marster s hosses when de yankees got to our plantation. Two of de ridin hosses was in de smokehouse and another good t rotter was in de hen ~ ouse. Old Take was a slave what warn t right bright. ~ 11e slep in de kltenen, and he knowed whar Daddy had hid dein hosses, but dat was all he knowed, Marster nad give Daddy his money to hide too, and he tuk saine of de plasterin off de wall iii ~arster s room and put de box of money inside ~1 wall. Den he tixed dat plas~ term back so nice you couldn t tell it had ever been tore oi~f. De night dem yanke es e ra, Daddy had gone out to de wuk ouse to ~it some pegs ~ t o fix . s ~iiepin ~ didn t have no nails dem days). When de yankees rid up to de kitchen door and found Old Jake right by hiaself, dat pore old. fool was ~keered so bad he jus started right off babb ,in bout two hosses in de smoke ouse arid one in d~e hen ouse, but he was trexablin so he couldn t talk piain.

064 060

. .. ~ . XIII. ~ 60 ~ . ~ ~ ~ 034 Marster hearedde fuss dey ruade axid he corae d~o*n to de kitch-~ en to see what w ~ de matter. De yankees den ordered Mar~ter j to git em his hosses. Marster called fleddy and told him to git de hosses, but Daddy, tie played foolish lak and. stalled ~ ~ round lak he didn t have good sense. 3~ex sojers raved and. ~ ~ fussed all ni~tht long bout dem hosses, but dey never thought bout lookin in de smoke ouse and hen ouse for em and bo t daybreak dey left widout takin n.T~thin . ~ Marster said he was she proud of my Daddy for savin dem good hosses for him. Marster had a long pocketbook what fastened at ~ ~ one end wid a ring. One day when he went to git out some money he drepped. a roll of bills dat he never seed, but i~addy picket it up and handed it back t hii~:right alay. Nowmy D~dy~c ~i3~ ~ have ke~t dat money jus as easy, but he ~s a ~e~tiona1 ~ : ~ 1; . I and believed evvybody ought to do right. ~ . ~ Aunt an s old. nian Und e Griff come to live ~ wid her on our pIece atter de war was ov r. Fore den he had belonged to a man named Oo1quitt~ ~ )~trster pervided a honaef r ~ hiiii and Aunt Tame tu dey was both daid. ~ Y~ hen dey was buildin de tust co1oredMeth~~~~ch in dat section Uncle G~riff give a whole hundred dollars to d~e buildint fund . Now it tuk ~a h p of scrimpin for hirn to save dat rauch nioney cause he nev~ ~ad ~ made over ~IO a raonth. Aunt Tama h~d done gone to Glory a long time when Uncle G~riff di d. Atter dey b~ied him dey corne ba k and was rangin d things in h1~ iitt1e~cabin. ~!hen dey rn ve~

065 061

ISv. dat little trunk i~at Aunt Tame used to k~e~ gingerbread in, dey tound jus lots of money in it. ~arster tuk keer o! dat r~i~ney til h~ found Uncle ~rift s wn sister and den he giv it all to her. ~ ~One ~tiine Marster fussed some of hi ~ mone~r a~ lie didn~t iant to cuse nobody, so he cid~ed he wo~ild tix~.out whc~ had done ~e . debbilment . 1~e put a big rooster in a coos ~ wi~ his haid atickin out. Dent he called all de Niggers up to de yard and told em somebody had. been stealin his mone~ , a~ 5at evvybod3r must ~git in line and march round dat oop and ~ tetch it. . ae said dat when de guiit~ cines tetched it de old. rooster would row. ~vvybody tetchedit cept one old ~anand his wif ; dey jus wou1dti~t corne nigh dat coop whar dat r o~ter was a-lookin at evvybody out of his little red eyes~ ~ Mariter had dat old man and oman sarohed and found all de money what had been stole. ~ . . wMeinm~y died bo t ayear atter de war, arid I x~ver will forgit how Mist esscr1edari~d said: Neal, your xtrainrny is done gone, and Idon t knowwhat I ll douidou~her.t Not long at~er dat Daddy bid. for de contract t o carry de mail and he got de place, but it niade de white folkses xaighty mad, cause some white folkses had put ~ Dey Iowe~ dat Daddy better not never start out ~i4 dat mail,. e~a~use ith~ did he was gwifle to be sorry ~ Marster begged Daddy not to risk it and told him if he would stay dar wid. ~im he would let him have a plantation for as long as he lived, and so us stayed on

066 062

f ~ ~ :x~. 62 dar til Daddy di:ed, and a long time atter datus kept~ on wukin for Old ~ arster. ~ ~ White folkses o~ined u~ back in de days fore de war but our own white folkses was mighty good to deir slaves. Dey had to lam us bedienee Lust, how to live right, and how to treat evvybodv else right; but de best tbing dey lamed us was .. Is ~ ~ ~ ~I1 ~ :T :~ how to do useful wuk. De onhiest tii~ae I member stealin any~ thing dept Aunt ~ania s gingerbread w~s one time when I went -to town wid L addy inde bugg . y. When us started back hoxa~ a man got in de seat wid ~)addy and I had to ride dowD in de back or de buggy whar Daddy i~ad hid ~ug of liquor. I could hear it ~ slushin round. ~nd so I got to wantin to know how it tasted. I pulled out de corncob stopper and tuk one taste. It,, was. so good I jus kep on tastin tu I passed out, and didn t know when us gr)t noiiie or nuffin else tu I waked up in my own bed t next day. Daddygivemeatennin whet I d.idn~t rorgit for a long time, but dat was de wussest drunk I ever was. Lord~, but I did. love to rollow my Daady. ~ ~ V Folkses wara t sick much in dem days lak dey is now, but now us don t eat strong victuals no more. Us raked out hot eSlIes den and cooked good old asheakes what was a heap better ~ V for us dan dis bread us buys from de stores now. Marster fed us plenty of V ake V fresh meat, and ash roasted *taters, and dere ~ ~_~_ Vl_JVU- 11~~ what warn t nobody/could out wuk u~. V ~ ~ V

067 063

S ~ ~ S ~ death was soniepln w~iat didntt h*pp.n~ osten 5on our plantatior~,~. but when somebody did die folkseswthi3~d go from miles and miles around to set up ~nd pray aU night to oornt~t de fambly of de daid. Dey never made up de coffins fil atter somebody died. Den dey measured de corpse an~ x~dede eoffin to fit de body. Dein coffins was lined wid bl ek calico and painted wid. lampblack on de outside. ~ Soxrtet mesdey klvi ered S de outside wid black calico lak de 1mm ~ Coffins for w1~ite folkses was jus lak what dey had raade up for deir slaves,and dey was all buried in de same graveyard on deir own plantations~ When de war was over dey closed de little 0fl~~ roorn school what our good ~arster had kept in ~Us back yax~4 ~o~r . hi~ s1aves;~but ou. i young~Miss Eileniarnt~rny $iSt;er ~rig11t~ on~ ~ ~~~otWharshe couldteach~.s ohc~ Daddy fixed ~ a room onto our house for her school and she soon had it full of. ehillun. Dey made me study too, and I sho did sate to have 4o go to school to my own sister for she e~e~ored~d take ~evvy chance to lay dat stick on me, t~ut I s pects ~e had ~r1g~ tough tirae wid me. When time conie ~ round to Olebrate se~Izoo1 corrix~ienc ernent I was one proud little Nigger ~ ca~ise I nevei had been so dressed up in my lire before. I had on aredwaist, S ~ and a gooj~ I~~~jhpjs; but de gr~ndest thing of all bout dat o ti~itwasdat Daddy 1etrne~fiI~ ~8wa*~ch ~Evvy-~ body ooit~e for dat oel~ration. Dere was over 300 folks at dat ~_S___ _ ~L ~ ~1~-~ ~ big5 dinner, and us h~d Iota of barbecue an~d ~l1 s;Ort8 of ~good

068 064

t~Angs tteat. Oid~rs~er was dar, ~nd ~wI~en 1 stood up flfore ~il dem folks and :s~id ray little speech widout. misaln a imrd, ~ ::~rster slw did laugh and clap his hands. ~ 11e oaUed me over to w~ar he w~s settin and said: I knowed you could lam fl~ you~ ~ ianted to.t Beet of all, he give me~~8 ~1O1e doil&D. I wa~ ~ ~ ~. ~ .~ ~-~ ~-j---.~ ~~- !tF~i~Jl~flfLLI~J 1~ r~rt~1 1: i~T .1 0 . ~ ~f dfl~ r~..ii~t ~ ~ ~ ~ -~ ~ ... .II:1~ ~ ~ :. ~ rich den,piuxab.rioh. One of mysisters~ou1dn ~ lam notMn ~. ~e only letters she could ever say w~s G-~O ~~D. No matter what ~rou axed ~er to spell she allus said ~ G ~-~ . t $~ ~ a good field hand though and a good oman and she lived to be aiore dan go years old. . ~ : ~ ~ Now, talkln lout froIi~kin us really used ~to danee. What I means, is sho nough o1d-time.break-~downs. So~e.~ ~ ---~ times us d1dn ~t heile no musie~ oeptjus ~be~t1n~time ~ ~nd bucketsbut most tiiiies Old EIioeEU~son played his~tid&ie ~ ~ ~ f~or us, ~nd it had to be tuned again atter e~vy set us dan~ed. Re. never knowed but one tune and he pl~yeddat over ~nd over. S ~e- times dere was 10 or 15 couples on de floor at de sai~etii~e~arid us dj~n t thlflk nothin of danei ~ ~ ~11 night long. t~s hail plinty of old corn c~ui e for refreshment, and 8tter ~11e hadtwo or t.~ire cups of dat juice, he could git Turkey In desStraw out of dat fiddle lak nobody s business, ~ ~ One tirn.e a houseboy from another ~1antation wanted to come tO one of our ~addyrii~ht den~es,, so his ~rater told him . ~ - to shine his boOts for SuxI~ay and~fixh s hoss or de night and lenhe could git off ror de frolic. Abraham shinedhia m~rster s . 64~f:~

069 065

t I .3~u..._ . . . . I . . . . J boots tU. he ooald ee Usait in a; ad isy loojist se graM he . . s ~ ~ wastempted to tr7 ~em on. Dey ~waa a littis tigitbaths thought he could nar ~ ant he nfttei to show biua.tf. fl in es. *t. t dance. . Dey warn t so stay to w lk in ant. hi wac tratd.ke.aight~ git sa.aoratoh!d up walkin t roughds tislda.S he snusk..hia Marster s hoes out and rode to de dance. When Abraham rid up dar in dem shiny hi got ai . de gala fleation. . Nons of sa wadtet to danoe iid ~d. otherMiggsrs.. Bat Abraham was..sko atruttin tU somebo4y run in ~ told his 14e .t~ois hM Oase broke its neck. le had ti.d..it to a limb aM.ehoi noush. sai way, dat hoes had done got tangled up and hune its own qel~ Abrehea begged &e other Nigger boys to help kistake de flit hose home, but he ha&Aons tuk dcii gals aM hs:.dIt?t git as.heip. Es long . s. had to walk lzfmiles home in dem tight ahosa~ .1. aim hat.dM$t riz up when h got dar and it wern t long tore him arster wat.cellinf: Abraham, bring me my boots . Dat Nigger .woiilt holler out t . tras seht I ss asoosin . But daboote wouldn t cams ott. ostaehus foots had .done aslied up in e~b iii. minter kspt os salUn and when Abraham se$ he ocn in t put .it off nt longsr, he ja out dem boots off his toots and went in and toM what hs bad done. eis. meister se awful mat and said he was a good mind to take Is hide oft Abrahams back, Go git myhoss quick~ Nigger, tors:l ioat kills you hs yelled . Den &brabaa . told him: *pstg; I . knows you is gwine to kill me now, but your: hon it done. daid.! usa pore flrfle.m had to out . and tell ds whole stqry and his .aarster t. . s : . s s

070 066

j~?L got, to l ughln sp. bout how he tuk. ~ g~as away~ ft Q~&~ other boys and how dem boots huzt 14m dat It, ~coi~ ia~ ~ ~ never would stop, mien he finally did s~op ~a~hi~ ~nd s~~i ills sides lie said: Dat s aliright Abrah~n~ Don t never.~et . :~ ~ ~ . f ~ ~ . nobody beat your time wid de gals. And dat1s all he ever said to Abrahani bout it~ ~ ~ . ~ : lNhen fly sister got marrieU, us sho cUd have a grand time. Us cooked a pig whole wid a shiny red apple in &ts mouth and set it right in de middle of de long tabl,e w~aat us had built out In de yard. Us had evvything good to go wid dat iDig, and atterdat sup er, us danced aflnLghtlong. My~is~ ster never had seed dat man but onetin~e 1fore she zriarrie~ hjz~i. ~ w Daddy and his cousin ~im ~wore wid, Q~ie~. another dat it one died~ fore de other ~at de one what was left would look atter de daid e s faxtibly and s ee dat none of ~ de, chillun was bound out to wuk for nobody. it warn t long att!r dis dat Daddy died. I was jus fourteen, and was WUkiXL for a~ brick masbn lamm dat trade. ~ ~Daddy ad done been ~ck a ~ : ~ ..:~i ..:. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~. ~ ..~ ~ ~ ~ .:~ ~ ~ ~ .:~: :~. Tj: : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ while, and one night de fambly woke nie upand ~&id he was dyin~. I run Cast as I could Cor a doctor but.. D~d.dy was done daid when I got back. ~ hIIII right side of i~axnmy in de old grave yard. It was m9~ a year atter dat fore us had de funeral sermon preached. Dat was de way folkses done den. Now Meminy and Daddy was botb. gone, but old Marster said us chilluu co~4ld live d~r long as u s want ed ~ to . I went on ba ek to wuk te aus e I was crazy to be as good a~aason asmy Daddy was. In Lexin ton dere is a. rt5ok wall still standin round a, whole square what. Daddy

071 067

XI. 01 built in slavery time. Long as he lived he blowed his bugle evvy rwrnin ~o wake up ail de folkscs on ~jarse Frank s plantatiori~ ~e never railed to blow dat bugle at break ot day cep on 3undays, end evvyboay on dat place pended on him to wake em up. I was jus a-wukin away one day when Cousin ;rim sont for rae t~ .~.o tc to~:n ~id him. Missy, dat man brung ~ie rir~.ht ilere to J~thens to de old courthouse and bound r~e out to ~a white vLan. He done dat very thing atter swearin to my Daddy rie wouldn t never let dat a~peri. I didn t w8nt to wuk dat way, so I run away ~nd ~zent back home to wuk. De sheriff come and ~5:ot :i~e and said I I~ad to go back whar ~L was bound out or ~ o to ~ail. .Eretty soon I runned away again and ~ient to ~tlanta, an~L dey nevcr bothered me bout dat flO more. ~ De onliest time I ever got r sted was once when I co~ ::e to town to see bout ~:ittin somebody to pick_cotton for ne end us as .~. ~.ot to a c rti~in Nig.~er s house de police come in and cau~n~ em in a crap ~em~. 1~ir. ~icUurie, de policeman, said I would nave to go long wid ue others to jail, but rie would hoip rue atter us ~ot dar and :te did. liC ranged it so ~ could hurry beck i~ome. Bout de best times us had in de plantation days was de corn shuckin s, log rollin s~~nd syrup c okin s. Us allus finished ur, dem syrup c~okin s wid ~ c8ndy pullin .

072 068

~. : 68 ~ ~ ~ ~ ?~ ~ ;~ ~: .~ *4~tter he had all his corn gathered nd~ put in big long piles, Marster vited d~e folks s froni ai . round &~m parts. ~ Dat was de way it was done; evvybody holped de others git de corn shucked. Nobody thought of hirin folkses and payin out cash xnoney for extra wuk lak dat. Dey lected a gen ral to lead off de singin and atter he got ein to keepin time wid de singin de littlebrown jug ~as pessed round. When it had gone de rounds a time or two, it was a sight to see how fast dem Niggers could keep time to dat singin . Dey could do all sorts of double time den when dey had swigged enough liquor. When de corn was all shucked dey feasted and den drunk more liquor arid danced as long asdey could stand up. De logrollin s and candy . pullin s ended de same way . Dey was sho grand good tinies. 1 tanned wid de white folkses for32~rears~ aM never had no trouble wid nbbociy. Us allus settled up fair aXId square and in crop time dey never bothered to come ~round to see what Neal was dom , cause dey lcnowed dis Nigger~was wukin all right. Dey was all mighty good to nie. Atter I~got so old I couldn t run a farm no more I wuked in de white foIk es gyardens and tended deir flowers. I had done~be en wukin out Mrs steve tJ s flowers and wh en she ~ come to p y she ax d what ray name was. When I told hei it was Neal lrpson she wanted to know how I got de Upson name. I told h r M . Frank Up on had done give it to nie when I was his slave. She called to Mr. Steve and dey lak to have talked xn to death/or rn~ Marse rank arid Mr. Ste~ve s daddy was close kinfolk es. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .

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u~. Atter dat I wuked d~eir flowers long as I was able to walk way off up to deir pl oe, but old Neal oa~t wukno~more. Mr Steve and his folkses conies to see me sometimes . rid I ~se allus powerfui glad. tosee em. .. ~ ~ ~ ~ .~ I used to wuk sotne for 1~Liss lWiary ~oon. She is a mighty good oman and she knowed my Daddy and our good. Old~ Marster. Miss Mary would talk to me ~3Ut dem old days and she allus s~id: tNe l, let s pray, ff0~i6 lefts Miss ~iary never did git married. ~he~s one of dem soiltaryladies. ~ Now Mi s sy h ow corne you want s t o know ~ ~ b ~ ut my weddin!? I done been married two. times, but it was de tust time dat was de sho nough citin one, I courted dat gal for a long, long :time while I was to~ skeered to ax her Dad y for her. I went to see herevvy Sunday jus terminedto ax~hini for her to~ I left, and I would stay 1at~e atter supper, but j~ust couldn t ~git~ up nerve enough to do it. One Sunday I ~orn1sed myself I would ax him if it kilt me, so I weint over to his house early dat mornin and told Lida, dat was ~ sweetheart ~s name . I says to her : I silo is gwlne to ax him today. ~ ~fl dinnertime ome, su~ertime come, and I was gittin shaky in my j~ts when her Daddy went to feed his hogs and I went along s~id him. Missy, &is is de way.i fine liy did ax him forhis gai. ~Le said ~he wO goirit to have some fine meat come winter. I axed him if it wthld be enough for all of~hisfanibiy, and he said; 1k~* come you ax dat, boy? ~ Den I jus got e tight hold on dat old hog p ri. 8n~ s~id:: ~

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70 Well, Sir, Ijus thought 1f you didn t have enough tor all of em, I could take LIda. I felt myself goin down. 11e started laughin fit to kill. Bcy, he says, tIS you tryin to ax for Lida? If so, I don t keer cause she s got to git married sometime. I Was so happy I left him right den and. run back to tell Lida dat he said it was all right. ~ % Us didn t have no big weddiri . Lida had on a new calico dress and I wore new jeans pants. Marster heared us was gittin married dat day and he sont his new buggy wid a message for s to corne right dar to hirn. I told i4da us better go, so us got in da~ buggy and driv Ott, ~xid de rest of de folkses followed in de wagOn. M rster met us in front of old Salem Church. He had de churc~. open~and Preacher ~rohn Gibson waitin? dar to riarry us. Us warn. ~t spectin no church weddin , but Marster said dat Neal had to git married right. 11e never did forgit his Niggers. Lida she s done been daid a long time, and I se merried again, but dat warr~ t ~ ~ ~:~ By now, Neal was evidently tired b~ ~ bu*~ as the interviewer prepared to leave, Neal ~ ~ soniepin to tell my old oman vthen she gits home. $1~e don t.Iak to leave me here by myself. I wish ~ere was somebody o~ me ~o ~ ~ .~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ to evvyday, for I se had sich a good time today. I:dOflS~C~ ~ ~ it s gwine to be long fore old Neal goes to be wid. demi done been tellin you bout, so don twait too long to come ~ack~~ see me 8gain. .

Plantation life as viewed by ex-slave. 075 071

PLANTATION LIRE AS VIEWED BY EI-SLAVE ~TOHt~ F. VAN HOOX Newton Bridge Road. Athens, Georgia by: Mrs. Sadie B. ~Area6- Athens - Written Horn sby Edited by: Mrs. Sarah It. Hall Athena - and sohn N. Booth Area Supervisor of Federal Writers Project ~ Areas 6 & 7, Augusta, Ga. Dec. 1, 1938 3~4~

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3~OHN F. VAN H00K Ex~ &1ave L ~ 76 ~rohn F. -Van aook was a short, stout man wjth a shining bald pate, a fringe of kinky gray hair, kindly eyes, and a white mustache of the Lord Chamberlain variety. Eis shabby work clothes were clean and carefully mended, and he leaned on a cane for support. sohn was looking for the Farm Bureau Office, but he agreed. to return for an interview after he had transacted his business. When he reappeared a short time later and. settled down in a comfortable chair he gave the story of his early life with apparent enjoyment. In language remarkably fre e of dialect ~Tohn began by telling his full name and added that he was well known in Georgia and the whole country. Until I retired, he remarked, I taught school in North ~arolina, end in Hall, ~ackson, and Rabun Counties, in Georgia. I sin farming now about five miles from Athens in the Sandy Creek district. I wasborn in 1862 in Macon County, North Carolina, on the George Seller s plantation, which borders the Little Tennessee River. I don t know enything nmch, first hand, about the war period, as I was quite a child when that ended, but I can tell you all about the days of ~econstruction. What I know about the things that took place during the war was told me by my mother and other old people. W3586

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J. I ~ My father *as Bas Van Hook and he niarried Mary Angel,. ray mother. Mother was born on Marse Dillard. Love s plantation, and. when his daughter, Miss Jenny, married Marse Thomas An~el s son, Marse Dillard gave Mother to Miss ~Tenny and when Little Miss enny Angel was born, Mother was her nurse. Marse Thomas and Miss renny Angel died, and ~other stayed right there keeping house for Little Miss Jenny and looking after her. Mother had more sense than all the rest ot the slaves put together, and she even did Little Miss Jenny s shopping. . My tather was the only darkey Old Man Isaac Van Hook owned, and he did anything that cerne to hand: he was a good carpenter and mechanic and helped the Van Hooks to build mills, and he made the shoes for that settlement. Thomas Aaron, George, Tarnes, Claude, and Washington were my five brothers, and my sisters were Zelia, Elizabeth, and Candace. Why, Miss, the only thing I can remember right off hand that we children done was fight 8nd frolic like youngsters ~ ;ill do when they get together. With time to put my mind on it, I would probably recollect our games and songs, if we had any. Our quarters was on a large farm on sugar Fork River. The houses were wuat you would call log huts and they were scattered about promiscuously, no regular lay-out, just built wherever they happened to find a good spring convenient. There was never but one room to a hut, and they w~rn t particular about how niany darkies they put in a room. White folks had tine four-poster beds with a frame built around the top of the bed, and over the frame

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~.-1 ~ 3.; hung pretty, ruffled ~thite curtains end a similar ruffled curtain was around the bottom of the bed; the curtains made pretty ornarnents. Slaves had beds of this general kind, but they warn t quite as pretty and fine. Corded springs were the go then. The beds used by most of the slaves in that day and time were called Georgia beds,t and these were made by boring two holes in the cabin wall, and two in the floor, and side pieces were run from the holes in the wil to the posts and fastened; then planks were nailed around the sides and foot, box-fashion, to hold In the straw that we used for mattresses; over this pretty white sheets and plenty of juilts was spreaded. Yes, main, there was always plenty of good warm cover in those days. Of course, it was home- ade, all of it. My grandfather was a blacksmith and farni~hand owned by Old Man Dillard Love. According to ray earliest recollection my grandmother Van Hook was dead and I have no memories about her. My great, great grandmother, Sarah Angel, looked after slave children while their mothers were ~t work. She was a free woman, but she had belonged to Marse Tommy Angel end Miss Jenny Angel; they were brother and sister. The way Granny Sarah happened to be free was; one of the women in the Angel family died ~nd left a little baby soon after one of Granny s babies was born, and so she was loaned to that family as wet nurse for the little orphan baby. they ~.ave her her freedom and took her into their home, because they did not want her sleeping in slave quarters ~iile she was nursing the white child. In that settlement, lt was considered a disgrace for a white child to feed.

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~ir 4. (~) at the breast ot a slave woman, but it. was all right if the darkey was a fre e w. After she got t oo old to do regular work Granny Sarah used to glean after the reapers in the field to get wheat for her bread. She had been a favored slave and allowed to do pretty much as she pleased, and. after she waa a free winan the white folks continued to look after her every need, but she loved to do for herself as lone as 8he was able to be up and about. What did we have to eat then? Why, most everything; ash cakes was a mighty go then . Cornbre ad dough was made into little pones and placed on the hot rocks close to the fire to dry out a little, then hot ashes were raked out to the front of the fireplace and~ piled over the ash cakes. When thoroughly done they were taken out and the ashes washed off; they were just like cake to us children then. We ate lots of home~made lye ho~iny, beans, peas, and all kinds of greens, cooked with tat meat. The biggest, and maybe the best thing in the way of vegetables that we had then was the white-head cabbage; they grew large up there in Carolina where I lived. There was just one bi~ garden to teed all the folks on that farm. Marse George had a good possum dog that he let his slaves use at night. They would start off hunting about 10 o clock. Darkies knew that the best place to hunt for possums was in a persimmon tree. It theycouldn t shake him out, they would cut the tree down but the most fun was when we found the possum in a hollow log . Some of the hunters would get at one end of the log, and the others would guard the other end, and they would build a fire to smoke the possum out. Sometimes when they had to pull him out,

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. 5. (t) they would find the possum in such a tight place that most of his hair would be rubbed off before they could get him out. Darkies hunted rabbits, squirrels, coons, all kinds of birds, arid specially they was fond of going after wild. turkeys. Another great sport was hunting deer in the nearby mountains. I managed to get a shot at one once. Morse George was right good about letting his darkies hunt and fish at night to get meat for themselves. Oh! Sure, there were lote of fish and they caught plenty of em in the Little Tennessee and Sugar Fork Rivers and in the numerous creeks that were close by. Red horse, suckers, and salmon are the kinds of fish I reinerriber best. They were cooked in various ways in skillets, spiders, and ovens on the big open fireplace. Now, about the clothes we wore in the days of the war, I couldn t rightly say, but n~y ~&other said we had good. comfortable garments. In the summer weather, boys and men wore plain cotton shirts and jeans pants. The homne- raade linsey-woolsy shirts that we wore over our cotton shirts, and the wool pants that we wore in winter, were good and warm; they had brogan shoes in winter too. Folks wore the same clothes on ~indays as through the week, but they had to be sure that they were nice and clean on Sundays. Dresses for the women folks were made out of o ot ton checks and. they had sunbonnets too. Marse George Sellars, him that married Miss Oa line Angel, was my real master. They had four children, Bud, Mount, Elizabeth, and, and er; I just can t bring to recollect the name

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6. of their other girl. They lived in a two-story freine house that was surrounded by an oak grove on the road leading from Franklin, Nc~rth Oarolina, to Clayton, Georgia. Hard Sellars was the carriage driver, and while I am sure Marse George must have had an overseer, I don t remember ever hearing anybody say his name. Really, Miss, I couldn t say just how big that plantation was, but I am sure there must have been at least four or fivehundred acres in it. One mighty peculiar thing about his slaves was that Marse George never had more than 99 slaves at one time; every time he bought one to try to make it en even hundred, a slave died. This happened so trying to keep a hundred or more, long as he did that, there warn t his slaves. His slaves had to be and there they had to work steady marn, Marse Tommy Angel was mighty his sister, was good as could be; mother to her sister, }Liss ~a 1ine Tommy was too hard on lier. I heard some talk as hard. in the field all day and come whipped for mighty small offenses. tied hand and foot over a barrel and or cat-o ~nine tails lash. They had often, I was told, that he stopped and held on to his 99 slaves,. and any more deaths than births among in the fields when the sun rose, until the sun went down. 0hZ Yes, mean to his slaves, but Miss Jenny, that is the reason she gave my ~ellars; because she thought Marse to how after the slaves had worked to the house at night, they were Marse Gecrge would have them would beat them with a cowhide, a jail in Franklin as far back

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n. (. t as I can recollect. Old 31g ~.ndy Angel s white folks had him put ~ in jail a heap of times, because he was a rogue and stole everything he could get his hands on. Nearly everybody was atraid of hint; he was a great big double jointed man, end was black as the ace Qt spades. No, mami I never saw any slaves sold, but ray father s mother and his sister were sold on the block. The white folks that bought em took them away. After the war was over my tather tried to locate em, but never once did he get on the right track of em. Oh! Why, my white folks took a great deal of pains teaching their slaves how to read and write. My father could read, but he never learned to write, and it was from our white folks. that I learned to read and write. Slaves read the Bible more than any~ thing else. There were no churches for slaves on Marse ~eorge s plantation, so we all went to the whit folks church, about two miles away; it was called Clarke s Chapel. Sometimes we went to church at Cross Roads; that was about the saine distance across sugar Fork River. My mother was baptized in that Sugar Fork River by a white preacher, but that is the reason I joined the Baptist church, because my mother was a Baptist, and I was so crazy about her, and am tu yet. There were no funeral parlors in those days. They just funeralized the dead in their own homes, took them to the graveyard in a painted home-made coffin that was lined with thin bleaching made in the loom on the plantation, and. buried them in a grave that dt t have any bri eka or cement about it . That brings to my memory

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Q .J.. those songs they sung at funerals. One of them started off something I ike thi s D t WantYou toGrieveAfter Me. Ify mother used to t eli me that ~t en sh e was baptized they sung You Shall Wear a L1i~ ~ Whenever I get to studying about her it seems to me I can hear my mother singing that song again. She did love it so much. No, main, there didn t none of the darkies on Marse George Sellar s place run away to the North, but some on Marse Tommy Angel s place ran to the West. They told. me that when Little Charles Angel started out to run away a bird. flew in front of him and led hirn all the way to the West. Understand me, I em not saying that is strictly so, but that is what I heard old folks say, when I was young. When darkies wanted to get news to their girls or wives on other plantations and didn t want Marse George to know aboat it, they would wait for a dark night and. would tie rags on their feet to keep from making any noise that the pat~erol1ers might hear, for if they were caught out without a pass, that was something else. PateroUers would go out in squads at night and whip any darkies they caught out that could not Show passes. Adern Angel was a great big nan, weighing about 200 pounds, and he slipped out one night without a pass. When the paterollers found him, lie was at his girl s place where they were out in the front yard stewing lard for the white folks. They ktiew he didn t belong on that plantation, so they asked him to show his pass. Adam didn t have one with him, and he told them so. They made a dive for him, and then, quick as e flash, he turned over that pot of boiling lard, and while they were getting the hot grease off of them he got away and carne back to his cabin. If they had caught

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9. 80 Adam, he would have needed some o~ that spilt grease on hi~ after .. tile beating they woU1~ have give him. Darkies used to stretch ropes end. grapevines ecross the road where they knew paterollers would be riding; then they would run down the road in front of them, and when they got to the rope or vine they would ;Tump over it arid watch the horses stuxable and throw the paberollers to the ground. That was a favorite sport of slaves. . After the darkies got in 1~rom the field et night, ate their Supper, end finished up the chores for the day, on nights when the moon shone bright the men would. work in their own cotton patches that Marse George allowed them; the women used their own time to wash, iron, patch, and get ready for the next day, and if they had time they helped the men in their cotton patches. They worked straight on through Saturdays same as any other day but the you~rig folks would get together ort Saturday nights and have little parties. How did they spend Sundays? Why, they went to church on Sunday and visited around, holding prayermeetings at one another s cabins . Now, Chri stmas mornin ~ Yes marn, that was a powerful time with the darkies, if they didn t have nothing but a little sweet cake, which was nothing more than gingerbread. However, Marse George did have plenty of good things to eat at that time, such as fresh pork and wild turkeys, end we were allowed to have a biscuit on that day. How we did frolic and. cut up at Christmas2 Marse George didn t make much special to do on New Year s Day as far as holiday

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o.,. wasooncerried; work was the primary object, especially in connection with slaves. Oh- oo-h! everybody had cornshuckings. The man designated to act as the general would stick a peacock tail feather in his hat and call all the men together and give his orders. lie would stand in the center of the corn pile, start the singing, and keep things lively for them. Now and then he would pass around the jug. They sang a great deal during cornshuckings, but I have f rgotten the words to those songs. Great excitement was expressed whenever a man found a red ear of corn, for that counted 20 points, a speckled ear was 10 points and a blue ear 5 points, toward a special extra big swig of liquor whenever a person had as many as 100 points. After the work was finished they had a big feast spread on long tables in the yard, and dram flowed plentiful, then they played ball tussled ran races and did anything they knew how t o amus e thems elves. Now, Ladies, ~ohn said, please excuse me. lieft my wi fe at home re al s I ok and I j us t mus t . . hurry to t h e d rug st ore and get some flaxseed so I can raake a poultic&for her. As he made a hasty departure, he agreed to complete the story later at his home, and gave careful directions for finding the place. A month later, two visitors called on sohn at his small, unpainted house in the center of a hillside cotton patch.

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u. 82 A tall, thin Negress appeared in the doorway. Y~, tiiam, ~Tohn Van Hook lives here. Eets down in the field with his hoe, digging taters. She leaned from the porch and. called, Daddy, Daddy Somebody wants to see you. Asked if lohn was her father, she answered No, marn, he is my husband. I started calling hirn Daddy when our child was little, so I ve been calling him that ever since. My name is Laney. . The walls of the room into which ~Tohn invited his callers were crudely plastered with newspapers and the small space was crowded with furniture of various kinds and periods. The 1adder-~ back chairs he designated for his guests were beautiful. They are plantationrnade. he explained, and we ve had em a mighty long time. On a reading table a pencil and tablet with a half-written psge lay beside a large glass laxap. Newspapers and books covered several other tables. A freshly whitewashed hearth and mantel were crowned by an old-fashioned clock, and at the end of the room a short flight of steps led to the dining room, built on a higher floor level. Now, let s sees Where was I?, cT hfl began. Oh, yes, we were talking about cornshucki~igs, when I had to leave your office. Well, I haven t had irtuch time to study about those cornshucking songs to get all the words down right, but the naine of one was General Beligh Hoe, and there was another one that was called, liave a Joli1 Crowd, and a LittleJolly ~Tohnny~ Now you needn t to expect nie to know much about cotton pi ckings fo r you know I have already told you I was raised in North

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83 12. Carolina, and. we were too far up in the mountains for cotton growing, but I have lived in a cotton growing eountry for torty-odd years. is t parties and frolics, I guess I could have kept those things in mind, but when I reelized that being on the go every night I could get off, week in and week out, was turning n~y mind and heart away from useful living, I tried to put those things out of my life and to train myself to be content with right living and the more serious things of life, and that s why I can t remember more of the things about our frolics that took place as I was growing up. About all I remember about the dances was when we danced the cotillion at regular old country break~downa. yolks valued their dances very highly then and to b e able to perform them~ well was a great accom.plishment. TurlceT inthe Straw is about the oldest dance tune I can remember. Next to that is TalntGonna Rain No ore, but the tune as well as words to that were far different from the modern song by that name. Rabbit Hair wes another favorite song, and there were dozens of others that I just never tried to remember until you asked. me about them. My father lived in Uaswell County and he used to tell us how hard it was for him to get up in the morning after being out most of thc night frolicking. He said their overseer couldn t talk plain, and would call them long before crack of dawn, and it sounded like he was saying, Ike and a bike, Ike and a bike. What he meant was Out and. about Out and. about Z f

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13. Marriage in those days was looked upon as somethin very solemn, and it was mi~hty seldom that anybody ever heard of a merried couple trying to get separated. Now it s different. When a preacher married a couple, you didn t see any hard liquor around, but just a little light wine to liven up the wedding feast. If they were married by a justice of the peace, look out, there was plenty of wine and, here his voice was alxnost awe~stricken, even whiskey too. Laney interrupted at this stage of the story with, My mother said. they used. to make up a new broom and when the couple jumped over it, they was married. Then they gave the broom to the couple to use keeping house. ~rohn was evidently embarrassed. Laney, he said, that was never confirmed. It was just hearsay, as far as you know, and I wouldn t tell things like that. The first colored man I ever heard preach was old. man Johnny McDowell. He married Angeline Pennon and William Scruggs, uncle to Ollie Scruggs, who lives in Athens now. After the wedding they were all dancing arou4d theyard having a big time and enjoying the wine and feast, and old man McDowell, sittiug th re watching them, looked real thoughtful and sad; suddenly he said: They don t behave like they knew what s been done here today. Two people have been joined together for life. No rn~atter what cor~ies, or what happens, these t~ people must stand by each other, through everything, as long as they both shall live. Never before had I had such thoughts at a wedding. They had always just been times for big eats, dancing,

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85 14. frolicking, and lots of jokes, and some of them. pretty rough jokes, perhaps. T~%the.t he seid got me to thinking, and I have never been careless minded at a wedding since that day. Brother McDowell preached at Clarke s Chapel, about five miles south of Franklin, North Qa lina, on the road leading from Englend to Georgia; that road ran right through the Van Hook place. Again Laney interrupted her husband. My mother said. they even had infare dinners the next day after the wedding. The infare dinners were just for the families or the bride and groom, and the bride h8d a special dress for that occasion that she called her infare dress. The friends of both parties were there at the big feast on the wedding day, but not at the infare dinner. And. there was no such a thing as child marriages heard of in tho$e days, ~Tohnwasspeaking again. At least none of tile brides were under 15 or 16 years old. Now you can read about child brides not more than 10 years old, most ever time you pick up a paper. I don t remember much about what I played until I got to be about 10 ~rears old. I was a terrible littlefellow to imitat e things . Old man Tortmiy Angel built mills and I built mys elf a little toy mill down on the branch that led to Sugar Fork River. There was plenty of nice soapstone there that was so soft you could cut it with a pocket knife and could dress it off with a plane for a nice smooth finish. I shaped two pieces of soapstone to look like round millstones and set me up a little miii that worked just fine.

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5. 8G We run pretty white sand through. it end called that our meal and flour. My white folks would come down to the branch and watch me run the little toy mill. I used to make toy rifles and pistols and all sorts of nice playthings out of that soapstone. I wish I had a piece of that good old soapstone from aroundFranklin, so I could carve some toys like I used. to play with for my boy. . we caught real s alnion in the mount a in st reanis ~Tohn remarked. They weighed from 3 to 25 pounds, and kind of favored a jack fish, only jack fishes have duck bills, and these saixaon had saw teeth. They were powerful jwnpers and when you hooked one you had a fight on your bands to get it to the bank no matter whether it weighed 3 or 25 pounds. The gamest of all the fish iii those mountain streams were red horses. When I was about 9 or 10 years old I took my brother s fish gig and went off down to the river. I saw what looked like the shadow of a stick in the clear water and when I thrust the gig at it I found mighty quick I had gigged a red horse. I did my best to land it but it was too strong for me and pulled loose from my gig and darted out into deep water. I ran fast as I could up the river bank to the horseshoe bend where a flat bottom boat belonging to our family was tied. I got in that boat and chased that fish tu I got him. It weighed 6 pounds and was 2 feet and 6 inches long. There was plenty of excitement created around that plantation when the news got around that a boy, as little as I was then, had landed such a big old fighting fish. I

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16. (~i Suckers were plentiful and easy to catch but they did. not give you the battle that a salmon or a red horse could put up and that was what lt took to make fishing fun. We had. canoes but we used a plain old flat boat, a good deal like a small ferry boat, most of the time. There was about the saine difference in a canoe and a flat boat that there is in a nice passenger automobile and a truck. When asked if he remembered any of the tunes and wrds of the songs he sang as a child, John was silent for a few iriornents and then began to sing: A frog went courtin And he did ride Ifli hunh With a sword and pistol By his side tili hunb. Old uncle Rat laughed, Shook his old fat side; He thought his niece . Was going to be the bride. tih hunh uki hunh Where shaLl the wedding be? . Uti hunh Where shall the wedding be? 13h hunh Way down yonder In a hollow gum tree. tJh hunh ~th hunh uh hunh. Who shall the waiters be? tlhhunh . Granddaddy Louse and. a Black-~eyed flea. t3h hunh uh huxth uli hunh.

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. 17. 88 Laney reminded him of a song he usedto sing when their child was a baby. It Is hard for me to formulate its words in my mind. I just cannot seeni. to get them, he answered, but I thought of this one the other night and promised myself I would. sing it for you sometime . t s Old Granny Mistletoe. Old Granny Mistletoe, Lyin in the bed., ~ . Out the window She poked her head. She says, Old Man, The gray goose s gone, And I think I heard her holler, King- ~cant~you-~O, King-eant-you-Ot The old. fox stepped around, ~ A mighty fast step. 11e hung the old gray goose p by the neck. Her wings went flip- flop Over her back, And her legs hung down. Ding-downy-O, ding-downy-O. ~The old fox marched On to his den. ~ Out corne hIs young ones, ~ Some nin e or ten. Now we will have Some-supper-SO, s~ome-~summer~O. Now we will have Some-supper- O, some-~supper- O. The only riddle I remember is the one about: What goes around the house, and just makes one track? I believe they said it was a wheelbarrow. Mighty few people in that settlement believed in such things as charms. They were too intelligent for that sort of thing.

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Q o 18. ~ Old man Dillard Love didfl t know half of his slaves. Theywere called Love s tree niggers. Some of1 the white folks in that settlement would get after their niggers and. say who do you think you are, you must think you are oneof Dillard Love s free niggers the way you act. Then the slave was led to the whipping post and brushed down, and his marster would tell him, now you see who is boss. Marse Dillard. often met a darkey in the road, he would stop and inquire of nim, Who s nigger is you? The darkey would say Boss I se your nigger. If Marse Dillard was feeling good he would give the darkey a present. Heaps of times he gave them as much as five dollars, cording to how good he was feeling. 11e treated his darkies mighty good. My grandfather belonged. to Marse Dillard Love, and when the war was declared he was too old to go. Marse George Sellars went and was wounded. You know all about the blanket rolls they carried over their shoulders. Well, that bullet that hit him had to go all the way through that roll that had I don t know how many folds, and its force was ~ust ab~ut spent by the time it got to his shoulder; that was why it didn t kill him, otherwise it would have gone through him. ~he bullet was extracted, but it left him with a lame shoulder. Our Mr. Tommy Angel went to the war, and he gct so much experience shooting at the Yankees that he could shoot at a target all day long, and then cover all the bullet holes he made with the palm of one hand. Mr. Tommy was at home when the Yankees come though.

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19. 9() ?olks around our settlement put their darkies on all their good mules ~nd horses, and loaded them down With food end valuables, then sent them to the nearby niountains ~nd caves to hide until the soldiers were gone. Mr. Angel himself told me later that lots of the folks who came around pilfering after the war, warn t northerners at ail, but men from just anywhere, who had fought in the wer and cerne back home to find all they had was gone, and they h~ d to live Some way. One day my father and another servant were laughing fit to kill at a greedy little calf that bad caught his head in the feed basket. They thought it was just too funny. About that time a Yankee, in his blue uniform coming down the road, took the notion the men were laughing at hirn. What are you laughing at? he said, and at that they lit out to run. The man called my father and made him come beck, c8use he was the one laughing so hard. Father thrught the Yankee was going to shoot him before he could make him understand they were just laughing at the calf. When the war was ov~er, Mr. Love celled his slaves tog~ether and told them they had been set free. lie explained. every~ thing to them very carefully, and told them he would make farming arrangements for all that wanted to stay on there with hirn. Lots of the darkies left after they heard about folks getting rich working on the railroads in Tennessee and about the higb wages that were being paid on those big plantations in Mississippi. Some of those labor agents were powerful smart about stretching the truth, but those folks

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20. 9:1 that believed them and left home found out that lt s pretty much the the same/world over, as far as folks and human nature is concerned. Those that had even average cornnion sense got along corafortable and all right in Tennessee and Mississippi, and. those that suffered out there were the sort that are so stupid they would starve in the middle of a good apple pie. My brother that went with the others to Tennessee never caine back, and we never saw him again. My father did not want me to leave our hotne at Franklin, North t~arolina, and come to Georgia, for he had been told Georgia people were awful mean. There was a tale told us about the Mr. Oglethorpe, who settled Georgia, bringing over folks from the jails of England to settle in c~eorgia and it was said. they became the ruling class of the State. Anyway, I caine on just the same, and. pretty soon I married a Georgia girl, and have found the people who live here are all right. Laney eagerly took advantage of the pause that followed to tell of her mother s owner. Mother said that he was an old, old man and would set in his big armotiair most all day. When he heard good news froI!1 the soldiers he would drum his fi~rigers on his chair and pat his feet, whilst he tried to sing, Te Deuni, Te Deum. Good news todays We won todays Whenever he heard the southern armies were losing, he would lie around moaning and crying out loud. Nobody could comfort him then. J~ohn was delighted to talk about religion. Yes, man, after the war, darkies used to meet at each others houses for re~

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El. (:~ ) ( s liglous services until they got churches ot their o~ai. Those iaeetings; were little more than just prayerxneetings. Our white folks were powerful careful to teach their slaves how to do the right thing, and long after we were free Mr. Tommy would give long talks at our nieetings. We loved to listen to him and have him interested in us, for we had never been treated mean like heaps of the slaves in that neighborhood had. .~ One white man in our county needed the help of the Lord. His name was ~oney Ridley end he just couldn t keep away from 1iq~uor. He was an uncle of that famous preacher and poet, Mr. Caleb Ridley. One day when Mr. Boney had been drinking hard and kind of out of his head, he was stretched out on the ground in a sort of stupor. He opened his eyes end looked at the buzzards circling low over him and said, sort of sick and fretfu1-~like, it on off, buzzards; I ain t dead yet. The Reverend Doctor George Truett was a fine boy and he has grown into a splendid man. He is one of God s chosen ones. I well remember the first time Iheard him speak. I wa~ a janitor at the State Normal School when he was a pupil there in 1887. I still think he is about the greatest orator I ever listened to. In those days, back in 1887, 1 always made it convenient to be doing something around the school room when time came for him to recite or to be on a debate. After he left that school he went on to the Seminary at Louisville and he has become known throughout this country as a great Christian.

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22. 93 I started teaching in old. field schools with no education but just what our white folks ha~ taught nie. They taught aie to read and write, and I must say I really was a mighty apt person, and took advantage of every opportunity that carne my way to learn. You know, teaching is a mighty good way to learn. After I had been teaching for some time I went back to school, but most of my knowledge w~s gotten by stwlying what books and papers I could get hold of and by watching folks who were really educated; by listening carefully to them, I found I could often learn a good deal that way. Laney could be quiet no longer. My husband, she said, is a self-made raan. dis educated brother, Claude, that graduated from Maryville School in Tennessee, says that he cannot cope with my husband. 3~ohn smiled indulgently and continued: We were in sad and woeful want after the war. Once I asked my father why he let us go so hungry and ragged, and he answered: liow can we help it? why, even the white folks don t have enough to eat and wear now. Eleven years ago I rented a little farm from Mr. 3asper Thompson, in Jeckson County. After the boll~weevil got bad I cerne to the other side of t~ae river yonder, where I stayed 7 years. By this time most of the children by ~y first two wives had grown up and gone off up north. My first wife s children were i(obert, Ella, the twins, Julius end ~Tulia Anne, (who died soon after they

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2~. 94 were grown- up), and Charlie, and Dan. Robert is in Philadelphia, Ella in Cincinnati, and Dan is dead. Fred, george, and ~1ohnny, my second wire s children are all li~ving, but are scattered in far~off places. ~verybody was powerful sorry to hear about Lincoln s assassination. At that time Jefferson Davis was considered the greatest man that ever lived, but the effect of Lincoln s life and deeds will live on forever. His life grows greater in reputation with the years and his wisdom more apparent. tAs long as we were their property our niasters were mighty careful to have us doctored up right when there was the least sign of sickness. There was always some old ~man too old for field work that nursed the sick on the big plantations, but the ruarsters sent for regular doctors mighty quick if the patient seemed much sick. After the war we were slower to call in doctors because we h ad no mon ey a nd t hat s how I 1 08 t ray g 00 d ri ght eye . If I had gone to the doctor when it first got hurt it would have been eU right now. When we didn t have money we used to ~pay the doctor with corn, fodder, wheat, chickens, pork, or anything we had that he wanted. We learned to use lots of herbs and other home-~made remedi es during the war when rnedi eine was scarce at the stores and some old folks still use these simple teas and poultices. Coinfrey

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24. was a herb used. much for poultices on ris1n~s, boils, and the like, and tea made trom it is said to be soothing to the nerves. Garlic tea was ~uoh used for Worms, but it was also counted a good penumoni i~ remedy, and garlic poultices helped folks to breathe when they had grippe or pneumonia. Boneset teawas for colds. Goldenrod was used leat, stern, blossom, and all in various ways, chiefly for fever and coughs. Black snake root was a good cure for childbed. fever, and it saved the life of my second wife after her last child was born. Slippery ellum was used for poultices to heal burns bruises and any abrasions, and we gargled slippery elluna tea to heal sore throats, but red oak berk tea was our best~sore throat reiaedy. For indigestion and shortness of the breath we chewed calamus root or drank tea made from it. In fact, we still think it is mighty useful for those pur~ poses. It was a long time after the war before there were any darkies with enough medical education to practice as doctors. Dr. Doyle in Gainesville was the first colored physician that I ever saw. The world seems to be gradually drifting the wrong way, and it won t get any better tU all people put their belief and I mean by that simple faith, in the Bible. What they like of it they are in the hebit of quoting, but they distort it and try t~ make it appear to mean whatever will suit their wicked convenience. They have got to take the whole Bible and. live by it and they must remember they cannot leave out those wise old laws of the Old testament that God gave for men everywhere to live by.

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25. 96 Laney had. quietly left the room, but as the visitors were taking their departure she returned with a sii~a11 package. 1~This, $he explained, is some calamus root that I raised and dried myself, and I hope it comes in handy whenever you ladles need something for the indigestion. Next time you come, I hope to have more songs remembered and written down for you, promised John.

Plantation life. As viewed by an ex-slave. 101 097

;/ ~ ~/ ~ -s 9~ :100069 Addie Vthson 653 Dearing Street Athens, Georgia. PLANTATION LI~. AS VL~Wi~D BY AN ~X-SLAV~ Written By: ~ited By: Mrs. Saiie B. Hornsby. kthefls, Georgia Mre. Sarah H. Hail Athens, Georgia John N. ~Booth WPA Residency No. 6 & 7 August 23, 1938 _

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I ~)()i~G9 . ~ ~ . 98 ~ Addle Vtxiaou . ~ ~~i ve g ~ 86 ~~55 Dearing street Ath n$, Georgia . Perched Ofl an enibaukmenthigh above the street level is the four-roora tr .rne cottage where Addte Vinson lives with her daughter. The visitor sorambledup the steep incline to the vine covered porch, and a rap on the front door brought prompt response Who dat? asked a very black woman who suthienly appeared in the hail. What you want?.... Ya88Urn, dis here s Addia but dey calls nie Mammy, cause se so old. I s peots I s~ most nigh a hunnert and. aight years old. The old. Negress is very short and stout. lier dark blue calico dress was striped with lines oftiny polka dots, athI had been len thened. by a band of light blue outing tlannel with a darker blue stripe let in just below the waist line. Her high-topped black shoes were w~n over grey cotton hose, and the stocking cap that partially concealed her white hair was crowned by a panama hat that flopped down on all sides except where the brim was fastened up across the front with two oonspicu0u8 satety rirst pins. Addie s eyesi&ht is poor, and she clain~s it was plum ruint by de St. Vitus s dance frorii wh ich she has suffered for xaany years She readtly agreed. to tell of her early life, and her eyes brightened as she began: Lawsy, Missyl 18 dat what you come ere for? Oh, dem good old days! I was thinkin bout Old Miss jus t other day. up

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2,~ 99 I was borned down in Qoonee County on Marse Ike Vinson s place. Old. Miss was Maflse Ike s mother. My ~ and Pappy was Peter and Nerva Vinson and dey was both field hands Marse Ike buyed my Pappy . from Marse Sam Brightwell . - .--~--- ----fl --~ ~---~ ---- ~ .~ ~ ! ~: ~. ~ ~ ~ . - Me and Bill, Willis, Maze, Harrison, J~aster, and. Sue wa aU de obillun ray Mammy and.Pappyhad. Dere warn t but fo.ur of us big enough to wuk when Marsa Ike married Miss Ann Hayes and dey tuk Mammy wid exit to dey ne~ horns in town. I stayed dar on de plantation and done lots of little jobs lak waitin on table; totin Old Miss breakfast to her in her room evvy ~ ~ --- - -- . ~ . morn and I holped tend to de iy. ~y says now ~ ~---~ -- dat folkses is livin in dat old. grainery house. I Dat was a b. yootiful place, wid woods, oricks, and ~ ~--- ~-*--~ - ~ tiald8 spread out most as fur as you could see. De slave quarters would a reached frornhere to Milie&~e Avenue. Us lived in a one~room log cabin what had a ohimbly made out of sticks and mud. Deia hoxaemade beds what us slap on had big old hp~j~es wid a great big knob on de top of each post. Our matt esses was coarse hpme-wove cloth 8tuffed~wic1 field straw. You know I l~ked dem matt esses c use when de ohinohes. got too bad you could shake out dat straw and burn it, den scald de tick and fill it wid fresh straw, and rest in peace again. You can t never ~it de chinches out of dose cotton xnatt esses us has to sleep on now days. Pillows? What you talkin bout? You know Niggers never had no pillows dem days, leaseways us never had none. Us did have plenty of . . . ~:~ ~ t ~ f ~ ~. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . .- . ~ ~ P ~ . ~. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . :~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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3JO()~~ or klvver dough. Folkses was all time a-~p1eoin quilts and. having quiltin s. All dat sort of wuk was done at night. Tipappyts Ma and Pa was Grandrna Nancy and Grandpa J~aeob. Day was field hands, and dey b longed to Marse Qbe Jackson. Granthaa Lucy and Grand.pa Toney Murrah was owned by Ii~arse Billy Murrah. Marse Billy was a preacher what sho.could. colLie down wid. de gospel at church. Grandma Lucy was his cook. ~ got Grandma Lucy and tuk h~r to Colurabus, Georgy, and us never seed. our grandma no more. Miss Badt~ had been one of de Vinson gals. ~$he tuk our aunt Haley long too to wait on her when she started out for ~urope., and. fore d.ey ~ot crost de water, ~.unt Haley, she died on de boat. kuss sarah, she had. a time keepin dem boatsinens from th owing ~~unt Haley to de sharks. She is buried. in de old. country soinewhar. Now kLissy, how was i~igger chillun gwlne to git holt of money in slavery ti nie? Old. klarso, he ~1ve us plenty of, soiuepin t eat and all de ciothesus needed, but he sho kep his money for his own self.% Now bout dat soruepin t ~at. ~ho dat~ Us had. plenty of d.em good. old. collards,turnips, and. dem sort of oatrrient~, and dai~ was allus a good chunk of meat to bile wii ein. Marse Ike he plenty of evvy sort of meat folkses knowed about dem days. He had his own beef cattle, lots of sheep, ~ and he kil1ed~ raore na hunnertho~sev~yeur. Dey tells me dat old bench dey used. to lay~ de meat out on to cut it up is

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4. 1oiI~ standlnt d~ar yet. . ~ ~ Po3swas? L~iwd~ dey was plentifti, and. dat ain t aU ~ d~ere was on dat plantation. One tinie a slave nian was possum huntin and, as he was runnin round in de bresh, he looked up and dar was a b ar standin right up on his hind laigs grinnin an~1 ready to eat dat Nigger up. Oh, good gracious, how dat Nigger did runs Dsy fetched in possums in piles, and dere was lots of rabbits, fixas, and coons. Derx~ coon,_fox and ~~ssum hounds sho knowed deir business. Lawsy I kin ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ :-~~ - jus smell one of dem good old. possums roastin right now, atter ail dese years. You parbiled de possum fust, and den roasted him in a heavy iron skillet what had a big old thick lid. ~Tus tore de possum got done,you peeled ash roasted taters and put em all round de possum so as dey would soak up some of dat good old gravy, and would git good and brown. Is you ev ~r et any good old. asheake? You wropped de raw hoecake in cabbage or collard leafs and roasted em in de ashes. When dey got done you had soxaepin fit for a king to eat. De kitchen was sot off a piece from de b~g house, and our white fo1ks~s d t eat dei,r supper fore tiras to light de lamps to save your life; den I had to stan hind Old Miss cheer and. fan her wid. a ~ turkey-feather fan to keep - Y ... de flies off. No matter how rich folkses was dem days dere warn t noscreens in de houses. I never will forgit pore old aunt Mary; she was our oook, and she had. to be tapped evvy now and den cause she I ~ ~ ~ . .~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .~ ~.. .;~ . ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ ..~. ~ ~ ~ .~ ~: ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ . .~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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had de d~rap sy so bad Aunt Ma s ~ o id man was Un o le Ha~rt s, and I members how he used~to go fishin at night. De udder ~ slaves went fishin too. Many s de ~time I se seed my Mammy come back from Barber s Crick wid a string of fish draggin troi~ her shoulders down to de ground . Me I laked milk more n anything else. You jus oughta seed. dat place at inilkin time. Dem was a heap of cows a fightin , hillun hoflerin , and sich a bedlam as you can t think up. Dat old. plantation was~ a grand place for chullun, in suirixriertiine specially, cause dere was so niany branches and. orioks close by what us chillun could hop in and cool off. ~ Chillun didn t wear nothin but cotton slips in summer, ~- ~ ~ ~- - ~-- but de winter clothes was good. and warm. Under our heavy ~ wi Ji ter dresses us wore quilted underskirts dat was sho nice and warm. Sunday clothes? Yes Mar xn, us Ilus hadnice clothes for Sunday. Dey made up our suxumnertime Sunday dresses out of a thin cloth called Sunday parade. Dey was made spen~ ~ ser fashion, wid ruffles round de neck and waist. Our ruffled petticoats was all starched and Ironed sttff and slick, and us jus knowed. our long pantalettes, w,i4 deir scalloped ruffles, was mighty fine. Some of de onians would wuk fancy eyelets what dey punched in de scallops wid locust thorns. Dorn pantalettes was buttoned on to our drawers. Our Sunday dresses for winter was ruade out of linse~ woolsey cloth. ~--~-~ ~ ~ .. .- ~ White ladles wore hoopskirts wid deir dresses, and dey looked lak fairy q~ueens. Boys wore plain shirts in summ r, but in

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6.. 1();.i winter d~ey had. warmer shirts and. quilted pants. Dey would put two pair of brItohes togedder and quilt ein up so ~you couldn t tell what sort ~ cloth dey was maue out of. Dein pants was called suggins. . . ~A11 de N1~gers went barfoots in surnnier, but in winter . ~ us all wore brogans. Old Miss had a shoe shop in de cellar under de big house, and whexi dem two white omans dat she hired to make our shoes come, us knowed winterUxn~ was nigh. Der~i omans would s tay t il dey had made up shoe s enough to last us all winter long, den dey would go on to de next place what dey s pected to make shoes. Marse Ike Vinson was sho good to his Niggers. He was de hanger, cept he never hung nobody. Hirn and M1s8 ~.nn had six chillun. Dey was iv~iss Lucy, Miss i4yrt, Miss sarah, Miss Nettie, Marse Charlie, and Marse Tom. Marse Ike s xaa, Old. Miss, wouldn t move to town wid. hirn and Liliss inn she stayed on in de big house on de plantation. To tell de truf I done forgot Old L~88 name. De overseer ahd his wife was Mr. ~dmond and. Miss Bet8ey, and dey moved up to de big house wid old iv4ss att~r~ 1~rse Ike and Miss Ann nioved to town. ~- . Stiles Vinson was decarriagedriver, and he fotelied Marse Ike out to de plantation evvy day. Lords Gracious alive Z It would take a week t walk all over dat plantation. Dere was xaore n a thousand acres in it and, oountin all de chillun, dore was mighty nigh a hunnert slaves. Long tore day dat overseer blowed a bugle to wake up de Niggers. You could hear it far as High ~3hoals, and us

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7.i()4 lived dis s1d~o of Watkinsville. Heaps of folkses all over d~at part of de country got up by dat old bugle. I will never forgit one time when de overseer sa1d~ to us eh1llun:~ ~ You fellows ~o to do field and fetch some corn tops. Mandy said: He ain t talkin to us cause us ain t fellows and. I ain t swine. Bless your sweet life, I runneci and. ~ot dein corn tops, cause I didn t want no beatin . Dem udder ~ohilluxi ~ot deir footses most cut off wid dem switches when dat overseer got to wuk~ to she em dey had to obey him. Datoverseershodidwuk de N1g~ershard~ he driv em ail de time. Dey had to ~o to de field long tore sunup and I t w~as way atter sundown tore dey could stop dat field wuk. Den dey had to hustle to finIsh deir night wuk in ~time for supper, or go to bed widout It. You know dey whupped Niggers den. i~tter dey had done wukked hard in de fields all day long, de beatin started up, and he allus had somepin in mind to beat em about. When dey beat my ~unt ~$al1ie she would fight back, and once when Uncle Randall said soniepin he hadn t oughta, dat overseer beat him so bad he couldn t wuk for a week. lie had to be grez all over evvy day wid hoalin olntmex it for a long time fore dein gashes got well. r RitaandRetta was de i~igger ozuans what put pizen in some couards what dey ~ ax4 her baby to eat. She had been laughin at a man cause his coattail was a-flap- t 80 funny whilst he v~as dancin and dein two ~Tezebels thought she was zuakin tun of dem. t de graveyard, fore dey buried her, dey cut her open and found her heart was all deayed. ~. ~

109 105

~t()5 De overseer driv dem OIfl8~fl8 clear off de plantation and Marster, he was mighty mad. He said. he had done lost bout *t~!~OO It he had kotobed deia omans he woulda ~ hung en~, cause he was de hanger. In bout two weeks dat overseer left ~ ~- ---- ~ dar, and Old Marss had to git him anudder man to take his place. . ShoZ Dere was a jail for slaves and a hangin place right in front of de jail, but none of Old Marster s Niggers warn t never put in no jalihouse. Oh GodZ Yes, dey sold. slaves. My own granddadcly was ruade to git up on dat block, and dey sold hini. One time I seed. Old Marsebuy foiirbo~ros. ~ ~kt this point thenarrative ceased. when Addle sud4enly remem~ bered that she must stop to get supper for the daughter, who would soon be returning frOm work. The visitor called early in themorning of the followingday, and. found ~d.die bent over her washtubs in the back yard. Have dat cheer, was the greeting as the old 1~egress lifted a dripping hand. to point out a chair under the spreading branches of a huge oak tree, You knows you don t want to hear no more bout dat old stuff, she said, and anyhow, is % you gittin paid for dom dis? When the visitor admitted that these interviews were part of her salaried work, Addie ~ quic~kly asked: What is you gwine to give me? Wh~n the last piece of wash had been hung on the line and Addie had turned a large lard. can upside down tor a stool, she settled down and began to talk freely. No Ma m, dey didn t low Niggers to lam how to read and write. I had to go wid de white chillun to deir school on

110 106

Hog Mountain road. evvy day to wai t on em. I to ted water for . tern keD. de fire gain and done all sorts of little jobs lak ~ dat. Miss Martha, de s s dau liter, tried to lam nie to ~-~ ~ ~ .~ ...~ read and write, but I wouldn t take it in. No Ma ia dere warn t no churches for Niggers i-n slavery time,. so slaves had to go to deir white folkses churches. Us went to church at Bettj 3erry (Bethabara) and Mars Hill. When time corne i or de sermon to de Niggers, sometimes de white folkses would leave and den again dey would stay, but dat overseer, he was dar all de time. Old~anIsaacVandiver, a Nigger preacher what couldn t read a word in de Bible, would git up in dat pulpit and talk from his heart. You know dere s heaps of folkses what s got dat sort of ligion it s deep in deir ~ hearts. De Reverend. Freeman was de white folkses preacher. ~ I laked hirn best, for what he said allus sounded good to me. At funerals us used to sing HarkFromDeTomb A Doleful ~9_t~. I never went to no funerals, but Old L~arster s and ~unt Nira s, fore de end of de war. ~ he had all his _~2:~Y!P~ go to demusterin ~oundtoseehim1eave . He was captainofhisconipany from Oconee County, and fore he left he had. de mens in dat company bury deir silver and gold, deir watches, rings, and. jus anything dey wanted to keep, on Hog i~iountain. He let a guard to watch de hidin place so as dey would have somepin when dey come back home, den dey marched back to de musterin ground dat was twizt de Hopkins planta tion and Old Marster s place. tTncle solomon went along to de 9. lOG

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war to tote 1~1arster s gun, cook for hirn, and sich lak. It warii t 1on~ fore old.Marse was kilt in dat war, and Uncle ~3olomon tetches him back in a coffin. ~.1I e slaves dat went to de buryin jus trembled. when guns was fired ov ~r Old LTarstarTs grave. Dat was done to show dat Old Liarst~r had. been ~ ~ ~ a powerfu-l high-up man in tie army. Good Gracious! Dare didn t nary a i~igger gd if from our Diace te de i.~orth, cause us was sk~er~d of dem Yankees. L)~re wa~ a white ~lave~tr~i~r named McRa1~igh what used to ~: ~ ~ ~ :~ ~ ~ ~ come to Old biar~terts plantation to buy up Niggers to take em to de ~1ssissi~ibott9~~ 1~1nen us seed hiLl conhin US lit out for :ie woods. He ~ot ~.unt Rachel; you could hear her hollerin a iniI~ down as rowl. tt h? Good. Lord! D~ia ~ttero11er~was awful. Eolkses what cloy cotch~d widout no pap ~r, d~ey jus plum wore out. old. man~Tohn w~ de fiddler on our ~iace3 and when de patterollers cotch~~d. hi:~r~ dey beat hi~n up de wust of all, cause him and. his fid.dle vi~s ail cte ti~~ tirawin iiggers ou~ to do th~nees. ir (1d ~iar~ter wanted to send. ~. ~e~u~e ne sont Uncle ~ni~ll on a ~1~ul~ n~rned. Jii~ ~oiu~tiiaes dut Old. mule tuk a fl tj fl lIC didn t w~nt bo ~:o; d.en h~ wouldn t bud~e. I rieol~lects on~ tijac dey tuk ~ bund.le of fodth~r and tied it to Old. J~1~:L s t~il, but stIll he would.n t iaove. UId ~arst~r kep a Sp3Cial ULUTI to ~tch and curry i~iui1 for de~ ~lunt~ition in a. ~ --.~ ~i: t~::t::~ ~ ~ rp~d~ c~i~rt, and noboiy w~rn t lowed. to ~o nich d.at cyart. ~ t~hen ~lav~s ~ot~ in from de field.s ~t nicht dey cooked ami et deir supper and went to bed. )ey had done been wukin io.1()7

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. nji:)8 since sunup. When dere warn t so iauoh to do in ~e fields, sometimes Old Uarster let his Niggers lay off froia wuk attez~ ~ ~ dinner on ~addays. If da chinoh~$ Was most eatix~ d~ N1g~ers ~ I up, now and den de onmns was lowed to stay to de house to scald evvything and clear t~j~ out, but de menfolkses had to go on t o de fi e Id C~n ~adday n I ah t s de ~~~j~tohed washed, and cut off p~aches and aDp1~s to dry in fruit season. In de ~ .. ~ daytime th~iy had to cut off and dr~ fruit for Old I~iiss. When ~ - ~ ~ ~ -I~1-- - - slaves got smart wid. deir white folkses, deir 1~arsters would have em beat, and dat was de end of de u~atter. ~)at was a heap better n dey does now days, cause if a i ~i~ger ~its out of f place de~r puts him on de chaingang. ~ was a day off for all de slaves on our plantation. Cause, de mens had to look atter de stock in de lot ~ : -IL U~1U-~ -~ ~ right back of de cabins. De oixxans cooked ail day for de ~ J1~US~LJ1~. next weeks If dey tuk a notion to ~o to church, mules was hitched to wagons made lak dippers, and dey jigged off down de road. Us had four days holiday for Christmas. Old 1~iiss give us lots of good things to eat dem four days; dore was cake fresh meat and. all 1kinds of dried fruit what had bean done stor3d away. ~1l de Nig~.:ers tuk dat tin e to res~t but niy Liarnmy. ~he tuk me and went round to de white folkses houses to wash and weave. Dey said I was a right smart, peart little gal, and white folkses used to try to hire nie from Old i~iiss. When dey axed her for rae, Old iviiss allus told em: ~ You. don t want to hire dat gal; she ain t no count. ~he wouldn t let nobody hire her Ni~~gers, cept k~azaxay, cause s ~e knowed Mammy warn t gwine to leave her nohow. On New Year s lay, if dare

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. :L21()9 warri t too much snow on de ero.und, de Ni~gers burnt brush and cleared new around. .-- ~ When Aunt Patience led de sin~in at eornshuokints, ~ Tmr~ ~*1i*~-rL r JL~u~$ de shucks sho Iy did fly. Atter de corn was shuoked dey fed us lots of good things and cive us plenty ofliquor. De way cotton piokin was managed was dis: ~ thousand pounds of cotton in a week s time was lowed a day ~ ~ -~-...-- ~ off. Maiiiniy picked her thousand. pounds evvy week. Dance s? Now you s talkin bout t nou~h. ~ 03 John, de f1dd1~r man, was r1~ht dere on our pl&ntation. Ni&~ers dat had done danced half de night would be so sleepy vthen de bugle sounded dey wouldntt have tine to cook breakfast. Den bout de middle of de mawnin dey would complain bo~it bein so weak and hongry dat de overseer would fetch em in and have eni fed. He let em rest bout a hour and a half; den he marched em back to de field and wuked. em tU slap black dark. Aunt Sook was called de lead wench. It de moon warn t out, she put a white cloth round her shoulders and led era on. It~j~j~t~ none of Old Marsters chillun marry in slavery time but Old ki, she let us see a Nigger gal n in?d Frances Hester ~it married. When I sot down to datweddin supper I f1un~ de chicken bones over my shoulder, cause I didn t know no better. I don t member what aals played when I was little, but bo~p played. ball all day long if dey W&5 lowed to. one ~ ~- .~ ~ ~ boy, named Sain, played and run so hard. he tuk his bed Monday and never got up no more. I heared. tell of Raw Haid and Bloody Bones. Old. folkses would skeer us most nigb~ to death tellin U8 he was coiain . r

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i~.jj() MankincU Us made for de house den. I~issy, please mum, don t ax me bout dem ha nts. I sees em all de time. Atter she had ~ done died out, Old Miss Used to come back all de time. ~he didn t lak it cause day wropped her in a windin sheet and buried her by ae doorsteps, but I reckon dey done fixed her by now, cause she don t cor~~e back no more. Dere s a house in Athens, called de Bell House, dat nobody kin live in, cause a man run his wife roia hoi~ e and atter she died, she come back and. hu nted dat house. ~ LaWd have raercy~ Look hare, don t talk luk dat. I ain t told you before but part o dis here yard is conjured. ~ man comes here early evvy mornin and dresses dis yard down wid conjuration. ~oon as sot down here to talk to you, a pain started in i~y laigs, and it is done gone ail over me now. I started to l~ave you and. ~o in de house. Come on, Let s leave dis yard ri~iit now. iiurryl un reaching the kitchen ~thiie hastily ~r~sped tile pepp~r box and shook its COfltt~flt~ ov~r each shoulder and. on her head, saying: ~iything hot luk cils will siio drive dis spell away. De reason I shakes lak I does, one day I was in de ~Tard and. soliepin cotch .me. It hell fast to xay footses, den I started to shakeall over, and I been shakin ever since. ~. white oman ~ixame soue white soap, and evvy mornin I washes niys~lf good wid dat coap fore I puts on my clothes. Leavin the kitchen, ~ddie ent~r~d the front room which serves as a bedroom. Lawdy, LiissyP she exclaimed, Does you smell dat funny scent? Oh, Good Lawd3 Jus look at dem

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white powders on my doorsteps Let me git some hot water and wash em out quick2 Now L~issy, see how dose Ni~ers round here is allus up to deir meanness? Dere s a maxi in de udder room bum his pizen right now. I has to keep a eye on hirn all de time or dis here old Nigger would be in her grave. I has to Iceep soraepin hot all de time to keep otT dem conjure spells. I got three pids of pepper most ready to pick, and I se ~wine to tie era round my neck, den dese here spells folkses is all de time tryin to put on rue won t do me no harm. Addle now lowered her voice to a stage whisper. ~ I found a folded up piece of white paper under our back door- . step dis very raornin . Bless your life, I got a stick from de kitchen quick and poked it in a crack in de steps and ~ot it out fore I put my foots down on dem steps. I sho did. Here Addle rev~rted to h~r story of the plantation. Old Liarster wcs mi~hty good to his Nig~ers, she said. Then ~ *.~- ~ ~ ..~ ~.--- ~ ~ ~ ~ .- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~_ _;~ .~ ~ ~- any of em got sick Old Miss sont to town for him, and he aIlus come ri~ht out and fetched a doctor. Old Lilss done her very best for ~appy when ~he was tuk sick, but he died out jus de same. Pappy used to drive a oxcartand, when he ~as bad off sick aiid out of his haid, he hollered out: scotch dat ~ ~4~k wheell scotch iat wh~el~ In his mind, he wa~ deep in de bad place den, and. didn t know how to pray. Old I~iss, she would say: Pray, Pete, 1~ray. Old I~iss raaue a heap of teas ~ ~ ~ ~ from aiff unt things lak perinyroyal, al~aroba wood, sassafras, flat tobacco, and mullein. Us wore rabbits foots, little bass 141111

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of asfiddy (asafetida), and garlic tabs round our necks to keep off mis ries. I wishes I had a garlic tab to wear round my neck now. One day Old Iv~~SS called us togedcter and. told. us dat us was free as jay birds.. i)e Ni~gers started iiol1~rin ; t ThankdeL~iwd,usisfree as dejaybirds . Bout dat time a white man come along and. told dem Nig~ers if he heared em say dat again he would kill de last one of em. Old Liiss axed us to stay on wid her and dar us stayed for bout three years. It paid us to stay dere stead of runnin off lak some udder Niggers dat played de fool done. T warn t long fore dem Yankees COILiC long, and us hustled off to town to see what dey looked lak. I never seed so many mens at one time in my life before. dhen us got back to de plantation deoverseer toid ~ I~P~~P drink no water ou.t of ue well, cause somebody had done put a peck of pizen in. dar. He flung a whole bushel of salt in de well to holp git rid of de pizen. ~ ~ war, I went to wuk ~s a plow-hand. I sho did keep out of de way of dein Ku Kiuxers. Folkses would see tCILI comin anci holier out: De 1~U Kiuxers is ridin tonight. i~eep out of de ir way or dey wi Il sho k~. 1 you. Dem what was skeered of bein cotelied and. beat up, clone deir best to stay out of sight. lt was a long tide atter le war w~s done over fore schools for i~iggers was sot up, and den when 1~igger chillun did git to go to school dey \Jarn t lowed to u~e de old blue back spellin book cause white foiks~s said it larn t em too much. 15.

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. It was two or three years atter de war tors anyof de Niggers could save up enough money to start buyin 1a~d, and den, it d~ey didn t watch d~ey steps m1~hty keerftil, d.e white folkses would find a way to git dat land back from de Niggers. ~ What~ Is I ;ot to tell you bout dat old Nigger I got married up wid? I don t want to talk bout dat low down, no count devil. ~.nyhow, I n~arried ~ Griffeth and, sho dat, I had a dLt . My wed4in dress was is de purtiest thing; it was made out of parad~e cloth, and. it had a full skirt wid. ruffles from de knaes to de hem. 1~e waist fitted tight and. lt was out lowneck wid. three ruffles round de shou1c1~r. Dem puff sleeve s wa s full from de e ibow to de hand. ~.1l dsri~ ruffles was aid ed wid lace and, ro~d. my waist I wore a wide pink sash. De underskirt was trimmed wid. lace, and. dere was 1ao~ on de bottozi of de drawers laigs. Dat was sho one purty outfit ~ dat I wore to marry dat no count man in1 I had. bought dat d.ress from my Young L~isttess. Us had seven chullun and. ten ~randohillun Most of em is livin off up in i~etroit. If ~d. ain t daid by now he ought to be; he was a good matc h for de devil. I reckon Mr. Lincoln and. LLr. Jeff Davis done right as fur as dey knowed. how ~nd could. If dem northern folkses hadn t fotched. us here us sho would.n t never have been here in de fust place. ~en dey hauled. off and. said. de south ~as mean to us Niggers and sot us free, but I don t know no diffunce. De North slw ist us be atter dat war, and soiue of de old Niggers ~ ~ ~ is still mad cause dey is free and. ain t got no I~arster to ~ ~

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Thed eni and ive ~m good w~ria clothes no more. ~ 0hZ You ~its happy when you jines up wid de ohuroli. I sho (30fl?t want to ~o to de bad place. i)~re ain t but two places to go to, heaven and hell, and I s~ tryin to head for ii~avefl. Folkses s~ys dat v;hen Old. iiive~ done so b~d he had to ~o to de bad place, a do~ was sot ~t his heels ror to keep hiTI 111 dar. i~o 1~aiu, if its de Good Lu~d ~ will to let nie ~it to iI-:~av~n, I is sho swine to keep out oIb hell, if I kin. ~ it~oodbye, i14issy. Next t1i~i~ ~r~u comes fetch rrte a ~rlic t~b to keep de conjure spells way from me,*t was addie s partin~ re~u~st. 17. 114

Plantation life as viewed by ex-slave Emma Virgel. 119 115

~.. . 115 PLANTATION LI ~ as viewed by ex~-s1ave :gi~A VI~GBL 1491 W. Broad Street Athens, Georgia Vii i. t t e n by : Grace M~C une Athens - Edited by: Sarah H. Hail Ath~is and John N. Booth District Supervi sor ~ Federal ~~.iterst Project Residencies 6 & 7 Augusta, Ga.

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~:(~L:~3 1. 1.lti ~ VIRGEL ~ ~ Harrying for shelter from a sudden shower, the interviewer b.eard a cheerful voice singing ~ Lord I se Comin Hoi~ie, as she rushed up the steps of Aunt Emmat ~ small cabin. Until the s ong was ended she quietly waited on the tiny porch and looked out over the yard which was attractive with roses and other old-fashioned flowers; then she knocked on the door. Dragging footsteps and the tap, tap of a crutch sounded as Aunt Emma approached the door . ~ Come in out of dat rain chile, or you she will have de pneurnony,~ she said. Corne right on in and set here by my fire. Pire feels mighty good today. I ha.d to build i t t o ir on de wh I t e f o 1k s e s cl o t he s ~ Aun t ~mma le~ane d~ he av I ly on her crutch as she wielded the iron with a dexterity attainable only by long years of experience. Asked if her lameness and use of a crutch made her work difficult, she grinned and answered: Lawsy chile, I se jus so used t~ it, I don t never think bout it no more. I se had to wuk all of my life~ no matter what was in, de way. The comfort, warnith and cheer of the small kitchenencouraged intimate conversation and when Aunt Emma was asked for the story of her chi1d~ hood days and her recollections of slavery, she replied: I was too li. ttle to member much, but I se heared my Ma te Il ~ bout dem days. My Pa and Ma was Louis. and Mary Jackson. Dey b longed to Marse John Montgomery, way down in Oconee County. Marse John didn t

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2. :11? haire no wife den, cause he didn t git married tu atter de !ar. He had a big place wid lots of slaves. He was sho good to em, and let em have plenty of evvything. De slave quarters was log cabins wid big fireplaces, whar dey done de cookin . Dey had racks to hang pots on to bile and dey baked in ovens set on de harth (hearth). Dat was powerful good eatin . Dey had a big old gyarden whar dey raised plenty of corn, peas, cabbages, potatoes, couards, and turnip greens. Out in de fields dey growed mostly corn, wheat, and cotton. Marster kep lots of chickens, cows, hogs, goats, and sheep; and he fed em all mighty good. Marster let his slaves dance, and my Ma was. shot one grand dancer in all de breakdown s.. Dey give em plenty of toddy and Niggers is dancers f um way back yonder while de toddy lasts. Slaves went to deir Marster s rneetin s and sot in de back ofdechurch. Dey had to be good den cause Marster sho didn t low no cuttin up inongst his Niggers at de church. Ma said he didn t believe in whuppin his Niggers lessen it jus had to be done, but den dey knowed he was round dar when he did have to whup em. Ma said when dey had big baptizin s in de river dey ~prayed and shouted and sung Washin way my Sins, ~~ Whar de Healin Water Plows, and Crossin de River Jerdan. D~ white preacher ba,ptized de slaves and den he preached dat was all dare was to it ceppen de big dinner dey had in de churchyard on baptizint days. ntWhen slaves died, dey made coffins out of pine wood and buried em whar de white folkses was buried. If it warn t too fur a

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piece to de graveyard, dey toted de coffin on three or four hand sticks. Yes$um, hand sticks, dat s what dey called em. Dey was joles what dey sot de coffin on wi.d a Nigger totin each end of de poles. De white preacher prayed and de Niggers sung Hark f um de Tomb. Ma said she had a grand Mg weddin . She wore a white Swiss dress wid a bleachin petticoat, made wid hea2s of ruffles and a wreath of flowers round her head. She didn t have no flower gals. Pa had~on a long, frock tail, jim swinger coat lakde pre~acher s wore. A whi te preacher ~r~arri ed em in de yard at de big hoase . 11 de Niggers was dar, and Marster let tern dance rnos all night. III was de oldest of Ma s 10 chillun. L)ey done all gone to rest now ceptint jus de three of us what s lef in disworld of troi.thle. Yessum, dere sho is a heap of trouble here. Atter de War, Ma and Pa moved on Mr. bill ~arshal1 s place to farm for him and dar s whar I was; born. Dey -didn t stay dar: long fore dey nioved to Mr. Jim Mayne s place away out in de country, in. - .. *.- . -~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ _ ~ ~ ~ :-~~ 4 de forks of de big road down below Watkinsville. I sho was a country gal. Yessum, I sho was. Mr. Mayne .~ wife was Mrs. ~mma Mayne and she took a lakint to me cause I was named ~zrn~a. Istayedwidher chilluns all de time, slep in de big house, and et dar too, jus lak one of dem, and when dey bought for dey c:hillun dey b~ought for me too. Us worehoinespun dre seesandbra~~ jQ~ e~s. SOErne t line s us would git mighty mad and fuss over our games and den Miss~E~a would rflake us come in de big house and set down. No ~a aza, she never 3, 118

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did whup US. She was good and she juSt talked to us, and told us us never would git to Hebteri lessen us was good chillun. Us played games wid blocks and jumped de rope and, when it was warm, us. waded ~ --~-- ---~~ ~----~. in de crick. Atter I was big nough, I tuk de white ohillun to --~--~.~-~ ~4~~choo1, but I didn t go inside~ den jus waited on de outside for em. I never got a ohanct to go to school none, but de white chilluns. larnt me some. Marse Jim was niighty good to de Niggers what wukked for him, and us all loved him. He didn t low no patterollers or none of dem Ku Kiuxers neither to bother de Niggers on his place. He said he could look atter em his own self. He let em have dances, and evvy ~ he had bigbarbecues. ~ Yessuin, he kilt hogs, goats, sheep and some time s a cow for dem barbe cues . He believed in havin plenty to eat. *11 t members dem big corn shuckin s. He had de moste s corn, what was in great big piles put ma circle. All de neighbors. was axed to come and bring deir Niggers.~ ~ fus thing to do was to t lect a gen rai to stand in de middle of all dem pile s of corn. and lead de singin of de reels. No Matam, I don t member if he had no shuck s tuck up on his hat or nbt and I can t ricollec what de words of de reels was, cause us chillun was l1tti~ den, but de gen ral he pulled off de fus shuck. Den he started singin and den dey all sung in answer to him, and deir two hands a shuckin corn kep time wid de song. ~S he sung faster, dey jus made den shucks more dan fly. ~ time de g~n ral would speed up de song, de Niggers would speed up de ir corn shuekin s. If it got dark fore dey finished, us chillun would hold torch lights for em to see how to wuk. De 4. 119

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5. 120 1ig ht~ was ruade out of big p~ine knots what would burn a long time. U~. .felt mighty big when us was tlowed to hold dein torches. When d y got done shuokin all de corn, dey had a big supper, and Honey, dem was sho some good eatinents barbecue of all sorts jus thinkin bout den~ pies i~akes me hongry, even now. Ma made em, and she couldn t be beat on chicken pies and sweet potato pies. Atter dey done et and drunk all dey wanted, Marse ~Tim would tell em to go to it. Bat was da word for de gen ral to start up de dancin and dat. lasted de rest of da night; dat is if dey did&t all fall out, for old time corn shuckin breakdowns was drag-outs and atter all dem freshments, hit shoe kept somebody busy draggin out dem what fell out. Us chillun was lowed to stay up long as us wanted to at corn ehucicin s, and sometimes us would g t out and try to do lak de grown1xp }Tigge X S 1ff t was de in o s fun . j ~Dey went huntin and fishin and when dey cotch or kilt much, dey had a big supper. I members de fus time I ever cooked f~.~s~1 Ma was sick in de bed, and de mens had done been possum huntin Ma said I would jus have to cook dem possums. She told me how to fix em and she said to fix em wid potatoes and plenty of butter and red pepper. Den she looked at me right hard and said dat dey had better be jus right. ~t skeered me so I ain t never been so I could eat no possum since den. Yessuni, dey was cooked jus right, but cookin em jus once when I was skeered cured me of de taste for eatin possum. Us chillun didn t git out and go off lak dey does dese day8. Us stayed dar on de plantation. In winter us had to wear plenty of

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6. clothes, w:Ld flannel petticoats and sich lak, and us stayed in by de fire. .~ig boys had clothes made out of jeans, but little boys wore honeepun shirts. On hot days us jus wore 0fl6 9180e of~-clothes, a sort of shirt what was made long and had a yoke in it. WD8y nade me use snuf~tp~ urenr~ soreeyeawhen i~wa.s little, and I never could quit usin it no more. When I was bout l5~ I~ and Pa moved to Athens and I went to wuk for Mr. Joe Webb s fanibly. I wukked for em for 30 years and raised all deir chillun. i)ey was all mighty good to in~ and seed dat I had plenty of evvything. ~ out I would still be dar, but de old folkse~ all done died/and gone to dey rest and de younguns done married arid lef here. 1 was wukkin right in de house wid e~ when I cided to git r~arried. Yes. Ma am, I sh done had one swell elegant weddin .. ~ __--~_-~_J_~___J~*_ .~ _M1F-. ~ J ~us evvything heart could a~k for. I narried at my Ma1~s house, but my white folkses was all right dar, and dey had done fixed de house up pretty wid flowers all over it. Dey give nie my white flannel ~ and it was sho pretty, but dey warn t nothin laoki& bout my second day dress. My white folkees bought dat too, It wa5 a bottle green silk. Lawsy, but I was sho one dressedup bride. It was 8 o clock dat night when d~ preacher got finished w id tyin ~ dat knot for me and Sam Virgel. My sister and her fellow stood up wid US and us had a big crowd at our weddin supper. Dere was one long table full of our white folkees, ~ sides all de Niggers, and I jus never seed so much to eat. My white fol cses . said dat Emma just had to have plenty for her weddin feast and dey evermore did lay out good

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. ~ 7. :122 thirigstor dat supper, arid dem Niggers sho did hide dat chicken and cake away lak dey hadn t never seed none lefore. ~ . t I wukked on fer de Webbs tu dey was all gone De 034 folks is in Heb en whar I spects to see em &ctiie day when de Lord done called me home. De younguns moved away, but I still loves em ev vyone, cause dey looked atter old Enmia so good when dey was here. UB never had no chillun and Sam done been gone to his ~re s long years ag:o. I se jus a.~wukkint and a waitin ttjl I gits called to go too. I don t have plenty all de time now lak I used to, and nobody here looks atter old Emma no more, but I makes out. 9ltse mighty glad it rained if datts what sont you to my door. ittS been nice to talk wid white folkses again. I wisht I had sornepin nice for yout ~Let ne cut you a bunch of my flowers? She carefully placed her iron on the hearth and hobbled out in the yard. Th.e May shower had~ heen followed by sunshine as she handed~ her guest a huge bouquet of roses, Aunt Emma bowed low. Good-~bye, Missy, she s a Id p le as e c orne back t o se e me . . . . . .

Interview with Rhodus Walton, ex-slave. 127 123

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~E)(~5~1. ~ ~ dt~i *~1 :: :~i:~ 1~O235 Adella 8 Dixon :123 Ifl~v~v WiTH REiO tJS ~LFC~1, 1X .8LL~I Ten years betore the ~znancipatioi~. Procianiation was 8i~ied, a 80X1 was born to Aiitony and Patience Walton ~io lived 1x~. i~n~kin, Stewart County, Ga. When this son, Rhod~us was three weeks o1~I, his nether, along ii th the three younger th i1dr~i ~ ~s so 34. His tather and the, thirteen sous and daug1~ters that she leDt behind were never seen again. His en birthplace and the n8n~ they bore before moving to the Vlalton home are unknown ~ Rhod~8 and he E8T~ was~ able to trace his family even etter treelom. The Walton plantation, home of M~v. Bem B. Walton who purchased his mother was a very large one v~i th the Big Eous e~ on an elevati on near the center The naj esti c colonial hoxi~ w! th it a massive columns was seen for iiiiles around and from its eentvaJ. locat io.n the mas ter was able to vi ew his exit ire estate. Approximately one bloek from the planter s home; the q~uartera~ wre clustered. These were numerous loghouses with stiek..~an~c1ay chimneys in w1~ieh the slave fanilies dwelt Each house ~s oonzposed of one roo~n ap~sely furnished. The beds were corded with rope and as 1~arge t~iiilies were stressed, it was often ne cessary rar seTeral members to ~1eep on the floor. There was an open firepla ce at Which family meals were prepe*ed. ~ui~irxent consisted of an iron pot suspended by a hanger and a skillet with long l~a that enabled the oook to place tire beneath it. Bread known as ash oaken was some tinies cc oboe d on the hot coals. The aucti on b lock ~s be at ed not far from. this old ho~ Here ~hodus ~7alton with other young childr~i watched slaves ~n~ e frc~n boxcars, where they had been packed so closely that there viaa no room to sit, to be sold to the highest bidder. This was one oi his nost Vivid reooUectiona.

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124 La Rhodus i~ather did not cc~ae to this home with his ~ani1y, he ~tows~thin~ of him. Bxcept f~or bries intervals b~is ~ther worked in the house where cotton and wool were spun into thz ead and then ~ven int cloth ftm which the slaves clothiiig was nude. An elder 8ister nursed the maater a smell~ children. Wiodus first duties were to drive the cows to and from the pastures and to keep the calves from annoying the milkers. His ii~.ster was a Very cruel n~n Whos e favorit e fc~ m of punishc~ent we s +0 take a man (or woix~n) to the edge of the plantation where a rail fence was located. His head was then placed between two rails so that escape was Impossible end he was whipped unti I the overseer was exhausted. This was en almo et daily occurr~nee adrninis tea ed on the s lightest provocation. Saturday was the only afternoon off and Cbristxras was the only vacation period, but one week of restivities made this season long remembered. Meny frolics were given and everyone danced where bar4oes were available; also, thes resour~c fu.t people secured imich o~ their music from an in~roTi8ed tid&le fashioned tz om a hand saw. I~tm~diately after these festivities, preparations began ~or spring plantii~. New ground was cleared; old land fertilized end the corn fields cleared oi~ last year s rubbish. . Courtship began at a later e~e than is custon~.ry now but they were much more. bries. Gifts to r s sweethe art wer e not p ermit ted but yers~s such as: Roses are red, Vi~ieta blue, ~ I don t lowe No one but you were invariably recited to the loved one. Young negro men always cocked their hats on one side of their heads wien they became interested in the other sex. Marriages were performed by the master. Coxniz~n law situations did not exist. Serious illnesses w re not frsquent and hcme remedlee compounded of roots and herbes usually suffic*d ~tteensy s light root, butterfly oota, $c~g~I~7 root,

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~~41 ~ ~ 1(~) red shank root bull ~o4gue root were all found jfl; the woods and the ~eas made from their use ~.ere ~ cures~ fca~ many ailments VlheneTer an illness necessitated. the servid.es of a physician, he was called. One difference in the old family doctoa and those of today was the method of treatment. The former always carried his medicine with him, the iatter writes prescriptions. The fee was also much smaller in olden times. . Food was distributed weekly in quantitie8 according to the size of the fanii1y~ A siiigle man would receive : 1 :pk. meal on Sund~ ~ I qt. syrup flour (seconds) . ~ . . 3~ lbs. meat Holiday5 - Yuly 4* and Chi~istmas ~ fresh meat. Peas pepper grass polk salad. were pie n.tthtl in the fleids Milk and. pot likker could be had frOm the b~g house when desired, although eTery family cooked 1~or itself, Saturd~ afte~oon ~s the general fishing tl~ and each p&aon might catch as xnai~y as he needed for his personal use. The a ~vea did neat of the weaving on the plantation, but after tue cloth was woven the pr oblein ~ of giving I t color ~r esented it8elt. As they had no conmier e lei dye, certain plaxit~ were boiled to give color. A plant alled indigo, found in the cotton patch, was the chief type of dye, although there was another called. copperas. The dresses made from this ir~.terial were ~ei~ plain. Walton believes in most of the ~ old signs and 8uperstit lone because he ha8 watched then and found. that they are true. ~he oontlnuoua singing o1~ a whipporwill near a house is a sign of death, but if an iron is placed in the tire and. allowed. to rs~iajn there, the bird will fly aw~.

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.-~ --s ~- ~L i~U t When the news ot the wa~ fi~tal1y reached ~ the plantation, ~the ulavea toUowed the progress with keen intarest and when battles ~ were fought near O .luiabua and firing of guns was heard, they ~ cried joyfu~lly ~ It ain t gonna be long now. Two of their master s sons fought in the Confederate Army, but both returned home, before the close of the war. One day news c~ie that t~e Yankee soldi~s were soon to come, and Walton b~an to hid all valuables. The slaves were sent to the cemetery to dig very deep graves where all maimer of food was stored. They were covered like real graves end wooden slabs placed at either end.. For three days before the soldiers were expe cted., all the house servants were kept busy preparing delicacies with wbich to t~npt the .Yanke s and thus avoid having their . . . place destroyed. In spite ot all this preparat ion, they were caught una~iares end when the blue coats were seen approaching, the nester and his two sons ran. The elder~ made his way to the woods; the younger i~de away on fll4ck Eagle a ho~rae reputed to run almost a mile a minute. Nearly everything on the place was destroyed by these invaders. One bit of information has bean given in every interview wh re Norbhem soldiers visited a plantation, they found, be1~ore coraing, whether t1~ Master was niean or kind and always treated him as he had treated his slaves. Thus Mr . ~alton was given the worl as our niodern soldi~ s would say. ~7hen the war ended the slaves were notified that they were free. Just before Rho4~ ~ family prepared to move, his moth~ was struck on the head by a drunken guest vis iting at the ttb ig house . As soon as she regained consciousnes s the fatiily ran off without co1~aaTxnicating with an elder sister who had been sold to a neighbor the previous year. year later, news of this sister reached them through a wagoner who recognized the small boys as he passed then~. He carried the ne\ is to the family s new residence baek to the lost sister and in a few weeks she arrived at Outhbert to ri~ke her home with her relatives.

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12~ .. Por the past Y ~e~ s Rhod.us has been unable to woit as he is a victim of a stroke on hi lett 8 i~e bOth 8iaes have been rt~tux~ed., ari& his ne~es are bad.. 1~e attributea his long life to his taith in ooa.. . 1

An account of slavery related by William Ward. 132 128

i:~ ~ ~ I -t? ~ ~ ) ~ ~ C O 23 5 ~ : i~Y . ~ ~ g VQ . ~ : ~ ~ 11~ ACCOUNT OF SILV~PJ R~AT~ BY WILLI~~M WARD ZX SL&VE In a ~ia1i on~ -roo~ aper~xnent lo td on one of Atlanta s back streets llYe8 William Ward au ex-alave whoae physical appeamnce in no way juatltlee h18 claim to being 105 years of age. He le about five ft. in height with a rather smooth brown complexion. ~1~t hair he 1~e is gray. He moves about like a much younger p~8on. Foi a person of his age hie thoughte and speech are r~.rkab1y clear. on a bright sunny afternoon in September this writer had ~fl opportimity of talking with Mr. Vlaid and in the courae of the conversation some very Interesting things were learned regarding th~ Institution of slavery and it3 custoina. Ward took a dip of snuff fr i his little tin box and began hie story by saying that he is th~ son of Bill and L~x~ Ward who were brought to thie country frc~ ~an~Ica,B.#.I. The first thing he remembers was the falling of the stare in 1833. From tb~t time until h was 9 yesre old he p)a yed around the ys z~ w Ith oth ~ slave children. Then his parent8 were s eut back to $~amaica by th~r ~ster, the fo~a~ Governor Joseph E. Broi~. While he was in bondage he carried the rame of his n~sters instead of Ward his parente name. ! rom the age of 9 until he was old enough t~ do heavy work, he kept the master s yard clean. Although Mr . Brown owned between 50 and ?~ slaves he had no plantation bist hired his slaves out to o~ther m~ who n eeded more help but were not able to own a~ n~y slaves as their work reqilred. Mr. Ward and his fellow slaves lived in one-ro~ houses in the rear of the maot 8 home ~ The ft~rnI slings consi et ed o f a bed w bi oh wa~ known as a Gib nd Ras cal due to ita peculiar construction. The mattress made In the form of a large 1*g was stuffed with hat and drI~ grass. At daybreak ~ch morning they were called fran these crude beds to prepare for the day s work. 3x~eakfast, which consisted of white thcon, cort breads and imitation coffee, was served before they left tor the scene of their day s work. Incidentally the slayei~ und er Mr. Brow n a ownership n. ever had any other form of bread th~ corn b read

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vyilliam flard ~ ex-slave 2. ~ This imitation coffee was made by puttix~g corn m~1 In a pan, parch1n~ lt until it reached a deep golden brow~ and ateepir~g it in bollln water. At noon, diL~ier was brought to them In the field In wash tubs placed on carts drawn by oxsn. Dinner consisted o~ fat meat, peas and corn br ~td. Often all laundry was done In these saine tubs. The only time that this diet ever varied was at Christmas time when the master had all slaves gathered in one large field. Then several hog were killed and barbecued. Everyone ~a permitted to eat as much as he could, but was forbidden to take anything honte. when sc~ne one was fortunate enough to catch a posata or a coon, he bad a change ot food. On Sundays the s)~ves were p~rm1tted to bave a religious nieeting of their owx~. This usually took place in the back y~ird or in a buIlding dedicat~d for this purpose. They sang spirituals which gsve vent to their true feelings. ~ny of these songs are sung today. ~ There W48 one pereon who did the preaching. His sermon was aiways built according to the ma8ter s instructions which were that slaves muet always remember ti3at they belonged to their r~asters and were intended to lead a life of loyal servitude. None of the slaves believed this, although they pretended to believe because of the presence of the white overseer. If this overseer was absent sometimes and the preacher varied in the text o~ his sermon, ~tkIat is, if he preached exactly what he thought and felt, he was given a sound whipping. Mr. Brown ~s a kind p~son and never mistreated his s laves although he did 1~urnish them with the whip for infractions of rules such as fighting, stealing, ~1siting other plantations without a rJass , etc. ~arc1 vividly recalls th~&t one of the soundest tbrasbings he ever got was for stealing Mr. Brown s whisky. His most numerous offenses were fighting. Another torm of punishment used in those day. was the stocke, such as those used in early times in Ex~gland. Serious offen.ss like killing another person was alsQ handled by the master who LIIight hang him to~ a tre by the feet or by the neck, as he saw fit.

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3. 1~() William Ward ex-Blave Few ilavea ever attempted to escape fran Mr. Brown, partially beceu~e of hie kindliness and parti cally because o f the fear in~ ired by the pack of blood hounde which he kept. when an escaped alave was eaught he wae returned to his master and a sound b eating was adrnini s t ered. As tar as n~rr1age was concerned on the Brown e8tate, Mi. Brown, hixnselt placed every two individuals together that he saw fit to. There wae no other wedding ceremony. If any children were born from the union, Mr. Brown named th~. One peculiarity on the Brown estate w~s the f act tha t the sia yea were a1low~ no preference or choice as to who his or her ri~te would be. Another peculiarity was these married couples were not p~ xnitted to Bleep together except when the husband received pex~nission to spend the night with his wits. #ard la the ~ther of 17 childr~. who8e whereab~its he does not know, At thi s point ward be~n to anile and when he was ask~ the cause or his mirth, he replied that he was thinking about his feUow slaves bell ~s in conjurixi~ one another, This was done by puttln~ some sort of wild berries in t~ie person s food. What he can t understand is why some of this black magic was not tried on the wMte people since they were holding the Ne~oes as slaves. Ward recalls vividly Sherman~s n~rch through Georgia. when Sherman reached the ~re8ent site of ~ipevl1le, he bombarded Atlanta With cannon, afterwards marQhing through and burning the city. The white residents made all sorts of frantic attempts to hide their money and other ~a1uables. Some hiding places were under stumps of trees and in sides ~ hills. Incidentally Sheri~an s army found quite a bit of the hidden wealth. Slaves were never allowed to talk over events and so very few, 1f any, knew about the ~r or its results for them before it actually happened. At the time that Shern~n marched through Atlazta, dard aixl other slaves were living in an old ii~ns1on at the present site of Peachtree and Baker Streets. He says that Shern~ took him and his fellow slaves as far as Virginia tc carry powder and shot to the

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~ill1am i~ard ~ ex-slave 4. ~ ~ ~.: soldiers. He states that he himself did not know whether Sherrr~n intended to keep hi~i~ in slavery or free hint. At the cloee of the war, h1~ nester, Mr. Brown, becanm ill and died 1~ter. Before fis death he infoi~ed the slavee that tJaey could remain 011 nls property or go where they wanted to. Nard was t&cen to M1ssis~. ppl where he re~r~1ned in another form of s avery (Peonage System) fbor 4Q yeare. He remembers when Atle~nta was just a few hills withotit any buildiriga. ~3ome of the buildinge he worked at are the Hern~n Building and the original Kimball House, a plctvre of which i~ attached. He attribute8 his old a e to kils belief in God arid living a sane life. ~Vhenever he feels bad or in low spirits, a drink of coffee or a sinali amount of whi8ky is enough to brace him. He bell eves that his r emedy Is better tt~n tL~ t u.~ed in a ~very which ~onsisted mainly of pl1l~ and caetor oil. with a cheerful good-bye, v~dard a8ked th t the writer stop in to see him a~ln; seid that he would rather live in the present age under existing conditio~ t~n live i~r~ 3lavery.

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r ~ ~ ~: ~ ~ ~L ~.>~J ~ ~ Driskell ~ J-v~L 1O -12-37 Following Is 1fr. William Ward a description of the bed ca11~, The Grend Rascal. De beds dat all o de slaves slept in wua called Grand Ra8oals . Dey wus made on de saine order as a box. De way dey made ein wus like die: dey took four stripe of narrow wood,~ch one of em bout a foot wids,an den dey x~eiled em together so dat dey was in de sI~pe of a square. Den dey nailed a bottom onto disaquare s1~pe. Dia bottom wue called de slate. ~Vhen dia wus finished dey set dis box on s ie legs to keep it off n de floor, an den dey got busy wid de mattress. Dey took 01 oat sacks an filled em wid straw an hay an den dey put dis in de box an slept on lt. Dere wusn t no springs on dese bunks an everybody had a hard time sleepin . De real t!~ee3. name of dese wus Sonova-Bitchea but de slaves called em Grand Rascals cause dey didn t want people to hear em use a bad ward. After ~herinan come through Atlanta he 1 et de slaves go an when he d Id, me an some of de other slave8 went back to our ol n~stere. 01 n~n Goy. Brown wue my boss man. After de war wus over 01 iran ordon took me an some of de othera out to Mississippi. I stayed In peo~ge out dere fer bout forty years. I wus located at jes bout forty mil~s south of Greenwood, an I wo~rked on de plantatIons of 01 man Sera J~ones an 01 man Gordon. I couldn t git away cause dey watched us wid guns all de tIme. When de levee busted dat kinda freed me. ~n, dey wus devils; dey wouldn t low you to go nowhere ~ not even to church. You done good to git stinpin to eat. Dey wouldn t give you no clothes, an 1f you got wet you je. had to lay down in whut you got wet In. An man, dey would whup yo u in ap lt e of de devil You had to ask to git water -~ if you didn t dey would stretch you cross a barrel an wear you out.

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RilllanI Ware. 2 - ~ G)~) s ~L~Jc&) If you didn t wc : k in a hurry dey would whup you wid a strap dat bad five-aix holes in it. I ain t talkin bout whut I heerd --- I m talkin bout whut I done see d. One time dey sent me on 01 n~n ~ck Williams farm here in ~rasper County, Georgia. Dat man would kill you sho. If dat little branch on his plantation could talk it would tell many a tale bou.t folks bein knocked in de head. I done seen Mack Williams kill folks an I done seen lin have ftlks killed. One day he toi me dat ~ if my wife had b een good lookin I never would sleep wid her again cause he d kill nie an take her an raise chilluns off n her. Dey uster take women away turn dere husbands an put wid sane other man to breed jes like dey would do cattle. Dey always kept a man penned up an dey Used lui like a stud hose. ~Vhen you didn t do right 01 Mack Williams would shoot you or tie& ckiain roun your neck an throw you in de river. He d. git dem other niggers to carry dem to de river an if dey didn t he d shoot em down. ~ny time dey didn t do whut he said he would shoot em down. He d tell ~ to *Ketch dat nigger , an dey would do it. Den he would tell ein to put de chain rotin dere neck an throw em in de river. I ain t heard dis - I done seen it. In 1927 1 wus still in peox~ge but I wus back in Mississippi on Gordon s farm. When de levee broke in M~y of dat sanie year I lost my wife an three chilluma I climbed a tree an stayed dere fer tO~ir days an tour nights. Airplanes dropped tood an when I got ready to eat I bad to squeeze de water out of de bread. After tour ~ys I got out of de tree an tl~ted on logs down de river till I got to Mobile, AlabwM~, an I wade turn dere to Palmetto, Georgia, where I got down sick. De boss inane dere call~ Goy. Harden an he sent de Grady Hospital emiuiners down dere an got me an I been in Atlanta since dat time.

Plantation life as viewed by an ex-slave. 140 136

100220 PLANTATION LIFE AS VIEWED BY AN EX-SLAVE GREEN W1LLBANKS 347 Fairvlew Street Athens, Georgia. -~ ~f~ Written by: Mrs. Sadie 3. Athens Ho rnsby Edited by: Mrs. Sarah E. Athens and Hall I J~ohn N. Booth Distri et Supervisor Federal Writers Project Residencies 6 & 7 Augusta, Georgia Sept. 19, 1938

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I3 ~ G~REEN WILLBANKS ~3~:s1&vi~ ~ Age ~! Fairview Street where Green Wilibanks lives 1$ a section ot shabby cottages encircled by privet hedges. ~ As the visitor carefully ascended the shaky steps to his house a mulatto r~an, who was sitting on the veranda, quickly arose. Good morning, he said, Yes mani, this is Green Wilibanks. H~ave a seat in the swing. The porch furniture was comprised of a chair, a swing, and a long bench. Green is tall, slender, and stooped; a man with white hair and grizzled face. A white broadcloth shirt, white cotton trousers, blue socks, and lowcut black shoes made up his far rrom immaculate costume. The old man s eyes brightened when he was asked to give the story or his life. His speech sho~d but little dialect, except when he was carried away by interest and emotion, arid his enunciation was remarkably free from Negroid accent. I don t mind telling you what I know, he began, but I was such a little ohap when the war ended that there s niigbty little I can recollect about slavery time, and it seems that your chief interest is in that period. I was born on a plantation the other side of Commerce, Georgia, in Jackson County. My Ma and Pa were Mary and Isom Wilibanks; they were raised on the same plantation where I was born. Ma was afleldhand, and this time of the year when work was short in the tield - laying-by time, we called it - and on rainy days she spun thread and wove cloth. . As the thread left the

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Page 2. 138 spinning wheel lt went on a reel where it was wound into hanks,~and then lt was carried to the loom to be woven into cloth. Pa had a little trade; hemadeshoesandbaskets, end Old. Boss let hl~ sell theni. Pa didn t make shoes for the slaves on our plantation; Old Boss bought them ready-made and had them shipped here from the West. Me and Jane, Sarah, Mitchell, and Willie were the five children in our fatn.lly. Oh! Miss, I was not big enough to do rauch work. About the most I done was pick up chips and take my little tin bucket to the spring to get a cool, fresh drink for Old Miss. Us children stayed round the kitchen and drunk lots of butter~ n~i1k. Old Miss used to say, Give my pickaninnies plenty of butterzuilk. I can see that old churn now; lt helt about seven or eight gallons. Our houses? Slaves lived in log cabins built the common way. There was lots of forest pine in those days. Logs were cut the desired length and notches put in each end so they would fit closely and have as few cracks as possible, when they stacked them for a cabin. They sawe~ pine logs into blocks and used a frow to split them into planks that were used to over the cracks between the logs. Don t you know what afrow is? That s a wooden wedge that you drive into a pine block by hittIng it with a heavy wooden mallet, or maul, as they are more conmionly called. They closed the cracks in some of the cabins by daubing them with red mud. The old stack chimneys were made of mud and sticks. To make a bed, they first cut four posts, usually of pine, and bored holes through them with

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Page 3. 139 augers ; then they made two short pieces for the head and foot Two long pieces for the sides were stuck through the auger holes and the bedstead was ready to lay on the slats or cross pieces to hold up the mattress. The best beds had heavy cords, wove crossways and lengthways, instead of slats. Very few slaves had corded beds. :~gttresses were not much; they were made of suggin sacks filled with straw. They called that straw Georgia feathers. Pillows were ~ _. ~ - ~ - - - - ~~ - mede of the same things. Suggin cloth was made of coarse flax wove in a loom. They separated the flax into two grades; tine for the white folks, and coarse for the Negroes. The only one of my grandparents I can bring to raemory now Is Granthna Rose on my Pa s side. She was some worker, a regular man-woman; she could do any kind of work a ~an could do. She up was a hot horse in her time and it took an extra good man to keep/with tier when it came to work. Qi~~!~ were notallowed ~ be~ cause their masters desired them to have the chance to grow big and strg~g~ and therefore they ha~ few opportunities to earn money of their own. I never did own. any money during slavery days, but I saw plenty of ten cent greenbacks (shinplasters). White children and slave children played around the plantation together but they were not allowed to fight. They had to be on friendly terms with each other.

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Page 4. j ~M) What about our food? The biggest thing we h~id was buttermilk, some sweetrnilk, and plenty of cornbread, hog meat, and peas. As a rule we had wheat bread once a week, usually on Sunday. All kinds of fruits were plentiful in their seasons. Each slave family was permitted to have separate garden space, in fact, Old BOSS insisted that they work their own gardens, and they raised plenty of vegetables. Grown folks had rabbits and possums but I never did get much quainted with them. We fished in the cricks and nus round the plantation and brought in lots of horny~ heads and perch. You never saw any hornyheads? Why they is just fish a little bigger and longer than minnows and tt~ey have little horns on their heads. We caught a good many eels too; they look like snakes, but folks call thera eels. I wasn t much quainted with them fish they brought from way down South; they called theni mullets. Thekitchen was a separate log house out in tne back yard. The fireplace, where the cooking was done, took up one end of the kitchen, and there was arack acrost it to hang the c~ok-pots on for biling. Bak~ing and frying w~s don in ovens and neavy iron skillets that sat Q~1tI~i1T~vets So coals could be piled underneath, as well as over the lids. The long shirts slave boys wore in summer were straight like a neal sack open at both ends, with holes in the sides ~or your arms to go through. You stuck your head in one end and it came out the other; tnen you were fully dressed for any whole sunmer day. These sunirrier shirts were made of thin osnaburg. Our winter clothes

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Pace 5. were made of woolen cloth called rnerino. Old Boss kept enough sheep to provide plenty of wool and some nii~hty good. food. Slave children had no extra or special clothes for Sunday; they wore the sane kind of gowns, or long shirts, seven days a week. Old Boss provided brass-toed. brogans for winter, but we never thought of such a thing as shoes to wear in hot weather. . My owners were Marse bolomon and his wife, Miss Ann Wilibanks. We called them Old Boss and Old Miss. As I saw it, they were just as good as they could be. Old Boss never allowed nobody to impose on his slave children. When I was a little chap playing around the big house, I would often drop off to sleep the minute I got still. Good Old Boss would pick me up and go lay me on his own bed and keep me there tu Ma conte in froni the field. Old Boss and Old Miss had five children. The boys were Solomon Isaac James and Wesley. For the life of me I can t bring to memory the name of their only daughter. I guess that s because we frolicked with the four boys, but we were not allowed to play with Little Miss. ~ It was a right decent house they lived in, a ~ ~ ~ Old Boss was building a nice hDuse when the war come on and he never had a chance to finish it. The log house was in a cedar grove; that was the style then. Back of~ the house were his orchards where fruit trees of every kind we knew anything about provided plenty for all to eat in season as well as enough for good preserves, pickles, and the like for winter. Old.

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Page 6. 142 Boss done his own overseeing and, cording to my memory, one of the young bosses done the driving. That plantation covered a large space of land, but to tell you how many acres is something ~ can t do. There were not so many slaves. I ve forgot how they managed that business of getting slaves up, but I do know we didn t get up before day on our place. Their rule was to work slaves fromsunuptosundown. Before t~iey hed supper they had a little piddlin around to do, but the time was their own t.o do as they pleased after they had supper. Heaps of times they got passes and went off to neighboring plantations to visit ~-:-~---~--_____ ~ . ~~ ; ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ anddanee, but sometimes they went to hold prayer-.~meetings. There were certain plantations where we were not permitted to go and certain folks were never allowed on our placer Old BOSS~ wasparticular about how folks behaved on his place; ail his slaves had to come up to a certain notch and if they didn t do that he punished them in some way or other. There was no whipping done, for Old Boss never did believe in whipping slaves. - None of the slaves from our place was ever put in that county jail at Jefferson. That was the only jail we ever heard of in those days. Q~4j~ss attended to all the_correction necessary to keep order among his own slaves. Once a slave trader caine by the place and offered t.o buy Ma. Old Boss took her to Jefferson to sell her on the block to that men. It seemed like sales of sieves were not legal unless they took place on the trading block in certain places, usually in tue county site. The trader wouldn t

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Page 7. pay what Old Boss asked for her, and Old Miss and the young bosses all objected strong to his selling her, so he brought Ma back honie. She was a fine healthy wonian and would have made a nice looking house girl. The biggest part of the teaching done among the sieves was by ouryoungbosses but, as far as schools for slaves was concerned, there were no such things until after the end of the war, and then we were no longer slaves. There were just a few separate churches for slaves; none in our part of the country. Slaves went to the same church as their white folks and sat In the back of the house or in a gallery. My Pa could read the Bible in his own way, even in that time of slavery; no other slave on our place could do that. Not one slave or white person either died on our plantation during the part of slavery that I can brin to me.mory. I was too busy playing to take in any of the singing at funerals and at church and I never went to a bapti zing until I was a great big chap, long after slavery days were pver. - Slaves ran off to the woods all right, but I never heard of them running oft to no North. Paterollers never ce~e on Old Boss place unl ss he sont for them, otherwise they knowed to stay off. They sho was devilsinsheeps clothing that s what we thought of them ~ Slaves worked all day ~addays when there was work to be done, but that night was their free time. They went where they pleased just so Old Boss gave them a pass to protect them from paterollers.

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114 Page 8. After slaves went to church sunday they were free the rest of the day as far. ~is they knowed. Lots of tim~es they got em a stunip speaker usually a Negro ~ to preach to thea. There ~ ~-~--~ ~ were not as many preachers then as now. Bout Christmas l)ay? They always had something like bra.r~1y, cider, or whiskey to stimulate the slaves on ~hristmas Day. Then there was fresh meat and ash~roasted sweet taters, but no cake for slaves on our place, anyhow, I never saw no cake, and surely no Santa Claus. All we knowed bout Christmas was eating and drinking. As a general thing there was a big day s work expected on New Years Day because we had. to start the year off right, even if there was nothing for the slaves to do that day but clecn fence corners, cut brush and briers, and burn off new ground. New Years Day ended up with a big old pot of hog jowl and peas. That was for luck, but I never really knowed if it brought luck or not. Well, yes, once a year they had big cornshuckings in our section and they had generals to lead off in all the singing; that was done to whoop up the~work. My Pa was one- of the generals and he toted the jug of liquor that was passed round to make his crowd hustle. After the corn was shucked the crowd divided into two groups. Their object was to see which could reach the owner of the corn first and carry him ~there he wanted to go. Usually they marched with him on their shoulders to his big house and set him down on his torch, then he would give the word for them to all start eating the good things spread out on tables in the yard. There was a heap of

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drinking done then, and. dancing too - just all kinds oI~ dancing that ~0u1d be done to fiddle and banjo music. My Pa was one of them fiddlers in his young days. One of the dances was the cotillion, but just anybody couldn t dance ttLat one. There was a heap of bowing and scraping to it and if you were not ~ quainted with it you just couldn t use it. . ~ When any of the slaves were bad sick Old Boss called in his own family doctor, L)r. J~oe Bradbury. Eis plantation ~ ~ ~-~--~- -~ hit up against ours. The main things they gave for medicine them days was oil and t ur penti ne . Sometimes to iks got black snakeroot --~ --~ .~- ~ from the woods, biled it, and gave the tea to sick folks; that was to clean of f~ thestomnach. Everybody wore buckeyes round their necks to keep off diseases for we never knowed nothing about asafetida them days; that caine later. When the Yankees caine through after the surrender Old Boss and Old Miss hid their valuables. They told us children, Now, if they ask you questions, don t you tell them where we hid a thing. We knowed enough to keep our mouths shut. We nevrer had knowed nothing white but to mind Old Boss, and we were scared cause our/folks seemed to fear the Yankees. ~~924 B~~?!~S had done ~ a s ne was and could go their own way, but we stayed on with him. He provided for Pa and give him ~ he made. All of us growed up as field hands. Thern~ri~~~ were something else. They sho did beat on Negroes that didn t behave mighty careful. Slaves didn t Page 9. ~15

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Page 10. buy much land for a ong time after the war because they didn t have no money, but schools were set up for Negroes very soon. I got the biggest part of my education in West Athens on ~iggers iill. When I went to the Union Baptist ~choo1 m~ teacher was Professor Lyons, the founder of that institution. . When me and Molly Tate weremarried bO years ago we went to the church, because that was the cheapest place to go to have a big gathering. Molly had on a common, ordinary dress. Folks didn t dress up then like they does now; it was quite indifferent. Of our 10 children, 8 are living now and we have 14 grandchildren. Six of our children live in the North and two have remained here in Athens. One of them is einjloyed at Bernstein s Funeral ~oine and the other works on the university e arnpus . I thanks the Lord that Molly is still with me. We bought this place a long time ago and have farmed here ever since. In fact, I have never done nothing but farm work. Now I m~ too old and don t have strength to work no more. I thinks Abraham Lincoln was a all right man; God so intended that we shou1~i. be sot free. Jeff D vis was all right in his way, but I can t say much for him. Tes mamj, I d rather be free. Shot Give me freedom all the tinie. Jesus said: If ray ~on sets you free, you shall be free indeed. When I jined the church, I felt like I was rid of my burden. I sot aside the things I had been doing and I ain t never been back to pick em up no more. I Jined the baptist church and have been teaching a class of boys every Sunday that I m able to go. I sho am free from sin and I lives up to it.

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Page 11. 111:7 w : wonder if Molly s ~ot thera sweet taters cooked what I dug this morning. They warn t much count cause the sun has baked them hard. and it s been so dry. If you is through with nie, I wants to go eat one of them taters and then lay this old Nigger on the bed and let hua go to sleep.

Plantation life. 155 151

151 .~ ~ ~. I ~ L~~ (b J; ~ ~ i -r .~ ~ ~ ni fr ~ j ~r ~i~r -t- -~- r .L~tJN ~ ~ ~- ~L Li~ L ~L ~ _ - 4 ~ T ~ ~ ~ r ~r ~- -t- -T-~\rr ~ ~ ~ ! F ~Ai~z C~S ~ ~se Bridge street Athens, ~orgia ~.7ritten by: Sadie B. iiornsby Athens. ~ited b:j: Sarah xi. dali Athens. Leila darnis Au~u&ta. and ~Tohn N. Booth Distri ct Supervi ~ ~ ederai ~riters :~esiaeneies & 7

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~()()76 :152 FRANGES WILLINGHAM I!~x-~S1ave ~ Age 78. The Interviewer arrived at Frances Wlllinghaxn s addres s on a sultry ~ July morning and round a fat and very black Negress sweeping the sidewalk before the three-~room frame house. There was no front yard and the front steps led up from the sidewalk into the house. vegetable garden was visible at the rear of the lot. The plump sweeper appeared to be about five feet tall. Eier wooly white hair was plaited in tiny braids, and she wore a brown print dress trimmed in red and. blue. A strand of red beads encircled her short neck, and a blue checked coat and high topped black shoes completed her costume. Asked if Frances Jiflingham was at home, the woman replied: Dis is heriyou is atalkin to. Corne right in and have a seat. ~ When Frances was asked for the story of her life, ner daughter who had doubtless been eavesdropping, sudd~enly appeared and interrupted the conversation with, Ma, now don t you ~it started bout dem old 1~inies. You knows your~r~ind ain t no good no more. Tomorrow your tongue will ~be runnin lak a bell clapper a talkin to yourse1f. ~ Shut your big mouth, lienrietta~ Frances answered. I been sick, and I knows it, but dere ain t nothin wrong wid my mind and you kno~1 s it. What I knows I se gwine to tell de lady, and what I don t know I sho ain t gwine tell no lie about. Now, Missus, whet does you want to know? Don t pay no tention to dis fool gal of mine cause her mouth is big as :iis room.

157 153

I was born. way off down in Twiggs County bout ~ mile from de town of Jeffersoriville. My Pa and Ma was Otto and Sarah Rutherford. Our Mist ess, dat was Miss Polly, she called Ma, Salue for short. Dere was nine of us chillun, nie end Esau, Harry, ~Terry, ob, Calvin, Otto, Saille and Susan. Susan was our I~a1f-sister by our Pa s last marriage. Us chillun never done rauch but play round de house and yards w-id de white chillun. I warn t but four years old when dey made us free. Henrietta again mw terrupted, See dere, I told you she don t know what she s awtalkin bout. Frances ignored the InterruptIon and continued: Us lived in log cabins what had jus one room wid a stick and mud chirnbly at de end. Our bedsteads was made out of rough planks ~nd ~o1es and some of em was nailed to de sides cf de cabins. iv attress ticks was made out of osnaburg and us filled em wid wheat straw in se&son. when dat was used up us got grass from de fields. Most sny kmna of hay was counted good nough to put In a slave s mattress. Dey let us mix some cotton wid de hay our pillows was stuffed wid. My grandxn ~s lived on another plantation. ~ I members Da ce Grandma Suck she we 5 my Ma s mammy, come to our ~ house and stayed one or two days wid us. Daddy s Ma was named Puss. Both my ~r&ndmas wes field hands, but Ma, she was a house gal t! . she got big enough to do de cyardin and spinnin . Aunt Phoebie done de we~vin and Aunt Polly was de seamster. All de lak of dat was done atter de craps was done laid by. 2... :i153

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3 ., :154 No Ma aix~, nobody never give slave chillun no money in dem times. 1 never had none tu atter us had done been ~:ive our freedom. I used to see Old Marster countin of It, but de slaves never did git none of dat money. ~ Our Old Marster was a pow ful rich man, and he shot - ~ b Iieved in givin us plenty to eat. It warn t nothin fine, but it WEtS good plain eatin what filled you up and kept you well. Dere Nas CQrnbread and meat, greens of all sorts, taters, roas en~ears . ~-~-~-- -~ and more other kinds of yEg ~ables dan I could call up all day. ~arster had one big old gyarden whar he kept most evvything a~ growin cept cabbages and m toes. He said dem things warn t ~ fittin for nobody to eat. Marster let Liaddy go huntin enougb~ to fetch in lots of possums, coons, rabbits, and squirre~s. Us cooked em bout lak us does now, only us never had no stoves den, and had to do all de cookin in open fireplaces in big old pot~s and long handled skillets what had ~big old heavy lids. I se seed Ma clean many a possum in hot ashes. Den she scalded hirn and tuk out his innards She par-boiled and den baked him and when she ~ fetched him to de table wid a heap of sweet taters round him on de dish, dat was sho sornepin good to eat. Daddy done his fishin in Muddy Crick cause slaves warn t lowed to leave de plantation for nothin lak dat. Suinmertimes us wore homespun dresses, made wid full #. --~ skirts sewed on to tight fittin waisties what was fastened down de

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4 .. back. wid buttons made out of cows and rams horns. Our white ~etticoat slips and pantalettes was made on bodices. In winter us wore ~ what had three stripes round de bottom, and over dein us had on long sleeved ap ons what was long as de balmorals. 3l~ve gals pantalettes warn t ruffled and tucked and trimnied up wid lace and broldery lak Miss ~ol1y s chilluns was. Ours was jus ~ - ~ ~ -. - ~ ~ ~ made plain. Grown folks wore rough brogans, but me, I wore de shoes what Miss Polly s chillun had done outgrowed. Dey called -~-~ -~ - -~--~ ~ - ~ ~ ~-~-~ em Jackson shoes, cause dey was made wid a extra wide piece of .~ leather sewed on de outside so as when you knocked your ankles gainst one another, it wouldn t wear no holes in your shoes. Our Sunday shoes warn t no diffunt froni what us wore evvyday. Marse LishJ~ones and his wife she was Miss Polly ~ was our Marster and Mist ess. Dey siao did love to be good to deir little Niggers. Dey had five chillun of deir own, two gals ~nd three boys. Deywes: Mary, Anna Della, Steve, rohn, and Bob. Bout deir house~ Oh, Missus, dat was somepin to see for sho . it was a big old fine two-story frame ~touse wid a porch cross de front and round both sides. Dere was five .rooms on de Lust floor and three upstairs. It sho did look grand a-settin back dar in ~at big old oak grove. ~ Old Marster had ~ but he never had no car iage driver cause he loved to drive for hisseif so good. Oh Lord~ How big was dat plantation? Why, it must have been as big as from here to town. I never did know how many slaves Marster had, but dat old plantation was plumb full of em. I ain t never

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5 . . seed Old Mar~ter do nothin to.ept drive his car iage, walk a little, and eat all he wanted to. He was a ricb~ man, and. didn t bave to do nothin . . Ouroverseer got all de slaves up for~~~kof day and dey had to be done et deir breakfast and in de field when . ~ de sun riz up. Dat sun would be down good fore dey got to de house at night. I never seed none of de grown folks git whupped, but I sho got a good beatin myself one time. I had done got up on topof de big house porch and was a~tlappin my arms and crowin lak a rooster. Dey told nie to come on down, but. I wouldn t mind nobody and kept on ~ so deywhupped me down. Dey had J~!ls in J~effersonville, but d~em jails wa~ ror white folks what didn t be-have deirselfs. Old Marster, de ~ ~-~- ~ -- ~ overseer, andde patterollers kept de slaves straight. Dey didn t need rio jails for dem. . I ain t never been to school a day in my life, cause when I was little, Niggers. warn t lowed. tc lam to read and write . I heared Ma say de colored preacher read. out of de Bible, but I never seed him do it, causelneverwent to church none when I was a chap. Colored folks had deir own church in a out settlement call ed John De Baptist . Dat s wharall de s1a~s~ wenttorneetin . CIiIIIUnZWaS lowed ~ EVVyi body went to em. Dey tuk dem converts to a hole in de crick what dey had got ready for dat purpose. De preacher went fust, and den he called for de converts to come on in and have deir sins washed away.

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6... :i~j~~ Our Marster sot aside a piece of ground Ion~ side o1~ his own place for his Niggers to have a graveyard. Us didn t know nothin bout no fun rals. When one of de slaves died dey was put in unpainted home-inade coffins and tuk to de . ~--~ ~ - ~~- ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~L~S- ~ graveyard whar de grave had done been dug. Dey put em in dar and kivvered em up and dat was all dey done bout it. ~ plenty bout patteroflers beatin up :~iggers what dey cotched off deir Marsters plantations widout no passes. Sometimes dey cotched one or our Marster s slaves and sonietinies dey didn t, but dey was all time on deir job. When slaves come in from de fields at night de . ~__U ~ ornans cleant up deir houses atter ~ et, and den washed and got ~----~--~---- up early next ruornin to put de clothes out to dry. Mens would eat, set round talkin to other mens and den go to bed. On our place evvybody wukked on Saddaivs tu bout three or four o clock ~ .-~- _~____~____J ---:- ~----- - - and if de wuk was tight dey wukked. right on tu night lak any 3ther day. Sadday nights de young folks got together to have clair fun. Dey danced, frolicked, drunk likker, and de lak of ~ ~ dat. Old Marster warn t too hard on eiri,no tirne,but he jus let ein have dat night to frolic. On 5~~r he give dem what wante& em passes to go to c~ur~ j~ and visit roun~. .~ ~ ~ - ~ Christmas times, chilluns went to bed early cause iey was skeered Santa ~1aus wouldn t come. Us carried our stockin s up to de big house to hang em up. Next mornin us found e~ full or all sorts of good things, cept oranges. I never seed nary a orange til I was a big gal. Miss Polly had fresh neat, cake, syrup

162 158

7... 158 tuddin and plenty of good. sweet butter what she lowanced out ~ ~- ~ . ~ ~- . to tier slaves at Christmas. Old Marster, he made syrup by de ~ -~ ---9~ barrel. Plenty of apples and nuts and groundpeas was raised ~ ~ ~ right dar on de p1antation.~ In de Christmas, de only wuk slaves clone was jus piddlint round de house and yards, cuttin ~Dod, rakin leaves, lookin atter de stock, waitin on de white folks ~ ~ - ~ ~ ~-. ~- ~ ~ ~ :~ and littiechores lak date k1&I~dWUk started again on de day atter New Year s Day. Old Marster lowed em rn.ighty little rest from den tu atter de craps was laid by. Course Marster let his slaves have cornshuekin s, ~ ~ .---- ~- cornshellin s, cotton pickin s, and quiltin s. lie had grove atter ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~rove of ecan chestnut, walnut, hickor nut, scalybark, and chin ~ ~ %~~* ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ %~ ~ M~ ~ quapintrees. When de nuts was all gathered, Old Marster sold em to de big men in de city. Dat was why he was so rich. Atter all dese things was gathered and tended to, he give his slaves abig feast and plenty to drink, and den he let em rest up a few days fore dey started backto hard wuk. t?I never se~ed but one marriage on Old Marster s plantation, and I never will forgit dat day. Miss Polly had done ~irnrne one of littleMiss ~ary ssho nough prett~dressesand I wore it to dat weddin only dey never had no real weddin . Dey was jus married in de yard by de colored preacher and dat was E111 dere was to it. ~Ma used to tell us it us didn t be~have Raw Head Etnd Bloody Bones would come ~it us end take us off. I tried to see

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8.... 1.59 hirn but I never did. Grown folks was all time skeerin chillun. Then US went to bed at night, us used to see ghosties, what looked lak goats tryin to butt us clown. Ma said I evermore used to holler out in my sleep bout dem things I was so skeered of. White folks was mighty good and kind when deir ~ -~- slaves got sick. Old i~iarster sont for Dr. Pree (DuPree) and when ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ie couldn t git hirn, he got Dr. Brown. kie made us swallow bitter tastin powders what he had done mixed up in water. MissPoily made us drink tea made out of Jerusalem oak weeds. She biled dem ~ ~ weeds and sweetened de tea wid syrup. Dat was good for stomach trouble, and us wore elder roots strung round our necks to keep off ailments. Mercy xne~ I se seed plenty of dem yankees a-gwin and commt. Dey come to our Marster s house and stole his good mules. Dey tuk what dey wanted of his meat, chickens, lard and syrup and den poured de rest of de syrup out on de ground. Atter le war was over Niggers got so rowdy dein Ku Kiuxers come lone to make em beihave deirseifs. Dem Niggers and Kiuxers too jus went hog wild. What did Ni~~gers have to buy no land. wid when dey never had no money paid ex~i for nothin tu atter dey wa free? Us jus steyed on and wukked for Old Marster, cause dere warn t no need to leave and go to no other place. I was raised up for a field hand, and I ain t never wukked in no white folks house.

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W ~ ~ 9..~, . . Mes I ae BhOt g)~ad Mr. Lineo).n sot us free. ift~n it was still slav ry tinie now old 1 Is, I would have to wuk jus de. same, sick or no. Now I don t have to ax nobody what I kin d~o. Dat s whyS I se glad. I se free. . . ~ ~1ow, bout~ my marriage; I Was a-iiving in Thiti~arn County at dat time, and I got married up wid GreenWu1iingha~, lie had ome dar from Jasper county. I didn t have no we4~in .. ~ j cooked. a chi eken for us ani I was married in a white d ress De waist had ruffles round de neck and sleeves. Us had 17 chifluns in all, seven bys and 10 gals, dere w~s 19 grandehillun a d 21 great grandchlllun. ~ Dey ain t ai . ot em livin and my old man, he s done beendaida long time ago. ~ ~ I ~ . . . flenrietta again xaade her appearance and ad!ressed her mother: ~ Utish 3r~ur mouth ~a, for you knows you ain t ~t aU dem olafllun. I done told de lady you ain t gt your right mind.~ Frane s retorted: Tou shut up your iaouth, Henrietta. 1 is so got my right mind and I knows how many ohullun ot mine ~ dere~ was. One thins slio you s got more ~mouth dan all de rest of ~ iiiy chillun put together.W ~ . . The interviewer closedher notebook and took her departure, leaving Frances dozing in her chair. . . . . s

Adeline Willis - ex-slave. 165 161

~cr~ I ~ ~ ~ - ~ ~ I t ~ ~7 V. ~. ;~ A~ I ~ 100185 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ . ii4tu,:~# ~ 3rr~-~::) # . ~ . ~ Adeline ~ t~uii e Exi.~a1ave ~ ~ t T~O I S the oldest ex slave In Wilkes County? This question was answered the other day when the quest ended on the sunny porch of a little cc~ttage on. Lexington Road in Washington- Wilkes, for there in a straight oldfashioned splitb ttcca chair sat Aunt Adeline WIUIs basking in the waz~n O ~tober sunshine. She Is remarkable for her age - she doesn t know just exactly how old she I s fran ail she tells and ~iat her white folks say she is around a huxith ed. Her general health la good, she spends her days In the open and ~ tires only on the days she cannot be out In ~ her place In the sun. ~he has the brightest eyes, her sight is so good she has never had to wear classes; she gets around in the house and yard on her cane. !Ier memoi~ I s excellent only a time or two did she slowly shake her head and say apologeti cally - ~ ietresa ~ s been so long er go, I reckon I done forgot .. PrOEn her long association with white people she uses very litUe ~gro dialect and always refers to her Mother as ~other , never as Ma c~ Mami~iy as most negroes do. This is very noticabl~., Her mother was MarinaRagan, cauae she belonged to the Ragane, ex plained Aunt J~dellne end she was born cii the Ragen ~~antatlon right down on Little River in Greene County ( ceoi gia) When Marina s young Ml strees married young ~fr. Mose Wright of Oglethorpe County, she took Marina to her new home to be her own servant, and there is where Adeline was born. The place was known as the Wright Plantation and was a very large one.

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Page 2. 162 hd~11ne doesn t remember h r father, and strange to sa~~ ehe cannot xecall how many lix others and sisters 8h. had though ~ she tried hard to name them all. She is sure, howeTert there were s ie . older and acme younger, Z rec~ kon I must er cOEne along -atout the middle she said. After a little while Aunt ~ Adeline was living far back . in the past and talked freely with questions now and then to encourage her reminiscences, she told ma y interesting things about her lite as a slave. She told about the slaves living in the~uartere log houses all in a lOng row near the white folks house and how happy they were . ~ She couldn t remember how many slaves were on the plantati on but was sure there were mary: Yas m, my Marster had lots of niggers, jest how many, I don t know, but there sho was a sight of us . They were given their all ~ance of rations e~very week and cooked their own meals in their cabins. They had good~plain)hane- raised things to eat - and we was glad to get it too. We di~n t have no fancy fixings j est plainfood . Their clothes were made by ~egro sewing wciiien out of cloth spun and woven right there in the Q~uarters. All the little dresses were made alike. When they took a notion to give us striped dresses we sho was dressed up. I never will forget long as I live, a hickory stripe.~ (that s what they called stripes in th~n~ days) ~ dress they made as, it had brass buttons at the wrist bands. I was so proud of that dress and felt so dressed up In it I jest strutted er round with it on , and she chuckled over the re~ colle cti on of that wonderful dress ehe wore so long ago. . . # ~. When asked wi.at ~s the very first thing she remembered, Aunt Adeline . gave a rather surprising answer: The first thing I recollect is ~ay lo ~e for my Mother ~ I loved her so and would cry when I uldn t be wi th her and as I growed up I kept on loving her jest that a way even atter I married and had ~ children of my own.

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~ Page 3. 163 The first work she did was waltinglu the housea Betore she could read her,,I~lStreSS taught her the letters on the newspapers and what they spelled so she could bring them thepapers they wanted. lier mother worked In the field: she drove steers and could do a . . kinds of ~ farxj~ work and was the best meat cutter on the plantation. She was a good spinner too, and was req,uired to spin a broach of woolspinnlng every night. All the ~~rc w~nen had to spin, but Aunt Adeline said her mother wa~ specially good In spinning wool and that kind of spinning was powerful s1ow ~ Thinking a mcgnent she added: Arid my mother was one of the best dyers anywhere round, and I was too. I did make the most ~o ~rs by mixing up ai . kinds of bark and leaves. I recollect the prettiest sort of a lilac color I made with maple barkandpineba,~~k, not, the outside pine bark, but that little thin skin that grows right down next to the tree it was pretty, that color was. Aunt Adeline thinks they ~vere more fortunate than any other litti. slaves she knew because their4rster had a little store right there where he would give them candyeverynowand then bright pretty sticks of candy. She ~ members one time he gave them candy In little tin cups, and how proud of those cups they were. He never gave them money, but out of the store they could get what money bought so they were ~iappy. But they had to have whippings t um, \4 good er bad we got them ~hippings with a long cowbl de kept jest fer that . They whipped us to make us grow better, I reckon . ~ ~ ~ Although they got whippings a-plenty they were ne~ver separated b7 sale. No main, my white folks nemr believed In selling their niggers , said Aunt Adeline and related an incident provins this. I recollect once my oldest brother done s iething Marster didn t like an h. got mighty mad with him an sai d Gus I ni goin ter sell I am t a-goin to keep you no longer . Mi st~re es spoke up ri ght qui ck and said : No you am t a~goin t o sell Qua, \jreither, he s nuesed and looked after all our oldest chiUun, and he s goin ~\ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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Page ~ ~ I ItH to stay right here . And that was the last of that, Gus was never sold he went to war with his young Marster when he went and died up there In the war cause he waS hcznesi ek so Marster cane back and said. ~ ~ Aunt Adeline was surprised when asked if the Doctor ever was called in to see her or any of the slaves when they were sick back in slavery days in fact she was a bit indignant as she answered; Nozaam, I was born, growed up, married, had sixteen children and never had no Doctor with me tU here since I got so old . She went on to say that her white folks looked arter their negroes when they were sick. They were given tonics and things to keep them well so sickness among them was rare No store-bought medi cines but good old hcme~inade remedi es ~ were used. For instance, at the first sniffle they were called In and given a drink of fat lightwood tea, made by pouring boiling water over finely split kindling ~ that explained Aunt Adeline, was cause lightwoodgot ~turpent1ne in it In the Springtime there was a mixture of anvil dust ( gathered up frcu arowid the anvil in the blacksmith s shop) and mixed with syrup, and a teaspoon tu11 given every morning or so to each little piccaninny as they were called up in the white folks yard . S ietimes instead of this mixture they weregiven a dose of g4~d~whisky - ai . to keep them healthy and well. There was great rejoicing over the birth ofa ~gro baby end the white folks were called upon to give the little black stranger a neme. ~-S Adeline doesn t r~nember anything about the holidays and how they were spent, not even Christmas and Thanksgiving, but one thing she does remember clearly and that Is: All ~ white folks was Methodist folks, and they had ~ days arid no work was done while they was ~~jnLan~cLpr~ayin . And we couldn t do no work on Sunday no mam everybody had to rest on that day and on preachin days everybody went to $ihurch, white and black to the same church, us niggers set up in the gallery that was built in the white folks church ~ ~--~ for us .

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. Page 5. :1~G5 There wasn t any tiae for play because there was a much work to do on a big plantation, but they had good times together even 1f they did have so much to Before J~de1tne was grown ~ her young Mi stres3 MissMary~ight marri ed Mr. Willi am Turner frc~n WI ikes so she came t o the Turner ~.antati on T -- ~ --~-~-~---~ to live. an~1 lived there until several years after the War. Adeline hadn t been in her new hcmie long betore Lewis Willis . a young ~egro fran the ad~ joining plantation, started caning to see her. Lewis ocane to see me any time tcause his Marster, ~fr. Willis, give him a pass so be wasn t scared to be out at night count of the ol. They dl dn t bother a ni gger if he had a ~&SB, they sho did beat him. ~ ~ 7 When Adeline was fourteen years old she and Lewis married, or rather it .wa5 like this: We didn t have no preacher when we married, my Marster and Mistess said they didn t care and Lewis a Master and Mj stre s said they didn t care, so they all met up at my white folks house and had us cane In and told us they didn t mind our marryin . My Marster said, Now you and Lewis wants to marry and there ain t no objections so go on and jumpoverthe broan stick together and you I s married That was all there was to it and we was marrl d. I lived on with my white folks and he lived on with his and kept canin to see rae j e at like he had done when he was a courtin . He never brought me any presents cause he di t t have ~io money bo buy them with but he was good to me and that was what counted. Superstitlonandslgns still have a big place in the life of this womsn even after a hundred long years. She has outlived or forgottn many She use~ to believe in, but still holds fast to those she remembers. If a rooster crows anywhere near your door somebody is caning and you might as well look for em, cause that rooster done told you . When a person dies if there is a clock in the roan it must be stopped the very minute o death or it will never be any more good if left ticking it will be ruined. Every dark cloudy day brings death Sanebody leaving this unfriendly world today . Then she is sure when

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P~e 6. 166 she feals ~ sadness and doesn t know why, it a 81gn s~nebody Is dying way off s~nawhere and we don t know It . Yes, she certainly believes In ai . the signs silo remembers even to this good day , as she says. ~ 1~hen asked about the )(ar hunt Adeline said that times were muo~i harder then : Why we didn t have no salt jest plain salt and oouldn t get none them daTs We had t o get up the dirt in t he smokehouse where the meat had dripped and run it like lye to get salt to put on things yas m, times was sho hard and urMarster was off in the,tar all four years and we had to do the best we could.\~Je niggers wouldn t know nothing ab ut it all if lt ~ . ~ . hadn t a been Ibor a little old black, sassy woman In the Quarters that was a ~ talki t all the time about free dom , She give our whi te folks lots or trouble ~ she wa~ so sassy to them,~ but they didn t soll her and she was set - free along with ~ they all ocaue hcme frczri the Afar and Marster called us up and told us we was free, saae rejoiced so they s~iouted, but sane didn 1~, theywassOrl7. Lewis cOEne a runnin over there an wanted me and the chillun to go on over to his white folks place with him, an I wouldn t go No main, I wouldn t leave my white folks. I told Lewis to go on and let me lone, I ~ knowe d my whi te folks and they was good t o me but I dl du t know hi s white f olks ~ so we kept living like we did in slavery, but he come to see me every darj. : Ai~t~r a few years he flnafly ~suaded nie to go on over to the Willis place and . live with him, and his white folks was powerful good to me. Aster a while, tho we all went back and lived with my white folks and I worked on for them as long as I was able to work and always felt like I belonged to em, and you know, after all this long time, I feel like I e~ their s. why I live so long, you asking? Cause I always been careful and took good care of myself, eat a Dienty and stayed out In the good fresh open air and sunshine when I could ~ and then I had a good husband that took care of me. This last reason f o~ her long life was added as an after thought end elnee Lewis, her husband, has been dead these forty years maybe those first nwied

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Page ~7. ~ i6~ causes were the real ones~ Be that as lt m ~ ay, &unt ~deline Is a very remarkable old woman and is most Interesting to talk with. L~.

Excerpt from slave interview. Uncle Willis. 172 168

*amRs ~O7~~TS 4 ~&ugtista Athene _wo ~OO2~~3 . Super~i~soi~: nias Veima Be11.~ \~1 ~ ~ Uiicle Willis lived with his daughter, Rena, who ja 74 yeer~ old. I hi s baby sal d Rena. All dead but me and I am t no good ror him now, cause I kat l; tote nothin . -J When asked where her father was, Rena looked out over the blazing cotton field and called: Pap Oh-~mpappy~ Stop pI okin cotton ~ and come in awhile . ~ Dear s some ladies wants to see you. tJ~cle Willis hobbled slowly to the cabin, which was set in the middle of the cotton pat eh. He wore clean blue overalls obviou ly new. His . ~nall, regular features had hi gh cheekbones There was a tuft of whi te hair ~on hi s chin, and his head was covered with a sundown hat. Mawnin he sal d. I bin ~ si ck So I thought I might ~.t scme cotton terda7.~ Willis thinks he is 101 years old, He said: I was 55 years old when freedoen declared. He belonged to a doctor in Burke Coun, who Willis at first said, had tbree or foui plantations. Later he stated that the good doetorhad fiTe or six places, alum Burke County. - I iiuk in de fiel he went on : axtd I drove de doctor thirty years. He owned 300 y. I nv~ver wsnt to school a day in my life oept Sunday school, but I tuk de doctor s eons four miles ev y day to school. ~iess h. had so much business in hand he thought . de chillun could walk. I used to sit do~i on de school steps till dey turn oui. I got way up de aiphabat by li stenin but when I went to courtin! I forgot all ~ dat . Asked what hi a i .gular duti.s ~rs ~tllt.s. ans~sr.d With prids: tBW~ ~

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Page. 2, :169 ~Mat~ster had a ea yage and a buggy too. My father d~1v ~ de doctor. $cznetiiaes I was :tlxi3l! to go to bed, and had to hitch up my horse ~d go five or six mile. I had a regular aad&le horse, two pair of horses for ca yage. Doct or were a ri eh man. Ri chest man In Burke County. He made hi s money on hi s farm. When summertime come I went wid him to Bath, wheh he had a house oIl Tezia Hill. We driv down in de ca yage. Sundays we went to church when Dr. Gou1din~ preach. De darkies went in de side do I hear him preach many times. Asked about living conditi one on the plantati on Willi s repli od: ~ De big house was set in a half acre yard. Bout fifty yards on one si de was my house and fifty yards on de yudder si de was de house o ~ G~ anny, a woman what tended de obi l.lun and had charge o de yard when we went to Bath. ~1i11is gestured behind him. Back yonder was de quarters, half a mile long; dey wuz oiie ro i crost, and some had shed ro x. When, any of em got sick, Marster would go round to see em aLl As to church, Willis said: I belonget to Hopeful Church. Church people would have singin and prayin an. de wi eked people would have danein and singin . Willi s chuckled. At dat time I wuz a regul~ir dancerl I cut de pigeon wing high enougb Not many cullud peoples knOw de Bible In slavery time. We had dances, and prayers, and sing, too. We sang a song, On ~Jordan s stormy banks I stand, and east a wi shful eye. How about marriages? Willis was asked. . Colored preacher marry ein. You had to get license and give it to de preacher and he marry em. When de men on ~zr plantation had wives on udder plantations, dey call em broad wives. Did you give your wife pr sent s when you were courting? he was asked. I went to courtin and never give her nuthin till I marry her. ~A.s to punishments Willis ~ said that slaves were whipped as they needed it, and as a general rule the overseer did the whipping.

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P~e~ 3. 17() When darky wouidn t take hi froe~ de overseer he Bal d ~ he had to ca y dem to de boss ; and if we needed any hixi de marster brush em. Why, de darkies would whip de overseer ~ Willis was asked to describe how slaves earned money for personal use, and replied: Dey made dey own money. In slavery im, if you wanted f our-tive acre of land to plant you anything on, marster give it to you and whatever dat lan~make, it belong to you. You could take dat money and spend it any way you wanted. Still he give you scmethin to eat and clothe you, but dat pat oh you mek cotton on s ietimes a whole bale dat money yur. . Willi s thought the plantati on house was still there but it badly wounded, he sai~d. ADey tell me dere ain t nobuddy living in lt now. It souti~ ot Waynesboro. . ~Vhen de soldiers cane thoo continued Willi s dey di du t burn dat place but dey went in dere and took out ev yting dey want and give i t to de ciillud people. Dey kep it till dey got free. De soldiers tuk de doctor s h~ horse s and ca y em off Got In de crib end tek de corn. Got in de ~noke t ouse and t ek de meat out . Old Maresa bury hi s money and silver in sn~ iron chist. Dey tuk it 300 yards aw~y to a clump o trees an~ bury lt. lt tuk to men to ca y it Dere wai money widout menti~on in dat chisti After ~ de soldiers ~aes thoo dey went down and got lt back.!! What did you do after freedcin was declared? . Willis straightened up. 1 went down to Augusta to de ~ee~an s Bureau to see if twas true we wuz fre . I reckon dere was over a hundred people dere. De man got up and stated to de people : You all is jus t. as free as I em. You alu t got no misti e and no marster. Work when you want. ~ ~ On Sunday morning Old Mareter sont de house gai. and tell us to all c~e to de house He sal d:

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Page 4~ t What I want t o send for you all 1 s to tell you dat you are . You hab de privilege t o go anywheh you en, but ~ t ~ want none you to leave me now. I want s you-all t o stay ri ght. wi d me It you stay you sign to it. I asked him: t ~What you want me to si gn for? I I s free . Dat will hold nie to my word and hold you to yo word, he say. ~ All my folks sign it but I wouldn t sign. Marster eaU me up end ~say: Willis, why wouldn t you sign? I say: If I is already free, I don t need to sign no paper. If I was workin for you and dom for yo befo I got free, I kin do it still, if you wants me to stay wid you~. My father and mother tried to git me to sign, but I wouldn t sign. My mother sal d : You oughter si gn How you know Marster gwine y? I say : Den I kin go scmewheh else. Marster pay first class hands ~l5.OO a month, other hends $lO.OO, and den on down to five and six dollars. He give rations like dey always have. ~hen Chri stmus ccnie, all C ~O up to be pal d off. Den be calls me Ask w~zr i~ rae? I was standin rotin de corner of de house. C~e up here, Willis, he, say. You didxi t sign dat paper but I reckon I hab to pay you t He paid t rae and my wif~e *180 .00 I said : nell you~aU thought he wo~ildn t pay me, but I got my money too.. . . I stayed to my marster a place one year after de war den I leV dere. Nox year I decided I would quit dore and go scmewheh dee. It was on account t fl2~ wife You see ~ Marster bought her off as de hi gli bi dder d wn in 17aynesboro, and she ain t seen her mother and father for fifteen years. Wh~ii she got free she went down to see ein. Waren t whim to caae back. t was on account o Mistis and her. Dey bote had chibluns, five-aix year old. De chulluns had disagreement. Mistis ~lap my gal. My wit. sass de Miette. But

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~ ) Page ~ ~L (~s my marster, he wuz as good a man as ever born. I woulthi t have lef him for nob oc~y j ust on ac count of hi s wi fe and her fell out ~ What did your master say when you told him you were going to leave? ;as he sorry?t HI q~uit and goes over three mi les to another wi dow lady s house and inek bargain wid her, said V~illis. I pass right by de do . Old boss sittin on de pi~ za. He say: Hey, boy, wheh you gwine? I say: I cided to go. I wuz de fo rnan o de plow~han den. I saw to all de looking up, and things li ke dat He say : Hold on dere . He come out t o de gate . tell you ~ rhat I give you to stay on here. I give you five acre of as good land as I sot, and ~3O.OO a month, to stay here and see to my bizness. Willis paused a moment, thinking back on that long distant parting. I say,~ he went on, I can t, marster. It don t suit my wife round here. She won t cc~e back. I can t stay. He turn on me den, and busted out crying. I didn t tho t I could raise up a darky dat would talk dat-a- way, he said. Well, I went on off. I got de wagon anc3 cane by de house. Marster say: Now, you gwine off but don t forget me, boy. Rerriember me as you always done. I said: All right. Willis chev;ed his tobacco reflectively for a few minutes, spat Into the rosemary bush and resumed his story. I went over to dat widow lady s house and work. Aloiig about May I f ~ot si ck She say : I going send for de doct . I say : Please ~m, ~on t do dat. (I thought maybe he kill me cause i let him. ) She say: ~iIell, I gwine send f0 him. I in desprut condition. Then I know anything, he walk up in de do I was laying wid my face toward de do and I turn over. Doctor come up to de bed. Boy, how you gettin on? I bad off, I say. He say : se e you I . Ysh. Lady say : Doct or whut you think of Doct or say: Mistis, it 11105e too late, but I do all I kin. She say: Please do all you kin, he bout de bes han I got. L

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Page 6. jr~ i~) Doctor fix up med cine and tole her to cive lt to me, She say: Uncle Will, tek dis med cine. I frald to tek it. B~raid he wuz tryin to kill me. Deli two men, ohn and Charlie, come In. Lady say: Get ~~is rued cine In Uncle Will. One o de men hold my hand and dey g~g me and put lt in me. Nex i~ew days I kin talk and ax for somethin to eat so I git better. (i say: Well, he didn t kill me when I tuk de med oinel ) I 3tayed dere wid her, continued Willis. Nex year I move right back in two miles, other side wheh I always live, wid anudder lady. I stay dere three year. Got along all right. When I lef from there, I let d.ere wid 41300.00 and plenty corn azic~ hog. Everything I want and three hundred cash dollars in ray pooketZ It~was plain that in his present status of relief ward, Uncle Willis 1 ooked b ack on that sum of money as a small fortune He thought about I t awhl le, spat again, and went on: Fourth year I let and went down to anudder place near de Creek. I stay dere 33 years in dat one place. Uncle Willis, did you ever see the doctor again? He die tore I know it, he replied. 1 was bout fifteen miles from him, and ~y de time I year o hi s death he bury on plantation near de creek. ~i1lis was asked about buperstitlons and answered with great seriousness: ?~Eve ~ ybucidy in de won hab got a sperrit what follow em rotin and dey kin see ~lffrunt things. In my sleep I hab vision. Pappy, tell de ladles bout de liant, urged Aunt Rena from her post lr~ the doorway, and Willis took up the story with eagerness: One night I was gwlne to a lady s store, ridin a horse. De graveyard was 100 yards from de road I wuz passin . !~ noon was shinin bright as day. I saw somethin commt out of dat graveyard. It come across de road, right befo me. His tail were draggin on de ground ~ a long tail. He had hair on both sides of hirn, layin down on de road He up I pull de horse di s way. He move L

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Page too. I yell out: What in de name o God Is dat? And lt turn right straight around end went back to de graveyard. I went on to de lady s house and done my shoppin I tell you I wuz skeered, cause I was sho I would see it going back, but I never saw it. De horse was turrible skeered o1~ it. It looked like a Maryno sheep and it had a long, swishy tail. Uncle Willis was asked if he had ever seen a person conjured and he answered: Dey is people in de won ~ot sense enough to kill conjur In anybuddy, but nobuddy ever conjur me. I year um say, if a conjur you, you ll git somethin in you dat would kill you. Asked to what he attributed his long, healthy life, Willis raised his head with a preaching look end replied: I tell you, Misais, zactly wh&t I believe, I bin tryin to serve I bin tryin to serve de Lawd Until today nobuddy can turn me my gospel, I ain t able to go to e . . . . . . . . . . .1 . A ~aeek later Uncle Willis was found standing in his cabin door. Do you want to ride to the old plantation to day? he was asked. His vitality was almost too low for him to grasp the invitation, I se mighty weak to-day, he said in a feeble voice. I don t feel good for much. Where Is Aunt Rena? he was asked. taking an automobile trip? She cone to town on de bus, to see de Fatubly !?e1fare.~~ Have you ha~ breakfast? I had scone c offse but I am t eat none ~1ell, come on, Uncle Willis. ~1e ll get you some breakfast and then out de person ~od ever since I come to be a man of family. 79 years, and I live by precept of de word. away fran God business I am a man studying church, but I still keep serving God. Do you think she would mind. your L

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Page 8. 175 t 11 take you to the plantation and take your picture in the plaee where you were born, 101 years ago. Uncle Willis appeared to be sxnewhat in a daze as he padlocked the cabin door, put on his sundown hat, took up his stout stick and tottered aown the steps. He wore a frayed sweater with several layers of shirts showing at the cuffs. On the way he recalled the first railroad train that passed through Burke County. I kin 1er skeered, he recollected. ~fe wuz all mazed to see dat train flying long thout any horses. De people wuz all afraid. Had you heard of airplanes before you saw one, Uncle Willis? Yes ma am. I yeared o dem but you t glimne di s car full money to fly. Dey s too high off de ground. I never is gwine in ones Uncle ~Vi1lis was deposited on the porch of one of the remaining slave cabins to eat his breakkus, while his kidnapers sought over hill and field for ~The big house but only two cabins and the chimney foundations of a large burned dwelling rewarded the search. I The old ex-~1ave was i~ea in front of the cabin, to one side of the clay and bri ck chimney, and took great pleasure in the ceremony, rearing hi s head up straight so that his white beard stuck out. . Th ~ brutal rea ~ity of finding the glories of the plantation forever vanished rriust have been a severe blow for the old man. Several times on the way back he wiped tears frc~ his eyes. Once again at his cabin in the cottonfield, his vitality reasserted itself, and he greeted his cu~ icus dusky neighbors with the proud statement. Dey tuk me when I was bred an~ born! 1 ain t ax no better timel ~iillis farewell words were: Coo byei I hopes you all gits to Paradisei ...........

George Womble - ex-slave. 183 179

~7:J s7:~Lr. 4~:-)(~ ~Y (a~ii e ~ . Page. :Jhitiey, ~ i~1~n~i(,, ; E Dibiskell, j 79 ....20 3? A GEORGE wc~r~ :~D\~~ ~- - -. ~1 - ~ - ~ ~ EX~L~T~ One of the reh cs of Slavery I s George W ible ~ From all ap~ pearcflces Mr. Womble looks to be fifty~three years o ~ age Instead of the ripe old age of n1nety~threj that he claims. He is about five and one~ha1f or si x fe et in hei ght wel ghs one~hundre d and seventy five pounds or more, &nd has good sight end hearing in addition to a skin that is almost devoid o~ an~ wrinkle. Be~ido~ all of this he is a clear thinker and has a good sense of humor. Following is an account of the experiences of Mr. W ible as a slave and ~f the conditions in general on the plantations where he lived: I was born in the year of 1843 near the present site of what is now known as Clinton, Georgia. The names of my parents were Patsy and ~1eigh iliciley. I never sa~my father as he was sold before I was old enough to recognize him as being my father. I was still quite young when r~y mother was sold to a plantation owner who lived in New Orlenis, La. AS she w~as being put on the wagon to be taken away I heard her say: Let me ~ee my po child one more tim~ because I know I l~l never.see him again . That was the last I ever saw or heard of her. As I had no brothers or sisters or any other relatives to care for me my master, who was Mr. Robert ~idley, had me placed in his house where I was taught to wait tables and to. c~.o ai . kinds of house work. Mr. Ridley had a very large plantation and he raised cotton, corn, oats, wheat, peas, and live stock. Horses and mules were his specialty- I remember that he had one little boy whose job was to break these animals so that they could be easily sold. My job was to wait tables, help with the house cleaning, and to act as nurse maid to three I

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. Page 2~ :181:) ~Jh1 tley E ~ Dri ske 11, i 20 37 young children belonging to the ~naster. At other tinies I drove the cows to aii~ frcau the pasture and I often helped with the planting in the fields when the field hands were rushed. Out of the forty-odd slaves that were held by the Ridleys ail worked In the field with the exception of myself and the cook whose naine was Harriet Rldley. Continuing, ~ . Womble says: 1 be~ lieve that Mr. RIdJ.ey was one of the meanest men that ever lived. Sometimes he whipped us, especially us boys, just to give himself a little fun. He would tie us in such a way as to cause our bodies to form an angle and then he preceeded to use the whip. i~Vhen he had finished he would ask: who do you belong to? and we had to answer; Marse Robert . At other times he would throw us in a large tank that held about two thousand gallons of water. He thsn stood back and laughed while we struggled to keep from drowning. When Marse Robert died I was still a small boy. Several months after his eath L~1rs. Ridley gave the plantation up and took her share of the slaves. (ten in number) o~ which I was one, and moved to Tolbert county, C-eorgia near the present locati On of Talbottcin, Georgia. The other slaves and the plantation were turned over to i~rse Robert s rel.atives. After a few months stay in this place I was sold to Mrs. Ri~ley s brother, Enoch Viomble. on the day that I was sold three doctors examined rue and I heard one of them say: This is a thoroughbred boy. His teeth are good and he has good muscles ~nd eyes. He ll live a long time. Then Mr. V~nble said: He looks in telligent too. I think I ll take him and make a blacksmith out of him. ~~nd so to close the deal he paid his sister five hundred dollars for rae. According to L~r. ~omble hi s new master was even meaner than the de ceased Mr. Ridley. He was likewise a plantation owner ~nd a farmer and as such he raised the same things that Mr. Ridley ~id with the exception of the

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Pagc~ 3. 181 ~ Ih1 tley T~r1 skell i-21 37 horses and the mules. In all there were about five hundred acres to the plantation. There were six children in the Wc~b1e family In addition to Mr. Wcrnble anci his wife and. they all lived in a large one-storied frame house. ~ large hickory tree crew tbrou~h the center of the porch where a hole ha~ been out out for Its growth0 Mi I Womble says that his reputation of being an excellent house boy h~ preceded him wid so here too he was put to work in the master s house where he helped with the cooking, washed the dishes, cleaned the house, cnd ~i1~o acted as nurse for the younger white children. in ~ddition to this he. ~as &:L1SO required to attend to the cows. He remembers how on one night at ~j very late hour he was called by the m&ster to go and drive the cows fraa the pasture as the sleet and snow might do thera more hann than good. He was :~o coir9. that on the way back from the p~st~re he stopped at the pig ~ens where he pushed one or two of them out o~ the spots where they had lain so that he ~ou1d sc~uat there and warm hic feet in the plades left warm by their bodies. :o a~d to his discornCort the snow an~ sleet froze In his long hair and this raade hirn even more miserable than ever. Mr. ~7c~iibie w&s askedto tell what time he had to arise in the morning to be~ in his day s work cn i he replied th~t sometimes he did nt even go to sleep as he ha~ to keep one hand. on the baby crib to k~ep it from crying. Most of the time he got u~ at four o clock in the morning cnd went to the kitchen ~chero he helped the cook prep~re bre~kf~st. ~fter this was done and he had finished waiting on the master and hi~ family he started to clean the house. .. hen he had finished this he had to take care of the younger ;Iomble children and do countless the other things to be done around a house.. Of the other slaves Mr. ~c~ble says: None of them ever suffered from that disease known as mattress fever . They all got up long before 5ay and prepared their breakfasts and then before it was light enough to see clearly they were k

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Page 4. 182 ~ Ifit1ey Dibi skel . 1~- 21-3? ::1;and1n~ In the field holding their hoes and other implements ~ afraid t~ ~3t~rt ~~~ork for fea that they woud .c cover the cotton plants with dirt be-. cause they could nt see clearly due to the darkness. ~n overseer was hired by the master to see that the work was done properly. If any of the slaves aere cat~less about their work they were m.ade to take off their clothes In the field before all the rest ~nd then a sound whipping was administered. : e1a~ hands also get whippings when they failed to pick the required threehundred pounds of cotton daily. ~ To avoid a whipping for this they sprinkled the white sand of the fields on the dew soaked cotton and at the t ime it was weighed they were credited with more pounds than they had actu:lly picked. ~~ound ten or eleven o clock In the morning they were all allowed to ~o to the cook house where they were riven dinner by the plantation cook. By one o clock they were all back in the field where they..remained until it was too dark to see clearly, and then they were dismissed by the overseer after he had checked the number of pounds of cotton that they had picked, The slaves knew that whenever Mr. ~omble hired a new overseer be always told the prospect that if he could nt hendle the slaves his services would not be needed. The cook had heard the master tell a prospective over seer this and so whenever a new one was hired. theslaves were quick to see how far they could go with him. Mr. Womble says that an overseer had to be a very capable man in order to keep his job as overseer on the Wanble plantation b e c auseji f the slave s found out that he was afral d of them fi ghtlng him ( and they did sometimes) they took advantage of him so much so that the production ~5ropped ~nd the overseer either found himself trying to explain to his employer or else looking for another job. The master would never punish a slave for hCLtlflg an overseer with his fists stated Mr. Wornble.

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Page 5. ~ ~1iit1ey, Driskell 1- 21- 37 During rainy weather the slaves shucked corn, piled rnanu~ e in the barns, and made cloth. In the winter season the men split rails, built fences, and dug ditches, while the wcnien did the weaving and the making of cloth. These sluves who were too old to work in the fields re~ maifled at home where they nursed the sick slaves (when there was sic~ess) and attended to the needs of those children who were too young for field work. Those children who were still being fed fran their mother s breasts were also under the care of one of these old persons. However, in this case the mothers were permitted to leave the field twice a day ( once between breakfast and dinner and once between dinner and supper) so that these children could. be fed. At times Mr. Womble hired some of his slaves out to work by the day for some of the other nearby plantation owners. Mr. Geo. Wc~nble says that he was often hired out to the other white ladies of the cc~nmunity to take care of their children and to do their housework. Because of his ability to clean a house and to handle children he was in constant demand. The men worked every day in the week v~hile the women were given Saturday afternoon off so that they might do their personal work such as the washing and the repairing of their clothing etc. The ~~en were required to do the washing and the repairing of the single men s clothing in addition to their owr., No night work was re~uirsd of any of them except during the winter when they were given three cuts of thread to card, reel, ern~ spin each night. There were sane days when the master ceild them all to his back yard and told them that they could have a frolic. ~1hile they danced and sang the master and his family sat and looked on. On days like the FOurth of 2u1y and Christmas in addition to the frolic barbecue was serve~~ and says

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Page 6. 181 ~. h1t1ey, Driskell 1. 21 37 Mr. ~omb1e: It was right funny to see all of the~n dancing around the yard with a Diece of meat In one hand and a piece of brea1 in the other. Mr. Wc~b1e stated further that clothes were given to all the slaves once a year. ~n issue for the men usually consisted of one or two pairs of pant s and- some shirts underwear woolen socks and s. pair of heavy brogans that had been made of horse hi9e. These shoes were reddish in appearnace and were as stiff as board according to ~ . Womble. For special wear the men were given a garment that was made into one piece by sewing the pante and shirt together. This was known as a roundabout . The women were given one or two dresses that had been made of the same material as that of the men s pants. ~s the cloth that these clothes were made of was very coarse and heavy most of thera lasted until the time for the next issue. None of the clothing that the slaves wore w~z bought. After the cloth hE.d been made by the slaves who did ail the spinning anc~ theweaving the master s wife out the clothes out while the slave w~nen did the sewing. One of the men was a cobbler and it was he who made all of the shoes for slave use. In the summer months the field hands worked in their bare feet regardless of whether they ha~ shoes or not. Mr. ~7anb1e says that he was fifteen years of age when he was given his first ~air of si oes. They were a pair of re~ boots and were so stiff that he needed help to get them on hie feet as well as to get them off. Once when the master had suf1~ered some few financial losses the slaves had to wear clothes that were made of crocus material. The children were sacks after holes had been cut out for their heads aM arms. This garmet looked like a slightly lengthened shirt in appearance. A ~ye made frau red clay was used to give color to these clothes. The bed clothing consisted of bagging seeks an~ ~jui1ts that were made out of old clothes. ;~t the end of the week all the field hands met in the master s

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Page?. 1~r ~h1t1ey, . Driskel . 1-~21 37 backyard where they were given a certain ernount of food which was suppose~1y enough to last for ~i week. Such an issue was made up o~ three pounds of fat ~ue at one peek of meal an~1 one juart of black molas ses. Mr ~Tornb1e was asked what the slave did 1f their allowance of rood ran out before the end ~fb the week and he rep1ie~3 In the following manner: 1fb their food gave out before the time for another issue they waited until night end then one or two of them would go to the mi11~house where the flour and the meal was kept . After they bad succeeded in getting In they would take an auger and r~ore a hoLe in the barrel containing the meal. One held the sack while the other too}~ a stick e~d workedit around in the opening made by the suger so as to raake the meal flow freely. After their bags were filled the hole was ~toDped up and a hasty departure was made. aorrietiiaes when they wanted meat t~iey either went to the smoke house and stole a i~em or else they would go to the pen v:here the pigs were kept an~ take a mall pig out. ~en they get to t~~ie woods with this animal they p:~oceeded to skin and clean it (it ha~. already been ki1i~ with a blow in the heaa before they left the psn). 11 the parts that they did not want were either buried or thro~vn in the nearby river. ~fter goiii~g hane all of this meat was cooked &n~ hidden. ~s there was danger in being caught none of this stolen mat ~vas ever fried because there vras more :an~er of the odor of frying meat ~oin~ farther away than that odor made by meat being boiled. At this point M.r. ~omble stated that the slaves were taught to steal by their m~cters. ~ornetimes they were sent to the nearby pl~ntations to steal chickens1 pigs, and other things that could be carried away easily. At such times the master would tell them that he was not ~oing to iaistreat them &fl1 that he was not going to allow anyone el8e to mictreat them and that by taking the above mentioned things they were helping him to be more abl3 to take care of them.

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Pace 8. Jhitley, Driskell 1-21-37 At breakfast the field hands ate fried meat, corn bread, and mo lasses. when they went to the house for dinner they were given some kind of vegetable along with pot liquor and milk. ~ien the days work was done and it was time for the evening meal there was the fried meat again with the naolasses and the corn bread. Mr. Womble says that they ate this kind of food overy day in the week. The only variation was on Sunday when they were given the seconds of the flour and a little kore molasses so that they might Eake a czke. No other sweetening was used e~ccept the molasses. A;~S for Mr. ~j~able and the cook they fared better as they ate the same kind of food that the ~aster and his family did. 11e remembers how he used. to take biscuits from the dishes that were being sent to the masters t able lie was the wal t er and thi s was an e asy matt er Later he t ook s cme of these biscuits and sold them to the other little boys for a nickle each. ~itLer the master or the slaves had real coffee. They all drank a type of this beverage that had been made by parching bran or meal and then boiled in water. The younger children were fed from a trough that was twenty feet i_n length. ~t meal time each day the master would come out and supervise the eook whose duty it was to fill the trough with food. ~ or breakfast the milk and bread was all mixed together in the trough by the master who used his ;;alking cane to stir it ~vith. ~t dinner and supper the children were fed pot liquor end bread and sarietinies milk that had been mixed together in the saine manner. All sto3d back until the master had fini~he~ stirring the food and then at a given signal they dashed to the trough where they began e eating with their hands. some even put their mouths in the trough and ate. There were times when the master s dogs and some of the pigs that ran round s- I ~ ~ ~ ~

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. Page 9. 187 ~h1t1ey, . Driskell 1 ..21-~37 tbe yard all came to the trough to share these meals. Mr. Womble states that they were not permitted to strike any of these animals so as to drive them away and so they protected their faces from the tongues of the in- truders by placing their hands on the sides of their faces as they ate. i;u~ring the meal the master walked from one end of the trough to the other to see that all was as it should be. Before ivir. Vlomble started to work in the master s house he ate as the other children for a short time. Some of the times he di~ not have enough food to eat and so when the time carne to feed the cows he took a part of their food ( a mixture of cotton seed, co11ar~ stalks, and small ears of corn) and ate t when night came. When he started working In the house regularly he always had sufficient food from then on. ~ll the food that was eaten was grown on the plantation in the master s gardens. He did not permit the slaves to have a garden of their own neither coul they raise their own chickens an~ so the only time that they got the chance to enjoy the eating of chicken was when they decided to riiake a special trip to the kaster s poultry yard. The housing faci ~ities varied with the work-a slave wa~ engaged in on the 1!Iomble plantation according to i~r. Womble. He slept in the house under the dining-~rocm table all of the time. The cook also slept in the house of her owner. For those who worked on the fields log cabing (some distance behind the master s house.) were provide. ~.sked to describe one of these cabins Mr. ~omble replied: They were two roomed bullllngs made out of logs and daubed with mud to keep the weather out. At one end there was a chimney ths.t Was made out of dried mud, sticks and stones. The fire place was about Live or six feet in length and on the inside of it there were sane hooks to hang the pots from when there was cooking to be done.

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. PagelO, ~j1iit1ey, IXi~ 1ske1 . i~21-3? There W&S only one doo~r end thi s was the iront . They would ut put a back door in a cabin because lt would be easy for a slave to slip out of the back way if the master o~ the overseer came to punish en occupant. There were one or t:io small openings cut In the back so that they could get air. The furniture was niade by the bladk~nith , continued Mr. W~nble. lin one corner of the room there was a large bed. that had been made out of ~rieavy wood. Rope that ran from side to side served as the springs while the mattreSs was a large bag that had been stuffed with wheat straw, The only other furnishings were a few cooking utensils and one or two benches. As riLny as four families lived in one of these cabins although the usual number to a cabin was three families. There was one other ho se where the young children were kept while their parents worked in the f ield~. Most of the sickness on the Wanble plantation was due to colds and fever. For the treatment of either of these ailm ~nts the master always ke~ alarge can filled with a iaixture of turpentine and caster oil. When anyone complained of a cold a dose of this oil was prescribed. The master gave this,~ c ose fran a very large spoon that always hung fran the can. The slaves also ~ ~ their own home made remedi~s for the treatment of different ailments. Y3I1OW root tea and black- hall tea were used in the treatment of colds while ~i1low tea was used in the treatment of fevor. Another tea made frczn the drop-.~ plngs of sheep was used as a remedy for the measles, A doctor was always called when anyone was seriously ill. He was always called to attend those cases of childbirth. Unless a slave was too sick to walk he was required to ~o to the fiel d and work like the others If however he was onfined to his bed a nurse was provided to attend to his needs. ~ On Sundays all of the slaves were allowed to attend the ~: lite church. where they listened to the services from the rear of the church. When the

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Page U. 189 ~Jhit1ey, ~ Driskell i-21rn-3? whi te mini ster was almost through he would walk back to where the slaves .sat and tell them not to steal their master s chickens gg, or hi s hogs and their backs would not be whipped with many stripes. ~.fter this they were ~j~missed and they all left the church wondering what the preacher s sex~non r~ie::~nt. Some nights they went to the woods and conducted their own services. ..t a cert~.in sDot they all knelt and turned their faces toward the ground aric~ then they began moaning and praying. Mr. ~ic~nble says that by huddling in this circle and turning their voices toward the ground the sound would not ~rave1 very far. None of them ever had the chance to learn how to read and write. borne times the young boys who carried the master s children s books to and from school would ask these childx en toteach them to write but as kijx~ they ~v ~tbe afraid o~what their father might do they always refusec~. ~ ~Ou the adjoining plantation the owner caught his son teaching a little slave boy to write, He was furious and after giving his so i a s vere beating he then cut the thumb and forefinger off of the slave. The only things that were taught ~he slaves was the use of their hands. Mr. W~rible says that all the while that he t~rkt~ was working 1~ the ~ house they s t ill found the tune for him to learn to be a blacksmith. When a male ~ve reached the age of twenty-one he was allowed to court. The same was true of a girl that had reached the age of eighteen. If a couple wished to marry they had to get permission from the maste r who asked each in turn 1f they wished to be joined as man and wife and if both answered tbat they did they were taken into the master s house where the ceremony was performed. Mr. W~nble says that be x~ has actually seen one of these weddings and that it iias conducted in the following manner: A bro~n was placed in the :~ exit er of the floor end the couple was told to hold hands . After j oining hands they were oo~nanded to jump Over the broan and then to tu.rn aroutd and jump back.

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Page 12. ~~Mt1ey, iDriskell . i 2l~ 3? ~.fter thi s they were pronounced man and wife . man who was small in statue .7a3 never allowed to marry a large, robust woman. Sometimes when the male slaves On one plantation were large and healthy looking and the women slaves cri s le nearby plantation looked like they might be good breeders the two owners ~~reed to allow the men belonging to the one visit the women belonging to the other, in fact they encouraged this sort of thing in hopes th&t they would ~~rry and. preduce big he lthy children. In such cases passes were given freely. . ~ll of the newly born babies were named by the master. The only baptisms that any of us get was with a stick over the head ~nd then we bapti3e . our cheeks with our tears, stated Mr. ~7ornbly. Continuing, Mr. Wornbly stated that the slaves on the Womble plan~ t _~_t j on were treat e d more 1 ike animal s rather than 1 ike humans . On one or two occasions some of them were sold. ~t such a time those to be sold were put iii a 1&i~ge pen and ther~ they were emmined by the doctors and prospective buyers and later sold to the highest bidder the sanie as a horse or a mule. They were sold for various reasons says L~. Womble. Hi~ mother was sold because whe was too bard to ri~le and because she rnazie it ~difficult to d1s~ciDline the other slaves. . Mr. 7anble further reported that most of his fellow slaves believed in siens. They believed that 1f a screech owl or a hoot owl c~e near a house and made noises at night somebody was going to die and instead of going to heaven the devi 1 would ~et them. ~J t, ~ the night that old Meise Ri dley died the screech owls like to have taken the house away, he says. There was always a great amount of whipping on thi s plant at ion. This was practically the only form of punishment used. Most of them were whipped for being disobedient or for being unruly. Mr. WOEnbie has heard his master say that he would not have a slave that he could not rule and to be ~nre

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Page 13. rn~t1ey, Driskell ~ i~21- 37 th~t~ the slaves held him and his family in awe he even went so far as to make dl of them go and pay their respects to the newly born white children on the a~y after their birth. ~ t such a time they were required to get In line out- s:~ ~e or the door and then one by one they went through the room an1. bowed their heads as they passed the bed and uttered the Collowing words: Young ~arster or if the baby was a girl they sala: Yo~g Mistress . On one oc- casion Mr. ~Qnble says that he has seen his master a~ a group of other white ~~~i fl beat an unruly slave until his back was raw and then a red. hot iron bar ;~s applied to his back. Even this did not make the slave submissive be C &US e he ran away irnme di ately afterwards Aft er thi s inhuman treatment any number of the slaves ran away, especially on the Ri~ley plantation. S ae ~ere caught and some were not. One of the slaves on the 7omble plantation took his wife and ran away. 11e an~ his wife lived in a cave that they found in the woods and there they rai sed a fatally. ~7hen freedom was dedlared and these Children saw the light of day for the first time they almost went blind stated Mr. Wcanhle, Mr. 1~nble says that he himself has been whipped to such an extent by his master, who used a walk~ng cane, that he had no feeling in his legs. One other time he was sent off by the master and ~ instead cf returning im~uediately he stoppec5 to eat seine persiirnnons. The master came upon him at the ree and started beating him on the head with a wagon spoke . By the time he reached the house his head was covered with knots the size of hen eggs and b~looc~ was flowing fran each of them. b The slaves on the Wc~nb1e plantation seldoen if ever came In contact 4th the tP~,ddle- Rollers who punished those slaves who ha~ the misfortune to he caught off of their plantations without passes. In those days he jails were built for the white folks because the masters always punished the slaves when they broke any of the laws exclaimed L~. Wombly. I-

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. Page 14. 192 -~~ltley, Di iskell j.-21-37 Several years before the war Mr. W~ox ibly was sold to I~1r. 3~jm Woxably, t:~e son of Mr. Enoch Woxubly. He was as mean as his father or meaner. Mr. ~o:nb1y says that the first thing that he remembers In regard to the war was to ~ his master say that he was going to join the array end bring Abe Lincoln s ~ud back for a soap dish. He also said that he would wade in blood up to :~ s neck to keep the slaves from being freed. The slaves would to to the ~ ;OO~S at night where they sang and prayed. Seine used to say; ~I knew that 3ome day we ll be free and 1f we ~ie before that irne our children will live to see lt. ~1hen the Yankees marched through they took all of the silver snd gold that h~d been hidden in the wall on the ~omble plantation. They also took all c~f the live stock on the plantation., most of which had been hidden in th~ swsmps. T~se soldiers then went Into the house and tore the beds up and poured syru~ in the iuattresses. At the time all of the white people who lived on the plan tation were hiding in the woods. ~fter the soldiers had ae~arte~ (taking these ~Iaves along who wished to follow) Mrs. ~iorab1e went back into the house and con tthued to make the clothes and the band~ges that were tobe used by the Con federate Soldiers. After the slaves . :ere set free any number of them were bound over az~ and kept, says L~. Woruble. He hlraself was to remain with the ~7~able f. milv until he recehed the age of twenty one. When this time caxue Mr. ~omb1e refused to let him go. However, Mrs. ~omble helped him to escape but be was seen caught one night at the home of an elderly white lady who had befriended him. k~. rope was tied around his neck and he was ruade to run the entire way back to the planthtion while the others rode on horse back. After a few :aore months of cruel t reatraent he ran away ag tn Thi s time he ~s successful in his escape and after he had gone what he considered a saTh distance he set

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Page 15. 1(1~ ~dThi1tley, Driskell ~&1L~~t i-21 37 ur a blacksmith shop where he made a living for quite a few years. Later one of the whi te men in that community hired him to work in hi s store . After ~ number of years at this place he decided to come to Atlanta where he has been since. Mr. W ible concluded by saying that he has been able to reach his 3r~sent age because he has never done any smoking or drinking. ~ old lady on2e told him not to use soap on his face and he would not wrinkle. He accounts for his smooth skin in this manner,

Slavery as seen through the eyes of Henry Wright. 198 194

);J7i ~57-:: 5~, 7~:1i4 V~ ~ /i1 I O O 2 2 8 SLA1T~Y AS SEEN Tifl~ OIJGH TH~ ~YI~S OF k H~~Y ~7~I(~ EX-SLk~1L ~ - ~- . -~--~-~ ( tE: )~ r ~ s i~-~ J f, In Atlanta amoitg that ever decreasing gro~xp of pe~rsons kno~n a~ ex-.eluves there is an old. Negro man named i~enry ~right. Although Mr. ~7right is 99 years or age hi$ appearance i that of a much younger n~an. He i~ about 5 feet in height; his dark skin is almost free of wi inkles and. ~ his head is thickly covered 1~ ith gray hair. ~-Tis speech and. thou ~ht indicate that he is very intelligent ~nd there is no doubt that he still possesses a clear and active mina. ~s ho n~iai1y puffed on a battered old pipe ho ~e1ated the following tale of his experiences in slavery and o1~ condition~s in general as he saw them at that time. ::.r. ~7right was born on the plantation of ~r. Phil Ttou~ee. Tiis plantation was located near the present site o~ Buckhead, Ga. His parents were Henry ~7righ~ and. !~1argaret Hou8e In those days it vias customary for slaves to carry the naine of t~eir owners. Ills fatii~r was owned by Mr. Spencer Iright and his mother was owned uy ~ Phil ~ouse. Both of these ~1ave owners lived in the sanie district. :~is grandpsrents, Kittie and Ar~1te Flouse also belonged to I.r. Phil House and it was they who told him ho.~ they had been sold like cattle while in Virginia to a speculator (slave dealer) a~id brought to Decatur, Ga. where they were sold to ~:r. ~Ioube. Mr. T7right lived ~iith his mother on. the House plantation for several years tnen he was given to Mr. ~e ge House, the brother of Phil Thuse, as a vie ding present. However, he saw his par~ts often as they were aU allo~ed passes so that they might visit one another~ According to Lr. ~7right, iils master v:aa a very rich i~i~ and a very intelligent one. His plantation consisted of about three or four hundred acres of land on which he rai~ed cotto~i, cane, corn, vegetables ~nd live stock. Although he was not very r ~i to his sl~ves or servants as he called them, neither aid his kindness reach the gU5hII3g or overflowing stage.

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2. 195 On this plantat ion there were a large nui~the ~ of slaves some of v~ho~ \;orked in Old Marster s (as Lir. House v~as called) house and sane of whom orked in the fields. A a youngster Mr. ~Tright had. to pick up chips around the yard, make fires ufld keep the house supplied with water which he got fr~m the well. ~Then he was ten ye ~r s of age h e was sent to the f I eid as a plow-boy. He remembers th~it his ~~other and father a ,soworked In the fields. In relating lus experience as a field hand Mr . Wright says that he and his fellow slaves were roused each morning about 3 o do ck by the blowing of a horn. Thi s ho ru was usually blown by the ~hite ove~ se ~ or by the Negro orem~ tio was kao~i among the slaves as the Nigger Driver. At tne sounding of the h n they had to get up and feed the stock. 3hortly after the horn was blown a bell was i~ng and at this signa . they all started i~or the fields to begin work for the dey. They were in the field long before the sun was up. Their working hours were described as being from sun to sun. When the time caine to pick the cotton each slave was required to pick at least 200 lbs. of cotton per dey. For this purpose each was given a bag and a large basket. The bag was hung around the neck and the basket was placed. at the end of the row. At the close of the day the overseer met all hands at the scales with the lane, the slate and. the whip. If q~ny sl~ive failed to pick the reQuired 200 lbs. he was soundly wiiipped by the overseer. Sometin~s they were able to escape this whipping by giving illness as an excuse. mother form of strate~ adopted by the slaves was to dan~,en the cotton or conceal stone& in the bsikets, either of which would make the co tton wSI4h ~ m ~ e. ~ Sometimes after leaving the fields at dark they had to work at night shucking corn, ginning cotto n or weaving. Everyday except Sunday was cons idered a wcrk dey. The only form of work on Sunday wae the feeding of the live stock, etc. I

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~hen Mr. Wright was asked about the treatment that was given the house s1~ives in comparison to that given the field slavee, hereplied with a broad gnu that Old Marster treated them much the same as he would a horse and a mule. That is, the horse was given the kind oC treatment that would xi~ke him show off in appeaX ~flCe, while the mule was given only enough eare to kee~p him well and fit for work. You see, oontinued Mr. ~Vri~at, in those days a plantation owner was p artlally judged by the appearan~ce of his house servants. ~ And so in e%ldition to receiving the discarded clothes of Old Merster and his wife, better clothing was bought for the house slaves. The ~Erking hours of the house slave and the field slave were practically the seras. In some oases the house slaves had to ~ork at night Lue to the fact that the master was entertaining his friends or he ~a invited out and so someone had to r~n 1n up to attend to all the necessary details. On the plantation of Mr. House the house elaTes thought themselves better than the field slaves because of the tact that they received better treatment. on the other hand those slaves who ~rked in the fields said that they v~uld rather work in the fields than work in the house because they had. a ohanc to earn epending money in their spare or leisure time. House servante had no such opportu~iity. ~ In bad weather they were not req~uired to go ~to the fields ~ instead they eut hedges or did other small jobs around the house. The master did not went t~iem to work in bad weather because there was too much ~nger ~ illness which me ant a loss of t ~zne and money in the end, Mr. House wanted his slaves to learn a trade such as masonry or. carpentry, etc., not because it would benefit the elaTe, says Mr. Wright, but because it would make the slave sell for more in case he had to get shot (rid) of him. The slaves who were all~~d to work with these white meohanics, from whom th~ eventually learned the trade, were eager because they would be permitted to hire 3. 195

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4. 19? themselves out. The money they earned could be used to help buytheir freedom, tha~ is, ~rhat money remained after the n~ster had taken his share. On the other hani the wh it e mechanic had no parti cular obj ection to the alavea . being there to help him, even though they were learning the trade because he was able to pie. ce all t1~ hard work on the slave which made his job ea8ier. Mr. Wright r~nenibers how ~a18 gran&father used to hire hi8 time out doing carpentry work, making caskets and doing ~me masonry. He himself can plaster, although he ziever hired out during slavery. . Clothing fl as is sued once per year usually aro und. Sept iber An issue consisted mostly of the following: 3. pair of heavy shoes ealled Negro Brogana. Oeve~ al homespun shirts, woolen ao~ca and two or three pairs of ~ pante. T ~ women were either given dresses and. undeu~ skirts that were ~lre ady rade or just the plain cloth to make these garmente from. Sont of their clothing was bought and some was made on the plantation. The wool socks were knitted on the plantation alois with the honiespun which was woven there, The homeepun was dyed by placing it in a boiling mixture of green walnut leavea or walnut huIle. In the event that plaid r~terja . ~as to be made the threads were dyed the desired color before being woven. !nother kind of dye was made from the use of a type of rod or blue berry, or by boiling red dirt in water. (pr~bab2y madder) The house slaves woes calico dresaee or sometimes dresses made from woolen material. Otten this clothing was insufficie~ to n~et the individuel needa. ~7ith a broad smile and an almost imperceptible shake of his old gray head I~1r. Vrright told how he had worked in the tie ii without shoes when it was so cold until the skin cracked and the blood flowed from these wounds He also told how he used to save hie shoes by placing th mi under his arm and walking bar~tooted wien h had a long distance to go. In order to polish these shoe e a mixture of ioot end syrup was Ms . The young slave oh lldren wore a one-piece arzi~nt With boles cut for the head and arma to go : ~ in eppearanee it resembled a elightty long shirt.

202 198

i9~ As Mr. House di d not give blenketa the slaves were requ ired to make the necessary cover by piecing together left over goods. After this prooes~ we.e corapleted, lt wa~ padded with cotton and then dyed in imich the sane way as honiespun. After the dyeing was coXi~leted the slave was the owner of a new quilt, The food that the slaves ate aU raised on the plantation, At tbe end of each week each slave was given 3 lbs. of meat (ueua .ly pork) I peck o~ ines . and soma 89?UP Breakfast and dinner usu ally cons isted of fried n~ at corn bread and syrup. Vegetables were usually given at dinner tine. $ometimes milk was given at supper. It was necessary to send the meals to the field slaTes as they were u~uaUy too tar away from the house to make the trip themselves. For this purpose ti~ere was a woman who did all the cooking for the neid hands in a cook house located among the slave cabins. Mr. House permitted his slaves to have a garden and chicloena ot their o~. In fact he gave each of . them l~nd a small plot o~ .gi~ tuid for th la purpose. The benefit of this was twotold as tar as the slave was concerned. In the ffret pla ce he could vary his diet. ~ ~.the second place he was able to e am ~ney by selling his produce either in tov~ or to Old Marster. Somatimea Old M~eter took the produce to town ax~1 sold it for them. When he returned ~ro~ town the r~ioney for the sale of this pro~iuce was given to the slave. Mr. V~right says that he ~id all the other slaves felt that they were being cheated when the i~ster sold their goods. Mi: . House also permitted his 8laves to hunt and fish both of ~ich were done at night for the ra~t part. Coftee was zaade by parcning xaeJ. and then placing it in boiling water. To sweeten this coffee, a~rup ~as used. One delicacy tnat he and the oth~ slayes usec~ to have on Sunday was biscuit broad which they ~lled cake bread. All ci~ildren ~ao were too young to viork in th~ field were cared for by soma old s)ave woman who was too old to go to ~the field. She did aU. of their cooking, etc. The uiet of these ohilh en usually consisted of pot liquor, milk, ~egetakIss

203 199

6~ 199 an~ in rare cases, meat. Mr. i~ ight laughed here as he stated tthat these ebildr en~ were g iven long han&ied~ spoons and were seated on a long bench b et ore a trough out of which they all ate 11ko 1i~t1e pigs. Not a slave ever suffered. the pangs of hux~ger on the plantation of M~. George House. The houses or cabins of the slaves were located a short distance in the rear ot Old. ar s bouse. These houses were usu~Uy made from logs - the chinks being closed with mud. In eme easea boards were used on the inside oi~ the cabin to keep the weather out, but accord~ing to Mr. ~right mud was .~ always the more eftective. The floc~ was usually covered with boards and there were two or tbree windows to each cabin, shutters being used in place of glass. The chinnaey ~ind fireplace were m~ide of mud, sticks and stones. All cooking was done on the fireplace in fron utensils whoh Mr. Vright declares were a lot better than those used tode~ , For boiling, the pote huEs from a long hook directly above the fire, Such furniture as each cabin contai nod was all. made by the s)avea. This t~irniture usually consisted ot a ~o&en bench, instead ot a chair, and a crude bed made from heavy wo~I. Slats were used in the place ot springs. Th e ~iiat tress was niade by stuffing a lerge bag w Ith wheat strai. This slept as good. as any feather bed says Mr. ~right. Csndles were used. to turnish light at night. On this plantation each t~i1y did not bave an individual cabin. Sometimes as nieny as three families shared a cabin, which. of course was rather a large one In this case it v. as partitioned oCt by the use of curt~ina. O Besides having to take care of the youug children, these older slaves were required to care f or those slaves who were ill.. Mr. House employed a &ctor to attend his slaves when their oases seemed to warrant it. If the illness was of a minor nature he gave them caato~ oil, salts or pills himselt. Then, too, the slaves had their own home remedies, Among these were different tonics made from yarbe (herbs) plasters n~ide from muat~rd, and WhiB ~, eto Most illnesses were caus od by colds and fevers Mr . Wright says that kb two brothers aid his

204 200

?.~ 200 sister, aU of whom were younger than he, died. as a reault of typhoid~ f~e ver. Even vdth all the hardahipa that the alavea had. to suffer they ~til1 had. time to have fun and to enjoy th~iselves, Mr. Wright continued. At various ti~~es ~ House permitted. thea to have a frolic. These frolics usually took place on such holidays as 4t~ of July Chri stirias or laying by time after the cultivatiEg of the crops was finished and before gathering time. During the day~the master provided. a big barbecue and at ni~t the singing and dancing .. sturted.. Music was furnished by slaves who were able to p ~y the banjo or the fiddle. The slaves usually bought these instrumenta themselves and in soue cases the master bought them, In my case,~ dec3ared. V1r. ~right, I made a fiddle out of a large sized go~ d. - a lori~*~odu~kandle was used as a neck, and the hair from a horse s tail was used. for the bowo The strings were made of oat gut . After I learned to play tais I bought a better violin. Sonietimes the sI~ives slipped away to the i~oods to indulge in a frolIc. ~s a means of protection they. tied ro~pQa across the paths where they would be less likely to be sean. These ropes were placed at such a height as to knock a i~n from his horse if lie e~ riding up at agreat speed. In thia way the master or the o~ersear was stopped tempor~ily, thereby giving the slaves time to acamp~ to safety. In addition to t he presents given at Chris tuas ( canc~y and clothing ) the master also g ave each family half a gallon of whIsky. This iiw~ide the parties niore lively. One of the songs that the slaves on the House plantation used to sing at their perties rima ~ follows: Oh, I wouldn t have a poor girl., (another version says, old maid ) Lud I ll tell you the reason why, Her neck s so long and strin~f, I m afraid. she d nevar die

205 201

On Sunda~s Mr. House required all of hi~ alaves to attend church. All attended a white church where they aat in the back or in the balcony. Atter preaching to the white audience ~he wrhite paBtor turned his attention to the slaves. His serii~n usually ran: Obey your master and your mistress and the Lord will love you. Sometimes a eolore~ preaeher was allowed. to preach trcnt the same rostrum after the white pastor had fiiiishe~. His sermon was along similar lines because that Is what he had been instructed to say. None of the slaves believed iii the sermons but they pretended to do so. Marriages were u8u~lly per forn~d by the colored preacher although in most cases it was only necessary for the iaan to approach Old Marster and tell him that he wwited a certain ~on~n for his wife. Old Marater then called the. ~men~ in q,uestion and it she agreed~ they were pronounced iaan and wife. I~ the wo~n wa~ a prolific breeder ~nd if the man was a strong, healthy-looking Individual she was forced to take nim as a husband whether she w anted to or not. ~Then L~ir. ~Vright was asked if he had ever been arrested and pl~oed in jail 1~or any of~exise while he was a slaveh&r~e~plIed that in those dey~ few laws, ~ eny, applied to skives. He Iciows that it was ag44nst the law for anyone to teath a slave to write because on one occasion his father ~io h~4 learned to to this wita the help of his ~ster s son was told by the master to ~ee~ it to himself, because if the men of the conmiunity fhound out that he could write they would cut his tingers or i~L1S hand ott. Horse stealing or house burning sas anotler serious crime. On the House plantation as a inaluto slave who was to have be~ givenhis f rs.doa wnen he reached the age of ~L . ~Vhen this t line came Mr House reftaed to free him and so an attempt was made to burn the House mansion, Mr. Wright remembers seeing the aherift come from town and. take this slays. S Later they h~rd on the plantation that said slave had been hanged. k 8~ 201

206 202

9. 202 For the moss part punishinen-t consisted of~ severe whipping aOxnetin~3 ad~znin1a 1; er ed by the slaTes ma8ter end. 8ometixaes by the whit e men of the conirimnit y known as tia Patrol. To the elaTes this Patrol was 1cno~mt aa the Padd ~ or Paddi e Bolier a . ~ Mi . Wright aya that he has b een vth ipped numerous timee by his niaster for running awsy~ When he was oaught after an atten~te . escape he was placed on the ground where he was spread eagled, that is, his arma an~ 1~et were stretched out and tied to ~ta1~e~ driven in the g~roun&. After a severe beat ln*, br ins wat er or turpent ins was poured over th e wou.ude This kept the flies away he says. Mr. Houa. did not like to whip his lave& as a 8carred slave brought very little money when placed on the auction block. A slave who had a scarred back waa collai dered as be Ing unruly. Whenever a ilave att~npted to esoap e the hounds were put on his tr41. Mr. ffright was caught and treed by ho~da several timee. Ee later tound a w;ey to elude th~. This was done by rubbing bis rest in the refuse material of the barnyard ocr ~he pasture, then he covei ed his legs with pine ter. On one o ecasion he maged to stay aw~r fxo m. the plantati on for 8 n~n~th e before he returne& of his own accord, He ran aw~r after striking his master who ~ had~ att~npted to whip him. ~Then he returned of his own accord hie master did. nothing to him because he was glad that he was not forever lost in which ease a large sum of ~~ioney would h~ave been lost. Mr. ~7right says that slave own~a advertised in tne newspaper. for lost slaves, giving their description, eta. If a slave was found after his master had stopped his advertisments he was placed on the block a~d sold a a stray. ~Thile a fugitive he slept in the vmods, eating wild berries, etc. Soraeti~ea he slipped to theplantation or his ~otber or that of his father where he was able to secure foo~ He took a &ee~p puff on his pipe ~d a look of satisfaction crossed his face as he told ho~ he had escaped fit ut the Paddle Rollers It was the PaddleRollers duty to patrol the roads and the streets and to ese that no slave was out unless he had a pass from his master. Furt her he ~ waa not auppo sed to b e k

207 203

10, 203 any great distance away from the place he had~been permitted to go. i a alave was caug~ ViSitiUg without a pass or if at exiy time he was off his plantation viithout said paa& and had. the misfortune to be caught by th PadileRollere he was given a ound whipping and returned to his zuaster~e 1Then the Civil War began ail the slaves on the House plantation grew hop e~ul ax~l glad of the prospect of being $.;et free. Mz~ House waa heard by so~ o~ the slaves to say that he hoped to be dead. the day Negroes were set iree. A1thoi~gh the slaves pa ay ed for their freedoia they were afraid to even s Ing any type o~ sp ~rit us . for fear of being punished. ~7hen the Yanke troops caine throt~x near the House plantation they asked. the s1~-~ves if their master was mean to them. As the answer was no the ~oJ4iers marched on after taking ai the llve8tock that they could find. At the ad~joiuing plantation where the master was mean, ai . property was burned. Mr. House was no~ present for w~ien he heard of the appx oach of Sherman he took his te~IIiIy, a few yeJuables end ~me s1~ves and fled to Augusta. He later joined the ax~ but was not wou~&ed. However, his orother, Phil House lost a leg thile in action. I ~. Wrights says that he witnessed one battle which was fought jttst a few miles beyond h is plantation near Nenoy s Creek. Although he did not offi ci ally j 0m th e Yankee arxi~ he coGked foi th~~while they were cexoped in ~ie vicinity. Then ~reedom was declared he says that he was a very happy man. FreoIozn to him di~ not mean that he could q~uit work bi~t that he could work for him~e1f as he saw fit to. ~fter he was freed he continued warking for ~iis i~ste~r who was considerably poorer thai . ne had ever been befors. ~ter the wer things were in such a state that even common table salt was not avai labia He r~aem.bers going to the smokehouse and taking the dirt froi~ the floor vihich he later boiled, After the boiling process of this water ~iich was now salty was used as a result of the drippiE~ from the meats w~iich had be hung there to be smoked in ths good 014 d~ys. I-

208 204

u. 204 After seven years of &aere..cropping with his former nia8ter Mv. ~V~r1gIIt decided to come to Atlanta where he has been since. ~Ic attribute8 his i ipe old age to aano and careful living In any case he says that he would rather be free th~ be a slave but end aS he pauaed he shook his head sadJ~y - In those day. a nian did not have to worry about au~thing to eat as there was alwaya a plenty. 8 a lot &Lfferent now. ~

Dink Walton Young. 209 205

i~ ~ ~ ~ ~ T:~ ~:::c ~5 7-~~ ~. 4~X.5/q(~ ~j,q v~ o~ ~,d k ~ ~ ~ ~ ~1MAJwr ~:Z~ Pi~M ~ ~ i~r~ ~ P1~ce ol bi:Lstt: On the ~1tor p1~~Um~, I. n*3ftr old i~u&v11lt~ , ~lbot ~: C)unty, Gftrgic. .- t~c~ to of l3irth s J~~b~)ut 1840. ~?e 8~~lt r~it~erioo~ ~tftI~ A~nue, betw~n 14t~ . Rn,d l~tIt ~treet~0 Coiwibua, ~ InterYi~w (~: AtLe~1~t 1, ~ Link ~!~j~Or; fow~j, better known ~ ic~i~ Dink , lei orte of the oldeet ~x~e1nve IIVII~E~ ifl tL~OO~f~C Cc~tiflt7. ~e TflZ~3 borfl the &~tol of ~or J~ok ~r1t~wi, the 1nr~at ~rnte b~11wa p1~tnter F~fl4 ~l!~Veaub31dP? Of ~t1bQt COUflt7~ Et ?~t&fl Wt~O OWfl~d B~Y 21k1 hun(~i9)~I ~ r~r~ tf~n thotuwnt~ or ~~ore ~ o~fb ~ ~ p c~i1t~, ~ 1)lnk wnt~ brung up with th ~a1ton white children, often j~n~tn~ ~ ~1~iini~ pith then in ~uch ~ ne ~11Ie J~ri~h% , ~~i1Unr ~ Tr~ib1eto& , ~ P~e~thg up .~Ieka . 1~he b078, ~itE~ ~i1~ ~iftOk~ t~fl(~ ~li~ht1~f O1~P tt;~n ~ r~1 yed ~?OX r~r~d ~1e.the..C~.~ t~ether. ~ t ~t~ until the ~r~kitA boyti ~rtr1(1 1~.ir1o wPrc~ t~n or t ~PlV~ yQ~r~i o~ ~ ~he.tr little t~?C~r3 fll~yr1~te8, entelli tee, ~ ~g~n~s , Pfl(~ UCZV~flt3, t~uIw~l1:~r ~(t~fU~1I1~ t~i rt~tI~er fn~i1i~r1~ by their fi~ t nn cwa, ~r ~ ~pli4~d tc U .~ ni*kn~i~#~s ~ t,ow~~d t~ ~it1~i ~ e~der~r . i~ient, ~ua, )Ltae ~u8ie ~~ 1l~on ~ t~ Inter 1x ~. ~oh~rt Cr~rt~r wr?fl ~.;t~ te wt~t~t tt) r~ t c~t of little .~!~ro ~1r1e o~ ~ ~ r ~ Later )fl O,~ cour~e, thia !orn o ~r~i1i~rtt7 between olttve

210 206

a ~f ~ ~!~~i1d ~n(~t ~hi~e oP~i1d d tj~j~1j o~ttn t; btn for ~j1 t1r~o there eX1t~t*?ti n ~ i~o~ ot c~1~ae ~rien~~ in, ~iutun1 ~re1MUt~fl(kjfl~ ~ift4 ~irtt or oiirodee~ir~ b~~twt~n the 4 1~ee nri~1 ~inaka of every n1ant~tton. *a an ex~p1~, ~at ~ti1ton, ~ec~ 1*3 colored ~nd ts1~ive, ~~$11owt4~41A t~o hie rune !Tht3ter in 1861z M i~rs no.~3i~a~ y ~uae ~wizw to ~ i~r, ~tn,$ yerr ~n~i wi ~th ou t ~ia L z 1 n~ to r wi an &iv,~r e o ut t nue~L g ~o j e P~ t. You kno~w you t~in t ~ot no bisnosa in no ~ ~ th cu ~ zi to wult on yt~r ~n k~p,~ ~r o~~1~a devi1~ent, ~ar&ie Uoi~n1iua. ~ do~n ~in ~ no ar~yr~ut ~nr~e ~oae1itui, onze i~o ~wini long ~r id y~~ r, *fl(1 d~t 8Ptt1~s it, l,~th S.t (~O r~~her you 1~3k8 it Oi you don t 1~L it. ?~rE~nt)~ t~tit~i17~ Lt ~ii~t:~t bi ~ jnst~rt~d th~t t~ 1~ a~wo& o ?~t~a t~ k i~a youn~ rvuitir w~ typic~1 O~ B UtI401 tt;Rt ~U~r17 iII1~V Q ~idu~ed in *~11ottitthg~ to th(~ir ~rI~1~,e ~ t~u~d rtiu~r Jo~i~~r~ ~ ~ji1 er~p1oy ~Lfl iflOf~f~fl~iiV( ~ ~3Lt~i1~U .:~ti3~ t~ ~ t~ ~ li ~t jt , frLttr4i. J~coor(41ne to ~4~)rt1y : ink , t~ o~ ~rt~ia~ vrtfied, every ti~ie a ::et,r, tmby ~Ui; b3~ fl on Ot1~k Of hi~ p1~nt;at1c?n~, ~Ui.~or ;~ii~ton ~tve U~t~ ~~:)ther ~i c~1iqo ~r*~a ~n~1 t~ Thrit~t,~ ahiny , a11v~r c~o11ar. . ~11 \~1ton ~nvea were well ?ed ~:~d olothol ~ ~ or ~ ~3j rtt~)Ut ttft~ or 4~iZty 1itti~P baOk. ~7ftrd piooanini~1tis, the ~fq1tOn~ R$awr)~~J II ~C~)O3U~1bI1it/, e2~Oupt nt ~ ~. k1n(~ oci~ipotin~ ~ I;4~~ ~:~n e~ o~ : or me b~~t~ ~o keep t~~i tri by &~ny. 1t~en Lt r~in(~, th :f P ~~ i~ 8~1tI~7 t) f,O WI(1O1 p1Uj~h;U8eU were built ~ or th~, ~Ifl~ th* y r~1i~io ~ a~ *sawa, ~oi~ eta. Fire,

211 207

a tI~~.ir ~)e~r~ni.&~ ~wriu~d ~t~e youn~t:~s ~wi~y ri~,rn1~ r~ they w~It to ttu ~ ~nt t~ other ~ ~md p1c~ked ~heii up ~t t~11tt. ~ $1i ~~ ~~re fed rth~ t 1v ~ ~ ~ rr~ in :Llttle wooden I~Z OU~hd4tkO ~ ~t(~tr prlnoipnL ~~:)cfl~ ~wrc ~ r1oe~ tot~ u11c1rer, ve~b1e~ Etncl corn dw~p1Lni~t~ Rfl~ ~h~7 uta~r~id ~o Tht ~ni ~1eek ant de r~i~ gera ont en ~ru Mc~jor a little b1~ok pL t~. .iTh~ aV~1 ~t E? W!~ )C17 r~~t1on qllo,wd ~ ~i~i1t ;:~1tor ~ii ~ve ~a r~ ~e&~ of r~en1, t~o t~uitei e of floni (~b~ut aix pounds), 801 Sfl potvg:~a o~ flitch b~ox~, n bti~ ot pena, n ~t~11ni of t~rtt3, fror~t or~t~ ~ ~wo ~uarts of 1a~ia.~, i~ ~1f ~oun~ or ~ree~ e~)ffee1.P%vti&: ~hC ~1nve h1ru~~1t p~r&~ed ;3!td bf~It up or ~I 4Jt1fld, tro~ on~ to ~wo ct~~ o~ su~r, s It~tf~d ot e~t~. ~ Rny ~ th~t the ~ ~ P~nvo ~ ~J~r~t ricreti t~re 31~ ~ to v~: ~tflb1e~ t~:cft t ;afi!~flr for t~ e ~1~v2k~ and, in ~ ttuV ~ ~1 i!~11 ~1he v~~t!~bI~ tht~r cotx1(~ e~t, n~pt~ Iri&~t~ ~~o~toej~ a~~t ~t~toc~, ro~i.t1ri~ ears, m~r. ~#~e1~~B ~in~ ?IetI.ni~r ~ fh~:e r~i~t~d t&~acco). IJ~i trutt~, t~e ~%j~r:t{~r~3 ~ne ~j~CCrb flu U5~ ~tiflj ~! ~ t~P~ t~ belflL VCX7 11t r~ie if r~ny $ ~umu1fr )c (~rocei~ed tob~ oo) on the ~rk~t. T!~ 11tnL1dftrc~ o1 th~o oi~ t~.e s1nvei~ were~ JE,~u1s in tPi~ ulnter t r rwn r~tfl(:~ ~~3fm, &Itt~)I1~ ~eO ~nt1 oann~rezj for r~n jy~ th~ atr~r, i~t1 e&Uoo~ ~md It~ ht ~oode ~or the ~~on~n in the awi~ier Une. Ab~$ ?b:* ciotP~ ~&~d ~or ~*1~we~ o1thin~

212 208

)1 ts~~J we, PIa6 Mt Is. L t Zlgj r osas coun dika, th t.nSl. d,nor was prorsp*ly oailted to attoud hlta rstt(%, it te wins bad oft, the ~ Oor sot if t4th ttli or hid arto of 24M flat~~~flp3 , do a, unir In ha life va Manu~ 1}luk vh1~ by as~y of Mii ~Sttoni or thiSr OY teflo?i MflOOVi3, ahi nsv r bin a ?bgro to bi vUpped by a whtts porion on w~7 of titi tosen or -on Stalton plantation. 1~. nevn i.id s pataalor in her tire, thot~h she Thn3 heard t fl dat J.~e )ej~ ~iim~~ HP.,. Johmtts 3. Jan, lIed Oidd na, Gus )~3ea1~ Bob ?kivgh, nfl Js4~e henry Cellier rid sa p.tarolira when Ste was a flrl, 4ien the Ym**s raiders none .hroujfr in 65, Mrns~y Diak sa~ badl,y friebterrnd k then, t. tisa also I~iph17 infiwlatod with them ftr stealth S titite tOtes things , ~pp4,j~ts~ ttsir gtns~~ ootton aM barns, e~fl4 oon uotthe tFenzse3,v s cnnor@1v as baifl%s eM p.rverts. In 18fl~ the y~nr of Lbs oyoLnt. Wiooet kilt sskntnn takes twixt flesh (Ileralk) anA a1batton ~ induding au unolo of her s~ Msvq Pink wns Iivin at tb Dr. U. f. stir s plaie near Bmughvills. La, 5h noted s,4 Sb h er aequind aubaeuent to tndom e e ta the ~r. Thosms R. Asktord~s ~ltw , in Mania County, mar 31 rslis. Thin, she lost her hwbaM t~nd, ibiut thirtyafin 75*3 S U4 ~ moved to Columbus to be non: Mrs. Jolt T. untie Jr. ~ in ozily ttaujhter of T)p, At tord, a,

213 209

.;( ;U ( ~.I ~ I I so wP.ot~ ~3he Iont~ 8~~ boor~r~w Vf31$ ~ ~1t~o~ eci ~ ~fl int rvtc~wcc~, IRnrnmy r;lnkn ~p~ta ~t !~r~, ~v1a ~o~ ne, ~ ~)i(11 11fl r()unc~ , t~3 L~iI~O ~3tii1 t~k~ ~ ~r~de In ~tt1~ 01 ~vr w~ lt*t ~ ~~tur~ii~ , ~ o~ ~ o~f ~ ~ th~ ah~d~w~ ~n~e 1engthen1n~. ~ft,~~*? :jiik~ ~1 ~ n v~~r ~ t! ~P~ji1; i~11~ hft.r kin rtrE~ c~Pn(~ 3P~e la 93 ~nc1 }~~i no rios~:, ~ z~o ~ but ~he P~ft8 P~ r ~ ~ ~ t~nk ~~rd , ~ J)avi~ ~ lwr ~ ?ri~~id ~ttt1 b rv~fnotrn~,n.

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2:~) ~ f&ofr7-f <~ t ~4frr~ (o j 46 ~ Ex- Slave #119. ~ vj~ ~ ~ wY ~pn~jc I S DEAI~ Mammy Dink, who cooked and served and gained pure joy through faithfui service has gone t o the Big House in the skies E3~ l~cked but ~ f~w Iears 0f a hundred and most of it was spent in loving service. She was loyal to the f~zni1ies she worked for and was, to a111~practica1 Intents, a member of the family circle. She was 94 or 95 when she passed away-Memmy was about to lose track of mere age she was so busy with other things- and she was happily at work to withill a week of her death. She was ~n institution in Columbus, and one of the best known of the many faithful anI loyal colored servants in thi s city. Maniny Dink~her full name, by the way, was Dink Young-started out as a cook in a Talbot county family and wound up her career as cook for the granddaughter of her original employer. She was first In service in the haine of Pr. M. ~7. Peters, In Talbot county, and later was the cook in the family of Dr. T. R. shford, at Ellersile, in Harris county. Then, coming to Columbus, she was cook in the haine of the late Captain T. 3 . Hunt for cc~ae 20 years. For the last 27 years she had been cook for ~rs. John T. Davis, just aS she bad been cook in the h~me of her father, Dr. Ashford, and her ~ andfather, !~r. Peters. 1 Memmy, in leisure hours, used to sit on the coping at the Sixteenth street school, and v~atch the wor1~ go by. But her greatest joy was in the Id tche. The Davis family was d~voted to the faithful old servant. A week ago she developed a severe cold and was sent to the hospital. She passed away Saturday night-the old body had given out The funeral service was conducted yesterday afternoon fran St. Philips colored church in Girard. She was burled in a chui chyard cemetery two of three miles out on the Ope lika road. The white pe~p1e who were present wept at the departure of one who was both servant end friend.

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Page 2. Thus passes, to a sure reward, Mammy DIDIC, whose life was such a success. d1~i ~~urd~ ~ 41a /~ 2 ? 7 e;z:~ /,dIl ~f ~ /V~~

Eugene Wesley Smith. 234 230

u 1105 Robert Street, Augusta, &a., Born 1852 eugene is 84 years old. He has thin features, trembling lips and. a sparse beard. His skin is a deep brown, lined. and. veined. His legs showing over white socks are scaly. His hands are palsied, but his mind. is intelligent. He shows evidences of association with white people in his manner of speech, which at times is in the canner of white persons, again reverting to dialect. ~u+gene stated that his father was a slave who belonged to Steadman Clark of Augusta, and. acted as porter in Mr. Clark s jewelry store on Broad Street. His grandmother came from Pennsylvania with her white owners. In ac~ cordance with the laws of the state they had left, she was freed when she caine of age, and. married a man named Smith. Her name was Louisa. Eugene s Amt married a slave. As his mother was free, her children were free, but Eu~gene added: She had put a Guardian over us, and. Captain. Cruznp was our guardian. ~uardians protected the Negro children who belonged to them. To illustrate that children were con~id.ered the property o! the noth~rs& owners, he added that his uncle went to Columbia County and married a slave, and that all of her children belonged to her master. Mr . Clark, whc~ owned ~ugenet ~ father pai cl. him 5O~ a week, and. was angry when Louisa refused to allow her children to work for him. He was good in a way, admitted Engene Some masters were cruel to the colored people, but a heap of white people won t believe it. I was too little to do any work before freedom. I just stayed with my mother, and. ran around. She did. washing for white folks. We lived.

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12 t ~. ~ ~ in a rented hciu.se. My father~s master, Mr. Clark, let him come to see us sometimes at night. Free colored folks had. to pay taxes. Mother had to pay taxes. Then when they caine of age, they had. to pay taxes again. Even in Augu.sta you had. to have a pass to go roi~ house to house. They had. frolics. Sometimes the white people caine and looked~ at ~~in having a good. time. You couldn t go out at night in Augusta after 9 o1~lock. They had a bell at the old. market down yonder, and. it would strike every hour and. every half hour. There was an i~ptown market, too, at Broa~i and McXinne. Asked. ab out sCh~~ Eugene sal ii: G~oing to school wa&t allowed., but still soie people would slip their children to school. There was an old. Methodist preacher, a Negro named. Ned. Purclee, h had. a school for boys and. girls going on in his back yard. They caught him and. pi~t him in jail. He was to be put in stocks and get so many lashes every day for a month. I heard him tell many times how the man siad ~Ned, I wontt whip you. I ll whip on the stock, and. you holler. ~ So Ned would k~t,xx holler out loud, as if they were whipping him. They put his feet and hands in the holes, and he was supp~ed to be whipped across his back.N HI read. in thee paper where a lady said slaves were never sold here in Augusta at the old market, but I saw them selling slaves myself. They ~ut them ~ on something like a table, bid. tem off just like you would. horses or cows. Dey was two men. I kin rekellect. I know one was called Mr. Tom Heckle. He used. to bi,~y slaves, speculating. The other was named Wilson. They would sell your mother from the children. That was the reason so many colored people married their sisters and brothers, not knowing until they got to taki~xax t~lking about it. One would. say, I remember my

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13 ;)4 )&) grandmother, t ~ i~d, another would say, t that s ~ grc~ndinother, ~ then they d. fiiiI out they were sister and. brother. NSpeculators used. to steal children, said. Eugene, I saw the wagons. They were just like the wagons that came from North Carolina with apples in. Dey had. big covers on them. The speculators had. plantations where t~tey kept the children until they were big enough to sell, and they had an old. woman there to tend. to those Children. 1 was a butler. (~ dreamy look came into FJu~genets old. eyes,) So I were young. I saw a girl and. fell in love with her, and asked her to marry me. 1Yes,1 she said, twhen I get grown!t I said, ~ I am not quite grown myslif. ~ I was sixteen years old. When I was t~ty.one years old I married her in my father!~ houa,. My mother and. father were dead then. I had. two sisters left, but my brothers were dead. too. ~ I quit butling when I got married. They was enlarging the canal here. It was just wide enoi~gh for the big flats to go up with cotton. They widened I t and. I went to work on dat for $1 . 25 a day. They got in some Chinese when I t was near fini shed, but they was& t any good~, The Irishmen wouldn t work with niggers, becaase they said. they coald make the job last eight years...~.the niggers worked too fast. They accoiirplished it in about four years. After working on the canal, I left thei~ and. helped dig the fowidations of Sibley Mill. The raceway, the water that run from canal to river, I helped dig that. Then after that, I went to Mr. Berckinans and. worked. for him for fifty years. All my children were raised on his place.

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14 That s how come my boy d.o garden work now. I worked for F5O~ a day, but he give me a house on the place. He tlowed me to have chickens, a little fence, and. a garden. He was very good. to us. That was Mr. P J. Berckinans. I potted. plants all day long. I used. to work at night. I ~vouldn t draw no money, just let them keep lt for me. After they found out I could. read and. write and was an honest fellow, they let me take my work home, and. my children helped me make the apple grass and plum grass, and. mulberry grass. A man come and told me he would give me $60 a month if I would go with hirn, but I didn t I couldn t see hardly ~tall then.-~.I was wearing glasses. Now, in my 84th year, I can read the newspaper, Bible and everything without glasses. My wife died two years ago. (Tears came into Eugene s eyes, and his face broke up) We lived together 62 years! Asked if his wife had. been a slave, Eugene answered that she was but a painful effort of memory did. not reveal her owner~s name. NI do remember she told me she ha.d. a hard t iae he went on slowly. Her master and. misses called themselves treligious peoplet but they were not good. to her. They took her about in the barouche when. they were visiting. She had to mind. the children. They had a little seat on the back, and. they1d. tie her up there to keep her from falling off. Once when they got to a big gate, they told her tc get doen and. open lt for the driver to go through, not knowing the hinges was broken. That big gate fell on her back and. she was down for I don t know how long. Before she died, she complained of a pain in her back and. the do etor sat d. I t must have be en from a 1 ick when she was a child.

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15 ~fl~ring the war there were some Southern soldiers went through. I and. two friends of mine were together. Those soldiers cau~iit us and. made us put our han&s d.own at oui knees, and tied ten*, and. run the stick through under... neath. It was wintertime. They had a big fire. They pushed us nearer and. hollered. nearer the fire, until we hit1&&x~i. It was just devilment. They was having fun with us, kept us tied. up about a ha~ hour. There was a mulatto boy witb p but they thought he was whi te and. d~dn t bother him. One time they caught u.s and. throwed. us up in blanke s way up, too...~.. I was about 1 . years old. then. Asked about church, Eugene said We went to bush meetings up on 1~he Sand. Hill out in the woods. They didnt t have a church then. ~gene s recollections were Yi~jd. as to the ending of the war: The Northern soldiers corne to twon playing Yankee Doodle. When freedom come, they called all the white people to the courthouse first, and. told. them the darkies was free, Then on a certain day they called all the colored people down to the parade ground. They had. built a big stand, and the k Yankees and some of our leading colored ~i~en got up and spoke, and told. the Negroes You are free now. Don t steal. Now work and. make a living. Do honest work, make an honest living to support yourself and children. ~o ore masters. You are free. ~ugene said when the colored troops come in, they $~ng: Dontt you see the lightning? Don t you hear the thunder? It isn t the lightning, It isn t the thunder, But its the button on The Negro unif~rrns!

Willis Bennefield. 239 235

16 o The 2laves that was freed, and Uis cot&ntry Negroes that had been ru.n off, or had. run away from the plantations, was staying in Augusta In Guvtment houses, great big oie barns. They would all get free provisi ns from the Preedmen s Bureau, but people like us, Augusta citizens, dithi~t get free provisions, we had. to work. It spoiled. some of them. When the small pox come, the7 died. like kt&z hogs, all over Broad Street and every where, ~ ~ EEPHZIBAR, GA. Born 1835. Uncle Willis lives with his daughter Rena Berrian, who is 74 years old. I his baby, said. Bena all dead. but me and. I amt t no good for him now tcause I cantt tote nothint. Whe n asked. where Uncle Willi s was Rena looke d. out over the blazing cotton field and called~ . Pap! Ohr..~pappy! Stop pickth cotton and. come in awhile. Dey s some ladle s want s to see yo ~. ~ Uncle Willis hobbled slowly to the cabin, set in the middle of the cotton patch. He wo re clean blue overalls, ob~icusly new1 His small, regular featutes had. high cheekbones, There was a tuft of curly white hair on his chin, and. his head was covered with a sundown hat. Mawnin, he said, I bin sick. So I thought I might git some cotton terday. Willisthiriks he is 101 years old. He said, I was 35 years

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17 old. when freedom de1c~red. He belonged to Dr~ Balding Miller, who 1ived~ on Rock Creek plantation. Dr. Miller had. three or four plantations, ~V111ts said. at first, but later stated that the good doctor had. five or six places, all ir~ Burke Cou.nty. I wuk in de fiel1, he weiit on, and I drove de doctor thirty years. He owned ~O slaves. I never went to school a day in n~r life, cept Sunday school, brut I tuk de doctor s sous fo rr.iles evty ~ to school. Guess he had so mu.ch business In hand he thought the chilli.m could welk. I used. to sit down on de school steps ~til1 dey turn out. I ~ot way up in de alphabet by lis*enint, but when I went to courtin I forgot all dat. Asked what his regular duties were, Willis answered with pride: ~Marster had a caytage and. a buggy too. My father driv de caytage and. I driv de doctor. Sometimes I was fixing to go to bed, and had to hitch up my horse and go five or six mii~. I had. a regular saddle horse, two pairs for cay age. Doctor were a rich men. Richest man in Burke County. He made his money on his farm. When swnrnertime come, I went wid him to Bath, wheh he had. a house on Tena Hill. We d.riv down in de aytage. Sundays we went to church when Dr. Goulding preach. De darkies went in de side do , I hear hin preach man~r jjyr~~,li ~sked. about living conditions on Rock Creek plantation, Willis replied: tiDe big house was set in ahaif acre yard. Bout fifty yards on one side was my house, and fifty yards on de udder side was de house of granny, a woman th&t tended de chillun and had charge of de yard when we went to Bath, Willis gestured behind Mm, and back yonder was de quarters,

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18 a half mile long; dey wu~z one room crost, and some had shed. ro~n~ When any 0 ~ ~ot sick, Marster would go round to see ~ iii all. Asked about church and. Bible study, Willis said: II belongst to H~e~ t~1 Church. t~1axx Church people ~uld have singin~ and prayin and de wicked would have dancint and ~. rigin At dat time I was a regular daneei~ Willis chuckled. I cut de pigeon wing high enough! Not many cullud people know de B ible in slavery t irne We had dance s and prayers and sing too, he went on, and. we sang a song, On Jordan s stormy barks I stand, and cast a wishful eye. Eow about marriages? he was asked. Colored preacher marry ~ You had to get license and give it to the preacher, and he marry 1em. Then de men on our plantation had wives on udder plantations, dey call ~em broad wives.~ UDId you give your wife presents when you were courting? he was asked, UI went to courtin ~ and never give he r mithin till I raarry her ~A~s to punishment, Willis said 4h~t slavet were whipped as they needed it, and. as a general rule the ove:~r did the whipping. Then darky wouldn t take whippin from de overseer, he said, he hth to cay y dem to de t~boss; and if we needed any brashin de rnarster brush ein. Why, de ciarkies weuld whip de overseer! Willis was asked to describe how slave! earned money for personal use, and. replied: Dey made dey onw money. In slavery time, if /(JU wanted. four or five acres of land to plant anything on, marster ~1ve it to you, and whatever dat

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19 _ _~.~ ~ J ~ ~ land. make, lt belong to you. You could take d~t money and. spend it any you wanted to. Still he give you somethint to eat and. clothe you, but dat patch you nick cotton on, sometimes a whole bale, dat money yours. Willis thought the plantation house was still there, but it badly v~unde&, he said. Dey tell me d.ere ain t nobody living in it now. It seven miles from Waynesboro, south, When d~e soldiers come thoo~, continued. Willis, &ey didn t burn dat place, but dey went in dere and. took out ev thin~ dey want, and. give lt to de cullud people. Dey kep it tjli d.ey got free. De soNiers tuk Dr. Millers horses and carry tern off. G~ot in de crib and. tuk &e corn, Got in de sxnoke1ouse and tuk de meat out. Old Marssa bury his money and. silver In a iron dust. Dey tuk it 300 yards away to a clump of trees arid bury it. It tuk 1~O men to cat~ it. Dere was money without mention in dat chist! ~ fter de soldiers pasB thoo de went ~own and. got it back. ~at did. you do after freedom was declared~? Willis straightened up. I went down to Augusta to de Freedmen s ~ure~u to see if twas tru.e we ~uz free. I reckon dere ~as over a hundred people dere. The ivan got up and stated. to de people, you is jus as free as I am. You aintt got no raistis and. no maxiter. Work wheh you wsnt. 0n Sunday morning old Marster sent de house girl. and tell us to all come to de house. He said: What I want to send for you all, is to tell you you are free. You hE~:b de pri~~rilege to go anywhere you want, but I ~ want none of you to 1~ave me now. I wants you~all to stay right wid me. If you stay, you

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20 :~#~b~ ~ ~ ~ ~ j you flTU~St Si~fl to it. ~ I asked. him: ?~hat you want me ta sign for?~ I is free.t tDat will hold. nie to my word~, and hold. you to y~ word,~ he say. All my folks sign it, but I wouldn t sign. Marster call me u~p and. say: aiLready ~~Jillis, why wouldn t you si~n?t I say: ~If I is free I donut need. to sign no paper. If I was working for you, and doing l or you befot I got free, I cari do it still, if you want me to stay wid. yo .~ My father and mother tried to git me to sign, butt I wouldn t sign. My mother said: tYou oi~ghter sign. How you know Marster gwirie pay? I seid: 1Den I kin go somewhere else.~ ~ arster pay first class hands $15.00 a month, other hands $10.00, and. den on down to five anc~ six dollars. He give rations like dey always. z When Christ-s ruas come, all come up to be paid off. Den he call me, Ask what is me? I ~~1u,s st~ndin~ roaat de conter of de house. ~Conie up here,t he say, you di drib t si gii dat pap er but I r eckon I have to pay you t. ~ He pai d. me and. my wife $180.000. I said: tWell, you-sail thoi~ht he wouldn t pay me, but I got my money too.~ I stayed. to ~ny marster s p1~ce one year after de war den I left dere, Nex year I de ci ded I ~1 quit dere and. go somewhere else. It was on account of my wife. You see, Marster bou~ght her off, as de highe st ana. she had~n t seen her mothe r and. father in Waynesboro for 15 ~ears~

244 240

21 240 When she got free, she went~ down to see em. Vlaren t willin to coma baek~ T was on acocimt Mistis and her. Dey bore had chilluns, five-six years old, De chillun had disagreement. Mistis slap my girl. My wife sass de ~i1sti8, :Bu.t my marster, he was as good a man as ever born. I wouldn t have lef him for anybody, just on account of his wife and her fell outs What did your marster say when you told him you were going to leave? Was he sorry? I q~uit and goes a er three miles to another widow lady house, and n~k bargain wid her, said Willis. I pass right by de do , Old boss sitting on de pi za. He say: Hey, boy, wheh you gwine? I say: I cided to go, I was de fo man o de plow.4ian den. I saw to all de i cking up, and things like dat He say : Hold on dare . He come out to de gate . I tell you what I give you to stay on here, I give you five acre of as good land as I got, and ~3O.OO a month, to stay here and. see to my bizness. Willis paused a moment, thinking back on that long distant parting. I say, he went on, I can t, L~arster, It don t suit my wife round here and. she t some back and. I t stay He turn on me den, and busted out crying. I didn t tho t I could raise up a darky that would talk thataway, he said. tq me 7e11, I went on off. I got de wagon and come by de house, k~arster says: Now you. ~wouie off, but don t forget me, boy. Remember me as you always done . I said : All right . illis chewed his tobacco reflectively for a few minutes, spat into the rosemary bush, and. resumed his story; I want over to dat widow lady s house and work. Along about 1~y I got sick. She say: I going to send for de doctor. I said: Please ma axn, don t do dat . I thoug1it maybe he ki 11 me cause I t him She say : Well,

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22 send. b him . t I in de spnit condi. t ion. Then I know anything, he in ~.e do . I was 1ayin~ wid. my face toward de do and I turn over Doctor come up t3 de bed~. Boy, how you getting on?t ~I He say: ~ I see you is, yeh. Lady say: t ~ctor, what tMistis, it mos too late,t he say, t but I &o all I kin. do all y1 kin he b ut ~e be ~ I got . ~tDoctor fix up med cine ana. tale her to give it to me. She say: Will, tek d~is med cine~t I frajd to tek it, afraid he wuz tryin to Den two men, John and Charles, come in. Lady say: 1C et &ls med.t eine Will.! One of d.e men hold. my hand., one hold my head, ~nd d.ey gagged me. Nex4 few days I kin talk, and. ax for so~ethin to eat, so I git better. I say: t?lell, he didn t kill me when I t ~k de Medt cine.~ I stayed dere* wid. her. Nex yar I move right back in two miles other side wheh I always live, wid anudder lady. I stay d.ere three years. Got along all right. When I lef from there, I lef dere wid $300.00 and. want plenty corn and. hog. Everything I w~, and. three h~d.red dollars cash in !fl~ pocketi (It was plain that in his present status of relief ward, Uncle . about Willis looked ba~k on that sum of money as a snail fortune. He though ~it awhile, spat again, and went on:) Fourth year I lef and went down to de John Fryer place on Rock Creek. I stayed d.ere 33 years in &at one place. Uncle Willis, did you ever see the doctor again? He die sore L know it, he reDlied, ~I was bout fifteen miles from him and be de time I hear of his death, he bury on plEnLation near bad off,~ you think She say: I gwine walk u~, I say. of him? Plea se kill me. in Uncle me and put it in ?~ock Creek,

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23 Willis was asked about superstitions, and answered. with great sert ousness: Eberybod!y in d~e won have got a spirit what follow tem rount and dey kin see d.iffrant things. In ~y sleep I hab vi zion. Pappy t ei 1 de ladi e s ~ t out de han t urged Auti t Rena from her post in the doorway, and. Willis took up the story with ea~emess NOne night I was gwine to a lady s store, riding a horse. De graveyard. was 100 yards from cte road I v~iz passing. Dc moon was shining bright as day. I saw soiriethint coming out of dat graveyard~. It come across de road, right befot me. His tail were dragging on de ground~, a long tall. He bad hair on both sides of him, laying down on de road. He crep i~. I pull de ho ~ s e di s way he move t oo I piil 1 him day way he nove too I yell out : That in de name ~ G.rj d j s dat ? t And j t turn ri ~it straight ~ round de graveyard ~nd went back. I went on to de lady s store, and done my sbop.. pint. I tell you I was skeered, tcause I was shOt I would. see lt going back, but I never saw it. De horse was turrible ske9red of it. It looked like a Maryno sheep and it had. a long, swi shy it Unc!e ;7i11.i.s was aske . i ~ h~ had ever se~ ~ person ccnjured and he answered: Dey is people in d.e wont got sense to kill out de conju.r In anybody, but nobuddy ever conjur me. I year ~ say if a person conjur you, you ll git sortethint in you dat would kill you. ~

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~ 1 ~ .-~ ~l ~ 24 Asked to what he attributed his long, healthy life, he raised his head. with a preachi~ag look and replied I tell you, Missis, tzactly what I believe. I bin tryin to serve God. ever since I corne to be a man of family. I bin trying to serve de Lawd. 79 years, and. I live by precepts of d~e word. Until today nobuddy can turn me away fro~n God. business. I am a man studying my gospel. I ain t able to go to church, but I still keep serving Cod. ~& week later Uncle Willis was found standing in the cabin door, Do you want to ride to the old. plantation to-day? he was asked. His vitality was ~linost too low form to grasp the invitation. I se mirht weak today, he said in a feeble voice. I dontt feel ~~ood for much. ~ ~Vhere is Aunt Rena? he was asked, DO ~OU think she would nithd your taking an automobile trip? She gone to town on de bw~, to see de Fainbly Welfare, Have you had. ak his w~ak appearance Indicated lack of food. I had. some toffee but I am1 t kz eat xion~. Well, come on, Uncle Willis. We ll get you. sone breakfast, and then wetil take you to the plantation and take your picture in the place rhere you were born 101 years ago. Uncle Willis appeared to be somewhat in a daze as he padlocked t~he cabin door, put on his s~ndown hat, took u~ his stout stick and tottered

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_) ~ A: I_~~,/ ~ ~1own the steps. He wore a frayed sweater, with several layers of shirts showing at the cuffs. On the way he r~ca11ed. the first railroad train that passed thror~h Burke Coi~mty. I kind.er scared, he recollected, we w~z all triazed. to see dat train flyin long thout any horses. De people wuz all afraid.. Had you hear of airplanes before yoi saw one, Uncle Willis? Yes, ~na ~m. I yeared. o them, but you cot~.ldn t girr~ne cils car full of money to fly, they s too high off de ground. I never Is gwine in one,~ Uncle Willis was deposited. on the porch of one of the remaining slave cabins to eat his brekku.s, while his kidnappers sb~ht over hill and. field. for the big house, but only two cabitis and the chi~ey foundation of a large burned. dwellin~ rewarded the search. He was posed. in frnt of the cabin, just in froat o~ the clay and brick end. chimney, and. took great pleasure in the ceremony, rearing hi s head. up straight so that h~s white beard. stuck out. The bru.tal reality of f~din~ the glories of Rock Creek plantat~on forever vanished must have been a severe blow for the old. nan, for several times on the way back he wiped. tears from his eyes. Once again at his cabin in the cotton field, his vitality reasserted itself, and. he greeted his curious dusky neighbors with the proud statement: HDeY tuk me wheh I was bred. and born. I ~ ax no better tire. Eis farewell words were: t, G-o by~ I hope s you all gi t s to Parad.i se

Folklore. 249 245

~? / 245 FOLKLORE L~ ~ 239 Cain St. NE 231 Chestnut Ave. NE 231 Chestnut Ave. NE Atlanta, Ga. Interviews obtained from: Mrs. Erntiialine Heard, Mrs. Ro8a Millegan, Mr. Jasper Millegan,

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Page 1. ~ i ~ Mrs. Errirnaline Heard, who resides at 239 Cain St. NE has proved to be a regular storehouse for conjure and ghost stories. Not only this but she is a frim believer in the practice 01 conjure. To back up her belief In conjure is her appearance. She is a dark brown-skinned woman of medium height and always wears a dirty towel on her head. The towel which was at oz~e time white gives her the weird look of an old time fortune teller. Tuesday, December 8, 1936 a visit was made to her home and the following kntormation was secured: There wuz onct a house in McDonough and it WUZ owned by the Smiths that wuz slate owners way back yonder. Now, this is the trufe cause it wuz told ter me by old Uncle Joe Turner and he spirience lt. Nobody could liv~e in this house I don t care how they tried. Dey say this house wuz hanted and anybody that t 1~ed to stay there wuz pulled out of bed by a hant. Well, sir, they offered the bous e and ~l 000 to anyone who could stay there over night Uncle 3 oe said he decided to try it so sho fluff he got ready one night and went ter this house to stay. After while, says he, something come in the rooia and started over ter the bed, but fore it got there, he said, What in the name of the Lord you want with me. It said, follow me. There is a pot of gold buried near the chimney; go find it and you won t be worried with me no more. Der next horning Uncle Joe went out there and begin ter dig and sho nui~f he found the gold; and side~ that he got the house. Dis here is the tru~e. Uncle 3oe s house Is right there in ~cDonough now and anybody round there will tell you the same thing cause he wuz well-known. Uncle 2oe is dead now. Anudder story that happened during slavery time and wuz told ter me by father wuz this; The master had a old man on his plantation named 3 imson. ~1e1l, ~imson s wife wuz sick and had been ter nearly a year. One day there she wanted some peas, black pyed peas; but old man Harper didn t have none on his plantation, so J~irnson planned ter steal off that night and go ter oi~i Marse Daniel s farn, which wuz 4 miles fran Marse Harper s farm, and steal a few peas for his wife. Well, between midnight and day he got a sack and started off

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Page 2. 247 down the road. Long after while a owl started hootin, sho..o-o are- e-e, who-o o-.o.~ and. it wounded j est lak someone saying who are you. Jimson got scared, pulled off his cap and run all the way to old man Daniel s farm. As he run he wuz saying, Sir, dis is me, old Timson over and over again. Now, when he got near the farm Old Daniel heard hirn and got up in the loft ter watch him. Finally old flmson got dar and started creeping up lxi. the l~tt. When he got up dar, chile, Marse Daniel grabbed his whip and most beat 31.mson ter death. This here story happened in Mississippi years ago, but den folks that tell it ter me said it wuz the truTh. There wuz a wanan that wuz sick; her name wuz Mary Jones. Well, she lingered and lingered till she finally died. In them days folks all around would come ter the settin~up if sanebody wuz dead. They done sent some men after the casket. Since they had ter go 30 miles they wuz a good while getting back, so the folkses decided ter sing. ~fter while they heard the men c ie up on the porch and somebody got up ter let em in. Chile, jest as they opened the door that ~nan set straight up on th&.t bed; and sech another runnin and getting out of that house you never heard; but some folks realized she quzn t dead so they got the casket out der way so she wouldn t see it, cause they wuz fraid shw would pass out sho miff; jest the same they wuz fraid of her, too. The man went off and come back with postols, guns, stic~cs, and everything; and when this oman saw em she said, don t run, I won t bother you . but, chile, they left there in a big hurry, too. Well, this here Mary went to her sister s house and knocked on the door, and said: Let rae in. This is Mary. I want to talk to you and tell you where ye been. The sister s husband opened the door and let her in. This Oman told em that God had brought her to and that she had been in a trance with the Lord. it~fter that every one wuz always afraid of that oman arid they wouldn t even sit next ter her in the church. They say she is still living.

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Page ~248 This happened right yonder in MeDonough years ago. A gal went to a party with her sweet art and her ma told her not ter go. Well, she went on e~nyhow in a bug~ when they got ter the railroad crossing a train hit the buggy and killed the gal, but the boy didn t git hurted at all. Well, while they WUZ sittin up with this dead gal, the boy canes long there in his bug~r with anudder ga~l, and do you know that horse stopped right in front uv that house and wouldn t budge one inch. No matter how hard he whip that horse it wouldn t move ; instid he rared and kicked and jumped about and almost turned the buggy over. The gal in the Duggy fainted. Finally a old slavery time man caine along and told him to git a quart of whiskey and pour it around the buggy end the hant would go away. So they done that and the spent let em pass. If a haut laked whisky in they lifetime, and you pour it round where they s at, they will go away. The following are true conjure stories supposedly witnessed by Mrs. Heard: There wuz a Rev. Dennl3 that lived below the Federal Prison. Now, he ~uz the preacher of the Hardshell Baptist Church in this ca~imunity. This man stayed sick about a year and kept gittin different doctors and none uv them did him any good. ~1el1, his wife kept on at him till he decided ter go ter see Dr. Geech. His c iplaint wuz that he felt sOEnething run up his legs ter his thighs. O1~ Dr. Geech told him that he Lad snakes in his body and they quz put there by the lady he had been going wid. Dr. Geech give him son~e a~edicine ter take and told him that On the 7th day frOEn then that oman would come and take the medicine off the shelf and throw it away. Course Rev. Dennis didn t believe a thing he said, so sho fluff she cc~ie jest lak Dr. Geech said and took the medicine away. Dr. Geech told him that he would die when the snakes got up in his arm, but if he wo~ .d do lak he told him he would get all ri ght Di s Oman had put thi s stuff in some whi skey and he drunk it so the snakes breed in his body. fter he q~uit taking the medicine he got bad off and had ter stay in the bed; sho nuff the morning he died you could see the

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Page 4. 2~9 snake In his arm; the print uv lt wuz there when he died. The snake stretched out in his ann and died, too. I got a son named Tack Heard. Well, somebody fixed him. I wuz in Chicago when that happened and my daughter kept writing ter me ter c ie home cause Jack wuz acting funny and she thought zaaybe he wuz losing his naind. They WUZ living in Thaaasville then and every day he would go sit round the store and laugh and talk, but jest as soon as night would come and he would eat his supper then fits would come on hirn. He would squeal jest lak a pig and he would get down on his knees and bark jest lak a dog. Well I cane hdm~e and went ber see a old conjure doctor. He says ter me, that boy is hurt and when you go home you look in the corner of the mattres s and you wi 11 f1 nd I t Sho nuf f I went home and looked kn the corner of the mattress and ~bare the package wuz. It WU: a mixture of his hair and bluestone wrapped up in red flannel with new needles running all through it. When I went bake he says ter me, Eniznaline, have you got 8 dimes ? No, I said, but I got a dollar. Well, get that dollar changed into 10 dimes and take 8 of em and give em ter me. Then he took Jack in a room, took off his clothes and started ter rubbin him down with medicine; all at the ssme time he wuz saying a cereniony over him; then he took them 8 dimes, put ein in a bag and tied them around i~ack s chest somewhere so that they would hang over his heart Now wear them always says he t er ~ ack. ~Tack wore them dimes a long time but he finally druiik em up~ anyway, that doctor uured hira cause he sho would a died. ~ -~- The following a una few facts as related by Mrs. Heard concerning au old conjure doctor known as Aunt Barkas. Aunt Darkas lived in ~cDonough, Ga. until a few years ago. She died when she wuz 126 ye~ as old; but, chile, lemme tell you that aman knowed just what ter do fer you. She wuz blind but she could go ter the woods and pick out any kind of root or herb she wanted. She always said the Lord told her what roots to get and always fore sun~up you would see her in the woods with a short handled pick. k

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Page 5. She s&id she had ter pick em for sun~up; I don t know why. Ir you wuz sick all you had ter do wuz go ter see Aunt Darkas and tell her. She h~d a well and after listening to your coniplaint she would go out there and draw a bucket of water and set it on the floor, and then she would wave her hand over it and say something. She called this healing the water. After this s~ would give you a drink of water. As she hand it ter you, she would say, now drink, take this and drink. Honey I had sorrie of that water myself and blieve me it goes all over you and makes you feel so good. Old Aunt Darkas would give you a supply of water and tell you ter c~e back fer more when that wuz gone. Old Aunt Darkas said the Lord gave her power end vision, and she used to fait for a week at a time. Vlhen she died there wuz a piece in the paper bout her. This here is sho the trufe, ind if you don t believe it, go out ter Soutbview Cemetery and see Sid Heard, my oldest son; he been out t~-ere over 20 years as sexton and bookkeeper. Yessir, he tole it ter me ~~nd I believe it. This happen long ago, 10 or 15 years. There wuz a couple that lived in Macon, Ga., but their home wuz in Atlanta and they had a lot out ter Southview. Well, they had a young bab that tuck sick and died so they had the baby s funeral there in Macon; then they put the coffin in the box, placed the label on the box, then brought it ter Atlanta. Folkee are always buried so that they head faces the east, They s~y when .Tud~aent Day cane and Gabriel blow that trumpet everybody will rise up facing the east. ~ fell, as I wuz saying, they carne here. Sid Heard met em out yonder and Instructed his men fer arrangements fer the grave and everything. A few weeks later the oman called Sid Heard up long ~istance. She siad, Lu. Heefd. Yesmam, he said. Icall youter tell you me and my husband can t rest at all. IThy? he asked. Because we can hear our baby crying every night and it is worrying n us ter death. Our neighbors next door say our baby must be burled wrong. Sid Heard said, Well, I buried the baby according ter the way you got the box labeled. I am not blaming you, Mr. Heard, but if I pay you will you take my baby up ? Yesmam, I will if

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251 you watn me to; jest let me know the day you will be here and I ll have every~ thing ready. Airight, 5aid she. Vieil, said Sid Heard, the day she wuz ter come she wuz sick and instead sent a car load of her friends. The men got busy and started digging till they got ter the box; when they too, lt up sho nuff after they opened it, the found the baby had been buried wrong; the head was facing the west Instead of the cast. They turned the box around and covered it up. The folks then went on back to Macon. A week later the omen called up again. Mr. Heard, she says. Yesnam, says he . I ~ t heard my baby cry at all In the past week. I wuzn t there but I know the exact date you took my baby up, cause I never heard it cry no more. On December 10, 1936 Mr. and Ivirs. Millegan who resi e at 231 Chestnut ~ve. NE. were interviewed on the subject of superstitions, signs, conjure, etc. Mrs. Rosa Millegan studied awhile alter the facts of the interview were mac~e clear to her. Finally she said; I kin tell you more bout conjure; that s all I know bout cause I done been hurted myself and every word of it is the trufe. Well, it happen l~ik this. I wuz suffering with rheumatism In my a~n and a old man in the neighborhood came ter me and gave me some medicine that he wald would help me. well, I done suffered so I thought mebbe It might help me a little. Chile honey, after I done tuck some of that stuff I nearly went crazy. I couldn t talk; couldn t .iardly move and my head look lak it bust open. I didn t know what ter do. I called medical doctors and they jest didn t ~o me no good. Let me tell you right here, when you done been conjured, medical doctors can t do you no good; you got ter get a nudder cc~ijur doctor ter get it off you. Well, one day I says to my daughter, I th through wid medical doctors. I ri gwine ter Sain Durham. They say he I s good and I go find out. Chile, folks done give me up ter die. I use ter lay in bed and hear em say, she won t never get up. Well I went ter Sam Durham and he looked at rae and said: You Is hurt in the mouth. He carried me In a small room, put some

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Page 7. 2~2 niedicine around my face, and told me ter sit down a while. After while my mouth and. face begin ter feel lak it wuz paralyzed, and he begin ter talk. That riian tI~at give you that medicine Is mad wid you about his wife and he fixed you. Now d~o what I tell you and you will overc ie it. He is coming ter your door and is gwine want ter shake your hand. Don t let him touch you, but speak ter him in the name of the Lord and throw your han s over your head; by doing this you will overcome him and the devil. ~nudder thing he says; Thi s man I ~ coIning from around the back of your house . Then he give me 5 vials of dIfferent lengths and a half cup of pills, and told me ter take all that mediciae. He told nie too ter get a rooster and let hirn stay on my porch all t he t line and he e oui dn t get t er me no inor e Sho nuff t hat ni gger o ane jest lak he said he wuz going ter do, but I fixed him. Later on this saine man tried ter fix his wife cause he thought she had anudder man. Do you know that aan couldn t drink water in her house? and when he died he wuz nearly crazy; they had ter strap him in the bed; all the while he wuz cussin God and raving. Phe next stories were told to the writer by Mr. 3~asper Millegan: My uncle wuz poisoned. Yes, sir, somebody fixed him in coffee. He lingered and lingered and finally got so he wuz confined ter bed fer good. Somew 1~ody put scorpions in hi~i and whenever they would crawl under his skin he would nearly go crazy, and it looked alk his eyes would jest pop out. He waited so long ter go ter the conjure doctors they couldn t do him any good. SAnd the medical doctors ain t no good fer nothing lak that. Yei, sir, them snakes would start in his feet and run up his leg. He nebber did get any i~tter end he died. A long time ago I saw a lady that wuz conjured in her feet; somebody put something down fer her ter walk over. Well, anyway she got down with her feet and couldn t travel from her bed ter a chair. Well, she got a old con4ure doctor ter c ie treat her and he rubbed her feet with medicine and after he done that a while he told her that something wuz caning out of her feet. Sho

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Page 8. or ) nuff I see d thexii maggots with my own eyes when they cane out of her feet ; but she got weil. The following are preventatives to use against conjure; also a ~ew home treatments for different sickness. Ter keep from being conjured, always use plenty salt and pepper. Always get up soon in the morning so nobody can see you and sprinkle salt and pepper around your door and they sho can t git at you. If. you think you done been poisoned or conjured, take a bitter gourd and remove the seeds, then beat em up and make a tea. You sho will heave all of it up. Et you think you will have a stroke, go to running water and get four flint rocks; heat em and lay on all of them, and believe me, it will start your blood circulating and prevent the stroke. ~nother way to start your blood circulating; heat a brick and (lay) lie on it. To get rid of corns, bathe your feet in salt water azid take a little salt and put it tween your toes. Mrs. Millegan closed her interview by telling the writer that every morning found her sprinkling her salt and pepper, cause she knows what it means ter be fixed. As the writer started out the door she noticed a horse shoe hanging over the door .

Folklore (Negro). 258 254

\ ~ ~ ~ ;~: ~ Minnie B Ro s ~ (Ne~ro)~ on November 24, 1936 Mrs. Camilla Jackson was interviewed concerning super~ stjtlQflS, signs, etc. Mrs. Jackson~axt ex-slave1 is about 80 years of a~e end. a1tho~~h a vaflCed in years she Is unusi~aI1y inte11i~ent in her speech and thot.ghts. The writer was well acquainted with her having previously interviewed her concerning life as a slave Mrs. Jackson related to the writer tne following signs and incidents: If a tree is standin~ in your yard or near your house and an ow . lichts in it ~nd begins to hoot, some one in the family will die. If, during the illness of a person, a cat comes in the room, or the house~, ~fld wnines, the person will aie. Another sure sign of death and one that h~.s been experienced by Mrs. Jackson j s as follows: Li sten child if a bird flies in your house some one s going to die. ~y daughter and I were ironing one day and a bird. flew in the window right over her head . She looked up and said, mama that bird caine after me or you, but I believe it caine for ine.~ One month later my daughter took sick with pneumonia and died. My mother said before the Civil War ended her mistress owned an old. slave woman 100 years ola. This old woman was very wicked. and the old. miss used to visit laer cabin ana. read the Bible to her. Well sir, she died. and do you know the horses oalked. and would go every wa~y but the right way to the grave. They rared and kicked~. arid would turn straight around in th~ road cause the evil spirits were frightening tnenj. It was a long time before they could ~et the body to the grave. Mrs. Jackson before relating the following experiences emphatically stated ner belief in seeing the dead. but only believes that you can see them in a dream. Many a night my sister has come to me all dressed in white. I have heard :~r call me too; but I have never answered . No longer than one night last week old Mr. and Mrs. Tanner carne to me in a dream. The old lady came in my room and stood over my bed. Her hair was done i~p on the top of her head just like she always wore it. She was distressed and spoke about corne one being after her. Old Mr. Tanner k

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-2.. 2L~5 cprne and led her away. They really were in my room you see both of them died in this house years ~ ~rs. Jackson could not relate any stories of conjuring; but did mention the fact that she had often heard of people wearing money around th ir legs to keep from being conji.~red. She also spoke of people keeping a horseshoe over the door for good luck. During slavery and since that time, if you should go out doors on a drizzling night for any thing,before you could get back Jack O lantern would grab ~You and carry you to the swamps. If you hollowed and. some one bring a torth to the door the Jack Otlantern would turn you aloose. Another way to get rid. of them is to turn your pockets wrong side out. One day a man came here selling roots called John the Conqueror and sister Blakely there, paid him lO~t for one of the plants but she never did plant it. He said. the plant would bring good luck. On the same day Mrs. Jackson was interviewed, Mrs. Anna Grant told the writer that if she didn t mind she would relate to her a ghost story that was sup.. osed to be tru.e. In her own words the writer gives the following story: Onst a oman her husband and two chillun wuz trave .in . TM s oman wuz a p: cacher and only want ed to st op over night . Now thi s oman s husban wuz a sinner, but she wu.z a chriStian. Tell she~saw an old empty house settir~g in a field out when she went ter inquire bout it she waz told that it wuz hanted and no one h~d ebber been able ter stay there over night. De lady dat owned de house offered iier pillows, bed. clothes, sheets, etc., if she intend.edto~etap ~r~and even told her that she w~u .d give her de house if she could stay there . The woman that owned t.i~ house told her butler to ge and make a fire for the family and carry the pillows, sheets, etc. Well, they all got there the ~oinan built a fire, cooked supper and led ein all. Her husband.and. children went ter bed. The husband wantedto know ~i1 his wife wanted him to go to bed. and. she wanted ter stay up. The wife did~t V

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~3.. 256 say nothint just told him ter go to bed, then she laid. the Bible on the taUe bottom side up and kept 1ookin~g behind her. The huuse wuz two story and after while. sornethin~ came ter the top stets and said, ~0an I throw down,U she said 1t:irow down in the name of the father, son and. Holy Ghost. Two thighs and a foot came down. Later the saine voice sed, SCan I throw down and. she said, ~throw down in the name of the father son and the Holy Gho st ~ and then a whole body came down. The husband woke up when he heard the noise and ran away from the house. The ghost toLl the ~ornan ter follow her, and she picked up her Bible and. kept on reading and rent on behind the ghost. The ghost showed her wheresome money was buried near a oi~: oak tree and then vanished. The next morning the o~-aan dug and. found der money, but the oman of the house wouldxi t take a Denny, said she did t t want it sides that she gave her the house. They said this wuz a true story and der reason dat house ~u: iianted wuz cause aer faniily dat used to live there got killed about money. L~rs. Grant ended by saying Dares a horseshoe over my door right now for luck. Mrs. Ernanaline Heard lives on Cain St. between Port and. Butler Sts. She i~) &fl ex slave and on a previous occasion had given the writer a~ intere~ti-ng account cf slavery as she knew it. When the writer approached her concerning superstitious ~i~ns, ghost tales, cDnjure etc., Mrs. Heard s face became lit with interest and ~u~c?:ly assured the writer that she believed in conjuring, ghosts, and signs. It was no~ long before our interview began. Mrs. Heard, although seventy or seventy..five .?e~rs old, is very intelligent in her expression of her different thoi~hts. This int!~rview, as nearly as possible, was taken in the exact words of the person interviewed. If you are eating with a mouthful of food and sneeze, that sho is a true si ~n of death. I laiow that cause years a~o I w~z havin breald ast with my son Wylie Pn~~ one other boy and Wylie sneezed and said Mama l in so sorry I jiet coundn t hel~o i~: the sneeze c~e on me so quick. I jist sat there and looked at him and began ter .v:~naer. Two weeks later my orotner rode up and announced my mother s death. That i~ one sign thats true, yes sir.

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257 If a picture falls off the wall some one in the family will die. If you dream about teeth, if one falls out tnats another sign of death. Another sign of death jest as sho as you live is ter dream of a person na~necL I dreamed my son was na3~ed but his body was covered with hair. Three rjionths later he died. Yes sir, that sho is a true sign. Jest as sho as your left hand itches you will receive money. If fire pops on you from the stove, or fire place, you will get a letter. If the left side of your nose itches a man is coming to the house. If it itches on the tir, he will come riding. If the right side of your nose it~hes a woman is caning to the house. Following are stories told to Mrs. Heard by her oarerits, which took place ~Iuring the period of slavery. They are supposed to be true as they were experienced. bj tne persons who told them. ~My mother told me a story that happened when she was a slave. When her ru ~ ress whipped her she would r~ away ter the woods ; but at night she would sneak ~ck to nurse her babies. The plantation was on old McDonoii~h road, so ter get ter tn~ olantation she had ter come by a cemetery and you could see the white stones shining in the moonlight. This cemetery was near a cut in the road that ~eople srdcj was hanted and they sti~ll say old. McDonough road ts hanted. One night, mama said sne was on her way to the plantation walking on the middle of the road. and the :noon was shining very bright. When she reached this cut she heard a noise, Clack! J~ck! Clack! and thi s noise reminded a person of a lot of machines moving . All ~.t once a big thing as large as a house carne down the side of the road. She said it looked like a lot of chains, wheels, posts all mangled together, and it seemed t~)t there were more wheels and chains tuan anything else. It kept on by making t j~ t foi se clack~ clack! clack! . She stood right st ill till it P~ ssed. and. came on ter tne farm. On her way back she say she didn t see lt any more but right till tef clay that spot is hanted. I have knowed. horses to run away right there with

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~5... 258 people and. hurt them. Then soinetinies they have rared. and. kicked and. turned to go in the other direction. You. see, horses can see hante sometimes when ~o1ks can t. ! ow the reason fer this cu.t being hanted was becau~se old Dave Copeland. used. to whip :iis slaves to death and bury them along there.~ The next story was told to Mrs. Heard by her father, who experienced it, as a slave boy. My father sed wnen ne wriz a boy him and. two more boys ri~n away from the ~n~ster cause the master whipped em. They set out and. walked till it got dark, and~ . they saw a big old. smpt~r hots. settin tack from der road. Now this house was 3 or 4 ~iles from any other houas. So the7 went in and. made a fire, and laid. down cause ~ tney wttz tired~ from running from the Pther rollers. Soon they heard. something say t pt tapi tap!,down the stairs it came, a loud. noise and then Oh Lordy Master, I ~ ~i~n; ~oin do it no more; let me off this time. After a while they heard this same ~ noise like a house falling in and the same words Oh Lordy Master, I ant goint do ~ it no more. Let me off this time. By this time they had got good and scared,so my ~ p~. sed he and his friends ooked at each other and. got up and ran away from that ~ :~o ~se jest as fast as they could go. Nobody ~owed w~r this old house wu~z hanted; ~ ~ut they velieved that so;ne slaves had been killed~ in it. ~ The next is a story of the Jack O lantern as told by Mrs. Heard. ~ Old Soutn River on~ the Jonesboro road is jest full of swampy land and on ~ 1) rainy drizzly ni~lt Jack O lanterns will leaa you. ~e night my uncle started ~ c-)T.t ter see his girl end he had. ter go throi~h the woods and the swamps. Then he ~ :)t in der SWa~fl1) land he had. ter cross a branch and the night w~xz clark and drizzly, ~ so dark you could hardly see your hand before your face. Way up the creek he saw a little bright light, so he followed it thinking he wuz on his way. All night long ~e sed he followed this light t~p and clown the swamp, but never got near ter it. Vthpn ~ (lay caine he was still n the creek and had not gone any distance at all. He went hone and told the folks and they went back ter the swamps and saw his tracks up and. ~Gwn in the mud. Later a group of ~a set out to find the Jack O lantern and way

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..6~ 259 down the creek they found it on a bush. It looked like soot hanging down from R bush, burnt out. My uncle went ter bed. cause he wiiz s1ee-~y and tired. down.. from wa1kin~ all night. The following three stories related. by Mrs. Heard deals with practices of conjure. She definitely states that they are true stories; and backs up this state~ ment by saying she is a firm believer in conjure. As I told you before,iny daci&Y came from Virginia. He wu~z bought there by o1~. Harper and brought ter McDonough as a slave boy. Well as the s-oeculator drove a1~Jn~ south, he learned who the different slaves were. When he got here he wuz tOld. b~r the master to live with old. uncle Ned cause he wuz the only bachelor on the plantation. The master said. ter old Ne&, Well Ned, I have bought me a fine ~ ~irn~ plow boy. I wallt him ter stay witn you and you treat him right. Every night w~~1e Ned. would make a pallet on the floor for daddy and make him go to bed.. ~Then ne zot in bed he (uncle Ned) would watch him out of the corner of his eye, but daddy w.o~ild pretend he ~r~iz asleep and watch old uncle Ned. to see what he wuz going ter do. ~fter a while uncle Ned would take a broom and sweep the fireplace clean, then he w :~ild get a basket and t.~~ke out of it a whole lot of little bundles wrapped in white cl c~ th. As he lay out a package he would say grass hoppers spiders ~ scortian, !t~~e ~ etc., tnen he,would take the tongs and turn era around before the blaze so that they would parch. Night after night he would do this same thing ~mtil tiey had parched enough, then he would beat all of it to~ether and. make a oowder; tnert put it up lii little begs. My daddy wuz afraid ter ask old uncle Ned what he a~.i witn these bags, but heard he conjured folks with em. In fact he did conjure ~ ~al cause she wouldn t pay him any attention. This gal wuz very young and. pre~ ferred talking to the younger men, but uncle Ned. always tried ter hang around her ~ help hoe but she would always tel 1 hi~ to go do hi s o~i work cause she could io flers. One day he said ter her ill right madam, I ll see you later, you wont

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.-7-. s 260 notice me now but you ll wish you had. When the dinner caine, and they left the field they left their hoes standing so they would. I~ow jest where ter ~tart when t~~1CY got back. When that gal went back ter the field the minute she touched that rioe she fell dead.. Some folks say they saw uncle Ned dressing that hoe with conji~ e. My sister Lizzie sho did ~et fixed, honey, and it took a old. conjurer ter ~et the spell off of her. It wuz like this: Sister Lizzie bad a pretty peachtree and one limb spread.ed out over the walk and jest as soon as she would walk under ~LL s limb she would stay sick all the time. The funny part bout it wuz that ~ile she ~vui at other folks house she would. feel all right, but the minute she passed under this limb, she would begin ter feel bad. One day she sent fer a con~ jurer, and. he looked under the house, and. sho nuff, he found it stuck In the sill. It looked like a bundle of rags, red flannel all stuck up with needles and every triing else. This old. conjurer told her that the tree had been dressed. for her ~ t would be best fer her ter cut it down. It vraz a Dretty tree and. she sho did. ~te to cut it down, but she did. like he told. her. Yes child, I don t laiow whither Itii ever been conjured or not, but sometimes my head hurts and I wond.er.N Mrs. Heard asked the writer to return at a later date and she would ~roo~bly be able to relate more interesting incidents.

Folklore (Negro). 265 261

~ 261 FOLKLORE Edwin Driskell ~:~: 283 (Negro) The Negro folklore as recounted below was secured. froni the fol.lowing persOUB Mrs. Julia Rush (an ex..slave) who lives at 878 Coleman Street, S.W.; Mr. George Leonard (a very inibelligent elderly person) whose address Is 148 Chestnut Avenue N. L; and Mr.Henry Holmes (an ex-.slave); Mr. Ellis Strickland; Mr. Sain Stevens and. a young boy known only as Joe. The latter named people can be found at the address of 257 Old. wheat Street N. E. Ac~ cording to these people this lore represents the sort of thing tI~at their parents and greiidparents believed in and. at various times they have been heard to tell about these beliefs. VOODOO A~D CONJURE Mr. Leonard says: In cieru days d.e old folks b lieved in witch~craft and conjure and sicha stuff like dat. Dey b lieved dat an old. person could pimish anybody by taking a piece of chip and. spitting on it and den dey would throw it on 1eni. Dey said aat in two weeks time maggots would be in etn.~ (II have seen em take a black cat an put i~ in a sack ant den dey took t lin ant put im in a pot of boi ling ho t wat er al ive Man de cat would a .rno s~ tear dat pot i~ tryin to git out. After dey had. cooked all de meat off de cat dey took one of his bones (I don t know which one of em) ans. ~it it crossways in their front teeth while dey mi~rabled somethin under their breath an den dey took dis bone an~ throwed it cross de right shoulder an when dey went an picked i t up an put it in their pocket it was supposed to give em de bes kind. of luck. Dey could say or do ~thing dey wanted to an ole rnarster couldn t hit en.~ Regarding the Black cat s bone Mr. Strickland told tne following story which he says he once heard an old man tell his father:

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- 2 ~ IlyGu goes out in de valley in de woods an you takes a live black cat ant throws im in a pot of boiling water. You boils im till he gits clone all to pieces an~ den you takes all de bones an throws t ~ j~ de creek ant de one dat floats up de creek is de one to use. You takes dis bone an draws it thro,~gh your teech an gits all de meat off an den you can take dat bone an do all kinds of raajic. You can talk to folks an!. dey can t see you. You can even disappear an come right back. It takes a good Un to do dat (get a black cat s bone). While you s boiling de cat ~at thunder an lightnin look like it goin tear up de face of de earth-~.... you can even see de wind. which is like a red blaze of f ire.~ Continuing Mr. Stricklandsays: Some of de roots dat dey used. to bring im lu.ck an to trick folks wid wuz Rattle..Snake Marster, and John de Con.. querer. John de Conquerer is supposed to conquer any kind of trouble you ~its intuh. Some folks lays dat you can tote it in your pocket an~ have good luck. HI once knowed a woman who had. some lodestone dat she uster work. She could take men an dere wives apart an den put em back together again. She ~ay dat she had. kil 1 ed so many folks ( by the use of conjur e and maj i c etc.) dat she clid nt know whether she would ever git fit fer forgiveness. She sold She sold. hersief to de devil fer twenty years. Lint nuthin wrong wid folks all de time wnen dey thinks dey is tricked,~ ~3ays Mr. Strickland. I ~ a friend named Joe once an~ he uster fool trotin wid. root s an stuff 1 ike dat One day he heard about a man who had. promi sed to pay five-hundred dollars to anybody dat could cure hirn of de misery in his stomach. He tho,~ght somebody had. tricked him by puttin a snake in aim. Joe stayed wid. im fer two days a& he did nt git no better an so he went out de flex day an bought a rubber snake an den he come back an give de man some inedecine to make im vomit. then he comited Joe throwed de snake) in

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-~ ~-3 de can ~j~1 den he said to de man: Dere it is, I knowed. somebody hth f ixed~ you.u De man said: Dey toll me sOmeTDOcLy bad put a snake in me. ~ Joe took de snake an~ done away wid it an de nex day de man wuz up walkin ro-un. He never d~id know how he had been fooled an Joe made de Sive...hundred dollars. According to Mrs. Rush the wife of the colored foreman on her master!~ plantation was always working with roots. She says One day I come in fi~m de field to nurse my baby an when I got to my house dere was dis woman stand,. Ing at my door. I said. to her: ~Name o ~ ~unt Candis (dat wus her naine) whut is you dom V She wus rnaldn all .kin~s of funny motions when I come up on her. If you amt scared of tem dey can t do nuthin to you. When I hollored at her de sweat broke out on her face. By dis time I had. stayed away fiim de field too long an I knowed. I wus goin to git a whippin but Candie gimme some of de roots she had. in her mouth an i~ her pockets. She toi me to put piece of it in my mouth an chew it. !hen I got near de overseer I was to spit some of de juics towars him an I would nt git a whippin . I tied a piece of it rowi my waist an ptit some in my trurilc too. I did nt git a whippin when I got to de field. but when I went to look fer de root t roun my wai st I t wus gone When I went back to de house dat night de other piece wus gone too. I amt seed. it foin dat day to cils. De rest of de women on de :plantation honored Candis but I did nt. Dey say dat folks like dem can put stuff down fer you to walk in er set in or drink an~ dat dey can fix you lie dat. But dey can t do nuthin wid. you 1f you amt scared of lem.N Not so long ago a woman whut uster live back of rr~e tried to do surnpin to me after we had a fuss. I woke up one mornin an looked out b~r my back fence an dere wus a otsa salt an sulphur an stixCf all roun de yard. De other women wiis scared fer rae but I wuslnt.U Several of ray informants say~ that salt can be used as a weapon ot conjure.

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..4.. 2G ~ According to Toe 981t may be used to make a gambler lose all of his money. P6 do this all that is necessary is to st4nd. behind the person to be conjured and. then sprinkle a small amount of salt on his back. From that instant on he will lose money. Joe has also seen a woman use the following method to make her male friend remain at home: She taken some salt an pepper an sprinkled it up an dowil de steps, says Joe, an den she taken a plain eatin fork an stuck it under de door steps an de man stayed right in de house until she moved. de fork, . Mr. Stevens says: If you want to fix somebody all you got to do is to sprinkle soins salt an petter roun ein an~ it ll make ~em bus dere brains out. If yo~i wants to make ein move you go out to de grave yard an~ stick yotu hand down in de middle of a grave an git a han f . of dat red graveyard dirt an den you cornes back an sprinkkes it I roun dere door an dey s gone, dey can t stay dere. Another conjuration is fer a woman to make three waves over a man s head. I saw one do dat once.~ Another method used to fix or conjure people, according to Mrs. Rush, is to take a lizard and parch it. The remains must be put in something that the person is to eat and. when the food is eaten the individual will be conjured. Mr. Holmes says if a black cat s tail is tied on someone s doorknob it will ~cut dey luck off. Silver money tied around the leg will ward off the effects of conjure. Mrs. Rush says if you are feeling ill and you wish to determine whether or not someone has been trying to conjure you or not just take a silver coin and place it in your mouth. If it turns black somebody is working conjure on you. I knowed a man who went to Newnan to see his mother who wus sick,~ stated Mrs. Rush. ~She wus so sick dat she couJd nt tell whut was de matter wid her an so her son took a silver quarter an put it in her mouth an it turned as black as a kettle.~

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~~~~265 Says Mr. Holmes: If anybody comes to your house an you don t want ein dere, when dey leaves you take some salt an throw it at eni when dey gits out of hearin youcuss at em an dey won t never come back again~~t, Following are some songs that used to be sung about conjure, etc.: SON: Mother, make my bed down I will freely lie down, Mother, make ray bed down I will freely lie down ~OTEER: ~Ransom, my son, what did she give you to eat? Ransom, my son, what did she give you to eat? . SON: Red head (parched. 1 j zard ) and speckle back Oh, make my bed down I will freely lie down. I m goin to pizen (poison) you, I m goin I m jus sick an tired of de way you do, I m goin to sprinkle spider legs roun yo an you gonna wake up in de mornin an find. I to pizen YOU1 bed. yourself de~ ~1You beat me an you kick me an you black my eyes, I m gonna take dis butcher knife an hew you down to my size, You mark my words, my aame is Lou, You mind. out what I say, l in gain to pizen you. POSITIVE CUP~S AND CONTROLS Mrs. Rush says that backache can be cured by rubbing a hot iron up and down the afflicted person s back. Asafetida tied around the neck will prevent smallpox. Risings can be cured by rubbing them with a poultice made from House Leak root.

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To prevent a fall while wa1kiri~ from one side of a creek to the other on a log, place a small stick crosswise in the front teeth and no mishap wi .l result. Hold. the mouth full of water while peeling onione and the onion juice will not get in the eyes. ~ If a man wisI~es to make a woman fall in love with hi~n all that he has to do is to take some of her hair, tie it up, and. then throw it in running water. In a shortu.. while she will fall deeply in love with him A man may also cause a woman to fall in love with him b,j letting her drink whiskey ~n whiCh he has allowed ~in..Root to soak. If a woman wishes to make a man fall in love with her she has only to take the small bow usually found In the back of a ant ~ cap on the sweatband, or the bow usually found on the band of the man s hat. After this has been secured lt must ~be taken and worn under her clothes next to her body. WITCH RIDING Mrs. Betty Brown of 74 Butler Street, N. E. says that when people die angry with someone they usi.~ally come back after death in the form of a witch and then they ride the persor~ tha t they were ari~ry with at the t ime of their death. According to )4r. Favors who lives at 78 Raymond Street, when a witch rides anyone it is a sien that a man, a woman, or a dog, is after that person. Mrs. Julia Rush says: De old. folks uster call witches hags. Dey wiis some icind of sperrits (spirits) an dey would ride anybody. My ~randinother uster sleep wid de sissors under her pillow to keep em away.~ I once heed a woman dat a witch come to a house one night an took her skin off an went throu~gh de key hole. Somebody fount de skin an sprinkled

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7.. 267 salt on it an1 when de witch come out she cou.ld nt git in de skin an~ she started saying: Skinr~y, Skinny, don t you know me?! . Regarding witches Ur. Leonard made the fol1owin~ statement: The old folks b lieved. dat any house a person died in was ~hainted and dat de dead. person s spirit was a witch dat would corne back at night. They used. to put a pan of salt on de corpse to keep it fi.~m purgin au to keep de witches a~y. They burned lamps all night long fer about three weeks after de person was aead ~ they sprinkled salt an pepper roiin too to keep de witches away.~~ Another informant claims that if a person slee~s with his or her shoes under the bed. the witcnes are liable to ride hizn~. Mr. Strickland says that when the witches are riding anyone if that person can say any t~Z ee words of the Bible such as: NLord have mercy,N or Jesu.s save me the witch will stop riding. APPARITIONS AND GHOSTS Mr. Henry Holmes claims that he has seen the Jack O Lantern and that at one time he even followea it. He says: One night me an~ two more fellows followed de Jack O Lantern. It looked like a light in a house or si.~znpin. We did~.nt know where we wus until de flex mornint an~ when we did. find ourseif s we wus at home. All de while we followed it it jus kep goin further an furtner until it jus va~ished. According to Mr. Leonard the Jack O Lantern is a light that cornes out of t e swamps at nignt and alter getting in front of a person it will lead him on and on. The old. folks also used to think that the va~or seen rising out of the swamps at night were ghosts. One night he and his grandfather were walking down the railroad. tracks wnen sudden ,i his grandfather said: Stand back dere ~eorge don t you see dat man walkin along dere wid no head? He says, however, that he hinself failed to see any sucn thi~. ~ According to both Mrs. Brown and Mrs. ~. ple wno are born with cauls

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(a kindofaveil) over their eyes are able to see ghosts. CUSTOMS CoNCERNING COURTSHIP A~iLMARRIAGE Mr. Leonard says that a young man wishing to accompany a yo~ung woman to her home always spoke in the followibg r!ianner: Dear kind. Miss, if you have no objection bi my being your protection, Pm going in your direction. It was in this manner that he asked her to allow hi~ to escort her home. For several years after freedom was declared it was the custom for the bride and the groom to ~ump over the broom together before they were prom nounced. man and. wi f . HUNTING LORE The best time to hunt possums is on a c1o~thy night just before the break of day. All of the big ones are out then Mr. Fav rs claims. .8...

Conjuration. 273 269

269 ~7ritten by: Edited by: Louise Oliphant Federal ~:7riterst Project UE US ta Ge orgia. John N. Booth, District Supervisor, ~esidenc es 6 & 7, Federal inters Project ~i ~us ta ~e ~rg a. iooJLF~1 C OL~P ILk T I ON FOLKLo ~E I NT1~RVI~S ~ RI C}U~OND C OUI~TY C ONJ1~T~A TI ON

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C ONJURA~TION Ricth~ond County s older colored citizens, particularly the few survivin~ ex-~slaves, are outspoken in t!Leir firm celief concerning: po; ers ~f conjurers ~~ nd root workers. When it comes to conjuration, dont t nobody know more t oout that, and there am t nobody had as r~uch of it done to em a~.s I have, said a wizened old woman. I know nobody could stand ;. rh~T.t I have stood. The first I knowed bout conjuration was ~then a woman named Iuciiida hurt my sister. She was always a oie; me, and her chillun ~as better than anybody eises. ~Iel1 her oldest child got jregnant and that worried Lucinda nearly to death. She thought everybody she seed was talkin bout her child. One day she j;assed i~y sister and another oman standin on the street laughin and talkin . liicinda was so worried bout her ~n~hter she thought they was laughin at her. She ~ot so nad she cussed em out right there and told em their turn vras in the nul. My sister called the other oman in the house and shut the door to ~eep from listenin at L:cr. That ~~.de it wuss. Bo~it three weeks later i~y sister started comj4ainin Us had two ox three doctors with her, but none of ~ em done her ~.ny ~od. Tue n.ore doctors us ~ ot the wuss she got. Finally all of t1l~:3 doctors give her uj and told us there warn t nothin they oould do. After she had been sick bout two :~onths she told us bout a strange ~~an commt to her house a few days tfore she took sick. She said he had been there three or four times. She

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2. 271 t~erib~red it when he come back after she took sick and offered to do soiethin for her. The doctors hadn t done her no good arid she was just bout to let him doctor on her vthen this oman that WE S with her the day Lucinda cussed em out told her he was Lucincla s great uncle. She said that every1~ody called him the greatest root worker in South Carolina. Then my sister thought t oout hOv! this man had come to her house and asked for water every tinie. lie wouldn t ever let her ~et the water for him, he always went to the j)ump arid ~ot it hisseif. f~fter he had ~umj~ed It off real cool he would always offer to get a. ~ucket full for Lier. She didn t thinl: nothin bout it, and she would let him fill her bucket. That s hov he got her. She stayed sick a long time and Lamie stayed by her b~d ti.l she died. I noticed i~i~iie vripin her mouth every few minutes, so one day I asked her what did she keej wipin from ii~y sister s mouth. She told r~e it wasn t nothin but spit. But I had got very anxious to know ~ I stood by her head myself. Pinally I seed y~r~~t it was. Small spiders cai;ie crawlin out of her mouth and nose. i~a,mie thoi~ight it would skeer rie,- that s why she didn t 1. ian t ne t o kn ow . ttThat hajpened on Tue sday and that Friday vrlien she died ~ stall snake c~:r;e out of her forehead and stood straight up ~nd ~t~~ck his tongue out at us. -~ old man trho was sittin there with us ca~~:ht tkie snal:e put him in a bottle ~nd ::e~t nim bout t~vro ~eks ~efore he died. ~Don t think Lucinda didn t have pore Larnie conjured too. ~amie took sick just one ~:onth after my sister died. after she

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. 3.272 found out the doctors couldn t do her no good, she got a real ~ood root worker to doctor on her. He got her up and she stayed Uj) for nearly a year before Lucinda doubled the dose. That time ~ofe ~:Ia1r1ie couldn t git up. She suffered and suf ~ered before she died. Jut Lucinda got ~er pay for all of it. When Mamie died Lucinda come to see her and said some folks was better off dead anyhow . ~anie s daughter started to jt~~ on her but soi~ie-~ of the ol~i folks wouldn t let her. Lucinda v;ent a long ti~:e, but when she fell she sho fell hard. She alrio~t went crazy. She stayed sick as lon~:; as my ~i~ter a~ d Mamie i:)Ut together. She got so bad off tu nobody couldn t even go in her house. ~verybody said she was rea~in :rhat she sowed. She wouldn t even let her own chillun come in the house. 4~fter she got so sick she couldn t get off the bed she would cuss em and yell to the to; of her voice tu they left. :obody didn t feel sorry for her ~ cause they knowed she had done too much devilment. Just fore she died, Lucinda was so sick and everybody v as taikin bout it was such a shaipe for her to have to stay there by herself that her youngest daughter and her hus3and vient to live .iith her. Her daughter was tfraid to go by herself. When she died you could stand in the street and hear her cussin and ~rel1in . She ke,pt sayin take em off of me, I ain t done ii.jthjflt to em. Tel? tCfl I didn t hurt em, don t let ein kill r~e.t And all of a sudden she would start cussin God and anybody SiIC could think of. ~7hen she died it took four :~en to hold her ~Jown in the bed.

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4. 273 I ve been sick so much tu I can look ~.t other folks :I~en they re sick and tell if its natural sickness or not. Once I seed my face always looked like dirty dish water grease was on it every mornin fore I washed it. Then after I washed it in the places where the grease was would be j~laces that looked like fish scales. Then these ~)laCes would turn into sores. i went to three doctors and ever~,T one of em said it was j~oison grease on my face. I k~iowed I hadri t ~ut no kind of ~rease on it, so I couldn t see where it was comm from. very tiitie I told my husband bout it he got mad, but I never paid too much tention to that. Then one Jay I was tellin a friend of ~nine oout it, and she told me my ~:usband must oe dom it. I ~ rondered why he would do such ~ thing ~.nd she said x~e was just bout jealous ~f me. The last doctor I went to give : ie somethin to j~ut on i:iy f~ce and it really cleared the sores up. -~3ut I noticed my 1us~a..nd when my fb.ce got clear and he really looked dad. lie started ~:rumblin oout every little thing, right or wrong. Then one day he brought me a black hen for dinner. ~ mind told me not to eat the chicken so I told him I yranted to keep the hen and he got :iad bout that. Bout two or three days later J. ~!otice~ a big ~:uot on the side of the chickents head and it burst3d inside of that same week. The chicken started drooping round and in a week s time that chicken was dead. You see that chicken was fOlsOfl. J~fter that my husoand got so fussy I had to start sleepin in another room. I was still sick, so one day he brought 125 coLe ~:edicine he said he got from Dr. Traylor. I tried to take ~. dose cause I knowed if it was from Jr. Traylor it was all right,

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~but that r~edicine burnt me just like lye. I dicin t eveh try to take no r~ore of it. I got sor:~e i::edicine from the doctor myself ~nd j~)Ut it th the bottom of the sideboard. I took bout three doses out of it and it was doing ne good, out when I started to take the fourth dose it had lye in it and I had to throw it away. I went and ha~d the doctor to give me another bottle and J. called myself hidin it, out after I took bout six doses, lye was put my in it. Then one day a friend of mine who corse from/husband s home told me he was a root worker and she thought I already knovied it. Well I ~mowed then how he could find my medicine everytinie I hid it. You see he didn t have to do nothint but run his cards. From then on I carried my medicine round in my apron docket. I started sleepin in the kitchen on a cot cause his mother was usin the other room and I didn t want to sleep with her. Late at night he would come to the window and blovr soiriethin i_fl t~ ere to 1:.ake me feel real bad. Things can 1e blowed through the key hole too. I knovi cause I have had it done to rae. This ~pt up for bout a year and five or six a~onths. Then cavse he ~e~d he couldn t do just what he wanted to, he told me to get out. I went cause I thought that i~ii~ht hel~p me to git out of my misery. :~LIt it didn t cause he come where I was every night. lie never did try to cove in, but us would hear someoody stumblin in the yard ~id whenever us looked out to see who it was us always found it was him. iJs told him that us seed him out there, but he always denied it. i- e does it right now or sor:etimes he gets other root workers to do it for him. Whenever I go out in the yard my feet always feel like they are twistin over and I can t stop tern; my legs and knees feel like soE~ethin is drawint em, and my head starts swimmin ~. 274

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6. 275 I know what s wrong, it just what he had put down for m~. When I get up in the fl:~rfljfl I always have to put ~iulphur and salt and j.~epj.~er in my ~hes to kee~ do~rn the devilment i:i3 _ uts out for me . ~ man who can do that ~in~1 of work give rie ~:Onie thin to help i:le ~ i)Ut I ViE~S 5~ posed to go back in six months nncl I am t oeen back. Thatt ~ why it s started .:orryin rie again. t~My sister \ias conjured oy o~enin the door ~nd eatin ~.fter~ ards wi thout washint lier hE4nds an 80 y;ar old ex slave re :arl:ed. ~he had just co:.ie home and opened her front door and went in the house to eat before goint to church. She et her supper and started to church with another of ~y sisters. ~fter she had ~ one ~oout two or three blocks she started feelin sick ~nd walkin as if ~F~e was drunk. My sister tried to make her go back home but she ~rouldn t. When they got to church she couldn t hardly get up the ~t~eps and th y warn t in church over fifteen minutes fore ~.1ie ha~ ~ stroke . Somebody took a car and carried her home . She cou1ctn.~ t, 3ven ~eak fOi i~ore U~an a week. The doctor come and xamined her, ~jut he said }~e didn t see n3thin that would cause iier to h~ve a stroke. i-ie treated her for oout two weeks out ~ didn t get no etter. :~. friend told us to try a root worker. 3he said she kno~ied one tdat was cflod on such things. U5 was afraid at first, out after tij:~ t~aree doctors us tad tried didn t seem to do her no good, us decided to get the root worker. The root wor}:er come tiiat 1edriesday ~ ornin and looked ~.t ~ ~out he never t3u.ched her. He told us she had oeen hurt,~~but ~:e could have her on her feet in bout a week or ten days. ~ did&t 4ve her no medicine, and he never corne back tu after s~Iwas ~

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7~276 and walkin round. She got up in bout seven days, and startea talkin earlier than that. The r:)ot worker told her she had got conjured b~,r puttin her hands on sonethin and eatin without washin em. 5~I3e got along fine for bout three years, tu one day ~he got home from work and found her house o~en. She thou~:ht her son haLt gone out and fo~ot to lock the i.or. ~~hen he coi~ie home he toL~i lier he nad not been ~ack since lIC left that mornmn ~he knowed she didn t forget to lock it, so she guessed sonieoody had jus oout gone in th~ ou~h the window and co!ne out the door. ~ut it. v as too late then cause she had et what was left in the house and had drunk some water. That night she had tier second stroke. U~ sent for the her sa~:~e man who !:ad got/up before, but he said he doubted gettin her up this time cause the person had made a ~ood job of it by .puttin~ so:~ethin in her water and t eat. lie treated her, an~d she got strong enough to sit up in the house, but she soon had the third stroke and then ~ie give her up. She died OO~It two a~onths later. UI know you don t know. how folks can really conjure you. I dicin t at one tir~e, but I s~o learnt. i~verytime somebody gets ~~ick i.t am t riatchel sickness. I have seed folks die with what the doctors C8il~d consumption, and yet they idn t have it. 1 have seed ~)eO~)le die with heart trouble and they ciidn t have it. -&olks is havin t~ore strokes ~iow than ever but they am t natchel. I have seed folks fixed so they v;ould bellow like a cow when they die, and I have seed te~ fixed so you have to tie them down in bed to die. I ve got so I hardly trust anyoody.tt

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8. 27? Este lla Jones thinks conjurers and root workers are L~uch r.:ore skillful now th~.n formerly. Folks don t kill you like they used to kill you. They used to .Lut most anythin in you, but now they got so wise or afraid that sor~ebody will know zactly what killed you, til they do it slick as a eel. Once a rrian named ~Tohn tried to go with a girl but her ste.p pa, Willie, run him away from the house just like he mought Je a dog, so John nade it up in his mind to conjure ~7iiIie. He went to the s~.ring and planted soi:~!ethin in th3 ~iouth of it, and ~hen Willie went there the next day to get a drink he got the stuff in the water. A little while after he drunk the water he .. started ~ettin sick. He tried to stay up ~ut every day he got ~ uss and wuss tu he got flat down in bed. I In a few days somethin started growin in his throat. avery time they tried to give him soup or anythin to eat, sornethint vrould co ~e crawliri U~) in his throat and choke him. That was what he had drunk in the s~ring, and i~e COUldfl t eat nothin or drink nothin . Finally he got so bad off he claimed so~:ethin was chokin him to death, and so his wife sont off and got a fortune teller. This fortune teller said it was a turtle in his throat. ..e ~cribed the an that had conjured 7illie out everyoody kno~ed John had done it fore the :~ortune telle told us. It warn t long :;.ft~r that fore ~1illie was de~d. That turtle co~ie up in his throat and choked hini to death. tISo~e folk don t believe me ut I am t tallin no tale boi~i.t it. I have asked root workers to tell ~:e how they does these

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9.278 things, and one told rae that it was easy for folks to ptit snakes, frogs, turtles, spiders, or most anythin that you couldfltt live i~ith crawlint and eatin on the inside of you. lie said these thifl~~ Vfl1S klllCd ~fld ~?Ut U~ tO dI3T ~ fl~j then beat u~ into dust like. If any of this dust is put in Fionlethin you have to eat or drink, these things will cor~e alive like they was eggs hatchin in fOU. Then the more they grow, the worse off you get. t1ivry ~un t ~on had took a girl away fron~ another man vtho vn_~.s going with her too. ~s soon as this i~ian heard they was going to i~~arry, he started studyin some wa~j to stop it. So he went to a root worker and got somethin and then went to this girl ~ house one night when he knew my cousin was there . Finally when he got ready to leave, he was smart enough to get my cousin to t~.ke a drink with hirn. ~That next .~:ornin th~ boy ~ feelin a little bad, but he never ~)aid Loo much tention to it. lText day he felt ~ little rj~5c~ ~ ~i~r~r-r~y froi~ then on he felt wuss and wttss UI he got too sick to stay up. One day a old lady who lived next door told us to try ~ r:~ot worker who lived on Jones Street. This man c~u;ie ~.nd told us what was wrong, but said us had waited too long to send for hirn. lie give us sor~~ethin to lieve the boy of his misery. IJs kept 2:ivint this to him ~ tu he finally got up. Course he 7iarn t vieil by no r:~eans and this uedicine didn t held his stomach. lylis stoi:ach got so big everyo~dy would asi: what wa~s wrong. lie told everybody that asked him and some who ~idnt t ask him bout the frogs in t~iis stomach. The bigger these frogs sot, the weaker he got.

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10. 279 After he had been sick bout four n~onths and the frogs had got to be a~pretty good size, you could hear em holler everytime he opened his mouth. He got to the place ~~here he wouldn t talk much on account of this. His stomach stuck out so far, he looked like he weighed 250 pounds. After these frogs. started hollerin in him, he lived bout three weeks, and fore he died you could see the frogs jurnpin bout in him and you could even feel eni. Ttain t no need talkin ; folks c~n do anythint to you they vrants to. ~Lhey can run you crazy or they can kill you. Don t you one titie believe that every pore ~usson they has in the sylum IE$ jLlSt natcheily crazy. Sor~e was run crazy on account of ~eo~le not 11km eni, sor~c cause they was gettin 1on~ a little too ~-ood. livery time a ~R1sSOfl jumps in the river don t think he was ju~E;t tryin to kill hisseif; most times he just didn t know what he v as dom . My daughter was fixed right here under our noses. She was ~:;arried and had five little chiliun and she was the ~icture of i ~ealth. But she had a friend that she trusted too much and this friend ~ ~s single and in love with i~y dau~ hter s husband. Difft ~f; ~eO~)le told Liza bOut this girl, out she just didn t believe em. :~very day this girl was at Liza s house Ttil time for Lewis to cjt off fron work. She helped Liza wash, clean up, iron and cook, ~Dut she always left at the time for Lewis to :it off from work. This went on for more n a year, out I i:ept tellin Li;:a to ween off from this girl cause I seed she didn t :ean her no good.

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~3ut Liza w~.s grown and noi~ody couldn t tell her nothin . I think she ~ Liza fixed so she would be crazy ~out her. J~eoj1e can :.ake you love em, even ~.arry em ~ihen if you was in your right mind you wOUldrit t cive em a thought. anyhow Liza went on with the girl tu one afternoon while she was co~~in fror~ the store 512e seed Lewis and 2dna goin in a house together. He come home t~bOUt three hours later, and when Liza asked him why he was so late he told her they h~d to ~~ork late . He didn t know she had seed him and she never told him. tiAfter this she started watchin him and i~dna, and she soon found out what folks had been tellin her was true. Still ~?~e never told Lewis nothin bout it. She told ~dna bout seem em and asked her to please let Lewis alone. ~dna made u~ some kind of s cuse but she never let him alone and she k~j~it goin to Liza s house. When things finally went too far, Liza s.~oke to L~vii~ bout it and as:ed him to leave Edna alone. lie did, but that r~ade Edna ma~d an~i that s when she cided to kill Liza. Lewis really loved Liza and would dO anythin she asked him to. ~One day dn~~ come to see Liza, after she had stayed away for bout three weeks, and she was more lovin than ever. S1:e hunL~ 3TOUfld tu she ~ot a chance to ~ut so~:icth n in th~i r;j,t~r ~ioket, t~aen she left. Peo,~le can ~ut somethin in things for you. and everybody else can eat or drink it, but it won t hurt nobody out the one it s put there for. lThen Liza drur~ water, ~3he said it tasted like it had salt-~peter in it. When she vient to bed tha~~ night, she never got out til she was toted out. She snffered and suffered and vie never kn3v!ed what vias wrong ~ tu ~dna 11. 28()

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12. 281 tol :l it herself. She took very sick and fore she died she told tine of her frie~ids oout it and this friend told u~, but it was t~:)J late then, Liza was dead.

Mistreatment of slaves. 294 290

1.00152 CO~IL~TlON RICB~!OND COUi~rTY_EX~-SiAVE_INTEi-iVIEWS Ml S TPLF T1 tI~NT OP SL~1/~~S Written by: Louise Oliphant Federal Writers Project Augusta, Georgia. Edited by: ~Tohn N. Booth, District Su1.~ervisor, Federal ~Jriters Project AUgUSt31, Georgia.

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icK)152 . There are many ex-slaves living In Richmond Ccunty and Augusta who have vivid recollections of th~ days when their lives were inseparably bound to those of their masters. These people ha1ve a past rich in tradition an1. sentiment, and their memories of customs, habits of work and~ play, and the superstitious beliefs, which still govern their actions to a large extent weave a color~ fui pattern in local history. Mistreatment at the hands of their masters and the watch dog overseers is outstanding in the memory of most of them. When I was in slavery, us had what you call good white folk. They warn t rich by no means, but they was good. Us had rather have em poor and good than rich and mean. Plenty of white folk mistreated they slaves, but ours never mistreated us. They was a man lived in callin distance, on the next plantation, who worked his slaves day and night and on Sunday for a rarety. You could hear em coming from t;he field about 12 o clock at night, and they had to be back in the fields by daylight. They couldn t get off on Saturday nights like everLody else. Whenever be bought their clothes, it was on Sunday whe~i they warn t workint He was mean, but he was good about buyin for er, new shoes or a suit or anything of the like they said they needed. Marster had overseers, but he wouldn t let e~ whip his slaves unmerciful. They always whipped us just as your rna~as whips you now. Bob Lampkin was the meanest slave owner I ever knowed. He would beat his slaves and everybody e1se~s he caught in the road. 291

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-2- ~92 ~ie was so mean ti . God let him freeze to death. He come to town ~ got drunk and when he was going back home in his buggy, he froze stiff going UL~ iace Creek Hill. VThite and colox ed was glad \~r~erj he died. lUs slaves used to run away whenever they got a chance. I member he had a real pre tty gal on his place . She was light brov n and was built uj~ better than anybody I ever saw. One of the overseers was crazy about her, but her mother had told her not to let any of em go with her. So this old overseer would stick close round her when they was workin just so he could ~ et a chance to say sornethin to her. He kej~t followin this child and followint this child until she aln~o~t went crazy. VIay afterwhile she run away and c orne t o our hou se and stayed bout three days. When my marster found out she was there, he told her she would have to go back, or at least she would have to leave i llS j)lO.C a iie didn t want no trouble with nooody. Then that child left us she stayed in the woods until she got so hungry she just had to go back. This old man was i:~ad with her for leavin and one day while she was in the field he started at her again and when she told him flat footed she warn t goin with him he took the big end of his cow hide and struck her in the back so hard it knocked her ~lunth crazy. It was a big lake of water about ten yards in front of em and if her mo ther iiadnt t run and caught her she wou~d have walked right in it and drowned. In them t~rnes white ~~en vient with colored gals and women bold. ~ny time they saw one and wanted her, she had to go wit;h hirn, anc~ his wife didn t say nothint bout it. I~ot only the

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men, but the women went with colored men too. That s why ~o niany wrnnen slave owners wouldn t niarry, tcaus.e they was goin~ with one of their slaves. These things that s goin on now am t new, they been happenin . Tha,tts why I say you just a~ well leave em alone cause they. gwine to do what they want to anyhow. My rnarster never did whip any grown folk. He whi~pped chillun whefl they did anything wrong. He didn t low us to eat plums before breakfus, but all the chillun, his too, would die or do it, so every time he caught us he would whip us.~ Another ex~-~slave recalled that you had to call all your marster s chillun mar~ter or n~i~ti~, even the babies. You never wore enough clothes and you always suffered for comfort. Us warn t even lowed to have fire If you had a fireplace in your house, it was took out and the .place closed up. If you was ever caught with fire you was beat ~niost to death. Many mothers died in confInement on account of takin cold cause us couldn t have fire. My young inarster tried to go with me, and cause I wouldn t go with him he pretended I had done sornethin and beat me. I fought him back because he had no right to beat me for not goin with him. His mother got mad with me for fightin him back and I told her why he had beat ~e. Well then she sent me to the courthouse to be whipped for fightin him. They had stocks there where i ost people would send their slaves to be whij~ed. These stocks was in the shape of a cross, and they would strap your clothes up around your waist and have nothin but your naked part out to whip. They didn t care about who saw your nakedness. Any- -3~. 293

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294 way they beat inc that day until I couldn t ait down. Then I went to bed I had to lie on my stomach to sleep. After they finished whippint me, I told them they needn t think they had done somethin ..by strij~pin me in front of all them folk t cause they had also stripped their mamas and sisters. God had n iade us all, and he made: us just alike. They never carried me back home after that; they pu~t ne in the Nigger Trader s Office tobe sold. About two days later I wa s s o 1 d to a man a t McB ean . The n I we n t t o hi s p lace e ye rbo dy told me as soon as I got there how niean he was and they said his wife was still meaner. She was jealous of me because I was light; said ~he didn t know what her husband wanted to bring that half white nigger there for, and if he didn t get rid of md j~retty auick she was goin to leave. Well he didn t get rid of me and she left about a month after I got there. When he saw she warn t comint back fil he got rid of me, he brought me back to the Nigger Tradert s Office. As long as you warnt t sold, your rnarster was sponsible for you, so whenever they put you on the market you had to praise yourself in order to be sold right away. If you didn t praise yourself you got a beatin . I didn t stay in the n~arket long. ~ dissipated woman bought me and I done laundry work fox her and other dissipated woi~en to pay my board ttil freedom conie. They was all very nice to me. Whenever you was sold your folk never knowed about it t t il afte rwards and s orne time s they never saw you again. They didn t even know who you was sold to or where they was carryin you, unless you could write back and tell em. L

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-4- 295 ~ The market was in the middle of &roa.d and Cdnter Streets. They made a scaffold whenever they was goin ~ to sell anybody, and would put the person up on this so everybody could see him good. Then they would sell him to the highest bidder. Everybody wanted women who would have children fast. They would always ask you if you was a good breeder, and if so they would buy you at your word, but if you had alrea.dy had tcornany chillun, they would say you warn t much good. if you hadn t ever had any chillun, your marster would tell tem you was strong, healthy, and a fast worker. You had to have eornethint about you to be sold. Now sometimes, if you was a real pretty young gal, somebody would buy you without knowirit anythin bout you, just for yourself. i3efore my old r~arster died, he had a pretty gal he was goin with and he wouldn t let her work nowhere but in the house, and his ~iife nor nobody else didn t say nothin bout it; they knowed better. She had three chillun for him and when he died his brother c~ome and got the gal and the chillun. One white lady that lived near us a~t MoBean slipped in a colored gaPs roon~ and cut her babyts head clean off cause it belonged to her husband. He beat her tbout it and started to kill her, but she begged so I reckon he got to feelin sorry for her. i~Ut he kept goin with the colored gal and they had more chillun. UI never will forget how my marster beat a pore old woman so she couldn t even get up. And cause she couldn t get up vzhen he told her to, he hit her on the head with a long piece of iron and broke her skull. Then he made one of the other slaves take her to the jail. She suffered in jail all night, and the jailer heard her moanin and groanin ~o the next mornin ne made

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a.5~ 296 marster come and get her. He was so mad Cause he had to take her out of jail. that he had water pumped into her skull just as soon as he got back home. Then he dropped her down in a field arid she died fore night . That was a sad time . You. sawr your own folk killed and couldn t say a word bout it; if you did you would be beat and sometimes killed too. A n~ian in callin distance from our j~1ace had a whippint j~ole. This man was just as mean as he could be. I know he is in hell now, and he ought to be. A woman on his place had twins and she warn t strong from the beginnint. The day after the chillun was borned, he told her to go over to his house and scrub it from front to back. She went over to the house and scrubbed two rooms and was so sick she had to lay down on the floor and rest awhile. His wife told her~o go on back to her house and ~et in bed but she was afraid. Finally she got up and scrubbed an ther room and while she was carryin the water out she fainted. The mistress had some of the men carry her home and got another slave to finish the scrubbin so thee marster wouldntt beat-the pore nigger. She was a good woman but her husband wa~s mean as the devil. He would even beat her. When he got home that night he did.n t say nothin cause the house had been scrubbed, but the next niornin one of the chillun told him about the woman faintin and the other girl finishin the scrubbin . }~ got mad and said his wife was c1oa~in for the slaves, that there was i iOthlfl wrong with the woman, she was just lazy. He beat his wife, then went out and tied the ~iore colored woman to a whippin pole and beat her unmerciful. He left her hangin on the pole and went to church. ~Vhen he got back she

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..6.. 297~ was dead. He had the slaves take her down and bury her in a box. He said that laziness had killed her and that she warn t worth the box she was buried in. The babies died the next day and he said he was glad of it cause they would grow up lazy just like their mother. My rnarster had a barrel with nails drove in it that he would put you in when he couldnt t . think of nothint else mean enough to do. He would jut you in this barrel and roll it down a hill. When you got out you would be in a bad fix, but he didn t care. Sometimes he rolled the barrel in the river and drowned his slaves. 111 had a brother who worked at the academy and every night when the teacher had his class he would let my brother come in. He taught him to read and write too. He learned to read and write real well and the teacher said he was the smartest one in the class. Marster passed our window one night and heard~ him readin The next nlornint he called hirn over to the house and fooled him into readint and writin told him he had somethin he wanted him to do if~he could read and write good enoagh. 1V~T brother read everythin~ marster give him and wrote with a pencil and in.k pen. Marster was so mad that he could read and write b e t t e r than hi s own b oy t ha t he b e a t him t o ok h im away from t he academy, and put him to work in the blacksmith shop. iviarster wouldn t let hirn wear no shoes in the shop cause he wanted the hot cinders to fall on his feet to punish him. V/hen the man in charge of the ShOP told rnarster he wouldn t work my brother unless he had on shoes, he bought some brogans that he knowed he couldn t wear, and from then on he made him do the hardest kind of work he

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.74.~ 298 could think of. ~ My marster never whipped us himself. 1-ie had a coachman do all the whippint and he stood by to see that it was done right. He whipped us until we was blistered and then took a cat-o~nine~ tails and busted the blisters. After that he would throw salty water on the raw places. I mean it almost gave you s.pasms. ~7henever they sent you to the courthouse to be whipped the jail keeper s daughter give you a kick after they put you in the stocks. She kicked me once and when they took me out I sho did beat her. I scratched her everwhere I could and I kriowed they would beat me again, but I didn t care so long as I had fixed her. One ex-slave belonged to an 1d lady who was a widow. This lady was very good to me. Of course most, people said i t was cause her son was my father. 3ut she vras just good to all of us. Sh~ did keep me in the house with her. ~he knowed I wars her son s child all right. ~Then I lTlarried, I still stayed with my mistress ttil she died. My husband stayed with his rnarster in the day time and would come and stay with me at nighi. . When my ~istress died I ~had to be sold. My husband told me to ask his marster to buy me. He didn t want me to belong to him because I would have to work real hard and I hadn t been use to no hard work, but he was so afraid somebody would buy me and carry me somewhere way off, tU he decided it was best for his mar s te r t o buy me S o hi s nar s te r b ou ght me an d gi ye me and my husband to kils son. I kept house and washed for his son as long as he was single. When he narried hi~ wife changed me from the

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..8~ 29~i ~ house and put me in the field and she put one of the slaves her mother give her when she married, in the kitchen. My marster s wife was very mean to all of us. She ~didn t like me at all. She sold my oldest child to somebody where I couldn t ever see him any more and kept me. She just did that to hurt me. She took niy baby child and put her in the house with her to nurse her baby and make fire. And all while she was in the house with her she had to sleep on the floor. ~Whenever she got mad with us she would take the cow hide, that s what she whipj~ed us with, and whip us tu the blood ran down. Her house was high off the ground and one night the calf went under the house and made water. The next morning she saw it, so she took two of my sister..in~~1awts chillun and carried em in the kitchen and tied em. She did this while her husband was gone. You se~ if he had been there he wouldn t have le t her done that. She t oolc herse 1f a chair and si t down and made one of the slave s she brought there with her whip those chillun so tu all of the slaves on the place was cryin . One of the slaves run all the way where our marst~r was and got him. lie corne back as quick as he could and tried to make her open the door, but she wouldn t do it so he had to break the door in to make her stop whippin them chiliun. The chillun couldn t even crywhen he got there. And when he asked her what 5h6 was whippin them for she told lUm that they had went under the house and made that water. My master had tWO of the ~nen to take ein over to our house, but they was small and ne i ther one ever got over that whippin . One died two days later and the other one died about a month afterwards. Everybody hated her after that.

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-9 , 3OOI~ 9~fust before freedom declared, my husband took very sick and she took her husband and come to my house to make him get up. .1 told her that he was nct able to work, but my husband was so scared they would beat nie to death ~ tu he bogged me to hush. I expe ot rnarster ~ would haire i f he hant t been scared o his father. You see his father give me to him. He told me if the legislature set in his behalf he would make me know a nigger s place. You know it was nearfreedorn. I told hirn if he made my husband get out of bed as sick as he was and go to work, I would tell his father if he killed me afterwards. And that s one time I was goin to fight with em. I never was scared of none of em, so I told em if they touched my husband they wouldn t touch nothin else . ~ They wouldnt t give us nothint to ~at that whole day. Course we never did have much to eat. At night they would give us a teacup of meal and a slice of bacon a piece for ~ breakfus the next mornin . If you had chillun they would give you a teacup of meal for two chillun. -~y day light the next rnornin the oversebr was at your house to see if you was out, and if you hadn t cooked and eat and g9t out of that house he would take that bull whip, and whip you nearly to death. He carried that bull whip with him everywhere he went. - tThose folks killed one of,Y~iusband s brothers. He was kind of crack-brained, and cause he was half crazy, they beat him all the time. The last time they beat him we was in the field and this overseer beat him with that bull hide all across the head and everywhere. He beat him until he fell down on his knees and couldn t even say a word. And do you know he wouidnt t even let a one. of us go to see about him. He stayed stretched out in the

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. . . -P10-. 3ftj the field ti . us went home. The next mornint he was round dead right where he had beat him that evenint. t$:t:BOUt two or three weeks 1ate~ than that they told one of the slaves they was goin to beat him after we quit work that evenin H ~ name was Josh. . When the overseer went to the other end of the field Josh dropped his hoe and walked off. Nobody eaw him anymore for about three weeks. He was the best hand us had and us shot did need him. Our mast1er went everywhere he could think of, lookin for Josh, but he couldn t find him and we was glad of it. After he looked and looked and couldn t find him he told all of us to tell Josh to come back if we knowed where he was. lie said if Josh. would come back he wouldn t whip him, woLildn t let the ov~rseer whip him. My husband knowed where he was but he warnt t goint to tell nobody. J~osh would come to our house every night and us would give him some of what us had for dinner and suj~er. Us always saved it for him. Us would eat breakfus at our house, but all of us et dinner and supper at the mess house together. ~veryday when I et dinner and supper I would take a part of mine and my husband would take a part of his ahd us would carry it to our house for pore Josh. Bout tleven o clock at night, when everybody was sleep, Josh would come to the side window and get what us h~d for him. It s really a shame the way t~iat .Lore man had to hide aoout just to keep from bein beat to death bout nothin Josh said the first day he left he went in the woods and looked and looked for a place to hide. Later he saw a. tree that the wind had blowed the top off and left bout ten feet standin This was rath3r a big tree and all of the insides had rotted out. I

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-I - 302 rc3 cko n y ou have s e e n tre e s I Ike t ha t We 1 1 t ha t s t he way t hi s one was. So ~Tosh climbed up this tree and got down inside of it. He didntt know there was nothi& down in that tree, but there was some little baby bears in there. Then there he was down there with no way to come out, and lcnowin all the time that the mama bear was commt back. So he. thought and thought and thought. After while he thought bout a knife he had in his pocke t You see he couldn t climb out of the tree, it was too tall. When he heard the bear clirnbin up the tree he opened his knife. Have you cirer seen a bear commt down a tre e? Vieil he come s down oackwards. So when this bear started down inside of the tree he went down b~c~kwards, and Josh had his knife ojen and just caught hirn by the tail and begin stickin him with the knife. Thit s the way ~Tosh got out of that tree. When he stuck the bear with the knife the bear went back up the tree, and that pulled Josh up. And when the bear got to the top of the tree Josh caught a hold of the tree and pulled himself on out, but the bear fell and broke his neck. Vieil Jc~sh had to find hi~ somewhere else to hide. In thorn times there was big caves in the woods, not only the woods but all over the country, and that s where pore Josh hid all while he was away. Josh stayed there in that cave a long time then he come on back horcze. He didn t get a whippin either. Childhood memories were recalled by an old woman who said: Then i was about nine years old, for about six months, I slept on a crocus oag sheet in order to get up and nurse the babies when th3y

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-12-. 303 cried~ Do you see this finger? You wonder why its broke? Well one night the babies cried and I didn t wake uj~right away to tend to ems and my rnistess jumped out of bed, grabbed the piece of i~ron that was used to Push up the fire and began beatin me with it. That s the night this finger got broke, she hit me on it. I ha1ve two more fingers she broke beatin me at diff unt times. She made me break this leg too. You see they would put the women in stocks and beat em whenever they done sornethin wrong. That s the way my leg was broke. You see us had to call all of our marster s chillun mistess or marster. One day I forgot to call one of my young rnistesses, miss. She was about eight or nine months old. My mistess heard nie and put me in a stock and beat ~e. While she was beatint me, I turned my leg by some means and broke it. Don t you think she qui t beatin me ~ cause I had broke my leg . No, that made no diff unce to her. That s been years ago, but it still worries ins now. Now other times when you called your marster s chillun by the ir navies they would strip you and let the child beat you. It didn t matter whether the child was large or small, and they always beat you ~ UI the bloodS an down. tiHave you ever slept in the grave yard? I know you have & t but I have. Many a time when I was told that I was goin to get a beatin I would hide away in the cenetery where I stayed all night layin in gullies between graves prayin . All night long I could see little lights runnin all over the grave yard, and I could see ha nts, and hear ein sayin 13h, Ub, Uh, Uh, Uh,t which meant they ~zere pityin my case.

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-~13- ao4~~ 11When they whipped the men, all their alothes was took off, their hands was fastened together and then they ~vound em u.p in the air to a post and tied their feet to the bottom of the post. They wou1~ begin whippin em at sundown, and sornetime& they would be whippin t~ as late as ~1even otc:lock a.t night. You could hear ~m c:ryin and prayin a long ways off. When they j~rayed for the Lord to have mercy, their marster would cuss the Lord and tell eu they better not call his naine again. The wh~jp,ping pole, as described by Lizzie, was a long post several feei in diameter to which was attached a long ro e through a pulley. On one end was a device, simili.ar to the r~odern handcuff the other end was use d to draw the hand to an upward position, t~hereby, rendering the indiv~dua1 helpless. At the base of the pole was a clamp like instrument which held. the feet in a iuiotionless position. Roy dedfield recalls going to the courthouse and seeing the older slaves whipped. When I would go there with ~iy young marster I would see em whippin the slaves. You see they had stocks there then, and they wou1dn~ t put you in jail like they do now. Your n~iarster or mistess would send you to the courthouse with. a note and they would put you in them stocks and beat you, then they would give you a note and send you back. They never did beat me, if they had my old mistess would have raised sand with em. Whenever I was whipped my mother did it. I warn t no slave and my ma neither, but my pa was. When they whipped you they would strap you down in them stocks, then a man would wind the whippin machina and beat you Ui they had given you the nuniber of lashes your boss had on the note. I

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didn t see them whij~pinL ~y women there, so I can t s~y they did and I can t say they didntt. ~:M:y master wouldn t let us go to school, but his chullun would slip round and teach us what they could out of their books. They would also give us books to read. Whenever their pa or ma caught them tryin to teach us they always whipped them. I learne& to read and write from em and P 11 never forget how hard it was for tern to get a chance to teach me. But if they caught you tryint to write they would cut your finger off and if they caught you again they would cut your head off. When I was a young man, a old xnan stole the head and oluck (pluck is the liver and lites) out of trie hog (some people call it the haslet) and hid it up in the loft of his hoi~ise. When his ~jarster missed it he went to this mant ~ house .iookin for it. The r~ian t old him that he didn t have it He had already told his wi.fe if his ~arster come not to own it either. ~iel1 his master kept askin him over and over bout the head and pluck, but they denied having it. The marster told em if they didn t give it to him and that quick ~he was goin to give t~Th a thousand lashes each, if less didn tkill em. This woman s husband told her not to own it. He told her to take three thousand lashes and don t own it. So their marster whipped her and whipped her, but she wouldntt own it. Finally he quit1 whippin her and started whippin the old man. Just as soon as he started whij~pin the man he told his wile to go up in the loft of the house and throw the head and ~iuck down cause he didn t want it. 805

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- ~ 306 You always had to get a pass when goint out. Sometimes, when you wouldn t be thinkint ~ a patter roller would ste~p up to the door and ask who was there. If any visitor was there they would ask em to show their pass. If you didn t have a pass they would take you out and beat you, then make you go home and vihen you got home, your marster would take you to the barn, strip you buck naked, tie you to a post and beat you. Us didntt have to get passes whenever us wanted to go visitin . All us had to do was tell em who us be longed to, and they always let us by. They knowed our rnarster would let us go tthout passes. ~T5s usedto go to barn dances all the time. I never will for~et the fellow who played the fiddle for them dances. }Ie had run away from his marster seven years before. He lived in a cave he had dug in the ground. He stayed in this cave all day an d w ou 1 d c orne ou t a t n ight . Th is cave was in the swamp He stole just bout everythin he et. His marster had been tryin to catch him for a long time. ~ell they found out he was playin for these dances and one night us saw some strange lookjflt men come in but us didn t pay it much ttention. Us always made a big oak fire and thats where us got mas of our light from. Well these i~en danced with the girls a good while and after a while they started goin out one by one. Way after while they all caine back in together, they had washed the blackenin off tneir faces, and us see n the y was Wn j te . This man had a song he would always sing. Pooled my rnarster seven years expect to fool hirn seven more. So when these men carie in they went to hirn and told him maybe he

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-16- 30? had fooled tern for seven years, but he wouldn t fool em seven r~~ore. When they started to grab him he just reached in the fire and got a piece of wood that was burnin good on one end and waved it all around (in a circle) until he set three of em on fire. While they was puttint this fire out~ he run out in the swan ~p and b ack i n hi s cave The y t r I e d t o ca t o h him aga in The y painted their faces and done just like they did the first time, out this time they carried pistols. When they pulled their pistols orL him he did just like he did the first time, and they never did catch him. He stopped commt to play for the dances after they was straight after him. Dogs couldnt t trail him cause he kept his feet rubbed with onions. lt1 have seen some ma~rsters make the ir slaves walk in be knee deep, barefooted. Their heels would/cracked open jus corn bread. The only real mean thing they did to us when I was young was to sell my father when our n~arster died. They sold him t~ sorne~ody way off, and they promised to bring him back tosee us, but they never did.~ ~e always wished he Would come, but until this day us hasn t laid eyes on hi~m again. My nother worried bout him tu she died. ~ ChiLLun didn t know what shoes was tu they was bout fifteen years old. They would go a mile or a ir~ile and a half in the snow for water anytime, and the only thin they ever had on their feet would be somethint nade out of home~s~un. You don t hardly hear of chilblain feet now, but then most every child you saw had cracked heels. The first pair of shoes I ever wore, I was sixtee n years old was ~oo small for me and I pulled em off and throwed. em in the fire.

Slavery. 312 308

~ ~ E~~St4 ~e ~:;~.y~: 308 SLAVERY by RuBy LORRAINE RkDPORD COi~PILAT1ON MADE FEtCM INTERVI~S ~VITH 30 SLAVES AND INFO~! TION FE~L~ SLAVERY LA~ S AND OLD ~WSPAPE~t PILES. a 100215

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Ruby Lorraine Radford, 309 Pagel SLAVERY The ex..slaves interviewed ranged in ages from 7~ to 100 years old. Out of about th1rty~five negroes contacted only two seemed to feel bitter over memories of slave days. All the others spoke with much feeling and gratitude of the good old days when they v ere so well cared for by their nrnsters. Without exception the manners of these old n~en and women were gentle and courteotis. The younger ones could pass on to US only traditional memories of slavery times, as given them by their parents; on some points a few were vague, while others could give clear-cut and vivid pidtures. Practically all the ~egroes interviewed seemed to be of pure African blood, with black or dark brown skin, Negroid features, and kinky, tightly wrapped wool. Most of the wcmen were small and thin. We found one whohad a strain of Indian blood, a w~nan named Mary, who belonged to John ~oof. Her grandfather was an Indian, and her granthriother was part indien, having migrated into South Carolina from Virginia. Sarah Ray, who was born on the Curtis Lowe plac e in McDuffie County was One of the few ex-s1a~tes contacted, who Was admittedly half-white. Although no~r wrinkled and weazened with age she has no definite Negroid features. Her eyes are

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Pa~e ~ .~ 310 light hazel and her hair fluffs about her face in eott ringlets instead of the ti&at. kinks of the p~e ~e~ o. I I My father was a white man, de overseer, said Sarah, I Leastways, dey laid nie to him. Sarah was brought up like the r~gro children on the plan-~ tatioli. She had no hard work to do. Her mother was a field hand, and they lived in a little house in the quart rs. De ve y fust thing I kin ren~en~ber is ridin down de road in de ox cart wid Lw n:~rw,tt she said. 01e man Eli wus ciriTin ~ie wus goin to Miss M s on de odder s ide Hart s Branc~i. Marster had give us to L1j68 Meg when she n~arried Mr. Obediah Cloud. 1iO~n~ COi~Dfl~IO~ ~ _ ~ _~_-U-a~. The slave houses v~ere called ~uertersQ,J which consisted generally of a double row of houses facing each other in a ~o~e of trees behind the big house. On prosperous planta.tiona each of these cabins~had a garden plot and a chicken yard. Some of them ~were built of logs, but many wt~re of planks, Most of them were large, one room, un~eiled, wIth open fireplaces at one end. for cooking. ~7hen f~i lies g~ ow too large a eh ed roQm would be drap down on de back . ~iother t~e of slave cabin was called the Double-s pen house. This was a large two rocn cabin, with a chimney between the two ro~ns, and aceor~dating two Thrailies. On the more

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Page3 311 prosperous plantations the slave quarters were white-washed at intervals. ~ On plantations housing arrangenents were left entirely to the discretion of the Owner, but in the cities strict rules were made. ~jnong the ordinances of the City Ooun il of Augusta, dated from August 10th, 1820-.JuIy 8, 1829, Section 14, is the followIng law concerning the housing of slavest ~No person of color shall occupy any house bu.t that of some white person by whom he or she is owned or hired without a license from the City Counci1.~ If tbi8 license is required app1i-~ cation must first be made for perniission to take it out. If granted the applicant shall give bond with approved security, not exceeding the sum of ~lOO.OO for his or her good behavior. on execution of charge the Clerk ~ issue the license. Any person renting a house, or tenament contrary to this section or permitting the o cupancy of one, ~ay be fined in a sum not ex ceeding ~O.OO. Descriptions ~were given of housing conditions by quite a number of slaves interviewed. Pan~ie ~lcher, who was a slave on Dr. Balding Miller s plantation in Burke County described the~ slave quarters thus: Houses wus built in rows, one on dat side, one on dis side open space in de middle, and de overseerts house at de end, wid a wide hail right through it. (Fannie waB.evidently referring to the breezeway or dogtrot, down the middle of many sniall plantation houses). We cook on de fireplace in de house. We used to have pots hanging right up in de chimbley. When dere wue

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lots of chiliun it wu~ crowded. But sornetir~s dey took some of em to de house for house girls. Some s1e~ on de flo and some on de bed. Two.three houses had shed roc~ns at de back~ Dey had a patch sometime. My father, he used to have a patch. He clean it up hisseif at night in de swamp. Susie Brown, of the Evans Plantation on Little Riirer in Co1u~bia County said, in describing the quarters, Dey look like dis street. She indicated the unpaved street with its rows of unpainted shacks. Some of dem wus plank houses a dspme wus log houses, two rooms and a shed room. And we had good beds, too~high tester beds wid good corn shuck and hay rnattresses.~ On the plantation of Jobn ~oof the slave cabins were of logs. Large faxnilies had two or three rorns; smaller Ones One or two rooms. Susannah yman, who was a slave on the Starling Freeman place near Troy, S. C. said, air houses wus made outer logs. We didn /t have ~ much nohow, but my ina~rny she had plenty o rocin fer her chillun. We didn t sleep on de flo , we had bed. De people in de plantachun a ~1 had bed.N Others described mattresses ~rrade of straw and corn shucks. Another said, Yas m, we had good cotton mattresses. Marster let us go to de gin house and gitail. de cotton we need. Another described the sleeping conditions thus, Chillun pretty much slep on de flo and old folks bad beds. Dey vrua made out o~ boards nailed togedder wid a rope strung acro~a it instead o springs, and a cotton mattress acL~Os8 it. Page 4 312

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Pa~e5. POOD Many. ot the Negroes with ~iom we ta11~d. looked back on those d~ays of plenty ;vith longing. Rations ot meal, bacon and syrup were giv~ out once a week by the overseer. Vegetables, eggS and chic.bn.s raised in the 1itt ~ plots back of the ~abins were add.ed to these staples, Ellen Oau2.pbell, who was own d by L~. 11~1iiliaii~ ~ve of RiC~IEIOnd coljJlty said ~1Y boss would feed ent good, He vius kuhn hogs sti~~ fuEL 3~iflU8X~ tO March. He had ti~to smokehouses. . ~ Dere wus tour ~WB. At night de f~olks on one aide de row o cabins go wid. de p~ggins fer milk, and. in de xaawnin s, dose on de odder sid.e go fer de piggina o milk. And did. you have plenty o ~ other good things to eat? we asked.. Law, yas m. Rations wus gibe out to de slaves. meal, meat and jugs o syrup. Dey give u.s white flour at Chr1sti~s~ Every slave feraily i~d de ~rerden patch and chickens. Marster buy eggs and chickens fum us at market prices. Another slave told us that when the slaves got hungry before dinner t hi~ they *uld ask the nursing mothers to bring them back hoe-c&i~e when they went to n~se the babies. Those hot hoe-cakes were e at en in mid morning, to hold us t ill dinner ttnie ~ On one plantation where the mother was the cook for the owner, her children were fed fit~m the big kitchen. 1A. piece of iron cro seed the fireplace, and the pots hung down

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Page 6 314. on hooks. . U~ cooked corn dodgers, one ex.siave re a1i~ed, the hearth would be swept clean, the ash cakes wrapped ~ip into corn shucksand Cooked brown. They sure was g.oodt ~ . ~ The large plantations were really industrial centers in which a1mo~st everything necessary to the life of the white family and the large retinue of slaveb/ was grown or manufactured. On estates where there were many slaves there were always trained blacksmiths, coopers, carpenters, tanners, shoemakers, seaxnstresses, laundresses, Weavers, spinners, COoks and house servants; all employed In the interest of the COnnnunity life of the plantation. Tho~~ who could not learn todo any of this skilled work were turned into the fi elds and called, hands . Both men and women were employed in the fields where cotton, corn, rice and tobacco were cultivated. House servants were always considered superior to field hands. Melinda Mitchell, who was born a sl~ave in Edgefield, 3. C., said, My faxnily wasn t fielt ~ We wus all house servants. My father wus de