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diff --git a/35381-0.txt b/35381-0.txt index b47d51f..f5bd451 100644 --- a/35381-0.txt +++ b/35381-0.txt @@ -1,30 +1,4 @@ - Slave Narratives - - Volume XVI: Texas Narratives—Part 4 - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost -no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Title: Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States -From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume XVI, Texas Narratives, Part 4 - -Author: Work Projects Administration - -Release Date: February 23, 2011 [EBook #35381] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: A FOLK -HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES FROM INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER -SLAVES: VOLUME XVI, TEXAS NARRATIVES, PART 4 *** - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35381 *** Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. @@ -7202,377 +7176,4 @@ piece of wood, such as a stake" (American Heritage Dictionary).—The Works Progress Administration was renamed during 1939 as the Work Projects Administration (WPA). - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: A FOLK HISTORY -OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES FROM INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER SLAVES: -VOLUME XVI, TEXAS NARRATIVES, PART 4 *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35381 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Title: Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States -From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume XVI, Texas Narratives, Part 4 - -Author: Work Projects Administration - -Release Date: February 23, 2011 [EBook #35381] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: A FOLK -HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES FROM INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER -SLAVES: VOLUME XVI, TEXAS NARRATIVES, PART 4 *** - - - - -Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net. - -SLAVE NARRATIVES - - -_A Folk History of Slavery in the United States_ - -_From Interviews with Former Slaves_ - - -TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY - -THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT - -1936-1938 - -ASSEMBLED BY - -THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT - -WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION - -FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA - -SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS - - -_Illustrated with Photographs_ - -WASHINGTON 1941 - - -VOLUME XVI - -TEXAS NARRATIVES--PART 4 - - -Prepared by the Federal Writers' Project of - -the Works Progress Administration - -for the State of Texas - -[HW:] Handwritten note - -[TR:] Transcriber's note - - - - -INFORMANTS - - - - Mazique Sanco - - Clarissa Scales - - Hannah Scott - - Abram Sells - - George Selman - - Callie Shepherd - - Betty Simmons - - George Simmons - - Ben Simpson - - Giles Smith - - James W. Smith - - Jordon Smith - - Millie Ann Smith - - Susan Smith - - John Sneed - - Mariah Snyder - - Patsy Southwell - - Leithean Spinks - - Guy Stewart - - William Stone - - Yach Stringfellow - - Bert Strong - - Emma Taylor - - Mollie Taylor - - Jake Terriell - - J.W. Terrill - - Allen Thomas - - Bill and Ellen Thomas - - Lucy Thomas - - Philles Thomas - - William M. Thomas - - Mary Thompson - - Penny Thompson - - Albert Todd - - Aleck Trimble - - Reeves Tucker - - Lou Turner - - Irella Battle Walker - - John Walton - - Sol Walton - - Ella Washington - - Rosa Washington - - Sam Jones Washington - - William Watkins - - Dianah Watson - - Emma Watson - - James West - - Adeline White - - Sylvester Sostan Wickliffe - - Daphne Williams - - Horatio W. Williams - - Lou Williams - - Millie Williams - - Rose Williams - - Steve Williams - - Wayman Williams - - Willie Williams - - Lulu Wilson - - Wash Wilson - - Willis Winn - - Rube Witt - - Ruben Woods - - Willis Woodson - - James G. Woorling - - Caroline Wright - - Sallie Wroe - - Fannie Yarbrough - - Litt Young - - Louis Young - - Teshan Young - -*ILLUSTRATIONS* - -Mazique Sanco -Clarissa Scales -Abram Sells -George Selman -Callie Shepherd -Betty Simmons -George Simmons -Giles Smith -James W. Smith -Jordon Smith -Millie Ann Smith -John Sneed -Mariah Snyder -Leithean Spinks -William Stone -Yach Stringfellow -Bert Strong -Emma Taylor -Allen Thomas -Bill and Ellen Thomas -Lucy Thomas -Philles Thomas -William M. Thomas -Mary Thompson -Penny Thompson -Albert Todd -Reeves Tucker -Lou Turner -Sol Walton -Rosa Washington -Sam Jones Washington -William Watkins -Emma Watson -James West -Adeline White -Daphne Williams -Lou Williams -Lou Williams' House -Millie Williams -Steve Williams -Wayman Williams and Henry Freeman -Willie Williams -Lulu Wilson -Wash Wilson -Willis Winn -Rube Witt -Ruben Woods -Willis Woodson -Sallie Wroe -Litt Young -Louis Young -Teshan Young - - - - - - - -Mazique Sanco - - -*Mazique Sanco was born a slave of Mrs. Louisa Green, in Columbia, South -Carolina, on February 10, 1849. Shortly after Mazique was freed, he -enlisted in the army and was sent with the Tenth Cavalry to San Angelo, -then Fort Concho, Texas. After Mazique left the army he became -well-known as a chef, and worked for several large hotels. Mazique uses -little dialect. When asked where Mazique is, his young wife says, "In -his office," and upon inquiry as to the location of this office, she -replies mirthfully, "On de river," for since he is too old to work, -Mazique spends most of his time fishing.* - -"My mistress owned a beautiful home and three hundred twenty acres of -land in the edge of Columbia, in South Carolina, just back of the state -house. Her name was Mrs. Louisa Green and she was a widow lady. That's -where I was born, but when her nephew, Dr. Edward Flemming, married Miss -Dean, I was given to him for a wedding present, and so was my mother and -her other children. I was a very small boy then, and when I was ten Dr. -Flemming gave me to his crippled mother-in-law for a foot boy. She got -crippled in a runaway accident, when her husband was killed. He had two -fine horses, fiery and spirited as could be had. He called them Ash and -Dash, and one day he and his wife were out driving and the horses ran -the carriage into a big pine tree, and Mr. Dean was killed instantly, -and Mrs. Dean couldn't ever help herself again. I waited on her. I had a -good bed and food and was let to earn ten cent shin plasters. - -"When the war was over she called up her five families of slaves and -told us we could go or stay. Some went and some stayed. I was always an -adventurer, wanting to see and learn things, so I left and went back to -my mother with Mrs. Flemming. - - -[Illustration: _Mazique Sanco_] - - -"I only stayed there a few months and hired out to Major Legg, and -worked for him several years. I felt I wasn't learning enough, so I -joined the United States Army and with a hundred and eighty-five boys -went to St. Louis, Missouri. From there we were transferred with the -Tenth Cavalry to Fort Concho. I helped haul the lumber from San Antonio -to finish the buildings at the fort. I was there five years. - -"After I went to work at private employment I did some carpenter work, -but most of the houses were adobe or pecan pole buildings, so I got a -job from Mr. Jimmy Keating as mechanic for awhile, and then drifted to -Mexico. Odd jobs were all I could get for awhile, so I landed in El Paso -and got a job in a hotel. - -"That was the start of my success, for I learned to be a skilled chef -and superintended the kitchens in some of the largest hotels in Texas. I -made as high as $80.00, in Houston. My last work was done at the St. -Angelus Hotel here in San Angelo and if you don't believe I'm a good -cook, just look at my wife over there. When I married her she was -fourteen years old and weighed a hundred and fifteen pounds. Now it's -been a long time since I could get her on the scales, not since she -passed the two hundred pound mark." - - - - -Clarissa Scales - - -*Clarissa Scales, 79, was born a slave of William Vaughan, on his -plantation at Plum Creek, Texas. Clarissa married when she was fifteen. -She owns a small farm near Austin, but lives with her son, Arthur, at -1812 Cedar Ave., Austin.* - -"Mammy's name was Mary Vaughan and she was brung from Baton Rouge, what -am over in Louisiana, by our master. He went and located on Plum Creek, -down in Hays County. - -"Mammy was a tall, heavy-set woman, more'n six foot tall. She was a -maid-doctor after freedom. Dat mean she nussed women at childbirth. She -allus told me de last thing she saw when she left Baton Rouge was her -mammy standin' on a big, wood block to be sold for a slave. Dat de last -time she ever saw her mammy. Mammy died 'bout fifty years ago. She was -livin' on a farm on Big Walnut Creek, in Travis County. Daddy done die a -year befo' and she jes' grieves herself to death. Daddy was sho' funny -lookin', 'cause he wore long whiskers and what you calls a goatee. He -was field worker on de Vaughan plantation. - -"Master Vaughan was good and treated us all right. He was a great white -man and didn't have no over seer. Missy's name was Margaret, and she was -good, too. - -"My job was tendin' fires and herdin' hawgs. I kep' fire goin' when de -washin' bein' done. Dey had plenty wood, but used corn cobs for de fire. -Dere a big hill corn cobs near de wash kettle. In de evenin' I had to -bring in de hawgs. I had a li'l whoop I druv dem with, a eight-plaited -rawhide whoop on de long stick. It a purty sight to see dem hawgs go -under de slip-gap, what was a rail took down from de bottom de fence, so -de hawgs could run under. - -"Injuns used to pass our cabin in big bunches. One time dey give mammy -some earrings, but when they's through eatin' they wants dem earrings -back. Dat de way de Injuns done. After feedin' dem, mammy allus say, 'Be -good and kind to everybody.' - -"One day Master Vaughan come and say we's all free and could go and do -what we wants. Daddy and mammy rents a place and I stays until I's -fifteen. I wanted to be a teacher, but daddy kep' me hoein' cotton most -de time. Dat's all he knowed. He allus told me it was 'nough larnin' -could I jes' read and write. He never even had dat much. But he was de -good farmer and good to me and mammy. - -"Dere was a school after freedom. Old Man Tilden was de teacher. One -time a bunch of men dey calls de Klu Klux come in de room and say, 'You -git out of here and git 'way from dem niggers. Don' let us cotch you -here when we comes back.' Old Man Tilden sho' was scart, but he say, -'You all come back tomorrow.' He finishes dat year and we never hears of -him 'gain. Dat a log schoolhouse on Williamson Creek, five mile south of -Austin. - - -[Illustration: _Clarissa Scales_] - - -"Den a cullud teacher named Hamlet Campbell come down from de north. He -rents a room in a big house and makes a school. De trustees hires and -pays him and us chillen didn't have to pay. I got to go some, and I -allus tells my granddaughter how I's head of de class when I does go. -She am good in her studies, too. - -"When I's fifteen I marries Benjamin Calhoun Scales and he was a farmer. -We had five chillen and three boys is livin'. One am a preacher and -Arthur am a cement laborer and Chester works in a printin' shop. - -"Benjie dies on February 15th, dis year (1937). I lives with Arthur and -de gov'ment gives me $10.00 de month. I has de li'l farm of nineteen -acres out near Oak Hill and Floyd, de preacher, lives on dat. All my -boys is good to me. Dey done good, and better'n we could, 'cause we -couldn't git much larnin' dem days. I's had de good life. But we -'preciated our chance more'n de young folks does nowadays. Dey has so -much dey don't have to try so hard. If we'd had what dey got, we'd thunk -we was done died and gone to Glory Land. Maybe dey'll be all right when -deys growed." - - - - -Hannah Scott - - -*Hannah Scott was born in slavery, in Alabama. She does not know her age -but says she was grown when her last master, Bat Peterson, set her free. -Hannah lives with her grandson in a two-room house near the railroad -tracks, in Houston, Texas. Unable to walk because of a paralytic stroke, -Hannah asked her grandson to lift her from the bed to a chair, from -which she told her story.* - -"Son, move de chair a mite closer to de stove. Dere, dat's better, -'cause de heat kind of soople me up. Ain't nothin' left of me but some -skin and bones, nohow. - -"Lemme see now. I's born in Alabama and I think dey calls it Fayette -County. Mama's name was Ardissa and she 'long to Marse Clark Eccles, but -us chillen allus call him White Pa. Miss Hetty, his wife, we calls her -White Ma. - -"I never knowed my own pa, 'cause he 'long to 'nother man and was sold -away 'fore I's old 'nough to know him. Mama has five us chillen, but dey -all dead 'ceptin' me. Dey didn't have no marriage back den like now. Dey -just puts black folks together in de sight of man and not in de sight of -Gawd, and dey puts dem asunder, too. - -"Marse Eccles didn't have no big place and only nine slaves. I guess he -what you calls 'poor folks,' but he mighty good to he black folks. I -'member when he sold us to Bat Peterson. He and White Ma break down and -cry when old Bat puts us in de wagon and takes us off to Arkansas. I -heared mama say something 'bout White Pa sellin' us for debt and he gits -a hunerd dollars for me. - -"Whoosh, it sho' was a heap dif'ent from Alabama. Marse Bat had niggers. -I reckon he must of had a hunerd of dem and two nigger drivers, Uncle -Green and Uncle Jake, and a overseer. Marse Bat was mean, too, and work -he slaves from daylight till nine o'clock at night. I carries water for -de hands. I carries de bucket on my head and 'fore long I ain't got no -more hair on my head den you has on de palm of you hand. No, suh! - -"When I gits bigger, de overseer puts me in de field with de rest. Marse -Bat grow mostly cotton and it don't make no dif'ence is you big or li'l, -you better keep up or de drivers burn you up with de whip, sho' 'nough. -Old Marse Bat never put a lick on me all de years I 'longs to him, but -de drivers sho' burnt me plenty times. Sometime I gits so tired come -night, I draps right in de row and gone to sleep. Den de driver come -'long and, wham, dey cuts you 'cross de back with de whip and you wakes -up when it lights on you, yes, suh! 'Bout nine o'clock dey hollers -'cotton up' and dat de quittin' signal. We goes to de quarters and jes' -drap on de bunk and go to sleep without nothin' to eat. - -"On old Bat's place dat all us know, is work and more work. De onlies' -time we has off am Sunday and den we has to wash and mend clothes. De -first Sunday of de month a white preacher come, but all he say is -'bedience to de white folks, and we hears 'nough of dat without him -tellin' us. - -"I 'member when White Pa come to try git mama and us chillen back. We -been in Arkansas five, six year, and, whoosh, I sho' wants to go back to -my White Pa, but old Bat wouldn't let us go. He come to our quarters dat -night and tell mama if she or us chillen try to run off he'll kill us. -Dey sho' watch us for awhile. - -"Sometimes one of de niggers runs off but he ain't gone long. He gits -hongry and comes back. Den he gits a burnin' with de bullwhip. Does he -run 'way again, Marse Bat say he got too much rabbit in him and chains -him up till he goes to Little Rock and sells him. - -"I heared some white folks treat dey slaves good and give dem time off, -but Marse Bat don't. We has plenty to eat and clothes, but dat all. Dat -de way it was till we's freed, only it wasn't in Arkansas. It was down -to Richmond, here in Texas, 'cause Marse Bat rents a farm at Richmond. -He thunk if he brung us to Texas he wouldn't have to set us free. But he -got fooled, 'cause a gov'ment man come tell us we's free. We had de crop -planted and old Bat say if we'll stay through pickin' he'll pay us. Mama -and us stayed awhile. - -"I gits married legal with Richard Scott and we comes to Harrisburg and -he gits a job on de section of de railroad. I's lived here ever since. -My husban' and me raises five chillen, but only de one gal am alive now. -My grandson takes care of me. He tells me iffen my husband lived so -long, he be 107 years old. I know he was older dan me, but not 'xactly -how much. - -"Sometime I feel I's been here too long, 'cause I's paralyzed and can't -move round none. But maybe de Lawd ain't ready for me yet, and de Debbil -won't have me." - - - - -Abram Sells - - -*Abram Sells was born a slave on the Rimes Plantation, which was located -about 18 miles southeast of Newton, Texas. He does not know his age, but -must be well along in the 80's, as his recollections of slavery days are -keen. He lives at Jamestown, Texas.* - -"I was birthed on the Rimes Plantation, now called Harrisburg. My -great-grand-daddy's name was Bowser Rimes and he was brung to Texas from -Louisiana and die at 138 year old. He's buried on the old Ben Powell -place close to Jasper. My grand-daddy, that's John, he lives to be 103 -year old and he buried on the Eddy plantation at Jasper. My daddy, Mose -Rimes, he die young at 86 and he buried in Jasper County, too. My -mammy's name was Phoebe and she was birthed a Rimes nigger and brung to -Texas from back in Louisiana. The year slaves was freed I was inherit by -a man named Sells, what marry into the Rimes family and that's why my -name's Sells, 'cause it change 'long with the marriage. Us was jes' -ready to be ship back to Louisiana to the new massa's plantation when -the end of the war break up the trip. - -"You see, we all had purty good time on Massa Rimes's plantation. None -of them carin' 'bout being sot free. They has to work hard all time, but -that don' mean so much, 'cause they have to work iffen they was on they -own, too. The old folks was 'lowed Saturday evenin' off or when they's -sick, and us little ones, us not do much but bring in the wood and -kindle the fires and tote water and he'p wash clothes and feed the -little pigs and chickens. - -"Us chillen hang round close to the big house and us have a old man that -went round with us and look after us, white chillen and black chillen, -and that old man was my great grand-daddy. Us sho' have to mind him, -'cause iffen we didn't, us sho' have bad luck. He allus have the pocket -full of things to conjure with. That rabbit foot, he took it out and he -work that on you till you take the creeps and git shakin' all over. Then -there's a pocket full of fish scales and he kind of squeak and rattle -them in the hand and right then you wish you was dead and promise to do -anything. Another thing he allus have in the pocket was a li'l old -dry-up turtle, jes' a mud turtle 'bout the size of a man's thumb, the -whole thing jes' dry up and dead. With that thing he say he could do -mos' anything, but he never use it iffen he ain't have to. A few times I -seed him git all tangle up and boddered and he go off by hisself and sot -down in a quiet place, take out this very turtle and put it in the palm -of the hand and turn it round and round and say somethin' all the time. -After while he git everything ontwisted and he come back with a smile on -he face and maybe whistlin'. - -"They fed all us nigger chillen in a big trough made out'n wood, maybe -more a wood tray, dug out'n soft timber like magnolia or cypress. They -put it under a tree in the shade in summer time and give each chile a -wood spoon, then mix all the food up in the trough and us goes to -eatin'. Mos' the food was potlicker, jes' common old potlicker; turnip -green and the juice, Irish 'taters and the juice, cabbages and peas and -beans, jes' anything what make potlicker. All us git round like so many -li'l pigs and then us dish in with our wood spoon till it all gone. - -"We has lots of meat at times. Old grand-daddy allus ketchin' rabbit in -some kind of trap, mostly make out'n a holler log. He sot 'em round in -the garden and sho' kotch the rabbits. And possums, us have a good -possum dog, sometimes two or three, and every night you heered them dogs -barkin' in the field down by the branch. Sho' 'nuf, they git possum -treed and us go git him and parbile him and put him in the oven and bake -him plumb tender. Then we stacks sweet 'taters round him and po' the -juice over the whole thing. Now, there is somethin' good 'nuf for a -king. - -"There was lots of deer and turkey and squirrel in the wil' wood and -somebody out huntin' nearly every day. Course Massa Rime's folks -couldn't eat up all this meat befo' it spile and the niggers allus git a -great big part of it. Then we kilt lots of hawgs and then talk 'bout -eatin'! O, them chitlin's, sousemeat and the haslets, thats the liver -and the lights all biled up together. Us li'l niggers fill up on sich as -that and go to bed and mos' dream us is li'l pigs. - -"Us allus have plenty to eat but didn't pay much 'tention to clothes. -Boys and gals all dress jes' alike, one long shirt or dress. They call -it a shirt iffen a boy wear it and call it a dress iffen the gal wear -it. There wasn't no difference, 'cause they's all made out'n somethin' -like duck and all white. That is, they's white when you fus' put them -on, but after you wears them a while they git kind of pig-cullud, kind -of grey, but still they's all the same color. Us all go barefoot in -summer, li'l ones and big ones, but in winter us have homemake shoes. -They tan the leather at home and make the shoe at home, allus some old -nigger that kin make shoe. They was more like moc'sin, with lace made of -deerskin. The soles was peg on with wood pegs out'n maple and sharpen -down with a shoe knife. - -"Us have hats make out'n pine straw, long leaf pine straw, tied together -in li'l bunches and platted round and round till it make a kinder hat. -That pine straw great stuff in them days and us use it in lots of ways. -Us kivered sweet 'taters with it to keep them from git freeze and hogs -made beds out'n it and folks too. Yes, sir, us slep' on it. The beds had -jes' one leg. They bored two hole in the wall up in the corner and stuck -two pole in them holes and lay plank on that like slats and pile lots of -pine straw on that. Then they spread a homemake blanket or quilt on that -and sometime four or five li'l niggers slep' in there to keep us warm. - -"The li'l folks slep' mos' as long as they want to in daylight, but the -big niggers have to come out'n that bed 'bout fo' o'clock when the big -horn blow. The overseer have one nigger, he wake up early for to blow -the horn and when he blow this horn he make sich a holler then all the -res' of the niggers better git out'n that bed and 'pear at the barn -'bout daylight. He might not whip him for being late the fus' time, but -that nigger better not forgit the secon' time and be late! - -"Massa Rimes didn't whip them much, but iffen they was bad niggers he -jes' sold them offen the place and let somebody else do the whippin'. -Never have no church house or school, but Massa Rimes, he call them in -and read the Bible to them. Then he turn the service over to some good, -old, 'ligious niggers and let them finish with the singin' and prayin' -and 'zorting. After peach [HW: "?"] cleared, a school was 'stablish and -a white man come from the north to teach the cullud chillen, but befo' -that they didn' take no pains to teach the niggers nothin' 'ceptin' to -work, and the white chillen didn't have much school neither. - -"That was one plantation what was run 'sclusively by itself. Massa Rimes -have a commissary or sto' house, whar he kep' whatnot things--them what -make on the plantation and things the slaves couldn' make for themselfs. -That wasn't much, 'cause we make us own clothes and shoes and plow and -all farm tools and us even make our own plow line out'n cotton and iffen -us run short of cotton sometime make them out'n bear grass and we make -buttons for us clothes out'n li'l round pieces of gourds and kiver them -with cloth. - - -[Illustration: _Abram Sells_] - - -"That wasn't sich a big plantation, 'bout a t'ousand acre and only 'bout -forty niggers. There was'n no jail and they didn't need none. Us have no -real doctor, but of course there was a doctor man at Jasper and one at -Newton, but a nigger have to be purty sick 'fore they call a doctor. -There's allus some old time nigger what knowed lots of remedies and -knowed all dif'rent kinds of yarbs and roots. My grand-daddy, he could -stop blood, and he could conjure off the fever and rub his fingers over -warts and they'd git away. He make ile out'n rattlesnake for the -rheumatis'. For the cramp he git a kind of bark offen a tree and it done -the job, too. Some niggers wo' brass rings to keep off the rheumatis' -and punch hole in a penny or dime and wear that on the ankle to keep off -sickness. - -"'Member the war? Course I does. I 'member how some of them march off in -their uniforms, lookin' so grand, and how some of them hide out in the -wood to keep from lookin' so grand. They was lots of talkin' 'bout -fighting, and rubbing and scrubbing the old shotgun. The oldes' niggers -was settin' round the fire late in the night, stirrin' the ashes with -the poker and rakin' out the roas' 'taters. They's smokin' the old corn -cob pipe and homemake tobacco and whisperin' right low and quiet like -what they's gwineter do and whar they's gwineter to when Mister Lincoln, -he turn them free. - -"The more they talk, the more I git scared that the niggers is going to -git sot free and wondering what I's gwine to do if they is. No, I guess -I don't want to live back in them times no mo', but I sho' seed lots of -niggers not doin' so well as they did when they was slaves and not -havin' nigh as much to eat." - - - - -George Selman - - -*George Selman was born in 1852, five miles east of Alto, Texas. His -father was born in Virginia and his mother in South Carolina, and were -brought to Texas by Mr. Dan Lewis. Green has been a Baptist minister -since his youth. He lives in Jacksonville, Texas.* - -"We was a big fam'ly, nine children. I was born a slave of the Selmans, -Marster Tom and Missus Polly, and they lived in Mississippi. Mother's -name was Martha and my father's name was John Green Selman. - -"Marster's folks come from Mississippi a long ways back and they had a -big house made from hewed logs with a big hallway down the middle. The -kitchen was out in the yard, 'bout forty steps from the house. The yard -had five acres in it and a big garden was in it. Marster had five slave -families and our cabins was built in a half circle in the back yard. I -seemed to be the pet and always went with Marster Tom to town or -wherever he was goin'. Then I learned to plow by my mother letting me -hold the handles and walk along with her. Finally she let me go 'round -by myself. - -"Marster Tom was always good to us and he taught me religion. He was the -best man I ever knew. Then Saturday noon come, they blew the horn and we -quit workin'. We went to church one Sunday a month and we sat on one -side and the white folks on the other. - - -[Illustration: _George Selman_] - - -"I never learnt to read and write, but I learned to work in the house -and the fields. Late in the day Aunt Dicey, who was the cook, called all -us children out under the big trees and give us supper. This was in -summer, but nobody ever fed us but Aunt Dicey. We all ate from one bowl, -or maybe I'd call it a tray 'cause it was made of wood, like a bread -tray but bigger, big enough to hold three, four gallons. She put the -food in the tray and give each chil' a spoon. Mostly we had pot likker -and corn-bread. In winter we ate from the same tray, but in the kitchen. - -"I never seen runaway slaves, but Marster Tom had a neighbor mean to -slaves and sometimes when they was whipped we could hear 'em holler. The -neighbor had one slave called Sallie, and she was a weaver and was so -mean she had to wear a chain. After she died, I heered her ghost one -night. I was stayin' with a white man who had the -malaria-typhoid-pneumonia fever, and one night I heered Sallie scream -and seen her chain drag back and forth. I tol' the man I knowed it was -Sallie, 'cause I'd heered that scream for years. But the man said she -was dead, so it mus' have been her ghost. I heered her night after -night, screamin' and draggin' her chain up and down. - -"When Marster Tom says we's free, I goes to his sister, Miss Ca'line and -works for her. After sev'ral years I larned to preach and I's the author -of most the Baptist churches in this county." - - - - -Callie Shepherd - - -*Callie Shepherd, age 84, lives at 4701 Spring Ave., Dallas, Texas. She -was born near Gilmer, Texas, in 1852, a slave of the Stevens family. At -present she is cared for by her 68 year old son and his wife.* - -"Course I kin tell you. I got 'memberance like dey don't have nowadays. -Dat 'cause things is goin' round and round too fast without no settin' -and talkin' things over. - -"I's native born right down here at Gilmer on de old place and Miss -Fannie could tell you de same if she could be in your presence, but she -went on to Glory many a year ago. She de one what raised me, right in de -house with her own chillen. I slep' right in de house, in de chillens' -room, in a little trundle bed what jus' pushed back under de big bed -when de mornin' come. If her chillen et one side de table I et t'other -side, right by Miss Fannie's elbow. - -"Miss Fannie, she Dr. Steven's wife and dey from Georgia and lived near -Gilmer till de doctor goes off to de war and takes a sickness what he -ain't never get peart from and died. Died right there on de old place. -He was a right livin' man and dey allus good to me and my mammy, what -dey done brought from Georgia and she de main cook. - -"My mammy don't think they ain't nobody like Miss Fannie. My mammy, she -a little red-Indian nigger woman not so big as me, and Miss Fanny tell -her, 'Don't you cry 'cause dey tryin' make freedom, 'cause de doctor -done say we is gwine help you raise your babies.' - -"Some de niggers don't like de treatment what dey white folks gives 'em -and dey run away to de woods. I'd hear de nigger dogs a-runnin' and when -dey cotch de niggers dey bites 'em all over and tears dey clothes and -gits de skin, too. And de niggers, dey'd holler. I seed 'em whip de -niggers, 'cause dey tolt de chillen to look. Dey buckled 'em down on de -groun' and laid it on dey backs. Sometimes dey laid on with a mighty -heavy hand. But I ain't never git no whippin' 'cause I never went with -de cullud gen'ration. I set right in de buggy with de white chillen and -went to hear Gospel preachin'. - - -[Illustration: _Callie Shepherd_] - - -"I danced at de balls in de sixteen figure round sets and everybody in -dem parts say I de principal dancer, but I gits 'ligion and left de old -way to live in de 'termination to live beyon' dis vale of tears. - -"I have my trib'lations after my old daddy die, 'cause he good to us -little chillen. But my next daddy a man mighty rough on us. Dat after -Miss Fannie done gone back to Georgia and my back done hurt me all de -time from pullin' fodder and choppin' cotton. It make a big indif'rence -after Miss Fannie gone, and de war de cause of it all. I heered de big -cannons goin' on over there jus' like de bigges' clap of thunder. - -"Me and de little chillen playin' in de road makin' frog houses out of -sand when we hear de hosses comin'. We looks and see de budallions -shinin' in de sun and de sojers have tin cups tied on side dere saddles -and throwed dem cups to us chillen as dey passed. Dey say war is over -and we is free. Miss Fannie say she a Seay from Georgia and she go back -dere, but I jus' stay on where I's native born." - - - - -Betty Simmons - - -*Betty Simmons, 100 or more, was born a slave to Leftwidge Carter, in -Macedonia, Alabama. She was stolen when a child, sold to slave traders -and later to a man in Texas. She now lives in Beaumont, Texas.* - -"I think I's 'bout a hunnerd and one or two year old. My papa was a free -man, 'cause his old massa sot him free 'fore I's born, and give him a -hoss and saddle and a little house to live in. - -"My old massa when I's a chile, he name Mr. Leftwidge Carter and when he -daughter marry Mr. Wash Langford, massa give me to her. She was call -Clementine. Massa Langford has a little store and a man call Mobley go -in business with him. Dis man brung down he two brothers and dey fair -clean Massa Langford out. He was ruint. - -"But while all dis goin' on I didn't know it and I was happy. Dey was -good to me and I don't work too hard, jus' gits in de mischief. One time -I sho' got drunk and dis de way of it. Massa have de puncheon of whiskey -and he sell de whiskey, too. Now, in dem days, dey have frills 'round de -beds, dey wasn't naked beds like nowdays. Dey puts dis puncheon under de -beds and de frills hides it, but I's nussin' a little boy in dat room -and I crawls under dat bed and drinks out of de puncheon. Den I poke de -head out and say 'Boo' at de little boy, and he laugh and laugh. Den I -ducks back and drinks a little more and I say 'Boo' at him 'gain, and he -laugh and laugh. Dey was lots of whiskey in dat puncheon and I keeps -drinkin' and sayin' 'Boo'. My head, it gits funny and I come out with de -puncheon and starts to de kitchen, where my aunt Adeline was de cook. I -jes' a-stompin' and sayin' de big words. Dey never lets me 'round where -dat puncheon is no more. - -"When Massa Langford was ruint and dey goin' take de store 'way from -him, dey was trouble, plenty of dat. One day massa send me down to he -brudder's place. I was dere two days and den de missy tell me to go to -de fence. Dere was two white men in a buggy and one of 'em say, 'I -thought she bigger dan dat.' Den he asks me, 'Betty, kin you cook?' I -tells him I been cook helper two, three month, and he say, 'You git -dressed and came on down three mile to de other side de post office.' So -I gits my little bundle and whan I gits dere he say, 'Gal, you want to -go 'bout 26 mile and help cook at de boardin' house?' He tries to make -me believe I won't be gone a long time, but when I gits in de buggy dey -tells me Massa Langford done los' everything and he have to hide out he -niggers for to keep he credickers from gittin' dem. Some of de niggers -he hides in de woods, but he stole me from my sweet missy and sell me so -dem credickers can't git me. - -"When we gits to de crossroads dere de massa and a nigger man. Dat -another slave he gwine to sell, and he hate to sell us so bad he can't -look us in de eye. Dey puts us niggers inside de buggy, so iffen de -credickers comes along dey can't see us. - -"Finally dese slave spec'laters puts de nigger man and me on de train -and takes us to Memphis, and when we gits dere day takes us to de nigger -traders' yard. We gits dere at breakfast time and waits for de boat dey -calls de 'Ohio' to git dere. De boat jus' ahead of dis Ohio, Old Capt. -Fabra's boat, was 'stroyed and dat delay our boat two hours. When it -come, dey was 258 niggers out of dem nigger yards in Memphis what gits -on dat boat. Dey puts de niggers upstairs and goes down de river far as -Vicksburg, dat was de place, and den us gits offen de boat and gits on -de train 'gain and dat time we goes to New Orleans. - -"I's satisfy den I los' my people and ain't never goin' to see dem no -more in dis world, and I never did. Dey has three big trader yard in New -Orleans and I hear de traders say dat town 25 mile square. I ain't like -it so well, 'cause I ain't like it 'bout dat big river. We hears some of -'em say dere's gwineter throw a long war and us all think what dey buy -us for if we's gwine to be sot free. Some was still buyin' niggers every -fall and us think it too funny dey kep' on fillin' up when dey gwineter -be emptyin' out soon. - -"Dey have big sandbars and planks fix 'round de nigger yards and dey -have watchmans to keep dem from runnin 'way in de swamp. Some of de -niggers dey have jus' picked up on de road, dey steals dem. Dey calls -dem 'wagon boy' and 'wagon gal.' Dey has one bit mulatto boy dey stole -'long de road dat way and he massa find out 'bout him and come and git -him and take him 'way. And a woman what was a seamster, a man what -knowed her seed her in de pen and he done told her massa and he come -right down and git her. She sho' was proud to git out. She was stole -from 'long de road, too. You sees, if dey could steal de niggers and -sell 'em for de good money, dem traders could make plenty money dat way. - -"At las' Col. Fortescue, he buy me and kep' me. He a fighter in de -Mexican war and he come to New Orleans to buy he slaves. He takes me up -de Red River to Shreveport and den by de buggy to Liberty, in Texas. - -"De Colonel, he a good massa to us. He 'lows us to work de patch of -ground for ourselves, and maybe have a pig or a couple chickens for -ourselves, and he allus make out to give us plenty to eat. - -"De massa, when a place fill up, he allus pick and move to a place where -dere ain't so much people. Dat how come de Colonel fus' left Alabama and -come to Texas, and to de place dey calls Beef Head den, but calls Gran' -Cane now. - -"When us come to Gran' Cane a nigger boy git stuck on one us house girls -and he run away from he massa and foller us. It were a woodly country -and de boy outrun he chasers. I heered de dogs after him and he torn and -bleedin' with de bresh and he run upstair in de gin house. De dogs sot -down by de door and de dog-man, what hired to chase him, he drug him -down and throw him in de Horse Hole and tells de two dogs to swim in and -git him. De boy so scairt he yell and holler but de dogs nip and pinch -him good with de claws and teeth. When dey lets de boy out de water hole -he all bit up and when he massa larn how mean de dog-man been to de boy -he 'fuses to pay de fee. - -"I gits married in slavery time, to George Fortescue. De massa he marry -us sort of like de justice of de peace. But my husban', he git kilt in -Liberty, when he cuttin' down a tree and it fall on him. I ain't never -marry no more. - -"I sho' was glad when freedom come, 'cause dey jus' ready to put my -little three year old boy in de field. Dey took 'em young. I has another -baby call Mittie, and she too young to work. I don't know how many -chillen I's have, and sometimes I sits and tries to count 'em. Dey's -seven livin' but I had 'bout fourteen. - - -[Illustration: _Betty Simmons_] - - -"Dey was pretty hard on de niggers. Iffen us have de baby us only 'lowed -to stay in de house for one month and card and spin, and den us has to -get out in de field. Dey allus blow de horn for us mammies to come up -and nuss de babies. - -"I seed plenty soldiers 'fore freedom. Dey's de Democrats, 'cause I -never seed no Yankees. Us niggers used to wash and iron for dem. At -night us seed dose soldiers peepin' 'round de house and us run 'way in -de bresh. - -"When freedom come us was layin' by de crop and de massa he give us a -gen'rous part of dat crop and us move to Clarks place. We gits on all -right after freedom, but it hard at first 'cause us didn't know how to -do for ourselves. But we has to larn." - - - - -George Simmons - - -*George Simmons, born in Alabama in 1854, was owned by Mr. Steve Jaynes, -who lived near Beaumont, Texas. George has a good many memories of -slavery years, although he was still a child when he was freed. He now -lives in Beaumont, Tex.* - -"I's bo'n durin' slavery, somewhar in Alabama, but I don' 'member whar -my mammy said. Dey brung me here endurin' de War and I belonged to Massa -Steve Jaynes, and he had 'bout 75 other niggers. It was a big place and -lots of wo'k, but I's too little to do much 'cept errands 'round de -house. - -"Massa Jaynes, he raised cotton and co'n and he have 'bout 400 acres. He -'spected de niggers to wo'k hard from mornin' till sundown, but he was -fair in treatin' 'em. He give us plenty to eat and lots of cornbread and -black-eye' peas and plenty hawg meat and sich. We had possum sometimes, -too. Jus' took a nice, fat possum we done cotched in de woods and -skinned 'im and put 'im in a oven and roas' 'im with sweet 'tatoes all -'round and make plenty gravy. Dat was good. - -"Massa Jaynes, he 'lowed de slaves who wanted to have a little place to -make garden, veg'tables and dose kin' of things. He give 'em seed and de -nigger could have all he raised in his little garden. We was all well -kep' and I don' see whar freedom was much mo' better, in a way. Course, -some massas was bad to dere slaves and whipped 'em so ha'd dey's nearly -dead. I know dat, 'cause I heered it from de neighbors places. Some of -dere slaves would run away and hide in de woods and mos' of 'em was -kotched with dogs. Fin'ly dey took to puttin' bells on de slaves so -iffen dey run away, dey could hear 'em in de woods. Dey put 'em on with -a chain, so dey couldn' get 'em off. - -"We could have church on Sunday and our own cullud church. Sam Watson, -he was de nigger preacher and he's a slave, too. - - -[Illustration: _George Simmons_] - - -"I didn' know much 'bout de war, 'cause we couldn' read and de white -folks didn' talk war much 'fore us. But we heered things and I 'member -de sojers on dere way back after it's all over. Dey wasn' dressed in a -uniform and dey clothes was mos'ly rags, dey was dat tore up. We seed -'em walkin' on de road and sometimes dey had ole wagons, but mos' times -dey walk. I 'member some Yankee sojers, too. Dey have canteens over de -shoulder, and mos' of 'em has blue uniforms on. - -"Massa, he tell us when freedom come, and some of us stays 'round -awhile, 'cause whar is we'uns goin'? We didn' know what to do and we -didn' know how to keep ourselves, and what was we to do to get food and -a place to live? Dose was ha'd times, 'cause de country tore up and de -business bad. - -"And de Kluxes dey range 'round some. Dey soon plays out but dey took -mos' de time to scare de niggers. One time dey comes to my daddy's house -and de leader, him in de long robe, he say, 'Nigger, quick you and git -me a drink of water.' My daddy, he brung de white folks drinkin' gourd -and dat Klux, he say, 'Nigger, I say git me a big drink--bring me dat -bucket. I's thirsty.' He drinks three buckets of water, we thinks he -does, but what you think we learns? He has a rubber bag under his robe -and is puttin' dat water in dere!" - - - - -Ben Simpson - - -*Ben Simpson, 90, was born in Norcross, Georgia, a slave of the -Stielszen family. He had a cruel master, and was afraid to tell the -truth about his life as a slave, until assured that no harm would come -to him. Ben now lives in Madisonville, Texas, and receives a small old -age pension.* - -"Boss, I's born in Georgia, in Norcross, and I's ninety years old. My -father's name was Roger Stielszen and my mother's name was Betty. Massa -Earl Stielszen captures them in Africa and brung them to Georgia. He got -kilt and my sister and me went to his son. His son was a killer. He got -in trouble there in Georgia and got him two good-stepping hosses and the -covered wagon. Then he chains all he slaves round the necks and fastens -the chains to the hosses and makes then walk all the way to Texas. My -mother and my sister had to walk. Emma was my sister. Somewhere on the -road it went to snowin' and massa wouldn't let us wrap anything round -our feet. We had to sleep on the ground, too, in all that snow. - -"Massa have a great, long whip platted out of rawhide and when one the -niggers fall behind or give out, he hit him with that whip. It take the -hide every time he hit a nigger. Mother, she give out on the way, 'bout -the line of Texas. Her feet got raw and bleedin' and her legs swoll -plumb out of shape. Then massa, he jus' take out he gun and shot her, -and whilst she lay dyin' he kicks her two, three times and say, 'Damn a -nigger what can't stand nothin'.' Boss, you know that man, he wouldn't -bury mother, jus' leave her layin' where he shot her at. You know, then -there wasn't no law 'gainst killin' nigger slaves. - -"He come plumb to Austin through that snow. He taken up farmin' and -changes he name to Alex Simpson, and changes our names, too. He cut logs -and builded he home on the side of them mountains. We never had no -quarters. When night-time come he locks the chain round our necks and -then locks it round a tree. Boss, our bed were the ground. All he feed -us was raw meat and green corn. Boss, I et many a green weed. I was -hongry. He never let us eat at noon, he worked us all day without -stoppin'. We went naked, that the way he worked us. We never had any -clothes. - -"He brands us. He brand my mother befo' us left Georgia. Boss, that -nearly kilt her. He brand her in the breast, then between the shoulders. -He brand all us. - -"My sister, Emma, was the only woman he have till he marries. Emma was -wife of all seven Negro slaves. He sold her when she's 'bout fifteen, -jus' befo' her baby was born. I never seen her since. - -"Boss, massa was a outlaw. He come to Texas and deal in stolen hosses. -Jus' befo' he's hung for stealin' hosses, he marries a young Spanish -gal. He sho' mean to her. Whips her 'cause she want him to leave he -slaves alone and live right. Bless her heart, she's the best gal in the -world. She was the best thing God ever put life in the world. She cry -and cry every time massa go off. She let us a-loose and she feed us good -one time while he's gone. Missy Selena, she turn us a-loose and we wash -in the creek clost by. She jus' fasten the chain on us and give us great -big pot cooked meat and corn, and up he rides. Never says a word but -come to see what us eatin'. He pick up he whip and whip her till she -falls. If I could have got a-loose I'd kilt him. I swore if I ever got -a-loose I'd kill him. But befo' long after that he fails to come home, -and some people finds him hangin' to a tree. Boss, that long after war -time he got hung. He didn't let us free. We wore chains all the time. -When we work, we drug them chains with us. At night he lock us to a tree -to keep us from runnin' off. He didn't have to do that. We were 'fraid -to run. We knew he'd kill us. Besides, he brands us and they no way to -get it off. It's put there with a hot iron. You can't git it off. - -"If a slave die, massa made the rest of us tie a rope round he feet and -drug him off. Never buried one, it was too much trouble. - -"Massa allus say he be rich after the war. He stealin' all the time. He -have a whole mountain side where he keep he stock. Missy Selena tell us -one day we sposed to be free, but he didn't turn us a-loose. It was -'bout three years after the war they hung him. Missy turned us a-loose. - -"I had a hard time then. All I had to eat was what I could find and -steal. I was 'fraid of everybody. I jus' went wild and to the woods, -but, thank God, a bunch of men taken they dogs and run me down. They -carry me to they place. Gen. Houston had some niggers and he made them -feed me. He made them keep me till I git well and able to work. Then he -give me a job. I marry one the gals befo' I leaves them. I'm plumb out -of place there at my own weddin'. Yes, suh, boss, it wasn't one year -befo' that I'm the wild nigger. We had thirteen chillen. - -"I farms all my life after that. I didn't know nothin' else to do. I -made plenty cotton, but now I'm too old. Me and my wife is alone now. -This old nigger gits the li'l pension from the gov'ment. I not got much -longer to stay here. I's ready to see God but I hope my old massa ain't -there to torment me again." - - - - -Giles Smith - - -*Giles Smith, 79, now residing at 3107 Blanchard St., Fort Worth, Texas, -was born a slave of Major Hardway, on a plantation near Union Springs, -Alabama. The Major gave Giles to his daughter when he was an infant and -he never saw his parents again. In 1874 Frank Talbot brought Giles to -Texas, and he worked on the farm two years. He then went to Brownwood -and worked in a gin seventeen years. In 1908 he moved to Fort Worth and -worked for a packing company. Old age led to his discharge in 1931 and -he has since worked at any odd jobs he could find.* - -"My name am Giles Smith, 'cause my pappy was born on the Smith -plantation and I took his name. I's born at Union Springs, in Alabama -and Major Hardway owned me and 'bout a hundred other slaves. But he gave -me to Mary, his daughter, when I's only a few months old and had to be -fed on a bottle, 'cause she am jus' married to Massa Miles. She told me -how she carried me home in her arms. She say I was so li'l she have a -hard time to make me eat out the bottle, and I put up a good fight so -she nearly took me back. - -"I don't 'member the start of the war, but de endin' I does. Massa Miles -called all us together and told us we's free and it give us all de -jitters. He treated all us fine and nobody wanted to go. He and Missy am -de best folks de Lawd could make. I stayed till I was sixteen years old. - -"It am years after freedom Missy Mary say to me what massa allus say, -'If the nigger won't follow orders by kind treatin', sich nigger am -wrong in the head and not worth keepin'. He didn't have to rush us. We'd -just dig in and do the work. One time Massa clearin' some land and it am -gittin' late for breakin' the ground. Us allus have Saturday afternoon -and Sunday off. Old Jerry says to us, 'Tell yous what us do,--go to the -clearin' this afternoon and Sunday and finish for the Massa. That sho' -make him glad.' - -"Saturday noon came and nobody tells the massa but go to that clearin' -and sing while us work, cuttin' bresh and grubbin' stomps and burnin' -bresh. Us sing - - "'Hi, ho, ug, hi, ho, ug. - De sharp bit, de strong arm, - Hi, ho, ug, hi, ho, ug, - Dis tree am done 'fore us warm.' - -"De massa come out and his mouth am slippin' all over he face and he -say, 'What this all mean? Why you workin' Saturday afternoon?' - -"Old Jerry am a funny cuss and he say, 'Massa, O, massa, please don't -whop us for cuttin' down yous trees.' - -"I's gwine whop you with the chicken stew,' Massa say. And for Sunday -dinner dere am chicken stew with noodles and peach cobbler. - -"So I stays with massa and after I's fifteen he pays me $2.00 the month, -and course I gits my eats and my clothes, too. When I gits the first two -I don't know what to do, 'cause it the first money I ever had. Missy -make the propulation to keep the money and buy for me and teach me 'bout -it. There ain't much to buy, 'cause we make nearly everything right -there. Even the tobaccy am made. They put honey 'twixt the leaves and -put a pile of it 'twixt two boards with weights. It am left for a month -and that am a man's tobaccy. A weaklin' better stay off that kind -tobaccy. - -"First I works in the field and then am massa's coachman. But when I's -'bout sixteen I gits a idea to go off somewheres for myself. I hears -'bout Mr. Frank Talbot, whom am takin' some niggers to Texas and I goes -with him to the Brazos River bottom, and works there two years. I's -lonesome for massa and missy and if I'd been clost enough, I'd sho' gone -back to the old plantation. So after two years I quits and goes to work -for Mr. Winfield Scott down in Brownwood, in the gin, for seventeen -years. - -"Well, shortly after I gits to Brownwood I meets a yaller gal and after -dat I don't care to go back to Alabama so hard. I's married to Dee Smith -on December the eighteenth, in 1880, and us live together many years. -She died six years ago. Us have six chillen but I don't know where one -of them are now. They all forgit their father in his old age! They not -so young, either. - - -[Illustration: _Giles Smith_] - - -"My woman could write a little so she write missy for me, and she write -back and wish us luck and if we ever wants to come back to the old home -we is welcome. Us write back' forth with her. Finally, us git the letter -what say she sick, and then awful low. That 'bout twenty-five years -after I marries. That am too much for me, and I catches the next train -back to Alabama but I gits there too late. She am dead, and I never has -forgive myself, 'cause I don't go back befo' she die, like she ask us -to, lots of times. - -"I comes here fifteen years ago and here I be. The last six year I can't -work in the packin' plants no more. I's too old. Anything I can find to -do I does, but it ain't much no more. - -"The worst grief I's had, am to think I didn't go see missy 'fore she -die. I's never forgave myself for that." - - - - -James W. Smith - - -*James W. Smith, 77, was born a slave of the Hallman family, in -Palestine, Texas. James became a Baptist minister in 1895, and preached -until 1931, when poor health forced him to retire. He and his wife live -at 1306 E. Fourth St., Fort Worth, Texas.* - -"Yes, suh, I'm birthed a slave, but never worked as sich, 'cause I's too -young. But I 'members hearin' my mother tell all about her slave days -and our master. He was John Hallman and owned a place in Palestine, with -my mother and father and fifty other slaves. My folks was house servants -and lived a little better'n the field hands. De cabins was built cheap, -though, no money, only time for buildin' am de cost. Dey didn't use -nails and helt de logs in place by dovetailin'. Dey closed de space -between de logs with wedges covered with mud and straw. De framework for -de door was helt by wooden pegs and so am de benches and tables. Master -Hallman always had some niggers trained for carpenter work, and one to -be blacksmith and one to make shoes and harness. - -"We was lucky to have de kind master, what give us plenty to eat. If all -de people now could have jus' so good food what we had, there wouldn't -be no beggin' by hungry folks or need for milk funds for starved babies. - -"We didn't have purty clothes sich as now, with all de dif'rent colors -mixed up, but dey was warm and lastin', dyed brown and black. De black -oak and cherry made de dyes. Our shoes wasn't purty, either. I has to -laugh when I think of de shoes. There wasn't no careful work put on dem, -but dey covered de feets and lasted near forever. - -"Master always wanted to help his cullud folks live right and my folks -always said de best time of they lives was on de old plantation. He -always 'ranged for parties and sich. Yes, suh, he wanted dem to have a -good time, but no foolishment, jus' good, clean fun. There am dancin' -and singin' mostest every Saturday night. He had a little platform built -for de jiggin' contests. Cullud folks comes from all round, to see who -could jig de best. Sometimes two niggers each put a cup of water on de -head and see who could jig de hardest without spillin' any. It was lots -of fun. - -"I must tell you 'bout de best contest we ever had. One nigger on our -place was de jigginest fellow ever was. Everyone round tries to git -somebody to best him. He could put de glass of water on his head and -make his feet go like triphammers and sound like de snaredrum. He could -whirl round and sich, all de movement from his hips down. Now it gits -noised round a fellow been found to beat Tom and a contest am 'ranged -for Saturday evenin'. There was a big crowd and money am bet, but master -bets on Tom, of course. - -"So dey starts jiggin'. Tom starts easy and a little faster and faster. -The other fellow doin' de same. Dey gits faster and faster and dat crowd -am a-yellin'. Gosh! There am 'citement. Dey jus' keep a-gwine. It look -like Tom done found his match, but there am one thing yet he ain't -done--he ain't made de whirl. Now he does it. Everyone holds he breath, -and de other fellow starts to make de whirl and he makes it, but jus' a -spoonful of water sloughs out his cup, so Tom am de winner. - -"When freedom come, the master tells his slaves and says, 'What you -gwine do?' Wall, suh, not one of dem knows dat. De fact am, dey's scared -dey gwine be put off de place. But master says dey can stay and work for -money or share crop. He says they might be trouble 'twixt de whites and -niggers and likely it be best to stay and not git mixed in dis and dat -org'ization. Mostest stays, only one or two goes away. My folks stays -for five years after de war. Den my father moves to Bertha Creek, where -he done 'range for a farm of his own. They hated to leave master's -plantation, he's so good and kind. - -"Some the cullud folks thinks they's to take charge and run the -gov'ment. They asks my father to jine their org'ization. He goes once -and some eggs am served. Dey am served by de crowd and dem eggs ain't -fresh yard eggs. Father 'cides he wants his eggs served dif'rent, and he -likes dem fresh, so he takes master's advice and don't jine nothing. - -"When de Klux come, de cullud org'ization made their scatterment. Plenty -gits whipped round our place and some what wasn't 'titled to it. Den -soldiers comes and puts order in de section. Dey has trouble about -votin'. De cullud folks in dem days was non-knowledge, so how could dey -vote 'telligent? Dat am foolishment to 'sist on de right to vote. It de -non-knowledge what hurts. Myself, I never voted and am too far down de -road now to start. - - -[Illustration: _James W. Smith_] - - -"I worked at farmin' till 1895 when I starts preachin' in de Baptist -church. I kept that up till 1931, but my health got too bad and I had to -quit. I has de pressure bad. When I preaches, I preaches hard, and de -doctor says dat am danger for me. - -"The way I learns to preach am dis: after surrender, I 'tends de school -two terms and den I studies de Bible and I's a nat'ral talker and gifted -for de Lawd's work, so I starts preachin'. - -"Jennie Goodman and me marries in 1885 and de Lawd never blessed us with -any chillen. We gits de pension, me $16.00 and her $14.00, and gits by -on dat. It am for de rations and de eats, but de clothes am a question!" - - - - -Jordon Smith - - -*Jordon Smith, 86, was born in Georgia, a slave of the Widow Hicks. When -she died, Jordon, his mother and thirty other slaves were willed to Ab -Smith, his owner's nephew, and were later refugeed from Georgia to -Anderson Co., Texas. When freed, Jordon worked on a steamboat crew on -the Red River until the advent of railroads. For thirty years Jordon -worked for the railroad. He is now too feeble to work and lives with his -third wife and six children in Marshall, Texas, supported by the latter -and his pension of $10.00 a month.* - -"I's borned in Georgia, next to the line of North Car'lina, on Widow -Hick's place. My papa died 'fore I's borned but my mammy was called -Aggie. My ole missus died and us fell to her nephew, Ab Smith. My granma -and granpa was full-blooded Africans and I couldn't unnerstand their -talk. - -"My missus was borned on the Chattahoochee River and she had 2,000 acres -of land in cul'vation, a thousand on each side the river, and owned 500 -slaves and 250 head of work mules. She was the richest woman in the -whole county. - -"Us slaves lived in a double row log cabins facin' her house and our -beds was made of rough plank and mattresses of hay and lynn bark and -shucks, make on a machine. I's spinned many a piece of cloth and wove -many a brooch of thread. - -"Missus didn't 'low her niggers to work till they's 21, and the chillen -played marbles and run round and kick their heels. The first work I done -was hoeing and us worked long as we could see a stalk of cotton or hill -of corn. Missus used to call us at Christmas and give the old folks a -dollar and the rest a dinner. When she died me and my mother went to Ab -Smith at the dividement of the property. Master Ab put us to work on a -big farm he bought and it was Hell 'mong the yearlin's if you crost him -or missus either. It was double trouble and a cowhidin' whatever you do. -She had a place in the kitchen where she tied their hands up to the wall -and cowhided them and sometimes cut they back 'most to pieces. She made -all go to church and let the women wear some her old, fine dresses to -hide the stripes where she'd beat them. Mammy say that to keep the folks -at church from knowin' how mean she was to her niggers. - -"Master Ab had a driver and if you didn't do what that driver say, -master say to him, 'Boy, come here and take this nigger down, a hunerd -licks this time.' Sometimes us run off and go to a dance without a pass -and 'bout time they's kickin' they heels and getting sot for the big -time, in come a patterroller and say, 'Havin' a big time, ain't you? Got -a pass?' If you didn't, they'd git four or five men to take you out and -when they got through you'd sho' go home. - -"Master Ab had hunerds acres wheat and made the women stack hay in the -field. Sometimes they got sick and wanted to go to the house, but he -made them lay down on a straw-pile in the field. Lots of chillen was -borned on a straw-pile in the field. After the chile was borned he sent -them to the house. I seed that with my own eyes. - -"They was a trader yard in Virginia and one in New Orleans and sometimes -a thousand slaves was waitin' to be sold. When the traders knowed men -was comin' to buy, they made the slaves all clean up and greased they -mouths with meat skins to look like they's feedin' them plenty meat. -They lined the women up on one side and the men on the other. A buyer -would walk up and down 'tween the two rows and grab a woman and try to -throw her down and feel of her to see how she's put up. If she's purty -strong, he'd say, 'Is she a good breeder?' If a gal was 18 or 19 and put -up good she was worth 'bout $1,500. Then the buyer'd pick out a strong, -young nigger boy 'bout the same age and buy him. When he got them home -he'd say to them, 'I want you two to stay together. I want young -niggers.' - -"If a nigger ever run off the place and come back, master'd say, 'If -you'll be a good nigger, I'll not whip you this time.' But you couldn't -'lieve that. A nigger run off and stayed in the woods six month. When he -come back he's hairy as a cow, 'cause he lived in a cave and come out at -night and pilfer round. They put the dogs on him but couldn't cotch him. -Fin'ly he come home and master say he won't whip him and Tom was crazy -'nough to 'lieve it. Master say to the cook, 'Fix Tom a big dinner,' and -while Tom's eatin', master stand in the door with a whip and say, 'Tom, -I's change my mind; you have no business runnin' off and I's gwine take -you out jus' like you come into the world. - -"Master gits a bottle whiskey and a box cigars and have Tom tied up out -in the yard. He takes a chair and say to the driver, 'Boy, take him -down, 250 licks this time.' Then he'd count the licks. When they's 150 -licks it didn't look like they is any place left to hit, but master say, -'Finish him up.' Then he and the driver sot down, smoke cigars and drink -whiskey, and master tell Tom how he must mind he master. Then he lock -Tom up in a log house and master tell all the niggers if they give him -anything to eat he'll skin 'em alive. The old folks slips Tom bread and -meat. When he gits out, he's gone to the woods 'gain. They's plenty -niggers what stayed in the woods till surrender. - -"I heared some slaves say they white folks was good to 'em, but it was a -tight fight where us was. I's thought over the case a thousand times and -figured it was 'cause all men ain't made alike. Some are bad and some -are good. It's like that now. Some folks you works for got no heart and -some treat you white. I guess it allus will be that way. - -"They was more ghosts and hants them days than now. It look like when -I's comin' up they was common as pig tracks. They come in different -forms and shapes, sometimes like a dog or cat or goat or like a man. I -didn't 'lieve in 'em till I seed one. A fellow I knowed could see 'em -every time he went out. One time us walkin' 'long a country lane and he -say, 'Jordon, look over my right shoulder.' I looked and see a man -walkin' without a head. I broke and run plumb off from the man I's with. -He wasn't scart of 'em. - -"I's refugeed from Georgia to Anderson County 'fore the war. I see Abe -Lincoln onct when he come through, but didn't none of know who he was. I -heared the president wanted 'em to work the young niggers till they was -twenty-one but to free the growed slaves. They say he give 'em thirty -days to 'siderate it. The white folks said they'd wade blood saddle deep -'fore they'd let us loose. I don't blame 'em in a way, 'cause they paid -for us. In 'nother way it was right to free us. We was brought here and -no person is sposed to be made a brute. - - -[Illustration: _Jordon Smith_] - - -"After surrender, Massa Ab call us and say we could go. Mammy stayed but -I left with my uncles and aunts and went to Shreveport where the Yanks -was. I didn't hear from my mammy for the nex' twenty years. - -"In Ku Klux times they come to our house and I stood tremblin', but they -didn't bother us. I heared 'em say lots of niggers was took down in -Sabine bottom and Kluxed, just 'cause they wanted to git rid of 'em. I -think it was desperados what done that, 'stead of the Ku Klux. That was -did in Panola County, in the Bad Lands. Bill Bateman and Hulon Gresham -and Sidney Farney was desperados and would kill a nigger jus' to git rid -of him. Course, lots of folks was riled up at the Kluxers and blamed 'em -for everything. - -"I's voted here in Marshall. Every nation has a flag but the cullud -race. The flag is what protects 'em. We wasn't invited here, but was -brought here, and don't have no place else to go. We was brought under -this government and it's right we be led and told what to do. The cullud -folks has been here more'n a hunerd years and has help make the United -States what it is. The only thing that'll help the cause is separation -of the races. I'll not be here when it comes, but it's bound to, 'cause -the Bible say that some day all the races of people will be separated. -Since 1865 till now the cullud race have done nothing but go to -destruction. There was a time a man could control his wife and family, -but you can't do that now. - -"After surrender I went to Shreveport and steamboated from there to New -Orleans, then to Vicksburg. Old hands was paid $15.00 a trip. I come -here in 1872 and railroaded 30 years, on the section gang and in the -shops. Since then I farmed and I's had three wives and nineteen chillen -and they are scattered all over the state. Since I's too old to farm I -work at odd jobs and git a $10.00 a month pension." - - - - -Millie Ann Smith - - -*Millie Ann Smith was born in 1850, in Rusk Co., Texas, a slave of -George Washington Trammell, a pioneer planter of the county. Trammell -bought Millie's mother and three older children in Mississippi before -Millie's birth, and brought them to Texas, leaving Millie's father -behind. Later he ran away to Texas and persuaded Trammell to buy him, so -he could be with his family.* - -"I's born 'fore war started and 'members when it ceased. I guess mammy's -folks allus belonged to the Trammells, 'cause I 'member my grandpa, Josh -Chiles, and my grandma, call Jeanette. I's a strappin' big girl when -they dies. Grandpa used to say he come to Texas with Massa George -Trammell's father when Rusk County was jus' a big woods, and the first -two years he was hunter for the massa. He stay in the woods all the -time, killing deer and wild hawgs and turkeys and coons and the like for -the white folks to eat, and the land's full of Indians. He kinda taken -up with them and had holes in the nose and ears. They was put there by -the Indians for rings what they wore. Grandpa could talk mos' any Indian -talk and he say he used to run off from his massa and stay with the -Indians for weeks. The massa'd go to the Indian camp looking for grandpa -and the Indians hided him out and say, 'No see him.' - -"How mammy and we'uns come to Texas, Massa George brung his wife and -three chillen from Mississippi and he brung we'uns. Pappy belonged to -Massa Moore over in Mississippi and Massa George didn't buy him, but -after mammy got here, that 'fore I's born, pappy runs off and makes his -way to Texas and gits Massa George to buy him. - -"Massa George and Missy America lived in a fine, big house and they -owned more slaves and land than anybody in the county and they's the -richest folks 'round there. Us slaves lived down the hill from the big -house in a double row of log cabins and us had good beds, like our white -folks. My grandpa made all the beds for the white folks and us niggers, -too. Massa didn't want anything shoddy 'round him, he say, not even his -nigger quarters. - -"I's sot all day handin' thread to my mammy to put in the loom, 'cause -they give us homespun clothes, and you'd better keep 'em if you didn't -want to go naked. - -"Massa had a overseer and nigger driver call Jacob Green. If a nigger -was hard to make do the right thing, they ties him to a tree, but Massa -George never whip 'em too hard, jus' 'nough to make 'em 'have. - -"The slaves what worked in the fields was woke up 'fore light with a -horn and worked till dark, and then there was the stock to tend to and -cloth to weave. The overseer come 'round at nine o'clock to see if all -is in the bed and then go back to his own house. When us knowed he's -sound asleep we'd slip out and run 'round, sometimes. They locked the -young men up in a house at night and on Sunday to keep 'em from runnin' -'round. It was a log house and had cracks in it and once a little nigger -boy pokes his hand in tryin' to tease them men and one of 'em chops his -fingers off with the ax. - -"Massa didn' 'low no nigger to read and write, if he knowed it. George -Wood was the only one could read and write and how he larn, a little boy -on the 'jining place took up with him and they goes off in the woods and -he shows George how to read and write. Massa never did find out 'bout -that till after freedom. - -"We slips off and have prayer but daren't 'low the white folks know it -and sometime we hums 'ligious songs low like when we's workin'. It was -our way of prayin' to be free, but the white folks didn't know it. I -'member mammy used to sing like this: - - "'Am I born to die, to lay this body down. - Must my tremblin' spirit fly into worlds unknown, - The land of deepes' shade, - Only pierce' by human thought.' - -"Massa George 'lowed them what wanted to work a little ground for -theyselves and grandpa made money sellin' wild turkey and hawgs to the -poor white folks. He used to go huntin' at night or jus' when he could. - - -[Illustration: _Millie Ann Smith_] - - -"Them days we made our own med'cine out of horsemint and butterfly weed -and Jerusalem oak and bottled them teas up for the winter. Butterfly -Weed tea was for the pleurisy and the others for the chills and fever. -As reg'lar as I got up I allus drank my asafoetida and tar water. - -"I 'member Massa George furnishes three of his niggers, Ed Chile and -Jacob Green and Job Jester, for mule skinners. I seed the government -come and take off a big bunch of mules off our place. Mos' onto four -year after the war, three men comes to Massa George and makes him call -us up and turn us loose. I heered 'em say its close onto four year we's -been free, but that's the first we knowed 'bout it. - -"Pappy goes to work at odd jobs and mammy and I goes to keep house for a -widow woman and I stays there till I marries, and that to Tom Smith. We -had five chillen and now Tom's dead and I lives on that pension from the -government, what is $16.00 a month, and I's glad to git it, 'cause I's -too old to work." - - - - -Susan Smith - - -*Susan Smith is not sure of her age, but appears to be in the late -eighties. She was a slave of Charles Weeks, in Iberia, Louisiana. Susan -was dressed in a black and white print, a light blue apron and a black -velvet hat when interviewed, and seemed to be enjoying the generous quid -of tobacco she took as she started to tell her story.* - -"I 'lieve I was nine or ten when freedom come, 'cause I was nursing for -the white folks. Old massa was Charlie Weeks and he lived in Iberia. His -sons, Willie and Ned, dey run business in de court house. One of dem tax -collector and de other lookin' after de land, and am de surveyor. Old -missus named Mag Weeks. - -"My pa named Dennis Joe and ma named Sabry Joe, and dey borned and -raised on Weeks Island, in Louisiana. After dey old massa die, dey was -'vided up and falls to Massa Charlie Weeks, and dat where I borned, in -Iberia on Bayou Teche. - -"Massa Charlie, he live in de big brick house with white columns and -everybody what pass dere know dat place. Dey have de great big tomb in -corner de yard, where dey buries all dey folks, but buries de cullud -folks back of de quarters. Dey's well fix in Louisiana, but not so good -after dey come to Texas. - -"Dey used to have big Christmas in Louisiana and lots of things for us, -and a big table and kill hawgs and have lots to eat. But old Missus Mag, -she allus treat me like her own chillen and make me set at de table with -dem and eat. - -"I was with Missus Mag on a visit to Mansfield when de war starts at six -o'clock Sunday and go till six o'clock Monday. I went over dat -battlefield and look at dem sojers dey kill. David McGill, a young -massa, he git kill. He uncle, William Weeks, what done hired him to jine -the army in he place, he goes to the battlefield to look for Massa -David. De only way he knowed it was him, he have two gold eyeteeth with -diamonds in dem. Some dem hurt sojers was prayin' and some cussin'. You -could hear some dem hollerin', 'Oh, Gawd, help me.' Dey was layin' so -thick you have to step over dem. - -"I seed de sojers in Iberia. Dey take anythin' dey wants. Dey cotch de -cow and kill it and eat it. Dey have de camp dere and dey jus' carry on. -I used to go to de camp, 'cause dey give me crackers and sardines. But -after dat Mansfield battle dey have up white flags and dey ain't no more -war dere. But while it gwine on, I go to de camp and sometimes dem -sojers give me meat and barbecue. Dey one place dere a lump salt big as -dis house, and dey set fire to de house and left dat big lump salt. -Anywhere dey camp dey burns up de house. - -"I didn't know I'm free till a man say to me, 'Sissy, ain't you know you -ain't got no more massa or missus?' I say, 'No, suh.' But I stays with -dem till I git marry, and slep' right in dey house and nuss for dem. Dey -give me de big weddin', too. De noter public in Iberia, he marry us. My -husband name Henry Smith and dat when I'm fifteen year old. I so -big-limb and fat den I bigger den what I is now. - -"I ain't had no husband for a time. I can't cast de years, he been dead -so long. Us have fifteen chillen, and seven livin' now. - -"Sperrits? I used to see dem. I scart of dem. Sometime dey looks nat'ral -and sometime like de shadow. Iffen dey look like de shadow, jus' keep on -lookin' at dem till dey looks nat'ral. Iffen you walks 'long, dey come -right up side you. Iffen you looks over you left shoulder, you see dem. -Dey makes de air feel warm and you hair rise up, and sometime dey gives -you de cold chills. You can feel it when dey with you. I set here and -seed dem standin' in dat gate. Dey goes round like dey done when dey -a-livin'. Some say dey can't cross water. - -"I heared talk of de bad mouth. A old woman put bad mouth on you and -shake her hand at you, and befo' de day done you gwine be in de -acciden'. - -"I seed de Klu Klux. Po' Cajuns and redbones, I calls dem. Dey ought to -be sleepin'. One time I seed a man hangin' in de wood when I'n pickin' -blackberries. His tongue hangin' out and de buzzards fly down on he -shoulder. De breeze sot him to swingin' and de buzzards fly off. I tells -de people and dey takes him down to bury. He a fine, young cullud man. I -don't know why dey done it. Dat after peace and de Yankees done gone -back home. - -"I been here in Texas a good while, and it such a rough road it got my -'membrance all stir up. I never been to school, 'cause I bound out to -work. I lives with my daughter and dis child here my grandchild. I can't -'member no more, 'cause my head ain't good as it used to be." - - - - -John Sneed - - -*John Sneed, born near Austin, Texas, does not know his age, but was -almost grown when he was freed. He belonged to Dr. Sneed and stayed with -him several years after Emancipation.* - -"I's borned on de old Sneed place, eight miles south of Austin, and my -mammy was Sarah Sneed and pappy was Ike. Dey come from Tennessee and -dere five boys and two gals. De boys am Dixie and Joe and Jim and Bob -and me, and de gals name Katy and Lou. Us live in quarters what was log -huts. Dere's one long, log house where dey spinned and weaved de cloth. -Dere sixteen spinnin' wheels and eight looms in dat house and my job was -turnin' one dem wheels when they'd thresh me out and git me to do it. -Mos' all de clothes what de slaves and de white folks have was made in -dat house. - -"Mos' and usual de chillen sleept on de floor, unless with de old folks. -De bedsteads make of pieces of split logs fasten with wooden pegs and -rope criss-cross. De mattress make of shucks tear into strips with maybe -a li'l cotton or prairie hay. You could go out on de prairie mos' any -time and get 'nough grass to make de bed, and dry it 'fore it put in de -tick. De white folks have bought beds haul by ox teams from Austin and -feather beds. - -"Dr. Sneed raise cotton and corn and wheat. Sometime five or six oxen -hitch to de wagon and 25 or 30 wagons make what am call de wagon train. -Dey haul cotton and corn and wheat to Port Lavaca what am de nearest -shipping point. On de return trip, dey brung sugar and coffee and cloth -and other things what am needed on de plantation. First time massa 'low -me go with dat ox-train, I thunk I's growed. - -"Dere a big gang of white and cullud chillen on de plantation but Dr. -Sneed didn't have no chillen of he own. De neighbor white chillen come -over dere and played. Us rip and play and fight and kick up us heels, -and go on. Massa never 'low no whippin' of de chillen. He make dem pick -rocks up and make fences out dem, but he didn't 'low no chillen work in -de field till dey 'bout fourteen. De real old folks didn't work in de -fields neither. Dey sot 'round and knit socks and mend de shoes and -harness and stuff. - -"Massa John mighty good to us chillen. He allus give us a li'l piece -money every Sunday. When he'd git in he buggy to go to Austin to sell -butter, de chillen pile in dat buggy and all over him so you couldn't -see him and he'd hardly see to drive. - -"Us had possum and rabbit and fish and trap birds for eatin'. Dere all -kind wild green dem days. Us jus' go in de woods and git wild lettuce -and mustard and leather-britches and polk salad and watercress, all us -want to eat. Us kilt hawgs and put up de lard by de barrel. Us thresh -wheat and take it to de li'l watermill at Barton Creek to grind. Dey'd -only grind two bushel to de family, no matter how big dat family, 'cause -dere so many folks and it such a small mill. - -"Each family have de li'l garden and raise turnips and cabbage and sweet -'taters and put dem in de kiln make from corn stalks and cure dem for -winter eatin'. Us have homemake clothes and brogan shoes, come from -Austin or some place. Us chillen wear shirt-tail till us 'bout thirteen. - -"Massa live in de big two-story rock house and have he office and -drug-store in one end de house. Missy Ann have no chillen so she 'dopt -one from Tennessee, name Sally. - -"Dere 'bout four or five hunerd acres and 'bout sixty slaves. Dey git up -'bout daylight and come from de field in time to feed and do de chores -'fore dark. After work de old folks sot 'round, fiddle and play de -'cordian and tell stories. Dat mostly after de crops laid by or on rainy -days. On workin' time, dey usually tired and go to bed early. Dey not -work on Saturday afternoon or Sunday, 'cept dey gatherin' de crop 'gin a -rain. Old man Jim Piper am fiddler and play for black and white dances. -On Sunday massa make us go to church. Us sing and pray in a li'l log -house on de plantation and sometimes de preacher stop and hold meetin'. - -"Massa John Sneed doctored from Austin to Lockhart and Gonzales and my -own mammy he train to be midwife. She good pneumonia doctor and massa -'low her care for dem. - -"On Christmas all us go to de big house and crowd 'round massa. He a -li'l man and some black boys'd carry him 'round on dere shoulders. All -knowed dey gwine git de present. Dere a big tree with present for -everyone, white and black. Lots of eggnog and turkey and baked hawgs and -all kind good things. Dere allus lots of white folks company at massa's -house and big banquets and holidays and birthdays. Us like dem times, -'cause work slack and food heavy. Every las' chile have he birthday -celebrate with de big cake and present and maybe de quarter in silver -from old massa, bless he soul. Us play kissin' games and ring plays and -one song am like dis: - - "'I'm in de well, - How many feet? - Five. Who'd git you out?' - -"Iffen it a man, he choose de gal and she have to kiss him to git him -out de well. Iffen a gal in de well, she choose a man. - -"I well 'member de day freedom 'clared. Us have de tearin'-down dinner -dat day. De niggers beller and cry and didn't want leave massa. He talk -to us and say long as he live us be cared for, and us was. Dere lots of -springs on he place and de married niggers pick out a spring and Massa -Doctor give dem stuff to put up de cabin by dat spring, and dey take -what dey have in de quarters. Dey want to move from dem slave quarters, -but not too far from massa. Dey come to de big house for flour and meal -and meat and sich till massa die. He willed every last one he slaves -somethin'. Mos' of 'em git a cow and a horse and a pig and some -chickens. My mammy git two cows and a pair horses and a wagon and 70 -acres land. She marries 'gain when my daddy die and dat shif'less nigger -she marry git her to sign some kind paper and she lose de land. - -"My wife was Nanny Madeira and us have six chillen and five is livin'. I -followed cattle till I's 'bout 26. I's went up de Chisholm Trail eight -or nine times and druv for Massa Blocker and Jedge Brackenridge and -others. On one stampede I rode 24 hours straight and after we rounds up -all de cattle, I goes to sleep under a tree. Dat day I has on a buckskin -coat I in gen'ral wore and I feels somethin' grab dat coat and bite my -side. I rouses up and sees de big panther draggin' me off to de thicket. -I has de six-gun but I couldn't git to it. Every once in a while dat -panther lay me down and sniff at my nose. I jes' hold de breath, 'cause -if dat panther cotch me breathin' dat been de end of me. He drug me to -some bushes and den goes off a li'l way and give de yell. Dat yell make -me turn cold, 'cause it sound jes' like a man screamin'. Den dat cat dug -a shallow hole. I eases out my old gun, takes careful aim and den says, -'Thank you, old man,' and he turns to look at me and I shoots him right -'tween he eyes. After 'while, dat cat's mate and cub come runnin', -'cause he yell for dem, and I kilt dem, too. - - -[Illustration: _John Sneed_] - - -"'Nother time, I seed de panther a-draggin' a white man off and I slips -up jes' as de cat seizes him and shoots dat cat. Us have to run dat man -down and cotch him, 'cause he scared stiff when dat dead cat fall on -him. - -"Some time after dat I works for a man what freights supplies 'round -Austin and I's one de drivers. Us start in September with sev'ral -six-wheel wagons, 'nough to las' a town de year, and not git back to -Austin till January. Sometimes de mud so bad it take six oxen to pull de -wagon out. - -"One time us movin' and stampedin' de bunch cattle and me and my brother -gits los' from de rest and was los' three days and nights. All us eat am -parched corn. De grass nearly waist high to a man and us scoop out de -hole in de ground and cut off tops de grass and weeds and make de fire. -Den us drap de corn on de fire and parch it. De woods full wild animals -and panthers and wolves. De wolves de worst. Dey slip up on us to git de -chicken us has with us. At last us come to a house and finds us folks." - - - - -Mariah Snyder - - -*Mariah Snyder, 89, was born in Mississippi, a slave of Sam Miller, who -brought her to Texas when she was five. Since Mariah's second husband -died, twenty-two years ago, she has earned her living by washing and -cooking. Now too old to do much, she is cared for by her only living -daughter, with the aid of a $10.00 monthly pension.* - -"I's borned in Mississippi. Yes, sar. I 'longed to Massa Miller and he -name am Sam, and my name am Mariah. My pappy was Weldon and my mammy, -Ann. Massa Sam fotches all us to Texas when I's jes' five year old and -we come in wagons and hossback. He done buy my mammy and pappy in the -slave market, so I don't know nothin' 'bout none my other 'lations. - -"Massa Sam live in a great big, ceiled house, and had plenty land and -niggers. The quarters was logs and any kind beds we could git. We wore -lowell clothes and I never seed no other kind of dress till after -surrender. We et meat and collards and cornbread and rough grub, and -they biled all the victuals in a big, black pot what hung on a rack in -the kitchen fireplace. We had red russet, flat shoes and no stockin's, -but in winter we made wool panties to wear on our legs. - -"Missy was name Patsy and she was purty good, and Massa Sam was purty -good, too. He'd whip us if we needed it. He'd pull off our clothes and -whip in the field. But he wouldn't 'low the driver to whip us if we -didn't need it. No, sar. And he wouldn't have no patterrollers on the -place. - -"The driver come round and woke everybody up and had 'em in the field by -daybreak. I's seed a whole field of niggers abreast, hoein'. The rows of -cotton was so long you couldn't make but one 'fore dinnertime. I driv -the gin, what was run by two mules. The cotton was wropped in baggin' -and tied with ropes. It was a long time after 'fore I seed cotton tied -with steel like they bales it now. - -"I seed plenty niggers whipped while I driv that gin. They tied the -feets and hands and rawhided 'em good. They tied a bell on one woman -what run away all the time. They locks it round her head. - -"I seed lots of niggers put on the block and bid off and carry away in -chains. One woman name Venus raises her hands and hollers, 'Weigh dem -cattle,' whilst she's bein' bid off. - -"The big folks dances all night Sat'day. That's all the fun we had. We -used to sing - - "I'm in a lady's garden, I'm in a lady's garden, - So let me out. I'm sufferin' for water and wine. - -"The slaves most allus sings whilst theys workin' in the field, and one -song was - - "When I's here you calls me honey, - When I's gone you honies everybody. - -or - - "The raccoon am de funny thing, - Ramblin' round in de dark. - -"Massa Sam have a cullud man what give us our ABC's. I still got mine, -but didn't never git no further. - - -[Illustration: _Mariah Snyder_] - - -"Massa Sam git kilt 'fore the war. A mule throwed him. He had plenty -good hosses but allus rid a mule. He come in from a neighbor's one day -and the mule throwed him on a stob 'fore he got to the house. We heared -a hollerin' down the road, but didn't pay no 'tention, 'cause they's -allus all kind racket gwine on. Fin'ly somebody say, 'That sound like a -man,' and we goes down there and it was massa. 'Fore he die he calls all -the cullud chillen to him and shakes hands and tells 'em to be good. - -"We 'longs to he son, Ruben, then, and stays with him three years after -surrender. Lordy me! How I hates to think of 'em talkin' 'bout that war! -Young missy cry a whole week, 'cause she fear her men folks gwine git -kilt. They did, too. Her two boys, George and Frank, gits kilt, and heap -of the neighbors boys gits kilt, too. - -"Fin'ly us leaves Massa Ruben and goes to Shreveport and I marries -Snyder. The 'Progo' Marshal marries us. We raises two gals and I lives -with Mary. Snyder died twenty-two years ago and all them years I made a -livin' washin' and ironin' and cookin', up to six years ago. I gits a -pension from the gov'ment now and it am $10.00 a month. It's mighty good -of the white folks to take care of this old nigger, but I'd rather work, -only I ain't able no more." - - - - -Patsy Southwell - - -*Patsy Southwell, 83, was born in Jasper Co., Texas. She has lived on or -near the old plantation all her life. Her master was Bill Trailor.* - -"My name Patsy Southwell and I lives at Rock Hill. I been livin' on dat -plantation all my life, but not allus in the very same place. I think -the house was move and 'nother builded. - -"My pappy was John Redd and he 'longed to Bill Trailor and he brung here -from Virginny. Mammy's name Rose Redd and she a yaller nigger, come from -South Carolina and maybe she white and Indian, too. My brothers call -Dennis, George, William, and Charles and dey all dead. - -"We all live in the quarters and massa a tol'able good one 'sidering -others what cut and slashes bad. Pappy and mammy work in the field and -dey send pappy and he sons off six months at the time, over to -Alexandria, to make salt. - -"My brothers hunt all the time and brung in deer and wild turkey, so we -has lots to eat. We has butter and milk and honey and pappy allus have -he li'l garden patch. - -"We wears slip homespun dress make outten cloth from us loom. I never -have shoes and us has no Sunday clothes. Massa was tol'ably good to the -old folks and not so mean to the chillen. He wasn't no barbarian like -some what whip the slaves every Monday mornin' befo' dey starts to work. - -"Massa plantation have fifteen hunnerd acre in it and he didn't have -'nough slaves so they works awful hard. I seed 'em hit my mammy five -hunnerd licks and my pappy six hunnerd. Pappy have run 'way and been -gone long time and they cotch him in de water in the Neches River. He -have meat and stuff and they say mammy feedin' him, but I think it the -other way. I think he gittin' and sendin' her stuff. - -"The white folks has the big church with the bar 'cross it and the -cullud folks sit behin' the bar. If any wants to jine us tell massa and -he tell the preacher, and he old man Southwell. They baptise at the mill -pond. - -"I marries Jerry Southwell and us git marry at home. Jerry wears the -black suit and I wears the dotted white Swiss dress with the overskirt. - -"When freedom breaks and massa say we free, we goes to the Haynes' place -and my pappy farms for hisself. We gits on better den in slavery days -and after 'while pappy buys him some land and den we all right. Me and -my husban', we stays on with pappy awhile, but we gits our own farm and -farm all us life." - - - - -Leithean Spinks - - -*Leithean Spinks, 82, was born a slave to Fay Thompson, in Rankin -County, Mississippi. Soon after Leithean's birth, Mr. Thompson moved to -E. Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. Leithean was happy in slave days, and -stayed with her master two years after she was freed. She lives at 2600 -Merrick St., Fort Worth, Texas.* - -"Does I look old 'nough to be birthed in slavery? I's eighty-two years -old and mammy had it right there in de Bible, marked when I's birthed, -in 1855. I's birthed in Mississippi but a little while after, massa goes -to Louisiana, over in East Feliciana Parish, and when I's old 'nough to -'member, we'uns am there, 'twixt New Roads and Jackson, right near the -Mississippi River. - -"Massa Thompson had a awful big plantation and more'n 300 cullud folks, -and three rows of cabins 'bout two blocks long, and 'bout one family to -a cabin. No floors in dem cabins, you stands on dirt, and de furniture -am something you knows ain't there. Why, man, there am jus' benches to -sit on and a homemake table and bunks. Dere am de fireplace but all de -main cookin' am done in de big cookin' shed, and old Mammy Dice done it, -with four to holp her. - -"De bell am rung when meal time comes and all de slaves lines up, with -their pans and cups and passes de service table, and de food am put on -dere pans and milk in de cup. Dat de one time massa could allus 'pend on -de niggers. When de bell say, 'Come and git it,' all us am there. Us -takes de food to de cabins and eats it. - -"Dis old nigger come near gwine to Glory once when mammy am gone to de -cook shed. How 'twas am dis-a-way. She latches de door on de outside to -keep us three chillen in de cabin, my sis and brudder and me. Well, in -dem days, us uses tallow candles for light and pine knots when candles -am short. Mammy lights de pine knot befo' she leaves and after she am -gone, it falls off de hook and hits de ground and rolls a couple feet -under de bunk. There am straw in de tick and right off de whole shebang -am on fire. There am three of us with de door latch and all de grown-ups -in de cook shed. Us hollers and yells but it am no use, and de hollerin' -don't last long, 'cause de smoke gittin' thick. De fire am spreadin' -fast and de bunks starts burnin'. Us am huddle togedder, skeert plumb -out our wits and chokin' and coughin'. - -"Den my brudder gits de idea and he grabs de big spoon and de iron poker -and starts diggin' de dirt from under de log next de door. De smoke -ain't so bad next de ground, and did yous ever see de dog diggin' in de -rabbit hole? Dat how us digs, and seems it never gwine come a hole. -Finally, a hole busted through and lets in fresh air, and den us dig -some more, and it am big 'nough for my little sis to crawl through. Den -us dig some more and I crawls out and my brudder starts but he gits he -head outside and his shoulders wedges and there he am, stucked. Us pull -and pull, but nary a inch could us budge him. He try to back up but he -shirt caught on a knot and he can't do dat. So us runs for de cook shed -and yells, 'Mammy, de cabin on fire.' Everybody starts to holler, -'Fire,' and mammy busts in de door and yanks brudder out dat hole, and -he am sweatin' like a latherin' mare. After dey puts de fire out with de -water buckets, mammy say, 'When sis gits out, why didn't she unlatch de -door?' 'Cause de 'citement, us never think of dat! - -"Us have plenty hawg meat and veg'tables and butter and 'lasses and -honey. De food ain't short no time 'round massa, 'cause he say niggers -works better when dey feeds good. De mammies leaves de babies in de -nursery durin' de day and dem chillen am take good care of and has lots -of milk and am all fat like hawgs. - -"In de mornin' when de bell ring, everybody goes to work, but I is -little and does de chores and am gap tender. De cattle am 'lowed to run -where dey wants, here, there and all over. Fences am 'round de fields -and yards and there am gates to go through, but us calls dem gaps. It am -my job to open and close dem, 'cause somebody allus wantin' to drive or -walk through dem gaps. - -"MY sis am de fly chaser. She has de big fan make from de tail feathers -of de peacock. 'Twas awful purty thing. She stands 'round de white folks -and shoo off de flies. - -"Massa Fay ain't hard on he cullud folks. He works dem steady but don't -drive dem. Lots de slaves goes fishin' in de river on Saturday afternoon -and Sunday, and dey cotches plenty fish. - -"Us has parties and singin' and dancin' and fiddle music. Oh, Lawdy! How -lonesome I gits when I thinks 'bout dem days, and de music and singin'. -Sometimes 'bout a hunerd sings to once and dat sound purty and jus' go -all through me. - - -[Illustration: _Leithean Spinks_] - - -"For runnin' off am de only hard whuppin's massa give. De run-off am tie -to de log and massa lay de whuppin' on he back. De plantation am near de -river and dere am lots of caves and cliffs to hide in. Massa cotch de -run-offs with de nigger hounds and if he don't, dey git hongry and -sneaks back. Only one gits clear away. - -"One Sunday mornin' 'bout ten o'clock, massa have de bell ring and calls -all us to de front gallery and makes de talk. He say, 'I's happy to tell -yous is free and, 'cording to de law, yous am all citizens. Dem what -wants to stay with me I'll pay de wages or dey can work on shares.' He -gives us all de paper, with de name and age and where us am birthed. Me -and mammy stays two years after freedom. I marries Sol Pleasant in 1872 -and us has two chillen. Us sep'rate in 1876. De trouble am, he wants to -be de boss of de job and let me do de work. I 'cides I don't need no -boss, so I transports him, and says, 'Nigger, git out of here and don't -never come back. If you comes back, I'll smack you down.' - -"In 1876 I marries Frank Spinks and us has eight chlllen and he dies in -1930. All dem eight chillen lives here and I's livin' with one of dem, -Mrs. Covy Kelly. 'Tain't many years befo' old Gabriel blow he horn, and -I's waitin' for him." - - - - -Guy Stewart - - -*Guy Stewart, 87, 209 Austin Ave., Ft. Worth, was born Nov. 26, 1850, a -slave of Jack Taylor, who also owned Guy's parents, 3 brothers and 3 -sisters. They lived in Mansfield Parish, La. Stewart started work in the -fields at seven years, and remained with his owner three years after he -was freed. He then moved onto his own farm where he lived until 1898, -when he moved to Fort Worth.* - -"Yas, suh, I'se an ol' slave and I'se 'bout 11 years ol' when de War -starts. My marster am Jack Taylor and my family belongs to him. - -"I 'members de war well, 'cause we'uns hears shootin' and see soldiers. -Dey comes to marster's place and takes hosses and vittals. One time dey -wants some of de niggers for to help fix for de battle. Dere am heap of -'citement and de marster's 'fraid de battle come too close. He say, -'It's too close for saftment.' And he say, 'Put dis and dat away so de -soldier cain't find it.' - -"I starts work long 'fore dat, when I'se seven, in de cotton and co'n -field. I just peddles 'round first. Marster sho' am good to us and so -good dat de other white folks calls us de 'free niggers.' - -"We'uns have cabins for to live in and sleep in bunks with straw ticks -on 'em. We'uns has lots to eat, all we wants. And we'uns have all de -clothes we needs. - -"Sho, we went to church with de marster. Dey tol' us 'bout Heaven and de -devil and sich. But dey never 'lows us to have books in de hands. Dey -says it wasn' good for us to larn readin' or writin.' "We'uns has lots -of music on dat place 'cause de marster, he am de good fiddler and he -learns some of us niggers to play de fiddle and de banjo. We gits -together and has de music, sing and dance. If I thinks 'bout dem days -now, I can see we'uns dancin' and hear de singin' of dem ol' songs, sich -like Ol' Black Joe and Swanee River. Iffen I thinks too much 'bout dem -days, tears comes in dis ol' nigger's eyes. Dem were de happy days of my -life. In dem days, we'uns not know what am money, never have any. What -for we'uns need it? I'se more happy den, dan I been since, with money. - -"De marster am scart for to lose all de hosses and everything, 'cause -dey takes it for de army man, so he gits to thinkin' 'bout movin' to -Texas. De war warn't over when he goes to Texas and takes all us niggers -with him. De roads dem days am not so good. No bridges over de rivers, -'cept de bigges' ones. Lots of times we'uns has to push for help de -hosses pull de wagons outta de mudhole, and we'uns is over a month -gettin' to Williams County. De marster rents de land dere and we stays -for one crop, and den we all goes to Travis County, whar marster settle -for to raise de wheat. - -"When freedom comes, de marster says we'uns has to work for wages and -buy all de food and de clothes and everything dat we'uns gits. Dat's not -so easy. At first he pays me $5.00 a month and den pays me $10.00 de -month. After three years I quits and rents a farm and works for myself, -I gits married in 1877 and my wife dies in 1915. We'uns has one chile. -In 1898 I comes to Fort Worth and gits me a job in de woodyard and sich. - -"White man, I sho' likes for to see dat ol' plantation down in Louisiana -and it would do dis ol' darky good. I sits here and thinks of de marster -and de good times. And de fishin down dere! Is dere good fishin'? De -folks here don' know what am fishin'. - -"You has dis nigger thinkin' heaps 'bout de ol' plantation and de good -times. If I don' stop talkin' 'bout dat, I gits to cryin'." - - - - -William Stone - - -*William Stone was born in a covered wagon, on the way from Alabama to -Texas, about 1863. Though he was too small to remember slave days, he -does recall many things told him by his parents and other ex-slaves. -William lives in Mart, Texas.* - -"My parents done told me where I's borned. It am in a covered wagon on -de way from Alabama to Texas, two years 'fore freedom. Old Marse, Lem -Stone, he left Alabama for Texas, where de war not so bad, and brung -some he slaves with him. He done lost so much in Alabama, Yankees -burnin' he house and cotton and killin' he stock, he want to git 'way -from dere. - -"First he come to Rusk County, den goes back to Shreveport and stays -till freedom. Pappy and mammy was Louis and Car'line Stone. I lived in -Louisiana till I's growed. - -"Mammy and pappy done told me all 'bout de old plantation. It am -hundreds of acres of land, part worked and part jus' timber and pasture. -It was near Montgomery, and dey raised more cotton den anything else, -but had some corn and peas and cane. Dey made sorghum and ribbon cane -'lasses and had boilin' vats for sugar, too. - -"De soldiers come through. Dey named, Yankees. Dey make mammy cook -somethin' to eat and den kilt all de hawgs and took de meat with dem, -and burn de barn and house. Old Marse had pens to put cotton in, hid way -out in de bresh. Dey picked it in gunny sacks and hides it, and slips it -out to de gin by night and tries to sell it 'fore dem Yankees finds it -and burns it. - -"Mammy say dey all went to church and had to drive four horses when de -roads muddy in winter and sand deep in summer. Dey allus carry dinner -and stay all day. Den in de evenin', after de niggers had dey preachin', -dey all go home. Sometimes a preacher come out to de plantation and hold -church for de white folks in de mornin' and in de evenin' for de -niggers, out under a big oak tree. - -"De Lawd say iffen us trusts him and help to be good he gwine make our -path straight. Dis was true in de days of den, 'cause our white folks -tooken care of us, befo' dey was freedom and sech. Now, us gittin' old, -and gits de old age pension when us too old to work. - -"I works all up and down de old river when I's growed. De plantations -has long staple cotton. Dey raise sugar cane and dere be twenty wagons -haulin' cane to de boilin' mills. We was happy to do dat work, 'cause we -knowed it mean us have plenty 'lasses in winter. Lawdy, I wish I knowed -I could have all de 'lasses and bread I wanted dis winter! Dem was good -times, Lawd! Us sing dis song: - - "'We'll stick to de hoe till de sun go down, - We'll rise when de rooster crow, - And go to de field where de sunshine hot, - To de field where de sugar cane grow. - Yes, chilluns, we'll all go.' - -"I can jes' see dem long rows of cotton and niggers drivin' de oxen and -mules. I know 'nother song: - - "Nigger mighty happy when he layin' by de corn, - Nigger mighty happy when he hear dat dinner horn; - But he more happy when de night come on, - Dat' sun's a'slantin', as sho's you born! - Dat old cow's a shakin' dat great big bell, - And de frogs tunin' up, 'cause de dew's done fell.' - -"Dat jes' after freedom. Dey have plantations and overseers like -slavery, but most de overseers niggers, and dey didn't whip you den. On -Saturday night de overseer pay us, mostly in rations. He give us five, -maybe ten pounds rations of meat, and a peck or two or meal, and some -coffee and 'lasses. - - "'Dat ration day come once a week, - Old massa rich as Gundy. - But he give 'lasses all de week, - And buttermilk for Sunday. - - "'Old massa give a pound of meat, - I et it all on Monday; - Den I et 'lasses all de week, - And buttermilk for Sunday.' - -"All dis was down on de Mississippi bottom. Old Man River was sho' purty -in de fall, when dem wild geeses come in droves and de blossoms red and -yaller. De fogs come hang over and chills and fever gits started. De -woman sot by de fire piecin' quilts and spinnin' thread, and de old men -weave cotton baskets and chair bottoms, and de young men work on da -levees, so dey hold Old Man River back when he start prowlin' round -'gain. - - -[Illustration: _William Stone_] - - -"Floods come down, no matter what time of year. One day Old Man River be -runnin' 'long, jes' as peaceful and quiet, and everybody happy. -Everybody meet de boats at de landin'. Den way in de night you wake up -and hear a roarin' like thunder and dat river be on a tear. Folks know -he am in de ugly mood, and starts movin' to higher ground. Everybody -what have a wagon and mule gits out. Some jes' gits to de levee. It look -like my folks told me when dey run from de Yankees, only dis time it's -de river. Old Man River sho' treach'ous. After he go on one he rarin' -and tearin' spells, den he gwine be so peaceful and quiet like. Look -like he try to make up for he meanness. - -"I gits married and moves clost to de Trinity River, and stays till my -family done raised. Dey has free schools in Texas den. I works in de -sawmill and dere so much wild game us can eat easy. Dem days on de -Mississippi bottom is like a dream, but when I hears talk 'bout Old Man -River, I can dem big waters roarin' down." - - - - -Yach Stringfellow - - -*Yach Stringfellow, 90, was born a slave of Frank Hubert, in Brenham, -Texas. His memory is poor and, though he recalled a good many incidents -of slavery days, he had little to say about his life from 1865 to the -present. He now lives in Watt, Texas.* - -"I'll be ninety-one years old next May, and I was borned in Brenham. My -massa and missus was Frank Hubert and Sarah Ann Hubert. My daddy come -from de old Africa and was tall and straight as a arrow. He was sold to -a man what tooked him to California in de gold rush in 1849 and me and -mammy stays with Massa Hubert. Dat how come my name ain't de same as -massa have. - -"I got so much misery in de head I can't 'member like I should. But I -know us live in little log houses all kind of group together, and us eat -in a long lean-to builded on to the big house. Us chillen had a long, -scooped-out dish on a split log table. What we had to eat was dumped in -dat trough and us ate it like slop. But it sho' taste good when you been -huntin' for eggs or calves or gittin' in chips or breakin' bresh. - -"When I's big 'nough I carries water, sometimes from de spring and -sometimes from de deep well. Dere danger a little child fall in and -drown and massa, he say niggers too valu'ble to risk dem dat way. It was -hard work to tote water for niggers workin', 'cause allus somebody -hollerin' for de water. I had to trot down de slippery bank through de -thorns to de spring or pull de heavy sweep to git it out de well, and -carry two buckets most de time. - -"Us cut two saplin's de right size to fasten together at de end and -stick dem in holes in de wall, to make de bed. Us use lace cowhide -strings or any kind rope across de poles to hold de bed up. Den put hay -or corn shucks and a little cotton in de ticks. - -"Us eat bacon and cornbread and greens, but de white folks had more'n -better. Dey didn't have to eat string victuals like us; us have to eat -something to stick to de ribs. Right 'bout de time dis state come to be -de United States, and de Mexicans raisin' de old billy, us cook most -usual on de fireplace and have ovens by de side to make bread, and -cranes for de pots. - -"Us slaves used pine torches and sometimes a little bit of candle. De -women make all de candles demselves for de white folks. Us didn't need -much light at night, 'cause us tired after de long day, workin' from can -see to can't see, and us git in de bed early. - -"I wore shirt tail till I's fourteen, den de homespun britches and -shirt. My weddin' suit was de dark jeans and I was fix up fine as any -nigger on de plantation. She wore white and massa fix supper and git de -fiddler and all sich. - -"Massa have John to oversee, and he sho' de stepper. He be every place -you didn't think he gwine come. He have de big, boom voice and allus -slingin', and wail, 'Look along, black man, look along, dere trouble -comin' sho'.' Iffen de black boy or woman lyin' in de corn row, dey git -up quick and be mighty bust right soon, 'cause dat black snake whip -reach for dem. Dey scramble deyself together and be de busiest in de -bunch by time John git dere. - - -[Illustration: _Yach Stringfellow_] - - -"In de long winter days de men sat round de fire and whittle wood and -make butter paddles and troughs for de pigs and sich, and ax handles and -hoe handles and box traps and figure-four traps. Dey make combs to git -de wool clean for de spinnin'. Us take de long strip of leather and put -wire in it and bend dem so dey stay, den cut dem comb-like teef and dere -you are. - -"Come Christmas us slaves have de big dinner and eat all day and dance -till nex' mornin'. Some de niggers from near plantations git dey passes -and come jine us. Course dey a drap egg nog round and candy for de -chillen. De white folks have dey big carriage full of visitors and big -goin's on dey come to from miles round. Us didn't have no money, but -didn't have no place to go to spend it, neither. - -"At night, us sat round de fire sometimes and de women sew and knit and -de men whittle and told things. Dey talk 'bout charms and sich. You -gwine have lots of luck iffen you cotch de rabbit in de graveyard on de -dark of de moon and cut off he hind leg and wear it. Iffen you chews de -piece of shoe-string root, jus' you ask anybody a favor and you sho' -gwine git it." - - - - -Bert Strong - - -*Bert Strong was born in 1864, a slave of Dave Cavin. He and his mother -remained in the service of the Cavin family for ten years after they -were freed. Bert has farmed in Harrison County all his life and now -lives alone on Long's Camp Road, twelve miles northeast of Marshall. He -is supported by a $15.00 per month pension.* - -"I been livin' here all my life. I was birthed a year and more 'fore the -war stopped and 'longed to old Dave Cavin. All my folks 'longed to him -over in Montgomery, in Alabama. Massa Dave buyed my mammy's papa off a -'baccy farm in Richmond, in Virginny. I heared Massa Dave say he done -come to Texas 'cause he heared in Alabama this was a rich country--hawgs -walkin' round with a knife in they back and you could shake money off -the trees. His folks and 'bout thirty slaves cone to Texas in wagons. -They was on the road three months. - -"I heared my grand-people tell 'bout holpin' run the Indians out of -Texas. Big Lake, on Caddo Lake, was jus' a small kind of stream them -days. My grandpa was name Gloster and he died at a hunerd five years. - -"Massa Cavin had 'bout four hunerd acres and builded us all good -quarters with chimnies and fireplaces, and good beds and plenty food. -I's too little to know all this 'fore the war, but my folks stayed with -massa ten years after freedom and things was jus' the same as in slave -times, only they got a little money, so I can 'member. - -"My grandma was cook and there was plenty wild game, turkey and deer and -pigeon and rabbits and squirrels. I 'member once they's grumblin' 'bout -what they have to eat and old massa comes to the quarters and say, 'What -you fussin' 'bout? They's a gallon good potlicker in the pot." I's raise -on greens and pork and potlicker and 'taters and ash-cake. Dat am good -food, too. I ain't never hope to see no better food dan dat. - -"Massa give he slaves two sets clothes a year and one pair 'bachelor' -brogan shoes with brass toes. The white folks larnt us Negroes to read -and write, at night and on Sunday, and we could go to church. We had our -own preacher, and massa let us have fun'rals when a slave died. They -wasn't no undertakers then. They jus' made the coffin and planed the -boards and lined it with black cloth. The white folks and the cullud -folks, too, was put 'way nice on our place. - -"They was a overseer a while, but massa fires him for cuttin' and -slashin' he niggers. He made my uncle Freeman overlooker. We is heared -slaves on farms close by hollerin' when they git beat. Some the -neighbors works they hands till ten at night and weighed the last -weighin' by candles. If the day's pickin' wasn't good 'nough, they beat -them till it a pity. - -"Christmas was the big time. Massa kilt the hawg or beef and sometimes a -mutton, and give the slaves the big dinner. Us all hang the stockin' up -on massa's gallery and it was a run to see what we'd git. He give the -chillen toys and apples and the big folks somethin' to wear. He'd 'low -the chillen to have candy pullin' Saturday nights and the growed folks -parties. My cousin, Tom, was songster and call the plays at all the -dances, and they turned 'cordin' to what he'd sing. - -"When young massa went to war they calls all the slaves to tell him -good-bye. They blowed the horn. He come home two times on a furlough and -says, 'I's smellin' and seein' the Devil.' Then the nex' time he come -home he say, 'Las' time I tells you 'bout smellin' the Devil. I's -smellin' and seein' Hell now.' When the war am over, he come home and -say to old massa, 'Ain't you read the 'lamation to you niggers yet?' -Massa say he hasn't, and young massa blowed the horn and calls us all up -and tells us we's free as he is and could work for who we please, but he -like us to stay till the crop am out. He say he'd hire us and make a -contrac'. Me and my mammy stays ten years, 'cause they so good it ain't -no use to leave. One of the young massas am livin' here now, Mr. Tom, -and I goes to see him. - - -[Illustration: _Bert Strong_] - - -"I stays with mammy till I marries and then farms for myself. That all I -ever done and I'd be doin' it now if I was able. I raises two boys but -they am both dead now. - -"I votes once in the county 'lection and once in the president 'lection. -I think any man should vote, but it ain't 'tended for women to vote. - -"Mos' the young niggers am gwine to Hell. They don't 'preciate things. -They has lots more'n we ever did. They can go to school and all, but -they don't 'preciate it." - - - - -Emma Taylor - - -*Emma Taylor, 89, was born a slave of the Greer family, in Mississippi. -She and her mother were sold to a Texas man, whose name Emma has -forgotten. Emma lives with one of her children, in Tyler, Texas.* - -"My maw and paw lived in Mississippi, and belonged to Marse Greer. Dat -dere name, too. All the slaves tooken dere master's name, 'cause dey -hadn't no use for a name, nohow. - -"De first thing I 'members is followin' my maw in the cotton patch. She -allus went ahead, pickin' cotton, and made a clean place with her sack -draggin' on the ground. But de first work I ever done was feed de -chickens and geese and shell corn to feed dem. - -"Us nigger chillen couldn't play with de white chillen. De worstest -whippin' I ever got was fer playin' with a doll what belonged to one -marse's chillen. I 'members it yet and I ain't never seed a doll purty -as dat doll was to me. It was make out a corncob with arms and legs what -moved and a real head, with eyes and hair and mouth painted on. It had a -dress out of silk cloth, jist like one my missus weared when she went to -meetin'. Dat li'l gal done leave de doll under de tree, but missus found -me playin' with it and whipped me hard. - -"We lived in a cabin in de back field 'hind de big house, one room and a -shed room, where maw done all de cookin' for de whole family. I had -three brothers and three sisters, all dead, I supposes. Dey all older'n -what I was. We cooked on a fireplace, and a big pot hanged on poles over -de fire and de bread cook on dat fire in a skillet what was made of two -pieces of iron, turn up all round. We puts de dough in one and turns de -other one over it, den buries it in de coals a few minutes till it brown -on de top and bottom. It was good, jist as good as nowadays, baked in a -oven. Our beds was made out of straw and old rags, but we kept warm -sleepin' a whole lot in one bed in winter, but we slept outside in -summer. - -"I was sold one time. Marse, he gittin' old and 'cide he didn't need so -many slaves, so he have de sale and a man come and put us all up on a -big platform. We pulls off nearly all our clothes, so as to show how big -we was, and he 'gins hollerin' 'bout who gwineter buy, who gwineter buy. -I was scart and thunk I has to leave maw, so I 'gins hollerin' jist as -loud as he does. He turn 'round and say, 'Shut up, you li'l coon, you. I -can't hear nothin'.' I hides my face in maw's apron and didn't know no -more till we's all loaded in a wagon and starts to de new home. We gits -dere and is give new clothes and shoes, de first ones I ever had on and -it taken me a long time to larn to wear dem things on my feet. - -"Us niggers has to git up at four in de mornin', and work, work till us -can't see no more. Den dey work at night. De men chops wood and hauls -poles to build fences and make wood, and de women folks has to spin four -cuts of thread every night and make all de clothes. Some has to card -cotton to make quilts and some weave and knits stockin's. Marse give -each one a chore to do at night and iffen it warn't did when we went to -bed, we's whipped. One time I falls plumb asleep befo' I finishes -shellin' some corn, but I didn't git a bad whippin' dat time. - -"Sometimes de niggers danced and played de fiddle and us chillen played -in de yard. We could stay up all night dem times, but had to work next -day, and hardly ever stayed up all night. Dat durin' harvest or at -Christmas time. - -"All de victuals was issued out by de overseer and he give 'nough for -one week, den iffen us eat it all up too soon, it am jist go without. -Lots of times, I went down to de 'tato patch a long time after everybody -am in bed, and stole 'tatoes, so we wouldn't be hungry next day. I allus -covered de hole up good and never did git cotched. De dogs got after me -one time, but I put pepper in dey eyes and dey stopped. I allus carried -pepper with me. - - -[Illustration: _Emma Taylor_] - - -"I marries when I's fifteen, not so long befo' I'm free. Nigger men -didn't git no license to marry dey gals den. Dey jist picked her out and -asked marse, and iffen he 'grees, dey's married. But iffen he don't want -it, dat man has to find heself 'nother gal. De men what lived on 'nother -plantation couldn't see dere wives but onct every two weeks. Marse buyed -my husban', Rube Taylor, and he come to live with me. - -"One day marse say we's all free and we has a big celebration, eatin' -and dancin'. But we near all stayed on his place for a long time after -day. He paid us thirty-five cents de day and let us live in de same old -houses. - -"After we done left him, we jist drifts 'round, workin' for white folks, -till we manages to git a farm. Rube done died a long time back, and I -lives with my baby child." - - - - -Mollie Taylor - - -*Mollie Taylor, 84, was born a slave to John Wilson, at Campbell, Texas. -After she was freed, Mollie moved with her family to an adjoining farm -which they worked on shares. Mollie now lives at 522 Seaton St., Fort -Worth, Texas.* - -"Now den, I's no record of when I's born and just what de white folks -tells me is all I knows. I'll be 84 this coming October, but just what -day I don't know. I's born on Massa John Wilson's farm at Campbell, -Texas and him owned my father and mother and 'bout 20 more slaves. Dere -was 'bout four or five chillen in we'uns family. My father died and I -don't 'member much 'bout him, but his name was Anson Wilson and my -mother name was Hattie Wilson. We'uns gits de name from de massa. - -"Us slaves lived in log houses back of massa's house, and they was two -and three-room houses with dirt floors and de rock fireplace and just -holes for windows. De flies come in de door and go out de window, but -most of 'em stayed in de house. Dere was no furniture like am today. No, -suh, it was homemake stuff. De bunks was built 'gainst de wall and full -of straw or hay and de tables was made of split logs. Dere was de cook -room and de eatin' room where all de slaves meals cooked and they ate, -'tween de slaves quarters and de massa's house. - -"Massa Wilson, him feed us purty good, with de cornmeal and 'lasses and -plenty coffee and milk. We has white flour once a week and massa git de -sugar by de barrel. De slaves could have dere own gardens and dey raised -most dere vegetables. All de chillen ate out of de wooden trough with -wooden spoons. It was a sight to watch them, day just like de bunch of -pigs. - -"De overseer, him ring de bell 'bout half past four in de mornin' and -everybody what work go to de fields. De massa purty reason'ble with de -work and didn't whip much. On Sundays de old slaves goes to de church -and de chillen plays. - -"When war come dere lots of soldiers allus ridin' by de place, all deck -out in de uniform with big, shiny buttons on de coat. When us chillen -seed dem we took to de woods. - -"After freedom we'uns moves to de next farm and works and I stays dere -with my family till I's 'bout 25 year old, and den I marries Tom Gould -and move to McLennan County. But he so mean I didn't stay with him very -long, and 'bout six months of his foolishness and I ups and leaves him. -After two years I marries George Taylor and I lives with dat man for 12 -years and took 'nough of his foolishness, so I leaves him. I's had four -chillen but Tom Gould nor George Taylor wasn't de father of any of 'em. -No, suh, I just found dem chillen." - - - - -Jake Terriell - - -*Jake Terriell, born a slave of Felix Terriell in Raleigh, South -Carolina, does not know his age. He was grown and married at the close -of the Civil War, so is probably in the 90's. He lives in Madisonville, -Texas.* - -"Pappy and mammy was called Tom and Jane and they's cotched in Africy -and brung to America and sold. My brother was called James and my -sisters Lucindy and Sally. Massa Felix Terriell owned me and pappy and -mammy but when I's still a chile he done give me to he son, Massa Dalton -Terriell. - -"My papy was de wild man and he so wild Massa Felix have to keep him -locked up at night and in de chains by day to keep him from runnin' off. -He had to wear de chains in de field and den he couldn't run fast. - -"Massa Dalton growed de tobaccy. He was a good massa and give me de -nickel and de dime sometime and I'd buy candy. He have lots of slaves -and de cook fix our grub in big old skillets. We allus have de cornbread -and de syrup and some meat. I likes possum cooked with sweet 'taters. - -"Missy Mary try larn me read and write but I never did care for de book -larnin'. Massa wake us 'bout four o'clock with de great iron and hammer -and us work long as us could see. - -"Massa didn't have to whip us but I seed pappy whip, with de rawhide -with nine tails. He got thirty-nine licks and every lick, it brung de -blood. - -"I seed slaves sold and you has heared cattle bawl when de calves took -from de mammy and dat de way de slaves bawls. When massa sell de slave -he make 'em wash up and grease de face good and stand up straight and he -fatten 'em jus' like you do hawgs to sell. I had de good massa. He was -good to black debbils, what he call us niggers. Us could rest when us -git to de quarters or go by de big tank and take de bath, and every -Saturday night us git de holiday and have banjo and tin pan beatin' and -dance. On Christmas massa kilt de big hawg and us fix it jus' like us -wants and have big dinner. - -"Massa have doctor when us sick. He say us too val'ble. If us sold us -brung 'bout $1,000. Old mammy could fix de charm and git us well. She -gather bark and make de tea. Most us sickness chill and fever. Sometime -a slave git leg broke and massa say he no more 'count and finish him up -with de club. - -"Massa nearly kilt in de fightin' and he had he doctor write missy to -set us free. I had two wives and missy said I couldn't keep but one, so -I takes Mary and us starts out for Texas, a-foot. Us most starved to -death 'fore us got here and then us have hard time. But dere plenty wild -meat and dat what us lived on three, four year. Us had two chillen and -den she dies and I marry a half-Indian gal and she died. Us jus' 'greed -to live together in dem days, no weddin'. Then I marries Lucie Grant and -us have 11 chillen and de preacher calls us man and wife. I's pappy to -17 chillen and I don't know how many grandchillen. Lucie say more'n a -hun'erd." - - - - -J.W. Terrill - - -*J.W. Terrill was born in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, and is about 100 -years old. His master was his father. He now lives in Madisonville, -Texas.* - -"My father took me away from my mother when at age of six weeks old and -gave me to my grandmother, who was real old at the time. Jus' befo' she -died she gave me back to my father, who was my mammy's master. He was a -old batchelor and run saloon and he was white, but my mammy was a Negro. -He was mean to me. - -"Finally my father let his sister take me and raise me with her chillen. -She was good to me, but befo' he let her have me he willed I must wear a -bell till I was 21 year old, strapped 'round my shoulders with the bell -'bout three feet from my head in steel frame. That was for punishment -for bein' born into the world a son of a white man and my mammy, a Negro -slave. I wears this frame with the bell where I couldn't reach the -clapper, day and night. I never knowed what it was to lay down in bed -and get a good night's sleep till I was 'bout 17 year old, when my -father died and my missy took the bell offen me. - -"Befo' my father gave me to his sister, I was tied and strapped to a -tree and whipped like a beast by my father, till I was unconscious, and -then left strapped to a tree all night in cold and rainy weather. My -father was very mean. He and he sister brung me to Texas, to North -Zulch, when I 'bout 12 year old. He brung my mammy, too, and made her -come and be his mistress one night every week. He would have kilt every -one of his slaves rather than see us go free, 'specially me and my -mammy. - -"My missy was purty good to me, when my father wasn't right 'round. But -he wouldn't let her give me anything to eat but cornbread and water and -little sweat 'taters, and jus' 'nough of that to keep me alive. I was -allus hongry. My mammy had a boy called Frank Adds and a girl called -Marie Adds, what she give birth to by her cullud husban', but I never -got to play with them. Missy worked me on the farm and there was 'bout -100 acres and fifteen slaves to work 'em. The overseer waked us 'bout -three in the mornin' and then he worked us jus' long as we could see. If -we didn't git 'round fast 'nough, he chain us to a tree at night with -nothin' to eat, and nex' day. if we didn't go on the run he hit us 39 -licks with a belt what was 'bout three foot long and four inches wide. - -"I wore the bell night and day, and my father would chain me to a tree -till I nearly died from the cold and bein' so hongry. My father didn't -'lieve in church and my missy 'lieved there a Lord, but I wouldn't have -'lieved her if she try larn me 'bout 'ligion, 'cause my father tell me I -wasn't any more than a damn mule. I slep' on a chair and tried to res' -till my father died, and then I sang all day, 'cause I knowed I wouldn't -be treated so mean. When missy took that bell offen me I thinks I in -Heaven 'cause I could lie down and go to sleep. When I did I couldn't -wake up for a long time and when I did wake up I'd be scairt to death -I'd see my father with his whip and that old bell. I'd jump out of bed -and run till I give out, for fear he'd come back and git me. - -"I was 'bout 17 year old then and I so happy not to have that bell on -me. Missy make us work hard but she have plenty to eat and I could -sleep. On Christmas she cook us a real dinner of beef meat. - -"Plenty time I listens to the cannon popping till I mos' deaf, and I was -messenger boy and spy on the blue bellies. When I'd git back to the -Southern sojers I he'ped 'em bury they dead and some what was jus' -wounded I he'ped carry home. - -"When we heered was was over and we's free, we all jus' jumped up and -hollers and dances. Missy, she cries and cries, and tells us we is free -and she hopes we starve to death and she'd be glad, 'cause it ruin her -to lose us. They was a big bunch of us niggers in town and we stirrin' -'round like bees workin' in and out a hive. We was jus' that way. I went -wild and the first year I went north, but I come back 'gain to Texas. - -"After 'while I marries a Indian maid. It was nothin' much but Indians -'round and there wasn't much law. I lived with her 'bout two year and -then the Indians come and captured her jus' befo' she was to give birth. -They kilt her or carried her 'way and lef' me for dead, and I never seed -or heered of her since. While I was sick a outlaw, what was Tomas -Jafferies, he'ped me git well and then I turns outlaw and follows all -signs of Indians, all over the earth. But I never could git word of my -wife. - -"It mus' be 'bout 15 year after that, I marries Feline Ford, by a -preacher. My first weddin' was common weddin' with the Indian maid. I -jus' give her deerskin in front of Tomas Jefferies and she my wife." - - - - -Allen Thomas - - -*Allen Thomas, 97, was owned by several ranchers of Jefferson and Orange -Counties, Texas, but recalls Moise Broussard of Hamshire the best. Ill -health has affected his memory and his story is not coherent. He is a -familiar figure on the streets of Beaumont, Texas, a small man clad in -none too clean and somewhat ragged clothes, with a tow sack across his -shoulders, into which he puts such things as he finds in his wanderings -about the city. Rumor has it that Allen is fairly well to do and that -his begging attitude is assumed, for reasons of his own.* - -"I figgers I's gwine be 97 year old on de fourth of August, I's borned -over in Duncan Woods, over in Orange County. My daddy's name was Lockin -Thomas. I never see my daddy. He git drown in de river here at Beaumont. -My mammy's Hetty Anderson. - -"I 'longed to three masters. One John Adam and he was mean. One Stowers, -and he was mean but not so mean to me. Den dere Moise Broussard, he was -purty mean, but he never beat me. De las' man what finish raise me was -Amos Harrison and he purty good man. He wife name Mag and dey lives on -Turtle Bayou over in Chambers County. He buy me from Lewis Pinder. He -was good. My brudder was Kelly Idonia and I had a sister Lessie -Williams. Dey beat her with clubs. I's walk over many a dead person. Dey -beat 'em to death. - -"Us had tins dishes dem times, master and slaves, too. Dey have wooden -paddles what us take de food out de dishes with. De white folks sot at -one table and de cullud folks have table to deyself, but 'bout what de -white folks has. - -"Us have watermilion and sugar cane and milk and butter. Den us have de -possum. Us clean him and put him top de house and 'low de frost fall on -him. Den us fill him full salt and pepper and put him in de oven. -Sometime put sweet 'taters all 'round him. Us have de long, square oven -with de lid on it. - -"Us wore knitted shirt make on dem looms and dey gives us boots with -brass toes on 'em. Me and mammy work on de spinnin' wheel many a night -up to one or two o'clock. I used to card de bats. - - -[Illustration: _Allen Thomas_] - - -"Dere plenty hawgs and hosses and dem cattle what am longhorn. Us have -plenty meat and raise veg'tables, too. - -"I never seed no sojers but I heared de cannons. I disremember when -peace am corral'. I come up here to Beaumont when I thank I's a man and -I's been here every Gawd's since. - -"I see some sperrits, but I see 'em only special times. You see 'em -twict a year, 'tween spring and summer and den 'gain 'twixt fall and -winter. Sometime dey comes right 'long and den sometime dey jis' -standin' still. When you looks at 'em dey looks kinder vagueish. I can -allus tell when sperrits 'round. Dey got a queer scent. When you walk -'bout 20 feet, steam gwineter hit you in de face. I can tell dey dere -iffen I can't see 'em. Dey look like men. Dey ain't white but dey got a -pale look." - - - - -Bill and Ellen Thomas - - -*Bill and Ellen Thomas live in the Old Slave Settlement, 3 miles north -of Hondo. Bill is 88 and Ellen is 81. They seem to be happy; their -fields are tilled, a horse and a cow graze near the house; a kitchen -garden is under way and several broods of baby chicks are in the yard. -They were dressed in simple, clean clothes, and Ellen wears a string of -nutmegs around her neck, to 'make yer eyes strong.'* - -Uncle Bill's Story - -"Does you want me to start right at the beginnin'? Well, I'll tell you -jes' how I went to this country. I left Falls County where I belonged to -the man there that kept the post office. He was named Chamlin. He had -lots of land, I reckin about 50 acres. They kep' us in a little house -right in their yard. Reckin how old I was when he bought me? Jus' five -years old! He give $500 for me, but he bought my mother and my sisters, -too. He had to buy me, 'cause my mother, she wouldn't go without me. No, -suh, she tol' 'em she wouldn't go if they didn' buy me, too. An' the man -he bought us f'om, he wanted to keep me, so he wouldn't take less than -$500 for me. Massa Chamblin bought the whole family, 'cept my father. -They sold him and we never laid eyes on him again. - -"My mother cooked. Massa Chamlin, he always fed us plenty, an' whatever -they had, we had. If he cooked sausage, you had it too; if he cooked -ham, you got it too; if he cooked lye hominy, you got it; an' if he had -puddin', you got some. - -"When I was 6 or 7 years old I chopped cotton and I plowed too, and I -could lay as straight rows with oxen as any you ever saw. - -"The massa whipped me with a dogwood switch, but he never did bring no -blood. But it taken 7 men to whip my father. - -"I'll tell you how I got away f'om there. Massa bought cotton and -carried it to Mexico. He taken his 2 boys with him and we had 3 wagons -and I drove one. I had 4 oxen and I had 3 bales of cotton on my wagon; -he had 6 oxen and 6 bales of cotton, and the last wagon, it had 10 bales -on it and 6 oxen. He had to ship it acrost the Rio Grande. If a Mexican -bought it, he come across and took it over hisself. Reckin how much he -got for that cotton? He got 60 a pound. Yes'm, he sho' did. Cotton was -bringin' that then. - -"I was freed over there in Mexico. I was about 14 years old. Massa -Chamlin, he stayed over there till the country was free. He didn't -believe in that fightin'. - -"I cooked in a hotel over there in Mexico. I cooked two years at $1.00 a -day. - -"When Massa owned me, he always give us good clothes. Our pants was made -out of duckin' like wagon sheets, but my mother took some kind of bark -and dyed 'em. I think it was blackjack bark. He give us shoes, too. They -was half-tan leather brogans." - -"I used to play the fiddle for dances when I was young, but not after I -joined the church. I played for the white people. Oh, yes'm, the cullud -folks had dances, they sho' did dance. - -"Yes'm, I saw a ghost onct. One night after I was livin' down here, I -was goin' to Sabinal, me and another man, and a great long thing passed -right in front of us. It was the blackest thing you ever saw. It was -about six feet long. Yes'm, it sho' was a ghost or sumpin; it -disappeared, and me lookin' at it. The other fellow that was with me, he -seen it, too. - -"Yes, they was lots of panthers and bears here. If this ghost was a -bear, he sho' was a big 'un. We had a ghost down here on the creek we -called the 'Ball Water Hole Ghost.' He was seen lots of times. He used -to stay down there, but he ain't been seen lately. My wife, she seen -him." - -Aunt Ellen's Story - -"Yes'm, I seen him walkin' 'long the trail ahead of us. He had on a -black hat, like a tall stovepipe hat, and a long black coat, and when we -got up close he jes' disappeared. He was a big man, and tall, too. We -didn' know which way he went; he jes' seemed to disappear. My oldest -daughter saw him too. Lots of folks did. He was always seen down at that -water hole somewhere. - -"Another time, I was stayin' with Mrs. Reedes. Mr. Reedes was killed and -all night long he'd come back and grind coffee and sprinkle it all over -us. I was so bad scared I nearly died. Next mornin' there'd be coffee -all over the floor. We supposed it was Mr. Reede's ghost. They say if a -person was wicked they come back like that. Onct he pulled Mrs. Reedes -outta bed and pitched her on the floor, and he would take the dishes out -of the shelves and throw 'em down. I couldn't stand it but a night or -two and I said I was goin' home. Yes, ma'am, it sho' was a ghost. He -sho' did tear up that house every night. Why, they'd be a light shine in -that room just as plain as daylight, nearly. They say ghosties will run -you, but I never had any to run me." - -"I was born in Mississippi. We come to Texas and my mother died, so -grandma raised me. I was jes' a baby when we come to Texas. Mr. Harper -owned us. I remember the war, but it's so long ago I don't remember -much. I remember when John Harper read the free paper to us. He had a -big lot of slaves, but - -when he read, the free papers they jes' flew out like birds. But I -didn't. I was stickin' to my grandmother. She was on crutches and she -stayed on at the Harper place. - - -[Illustration: _Bill and Ellen Thomas_] - - -"After we was free I worked for them a long time. I cooked, washed, -ironed, milked the cows. He was pretty good to us, Judge Harper was. I -went along with him when he went to war, his wife and chillun did too, -and I nursed them, I'd give a young baby shuck tea to break him out with -the hives. For chills and fever I give quinine weed. It don't grow here. - -"When Judge Harper went up to Hondo my grandma grabbed me and kept me. -So I stayed and worked. I was still a young girl, but I plowed, hauled -and grubbed. I used to wear 'cotton stripes.' I remember 'em well. It -was a homespun cloth. I know how to spin and weave and I could knit a -pair of socks in two nights. - -"I never did hear much about hard times. I was treated good but I got -switched many a time. Oh, yes'm. I've been whipped, but not like some of -'em was. They used to tie some of 'em down. I've heered tell, they shore -whopped 'em. They used to be a runaway that got away and went to Mexico -now and then, and if they caught him they shore whopped him awful. - -"That old piano in there, my daughter bought a long time ago. The -varnish is off, but a man tol' us it could be sandpapered and refinished -and it would be a beautiful thing. It's about 75 years old." - - - - -Lucy Thomas - - -*Lucy Thomas,86, was born in Harrison Co., Texas, a slave of Dr. William -Baldwin. She stayed with her master until 1868. In 1869 she married -Anthony Thomas. She now lives with her son at Baldwin Switch, sixteen -miles northeast of Marshall, Texas, on part of the land originally owned -by the Baldwins.* - -"My name am Lucy Baldwin Thomas and I's birthed right here in Harrison -County, on the old Baldwin place at Fern Lake. The log cabin where I's -birthed sot in a grove of trees right by the lake. The Baldwin place -jined the Haggerty and Major Andrews places. - -"The best statement I can make of my age am I's 'bout fourteen the last -year of Abe Lincoln's war. It was true, 'cause I starts hoein' in the -field when I's nine years old and I'd been hoein' a long time. - -"They called my papa, Ike. The Baldwins bought him out of Alabama, and -mama's name was Nancy and she's birthed in Virginny, and the Baldwins -bought her out the New Orleans slave market for $1,100.00. I's heared my -gran'ma, Barbara, tell how some Alabama owners drug they niggers with a -mule and laid dem face down in a hole and beat dem till they's raw as -beefsteak. But her folks wasn't like that and the Baldwins wasn't -neither. They was good white folks, and Missy was named May Amelia and -then there was Old Marse Doctor William. He was a doctor but he worked a -hundred acres land and owned 'bout eighty-five niggers, what lived in -log quarters. They had son-of-a-gun beds peg to the walls, and wore -bachelor brogan shoes and blue and stripe lowel clothes made on the -place, and had lots to eat. My mama say she had a lots better time in -slavery than after. - -"All hands was up and in the field by daylight and Marse Baldwin allus -kep' a fifty gallon barrel whiskey on the place and a demijohn on the -front porch all the time for the niggers to git they drink on way to the -field. But nobody ever got drunk. - -"Marse's brother-in-law, Marse Lewis Brantly, was overseer, but never -kicked and beat the niggers. He give us a light breshin' when we needed -it. We would go mos' anywhere but had to git a pass first, and had play -parties on Saturday night. - - -[Illustration: _Lucy Thomas_] - - -"I went to school three months. A Yankee named Old Man Mills run a -school and I quit workin' in the field to go. Them days, the Klu Kluxers -was runnin' round and I seed big bunches of niggers with they heads tied -up, goin' to report the Kluxers to the Progee Marshal. - -"Three years after it was all over, my folks moved to the Haggerty -place. I know lots 'bout old Col. Haggerty's widow. She was an Indian -and her first husband was a big chief of the Caddo Indians on Caddo -Lake. He betrayed the Indians to the white folks and he and her hid on a -cave on the lake, and she slipped out to git food, and the Indians took -him away. They say they scalped him like they done white folks. Then she -married Col. Haggerty and he got kilt on a gamblin' spree and left her a -lot of land and 'bout three hundred slaves. She kept a nigger woman -chained to a loom for a year and when she knew the slaves was gittin' -free, she poisoned a lot of dem and buried dem at night. We'd hear the -other slaves moanin' and cryin' at night for the dead ones. That widow -Haggerty was somthin'! - -"I seed the 'Mattie Stephens' boat the day after it burned and kilt -sixty people. Me and Anthony Thomas went to Marshall and married the day -'fore it burnt. That was on February 12th, in 1869. I lived with him -fifty-five years and raised seven chillen, and after he died I kep' on -farmin' until 'bout three years ago. Then I come to live with one my -son's here and this land we're on right now was part the land old Marse -Baldwin owned. I gits $10.00 a month from the gov'ment. They sho' is -good to me, and my son is good, too, so I's happy in my old age." - - - - -Philles Thomas - - -*Philles Thomas, 77, was born a slave of Dave Miles, who owned a -plantation in Brazoria Co., Texas. Philles does not remember her father, -but was told by her mother that he was sent to the Confederate Army and -was fatally injured at Galveston, Texas. Philles stayed with her family -until she was seventeen, then married William Thomas. They now live at -514 Hayes St., Fort Worth, Tex.* - -"I don't 'member much 'bout de war, 'cause I's jus' a young'un when it -start and too small to have much mem'randum when it stop. I's still on -de place where I's born when surrender come, de Lowoods Place, own by -Massa Dave Miles, 'twixt Brazoria and Columbia. Massa Dave sho' have de -big plantation but I don' know how many slaves. - -"When I's a young'un, us kids didn't run round late. We'uns am put to -bed. When sundown come, my mammy see dat my feets am wash and de gown -put on, and in de bunk I goes. - -"I can't 'member my daddy, but mammy told me him am sent to de 'Federate -Army and am kilt in Galveston. She say dey puttin' up breastworks and de -Yanks am shootin' from de ships. Well, daddy am watchin' de balls comin' -from dem guns, fallin' round dere, and a car come down de track loaded -with rocks and hit him. Dat car kilt him. - -"Mammy marries Bill Bailey after freedom and moves to de Barnum Place, -what Massa John Miles own. I stays with mammy till I's seventeen and -holp dem share crop. Den I leaves. Dat de way with chillen, dey gives -you lots of trouble raisin' dem and den off dey goes. When my chillen am -young'uns dey's on my lap, and when dey's growed up, dey's on my heart. - -"Us have de hard time share croppin'. Times was hard den and de niggers -didn't know much 'bout takin' care demselves. Course, dey better off -free, but dey have to larn. Us work hard and make 'nough to live on de -first year us free. Us raise cotton and veg'tables and when I's not -helpin' mammy I goes out and gits a li'l work here and yonder. - -"I marries in Galveston, to dat old cuss, settin' right dere, William -Thomas am he name and I's stood for him ever since. Him am dock -wallopin' when I's marry to him. Sho', him am a dock walloper. If you -wants to talk big, you calls it stev'dore on de wharf. - -"Dat cullud gen'man of mine allus brung in de bacon. We'uns am never -rich, but allus eats till de last few years. Us goes on de farm and it -hand and mouth livin', but us eats someway. After while, us come to Fort -Worth and he works as mortar man and cement mixer. We'uns live good till -de few years back, when him break down in de back and can't work no -more. - -"It am ten chillun us raise but only five livin' now. One live at Stop -Six, right here in Fort Worth, and de others am all over de world. Us -don't know where dey am. Since Bill can't work no more, us git de -pension from de State and dat $26.00 de month for de two of us. - -"Does I ever vote? Christ for 'mighty! No. Why yous talk dat -foolishment. Why for dis igno'mous old woman want to vote? No, sar, and -no tother womens ought to vote. Dat am for de mens to do. My Bill votes -couple times, when us in Galveston, and I tells you 'bout dat. - -"Dey gives de eddication with a couple cups whiskey and de cheroot. When -de whiskey and de cheroot works on Bill's brain, dere am den de smart -nigger, and he votes 'telligent. I asks him what he votes for and him -say, 'I's vote for what am on de ticket.' 'What am on de ticket,' I -says. 'How does I know, I can't read.' Den I says, 'Better yous not -vote, 'cause maybe yous vote to put youself in de jailhouse.' So I guess -him think 'bout dat and him see what foolishment and troublement him -maybe git into, and him quit votin'. We'uns am lucky with de trouble. -Guess it 'cause we'uns knows how to 'have. When I's young my mammy larn -me how to 'have and where I 'long, so de patterrollers and de Ku Klux -never bother we'uns. Now, we'uns so old us can't git round, so us double -safe now. - - -[Illustration: _Philles Thomas_] - - -"Gosh for 'mighty! What yous want next? Now it for me to sing. Well, -yous can't put de bluff on dis old nigger, so here it am: - - "'Put on my long white robe, - Put on de golden crown, - Put on de golden slipper, - And forever be Jesus' lamb.' - -"But I likes 'nother song better, like dis: - - "'Herodias go down to de river one day, - Want to know what John Baptist have to say, - John spoke de words at risk of he life, - Not lawful to marry yous brudder's wife.' - -"Not dat am 'nough. If I's here much longer, yous have dis old woman -dancin'." - - - - -William M. Thomas - - -*William M. Thomas, 87, now residing at 514 Hayes St., Fort Worth, -Texas, was born a slave of Dr. Frank Thomas, in Lauderdale County, Miss. -William's father was sold when William was a baby and his mother mated -with another slave. It was seven years after they were freed that the -family left their master and moved onto a tract of land. William stayed -with them until he was twenty-four, then worked twelve years in -Galveston, as a stevedore. He farmed until 1910, then worked as a mortar -man at the Purina Mills in Fort Worth until 1931. He and his wife -receive a $13.00 monthly pension.* - -"I knows 'zactly how old I is. Massa done give my mammy de statement. He -do dat for all he niggers when dey freed. I's borned May 17th, in 1850, -and dat make me eighty-eight next May. Dat's on Massa Doctor Frank -Thomas's plantation, over near Meridian, in Mississippi. Dere forty-four -slave families on he place and he own 'bout seven hunerd acres land, so -him have plenty pasture, wood and field land. De money crop was cotton, -of course. - -"My mammy and sis was in de place and my step-pa. My pappy am sold and -took to Texas when I's so li'l I don't 'member him. After dat, mammy -done took another man. - -"All de slaves live in quarters 'cept de house servants, and dey live in -servants' quarters, and dere's where I's de lucky nigger. My mammy am -cook for massa and I's round de kitchen what 'twas plenty of good eats. -And I plays with massa's two boys, 'twas Frank and Lawrence. - -"I's so li'l 'fore surrender I never really works, 'cept to be de errand -boy. I fetches eggs and sich. Massa have lots of chickens and us fetch -in high as a thousand eggs in one day sometimes. Us have eggs to eat, -too. Massa Thamas am awful good and dere am never de holler 'bout -feedin'. I bet none dem niggers done live so good after dey free. - -"Us have all de meat us want, mostest pork and beef and mutton. Dey -kills five hunderd hawgs when killin' time came, and make hams and bacon -and sausages. If yous ever ate sich ham and bacon what am made by -massa's butcher right dere on de place, you say dere never am sich. Dat -sausage, it make de mouf water to think 'bout it. 'Sides de meat, us -have cornbread and 'lasses and de rations ain't measure out, 'cept de -white flour on Sunday mornin'. All week de meals am cook in dat kitchen -and serve in de big shed, but each family cook for deyself on Sunday. - -"Us go to church if us want, 'bout four miles off. Massa give anybody de -pass to go dere. Dere am no parties and sich, but old Jack saw on de -fiddle and us sing. - -"Massa didn't whip, only once. Dat 'cause a nigger steal he fav'rite -pumpkin. He am savin' dat for to git de seed and it am big as de ten -gallon jug. De corn field am full of pumpkins, but dat nigger done took -massa's choice one. Dat pumpkin am so big, he have to tussle with it -'fore he git it to he cabin. It like stealin' a elephant, you can't hide -it in de watch pocket. Course, lots of niggers seed dat cullud gen'man -with dat pumpkin, and 'fore long massa knew it. - -"Well, sar, it am de funny sight to see him punish dat nigger. First, -massa set him down on de ground front de quarters, where us all see him. -Den he make dat nigger set down and give him de big bowl pumpkin sauce -and make him eat it. Him eat and eat and git so full him can't hardly -swallow and massa say, 'Eat some more, it am awful good.' Dat nigger -try, but him can't eat no more. Massa give him de light breshin' and it -am funny to see, dat cullud gen'man with pumpkin smear on he face and -tears runnin' down he face. After dat, us chillen call him Massa Pumpkin -and massa never have no more trouble with stealin' he seed pumpkins. - -"When war starts I's 'bout fifteen year old. 'Bout half mile from de -plantation am de crossroads and one go to New Orleans and one go to -Vicksburg. Dere am a 'Federate camp dere at de start, but after 'while -dey goes and de Yanks comes. Dere a battle near, and us hear de shootin' -but us have to stay on de place. - -"I done slip off and see de camp, though. De Yanks puts up two big tents -and use dem for de hospital and de wounded am fetch dere. What I sees -and hears dere, I never forgits, and it done turn dis nigger 'gainst -war. Why can't dey settle dey 'sputes without killin'? Dey's moanin' and -cryin' and screamin' in dem tents. - -"One day de Yanks come clean de crib of all de corn and de meat house of -all de meat. Massa am smart and fix it so dey don't find all de rations. -Him dig a big ditch in de woods and hide lots of rations. - -"Us didn't know when freedom came. It a long time after dat de Yanks -come tell us, and it de same way on all de plantations round dere. De -Yanks come and make massa pay us all fifty cents de day. After dat massa -puts dem what wants to go on pieces of land and dey ain't charge for it -till seven year after. Den dey has to pay rent and part de crop, and for -de mules and tools all de time. - -"I stays with my folks till I's twenty-four year old and den I's on my -way to Galveston and gits work as de stevedore. Dat am on de wharf and I -works dere twelve year. I votes dere two times. Some white folks done -come to us, and de boss, too, and gives us de ticket. It am all mark up. -Boss say us don't have to work de next day, and us to report at a place. -When us comes dere, 'twas a table with meat and bread and stuff for to -eat, and whiskey and cigars. Dey give us something to eat and a cup or -two of dat whiskey and puts de cigar in de mouth. Us am 'portant -niggers, ready to vote. With dat cup of whiskey in de stomack and dat -cigar in de mouth and de hat cock on side de head, us march to de votin' -place and does our duty. Fix up de way us was, us would vote to put us -back in slavery. And de nigger what didn't vote, after all dat, him am -in for de fixin'. I means he gits fixed. Dey pounds he head till him -won't forgit to do it right next time. - -"But I gits to thinkin' how massa say when us leave him, 'Don't let no -white folks use you for to make trouble.' I figgers dat what am -happenin' with dat votin' business, and I quits votin' and goes to -farmin'. I 'lieve de cullud folks should vote, but not de igno'mous -niggers like us was den. - - -[Illustration: _William M. Thomas_] - - -I farms till 1910 and den comes to Fort Worth, and dey am buildin' de -Purina Mills Elevators on East 4th Street and I works dere at mortar -work. Den I works at cement on lots de big buildin's in dis city, till -'bout ten year ago, when it git too hard for me. I has de back misery. - -"I gits married to Phillis Wilson when I's twenty-nine, in Galveston, -and us don't allushave lots, but us gits by and raises de family. Now us -have to live on de pension from de State, what am $13.00, and sometimes -us am awful short, tryin' to pay de rent and buy de rations and what -clothes us needs, but us am glad to git it. Ten chillen am what us -raises and five am dead and four am scattered and us don't know where, -and one live here. - -""Ain't it diff'rent how peoples lives? Us used to travel with de ox and -now dey flies in de sky. Folks sings in New York and us sets right here -and hears dem. Shucks! De way things am gwine, I's all fussed up and -can't understand whether I's gwine or comin'." - - - - -Mary Thompson - - -*Mary Thompson was born a slave 87 years ago, in Denton, Miringo County, -Alabama. Her mother, Viney Askew, and father, Wesley Jones, belonged to -Green Askew, a Georgian. She was 15 when she was freed. Mary now lives -at 1104 East Avenue, Austin, Tex.* - -"I was bo'n in Alabama and my mother was Viney Askew. She belonged to -Marster Green Askew. My father was Wesley Jones, 'cause he took his -marster's name. - -"My mother was a good cook and she cooked for de marster. She had a -great big stove and she made salt-risin' bread, too. We and all de -slaves lived in cabins near de big house and some of de slaves would -have chillen by de marster. - -"When we come home from de fields at night, de women cooked de food and -den dey was so tired dey jus' went to bed. We didn' have fun in de -evenin's, but on Christmas mornin' de marster give us eggnog and sich. -Den we'd sing but I don' 'member de songs now. - -"De crops in Alabama would be cleared by July 4 and den we'd have -sev'ral days off, all de slaves. Dey'd give us pits of barbecue and pies -and cakes to eat. - -"When we was sick de marster would sen' for de doctor and we made teas -outta herbs and sich. Alabama was full of chills and fevers in dem days -and we drunk catnip tea for fevers and blue and white sage. Calamus -root, looks like an onion, was good for de chillens' colic. - -"My mistress' niece had a big plantation and she had a place whar she -had de slaves whopped. She had a reg'lar whoppin' post. My marster jes' -had a large cowhide whoop. Yes, I got a whoppin' more'n once. Sev'ral -times marster took hold my ears and bumped my head 'gainst de wall. But -gen'rally dey was good to me. - -"We wasn't 'lowed no whiskey, 'less we was sick. De poor white folks was -good to us, better'n rich folks. Dey'd give us a quarter now'n den. - -"I can 'member how de slaves was fattened like hawgs and den marched to -town and 'round and auctioned off like cattle. Some of 'em had done -somethin' mean and was sold off. Some of 'em brought more'n a thousand -dollars down in New Orleans. - -"I knows of one slave who liked to run 'round at night. She was nuss to -marster's girl and she give it morphine to put it to sleep. She give de -baby girl so much morphine dat her body was full of it and she died. De -cullud folks got to talkin' too much and de baby was dug up and -'xamined. De slave nuss was put in jail and kep' there a long time and -den she was sold. - -"Heap of de slaves would run away and go up north. Dey would try to find -'em by sendin' nigger houn's after 'em. Once de houn's caught a slave -and he kep' sayin', 'O, Lawd ... O, Lawd!' - - -[Illustration: _Mary Thompson_] - - -"After de war, when we was free, de slaves would go here and there and a -lot of 'em died. Dey'd git de black measles, go out in de woods and die. -Dey didn' know how to take care of demselves. - -"I stayed at marster's house eight months, den hired out at ten dollars -a month. Dat was de fus' money I ever made and I didn' want to go to -school, 'cause I wanted to make dat money. Dat looked like big money to -me. I was proud to have it, 'cause I could git what I wanted. I cain't -read or write to this day. - -"I was married to General Thompson, and he'd been a slave too, in -Alabama. Yes, General was his given name. I was 16 years old when I -married and a white preacher married us durin' a 4th of July -celebration. Yes, we had a big time and a good time. - -"We come to Texas later and my husban' farmed on the Brazos. We had -eight chillen, and two of 'em is livin.' My husban' died and I buried -him, den I took up with a Horace Foster, and he was nothin' but a -gambler. I lived with him 'bout 8 years, but he never would marry me, so -I lef' him." - - - - -Penny Thompson - - -*Penny Thompson, 86, now living at 1100 E. 12th St., Fort Worth, Texas, -was born a slave to Calvin Ingram, in Coosa Co., Alabama. In 1867 Penny -was brought to Tyler, Texas, and several years later she married Ike -Thompson and moved to Fort Worth.* - -"Do I 'member slavery days? Yes, suh! How could I forgit dem? For an old -person I has good 'collection. I's 10 year old when de war start and my -massa am Calvin Ingram. My mammy and pappy was a weddin' present to -Massa Ingram from his pappy. Mammy give birth to 15 chilluns, but I -never saw any of my brothers and sisters, 'cause they all born on Massa -Ingram's pappy's plantation 'fore he give my mammy to Massa Ingram. - -"De plantation dat Massa Ingram have was 200 acres or mo'. Him own 'bout -20 grown-up slaves, and on dat place dey raises 'bout everything we eats -and wears, includin' de vinegar and de peach brandy. Everybody am -'signed to dey duties and my mammy am chief cook for de big house. I -he'ps her and feeds chickens, gits eggs and totes water. - -"De treatmen' couldn't be better. Massa am de bestes' and de kindes' -fellow dat ever live. He am in Heaven, for sho', but de missy mus' be in -Hell, for she sho' was a debbil. Massa have de fight with her lots of -times 'bout de treatment of us, but he wouldn't let her 'buse us. - -"We'uns was never hongry for food, 'cause we have lots of meat, chickens -and eggs and cornmeal and 'lasses and honey. De hams is smoked on de -place and dey am de hams, white man, dey am de hams! Den massa have a -big cellar jus' full of everything and I never forgit de big, brass key -what lock dat cellar. Dere was de jams and de jellies and de preserves, -and de massa give us somethin' of all of dat. Him makes de gran' peach -brandy and every mornin' we could have two fingers in de glass. 'Twas de -same at night. Dere was somethin' else was reg'lar every mornin' and -night and dat am de prayer. He calls all us together and says de -prayers. I often thinks of dat brandy and de prayers, two times every -day. - -"As for de whuppin,' dere wasn't any on massa's place. Him have only one -nigger what am unruly and dat am Bill McClure, and a bigger thief never -lived. - -"On de nex' plantation dey gives de whuppin' and we hears dem niggers -beller. On dat plantation dey trades and sells de niggers all de time -and de speculation wagon comes by often. Sometime it am awful to see de -babies sold from de mothers and de wife from de husban'. Sich bemoanin' -at some of dem sales, yous jus' can't 'magine. - -"But on massa's place we has no tradin' of slaves and we'uns have pass -for go to church and parties and de dance. When de night for de party -come on our place, de yard am cleaned off and we makes sandwiches. One -time massa come to me and say, 'Jus' wait a minute, I nearly forgits de -mos' 'portant part,' and he give me a new pink dress. I's so happy I -cries for joy, and everybody says I looks like de Queen of Sheba. - -"De other big time am de corn huskin' bee. Once a year all de neighbors -comes fust to one place den to de other. At de huskin's, dey gives de -prize when you finds a red ear. De prize am two fingers of dat peach -brandy. When dey gits de fus' one dey works a little harder, de second -still faster, and de third, Lawd-a-massy, how dem husks do fly! Dey -don't git drunk, 'cause you am lucky to find as much as three red ears -at one huskin'. - -"We has de weddin's too, but no preacher or cer'mony. When a man sees a -girl him likes and de girl am willin', dey says dey wants a weddin'. De -womens cooks extra and dey gits de cedar boughs and wets dem and -sprinkles flour on dem and puts dem on de table. We sits at de table and -eats and sings 'ligious songs and after supper dey puts de broom on de -floor an de couple takes de hands and steps over de broom, and den dey -am put to bed. - - -[Illustration: _Penny Thompson_] - - -"We was never bother with de patter rollers, but I 'members a song 'bout -dem, like dis: - - "'Up de hill and down de hollow - Patter rollers cotched nigger by de collar; - Dat nigger run, dat nigger flew, - Dat nigger tear his shirt in two.' - -"In de war soldiers comes to massa's place and every time he feeds dem. -You hears de clippity clop of de hosses and dey is off de saddle 'fore -you gits to de door. Dey says, 'We wants de meal,' or maybe dey wants to -sleep. Massa's wife say, 'I's not goin' do nothin' for dem blue -bellies,' but massa make her fix de chicken. Dere was everything dere -but manners, 'cause dey have de pistols drawed. - -"After freedom, mos' of us stays with massa, 'cause we don't know where -to go and we don't want to go, but 'fore long massa dies and dat was -mournin' time. After de death, we all leaves. - -I marries Bill Thompson but he won't work so after 15 year I gits de -divorcement." - - - - -Albert Todd - - -*Albert Todd, 86 years old, was born a slave to Capt. Hudson, in -Russellville, Kentucky. His master was killed in the Civil War and he -then came to Texas in a covered wagon. His "Missus" kept him a slave for -three years after the War. He now lives with his wife, daughter and two -sons at 703 Center St., San Antonio, Texas.* - -"I most suppose my memory is too jumpy, but I'll try to bring it 'long -from de time I was born. I don't know de year, but it was in -Russellville, Kentucky and my massa, Captain Hudson, had a fruit -orchard. My reg'lar work was protectin' my young missus, Nannie Hudson. -She had to walk five miles to and forth from school every day and I was -her protector. I was only 8 and she was 11. I sat on the steps until she -got through larnin' and then brung her home. She come to be grown and -married and died, but I allus loved her. - -"When war comes, my massa goes and gets kilt and my missus got 'gusted -with the orchard and packs up in two covered wagons and heads crossland -to Texas. We finally gets to Lavernia and gets a farm and us worked -plenty hard. - - -[Illustration: _Albert Todd_] - - -"Our missus was good to us, but one white man neighbor got a new set of -niggers every year. He say if they didn't die, they wasn't any good work -left in them after they works for him a year. He allus cut off one they -ears, so if they run away he'd know 'em. - -"My clothes was a long shirt, made out of a meal sack. That's all I wore -them days. I was a slave three year after the others was freed, 'cause I -didn't know nothin' 'bout bein' free. A Mrs. Gibbs got holt of me and -makes me her slave. She was a cruel old woman and she didn't have no -mercy on me. She give me one sausage and one biscuit in the mornin' and -nothin' else all day. One day she gone and I stole some biscuits, and -she comes back and says, 'Did you take them biscuits?' She tells me if I -tells de truth she won't punish me, but she knocks me down and beats me -till I not know nothin'. But after 'while her house burns and she burns -up in it. - -"But 'fore that I was goin' to run away and I goes to the road and sits -down and then my sisters comes 'long and finds me and takes me to a -place where they was livin' on the ranch of a man name Widman. We works -for him a long time and then I is free from that Gibbs woman." - - - - -Aleck Trimble - - -*His skin was of an extremely dark chocolate color, his hair thin and -gray. A blue shirt was about his body while blue trousers enclosed his -nether limbs. His bare feet protruded as he sat on an old dilapidated -chair. Under his flat nose was a gray mustache, and one eye had -completely lost its vision. This small negro man was Aleck Trimble who -thoughtfully told the story of his life. [HW: Veth, Tex.]* - -"I was bo'n in 1861. I warn't much of a chile when freedom come, but yet -dey's right smart of t'ings I kin 'member in slavery times." - -"My pa name was Aleck Trimble and dat's my name, too. My ma was Ellen -Trimble and I was de onlies' son. I didn' hab no brudders. Ol' marster's -las' name was Alexander, but I dis'member his fus' name." - -"I uster hafter do a li'l wuk 'roun' de place like pullin' up weeds and -drivin' de calfs. I 'member one time I was drivin' a calf up to de lot -and I saw a crazy man. He didn' try to do nuffin' to me. I jis' walk up -on him and he sittin' dere mumblin' and I know right den dere was -sump'n' wrong wid him. He didn' try to hu't me nor run atter me, but he -sho' scare me and I run away from him fas' as I kin." - -"I warn't so glad when freedom come. I was a-farin' pretty well in de -kitchen. I didn' t'ink 'eber see better times dan what dem was, and I -ain't. I t'ought I was jis' as near hebben as I want to be. It didn' -look to me like dey coulder been no betterer dan what dey was." - -"I uster had jis' all I want to eat. Us hab biscuit and syrup, and -plenty milk and butter. And dey give us all de collard greens and hog -jowls us could hol'." - -"Dey uster had lots of cows and all de milk and butter anybody want. Dey -had a big bucket hangin' in de well. Dey put de butter in dat in de -summer time to keep it from meltin'. How dey kep' it from sp'ilin'? Why, -dey et it up, dat's how dey keep it from sp'ile." - -"I neber see 'em do de slaves bad. Iffen dey did dey tek 'em off in de -woods somers where nobody see 'em." - -"Sometime nigger traders come 'long de road wid a big drove of niggers. -I neber pay dat no min' though. It was jis' a drove of niggers to me." - -"Dey gimme 'bout as good clo's as I got now. When I was doin' 'roun' de -yard at Marster' house I wo' a shu't wid pleats 'cross de bosom in -front." - -"Dey gimme some britches befo' freedom come, and den I t'ought I's 'bout -as big as anybody. Dey gimme dem when I was big 'nuff to dribe de calfs -up from de lot. But I neber go in de fiel' to wuk." - -"Atter freedom come I go to school to a white lady name' Mrs. Tunsten -she had a son name' Waddy. She teach de school at Shiloh and all de -white chillun and nigger chillun go to school in de same room. She teach -her own chillun in dat school on de Huntsville road. I 'member de stages -and t'ings gwine by. I t'ought she was a good teacher, but she whip me -half a day one time 'cause I didn' spell "gangrene." She whip me 'till I -learn how to spell it and I ain't neber forgit. I kin spell dat word -yit. I's satisfy she from de Nor'f. Dere was a ol' stage stan' dere by -de school house." - -"I went to dat teacher and dat school t'ree or fo' year'. Atter she quit -teachin' dey was other teachers what come drappin' in and teachin' t'ree -or fo' months." - -"My pa he uster wuk in de fiel' 'till freedom come. My ma she wuk in de -kitchen. Dat how come I git so much outer de kitchen to eat. Sometime -she hafter wuk in de fiel' too." - -"Jis' like I say, I stay 'roun' de big house. I raise up wid de white -chillun 'till I was 25 or 30 year' ol'." - -"I t'ink dey stay at de ol' place a year or mo' atter freedom. Den dey -'gin to drif' 'roun' to diff'rent place w'ere dey find wuk to do. I stay -wid de ol' folks and he'p s'po't (support) 'em wid what money I git for -de wuk what I doin'. My ma lef' my pa at de ol' plantation, and her and -me and a gal what was ol'er dan me, what was my sister, us move." - -"De fus' wuk I done and de fus' money I mek was pickin' cotton for a -white man. De fus' money I git I buy me a ol' Webster Blue-back speller. -Lawd, I uster look at dat book sometime 'till dem A B C's all run -togedder seem like." - -"Dat plantation was de Johnnie Murchison plantation. Us stay dere 'bout -five or six year'. Atter dat I lef' dere and went to wuk for cullud man -what was name' Sam Scott. I wuk 'roun' in de fiel' and go to mill when I -was on dat place." - -"I 'member seein' de sojers. Dey was a big troop of 'em come marchin' -down de road. Dey was all of 'em dress' up in blue coats and some of 'em -had blue capes over dey shoulders. Dey had wagons and lots of sich -t'ings comin' 'long behin'." - -"I can't tell you much 'bout de ol' marster 'cause I didn' see him eb'ry -day. Lots and lots of time I didn' hab no notion where he was." - -"Dey was a large troop of cullud folks on de place. When dey want 'em -dey blow a bugle or ho'n or sump'n'." - -"I git marry in Houston county. I don' 'member what year it was but it -was back in Cleveland's 'ministration. Den atter while she die and dat -lef' me a widower. Den 'bout 28 year' ago I marry Ollie Washington. I -was wukkin' for Scott befo' I marry Washington. Dat's my li'l 'dopted -gran'chile dere. You see dat t'ing 'roun' her neck? Dat's hoss hair roll -up in a clo'f. Dat to he'p when she teethin'. Dat good for stomach and -bowel trouble, too. Long as she wear dat she ain't gwine to hab no fever -in de head needer. I gwine to let her wear it 'till she finish cuttin' -her teef. I jis' put dat rag 'roun' it to keep it from stickin' her. You -kin see how healthy she is." - -"Anudder t'ing what good for chillun when dey's teethin' is for to tek a -rabbit head and 'noint (anoint) dey gums good wid rabbit brains. Some of -de ol' folks wear a dime tie' 'roun' dey leg wid a hole in it for de -rheumatism." - -"May-apple for a good purgative too, but you got to know how to use it. -Iffen you don' use it right though, it gwine to stir up your stomach and -mek you sick. And you better not drink no milk when you tek dat -May-apple root and you don' want to eat nuffin' needer. Dat's bitter'n -quinine." - -"Co'se, sometime some of de slaves die on de plantation. I know dey have -home-mek coffin, but I ain't neber see 'em mekin' one. Sometime' when de -corpse a-layin' dere dead dey have a wake." - -"Dem what wanted 'em had a li'l patch of groun' where dey plant garden -truck and veg'tables for deyself. Dey have half a day off on Sunday, and -den co'se, dey have Sunday. All de slaves have big holiday on Crismus." - -"Dey lib in log houses. Moss and du't (dirt) was pack' all in 'tween de -logs and boards was nail' on over dat. Ol' marster he have a awful large -house buil' outer plank. It had a gallery to de front and back." - -"Dey had a li'l house down de way dey had preachin' in. De white -preacher he do de preachin'. Seem to me dat soon play out." - -"Dey had a ol' lady what ten' to de chillun when dey in de fiel' pickin' -cotton. Sometime she uster sing: - - 'My Lord say dey's room enough, - Room enough in hebben fer us all.' - -fotch (fetch) 'em a whack on de head and say: - - 'Come 'long wid dat row." - -"Atter freedom come de darkies uster have a song what go like dis: - - 'Come along - Come along - Make no delayin' - Soon be so Uncle Sam give us - all a farm. - - 'Come from de way - Come from de nation - 'Twon't be long 'till Uncle Sam - give us all a farm.' - -Atter while de Klu Kluxers git atter de cullud folks. Den dey mek a -song: - - 'Run nigger run de Klu Klux git you.' - -Lots of time dey come on Sunday. One place dere was a big plum thicket -'long de road and dey dodge in dere and ketch people. Lots of cullud -folks hafter pass by dere to git where dey gwine. In de day time dem Klu -Kluxes was jis' in dey common clo's but when dey come in de nights dey -did figger deyself wid dem high p'int hats and white t'ings wrap 'roun' -'em." - -"I b'longs to de Baptis' Chu'ch. I reckon dat was de Baptis' chu'ch back -in dem days, but I don' 'member no baptisms back in slavery. I 'members -though that dey was a blin' cullud man what uster preach." - -"I 'members dey was lots of smallpox one time. Dat was atter freedom -come, 'bout 50 year' ago. De people was sho' scare' of it, wusser'n if -it was a Winchester. When I fus' 'member 'bout dat smallpox dey was a -man had it and dey run him 'bout a mont' and bu'n him. If dey find out -you got de smallpox you jis' long gone, you better not go out nor in. -Dey put de food on de gate-pos'. If you don' git better in so many days -dey bu'n you and de house and eb'ryt'ing up." - -"I uster farm 'till de boll weevil start in dis part of de country. -Atter dat sawmillin' and public works. Jis' go from one sawmill to -anudder. But I spen' my bes' days on de farm." - -"When I was cut off dem sawmill and public works jobs I was done wo' -out. Dey orter stop' me fifteen years befo' dey did, 'cause den I -mightenter (might not have) been wo' out. Now I can't do nuffin'." - -"I los' one of my eye 'bout seben year' ago. I have de fever and it -settle in my eye and jis' cook. Dat was when I had meningitis." - -"I can't plow no mo'. I jis' live on my li'l bit of pension and dat -ain't nuttin'." - - - - -Reeves Tucker - - -*Reeves Tucker, 98 year old Negro farmer of Harrison Co., Texas, was -born in Bibb Co., Alabama, a slave of George Washington Tucker, Sr. When -Reeves was six his master died and Reeves was separated from his family -and brought to Texas by George Tucker, Jr. Reeves now lives with his -son, who owns a farm nine miles northwest of Marshall, Texas.* - -"My father was Armistead Tucker and my mother Winnie Tucker and they's -both born slaves of Massa George Washington Tucker. He lived over in old -Alabama, between Selma and Maplesville. My brothers was Andy and John -and Peter and there was two girls, Anne and Dorcus, and we was all born -on Massa Tucker's plantation. My missy died 'fore I was born and my old -massa died when I was jest a shirt-tail boy and his chillen had a -dividement of his lands and mammy and all the chillen but me fell to the -daughter and pappy was give to the son. Pappy begs too hard for me to go -with him that fin'ly they lets me. I never seed my mammy after that, -bein' as how Missy Emogene stays in Alabama and us come to Texas. - -"Massa George settles near Gilmer and he sho' have a big place with lots -of acres and a good house. He didn't 'low no beatin' on that place but -I've saw slaves on other places whopped till the blood run off them onto -the groun'. When they was cut loose from the tree or whippin' post they -falls over like dead. But our massa was good to us and give us lots to -eat and wear. We et pork meat and white flour jest like the white folks -and every woman have to spin so many yards cloth 'fore she go to bed, so -we allus had the clothes. - -"I've saw lots of slaves bid off like stock and babies sold from their -mammy's breast. Some brung 'bout $1,500, owing to how strong they is. -Spec'lators used to ride all over the country near our place and buy up -niggers and I've saw as many as fifty in a gang, like convicts. - - -[Illustration: _Reeves Tucker_] - - -"But Massa George wouldn't sell and buy slaves and none of 'em ever run -off 'cept my pappy and one night he started to go 'cross a shirt of -woods to the neighbors and young massa was a pattyroller and tells pappy -to wait and go with him, but pappy hard headed as a mule and goes -hisself and the pattyrollers cotches him and nigh beats him to death. -Young massa was sho' mad as fire, 'cause he didn't want his niggers beat -up. - -"Them circuit ridin' preachers come to the white church and tries to -make the white folks bring their slaves to preaching. Preacher say, -'Nigger have a soul to save same as us all.' Massa allus went to church -but I don't 'lieve it done him any good, 'cause while he there at -meetin' the niggers in the field stacking that fodder. He did give us -Christmas Day and a big dinner and 'cept for workin' the lights outten -us, gen'rally treated us decent and we had heap easier time than any -other slaves 'round. - -"I 'member the war and Jeff Davis and Abe Lincoln was warfaring 'bout -freein' the niggers 'bout four year 'fore they fought. Massa Tucker jest -grunted when we was freed, 'cause he knowed the thing was up, and he -tells us if we'd stay and help the crop out he'd give us a horse and -saddle, but we didn't git nothin'. So I lef' him soon as the crop laid -by the year of freedom and then moved with pappy to a farm near -Hallsville and stays with him till I marries. I had seven chillen to be -growed and married and I farmed near Hallsville mos' my life, till I too -old. My son, Reeves after me, owns this farm and we's all right. Never -did have hard times after freedom, like some niggers, 'cause we just sot -down on the land." - - - - -Lou Turner - - -*Lou Turner, 89, was born at Rosedale, near Beaumont, Texas, on the -Richard West plantation. She has spent her entire life within three -miles of Beaumont, and now lives in her own little home, with her -daughter, Sarah.* - -"I hears you been 'round to see me befo', but you ain't never gwine find -me to home. I sho' love to go 'round visitin'. You know dey say iffen -you treats the cat too good, you ain't never know where the cat is. - -"I's gwine on seventeen year old when freedom come. I's born right here -near Beaumont, on the big road what they calls the Concord Road, in the -place what they calls Rosedale. I's a growed-up young lady befo' I ever -sees Beaumont. I's gwine on 89 year old now. - -"Richard West, he's my massa and Mary Guidry she my missy. Dey used to -call her the 'Cattle King.' Dey have a big plantation and jes' a few -slaves. Dey raises my mammy since she eleven year old. Her name Maria -and she marry Sam Marble. He come from Miss'ippi. - -"I stay up at the big house and missy fix my plate when she fix hers. -God bless her heart, she kind to me, I know now I's sassy to her but she -didn't pay me no 'tention 'cause I's li'l. I slep' on a trundle bed by -missy's side and I git so smart I allus smell my bed to see iffen dey -puts nice, clean sheets on mine like dey did on hers. Sometime I play -sick, but old missy a good doctor and she gimme beefoot oil and it so -nasty I quit playing off. She French and she so good doctor they send -for her to other folks houses. - -"Old missy was real rich. I's taken her money out of de wardrobe ane -make tall playhouse out of gold and silver money. Iffen she have to buy -somethin' she have to come and borrow it from me. Us allus has to figger -how to take dat money out of de corners so de house won't fall down. I -cried and cried iffen she tored it up. - -"She'd take me with her when she go to see her grandchillen in de French -settlement. Us come in buggy or hack and bring jelly and money and -things. I thought I's gwine to Heaven, 'cause I gits to play with li'l -chillen. Us play 'ring place', dat's draw a ring and hop 'round in it. -Us jump rope and swing. Dey have a hair rope swing with a smooth board -in it so it ain't scratch us behin'. - -"Old missy so kind but what got 'way with me, I couldn't go to school. I -beg and beg, but she kep' sayin', 'Some day, some day,' and I ain't -never sit in a school in my life. - -"Old massa didn't work 'em hard. He make 'en come in when the sun got -bad, 'cause he feared dey git sunstroke. He mighty good in early days, -but when he figger dey gwine loose he slaves he start bein' mean. He -split 'em and sold 'em, tryin' to make he money out of 'em. - -"De house what the white folks live in was make out of logs and moss and -so was the quarters houses. Better'n New Orleans, dem quarters was. Us -slaves have de garden patch. The white folks raises hogs and kilt 'em by -the twenties. Dey smoke hams and shoulders and chittlin's and sich and -hang 'em up in the smokehouse. Us allus have plenty to eat and us have -good, strong clothes. Missy buy my dresses separate, though. She buy me -pretty stripe cotton dress. - -"Bout the only work I ever done was help watch the geese and turkeys and -fill the quilts. I larn to card, too. Old missy never whip me much, she -jes' like to scare me. She whip me with big, tall straw she git out the -field or wet a towel and whip my legs. My old massa done a trick I never -forgit while I's warm. I's big gal 'bout sixteen year old and us all -'lone on the place. He tells me to crawl under the corncrib and git the -eggs. I knowed dey ain't nothin' dere but the nest egg, but I have to -go. When I can't find nothin' he pull me out backwards by the feet and -whip me. When old missy come home I ain't know no better'n to tell her -and she say she ought to kill him, but she sho' fix him, anyway. He say -she spile me and dat why he whip me. - -"Old missy taken to preachin'. She was real good preacher. Dey have de -big hall down the center of the house where they have services. A -circuit rider come once a month and everybody stop workin' even if it -wasn't Sunday. - - -[Illustration: _Lou Turner_] - - -"When war was on us there wasn't no sojers 'round where I was, but dat -battle on Atchafalia shook all the dishes off the dresser and broke 'em -up. Jes' broke up all the fine Sunday and company dishes. - -"After de trouble my mammy have gettin' me 'way from there when freedom -come, she gits me after all. Old missy have seven li'l nigger chillen -what belong to her slaves, but dey mammies and daddys come git 'em. I -didn't own my own mammy. I own my old missy and call her 'mama'. Us cry -and cry when us have to go with us mammy. I 'members how old missy rock -me in her arms and sing to me. She sing dat 'O, Susanna' and telt me a -story: - -"'Dere a big, old brown bear what live in de woods and she have lots of -li'l cub bears and dey still nussin' at de breast. Old mama bear she out -huntin' one day and she come by de field where lots of darkies workin' -and dere on a pallet she see fat, li'l pickaninny baby. Mama bear she up -and stole dat li'l pickaninny baby and takes it home. It hongry but -after she git all de cub bears fed, dere ain't no milk left for de -nigger baby. Mama bear git so 'sasperated she say to her babies, 'Go -long, you go way and play.' Dan she feed de li'l pickaninny baby and dat -how she raise dat nigger baby.' - -"Now, every time old missy come to dat place in de story, she start -laughin', 'cause I allus used to ask her. - -"'How come dey didn't no hair grow on dat baby.'" - - - - -Irella Battle Walker - - -*Irella Battle Walker, 86, was born a slave at Craft's Prairie, Texas. -Her parents, Mesheck and Becky Battle, belonged to Mr. Battle, but were -sold while Irella was a baby to Tom Washington, of Travis County. Irella -learned her A B C's from an o1d slave, Jack James, although it was -against the rules. This was the only schooling she ever had. Irella -receives a monthly old age pension of eight dollars. She lives at 2902 -Cole St., Austin, Texas.* - -"My name was Irella Battle and I was borned on August 15th, in 1851, -down at Craft's Prairie, in Bastrop County. I was 86 years old last -August, and I'm blind in one eye. - -"Mammy's name was Becky Battle and she was a field worker, and dat about -de most work she have to do, 'cept on rainy days. She had five girls and -one boy and I'm de youngest and de only livin' one now. Daddy was -Mesheck Battle and when I'm a baby in mammy's arms, us sold to Massa -Washington. - -"Daddy had to do field work. I never knowed him do nothin' but farm. He -sho' make us behave and whop us if we didn't. Massa was purty good. De -massas dem times, some was good and some was bad, and about de most of -dem was bad. I had to he'p round de big house and dey purty good to me. -But when I still little I went to de fields. Dey give me a sack what de -slaves make to pick cotton in. Dey spin de thread and make cloth on de -loom and stitch it and make cotton sacks. Dey short for us chillen and -de older folks had a short one to pick in and a big sack to empty in. I -could pick about a hundred fifty pounds a day when I's twelve. Israel -Roberts could pick five hundred a day. Us never got no money for -pickin', only food and clothes and a place to stay at night. Old man -Jonas watched us chillen and kept us divin' for dat cotton all de day -long. Us wish him dead many a time. - -"De plantation had a hoss-power gin and some days our rows of cotton -tooked us right to de gin house and we'd look up and watch de slave boys -settin' on de lever and drivin' dem hosses round and round. - -"De cabins was log and mud and stick chimney. When one dem chimneys -catch fire us git on top and throw water on it. - -"In summer us go barefoot, but dere shoemakers what make shoes for -winter. When a beef killed, de hide kept and cleaned and put in de -tannin' trough. When de leather ready, de shoes make in de little shoe -shop, and when dem shoes git dry dey hard as a rock. Daddy make us rub -tallow or fried grease meat or any other kind grease into dat hard shoe -leather, and it make dem soft, but when de dew and sun git on dem again -dey's hard again. Times de coyotes steal dem greased shoes and make off -with dem. Dat act'ly happen a lot of times. - -"Old man Jack James work at day and have night school at night. He have -long boards for benches and let dem down by ropes from de rafters, and -have blue back spellers. He point to de letters with de long broom straw -and dat's how we larn our A B C's. I can read purty good, when my eyes -let me, but I can't write nothin'. - -"If it rained we had to shuck and shell corn or pull weeds in de yard, -and it was a big one, too. De women spin thread for de looms, two of dem -and a spinnin' wheel in every cabin. - -"Us have beds de men make and take wore out clothes and breeches and -piece dem and stuff with cotton for quilts. When it cold us keep fire -all night long. De plates am tin and a big gourd dipper to drink water -with. De men make dere own cedar water pails. - -"De week's rations for a growed person run like three pounds bacon and a -peck cornmeal and some home-made 'lasses. No flour and no coffee, but us -parch bran or wheat and make coffee. Each night dey give a pint of sweet -milk. But de chillen all et in a special place in de kitchen. - -"One mornin' Massa Washington call us all and he read from de big paper. -He say, 'You is free to live and free to die and free to go to de devil, -if you wants to.' He tell us if we gather he crops he'd pay us for it. -Den he turned and walked away and started cryin'. All de families stays -but one man. De highest price massa pay anybody was about $15.00, but -dat seem like a lot of money to folks what wasn't used to gittin' any -money at all. - -"Finally my folks moved on a farm on Onion Creek, in Travis County, on -rented land from Nat Watters and Dr. Shears, and farm on de third and -fourth. We stays about six years and raises cotton and corn. - -"But when I's twenty years old I marries Joe Walker and us move to -Bastrop County, add I stays dere till he dies in 1932. Us have eleven -chillen and nine of dem still livin'. I gits a pension, nine dollars de -month, and it sho' am a help now I's old and nearly blind." - - - - -John Walton - - -*John Walton, 87, was born August 15, 1849, a slave of Bill Walton, who -lived in Austin, Texas, until the Civil War. He then purchased a farm in -Robertson County, Texas. John and his wife, Missouri, own a little home -at 1008 Juniper St., Austin. Each receives an old age pension of $10.00 -a month.* - -"My name am John Walton, yes, suh, and I's born right here in Austin. -Dat on de 15th day of August, in 1849. I done had de papers on dat but -where dey is now I don't know. Pappy's named Gordon Walton and I 'member -he die while de war goin' on, or jes' befo'. I disremember. My mammy was -a small woman, named Mary. - -"Massa Bill Walton owns all us, and he de brother of Buck Walton, and us -live in Austin till it said de Yankees comin'. Some southern folks here -in Austin was diggin' ground for a fort, old Fort MacGruder, jes' south -of Austin. So Massa Bill takes us all 'way from Austin and up to -Robertson County, 'cause he done figured de Yankees can't git up dere. - -"I done field work up dere and even us kids had to pick 150 pounds -cotton a day, or git de whoppin'. Us puts de cotton in de white-oak -baskets and some dem hold more'n 100 pounds. It 'cordin' to de way you -stamps you cotton in. De wagon with de yoke of oxen standin' in de field -for to pour de cotton in and when it full, de oxen pulls dat wagon to de -hoss-power gin. Us gin'rally use 'bout 1,600 pounds cotton to make de -bale. - -"Purty soon after Massa Walton opens he farm he die and Missus Walton -den marries a Dr. Richardson and he git de overseer what purty rough on -us. He want all us to stay right in line and chop 'long and keep up with -de lead man. If us didn't it am de bullwhip. He ride up and down and hit -us over de back if us don't do de job right. Sometimes he'd git off he -hoss and have two slaves hold one down and give him de bullwhip. He'd -give it to him, too. - -"I helped break up de land and plant and chop cotton and a little of -everything. Jes' what had to be done at de time, I goes out and does it. -I run 'cross plenty snakes and one day one bit me right top de foot. -Dere plenty varmints, too. - -"In de fall of de year us kill plenty hawgs and put up de gamblin' racks -and hang dat meat up for de night. Dere some big dogs what watched de -meat and one old dog, old Jefferson, was bigger'n any dog I ever seed. -He kilt many 'nother dog. One night a big panther try steal de hawg meat -and old Jeff cotch him and helt him till de men comes. De panther tore -Jeff up purty bad. Us heered dem panthers scream at night, and if you -didn't know, you'd think it a woman. I could tell de diff'rence, 'cause -de panther scream have de little growl at de end. If he half mile 'way, -you'd hear dat little whang. - -"One night I goes out in de bottom with my dog. I was huntin' but I -don't like what I finds. A big panther follows me and old Nig, dat my -big, black bulldog, scart him 'way from me. I sho' run dat night, and I -never slip 'way no more at night. - -"Massa's big house sot 'way from our cabins. Us have de big room where -de slaves' meals all cook and de fireplace 'bout four foot 'cross and -plenty ashes in de mornin' to make de ashcakes. For breakfast us have -meat and ashcakes and bran-coffee or sassafras tea. You could keep dem -dried sassafras roots de year 'round and dey jes' as strong. Us plowed -'em up in de field, 'cause dey growed wild. - -"Us didn't have time for de playin' of games durin' de week, 'cause it -dark when us goes out and it dark when us comes back. Us sho' was tired. -At night dat overseer walk by our cabins and call out to us, to see if -us all inside. If us don't answer he come up and find out why, and he'd -find us, too. - -"I larned to read and write a little jes' since freedom. Us used -Webster's old blue-back spellers and I has one in de house to dis day -and I wouldn't take nothing for it. - -"The first year after freedom I farms with mammy and my stepdaddy. Pappy -done die. Us done purty good de first year and I keeps on farmin' most -my life. I marries Georgia Anne Harper in 1875 or 1876 in Limestone -County. Us have four chillen and three is livin'. I marries 'gain in -1882 to Missouri Fisher and us have eight chillen and six is livin'. - -"Us gits 'long on what de state give us now, and it ain't so bad. Times -is diff'rent. I never done much but farm, so I don't know so much 'bout -everything what goes on." - - - - -Sol Walton - - -*Sol Walton, 88, was born in Mobile, Alabama, a slave of Sam Lampkin. -Sol and his father stayed on the Lampkin Plantation, then in -Mooringsport, Louisiana, until 1873, and farmed on shares. From 1876 to -1922 Sol worked in the T.& P. shops, in Marshall, Texas. Sol and his -wife are supported by odd jobs Sol secures about town and they receive -money from a son who is in a CCC camp.* - -"I was knockin' round, a good-sized chap, way back yonder in Buchanan's -and Henry Clay's time. I was born in 1849, in Mobile, Alabama, and -belonged to Sam Lampkin. My father was bought by the Lampkins and he -allus kept the name of his first master, Walton. My mammy was a Alabama -Negro and her name was Martha, and I had four brothers and four sisters, -Robert, Jim, Richard, Alex, Anna, Dora, Isabella, Bettie. - -"My master was Sam Lampkin and his wife was Missus Mary, and their first -plantation was in Alabama, but they moved to Mississippi when I was -'bout six, and we lived on Salt Water Creek. They had a big, frame house -and we lived in log quarters, slept on rough rail beds and had plenty to -eat, peas, pumpkins, rice and other truck we raised on the place, and -plenty of fish out of the creek. - -"The first work I done in slavery was totin' water and dinner to the -field hands, in gourd buckets. We didn't have tin buckets then. The -hands worked from sun to sun, and if the overseer seed 'em slackin' up -he cussed 'em and sometimes whacked 'em with a bullwhip. I seed 'em -whipped till their shirt stuck to their back. I seed my mammy whipped -for shoutin' at white folks meetin'. Old massa stripped her to the waist -and whipped her with a bullwhip. Heaps of 'em was whipped jus' 'cause -they could be whipped. Some owners half fed their hands and then whipped -them for beggin' for grub. - -"After our folks came in from the field they et supper and some went to -Salt Water Creek to cotch fish and crabs. They used to spin at night, -too. On Christmas Day massa allus give the slaves a little present, -mostly somethin' to wear, 'cause he goin' to git that anyhow. - -"Massa never had but one white overseer. He got kilt fightin'. The hands -was burnin' logs and trash and the overseer knocked a old man down and -made some of the niggers hold him while he bullwhipped him. The old man -got up and knocked the overseer in the head with a big stick and then -took a ax and cut off his hands and feet. Massa said he didn't ever want -another white overseer and he made my cousin overlooker after that. - -"The slaves had their own prayer meetin's and that's 'bout the biggest -pleasure they had. We'd slip off sometimes to dances and parties, but -the patterrollers come and run us home with hounds. The black and white -children all played together and there was 'bout sixty of us. - -"The old folks told us ghost stories but I never seed a ghost but once, -after I was married. Me and some men was walkin' down the Shreveport -road and saw a big house all lit up and fiddlin' and dancin' goin' on -inside. But when we got close the music stops and the lights went out. -When we got on past a piece it lit up and the fiddlin' starts 'gain. I -wasn't scared, but we didn't hang round to see what made it do that way. - -"Some of the cullud folks on our place could read and write. They larned -it theyselves. The white folks didn't larn 'em. All they larned 'em was -to work hard. But they took care of us when we was sick and old women -made lots of medicine. There was boneset tea and willow tea and shuck -tea and cottonseed tea for chills and fever and Jerusalum Oak for worms. - - -[Illustration: _Sol Walton_] - - -"Master left Mississippi for Texas 'bout time the war got goin' good, -with his fam'ly and sixty slaves. We'd been on the road three weeks when -a gang of Yankees come on us one day at dinner. The niggers scatters -like birds. 'Bout half of 'em never come back, but the rest of us come -on and settled seven miles southwest of Mooringsport, in Louisiana. -Young master went to the war after we got there and come home sev'ral -times. But they didn't talk the war 'mongst us cullud folks. - -"Nothin' special happened the day they said we was free, 'cept some of -'em didn't stay ten minutes. Master told 'em if they'd stay he'd give -them the third and fourth. The ones who left wasn't promised nothin' and -didn't git nothin'. My folks stayed for 'most twenty years after -'mancipation, workin' on the halves. - -"I left my folks in '73 and come to Jimmie D. Scott's place, in Texas, -'bout eight miles east of Marshall, and worked for $10.00 the month. -That's where I met Liza Montecue, who is my wife. She was born on the -Scott's place the same year I was born. We moved to Marshall in '76 and -I got a job in the railroad shops and worked till the big strike in -1922. I didn't belong to the strike but the strikers wouldn't let me -work. After they run me off my job, I never could get back on and had to -make a livin' at anythin' I could find till my boy got in the CCC camp. -I been married sixty-four years and raised eight children, and three of -'em lives here and works at anythin' they can find to make a dollar." - - - - -Ella Washington - - -*Ella Washington, 82, was born a slave of Dave Mann, in St. Mary's -Parish, Louisiana. When the slaves were freed in Louisiana Ella was -taken to Calvert, Texas, and put on the Barton plantation. Soon after -the civil war she came to Galveston, and lives with her daughter, who -supports herself and her mother by taking in washing.* - -"You got to 'scuse how I looks, 'cause I been out in de back yard -helpin' my daughter with de washin'. She allus fuss at me 'cause I work -like dat, but I tells her jes' 'cause I is a old woman ain't no reason -why I got to act like one. - -"I don't know for sho' jes' when I'm birthed, but my sister allus say -I's one year and six months older'n her and she say she's birthed 'bout -1857. Dey didn't make no record den like now. I thinks old massa, Dave -Mann, keep some kind record on us, but he been dead de long time. - -"My mammy and pappy was name Meine, Car'line and Charles Meine. De -slaves used to take de massa's name and sometimes when dey sold dey drap -de old name and take de new massa's name. Dat how come it so hard to -keep up with dem. - -"Massa Mann sho' nice but him and he missy die and Massa Jim Ross step -into dere shoes on de plantation. Us gits swamp den. When you git swamp -dat mean you got to live with a mean man. He sho' was mean, too. - -"De plantation was big and 'bout a hundred slaves on it. Dey work dem -hard, too, sometimes till nine o'clock at night. A lot of dem run away -but dey sic de nigger dogs on dere trail and cotch dem. When dey cotch -dem dey whup dem. Dey put sticks in de ground and tie dere hands and -feet to dem. Some places dey strip dem naked and whip dem. - -"Sometimes Massa Jim 'low us go to de Catholic Church at Marion. Dey -wouldn't 'low us to pray by ourself. But we sneaks off and have pot -prayin'. Two men carry de great big hog pot dey uses to scald hogs and -take it out in de woods and us stick de head in it and pray. All de -noise go in de pot and you couldn't hear it outside. - -"Old massa fed us good, meal and syrup and meat 'nough to last. He give -us watermelons every Sunday. But Massa Jim didn't 'lieve in pamperin' -niggers, he say. He didn't give us much to eat and de houses leak 'cause -de walls rotten. - -"One time he take de notion to sell us. He put my mother and me and -sister on de block up in Marion. Us all cryin' hard, 'cause us thunk us -gwine git sep'rate. Den I looks up sudden and right at my young miss, -Miss Mary. She so mad she pale like de ghost. She say, 'Ella, you git -'way from dat block and come over to me, and you too, Della.' Me and my -sister runs over dere to her and wrop ourself round her dress and hold -on with all our might. De massa come after us and Miss Mary say, 'What -you mean sellin' my slaves?' He say us slaves his and she say, do he -want to have to prove what he say. Den she start in and raise so much -sand he have to call mammy down off de block and take us back home. - -"I heared everybody say a war goin' on and my uncle and cousin run 'way -to de head bureau, where de Yankees at. My mammy say it at Milligan, -Texas. Time dey ready for freedom in Louisiana, dey refugees us to -Texas, in de wagons. Us travel all day and half de night and sleep on de -ground. It ain't take us so long to git to Calvert, out dere in de -bottom of Texas, and dey puts us on de Barton plantation. We's diggin' -potatoes dere when de Yankees come up with two big wagons and make us -come out of de fields and free us. Dere wasn't no cel'bration 'bout it. -Massa say us can stay couple days till us 'cide what to do. - -"Well, den somethin' funny happen dere. De slaves all drinks out an old -well. Dey'd drink water in de mornin' and dey'd have de cramps awful bad -'bout dinner time and in de evenin' dey's dead. Dey dies like flies, so -fast dey couldn't make de coffins for dem. Dey jes' sew dem up in sacks -and bury dem dat way. Some de slaves say massa put de poison in de well. -I don't know what kill dem but it sho' look funny. - -"Mammy and me goes to Calvert and hires out, but 'fore long us come to -Galveston and pappy go back to Louisiana. If he ain't dead he still live -dere in St. Mary's Parish. I never seen him no more. - -"I marries 'bout 1886, and stays right here in Galveston. I seen Wright -Cuney lots of times but I ain't never knowed him to talk to. I 'member -when dey say he be governor some day, but dey ain't gwine have no cullud -man governor. Course, he did git to congress." - - - - -Rosa Washington - - -*Rosa Washington is 90 years old and lives in her own little adobe house -at 3911 Manzana St., El Paso, Texas. She was born a slave of the Watson -family, on a large plantation seven miles from St. Joe, Louisiana. Her -parents came from Georgia. After the Civil War she left her former -owners, but later returned and was with them until they died. She came -to Texas in 1921, and her three children provide for her. Her son, Le -Roy, has been in the U.S. Emigration service in El Paso for 27 years.* - -"My name's Rosa Washington and my husban' was Joe Washington. He's been -dead a long time. I was bo'n on a big plantation, white man's name Bill -Watson, wife Ann Watson, seven miles from St. Joe. Mama had four chillen -and I had seven. Marster had a fine house and plenty of slaves. I dunno -how many. - -"'Fore we was free we was in the fiel' workin' and they come out and got -us. Everybody threw up their hands and started to run. The Yanks busted -open a sugar hogshead and give everybody all they wanted. Dey threw all -de milk away and dey carried our marster away by force and tuk him to -jail in Vicksburg. Our missus wept. When the Yankees got us, dey tuk us -about three miles from whar we live, put us in a fine house, give us -plenty to eat until war's ended. Me and my chillen and my father and -mother were together there. - -"We had a good cabin on the plantation, made out-a planks, ole rip-rap -plunder. Dey treated us good. I worked in water garden, worked in fiel's -when 10 years old. Hoe'd my row every day. Dey didn' whop me, though. My -mistress wouldn' let 'em. Marsa and missus good to me. I not tell lie on -'em. Tell truf. Truf shines. - -"I seed niggers put in stocks, put 'em in stocks head in fust. Tear -their clothes off backs, whop till sores come, den dey pour coal oil and -turpentine in sores. I see dat with my own eyes. My dad druv the -carriage, carried 'em 'round all time. My mother worked in the fiel' -like I do. Work every day. Dey give us everything to eat. Marster and -missus, too, give plenty, but if ole cow died with cholera, they give to -us niggers. I got good shoes once a year. When marster went to New -Orleans, mama had to tie my feet up in rags. I had to work with the rest -of 'em. Got up at 4 o'clock. We he'ped on other plantations when dey'd -git behind. Go he'p 'em out. - -"I waited on overseers table, Joe Crusa. He was mean. He stuck a fork in -my head. Ole Aunt Clarissie cooked for us. She cook in cabin for us, had -big fireplace. She cook for all niggers on the place. She was mean to -me, never married. She had two rooms, all she do was cook, tell lies on -me to white overseer. That woman told a lie on me 'cause said I lef' a -fork dirty. He look at it, says, 'Who rubbed dis fork?' Woman says, -'Rosa,' and he stuck the fork in my head. Missus turn him off nex' day. - -"We had co'nbread, no sugar, plenty okra and coffee; plenty milk, 'cause -they had 17 cows. They give us clabber and peaches. Every day overseer -blow horn in yard to wake us up, a bugle at four o'clock Sundays. We -take cotton outta fiel' and put it up on scaffold to dry iffen it rain. -Overseer sit in dry, big overcoat on; we work in mud and rain. One -mornin' they carried us to stockhouse to whip us. My missus and marster -never let 'em whip me, but no white folks he'p me to read and write. -He'p me to do nothin' but work. - -"White folks had church. I couldn' go. I hadda mind the white chillen -every Sunday. Cullud people had to go way back in woods to have church. -Never let white folks see 'em. Had to slip and hide to have our church, -run like deer if foun' out. Marster never know a bit more'n this chair -whar we was gwine. He couldn' ask us on Sunday, it be against the law. -Iffen niggers run away, dogs 'ud catch 'em. - -"Dey had doctor right dere. Kep' us well. Kep' us well so's we could -work. Brother-in-law to marster. - -"When the niggers was married, dey put a broom down and dey jump over -the broom, same time missus and marster'd marry 'em. He'd marry 'em and -she as witness. Sometimes celebrate. She'd cook 'em some cake, give 'em -a fine dress. We'd take meat and skillets down to the bar on Sundays. -Had fish frys. Wouldn' take no fussy chillen to the bar. We chillen -would have fish fry whar dey couldn't watch us. - -"Had to go to gin at four o'clock in evenin'. Couldn' play week-days, -had to go in cabin and be still. Never got to play much till Yankees -come and got us, but we had a big ball and dance in yard Christmas. Had -candy, dey give us dresses and socks and a good feast for Christmas. -Give us things for 4th of July. Dey give us dat day. No, dey wouldn' -whip us dat day. We had a big quiltin' Christmas day. We'd piece de -quilts outta scraps. Some couldn' quilt. Dey'd dance in de yard all day. - -"We niggers got wool clothes in winter, good clothes woven on de place. -Marster had black sheep and white sheep. He bought our summer clothes in -New Orleans--linsey, calicy, plaid, some white ones. Dey'd give us color -what we like. - - -[Illustration: _Rosa Washington_] - - -"Sure, I seed ghosts. Dey come with no head, come outta de fiel' one -night so late, 'bout eight, nine o'clock. I was scared, yes, suh, I sure -was scared, but my mammy say, 'Dey ain' goin' to hurt you, baby.' Dey -scare me. My mammy give me beads for my neck, china-berry beads to keep -me well. They's pretty. I never had no other kind. - -"We never git no money befo' freedom. I stay away from Marster and -missus de first year, den go back. Dey give us 50 a day after war. Had -to pay for rations. Better since war, though. No whippin's goin' on like -they did 'fore. - -"I'se a full Baptist--been ever since '67. I'se happy. Sometimes I gits -too happy. I don' move till de spirit move me. I goes to church when -I'se able. But I'se gittin' too old to go now--I'se just waitin' to go -home." - - - - -Sam Jones Washington - - -*Sam Jones Washington, 88, was born a slave of Sam Young, who owned a -ranch along the Colorado River, in Wharton Co., Texas. Sam was trained -to be a cowhand, and worked for his master until 1868, receiving wages -after he was freed. He farmed until 1905, then moved to Fort Worth and -worked in the packing plants until 1931. He lives at 3520 Columbus Ave., -Fort Worth, and is supported by an $11.00 per month old age pension, -supplemented by what Sam raises in his garden and makes out of a few -hogs.* - -"How old I is? I's 16 year when surrender come. I knows dat, 'cause of -massa's statement. All us niggers gits de statement when surrender come. -I's seed plenty slave days. - -"Massa Young run de small farm 'long de Colorado River and him don't own -many slaves. Dere my mammy and her six chillen, and Majoria and her four -chillens. My pappy am not on de place. I don't know my pappy. Him am -what dey calls de travelin' nigger. Dey have him come for service and -when dey gits what dey wants, he go back to he massa. De womens on Massa -Young place not married. - -"Massa raise jes' a little cotton, dat two womens and de chillen could -tend to, and some veg'tables and sich. Us have lots of good food. Us -sleep in de sleepin' room, nex' to massa's house, but I sleeps in -massa's room. - -"One night massa say, 'Don't tie my hoss to de stake tonight.' But I's -sleepy and gits de nodfies and draps off to sleep. Mammy shake me and -say, 'Did you stake de hoss?' Massa sees dat hoss in de mornin' and say, -'You done stake dat hoss and I told you not to.' He gives me couple -licks and I larns to do what I's told. He never whip nobody, not de hard -whippin' like other niggers gits. He am de good massa. - -"I fust runs errands and den massa larn me to ride, soon's I could sit -de hoss. Den I stays out with de cattle mos' de time and I's tickled. I -sho' likes to ride and rope dem cattle and massa allus fix me up with -good clothes and good hoss and good saddle. I stays dere till long after -surrender. - -"Us have stampedes from de cattle. Dat am cust'mary with dem critters. -Dat mean ride de hoss to turn de cattle. Us ride to side de leader and -crowd him and force him to turn, and keep forcin' him, and by and by dem -critters am runnin' in de circle. Dat keep dem from scatterment. Dat -sho' dangerous ridin'. If de hoss throw you off dem cattle stamp you to -death. Gabriel sho' blow he horn for you den! - -"I sho' 'joys dat business, 'cause we'uns have de good time. Us go to -town and have fun. One time I comes near gittin' in trouble, but it -ain't my fault. I's in town and massa, too, and a white man come to me -and him show de drink. 'Who you 'long to, nigger?' he say. 'I's Massa -Young's nigger,' I says, polite-like. 'You looks like de smart nigger -and I's de notion smack you one,' he say. 'You better not smack me any,' -I says. You unnerstand, dat de way massa raise me. I don't unnerstand -some cruel white mens gits de arg'ment, jus' for de chance to shoot de -nigger. Massa am standin' near by and him come up and say, 'If you -touches dat nigger, I'll put de bullet through you.' Dat man see massa -have no foolishment in he words and gits gwine. But if massa am not -dere, Gabriel blow he horn for dis nigger's Jubilee, right den, yes, -sar. - - -[Illustration: _Sam Jones Washington_] - - -"I comes near gittin' cotched by de patterrollers once. I's jus' 12 den -and 'nother nigger and me, us want some cane stalk. It good to eat raw, -you knows. Jus' peel de bark off and chew dat inside. Well, we'uns in de -man's cane patch, breakin' dem stalks and dey makes de poppin' noise. A -patterroller come by and hear dat poppin', and holler, 'Who's dere in de -cane patch?' Us didn't answer him, no, sar. I 'cides right quick dat I -don't like cane and I comes 'way from dat patch. I outsmarts and outruns -dat patterroller. I keeps to de cane fields and de woods and I runs dis -way and dat way. I twists 'round so he couldn't follow my tracks. Like -de snake's track, you can't tell if it am gwine north or comin' back. -Lawd a'mighty! How fast I runs. I stays 'head of my shadow. I tells you, -I's a-gwine! - -"De war? White man, we'uns didn't know dere am de war. We seed some -sojers at de start, but dat all. One day massa say to me, 'After dis, -you gits $15.00 de month wages. I works for him three more years and den -he sold out. Den I goes farmin' till 1905. I works in de packin' plants -here in Fort Worth den, till I's wore out, 'bout six year ago. Now I -raises de hawgs, not very many, and does what work I can git. Dat -pension from de State sho' holps me. With dat and de hawgs and de little -garden I gits by, and so I lives. - -"Was I ever marry? Man, man, three time. Fust time, 'bout 1869 and -we'uns gits de seperment in 1871. Dat woman sho' deal me mis'ry! She am -de troublin' woman. Den 'bout 1873 I marries 'gain and she die 'fore -long. Den in 1905 I marries 'gain and she's dead, too. I never has de -chillen. I's jus' 'lone and old now, and stay here till my time comes. I -'spect it quite a spell yit, 'cause I's got lots of substance left, yes, -sar." - - - - -William Watkins - - -*William Watkins, born 1850, to Julia and Hudson Watkins. All were -slaves on the Watkins plantation where William was born, on the edge of -Charlotte County, Virginia. William is tall, heavy set, and does not -look his age. He lives with William Branch, who came from an adjoining -county in Virginia. Both men served in the same campaigns in the United -States Army.* - -"My name is William Watkins. De name comes frum de name of Terbaccer -Watkins, who owned de Watkins Terbaccer Plantation. He got a factory in -Richmond and de plantation in Charlotte County in Virginia, 'bout 50 -mile east of Richmond. Marse Watkins got a big frame house and 400 acres -and 100 acres is terbaccer. Yassuh, dey's other crops--barley, wheat, -oats, and den dey's stock--hogs, cows, hosses and mules. - -"We lives in log cabins wid plank floors and we made de beds ourself. -Dey feeds us good and we gits milk and bread and lotsa pork. Marse -Watkins got lotsa hawgs. - -"Yassuh, we's got a church. De slaves built it in de woods. We never got -no wages but sometimes he give us four bits or six bits. What we do wid -it? We buys candy. Sometimes we run de rabbits or goes fishing. De -Marster gives us lil' patches of groun'. He's good but de overseer's -rough. He whips all de slaves. - -"Dey's a patrol what watches for slaves dat runs away, but we don't have -no patrol on our plantation. We has dances Sat'day nights. Sundays we -didn't wuk much. - -"Dey's ghosts dere--we seed 'em. Dey's w'ite people wid a sheet on 'em -to scare de slaves offen de plantation. We wears charms to keep us well. -Dere's asafoetida in a bag and we wear's it roun' de neck. It cure most -ev'ryting. When we gits real sick, dey sends medicine frum de big house. - -"Ev'ry year de slave traders comes and de Marster sells some slaves down -river to New Orleans. Who dey sell? Jes' no count slaves. Dey walks all -de way. De traders dey rides in ox-carts. We never wuk much Sundays, -only to milk de cows. Jes' dat. Yessuh, I was married on de plantation. -De preacher say de words and we's married. - -"Den de war come and de Yankees come down thick as leaves. Dey burns de -big house and de slave houses and ev'ryting. Dey turns us loose. We -ain't got no home nor nuthin' to eat, 'cause dey tells us we's free. - -"We's gotta leave de plantation. De Marster's gone, de crops is gone, de -stock's gone. We goes to anudder place and works on shares. De first -time we sees de Ku Klux is right after de war. Dey whips de slaves what -leaves de plantations, dey don' wan' dem to be free. - -"Bout 1870 I goes to Ohio and enlists in de army at Jefferson Barracks -and right off dey sends us to Texas to fight Indians. I goes to San -Antonio and dey puts me on guard at de Alamo to fight off de Indians. -Den I goes to Fort Davis. I'm in de cullud Indian Scouts, Co. K, and -dey's a banker name of Miller in de Chihuahua jail. One night de kuhnel -takes us from Fort Davis, and we marches all night wid guns and 150 -rounds of ammunition in belts, and rations for 30 days. We marches all -night long twel we gits to Del Norte, Texas(Presidio) and we crosses de -river and takes Mr. Miller out of jail. - - -[Illustration: _William Watkins_] - - -"While we's at Fort Davis a wagon train comes through de canyon and de -Apaches rolls big rocks down on de white people and kills 26 of dem. Dey -scalps all dey kills and we go out and fit de Apaches. De lieutenant is -killed in de fight. Yassuh, we fit Apaches all de time and when we goes -to Fort Concho dey gives us a fit all 'long de road. Den we fitten de -Cheyennes and dey is wust of all. Dey's great big Indians 'bout seven -feet tall and at de battle of de Wichita in de Indian Territory a -Cheyenne shoots an arrer through my wrist. (He exhibited the scar. Same -battle described in interview with Wm. Branch.) - -"Den after my wound heals we's sent to Fort Clark and de sergeant, Jeff -Walker, got it in for me. Kuhnel Andrews is at Fort Davis and Jeff -Walker trumps up some charges dat I'se mistrusted, so dey gives me a -dishonnuble discharge 'cause of dat Jeff Walker. I ain't had no court -martial nor no trial and I cain't git no pension 'count of de -dishonnuble discharge. - -"And now I'se strong and well but I cain't git no wuk 'cause I'se so -ole. And 'cause Jeff Walker didn't like me, I gits a dishonnuble -discharge." - - - - -Dianah Watson - - -*Dianah Watson, 102, was born a slave of Tom Williams, at New Orleans. -In 1870, Dianah went to Jefferson, Texas. She now lives with a married -daughter in the Macedonia Community, five miles northwest of Marshall, -Tex.* - -"My name am Dianah Watson and I used to keep my age, but I done got sick -and can't 'member it now. I can't say 'zactly how old I is but I's a -past-growed woman when the war broke out, and my old missy's daughter -done told me once out the book I's borned in 1835. - -"I's borned and bred 'bout a half mile from New Orleans. My mammy was -s*arah Hall and she's borned in Galveston, and my papa was Bill -Williams. My old missy done take me from my mammy when I's a small baby -and raised me to a full-growed woman. I slep' in the same room with my -young missy and had a good time in slavery, didn't suffer for nothin' -and never was cut and slashed like some. Me and Miss Laura come right up -together and I's her own nigger slave. - -"Massa Williams treated his black folks with 'spect. They was in the -field from 'fore day till dark, but they was took good care of and fed -and plenty clothes. Old Master Tom done the bossin' hisself and when -he's dyin' he calls all his five boys to his bed and say, 'Boys, when -I's gone, I don*t want no cuttin' and slashin' my niggers. They's got -feelin' same as us.' - -"But the oldes' boy, William, got the debbil in him and hires a -overseer, and he rid in the fields with a quirt and rope and chair on -his saddle. When he done take a notion to whip a nigger, he'd make some -the men tie that nigger to the chair and beat him somethin' scand'lous. -He got mad at my mother's sister, Aunt Susie Ann, and beat her till the -blood run off her on the ground. She fall at his feets like she passed -out and he put up the whip and she trips him and gits the whip and whips -him till he couldn't stand up. Then some the niggers throwed him off a -cliff and broke his neck. His folks gits the sheriff but master's boys -orders him off the place with a gun. There warn't no more overseers on -the place after that. - -"If niggers of these days done see what I seed in slavery time they'd -pray and thank they Gawd every day. My master's place sot right 'cross -the big road from a place they cut and slashed they niggers. You'd hear -that white man's black folks bellerin' like cows. I's stood many a time -on our front gallery and seed them cut and slash the blood off them -niggers. I seed old women half-bent from beatin's goin' to the field. -They overseer had a wooden paddle with nails in it. I used to say to -missy, 'Why they cuttin' and slashin' them black folks that-a-way?' -Missy say, 'Dianah, that there white man got the debbil in him.' - -"I seed them sell my mama. I ask my old missy why and she say, 'To go to -her husband.' - -"When the war broke out I's a full-growed woman. New Orleans was full of -sojers and they wouldn't let us go to town. Me and young Mr. Tom used to -git on the roof and watch them. The cannons was roarin' like thunder and -smoke thick and black as clouds. I got scart when they sot the niggers -free, at the niggers shoutin'. I didn't know what 'twas for. Old Miss -say to me, 'They been in slavery but you don't know what slavery is, -Dianah.' - -"Two years after that my old miss carries me to Galveston to my mammy. -She tell her to take good care of me and we lived there three years and -moved to Jefferson. Our things come by boat but we come in wagons. I -married John Smith purty soon after that but he died 'fore long. Then I -married Noah Watson and now he's dead. I done raise six chillen but only -one am livin' now and that's my younges' gal and I lives with her here. - -"I tells the young race iffen they come up like me they wouldn't act so -smart. They needs somebody to take the smartness outten them. But my gal -am good to me. I gits a pension and pays it to her to take care of me. I -been here a hundred years and more and I won't stay much longer, and I -don't want to be no 'spense to nobody." - - - - -Emma Watson - - -*Emma Watson, born in 1852 or 1853, in Ellis Co., Texas, was one of the -slaves of the Carl Forrester family. Emma worked in the fields most of -her life, but is now too old to work, and is cared for by her daughter. -They live at 318 Allen St., Dallas, Texas.* - -"I axed my old missus when I's borned and she rec'lect I'm eight or nine -year old when de freedom war starts. She say she don't make recall de -'xact time, but I takes May for a birthin' time. They's a time when some -sich was writ in de Bible, but it got burnt up 'fore I's ageable. I -knows where I'm borned, though, and it am on Capt. Forrester's farm in -Ellis County. His mother, Miss Susan, raises me like she am my mammy. I -calls her Sis Sue. She was old miss and Miss Lee was young miss. - -"My paw, I don't know nothin' 'bout. My sister Anna and me, us have de -same paw, but my mammy's sold out of Miss'sippi 'way from my paw 'fore -my birthin'. My maw kept de name of Lucindy Lane, but Martha and Jennie, -my other sisters, had diff'rent paws. - -"I's gone through so much of hard times all my life, but when I's de -li'l gal I didn't have much to do 'cept tend my Aunt Matilda's babies -and wash they clothes. The rest the time I jes' plays round. Miss Lee -have a china doll with a wreath of roses round it head. We takes turns -playin' with it. I had a rag doll, and it jes' a bundle of rags with -strings tied round it to give it a shape. Us make playhouses. Capt. -Forrester goes away and I heared he gone to some war, but, law me, I -didn't know 'bout war den. - -I's jus' glad to play and eat anythin' I can git. When I git a tin can -of clabber and some bread, that's what I wanted. They didn't buy no -dishes for nigger young'uns to break up. Us et bacon and beef and salt -pork and cornbread with us fingers. Mussel shells is what we dipped -'stead of spoons. I did love de souse, too. - -"When I had de chills, Sis Sue, dat Old Miss, come out to de quarters -and give me sweet milk boiled with pepper. I got shut of dem chills -'cause I didn't like dat pepper tea, but I like it better'n quinine or -sage tea. I didn't like to be sick noways, 'cause dey jus' two -bedsteads, one for my mammy and my step-paw, and one for us gals. - -"They allus promise me they'll larn me to read and write, but never did -git to dat. Aunt Matilda did most de spinnin' and weavin' and sewin'. I -used to wear a shimmy and a dress in de week and a clean one for Sunday. -In winter sometimes us have a li'l sacque and homemake calfskin shoes -but mostly us have to stay inside iffen de weather ain't mod'rate. - -"De only frolics I 'member was candy pullin's on Christmas. Dat all us -niggers knowed 'bout Christmas. - -"One day Miss Tilda git de buggy whip to whip my mammy. It's noontime, -and dey had blowed de horn for de field niggers to come eat. Maw grabs -de whip and says, 'Miss Tilda, you ain't gwine do dat.' Miss Tilda -didn't say nothin' for a day or two, den she say, 'Lucindy, you git your -young'uns and leave dis place.' So us goes walkin' down de road till us -come to some folk's house and dey takes us in. Us dere 'bout a month -when mammy git sick. Dem folks sends word to de Forresters dere niggers -am sick and Sis Sue hitch up de hoss and come over. She brung food for -us every day, and say, 'Now, Lucindy, when you git able you bring your -young'uns on home and 'have yourself.' My mammy dies when I's 'bout ten -year old. - - -[Illustration: _Emma Watson_] - - -"After Capt. Forrester come back home dey tell us to watch out for de -Feds. Sis Sue say dey kill nigger young'uns. One day I's comin' through -de fields and see three men in blue coats on big bay hosses. I ran, but -dey passes me by big as you please. I seed plenty after dat, 'cause dey -come and asks for corn and Sis Sue allus say us don't have 'nough for de -hosses. But dat night de corn allus leave de cribs. Dem Feds was sho' -thievin' folks. - -"I stays with de Forresters till I's 22 year old, and dey give me food -and clothes, but never no money. Sis Sue used to say, 'Come here, you -li'l old free nigger.' It make me so mad. But den I marries and have de -swiss white dress and us walk 'cross de fields to de preachers. Dat -every bit of fixin' us have. - -"Den us raise crops on de half-shares and sot up housekeepin' with a -bedstead, some quilts and a li'l old stove. I has four young'uns and -every one of dem had schoolin' and larnin'." - - - - -James West - - -*James West, 83, was born a slave to Mr. William West, near Ripley, in -Tippah Co., Mississippi. This was close to the battle fought near -Corinth and James witnessed some exciting events. In 1885 James came to -Texas and now lives with a friend at 1114 Hardy St., Fort Worth, Texas.* - -"Yes, suh, I 'members de slavery days and de War, 'cause I's born in -1854, on de plantation of Massa William West, in Mississip'. It weren't -a big plantation, jus' 'bout 100 acres, and Massa West owned my mammy -and four other slaves, Buck, Sam, Rufus and Mary. I don't know nothin' -'bout my pappy, 'cause I ain't never seed him, and my mammy never told -me nothin' of him. - -"All us cullud folks lived in cabins and they has two rooms. De bunks is -built to de wall and has straw ticks and we has floors and real windows. - -"Sam and Buck and Rufus am field workers and plants cotton and sich and -looks after de stock. Sometimes de work is heavy and sometimes not. When -it am finish, de massa lets 'em go fishin' or visitin' or rest. We goes -to church when we wants and we has parties with Sam and Rufus to play de -music, de fiddle and de banjo. How I wishes I could be back dere for -jus' one year and have it like befo'. Jus' one year befo' I die! - -"We has a good massa in every way. Him gives all we can eat. Folks don't -eat like we used to, 'cause we had home-cured hams, and when you put it -in your mouth, it was a treat for your taster. As for de clothes, massa -say, 'De 'terial here and if yous don't supply yourselves, its yous -fault.' - -"Dere never anyone what gits whippin's on massa's place, 'cept dis -nigger, but dey only spankin's. You see, dere was allus a bit of -devilment in me. But de massa so good, we all tries to please him and we -has no whippin's. - -"De massa gives me a he goat and de shoemaker makes me de harness and -cart for dat goat and when I gits him trained good, I has a job gittin' -de chips for kindlin' and de wood and I totes de water. One day I takes -Billy, de goat, 'cross de road for wood and it downhill from de woodpile -so I jus' rides de load. Billy was gwine jus' as nice as yous kin like, -but him says BAAH, and starts to run like a skeert bull. I thinks what -kin be wrong with dat fool goat, when somethin' hits me back of de neck -like a coal of fire, and de cart hits a rock and off I goes. To says I's -skeert am not tellin' de truf, and I starts hollerin'. It was de bee -stung me and when I gits to de house I looks Billy over and, sho' -'nough, on his hip was de bee sting. Dat bee sting sho' put de life in -Billy. - -"'bout de War time, de plantation was near whar dey fights a battle two -days and I seed lots of soldiers. Before dat, de soldiers begins to come -to massa's house and water de hosses and eat de lunch. Dey never did -raid his place like other places 'round dere, but I hides when dey -comes, 'cause I skeert of dem. I quavers and gits skeert when I sees -'em. - -"We is jus' settin' down to breakfast one mornin' and we hears a big -boomin'. When dat start, dis nigger don't eat his breakfast. I starts -for some place to hide. I runs to one place, den I hears de boom, den I -runs to another place. I finally crawls under de shed and dere I stays. -Dey couldn't git me out and dere I stays for dat day and night and 'til -noon de nex' day. I has no water or food. Lots of folks from Ripley what -massa knows was kilt in dat battle. - -"Buck and I goes to de battleground after de fightin' quits and dere was -heaps of dead hosses but dey had dug de trench and buried de dead -soldiers. - - -[Illustration: _James West_] - - -"I don' know about de Klux, but we use to sing a song 'bout de patter -rollers, like dis, - - 'Run nigger run, patter roller kotch you, - Run nigger run, 'cause it almos' day, - Dat nigger run, dat nigger flew, - Dat nigger los' his Sunday shoe.' - -"I stays with de massa after freedom 'til I's 21 year old and den I -leaves and works for diff'runt folks. I marries in Tennessee when I's 22 -and we has one chile, but my wife takes him when he's five and leaves, -and I never seen or heard of 'em since. I comes to Texas 'bout 52 year -ago. - -"I has 'joyed talkin' 'bout dem old days, 'cause talk am all I kin do -since my legs have de misery so bad." - - - - -Adeline White - - -*Adeline White, 90 odd years old, was born at Opelousas, Louisiana, a -slave of Dr. Bridget. She lives with her daughter, Lorena, in Beaumont, -Texas.* - -"I's born at Opelousas and my massa and missis was Dr. Bridget and his -wife. They was mean and they beat us and put the hounds after us. They -beat the little ones and the big ones and when massa ain't beatin' his -wife is. It am continual. My pappy call Thomas Naville and my mammy -'Melia Naville. They was born in Virginia. I had four brothers and two -sisters, all dead now. - -"Like I says, old massa sho' whip us and when he whip he put us 'cross a -barrel or chain us and stake us out with a rope. We didn't have much to -eat and not much clothes. They weave us clothes on the loom and make the -dress like a sack slip over the head. - -"Our cabin wasn't so bad, made of logs with dirt 'tween the logs. The -chimney make out of sticks and dirt and some windows with a wooden -shutter and no glass in 'em. Massa give 'em lumber and paint to make -things for the house and they have homemake bed and table and benches to -sit on. - -"Massa have the hoss power cotton gin and a hoss power sugar cane mill, -too. Us work hard all day in the gin and the sugar cane mill and doesn't -have no parties nor fun. Sometimes in the evenin' us git together and -talk or sing low, so the white folks won't hear. - - -[Illustration: _Adeline White_] - - -"I 'member going through the woods one time and seein' somethin' black -come up 'fore me. It must a been a ghost. I got a boy call' Henry what -live in Welch and he kin see ghosties all the time. He jus' look back -over he lef' shoulder and see plenty of 'em. He say they has a warm heat -what make him sweat. - -"Old massa didn't go to the war and his boys was too little. We jus' -heared about the war and that it was goin' to free us. In the night us -would creep out way in the woods and have the prayer meetin', prayin' -for freedom to come quick. We has to be careful for if massa find out he -whip all of us, sho'. We stays nearly all night and sleeps and prays and -sleeps and prays. At las' we hears freedom is on us and massa say we are -all free to go, but if we stay he pay us some. Most of us goes, for that -massa am sho' mean and if we doesn't have to stay we wouldn't, not with -that massa. - -"We scatters and I been marry twice. The first man was Eli Evans in -Jennings, in Louisiana and us have six chillen. The second man he James -White but I has no more chillen. Now I lives with my gal what called -Lorena and she make me happy. She sho' good to her old mammy, what ain't -much good no more." - - - - -Sylvester Sostan Wickliffe - - -*Sylvester Sostan Wickliffe, of Ames, Texas, was born in St. Mary's -Parish, Louisiana, in 1854. A free-born Negro, Wickliffe tells an -interesting story about his life and that of his uncle, Romaine Vidrine, -who was a slave-holder. Wickliffe has a nicely furnished home in -Beaumont, and two of his children have been to college.* - -"I's what dey call a free-born nigger. Its a long story how dat come -about, but I can tell you. - -"Three Frenchmen come to Louisiana from France. In three generations dey -mix with Indians and Negroes. Dey high-born Frenchmen and 'cumulate -plenty property. Before dey die dey make 'greement 'mongst demselves. -When one die de property go to de other two; de last one livin' git all -three plantations and all dat's on dem. It so happen dat old man -Vidrine's daddy live longes', so he git it all. But he so good he divide -up and my daddy gits forty acres good land. My daddy's greatgrandpapa -was one dem first three Frenchmen. - -"My daddy was Michael and mama was Lucy and dey a whole passel chillen, -Frances, Mary, Clotilde, Astasia and Tom, Samuel, Gilbert and Edward. My -daddy was part Indian and I had some half-brothers and sisters what wore -blanket and talk Indian talk. Dey used to come see daddy and set round -and talk half de night and I never understan' a word dey sayin'. - -"Mama didn't have no Indian blood in her, but she born in Louisiana and -a right purty, brown-skin woman, probably some French or Spanish in her. - -"My uncle, Romaine Vidrine, de son of old man Vidrine, he have de -bigges' property. He was a slave-holder. Dey was a number niggers in -Louisiana what owned slaves. Romaine, he have 'bout thirty-eight. Dey -was a big dif'ence make 'tween slave niggers and owner niggers. Dey so -much dif'ence as 'tween white folks and cullud folks. My uncle wouldn't -'low slave niggers to eat at de same table with him or with any of us -free-born niggers. - -"Folks come down from de noth sometimes and mistook de slave for de -owner or de owner for de slave. My uncle was sech a purty, bright man, -he must of been a quadroon. He had long burnsides and a long tail coat -all de time. He was very dignified. He was good to all he slaves, but -when he say work, he mean work. He ain't never 'low none de slaves be -familiar with him. - -"De old Romaine house was a old*fashioned house make out of cypress. Dat -everlastin'. It come to a peak on top and dere was one big room what run -de whole length in de back and dat de sleepin' room for all de li'l -chillen. De growed-up folks have sleepin' rooms, too. Dey have a cook -shack outside. It a sep'rate house. - -"Us live in a purty good house not very far from de big house. Dey have -what dey calls a private school. It was kep' by my uncle. Only de -free-born niggers went to it. De older ones educated in French and de -young ones in French and 'merican, too. After de war dey hire a white -man named William Devoe to be teacher. He educate de chillen to de third -gen'ration. He come to Texas with me and die 'bout five years ago. - -"When a couple want to git marry on de old Romaine place, uncle sent for -de priest from St. Martin. Dey wasn't no priest round Franklin or what -dey call New Iberia later. When I's most a growed boy de priest come -baptise 'bout forty of us. He use de water* out uncle's cistern for de -ceremony. When us goin' down de road to de baptisin' dey's a squirrel -run 'cross de road and us chillen all broke and run to cotch it. Law, -dat jus' 'bout scare my old godmother to death. She took so much pain -dat us all nice and clean and 'fraid us git dirty. Her name was Nana -Ramon Boutet and she live here in Ames settlement for many year. Us -laugh many time 'bout dat squirrel. - -"Dey used to call us de free Mulattoes from 'cross de bayou. De nearest -town was Pattersonville and it five mile away. Now dey calls de -settlement Vidrinville for old man Romaine Vidrine. De plantation -suppor' a grist mill and a raw sugar mill. Dey make de sugar dark, big -grain, 'cause dey ain't no 'finery in dem days. Dey put de sugar in big -five hunerd pound hogshead and take it by boat down de Teche to New -Orleans and sell it. Dey use de money to buy coffee and cotton. Us -didn't raise cotton. I never see no cotton till I's a big boy and come -to Fort LaFayette. - -"De grist mill was built 'way from de house. Dey have a long lever what -stand out de side and hitch hosses with a rawhide belt to make de mill -turn. Us folks all raise rice. Not like now, Lawdy, no. Dey jes' plant -rice in rows like corn and cultivate it like any other crop. Dey wasn't -no irrigation ditch. After de rice harves' dey put it in a mortar make -out a cypress log or block and knock de roughness off de rice with de -pestle. - -"Every fall us go huntin' deer round Chicimachi Lake. Dey calls it Grand -Lake now, but de reg'lar Indian name am Chicimachi. Dere was a tribe of -Indians by dat name. Dey wasn't copper skin, but more yaller like. - -"When war commence it purty hard on folks. Us see soldiers comin' 'cross -de bayou in blue suits. Dey raid de sugar mill and take de livestock and -foodstuff on de Pumphrey place. Dey have a awful battle five mile away. -Dat at Camp Boesland, on de Teche. Dat a awful battle! My brother go -dere next day and see soldiers standin' up dead 'gainst trees with dey -bay'nets still sot. - -"De Confed'rates come and took all de slaves to build de fort at -Alexandria. When dey come to de Romaine place dey see niggers, and ain't -know which free and which slaves. Dey line my daddy up with deothers, -but a white man from town say, 'Dat a good, old man. He part Indian and -he free. He a good citizen. He ain't s'pose do work like dat.' So dey -didn't take him. - -"De Yankees damage de Romaine property 'siderable. Dey take a whole year -crop of sugar and corn and hosses. Afterwards dey pass a law and de -gov'ment 'low money for dat. It was 'bout twenty year before dey git de' -money, but dey git it. Romaine and he heirs git $30,000 for dem damages. - -"After war over, old man Romaine tell he slaves dey free now. But he -say, 'You is most born right here and iffen you is bright you stay right -here.' Dey all did stay. But dey ain't never git to jine with de -free-born. Dey still make a dif'ence. - -"After freedom I 'cide to larn a trade. I 'prentice myself to de -blacksmith trade for clothes and board. I larn all I can in three year -and quit and open a shop on Bayou Tortue, 'tween St. Martin and -Lafayette. I charge $2.00 for to shoe a hoss all de way round. Den I -beat plows, build two-wheel buggy and hack. I make sweepstocks and -Garrett and Cottman plow. Dat after de time of de wood mould boards. I -make mine with metal. - -"I come to Texas in 1890, to Liberty, and been right round dere and Ame -for forty-seven year. I start me a gin and blacksmith shop when I first -come. I marry in Houston to Epheme Pradia, 'nother free-born nigger, and -I still marry to her after forty-seven year. Dat a good long hitch. We -have seven chillen, all livin'. One gal went to de Catholic church -school in Galveston. One boy go to Pradeau University in New Orleans. -Dey two blacksmith, one farmer, one good auto mechanic and de three gals -keeps house. - -"I 'member lots of songs us sing in French but I can't give 'merican for -dem. I know de song, _LaLoup Garou_. I try to translate one song for -you: - - "Master of de house - Give me meat without salt; - When de stranger come, - He give me roast chicken." - - - - -Daphne Williams - - -*Daphne Williams was born in Tallahassee, Florida, a slave to Mrs. Nancy -Herring. Daphne does not know her exact age, but must be close to or -over 100. She claims to have witnessed the fall of the stars in 1833. -She lives in Beaumont, Texas.* - -"It won't be long 'fore I's sleeping the long sleep. I expect I's about -the mos' agreeables person in the county, 'cause I's so old. I's born in -Tallahassee, in Florida, but I don' know when. The Herrings used to own -me and I took their name. Missus' name was Nancy Herring and the marster -was still alive when I's born, but he die when I's a baby. I guess I's -about 10 or 12 year old when us come to Texas. - -"Dat place where I's born was sho' a place! They have a three-story -house with a porch at the front and another at the back. They was -posties what stand from one porch floor to the nex' and brace it up. I -used to live in the big house, 'cause I's nuss for the white chillen. I -didn' stay round with cullud folks a-tall. - -"The missus was a widow woman ever since I 'member her. She have two boy -and three gal, and that sho' was a lovely house. They have they ownself -painted in pictures on the wall, jus' as big as they is. They have them -in big frames like gold. And they have big mirrors from the floor to the -ceilin'. You could see you ownself walk in them. - -"My mother was named Millie and my daddy named Daniel. I don' know how -many niggers missus have on the plantation. I was never 'lowed to play -with the cullud chillen, but I have two brothers named Abram and Handy -and I seed them sometimes. I took care of the white chillen and took 'em -to church. Iffen baby git to cryin' I walked round with him, but you -better be careful not to let the briar scratch him or he git a scar on -him and then they gwinter put a scar on you. - -"They give me pretty clothes to wear and make me keep clean and -expectable. I wore homespun and gingham dresses, jus' cut straight down. -They didn' have no sewin' 'chine. They have a woman to cut out and sew -and she do that all day long. - -"My white folks have mighty nice company. My missus up on the top. They -have nice, fine, intelligen' dishes and table cloth. - -"They give us holiday on Christmas and sometimes a whole week. They -treat the white chillen and black chillen all good and give 'em whippin' -iffen they needs it. When there's disturbance, missus holler, 'You all -chillen, come in here to me,' and whip us all, then she know she whip -the right one. - -"I seed the stars fall. God give me a good eyesight. The sun was shinin' -and it was plain daylight and the stars fall jus' like hail, only they -never fall all the way to the groun'. They fall so far and then they -stop and go out. They stay up in the element all the time. Missus sent -for the niggers to come up to the house and pray. All that time the -stars was a-comin' through the element. All the darkies, little and big, -was a-prayin' on their knees, 'cause they thing the jedgment sho' come -then. - -"Before us move from Florida us git mos' us goods for clothes from North -and South Carolina. The war commence in North Caroline to the good of my -recollection. That was six month or a year after us lef' Florida. They -was a-tryin' to smuggle it down then. When the missus 'cided come to -Texas she sent the niggers on ahead and they done make two crops 'fore -us git there. The place was five mile from Woodville. We come to Texas -in a boat what's big as a house. When the boat git there I was so 'cited -when I seed all the pretty trees. I never mever used to trees, 'cause -from where us come was jus' prairie land far's you kin see. No tree -round Tallahassee and no hill. - -"My mother was cook and when she like to die one time they starts -breakin' me in to do the cookin'. Then when she die I was cook and been -doing that two, three year when freedom come. - - -[Illustration: _Daphne Williams_] - - -"When they tol' us freedom come us thought they was foolin'. My uncle -say we's free and to go and look out for number one. They let us stay -awhile, but they 'lowanced us. Iffen us spen' the 'lowance us jus' had -to go rustle up something to eat or do without. My daddy was a widow man -by then and he stay, 'cause he say he want to see further into the -subjec'. - -"One time I gwineter see my father and had my baby in my arms, 'cause I -done married. I was gwine through the wilderness and I heared something -squall like a woman cry. I 'gin walk faster. The squall come again. -Something say to me, 'You better run.' The hair commence stand on my -head and I walk pretty peart. That squall come again and I run fastes' I -knows how. I have that poor little baby carried any way. - -When I get to the fence I jump over and sot down. The chillen come -running and say, 'Yonder Daphne.' They help me into the house but I's so -scart I couldn' tell 'em till near bedtime and then I say I hear squall -like woman cryin'. Mister Goolsbee say, 'Daphne, make soun' like you -hear,' and I makes a squall, and he say, 'That a panther and iffen he -kotched you that would have been the end of you and that baby of yourn -what you was totin'.' So 'bout four o' clock in that mornin' he gits -'bout fourteen neighbors and the dawgs and they hunts that rascal and -runs him in 'bout 8 or 10 o'clock. A span of mules couldn' pull that -rascal, I don' 'lieve. He have the biggest tushes I ever seed with these -two eyes. They put him in a pot and bile him and make soap out of the -grease. That panther didn' git me or my baby but they got him and made -soap out of him." - - - - -Horatio W. Williams - - -*Horatio W. Williams, known as "Rash" to his friends, is 83 years old. -He was a slave of Woodruff Norseworthy, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Horatio -has lived in Jasper, Texas, for many years.* - -"I was born in slavery in Pine Bluff in de state of Arkansas, on July 2, -1854, and dey tells me dat make me 'bout 84 years old. Woodruff -Norseworthy was my owner and boss all de time I a slave. I marry in 1875 -and I lost my wife two year ago, and when a man looses a good woman he -loses somethin'. Us had 13 chillen, but only two of dem alive now. - -"My boss man was mean to he niggers and I 'member crawlin' down through -de woods and listenin' one time when he beat a nigger. Every time he hit -him he pray. Boss have 15 slaves and I recollect one time he gwine beat -my mother. She run to de kitchen and jump behin' de door and cover -herself up in de big pile of dirty clothes. Dey never think to look for -her there and she stay there all day. But de next day dey cotch her and -whip her. - -"Dem what runs away, dey gits bloodhounds after 'em. Dey clumb de tree -when dey heered dem hounds comin' but de massa make dem git down and dey -shoot dem, iffen dey didn't. When dey gits down de dogs jumps all over -dem and would tear dem to pieces, but de massa beats dem off. - -"Once de boss has company and one our niggers sleeps on de porch outside -de company's room, and in de night he slip in dat room and thiefed de -fine, white shirt out de suitcase and wears it round de next mornin'. - -"Course he couldn't read and he ain't know de [HW: white] man have he -name on dat shirt. When de boss find it out he takes dat nigger down in -de bottom and I crawls through de bresh and watches. Dey tie he foots -together over de limb and let he head hang down and beat him till de -blood run down on de roots of dat tree. When dey takes him down he back -look like raw meat and he nearly die. - -"Sometime when de nigger won't mind dey puts de chain to one foot and a -ball on it 'bout big as a nigger's head, and he have to drag it down -with him whe ever he go. - -"My white folks moved to Bastrop in Louisiana and den to Texas and brung -me with them. When us work in de field us have de cook what put us food -on big trays and carry it to de field, den we stop and eat it under -shade of a tree, if dey any. Dey give us bread and meat and syrup for -dinner and us has bacon long as it lasts. - -"When I's free I rents land and crops 'round, after I gits marry. Befo' -dat, I was here, dere and yonder, for my board and clothes and four bits -de day. I give all my chillen de eddication, leastwise dey all kin read -and write and dat's what I cain't do. - -"I 'longs to de Meth'dist church and I don't unndestan' some dese other -churches very well. Seems strange to me dat at dis late time dey's -tryin' find new ways of gittin' to Heaven." - - - - -Lou Williams - - -*Lou Williams, said to be the oldest citizen of San Angelo, Texas, was -born in southern Maryland in 1829. She and her family were slaves of -Abram and Kitty Williams, of that section, and Lou served as nursemaid -to her master's children from the age of eight until after the Civil -War. She then went to Louisiana where she worked as a cook for several -years before coming to San Angelo. She is very active for her 108 years -and is a familiar figure about town, with her crutch.* - -"I's have de bes' white folks in Maryland. I's born in a three-room -frame house and I had one of them statements (birth certificates). When -I five years old my old missy she say, 'Dat gal, she sho' am gwine be -dependable and I makes nursemaid out of her.' When I eight years old she -trusts me with dem white chillen. I loves to fish so well I'd take de -li'l chillen to de creek and take off my underskirt and spread it out on -de bank and put de chillen on it while I sho' cotch de fish. Massa, he -start lookin' for me and when he gits to de creek, he say, 'Dar's de -li'l devil.' He know dem chillen safe, so he jus' laugh. - -"In de fall massa puts us nigger chillen on de bale of cotton and takes -us to town and gives us money to buy candy and dolls with. We allus had -good food and lots of fish and rabbits and possums, but when my missy -see dem possums carryin' de baby possums round she fall out with possum -and she say, 'No more possum bein' cooked 'round here.' - -"When I jes' a li'l gal I seed de stars fall and when everything got -dark like and dem bright stars begin to fall we all start runnin' and -hollerin' to our missy and she say, 'Chillen, don't git under my coat, -git on your knees and start prayin', and when we begins to pray de Lawd -he sends a shower of rain and puts out dem stars or de whole world would -a been burned up. - -"When massa take us to town he say he want us to see how de mean slave -owners raffles off de fathers and de husban's and de mothers and de -wives and de chillen. He takes us 'round to de big platform and a white -man git up dere with de slave and start hollerin' for bids, and de slave -stands dere jes' pitiful like, and when somebody buy de slave all de -folks starts yellin' and a cryin'. Dem sho' was bad times. Our massa -wouldn't do his niggers dat way and we loved him for it, too. - -"We had big gardens and lots of vegetables to eat, 'cause massa had -'bout eight hundred slaves and 'bout a thousand acres in he plantation. -In summer time we wore jes' straight cotton slips and no shoes till -Sunday, den we puts on shoes and white dresses and ties a ribbon 'round -our waists, and we didn't look like de same chillen. - -"Dere a big arbor for de whites to go to church and we goes, too. When -we starts down de road to church, our mama, she start sayin' things to -make us be quiet. We pass de graveyard and she say, 'See dat spirit -runnin' 'long here with us?' When we gits dere we hardly moves. We could -jine, if we wants to. - -"My mama, she Black Creek Indian and none of dem white folks wants her. -When massa buys my daddy and us chillen we had done been sold 'way from -her and we cry and she cry, and den she follow us to our plantation and -cry and beg our massa let her stay. He say, 'She ain't no good but put -her in de house and let her do some patchin' and mendin'.' Mama, she cry -and say, 'Thank God, Thank God! I's git to be with my husban' and li'l -chillen.' She make de good spinner and weaver and old missy, she say she -couldn't do without her, 'cause she spin cotton cloth for summer and -woolen cloth for winter. - -"Niggers didn't have much weddin's, but when massa find dem takin' up he -tells everybody to dress in white and de two what was takin' up together -has to march up and down till de big supper comes off. Dey was man and -wife den, but me, I's diff'rent. I's had a 'spectable weddin', 'cause -missy, she say I's her nursemaid. De preacher, he reads, and I's all -dressed in white clothes and sech a supper we never had befo'. - -"All de slaves wasn't so lucky as we was, though. We lives close to de -meanest owner in de country. Our massa wouldn't keep no overseer, 'cause -he say his niggers wasn't dogs, but dis other man he keeps overseers to -beat de niggers and he has de big leather bullwhip with lead in de end, -and he beats some slaves to death. We heared dem holler and holler till -dey couldn't holler no mo! Den dey jes' sorta grunt every lick till dey -die. We finds big streams of blood where he has whopped dem and when it -rained de whole top of de ground jes' looks like a river of blood dere. -Sometime he bury he niggers and sometime de law come out and make him -bury dem. He put dem in chains and stockades and sometimes he would buck -and gag dem. - - -[Illustration: _Lou Williams_] - - -"We seed he niggers goin' by our plantation with de oven on de heads -'round three o'clock in de mornin' on de way to de fields. Dese ovens -made of wood and tin over de tin cup dat fit de slaves' heads. Each -nigger have he bread and some old hairy bone meat a-cookin' with fire -coals in dese ovens. Dey made not to burn de head and when dey gits to -de fields dey sets dem down to finish cookin' while dey works till -breakfast time. De mamas what expectin' babies was whopped to make dem -work faster and when babies was sick dey has to put dem in de basket on -top dere heads and take dem to de cotton patch, and put dem under de -cotton stalks and try to 'tend to dem. Lawd, Lawd, dem was awful times, -and I sho' is glad I has good white folks. - - -[Illustration: _Lou Williams' House_] - - -"Some dat man's niggers allus runnin' 'way and dey sets de nigger dogs -on dem and catch dem mos' times. Den dey treat 'em so bad dey wouldn't -never want to run away no more. - -"We allus gits Saturday evenin' off to wash our clothes and sometime we -has dances Saturday night. I has two brothers, Jim and William and -William git kilt in de war. My two sisters named Relia and Laura. We has -corn shuckin's and big suppers and on Christmas our massa buys us de -present, most times shoes, 'cause we didn't have any shoes. - -"When de white folks dies or gits married everybody sho' carries on big. -When we sick dey gives us snakeroot tea and cana and sage tea and if -we's bad sick, dey gits de doctor. Missy, she make hog hoof tea, jes' -bile de hoofs in good whiskey for de cold. Den she put camphor ball and -asafoetida 'round our necks to keep off diseases. - -"When de war ends we sees a white man comin' down de road on a hoss and -de road full of niggers followin' him, singin' and shoutin' and prayin'. -I stays with massa till he die, then I marries and has one chile and one -grandchile, and I lives with her." - - - - -Millie Williams - - -*Millie Williams, 86, lives at 1612 E. Fourth St., Fort Worth, Texas. -She was born a slave to Joe Benford, in Tennessee, was sold to Bill -Dunn, who brought her to Texas and traded her to Tommy Ellis for some -land. She has lived in Fort Worth since the 1870's.* - -"I don't know when I was born, 'cause I was taken from my folks when I -was a baby, but massa told me I was born in de spring of de year, in -1851. I know I been in dis world a long time, but I has have good white -folks. I was born on Massa Benford's place in Tennessee and my mama's -name was Martha Birdon. She say my pappy's name Milton Wade, but I never -seed him. And I didn't know my mama a long time, 'cause she's sold away -from Massa Benford's place, and I was sold with her, den he took me -back, and I never seed my mama no mo'. - -"After I was sold back to Massa Benford, he puts me in de nigger yard. -Dat whar de massa kep' slaves what he traded. It was jus' a bunch of -shacks throwed together and dirty was no name for it, it was worse than -a pig pen. De man what watch over us in dat nigger yard was de meanest -man what ever lived. He'd take a club and beat de daylight out of us, -'cause de club wouldn't leave scars like de bullwhip, and didn't bring -de price down when we is sold. - -"One day Massa Benford takes us to town and puts us on dat auction block -and a man name Bill Dunn bought me. I was 'bout seven years old. Talkin' -'bout somethin' awful, you should have been dere. De slave owners was -shoutin' and sellin' chillen to one man and de mama and pappy to -'nother. De slaves cries and takes on somethin' awful. If a woman had -lots of chillen she was sold for mo', 'cause it a sign she a good -breeder. - -"Right after I was sold to Massa Dunn, dere was a big up-risin' in -Tennessee and it was 'bout de Union, but I don't know what it was all -about, but dey wanted Massa Dunn to take some kind of a oath, and he -wouldn't do it and he had to leave Tennessee. He said dey would take de -slaves 'way from him, so he brought me and Sallie Armstrong to Texas. -Dere he trades us to Tommy Ellis for some land and dat Massa Ellis, he -de best white man what ever lived. He was so good to us we was better -off dan when we's free. - -"Massa Ellis' plantation was one of de bigges', and he owned land as far -as we could see. Dere was 'bout 50 slaves and we lived in a row of log -cabins long side de big house. In winter we sleeps inside but in summer -we sleeps in de yard, and de same 'bout eatin'. Sometimes massa fed good -and den 'gain he didn't, but dat 'cause of de War. We has cornbread and -milk and all de coffee you would drink. On Sundays we fills de pot half -full of meat and shell peas on top de meat. - -"I 'member de time we steals one of massa's big chickens and its in de -pot in de fireplace when we seed missy comin'. I grabs dat chicken and -pot and puts it under de bed and puts de bedclothes top dat pot. Missy, -she come in and say, 'I sho' do smell somethin' good.' I say, 'Whar, -Missy Ellis?' She don't find nothin' so she leaves. When she's gone I -takes dat chicken and we eats it in a hurry. - -"De overseer woke 'em up 'bout four in de mornin', but I works in de -house. De field workers gits off Thursdays and Saturday evenin's and -Sunday. De reason dey gits off Thursday is dat de massa has some kind of -thought we shouldn't work dat day. Maybe it was 'ligion, I don't know. - -"We has parties and sings - - 'Massa sleeps in de feather bed, - Nigger sleeps on de floor; - When we'uns gits to Heaven, - Dey'll be no slaves no mo'.' - -"Den we has de song 'bout dis: - - 'Rabbit in de briar patch, - Squirrel in de tree, - Wish I could go huntin', - But I ain't free. - - 'Rooster's in de henhouse, - Hen's in de patch, - Love to go shootin', - But I ain't free.' - -"When de nigger leaves de plantation without no pass, and de padder -rollers kotched him, dey gives him 39 licks with de bullwhip. When we's -in de fields and sees de padder roller ride by, we starts murmerin' out -loud, 'Patter de pat, patter de pat.' One after 'nother took it up and -purty soon everybody murmerin'. We allus do dat to let everybody know de -padder roller 'round. Den we sing songs 'bout 'em, too. - - -[Illustration: _Millie Williams_] - - -"When War start dere a army camp jus' below de plantation, and 'bout a -thousand soldiers. We hears 'em shout, 'Halt, march, halt, march,' all -day long. Dey sung - - 'Lincoln's not satisfied, - He wants to fight 'gain, - All he got to do, - Is hustle up his men.' - -"I stays with Massa Ellis after we's freed. Dere sho' was a mighty purty -sight when de slaves knows dey's free. Dey hug one 'nother and almos' -tear dere clothes off. Some cryin' for de husban', and some cryin' for -de chillen. - -"When I was 'bout 20 I lef' massa's home and moves to Dallas, whar I -marries my first man. His name was Bill Jackson. He lef' me and goes -back to Dallas and I hear he die, so I marry Will Williams and he dies. -Now I been here since de Lawd know when." - - - - -Rose Williams - - -*Rose Williams is over 90. She was owned by William Black, a trader -whose plantation lay in Bell County, Texas. Rose and her parents were -sold in 1860 to Hall Hawkins, of Bell County. Rose was forced to mate -with a slave named Rufus when she was about sixteen, and had two -children by him, one born after Rose was freed. She forced Rufus to -leave her and never married. For the last ten years Rose has been blind. -She lives at 1126 Hampton St., Fort Worth, Texas.* - -"What I say am de facts. If I's one day old, I's way over 90, and I's -born in Bell County, right here in Texas, and am owned by Massa William -Black. He owns mammy and pappy, too. Massa Black has a big plantation -but he has more niggers dan he need for work on dat place, 'cause he am -a nigger trader. He trade and buy and sell all de time. - -"Massa Black am awful cruel and he whip de cullud folks and works 'em -hard and feed dem poorly. We'uns have for rations de cornmeal and milk -and 'lasses and some beans and peas and meat once a week. We'uns have to -work in de field every day from daylight till dark and on Sunday we'uns -do us washin'. Church? Shucks, we'uns don't know what dat mean. - -"I has de correct mem'randum of when de war start. Massa Black sold -we'uns right den. Mammy and pappy powerful glad to git sold, and dey and -I is put on de block with 'bout ten other niggers. When we'uns gits to -de tradin' block, dere lots of white folks dere what came to look us -over. One man shows de intres' in pappy. Him named Hawkins. He talk to -pappy and pappy talk to him and say, 'Dem my woman and chiles. Please -buy all of us and have mercy on we'uns.' Massa Hawkins say, 'Dat gal am -a likely lookin' nigger, she am portly and strong, but three am more dan -I wants, I guesses.' - -"De sale start and 'fore long pappy am put on de block. Massa Hawkins -wins de bid for pappy and when mammy am put on de block, he wins de bid -for her. Den dere am three or four other niggers sold befo' my time -comes. Den massa Black calls me to de block and de auction man say, -'What am I offer for dis portly, strong young wench. She's never been -'bused and will make de good breeder.' - -"I wants to hear Massa Hawkins bid, but him say nothin'. Two other men -am biddin' 'gainst each other and I sho' has de worryment. Dere am tears -comin' down my cheeks 'cause I's bein' sold to some man dat would make -sep'ration from my mammy. One man bids $500 and de auction man ask, 'Do -I hear more? She am gwine at $500.00.' Den someone say, $525.00 and de -auction man say, 'She am sold for $525.00 to Massa Hawkins.' Am I glad -and 'cited! Why, I's quiverin' all over. - -"Massa Hawkins takes we'uns to his place and it am a nice plantation. -Lots better am dat place dan Massa Black's. Dere is 'bout 50 niggers -what is growed and lots of chillen. De first thing massa do when we'uns -gits home am give we'uns rations and a cabin. You mus' believe dis -nigger when I says dem rations a feast for us. Dere plenty meat and tea -and coffee and white flour. I's never tasted white flour and coffee and -mammy fix some biscuits and coffee. Well, de biscuits was yum, yum, yum -to me, but de coffee I doesn't like. - -"De quarters am purty good. Dere am twelve cabins all made from logs and -a table and some benches and bunks for sleepin' and a fireplace for -cookin' and de heat. Dere am no floor, jus' de ground. - -"Massa Hawkins am good to he niggers and not force 'em work too hard. -Dere am as much diff'ence 'tween him and old Massa Black in de way of -treatment as 'twixt de Lawd and de devil. Massa Hawkins 'lows he niggers -have reason'ble parties and go fishin', but we'uns am never tooken to -church and has no books for larnin'. Dare am no edumcation for de -niggers. - -"Dere am one thing Massa Hawkins does to me what I can't shunt from my -mind. I knows he don't do it for meanness, but I allus holds it 'gainst -him. What he done am force me to live with dat nigger, Rufus, 'gainst my -wants. - -"After I been at he place 'bout a year, de massa come to me and say, -'You gwine live with Rufus in dat cabin over yonder. Go fix it for -livin'.' I's 'bout sixteen year old and has no larnin', and I's jus' -igno'mus chile. I's thought dat him mean for me to tend de cabin for -Rufus and some other niggers. Well, dat am start de pestigation for me. - -"I's took charge of de cabin after work am done and fixes supper. Now, I -don't like dat Rufus, 'cause he a bully. He am big and 'cause he so, he -think everybody do what him say. We'uns has supper, den I goes here and -dere talkin', till I's ready for sleep and den I gits in de bunk. After -I's in, dat nigger come and crawl in de bunk with me 'fore I knows it. I -says, 'What you means, you fool nigger?' He say fer me to hush de mouth. -'Dis am my bunk, too,' he say. - -"You's teched in de head. Git out,' I's told him, and I puts de feet -'gainst him and give him a shove and out he go on de floor 'fore he know -what I's doin'. Dat nigger jump up and he mad. He look like de wild -bear. He starts for de bunk and I jumps quick for de poker. It am 'bout -three foot long and when he comes at me I lets him have it over de head. -Did dat nigger stop in he tracks? I's say he did. He looks at me steady -for a minute and you's could tell he thinkin' hard. Den he go and set on -de bench and say, 'Jus wait. You thinks it am smart, but you's am -foolish in de head. Dey's gwine larn you somethin'. - -"'Hush yous big mouth and stay 'way from dis nigger, dat all I wants,' I -say, and jus' sets and hold dat poker in de hand. He jus' sets, lookin' -like de bull. Dere we'uns sets and sets for 'bout an hour and den he go -out and I bars de door. - -"De nex' day I goes to de missy and tells her what Rufus wants and missy -say dat am de massa's wishes. She say, 'Yous am de portly gal and Rufus -em de portly man. De massa wants you-uns for to bring forth portly -chillen. - -"I's thinkin' 'bout what de missy say, but say to myse'f, 'I's not gwine -live with dat Rufus.' Dat night when him come in de cabin, I grabs de -poker and sits on de bench and says, 'Git 'way from me, nigger, 'fore I -busts yous brains out and stomp on dem.' He say nothin' and git out. - -"De nex' day de massa call me and tell me, 'Woman, I's pay big money for -you and I's done dat for de cause I wants yous to raise me chillens. I's -put yous to live with Rufus for dat purpose. Now, if you doesn't want -whippin' at de stake, yous do what I wants.' - -"I thinks 'bout massa buyin' me offen de block and savin' me from bein' -sep'rated from my folks and 'bout bein' whipped at de stake. Dere it am. -What am I's to do? So I 'cides to do as de massa wish and so I yields. - -"When we'uns am given freedom, Massa Hawkins tells us we can stay and -work for wages or share crop de land. Some stays and some goes. My folks -and me stays. We works de land on shares for three years, den moved to -other land near by. I stays with my folks till they dies. - -"If my mem'randum am correct, it am 'bout thirty year since I come to -Fort Worth. Here I cooks for white folks till I goes blind 'bout ten -year ago. - -"I never marries, 'cause one 'sperience am 'nough for dis nigger. After -what I does for de massa, I's never wants no truck with any man. De Lawd -forgive dis cullud woman, but he have to 'scuse me and look for some -others for to 'plenish de earth." - - - - -Steve Williams - - -*Steve Williams was born a slave of the Bennett family in 1855. They -were residents of Goliad County, Texas and owners of only a small bunch -of slaves. He and the other slaves were driven away hurriedly after the -soldiers had threatened the slave owners for not having turned the -slaves loose as soon after emancipation as they should have. Steve -worked around his old home for his victuals and clothes a few years, -then drifted about the country as a farm hand, finally landing in San -Angelo, Texas where he worked for awhile as cook at a barbecue stand. He -now lives alone in the back yard of his niece and is hardly able to get -in and out of his small cabin on his crutches.* - -Steve relates the story of his life as follows: - -"I wasn't very big when I was a slave. Fact is, we was set free 'fore I -was big enough to remember much about how dey does but I's hear my -mother tells 'bout dem Louisiana slave holders, dem what had dem -drivers. Now dey was sho' rough on dem. My mother's name was Charlotte -Williams and my father he was name Bill and dey belong to de Williams -dere, you see, and was sold to Mr. Bennett and brought to Goliad. Dats -how come I's named Williams and my marster named Bennett. Our little log -huts was put up 'round in de back yard and our beds was home-made, jes' -kind of plank scaffolds like. Our beddin' wasn't too good, jes' fair -cotton beds. Ole marster's folks dey have big feather beds and a nice -log house. - -"I never seen any money when I was a boy to 'mount to anything and for a -long time after dat war I never seen too much. - -"We had pretty good to eat such as vegetables from de boss's garden and -plenty of all kinds of meats. Some of de colored folks likes 'possum de -best but I always likes coon. Jes' bile him, den bake him good and brown -and aint no 'possum can come up wid dat. - -"We had good homespun clothes and some times we have shoes. - -"I never did see none of the slaves sold but I hear my mother tells -'bout how horrible dat was. I didn' learn much readin' and writin' -'cause no body never teach me none. - -"We goes to camp meetin' after de war but not much, den dat was de white -folks meetin'. - -"On Christmas we usually have a shoat and cakes and lots of fiddlin' and -dancin'. - - -[Illustration: _Steve Williams_] - - -"Slaves didn' have no weddin's. De boss he jes' puts dem in a cabin and -gives dem a wife and dey all calls dat married. Fact is, dey jes' wasn' -so much marryin' done 'mong de colored. - -"When we hear we was free we hear it from some of de other slaves and we -was held longer den some in de north, but one day our boss comes from -town and he say to his wife, he say, 'Dem soldiers say iffen we don't -git dem niggers 'way from here dey goin' come out here and sweeps us out -of de cradle.' - -"He sho' got busy den. He comes out and he say, 'You all git, I mean git -from here'. So we jes' scatters 'round, here and yonder, not knowin' -'zactly what to do. Some of us works on one farm and some on another for -a little co'n or some clothes or food. Finally I works 'round 'til I -comes to San Angelo, Texas and I cooks barbecue for a long time 'til I -jes' finally breaks down. Now, I don' try to do nothin' but jes' hobble -'round a little on my ole crutches." - - - - -Wayman Williams - - -*Wayman Williams does not know his age, but he was a small boy when the -slaves were freed. He was born in Mississippi, but the first place he -remembers is the Sanama plantation on the Trinity river, in Texas. He -now lives on North Falls St., in Mart, Texas.* - -"I was one of four chillen of Calvin and Julia Williams, of de state of -Mississippi, when they was first married, 'fore they come to Texas. But -de earlies' 'lection I has, was livin' on a plantation belongin' to a -Mr, Sanama. It was on de Trinity river, right down in de bottoms. My -folks stayed on dere after freedom and I lived with dem till I was -nearly growed. Dere massa give dem supplies and let dem work a piece of -land and they give him half de crop. - -"I 'member times us go huntin' and kill most anything we want, wild -turkeys and wild hawgs and deer. My father used to go out and kill deer -and not git out of sight of de house. Livin' was easier den now, for we -had all dem things without havin' to buy dem. I 'member de bear hunts. -We had great big, brindle dogs for de bears and dey surroun' him and -stand him at bay till de men came and kill him. - -"A man by name of Burton lived near us, and one day he sent one he boys -to town on a little race hoss. On de way home dat boy crossin' de river -bottom and a panther git after him, and he race he hoss and outrun dat -panther. He Jump off de hoss and run in de house and lock de door. De -panther try to git in and de men in de field hear he cries and shoots -him. In dose days de men took guns to de fields. - -"They cotched wolves and bears in traps but de panther was de most -dang'rous animal us have to fight. Us never know when he goin' to -strike. One our neighbors go to town after a turkey and on he way home a -panther was sittin' in a tree by de road, and he make a lunge at de man -and grab de turkey and tear de man's arm. Once my grandpa ridin' 'long -one night, crossin' de river, and a panther git after him. He had a fast -hoss and outran dat panther, and got to de house, and two our bear dogs -kep' it off till he shot it. I knows dese things am true, for they -happen jes' like I tell it. - -"Our house was close to de boat landin' on de river and my father helped -unload supplies from de boats, when he not workin' in de fields. Jedge -Beavers own de storehouse what kep' de supplies, and he ship he cotton -by boat to de Gulf, mostly to Galveston. - -"De 'Federate sojers pass our house and go to Jedge for him to give dem -something to eat and he allus did. Sometimes dey was men on hosses and -he give dem feed for de hosses. Once a crowd young fellows comin' home -from de war on hosses and dey got supplies, and de Jedge give dem a -little toddy for to make dem feel good. Dey feels so good dey gits some -ribbon from de store and tie it to de hosses heads and rides off, with -dat ribbon jes' a-streamin' from de hosses mane. - -"De Jedge enjoy all day. He felt like dey been fightin' for him and dey -welcome to what he have. It was de common thing for de sojers to stop at -the house and ask for food or to sleep. Sometimes niggers come, what run -away to de North 'fore freedom. Dey done got tired of dat cold weather -up dere and when freedom come, dey ready to come back home. - -"When de slaves sot free, dey have big times, and feel like dey not work -at all. But when old massa give dem a place to farm and tell dem iffen -dey don't work dey won't eat, dey stays with him and works de crops on -halves, mostly. De nigger do de work and massa feed him and give him -team and tools, den massa git half de crop. - -"De slaves what went up North and come back, tell how dey call -'Contrabands' up dere. Dey didn't know what it mean, but dey come back -anyway. - -"Some white school teachers from up North come to teach de chillen, but -dey didn't talk like folks here and didn't understan' our talk. Dey -didn't know what us mean when us say 'titty' for sister, and 'budder' -for brother, and 'nanny' for mammy. Jes' for fun us call ourselves big -names to de teacher, some be named General Lee and some Stonewall -Jackson. We be one name one day and 'nother name next day. Until she git -to know us she couldn't tell de diff'rence, 'cause us all look alike to -her. Us have good times tellin' her 'bout black magic and de conjure. Us -tell her night birds full of magic and dere feathers roast in ashes work -spells what kill evil conjure. If a rabbit run 'cross de path, turn your -hat round and wear it hind part befo' to keep bad luck away. A buzzard's -claw tie round de baby's neck make teethin' easy. De teacher from de -North don't know what to think of all dat. But our old missy, who live -here all de time, know all 'bout it. She lets us believe our magic and -conjure, 'cause she partly believe it, too. - -"I lives in dat place till I's a big boy and den works for Mr. John -Mergersen and a Mr. Porter. Dey come from Mississippi right after -freedom and was jes' like homefolks. So I works for dem till I gits -married and starts out for myself. - -"I 'member some songs my mammy and old missy larnt me. One go like dis: - - "'De top bolls ain' open, - De bottom bolls am rotten. - I can't git my number here, - I has to quit and go 'way. - - "'When de sun go down and de moon go up, - Iffen I can't git my number, I can't git my pay.' - -"When I was little, my father split de rails out of trees to make -fences, and I have an aunt what was de big woman, and she holp. She have -a song what go like dis, and when she sing, she come down on a rail, -'biff'. - - "'Times are gittin' hard,' (biff) - Money's gittin scarce,' (biff) - Times don't git no better here,' (biff) - I bound to leave dis place.' - -"But when de big meetin' goin' on, dis one de songs dey likes to sing: - - "'As I went down in de valley to pray, - I met de debbil on my way, - What you reckon he say to me? - You're too young to die, - And too young to pray, - I made him a lie, and kep' on my way.' - -"We raised corn and cotton and potatoes and lots of vegetables and -fruit. We didn't have no wheat, so we couldn't have flour and it too -high to buy. All dem what could buy it, was de landowner. - -"When de corn gathered, us pile it in piles and have corn shuckin' at -night, cook our supper and all eat together and listen to de stories -tell by de old folks. When dey git de piles of corn ready for shuckin', -dey lay a rail in de middle and 'vide de piles, and de side what git -through first git supper first. De song go like dis: - - "'Hits a mighty dry year, when de crab grass fail, - Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail? - Hit am mighty dark night when de nigger turn pale, - De big foot nigger what laid dat rail! - Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail? - Rinktum, ranktum, laid dat rail. - Show me de nigger what laid dat rail, - Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail? - - "'When de niggers fuss, de white folks fail, - Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail? - We're gittin' dere now, don't tell no tale, - Show me de nigger what laid dat rail. - I'll stick he head in a big tin pail. - Oh, turn me loose, let me tech dat rail, - Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail? - -"First us have white preachers and den, after freedom, de niggers starts -to git up in meetin' and talk to sinners, and dey call dem 'Exhorters.' -De white folks larnt de exhorters to read de Bible and some songs, and -de niggers all larn de songs, too. De exhorter git up and read de -scripture and it 'bout King Neb'kudneezer, when he have a golden image -with silver horns, and all de kings and rulers come and bow down 'fore -dat image, 'cepting three. Dem was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Dey -would not bow down, so de old king throw dem in de furnace and dey not -burn up, and dey say, 'De Gawd us worship am able to deliver us from de -fiery furnace.' - - -[Illustration: _Wayman Williams and Henry Freeman_] - - -"Den de exhorter say: 'Now, you no count niggers, what you mean stealin' -de white folks chickens and watermillions? Dey ain't safe no longer dan -de white man back am turned. Do you think Gawd would save you? No, sir! -You be turned into de pillar of salt iffen you don't stop you -unrighteous ways, and den where you be? You won't see no dancin' or hear -no chickens hollerin'. Come on into de pearly gates and live right. -Leave your stealin' and cussin' and dancin' to de debbil, and come to de -mourners' bench. - - "'Let de sun of salvation shine square on you face, - Fight de battles of de Lawd, fight soon and fight late, - And you'll allus find de latch to de golden gate. - No use for to wait till tomorrow, - De sun mustn't sot on you sorrow, - Sin's sharp as a bamboo briar, - Ask de Lawd for to fotch you up higher.' - -"Dem songs was de gateway to enter, de pearly gateway. All de niggers -git on de mourners' bench and git saved." - - - - -Willie Williams - - -*Willie Williams, 78, was born a slave to Mr. William Maddox, who owned -about 90 slaves, including Willie's parents, five brothers and a sister. -The plantation was in Vermillion Parish, La., near Sparta. In 1867 Mr. -Maddox took Willie, who was still working for him, to Texas. Willie now -lives in Fort Worth.* - -"Dis nigger am 78 years old, and I's born in slavery, down in old -Louisiana. Marster William owned me, and he am de father of Marster Ed -Maddox what now runs de Maddox Milk and Ice Company here in Fort Worth. -I knowed him when him and dis nigger am tiny chiles. I goes and visits -with him often and we talks 'bout old times and sich. We laughs 'bout -some things and de tears come in de eyes 'bout some things. Him allus -give dis nigger de quarter or de half dollar for old times sake. - -"Marster William owns sich a big plantation dat it was miles and miles -'round and had 'bout 90 grown nigger slaves. I 'members it well and sho' -am glad for to tell yous 'bout it and how dey does. De marster have a -two-story house for his family and de place look like a town with all de -buildings. Dere was de nigger quarters with 30 cabins and de nursery for -de young niggers, de sheds and de smokehouse for de meat. Den dey have -de gin and de mill for to grin' de grist, de spinning house and de shoe -shop. - -"Marster have a nigger what make de shoes out of hides tanned dere off -de cattle what am killed for meat. Him makes good shoes, they las' a -long time, but they sure is tough on de feets. - -"Marster William raises de corn and rice and wheat and barley and -vegetables and honey, and lots of cotton. Dey works animals, de mules -and de oxen, but I seed de niggers hitched to de plow sometimes. But de -marster allus took good care of his niggers and him feeds plenty good -victuals. Every Sunday dey measures out de rations, 'cept de vegetables. -But if what dey give am not 'nough, we'uns calls for more. De marster -wants for we'uns to have plenty. - -"All us am given de pass for to go to de church or to de party and -dere's a place near de quarters for de dance and sich. Some fool niggers -sneaks off without de pass sometimes and gits catched by de patter -rollers and gits couple passes from de whup. - -"One time de niggers puts one on dem patter rollers. Dere am de dance -and some niggers has no pass and de patter rollers am a-comin'. De -niggers 'cide to best 'em and one gits de pan of hot ashes and when dem -patter rollers comes to de door de ashes am thrown in de face. De -niggers all rush out and knocks de rollers down, and de niggers am gone. -Dats once de niggers 'prise de rollers. - -"On dat plantation dere am sort of hospital fix for to care for de sick. -Dey uses herbs and sich and sometimes calls de doctor. De small chillens -is kep' dere and de marster sho' am 'ticular 'bout dem. Lots of times he -look dem over and say, 'Dat one be worth a t'ousand dollars,' or 'Dat -one be a whopper.' You see, 'twas jus' like raisin' young mules. - - -[Illustration: _Willie Williams_] - - -"On dat plantation, dere am no weddin' 'lowed for to git married. Dey -jus' gits married, but some not 'lowed to git married, 'cause de marster -anxious to raise good, big niggers, de kind what am able to do lots of -work and sell for a heap of money. Him have 'bout ten wenches him not -'low to git married and dey am big, strong women and de doctor 'xamine -dem for de health. Den de marster picks out de big nigger and de doctor -'xamine him, too. Dat nigger do no work but watch dem womens and he am -de husban' for dem all. De marster sho' was a-raisin' some fine niggers -dat way. - -"As for de whippin', dey gives dat punishment. Dey straps de nigger over -de barrel but de marster don't 'low for to draw de blood. - -"Durin' de War, dere am de shortage of food and one time we is 'bliged -eat all de chickens, and 'twarnt hard to do. We hunts de wild hawg and -wild turkey and de deer and sich. - -"When freedom come, dey tell all us niggers we's free and we can stay or -leave and work for wages if we stay. Three year after freedom de marster -sells de plantation and comes to Fort Worth and I and five other niggers -still with him. I works for him 'til he dies, 'bout 50 year ago." - - - - -Lulu Wilson - - -*Lulu Wilson, blind, bedridden Negro, does not know her age, but -believes that she is ninety-seven. She was born near the Mammoth Cave, -in Kentucky. Lulu owns a little home at 1108 Good Street, Dallas, -Texas.* - -"Course I's born in slavery, ageable as I am. I'm a old time, slavery -woman and the way I been through the hackles, I got plenty to say 'bout -slavery. Lulu Wilson says she knows they ain't no good in it and they -better not bring it back. - -"My paw warn't no slave. He was a free man, 'cause his mammy was a full -blood Creek Indian. But my maw was born in slavery, down on Wash Hodges' -paw's place, and he give her to Wash when he married. That was the only -woman slave what he had and one man slave, a young buck. My maw say she -took with my paw and I's born, but a long time passed and didn't no more -young'uns come, so they say my paw am too old and wore out for breedin' -and wants her to take with this here young buck. So the Hodges sot the -nigger hounds on my paw and run him away from the place and maw allus -say he went to the free state. So she took with my step-paw and they -must of pleased the white folks what wanted niggers to breed like -livestock, 'cause she birthed nineteen chillen. - -"When I's li'l I used to play in that big cave they calls Mammoth and -I's so used to that cave it didn't seem like nothin' to me. But I was -real li'l then, for soon as they could they put me to spinnin' cloth. I -'members plain, when I was li'l there was talk of war in them parts, and -they put me to spinnin' and I heared 'em say it was for sojers. They -marched round in a li'l, small drove and practices shootin'. - -"Now, when I was li'l they was the hardes' times. They'd nearly beat us -to death. They taken me from my mammy, out the li'l house built onto -they house and I had to sleep in a bed by Missus Hodges. I cried for my -maw but I had to work and wash and iron and clean and milk cows when I -was most too li'l to do it. - -"The Hodges had three chilluns and the olderes' one they was mean to, -'cause she so thickheaded. She couldn't larn nothin' out a book but was -kinder and more friendly like than the rest of the lot. Wash Hodges was -jes' mean, pore trash and he was a bad actor and a bad manager. He never -could make any money and he starved it out'n the niggers. For years all -I could git was one li'l slice of sowbelly and a puny, li'l piece of -bread and a 'tater. I never had 'nough to stave the hongriness out'n my -belly. - -"My maw was cookin' in the house and she was a clink, that am the bes' -of its kind. She could cuss and she warn't 'fraid. Wash Hodges tried to -whop her with a cowhide and she'd knock him down and bloody him up. Then -he'd go down to some his neighbor kin and try to git them to come help -him whop her. But they'd say, 'I don't want to go up there and let Chloe -Ann beat me up." I heared Wash tell his wife they said that. - -"When maw was in a tantrum, my step-paw wouldn't partialise with her. -But she was a 'ligious woman and 'lieved time was comin' when niggers -wouldn't be slaves. She told me to pray for it. She seed a old man what -the nigger dogs chased and et the legs near off him. She said she was -chased by them bloody hounds and she jus' picked up a club and laid they -skull open. She say they hired her out and sold her twice but allus -brung her back to Wash Hodges. - -"Now, Missus Hodges studied 'bout meanness more'n Wash done. She was -mean to anybody she could lay her hands to, but special mean to me. She -beat me and used to tie my hands and make me lay flat on the floor and -she put snuff in my eyes. I ain't lyin' 'fore Gawd when I say I knows -that's why I went blind. I did see white folks sometimes what spoke -right friendly and kindly to me. - -"I gits to thinkin' now how Wash Hodges sold off maw's chillun. He'd -sell 'em and have the folks come for 'em when my maw was in the fields. -When she'd come back, she'd raise a ruckus. Then many the time I seed -her plop right down to a settin' and cry 'bout it. But she 'lowed they -warn't nothin' could be done, 'cause it's the slavery law. She said, 'O, -Lawd, let me see the end of it 'fore I die, and I'll quit my cussin' and -fightin' and rarin.' My maw say she's part Indian and that 'countable -for her ways. - -"One day they truckled us all down in a covered wagon and started out -with the fam'ly and my maw and step-paw and five of us chillun. I know -I's past twelve year old. We come a long way and passed through a free -State. Some places we druv for miles in the woods 'stead of the big -road, and when we come to folks they hid us down in the bed of the -wagon. We passed through a li'l place and my maw say to look, and I seed -a man gwine up some steps, totin' a bucket of water. She say, 'Lulu, -that man's your paw.' I ain't never think she's as consid'ble of my -step-paw as of my paw, and she give me to think as much. My step-paw -never did like me, but he was a fool for his own young'uns, 'cause at -the end of the wars when they sot the niggers free, he tramped over half -the country, gatherin' up them young'uns they done sold 'way. - -"We went to a place called Wadefield, in Texas, and settled for some -short passin' of time. They was a Baptist church next our house and they -let me go twict. I was fancified with the singin' and preachin'. Then we -goes on to Chatfield Point and Wash Hodges built a log house and covered -it with weather boarding and built my maw and paw quarters to live in. -They turned in to raisin' corn and 'taters and hawgs. I had to work like -a dog. I hoed and milked ten cows a day. - -"Missus told me I had ought to marry. She said if I'd marry she'd togger -me up in a white dress and give me a weddin' supper. She made the dress -and Wash Hodges married me out'n the Bible to a nigger 'longin' to a -nephew of his'n. I was 'bout thirteen or fourteen. I know it warn't long -after that when Missus Hodges got a doctor to me. The doctor told me -less'n I had a baby, old as I was and married, I'd start in on spasms. -So it warn't long till I had a baby. - -"In 'twixt that time, Wash Hodges starts layin' out in the woods and -swamps all the time. I heared he was hidin' out from the war and was -sposed to go, 'cause he done been a volunteer in the first war and they -didn't have no luck in Kentucky. - -"One night when we was all asleep, some folks whooped and woke us up. -Two sojers come in and they left more outside. They found Wash Hodges -and said it was midnight and to git 'em something to eat. They et and -some more come in and et. They tied Wash's hands and made me hold a lamp -in the door for them to see by. They had some more men in the wagon, -with they hands tied. They druv away and in a minute I heared the -reports of the guns three or four times. Nex' day I heared they was -sojers and done shot some conscripts in the bottoms back of our place. - -"Wash Hodges was gone away four years and Missus Hodges was meaner'n the -devil all the time. Seems like she jus' hated us worser than ever. She -said blobber-mouth niggers done cause a war. - -"Well, now, things jus' kind of drifts along for a spell and then Wash -Hodges come back and he said, 'Well, now, we done whop the hell out them -blue bellies and that'll larn 'em a lesson to leave us alone.' - - -[Illustration: _Lulu Wilson_] - - -"Then my step-paw seed some Fed'ral sojers. I seed them, too. They -drifted by in droves of fifty and a hundred. My step-paw 'lowed as how -the Feds done told him they ain't no more slavery, and he tried to pint -it out to Wash Hodges. Wash says that's a new ruling, and it am that -growed-up niggers is free, but chillun has to stay with they masters -till they's of age. - -"My maw was in her cabin with a week old baby and one night twelve Klu -Kluxses done come to the place. They come in by ones and she whopped 'em -one at a time. - -"I don't never recall just like, the passin' of time. I know I had my -little boy young'un and he growed up, but right after he was born I left -the Hodges and felt like it's a fine, good riddance. My boy died, but he -left me a grandson. He growed up and went to 'nother war, and they done -somethin' to him and he ain't got but one lung. He ain't peart no more. -He's got four chillun and he makes fifty dollars a month. I'm crazy -'bout that boy and he comes to see me, but he can't holp me none in a -money way. So I'm right grateful to the president for gittin' my li'l -pension. I done study it out in my mind for three years and tell him, -Lulu says if he will see they ain't no more slavery, and if they'll pay -folks liveable wages, they'll be less stealin' and slummerin' and goin's -on. I worked so hard. For more'n fifty years I waited as a nurse on sick -folks. I been through the hackles if any mortal soul has, but it seems -like the president thinks right kindly of me, and I want him to know -Lulu Wilson thinks right kindly of him." - - - - -Wash Wilson - - -*Wash Wilson, 94, was born a slave of Tom Wilson, in Louisiana, near the -Ouachita Road. Wash and his family were purchased by Bill Anderson, who -brought them to Robertson Co., Texas. Wash lives in Eddy, Texas.* - -"I was 'bout eighteen years old when de Civil war come. Us calls it de -Freedom War. I was born in Louisiana, clost to de Ouachita Road, and -Marse Tom Wilson owned mammy and us chillen. But Marse Bill Anderson he -come from Texas to buy us from Marse Tom. Marse Tom, he 'lowed de -gov'ment gwine let dem damn Yankees give de South a whuppin' and dere -wasn't gwine be no slaves nowhere. But Marse Bill say we's a likely -bunch of chillen and mammy am a grand cook, so guess he take de resk. - -"Marse Tom starts to Texas where he had a passel of land. Us was sold on -de block to him, 'cause Marse Tom say he gwine git all he done put in us -out us, iffen he can 'fore de Yanks take dis country. - -"Mammy was named Julia Wilson. Sis Sally was oldest of us chillen, den -brudder Harry and me. Marse Bill he had 27,000 acres of land in -Robertson County what he git for fightin' Indians and sech. He lived in -seven mile of Calvert, Texas, and dat where he brunged us and de -supplies and sech. Us traveled in ox carts and hoss back, and de mos' us -niggers walked. - -"Us was sot free on de road to Texas. Us camp one night and some folks -come talk with Marse Bill. De next mornin' he told us, 'Boys, you's free -as I is.' Us was only 'bout sixteen mile from where us gwine and Marse -Bill say, 'All what want to stay with me can.' Us didn't know nobody and -didn't have nothin' and us liked Marse Bill, so all us stayed with him. -When we got to his place us did round and 'bout, clearin' new ground and -buildin' cabins and houses. Dere was three log houses but us had to -build more. - -"My pappy name was Bill Wilson. All my folks am dead now, but on de -plantation in Louisiana we had a good time. Mammy could cook and spin -and weave. Dey raised cotton and sugar cane and corn. - -"Dere wasn't many Indians when us come, in our part de country. All I -ever saw jes' steal and beg. Dere was plenty wild turkeys and wild hawgs -and deer and prairie chickens. - -"On Marse Bill's place every quarters had its barn and mule, but Marse -and he wife, Miss Deborah, lived in de quality quarters. Round dem was -de blacksmith shop and smokehouse and spinnin' house and Marse Bill have -a li'l house jus' for he office. De cookhouse was a two-room house side -de big house with a covered passage to de dinin' room. De milk house was -de back part de cook house. - -"In de smokehouse was hams and sides of hawg meat and barrels of syrup -and sugar and lard, and bushels of onions, and de 'tater room was allus -full. Dey dug a big place and put poles and pieces of cane and lumber -cross, like a top, and put dirt and leaves and banked de dirt round de -'tater room. Dey'd leave a place to crawl in, but dey kep' it tight and -dem 'taters dey kep' most all winter. - -"Dey was hayricks and chicken roosties and big lye hoppers where us put -all de fireplace ashes. Come de rain and de water run through dat hopper -into de trough under it, and dat make lye water. De women put old meat -skins and bones and fat in de big, iron pot in de yard and put in some -lye water and bile soap. Den dey cut it when it git cold and put it on -de smokehouse shelves to dry. Dat sho' fine soap. - -"Mammy worked in de kitchen mostly and spin by candlelight. Dey used a -bottle lamp. Dat a rag or piece of big string, stuck in de snuff bottle -full of tallow or grease. Later on in de years, dey used coal oil in de -bottles. Sometimes dey wrap a rag round and round and put it in a pan of -grease, and light dat for de lamp. Dey used pine torches, too. - -"De black folks' quarters was log cabins, with stick and dirt chimneys. -Dey had dere own garden round each cabin and some chickens, but dere -wasn't no cows like in Louisiana. Dere was lots of possums in de bottoms -and us go coon and possum huntin'. I likes cornbread and greens, cook -with de hawg jowls or strip bacon. Dat's what I's raised on. Us had lots -of lye hominy dem days. Marse Bill, he gwine feed everybody good on his -place. Den us had ash cake, make of corn meal. Us didn't buy much till -long time after de War. - -"Us had poles stuck in de corner and tied de third pole cross, to make -de bed. Dey called 'Georgia Hosses'. Us filled ticks with corn shucks or -crab grass and moss. Dey wasn't no cotton beds for de niggers, 'cause -dey wasn't no gins for de long time and de cotton pick from de seed by -hand and dat slow work. De white folks had cotton beds and feather beds -and wool beds. - -"Marse Bill allus had de doctor for us iffen de old woman couldn't git -us well. All de seven families Marse Bill done buy in Louisiana stayed -round him and he family till dey all dead, white and cullud. I's de -onlies' one left. - -"Us piled 'bout a hundred or two or maybe three hundred bushels corn -outside de shed. Us have corn shuckin' at night and have de big time. De -fellow what owned de corn, he give a big supper and have all de whiskey -us want. Nobody got drunk, 'cause most everybody carry dey liquor purty -well. After shuckin' us have ring plays. For music dey scratch on de -skillet lids or beat bones or pick de banjo. Dere be thirty to fifty -folks, all cullud, and sometimes dey stay all night, and build de big -fire and dance outdoors or in de barn. - -"Dere wasn't no music instruments. Us take pieces a sheep's rib or cow's -jaw or a piece iron, with a old kettle, or a hollow gourd and some -horsehairs to make de drum. Sometimes dey'd git a piece of tree trunk -and hollow it out and stretch a goat's or sheep's skin over it for de -drum. Dey'd be one to four foot high and a foot up to six foot 'cross. -In gen'ral two niggers play with de fingers or sticks on dis drum. Never -seed so many in Texas, but dey made some. Dey'd take de buffalo horn and -scrape it out to make de flute. Dat sho' be heared a long ways off. Den -dey'd take a mule's jawbone and rattle de stick 'cross its teeth. Dey'd -take a barrel and stretch a ox's hide 'cross one end and a man sot -'stride de barrel and beat on dat hide with he hands, and he feet, and -iffen he git to feelin' de music in he bones, he'd beat on dat barrel -with he head. 'Nother man beat one wooden side with sticks. Us 'longed -to de church, all right, but dancin' ain't sinful iffen de foots ain't -crossed. Us danced at de arbor meetin's but us sho' didn't have us foots -crossed! - -"When de niggers go round singin' 'Steal Away to Jesus,' dat mean dere -gwine be a 'ligious meetin' dat night. Dat de sig'fication of a meetin'. -De masters 'fore and after freedom didn't like dem 'ligious meetin's, so -us natcherly slips off at night, down in de bottoms or somewheres. -Sometimes us sing and pray all night. - -"I voted till I's 'bout forty five year old, den I jes' kinder got out -de habit. - -"I got married in a suit of doeskin jeans, ain't none like dem nowadays. -I married Cornelia Horde and she wore a purty blue gingham de white -folks buyed and made for her. Us had six chillen, Calvin and Early and -Mary and Fred and Frank. - -"Iffen you knows someone workin' a conjure trick 'gainst you, jes' take -some powdered brick and scrub the steps real good. Dat'll kill any -conjure spell, sho'. De bes' watchdog you can get for de hoodoo is a -frizzly chicken. Iffen you got one dem on de place, you can rest in -peace, 'cause it scratches up every trick lay down 'gainst its owner. -Iffen you see dat frizzly chicken scratchin' round de place, it a sho' -sign you been conjured. A frizzly chicken come out he shell backwards, -and day why he de devil's own. - -"De old folks allus told me to make a cross inside my shoe every mornin' -'fore leavin' de house, den ain't no conjurer gwine git he conjure -'gainst you foots. Iffen you wear you under clothes wrong side out, you -can't be conjured. 'nother way am to put saltpetre in de soles you -shoes. Iffen you wears a li'l piece de 'peace plant' in you pocket or -you shoe, dat powerful strong 'gainst conjure. A piece of de Betsy bug's -heart with some silver money am good. But iffen you can't git none dose, -jes' take a piece newspaper and cut it de size of you shoe sole and -sprinkle nine grains red pepper on it. Dere ain't no hoodoo gwine ever -harm you den, 'cause he'd have to stop and count every letter on dat -newspaper and by dat time, you gwine be 'way from dere. - - -[Illustration: _Wash Wilson_] - - -"Iffen you want to find de conjure tricks what done been sot for you, -jes' kill you a fat chicken and sprinkle some its blood in da conjure -doctor's left palm. Den take you forefinger and hit dat blood till it -spatter, and it gwine spatter in da direction where dat trick am hid. -Den when you find de trick, sprinkle a li'l quicksilver over a piece of -paper and put da paper on de fire, and dat trick gwine be laid forever. - -"Old folks done told me how to make a conjurer leave town. Make up a -hick'ry fire and let it burn down to coals. Den you take up two live -coals. One dese gwine be you, and de other gwine be de luck. Take up one -dead coal, and dat you enemy. Den you jes' keep 'wake till de rooster -crow or midnight. Dat am de end of de day. Now you chunk de live coal -what am you to de south, de warm country; den throw de other live coal -to de east; den chunk de dead coal, you enemy, to de north, de cold -country. Nothin' of de conjurer can't git over fire, and 'fore de week -out, dat conjurer be leavin'. - -"A old Indian who used to hang round Marse Bill's place say to git de -best of a conjurer, git some clay from da mouth a crawfish hole, and -some dirt from a red ant's hole. Mix dem and wet dem with whiskey or -camphor. Git some angleworms and boil dem and add de worm water to de -clay and dirt. Iffen you rubs de conjured pusson with dis, he trouble -done go 'way." - - - - -Willis Winn - - -*Willis Winn claims to be 116 years old. He was born in Louisiana, a -slave of Bob Winn, who Willis says taught him from his youth that his -birthday was March 10, 1822. When he was freed Willis and his father -moved to Hope, Arkansas, where they lived sixteen years. Willis then -moved to Texarkana and from there to Marshall, where he has lived -fourteen years. Willis lives alone in a one-room log house in the rear -of the Howard Vestal home on the Powder Mill Road, north of Marshall, -and is supported by an $11.00 per month old age pension.* - -"The onliest statement I can make 'bout my age is my old master, Bob -Winn, allus told me if anyone ask me how old I is to say I's borned on -March the tenth, in 1822. I's knowed my birthday since I's a shirt-tail -boy, but can't figure in my head. - -"My pappy was Daniel Winn and he come from Alabama, and I 'member him -allus sayin' he'd like to go back there and get some chestnuts. Mammy -was named Patsy and they was nine of us chillen. The five boys was me -and Willie and Hosea and two Georges, and the gals was Car'lina and Dora -and Anna and Ada, and all us lived to be growed and have chillen. - -"Massa Bob's house faced the quarters where he could hear us holler when -he blowed the big horn for us to git up. All the houses was made of logs -and we slept on shuck and grass mattresses what was allus full of -chinches. I still sleep on a grass mattress, 'cause I can't rest on -cotton and feather beds. - -"We et yellow bread and greens and black-eyed peas and potlicker and -sopped 'lasses. Us and the white folks all cooked in fireplaces. A big -iron pot hung out in the yard for to bile greens and hog jowl and sich -like. We didn't know nothing 'bout bakin' powder and made our soda from -burnt cobs. That's jes' as good soda as this Arm and Hammer you get in -the store. We et flour bread Sundays, but you daren't git cotch with -flour dough 'cept on that day. Mammy stole lots of it, though. She -rolled it up and put it round her head and covered it with her head-rag. -Wild game was all over the country, buffalo and bears and panthers and -deer and possum and coon. The squirrels 'most run over you in the woods. -We et at a long, wooden trough and it was allus clean and full of plenty -grub. We used buffalo and fish bones for spoons, and some et with they -hands. The grub I liked best was whatever I could git. - -Us slaves didn't wear nothing but white lowell cloth. They give us pants -for Sunday what had a black stripe down the leg. The chillen wore wool -clothes in winter, but the big folks wore the same outfit the year -round. They didn't care if you froze. - -"I can show you right where I was when the stars fell. Some say they -covered the ground like snow, but nary one ever hit the ground. They -fell in 'bout twelve feet of the ground. The chillen jumped up and tried -to cotch them. I don't 'member how long they fell, but they was shootin' -through the air like sky-rockets fer quite a spell. - -"Missy Callie had one gal and two boys and Massa Bob had three -overseers. He didn't have nigger drivers, but had his pets. We called -them pimps, 'cause they was allus tattlin' when we done anything. His -place was jes' as far as you could let your eyes see, 'bout 1,800 or -1,900 acres, and he owned more'n 500 niggers. - -"I still got the bugle he woke us with at four in the mornin'. When the -bugle blowed you'd better go to hollerin', so the overseer could hear -you. If he had to call you, it was too bad. The first thing in the -mornin' we'd go to the lot and feed, then to the woodpile till -breakfast. They put our grub in the trough and give us so long to eat. -Massa hollered if we was slow eatin'. 'Swallow that grub now and chaw it -tonight. Better be in that field by daybreak.' We worked from see to -can't. - -"I's seed many a nigger whipped on a 'buck and gag' bench. They buckled -'em down hard and fast on a long bench, gagged they mouth with cotton -and when massa got through layin' on that cowhide, the blood was runnin' -off on the ground. Next mornin' after he whip you, he'd come to the -quarters when you git up and say, 'Boy, how is you feelin'? No matter -how sore you is, you'd better jump and kick you heels and show how -lively you is.' Massa hated me to he dying day, 'cause I told missy -'bout him whippin' a gal scandously in the field, 'cause she want to go -to the house to her sick baby. Missy Callie didn't whip us, but she'd -twist our nose and ears nearly off. Them fingers felt like a pair of -pinchers. She stropped on her guns and rode a big bay horse to the -field. - -"Massa had a gin and I hauled cotton to Port Caddo, on Caddo Lake. I -druv eight mules and hauled eight bales of cotton. Massa followed me -with two mules and two bales of cotton. I usually had a good start of -him. The patterrollers has cotched me and unhitched my mules and druv -'em off, leavin' me in the middle of the road. They'd start back home, -but when they overtook massa they stopped, 'cause he druv the lead -mules. He fetched 'em back and say, 'Willis, what happen?' He sho' -cussed them patterrollers and said he'll git even yet. - -"They was sellin' slaves all the time, puttin' 'em on the block and -sellin' 'em, 'cordin' to how much work they could do in a day and how -strong they was. I's seed lots of 'em in chains like cows and mules. If -a owner have more'n he needed, he hit the road with 'em and sold 'em off -to 'joinin' farms. None of 'em ever run off. They couldn't git away. I's -seed too many try it. If the patterrollers didn't cotch you, some white -folks would put you up and call your massa. They had a 'greement to be -on the watch fer runaway niggers. When the massa git you back home and -git through with you, you'd sho' stay home. - -"In slavery time the niggers wasn't 'lowed to look at a book. I larned -to read and write after surrender in the jail at Hot Springs, in -Arkansas. - -"They give us cake at Christmas and eggnog and 'silly-bug'. Eggnog is -made from whites of eggs and 'silly-bug' from yallers. You have to churn -the whiskey and yallers to make 'silly-bug'. - -"Corn shuckin's was the things them days. I liked to see 'em come. They -cooked up guineas and ducks and chickens and sometimes roast a pig. -Massa kept twenty, thirty barrels whiskey round over the place all the -time, with tin cups hangin' on the barrels. You could drink when you -want to, but sho' better not git drunk. Massa have to watch he corners -when cornshuckin' am over, or us niggers grab him and walk him round in -the air on their hands. - -"When some of the white folks died every nigger on the place had to go -to the grave and walk round and drap in some dirt on him. They buried -the niggers anyway. Dig a ditch and cover 'em up. I can show you right -now down in Louisiana where I was raised, forty acres with nothin' but -niggers buried on 'em. - -"I 'member lots 'bout the war but can't tell you all, 'cause every war -have its secrets. That war had four salutes, and you'd better give the -right one when you meet the captain. I's heared the niggers sing, 'Gonna -hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree.' My pappy fought in the last -battle, at Mansfield, and so did Massa Bob. - -"When the 'Federates come in sight of Mansfield they was carryin' a red -flag, and kept it raised till surrender. When the Yanks come in sight -they raised a white flag and wanted the 'Federates to surrender, but -they wouldn't answer. It wasn't long till the whole world round there -smelt like powder. Guns nowadays jus' goes 'pop-pop', but them guns -sounded like thunder. - -"After surrender, massa freed the men and missy freed the women, but he -didn't let us loose when he ought. They wasn't no places 'vided with -niggers as I heared 'bout. Niggers in Louisiana say Queen Elizabeth sent -a boatload of gold to America to give the free men, but we never seed -any of it. Massa give us each a barrel meal, a barrel flour, a side of -meat and ten gallons 'lasses and tell us we can work for who we pleases. -Daddy bought two cows and a horse and eight hawgs and a goat from massa -on credit and we moved and made three crops. - -"The Yanks stayed round Louisiana a long time after surrender. They come -to white folks houses what hadn't freed they slaves and busted they meal -and flour barrels and burn they meat and say, 'If we have to face you -'gain, we'll sweep you from the cradle up.' - -"I's been cotched by them Ku Kluxers. They didn't hurt me, but have lots -of fun makin' me cut capers. They pulls my clothes off once and make me -run 'bout four hunerd yards and stand on my head in the middle the road. - -"They is plenty niggers in Louisiana that is still slaves. A spell back -I made a trip to where I was raised, to see my old missy 'fore she died, -and there was niggers in twelve or fourteen miles of that place that -they didn't know they is free. They is plenty niggers round here what is -same as slaves, and has worked for white folks twenty and twenty-five -years and ain't drawed a five cent piece, jus' old clothes and somethin' -to eat. That's the way we was in slavery. - -"Bout four years after surrender pappy say he heared folks say gold was -covering the ground at Hope, Arkansas, so we pulled up and moved there. -We found lots of money where they'd been a big camp, but no gold. We -lived there sixteen years, then I came to Texarkana and worked twelve -years for G.W. George Fawcett's sawmill. I never married till I was old, -in Little Washington, Arkansas, and lived with my wife thirty-six years -'fore she died. We raised eighteen chillen to be growed and nary one of -'em was ever arrested. - - -[Illustration: _Willis Winn_] - - -"I was allus wild and played for dances, but my wife was 'ligious and -after I married I quieted down. When I jined the church, I burned my -fiddle up. I allus made a livin' from public road work since I left -Texarkana, till I got no count for work. The only time I voted was in -Hope, and I voted the 'publican ticket and all my folks got mad. - -"If it wasn't for the good white folks, I'd starved to death. 'Fore I -come here to the Vestals, I was livin' in a shack on the T. & P. tracks -and I couldn't pay no rent. I was sick and the woman made me git out. -Master Vestal found me down by the tracks, eatin' red clay. I'd lived -for three days on six tomatoes. I et two a day. Master Vestal went home -and his wife cooked a big pot of stew, with meat and potatoes, and -fetched it to me. Then they built a house down behind their back yard -and I's lived with 'em ever since. - -"I allus say the cullud race started off wrong when they was freed and -is still wrong today. They had a shot to be well off, but they can't -keep money. You give one a bank of money and he'll be busted tomorrow. I -tells young niggers every day they ought to come down where they'll have -some sense. I serves the Lord at home and don't meddle with 'em." - - - - -Rube Witt - - -*Rube Witt, 87, was a slave of Jess Witt of Harrison County, Texas. He -enlisted in the Confederate Army at Alexandria, La., and was sent to -Mansfield, but his regiment arrived after the victory of the North. He -worked for his master for a year after the war, then moved to Marshall -and worked for Edmund Key, Sr., pioneer banker and civic leader. Rube -cooked for eighteen years at the old Capitol Hotel in Marshall, and took -up preaching as a side line. He and his wife live at 707 E. Crockett -St., in Marshall. They receive a $15.00 pension.* - -"I was born on the Jess Witt place, right here in Harrison County, on -the tenth day of August, in 1850, and allus lived in and round Marshall. -My father and mother, Daniel and Jane, was bred and born in Texas, and -belonged to the Witts. I had five brothers, named Charlie and Joe and -George and Bill and Jim, and six sisters, named Mary and Susan and Betsy -and Anna and Effie and Lucinda. They all lived to be growed but I'm the -onliest chile still livin'. - -"Master Witt had a big place, I don't recall how many acres. He didn't -have so many slaves. Slavery was a tight fight. We lived in li'l cabins -and slept on rough plank beds and et bacon and peas and pa'ched corn. We -didn't hardly know what flour bread was. Master give us one outfit of -clothes to a time and sometimes shoes. We worked all day in the fields, -come in and fed the stock and did the chores and et what li'l grub it -took to do us and went to bed. You'd better not go nowhere without a -pass, 'cause them patterrollers was rolling round every bush. - -"My missus was named Kate and had two chillen. The Witts had a good set -of niggers and didn't have to whip much. Sometimes he give us a light -brushin' for piddlin' round at work. I seed plenty niggers whipped on -ole man Ruff Perry and Pratt Hughes places, though. They was death on -'em. Lawyer Marshall used to whip his niggers goin' and comin' every day -that come round. - -"I 'members white folks sayin' war was startin' 'bout keepin' slaves and -then I seed 'em mendin' the harness and wagons to go and fight. I was -the houseboy for the Witts durin' the war and 'bout time it was over I -enlisted at Alexandria as a soldier and they sent me to Mansfield. The -Yanks had done won the victory when our reg'ment got there. They turned -us loose to git home the best we could. I come back to the Witts and -master calls up all the slaves and says we was free, but if we stayed -and worked for him we'd have plenty to eat and wear, and if we left, -it'd be root, hawg or die. Most of 'em left but I stayed a year. You'd -ought to seed 'em pullin' off them croaker-sack clothes when master says -we's free. - -"I come to Marshall with my mother and the whole state was under United -States law. The 8th Regiment of Illinois was at Marshall for two years -after the war, and no man, black, white or red or what is you, darsn't -git cotched after dark without a pass. When they'd stop you, if you -couldn't give the U.S. sign, 'Grant's Friend,' they'd shoot the devil -out of you. You didn't pass 'less you knowed the sign. - -"The Confederates had a big gun powder mill on Mill's Creek, two and a -half miles north of Marshall and it stayed operatin' two or three years. -But Gen. Atichon and Capt. Bishop and Lt. Rives and a bunch of Yanks -tried to capture it and the Confederates blowed it up. - -"When I was 'bout sixteen my mother hires me out to a Mr. Acorns, who -was refugeed from Georgia to Marshall. Ole man Acorns was a mile of hell -anywhere you met him and he nearly beat me to death and I run away. His -son and him and 'nother man starts after me and I has to light a shuck. -We sho' had some race down that hill over where the new water tower is -in Sunny South, but they didn't cotch me. The white folks round here -didn't 'lieve us niggers was free then. - - -[Illustration: _Rube Witt_] - - -"Then I goes to work for Mr. Edmond Key, Sr., and stays with him till -I'm growed. I used to help chase rabbits where the court house is now. I -recalls the Buzzard Roost Hotel and some stores was on that square then. - -"I cooks for the old Capitol Hotel eighteen years, then I quit and tries -railroadin', but it didn't take long to decide to go back to the cook -apron. I allus made a livin' from cookin' and preachin', and I've -preached forty-five years. The only times I voted was for high sheriff -once and for President Garfield and President Grant. - -"I marries in 1915 and my wife is still with me. I'm too stove up with -rhumatis' now to work and her and me gits $15.00 a month from the -government." - - - - -Ruben Woods - - -*Ruben Woods, hale and strong despite his 84 years, was born a slave of -the John Woods family in Taladiga County, Alabama. He served as houseboy -in their home until he was 21, then came to Tyler, Texas, with one of -his master's children. He now lives in El Paso, Texas.* - -"I'se de oldest of seven chillen. My father was John Woods, mother Laura -Woods. She was a cook for de marster's family on de plantation. We lived -in a log house, logs was hewed in de woods. De marster's house was -plastered inside. He had 1,000 acres plantation and 96 slaves. He took -good care of 'em. Onct a week dey would come and dey allowanced 'em out -pervisions. Not fine stuff; no, dey didn' gib 'em nothin' like dat ham -and such. Dey would gib you enough flour for biscuit for Sunday mornin' -and dey gib potatoes. I tell you how dey done dat; ev'ry family, he had -a basket and when dey blow de ho'n in de evenin' ev'ry chile dat was big -enough come and he know his basket and take it home. - -"De quarters was all in rows. You had to have a pass frum de massa to go -from one place to anudder or the pateroller would ketch you and whop -you. Overseers whopped 'em, too. - -"You worked frum time you could see 'till dark. You couldn' git outta -dat, no suh, time you coul' see de stuff in de fiel', you was out -workin.' - -"Ole man Woods was a powerful good man. He wouldn' raise cotton for -sale, only jus' enough for de women to make clothes. He raised hogs and -cattle. I 'member Ben Averit; he had a big plantation over on de island. -Took boatloads of slaves and work 'em hard. We'd hear de boats go over, -clop-clop. - -"We'd take two yoke of oxen with co'n and wheat to de mill, stay all -day, den bring it back to give ev'rybody. I go to mill lots of times and -allus drive oxen. In hot weather, dey run off to de creek. What you -talkin' erbout, when it gits hot and dey smell dat water, dey travel! - -"I 'member stagecoach. Had erbout six or eight hosses to 'em. Driver'd -blow bugle for stops jus' like trains. Dey didn' have much trains dem -days. - -"When de war comes, we had soldiers. I se'ed 'em drillin' and marchin'. -I se'ed dem hep-hep-hep! Yes, ma'am, when de Yanks come we was a runnin' -and a squattin' like partridges a hidin'. Dem guns was a firin' and -shootin' dem cannon, spoilin' fiel's and killin' hawgs. Wasn't no fun. -Drums a beatin'. It was excitable, yes, ma'am. We had to run and hide. -We all run up to whut dey call a cave and down in dat cave we had eats. -All come what could git in dere. De soldiers try to roun' 'em up, but -not dem niggers. All run from one place to anudder. - -"I learned to read and write after freedom. Dey not allow you no book -larnin'. Obey your marster and missus, dat's all. - -"I 'member jist as well as dat I'se sittin' here, when freedom come. -Marster had 'em all come near de gate and he say, 'You all is free as I -am now.' He hollered and cried. It tickled me to see him cry. And den he -say, 'But now iffen you want to, all kin stay and finish up de crop. -I'll feed you.' Some, dey go to de neighbors. Dey didn' know whut to do. -Dey hadn' been taught to do for demselves. But dey couldn' whop 'em no -more. I stayed 'till I was 21. - - -[Illustration: _Ruben Woods_] - - -"No, ma'am, I never coul' sing, but I 'member one song. It went dis way: - - '1821--Jesus work is jus' begun; - 1822--Jesus brought de sinner through; - 1823--Jesus sot de prisoner free; - 1824--Jesus preached 'mong de poor; - 1825--Jesus brought de dead to life; - 1826--Jesus had all things fixed; - 1827--Jesus rose and went to Heben; - 1828--Jesus made de plain way straight; - 1829--Jesus turned de blood to wine.' - -"We played hide-a-hoop. And hide-a-switch. We do dis; you'se huntin' -switch and gittin' hot, gittin' col', dey take after you, dey have a -base to go to. Den if dey ketch dem dey whop 'em. - -"We played 'Anthony Over,' wid thread balls. We throw dat ball over de -house. If dey don' ketch it, dey's out. Dat's de way dey had de sport." - - - - -Willis Woodson - - -*Willis Woodson does not know his age, but looks very aged. He was born -in Whiterock, but he does not know its location, except that it was -somewhere east of the Mississippi River. Willis now lives in Tyler, -Texas.* - -"I'm borned at a place called Whiterock, but don't rightly 'member no -other name, but it was a long, long way from here, though. I was the -prop'ty of Marse Richards, but he sold me and my maw and a lot of -darkies to Marse Ike Isom. Maw said Marse Ike done pay $500 for me, -cheap 'cause I's purty little and couldn't do much work. - -"Marse Isom moved to Texas and everybody holped load de wagons, and we -starts real early in a cold mornin'. De old womens and little chillens -rode in de wagons, but de men walked. We traveled real slow, though, and -it wasn't no worse'n plowin' all day. One Marse Isom's sons rid behind -on a big, white hoss, and seed none of the darkies runned off. At night -we fixes a supper and goes to bed and all de niggers is chained together -and slept on straw beds. The white men tooked turns guardin' dem with -guns. - -"We gits to de new farm, long ways from where we lives befo', and starts -clearin' land. When we gits settled, Old Miss picks me to be nuss to her -chillen. Maw didn't work in de field. She say she done been hurt when -she got a whippin' when she ain't growed, and her back ain't good no -more. Old Miss say, 'Eva, you come in de kitchen and make some -chittlin's, and iffen you cooks good, you can work in my kitchen.' Maw, -she make dem chitlin's and dey's damn good, so she gits to cook den. - -"Marse and Old Miss lives in de big house, with boards outside, -'steadin' logs. It have big rooms, lots of dem, and a big fireplace all -'cross de side one room. Me and 'nother boy has to bring in logs to -build de fire, him totin' one end and me totin' one end. I stays in de -house, so I gits good clothes and shoes, too. Some dem niggers didn't -have hardly no clothes, though, - -"De mostest fun I ever got was when Marse Isom 'lows me to be footman. -He gits me a uniform, most like a sojer's, 'ceptin' mine am red with -black stripes down de pants. I 'member it jist like yesterday, de first -time I puts it on. Marse give a cel'bration at he house and de doorman -am sick, so I has to be it. He give me dat suit and say to hurry put it -on. Den he make me come to de front door and let him in over and over, -so as to git de hang of it. He told me to take his hat and cane and put -dem up, and to say, 'Thank you,' and 'Dis way, please,' and not to say -no more to nobody, and I didn't. After dat night I opens de door lots of -times, but mostest I wears dat suit when I takes de white folks to -church, while dey listens to preachin' and I holds de hosses. - - -[Illustration: _Willis Woodson_] - - -"I never did see no niggers whipped, but I done see dat whip hangin' in -de barn. It a big, long thing, lots bigger'n a horsewhip, and I know it -must have been used, 'cause it all wore out at one end. - -"All de fun we has am huntin' and fishin'. We can go any night if we -gits a permit from Marse Isom. Sometimes at night, he lets all de big -niggers git together 'hind de cabins and make a big bonfire. Den we -sings all de songs we knows, till nine o'clock, den Marse rings de bell, -to cut out all de noise. - -"Jus' befo' dat war am over, some soldiers marches through de farm and -kilt all de cows and stock and burns de barn, Marse beg dem not to burn -he house, so dey didn't. Some dem niggers quits when dey freed, without -no supper, but not dis nigger! I stays sev'ral years, den gits a job -snakin' logs in a sawmill. Den I marries and has seven chillen and I -stays with first one, den 'nother. I holps dem all I can. I been -patchin' up some fishin' tackle today." - - - - -James G. Woorling - - -*James G. Woorling, of Fort Worth, Texas, tells the story of Uncle Dave, -one of the slaves that belonged to Mr. Woorling's father, who owned a -large plantation near Point, in Rains County, Texas. The story relates -how Uncle Dave provided for his family after they were freed, and is -valuable as an example of how many ex-slaves managed to secure a -foothold in a world for which slavery had not prepared them.* - -"During pre-war days my father owned a plantation near Point, in Rains -County, as well as a large number of slaves, including one Uncle Dave. -After the Negroes were emancipated, my father placed a large number of -them on tracts of land within the plantation and furnished them with a -mule team, a few sheep, some chickens, and the implements needed to -cultivate the land. The Negroes were privileged to occupy the land for -seven years and to keep whatever they made during that time. After the -expiration of the seven years they were to pay in money or percentage of -crops for the use of the land. This plan was followed by a number of -plantation owners. - -"Uncle Dave was an exceptional Negro. He was a natural mechanic, but -could do carpenter work, blacksmithing, shoemaking and many other things -equally well. He was a good manager, frugal and industrious, and it is -doubtful if he paid out $50.00 in a year's time for food, clothing and -other necessities during the seven years that he lived on the -seventy-five acres on our plantation. - -"He never bought a horsecollar, but made them himself, shaping them to -prevent galling and packing them with corn husks. He made the hames from -oak timber and made the metal accessories. - -"The shoes for Dave's family he made from hides of animals slaughtered -for the meat supply. About the only farm implements he bought were those -that required high grade steel. - -"Aunt Julia, his wife, did her part. She was adept at cooking and -preserving, and knew how to cure meat. Salt and spices were purchased, -but they raised barley and roasted it, to use in the place of tea or -coffee. They raised sugar and ribbon cane and made their own sugar and -molasses. Aunt Julia told father that eggs were traded for any articles -of food that could not be obtained from the farm. - -"Following the Civil War the production of cloth by power driven -machines enabled manufacturers to sell cloth at a price that did not -warrant continuance of the hand method. But that did not interest Dave -and Julia. They had a spinning wheel and a loom made by Uncle Dave -himself, and they made all the cloth needed by the family, dying it with -the bark of blackoak, cherry or other trees. - -"When the seven year period ended, my father thought that Uncle Dave -would stay on the land. He had cleared it, built a house and barn and -other structures, which all belonged to my father under the agreement. -But Uncle Dave was not interested in renting the land. He had saved -enough money to buy a thousand acres between the towns of Point and -Emory. He built a house and barn and moved his family. - -"Uncle Dave came home one day from a trip to town with a load of cotton. -He had a ten gallon keg, which he painted black. He cut a slit in the -side of the keg and made a plug for the hole and told Julia the keg was -to hold his surplus cash. - -"Uncle Dave hid the keg and during the next twenty years refused to tell -his wife, children or anyone else where it was. It is obvious that all -the money he received for his crops, except a small sum, was surplus. -Julia often asked Uncle Dave to tell her where the keg was, and told my -father that Uncle Dave had not been well and she feared the possibility -of his dying without disclosing the secret. Not long after, Uncle Dave -was found dead one morning. Money was needed for funeral expenses, but -the keg could not be found and Julia had to borrow the required amount. - -"The family searched first in the more likely locations, then made a -minute search of the whole place, but the keg was never found. On Uncle -Dave's farm a fortune is cached. The keg must have long ago -disintegrated, but the gold and silver money, the savings of twenty -years, remain in their hiding place." - - - - -Caroline Wright - - -*Caroline Wright, about 90 years old, was born near Baton Rouge, -Louisiana. Dr. Warren Wortham owned her parents and their 14 children. -Caroline was 12 when they were freed. Her father, Robert Vaughn, moved -to Texas, [HW: with master, p.2, para. 4 & 5] where he prospered and -bought more than 300 acres of Tehuacana bottom land in McLennan County. -Caroline and her husband now live at 59 Grant St., Waco, in a little -house they bought after their family was grown.* - -"I was bo'ned in Louisiana on Jones Creek, by Baton Rouge, 'bout 90 -years ago. I disremember the year. My pappy was Bob Vaughn and my mammy -was Rose Ann. Dey was bo'ned by Baton Rouge. I had six sisters, Betsy -Ann, Lydia, Nancy, Paga and Louisan; and three brothers, Horace, Robert -and Tom. We was all owned by Dr. Warren Wortham and his wife, Annie. Mr. -Bob, de doctor's brother, had us in charge, and he hired us out to Hays -White, who owned a sugar plantation on de Mississippi River by Baton -Rouge. Us all stayed at his place two year. Dere was sugar cane, co'n, -peas and tomatoes raised on de farm. We lived in a log cabin made of -pine logs and our beds was made outta pine timber with co'n shucks -tacked on de bed, and our kivers was feather beds. - -"In Clinton, in Louisiana, we was all put on de block and valued. I was -six year old and I was valued at $1,500. But our family wasn' sold to -anyone. I was given to Miss Muriel, Dr. Wortham's daughter. Me and my -sisters was made house slaves and my mammy and pappy and brothers was -made fiel' slaves. - -"Our marster, Dr. Wortham, sho' was a fine doctor. He never whip us. De -young missus learned us our A B C's 'cause dere was no school for de -slaves. Dere wasn' no church on de plantation, but us all went -'casionally to a big log cabin and camp shed. Sometime a white would -preach and sometime a cullud preacher. - -"I only 'member one slave who ran away. He was so worthless, he came -back when he got ready. He wasn' punished, 'cause he wasn' mean, just -lazy. I never saw no jail for slaves and never saw any whipped. We allus -had from Friday noon to Monday mornin' off. - -"On Christmas, the white folks allus give us presents and plenty to eat, -and us allus had a big dance five or six time a year. Dr. Wortham lived -in a great big log house made from cedar logs. - -"One day, I seen a lot of men and I asked de missus what dey was doin'. -She tol' me dey come to fit in de war. De war got so bad dat Mr. Bob -tol' us we was all gwine to Texas. Us all started out on Christmas Day -of de firs' year of Lincoln's war. We went in ox wagons and us had mules -to ride. - -"On de trip to Texas, one evenin' a big storm come up and Mr. Bob, he -asked a man to let us use a big, empty house. Dey put me by de door to -sleep 'cause I was de lightes' sleeper. Some time in de night, I woked -up and dere stood de bigges' haint I ever saw. He was ten feet high and -had on a big beaver coat. I hollers to my pappy, 'Pappy, wake up, dere's -a haint.' Nex' mornin' we got up and dey was nothin' outta place. No, -ma'am, we didn' cotch de haint, a haint jus' can't be cotched. - -"Nex' mornin' we started agin on our journey, and some time in March we -reach Texas. They took us all 'cross de Brazos on a ferryboat, jus' -'bout where de 'spension bridge is now. - -"De doctor took us all on de farm on de other side of where Bosque is -now. On de farm us raised all kinds vegetables and grain and sugar cane -to make sorghum, but no cotton. We all lived in one and two room log -cabins, made out of cedar posts. Us didn' make any money for ourselves, -but us had plenty of hog meat, beef, butter, milk, cornbread and -vegetables to eat, lots mo' dan us have dese days. Us did all de cookin' -in de fireplaces. Us sho' did have plenty of possum, and rabbit, and us -cotched lots of fish outta de Bosque River. - -"De women slaves, eleven of us, had our own gardens and us spun all our -own clothes. In de summer us all wore cotton stripe and in de winter, -linsey dresses. On Sunday us had lawn dresses and us sho' did come out -looking choicesome. - -"Dr. Wortham had Si for an overseer. It was a big farm and had forty or -fifty slaves to work it. Us got up 'bout four in de mornin' and ate -breakfas' 'bout nine o'clock. All de slaves had to work from sun to sun, -and when us was sick, de marster treated us. - -"When I was 'bout 16, I married William Wright. He was bo'n a slave near -Rapid Pass, Kentucky. When he was eight year old, his family's owner -died, and he went to the daughter, Mrs. Richard Mason, on Black River, -in Louisiana, as "heir property." He was raised dere, but when he's -freed he comes to Texas and works for Ganey Mason, seven mile east of -Waco. He's 105 year old now and you cain't ha'dly unnerstan' what he's -talkin' 'bout. We was married on the 23d day of December, in 1869. Will -and me sho' did have a fine weddin'. De women cooked for three days and -we danced and ate. My weddin' dress was elegant. It was white lawn with -blue ribbons. Will and me had 12 chillen and raised 9, and us has 14 -grandchildren. - -"Will and me has been married 'bout 75 year and is still married. It's -disrespectful how de young folks treats marriage nowadays. - -"Ten year after our chillen's growed, we swaps what land we has for dis -little house, but we had to pay some money, too. Will was more'n 90 -years old and I was eighty some years old, but we got this house and we -is happy. We can sit under that big china-berry tree in de fron' yard -and look at de big trees over dere on Waco Creek, and one of our sons -lives with us." - - - - -Sallie Wroe - - -*Sallie Wroe, 81, was born a slave on Mike Burdette's plantation near -Austin. Her parents were field workers. In 1874 Sallie married John Wroe -and they raised eleven children. Sallie owns a small farm on the -outskirts of Austin. One of her daughters lives with her.* - -"Befo' I's married, I's Sallie Burdette. De white folks tell me I's born -eighty-one years ago. I reckon I's dat old. I know I's born on Massa -Mike Burdette's cotton plantation at Burdette Prairie, right close to -Austin, and mammy's name was Het Burdette. She chopped and picked cotton -and been dead long time. John Burdette was my pappy and he was jes' a -reg'lar fieldman, too. Pappy been dead, mercy, so long! - -"Massa Burdette had a overseer and he sho' rough. I think his name must -be Debbil, he so rough. My sister, Mollie, was weaver at de loom, and -iffen she didn't git out 'nough for de day she am tied up in sittin' -form and whipped hard. She had stripes all over de shoulders. - -"Dere was a whole row of log cabins close to de big house and de roofs -was made of clapboards. It didn't rain in none. De only openin' was de -door, no windows. Dere was mud and stick chimnies and a dirt floor. It -wasn't no better dan a corncrib but purty warm in winter, 'cause de -holes chinked with mud. - -"Massa Burdette 'low us nigger chillen come to de big house at night and -his chillen larn us to read. Dey had blue-back spellers, but I didn't -cotch on much and can't read or write now. - -"Pappy a purty good man, 'siderin' he a slave man. One day pappy and -Uncle Paul and Uncle Andy and Uncle Joe was takin' bales of cotton on ox -wagons down to de Rio Grande. Each man was drivin' a ox wagon down to -Brownsville, where dey was to wait to meet Massa Burdette. But pappy and -de others left de wagons 'long de river bank and rolled a bale of cotton -in de river and all four of dem gits on dat bale and rows with sticks -'cross over into Mexico. Dis was durin' de war. Pappy come back to us -after freedom and say he done git 'long fine with Mexico. He larnt to -talk jes' like dem. - - -[Illustration: _Sallie Wroe_] - - -"Me and mammy stays on at Massa Burdette's place de whole time pappy am -gone. It was on June 19 we was made free and Massa Burdette say iffen we -stays on his place and gather de crops, he give each of us a free -eggnog. We ain't never got no eggnog befo' so it sound purty good and we -stays and gathers de crops. But dat eggnog made me sick. - -"My cousin Mitchell come and got us and brung us to Chapel Hill. He done -rent him a farm dere and looks out for us till pappy comes back. He -brung some money back from Mexico and taken us all to Brenham and buyed -us some clothes. Den he moved us up to Austin and done any work he could -git. I stayed home till 1874 and den married John Wroe, and he rented -land and farmed and died in 1927. - -"We raises eleven chillen and dey all good and 'haved. All my -grandchillen calls me 'Big Mama,' but I's so li'l now dey ought to call -me 'Li'l Mama.' I owns dis li'l farm. John saved 'nough money to buy it -befo' he died. I gits a li'l pension and my daughter works and when -she's workin' my grandchil' takes care of me." - - - - -Fannie Yarbrough - - -*Fannie Yarbrough, blind and bedridden, was born a slave of the McKinney -family, near Egypt, Kaufman Co., Texas. She was about six when the Civil -War started. At that time her job was to herd sheep. After "freedom" -she, her mother and sister, stayed with the McKinney's for a time. -Fannie married Green Yarbrough in Hunt Co., Texas and they now live in a -little cabin at 843 Plum St., Abilene, Texas.* - -"Ole Marster had a world of sheeps. Every day we take dem sheeps and -watch 'em. The wolves was mean. We'd git to playin', all us little -niggers, and forgit them sheeps and nex' thing you know an old wolf -would have himse'f a sheep. - -"Sometimes we'd keep playin' so late it was dark 'fore we knowed it and -we'd start runnin' them sheeps home. Ol' Marster would be at de big gate -to let us in. He says, 'Now, chillen, you didn' git back with all the -sheep.' We'd say, 'Ol' wolf got 'em.' But he knowed ol' wolf didn' get -all de ones missin' and he'd say, 'You're storyin'. Then purty soon some -of the little stray ones come home. Then he knowed we'd run the sheep -home and he'd say, 'I 'spose I'll have to whip you,' but he never did. -Those were sweet times! Ol' Marster was so good, and he give us more to -eat than you ever saw. Hog meat every day and sweet 'tatoes so big we'd -have to cut 'em with an ax. - -After we et our supper, we had to spin a broach of thread every night -'fore we went to bed. I larned all 'bout spinnin' and weavin' when I was -little and by time I's 10 I'd make pretty striped cloth. - -"How we played and played! On Sundays we'd strike out for the big woods -and we'd gather our dresses full of hickory nuts, walnuts and berries -and a sour apple called 'maypop.' We'd kill snakes and dance and sing -that ol' song 'bout, 'Hurrah! Mister Bluecoat, Toodle-O.' 'O, Dat Lady's -Beatin' You.' It meant his pardner was beatin' him dancin.' - -"I was jes' lyin' here dreamin' 'bout how we use to go to the woods -every spring and dig the maypop roots, then bring 'em home and wash 'em -good and dry 'em--but, mind you, not in the sun--then all us chillen -would sit 'round and poun' dem roots, tied up in little bags of coarse -cloth, till it was powder. Then we'd take a little flour and jes' enough -water to make it stick, and we'd make pills to take when we got sick. -And work you? Lawd a'mighty! When we took dat stuff we had to keep -tendin' to de dress tail! - -"We went over to Flat Rock to church and de singin' was gran.' All day -long we'd be at preachin' and singin'. Singin' dat good ol' spiritual -song 'bout, 'You shan't be Slaves no More, since Christ have made you -free.' I lay here yes'day and heared all them foolish songs and jubilee -songs that comes over the radio, and den some of them ol' time -spirituals come and it jes' made me feel like I was in ol' times. - -"I went back every year to see my ol' marster, as long as he lived. Now -it won' be long till I sees him agin, some day." - - - - -Litt Young - - -*Litt Young was born in 1850, in Vicksburg, Miss., a slave of Martha -Gibbs, on whose property the old battleground at Vicksburg was located. -Litt was freed in 1865, in Vicksburg, and was refugeed by his owner to -Harrison Co., Texas. He was freed again on June 19, 1866, and found work -as a sawmill hand, a tie cutter and a woodcutter during the construction -of the Texas & Pacific Railroad from Marshall to Texarkana. The -remainder of his life, with the exception of five years on a farm, has -been spent as a section hand. Litt lives alone on the Powder Mill Road, -two and a half miles north of Marshall, and is supported by a $12.00 -monthly pension from the government.* - -"I's born in 1850 in Vicksburg, and belonged to Missy Martha Gibbs. Her -place was on Warner Bayou and the old battlefield was right there in her -field. She had two husbands, one named Hockley and he died of yellow -fever. Then she marries a Dr. Gibbs, what was a Yankee, but she didn't -know it till after the war. - -"Massa Hockley bought my daddy from a nigger trader up north somewheres, -but my mammy allus belonged to the Gibbs family. I had a sister and two -brothers, but the Gibbs sold them to the Simmons and I never seed 'em -any more. - -"Old Missy Gibbs had so many niggers she had to have lots of quarters. -They was good houses, weatherboarded with cypress and had brick -chimneys. We'd pull green grass and bury it awhile, then bile it to make -mattresses. That made it black like in auto seats. Missy was a big, rich -Irishwoman and not scared of no man. She lived in a big, fine house, and -buckled on two guns and come out to the place most every morning. She -out-cussed a man when things didn't go right. A yellow man driv her down -in a two-horse avalanche. She had a white man for overseer what live in -a good house close to the quarters. It was whitewashed and had glass -windows. She built a nice church with glass windows and a brass cupola -for the blacks and a yellow man preached to us. She had him preach how -we was to obey our master and missy if we want to go to Heaven, but when -she wasn't there, he come out with straight preachin' from the Bible. - -"Good gracious, what we had to eat. They give us plenty, turnip greens -and hog-jowl and peas and cornbread and milk by the barrels. Old women -what was too old to work in the field done the cookin' and tended the -babies. They cooked the cornbread in a oven and browned it like cake. -When they pulled it out, all the chillen was standin' round, smackin' -they lips. Every Christmas us got a set white lowell clothes and a pair -brogan shoes and they done us the whole year, or us go naked. - -"When that big bell rung at four o'clock you'd better get up, 'cause the -overseer was standin' there with a whippin' strap if you was late. My -daddy got a sleepin' most every morning for oversleeping. Them mules was -standin' in the field at daylight, waitin' to see how to plow a straight -furrow. If a nigger was a 500 pound cotton picker and didn't weigh up -that much at night, that was not gitting his task and he got a whipping. -The last weighin' was done by lightin' a candle to see the scales. - -"Us have small dances Saturday nights and ring plays and banjo and -fiddle playin' and knockin' bones. There was fiddles make from gourds -and banjoes from sheep hides. I 'member one song, 'Coffee grows on white -oak trees, River flows with brandy-o.' That song was started in -Vicksburg by the Yankee soldiers when they left to go home, 'cause they -so glad war was over. - -"Missy have a big, steam sawmill there on Warner Bayou, where the -steamboats come up for lumber. It was right there where the bayou -empties in the Mississippi. I 'member seein' one man sold there at the -sawmill. He hit his massa in the head with a singletree and kilt him and -they's fixin' to hang him, but a man promised to buy him if he'd promise -to be good. He give $500 for him. - -"Dr. Gibbs was a powerful man in Vicksburg. He was the 'casion of them -Yanks takin' 'vantage of Vicksburg like they done. 'Fore the war he'd -say to missy, 'Darling, you oughtn't whip them poor, black folks so -hard. They is gwine be free like us some day.' Missy say, 'Shut up. -Sometimes I 'lieve you is a Yankee, anyway.' - -"Some folks say Dr. Gibbs was workin' for the North all the time 'fore -the war, and when he doctored for them durin' the war, they say they -knowed it. The 'Federates have a big camp there at Vicksburg and cut a -big ditch out at the edge of town. Some say Gen. Grant was knowin' all -how it was fixed, and that Dr. Gibbs let him know. - -"The Yankees stole the march on the 'Federates and waited till they come -out the ditch and mowed 'em down. The 'Federates didn't have no chance, -'cause they didn't have no cannon, jus' cap and ball rifles. The main -fight started 'bout four in the morning and held on till 'bout ten. Dead -soldiers was layin' thick on the ground by then. After the fight, the -Yanks cut the buttons off the coats of them that was kilt. - -"I seed the Yankee gunboats when they come to Vicksburg. All us niggers -went down to the river to see 'em. They told us to git plumb away, -'cause they didn't know which way they was gwine to shoot. Gen. Grant -come to Vicksburg and he blowed a horn and them cannons began to shoot -and jus' kept shootin'. When the Yankees come to Vicksburg, a big, red -flag was flyin' over the town. Five or six hours after them cannons -started shootin' they pulled it down and histed a big, white one. We saw -it from the quarters. - - -[Illustration: _Litt Young_] - - -"After surrender the Yanks arrested my old missy and brought her out to -the farm and locked her up in the black folks church. She had a guard -day and night. They fed her hard-tack and water for three days 'fore -they turned her a-loose. Then she freed all her niggers. 'Bout that time -Massa Gibbs run out of corn to feed he stock and he took my daddy and a -bunch of niggers and left to buy a boatload of corn. Missy seized a -bunch us niggers and starts to Texas. She had Irishmen guards, with -rifles, to keep us from runnin' 'way. She left with ten six-mule teams -and one ox cook wagon. Them what was able walked all the way from -Vicksburg to Texas. We camped at night and they tied the men to trees. -We couldn't git away with them Irishmen havin' rifles. Black folks -nat'rally scart of guns, anyway. Missy finally locates 'bout three miles -from Marshall and we made her first crop and on June 19th, the next year -after 'mancipation, she sot us free. - -"Dr. Gibbs followed her to Texas. He said the Yanks captured his niggers -and took his load of corn as they was comin' down the Tennessee River, -where it jines the Mississippi. Me and mammy stayed in Texas, and never -did see daddy 'gain. When us freed the last time us come to Marshall and -I works in a grist mill and shingle mill. I cut ties for 15 apiece. I -cut wood for the first engines and they paid me $1.25 a cord. I got -where I cut three cords a day. I helped clear all the land where -Texarkana is now. When the railroads quit using wood, I worked as -section hand for $1.25 a day. I farmed five years and never made a cent -and went back to the railroad. - -"I marries in Marshall so long ago I done forgot. I raises six gals and -has three sets grandchillen. They's all livin' 'cept one. Since my wife -died and I's too ailing to work, I's been kept by the pension. - -"They had provost law in Marshall when us come to Texas. I allus voted -when they let us. These young niggers ain't like what us was. -Penitentiaries was made for the white folks, but the young niggers is -keepin' 'em full." - - - - -Louis Young - - -*Louis Young, 88, was born a slave of Hampton Atkinson, on a small farm -in Phillips County, Arkansas. When Louis was twelve, his master sold him -and his mother to Tom Young, who took them to Robinson Co., Texas. Louis -now lives at 5523 Bonnell St., Fort Worth, Tex.* - -"Mammy done put my age in de Bible and I'm eighty-eight years old now. -I'm born in 1849. But I can git round. Course, I can't work now, but, -shucks, I done my share of work already. I works from time I'm eight -years old till I'm eighty past, and I'd be workin' yit if de rheumatis' -misery didn't git me in de arms and legs. It make me stiff, so I can't -walk good. - -"Yes, suh, I starts to work when eight on dat plantation where I'm born. -Dat in Arkansaw, and Massa Hampton own me and my mammy and eight other -niggers. My pappy am somewhere, but I don't know where or nothin' 'bout -him. - -"Us all work from light to dark and Sunday, too. I don't know what -Sunday am till us come to Texas, and dances and good things, I don't -know nothin' 'bout dem till us come to Texas. Massa Hampton, he am long -on de work and short on de rations, what he measure out for de week. -Seven pounds meat and one peck meal and one quart 'lasses, and no more -for de week. If us run out, us am out, dat's all. - -"One day us gits sold to Massa Tom Young. He feels mammy's muscles and -looks on her for marks of de whip. Massa Young say he give $700, but -Massa Hampton say no, he want $1,000. He say, 'Yous takin' dem to Texas, -where dey sho' to be slaves, 'spite de war.' - -"Finally Massa Young gives $900 for us and off us go to Texas. Dat in -1861, de fall de year, and it am three teams mules and three teams oxen -hitch to wagons full of farm things and rations and sich. Us on de road -more'n three weeks, maybe a month, befo' us git to Robinson County. - -"When us git dere, de work am buildin' de cabins and house and den clear -de land, and by Spring, us ready to put in de crops, de corn and cotton. -Massa Young am good and give us plenty to eat. He has 'bout twenty -slaves and us works reason'ble, and has good time 'pared with befo'. On -Saturday night it am dancin' and music and singin', and us never heared -of sich befo'. - -"One day Massa Young call us to de house and tell us he don't own us no -more, and say us can stay and he pay us some money, if us wants. He ask -mammy to stay and cook and she does, but I'm strongheaded and runs off -to Calvert and goes to work for Massa Brown, and dere I stays till I'm -growed. He paid me $10.00 de month and den $15.00. - -"When I's twenty-five I marries Addie Easter and us have no chillen and -she dies ten years after. Den I drifts 'round, workin' here and yonder -and in 1890 I marries dat woman settin' right dere. Den I rents de farm -and if de crops am good, de prices am bad, and if de prices am good, de -crops am bad. So it go and us lives, and not too good, at dat. I quits -in 1925 and comes to Fort Worth and piddles at odd jobs till my -rheumatis' git so bad five years ago. - -"I done forgit to tell you 'bout de Klux. Dem debbils causes lots of -trouble. Dey done de dirty work at night, come and took folks out and -whip dem. - - -[Illustration: _Louis Young_] - - -"Some cullud folks am whip so hard dey in bed sev'ral weeks and I knowed -some hanged by dey thumbs. Maybe some dem cullud folks gits out dere -places, but mostest dem I knows gits whip for nothin'. It jus' de -orneriness dem Klux. It so bad de cullud folks 'fraid to sleep in dey -house or have parties or nothin' after dark. Dey starts for de woods or -ditches and sleeps dere. It git so dey can't work for not sleepin', from -fear of dem Klux. Den de white folks takes a hand and sojers am brung -and dey puts de stop to dem debbils. - -"'Bout de livin' now, us jus' can't make it. Us lives on what de pension -am and dat $30.00 de month, and it mighty close us has to live to git by -on sich. I thinks of Massa Young, and us live better den dan now. - -"I never votes, 'cause I can't read and dat make troublement for me to -vote. How I gwine make de ticket for dis and dat? For dem what can read, -dey can vote." - - - - -Teshan Young - - -*Teshan Young, 86, was born a slave to Buckner Scott, who owned a -plantation in Harrison County, Texas, and had over one hundred slaves. -Teshan married Moses Young in 1867 and lived near her old home until -1915, when she moved to Fort Worth. She lives in a negro settlement on -the outskirts of Stop Six, a suburb of Fort Worth.* - -"I'se 86 years ole. Bo'n in Harrison County, Texas. Marster Scott owned -me and my parents, one brudder and three sisters. Marster never sold any -of we'uns, so dere was no separation of de family long's we lived on de -Marster's place. He had awful big plantation, 'bout seven miles long. - -"On dat plantation de Marster have everything. Hims have de gin and de -mill for to grind de meal and feed, de big blacksmith shop and dere was -a house whar dey spins de yarn and makes de cloth, de shoes and sich. He -have 'bout 30 quarters for de cullud folks back of him's house, and dere -am a house for de nursery, wid a big yard dat have swings and sich for -de cullud chillens. - -"Each cullud family have de cabin for themself. De cabins have bunks for -sleeping', fireplace for to cook, bench for to set on--but dat's all de -furniture. Marster Scott feeds all us niggers good. We'uns have beans, -peas, milk, vegetables, 'lasses and plenty of meat. De marster have -hawgs on top of hawgs on dat place, for to make de meat. - -"We'uns have all de clothes dat we'uns need for to keep warm. De marster -says, 'De nigger mus' have plenty of food and keep wan for to work good. -How many hours we'uns work? Dat depen's on de time of de year it am. -When its time for de hoein' or de pickin' of de cotton, dey work late. -'Twarn't sich long hours udder times. But de marster makes de cullud -folks work and whips 'em when dey don'. I'se 'member one slave dat gits -whipped so bad hims never gits up, hims died. We'uns chillens would go -roun' whar hims was and look at 'im. De Marster lets we'uns do dat. - -"Yes, suh, dey whupped pow'ful hard sometimes. My mammy gits whupped one -time 'cause she come from de fiel' for to nuss her baby, and once for de -cause she don' keep up her row in de fiel'. My pappy gits shoot in de -shoulder by de overseer, 'cause hims runs from de whuppin.' 'Twas dis -way, de overseer says, 'Come here, I'se gwine whup you for not workin' -like I says.' Dere was a fence dere and my pappy runs for dat and am -crawlin' over it when de overseer shoots. - -"I'se 'bout 10 year ole when de war starts. It makes no diff'rence, dat -I'se 'members, 'cept de Marster jines de army. I'se tend to all de -cullud chillen while dey mammies workin' in de fiel'. De Marster am sho' -particular 'bout dem chillen. He feeds 'em well, mush, milk, bread, -'lasses, vegetables and sich. De food am put in de long bowl, like de -trough. De chillen have wooden spoons and we'uns line dem 'long de bowl. -Den de fun starts. I'se have de long switch and keeps walkin' back and -forth to make dem debils behave. De Marster comes in sometimes and hims -laugh at dem, dey so funny. - -"After I'se gits married, I'se has 13 chillen of my own. I'se never -calls de doctor for my chillen. I'se goes in de woods and gits de plants -and de herbs. For de stomach misery I'se uses de red petals, boils dat -and takes de juice. For de cold I'se takes de Kalemas Root, boils dat -and takes de juice. - - -[Illustration: _Teshan Young_] - - -"When de chores am done on Sunday or Christmas, we'uns can have de -music, dance and singin'. We'uns have some good ole times. De songs am -de ole timers, sich as Swannee River, Ole Black Joe and dere am de -fiddles and banjos dat dey play. We'uns sho' cel'brate on Christmas. De -women all cooks cakes and cookies and sich. De men saves all de bladders -from de hawgs dey kill, blows 'em full of air and lets 'em dry. De -young'uns puts dem on sticks and holds 'em over a fire in de yard. Dat -makes 'em bust and dey goes 'bang' jus' like a gun. Dat was de -fireworks. - -"Marster comes back from de war widout gettin' hurt. At de time freedom -comes, some cullud folks stays on and works for money. 'Twas de fust -money dey ever had, and dey don' know what to do wid it and what its -worth. Some of dem are still on dat lan'! Dey rents or have bought. My -brudder lives dere, jus' a few yards from de ole quarters. My pappy -worked for ole Marster till he died. I'se stays wid him till I marries. - -"I'se married in a cullud church and I'se have a pretty pink dress and -hat. My husban' have hims own farm, part of de ole plantation. We -finally buys it from de Marster. In 1902 my husban' dies and I'se stays -dere till 1915. Den I'se comes to Fort Worth. I'se still missin' some -but I'se gettin' de pension of nine dollars a month. Dat sho' helps -out." - - - - -Transcriber's Note - - -Original spelling has been maintained; e.g. "_stob_--a short straight -piece of wood, such as a stake" (American Heritage Dictionary).--The -Works Progress Administration was renamed during 1939 as the Work -Projects Administration (WPA). - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: A FOLK HISTORY -OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES FROM INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER SLAVES: -VOLUME XVI, TEXAS NARRATIVES, PART 4 *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35381 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. 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The replaced older file is renamed. -_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving -new filenames and etext numbers. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg(tm), -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/35381-8.zip b/35381-8.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9a51ef0..0000000 --- a/35381-8.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/35381-h.zip b/35381-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b20cbbe..0000000 --- a/35381-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/35381-h/35381-h.html b/35381-h/35381-h.htm index ce08607..42a01dc 100644 --- a/35381-h/35381-h.html +++ b/35381-h/35381-h.htm @@ -428,29 +428,9 @@ pre { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.9em; white-space: pre-wrap </style> </head> <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35381 ***</div> <div class="document" id="slave-narratives"> <h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title with-subtitle">Slave Narratives</h1> -<p class="document-subtitle level-1 pfirst subtitle" id="volume-xvi-texas-narrativespart-4"> -Volume XVI: Texas Narratives—Part 4</p> - -<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> -<div class="class container pgheader" id="pg-header"> -<p class="noindent pfirst">This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the <a class="reference internal pginternal" href="#project-gutenberg-license">Project Gutenberg License</a> -included with this eBook or online at -<a class="reference external" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license</a>.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<div class="container" id="pg-machine-header"> -<p class="noindent pfirst">Title: Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume XVI, Texas Narratives, Part 4</p> -<p class="noindent pnext">Author: Work Projects Administration</p> -<p class="noindent pnext">Release Date: February 23, 2011 [EBook #35381]</p> -<p class="noindent pnext">Language: English</p> -<p class="noindent pnext">Character set encoding: UTF-8</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="noindent pnext" id="pg-start-line">*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: A FOLK HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES FROM INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER SLAVES: VOLUME XVI, TEXAS NARRATIVES, PART 4 ***</p> </div> <div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> </div> @@ -6824,343 +6804,6 @@ during 1939 as the Work Projects Administration (WPA).</p> </div> <div class="vspace" style="height: 5em"> </div> -<p class="pfirst" id="pg-end-line">*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: A FOLK HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES FROM INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER SLAVES: VOLUME XVI, TEXAS NARRATIVES, PART 4 ***</p> -<div class="backmatter"> -</div> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="a-word-from-project-gutenberg"> -<span id="pg-footer"/><h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title">A Word from Project Gutenberg</h2> -<p class="pfirst">We will update this book if we find any errors.</p> -<p class="pnext">This book can be found under: <a class="reference external" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35381">http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35381</a></p> -<p class="pnext">Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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-
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- :PG.Id: 35381
- :PG.Title: Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume XVI, Texas Narratives, Part 4
- :PG.Released: 2011-02-23
- :PG.Rights: Public Domain
- :PG.Producer: the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
- :DC.Creator: Work Projects Administration
- :DC.Title: Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume XVI, Texas Narratives, Part 4
- :DC.Language: en
- :DC.Created: 1941
-
-=======================================
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- :class: noindent
-
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- Title: Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume XVI, Texas Narratives, Part 4
-
- Author: Work Projects Administration
-
- Release Date: February 23, 2011 [EBook #35381]
-
- Language: English
-
- Character set encoding: UTF-8
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- .. _pg-start-line:
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- \*\*\* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: A FOLK HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES FROM INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER SLAVES: VOLUME XVI, TEXAS NARRATIVES, PART 4 \*\*\*
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- Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.
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-.. class:: center larger
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- SLAVE NARRATIVES
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- *A Folk History of Slavery in the United States*
-
- *From Interviews with Former Slaves*
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-.. class:: center smaller
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- TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY
-
- THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT
-
- 1936-1938
-
- ASSEMBLED BY
-
- THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT
-
- WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
-
- FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
-
- SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
-
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-.. class:: center
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- *Illustrated with Photographs*
-
- WASHINGTON 1941
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-.. class:: center larger
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- VOLUME XVI
-
- TEXAS NARRATIVES—PART 4
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- Prepared by the Federal Writers' Project of
-
- the Works Progress Administration
-
- for the State of Texas
-
- [HW:] Handwritten note
-
- [TR:] Transcriber's note
-
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- |
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-.. contents:: INFORMANTS
- :backlinks: entry
- :depth: 1
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-.. class:: larger
-
- **ILLUSTRATIONS**
-
- | `Mazique Sanco`_
- | `Clarissa Scales`_
- | `Abram Sells`_
- | `George Selman`_
- | `Callie Shepherd`_
- | `Betty Simmons`_
- | `George Simmons`_
- | `Giles Smith`_
- | `James W. Smith`_
- | `Jordon Smith`_
- | `Millie Ann Smith`_
- | `John Sneed`_
- | `Mariah Snyder`_
- | `Leithean Spinks`_
- | `William Stone`_
- | `Yach Stringfellow`_
- | `Bert Strong`_
- | `Emma Taylor`_
- | `Allen Thomas`_
- | `Bill and Ellen Thomas`_
- | `Lucy Thomas`_
- | `Philles Thomas`_
- | `William M. Thomas`_
- | `Mary Thompson`_
- | `Penny Thompson`_
- | `Albert Todd`_
- | `Reeves Tucker`_
- | `Lou Turner`_
- | `Sol Walton`_
- | `Rosa Washington`_
- | `Sam Jones Washington`_
- | `William Watkins`_
- | `Emma Watson`_
- | `James West`_
- | `Adeline White`_
- | `Daphne Williams`_
- | `Lou Williams`_
- | `Lou Williams' House`_
- | `Millie Williams`_
- | `Steve Williams`_
- | `Wayman Williams and Henry Freeman`_
- | `Willie Williams`_
- | `Lulu Wilson`_
- | `Wash Wilson`_
- | `Willis Winn`_
- | `Rube Witt`_
- | `Ruben Woods`_
- | `Willis Woodson`_
- | `Sallie Wroe`_
- | `Litt Young`_
- | `Louis Young`_
- | `Teshan Young`_
- |
- |
- |
-
-Mazique Sanco
-=============
-
-**Mazique Sanco was born a slave of Mrs. Louisa Green, in Columbia,
-South Carolina, on February 10, 1849. Shortly after Mazique was freed,
-he enlisted in the army and was sent with the Tenth Cavalry to San
-Angelo, then Fort Concho, Texas. After Mazique left the army he became
-well-known as a chef, and worked for several large hotels. Mazique uses
-little dialect. When asked where Mazique is, his young wife says, "In
-his office," and upon inquiry as to the location of this office, she
-replies mirthfully, "On de river," for since he is too old to work,
-Mazique spends most of his time fishing.**
-
-"My mistress owned a beautiful home and three hundred twenty acres of
-land in the edge of Columbia, in South Carolina, just back of the state
-house. Her name was Mrs. Louisa Green and she was a widow lady. That's
-where I was born, but when her nephew, Dr. Edward Flemming, married Miss
-Dean, I was given to him for a wedding present, and so was my mother and
-her other children. I was a very small boy then, and when I was ten Dr.
-Flemming gave me to his crippled mother-in-law for a foot boy. She got
-crippled in a runaway accident, when her husband was killed. He had two
-fine horses, fiery and spirited as could be had. He called them Ash and
-Dash, and one day he and his wife were out driving and the horses ran
-the carriage into a big pine tree, and Mr. Dean was killed instantly,
-and Mrs. Dean couldn't ever help herself again. I waited on her. I had a
-good bed and food and was let to earn ten cent shin plasters.
-
-"When the war was over she called up her five families of slaves and
-told us we could go or stay. Some went and some stayed. I was always an
-adventurer, wanting to see and learn things, so I left and went back to
-my mother with Mrs. Flemming.
-
-.. _`Mazique Sanco`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image01mazique.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 60%
- :alt: Mazique Sanco
-
- Mazique Sanco
-
-"I only stayed there a few months and hired out to Major Legg, and
-worked for him several years. I felt I wasn't learning enough, so I
-joined the United States Army and with a hundred and eighty-five boys
-went to St. Louis, Missouri. From there we were transferred with the
-Tenth Cavalry to Fort Concho. I helped haul the lumber from San Antonio
-to finish the buildings at the fort. I was there five years.
-
-"After I went to work at private employment I did some carpenter work,
-but most of the houses were adobe or pecan pole buildings, so I got a
-job from Mr. Jimmy Keating as mechanic for awhile, and then drifted to
-Mexico. Odd jobs were all I could get for awhile, so I landed in El Paso
-and got a job in a hotel.
-
-"That was the start of my success, for I learned to be a skilled chef
-and superintended the kitchens in some of the largest hotels in Texas. I
-made as high as $80.00, in Houston. My last work was done at the St.
-Angelus Hotel here in San Angelo and if you don't believe I'm a good
-cook, just look at my wife over there. When I married her she was
-fourteen years old and weighed a hundred and fifteen pounds. Now it's
-been a long time since I could get her on the scales, not since she
-passed the two hundred pound mark."
-
-Clarissa Scales
-===============
-
-**Clarissa Scales, 79, was born a slave of William Vaughan, on his
-plantation at Plum Creek, Texas. Clarissa married when she was fifteen.
-She owns a small farm near Austin, but lives with her son, Arthur, at
-1812 Cedar Ave., Austin.**
-
-"Mammy's name was Mary Vaughan and she was brung from Baton Rouge,
-what am over in Louisiana, by our master. He went and located on Plum
-Creek, down in Hays County.
-
-"Mammy was a tall, heavy-set woman, more'n six foot tall. She was
-a maid-doctor after freedom. Dat mean she nussed women at childbirth.
-She allus told me de last thing she saw when she left Baton Rouge was
-her mammy standin' on a big, wood block to be sold for a slave. Dat de
-last time she ever saw her mammy. Mammy died 'bout fifty years ago.
-She was livin' on a farm on Big Walnut Creek, in Travis County. Daddy
-done die a year befo' and she jes' grieves herself to death. Daddy was
-sho' funny lookin', 'cause he wore long whiskers and what you calls a
-goatee. He was field worker on de Vaughan plantation.
-
-"Master Vaughan was good and treated us all right. He was a great
-white man and didn't have no over seer. Missy's name was Margaret, and
-she was good, too.
-
-"My job was tendin' fires and herdin' hawgs. I kep' fire goin' when de
-washin' bein' done. Dey had plenty wood, but used corn cobs for de fire.
-Dere a big hill corn cobs near de wash kettle. In de evenin' I had to
-bring in de hawgs. I had a li'l whoop I druv dem with, a eight-plaited
-rawhide whoop on de long stick. It a purty sight to see dem hawgs go
-under de slip-gap, what was a rail took down from de bottom de fence,
-so de hawgs could run under.
-
-"Injuns used to pass our cabin in big bunches. One time dey give mammy
-some earrings, but when they's through eatin' they wants dem earrings
-back. Dat de way de Injuns done. After feedin' dem, mammy allus say, 'Be
-good and kind to everybody.'
-
-"One day Master Vaughan come and say we's all free and could go and do
-what we wants. Daddy and mammy rents a place and I stays until I's
-fifteen. I wanted to be a teacher, but daddy kep' me hoein' cotton most
-de time. Dat's all he knowed. He allus told me it was 'nough larnin'
-could I jes' read and write. He never even had dat much. But he was de
-good farmer and good to me and mammy.
-
-"Dere was a school after freedom. Old Man Tilden was de teacher. One
-time a bunch of men dey calls de Klu Klux come in de room and say, 'You
-git out of here and git 'way from dem niggers. Don' let us cotch you
-here when we comes back.' Old Man Tilden sho' was scart, but he say,
-'You all come back tomorrow.' He finishes dat year and we never hears of
-him 'gain. Dat a log schoolhouse on Williamson Creek, five mile south of
-Austin.
-
-.. _`Clarissa Scales`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image03clarissa.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Clarissa Scales
-
- Clarissa Scales
-
-"Den a cullud teacher named Hamlet Campbell come down from de north. He
-rents a room in a big house and makes a school. De trustees hires and
-pays him and us chillen didn't have to pay. I got to go some, and I
-allus tells my granddaughter how I's head of de class when I does go.
-She am good in her studies, too.
-
-"When I's fifteen I marries Benjamin Calhoun Scales and he was a farmer.
-We had five chillen and three boys is livin'. One am a preacher and
-Arthur am a cement laborer and Chester works in a printin' shop.
-
-"Benjie dies on February 15th, dis year (1937). I lives with Arthur and
-de gov'ment gives me $10.00 de month. I has de li'l farm of nineteen
-acres out near Oak Hill and Floyd, de preacher, lives on dat. All my
-boys is good to me. Dey done good, and better'n we could, 'cause we
-couldn't git much larnin' dem days. I's had de good life. But we
-'preciated our chance more'n de young folks does nowadays. Dey has so
-much dey don't have to try so hard. If we'd had what dey got, we'd thunk
-we was done died and gone to Glory Land. Maybe dey'll be all right when
-deys growed."
-
-Hannah Scott
-============
-
-**Hannah Scott was born in slavery, in Alabama. She does not know her
-age but says she was grown when her last master, Bat Peterson, set her
-free. Hannah lives with her grandson in a two-room house near the
-railroad tracks, in Houston, Texas. Unable to walk because of a
-paralytic stroke, Hannah asked her grandson to lift her from the bed to
-a chair, from which she told her story.**
-
-"Son, move de chair a mite closer to de stove. Dere, dat's better,
-'cause de heat kind of soople me up. Ain't nothin' left of me but some
-skin and bones, nohow.
-
-"Lemme see now. I's born in Alabama and I think dey calls it Fayette
-County. Mama's name was Ardissa and she 'long to Marse Clark Eccles, but
-us chillen allus call him White Pa. Miss Hetty, his wife, we calls her
-White Ma.
-
-"I never knowed my own pa, 'cause he 'long to 'nother man and was sold
-away 'fore I's old 'nough to know him. Mama has five us chillen, but dey
-all dead 'ceptin' me. Dey didn't have no marriage back den like now. Dey
-just puts black folks together in de sight of man and not in de sight of
-Gawd, and dey puts dem asunder, too.
-
-"Marse Eccles didn't have no big place and only nine slaves. I guess he
-what you calls 'poor folks,' but he mighty good to he black folks. I
-'member when he sold us to Bat Peterson. He and White Ma break down and
-cry when old Bat puts us in de wagon and takes us off to Arkansas. I
-heared mama say something 'bout White Pa sellin' us for debt and he
-gits a hunerd dollars for me.
-
-"Whoosh, it sho' was a heap dif'ent from Alabama. Marse Bat had
-niggers. I reckon he must of had a hunerd of dem and two nigger drivers,
-Uncle Green and Uncle Jake, and a overseer. Marse Bat was mean, too, and
-work he slaves from daylight till nine o'clock at night. I carries water
-for de hands. I carries de bucket on my head and 'fore long I ain't got
-no more hair on my head den you has on de palm of you hand. No, suh!
-
-"When I gits bigger, de overseer puts me in de field with de rest. Marse
-Bat grow mostly cotton and it don't make no dif'ence is you big or li'l,
-you better keep up or de drivers burn you up with de whip, sho' 'nough.
-Old Marse Bat never put a lick on me all de years I 'longs to him, but
-de drivers sho' burnt me plenty times. Sometime I gits so tired come
-night, I draps right in de row and gone to sleep. Den de driver come
-'long and, wham, dey cuts you 'cross de back with de whip and you wakes
-up when it lights on you, yes, suh! 'Bout nine o'clock dey hollers
-'cotton up' and dat de quittin' signal. We goes to de quarters and jes'
-drap on de bunk and go to sleep without nothin' to eat.
-
-"On old Bat's place dat all us know, is work and more work. De onlies'
-time we has off am Sunday and den we has to wash and mend clothes. De
-first Sunday of de month a white preacher come, but all he say is
-'bedience to de white folks, and we hears 'nough of dat without him
-tellin' us.
-
-"I 'member when White Pa come to try git mama and us chillen back. We
-been in Arkansas five, six year, and, whoosh, I sho' wants to go back to
-my White Pa, but old Bat wouldn't let us go. He come to our quarters
-dat night and tell mama if she or us chillen try to run off he'll kill
-us. Dey sho' watch us for awhile.
-
-"Sometimes one of de niggers runs off but he ain't gone long. He gits
-hongry and comes back. Den he gits a burnin' with de bullwhip. Does he
-run 'way again, Marse Bat say he got too much rabbit in him and chains
-him up till he goes to Little Rock and sells him.
-
-"I heared some white folks treat dey slaves good and give dem time off,
-but Marse Bat don't. We has plenty to eat and clothes, but dat all. Dat
-de way it was till we's freed, only it wasn't in Arkansas. It was down
-to Richmond, here in Texas, 'cause Marse Bat rents a farm at Richmond.
-He thunk if he brung us to Texas he wouldn't have to set us free. But he
-got fooled, 'cause a gov'ment man come tell us we's free. We had de crop
-planted and old Bat say if we'll stay through pickin' he'll pay us. Mama
-and us stayed awhile.
-
-"I gits married legal with Richard Scott and we comes to Harrisburg and
-he gits a job on de section of de railroad. I's lived here ever since.
-My husban' and me raises five chillen, but only de one gal am alive now.
-My grandson takes care of me. He tells me iffen my husband lived so
-long, he be 107 years old. I know he was older dan me, but not 'xactly
-how much.
-
-"Sometime I feel I's been here too long, 'cause I's paralyzed and can't
-move round none. But maybe de Lawd ain't ready for me yet, and de Debbil
-won't have me."
-
-Abram Sells
-===========
-
-**Abram Sells was born a slave on the Rimes Plantation, which was
-located about 18 miles southeast of Newton, Texas. He does not know his
-age, but must be well along in the 80's, as his recollections of slavery
-days are keen. He lives at Jamestown, Texas.**
-
-"I was birthed on the Rimes Plantation, now called
-Harrisburg. My great-grand-daddy's name was Bowser Rimes and he
-was brung to Texas from Louisiana and die at 138 year old. He's
-buried on the old Ben Powell place close to Jasper. My grand-daddy,
-that's John, he lives to be 103 year old and he buried on the Eddy
-plantation at Jasper. My daddy, Mose Rimes, he die young at 86 and
-he buried in Jasper County, too. My mammy's name was Phoebe and
-she was birthed a Rimes nigger and brung to Texas from back in
-Louisiana. The year slaves was freed I was inherit by a man named
-Sells, what marry into the Rimes family and that's why my name's
-Sells, 'cause it change 'long with the marriage. Us was jes' ready
-to be ship back to Louisiana to the new massa's plantation when the
-end of the war break up the trip.
-
-"You see, we all had purty good time on Massa Rimes's
-plantation. None of them carin' 'bout being sot free. They has to
-work hard all time, but that don' mean so much, 'cause they have to
-work iffen they was on they own, too. The old folks was 'lowed
-Saturday evenin' off or when they's sick, and us little ones, us not
-do much but bring in the wood and kindle the fires and tote water
-and he'p wash clothes and feed the little pigs and chickens.
-
-"Us chillen hang round close to the big house and us have a old
-man that went round with us and look after us, white chillen and black
-chillen, and that old man was my great grand-daddy. Us sho' have to
-mind him, 'cause iffen we didn't, us sho' have bad luck. He allus have
-the pocket full of things to conjure with. That rabbit foot, he took it
-out and he work that on you till you take the creeps and git shakin' all
-over. Then there's a pocket full of fish scales and he kind of squeak
-and rattle them in the hand and right then you wish you was dead and
-promise to do anything. Another thing he allus have in the pocket was
-a li'l old dry-up turtle, jes' a mud turtle 'bout the size of a man's
-thumb, the whole thing jes' dry up and dead. With that thing he say
-he could do mos' anything, but he never use it iffen he ain't have to.
-A few times I seed him git all tangle up and boddered and he go off by
-hisself and sot down in a quiet place, take out this very turtle and
-put it in the palm of the hand and turn it round and round and say
-somethin' all the time. After while he git everything ontwisted and
-he come back with a smile on he face and maybe whistlin'.
-
-"They fed all us nigger chillen in a big trough made out'n wood, maybe
-more a wood tray, dug out'n soft timber like magnolia or cypress. They
-put it under a tree in the shade in summer time and give each chile a
-wood spoon, then mix all the food up in the trough and us goes to
-eatin'. Mos' the food was potlicker, jes' common old potlicker; turnip
-green and the juice, Irish 'taters and the juice, cabbages and peas and
-beans, jes' anything what make potlicker. All us git round like so many
-li'l pigs and then us dish in with our wood spoon till it all gone.
-
-"We has lots of meat at times. Old grand-daddy allus ketchin'
-rabbit in some kind of trap, mostly make out'n a holler log. He sot
-'em round in the garden and sho' kotch the rabbits. And possums, us
-have a good possum dog, sometimes two or three, and every night you
-heered them dogs barkin' in the field down by the branch. Sho' 'nuf,
-they git possum treed and us go git him and parbile him and put him
-in the oven and bake him plumb tender. Then we stacks sweet 'taters
-round him and po' the juice over the whole thing. Now, there is
-somethin' good 'nuf for a king.
-
-"There was lots of deer and turkey and squirrel in the wil' wood
-and somebody out huntin' nearly every day. Course Massa Rime's folks
-couldn't eat up all this meat befo' it spile and the niggers allus
-git a great big part of it. Then we kilt lots of hawgs and then talk
-'bout eatin'! O, them chitlin's, sousemeat and the haslets, thats
-the liver and the lights all biled up together. Us li'l niggers fill
-up on sich as that and go to bed and mos' dream us is li'l pigs.
-
-"Us allus have plenty to eat but didn't pay much 'tention to clothes.
-Boys and gals all dress jes' alike, one long shirt or dress. They call
-it a shirt iffen a boy wear it and call it a dress iffen the gal wear
-it. There wasn't no difference, 'cause they's all made out'n somethin'
-like duck and all white. That is, they's white when you fus' put them
-on, but after you wears them a while they git kind of pig-cullud, kind
-of grey, but still they's all the same color. Us all go barefoot in
-summer, li'l ones and big ones, but in winter us have homemake shoes.
-They tan the leather at home and make the shoe at home, allus some old
-nigger that kin make shoe. They was more like moc'sin, with lace made of
-deerskin. The soles was peg on with wood pegs out'n maple and sharpen
-down with a shoe knife.
-
-"Us have hats make out'n pine straw, long leaf pine straw, tied together
-in li'l bunches and platted round and round till it make a kinder hat.
-That pine straw great stuff in them days and us use it in lots of ways.
-Us kivered sweet 'taters with it to keep them from git freeze and hogs
-made beds out'n it and folks too. Yes, sir, us slep' on it. The beds had
-jes' one leg. They bored two hole in the wall up in the corner and stuck
-two pole in them holes and lay plank on that like slats and pile lots of
-pine straw on that. Then they spread a homemake blanket or quilt on that
-and sometime four or five li'l niggers slep' in there to keep us warm.
-
-"The li'l folks slep' mos' as long as they want to in daylight,
-but the big niggers have to come out'n that bed 'bout fo' o'clock when
-the big horn blow. The overseer have one nigger, he wake up early for
-to blow the horn and when he blow this horn he make sich a holler then
-all the res' of the niggers better git out'n that bed and 'pear at the
-barn 'bout daylight. He might not whip him for being late the fus'
-time, but that nigger better not forgit the secon' time and be late!
-
-"Massa Rimes didn't whip them much, but iffen they was bad niggers he
-jes' sold them offen the place and let somebody else do the whippin'.
-Never have no church house or school, but Massa Rimes, he call them in
-and read the Bible to them. Then he turn the service over to some good,
-old, 'ligious niggers and let them finish with the singin' and prayin'
-and 'zorting. After peach [HW: "?"] cleared, a school was 'stablish and
-a white man come from the north to teach the cullud chillen, but befo'
-that they didn' take no pains to teach the niggers nothin' 'ceptin' to
-work, and the white chillen didn't have much school neither.
-
-"That was one plantation what was run 'sclusively by itself. Massa Rimes
-have a commissary or sto' house, whar he kep' whatnot things—them what
-make on the plantation and things the slaves couldn' make for themselfs.
-That wasn't much, 'cause we make us own clothes and shoes and plow and
-all farm tools and us even make our own plow line out'n cotton and iffen
-us run short of cotton sometime make them out'n bear grass and we make
-buttons for us clothes out'n li'l round pieces of gourds and kiver them
-with cloth.
-
-.. _`Abram Sells`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image09abram.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Abram Sells
-
- Abram Sells
-
-"That wasn't sich a big plantation, 'bout a t'ousand acre and
-only 'bout forty niggers. There was'n no jail and they didn't need none.
-Us have no real doctor, but of course there was a doctor man at Jasper
-and one at Newton, but a nigger have to be purty sick 'fore they call a
-doctor. There's allus some old time nigger what knowed lots of remedies
-and knowed all dif'rent kinds of yarbs and roots. My grand-daddy, he
-could stop blood, and he could conjure off the fever and rub his fingers
-over warts and they'd git away. He make ile out'n rattlesnake for the
-rheumatis'. For the cramp he git a kind of bark offen a tree and it done
-the job, too. Some niggers wo' brass rings to keep off the rheumatis'
-and punch hole in a penny or dime and wear that on the ankle to keep off
-sickness.
-
-"'Member the war? Course I does. I 'member how some of them
-march off in their uniforms, lookin' so grand, and how some of them hide
-out in the wood to keep from lookin' so grand. They was lots of talkin'
-'bout fighting, and rubbing and scrubbing the old shotgun. The oldes'
-niggers was settin' round the fire late in the night, stirrin' the ashes
-with the poker and rakin' out the roas' 'taters. They's smokin' the old
-corn cob pipe and homemake tobacco and whisperin' right low and quiet
-like what they's gwineter do and whar they's gwineter to when Mister
-Lincoln, he turn them free.
-
-"The more they talk, the more I git scared that the niggers
-is going to git sot free and wondering what I's gwine to do if they is.
-No, I guess I don't want to live back in them times no mo', but I sho'
-seed lots of niggers not doin' so well as they did when they was slaves
-and not havin' nigh as much to eat."
-
-George Selman
-=============
-
-**George Selman was born in 1852, five miles east of Alto, Texas. His
-father was born in Virginia and his mother in South Carolina, and were
-brought to Texas by Mr. Dan Lewis. Green has been a Baptist minister
-since his youth. He lives in Jacksonville, Texas.**
-
-"We was a big fam'ly, nine children. I was born a
-slave of the Selmans, Marster Tom and Missus Polly, and they
-lived in Mississippi. Mother's name was Martha and my father's
-name was John Green Selman.
-
-"Marster's folks come from Mississippi a long ways back
-and they had a big house made from hewed logs with a big hallway
-down the middle. The kitchen was out in the yard, 'bout forty
-steps from the house. The yard had five acres in it and a big
-garden was in it. Marster had five slave families and our cabins
-was built in a half circle in the back yard. I seemed to be
-the pet and always went with Marster Tom to town or wherever he
-was goin'. Then I learned to plow by my mother letting me hold
-the handles and walk along with her. Finally she let me go 'round
-by myself.
-
-"Marster Tom was always good to us and he taught me religion.
-He was the best man I ever knew. Then Saturday noon come, they
-blew the horn and we quit workin'. We went to church one Sunday
-a month and we sat on one side and the white folks on the other.
-
-.. _`George Selman`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image15george.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: George Selman
-
- George Selman
-
-"I never learnt to read and write, but I learned to work
-in the house and the fields. Late in the day Aunt Dicey, who
-was the cook, called all us children out under the big trees and
-give us supper. This was in summer, but nobody ever fed us but
-Aunt Dicey. We all ate from one bowl, or maybe I'd call it a tray
-'cause it was made of wood, like a bread tray but bigger, big
-enough to hold three, four gallons. She put the food in the tray
-and give each chil' a spoon. Mostly we had pot likker and corn-bread.
-In winter we ate from the same tray, but in the kitchen.
-
-"I never seen runaway slaves, but Marster Tom had a neighbor
-mean to slaves and sometimes when they was whipped we could hear 'em
-holler. The neighbor had one slave called Sallie, and she was a
-weaver and was so mean she had to wear a chain. After she died, I
-heered her ghost one night. I was stayin' with a white man who had
-the malaria-typhoid-pneumonia fever, and one night I heered Sallie
-scream and seen her chain drag back and forth. I tol' the man I
-knowed it was Sallie, 'cause I'd heered that scream for years. But
-the man said she was dead, so it mus' have been her ghost. I heered
-her night after night, screamin' and draggin' her chain up and down.
-
-"When Marster Tom says we's free, I goes to his sister, Miss
-Ca'line and works for her. After sev'ral years I larned to preach
-and I's the author of most the Baptist churches in this county."
-
-Callie Shepherd
-===============
-
-**Callie Shepherd, age 84, lives at 4701 Spring Ave., Dallas, Texas. She
-was born near Gilmer, Texas, in 1852, a slave of the Stevens family. At
-present she is cared for by her 68 year old son and his wife.**
-
-"Course I kin tell you. I got 'memberance like dey don't
-have nowadays. Dat 'cause things is goin' round and round too fast
-without no settin' and talkin' things over.
-
-"I's native born right down here at Gilmer on de old place
-and Miss Fannie could tell you de same if she could be in your presence,
-but she went on to Glory many a year ago. She de one what raised me,
-right in de house with her own chillen. I slep' right in de house,
-in de chillens' room, in a little trundle bed what jus' pushed back
-under de big bed when de mornin' come. If her chillen et one side
-de table I et t'other side, right by Miss Fannie's elbow.
-
-"Miss Fannie, she Dr. Steven's wife and dey from Georgia and
-lived near Gilmer till de doctor goes off to de war and takes a sickness
-what he ain't never get peart from and died. Died right there on
-de old place. He was a right livin' man and dey allus good to me and
-my mammy, what dey done brought from Georgia and she de main cook.
-
-"My mammy don't think they ain't nobody like Miss Fannie. My
-mammy, she a little red-Indian nigger woman not so big as me, and Miss
-Fanny tell her, 'Don't you cry 'cause dey tryin' make freedom, 'cause
-de doctor done say we is gwine help you raise your babies.'
-
-"Some de niggers don't like de treatment what dey white folks gives 'em
-and dey run away to de woods. I'd hear de nigger dogs a-runnin' and when
-dey cotch de niggers dey bites 'em all over and tears dey clothes and
-gits de skin, too. And de niggers, dey'd holler. I seed 'em whip de
-niggers, 'cause dey tolt de chillen to look. Dey buckled 'em down on de
-groun' and laid it on dey backs. Sometimes dey laid on with a mighty
-heavy hand. But I ain't never git no whippin' 'cause I never went with
-de cullud gen'ration. I set right in de buggy with de white chillen and
-went to hear Gospel preachin'.
-
-.. _`Callie Shepherd`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image17callie.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Callie Shepherd
-
- Callie Shepherd
-
-"I danced at de balls in de sixteen figure round sets and everybody
-in dem parts say I de principal dancer, but I gits 'ligion and left
-de old way to live in de 'termination to live beyon' dis vale of tears.
-
-"I have my trib'lations after my old daddy die, 'cause he good to us
-little chillen. But my next daddy a man mighty rough on us. Dat after
-Miss Fannie done gone back to Georgia and my back done hurt me all de
-time from pullin' fodder and choppin' cotton. It make a big indif'rence
-after Miss Fannie gone, and de war de cause of it all. I heered de big
-cannons goin' on over there jus' like de bigges' clap of thunder.
-
-"Me and de little chillen playin' in de road makin' frog houses out of
-sand when we hear de hosses comin'. We looks and see de budallions
-shinin' in de sun and de sojers have tin cups tied on side dere saddles
-and throwed dem cups to us chillen as dey passed. Dey say war is over
-and we is free. Miss Fannie say she a Seay from Georgia and she go back
-dere, but I jus' stay on where I's native born."
-
-Betty Simmons
-=============
-
-**Betty Simmons, 100 or more, was born a slave to Leftwidge Carter, in
-Macedonia, Alabama. She was stolen when a child, sold to slave traders
-and later to a man in Texas. She now lives in Beaumont, Texas.**
-
-"I think I's 'bout a hunnerd and one or two year old. My
-papa was a free man, 'cause his old massa sot him free 'fore I's born,
-and give him a hoss and saddle and a little house to live in.
-
-"My old massa when I's a chile, he name Mr. Leftwidge Carter
-and when he daughter marry Mr. Wash Langford, massa give me to her.
-She was call Clementine. Massa Langford has a little store and a
-man call Mobley go in business with him. Dis man brung down he two
-brothers and dey fair clean Massa Langford out. He was ruint.
-
-"But while all dis goin' on I didn't know it and I was happy.
-Dey was good to me and I don't work too hard, jus' gits in de mischief.
-One time I sho' got drunk and dis de way of it. Massa have de puncheon
-of whiskey and he sell de whiskey, too. Now, in dem days, dey have
-frills 'round de beds, dey wasn't naked beds like nowdays. Dey puts
-dis puncheon under de beds and de frills hides it, but I's nussin' a
-little boy in dat room and I crawls under dat bed and drinks out of de
-puncheon. Den I poke de head out and say 'Boo' at de little boy, and
-he laugh and laugh. Den I ducks back and drinks a little more and I
-say 'Boo' at him 'gain, and he laugh and laugh. Dey was lots of whiskey
-in dat puncheon and I keeps drinkin' and sayin' 'Boo'. My head, it gits
-funny and I come out with de puncheon and starts to de kitchen, where
-my aunt Adeline was de cook. I jes' a-stompin' and sayin' de big words.
-Dey never lets me 'round where dat puncheon is no more.
-
-"When Massa Langford was ruint and dey goin' take de store
-'way from him, dey was trouble, plenty of dat. One day massa send me
-down to he brudder's place. I was dere two days and den de missy tell
-me to go to de fence. Dere was two white men in a buggy and one of 'em
-say, 'I thought she bigger dan dat.' Den he asks me, 'Betty, kin you
-cook?' I tells him I been cook helper two, three month, and he say,
-'You git dressed and came on down three mile to de other side de post
-office.' So I gits my little bundle and whan I gits dere he say, 'Gal,
-you want to go 'bout 26 mile and help cook at de boardin' house?' He
-tries to make me believe I won't be gone a long time, but when I gits in
-de buggy dey tells me Massa Langford done los' everything and he have to
-hide out he niggers for to keep he credickers from gittin' dem. Some
-of de niggers he hides in de woods, but he stole me from my sweet missy
-and sell me so dem credickers can't git me.
-
-"When we gits to de crossroads dere de massa and a nigger man. Dat
-another slave he gwine to sell, and he hate to sell us so bad he can't
-look us in de eye. Dey puts us niggers inside de buggy, so iffen de
-credickers comes along dey can't see us.
-
-"Finally dese slave spec'laters puts de nigger man and me on de train
-and takes us to Memphis, and when we gits dere day takes us to de nigger
-traders' yard. We gits dere at breakfast time and waits for de boat dey
-calls de 'Ohio' to git dere. De boat jus' ahead of dis Ohio, Old Capt.
-Fabra's boat, was 'stroyed and dat delay our boat two hours. When it
-come, dey was 258 niggers out of dem nigger yards in Memphis what gits
-on dat boat. Dey puts de niggers upstairs and goes down de river far as
-Vicksburg, dat was de place, and den us gits offen de boat and gits on
-de train 'gain and dat time we goes to New Orleans.
-
-"I's satisfy den I los' my people and ain't never goin' to see dem no
-more in dis world, and I never did. Dey has three big trader yard in New
-Orleans and I hear de traders say dat town 25 mile square. I ain't like
-it so well, 'cause I ain't like it 'bout dat big river. We hears some of
-'em say dere's gwineter throw a long war and us all think what dey buy
-us for if we's gwine to be sot free. Some was still buyin' niggers every
-fall and us think it too funny dey kep' on fillin' up when dey gwineter
-be emptyin' out soon.
-
-"Dey have big sandbars and planks fix 'round de nigger yards and dey
-have watchmans to keep dem from runnin 'way in de swamp. Some of de
-niggers dey have jus' picked up on de road, dey steals dem. Dey calls
-dem 'wagon boy' and 'wagon gal.' Dey has one bit mulatto boy dey stole
-'long de road dat way and he massa find out 'bout him and come and git
-him and take him 'way. And a woman what was a seamster, a man what
-knowed her seed her in de pen and he done told her massa and he come
-right down and git her. She sho' was proud to git out. She was stole
-from 'long de road, too. You sees, if dey could steal de niggers and
-sell 'em for de good money, dem traders could make plenty money dat way.
-
-"At las' Col. Fortescue, he buy me and kep' me. He a fighter in de
-Mexican war and he come to New Orleans to buy he slaves. He takes me up
-de Red River to Shreveport and den by de buggy to Liberty, in Texas.
-
-"De Colonel, he a good massa to us. He 'lows us to work de patch of
-ground for ourselves, and maybe have a pig or a couple chickens for
-ourselves, and he allus make out to give us plenty to eat.
-
-"De massa, when a place fill up, he allus pick and move to a place where
-dere ain't so much people. Dat how come de Colonel fus' left Alabama and
-come to Texas, and to de place dey calls Beef Head den, but calls Gran'
-Cane now.
-
-"When us come to Gran' Cane a nigger boy git stuck on one us house girls
-and he run away from he massa and foller us. It were a woodly country
-and de boy outrun he chasers. I heered de dogs after him and he torn and
-bleedin' with de bresh and he run upstair in de gin house. De dogs sot
-down by de door and de dog-man, what hired to chase him, he drug him
-down and throw him in de Horse Hole and tells de two dogs to swim in and
-git him. De boy so scairt he yell and holler but de dogs nip and pinch
-him good with de claws and teeth. When dey lets de boy out de water hole
-he all bit up and when he massa larn how mean de dog-man been to de boy
-he 'fuses to pay de fee.
-
-"I gits married in slavery time, to George Fortescue. De massa
-he marry us sort of like de justice of de peace. But my husban', he git
-kilt in Liberty, when he cuttin' down a tree and it fall on him. I ain't
-never marry no more.
-
-"I sho' was glad when freedom come, 'cause dey jus' ready to put my
-little three year old boy in de field. Dey took 'em young. I has another
-baby call Mittie, and she too young to work. I don't know how many
-chillen I's have, and sometimes I sits and tries to count 'em. Dey's
-seven livin' but I had 'bout fourteen.
-
-.. _`Betty Simmons`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image19betty.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Betty Simmons
-
- Betty Simmons
-
-"Dey was pretty hard on de niggers. Iffen us have de baby us only 'lowed
-to stay in de house for one month and card and spin, and den us has to
-get out in de field. Dey allus blow de horn for us mammies to come up
-and nuss de babies.
-
-"I seed plenty soldiers 'fore freedom. Dey's de Democrats, 'cause I
-never seed no Yankees. Us niggers used to wash and iron for dem. At
-night us seed dose soldiers peepin' 'round de house and us run 'way in
-de bresh.
-
-"When freedom come us was layin' by de crop and de massa he give us a
-gen'rous part of dat crop and us move to Clarks place. We gits on all
-right after freedom, but it hard at first 'cause us didn't know how to
-do for ourselves. But we has to larn."
-
-George Simmons
-==============
-
-**George Simmons, born in Alabama in 1854, was owned by Mr. Steve
-Jaynes, who lived near Beaumont, Texas. George has a good many memories
-of slavery years, although he was still a child when he was freed. He
-now lives in Beaumont, Tex.**
-
-"I's bo'n durin' slavery, somewhar in Alabama, but I don'
-'member whar my mammy said. Dey brung me here endurin' de War and
-I belonged to Massa Steve Jaynes, and he had 'bout 75 other niggers.
-It was a big place and lots of wo'k, but I's too little to do much
-'cept errands 'round de house.
-
-"Massa Jaynes, he raised cotton and co'n and he have 'bout
-400 acres. He 'spected de niggers to wo'k hard from mornin' till
-sundown, but he was fair in treatin' 'em. He give us plenty to eat
-and lots of cornbread and black-eye' peas and plenty hawg meat and
-sich. We had possum sometimes, too. Jus' took a nice, fat possum
-we done cotched in de woods and skinned 'im and put 'im in a oven
-and roas' 'im with sweet 'tatoes all 'round and make plenty gravy.
-Dat was good.
-
-"Massa Jaynes, he 'lowed de slaves who wanted to have a little place to
-make garden, veg'tables and dose kin' of things. He give 'em seed and de
-nigger could have all he raised in his little garden. We was all well
-kep' and I don' see whar freedom was much mo' better, in a way. Course,
-some massas was bad to dere slaves and whipped 'em so ha'd dey's nearly
-dead. I know dat, 'cause I heered it from de neighbors places. Some of
-dere slaves would run away and hide in de woods and mos' of 'em was
-kotched with dogs. Fin'ly dey took to puttin' bells on de slaves so
-iffen dey run away, dey could hear 'em in de woods. Dey put 'em on with
-a chain, so dey couldn' get 'em off.
-
-"We could have church on Sunday and our own cullud church. Sam Watson,
-he was de nigger preacher and he's a slave, too.
-
-.. _`George Simmons`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image23george.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: George Simmons
-
- George Simmons
-
-"I didn' know much 'bout de war, 'cause we couldn' read and de white
-folks didn' talk war much 'fore us. But we heered things and I 'member
-de sojers on dere way back after it's all over. Dey wasn' dressed in a
-uniform and dey clothes was mos'ly rags, dey was dat tore up. We seed
-'em walkin' on de road and sometimes dey had ole wagons, but mos' times
-dey walk. I 'member some Yankee sojers, too. Dey have canteens over de
-shoulder, and mos' of 'em has blue uniforms on.
-
-"Massa, he tell us when freedom come, and some of us stays 'round
-awhile, 'cause whar is we'uns goin'? We didn' know what to do and we
-didn' know how to keep ourselves, and what was we to do to get food and
-a place to live? Dose was ha'd times, 'cause de country tore up and de
-business bad.
-
-"And de Kluxes dey range 'round some. Dey soon plays out but dey took
-mos' de time to scare de niggers. One time dey comes to my daddy's house
-and de leader, him in de long robe, he say, 'Nigger, quick you and git
-me a drink of water.' My daddy, he brung de white folks drinkin' gourd
-and dat Klux, he say, 'Nigger, I say git me a big drink—bring me dat
-bucket. I's thirsty.' He drinks three buckets of water, we thinks he
-does, but what you think we learns? He has a rubber bag under his robe
-and is puttin' dat water in dere!"
-
-Ben Simpson
-===========
-
-**Ben Simpson, 90, was born in Norcross, Georgia, a slave of the
-Stielszen family. He had a cruel master, and was afraid to tell the
-truth about his life as a slave, until assured that no harm would come
-to him. Ben now lives in Madisonville, Texas, and receives a small old
-age pension.**
-
-"Boss, I's born in Georgia, in Norcross, and I's ninety years old. My
-father's name was Roger Stielszen and my mother's name was Betty. Massa
-Earl Stielszen captures them in Africa and brung them to Georgia. He got
-kilt and my sister and me went to his son. His son was a killer. He got
-in trouble there in Georgia and got him two good-stepping hosses and the
-covered wagon. Then he chains all he slaves round the necks and fastens
-the chains to the hosses and makes then walk all the way to Texas. My
-mother and my sister had to walk. Emma was my sister. Somewhere on the
-road it went to snowin' and massa wouldn't let us wrap anything round
-our feet. We had to sleep on the ground, too, in all that snow.
-
-"Massa have a great, long whip platted out of rawhide and when one the
-niggers fall behind or give out, he hit him with that whip. It take the
-hide every time he hit a nigger. Mother, she give out on the way, 'bout
-the line of Texas. Her feet got raw and bleedin' and her legs swoll
-plumb out of shape. Then massa, he jus' take out he gun and shot her,
-and whilst she lay dyin' he kicks her two, three times and say, 'Damn a
-nigger what can't stand nothin'.' Boss, you know that man, he wouldn't
-bury mother, jus' leave her layin' where he shot her at. You know, then
-there wasn't no law 'gainst killin' nigger slaves.
-
-"He come plumb to Austin through that snow. He taken up farmin' and
-changes he name to Alex Simpson, and changes our names, too. He cut logs
-and builded he home on the side of them mountains. We never had no
-quarters. When night-time come he locks the chain round our necks and
-then locks it round a tree. Boss, our bed were the ground. All he feed
-us was raw meat and green corn. Boss, I et many a green weed. I was
-hongry. He never let us eat at noon, he worked us all day without
-stoppin'. We went naked, that the way he worked us. We never had any
-clothes.
-
-"He brands us. He brand my mother befo' us left Georgia. Boss, that
-nearly kilt her. He brand her in the breast, then between the shoulders.
-He brand all us.
-
-"My sister, Emma, was the only woman he have till he marries. Emma was
-wife of all seven Negro slaves. He sold her when she's 'bout fifteen,
-jus' befo' her baby was born. I never seen her since.
-
-"Boss, massa was a outlaw. He come to Texas and deal in stolen hosses.
-Jus' befo' he's hung for stealin' hosses, he marries a young Spanish
-gal. He sho' mean to her. Whips her 'cause she want him to leave he
-slaves alone and live right. Bless her heart, she's the best gal in the
-world. She was the best thing God ever put life in the world. She cry
-and cry every time massa go off. She let us a-loose and she feed us good
-one time while he's gone. Missy Selena, she turn us a-loose and we wash
-in the creek clost by. She jus' fasten the chain on us and give us great
-big pot cooked meat and corn, and up he rides. Never says a word but
-come to see what us eatin'. He pick up he whip and whip her till she
-falls. If I could have got a-loose I'd kilt him. I swore if I ever got
-a-loose I'd kill him. But befo' long after that he fails to come home,
-and some people finds him hangin' to a tree. Boss, that long after war
-time he got hung. He didn't let us free. We wore chains all the time.
-When we work, we drug them chains with us. At night he lock us to a tree
-to keep us from runnin' off. He didn't have to do that. We were 'fraid
-to run. We knew he'd kill us. Besides, he brands us and they no way to
-get it off. It's put there with a hot iron. You can't git it off.
-
-"If a slave die, massa made the rest of us tie a rope round he feet
-and drug him off. Never buried one, it was too much trouble.
-
-"Massa allus say he be rich after the war. He stealin' all the time. He
-have a whole mountain side where he keep he stock. Missy Selena tell us
-one day we sposed to be free, but he didn't turn us a-loose. It was
-'bout three years after the war they hung him. Missy turned us a-loose.
-
-"I had a hard time then. All I had to eat was what I could find and
-steal. I was 'fraid of everybody. I jus' went wild and to the woods,
-but, thank God, a bunch of men taken they dogs and run me down. They
-carry me to they place. Gen. Houston had some niggers and he made them
-feed me. He made them keep me till I git well and able to work. Then he
-give me a job. I marry one the gals befo' I leaves them. I'm plumb out
-of place there at my own weddin'. Yes, suh, boss, it wasn't one year
-befo' that I'm the wild nigger. We had thirteen chillen.
-
-"I farms all my life after that. I didn't know nothin' else to do. I
-made plenty cotton, but now I'm too old. Me and my wife is alone now.
-This old nigger gits the li'l pension from the gov'ment. I not got much
-longer to stay here. I's ready to see God but I hope my old massa ain't
-there to torment me again."
-
-Giles Smith
-===========
-
-**Giles Smith, 79, now residing at 3107 Blanchard St., Fort Worth,
-Texas, was born a slave of Major Hardway, on a plantation near Union
-Springs, Alabama. The Major gave Giles to his daughter when he was an
-infant and he never saw his parents again. In 1874 Frank Talbot brought
-Giles to Texas, and he worked on the farm two years. He then went to
-Brownwood and worked in a gin seventeen years. In 1908 he moved to Fort
-Worth and worked for a packing company. Old age led to his discharge in
-1931 and he has since worked at any odd jobs he could find.**
-
-"My name am Giles Smith, 'cause my pappy was born on the Smith
-plantation and I took his name. I's born at Union Springs, in Alabama
-and Major Hardway owned me and 'bout a hundred other slaves. But he gave
-me to Mary, his daughter, when I's only a few months old and had to be
-fed on a bottle, 'cause she am jus' married to Massa Miles. She told me
-how she carried me home in her arms. She say I was so li'l she have a
-hard time to make me eat out the bottle, and I put up a good fight so
-she nearly took me back.
-
-"I don't 'member the start of the war, but de endin' I does. Massa Miles
-called all us together and told us we's free and it give us all de
-jitters. He treated all us fine and nobody wanted to go. He and Missy am
-de best folks de Lawd could make. I stayed till I was sixteen years old.
-
-"It am years after freedom Missy Mary say to me what massa allus say,
-'If the nigger won't follow orders by kind treatin', sich nigger am
-wrong in the head and not worth keepin'. He didn't have to rush us. We'd
-just dig in and do the work. One time Massa clearin' some land and it am
-gittin' late for breakin' the ground. Us allus have Saturday afternoon
-and Sunday off. Old Jerry says to us, 'Tell yous what us do,—go to the
-clearin' this afternoon and Sunday and finish for the Massa. That sho'
-make him glad.'
-
-"Saturday noon came and nobody tells the massa but go to that clearin'
-and sing while us work, cuttin' bresh and grubbin' stomps and burnin'
-bresh. Us sing
-
- | "'Hi, ho, ug, hi, ho, ug.
- | De sharp bit, de strong arm,
- | Hi, ho, ug, hi, ho, ug,
- | Dis tree am done 'fore us warm.'
-
-"De massa come out and his mouth am slippin' all over he face and he
-say, 'What this all mean? Why you workin' Saturday afternoon?'
-
-"Old Jerry am a funny cuss and he say, 'Massa, O, massa, please don't
-whop us for cuttin' down yous trees.'
-
-"I's gwine whop you with the chicken stew,' Massa say. And for Sunday
-dinner dere am chicken stew with noodles and peach cobbler.
-
-"So I stays with massa and after I's fifteen he pays me $2.00 the month,
-and course I gits my eats and my clothes, too. When I gits the first two
-I don't know what to do, 'cause it the first money I ever had. Missy
-make the propulation to keep the money and buy for me and teach me 'bout
-it. There ain't much to buy, 'cause we make nearly everything right
-there. Even the tobaccy am made. They put honey 'twixt the leaves and
-put a pile of it 'twixt two boards with weights. It am left for a month
-and that am a man's tobaccy. A weaklin' better stay off that kind
-tobaccy.
-
-"First I works in the field and then am massa's coachman. But when I's
-'bout sixteen I gits a idea to go off somewheres for myself. I hears
-'bout Mr. Frank Talbot, whom am takin' some niggers to Texas and I goes
-with him to the Brazos River bottom, and works there two years. I's
-lonesome for massa and missy and if I'd been clost enough, I'd sho' gone
-back to the old plantation. So after two years I quits and goes to work
-for Mr. Winfield Scott down in Brownwood, in the gin, for seventeen
-years.
-
-"Well, shortly after I gits to Brownwood I meets a yaller gal and after
-dat I don't care to go back to Alabama so hard. I's married to Dee Smith
-on December the eighteenth, in 1880, and us live together many years.
-She died six years ago. Us have six chillen but I don't know where one
-of them are now. They all forgit their father in his old age! They not
-so young, either.
-
-.. _`Giles Smith`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image30giles.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Giles Smith
-
- Giles Smith
-
-"My woman could write a little so she write missy for me, and she write
-back and wish us luck and if we ever wants to come back to the old home
-we is welcome. Us write back' forth with her. Finally, us git the letter
-what say she sick, and then awful low. That 'bout twenty-five years
-after I marries. That am too much for me, and I catches the next train
-back to Alabama but I gits there too late. She am dead, and I never has
-forgive myself, 'cause I don't go back befo' she die, like she ask us
-to, lots of times.
-
-"I comes here fifteen years ago and here I be. The last six year I can't
-work in the packin' plants no more. I's too old. Anything I can find to
-do I does, but it ain't much no more.
-
-"The worst grief I's had, am to think I didn't go see missy 'fore she
-die. I's never forgave myself for that."
-
-James W. Smith
-==============
-
-**James W. Smith, 77, was born a slave of the Hallman family, in
-Palestine, Texas. James became a Baptist minister in 1895, and preached
-until 1931, when poor health forced him to retire. He and his wife live
-at 1306 E. Fourth St., Fort Worth, Texas.**
-
-"Yes, suh, I'm birthed a slave, but never worked as sich, 'cause I's too
-young. But I 'members hearin' my mother tell all about her slave days
-and our master. He was John Hallman and owned a place in Palestine, with
-my mother and father and fifty other slaves. My folks was house servants
-and lived a little better'n the field hands. De cabins was built cheap,
-though, no money, only time for buildin' am de cost. Dey didn't use
-nails and helt de logs in place by dovetailin'. Dey closed de space
-between de logs with wedges covered with mud and straw. De framework for
-de door was helt by wooden pegs and so am de benches and tables. Master
-Hallman always had some niggers trained for carpenter work, and one to
-be blacksmith and one to make shoes and harness.
-
-"We was lucky to have de kind master, what give us plenty to eat. If all
-de people now could have jus' so good food what we had, there wouldn't
-be no beggin' by hungry folks or need for milk funds for starved babies.
-
-"We didn't have purty clothes sich as now, with all de dif'rent colors
-mixed up, but dey was warm and lastin', dyed brown and black. De black
-oak and cherry made de dyes. Our shoes wasn't purty, either. I has to
-laugh when I think of de shoes. There wasn't no careful work put on dem,
-but dey covered de feets and lasted near forever.
-
-"Master always wanted to help his cullud folks live right and my folks
-always said de best time of they lives was on de old plantation. He
-always 'ranged for parties and sich. Yes, suh, he wanted dem to have a
-good time, but no foolishment, jus' good, clean fun. There am dancin'
-and singin' mostest every Saturday night. He had a little platform built
-for de jiggin' contests. Cullud folks comes from all round, to see who
-could jig de best. Sometimes two niggers each put a cup of water on de
-head and see who could jig de hardest without spillin' any. It was lots
-of fun.
-
-"I must tell you 'bout de best contest we ever had. One nigger on our
-place was de jigginest fellow ever was. Everyone round tries to git
-somebody to best him. He could put de glass of water on his head and
-make his feet go like triphammers and sound like de snaredrum. He could
-whirl round and sich, all de movement from his hips down. Now it gits
-noised round a fellow been found to beat Tom and a contest am 'ranged
-for Saturday evenin'. There was a big crowd and money am bet, but master
-bets on Tom, of course.
-
-"So dey starts jiggin'. Tom starts easy and a little faster and faster.
-The other fellow doin' de same. Dey gits faster and faster and dat crowd
-am a-yellin'. Gosh! There am 'citement. Dey jus' keep a-gwine. It look
-like Tom done found his match, but there am one thing yet he ain't
-done—he ain't made de whirl. Now he does it. Everyone holds he breath,
-and de other fellow starts to make de whirl and he makes it, but jus' a
-spoonful of water sloughs out his cup, so Tom am de winner.
-
-"When freedom come, the master tells his slaves and says, 'What you
-gwine do?' Wall, suh, not one of dem knows dat. De fact am, dey's scared
-dey gwine be put off de place. But master says dey can stay and work for
-money or share crop. He says they might be trouble 'twixt de whites and
-niggers and likely it be best to stay and not git mixed in dis and dat
-org'ization. Mostest stays, only one or two goes away. My folks stays
-for five years after de war. Den my father moves to Bertha Creek, where
-he done 'range for a farm of his own. They hated to leave master's
-plantation, he's so good and kind.
-
-"Some the cullud folks thinks they's to take charge and run the
-gov'ment. They asks my father to jine their org'ization. He goes once
-and some eggs am served. Dey am served by de crowd and dem eggs ain't
-fresh yard eggs. Father 'cides he wants his eggs served dif'rent, and he
-likes dem fresh, so he takes master's advice and don't jine nothing.
-
-"When de Klux come, de cullud org'ization made their scatterment. Plenty
-gits whipped round our place and some what wasn't 'titled to it. Den
-soldiers comes and puts order in de section. Dey has trouble about
-votin'. De cullud folks in dem days was non-knowledge, so how could dey
-vote 'telligent? Dat am foolishment to 'sist on de right to vote. It de
-non-knowledge what hurts. Myself, I never voted and am too far down de
-road now to start.
-
-.. _`James W. Smith`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image33james.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: James W. Smith
-
- James W. Smith
-
-"I worked at farmin' till 1895 when I starts preachin' in de Baptist
-church. I kept that up till 1931, but my health got too bad and I had to
-quit. I has de pressure bad. When I preaches, I preaches hard, and de
-doctor says dat am danger for me.
-
-"The way I learns to preach am dis: after surrender, I 'tends de school
-two terms and den I studies de Bible and I's a nat'ral talker and gifted
-for de Lawd's work, so I starts preachin'.
-
-"Jennie Goodman and me marries in 1885 and de Lawd never blessed us with
-any chillen. We gits de pension, me $16.00 and her $14.00, and gits by
-on dat. It am for de rations and de eats, but de clothes am a
-question!"
-
-Jordon Smith
-============
-
-**Jordon Smith, 86, was born in Georgia, a slave of the Widow Hicks.
-When she died, Jordon, his mother and thirty other slaves were willed to
-Ab Smith, his owner's nephew, and were later refugeed from Georgia to
-Anderson Co., Texas. When freed, Jordon worked on a steamboat crew on
-the Red River until the advent of railroads. For thirty years Jordon
-worked for the railroad. He is now too feeble to work and lives with his
-third wife and six children in Marshall, Texas, supported by the latter
-and his pension of $10.00 a month.**
-
-"I's borned in Georgia, next to the line of North Car'lina, on Widow
-Hick's place. My papa died 'fore I's borned but my mammy was called
-Aggie. My ole missus died and us fell to her nephew, Ab Smith. My granma
-and granpa was full-blooded Africans and I couldn't unnerstand their
-talk.
-
-"My missus was borned on the Chattahoochee River and she had 2,000 acres
-of land in cul'vation, a thousand on each side the river, and owned 500
-slaves and 250 head of work mules. She was the richest woman in the
-whole county.
-
-"Us slaves lived in a double row log cabins facin' her house and our
-beds was made of rough plank and mattresses of hay and lynn bark and
-shucks, make on a machine. I's spinned many a piece of cloth and wove
-many a brooch of thread.
-
-"Missus didn't 'low her niggers to work till they's 21, and the chillen
-played marbles and run round and kick their heels. The first work I done
-was hoeing and us worked long as we could see a stalk of cotton or hill
-of corn. Missus used to call us at Christmas and give the old folks a
-dollar and the rest a dinner. When she died me and my mother went to Ab
-Smith at the dividement of the property. Master Ab put us to work on a
-big farm he bought and it was Hell 'mong the yearlin's if you crost him
-or missus either. It was double trouble and a cowhidin' whatever you do.
-She had a place in the kitchen where she tied their hands up to the wall
-and cowhided them and sometimes cut they back 'most to pieces. She made
-all go to church and let the women wear some her old, fine dresses to
-hide the stripes where she'd beat them. Mammy say that to keep the folks
-at church from knowin' how mean she was to her niggers.
-
-"Master Ab had a driver and if you didn't do what that driver say,
-master say to him, 'Boy, come here and take this nigger down, a hunerd
-licks this time.' Sometimes us run off and go to a dance without a pass
-and 'bout time they's kickin' they heels and getting sot for the big
-time, in come a patterroller and say, 'Havin' a big time, ain't you? Got
-a pass?' If you didn't, they'd git four or five men to take you out and
-when they got through you'd sho' go home.
-
-"Master Ab had hunerds acres wheat and made the women stack hay in the
-field. Sometimes they got sick and wanted to go to the house, but he
-made them lay down on a straw-pile in the field. Lots of chillen was
-borned on a straw-pile in the field. After the chile was borned he sent
-them to the house. I seed that with my own eyes.
-
-"They was a trader yard in Virginia and one in New Orleans and sometimes
-a thousand slaves was waitin' to be sold. When the traders knowed men
-was comin' to buy, they made the slaves all clean up and greased they
-mouths with meat skins to look like they's feedin' them plenty meat.
-They lined the women up on one side and the men on the other. A buyer
-would walk up and down 'tween the two rows and grab a woman and try to
-throw her down and feel of her to see how she's put up. If she's purty
-strong, he'd say, 'Is she a good breeder?' If a gal was 18 or 19 and put
-up good she was worth 'bout $1,500. Then the buyer'd pick out a strong,
-young nigger boy 'bout the same age and buy him. When he got them home
-he'd say to them, 'I want you two to stay together. I want young
-niggers.'
-
-"If a nigger ever run off the place and come back, master'd say, 'If
-you'll be a good nigger, I'll not whip you this time.' But you couldn't
-'lieve that. A nigger run off and stayed in the woods six month. When he
-come back he's hairy as a cow, 'cause he lived in a cave and come out at
-night and pilfer round. They put the dogs on him but couldn't cotch him.
-Fin'ly he come home and master say he won't whip him and Tom was crazy
-'nough to 'lieve it. Master say to the cook, 'Fix Tom a big dinner,' and
-while Tom's eatin', master stand in the door with a whip and say, 'Tom,
-I's change my mind; you have no business runnin' off and I's gwine take
-you out jus' like you come into the world.
-
-"Master gits a bottle whiskey and a box cigars and have Tom tied up out
-in the yard. He takes a chair and say to the driver, 'Boy, take him
-down, 250 licks this time.' Then he'd count the licks. When they's 150
-licks it didn't look like they is any place left to hit, but master say,
-'Finish him up.' Then he and the driver sot down, smoke cigars and drink
-whiskey, and master tell Tom how he must mind he master. Then he lock
-Tom up in a log house and master tell all the niggers if they give him
-anything to eat he'll skin 'em alive. The old folks slips Tom bread and
-meat. When he gits out, he's gone to the woods 'gain. They's plenty
-niggers what stayed in the woods till surrender.
-
-"I heared some slaves say they white folks was good to 'em, but it was a
-tight fight where us was. I's thought over the case a thousand times and
-figured it was 'cause all men ain't made alike. Some are bad and some
-are good. It's like that now. Some folks you works for got no heart and
-some treat you white. I guess it allus will be that way.
-
-"They was more ghosts and hants them days than now. It look like when
-I's comin' up they was common as pig tracks. They come in different
-forms and shapes, sometimes like a dog or cat or goat or like a man. I
-didn't 'lieve in 'em till I seed one. A fellow I knowed could see 'em
-every time he went out. One time us walkin' 'long a country lane and he
-say, 'Jordon, look over my right shoulder.' I looked and see a man
-walkin' without a head. I broke and run plumb off from the man I's with.
-He wasn't scart of 'em.
-
-"I's refugeed from Georgia to Anderson County 'fore the war. I see Abe
-Lincoln onct when he come through, but didn't none of know who he was. I
-heared the president wanted 'em to work the young niggers till they was
-twenty-one but to free the growed slaves. They say he give 'em thirty
-days to 'siderate it. The white folks said they'd wade blood saddle deep
-'fore they'd let us loose. I don't blame 'em in a way, 'cause they paid
-for us. In 'nother way it was right to free us. We was brought here and
-no person is sposed to be made a brute.
-
-.. _`Jordon Smith`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image36jordon.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Jordon Smith
-
- Jordon Smith
-
-"After surrender, Massa Ab call us and say we could go. Mammy stayed but
-I left with my uncles and aunts and went to Shreveport where the Yanks
-was. I didn't hear from my mammy for the nex' twenty years.
-
-"In Ku Klux times they come to our house and I stood tremblin', but they
-didn't bother us. I heared 'em say lots of niggers was took down in
-Sabine bottom and Kluxed, just 'cause they wanted to git rid of 'em. I
-think it was desperados what done that, 'stead of the Ku Klux. That was
-did in Panola County, in the Bad Lands. Bill Bateman and Hulon Gresham
-and Sidney Farney was desperados and would kill a nigger jus' to git rid
-of him. Course, lots of folks was riled up at the Kluxers and blamed 'em
-for everything.
-
-"I's voted here in Marshall. Every nation has a flag but the cullud
-race. The flag is what protects 'em. We wasn't invited here, but was
-brought here, and don't have no place else to go. We was brought under
-this government and it's right we be led and told what to do. The cullud
-folks has been here more'n a hunerd years and has help make the United
-States what it is. The only thing that'll help the cause is separation
-of the races. I'll not be here when it comes, but it's bound to, 'cause
-the Bible say that some day all the races of people will be separated.
-Since 1865 till now the cullud race have done nothing but go to
-destruction. There was a time a man could control his wife and family,
-but you can't do that now.
-
-"After surrender I went to Shreveport and steamboated from there to New
-Orleans, then to Vicksburg. Old hands was paid $15.00 a trip. I come
-here in 1872 and railroaded 30 years, on the section gang and in the
-shops. Since then I farmed and I's had three wives and nineteen chillen
-and they are scattered all over the state. Since I's too old to farm I
-work at odd jobs and git a $10.00 a month pension."
-
-Millie Ann Smith
-================
-
-**Millie Ann Smith was born in 1850, in Rusk Co., Texas, a slave of
-George Washington Trammell, a pioneer planter of the county. Trammell
-bought Millie's mother and three older children in Mississippi before
-Millie's birth, and brought them to Texas, leaving Millie's father
-behind. Later he ran away to Texas and persuaded Trammell to buy him, so
-he could be with his family.**
-
-"I's born 'fore war started and 'members when it ceased. I guess mammy's
-folks allus belonged to the Trammells, 'cause I 'member my grandpa, Josh
-Chiles, and my grandma, call Jeanette. I's a strappin' big girl when
-they dies. Grandpa used to say he come to Texas with Massa George
-Trammell's father when Rusk County was jus' a big woods, and the first
-two years he was hunter for the massa. He stay in the woods all the
-time, killing deer and wild hawgs and turkeys and coons and the like for
-the white folks to eat, and the land's full of Indians. He kinda taken
-up with them and had holes in the nose and ears. They was put there by
-the Indians for rings what they wore. Grandpa could talk mos' any Indian
-talk and he say he used to run off from his massa and stay with the
-Indians for weeks. The massa'd go to the Indian camp looking for grandpa
-and the Indians hided him out and say, 'No see him.'
-
-"How mammy and we'uns come to Texas, Massa George brung his wife and
-three chillen from Mississippi and he brung we'uns. Pappy belonged to
-Massa Moore over in Mississippi and Massa George didn't buy him, but
-after mammy got here, that 'fore I's born, pappy runs off and makes his
-way to Texas and gits Massa George to buy him.
-
-"Massa George and Missy America lived in a fine, big house and
-they owned more slaves and land than anybody in the county and they's
-the richest folks 'round there. Us slaves lived down the hill from the
-big house in a double row of log cabins and us had good beds, like our
-white folks. My grandpa made all the beds for the white folks and us
-niggers, too. Massa didn't want anything shoddy 'round him, he say, not
-even his nigger quarters.
-
-"I's sot all day handin' thread to my mammy to put in the loom,
-'cause they give us homespun clothes, and you'd better keep 'em if you
-didn't want to go naked.
-
-"Massa had a overseer and nigger driver call Jacob Green. If
-a nigger was hard to make do the right thing, they ties him to a tree,
-but Massa George never whip 'em too hard, jus' 'nough to make 'em 'have.
-
-"The slaves what worked in the fields was woke up 'fore light with a
-horn and worked till dark, and then there was the stock to tend to and
-cloth to weave. The overseer come 'round at nine o'clock to see if all
-is in the bed and then go back to his own house. When us knowed he's
-sound asleep we'd slip out and run 'round, sometimes. They locked the
-young men up in a house at night and on Sunday to keep 'em from runnin'
-'round. It was a log house and had cracks in it and once a little nigger
-boy pokes his hand in tryin' to tease them men and one of 'em chops his
-fingers off with the ax.
-
-"Massa didn' 'low no nigger to read and write, if he knowed it. George
-Wood was the only one could read and write and how he larn, a little
-boy on the 'jining place took up with him and they goes off in the
-woods and he shows George how to read and write. Massa never did find
-out 'bout that till after freedom.
-
-"We slips off and have prayer but daren't 'low the white folks know it
-and sometime we hums 'ligious songs low like when we's workin'. It was
-our way of prayin' to be free, but the white folks didn't know it. I
-'member mammy used to sing like this:
-
- | "'Am I born to die, to lay this body down.
- | Must my tremblin' spirit fly into worlds unknown,
- | The land of deepes' shade,
- | Only pierce' by human thought.'
-
-"Massa George 'lowed them what wanted to work a little ground for
-theyselves and grandpa made money sellin' wild turkey and hawgs to the
-poor white folks. He used to go huntin' at night or jus' when he could.
-
-.. _`Millie Ann Smith`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image41millie.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Millie Ann Smith
-
- Millie Ann Smith
-
-"Them days we made our own med'cine out of horsemint and butterfly weed
-and Jerusalem oak and bottled them teas up for the winter. Butterfly
-Weed tea was for the pleurisy and the others for the chills and fever.
-As reg'lar as I got up I allus drank my asafoetida and tar water.
-
-"I 'member Massa George furnishes three of his niggers, Ed Chile and
-Jacob Green and Job Jester, for mule skinners. I seed the government
-come and take off a big bunch of mules off our place. Mos' onto four
-year after the war, three men comes to Massa George and makes him call
-us up and turn us loose. I heered 'em say its close onto four year we's
-been free, but that's the first we knowed 'bout it.
-
-"Pappy goes to work at odd jobs and mammy and I goes to keep house for a
-widow woman and I stays there till I marries, and that to Tom Smith. We
-had five chillen and now Tom's dead and I lives on that pension from the
-government, what is $16.00 a month, and I's glad to git it, 'cause I's
-too old to work."
-
-Susan Smith
-===========
-
-**Susan Smith is not sure of her age, but appears to be in the late
-eighties. She was a slave of Charles Weeks, in Iberia, Louisiana. Susan
-was dressed in a black and white print, a light blue apron and a black
-velvet hat when interviewed, and seemed to be enjoying the generous quid
-of tobacco she took as she started to tell her story.**
-
-"I 'lieve I was nine or ten when freedom come, 'cause I was
-nursing for the white folks. Old massa was Charlie Weeks and he lived
-in Iberia. His sons, Willie and Ned, dey run business in de court house.
-One of dem tax collector and de other lookin' after de land, and am de
-surveyor. Old missus named Mag Weeks.
-
-"My pa named Dennis Joe and ma named Sabry Joe, and dey borned
-and raised on Weeks Island, in Louisiana. After dey old massa die, dey
-was 'vided up and falls to Massa Charlie Weeks, and dat where I borned,
-in Iberia on Bayou Teche.
-
-"Massa Charlie, he live in de big brick house with white
-columns and everybody what pass dere know dat place. Dey have de great
-big tomb in corner de yard, where dey buries all dey folks, but buries
-de cullud folks back of de quarters. Dey's well fix in Louisiana, but
-not so good after dey come to Texas.
-
-"Dey used to have big Christmas in Louisiana and lots of things for us,
-and a big table and kill hawgs and have lots to eat. But old Missus Mag,
-she allus treat me like her own chillen and make me set at de table with
-dem and eat.
-
-"I was with Missus Mag on a visit to Mansfield when de war starts at six
-o'clock Sunday and go till six o'clock Monday. I went over dat
-battlefield and look at dem sojers dey kill. David McGill, a young
-massa, he git kill. He uncle, William Weeks, what done hired him to jine
-the army in he place, he goes to the battlefield to look for Massa
-David. De only way he knowed it was him, he have two gold eyeteeth with
-diamonds in dem. Some dem hurt sojers was prayin' and some cussin'. You
-could hear some dem hollerin', 'Oh, Gawd, help me.' Dey was layin' so
-thick you have to step over dem.
-
-"I seed de sojers in Iberia. Dey take anythin' dey wants. Dey cotch de
-cow and kill it and eat it. Dey have de camp dere and dey jus' carry on.
-I used to go to de camp, 'cause dey give me crackers and sardines. But
-after dat Mansfield battle dey have up white flags and dey ain't no more
-war dere. But while it gwine on, I go to de camp and sometimes dem
-sojers give me meat and barbecue. Dey one place dere a lump salt big as
-dis house, and dey set fire to de house and left dat big lump salt.
-Anywhere dey camp dey burns up de house.
-
-"I didn't know I'm free till a man say to me, 'Sissy, ain't you know you
-ain't got no more massa or missus?' I say, 'No, suh.' But I stays with
-dem till I git marry, and slep' right in dey house and nuss for dem. Dey
-give me de big weddin', too. De noter public in Iberia, he marry us. My
-husband name Henry Smith and dat when I'm fifteen year old. I so
-big-limb and fat den I bigger den what I is now.
-
-"I ain't had no husband for a time. I can't cast de years, he been
-dead so long. Us have fifteen chillen, and seven livin' now.
-
-"Sperrits? I used to see dem. I scart of dem. Sometime dey looks nat'ral
-and sometime like de shadow. Iffen dey look like de shadow, jus' keep on
-lookin' at dem till dey looks nat'ral. Iffen you walks 'long, dey come
-right up side you. Iffen you looks over you left shoulder, you see dem.
-Dey makes de air feel warm and you hair rise up, and sometime dey gives
-you de cold chills. You can feel it when dey with you. I set here and
-seed dem standin' in dat gate. Dey goes round like dey done when dey
-a-livin'. Some say dey can't cross water.
-
-"I heared talk of de bad mouth. A old woman put bad mouth on you and
-shake her hand at you, and befo' de day done you gwine be in de
-acciden'.
-
-"I seed de Klu Klux. Po' Cajuns and redbones, I calls dem. Dey ought to
-be sleepin'. One time I seed a man hangin' in de wood when I'n pickin'
-blackberries. His tongue hangin' out and de buzzards fly down on he
-shoulder. De breeze sot him to swingin' and de buzzards fly off. I tells
-de people and dey takes him down to bury. He a fine, young cullud man. I
-don't know why dey done it. Dat after peace and de Yankees done gone
-back home.
-
-"I been here in Texas a good while, and it such a rough road it got my
-'membrance all stir up. I never been to school, 'cause I bound out to
-work. I lives with my daughter and dis child here my grandchild. I can't
-'member no more, 'cause my head ain't good as it used to be."
-
-John Sneed
-==========
-
-**John Sneed, born near Austin, Texas, does not know his age, but was
-almost grown when he was freed. He belonged to Dr. Sneed and stayed with
-him several years after Emancipation.**
-
-"I's borned on de old Sneed place, eight miles south of Austin,
-and my mammy was Sarah Sneed and pappy was Ike. Dey come from Tennessee
-and dere five boys and two gals. De boys am Dixie and Joe and Jim and
-Bob and me, and de gals name Katy and Lou. Us live in quarters what was
-log huts. Dere's one long, log house where dey spinned and weaved de
-cloth. Dere sixteen spinnin' wheels and eight looms in dat house and
-my job was turnin' one dem wheels when they'd thresh me out and git me
-to do it. Mos' all de clothes what de slaves and de white folks have
-was made in dat house.
-
-"Mos' and usual de chillen sleept on de floor, unless with de
-old folks. De bedsteads make of pieces of split logs fasten with wooden
-pegs and rope criss-cross. De mattress make of shucks tear into strips
-with maybe a li'l cotton or prairie hay. You could go out on de prairie
-mos' any time and get 'nough grass to make de bed, and dry it 'fore it
-put in de tick. De white folks have bought beds haul by ox teams from
-Austin and feather beds.
-
-"Dr. Sneed raise cotton and corn and wheat. Sometime five or six oxen
-hitch to de wagon and 25 or 30 wagons make what am call de wagon train.
-Dey haul cotton and corn and wheat to Port Lavaca what am de nearest
-shipping point. On de return trip, dey brung sugar and coffee and cloth
-and other things what am needed on de plantation. First time massa 'low
-me go with dat ox-train, I thunk I's growed.
-
-"Dere a big gang of white and cullud chillen on de plantation but Dr.
-Sneed didn't have no chillen of he own. De neighbor white chillen come
-over dere and played. Us rip and play and fight and kick up us heels,
-and go on. Massa never 'low no whippin' of de chillen. He make dem pick
-rocks up and make fences out dem, but he didn't 'low no chillen work in
-de field till dey 'bout fourteen. De real old folks didn't work in de
-fields neither. Dey sot 'round and knit socks and mend de shoes and
-harness and stuff.
-
-"Massa John mighty good to us chillen. He allus give us a li'l piece
-money every Sunday. When he'd git in he buggy to go to Austin to sell
-butter, de chillen pile in dat buggy and all over him so you couldn't
-see him and he'd hardly see to drive.
-
-"Us had possum and rabbit and fish and trap birds for eatin'. Dere all
-kind wild green dem days. Us jus' go in de woods and git wild lettuce
-and mustard and leather-britches and polk salad and watercress, all us
-want to eat. Us kilt hawgs and put up de lard by de barrel. Us thresh
-wheat and take it to de li'l watermill at Barton Creek to grind. Dey'd
-only grind two bushel to de family, no matter how big dat family, 'cause
-dere so many folks and it such a small mill.
-
-"Each family have de li'l garden and raise turnips and cabbage and sweet
-'taters and put dem in de kiln make from corn stalks and cure dem for
-winter eatin'. Us have homemake clothes and brogan shoes, come from
-Austin or some place. Us chillen wear shirt-tail till us 'bout thirteen.
-
-"Massa live in de big two-story rock house and have he office and
-drug-store in one end de house. Missy Ann have no chillen so she 'dopt
-one from Tennessee, name Sally.
-
-"Dere 'bout four or five hunerd acres and 'bout sixty slaves. Dey git up
-'bout daylight and come from de field in time to feed and do de chores
-'fore dark. After work de old folks sot 'round, fiddle and play de
-'cordian and tell stories. Dat mostly after de crops laid by or on rainy
-days. On workin' time, dey usually tired and go to bed early. Dey not
-work on Saturday afternoon or Sunday, 'cept dey gatherin' de crop 'gin a
-rain. Old man Jim Piper am fiddler and play for black and white dances.
-On Sunday massa make us go to church. Us sing and pray in a li'l log
-house on de plantation and sometimes de preacher stop and hold meetin'.
-
-"Massa John Sneed doctored from Austin to Lockhart and Gonzales and my
-own mammy he train to be midwife. She good pneumonia doctor and massa
-'low her care for dem.
-
-"On Christmas all us go to de big house and crowd 'round massa. He a
-li'l man and some black boys'd carry him 'round on dere shoulders. All
-knowed dey gwine git de present. Dere a big tree with present for
-everyone, white and black. Lots of eggnog and turkey and baked hawgs and
-all kind good things. Dere allus lots of white folks company at massa's
-house and big banquets and holidays and birthdays. Us like dem times,
-'cause work slack and food heavy. Every las' chile have he birthday
-celebrate with de big cake and present and maybe de quarter in silver
-from old massa, bless he soul. Us play kissin' games and ring plays and
-one song am like dis:
-
- | "'I'm in de well,
- | How many feet?
- | Five. Who'd git you out?'
-
-"Iffen it a man, he choose de gal and she have to kiss him to git
-him out de well. Iffen a gal in de well, she choose a man.
-
-"I well 'member de day freedom 'clared. Us have de tearin'-down dinner
-dat day. De niggers beller and cry and didn't want leave massa. He talk
-to us and say long as he live us be cared for, and us was. Dere lots of
-springs on he place and de married niggers pick out a spring and Massa
-Doctor give dem stuff to put up de cabin by dat spring, and dey take
-what dey have in de quarters. Dey want to move from dem slave quarters,
-but not too far from massa. Dey come to de big house for flour and meal
-and meat and sich till massa die. He willed every last one he slaves
-somethin'. Mos' of 'em git a cow and a horse and a pig and some
-chickens. My mammy git two cows and a pair horses and a wagon and 70
-acres land. She marries 'gain when my daddy die and dat shif'less nigger
-she marry git her to sign some kind paper and she lose de land.
-
-"My wife was Nanny Madeira and us have six chillen and five is livin'. I
-followed cattle till I's 'bout 26. I's went up de Chisholm Trail eight
-or nine times and druv for Massa Blocker and Jedge Brackenridge and
-others. On one stampede I rode 24 hours straight and after we rounds up
-all de cattle, I goes to sleep under a tree. Dat day I has on a buckskin
-coat I in gen'ral wore and I feels somethin' grab dat coat and bite my
-side. I rouses up and sees de big panther draggin' me off to de thicket.
-I has de six-gun but I couldn't git to it. Every once in a while dat
-panther lay me down and sniff at my nose. I jes' hold de breath, 'cause
-if dat panther cotch me breathin' dat been de end of me. He drug me to
-some bushes and den goes off a li'l way and give de yell. Dat yell make
-me turn cold, 'cause it sound jes' like a man screamin'. Den dat cat dug
-a shallow hole. I eases out my old gun, takes careful aim and den says,
-'Thank you, old man,' and he turns to look at me and I shoots him right
-'tween he eyes. After 'while, dat cat's mate and cub come runnin',
-'cause he yell for dem, and I kilt dem, too.
-
-.. _`John Sneed`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image47john.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: John Sneed
-
- John Sneed
-
-"'Nother time, I seed de panther a-draggin' a white man off and I slips
-up jes' as de cat seizes him and shoots dat cat. Us have to run dat man
-down and cotch him, 'cause he scared stiff when dat dead cat fall on
-him.
-
-"Some time after dat I works for a man what freights supplies 'round
-Austin and I's one de drivers. Us start in September with sev'ral
-six-wheel wagons, 'nough to las' a town de year, and not git back to
-Austin till January. Sometimes de mud so bad it take six oxen to pull de
-wagon out.
-
-"One time us movin' and stampedin' de bunch cattle and me and my brother
-gits los' from de rest and was los' three days and nights. All us eat am
-parched corn. De grass nearly waist high to a man and us scoop out de
-hole in de ground and cut off tops de grass and weeds and make de fire.
-Den us drap de corn on de fire and parch it. De woods full wild animals
-and panthers and wolves. De wolves de worst. Dey slip up on us to git de
-chicken us has with us. At last us come to a house and finds us folks."
-
-Mariah Snyder
-=============
-
-**Mariah Snyder, 89, was born in Mississippi, a slave of Sam Miller, who
-brought her to Texas when she was five. Since Mariah's second husband
-died, twenty-two years ago, she has earned her living by washing and
-cooking. Now too old to do much, she is cared for by her only living
-daughter, with the aid of a $10.00 monthly pension.**
-
-"I's borned in Mississippi. Yes, sar. I 'longed to Massa
-Miller and he name am Sam, and my name am Mariah. My pappy was Weldon
-and my mammy, Ann. Massa Sam fotches all us to Texas when I's jes'
-five year old and we come in wagons and hossback. He done buy my
-mammy and pappy in the slave market, so I don't know nothin' 'bout
-none my other 'lations.
-
-"Massa Sam live in a great big, ceiled house, and had plenty
-land and niggers. The quarters was logs and any kind beds we could git.
-We wore lowell clothes and I never seed no other kind of dress till
-after surrender. We et meat and collards and cornbread and rough grub,
-and they biled all the victuals in a big, black pot what hung on a
-rack in the kitchen fireplace. We had red russet, flat shoes and no
-stockin's, but in winter we made wool panties to wear on our legs.
-
-"Missy was name Patsy and she was purty good, and Massa Sam was purty
-good, too. He'd whip us if we needed it. He'd pull off our clothes and
-whip in the field. But he wouldn't 'low the driver to whip us if we
-didn't need it. No, sar. And he wouldn't have no patterrollers on the
-place.
-
-"The driver come round and woke everybody up and had 'em in the field by
-daybreak. I's seed a whole field of niggers abreast, hoein'. The rows of
-cotton was so long you couldn't make but one 'fore dinnertime. I driv
-the gin, what was run by two mules. The cotton was wropped in baggin'
-and tied with ropes. It was a long time after 'fore I seed cotton tied
-with steel like they bales it now.
-
-"I seed plenty niggers whipped while I driv that gin. They tied the
-feets and hands and rawhided 'em good. They tied a bell on one woman
-what run away all the time. They locks it round her head.
-
-"I seed lots of niggers put on the block and bid off and carry away
-in chains. One woman name Venus raises her hands and hollers, 'Weigh dem
-cattle,' whilst she's bein' bid off.
-
-"The big folks dances all night Sat'day. That's all the fun we had.
-We used to sing
-
- | "I'm in a lady's garden, I'm in a lady's garden,
- | So let me out. I'm sufferin' for water and wine.
-
-"The slaves most allus sings whilst theys workin' in the field, and
-one song was
-
- | "When I's here you calls me honey,
- | When I's gone you honies everybody.
-
-or
-
- | "The raccoon am de funny thing,
- | Ramblin' round in de dark.
-
-"Massa Sam have a cullud man what give us our ABC's. I still got mine,
-but didn't never git no further.
-
-.. _`Mariah Snyder`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image52mariah.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Mariah Snyder
-
- Mariah Snyder
-
-"Massa Sam git kilt 'fore the war. A mule throwed him. He had plenty
-good hosses but allus rid a mule. He come in from a neighbor's one day
-and the mule throwed him on a stob 'fore he got to the house. We heared
-a hollerin' down the road, but didn't pay no 'tention, 'cause they's
-allus all kind racket gwine on. Fin'ly somebody say, 'That sound like a
-man,' and we goes down there and it was massa. 'Fore he die he calls all
-the cullud chillen to him and shakes hands and tells 'em to be good.
-
-"We 'longs to he son, Ruben, then, and stays with him three years after
-surrender. Lordy me! How I hates to think of 'em talkin' 'bout that war!
-Young missy cry a whole week, 'cause she fear her men folks gwine git
-kilt. They did, too. Her two boys, George and Frank, gits kilt, and heap
-of the neighbors boys gits kilt, too.
-
-"Fin'ly us leaves Massa Ruben and goes to Shreveport and I marries
-Snyder. The 'Progo' Marshal marries us. We raises two gals and I lives
-with Mary. Snyder died twenty-two years ago and all them years I made a
-livin' washin' and ironin' and cookin', up to six years ago. I gits a
-pension from the gov'ment now and it am $10.00 a month. It's mighty good
-of the white folks to take care of this old nigger, but I'd rather work,
-only I ain't able no more."
-
-Patsy Southwell
-===============
-
-**Patsy Southwell, 83, was born in Jasper Co., Texas. She has lived on
-or near the old plantation all her life. Her master was Bill Trailor.**
-
-"My name Patsy Southwell and I lives at Rock Hill. I been
-livin' on dat plantation all my life, but not allus in the very same
-place. I think the house was move and 'nother builded.
-
-"My pappy was John Redd and he 'longed to Bill Trailor and he
-brung here from Virginny. Mammy's name Rose Redd and she a yaller
-nigger, come from South Carolina and maybe she white and Indian, too.
-My brothers call Dennis, George, William, and Charles and dey all dead.
-
-"We all live in the quarters and massa a tol'able good one
-'sidering others what cut and slashes bad. Pappy and mammy work in
-the field and dey send pappy and he sons off six months at the time,
-over to Alexandria, to make salt.
-
-"My brothers hunt all the time and brung in deer and wild
-turkey, so we has lots to eat. We has butter and milk and honey and
-pappy allus have he li'l garden patch.
-
-"We wears slip homespun dress make outten cloth from us loom.
-I never have shoes and us has no Sunday clothes. Massa was tol'ably
-good to the old folks and not so mean to the chillen. He wasn't no
-barbarian like some what whip the slaves every Monday mornin' befo'
-dey starts to work.
-
-"Massa plantation have fifteen hunnerd acre in it and he didn't have
-'nough slaves so they works awful hard. I seed 'em hit my mammy five
-hunnerd licks and my pappy six hunnerd. Pappy have run 'way and been
-gone long time and they cotch him in de water in the Neches River. He
-have meat and stuff and they say mammy feedin' him, but I think it the
-other way. I think he gittin' and sendin' her stuff.
-
-"The white folks has the big church with the bar 'cross it and the
-cullud folks sit behin' the bar. If any wants to jine us tell massa and
-he tell the preacher, and he old man Southwell. They baptise at the mill
-pond.
-
-"I marries Jerry Southwell and us git marry at home. Jerry wears the
-black suit and I wears the dotted white Swiss dress with the overskirt.
-
-"When freedom breaks and massa say we free, we goes to the Haynes' place
-and my pappy farms for hisself. We gits on better den in slavery days
-and after 'while pappy buys him some land and den we all right. Me and
-my husban', we stays on with pappy awhile, but we gits our own farm and
-farm all us life."
-
-Leithean Spinks
-===============
-
-**Leithean Spinks, 82, was born a slave to Fay Thompson, in Rankin
-County, Mississippi. Soon after Leithean's birth, Mr. Thompson moved to
-E. Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. Leithean was happy in slave days, and
-stayed with her master two years after she was freed. She lives at 2600
-Merrick St., Fort Worth, Texas.**
-
-"Does I look old 'nough to be birthed in slavery? I's eighty-two years
-old and mammy had it right there in de Bible, marked when I's birthed,
-in 1855. I's birthed in Mississippi but a little while after, massa goes
-to Louisiana, over in East Feliciana Parish, and when I's old 'nough to
-'member, we'uns am there, 'twixt New Roads and Jackson, right near the
-Mississippi River.
-
-"Massa Thompson had a awful big plantation and more'n 300 cullud folks,
-and three rows of cabins 'bout two blocks long, and 'bout one family to
-a cabin. No floors in dem cabins, you stands on dirt, and de furniture
-am something you knows ain't there. Why, man, there am jus' benches to
-sit on and a homemake table and bunks. Dere am de fireplace but all de
-main cookin' am done in de big cookin' shed, and old Mammy Dice done it,
-with four to holp her.
-
-"De bell am rung when meal time comes and all de slaves lines up, with
-their pans and cups and passes de service table, and de food am put on
-dere pans and milk in de cup. Dat de one time massa could allus 'pend on
-de niggers. When de bell say, 'Come and git it,' all us am there. Us
-takes de food to de cabins and eats it.
-
-"Dis old nigger come near gwine to Glory once when mammy am gone to de
-cook shed. How 'twas am dis-a-way. She latches de door on de outside to
-keep us three chillen in de cabin, my sis and brudder and me. Well, in
-dem days, us uses tallow candles for light and pine knots when candles
-am short. Mammy lights de pine knot befo' she leaves and after she am
-gone, it falls off de hook and hits de ground and rolls a couple feet
-under de bunk. There am straw in de tick and right off de whole shebang
-am on fire. There am three of us with de door latch and all de grown-ups
-in de cook shed. Us hollers and yells but it am no use, and de hollerin'
-don't last long, 'cause de smoke gittin' thick. De fire am spreadin'
-fast and de bunks starts burnin'. Us am huddle togedder, skeert plumb
-out our wits and chokin' and coughin'.
-
-"Den my brudder gits de idea and he grabs de big spoon and de iron poker
-and starts diggin' de dirt from under de log next de door. De smoke
-ain't so bad next de ground, and did yous ever see de dog diggin' in de
-rabbit hole? Dat how us digs, and seems it never gwine come a hole.
-Finally, a hole busted through and lets in fresh air, and den us dig
-some more, and it am big 'nough for my little sis to crawl through. Den
-us dig some more and I crawls out and my brudder starts but he gits he
-head outside and his shoulders wedges and there he am, stucked. Us pull
-and pull, but nary a inch could us budge him. He try to back up but he
-shirt caught on a knot and he can't do dat. So us runs for de cook shed
-and yells, 'Mammy, de cabin on fire.' Everybody starts to holler,
-'Fire,' and mammy busts in de door and yanks brudder out dat hole, and
-he am sweatin' like a latherin' mare. After dey puts de fire out with de
-water buckets, mammy say, 'When sis gits out, why didn't she unlatch de
-door?' 'Cause de 'citement, us never think of dat!
-
-"Us have plenty hawg meat and veg'tables and butter and 'lasses and
-honey. De food ain't short no time 'round massa, 'cause he say niggers
-works better when dey feeds good. De mammies leaves de babies in de
-nursery durin' de day and dem chillen am take good care of and has lots
-of milk and am all fat like hawgs.
-
-"In de mornin' when de bell ring, everybody goes to work, but I is
-little and does de chores and am gap tender. De cattle am 'lowed to run
-where dey wants, here, there and all over. Fences am 'round de fields
-and yards and there am gates to go through, but us calls dem gaps. It am
-my job to open and close dem, 'cause somebody allus wantin' to drive or
-walk through dem gaps.
-
-"MY sis am de fly chaser. She has de big fan make from de tail feathers
-of de peacock. 'Twas awful purty thing. She stands 'round de white folks
-and shoo off de flies.
-
-"Massa Fay ain't hard on he cullud folks. He works dem steady but don't
-drive dem. Lots de slaves goes fishin' in de river on Saturday afternoon
-and Sunday, and dey cotches plenty fish.
-
-"Us has parties and singin' and dancin' and fiddle music. Oh, Lawdy! How
-lonesome I gits when I thinks 'bout dem days, and de music and singin'.
-Sometimes 'bout a hunerd sings to once and dat sound purty and jus' go
-all through me.
-
-.. _`Leithean Spinks`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image57leithean.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Leithean Spinks
-
- Leithean Spinks
-
-"For runnin' off am de only hard whuppin's massa give. De run-off am tie
-to de log and massa lay de whuppin' on he back. De plantation am near de
-river and dere am lots of caves and cliffs to hide in. Massa cotch de
-run-offs with de nigger hounds and if he don't, dey git hongry and
-sneaks back. Only one gits clear away.
-
-"One Sunday mornin' 'bout ten o'clock, massa have de bell ring and calls
-all us to de front gallery and makes de talk. He say, 'I's happy to tell
-yous is free and, 'cording to de law, yous am all citizens. Dem what
-wants to stay with me I'll pay de wages or dey can work on shares.' He
-gives us all de paper, with de name and age and where us am birthed. Me
-and mammy stays two years after freedom. I marries Sol Pleasant in 1872
-and us has two chillen. Us sep'rate in 1876. De trouble am, he wants to
-be de boss of de job and let me do de work. I 'cides I don't need no
-boss, so I transports him, and says, 'Nigger, git out of here and don't
-never come back. If you comes back, I'll smack you down.'
-
-"In 1876 I marries Frank Spinks and us has eight chlllen and he dies in
-1930. All dem eight chillen lives here and I's livin' with one of dem,
-Mrs. Covy Kelly. 'Tain't many years befo' old Gabriel blow he horn, and
-I's waitin' for him."
-
-Guy Stewart
-===========
-
-**Guy Stewart, 87, 209 Austin Ave., Ft. Worth, was born Nov. 26, 1850, a
-slave of Jack Taylor, who also owned Guy's parents, 3 brothers and 3
-sisters. They lived in Mansfield Parish, La. Stewart started work in the
-fields at seven years, and remained with his owner three years after he
-was freed. He then moved onto his own farm where he lived until 1898,
-when he moved to Fort Worth.**
-
-"Yas, suh, I'se an ol' slave and I'se 'bout 11 years ol'
-when de War starts. My marster am Jack Taylor and my family belongs
-to him.
-
-"I 'members de war well, 'cause we'uns hears shootin' and
-see soldiers. Dey comes to marster's place and takes hosses and
-vittals. One time dey wants some of de niggers for to help fix
-for de battle. Dere am heap of 'citement and de marster's 'fraid
-de battle come too close. He say, 'It's too close for saftment.'
-And he say, 'Put dis and dat away so de soldier cain't find it.'
-
-"I starts work long 'fore dat, when I'se seven, in de cotton
-and co'n field. I just peddles 'round first. Marster sho' am good
-to us and so good dat de other white folks calls us de 'free niggers.'
-
-"We'uns have cabins for to live in and sleep in bunks with
-straw ticks on 'em. We'uns has lots to eat, all we wants. And we'uns
-have all de clothes we needs.
-
-"Sho, we went to church with de marster. Dey tol' us 'bout
-Heaven and de devil and sich. But dey never 'lows us to have books
-in de hands. Dey says it wasn' good for us to larn readin' or writin.'
-"We'uns has lots of music on dat place 'cause de marster,
-he am de good fiddler and he learns some of us niggers to play de
-fiddle and de banjo. We gits together and has de music, sing and
-dance. If I thinks 'bout dem days now, I can see we'uns dancin'
-and hear de singin' of dem ol' songs, sich like Ol' Black Joe
-and Swanee River. Iffen I thinks too much 'bout dem days, tears
-comes in dis ol' nigger's eyes. Dem were de happy days of my life.
-In dem days, we'uns not know what am money, never have any. What
-for we'uns need it? I'se more happy den, dan I been since, with
-money.
-
-"De marster am scart for to lose all de hosses and everything, 'cause
-dey takes it for de army man, so he gits to thinkin' 'bout movin' to
-Texas. De war warn't over when he goes to Texas and takes all us niggers
-with him. De roads dem days am not so good. No bridges over de rivers,
-'cept de bigges' ones. Lots of times we'uns has to push for help de
-hosses pull de wagons outta de mudhole, and we'uns is over a month
-gettin' to Williams County. De marster rents de land dere and we stays
-for one crop, and den we all goes to Travis County, whar marster settle
-for to raise de wheat.
-
-"When freedom comes, de marster says we'uns has to work for wages and
-buy all de food and de clothes and everything dat we'uns gits. Dat's not
-so easy. At first he pays me $5.00 a month and den pays me $10.00 de
-month. After three years I quits and rents a farm and works for myself,
-I gits married in 1877 and my wife dies in 1915. We'uns has one chile.
-In 1898 I comes to Fort Worth and gits me a job in de woodyard and sich.
-
-"White man, I sho' likes for to see dat ol' plantation down in Louisiana
-and it would do dis ol' darky good. I sits here and thinks of de marster
-and de good times. And de fishin down dere! Is dere good fishin'? De
-folks here don' know what am fishin'.
-
-"You has dis nigger thinkin' heaps 'bout de ol' plantation and de good
-times. If I don' stop talkin' 'bout dat, I gits to cryin'."
-
-William Stone
-=============
-
-**William Stone was born in a covered wagon, on the way from Alabama to
-Texas, about 1863. Though he was too small to remember slave days, he
-does recall many things told him by his parents and other ex-slaves.
-William lives in Mart, Texas.**
-
-"My parents done told me where I's borned. It am in a covered wagon on
-de way from Alabama to Texas, two years 'fore freedom. Old Marse, Lem
-Stone, he left Alabama for Texas, where de war not so bad, and brung
-some he slaves with him. He done lost so much in Alabama, Yankees
-burnin' he house and cotton and killin' he stock, he want to git 'way
-from dere.
-
-"First he come to Rusk County, den goes back to Shreveport and stays
-till freedom. Pappy and mammy was Louis and Car'line Stone. I lived in
-Louisiana till I's growed.
-
-"Mammy and pappy done told me all 'bout de old plantation. It am
-hundreds of acres of land, part worked and part jus' timber and pasture.
-It was near Montgomery, and dey raised more cotton den anything else,
-but had some corn and peas and cane. Dey made sorghum and ribbon cane
-'lasses and had boilin' vats for sugar, too.
-
-"De soldiers come through. Dey named, Yankees. Dey make mammy cook
-somethin' to eat and den kilt all de hawgs and took de meat with dem,
-and burn de barn and house. Old Marse had pens to put cotton in, hid way
-out in de bresh. Dey picked it in gunny sacks and hides it, and slips it
-out to de gin by night and tries to sell it 'fore dem Yankees finds it
-and burns it.
-
-"Mammy say dey all went to church and had to drive four horses when de
-roads muddy in winter and sand deep in summer. Dey allus carry dinner
-and stay all day. Den in de evenin', after de niggers had dey
-preachin', dey all go home. Sometimes a preacher come out to de
-plantation and hold church for de white folks in de mornin' and in de
-evenin' for de niggers, out under a big oak tree.
-
-"De Lawd say iffen us trusts him and help to be good he gwine make our
-path straight. Dis was true in de days of den, 'cause our white folks
-tooken care of us, befo' dey was freedom and sech. Now, us gittin' old,
-and gits de old age pension when us too old to work.
-
-"I works all up and down de old river when I's growed. De plantations
-has long staple cotton. Dey raise sugar cane and dere be twenty wagons
-haulin' cane to de boilin' mills. We was happy to do dat work, 'cause we
-knowed it mean us have plenty 'lasses in winter. Lawdy, I wish I knowed
-I could have all de 'lasses and bread I wanted dis winter! Dem was good
-times, Lawd! Us sing dis song:
-
- | "'We'll stick to de hoe till de sun go down,
- | We'll rise when de rooster crow,
- | And go to de field where de sunshine hot,
- | To de field where de sugar cane grow.
- | Yes, chilluns, we'll all go.'
-
-"I can jes' see dem long rows of cotton and niggers drivin' de oxen
-and mules. I know 'nother song:
-
- | "Nigger mighty happy when he layin' by de corn,
- | Nigger mighty happy when he hear dat dinner horn;
- | But he more happy when de night come on,
- | Dat' sun's a'slantin', as sho's you born!
- | Dat old cow's a shakin' dat great big bell,
- | And de frogs tunin' up, 'cause de dew's done fell.'
-
-"Dat jes' after freedom. Dey have plantations and overseers like
-slavery, but most de overseers niggers, and dey didn't whip you den. On
-Saturday night de overseer pay us, mostly in rations. He give us five,
-maybe ten pounds rations of meat, and a peck or two or meal, and some
-coffee and 'lasses.
-
- | "'Dat ration day come once a week,
- | Old massa rich as Gundy.
- | But he give 'lasses all de week,
- | And buttermilk for Sunday.
- |
- | "'Old massa give a pound of meat,
- | I et it all on Monday;
- | Den I et 'lasses all de week,
- | And buttermilk for Sunday.'
-
-"All dis was down on de Mississippi bottom. Old Man River was sho' purty
-in de fall, when dem wild geeses come in droves and de blossoms red and
-yaller. De fogs come hang over and chills and fever gits started. De
-woman sot by de fire piecin' quilts and spinnin' thread, and de old men
-weave cotton baskets and chair bottoms, and de young men work on da
-levees, so dey hold Old Man River back when he start prowlin' round
-'gain.
-
-.. _`William Stone`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image64william.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: William Stone
-
- William Stone
-
-"Floods come down, no matter what time of year. One day Old Man River be
-runnin' 'long, jes' as peaceful and quiet, and everybody happy.
-Everybody meet de boats at de landin'. Den way in de night you wake up
-and hear a roarin' like thunder and dat river be on a tear. Folks know
-he am in de ugly mood, and starts movin' to higher ground. Everybody
-what have a wagon and mule gits out. Some jes' gits to de levee. It look
-like my folks told me when dey run from de Yankees, only dis time it's
-de river. Old Man River sho' treach'ous. After he go on one he rarin'
-and tearin' spells, den he gwine be so peaceful and quiet like. Look
-like he try to make up for he meanness.
-
-"I gits married and moves clost to de Trinity River, and stays till my
-family done raised. Dey has free schools in Texas den. I works in de
-sawmill and dere so much wild game us can eat easy. Dem days on de
-Mississippi bottom is like a dream, but when I hears talk 'bout Old Man
-River, I can dem big waters roarin' down."
-
-Yach Stringfellow
-=================
-
-**Yach Stringfellow, 90, was born a slave of Frank Hubert, in Brenham,
-Texas. His memory is poor and, though he recalled a good many incidents
-of slavery days, he had little to say about his life from 1865 to the
-present. He now lives in Watt, Texas.**
-
-"I'll be ninety-one years old next May, and I was borned in
-Brenham. My massa and missus was Frank Hubert and Sarah Ann Hubert.
-My daddy come from de old Africa and was tall and straight as a arrow.
-He was sold to a man what tooked him to California in de gold rush in
-1849 and me and mammy stays with Massa Hubert. Dat how come my name
-ain't de same as massa have.
-
-"I got so much misery in de head I can't 'member like I should. But I
-know us live in little log houses all kind of group together, and us eat
-in a long lean-to builded on to the big house. Us chillen had a long,
-scooped-out dish on a split log table. What we had to eat was dumped in
-dat trough and us ate it like slop. But it sho' taste good when you been
-huntin' for eggs or calves or gittin' in chips or breakin' bresh.
-
-"When I's big 'nough I carries water, sometimes from de spring and
-sometimes from de deep well. Dere danger a little child fall in and
-drown and massa, he say niggers too valu'ble to risk dem dat way. It was
-hard work to tote water for niggers workin', 'cause allus somebody
-hollerin' for de water. I had to trot down de slippery bank through de
-thorns to de spring or pull de heavy sweep to git it out de well, and
-carry two buckets most de time.
-
-"Us cut two saplin's de right size to fasten together at de end and
-stick dem in holes in de wall, to make de bed. Us use lace cowhide
-strings or any kind rope across de poles to hold de bed up. Den put hay
-or corn shucks and a little cotton in de ticks.
-
-"Us eat bacon and cornbread and greens, but de white folks had more'n
-better. Dey didn't have to eat string victuals like us; us have to eat
-something to stick to de ribs. Right 'bout de time dis state come to be
-de United States, and de Mexicans raisin' de old billy, us cook most
-usual on de fireplace and have ovens by de side to make bread, and
-cranes for de pots.
-
-"Us slaves used pine torches and sometimes a little bit of candle. De
-women make all de candles demselves for de white folks. Us didn't need
-much light at night, 'cause us tired after de long day, workin' from can
-see to can't see, and us git in de bed early.
-
-"I wore shirt tail till I's fourteen, den de homespun britches and
-shirt. My weddin' suit was de dark jeans and I was fix up fine as any
-nigger on de plantation. She wore white and massa fix supper and git de
-fiddler and all sich.
-
-"Massa have John to oversee, and he sho' de stepper. He be every place
-you didn't think he gwine come. He have de big, boom voice and allus
-slingin', and wail, 'Look along, black man, look along, dere trouble
-comin' sho'.' Iffen de black boy or woman lyin' in de corn row, dey git
-up quick and be mighty bust right soon, 'cause dat black snake whip
-reach for dem. Dey scramble deyself together and be de busiest in de
-bunch by time John git dere.
-
-.. _`Yach Stringfellow`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image67yach.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Yach Stringfellow
-
- Yach Stringfellow
-
-"In de long winter days de men sat round de fire and whittle wood and
-make butter paddles and troughs for de pigs and sich, and ax handles and
-hoe handles and box traps and figure-four traps. Dey make combs to git
-de wool clean for de spinnin'. Us take de long strip of leather and put
-wire in it and bend dem so dey stay, den cut dem comb-like teef and dere
-you are.
-
-"Come Christmas us slaves have de big dinner and eat all day and dance
-till nex' mornin'. Some de niggers from near plantations git dey passes
-and come jine us. Course dey a drap egg nog round and candy for de
-chillen. De white folks have dey big carriage full of visitors and big
-goin's on dey come to from miles round. Us didn't have no money, but
-didn't have no place to go to spend it, neither.
-
-"At night, us sat round de fire sometimes and de women sew and knit and
-de men whittle and told things. Dey talk 'bout charms and sich. You
-gwine have lots of luck iffen you cotch de rabbit in de graveyard on de
-dark of de moon and cut off he hind leg and wear it. Iffen you chews de
-piece of shoe-string root, jus' you ask anybody a favor and you sho'
-gwine git it."
-
-Bert Strong
-===========
-
-**Bert Strong was born in 1864, a slave of Dave Cavin. He and his mother
-remained in the service of the Cavin family for ten years after they
-were freed. Bert has farmed in Harrison County all his life and now
-lives alone on Long's Camp Road, twelve miles northeast of Marshall. He
-is supported by a $15.00 per month pension.**
-
-"I been livin' here all my life. I was birthed a year and more 'fore the
-war stopped and 'longed to old Dave Cavin. All my folks 'longed to him
-over in Montgomery, in Alabama. Massa Dave buyed my mammy's papa off a
-'baccy farm in Richmond, in Virginny. I heared Massa Dave say he done
-come to Texas 'cause he heared in Alabama this was a rich country—hawgs
-walkin' round with a knife in they back and you could shake money off
-the trees. His folks and 'bout thirty slaves cone to Texas in wagons.
-They was on the road three months.
-
-"I heared my grand-people tell 'bout holpin' run the Indians out of
-Texas. Big Lake, on Caddo Lake, was jus' a small kind of stream them
-days. My grandpa was name Gloster and he died at a hunerd five years.
-
-"Massa Cavin had 'bout four hunerd acres and builded us all good
-quarters with chimnies and fireplaces, and good beds and plenty food.
-I's too little to know all this 'fore the war, but my folks stayed with
-massa ten years after freedom and things was jus' the same as in slave
-times, only they got a little money, so I can 'member.
-
-"My grandma was cook and there was plenty wild game, turkey and deer and
-pigeon and rabbits and squirrels. I 'member once they's grumblin' 'bout
-what they have to eat and old massa comes to the quarters and say, 'What
-you fussin' 'bout? They's a gallon good potlicker in the pot." I's
-raise on greens and pork and potlicker and 'taters and ash-cake. Dat am
-good food, too. I ain't never hope to see no better food dan dat.
-
-"Massa give he slaves two sets clothes a year and one pair 'bachelor'
-brogan shoes with brass toes. The white folks larnt us Negroes to read
-and write, at night and on Sunday, and we could go to church. We had our
-own preacher, and massa let us have fun'rals when a slave died. They
-wasn't no undertakers then. They jus' made the coffin and planed the
-boards and lined it with black cloth. The white folks and the cullud
-folks, too, was put 'way nice on our place.
-
-"They was a overseer a while, but massa fires him for cuttin' and
-slashin' he niggers. He made my uncle Freeman overlooker. We is heared
-slaves on farms close by hollerin' when they git beat. Some the
-neighbors works they hands till ten at night and weighed the last
-weighin' by candles. If the day's pickin' wasn't good 'nough, they beat
-them till it a pity.
-
-"Christmas was the big time. Massa kilt the hawg or beef and sometimes a
-mutton, and give the slaves the big dinner. Us all hang the stockin' up
-on massa's gallery and it was a run to see what we'd git. He give the
-chillen toys and apples and the big folks somethin' to wear. He'd 'low
-the chillen to have candy pullin' Saturday nights and the growed folks
-parties. My cousin, Tom, was songster and call the plays at all the
-dances, and they turned 'cordin' to what he'd sing.
-
-"When young massa went to war they calls all the slaves to tell him
-good-bye. They blowed the horn. He come home two times on a furlough and
-says, 'I's smellin' and seein' the Devil.' Then the nex' time he come
-home he say, 'Las' time I tells you 'bout smellin' the Devil. I's
-smellin' and seein' Hell now.' When the war am over, he come home and
-say to old massa, 'Ain't you read the 'lamation to you niggers yet?'
-Massa say he hasn't, and young massa blowed the horn and calls us all up
-and tells us we's free as he is and could work for who we please, but he
-like us to stay till the crop am out. He say he'd hire us and make a
-contrac'. Me and my mammy stays ten years, 'cause they so good it ain't
-no use to leave. One of the young massas am livin' here now, Mr. Tom,
-and I goes to see him.
-
-.. _`Bert Strong`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image70bert.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Bert Strong
-
- Bert Strong
-
-"I stays with mammy till I marries and then farms for myself. That all I
-ever done and I'd be doin' it now if I was able. I raises two boys but
-they am both dead now.
-
-"I votes once in the county 'lection and once in the president 'lection.
-I think any man should vote, but it ain't 'tended for women to vote.
-
-"Mos' the young niggers am gwine to Hell. They don't 'preciate things.
-They has lots more'n we ever did. They can go to school and all, but
-they don't 'preciate it."
-
-Emma Taylor
-===========
-
-**Emma Taylor, 89, was born a slave of the Greer family, in Mississippi.
-She and her mother were sold to a Texas man, whose name Emma has
-forgotten. Emma lives with one of her children, in Tyler, Texas.**
-
-"My maw and paw lived in Mississippi, and belonged to Marse
-Greer. Dat dere name, too. All the slaves tooken dere master's name,
-'cause dey hadn't no use for a name, nohow.
-
-"De first thing I 'members is followin' my maw in the cotton
-patch. She allus went ahead, pickin' cotton, and made a clean place
-with her sack draggin' on the ground. But de first work I ever done
-was feed de chickens and geese and shell corn to feed dem.
-
-"Us nigger chillen couldn't play with de white chillen. De worstest
-whippin' I ever got was fer playin' with a doll what belonged to one
-marse's chillen. I 'members it yet and I ain't never seed a doll purty
-as dat doll was to me. It was make out a corncob with arms and legs
-what moved and a real head, with eyes and hair and mouth painted on.
-It had a dress out of silk cloth, jist like one my missus weared when
-she went to meetin'. Dat li'l gal done leave de doll under de tree,
-but missus found me playin' with it and whipped me hard.
-
-"We lived in a cabin in de back field 'hind de big house, one room and a
-shed room, where maw done all de cookin' for de whole family. I had
-three brothers and three sisters, all dead, I supposes. Dey all older'n
-what I was. We cooked on a fireplace, and a big pot hanged on poles over
-de fire and de bread cook on dat fire in a skillet what was made of two
-pieces of iron, turn up all round. We puts de dough in one and turns de
-other one over it, den buries it in de coals a few minutes till it
-brown on de top and bottom. It was good, jist as good as nowadays, baked
-in a oven. Our beds was made out of straw and old rags, but we kept warm
-sleepin' a whole lot in one bed in winter, but we slept outside in
-summer.
-
-"I was sold one time. Marse, he gittin' old and 'cide he didn't need so
-many slaves, so he have de sale and a man come and put us all up on a
-big platform. We pulls off nearly all our clothes, so as to show how big
-we was, and he 'gins hollerin' 'bout who gwineter buy, who gwineter buy.
-I was scart and thunk I has to leave maw, so I 'gins hollerin' jist as
-loud as he does. He turn 'round and say, 'Shut up, you li'l coon, you. I
-can't hear nothin'.' I hides my face in maw's apron and didn't know no
-more till we's all loaded in a wagon and starts to de new home. We gits
-dere and is give new clothes and shoes, de first ones I ever had on and
-it taken me a long time to larn to wear dem things on my feet.
-
-"Us niggers has to git up at four in de mornin', and work, work till us
-can't see no more. Den dey work at night. De men chops wood and hauls
-poles to build fences and make wood, and de women folks has to spin four
-cuts of thread every night and make all de clothes. Some has to card
-cotton to make quilts and some weave and knits stockin's. Marse give
-each one a chore to do at night and iffen it warn't did when we went to
-bed, we's whipped. One time I falls plumb asleep befo' I finishes
-shellin' some corn, but I didn't git a bad whippin' dat time.
-
-"Sometimes de niggers danced and played de fiddle and us chillen played
-in de yard. We could stay up all night dem times, but had to work next
-day, and hardly ever stayed up all night. Dat durin' harvest or at
-Christmas time.
-
-"All de victuals was issued out by de overseer and he give 'nough for
-one week, den iffen us eat it all up too soon, it am jist go without.
-Lots of times, I went down to de 'tato patch a long time after everybody
-am in bed, and stole 'tatoes, so we wouldn't be hungry next day. I allus
-covered de hole up good and never did git cotched. De dogs got after me
-one time, but I put pepper in dey eyes and dey stopped. I allus carried
-pepper with me.
-
-.. _`Emma Taylor`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image73emma.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Emma Taylor
-
- Emma Taylor
-
-"I marries when I's fifteen, not so long befo' I'm free. Nigger men
-didn't git no license to marry dey gals den. Dey jist picked her out and
-asked marse, and iffen he 'grees, dey's married. But iffen he don't want
-it, dat man has to find heself 'nother gal. De men what lived on 'nother
-plantation couldn't see dere wives but onct every two weeks. Marse buyed
-my husban', Rube Taylor, and he come to live with me.
-
-"One day marse say we's all free and we has a big celebration, eatin'
-and dancin'. But we near all stayed on his place for a long time after
-day. He paid us thirty-five cents de day and let us live in de same old
-houses.
-
-"After we done left him, we jist drifts 'round, workin' for white folks,
-till we manages to git a farm. Rube done died a long time back, and I
-lives with my baby child."
-
-Mollie Taylor
-=============
-
-**Mollie Taylor, 84, was born a slave to John Wilson, at Campbell,
-Texas. After she was freed, Mollie moved with her family to an adjoining
-farm which they worked on shares. Mollie now lives at 522 Seaton St.,
-Fort Worth, Texas.**
-
-"Now den, I's no record of when I's born and just what de white folks
-tells me is all I knows. I'll be 84 this coming October, but just what
-day I don't know. I's born on Massa John Wilson's farm at Campbell,
-Texas and him owned my father and mother and 'bout 20 more slaves. Dere
-was 'bout four or five chillen in we'uns family. My father died and I
-don't 'member much 'bout him, but his name was Anson Wilson and my
-mother name was Hattie Wilson. We'uns gits de name from de massa.
-
-"Us slaves lived in log houses back of massa's house, and they was two
-and three-room houses with dirt floors and de rock fireplace and just
-holes for windows. De flies come in de door and go out de window, but
-most of 'em stayed in de house. Dere was no furniture like am today. No,
-suh, it was homemake stuff. De bunks was built 'gainst de wall and full
-of straw or hay and de tables was made of split logs. Dere was de cook
-room and de eatin' room where all de slaves meals cooked and they ate,
-'tween de slaves quarters and de massa's house.
-
-"Massa Wilson, him feed us purty good, with de cornmeal and 'lasses and
-plenty coffee and milk. We has white flour once a week and massa git de
-sugar by de barrel. De slaves could have dere own gardens and dey raised
-most dere vegetables. All de chillen ate out of de wooden trough with
-wooden spoons. It was a sight to watch them, day just like de bunch of
-pigs.
-
-"De overseer, him ring de bell 'bout half past four in de mornin' and
-everybody what work go to de fields. De massa purty reason'ble with de
-work and didn't whip much. On Sundays de old slaves goes to de church
-and de chillen plays.
-
-"When war come dere lots of soldiers allus ridin' by de place,
-all deck out in de uniform with big, shiny buttons on de coat. When us
-chillen seed dem we took to de woods.
-
-"After freedom we'uns moves to de next farm and works and I stays dere
-with my family till I's 'bout 25 year old, and den I marries Tom Gould
-and move to McLennan County. But he so mean I didn't stay with him very
-long, and 'bout six months of his foolishness and I ups and leaves him.
-After two years I marries George Taylor and I lives with dat man for 12
-years and took 'nough of his foolishness, so I leaves him. I's had four
-chillen but Tom Gould nor George Taylor wasn't de father of any of 'em.
-No, suh, I just found dem chillen."
-
-Jake Terriell
-=============
-
-**Jake Terriell, born a slave of Felix Terriell in Raleigh, South
-Carolina, does not know his age. He was grown and married at the close
-of the Civil War, so is probably in the 90's. He lives in Madisonville,
-Texas.**
-
-"Pappy and mammy was called Tom and Jane and they's cotched
-in Africy and brung to America and sold. My brother was called James
-and my sisters Lucindy and Sally. Massa Felix Terriell owned me and
-pappy and mammy but when I's still a chile he done give me to he son,
-Massa Dalton Terriell.
-
-"My papy was de wild man and he so wild Massa Felix have to
-keep him locked up at night and in de chains by day to keep him from
-runnin' off. He had to wear de chains in de field and den he couldn't
-run fast.
-
-"Massa Dalton growed de tobaccy. He was a good massa and give
-me de nickel and de dime sometime and I'd buy candy. He have lots of
-slaves and de cook fix our grub in big old skillets. We allus have de
-cornbread and de syrup and some meat. I likes possum cooked with sweet
-'taters.
-
-"Missy Mary try larn me read and write but I never did care
-for de book larnin'. Massa wake us 'bout four o'clock with de great
-iron and hammer and us work long as us could see.
-
-"Massa didn't have to whip us but I seed pappy whip, with
-de rawhide with nine tails. He got thirty-nine licks and every lick,
-it brung de blood.
-
-"I seed slaves sold and you has heared cattle bawl when de calves took
-from de mammy and dat de way de slaves bawls. When massa sell de slave
-he make 'em wash up and grease de face good and stand up straight and he
-fatten 'em jus' like you do hawgs to sell. I had de good massa. He was
-good to black debbils, what he call us niggers. Us could rest when us
-git to de quarters or go by de big tank and take de bath, and every
-Saturday night us git de holiday and have banjo and tin pan beatin' and
-dance. On Christmas massa kilt de big hawg and us fix it jus' like us
-wants and have big dinner.
-
-"Massa have doctor when us sick. He say us too val'ble. If us sold us
-brung 'bout $1,000. Old mammy could fix de charm and git us well. She
-gather bark and make de tea. Most us sickness chill and fever. Sometime
-a slave git leg broke and massa say he no more 'count and finish him up
-with de club.
-
-"Massa nearly kilt in de fightin' and he had he doctor write missy to
-set us free. I had two wives and missy said I couldn't keep but one, so
-I takes Mary and us starts out for Texas, a-foot. Us most starved to
-death 'fore us got here and then us have hard time. But dere plenty wild
-meat and dat what us lived on three, four year. Us had two chillen and
-den she dies and I marry a half-Indian gal and she died. Us jus' 'greed
-to live together in dem days, no weddin'. Then I marries Lucie Grant and
-us have 11 chillen and de preacher calls us man and wife. I's pappy to
-17 chillen and I don't know how many grandchillen. Lucie say more'n a
-hun'erd."
-
-J.W. Terrill
-============
-
-**J.W. Terrill was born in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, and is about 100
-years old. His master was his father. He now lives in Madisonville,
-Texas.**
-
-"My father took me away from my mother when at age of six weeks old and
-gave me to my grandmother, who was real old at the time. Jus' befo' she
-died she gave me back to my father, who was my mammy's master. He was a
-old batchelor and run saloon and he was white, but my mammy was a Negro.
-He was mean to me.
-
-"Finally my father let his sister take me and raise me with her chillen.
-She was good to me, but befo' he let her have me he willed I must wear a
-bell till I was 21 year old, strapped 'round my shoulders with the bell
-'bout three feet from my head in steel frame. That was for punishment
-for bein' born into the world a son of a white man and my mammy, a Negro
-slave. I wears this frame with the bell where I couldn't reach the
-clapper, day and night. I never knowed what it was to lay down in bed
-and get a good night's sleep till I was 'bout 17 year old, when my
-father died and my missy took the bell offen me.
-
-"Befo' my father gave me to his sister, I was tied and strapped to a
-tree and whipped like a beast by my father, till I was unconscious, and
-then left strapped to a tree all night in cold and rainy weather. My
-father was very mean. He and he sister brung me to Texas, to North
-Zulch, when I 'bout 12 year old. He brung my mammy, too, and made her
-come and be his mistress one night every week. He would have kilt every
-one of his slaves rather than see us go free, 'specially me and my
-mammy.
-
-"My missy was purty good to me, when my father wasn't right
-'round. But he wouldn't let her give me anything to eat but cornbread
-and water and little sweat 'taters, and jus' 'nough of that to keep
-me alive. I was allus hongry. My mammy had a boy called Frank Adds
-and a girl called Marie Adds, what she give birth to by her cullud
-husban', but I never got to play with them. Missy worked me on the
-farm and there was 'bout 100 acres and fifteen slaves to work 'em.
-The overseer waked us 'bout three in the mornin' and then he worked
-us jus' long as we could see. If we didn't git 'round fast 'nough,
-he chain us to a tree at night with nothin' to eat, and nex' day.
-if we didn't go on the run he hit us 39 licks with a belt what was
-'bout three foot long and four inches wide.
-
-"I wore the bell night and day, and my father would chain me to a tree
-till I nearly died from the cold and bein' so hongry. My father didn't
-'lieve in church and my missy 'lieved there a Lord, but I wouldn't have
-'lieved her if she try larn me 'bout 'ligion, 'cause my father tell me I
-wasn't any more than a damn mule. I slep' on a chair and tried to res'
-till my father died, and then I sang all day, 'cause I knowed I wouldn't
-be treated so mean. When missy took that bell offen me I thinks I in
-Heaven 'cause I could lie down and go to sleep. When I did I couldn't
-wake up for a long time and when I did wake up I'd be scairt to death
-I'd see my father with his whip and that old bell. I'd jump out of bed
-and run till I give out, for fear he'd come back and git me.
-
-"I was 'bout 17 year old then and I so happy not to have that bell on
-me. Missy make us work hard but she have plenty to eat and I could
-sleep. On Christmas she cook us a real dinner of beef meat.
-
-"Plenty time I listens to the cannon popping till I mos' deaf, and I was
-messenger boy and spy on the blue bellies. When I'd git back to the
-Southern sojers I he'ped 'em bury they dead and some what was jus'
-wounded I he'ped carry home.
-
-"When we heered was was over and we's free, we all jus' jumped up and
-hollers and dances. Missy, she cries and cries, and tells us we is free
-and she hopes we starve to death and she'd be glad, 'cause it ruin her
-to lose us. They was a big bunch of us niggers in town and we stirrin'
-'round like bees workin' in and out a hive. We was jus' that way. I went
-wild and the first year I went north, but I come back 'gain to Texas.
-
-"After 'while I marries a Indian maid. It was nothin' much
-but Indians 'round and there wasn't much law. I lived with her 'bout
-two year and then the Indians come and captured her jus' befo' she was
-to give birth. They kilt her or carried her 'way and lef' me for dead,
-and I never seed or heered of her since. While I was sick a outlaw,
-what was Tomas Jafferies, he'ped me git well and then I turns outlaw
-and follows all signs of Indians, all over the earth. But I never
-could git word of my wife.
-
-"It mus' be 'bout 15 year after that, I marries Feline Ford,
-by a preacher. My first weddin' was common weddin' with the Indian
-maid. I jus' give her deerskin in front of Tomas Jefferies and she
-my wife."
-
-Allen Thomas
-============
-
-**Allen Thomas, 97, was owned by several ranchers of Jefferson and
-Orange Counties, Texas, but recalls Moise Broussard of Hamshire the
-best. Ill health has affected his memory and his story is not coherent.
-He is a familiar figure on the streets of Beaumont, Texas, a small man
-clad in none too clean and somewhat ragged clothes, with a tow sack
-across his shoulders, into which he puts such things as he finds in his
-wanderings about the city. Rumor has it that Allen is fairly well to do
-and that his begging attitude is assumed, for reasons of his own.**
-
-"I figgers I's gwine be 97 year old on de fourth of August, I's
-borned over in Duncan Woods, over in Orange County. My daddy's name was
-Lockin Thomas. I never see my daddy. He git drown in de river here at
-Beaumont. My mammy's Hetty Anderson.
-
-"I 'longed to three masters. One John Adam and he was mean. One Stowers,
-and he was mean but not so mean to me. Den dere Moise Broussard, he was
-purty mean, but he never beat me. De las' man what finish raise me was
-Amos Harrison and he purty good man. He wife name Mag and dey lives on
-Turtle Bayou over in Chambers County. He buy me from Lewis Pinder. He
-was good. My brudder was Kelly Idonia and I had a sister Lessie
-Williams. Dey beat her with clubs. I's walk over many a dead person. Dey
-beat 'em to death.
-
-"Us had tins dishes dem times, master and slaves, too. Dey have
-wooden paddles what us take de food out de dishes with. De white folks
-sot at one table and de cullud folks have table to deyself, but 'bout
-what de white folks has.
-
-"Us have watermilion and sugar cane and milk and butter. Den us have de
-possum. Us clean him and put him top de house and 'low de frost fall on
-him. Den us fill him full salt and pepper and put him in de oven.
-Sometime put sweet 'taters all 'round him. Us have de long, square oven
-with de lid on it.
-
-"Us wore knitted shirt make on dem looms and dey gives us boots with
-brass toes on 'em. Me and mammy work on de spinnin' wheel many a night
-up to one or two o'clock. I used to card de bats.
-
-.. _`Allen Thomas`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image83allen.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Allen Thomas
-
- Allen Thomas
-
-"Dere plenty hawgs and hosses and dem cattle what am longhorn. Us
-have plenty meat and raise veg'tables, too.
-
-"I never seed no sojers but I heared de cannons. I disremember when
-peace am corral'. I come up here to Beaumont when I thank I's a man and
-I's been here every Gawd's since.
-
-"I see some sperrits, but I see 'em only special times. You see 'em
-twict a year, 'tween spring and summer and den 'gain 'twixt fall and
-winter. Sometime dey comes right 'long and den sometime dey jis'
-standin' still. When you looks at 'em dey looks kinder vagueish. I can
-allus tell when sperrits 'round. Dey got a queer scent. When you walk
-'bout 20 feet, steam gwineter hit you in de face. I can tell dey dere
-iffen I can't see 'em. Dey look like men. Dey ain't white but dey got a
-pale look."
-
-Bill and Ellen Thomas
-=====================
-
-**Bill and Ellen Thomas live in the Old Slave Settlement, 3 miles north
-of Hondo. Bill is 88 and Ellen is 81. They seem to be happy; their
-fields are tilled, a horse and a cow graze near the house; a kitchen
-garden is under way and several broods of baby chicks are in the yard.
-They were dressed in simple, clean clothes, and Ellen wears a string of
-nutmegs around her neck, to 'make yer eyes strong.'**
-
-.. class:: larger
-
- Uncle Bill's Story
-
-"Does you want me to start right at the beginnin'? Well,
-I'll tell you jes' how I went to this country. I left Falls County
-where I belonged to the man there that kept the post office. He was
-named Chamlin. He had lots of land, I reckin about 50 acres. They
-kep' us in a little house right in their yard. Reckin how old I was
-when he bought me? Jus' five years old! He give $500 for me, but he
-bought my mother and my sisters, too. He had to buy me, 'cause my
-mother, she wouldn't go without me. No, suh, she tol' 'em she wouldn't
-go if they didn' buy me, too. An' the man he bought us f'om, he wanted
-to keep me, so he wouldn't take less than $500 for me. Massa Chamblin
-bought the whole family, 'cept my father. They sold him and we never
-laid eyes on him again.
-
-"My mother cooked. Massa Chamlin, he always fed us plenty, an'
-whatever they had, we had. If he cooked sausage, you had it too; if he
-cooked ham, you got it too; if he cooked lye hominy, you got it; an' if
-he had puddin', you got some.
-
-"When I was 6 or 7 years old I chopped cotton and I plowed too,
-and I could lay as straight rows with oxen as any you ever saw.
-
-"The massa whipped me with a dogwood switch, but he never did
-bring no blood. But it taken 7 men to whip my father.
-
-"I'll tell you how I got away f'om there. Massa bought cotton and
-carried it to Mexico. He taken his 2 boys with him and we had 3 wagons
-and I drove one. I had 4 oxen and I had 3 bales of cotton on my wagon;
-he had 6 oxen and 6 bales of cotton, and the last wagon, it had 10 bales
-on it and 6 oxen. He had to ship it acrost the Rio Grande. If a Mexican
-bought it, he come across and took it over hisself. Reckin how much he
-got for that cotton? He got 60¢ a pound. Yes'm, he sho' did. Cotton was
-bringin' that then.
-
-"I was freed over there in Mexico. I was about 14 years old. Massa
-Chamlin, he stayed over there till the country was free. He didn't
-believe in that fightin'.
-
-"I cooked in a hotel over there in Mexico. I cooked two years at $1.00 a
-day.
-
-"When Massa owned me, he always give us good clothes. Our pants was made
-out of duckin' like wagon sheets, but my mother took some kind of bark
-and dyed 'em. I think it was blackjack bark. He give us shoes, too. They
-was half-tan leather brogans."
-
-"I used to play the fiddle for dances when I was young, but not after I
-joined the church. I played for the white people. Oh, yes'm, the cullud
-folks had dances, they sho' did dance.
-
-"Yes'm, I saw a ghost onct. One night after I was livin' down here, I
-was goin' to Sabinal, me and another man, and a great long thing passed
-right in front of us. It was the blackest thing you ever saw. It was
-about six feet long. Yes'm, it sho' was a ghost or sumpin; it
-disappeared, and me lookin' at it. The other fellow that was with me, he
-seen it, too.
-
-"Yes, they was lots of panthers and bears here. If this ghost was a
-bear, he sho' was a big 'un. We had a ghost down here on the creek we
-called the 'Ball Water Hole Ghost.' He was seen lots of times. He used
-to stay down there, but he ain't been seen lately. My wife, she seen
-him."
-
-.. class:: larger
-
- Aunt Ellen's Story
-
-"Yes'm, I seen him walkin' 'long the trail ahead of us. He had on a
-black hat, like a tall stovepipe hat, and a long black coat, and when we
-got up close he jes' disappeared. He was a big man, and tall, too. We
-didn' know which way he went; he jes' seemed to disappear. My oldest
-daughter saw him too. Lots of folks did. He was always seen down at that
-water hole somewhere.
-
-"Another time, I was stayin' with Mrs. Reedes. Mr. Reedes was killed and
-all night long he'd come back and grind coffee and sprinkle it all over
-us. I was so bad scared I nearly died. Next mornin' there'd be coffee
-all over the floor. We supposed it was Mr. Reede's ghost. They say if a
-person was wicked they come back like that. Onct he pulled Mrs. Reedes
-outta bed and pitched her on the floor, and he would take the dishes out
-of the shelves and throw 'em down. I couldn't stand it but a night or
-two and I said I was goin' home. Yes, ma'am, it sho' was a ghost. He
-sho' did tear up that house every night. Why, they'd be a light shine in
-that room just as plain as daylight, nearly. They say ghosties will run
-you, but I never had any to run me."
-
-"I was born in Mississippi. We come to Texas and my mother died, so
-grandma raised me. I was jes' a baby when we come to Texas. Mr. Harper
-owned us. I remember the war, but it's so long ago I don't remember
-much. I remember when John Harper read the free paper to us. He had a
-big lot of slaves, but
-
-when he read, the free papers they jes' flew out like birds. But I
-didn't. I was stickin' to my grandmother. She was on crutches and she
-stayed on at the Harper place.
-
-.. _`Bill and Ellen Thomas`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image85billellen.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Bill and Ellen Thomas
-
- Bill and Ellen Thomas
-
-"After we was free I worked for them a long time. I cooked, washed,
-ironed, milked the cows. He was pretty good to us, Judge Harper was. I
-went along with him when he went to war, his wife and chillun did too,
-and I nursed them, I'd give a young baby shuck tea to break him out with
-the hives. For chills and fever I give quinine weed. It don't grow here.
-
-"When Judge Harper went up to Hondo my grandma grabbed me and kept me.
-So I stayed and worked. I was still a young girl, but I plowed, hauled
-and grubbed. I used to wear 'cotton stripes.' I remember 'em well. It
-was a homespun cloth. I know how to spin and weave and I could knit a
-pair of socks in two nights.
-
-"I never did hear much about hard times. I was treated good but I got
-switched many a time. Oh, yes'm. I've been whipped, but not like some of
-'em was. They used to tie some of 'em down. I've heered tell, they shore
-whopped 'em. They used to be a runaway that got away and went to Mexico
-now and then, and if they caught him they shore whopped him awful.
-
-"That old piano in there, my daughter bought a long time ago. The
-varnish is off, but a man tol' us it could be sandpapered and refinished
-and it would be a beautiful thing. It's about 75 years old."
-
-Lucy Thomas
-===========
-
-**Lucy Thomas,86, was born in Harrison Co., Texas, a slave of Dr.
-William Baldwin. She stayed with her master until 1868. In 1869 she
-married Anthony Thomas. She now lives with her son at Baldwin Switch,
-sixteen miles northeast of Marshall, Texas, on part of the land
-originally owned by the Baldwins.**
-
-"My name am Lucy Baldwin Thomas and I's birthed right here in Harrison
-County, on the old Baldwin place at Fern Lake. The log cabin where I's
-birthed sot in a grove of trees right by the lake. The Baldwin place
-jined the Haggerty and Major Andrews places.
-
-"The best statement I can make of my age am I's 'bout fourteen the last
-year of Abe Lincoln's war. It was true, 'cause I starts hoein' in the
-field when I's nine years old and I'd been hoein' a long time.
-
-"They called my papa, Ike. The Baldwins bought him out of Alabama, and
-mama's name was Nancy and she's birthed in Virginny, and the Baldwins
-bought her out the New Orleans slave market for $1,100.00. I's heared my
-gran'ma, Barbara, tell how some Alabama owners drug they niggers with a
-mule and laid dem face down in a hole and beat dem till they's raw as
-beefsteak. But her folks wasn't like that and the Baldwins wasn't
-neither. They was good white folks, and Missy was named May Amelia and
-then there was Old Marse Doctor William. He was a doctor but he worked a
-hundred acres land and owned 'bout eighty-five niggers, what lived in
-log quarters. They had son-of-a-gun beds peg to the walls, and wore
-bachelor brogan shoes and blue and stripe lowel clothes made on the
-place, and had lots to eat. My mama say she had a lots better time in
-slavery than after.
-
-"All hands was up and in the field by daylight and Marse Baldwin allus
-kep' a fifty gallon barrel whiskey on the place and a demijohn on the
-front porch all the time for the niggers to git they drink on way to the
-field. But nobody ever got drunk.
-
-"Marse's brother-in-law, Marse Lewis Brantly, was overseer, but never
-kicked and beat the niggers. He give us a light breshin' when we needed
-it. We would go mos' anywhere but had to git a pass first, and had play
-parties on Saturday night.
-
-.. _`Lucy Thomas`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image89lucy.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Lucy Thomas
-
- Lucy Thomas
-
-"I went to school three months. A Yankee named Old Man Mills run a
-school and I quit workin' in the field to go. Them days, the Klu Kluxers
-was runnin' round and I seed big bunches of niggers with they heads tied
-up, goin' to report the Kluxers to the Progee Marshal.
-
-"Three years after it was all over, my folks moved to the Haggerty
-place. I know lots 'bout old Col. Haggerty's widow. She was an Indian
-and her first husband was a big chief of the Caddo Indians on Caddo
-Lake. He betrayed the Indians to the white folks and he and her hid on a
-cave on the lake, and she slipped out to git food, and the Indians took
-him away. They say they scalped him like they done white folks. Then she
-married Col. Haggerty and he got kilt on a gamblin' spree and left her a
-lot of land and 'bout three hundred slaves. She kept a nigger woman
-chained to a loom for a year and when she knew the slaves was gittin'
-free, she poisoned a lot of dem and buried dem at night. We'd hear the
-other slaves moanin' and cryin' at night for the dead ones. That widow
-Haggerty was somthin'!
-
-"I seed the 'Mattie Stephens' boat the day after it burned and kilt
-sixty people. Me and Anthony Thomas went to Marshall and married the
-day 'fore it burnt. That was on February 12th, in 1869. I lived with him
-fifty-five years and raised seven chillen, and after he died I kep' on
-farmin' until 'bout three years ago. Then I come to live with one my
-son's here and this land we're on right now was part the land old Marse
-Baldwin owned. I gits $10.00 a month from the gov'ment. They sho' is
-good to me, and my son is good, too, so I's happy in my old age."
-
-Philles Thomas
-==============
-
-**Philles Thomas, 77, was born a slave of Dave Miles, who owned a
-plantation in Brazoria Co., Texas. Philles does not remember her father,
-but was told by her mother that he was sent to the Confederate Army and
-was fatally injured at Galveston, Texas. Philles stayed with her family
-until she was seventeen, then married William Thomas. They now live at
-514 Hayes St., Fort Worth, Tex.**
-
-"I don't 'member much 'bout de war, 'cause I's jus' a young'un when it
-start and too small to have much mem'randum when it stop. I's still on
-de place where I's born when surrender come, de Lowoods Place, own by
-Massa Dave Miles, 'twixt Brazoria and Columbia. Massa Dave sho' have de
-big plantation but I don' know how many slaves.
-
-"When I's a young'un, us kids didn't run round late. We'uns am put to
-bed. When sundown come, my mammy see dat my feets am wash and de gown
-put on, and in de bunk I goes.
-
-"I can't 'member my daddy, but mammy told me him am sent to de 'Federate
-Army and am kilt in Galveston. She say dey puttin' up breastworks and de
-Yanks am shootin' from de ships. Well, daddy am watchin' de balls comin'
-from dem guns, fallin' round dere, and a car come down de track loaded
-with rocks and hit him. Dat car kilt him.
-
-"Mammy marries Bill Bailey after freedom and moves to de Barnum Place,
-what Massa John Miles own. I stays with mammy till I's seventeen and
-holp dem share crop. Den I leaves. Dat de way with chillen, dey gives
-you lots of trouble raisin' dem and den off dey goes. When my chillen am
-young'uns dey's on my lap, and when dey's growed up, dey's on my heart.
-
-"Us have de hard time share croppin'. Times was hard den and de niggers
-didn't know much 'bout takin' care demselves. Course, dey better off
-free, but dey have to larn. Us work hard and make 'nough to live on de
-first year us free. Us raise cotton and veg'tables and when I's not
-helpin' mammy I goes out and gits a li'l work here and yonder.
-
-"I marries in Galveston, to dat old cuss, settin' right dere, William
-Thomas am he name and I's stood for him ever since. Him am dock
-wallopin' when I's marry to him. Sho', him am a dock walloper. If you
-wants to talk big, you calls it stev'dore on de wharf.
-
-"Dat cullud gen'man of mine allus brung in de bacon. We'uns am never
-rich, but allus eats till de last few years. Us goes on de farm and it
-hand and mouth livin', but us eats someway. After while, us come to Fort
-Worth and he works as mortar man and cement mixer. We'uns live good till
-de few years back, when him break down in de back and can't work no
-more.
-
-"It am ten chillun us raise but only five livin' now. One live at Stop
-Six, right here in Fort Worth, and de others am all over de world. Us
-don't know where dey am. Since Bill can't work no more, us git de
-pension from de State and dat $26.00 de month for de two of us.
-
-"Does I ever vote? Christ for 'mighty! No. Why yous talk dat
-foolishment. Why for dis igno'mous old woman want to vote? No, sar, and
-no tother womens ought to vote. Dat am for de mens to do. My Bill votes
-couple times, when us in Galveston, and I tells you 'bout dat.
-
-"Dey gives de eddication with a couple cups whiskey and de cheroot. When
-de whiskey and de cheroot works on Bill's brain, dere am den de smart
-nigger, and he votes 'telligent. I asks him what he votes for and him
-say, 'I's vote for what am on de ticket.' 'What am on de ticket,' I
-says. 'How does I know, I can't read.' Den I says, 'Better yous not
-vote, 'cause maybe yous vote to put youself in de jailhouse.' So I guess
-him think 'bout dat and him see what foolishment and troublement him
-maybe git into, and him quit votin'. We'uns am lucky with de trouble.
-Guess it 'cause we'uns knows how to 'have. When I's young my mammy larn
-me how to 'have and where I 'long, so de patterrollers and de Ku Klux
-never bother we'uns. Now, we'uns so old us can't git round, so us double
-safe now.
-
-.. _`Philles Thomas`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image92philles.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Philles Thomas
-
- Philles Thomas
-
-"Gosh for 'mighty! What yous want next? Now it for me to sing.
-Well, yous can't put de bluff on dis old nigger, so here it am:
-
- | "'Put on my long white robe,
- | Put on de golden crown,
- | Put on de golden slipper,
- | And forever be Jesus' lamb.'
-
-"But I likes 'nother song better, like dis:
-
- | "'Herodias go down to de river one day,
- | Want to know what John Baptist have to say,
- | John spoke de words at risk of he life,
- | Not lawful to marry yous brudder's wife.'
-
-"Not dat am 'nough. If I's here much longer, yous have dis old woman
-dancin'."
-
-William M. Thomas
-=================
-
-**William M. Thomas, 87, now residing at 514 Hayes St., Fort Worth,
-Texas, was born a slave of Dr. Frank Thomas, in Lauderdale County, Miss.
-William's father was sold when William was a baby and his mother mated
-with another slave. It was seven years after they were freed that the
-family left their master and moved onto a tract of land. William stayed
-with them until he was twenty-four, then worked twelve years in
-Galveston, as a stevedore. He farmed until 1910, then worked as a mortar
-man at the Purina Mills in Fort Worth until 1931. He and his wife
-receive a $13.00 monthly pension.**
-
-"I knows 'zactly how old I is. Massa done give my mammy de statement. He
-do dat for all he niggers when dey freed. I's borned May 17th, in 1850,
-and dat make me eighty-eight next May. Dat's on Massa Doctor Frank
-Thomas's plantation, over near Meridian, in Mississippi. Dere forty-four
-slave families on he place and he own 'bout seven hunerd acres land, so
-him have plenty pasture, wood and field land. De money crop was cotton,
-of course.
-
-"My mammy and sis was in de place and my step-pa. My pappy am sold and
-took to Texas when I's so li'l I don't 'member him. After dat, mammy
-done took another man.
-
-"All de slaves live in quarters 'cept de house servants, and dey live in
-servants' quarters, and dere's where I's de lucky nigger. My mammy am
-cook for massa and I's round de kitchen what 'twas plenty of good eats.
-And I plays with massa's two boys, 'twas Frank and Lawrence.
-
-"I's so li'l 'fore surrender I never really works, 'cept to be de errand
-boy. I fetches eggs and sich. Massa have lots of chickens and us fetch
-in high as a thousand eggs in one day sometimes. Us have eggs to eat,
-too. Massa Thamas am awful good and dere am never de holler 'bout
-feedin'. I bet none dem niggers done live so good after dey free.
-
-"Us have all de meat us want, mostest pork and beef and mutton. Dey
-kills five hunderd hawgs when killin' time came, and make hams and bacon
-and sausages. If yous ever ate sich ham and bacon what am made by
-massa's butcher right dere on de place, you say dere never am sich. Dat
-sausage, it make de mouf water to think 'bout it. 'Sides de meat, us
-have cornbread and 'lasses and de rations ain't measure out, 'cept de
-white flour on Sunday mornin'. All week de meals am cook in dat kitchen
-and serve in de big shed, but each family cook for deyself on Sunday.
-
-"Us go to church if us want, 'bout four miles off. Massa give anybody de
-pass to go dere. Dere am no parties and sich, but old Jack saw on de
-fiddle and us sing.
-
-"Massa didn't whip, only once. Dat 'cause a nigger steal he fav'rite
-pumpkin. He am savin' dat for to git de seed and it am big as de ten
-gallon jug. De corn field am full of pumpkins, but dat nigger done took
-massa's choice one. Dat pumpkin am so big, he have to tussle with it
-'fore he git it to he cabin. It like stealin' a elephant, you can't hide
-it in de watch pocket. Course, lots of niggers seed dat cullud gen'man
-with dat pumpkin, and 'fore long massa knew it.
-
-"Well, sar, it am de funny sight to see him punish dat nigger. First,
-massa set him down on de ground front de quarters, where us all see him.
-Den he make dat nigger set down and give him de big bowl pumpkin sauce
-and make him eat it. Him eat and eat and git so full him can't hardly
-swallow and massa say, 'Eat some more, it am awful good.' Dat nigger
-try, but him can't eat no more. Massa give him de light breshin' and it
-am funny to see, dat cullud gen'man with pumpkin smear on he face and
-tears runnin' down he face. After dat, us chillen call him Massa Pumpkin
-and massa never have no more trouble with stealin' he seed pumpkins.
-
-"When war starts I's 'bout fifteen year old. 'Bout half mile from de
-plantation am de crossroads and one go to New Orleans and one go to
-Vicksburg. Dere am a 'Federate camp dere at de start, but after 'while
-dey goes and de Yanks comes. Dere a battle near, and us hear de shootin'
-but us have to stay on de place.
-
-"I done slip off and see de camp, though. De Yanks puts up two big tents
-and use dem for de hospital and de wounded am fetch dere. What I sees
-and hears dere, I never forgits, and it done turn dis nigger 'gainst
-war. Why can't dey settle dey 'sputes without killin'? Dey's moanin' and
-cryin' and screamin' in dem tents.
-
-"One day de Yanks come clean de crib of all de corn and de meat house of
-all de meat. Massa am smart and fix it so dey don't find all de rations.
-Him dig a big ditch in de woods and hide lots of rations.
-
-"Us didn't know when freedom came. It a long time after dat de Yanks
-come tell us, and it de same way on all de plantations round dere. De
-Yanks come and make massa pay us all fifty cents de day. After dat massa
-puts dem what wants to go on pieces of land and dey ain't charge for it
-till seven year after. Den dey has to pay rent and part de crop, and for
-de mules and tools all de time.
-
-"I stays with my folks till I's twenty-four year old and den I's on my
-way to Galveston and gits work as de stevedore. Dat am on de wharf and I
-works dere twelve year. I votes dere two times. Some white folks done
-come to us, and de boss, too, and gives us de ticket. It am all mark up.
-Boss say us don't have to work de next day, and us to report at a place.
-When us comes dere, 'twas a table with meat and bread and stuff for to
-eat, and whiskey and cigars. Dey give us something to eat and a cup or
-two of dat whiskey and puts de cigar in de mouth. Us am 'portant
-niggers, ready to vote. With dat cup of whiskey in de stomack and dat
-cigar in de mouth and de hat cock on side de head, us march to de votin'
-place and does our duty. Fix up de way us was, us would vote to put us
-back in slavery. And de nigger what didn't vote, after all dat, him am
-in for de fixin'. I means he gits fixed. Dey pounds he head till him
-won't forgit to do it right next time.
-
-"But I gits to thinkin' how massa say when us leave him, 'Don't let no
-white folks use you for to make trouble.' I figgers dat what am
-happenin' with dat votin' business, and I quits votin' and goes to
-farmin'. I 'lieve de cullud folks should vote, but not de igno'mous
-niggers like us was den.
-
-.. _`William M. Thomas`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image95william.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: William M. Thomas
-
- William M. Thomas
-
-I farms till 1910 and den comes to Fort Worth, and dey am buildin' de
-Purina Mills Elevators on East 4th Street and I works dere at mortar
-work. Den I works at cement on lots de big buildin's in dis city, till
-'bout ten year ago, when it git too hard for me. I has de back misery.
-
-"I gits married to Phillis Wilson when I's twenty-nine, in Galveston,
-and us don't allushave lots, but us gits by and raises de family. Now us
-have to live on de pension from de State, what am $13.00, and sometimes
-us am awful short, tryin' to pay de rent and buy de rations and what
-clothes us needs, but us am glad to git it. Ten chillen am what us
-raises and five am dead and four am scattered and us don't know where,
-and one live here.
-
-""Ain't it diff'rent how peoples lives? Us used to travel with de ox and
-now dey flies in de sky. Folks sings in New York and us sets right here
-and hears dem. Shucks! De way things am gwine, I's all fussed up and
-can't understand whether I's gwine or comin'."
-
-Mary Thompson
-=============
-
-**Mary Thompson was born a slave 87 years ago, in Denton, Miringo
-County, Alabama. Her mother, Viney Askew, and father, Wesley Jones,
-belonged to Green Askew, a Georgian. She was 15 when she was freed. Mary
-now lives at 1104 East Avenue, Austin, Tex.**
-
-"I was bo'n in Alabama and my mother was Viney Askew.
-She belonged to Marster Green Askew. My father was Wesley
-Jones, 'cause he took his marster's name.
-
-"My mother was a good cook and she cooked for de marster.
-She had a great big stove and she made salt-risin' bread, too.
-We and all de slaves lived in cabins near de big house and some
-of de slaves would have chillen by de marster.
-
-"When we come home from de fields at night, de women cooked
-de food and den dey was so tired dey jus' went to bed. We didn'
-have fun in de evenin's, but on Christmas mornin' de marster
-give us eggnog and sich. Den we'd sing but I don' 'member de
-songs now.
-
-"De crops in Alabama would be cleared by July 4 and den
-we'd have sev'ral days off, all de slaves. Dey'd give us pits
-of barbecue and pies and cakes to eat.
-
-"When we was sick de marster would sen' for de doctor
-and we made teas outta herbs and sich. Alabama was full of chills
-and fevers in dem days and we drunk catnip tea for fevers and blue
-and white sage. Calamus root, looks like an onion, was good for
-de chillens' colic.
-
-"My mistress' niece had a big plantation and she had a
-place whar she had de slaves whopped. She had a reg'lar whoppin'
-post. My marster jes' had a large cowhide whoop. Yes, I got a
-whoppin' more'n once. Sev'ral times marster took hold my ears
-and bumped my head 'gainst de wall. But gen'rally dey was good
-to me.
-
-"We wasn't 'lowed no whiskey, 'less we was sick. De poor
-white folks was good to us, better'n rich folks. Dey'd give us a
-quarter now'n den.
-
-"I can 'member how de slaves was fattened like hawgs and
-den marched to town and 'round and auctioned off like cattle. Some
-of 'em had done somethin' mean and was sold off. Some of 'em brought
-more'n a thousand dollars down in New Orleans.
-
-"I knows of one slave who liked to run 'round at night. She
-was nuss to marster's girl and she give it morphine to put it to sleep.
-She give de baby girl so much morphine dat her body was full of it and
-she died. De cullud folks got to talkin' too much and de baby was dug
-up and 'xamined. De slave nuss was put in jail and kep' there a long
-time and den she was sold.
-
-"Heap of de slaves would run away and go up north. Dey would
-try to find 'em by sendin' nigger houn's after 'em. Once de houn's
-caught a slave and he kep' sayin', 'O, Lawd ... O, Lawd!'
-
-.. _`Mary Thompson`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image100mary.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Mary Thompson
-
- Mary Thompson
-
-"After de war, when we was free, de slaves would go here and
-there and a lot of 'em died. Dey'd git de black measles, go out in
-de woods and die. Dey didn' know how to take care of demselves.
-
-"I stayed at marster's house eight months, den hired out at
-ten dollars a month. Dat was de fus' money I ever made and I didn'
-want to go to school, 'cause I wanted to make dat money. Dat looked
-like big money to me. I was proud to have it, 'cause I could git
-what I wanted. I cain't read or write to this day.
-
-"I was married to General Thompson, and he'd been a slave
-too, in Alabama. Yes, General was his given name. I was 16 years
-old when I married and a white preacher married us durin' a 4th of
-July celebration. Yes, we had a big time and a good time.
-
-"We come to Texas later and my husban' farmed on the
-Brazos. We had eight chillen, and two of 'em is livin.' My husban'
-died and I buried him, den I took up with a Horace Foster, and he
-was nothin' but a gambler. I lived with him 'bout 8 years, but he
-never would marry me, so I lef' him."
-
-Penny Thompson
-==============
-
-**Penny Thompson, 86, now living at 1100 E. 12th St., Fort Worth, Texas,
-was born a slave to Calvin Ingram, in Coosa Co., Alabama. In 1867 Penny
-was brought to Tyler, Texas, and several years later she married Ike
-Thompson and moved to Fort Worth.**
-
-"Do I 'member slavery days? Yes, suh! How could I forgit
-dem? For an old person I has good 'collection. I's 10 year old
-when de war start and my massa am Calvin Ingram. My mammy and
-pappy was a weddin' present to Massa Ingram from his pappy. Mammy
-give birth to 15 chilluns, but I never saw any of my brothers and
-sisters, 'cause they all born on Massa Ingram's pappy's plantation
-'fore he give my mammy to Massa Ingram.
-
-"De plantation dat Massa Ingram have was 200 acres or mo'. Him own 'bout
-20 grown-up slaves, and on dat place dey raises 'bout everything we eats
-and wears, includin' de vinegar and de peach brandy. Everybody am
-'signed to dey duties and my mammy am chief cook for de big house. I
-he'ps her and feeds chickens, gits eggs and totes water.
-
-"De treatmen' couldn't be better. Massa am de bestes' and de
-kindes' fellow dat ever live. He am in Heaven, for sho', but de missy
-mus' be in Hell, for she sho' was a debbil. Massa have de fight with
-her lots of times 'bout de treatment of us, but he wouldn't let her
-'buse us.
-
-"We'uns was never hongry for food, 'cause we have lots of meat,
-chickens and eggs and cornmeal and 'lasses and honey. De hams is smoked
-on de place and dey am de hams, white man, dey am de hams!
-Den massa have a big cellar jus' full of everything and I never forgit
-de big, brass key what lock dat cellar. Dere was de jams and de jellies
-and de preserves, and de massa give us somethin' of all of dat. Him
-makes de gran' peach brandy and every mornin' we could have two fingers
-in de glass. 'Twas de same at night. Dere was somethin' else was
-reg'lar every mornin' and night and dat am de prayer. He calls all us
-together and says de prayers. I often thinks of dat brandy and de
-prayers, two times every day.
-
-"As for de whuppin,' dere wasn't any on massa's place. Him have
-only one nigger what am unruly and dat am Bill McClure, and a bigger
-thief never lived.
-
-"On de nex' plantation dey gives de whuppin' and we hears dem
-niggers beller. On dat plantation dey trades and sells de niggers all
-de time and de speculation wagon comes by often. Sometime it am awful
-to see de babies sold from de mothers and de wife from de husban'. Sich
-bemoanin' at some of dem sales, yous jus' can't 'magine.
-
-"But on massa's place we has no tradin' of slaves and we'uns have
-pass for go to church and parties and de dance. When de night for de
-party come on our place, de yard am cleaned off and we makes sandwiches.
-One time massa come to me and say, 'Jus' wait a minute, I nearly forgits
-de mos' 'portant part,' and he give me a new pink dress. I's so happy
-I cries for joy, and everybody says I looks like de Queen of Sheba.
-
-"De other big time am de corn huskin' bee. Once a year all de
-neighbors comes fust to one place den to de other. At de huskin's, dey
-gives de prize when you finds a red ear. De prize am two fingers of dat
-peach brandy. When dey gits de fus' one dey works a little harder, de
-second still faster, and de third, Lawd-a-massy, how dem husks do fly!
-Dey don't git drunk, 'cause you am lucky to find as much as three red
-ears at one huskin'.
-
-"We has de weddin's too, but no preacher or cer'mony. When a man sees a
-girl him likes and de girl am willin', dey says dey wants a weddin'. De
-womens cooks extra and dey gits de cedar boughs and wets dem and
-sprinkles flour on dem and puts dem on de table. We sits at de table and
-eats and sings 'ligious songs and after supper dey puts de broom on de
-floor an de couple takes de hands and steps over de broom, and den dey
-am put to bed.
-
-.. _`Penny Thompson`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image103penny.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Penny Thompson
-
- Penny Thompson
-
-"We was never bother with de patter rollers, but I 'members a song
-'bout dem, like dis:
-
- | "'Up de hill and down de hollow
- | Patter rollers cotched nigger by de collar;
- | Dat nigger run, dat nigger flew,
- | Dat nigger tear his shirt in two.'
-
-"In de war soldiers comes to massa's place and every time he feeds
-dem. You hears de clippity clop of de hosses and dey is off de saddle
-'fore you gits to de door. Dey says, 'We wants de meal,' or maybe dey
-wants to sleep. Massa's wife say, 'I's not goin' do nothin' for dem blue
-bellies,' but massa make her fix de chicken. Dere was everything dere
-but manners, 'cause dey have de pistols drawed.
-
-"After freedom, mos' of us stays with massa, 'cause we don't know where
-to go and we don't want to go, but 'fore long massa dies and dat was
-mournin' time. After de death, we all leaves.
-
-I marries Bill Thompson but he won't work so after 15 year I gits
-de divorcement."
-
-Albert Todd
-===========
-
-**Albert Todd, 86 years old, was born a slave to Capt. Hudson, in
-Russellville, Kentucky. His master was killed in the Civil War and he
-then came to Texas in a covered wagon. His "Missus" kept him a slave for
-three years after the War. He now lives with his wife, daughter and two
-sons at 703 Center St., San Antonio, Texas.**
-
-"I most suppose my memory is too jumpy, but I'll try to bring
-it 'long from de time I was born. I don't know de year, but it was
-in Russellville, Kentucky and my massa, Captain Hudson, had a fruit
-orchard. My reg'lar work was protectin' my young missus, Nannie
-Hudson. She had to walk five miles to and forth from school every
-day and I was her protector. I was only 8 and she was 11. I sat
-on the steps until she got through larnin' and then brung her home.
-She come to be grown and married and died, but I allus loved her.
-
-"When war comes, my massa goes and gets kilt and my missus
-got 'gusted with the orchard and packs up in two covered wagons and
-heads crossland to Texas. We finally gets to Lavernia and gets a
-farm and us worked plenty hard.
-
-.. _`Albert Todd`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image106albert.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Albert Todd
-
- Albert Todd
-
-"Our missus was good to us, but one white man neighbor got a
-new set of niggers every year. He say if they didn't die, they wasn't
-any good work left in them after they works for him a year. He allus
-cut off one they ears, so if they run away he'd know 'em.
-
-"My clothes was a long shirt, made out of a meal sack. That's all
-I wore them days. I was a slave three year after the others was freed,
-'cause I didn't know nothin' 'bout bein' free. A Mrs. Gibbs got holt
-of me and makes me her slave. She was a cruel old woman and she didn't
-have no mercy on me. She give me one sausage and one biscuit in the
-mornin' and nothin' else all day. One day she gone and I stole some
-biscuits, and she comes back and says, 'Did you take them biscuits?'
-She tells me if I tells de truth she won't punish me, but she knocks
-me down and beats me till I not know nothin'. But after 'while her
-house burns and she burns up in it.
-
-"But 'fore that I was goin' to run away and I goes to the road
-and sits down and then my sisters comes 'long and finds me and takes me
-to a place where they was livin' on the ranch of a man name Widman.
-We works for him a long time and then I is free from that Gibbs woman."
-
-Aleck Trimble
-=============
-
-**His skin was of an extremely dark chocolate color, his hair thin and
-gray. A blue shirt was about his body while blue trousers enclosed his
-nether limbs. His bare feet protruded as he sat on an old dilapidated
-chair. Under his flat nose was a gray mustache, and one eye had
-completely lost its vision. This small negro man was Aleck Trimble who
-thoughtfully told the story of his life. [HW: Veth, Tex.]**
-
-"I was bo'n in 1861. I warn't much of a chile when freedom come, but yet
-dey's right smart of t'ings I kin 'member in slavery times."
-
-"My pa name was Aleck Trimble and dat's my name, too. My ma was Ellen
-Trimble and I was de onlies' son. I didn' hab no brudders. Ol' marster's
-las' name was Alexander, but I dis'member his fus' name."
-
-"I uster hafter do a li'l wuk 'roun' de place like pullin' up weeds and
-drivin' de calfs. I 'member one time I was drivin' a calf up to de lot
-and I saw a crazy man. He didn' try to do nuffin' to me. I jis' walk up
-on him and he sittin' dere mumblin' and I know right den dere was
-sump'n' wrong wid him. He didn' try to hu't me nor run atter me, but he
-sho' scare me and I run away from him fas' as I kin."
-
-"I warn't so glad when freedom come. I was a-farin' pretty well in de
-kitchen. I didn' t'ink 'eber see better times dan what dem was, and I
-ain't. I t'ought I was jis' as near hebben as I want to be. It didn'
-look to me like dey coulder been no betterer dan what dey was."
-
-"I uster had jis' all I want to eat. Us hab biscuit and syrup, and
-plenty milk and butter. And dey give us all de collard greens and hog
-jowls us could hol'."
-
-"Dey uster had lots of cows and all de milk and butter anybody want. Dey
-had a big bucket hangin' in de well. Dey put de butter in dat in de
-summer time to keep it from meltin'. How dey kep' it from sp'ilin'? Why,
-dey et it up, dat's how dey keep it from sp'ile."
-
-"I neber see 'em do de slaves bad. Iffen dey did dey tek 'em off in de
-woods somers where nobody see 'em."
-
-"Sometime nigger traders come 'long de road wid a big drove of niggers.
-I neber pay dat no min' though. It was jis' a drove of niggers to me."
-
-"Dey gimme 'bout as good clo's as I got now. When I was doin' 'roun' de
-yard at Marster' house I wo' a shu't wid pleats 'cross de bosom in
-front."
-
-"Dey gimme some britches befo' freedom come, and den I t'ought I's 'bout
-as big as anybody. Dey gimme dem when I was big 'nuff to dribe de calfs
-up from de lot. But I neber go in de fiel' to wuk."
-
-"Atter freedom come I go to school to a white lady name' Mrs. Tunsten
-she had a son name' Waddy. She teach de school at Shiloh and all de
-white chillun and nigger chillun go to school in de same room. She teach
-her own chillun in dat school on de Huntsville road. I 'member de stages
-and t'ings gwine by. I t'ought she was a good teacher, but she whip me
-half a day one time 'cause I didn' spell "gangrene." She whip me 'till I
-learn how to spell it and I ain't neber forgit. I kin spell dat word
-yit. I's satisfy she from de Nor'f. Dere was a ol' stage stan' dere by
-de school house."
-
-"I went to dat teacher and dat school t'ree or fo' year'. Atter she quit
-teachin' dey was other teachers what come drappin' in and teachin' t'ree
-or fo' months."
-
-"My pa he uster wuk in de fiel' 'till freedom come. My ma she wuk in de
-kitchen. Dat how come I git so much outer de kitchen to eat. Sometime
-she hafter wuk in de fiel' too."
-
-"Jis' like I say, I stay 'roun' de big house. I raise up wid de white
-chillun 'till I was 25 or 30 year' ol'."
-
-"I t'ink dey stay at de ol' place a year or mo' atter freedom. Den dey
-'gin to drif' 'roun' to diff'rent place w'ere dey find wuk to do. I stay
-wid de ol' folks and he'p s'po't (support) 'em wid what money I git for
-de wuk what I doin'. My ma lef' my pa at de ol' plantation, and her and
-me and a gal what was ol'er dan me, what was my sister, us move."
-
-"De fus' wuk I done and de fus' money I mek was pickin' cotton for a
-white man. De fus' money I git I buy me a ol' Webster Blue-back speller.
-Lawd, I uster look at dat book sometime 'till dem A B C's all run
-togedder seem like."
-
-"Dat plantation was de Johnnie Murchison plantation. Us stay dere 'bout
-five or six year'. Atter dat I lef' dere and went to wuk for cullud man
-what was name' Sam Scott. I wuk 'roun' in de fiel' and go to mill when I
-was on dat place."
-
-"I 'member seein' de sojers. Dey was a big troop of 'em come marchin'
-down de road. Dey was all of 'em dress' up in blue coats and some of 'em
-had blue capes over dey shoulders. Dey had wagons and lots of sich
-t'ings comin' 'long behin'."
-
-"I can't tell you much 'bout de ol' marster 'cause I didn' see him eb'ry
-day. Lots and lots of time I didn' hab no notion where he was."
-
-"Dey was a large troop of cullud folks on de place. When dey want 'em
-dey blow a bugle or ho'n or sump'n'."
-
-"I git marry in Houston county. I don' 'member what year it was but it
-was back in Cleveland's 'ministration. Den atter while she die and dat
-lef' me a widower. Den 'bout 28 year' ago I marry Ollie Washington. I
-was wukkin' for Scott befo' I marry Washington. Dat's my li'l 'dopted
-gran'chile dere. You see dat t'ing 'roun' her neck? Dat's hoss hair roll
-up in a clo'f. Dat to he'p when she teethin'. Dat good for stomach and
-bowel trouble, too. Long as she wear dat she ain't gwine to hab no fever
-in de head needer. I gwine to let her wear it 'till she finish cuttin'
-her teef. I jis' put dat rag 'roun' it to keep it from stickin' her. You
-kin see how healthy she is."
-
-"Anudder t'ing what good for chillun when dey's teethin' is for to tek a
-rabbit head and 'noint (anoint) dey gums good wid rabbit brains. Some of
-de ol' folks wear a dime tie' 'roun' dey leg wid a hole in it for de
-rheumatism."
-
-"May-apple for a good purgative too, but you got to know how to use it.
-Iffen you don' use it right though, it gwine to stir up your stomach
-and mek you sick. And you better not drink no milk when you tek dat
-May-apple root and you don' want to eat nuffin' needer. Dat's bitter'n
-quinine."
-
-"Co'se, sometime some of de slaves die on de plantation. I know dey have
-home-mek coffin, but I ain't neber see 'em mekin' one. Sometime' when de
-corpse a-layin' dere dead dey have a wake."
-
-"Dem what wanted 'em had a li'l patch of groun' where dey plant garden
-truck and veg'tables for deyself. Dey have half a day off on Sunday, and
-den co'se, dey have Sunday. All de slaves have big holiday on Crismus."
-
-"Dey lib in log houses. Moss and du't (dirt) was pack' all in 'tween de
-logs and boards was nail' on over dat. Ol' marster he have a awful large
-house buil' outer plank. It had a gallery to de front and back."
-
-"Dey had a li'l house down de way dey had preachin' in. De white
-preacher he do de preachin'. Seem to me dat soon play out."
-
-"Dey had a ol' lady what ten' to de chillun when dey in de fiel' pickin'
-cotton. Sometime she uster sing:
-
- | 'My Lord say dey's room enough,
- | Room enough in hebben fer us all.'
-
-fotch (fetch) 'em a whack on de head and say:
-
- | 'Come 'long wid dat row."
-
-"Atter freedom come de darkies uster have a song what
-go like dis:
-
- | 'Come along
- | Come along
- | Make no delayin'
- | Soon be so Uncle Sam give us
- | all a farm.
-
- | 'Come from de way
- | Come from de nation
- | 'Twon't be long 'till Uncle Sam
- | give us all a farm.'
-
-Atter while de Klu Kluxers git atter de cullud folks. Den
-dey mek a song:
-
- | 'Run nigger run de Klu Klux git you.'
-
-Lots of time dey come on Sunday. One place dere was a big plum thicket
-'long de road and dey dodge in dere and ketch people. Lots of cullud
-folks hafter pass by dere to git where dey gwine. In de day time dem Klu
-Kluxes was jis' in dey common clo's but when dey come in de nights dey
-did figger deyself wid dem high p'int hats and white t'ings wrap 'roun'
-'em."
-
-"I b'longs to de Baptis' Chu'ch. I reckon dat was de Baptis' chu'ch back
-in dem days, but I don' 'member no baptisms back in slavery. I 'members
-though that dey was a blin' cullud man what uster preach."
-
-"I 'members dey was lots of smallpox one time. Dat was atter freedom
-come, 'bout 50 year' ago. De people was sho' scare' of it, wusser'n if
-it was a Winchester. When I fus' 'member 'bout dat smallpox dey was a
-man had it and dey run him 'bout a mont' and bu'n him. If dey find out
-you got de smallpox you jis' long gone, you better not go out nor in.
-Dey put de food on de gate-pos'. If you don' git better in so many days
-dey bu'n you and de house and eb'ryt'ing up."
-
-"I uster farm 'till de boll weevil start in dis part of de country.
-Atter dat sawmillin' and public works. Jis' go from one sawmill to
-anudder. But I spen' my bes' days on de farm."
-
-"When I was cut off dem sawmill and public works jobs I was done wo'
-out. Dey orter stop' me fifteen years befo' dey did, 'cause den I
-mightenter (might not have) been wo' out. Now I can't do nuffin'."
-
-"I los' one of my eye 'bout seben year' ago. I have de fever and it
-settle in my eye and jis' cook. Dat was when I had meningitis."
-
-"I can't plow no mo'. I jis' live on my li'l bit of pension and dat
-ain't nuttin'."
-
-Reeves Tucker
-=============
-
-**Reeves Tucker, 98 year old Negro farmer of Harrison Co., Texas, was
-born in Bibb Co., Alabama, a slave of George Washington Tucker, Sr. When
-Reeves was six his master died and Reeves was separated from his family
-and brought to Texas by George Tucker, Jr. Reeves now lives with his
-son, who owns a farm nine miles northwest of Marshall, Texas.**
-
-"My father was Armistead Tucker and my mother Winnie Tucker and they's
-both born slaves of Massa George Washington Tucker. He lived over in old
-Alabama, between Selma and Maplesville. My brothers was Andy and John
-and Peter and there was two girls, Anne and Dorcus, and we was all born
-on Massa Tucker's plantation. My missy died 'fore I was born and my old
-massa died when I was jest a shirt-tail boy and his chillen had a
-dividement of his lands and mammy and all the chillen but me fell to the
-daughter and pappy was give to the son. Pappy begs too hard for me to go
-with him that fin'ly they lets me. I never seed my mammy after that,
-bein' as how Missy Emogene stays in Alabama and us come to Texas.
-
-"Massa George settles near Gilmer and he sho' have a big place with lots
-of acres and a good house. He didn't 'low no beatin' on that place but
-I've saw slaves on other places whopped till the blood run off them onto
-the groun'. When they was cut loose from the tree or whippin' post they
-falls over like dead. But our massa was good to us and give us lots to
-eat and wear. We et pork meat and white flour jest like the white folks
-and every woman have to spin so many yards cloth 'fore she go to bed, so
-we allus had the clothes.
-
-"I've saw lots of slaves bid off like stock and babies sold from
-their mammy's breast. Some brung 'bout $1,500, owing to how strong they
-is. Spec'lators used to ride all over the country near our place and
-buy up niggers and I've saw as many as fifty in a gang, like convicts.
-
-.. _`Reeves Tucker`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image116reeves.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Reeves Tucker
-
- Reeves Tucker
-
-"But Massa George wouldn't sell and buy slaves and none of 'em ever run
-off 'cept my pappy and one night he started to go 'cross a shirt of
-woods to the neighbors and young massa was a pattyroller and tells pappy
-to wait and go with him, but pappy hard headed as a mule and goes
-hisself and the pattyrollers cotches him and nigh beats him to death.
-Young massa was sho' mad as fire, 'cause he didn't want his niggers beat
-up.
-
-"Them circuit ridin' preachers come to the white church and tries to
-make the white folks bring their slaves to preaching. Preacher say,
-'Nigger have a soul to save same as us all.' Massa allus went to church
-but I don't 'lieve it done him any good, 'cause while he there at
-meetin' the niggers in the field stacking that fodder. He did give us
-Christmas Day and a big dinner and 'cept for workin' the lights outten
-us, gen'rally treated us decent and we had heap easier time than any
-other slaves 'round.
-
-"I 'member the war and Jeff Davis and Abe Lincoln was warfaring 'bout
-freein' the niggers 'bout four year 'fore they fought. Massa Tucker jest
-grunted when we was freed, 'cause he knowed the thing was up, and he
-tells us if we'd stay and help the crop out he'd give us a horse and
-saddle, but we didn't git nothin'. So I lef' him soon as the crop laid
-by the year of freedom and then moved with pappy to a farm near
-Hallsville and stays with him till I marries. I had seven chillen to be
-growed and married and I farmed near Hallsville mos' my life, till I too
-old. My son, Reeves after me, owns this farm and we's all right. Never
-did have hard times after freedom, like some niggers, 'cause we just sot
-down on the land."
-
-Lou Turner
-==========
-
-**Lou Turner, 89, was born at Rosedale, near Beaumont, Texas, on the
-Richard West plantation. She has spent her entire life within three
-miles of Beaumont, and now lives in her own little home, with her
-daughter, Sarah.**
-
-"I hears you been 'round to see me befo', but you ain't
-never gwine find me to home. I sho' love to go 'round visitin'.
-You know dey say iffen you treats the cat too good, you ain't
-never know where the cat is.
-
-"I's gwine on seventeen year old when freedom come. I's
-born right here near Beaumont, on the big road what they calls the
-Concord Road, in the place what they calls Rosedale. I's a growed-up
-young lady befo' I ever sees Beaumont. I's gwine on 89 year old
-now.
-
-"Richard West, he's my massa and Mary Guidry she my missy.
-Dey used to call her the 'Cattle King.' Dey have a big plantation
-and jes' a few slaves. Dey raises my mammy since she eleven year
-old. Her name Maria and she marry Sam Marble. He come from Miss'ippi.
-
-"I stay up at the big house and missy fix my plate when
-she fix hers. God bless her heart, she kind to me, I know now I's
-sassy to her but she didn't pay me no 'tention 'cause I's li'l.
-I slep' on a trundle bed by missy's side and I git so smart I allus
-smell my bed to see iffen dey puts nice, clean sheets on mine like
-dey did on hers. Sometime I play sick, but old missy a good doctor
-and she gimme beefoot oil and it so nasty I quit playing off. She
-French and she so good doctor they send for her to other folks houses.
-
-"Old missy was real rich. I's taken her money out of de wardrobe ane
-make tall playhouse out of gold and silver money. Iffen she have to buy
-somethin' she have to come and borrow it from me. Us allus has to figger
-how to take dat money out of de corners so de house won't fall down. I
-cried and cried iffen she tored it up.
-
-"She'd take me with her when she go to see her grandchillen in de French
-settlement. Us come in buggy or hack and bring jelly and money and
-things. I thought I's gwine to Heaven, 'cause I gits to play with li'l
-chillen. Us play 'ring place', dat's draw a ring and hop 'round in it.
-Us jump rope and swing. Dey have a hair rope swing with a smooth board
-in it so it ain't scratch us behin'.
-
-"Old missy so kind but what got 'way with me, I couldn't go to school. I
-beg and beg, but she kep' sayin', 'Some day, some day,' and I ain't
-never sit in a school in my life.
-
-"Old massa didn't work 'em hard. He make 'en come in when the sun got
-bad, 'cause he feared dey git sunstroke. He mighty good in early days,
-but when he figger dey gwine loose he slaves he start bein' mean. He
-split 'em and sold 'em, tryin' to make he money out of 'em.
-
-"De house what the white folks live in was make out of logs and moss and
-so was the quarters houses. Better'n New Orleans, dem quarters was. Us
-slaves have de garden patch. The white folks raises hogs and kilt 'em by
-the twenties. Dey smoke hams and shoulders and chittlin's and sich and
-hang 'em up in the smokehouse. Us allus have plenty to eat and us have
-good, strong clothes. Missy buy my dresses separate, though. She buy me
-pretty stripe cotton dress.
-
-"Bout the only work I ever done was help watch the geese and turkeys and
-fill the quilts. I larn to card, too. Old missy never whip me much, she
-jes' like to scare me. She whip me with big, tall straw she git out the
-field or wet a towel and whip my legs. My old massa done a trick I never
-forgit while I's warm. I's big gal 'bout sixteen year old and us all
-'lone on the place. He tells me to crawl under the corncrib and git the
-eggs. I knowed dey ain't nothin' dere but the nest egg, but I have to
-go. When I can't find nothin' he pull me out backwards by the feet and
-whip me. When old missy come home I ain't know no better'n to tell her
-and she say she ought to kill him, but she sho' fix him, anyway. He say
-she spile me and dat why he whip me.
-
-"Old missy taken to preachin'. She was real good preacher. Dey have de
-big hall down the center of the house where they have services. A
-circuit rider come once a month and everybody stop workin' even if it
-wasn't Sunday.
-
-.. _`Lou Turner`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image118lou.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Lou Turner
-
- Lou Turner
-
-"When war was on us there wasn't no sojers 'round where I was, but dat
-battle on Atchafalia shook all the dishes off the dresser and broke 'em
-up. Jes' broke up all the fine Sunday and company dishes.
-
-"After de trouble my mammy have gettin' me 'way from there when freedom
-come, she gits me after all. Old missy have seven li'l nigger chillen
-what belong to her slaves, but dey mammies and daddys come git 'em. I
-didn't own my own mammy. I own my old missy and call her 'mama'. Us cry
-and cry when us have to go with us mammy. I 'members how old missy rock
-me in her arms and sing to me. She sing dat 'O, Susanna' and telt me a
-story:
-
-"'Dere a big, old brown bear what live in de woods and she have lots of
-li'l cub bears and dey still nussin' at de breast. Old mama bear she out
-huntin' one day and she come by de field where lots of darkies workin'
-and dere on a pallet she see fat, li'l pickaninny baby. Mama bear she up
-and stole dat li'l pickaninny baby and takes it home. It hongry but
-after she git all de cub bears fed, dere ain't no milk left for de
-nigger baby. Mama bear git so 'sasperated she say to her babies, 'Go
-long, you go way and play.' Dan she feed de li'l pickaninny baby and dat
-how she raise dat nigger baby.'
-
-"Now, every time old missy come to dat place in de story, she start
-laughin', 'cause I allus used to ask her.
-
-"'How come dey didn't no hair grow on dat baby.'"
-
-Irella Battle Walker
-====================
-
-**Irella Battle Walker, 86, was born a slave at Craft's Prairie, Texas.
-Her parents, Mesheck and Becky Battle, belonged to Mr. Battle, but were
-sold while Irella was a baby to Tom Washington, of Travis County. Irella
-learned her A B C's from an o1d slave, Jack James, although it was
-against the rules. This was the only schooling she ever had. Irella
-receives a monthly old age pension of eight dollars. She lives at 2902
-Cole St., Austin, Texas.**
-
-"My name was Irella Battle and I was borned on August 15th,
-in 1851, down at Craft's Prairie, in Bastrop County. I was 86 years
-old last August, and I'm blind in one eye.
-
-"Mammy's name was Becky Battle and she was a field worker, and
-dat about de most work she have to do, 'cept on rainy days. She had five
-girls and one boy and I'm de youngest and de only livin' one now. Daddy
-was Mesheck Battle and when I'm a baby in mammy's arms, us sold to Massa
-Washington.
-
-"Daddy had to do field work. I never knowed him do nothin' but
-farm. He sho' make us behave and whop us if we didn't. Massa was purty
-good. De massas dem times, some was good and some was bad, and about de
-most of dem was bad. I had to he'p round de big house and dey purty good
-to me. But when I still little I went to de fields. Dey give me a sack
-what de slaves make to pick cotton in. Dey spin de thread and make cloth
-on de loom and stitch it and make cotton sacks. Dey short for us chillen
-and de older folks had a short one to pick in and a big sack to empty in.
-I could pick about a hundred fifty pounds a day when I's twelve. Israel
-Roberts could pick five hundred a day. Us never got no money for pickin',
-only food and clothes and a place to stay at night. Old man Jonas watched
-us chillen and kept us divin' for dat cotton all de day long. Us wish him
-dead many a time.
-
-"De plantation had a hoss-power gin and some days our rows of cotton
-tooked us right to de gin house and we'd look up and watch de slave boys
-settin' on de lever and drivin' dem hosses round and round.
-
-"De cabins was log and mud and stick chimney. When one dem chimneys
-catch fire us git on top and throw water on it.
-
-"In summer us go barefoot, but dere shoemakers what make shoes for
-winter. When a beef killed, de hide kept and cleaned and put in de
-tannin' trough. When de leather ready, de shoes make in de little shoe
-shop, and when dem shoes git dry dey hard as a rock. Daddy make us rub
-tallow or fried grease meat or any other kind grease into dat hard shoe
-leather, and it make dem soft, but when de dew and sun git on dem again
-dey's hard again. Times de coyotes steal dem greased shoes and make off
-with dem. Dat act'ly happen a lot of times.
-
-"Old man Jack James work at day and have night school at night. He have
-long boards for benches and let dem down by ropes from de rafters, and
-have blue back spellers. He point to de letters with de long broom straw
-and dat's how we larn our A B C's. I can read purty good, when my eyes
-let me, but I can't write nothin'.
-
-"If it rained we had to shuck and shell corn or pull weeds in de yard,
-and it was a big one, too. De women spin thread for de looms, two of dem
-and a spinnin' wheel in every cabin.
-
-"Us have beds de men make and take wore out clothes and breeches and
-piece dem and stuff with cotton for quilts. When it cold us keep fire
-all night long. De plates am tin and a big gourd dipper to drink water
-with. De men make dere own cedar water pails.
-
-"De week's rations for a growed person run like three pounds bacon and a
-peck cornmeal and some home-made 'lasses. No flour and no coffee, but us
-parch bran or wheat and make coffee. Each night dey give a pint of sweet
-milk. But de chillen all et in a special place in de kitchen.
-
-"One mornin' Massa Washington call us all and he read from de big paper.
-He say, 'You is free to live and free to die and free to go to de devil,
-if you wants to.' He tell us if we gather he crops he'd pay us for it.
-Den he turned and walked away and started cryin'. All de families stays
-but one man. De highest price massa pay anybody was about $15.00, but
-dat seem like a lot of money to folks what wasn't used to gittin' any
-money at all.
-
-"Finally my folks moved on a farm on Onion Creek, in Travis County, on
-rented land from Nat Watters and Dr. Shears, and farm on de third and
-fourth. We stays about six years and raises cotton and corn.
-
-"But when I's twenty years old I marries Joe Walker and us move to
-Bastrop County, add I stays dere till he dies in 1932. Us have eleven
-chillen and nine of dem still livin'. I gits a pension, nine dollars de
-month, and it sho' am a help now I's old and nearly blind."
-
-John Walton
-===========
-
-**John Walton, 87, was born August 15, 1849, a slave of Bill Walton, who
-lived in Austin, Texas, until the Civil War. He then purchased a farm in
-Robertson County, Texas. John and his wife, Missouri, own a little home
-at 1008 Juniper St., Austin. Each receives an old age pension of $10.00
-a month.**
-
-"My name am John Walton, yes, suh, and I's born right here in Austin.
-Dat on de 15th day of August, in 1849. I done had de papers on dat but
-where dey is now I don't know. Pappy's named Gordon Walton and I 'member
-he die while de war goin' on, or jes' befo'. I disremember. My mammy was
-a small woman, named Mary.
-
-"Massa Bill Walton owns all us, and he de brother of Buck Walton, and us
-live in Austin till it said de Yankees comin'. Some southern folks here
-in Austin was diggin' ground for a fort, old Fort MacGruder, jes' south
-of Austin. So Massa Bill takes us all 'way from Austin and up to
-Robertson County, 'cause he done figured de Yankees can't git up dere.
-
-"I done field work up dere and even us kids had to pick 150 pounds
-cotton a day, or git de whoppin'. Us puts de cotton in de white-oak
-baskets and some dem hold more'n 100 pounds. It 'cordin' to de way you
-stamps you cotton in. De wagon with de yoke of oxen standin' in de field
-for to pour de cotton in and when it full, de oxen pulls dat wagon to de
-hoss-power gin. Us gin'rally use 'bout 1,600 pounds cotton to make de
-bale.
-
-"Purty soon after Massa Walton opens he farm he die and Missus Walton
-den marries a Dr. Richardson and he git de overseer what purty rough on
-us. He want all us to stay right in line and chop 'long and keep up with
-de lead man. If us didn't it am de bullwhip. He ride up and down and hit
-us over de back if us don't do de job right. Sometimes he'd git off he
-hoss and have two slaves hold one down and give him de bullwhip. He'd
-give it to him, too.
-
-"I helped break up de land and plant and chop cotton and a little of
-everything. Jes' what had to be done at de time, I goes out and does it.
-I run 'cross plenty snakes and one day one bit me right top de foot.
-Dere plenty varmints, too.
-
-"In de fall of de year us kill plenty hawgs and put up de gamblin' racks
-and hang dat meat up for de night. Dere some big dogs what watched de
-meat and one old dog, old Jefferson, was bigger'n any dog I ever seed.
-He kilt many 'nother dog. One night a big panther try steal de hawg meat
-and old Jeff cotch him and helt him till de men comes. De panther tore
-Jeff up purty bad. Us heered dem panthers scream at night, and if you
-didn't know, you'd think it a woman. I could tell de diff'rence, 'cause
-de panther scream have de little growl at de end. If he half mile 'way,
-you'd hear dat little whang.
-
-"One night I goes out in de bottom with my dog. I was huntin' but I
-don't like what I finds. A big panther follows me and old Nig, dat my
-big, black bulldog, scart him 'way from me. I sho' run dat night, and I
-never slip 'way no more at night.
-
-"Massa's big house sot 'way from our cabins. Us have de big room where
-de slaves' meals all cook and de fireplace 'bout four foot 'cross and
-plenty ashes in de mornin' to make de ashcakes. For breakfast us have
-meat and ashcakes and bran-coffee or sassafras tea. You could keep dem
-dried sassafras roots de year 'round and dey jes' as strong. Us plowed
-'em up in de field, 'cause dey growed wild.
-
-"Us didn't have time for de playin' of games durin' de week, 'cause it
-dark when us goes out and it dark when us comes back. Us sho' was tired.
-At night dat overseer walk by our cabins and call out to us, to see if
-us all inside. If us don't answer he come up and find out why, and he'd
-find us, too.
-
-"I larned to read and write a little jes' since freedom. Us used
-Webster's old blue-back spellers and I has one in de house to dis day
-and I wouldn't take nothing for it.
-
-"The first year after freedom I farms with mammy and my stepdaddy. Pappy
-done die. Us done purty good de first year and I keeps on farmin' most
-my life. I marries Georgia Anne Harper in 1875 or 1876 in Limestone
-County. Us have four chillen and three is livin'. I marries 'gain in
-1882 to Missouri Fisher and us have eight chillen and six is livin'.
-
-"Us gits 'long on what de state give us now, and it ain't so bad. Times
-is diff'rent. I never done much but farm, so I don't know so much 'bout
-everything what goes on."
-
-Sol Walton
-==========
-
-**Sol Walton, 88, was born in Mobile, Alabama, a slave of Sam Lampkin.
-Sol and his father stayed on the Lampkin Plantation, then in
-Mooringsport, Louisiana, until 1873, and farmed on shares. From 1876 to
-1922 Sol worked in the T.& P. shops, in Marshall, Texas. Sol and his
-wife are supported by odd jobs Sol secures about town and they receive
-money from a son who is in a CCC camp.**
-
-"I was knockin' round, a good-sized chap, way back yonder in
-Buchanan's and Henry Clay's time. I was born in 1849, in Mobile, Alabama,
-and belonged to Sam Lampkin. My father was bought by the Lampkins and
-he allus kept the name of his first master, Walton. My mammy was a
-Alabama Negro and her name was Martha, and I had four brothers and four
-sisters, Robert, Jim, Richard, Alex, Anna, Dora, Isabella, Bettie.
-
-"My master was Sam Lampkin and his wife was Missus Mary, and
-their first plantation was in Alabama, but they moved to Mississippi
-when I was 'bout six, and we lived on Salt Water Creek. They had a big,
-frame house and we lived in log quarters, slept on rough rail beds and
-had plenty to eat, peas, pumpkins, rice and other truck we raised on the
-place, and plenty of fish out of the creek.
-
-"The first work I done in slavery was totin' water and dinner
-to the field hands, in gourd buckets. We didn't have tin buckets then.
-The hands worked from sun to sun, and if the overseer seed 'em slackin'
-up he cussed 'em and sometimes whacked 'em with a bullwhip. I seed 'em
-whipped till their shirt stuck to their back. I seed my mammy whipped
-for shoutin' at white folks meetin'. Old massa stripped her to the waist
-and whipped her with a bullwhip. Heaps of 'em was whipped jus' 'cause
-they could be whipped. Some owners half fed their hands and then whipped
-them for beggin' for grub.
-
-"After our folks came in from the field they et supper and some went to
-Salt Water Creek to cotch fish and crabs. They used to spin at night,
-too. On Christmas Day massa allus give the slaves a little present,
-mostly somethin' to wear, 'cause he goin' to git that anyhow.
-
-"Massa never had but one white overseer. He got kilt fightin'. The hands
-was burnin' logs and trash and the overseer knocked a old man down and
-made some of the niggers hold him while he bullwhipped him. The old man
-got up and knocked the overseer in the head with a big stick and then
-took a ax and cut off his hands and feet. Massa said he didn't ever want
-another white overseer and he made my cousin overlooker after that.
-
-"The slaves had their own prayer meetin's and that's 'bout the biggest
-pleasure they had. We'd slip off sometimes to dances and parties, but
-the patterrollers come and run us home with hounds. The black and white
-children all played together and there was 'bout sixty of us.
-
-"The old folks told us ghost stories but I never seed a ghost but once,
-after I was married. Me and some men was walkin' down the Shreveport
-road and saw a big house all lit up and fiddlin' and dancin' goin' on
-inside. But when we got close the music stops and the lights went out.
-When we got on past a piece it lit up and the fiddlin' starts 'gain. I
-wasn't scared, but we didn't hang round to see what made it do that way.
-
-"Some of the cullud folks on our place could read and write. They larned
-it theyselves. The white folks didn't larn 'em. All they larned 'em was
-to work hard. But they took care of us when we was sick and old women
-made lots of medicine. There was boneset tea and willow tea and shuck
-tea and cottonseed tea for chills and fever and Jerusalum Oak for worms.
-
-.. _`Sol Walton`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image128sol.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Sol Walton
-
- Sol Walton
-
-"Master left Mississippi for Texas 'bout time the war got goin' good,
-with his fam'ly and sixty slaves. We'd been on the road three weeks when
-a gang of Yankees come on us one day at dinner. The niggers scatters
-like birds. 'Bout half of 'em never come back, but the rest of us come
-on and settled seven miles southwest of Mooringsport, in Louisiana.
-Young master went to the war after we got there and come home sev'ral
-times. But they didn't talk the war 'mongst us cullud folks.
-
-"Nothin' special happened the day they said we was free, 'cept some of
-'em didn't stay ten minutes. Master told 'em if they'd stay he'd give
-them the third and fourth. The ones who left wasn't promised nothin' and
-didn't git nothin'. My folks stayed for 'most twenty years after
-'mancipation, workin' on the halves.
-
-"I left my folks in '73 and come to Jimmie D. Scott's place, in Texas,
-'bout eight miles east of Marshall, and worked for $10.00 the month.
-That's where I met Liza Montecue, who is my wife. She was born on the
-Scott's place the same year I was born. We moved to Marshall in '76 and
-I got a job in the railroad shops and worked till the big strike in
-1922. I didn't belong to the strike but the strikers wouldn't let me
-work. After they run me off my job, I never could get back on and had to
-make a livin' at anythin' I could find till my boy got in the CCC camp.
-I been married sixty-four years and raised eight children, and three of
-'em lives here and works at anythin' they can find to make a dollar."
-
-Ella Washington
-===============
-
-**Ella Washington, 82, was born a slave of Dave Mann, in St. Mary's
-Parish, Louisiana. When the slaves were freed in Louisiana Ella was
-taken to Calvert, Texas, and put on the Barton plantation. Soon after
-the civil war she came to Galveston, and lives with her daughter, who
-supports herself and her mother by taking in washing.**
-
-"You got to 'scuse how I looks, 'cause I been out in de back
-yard helpin' my daughter with de washin'. She allus fuss at me 'cause
-I work like dat, but I tells her jes' 'cause I is a old woman ain't no
-reason why I got to act like one.
-
-"I don't know for sho' jes' when I'm birthed, but my sister allus
-say I's one year and six months older'n her and she say she's birthed
-'bout 1857. Dey didn't make no record den like now. I thinks old massa,
-Dave Mann, keep some kind record on us, but he been dead de long time.
-
-"My mammy and pappy was name Meine, Car'line and Charles Meine.
-De slaves used to take de massa's name and sometimes when dey sold dey
-drap de old name and take de new massa's name. Dat how come it so hard
-to keep up with dem.
-
-"Massa Mann sho' nice but him and he missy die and Massa Jim Ross
-step into dere shoes on de plantation. Us gits swamp den. When you git
-swamp dat mean you got to live with a mean man. He sho' was mean, too.
-
-"De plantation was big and 'bout a hundred slaves on it. Dey work dem
-hard, too, sometimes till nine o'clock at night. A lot of dem run away
-but dey sic de nigger dogs on dere trail and cotch dem. When dey cotch
-dem dey whup dem. Dey put sticks in de ground and tie dere hands and
-feet to dem. Some places dey strip dem naked and whip dem.
-
-"Sometimes Massa Jim 'low us go to de Catholic Church at Marion. Dey
-wouldn't 'low us to pray by ourself. But we sneaks off and have pot
-prayin'. Two men carry de great big hog pot dey uses to scald hogs and
-take it out in de woods and us stick de head in it and pray. All de
-noise go in de pot and you couldn't hear it outside.
-
-"Old massa fed us good, meal and syrup and meat 'nough to last. He give
-us watermelons every Sunday. But Massa Jim didn't 'lieve in pamperin'
-niggers, he say. He didn't give us much to eat and de houses leak 'cause
-de walls rotten.
-
-"One time he take de notion to sell us. He put my mother and me and
-sister on de block up in Marion. Us all cryin' hard, 'cause us thunk us
-gwine git sep'rate. Den I looks up sudden and right at my young miss,
-Miss Mary. She so mad she pale like de ghost. She say, 'Ella, you git
-'way from dat block and come over to me, and you too, Della.' Me and my
-sister runs over dere to her and wrop ourself round her dress and hold
-on with all our might. De massa come after us and Miss Mary say, 'What
-you mean sellin' my slaves?' He say us slaves his and she say, do he
-want to have to prove what he say. Den she start in and raise so much
-sand he have to call mammy down off de block and take us back home.
-
-"I heared everybody say a war goin' on and my uncle and cousin run 'way
-to de head bureau, where de Yankees at. My mammy say it at Milligan,
-Texas. Time dey ready for freedom in Louisiana, dey refugees us to
-Texas, in de wagons. Us travel all day and half de night and sleep on
-de ground. It ain't take us so long to git to Calvert, out dere in de
-bottom of Texas, and dey puts us on de Barton plantation. We's diggin'
-potatoes dere when de Yankees come up with two big wagons and make us
-come out of de fields and free us. Dere wasn't no cel'bration 'bout it.
-Massa say us can stay couple days till us 'cide what to do.
-
-"Well, den somethin' funny happen dere. De slaves all drinks out an old
-well. Dey'd drink water in de mornin' and dey'd have de cramps awful bad
-'bout dinner time and in de evenin' dey's dead. Dey dies like flies, so
-fast dey couldn't make de coffins for dem. Dey jes' sew dem up in sacks
-and bury dem dat way. Some de slaves say massa put de poison in de well.
-I don't know what kill dem but it sho' look funny.
-
-"Mammy and me goes to Calvert and hires out, but 'fore long us come to
-Galveston and pappy go back to Louisiana. If he ain't dead he still live
-dere in St. Mary's Parish. I never seen him no more.
-
-"I marries 'bout 1886, and stays right here in Galveston. I seen Wright
-Cuney lots of times but I ain't never knowed him to talk to. I 'member
-when dey say he be governor some day, but dey ain't gwine have no cullud
-man governor. Course, he did git to congress."
-
-Rosa Washington
-===============
-
-**Rosa Washington is 90 years old and lives in her own little adobe
-house at 3911 Manzana St., El Paso, Texas. She was born a slave of the
-Watson family, on a large plantation seven miles from St. Joe,
-Louisiana. Her parents came from Georgia. After the Civil War she left
-her former owners, but later returned and was with them until they died.
-She came to Texas in 1921, and her three children provide for her. Her
-son, Le Roy, has been in the U.S. Emigration service in El Paso for 27
-years.**
-
-"My name's Rosa Washington and my husban' was Joe Washington. He's been
-dead a long time. I was bo'n on a big plantation, white man's name Bill
-Watson, wife Ann Watson, seven miles from St. Joe. Mama had four chillen
-and I had seven. Marster had a fine house and plenty of slaves. I dunno
-how many.
-
-"'Fore we was free we was in the fiel' workin' and they come out and got
-us. Everybody threw up their hands and started to run. The Yanks busted
-open a sugar hogshead and give everybody all they wanted. Dey threw all
-de milk away and dey carried our marster away by force and tuk him to
-jail in Vicksburg. Our missus wept. When the Yankees got us, dey tuk us
-about three miles from whar we live, put us in a fine house, give us
-plenty to eat until war's ended. Me and my chillen and my father and
-mother were together there.
-
-"We had a good cabin on the plantation, made out-a planks, ole rip-rap
-plunder. Dey treated us good. I worked in water garden, worked in fiel's
-when 10 years old. Hoe'd my row every day. Dey didn' whop me, though. My
-mistress wouldn' let 'em. Marsa and missus good to me. I not tell lie
-on 'em. Tell truf. Truf shines.
-
-"I seed niggers put in stocks, put 'em in stocks head in fust. Tear
-their clothes off backs, whop till sores come, den dey pour coal oil and
-turpentine in sores. I see dat with my own eyes. My dad druv the
-carriage, carried 'em 'round all time. My mother worked in the fiel'
-like I do. Work every day. Dey give us everything to eat. Marster and
-missus, too, give plenty, but if ole cow died with cholera, they give to
-us niggers. I got good shoes once a year. When marster went to New
-Orleans, mama had to tie my feet up in rags. I had to work with the rest
-of 'em. Got up at 4 o'clock. We he'ped on other plantations when dey'd
-git behind. Go he'p 'em out.
-
-"I waited on overseers table, Joe Crusa. He was mean. He stuck a fork in
-my head. Ole Aunt Clarissie cooked for us. She cook in cabin for us, had
-big fireplace. She cook for all niggers on the place. She was mean to
-me, never married. She had two rooms, all she do was cook, tell lies on
-me to white overseer. That woman told a lie on me 'cause said I lef' a
-fork dirty. He look at it, says, 'Who rubbed dis fork?' Woman says,
-'Rosa,' and he stuck the fork in my head. Missus turn him off nex' day.
-
-"We had co'nbread, no sugar, plenty okra and coffee; plenty milk, 'cause
-they had 17 cows. They give us clabber and peaches. Every day overseer
-blow horn in yard to wake us up, a bugle at four o'clock Sundays. We
-take cotton outta fiel' and put it up on scaffold to dry iffen it rain.
-Overseer sit in dry, big overcoat on; we work in mud and rain. One
-mornin' they carried us to stockhouse to whip us. My missus and marster
-never let 'em whip me, but no white folks he'p me to read and write.
-He'p me to do nothin' but work.
-
-"White folks had church. I couldn' go. I hadda mind the white chillen
-every Sunday. Cullud people had to go way back in woods to have church.
-Never let white folks see 'em. Had to slip and hide to have our church,
-run like deer if foun' out. Marster never know a bit more'n this chair
-whar we was gwine. He couldn' ask us on Sunday, it be against the law.
-Iffen niggers run away, dogs 'ud catch 'em.
-
-"Dey had doctor right dere. Kep' us well. Kep' us well so's we could
-work. Brother-in-law to marster.
-
-"When the niggers was married, dey put a broom down and dey jump over
-the broom, same time missus and marster'd marry 'em. He'd marry 'em and
-she as witness. Sometimes celebrate. She'd cook 'em some cake, give 'em
-a fine dress. We'd take meat and skillets down to the bar on Sundays.
-Had fish frys. Wouldn' take no fussy chillen to the bar. We chillen
-would have fish fry whar dey couldn't watch us.
-
-"Had to go to gin at four o'clock in evenin'. Couldn' play week-days,
-had to go in cabin and be still. Never got to play much till Yankees
-come and got us, but we had a big ball and dance in yard Christmas. Had
-candy, dey give us dresses and socks and a good feast for Christmas.
-Give us things for 4th of July. Dey give us dat day. No, dey wouldn'
-whip us dat day. We had a big quiltin' Christmas day. We'd piece de
-quilts outta scraps. Some couldn' quilt. Dey'd dance in de yard all day.
-
-"We niggers got wool clothes in winter, good clothes woven on de place.
-Marster had black sheep and white sheep. He bought our summer clothes in
-New Orleans—linsey, calicy, plaid, some white ones. Dey'd give us color
-what we like.
-
-.. _`Rosa Washington`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image134rosa.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Rosa Washington
-
- Rosa Washington
-
-
-"Sure, I seed ghosts. Dey come with no head, come outta de fiel' one
-night so late, 'bout eight, nine o'clock. I was scared, yes, suh, I sure
-was scared, but my mammy say, 'Dey ain' goin' to hurt you, baby.' Dey
-scare me. My mammy give me beads for my neck, china-berry beads to keep
-me well. They's pretty. I never had no other kind.
-
-"We never git no money befo' freedom. I stay away from Marster and
-missus de first year, den go back. Dey give us 50¢ a day after war. Had
-to pay for rations. Better since war, though. No whippin's goin' on like
-they did 'fore.
-
-"I'se a full Baptist—been ever since '67. I'se happy. Sometimes I gits
-too happy. I don' move till de spirit move me. I goes to church when
-I'se able. But I'se gittin' too old to go now—I'se just waitin' to go
-home."
-
-Sam Jones Washington
-====================
-
-**Sam Jones Washington, 88, was born a slave of Sam Young, who owned a
-ranch along the Colorado River, in Wharton Co., Texas. Sam was trained
-to be a cowhand, and worked for his master until 1868, receiving wages
-after he was freed. He farmed until 1905, then moved to Fort Worth and
-worked in the packing plants until 1931. He lives at 3520 Columbus Ave.,
-Fort Worth, and is supported by an $11.00 per month old age pension,
-supplemented by what Sam raises in his garden and makes out of a few
-hogs.**
-
-"How old I is? I's 16 year when surrender come. I knows dat,
-'cause of massa's statement. All us niggers gits de statement when
-surrender come. I's seed plenty slave days.
-
-"Massa Young run de small farm 'long de Colorado River and him
-don't own many slaves. Dere my mammy and her six chillen, and Majoria
-and her four chillens. My pappy am not on de place. I don't know my
-pappy. Him am what dey calls de travelin' nigger. Dey have him come
-for service and when dey gits what dey wants, he go back to he massa.
-De womens on Massa Young place not married.
-
-"Massa raise jes' a little cotton, dat two womens and de chillen
-could tend to, and some veg'tables and sich. Us have lots of good
-food. Us sleep in de sleepin' room, nex' to massa's house, but I sleeps
-in massa's room.
-
-"One night massa say, 'Don't tie my hoss to de stake tonight.'
-But I's sleepy and gits de nodfies and draps off to sleep. Mammy shake
-me and say, 'Did you stake de hoss?' Massa sees dat hoss in de mornin'
-and say, 'You done stake dat hoss and I told you not to.' He gives me
-couple licks and I larns to do what I's told. He never whip nobody,
-not de hard whippin' like other niggers gits. He am de good massa.
-
-"I fust runs errands and den massa larn me to ride, soon's I could sit
-de hoss. Den I stays out with de cattle mos' de time and I's tickled. I
-sho' likes to ride and rope dem cattle and massa allus fix me up with
-good clothes and good hoss and good saddle. I stays dere till long after
-surrender.
-
-"Us have stampedes from de cattle. Dat am cust'mary with dem critters.
-Dat mean ride de hoss to turn de cattle. Us ride to side de leader and
-crowd him and force him to turn, and keep forcin' him, and by and by dem
-critters am runnin' in de circle. Dat keep dem from scatterment. Dat
-sho' dangerous ridin'. If de hoss throw you off dem cattle stamp you to
-death. Gabriel sho' blow he horn for you den!
-
-"I sho' 'joys dat business, 'cause we'uns have de good time. Us go to
-town and have fun. One time I comes near gittin' in trouble, but it
-ain't my fault. I's in town and massa, too, and a white man come to me
-and him show de drink. 'Who you 'long to, nigger?' he say. 'I's Massa
-Young's nigger,' I says, polite-like. 'You looks like de smart nigger
-and I's de notion smack you one,' he say. 'You better not smack me any,'
-I says. You unnerstand, dat de way massa raise me. I don't unnerstand
-some cruel white mens gits de arg'ment, jus' for de chance to shoot de
-nigger. Massa am standin' near by and him come up and say, 'If you
-touches dat nigger, I'll put de bullet through you.' Dat man see massa
-have no foolishment in he words and gits gwine. But if massa am not
-dere, Gabriel blow he horn for dis nigger's Jubilee, right den, yes,
-sar.
-
-.. _`Sam Jones Washington`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image138sam.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Sam Jones Washington
-
- Sam Jones Washington
-
-"I comes near gittin' cotched by de patterrollers once. I's jus' 12 den
-and 'nother nigger and me, us want some cane stalk. It good to eat raw,
-you knows. Jus' peel de bark off and chew dat inside. Well, we'uns in de
-man's cane patch, breakin' dem stalks and dey makes de poppin' noise. A
-patterroller come by and hear dat poppin', and holler, 'Who's dere in de
-cane patch?' Us didn't answer him, no, sar. I 'cides right quick dat I
-don't like cane and I comes 'way from dat patch. I outsmarts and outruns
-dat patterroller. I keeps to de cane fields and de woods and I runs dis
-way and dat way. I twists 'round so he couldn't follow my tracks. Like
-de snake's track, you can't tell if it am gwine north or comin' back.
-Lawd a'mighty! How fast I runs. I stays 'head of my shadow. I tells you,
-I's a-gwine!
-
-"De war? White man, we'uns didn't know dere am de war. We seed some
-sojers at de start, but dat all. One day massa say to me, 'After dis,
-you gits $15.00 de month wages. I works for him three more years and den
-he sold out. Den I goes farmin' till 1905. I works in de packin' plants
-here in Fort Worth den, till I's wore out, 'bout six year ago. Now I
-raises de hawgs, not very many, and does what work I can git. Dat
-pension from de State sho' holps me. With dat and de hawgs and de little
-garden I gits by, and so I lives.
-
-"Was I ever marry? Man, man, three time. Fust time, 'bout 1869 and
-we'uns gits de seperment in 1871. Dat woman sho' deal me mis'ry! She am
-de troublin' woman. Den 'bout 1873 I marries 'gain and she die 'fore
-long. Den in 1905 I marries 'gain and she's dead, too. I never has de
-chillen. I's jus' 'lone and old now, and stay here till my time comes. I
-'spect it quite a spell yit, 'cause I's got lots of substance left, yes,
-sar."
-
-William Watkins
-===============
-
-**William Watkins, born 1850, to Julia and Hudson Watkins. All were
-slaves on the Watkins plantation where William was born, on the edge of
-Charlotte County, Virginia. William is tall, heavy set, and does not
-look his age. He lives with William Branch, who came from an adjoining
-county in Virginia. Both men served in the same campaigns in the United
-States Army.**
-
-"My name is William Watkins. De name comes frum de name of Terbaccer
-Watkins, who owned de Watkins Terbaccer Plantation. He got a factory in
-Richmond and de plantation in Charlotte County in Virginia, 'bout 50
-mile east of Richmond. Marse Watkins got a big frame house and 400 acres
-and 100 acres is terbaccer. Yassuh, dey's other crops—barley, wheat,
-oats, and den dey's stock—hogs, cows, hosses and mules.
-
-"We lives in log cabins wid plank floors and we made de beds ourself.
-Dey feeds us good and we gits milk and bread and lotsa pork. Marse
-Watkins got lotsa hawgs.
-
-"Yassuh, we's got a church. De slaves built it in de woods. We never got
-no wages but sometimes he give us four bits or six bits. What we do wid
-it? We buys candy. Sometimes we run de rabbits or goes fishing. De
-Marster gives us lil' patches of groun'. He's good but de overseer's
-rough. He whips all de slaves.
-
-"Dey's a patrol what watches for slaves dat runs away, but we don't have
-no patrol on our plantation. We has dances Sat'day nights. Sundays we
-didn't wuk much.
-
-"Dey's ghosts dere—we seed 'em. Dey's w'ite people wid a
-sheet on 'em to scare de slaves offen de plantation. We wears charms
-to keep us well. Dere's asafoetida in a bag and we wear's it roun' de
-neck. It cure most ev'ryting. When we gits real sick, dey sends medicine
-frum de big house.
-
-"Ev'ry year de slave traders comes and de Marster sells some slaves down
-river to New Orleans. Who dey sell? Jes' no count slaves. Dey walks all
-de way. De traders dey rides in ox-carts. We never wuk much Sundays,
-only to milk de cows. Jes' dat. Yessuh, I was married on de plantation.
-De preacher say de words and we's married.
-
-"Den de war come and de Yankees come down thick as leaves. Dey burns de
-big house and de slave houses and ev'ryting. Dey turns us loose. We
-ain't got no home nor nuthin' to eat, 'cause dey tells us we's free.
-
-"We's gotta leave de plantation. De Marster's gone, de crops is gone, de
-stock's gone. We goes to anudder place and works on shares. De first
-time we sees de Ku Klux is right after de war. Dey whips de slaves what
-leaves de plantations, dey don' wan' dem to be free.
-
-"Bout 1870 I goes to Ohio and enlists in de army at Jefferson Barracks
-and right off dey sends us to Texas to fight Indians. I goes to San
-Antonio and dey puts me on guard at de Alamo to fight off de Indians.
-Den I goes to Fort Davis. I'm in de cullud Indian Scouts, Co. K, and
-dey's a banker name of Miller in de Chihuahua jail. One night de kuhnel
-takes us from Fort Davis, and we marches all night wid guns and 150
-rounds of ammunition in belts, and rations for 30 days. We marches all
-night long twel we gits to Del Norte, Texas(Presidio) and we crosses de
-river and takes Mr. Miller out of jail.
-
-.. _`William Watkins`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image141william.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: William Watkins
-
- William Watkins
-
-"While we's at Fort Davis a wagon train comes through de canyon and de
-Apaches rolls big rocks down on de white people and kills 26 of dem.
-Dey scalps all dey kills and we go out and fit de Apaches. De
-lieutenant is killed in de fight. Yassuh, we fit Apaches all de time and
-when we goes to Fort Concho dey gives us a fit all 'long de road. Den we
-fitten de Cheyennes and dey is wust of all. Dey's great big Indians
-'bout seven feet tall and at de battle of de Wichita in de Indian
-Territory a Cheyenne shoots an arrer through my wrist. (He exhibited the
-scar. Same battle described in interview with Wm. Branch.)
-
-"Den after my wound heals we's sent to Fort Clark and de sergeant, Jeff
-Walker, got it in for me. Kuhnel Andrews is at Fort Davis and Jeff
-Walker trumps up some charges dat I'se mistrusted, so dey gives me a
-dishonnuble discharge 'cause of dat Jeff Walker. I ain't had no court
-martial nor no trial and I cain't git no pension 'count of de
-dishonnuble discharge.
-
-"And now I'se strong and well but I cain't git no wuk 'cause I'se so
-ole. And 'cause Jeff Walker didn't like me, I gits a dishonnuble
-discharge."
-
-Dianah Watson
-=============
-
-**Dianah Watson, 102, was born a slave of Tom Williams, at New Orleans.
-In 1870, Dianah went to Jefferson, Texas. She now lives with a married
-daughter in the Macedonia Community, five miles northwest of Marshall,
-Tex.**
-
-"My name am Dianah Watson and I used to keep my age, but I done got sick
-and can't 'member it now. I can't say 'zactly how old I is but I's a
-past-growed woman when the war broke out, and my old missy's daughter
-done told me once out the book I's borned in 1835.
-
-"I's borned and bred 'bout a half mile from New Orleans. My mammy was
-s*arah Hall and she's borned in Galveston, and my papa was Bill
-Williams. My old missy done take me from my mammy when I's a small baby
-and raised me to a full-growed woman. I slep' in the same room with my
-young missy and had a good time in slavery, didn't suffer for nothin'
-and never was cut and slashed like some. Me and Miss Laura come right up
-together and I's her own nigger slave.
-
-"Massa Williams treated his black folks with 'spect. They was in the
-field from 'fore day till dark, but they was took good care of and fed
-and plenty clothes. Old Master Tom done the bossin' hisself and when
-he's dyin' he calls all his five boys to his bed and say, 'Boys, when
-I's gone, I don*t want no cuttin' and slashin' my niggers. They's got
-feelin' same as us.'
-
-"But the oldes' boy, William, got the debbil in him and hires a
-overseer, and he rid in the fields with a quirt and rope and chair on
-his saddle. When he done take a notion to whip a nigger, he'd make some
-the men tie that nigger to the chair and beat him somethin' scand'lous.
-He got mad at my mother's sister, Aunt Susie Ann, and beat her till the
-blood run off her on the ground. She fall at his feets like she passed
-out and he put up the whip and she trips him and gits the whip and whips
-him till he couldn't stand up. Then some the niggers throwed him off a
-cliff and broke his neck. His folks gits the sheriff but master's boys
-orders him off the place with a gun. There warn't no more overseers on
-the place after that.
-
-"If niggers of these days done see what I seed in slavery time they'd
-pray and thank they Gawd every day. My master's place sot right 'cross
-the big road from a place they cut and slashed they niggers. You'd hear
-that white man's black folks bellerin' like cows. I's stood many a time
-on our front gallery and seed them cut and slash the blood off them
-niggers. I seed old women half-bent from beatin's goin' to the field.
-They overseer had a wooden paddle with nails in it. I used to say to
-missy, 'Why they cuttin' and slashin' them black folks that-a-way?'
-Missy say, 'Dianah, that there white man got the debbil in him.'
-
-"I seed them sell my mama. I ask my old missy why and she say, 'To go to
-her husband.'
-
-"When the war broke out I's a full-growed woman. New Orleans was full of
-sojers and they wouldn't let us go to town. Me and young Mr. Tom used to
-git on the roof and watch them. The cannons was roarin' like thunder and
-smoke thick and black as clouds. I got scart when they sot the niggers
-free, at the niggers shoutin'. I didn't know what 'twas for. Old Miss
-say to me, 'They been in slavery but you don't know what slavery is,
-Dianah.'
-
-"Two years after that my old miss carries me to Galveston to my mammy.
-She tell her to take good care of me and we lived there three years and
-moved to Jefferson. Our things come by boat but we come in wagons. I
-married John Smith purty soon after that but he died 'fore long. Then I
-married Noah Watson and now he's dead. I done raise six chillen but only
-one am livin' now and that's my younges' gal and I lives with her here.
-
-"I tells the young race iffen they come up like me they wouldn't act so
-smart. They needs somebody to take the smartness outten them. But my gal
-am good to me. I gits a pension and pays it to her to take care of me. I
-been here a hundred years and more and I won't stay much longer, and I
-don't want to be no 'spense to nobody."
-
-Emma Watson
-===========
-
-**Emma Watson, born in 1852 or 1853, in Ellis Co., Texas, was one of the
-slaves of the Carl Forrester family. Emma worked in the fields most of
-her life, but is now too old to work, and is cared for by her daughter.
-They live at 318 Allen St., Dallas, Texas.**
-
-"I axed my old missus when I's borned and she rec'lect I'm
-eight or nine year old when de freedom war starts. She say she don't
-make recall de 'xact time, but I takes May for a birthin' time. They's
-a time when some sich was writ in de Bible, but it got burnt up 'fore
-I's ageable. I knows where I'm borned, though, and it am on Capt.
-Forrester's farm in Ellis County. His mother, Miss Susan, raises me
-like she am my mammy. I calls her Sis Sue. She was old miss and
-Miss Lee was young miss.
-
-"My paw, I don't know nothin' 'bout. My sister Anna and me,
-us have de same paw, but my mammy's sold out of Miss'sippi 'way from my
-paw 'fore my birthin'. My maw kept de name of Lucindy Lane, but Martha
-and Jennie, my other sisters, had diff'rent paws.
-
-"I's gone through so much of hard times all my life, but when I's de
-li'l gal I didn't have much to do 'cept tend my Aunt Matilda's babies
-and wash they clothes. The rest the time I jes' plays round. Miss Lee
-have a china doll with a wreath of roses round it head. We takes turns
-playin' with it. I had a rag doll, and it jes' a bundle of rags with
-strings tied round it to give it a shape. Us make playhouses. Capt.
-Forrester goes away and I heared he gone to some war, but, law me, I
-didn't know 'bout war den.
-
-I's jus' glad to play and eat anythin' I can git. When I git a tin can
-of clabber and some bread, that's what I wanted. They didn't buy no
-dishes for nigger young'uns to break up. Us et bacon and beef and salt
-pork and cornbread with us fingers. Mussel shells is what we dipped
-'stead of spoons. I did love de souse, too.
-
-"When I had de chills, Sis Sue, dat Old Miss, come out to de quarters
-and give me sweet milk boiled with pepper. I got shut of dem chills
-'cause I didn't like dat pepper tea, but I like it better'n quinine or
-sage tea. I didn't like to be sick noways, 'cause dey jus' two
-bedsteads, one for my mammy and my step-paw, and one for us gals.
-
-"They allus promise me they'll larn me to read and write, but never did
-git to dat. Aunt Matilda did most de spinnin' and weavin' and sewin'. I
-used to wear a shimmy and a dress in de week and a clean one for Sunday.
-In winter sometimes us have a li'l sacque and homemake calfskin shoes
-but mostly us have to stay inside iffen de weather ain't mod'rate.
-
-"De only frolics I 'member was candy pullin's on Christmas. Dat all us
-niggers knowed 'bout Christmas.
-
-"One day Miss Tilda git de buggy whip to whip my mammy. It's noontime,
-and dey had blowed de horn for de field niggers to come eat. Maw grabs
-de whip and says, 'Miss Tilda, you ain't gwine do dat.' Miss Tilda
-didn't say nothin' for a day or two, den she say, 'Lucindy, you git your
-young'uns and leave dis place.' So us goes walkin' down de road till us
-come to some folk's house and dey takes us in. Us dere 'bout a month
-when mammy git sick. Dem folks sends word to de Forresters dere niggers
-am sick and Sis Sue hitch up de hoss and come over. She brung food for
-us every day, and say, 'Now, Lucindy, when you git able you bring your
-young'uns on home and 'have yourself.' My mammy dies when I's 'bout ten
-year old.
-
-.. _`Emma Watson`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image147emma.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Emma Watson
-
- Emma Watson
-
-"After Capt. Forrester come back home dey tell us to watch out for de
-Feds. Sis Sue say dey kill nigger young'uns. One day I's comin' through
-de fields and see three men in blue coats on big bay hosses. I ran, but
-dey passes me by big as you please. I seed plenty after dat, 'cause dey
-come and asks for corn and Sis Sue allus say us don't have 'nough for de
-hosses. But dat night de corn allus leave de cribs. Dem Feds was sho'
-thievin' folks.
-
-"I stays with de Forresters till I's 22 year old, and dey give me food
-and clothes, but never no money. Sis Sue used to say, 'Come here, you
-li'l old free nigger.' It make me so mad. But den I marries and have de
-swiss white dress and us walk 'cross de fields to de preachers. Dat
-every bit of fixin' us have.
-
-"Den us raise crops on de half-shares and sot up housekeepin' with a
-bedstead, some quilts and a li'l old stove. I has four young'uns and
-every one of dem had schoolin' and larnin'."
-
-James West
-==========
-
-**James West, 83, was born a slave to Mr. William West, near Ripley, in
-Tippah Co., Mississippi. This was close to the battle fought near
-Corinth and James witnessed some exciting events. In 1885 James came to
-Texas and now lives with a friend at 1114 Hardy St., Fort Worth,
-Texas.**
-
-"Yes, suh, I 'members de slavery days and de War, 'cause I's born in
-1854, on de plantation of Massa William West, in Mississip'. It weren't
-a big plantation, jus' 'bout 100 acres, and Massa West owned my mammy
-and four other slaves, Buck, Sam, Rufus and Mary. I don't know nothin'
-'bout my pappy, 'cause I ain't never seed him, and my mammy never told
-me nothin' of him.
-
-"All us cullud folks lived in cabins and they has two rooms. De bunks is
-built to de wall and has straw ticks and we has floors and real windows.
-
-"Sam and Buck and Rufus am field workers and plants cotton and sich and
-looks after de stock. Sometimes de work is heavy and sometimes not. When
-it am finish, de massa lets 'em go fishin' or visitin' or rest. We goes
-to church when we wants and we has parties with Sam and Rufus to play de
-music, de fiddle and de banjo. How I wishes I could be back dere for
-jus' one year and have it like befo'. Jus' one year befo' I die!
-
-"We has a good massa in every way. Him gives all we can eat. Folks don't
-eat like we used to, 'cause we had home-cured hams, and when you put it
-in your mouth, it was a treat for your taster. As for de clothes, massa
-say, 'De 'terial here and if yous don't supply yourselves, its yous
-fault.'
-
-"Dere never anyone what gits whippin's on massa's place, 'cept
-dis nigger, but dey only spankin's. You see, dere was allus a bit of
-devilment in me. But de massa so good, we all tries to please him and
-we has no whippin's.
-
-"De massa gives me a he goat and de shoemaker makes me de harness and
-cart for dat goat and when I gits him trained good, I has a job gittin'
-de chips for kindlin' and de wood and I totes de water. One day I takes
-Billy, de goat, 'cross de road for wood and it downhill from de woodpile
-so I jus' rides de load. Billy was gwine jus' as nice as yous kin like,
-but him says BAAH, and starts to run like a skeert bull. I thinks what
-kin be wrong with dat fool goat, when somethin' hits me back of de neck
-like a coal of fire, and de cart hits a rock and off I goes. To says I's
-skeert am not tellin' de truf, and I starts hollerin'. It was de bee
-stung me and when I gits to de house I looks Billy over and, sho'
-'nough, on his hip was de bee sting. Dat bee sting sho' put de life in
-Billy.
-
-"'bout de War time, de plantation was near whar dey fights a battle two
-days and I seed lots of soldiers. Before dat, de soldiers begins to come
-to massa's house and water de hosses and eat de lunch. Dey never did
-raid his place like other places 'round dere, but I hides when dey
-comes, 'cause I skeert of dem. I quavers and gits skeert when I sees
-'em.
-
-"We is jus' settin' down to breakfast one mornin' and we hears a big
-boomin'. When dat start, dis nigger don't eat his breakfast. I starts
-for some place to hide. I runs to one place, den I hears de boom, den I
-runs to another place. I finally crawls under de shed and dere I stays.
-Dey couldn't git me out and dere I stays for dat day and night and 'til
-noon de nex' day. I has no water or food. Lots of folks from Ripley what
-massa knows was kilt in dat battle.
-
-"Buck and I goes to de battleground after de fightin' quits and dere was
-heaps of dead hosses but dey had dug de trench and buried de dead
-soldiers.
-
-.. _`James West`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image150james.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: James West
-
- James West
-
-"I don' know about de Klux, but we use to sing a song 'bout de
-patter rollers, like dis,
-
- | 'Run nigger run, patter roller kotch you,
- | Run nigger run, 'cause it almos' day,
- | Dat nigger run, dat nigger flew,
- | Dat nigger los' his Sunday shoe.'
-
-"I stays with de massa after freedom 'til I's 21 year old and den I
-leaves and works for diff'runt folks. I marries in Tennessee when I's 22
-and we has one chile, but my wife takes him when he's five and leaves,
-and I never seen or heard of 'em since. I comes to Texas 'bout 52 year
-ago.
-
-"I has 'joyed talkin' 'bout dem old days, 'cause talk am all I kin do
-since my legs have de misery so bad."
-
-Adeline White
-=============
-
-**Adeline White, 90 odd years old, was born at Opelousas, Louisiana, a
-slave of Dr. Bridget. She lives with her daughter, Lorena, in Beaumont,
-Texas.**
-
-"I's born at Opelousas and my massa and missis was Dr. Bridget
-and his wife. They was mean and they beat us and put the hounds after
-us. They beat the little ones and the big ones and when massa ain't
-beatin' his wife is. It am continual. My pappy call Thomas Naville and
-my mammy 'Melia Naville. They was born in Virginia. I had four brothers
-and two sisters, all dead now.
-
-"Like I says, old massa sho' whip us and when he whip he put
-us 'cross a barrel or chain us and stake us out with a rope. We didn't
-have much to eat and not much clothes. They weave us clothes on the
-loom and make the dress like a sack slip over the head.
-
-"Our cabin wasn't so bad, made of logs with dirt 'tween the logs.
-The chimney make out of sticks and dirt and some windows with a wooden
-shutter and no glass in 'em. Massa give 'em lumber and paint to make
-things for the house and they have homemake bed and table and benches to
-sit on.
-
-"Massa have the hoss power cotton gin and a hoss power sugar cane mill,
-too. Us work hard all day in the gin and the sugar cane mill and doesn't
-have no parties nor fun. Sometimes in the evenin' us git together and
-talk or sing low, so the white folks won't hear.
-
-.. _`Adeline White`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image153adeline.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Adeline White
-
- Adeline White
-
-"I 'member going through the woods one time and seein' somethin' black
-come up 'fore me. It must a been a ghost. I got a boy call' Henry what
-live in Welch and he kin see ghosties all the time. He jus' look back
-over he lef' shoulder and see plenty of 'em. He say they has a warm heat
-what make him sweat.
-
-"Old massa didn't go to the war and his boys was too little. We jus'
-heared about the war and that it was goin' to free us. In the night us
-would creep out way in the woods and have the prayer meetin', prayin'
-for freedom to come quick. We has to be careful for if massa find out he
-whip all of us, sho'. We stays nearly all night and sleeps and prays and
-sleeps and prays. At las' we hears freedom is on us and massa say we are
-all free to go, but if we stay he pay us some. Most of us goes, for that
-massa am sho' mean and if we doesn't have to stay we wouldn't, not with
-that massa.
-
-"We scatters and I been marry twice. The first man was Eli Evans in
-Jennings, in Louisiana and us have six chillen. The second man he James
-White but I has no more chillen. Now I lives with my gal what called
-Lorena and she make me happy. She sho' good to her old mammy, what ain't
-much good no more."
-
-Sylvester Sostan Wickliffe
-==========================
-
-**Sylvester Sostan Wickliffe, of Ames, Texas, was born in St. Mary's
-Parish, Louisiana, in 1854. A free-born Negro, Wickliffe tells an
-interesting story about his life and that of his uncle, Romaine Vidrine,
-who was a slave-holder. Wickliffe has a nicely furnished home in
-Beaumont, and two of his children have been to college.**
-
-"I's what dey call a free-born nigger. Its a long story how dat come
-about, but I can tell you.
-
-"Three Frenchmen come to Louisiana from France. In three generations dey
-mix with Indians and Negroes. Dey high-born Frenchmen and 'cumulate
-plenty property. Before dey die dey make 'greement 'mongst demselves.
-When one die de property go to de other two; de last one livin' git all
-three plantations and all dat's on dem. It so happen dat old man
-Vidrine's daddy live longes', so he git it all. But he so good he divide
-up and my daddy gits forty acres good land. My daddy's greatgrandpapa
-was one dem first three Frenchmen.
-
-"My daddy was Michael and mama was Lucy and dey a whole passel chillen,
-Frances, Mary, Clotilde, Astasia and Tom, Samuel, Gilbert and Edward. My
-daddy was part Indian and I had some half-brothers and sisters what wore
-blanket and talk Indian talk. Dey used to come see daddy and set round
-and talk half de night and I never understan' a word dey sayin'.
-
-"Mama didn't have no Indian blood in her, but she born in Louisiana and
-a right purty, brown-skin woman, probably some French or Spanish in her.
-
-
-"My uncle, Romaine Vidrine, de son of old man Vidrine, he have de
-bigges' property. He was a slave-holder. Dey was a number niggers in
-Louisiana what owned slaves. Romaine, he have 'bout thirty-eight. Dey
-was a big dif'ence make 'tween slave niggers and owner niggers. Dey so
-much dif'ence as 'tween white folks and cullud folks. My uncle wouldn't
-'low slave niggers to eat at de same table with him or with any of us
-free-born niggers.
-
-"Folks come down from de noth sometimes and mistook de slave for de
-owner or de owner for de slave. My uncle was sech a purty, bright man,
-he must of been a quadroon. He had long burnsides and a long tail coat
-all de time. He was very dignified. He was good to all he slaves, but
-when he say work, he mean work. He ain't never 'low none de slaves be
-familiar with him.
-
-"De old Romaine house was a old*fashioned house make out of cypress. Dat
-everlastin'. It come to a peak on top and dere was one big room what run
-de whole length in de back and dat de sleepin' room for all de li'l
-chillen. De growed-up folks have sleepin' rooms, too. Dey have a cook
-shack outside. It a sep'rate house.
-
-"Us live in a purty good house not very far from de big house. Dey have
-what dey calls a private school. It was kep' by my uncle. Only de
-free-born niggers went to it. De older ones educated in French and de
-young ones in French and 'merican, too. After de war dey hire a white
-man named William Devoe to be teacher. He educate de chillen to de third
-gen'ration. He come to Texas with me and die 'bout five years ago.
-
-"When a couple want to git marry on de old Romaine place, uncle sent for
-de priest from St. Martin. Dey wasn't no priest round Franklin or what
-dey call New Iberia later. When I's most a growed boy de priest come
-baptise 'bout forty of us. He use de water* out uncle's cistern for de
-ceremony. When us goin' down de road to de baptisin' dey's a squirrel
-run 'cross de road and us chillen all broke and run to cotch it. Law,
-dat jus' 'bout scare my old godmother to death. She took so much pain
-dat us all nice and clean and 'fraid us git dirty. Her name was Nana
-Ramon Boutet and she live here in Ames settlement for many year. Us
-laugh many time 'bout dat squirrel.
-
-"Dey used to call us de free Mulattoes from 'cross de bayou. De nearest
-town was Pattersonville and it five mile away. Now dey calls de
-settlement Vidrinville for old man Romaine Vidrine. De plantation
-suppor' a grist mill and a raw sugar mill. Dey make de sugar dark, big
-grain, 'cause dey ain't no 'finery in dem days. Dey put de sugar in big
-five hunerd pound hogshead and take it by boat down de Teche to New
-Orleans and sell it. Dey use de money to buy coffee and cotton. Us
-didn't raise cotton. I never see no cotton till I's a big boy and come
-to Fort LaFayette.
-
-"De grist mill was built 'way from de house. Dey have a long lever what
-stand out de side and hitch hosses with a rawhide belt to make de mill
-turn. Us folks all raise rice. Not like now, Lawdy, no. Dey jes' plant
-rice in rows like corn and cultivate it like any other crop. Dey wasn't
-no irrigation ditch. After de rice harves' dey put it in a mortar make
-out a cypress log or block and knock de roughness off de rice with de
-pestle.
-
-"Every fall us go huntin' deer round Chicimachi Lake. Dey calls it Grand
-Lake now, but de reg'lar Indian name am Chicimachi. Dere was a tribe of
-Indians by dat name. Dey wasn't copper skin, but more yaller like.
-
-"When war commence it purty hard on folks. Us see soldiers comin' 'cross
-de bayou in blue suits. Dey raid de sugar mill and take de livestock and
-foodstuff on de Pumphrey place. Dey have a awful battle five mile away.
-Dat at Camp Boesland, on de Teche. Dat a awful battle! My brother go
-dere next day and see soldiers standin' up dead 'gainst trees with dey
-bay'nets still sot.
-
-"De Confed'rates come and took all de slaves to build de fort at
-Alexandria. When dey come to de Romaine place dey see niggers, and ain't
-know which free and which slaves. Dey line my daddy up with deothers,
-but a white man from town say, 'Dat a good, old man. He part Indian and
-he free. He a good citizen. He ain't s'pose do work like dat.' So dey
-didn't take him.
-
-"De Yankees damage de Romaine property 'siderable. Dey take a whole year
-crop of sugar and corn and hosses. Afterwards dey pass a law and de
-gov'ment 'low money for dat. It was 'bout twenty year before dey git de'
-money, but dey git it. Romaine and he heirs git $30,000 for dem damages.
-
-"After war over, old man Romaine tell he slaves dey free now. But he
-say, 'You is most born right here and iffen you is bright you stay right
-here.' Dey all did stay. But dey ain't never git to jine with de
-free-born. Dey still make a dif'ence.
-
-"After freedom I 'cide to larn a trade. I 'prentice myself to de
-blacksmith trade for clothes and board. I larn all I can in three year
-and quit and open a shop on Bayou Tortue, 'tween St. Martin and
-Lafayette. I charge $2.00 for to shoe a hoss all de way round. Den I
-beat plows, build two-wheel buggy and hack. I make sweepstocks and
-Garrett and Cottman plow. Dat after de time of de wood mould boards. I
-make mine with metal.
-
-"I come to Texas in 1890, to Liberty, and been right round dere and Ame
-for forty-seven year. I start me a gin and blacksmith shop when I first
-come. I marry in Houston to Epheme Pradia, 'nother free-born nigger, and
-I still marry to her after forty-seven year. Dat a good long hitch. We
-have seven chillen, all livin'. One gal went to de Catholic church
-school in Galveston. One boy go to Pradeau University in New Orleans.
-Dey two blacksmith, one farmer, one good auto mechanic and de three gals
-keeps house.
-
-"I 'member lots of songs us sing in French but I can't give 'merican for
-dem. I know de song, *LaLoup Garou*. I try to translate one song for
-you:
-
- | "Master of de house
- | Give me meat without salt;
- | When de stranger come,
- | He give me roast chicken."
-
-Daphne Williams
-===============
-
-**Daphne Williams was born in Tallahassee, Florida, a slave to Mrs.
-Nancy Herring. Daphne does not know her exact age, but must be close to
-or over 100. She claims to have witnessed the fall of the stars in 1833.
-She lives in Beaumont, Texas.**
-
-"It won't be long 'fore I's sleeping the long sleep. I expect I's about
-the mos' agreeables person in the county, 'cause I's so old. I's born in
-Tallahassee, in Florida, but I don' know when. The Herrings used to own
-me and I took their name. Missus' name was Nancy Herring and the marster
-was still alive when I's born, but he die when I's a baby. I guess I's
-about 10 or 12 year old when us come to Texas.
-
-"Dat place where I's born was sho' a place! They have a three-story
-house with a porch at the front and another at the back. They was
-posties what stand from one porch floor to the nex' and brace it up. I
-used to live in the big house, 'cause I's nuss for the white chillen. I
-didn' stay round with cullud folks a-tall.
-
-"The missus was a widow woman ever since I 'member her. She have two boy
-and three gal, and that sho' was a lovely house. They have they ownself
-painted in pictures on the wall, jus' as big as they is. They have them
-in big frames like gold. And they have big mirrors from the floor to the
-ceilin'. You could see you ownself walk in them.
-
-"My mother was named Millie and my daddy named Daniel. I don' know how
-many niggers missus have on the plantation. I was never 'lowed to play
-with the cullud chillen, but I have two brothers named Abram and Handy
-and I seed them sometimes. I took care of the white chillen and took 'em
-to church. Iffen baby git to cryin' I walked round with him, but you
-better be careful not to let the briar scratch him or he git a scar on
-him and then they gwinter put a scar on you.
-
-"They give me pretty clothes to wear and make me keep clean and
-expectable. I wore homespun and gingham dresses, jus' cut straight down.
-They didn' have no sewin' 'chine. They have a woman to cut out and sew
-and she do that all day long.
-
-"My white folks have mighty nice company. My missus up on the top. They
-have nice, fine, intelligen' dishes and table cloth.
-
-"They give us holiday on Christmas and sometimes a whole week. They
-treat the white chillen and black chillen all good and give 'em whippin'
-iffen they needs it. When there's disturbance, missus holler, 'You all
-chillen, come in here to me,' and whip us all, then she know she whip
-the right one.
-
-"I seed the stars fall. God give me a good eyesight. The sun was shinin'
-and it was plain daylight and the stars fall jus' like hail, only they
-never fall all the way to the groun'. They fall so far and then they
-stop and go out. They stay up in the element all the time. Missus sent
-for the niggers to come up to the house and pray. All that time the
-stars was a-comin' through the element. All the darkies, little and big,
-was a-prayin' on their knees, 'cause they thing the jedgment sho' come
-then.
-
-"Before us move from Florida us git mos' us goods for clothes from North
-and South Carolina. The war commence in North Caroline to the good of my
-recollection. That was six month or a year after us lef' Florida. They
-was a-tryin' to smuggle it down then. When the missus 'cided come to
-Texas she sent the niggers on ahead and they done make two crops 'fore
-us git there. The place was five mile from Woodville. We come to Texas
-in a boat what's big as a house. When the boat git there I was so 'cited
-when I seed all the pretty trees. I never mever used to trees, 'cause
-from where us come was jus' prairie land far's you kin see. No tree
-round Tallahassee and no hill.
-
-"My mother was cook and when she like to die one time they starts
-breakin' me in to do the cookin'. Then when she die I was cook and been
-doing that two, three year when freedom come.
-
-.. _`Daphne Williams`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image160daphne.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Daphne Williams
-
- Daphne Williams
-
-"When they tol' us freedom come us thought they was foolin'. My uncle
-say we's free and to go and look out for number one. They let us stay
-awhile, but they 'lowanced us. Iffen us spen' the 'lowance us jus' had
-to go rustle up something to eat or do without. My daddy was a widow man
-by then and he stay, 'cause he say he want to see further into the
-subjec'.
-
-"One time I gwineter see my father and had my baby in my arms, 'cause I
-done married. I was gwine through the wilderness and I heared something
-squall like a woman cry. I 'gin walk faster. The squall come again.
-Something say to me, 'You better run.' The hair commence stand on my
-head and I walk pretty peart. That squall come again and I run fastes' I
-knows how. I have that poor little baby carried any way.
-
-When I get to the fence I jump over and sot down. The chillen come
-running and say, 'Yonder Daphne.' They help me into the house but I's so
-scart I couldn' tell 'em till near bedtime and then I say I hear squall
-like woman cryin'. Mister Goolsbee say, 'Daphne, make soun' like you
-hear,' and I makes a squall, and he say, 'That a panther and iffen he
-kotched you that would have been the end of you and that baby of yourn
-what you was totin'.' So 'bout four o' clock in that mornin' he gits
-'bout fourteen neighbors and the dawgs and they hunts that rascal and
-runs him in 'bout 8 or 10 o'clock. A span of mules couldn' pull that
-rascal, I don' 'lieve. He have the biggest tushes I ever seed with these
-two eyes. They put him in a pot and bile him and make soap out of the
-grease. That panther didn' git me or my baby but they got him and made
-soap out of him."
-
-Horatio W. Williams
-===================
-
-**Horatio W. Williams, known as "Rash" to his friends, is 83 years old.
-He was a slave of Woodruff Norseworthy, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Horatio
-has lived in Jasper, Texas, for many years.**
-
-"I was born in slavery in Pine Bluff in de state of Arkansas, on July 2,
-1854, and dey tells me dat make me 'bout 84 years old. Woodruff
-Norseworthy was my owner and boss all de time I a slave. I marry in 1875
-and I lost my wife two year ago, and when a man looses a good woman he
-loses somethin'. Us had 13 chillen, but only two of dem alive now.
-
-"My boss man was mean to he niggers and I 'member crawlin' down through
-de woods and listenin' one time when he beat a nigger. Every time he hit
-him he pray. Boss have 15 slaves and I recollect one time he gwine beat
-my mother. She run to de kitchen and jump behin' de door and cover
-herself up in de big pile of dirty clothes. Dey never think to look for
-her there and she stay there all day. But de next day dey cotch her and
-whip her.
-
-"Dem what runs away, dey gits bloodhounds after 'em. Dey clumb de tree
-when dey heered dem hounds comin' but de massa make dem git down and dey
-shoot dem, iffen dey didn't. When dey gits down de dogs jumps all over
-dem and would tear dem to pieces, but de massa beats dem off.
-
-"Once de boss has company and one our niggers sleeps on de porch outside
-de company's room, and in de night he slip in dat room and thiefed de
-fine, white shirt out de suitcase and wears it round de next mornin'.
-
-"Course he couldn't read and he ain't know de [HW: white] man
-have he name on dat shirt. When de boss find it out he takes dat nigger
-down in de bottom and I crawls through de bresh and watches. Dey tie
-he foots together over de limb and let he head hang down and beat him
-till de blood run down on de roots of dat tree. When dey takes him down
-he back look like raw meat and he nearly die.
-
-"Sometime when de nigger won't mind dey puts de chain to one
-foot and a ball on it 'bout big as a nigger's head, and he have to drag
-it down with him whe ever he go.
-
-"My white folks moved to Bastrop in Louisiana and den to
-Texas and brung me with them. When us work in de field us have de cook
-what put us food on big trays and carry it to de field, den we stop and
-eat it under shade of a tree, if dey any. Dey give us bread and meat
-and syrup for dinner and us has bacon long as it lasts.
-
-"When I's free I rents land and crops 'round, after I gits
-marry. Befo' dat, I was here, dere and yonder, for my board and clothes
-and four bits de day. I give all my chillen de eddication, leastwise dey
-all kin read and write and dat's what I cain't do.
-
-"I 'longs to de Meth'dist church and I don't unndestan' some
-dese other churches very well. Seems strange to me dat at dis late time
-dey's tryin' find new ways of gittin' to Heaven."
-
-Lou Williams
-============
-
-**Lou Williams, said to be the oldest citizen of San Angelo, Texas, was
-born in southern Maryland in 1829. She and her family were slaves of
-Abram and Kitty Williams, of that section, and Lou served as nursemaid
-to her master's children from the age of eight until after the Civil
-War. She then went to Louisiana where she worked as a cook for several
-years before coming to San Angelo. She is very active for her 108 years
-and is a familiar figure about town, with her crutch.**
-
-"I's have de bes' white folks in Maryland. I's born in a three-room
-frame house and I had one of them statements (birth certificates). When
-I five years old my old missy she say, 'Dat gal, she sho' am gwine be
-dependable and I makes nursemaid out of her.' When I eight years old she
-trusts me with dem white chillen. I loves to fish so well I'd take de
-li'l chillen to de creek and take off my underskirt and spread it out on
-de bank and put de chillen on it while I sho' cotch de fish. Massa, he
-start lookin' for me and when he gits to de creek, he say, 'Dar's de
-li'l devil.' He know dem chillen safe, so he jus' laugh.
-
-"In de fall massa puts us nigger chillen on de bale of cotton and takes
-us to town and gives us money to buy candy and dolls with. We allus had
-good food and lots of fish and rabbits and possums, but when my missy
-see dem possums carryin' de baby possums round she fall out with possum
-and she say, 'No more possum bein' cooked 'round here.'
-
-"When I jes' a li'l gal I seed de stars fall and when everything got
-dark like and dem bright stars begin to fall we all start runnin' and
-hollerin' to our missy and she say, 'Chillen, don't git under my coat,
-git on your knees and start prayin', and when we begins to pray de Lawd
-he sends a shower of rain and puts out dem stars or de whole world would
-a been burned up.
-
-"When massa take us to town he say he want us to see how de mean slave
-owners raffles off de fathers and de husban's and de mothers and de
-wives and de chillen. He takes us 'round to de big platform and a white
-man git up dere with de slave and start hollerin' for bids, and de slave
-stands dere jes' pitiful like, and when somebody buy de slave all de
-folks starts yellin' and a cryin'. Dem sho' was bad times. Our massa
-wouldn't do his niggers dat way and we loved him for it, too.
-
-"We had big gardens and lots of vegetables to eat, 'cause massa had
-'bout eight hundred slaves and 'bout a thousand acres in he plantation.
-In summer time we wore jes' straight cotton slips and no shoes till
-Sunday, den we puts on shoes and white dresses and ties a ribbon 'round
-our waists, and we didn't look like de same chillen.
-
-"Dere a big arbor for de whites to go to church and we goes, too. When
-we starts down de road to church, our mama, she start sayin' things to
-make us be quiet. We pass de graveyard and she say, 'See dat spirit
-runnin' 'long here with us?' When we gits dere we hardly moves. We could
-jine, if we wants to.
-
-"My mama, she Black Creek Indian and none of dem white folks wants her.
-When massa buys my daddy and us chillen we had done been sold 'way from
-her and we cry and she cry, and den she follow us to our plantation and
-cry and beg our massa let her stay. He say, 'She ain't no good but put
-her in de house and let her do some patchin' and mendin'.' Mama, she
-cry and say, 'Thank God, Thank God! I's git to be with my husban' and
-li'l chillen.' She make de good spinner and weaver and old missy, she
-say she couldn't do without her, 'cause she spin cotton cloth for summer
-and woolen cloth for winter.
-
-"Niggers didn't have much weddin's, but when massa find dem takin' up he
-tells everybody to dress in white and de two what was takin' up together
-has to march up and down till de big supper comes off. Dey was man and
-wife den, but me, I's diff'rent. I's had a 'spectable weddin', 'cause
-missy, she say I's her nursemaid. De preacher, he reads, and I's all
-dressed in white clothes and sech a supper we never had befo'.
-
-"All de slaves wasn't so lucky as we was, though. We lives close to de
-meanest owner in de country. Our massa wouldn't keep no overseer, 'cause
-he say his niggers wasn't dogs, but dis other man he keeps overseers to
-beat de niggers and he has de big leather bullwhip with lead in de end,
-and he beats some slaves to death. We heared dem holler and holler till
-dey couldn't holler no mo! Den dey jes' sorta grunt every lick till dey
-die. We finds big streams of blood where he has whopped dem and when it
-rained de whole top of de ground jes' looks like a river of blood dere.
-Sometime he bury he niggers and sometime de law come out and make him
-bury dem. He put dem in chains and stockades and sometimes he would buck
-and gag dem.
-
-.. _`Lou Williams`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image166lou.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Lou Williams
-
- Lou Williams
-
-"We seed he niggers goin' by our plantation with de oven on de heads
-'round three o'clock in de mornin' on de way to de fields. Dese ovens
-made of wood and tin over de tin cup dat fit de slaves' heads. Each
-nigger have he bread and some old hairy bone meat a-cookin' with fire
-coals in dese ovens. Dey made not to burn de head and when dey gits to
-de fields dey sets dem down to finish cookin' while dey works till
-breakfast time. De mamas what expectin' babies was whopped to make dem
-work faster and when babies was sick dey has to put dem in de basket on
-top dere heads and take dem to de cotton patch, and put dem under de
-cotton stalks and try to 'tend to dem. Lawd, Lawd, dem was awful times,
-and I sho' is glad I has good white folks.
-
-.. _`Lou Williams' House`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image166louhouse.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Lou Williams' House
-
- Lou Williams' House
-
-"Some dat man's niggers allus runnin' 'way and dey sets de nigger dogs
-on dem and catch dem mos' times. Den dey treat 'em so bad dey wouldn't
-never want to run away no more.
-
-"We allus gits Saturday evenin' off to wash our clothes and sometime we
-has dances Saturday night. I has two brothers, Jim and William and
-William git kilt in de war. My two sisters named Relia and Laura. We has
-corn shuckin's and big suppers and on Christmas our massa buys us de
-present, most times shoes, 'cause we didn't have any shoes.
-
-"When de white folks dies or gits married everybody sho'
-carries on big. When we sick dey gives us snakeroot tea and cana
-and sage tea and if we's bad sick, dey gits de doctor. Missy, she make
-hog hoof tea, jes' bile de hoofs in good whiskey for de cold. Den she
-put camphor ball and asafoetida 'round our necks to keep off diseases.
-
-"When de war ends we sees a white man comin' down de road on
-a hoss and de road full of niggers followin' him, singin' and shoutin'
-and prayin'. I stays with massa till he die, then I marries and has one
-chile and one grandchile, and I lives with her."
-
-Millie Williams
-===============
-
-**Millie Williams, 86, lives at 1612 E. Fourth St., Fort Worth, Texas.
-She was born a slave to Joe Benford, in Tennessee, was sold to Bill
-Dunn, who brought her to Texas and traded her to Tommy Ellis for some
-land. She has lived in Fort Worth since the 1870's.**
-
-"I don't know when I was born, 'cause I was taken from my
-folks when I was a baby, but massa told me I was born in de spring of
-de year, in 1851. I know I been in dis world a long time, but I has
-have good white folks. I was born on Massa Benford's place in Tennessee
-and my mama's name was Martha Birdon. She say my pappy's name
-Milton Wade, but I never seed him. And I didn't know my mama a long
-time, 'cause she's sold away from Massa Benford's place, and I was sold
-with her, den he took me back, and I never seed my mama no mo'.
-
-"After I was sold back to Massa Benford, he puts me in de nigger yard.
-Dat whar de massa kep' slaves what he traded. It was jus' a bunch of
-shacks throwed together and dirty was no name for it, it was worse than
-a pig pen. De man what watch over us in dat nigger yard was de meanest
-man what ever lived. He'd take a club and beat de daylight out of us,
-'cause de club wouldn't leave scars like de bullwhip, and didn't bring
-de price down when we is sold.
-
-"One day Massa Benford takes us to town and puts us on dat auction block
-and a man name Bill Dunn bought me. I was 'bout seven years old. Talkin'
-'bout somethin' awful, you should have been dere. De slave owners was
-shoutin' and sellin' chillen to one man and de mama and pappy to
-'nother. De slaves cries and takes on somethin' awful. If a woman had
-lots of chillen she was sold for mo', 'cause it a sign she a good
-breeder.
-
-"Right after I was sold to Massa Dunn, dere was a big up-risin' in
-Tennessee and it was 'bout de Union, but I don't know what it was all
-about, but dey wanted Massa Dunn to take some kind of a oath, and he
-wouldn't do it and he had to leave Tennessee. He said dey would take de
-slaves 'way from him, so he brought me and Sallie Armstrong to Texas.
-Dere he trades us to Tommy Ellis for some land and dat Massa Ellis, he
-de best white man what ever lived. He was so good to us we was better
-off dan when we's free.
-
-"Massa Ellis' plantation was one of de bigges', and he owned land as far
-as we could see. Dere was 'bout 50 slaves and we lived in a row of log
-cabins long side de big house. In winter we sleeps inside but in summer
-we sleeps in de yard, and de same 'bout eatin'. Sometimes massa fed good
-and den 'gain he didn't, but dat 'cause of de War. We has cornbread and
-milk and all de coffee you would drink. On Sundays we fills de pot half
-full of meat and shell peas on top de meat.
-
-"I 'member de time we steals one of massa's big chickens and its in de
-pot in de fireplace when we seed missy comin'. I grabs dat chicken and
-pot and puts it under de bed and puts de bedclothes top dat pot. Missy,
-she come in and say, 'I sho' do smell somethin' good.' I say, 'Whar,
-Missy Ellis?' She don't find nothin' so she leaves. When she's gone I
-takes dat chicken and we eats it in a hurry.
-
-"De overseer woke 'em up 'bout four in de mornin', but I works in de
-house. De field workers gits off Thursdays and Saturday evenin's and
-Sunday. De reason dey gits off Thursday is dat de massa has some kind of
-thought we shouldn't work dat day. Maybe it was 'ligion, I don't know.
-
-"We has parties and sings
-
- | 'Massa sleeps in de feather bed,
- | Nigger sleeps on de floor;
- | When we'uns gits to Heaven,
- | Dey'll be no slaves no mo'.'
-
-"Den we has de song 'bout dis:
-
- | 'Rabbit in de briar patch,
- | Squirrel in de tree,
- | Wish I could go huntin',
- | But I ain't free.
-
- | 'Rooster's in de henhouse,
- | Hen's in de patch,
- | Love to go shootin',
- | But I ain't free.'
-
-"When de nigger leaves de plantation without no pass, and de
-padder rollers kotched him, dey gives him 39 licks with de bullwhip.
-When we's in de fields and sees de padder roller ride by, we starts
-murmerin' out loud, 'Patter de pat, patter de pat.' One after 'nother
-took it up and purty soon everybody murmerin'. We allus do dat to let
-everybody know de padder roller 'round. Den we sing songs 'bout 'em,
-too.
-
-.. _`Millie Williams`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image170millie.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Millie Williams
-
- Millie Williams
-
-"When War start dere a army camp jus' below de plantation, and
-'bout a thousand soldiers. We hears 'em shout, 'Halt, march, halt,
-march,' all day long. Dey sung
-
- | 'Lincoln's not satisfied,
- | He wants to fight 'gain,
- | All he got to do,
- | Is hustle up his men.'
-
-"I stays with Massa Ellis after we's freed. Dere sho' was a mighty purty
-sight when de slaves knows dey's free. Dey hug one 'nother and almos'
-tear dere clothes off. Some cryin' for de husban', and some cryin' for
-de chillen.
-
-"When I was 'bout 20 I lef' massa's home and moves to Dallas, whar I
-marries my first man. His name was Bill Jackson. He lef' me and goes
-back to Dallas and I hear he die, so I marry Will Williams and he dies.
-Now I been here since de Lawd know when."
-
-Rose Williams
-=============
-
-**Rose Williams is over 90. She was owned by William Black, a trader
-whose plantation lay in Bell County, Texas. Rose and her parents were
-sold in 1860 to Hall Hawkins, of Bell County. Rose was forced to mate
-with a slave named Rufus when she was about sixteen, and had two
-children by him, one born after Rose was freed. She forced Rufus to
-leave her and never married. For the last ten years Rose has been blind.
-She lives at 1126 Hampton St., Fort Worth, Texas.**
-
-"What I say am de facts. If I's one day old, I's way over 90, and I's
-born in Bell County, right here in Texas, and am owned by Massa William
-Black. He owns mammy and pappy, too. Massa Black has a big plantation
-but he has more niggers dan he need for work on dat place, 'cause he am
-a nigger trader. He trade and buy and sell all de time.
-
-"Massa Black am awful cruel and he whip de cullud folks and works 'em
-hard and feed dem poorly. We'uns have for rations de cornmeal and milk
-and 'lasses and some beans and peas and meat once a week. We'uns have to
-work in de field every day from daylight till dark and on Sunday we'uns
-do us washin'. Church? Shucks, we'uns don't know what dat mean.
-
-"I has de correct mem'randum of when de war start. Massa Black sold
-we'uns right den. Mammy and pappy powerful glad to git sold, and dey and
-I is put on de block with 'bout ten other niggers. When we'uns gits to
-de tradin' block, dere lots of white folks dere what came to look us
-over. One man shows de intres' in pappy. Him named Hawkins. He talk to
-pappy and pappy talk to him and say, 'Dem my woman and chiles. Please
-buy all of us and have mercy on we'uns.' Massa Hawkins say, 'Dat gal am
-a likely lookin' nigger, she am portly and strong, but three am more
-dan I wants, I guesses.'
-
-"De sale start and 'fore long pappy am put on de block. Massa Hawkins
-wins de bid for pappy and when mammy am put on de block, he wins de bid
-for her. Den dere am three or four other niggers sold befo' my time
-comes. Den massa Black calls me to de block and de auction man say,
-'What am I offer for dis portly, strong young wench. She's never been
-'bused and will make de good breeder.'
-
-"I wants to hear Massa Hawkins bid, but him say nothin'. Two other men
-am biddin' 'gainst each other and I sho' has de worryment. Dere am tears
-comin' down my cheeks 'cause I's bein' sold to some man dat would make
-sep'ration from my mammy. One man bids $500 and de auction man ask, 'Do
-I hear more? She am gwine at $500.00.' Den someone say, $525.00 and de
-auction man say, 'She am sold for $525.00 to Massa Hawkins.' Am I glad
-and 'cited! Why, I's quiverin' all over.
-
-"Massa Hawkins takes we'uns to his place and it am a nice plantation.
-Lots better am dat place dan Massa Black's. Dere is 'bout 50 niggers
-what is growed and lots of chillen. De first thing massa do when we'uns
-gits home am give we'uns rations and a cabin. You mus' believe dis
-nigger when I says dem rations a feast for us. Dere plenty meat and tea
-and coffee and white flour. I's never tasted white flour and coffee and
-mammy fix some biscuits and coffee. Well, de biscuits was yum, yum, yum
-to me, but de coffee I doesn't like.
-
-"De quarters am purty good. Dere am twelve cabins all made from logs and
-a table and some benches and bunks for sleepin' and a fireplace for
-cookin' and de heat. Dere am no floor, jus' de ground.
-
-"Massa Hawkins am good to he niggers and not force 'em work too hard.
-Dere am as much diff'ence 'tween him and old Massa Black in de way of
-treatment as 'twixt de Lawd and de devil. Massa Hawkins 'lows he niggers
-have reason'ble parties and go fishin', but we'uns am never tooken to
-church and has no books for larnin'. Dare am no edumcation for de
-niggers.
-
-"Dere am one thing Massa Hawkins does to me what I can't shunt from my
-mind. I knows he don't do it for meanness, but I allus holds it 'gainst
-him. What he done am force me to live with dat nigger, Rufus, 'gainst my
-wants.
-
-"After I been at he place 'bout a year, de massa come to me and say,
-'You gwine live with Rufus in dat cabin over yonder. Go fix it for
-livin'.' I's 'bout sixteen year old and has no larnin', and I's jus'
-igno'mus chile. I's thought dat him mean for me to tend de cabin for
-Rufus and some other niggers. Well, dat am start de pestigation for me.
-
-"I's took charge of de cabin after work am done and fixes supper. Now, I
-don't like dat Rufus, 'cause he a bully. He am big and 'cause he so, he
-think everybody do what him say. We'uns has supper, den I goes here and
-dere talkin', till I's ready for sleep and den I gits in de bunk. After
-I's in, dat nigger come and crawl in de bunk with me 'fore I knows it. I
-says, 'What you means, you fool nigger?' He say fer me to hush de mouth.
-'Dis am my bunk, too,' he say.
-
-"You's teched in de head. Git out,' I's told him, and I puts de feet
-'gainst him and give him a shove and out he go on de floor 'fore he know
-what I's doin'. Dat nigger jump up and he mad. He look like de wild
-bear. He starts for de bunk and I jumps quick for de poker. It am 'bout
-three foot long and when he comes at me I lets him have it over de head.
-Did dat nigger stop in he tracks? I's say he did. He looks at me steady
-for a minute and you's could tell he thinkin' hard. Den he go and set on
-de bench and say, 'Jus wait. You thinks it am smart, but you's am
-foolish in de head. Dey's gwine larn you somethin'.
-
-"'Hush yous big mouth and stay 'way from dis nigger, dat all I wants,' I
-say, and jus' sets and hold dat poker in de hand. He jus' sets, lookin'
-like de bull. Dere we'uns sets and sets for 'bout an hour and den he go
-out and I bars de door.
-
-"De nex' day I goes to de missy and tells her what Rufus wants and missy
-say dat am de massa's wishes. She say, 'Yous am de portly gal and Rufus
-em de portly man. De massa wants you-uns for to bring forth portly
-chillen.
-
-"I's thinkin' 'bout what de missy say, but say to myse'f, 'I's not gwine
-live with dat Rufus.' Dat night when him come in de cabin, I grabs de
-poker and sits on de bench and says, 'Git 'way from me, nigger, 'fore I
-busts yous brains out and stomp on dem.' He say nothin' and git out.
-
-"De nex' day de massa call me and tell me, 'Woman, I's pay big money for
-you and I's done dat for de cause I wants yous to raise me chillens. I's
-put yous to live with Rufus for dat purpose. Now, if you doesn't want
-whippin' at de stake, yous do what I wants.'
-
-"I thinks 'bout massa buyin' me offen de block and savin' me from bein'
-sep'rated from my folks and 'bout bein' whipped at de stake. Dere it am.
-What am I's to do? So I 'cides to do as de massa wish and so I yields.
-
-"When we'uns am given freedom, Massa Hawkins tells us we can stay and
-work for wages or share crop de land. Some stays and some goes. My folks
-and me stays. We works de land on shares for three years, den moved to
-other land near by. I stays with my folks till they dies.
-
-"If my mem'randum am correct, it am 'bout thirty year since I come to
-Fort Worth. Here I cooks for white folks till I goes blind 'bout ten
-year ago.
-
-"I never marries, 'cause one 'sperience am 'nough for dis nigger. After
-what I does for de massa, I's never wants no truck with any man. De Lawd
-forgive dis cullud woman, but he have to 'scuse me and look for some
-others for to 'plenish de earth."
-
-Steve Williams
-==============
-
-**Steve Williams was born a slave of the Bennett family in 1855. They
-were residents of Goliad County, Texas and owners of only a small bunch
-of slaves. He and the other slaves were driven away hurriedly after the
-soldiers had threatened the slave owners for not having turned the
-slaves loose as soon after emancipation as they should have. Steve
-worked around his old home for his victuals and clothes a few years,
-then drifted about the country as a farm hand, finally landing in San
-Angelo, Texas where he worked for awhile as cook at a barbecue stand. He
-now lives alone in the back yard of his niece and is hardly able to get
-in and out of his small cabin on his crutches.**
-
-Steve relates the story of his life as follows:
-
-"I wasn't very big when I was a slave. Fact is, we was set free 'fore I
-was big enough to remember much about how dey does but I's hear my
-mother tells 'bout dem Louisiana slave holders, dem what had dem
-drivers. Now dey was sho' rough on dem. My mother's name was Charlotte
-Williams and my father he was name Bill and dey belong to de Williams
-dere, you see, and was sold to Mr. Bennett and brought to Goliad. Dats
-how come I's named Williams and my marster named Bennett. Our little log
-huts was put up 'round in de back yard and our beds was home-made, jes'
-kind of plank scaffolds like. Our beddin' wasn't too good, jes' fair
-cotton beds. Ole marster's folks dey have big feather beds and a nice
-log house.
-
-"I never seen any money when I was a boy to 'mount to anything and for a
-long time after dat war I never seen too much.
-
-"We had pretty good to eat such as vegetables from de boss's garden and
-plenty of all kinds of meats. Some of de colored folks likes 'possum de
-best but I always likes coon. Jes' bile him, den bake him good and brown
-and aint no 'possum can come up wid dat.
-
-"We had good homespun clothes and some times we have shoes.
-
-"I never did see none of the slaves sold but I hear my mother tells
-'bout how horrible dat was. I didn' learn much readin' and writin'
-'cause no body never teach me none.
-
-"We goes to camp meetin' after de war but not much, den dat was de white
-folks meetin'.
-
-"On Christmas we usually have a shoat and cakes and lots of fiddlin' and
-dancin'.
-
-.. _`Steve Williams`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image179steve.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Steve Williams
-
- Steve Williams
-
-"Slaves didn' have no weddin's. De boss he jes' puts dem in a cabin and
-gives dem a wife and dey all calls dat married. Fact is, dey jes' wasn'
-so much marryin' done 'mong de colored.
-
-"When we hear we was free we hear it from some of de other slaves and we
-was held longer den some in de north, but one day our boss comes from
-town and he say to his wife, he say, 'Dem soldiers say iffen we don't
-git dem niggers 'way from here dey goin' come out here and sweeps us out
-of de cradle.'
-
-"He sho' got busy den. He comes out and he say, 'You all git, I mean git
-from here'. So we jes' scatters 'round, here and yonder, not knowin'
-'zactly what to do. Some of us works on one farm and some on another for
-a little co'n or some clothes or food. Finally I works 'round 'til I
-comes to San Angelo, Texas and I cooks barbecue for a long time 'til I
-jes' finally breaks down. Now, I don' try to do nothin' but jes' hobble
-'round a little on my ole crutches."
-
-Wayman Williams
-===============
-
-**Wayman Williams does not know his age, but he was a small boy when the
-slaves were freed. He was born in Mississippi, but the first place he
-remembers is the Sanama plantation on the Trinity river, in Texas. He
-now lives on North Falls St., in Mart, Texas.**
-
-"I was one of four chillen of Calvin and Julia Williams, of de state of
-Mississippi, when they was first married, 'fore they come to Texas. But
-de earlies' 'lection I has, was livin' on a plantation belongin' to a
-Mr, Sanama. It was on de Trinity river, right down in de bottoms. My
-folks stayed on dere after freedom and I lived with dem till I was
-nearly growed. Dere massa give dem supplies and let dem work a piece of
-land and they give him half de crop.
-
-"I 'member times us go huntin' and kill most anything we want, wild
-turkeys and wild hawgs and deer. My father used to go out and kill deer
-and not git out of sight of de house. Livin' was easier den now, for we
-had all dem things without havin' to buy dem. I 'member de bear hunts.
-We had great big, brindle dogs for de bears and dey surroun' him and
-stand him at bay till de men came and kill him.
-
-"A man by name of Burton lived near us, and one day he sent one he boys
-to town on a little race hoss. On de way home dat boy crossin' de river
-bottom and a panther git after him, and he race he hoss and outrun dat
-panther. He Jump off de hoss and run in de house and lock de door. De
-panther try to git in and de men in de field hear he cries and shoots
-him. In dose days de men took guns to de fields.
-
-"They cotched wolves and bears in traps but de panther was de most
-dang'rous animal us have to fight. Us never know when he goin' to
-strike. One our neighbors go to town after a turkey and on he way home
-a panther was sittin' in a tree by de road, and he make a lunge at de
-man and grab de turkey and tear de man's arm. Once my grandpa ridin'
-'long one night, crossin' de river, and a panther git after him. He had
-a fast hoss and outran dat panther, and got to de house, and two our
-bear dogs kep' it off till he shot it. I knows dese things am true, for
-they happen jes' like I tell it.
-
-"Our house was close to de boat landin' on de river and my father helped
-unload supplies from de boats, when he not workin' in de fields. Jedge
-Beavers own de storehouse what kep' de supplies, and he ship he cotton
-by boat to de Gulf, mostly to Galveston.
-
-"De 'Federate sojers pass our house and go to Jedge for him to give dem
-something to eat and he allus did. Sometimes dey was men on hosses and
-he give dem feed for de hosses. Once a crowd young fellows comin' home
-from de war on hosses and dey got supplies, and de Jedge give dem a
-little toddy for to make dem feel good. Dey feels so good dey gits some
-ribbon from de store and tie it to de hosses heads and rides off, with
-dat ribbon jes' a-streamin' from de hosses mane.
-
-"De Jedge enjoy all day. He felt like dey been fightin' for him and dey
-welcome to what he have. It was de common thing for de sojers to stop at
-the house and ask for food or to sleep. Sometimes niggers come, what run
-away to de North 'fore freedom. Dey done got tired of dat cold weather
-up dere and when freedom come, dey ready to come back home.
-
-"When de slaves sot free, dey have big times, and feel like dey not work
-at all. But when old massa give dem a place to farm and tell dem iffen
-dey don't work dey won't eat, dey stays with him and works de crops on
-halves, mostly. De nigger do de work and massa feed him and give him
-team and tools, den massa git half de crop.
-
-"De slaves what went up North and come back, tell how dey call
-'Contrabands' up dere. Dey didn't know what it mean, but dey come back
-anyway.
-
-"Some white school teachers from up North come to teach de chillen, but
-dey didn't talk like folks here and didn't understan' our talk. Dey
-didn't know what us mean when us say 'titty' for sister, and 'budder'
-for brother, and 'nanny' for mammy. Jes' for fun us call ourselves big
-names to de teacher, some be named General Lee and some Stonewall
-Jackson. We be one name one day and 'nother name next day. Until she git
-to know us she couldn't tell de diff'rence, 'cause us all look alike to
-her. Us have good times tellin' her 'bout black magic and de conjure. Us
-tell her night birds full of magic and dere feathers roast in ashes work
-spells what kill evil conjure. If a rabbit run 'cross de path, turn your
-hat round and wear it hind part befo' to keep bad luck away. A buzzard's
-claw tie round de baby's neck make teethin' easy. De teacher from de
-North don't know what to think of all dat. But our old missy, who live
-here all de time, know all 'bout it. She lets us believe our magic and
-conjure, 'cause she partly believe it, too.
-
-"I lives in dat place till I's a big boy and den works for Mr. John
-Mergersen and a Mr. Porter. Dey come from Mississippi right after
-freedom and was jes' like homefolks. So I works for dem till I gits
-married and starts out for myself.
-
-"I 'member some songs my mammy and old missy larnt me. One go like dis:
-
- | "'De top bolls ain' open,
- | De bottom bolls am rotten.
- | I can't git my number here,
- | I has to quit and go 'way.
- |
- | "'When de sun go down and de moon go up,
- | Iffen I can't git my number, I can't git my pay.'
-
-"When I was little, my father split de rails out of trees to make
-fences, and I have an aunt what was de big woman, and she holp. She
-have a song what go like dis, and when she sing, she come down on a
-rail, 'biff'.
-
- | "'Times are gittin' hard,' (biff)
- | Money's gittin scarce,' (biff)
- | Times don't git no better here,' (biff)
- | I bound to leave dis place.'
-
-"But when de big meetin' goin' on, dis one de songs dey likes to sing:
-
- | "'As I went down in de valley to pray,
- | I met de debbil on my way,
- | What you reckon he say to me?
- | You're too young to die,
- | And too young to pray,
- | I made him a lie, and kep' on my way.'
-
-"We raised corn and cotton and potatoes and lots of vegetables and
-fruit. We didn't have no wheat, so we couldn't have flour and it too
-high to buy. All dem what could buy it, was de landowner.
-
-"When de corn gathered, us pile it in piles and have corn shuckin' at
-night, cook our supper and all eat together and listen to de stories
-tell by de old folks. When dey git de piles of corn ready for shuckin',
-dey lay a rail in de middle and 'vide de piles, and de side what git
-through first git supper first. De song go like dis:
-
- | "'Hits a mighty dry year, when de crab grass fail,
- | Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail?
- | Hit am mighty dark night when de nigger turn pale,
- | De big foot nigger what laid dat rail!
- | Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail?
- | Rinktum, ranktum, laid dat rail.
- | Show me de nigger what laid dat rail,
- | Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail?
- |
- | "'When de niggers fuss, de white folks fail,
- | Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail?
- | We're gittin' dere now, don't tell no tale,
- | Show me de nigger what laid dat rail.
- | I'll stick he head in a big tin pail.
- | Oh, turn me loose, let me tech dat rail,
- | Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail?
-
-"First us have white preachers and den, after freedom, de niggers starts
-to git up in meetin' and talk to sinners, and dey call dem 'Exhorters.'
-De white folks larnt de exhorters to read de Bible and some songs, and
-de niggers all larn de songs, too. De exhorter git up and read de
-scripture and it 'bout King Neb'kudneezer, when he have a golden image
-with silver horns, and all de kings and rulers come and bow down 'fore
-dat image, 'cepting three. Dem was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Dey
-would not bow down, so de old king throw dem in de furnace and dey not
-burn up, and dey say, 'De Gawd us worship am able to deliver us from de
-fiery furnace.'
-
-.. _`Wayman Williams and Henry Freeman`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image182waymanhenry.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Wayman Williams and Henry Freeman
-
- Wayman Williams and Henry Freeman
-
-"Den de exhorter say: 'Now, you no count niggers, what you mean stealin'
-de white folks chickens and watermillions? Dey ain't safe no longer dan
-de white man back am turned. Do you think Gawd would save you? No, sir!
-You be turned into de pillar of salt iffen you don't stop you
-unrighteous ways, and den where you be? You won't see no dancin' or hear
-no chickens hollerin'. Come on into de pearly gates and live right.
-Leave your stealin' and cussin' and dancin' to de debbil, and come to de
-mourners' bench.
-
- | "'Let de sun of salvation shine square on you face,
- | Fight de battles of de Lawd, fight soon and fight late,
- | And you'll allus find de latch to de golden gate.
- | No use for to wait till tomorrow,
- | De sun mustn't sot on you sorrow,
- | Sin's sharp as a bamboo briar,
- | Ask de Lawd for to fotch you up higher.'
-
-"Dem songs was de gateway to enter, de pearly gateway. All de niggers
-git on de mourners' bench and git saved."
-
-Willie Williams
-===============
-
-**Willie Williams, 78, was born a slave to Mr. William Maddox, who owned
-about 90 slaves, including Willie's parents, five brothers and a sister.
-The plantation was in Vermillion Parish, La., near Sparta. In 1867 Mr.
-Maddox took Willie, who was still working for him, to Texas. Willie now
-lives in Fort Worth.**
-
-"Dis nigger am 78 years old, and I's born in slavery, down in old
-Louisiana. Marster William owned me, and he am de father of Marster Ed
-Maddox what now runs de Maddox Milk and Ice Company here in Fort Worth.
-I knowed him when him and dis nigger am tiny chiles. I goes and visits
-with him often and we talks 'bout old times and sich. We laughs 'bout
-some things and de tears come in de eyes 'bout some things. Him allus
-give dis nigger de quarter or de half dollar for old times sake.
-
-"Marster William owns sich a big plantation dat it was miles and miles
-'round and had 'bout 90 grown nigger slaves. I 'members it well and sho'
-am glad for to tell yous 'bout it and how dey does. De marster have a
-two-story house for his family and de place look like a town with all de
-buildings. Dere was de nigger quarters with 30 cabins and de nursery for
-de young niggers, de sheds and de smokehouse for de meat. Den dey have
-de gin and de mill for to grin' de grist, de spinning house and de shoe
-shop.
-
-"Marster have a nigger what make de shoes out of hides tanned dere off
-de cattle what am killed for meat. Him makes good shoes, they las' a
-long time, but they sure is tough on de feets.
-
-"Marster William raises de corn and rice and wheat and barley and
-vegetables and honey, and lots of cotton. Dey works animals, de mules
-and de oxen, but I seed de niggers hitched to de plow sometimes. But de
-marster allus took good care of his niggers and him feeds plenty good
-victuals. Every Sunday dey measures out de rations, 'cept de vegetables.
-But if what dey give am not 'nough, we'uns calls for more. De marster
-wants for we'uns to have plenty.
-
-"All us am given de pass for to go to de church or to de party and
-dere's a place near de quarters for de dance and sich. Some fool niggers
-sneaks off without de pass sometimes and gits catched by de patter
-rollers and gits couple passes from de whup.
-
-"One time de niggers puts one on dem patter rollers. Dere am de dance
-and some niggers has no pass and de patter rollers am a-comin'. De
-niggers 'cide to best 'em and one gits de pan of hot ashes and when dem
-patter rollers comes to de door de ashes am thrown in de face. De
-niggers all rush out and knocks de rollers down, and de niggers am gone.
-Dats once de niggers 'prise de rollers.
-
-"On dat plantation dere am sort of hospital fix for to care for de sick.
-Dey uses herbs and sich and sometimes calls de doctor. De small chillens
-is kep' dere and de marster sho' am 'ticular 'bout dem. Lots of times he
-look dem over and say, 'Dat one be worth a t'ousand dollars,' or 'Dat
-one be a whopper.' You see, 'twas jus' like raisin' young mules.
-
-.. _`Willie Williams`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image187willie.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Willie Williams
-
- Willie Williams
-
-"On dat plantation, dere am no weddin' 'lowed for to git married. Dey
-jus' gits married, but some not 'lowed to git married, 'cause de marster
-anxious to raise good, big niggers, de kind what am able to do lots of
-work and sell for a heap of money. Him have 'bout ten wenches him not
-'low to git married and dey am big, strong women and de doctor 'xamine
-dem for de health. Den de marster picks out de big nigger and de doctor
-'xamine him, too. Dat nigger do no work but watch dem womens and he am
-de husban' for dem all. De marster sho' was a-raisin' some fine niggers
-dat way.
-
-"As for de whippin', dey gives dat punishment. Dey straps de nigger over
-de barrel but de marster don't 'low for to draw de blood.
-
-"Durin' de War, dere am de shortage of food and one time we is 'bliged
-eat all de chickens, and 'twarnt hard to do. We hunts de wild hawg and
-wild turkey and de deer and sich.
-
-"When freedom come, dey tell all us niggers we's free and we can stay or
-leave and work for wages if we stay. Three year after freedom de marster
-sells de plantation and comes to Fort Worth and I and five other niggers
-still with him. I works for him 'til he dies, 'bout 50 year ago."
-
-Lulu Wilson
-===========
-
-**Lulu Wilson, blind, bedridden Negro, does not know her age, but
-believes that she is ninety-seven. She was born near the Mammoth Cave,
-in Kentucky. Lulu owns a little home at 1108 Good Street, Dallas,
-Texas.**
-
-"Course I's born in slavery, ageable as I am. I'm a old time, slavery
-woman and the way I been through the hackles, I got plenty to say 'bout
-slavery. Lulu Wilson says she knows they ain't no good in it and they
-better not bring it back.
-
-"My paw warn't no slave. He was a free man, 'cause his mammy was a full
-blood Creek Indian. But my maw was born in slavery, down on Wash Hodges'
-paw's place, and he give her to Wash when he married. That was the only
-woman slave what he had and one man slave, a young buck. My maw say she
-took with my paw and I's born, but a long time passed and didn't no more
-young'uns come, so they say my paw am too old and wore out for breedin'
-and wants her to take with this here young buck. So the Hodges sot the
-nigger hounds on my paw and run him away from the place and maw allus
-say he went to the free state. So she took with my step-paw and they
-must of pleased the white folks what wanted niggers to breed like
-livestock, 'cause she birthed nineteen chillen.
-
-"When I's li'l I used to play in that big cave they calls Mammoth and
-I's so used to that cave it didn't seem like nothin' to me. But I was
-real li'l then, for soon as they could they put me to spinnin' cloth. I
-'members plain, when I was li'l there was talk of war in them parts, and
-they put me to spinnin' and I heared 'em say it was for sojers. They
-marched round in a li'l, small drove and practices shootin'.
-
-"Now, when I was li'l they was the hardes' times. They'd nearly beat us
-to death. They taken me from my mammy, out the li'l house built onto
-they house and I had to sleep in a bed by Missus Hodges. I cried for my
-maw but I had to work and wash and iron and clean and milk cows when I
-was most too li'l to do it.
-
-"The Hodges had three chilluns and the olderes' one they was mean to,
-'cause she so thickheaded. She couldn't larn nothin' out a book but was
-kinder and more friendly like than the rest of the lot. Wash Hodges was
-jes' mean, pore trash and he was a bad actor and a bad manager. He never
-could make any money and he starved it out'n the niggers. For years all
-I could git was one li'l slice of sowbelly and a puny, li'l piece of
-bread and a 'tater. I never had 'nough to stave the hongriness out'n my
-belly.
-
-"My maw was cookin' in the house and she was a clink, that am the bes'
-of its kind. She could cuss and she warn't 'fraid. Wash Hodges tried to
-whop her with a cowhide and she'd knock him down and bloody him up. Then
-he'd go down to some his neighbor kin and try to git them to come help
-him whop her. But they'd say, 'I don't want to go up there and let Chloe
-Ann beat me up." I heared Wash tell his wife they said that.
-
-"When maw was in a tantrum, my step-paw wouldn't partialise with her.
-But she was a 'ligious woman and 'lieved time was comin' when niggers
-wouldn't be slaves. She told me to pray for it. She seed a old man what
-the nigger dogs chased and et the legs near off him. She said she was
-chased by them bloody hounds and she jus' picked up a club and laid they
-skull open. She say they hired her out and sold her twice but allus
-brung her back to Wash Hodges.
-
-"Now, Missus Hodges studied 'bout meanness more'n Wash done. She was
-mean to anybody she could lay her hands to, but special mean to me. She
-beat me and used to tie my hands and make me lay flat on the floor and
-she put snuff in my eyes. I ain't lyin' 'fore Gawd when I say I knows
-that's why I went blind. I did see white folks sometimes what spoke
-right friendly and kindly to me.
-
-"I gits to thinkin' now how Wash Hodges sold off maw's chillun. He'd
-sell 'em and have the folks come for 'em when my maw was in the fields.
-When she'd come back, she'd raise a ruckus. Then many the time I seed
-her plop right down to a settin' and cry 'bout it. But she 'lowed they
-warn't nothin' could be done, 'cause it's the slavery law. She said, 'O,
-Lawd, let me see the end of it 'fore I die, and I'll quit my cussin' and
-fightin' and rarin.' My maw say she's part Indian and that 'countable
-for her ways.
-
-"One day they truckled us all down in a covered wagon and started out
-with the fam'ly and my maw and step-paw and five of us chillun. I know
-I's past twelve year old. We come a long way and passed through a free
-State. Some places we druv for miles in the woods 'stead of the big
-road, and when we come to folks they hid us down in the bed of the
-wagon. We passed through a li'l place and my maw say to look, and I seed
-a man gwine up some steps, totin' a bucket of water. She say, 'Lulu,
-that man's your paw.' I ain't never think she's as consid'ble of my
-step-paw as of my paw, and she give me to think as much. My step-paw
-never did like me, but he was a fool for his own young'uns, 'cause at
-the end of the wars when they sot the niggers free, he tramped over half
-the country, gatherin' up them young'uns they done sold 'way.
-
-"We went to a place called Wadefield, in Texas, and settled for some
-short passin' of time. They was a Baptist church next our house and they
-let me go twict. I was fancified with the singin' and preachin'. Then we
-goes on to Chatfield Point and Wash Hodges built a log house and covered
-it with weather boarding and built my maw and paw quarters to live in.
-They turned in to raisin' corn and 'taters and hawgs. I had to work like
-a dog. I hoed and milked ten cows a day.
-
-"Missus told me I had ought to marry. She said if I'd marry she'd togger
-me up in a white dress and give me a weddin' supper. She made the dress
-and Wash Hodges married me out'n the Bible to a nigger 'longin' to a
-nephew of his'n. I was 'bout thirteen or fourteen. I know it warn't long
-after that when Missus Hodges got a doctor to me. The doctor told me
-less'n I had a baby, old as I was and married, I'd start in on spasms.
-So it warn't long till I had a baby.
-
-"In 'twixt that time, Wash Hodges starts layin' out in the woods and
-swamps all the time. I heared he was hidin' out from the war and was
-sposed to go, 'cause he done been a volunteer in the first war and they
-didn't have no luck in Kentucky.
-
-"One night when we was all asleep, some folks whooped and woke us up.
-Two sojers come in and they left more outside. They found Wash Hodges
-and said it was midnight and to git 'em something to eat. They et and
-some more come in and et. They tied Wash's hands and made me hold a lamp
-in the door for them to see by. They had some more men in the wagon,
-with they hands tied. They druv away and in a minute I heared the
-reports of the guns three or four times. Nex' day I heared they was
-sojers and done shot some conscripts in the bottoms back of our place.
-
-"Wash Hodges was gone away four years and Missus Hodges was meaner'n the
-devil all the time. Seems like she jus' hated us worser than ever. She
-said blobber-mouth niggers done cause a war.
-
-"Well, now, things jus' kind of drifts along for a spell and then Wash
-Hodges come back and he said, 'Well, now, we done whop the hell out them
-blue bellies and that'll larn 'em a lesson to leave us alone.'
-
-.. _`Lulu Wilson`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image190lulu.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Lulu Wilson
-
- Lulu Wilson
-
-"Then my step-paw seed some Fed'ral sojers. I seed them, too. They
-drifted by in droves of fifty and a hundred. My step-paw 'lowed as how
-the Feds done told him they ain't no more slavery, and he tried to pint
-it out to Wash Hodges. Wash says that's a new ruling, and it am that
-growed-up niggers is free, but chillun has to stay with they masters
-till they's of age.
-
-"My maw was in her cabin with a week old baby and one night twelve Klu
-Kluxses done come to the place. They come in by ones and she whopped 'em
-one at a time.
-
-"I don't never recall just like, the passin' of time. I know I had my
-little boy young'un and he growed up, but right after he was born I left
-the Hodges and felt like it's a fine, good riddance. My boy died, but he
-left me a grandson. He growed up and went to 'nother war, and they done
-somethin' to him and he ain't got but one lung. He ain't peart no more.
-He's got four chillun and he makes fifty dollars a month. I'm crazy
-'bout that boy and he comes to see me, but he can't holp me none in a
-money way. So I'm right grateful to the president for gittin' my li'l
-pension. I done study it out in my mind for three years and tell him,
-Lulu says if he will see they ain't no more slavery, and if they'll pay
-folks liveable wages, they'll be less stealin' and slummerin' and goin's
-on. I worked so hard. For more'n fifty years I waited as a nurse on sick
-folks. I been through the hackles if any mortal soul has, but it seems
-like the president thinks right kindly of me, and I want him to know
-Lulu Wilson thinks right kindly of him."
-
-Wash Wilson
-===========
-
-**Wash Wilson, 94, was born a slave of Tom Wilson, in Louisiana, near
-the Ouachita Road. Wash and his family were purchased by Bill Anderson,
-who brought them to Robertson Co., Texas. Wash lives in Eddy, Texas.**
-
-"I was 'bout eighteen years old when de Civil war come. Us calls it de
-Freedom War. I was born in Louisiana, clost to de Ouachita Road, and
-Marse Tom Wilson owned mammy and us chillen. But Marse Bill Anderson he
-come from Texas to buy us from Marse Tom. Marse Tom, he 'lowed de
-gov'ment gwine let dem damn Yankees give de South a whuppin' and dere
-wasn't gwine be no slaves nowhere. But Marse Bill say we's a likely
-bunch of chillen and mammy am a grand cook, so guess he take de resk.
-
-"Marse Tom starts to Texas where he had a passel of land. Us was sold on
-de block to him, 'cause Marse Tom say he gwine git all he done put in us
-out us, iffen he can 'fore de Yanks take dis country.
-
-"Mammy was named Julia Wilson. Sis Sally was oldest of us chillen, den
-brudder Harry and me. Marse Bill he had 27,000 acres of land in
-Robertson County what he git for fightin' Indians and sech. He lived in
-seven mile of Calvert, Texas, and dat where he brunged us and de
-supplies and sech. Us traveled in ox carts and hoss back, and de mos' us
-niggers walked.
-
-"Us was sot free on de road to Texas. Us camp one night and some folks
-come talk with Marse Bill. De next mornin' he told us, 'Boys, you's free
-as I is.' Us was only 'bout sixteen mile from where us gwine and Marse
-Bill say, 'All what want to stay with me can.' Us didn't know nobody and
-didn't have nothin' and us liked Marse Bill, so all us stayed with him.
-When we got to his place us did round and 'bout, clearin' new ground and
-buildin' cabins and houses. Dere was three log houses but us had to
-build more.
-
-"My pappy name was Bill Wilson. All my folks am dead now, but on de
-plantation in Louisiana we had a good time. Mammy could cook and spin
-and weave. Dey raised cotton and sugar cane and corn.
-
-"Dere wasn't many Indians when us come, in our part de country. All I
-ever saw jes' steal and beg. Dere was plenty wild turkeys and wild hawgs
-and deer and prairie chickens.
-
-"On Marse Bill's place every quarters had its barn and mule, but Marse
-and he wife, Miss Deborah, lived in de quality quarters. Round dem was
-de blacksmith shop and smokehouse and spinnin' house and Marse Bill have
-a li'l house jus' for he office. De cookhouse was a two-room house side
-de big house with a covered passage to de dinin' room. De milk house was
-de back part de cook house.
-
-"In de smokehouse was hams and sides of hawg meat and barrels of syrup
-and sugar and lard, and bushels of onions, and de 'tater room was allus
-full. Dey dug a big place and put poles and pieces of cane and lumber
-cross, like a top, and put dirt and leaves and banked de dirt round de
-'tater room. Dey'd leave a place to crawl in, but dey kep' it tight and
-dem 'taters dey kep' most all winter.
-
-"Dey was hayricks and chicken roosties and big lye hoppers where us put
-all de fireplace ashes. Come de rain and de water run through dat hopper
-into de trough under it, and dat make lye water. De women put old meat
-skins and bones and fat in de big, iron pot in de yard and put in some
-lye water and bile soap. Den dey cut it when it git cold and put it on
-de smokehouse shelves to dry. Dat sho' fine soap.
-
-"Mammy worked in de kitchen mostly and spin by candlelight. Dey used a
-bottle lamp. Dat a rag or piece of big string, stuck in de snuff bottle
-full of tallow or grease. Later on in de years, dey used coal oil in de
-bottles. Sometimes dey wrap a rag round and round and put it in a pan of
-grease, and light dat for de lamp. Dey used pine torches, too.
-
-"De black folks' quarters was log cabins, with stick and dirt chimneys.
-Dey had dere own garden round each cabin and some chickens, but dere
-wasn't no cows like in Louisiana. Dere was lots of possums in de bottoms
-and us go coon and possum huntin'. I likes cornbread and greens, cook
-with de hawg jowls or strip bacon. Dat's what I's raised on. Us had lots
-of lye hominy dem days. Marse Bill, he gwine feed everybody good on his
-place. Den us had ash cake, make of corn meal. Us didn't buy much till
-long time after de War.
-
-"Us had poles stuck in de corner and tied de third pole cross, to make
-de bed. Dey called 'Georgia Hosses'. Us filled ticks with corn shucks or
-crab grass and moss. Dey wasn't no cotton beds for de niggers, 'cause
-dey wasn't no gins for de long time and de cotton pick from de seed by
-hand and dat slow work. De white folks had cotton beds and feather beds
-and wool beds.
-
-"Marse Bill allus had de doctor for us iffen de old woman couldn't git
-us well. All de seven families Marse Bill done buy in Louisiana stayed
-round him and he family till dey all dead, white and cullud. I's de
-onlies' one left.
-
-"Us piled 'bout a hundred or two or maybe three hundred bushels corn
-outside de shed. Us have corn shuckin' at night and have de big time. De
-fellow what owned de corn, he give a big supper and have all de whiskey
-us want. Nobody got drunk, 'cause most everybody carry dey liquor purty
-well. After shuckin' us have ring plays. For music dey scratch on de
-skillet lids or beat bones or pick de banjo. Dere be thirty to fifty
-folks, all cullud, and sometimes dey stay all night, and build de big
-fire and dance outdoors or in de barn.
-
-"Dere wasn't no music instruments. Us take pieces a sheep's rib or cow's
-jaw or a piece iron, with a old kettle, or a hollow gourd and some
-horsehairs to make de drum. Sometimes dey'd git a piece of tree trunk
-and hollow it out and stretch a goat's or sheep's skin over it for de
-drum. Dey'd be one to four foot high and a foot up to six foot 'cross.
-In gen'ral two niggers play with de fingers or sticks on dis drum. Never
-seed so many in Texas, but dey made some. Dey'd take de buffalo horn and
-scrape it out to make de flute. Dat sho' be heared a long ways off. Den
-dey'd take a mule's jawbone and rattle de stick 'cross its teeth. Dey'd
-take a barrel and stretch a ox's hide 'cross one end and a man sot
-'stride de barrel and beat on dat hide with he hands, and he feet, and
-iffen he git to feelin' de music in he bones, he'd beat on dat barrel
-with he head. 'Nother man beat one wooden side with sticks. Us 'longed
-to de church, all right, but dancin' ain't sinful iffen de foots ain't
-crossed. Us danced at de arbor meetin's but us sho' didn't have us foots
-crossed!
-
-"When de niggers go round singin' 'Steal Away to Jesus,' dat mean dere
-gwine be a 'ligious meetin' dat night. Dat de sig'fication of a meetin'.
-De masters 'fore and after freedom didn't like dem 'ligious meetin's, so
-us natcherly slips off at night, down in de bottoms or somewheres.
-Sometimes us sing and pray all night.
-
-"I voted till I's 'bout forty five year old, den I jes' kinder got out
-de habit.
-
-"I got married in a suit of doeskin jeans, ain't none like dem nowadays.
-I married Cornelia Horde and she wore a purty blue gingham de white
-folks buyed and made for her. Us had six chillen, Calvin and Early and
-Mary and Fred and Frank.
-
-"Iffen you knows someone workin' a conjure trick 'gainst you, jes' take
-some powdered brick and scrub the steps real good. Dat'll kill any
-conjure spell, sho'. De bes' watchdog you can get for de hoodoo is a
-frizzly chicken. Iffen you got one dem on de place, you can rest in
-peace, 'cause it scratches up every trick lay down 'gainst its owner.
-Iffen you see dat frizzly chicken scratchin' round de place, it a sho'
-sign you been conjured. A frizzly chicken come out he shell backwards,
-and day why he de devil's own.
-
-"De old folks allus told me to make a cross inside my shoe every mornin'
-'fore leavin' de house, den ain't no conjurer gwine git he conjure
-'gainst you foots. Iffen you wear you under clothes wrong side out, you
-can't be conjured. 'nother way am to put saltpetre in de soles you
-shoes. Iffen you wears a li'l piece de 'peace plant' in you pocket or
-you shoe, dat powerful strong 'gainst conjure. A piece of de Betsy bug's
-heart with some silver money am good. But iffen you can't git none dose,
-jes' take a piece newspaper and cut it de size of you shoe sole and
-sprinkle nine grains red pepper on it. Dere ain't no hoodoo gwine ever
-harm you den, 'cause he'd have to stop and count every letter on dat
-newspaper and by dat time, you gwine be 'way from dere.
-
-.. _`Wash Wilson`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image195wash.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Wash Wilson
-
- Wash Wilson
-
-"Iffen you want to find de conjure tricks what done been sot for you,
-jes' kill you a fat chicken and sprinkle some its blood in da conjure
-doctor's left palm. Den take you forefinger and hit dat blood till it
-spatter, and it gwine spatter in da direction where dat trick am hid.
-Den when you find de trick, sprinkle a li'l quicksilver over a piece of
-paper and put da paper on de fire, and dat trick gwine be laid forever.
-
-"Old folks done told me how to make a conjurer leave town. Make up a
-hick'ry fire and let it burn down to coals. Den you take up two live
-coals. One dese gwine be you, and de other gwine be de luck. Take up one
-dead coal, and dat you enemy. Den you jes' keep 'wake till de rooster
-crow or midnight. Dat am de end of de day. Now you chunk de live coal
-what am you to de south, de warm country; den throw de other live coal
-to de east; den chunk de dead coal, you enemy, to de north, de cold
-country. Nothin' of de conjurer can't git over fire, and 'fore de week
-out, dat conjurer be leavin'.
-
-"A old Indian who used to hang round Marse Bill's place say to git de
-best of a conjurer, git some clay from da mouth a crawfish hole, and
-some dirt from a red ant's hole. Mix dem and wet dem with whiskey or
-camphor. Git some angleworms and boil dem and add de worm water to de
-clay and dirt. Iffen you rubs de conjured pusson with dis, he trouble
-done go 'way."
-
-Willis Winn
-===========
-
-**Willis Winn claims to be 116 years old. He was born in Louisiana, a
-slave of Bob Winn, who Willis says taught him from his youth that his
-birthday was March 10, 1822. When he was freed Willis and his father
-moved to Hope, Arkansas, where they lived sixteen years. Willis then
-moved to Texarkana and from there to Marshall, where he has lived
-fourteen years. Willis lives alone in a one-room log house in the rear
-of the Howard Vestal home on the Powder Mill Road, north of Marshall,
-and is supported by an $11.00 per month old age pension.**
-
-"The onliest statement I can make 'bout my age is my old master, Bob
-Winn, allus told me if anyone ask me how old I is to say I's borned on
-March the tenth, in 1822. I's knowed my birthday since I's a shirt-tail
-boy, but can't figure in my head.
-
-"My pappy was Daniel Winn and he come from Alabama, and I 'member him
-allus sayin' he'd like to go back there and get some chestnuts. Mammy
-was named Patsy and they was nine of us chillen. The five boys was me
-and Willie and Hosea and two Georges, and the gals was Car'lina and Dora
-and Anna and Ada, and all us lived to be growed and have chillen.
-
-"Massa Bob's house faced the quarters where he could hear us holler when
-he blowed the big horn for us to git up. All the houses was made of logs
-and we slept on shuck and grass mattresses what was allus full of
-chinches. I still sleep on a grass mattress, 'cause I can't rest on
-cotton and feather beds.
-
-"We et yellow bread and greens and black-eyed peas and potlicker and
-sopped 'lasses. Us and the white folks all cooked in fireplaces. A big
-iron pot hung out in the yard for to bile greens and hog jowl and sich
-like. We didn't know nothing 'bout bakin' powder and made our soda from
-burnt cobs. That's jes' as good soda as this Arm and Hammer you get in
-the store. We et flour bread Sundays, but you daren't git cotch with
-flour dough 'cept on that day. Mammy stole lots of it, though. She
-rolled it up and put it round her head and covered it with her head-rag.
-Wild game was all over the country, buffalo and bears and panthers and
-deer and possum and coon. The squirrels 'most run over you in the woods.
-We et at a long, wooden trough and it was allus clean and full of plenty
-grub. We used buffalo and fish bones for spoons, and some et with they
-hands. The grub I liked best was whatever I could git.
-
-Us slaves didn't wear nothing but white lowell cloth. They give us pants
-for Sunday what had a black stripe down the leg. The chillen wore wool
-clothes in winter, but the big folks wore the same outfit the year
-round. They didn't care if you froze.
-
-"I can show you right where I was when the stars fell. Some say they
-covered the ground like snow, but nary one ever hit the ground. They
-fell in 'bout twelve feet of the ground. The chillen jumped up and tried
-to cotch them. I don't 'member how long they fell, but they was shootin'
-through the air like sky-rockets fer quite a spell.
-
-"Missy Callie had one gal and two boys and Massa Bob had three
-overseers. He didn't have nigger drivers, but had his pets. We called
-them pimps, 'cause they was allus tattlin' when we done anything. His
-place was jes' as far as you could let your eyes see, 'bout 1,800 or
-1,900 acres, and he owned more'n 500 niggers.
-
-"I still got the bugle he woke us with at four in the mornin'. When the
-bugle blowed you'd better go to hollerin', so the overseer could hear
-you. If he had to call you, it was too bad. The first thing in the
-mornin' we'd go to the lot and feed, then to the woodpile till
-breakfast. They put our grub in the trough and give us so long to eat.
-Massa hollered if we was slow eatin'. 'Swallow that grub now and chaw it
-tonight. Better be in that field by daybreak.' We worked from see to
-can't.
-
-"I's seed many a nigger whipped on a 'buck and gag' bench. They buckled
-'em down hard and fast on a long bench, gagged they mouth with cotton
-and when massa got through layin' on that cowhide, the blood was runnin'
-off on the ground. Next mornin' after he whip you, he'd come to the
-quarters when you git up and say, 'Boy, how is you feelin'? No matter
-how sore you is, you'd better jump and kick you heels and show how
-lively you is.' Massa hated me to he dying day, 'cause I told missy
-'bout him whippin' a gal scandously in the field, 'cause she want to go
-to the house to her sick baby. Missy Callie didn't whip us, but she'd
-twist our nose and ears nearly off. Them fingers felt like a pair of
-pinchers. She stropped on her guns and rode a big bay horse to the
-field.
-
-"Massa had a gin and I hauled cotton to Port Caddo, on Caddo Lake. I
-druv eight mules and hauled eight bales of cotton. Massa followed me
-with two mules and two bales of cotton. I usually had a good start of
-him. The patterrollers has cotched me and unhitched my mules and druv
-'em off, leavin' me in the middle of the road. They'd start back home,
-but when they overtook massa they stopped, 'cause he druv the lead
-mules. He fetched 'em back and say, 'Willis, what happen?' He sho'
-cussed them patterrollers and said he'll git even yet.
-
-"They was sellin' slaves all the time, puttin' 'em on the block and
-sellin' 'em, 'cordin' to how much work they could do in a day and how
-strong they was. I's seed lots of 'em in chains like cows and mules. If
-a owner have more'n he needed, he hit the road with 'em and sold 'em off
-to 'joinin' farms. None of 'em ever run off. They couldn't git away. I's
-seed too many try it. If the patterrollers didn't cotch you, some white
-folks would put you up and call your massa. They had a 'greement to be
-on the watch fer runaway niggers. When the massa git you back home and
-git through with you, you'd sho' stay home.
-
-"In slavery time the niggers wasn't 'lowed to look at a book. I larned
-to read and write after surrender in the jail at Hot Springs, in
-Arkansas.
-
-"They give us cake at Christmas and eggnog and 'silly-bug'. Eggnog is
-made from whites of eggs and 'silly-bug' from yallers. You have to churn
-the whiskey and yallers to make 'silly-bug'.
-
-"Corn shuckin's was the things them days. I liked to see 'em come. They
-cooked up guineas and ducks and chickens and sometimes roast a pig.
-Massa kept twenty, thirty barrels whiskey round over the place all the
-time, with tin cups hangin' on the barrels. You could drink when you
-want to, but sho' better not git drunk. Massa have to watch he corners
-when cornshuckin' am over, or us niggers grab him and walk him round in
-the air on their hands.
-
-"When some of the white folks died every nigger on the place had to go
-to the grave and walk round and drap in some dirt on him. They buried
-the niggers anyway. Dig a ditch and cover 'em up. I can show you right
-now down in Louisiana where I was raised, forty acres with nothin' but
-niggers buried on 'em.
-
-"I 'member lots 'bout the war but can't tell you all, 'cause every war
-have its secrets. That war had four salutes, and you'd better give the
-right one when you meet the captain. I's heared the niggers sing, 'Gonna
-hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree.' My pappy fought in the last
-battle, at Mansfield, and so did Massa Bob.
-
-"When the 'Federates come in sight of Mansfield they was carryin' a red
-flag, and kept it raised till surrender. When the Yanks come in sight
-they raised a white flag and wanted the 'Federates to surrender, but
-they wouldn't answer. It wasn't long till the whole world round there
-smelt like powder. Guns nowadays jus' goes 'pop-pop', but them guns
-sounded like thunder.
-
-"After surrender, massa freed the men and missy freed the women, but he
-didn't let us loose when he ought. They wasn't no places 'vided with
-niggers as I heared 'bout. Niggers in Louisiana say Queen Elizabeth sent
-a boatload of gold to America to give the free men, but we never seed
-any of it. Massa give us each a barrel meal, a barrel flour, a side of
-meat and ten gallons 'lasses and tell us we can work for who we pleases.
-Daddy bought two cows and a horse and eight hawgs and a goat from massa
-on credit and we moved and made three crops.
-
-"The Yanks stayed round Louisiana a long time after surrender. They come
-to white folks houses what hadn't freed they slaves and busted they meal
-and flour barrels and burn they meat and say, 'If we have to face you
-'gain, we'll sweep you from the cradle up.'
-
-"I's been cotched by them Ku Kluxers. They didn't hurt me, but have lots
-of fun makin' me cut capers. They pulls my clothes off once and make me
-run 'bout four hunerd yards and stand on my head in the middle the road.
-
-
-"They is plenty niggers in Louisiana that is still slaves. A spell back
-I made a trip to where I was raised, to see my old missy 'fore she died,
-and there was niggers in twelve or fourteen miles of that place that
-they didn't know they is free. They is plenty niggers round here what is
-same as slaves, and has worked for white folks twenty and twenty-five
-years and ain't drawed a five cent piece, jus' old clothes and somethin'
-to eat. That's the way we was in slavery.
-
-"Bout four years after surrender pappy say he heared folks say gold was
-covering the ground at Hope, Arkansas, so we pulled up and moved there.
-We found lots of money where they'd been a big camp, but no gold. We
-lived there sixteen years, then I came to Texarkana and worked twelve
-years for G.W. George Fawcett's sawmill. I never married till I was old,
-in Little Washington, Arkansas, and lived with my wife thirty-six years
-'fore she died. We raised eighteen chillen to be growed and nary one of
-'em was ever arrested.
-
-.. _`Willis Winn`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image201williswinn.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Willis Winn
-
- Willis Winn
-
-"I was allus wild and played for dances, but my wife was 'ligious and
-after I married I quieted down. When I jined the church, I burned my
-fiddle up. I allus made a livin' from public road work since I left
-Texarkana, till I got no count for work. The only time I voted was in
-Hope, and I voted the 'publican ticket and all my folks got mad.
-
-"If it wasn't for the good white folks, I'd starved to death. 'Fore I
-come here to the Vestals, I was livin' in a shack on the T. & P. tracks
-and I couldn't pay no rent. I was sick and the woman made me git out.
-Master Vestal found me down by the tracks, eatin' red clay. I'd lived
-for three days on six tomatoes. I et two a day. Master Vestal went home
-and his wife cooked a big pot of stew, with meat and potatoes, and
-fetched it to me. Then they built a house down behind their back yard
-and I's lived with 'em ever since.
-
-"I allus say the cullud race started off wrong when they was freed and
-is still wrong today. They had a shot to be well off, but they can't
-keep money. You give one a bank of money and he'll be busted tomorrow. I
-tells young niggers every day they ought to come down where they'll have
-some sense. I serves the Lord at home and don't meddle with 'em."
-
-Rube Witt
-=========
-
-**Rube Witt, 87, was a slave of Jess Witt of Harrison County, Texas. He
-enlisted in the Confederate Army at Alexandria, La., and was sent to
-Mansfield, but his regiment arrived after the victory of the North. He
-worked for his master for a year after the war, then moved to Marshall
-and worked for Edmund Key, Sr., pioneer banker and civic leader. Rube
-cooked for eighteen years at the old Capitol Hotel in Marshall, and took
-up preaching as a side line. He and his wife live at 707 E. Crockett
-St., in Marshall. They receive a $15.00 pension.**
-
-"I was born on the Jess Witt place, right here in Harrison County, on
-the tenth day of August, in 1850, and allus lived in and round Marshall.
-My father and mother, Daniel and Jane, was bred and born in Texas, and
-belonged to the Witts. I had five brothers, named Charlie and Joe and
-George and Bill and Jim, and six sisters, named Mary and Susan and Betsy
-and Anna and Effie and Lucinda. They all lived to be growed but I'm the
-onliest chile still livin'.
-
-"Master Witt had a big place, I don't recall how many acres. He didn't
-have so many slaves. Slavery was a tight fight. We lived in li'l cabins
-and slept on rough plank beds and et bacon and peas and pa'ched corn. We
-didn't hardly know what flour bread was. Master give us one outfit of
-clothes to a time and sometimes shoes. We worked all day in the fields,
-come in and fed the stock and did the chores and et what li'l grub it
-took to do us and went to bed. You'd better not go nowhere without a
-pass, 'cause them patterrollers was rolling round every bush.
-
-"My missus was named Kate and had two chillen. The Witts had a good set
-of niggers and didn't have to whip much. Sometimes he give us a light
-brushin' for piddlin' round at work. I seed plenty niggers whipped on
-ole man Ruff Perry and Pratt Hughes places, though. They was death on
-'em. Lawyer Marshall used to whip his niggers goin' and comin' every day
-that come round.
-
-"I 'members white folks sayin' war was startin' 'bout keepin' slaves and
-then I seed 'em mendin' the harness and wagons to go and fight. I was
-the houseboy for the Witts durin' the war and 'bout time it was over I
-enlisted at Alexandria as a soldier and they sent me to Mansfield. The
-Yanks had done won the victory when our reg'ment got there. They turned
-us loose to git home the best we could. I come back to the Witts and
-master calls up all the slaves and says we was free, but if we stayed
-and worked for him we'd have plenty to eat and wear, and if we left,
-it'd be root, hawg or die. Most of 'em left but I stayed a year. You'd
-ought to seed 'em pullin' off them croaker-sack clothes when master says
-we's free.
-
-"I come to Marshall with my mother and the whole state was under United
-States law. The 8th Regiment of Illinois was at Marshall for two years
-after the war, and no man, black, white or red or what is you, darsn't
-git cotched after dark without a pass. When they'd stop you, if you
-couldn't give the U.S. sign, 'Grant's Friend,' they'd shoot the devil
-out of you. You didn't pass 'less you knowed the sign.
-
-"The Confederates had a big gun powder mill on Mill's Creek, two and a
-half miles north of Marshall and it stayed operatin' two or three years.
-But Gen. Atichon and Capt. Bishop and Lt. Rives and a bunch of Yanks
-tried to capture it and the Confederates blowed it up.
-
-"When I was 'bout sixteen my mother hires me out to a Mr. Acorns, who
-was refugeed from Georgia to Marshall. Ole man Acorns was a mile of hell
-anywhere you met him and he nearly beat me to death and I run away. His
-son and him and 'nother man starts after me and I has to light a shuck.
-We sho' had some race down that hill over where the new water tower is
-in Sunny South, but they didn't cotch me. The white folks round here
-didn't 'lieve us niggers was free then.
-
-.. _`Rube Witt`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image208rube.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Rube Witt
-
- Rube Witt
-
-"Then I goes to work for Mr. Edmond Key, Sr., and stays with him till
-I'm growed. I used to help chase rabbits where the court house is now. I
-recalls the Buzzard Roost Hotel and some stores was on that square then.
-
-"I cooks for the old Capitol Hotel eighteen years, then I quit and tries
-railroadin', but it didn't take long to decide to go back to the cook
-apron. I allus made a livin' from cookin' and preachin', and I've
-preached forty-five years. The only times I voted was for high sheriff
-once and for President Garfield and President Grant.
-
-"I marries in 1915 and my wife is still with me. I'm too stove up with
-rhumatis' now to work and her and me gits $15.00 a month from the
-government."
-
-Ruben Woods
-===========
-
-**Ruben Woods, hale and strong despite his 84 years, was born a slave of
-the John Woods family in Taladiga County, Alabama. He served as houseboy
-in their home until he was 21, then came to Tyler, Texas, with one of
-his master's children. He now lives in El Paso, Texas.**
-
-"I'se de oldest of seven chillen. My father was John Woods, mother Laura
-Woods. She was a cook for de marster's family on de plantation. We lived
-in a log house, logs was hewed in de woods. De marster's house was
-plastered inside. He had 1,000 acres plantation and 96 slaves. He took
-good care of 'em. Onct a week dey would come and dey allowanced 'em out
-pervisions. Not fine stuff; no, dey didn' gib 'em nothin' like dat ham
-and such. Dey would gib you enough flour for biscuit for Sunday mornin'
-and dey gib potatoes. I tell you how dey done dat; ev'ry family, he had
-a basket and when dey blow de ho'n in de evenin' ev'ry chile dat was big
-enough come and he know his basket and take it home.
-
-"De quarters was all in rows. You had to have a pass frum de massa to go
-from one place to anudder or the pateroller would ketch you and whop
-you. Overseers whopped 'em, too.
-
-"You worked frum time you could see 'till dark. You couldn' git outta
-dat, no suh, time you coul' see de stuff in de fiel', you was out
-workin.'
-
-"Ole man Woods was a powerful good man. He wouldn' raise cotton for
-sale, only jus' enough for de women to make clothes. He raised hogs and
-cattle. I 'member Ben Averit; he had a big plantation over on de island.
-Took boatloads of slaves and work 'em hard. We'd hear de boats go over,
-clop-clop.
-
-"We'd take two yoke of oxen with co'n and wheat to de mill, stay all
-day, den bring it back to give ev'rybody. I go to mill lots of times and
-allus drive oxen. In hot weather, dey run off to de creek. What you
-talkin' erbout, when it gits hot and dey smell dat water, dey travel!
-
-"I 'member stagecoach. Had erbout six or eight hosses to 'em. Driver'd
-blow bugle for stops jus' like trains. Dey didn' have much trains dem
-days.
-
-"When de war comes, we had soldiers. I se'ed 'em drillin' and marchin'.
-I se'ed dem hep-hep-hep! Yes, ma'am, when de Yanks come we was a runnin'
-and a squattin' like partridges a hidin'. Dem guns was a firin' and
-shootin' dem cannon, spoilin' fiel's and killin' hawgs. Wasn't no fun.
-Drums a beatin'. It was excitable, yes, ma'am. We had to run and hide.
-We all run up to whut dey call a cave and down in dat cave we had eats.
-All come what could git in dere. De soldiers try to roun' 'em up, but
-not dem niggers. All run from one place to anudder.
-
-"I learned to read and write after freedom. Dey not allow you no book
-larnin'. Obey your marster and missus, dat's all.
-
-"I 'member jist as well as dat I'se sittin' here, when freedom come.
-Marster had 'em all come near de gate and he say, 'You all is free as I
-am now.' He hollered and cried. It tickled me to see him cry. And den
-he say, 'But now iffen you want to, all kin stay and finish up de crop.
-I'll feed you.' Some, dey go to de neighbors. Dey didn' know whut to do.
-Dey hadn' been taught to do for demselves. But dey couldn' whop 'em no
-more. I stayed 'till I was 21.
-
-.. _`Ruben Woods`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image211ruben.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Ruben Woods
-
- Ruben Woods
-
-"No, ma'am, I never coul' sing, but I 'member one song. It went dis way:
-
- | '1821—Jesus work is jus' begun;
- | 1822—Jesus brought de sinner through;
- | 1823—Jesus sot de prisoner free;
- | 1824—Jesus preached 'mong de poor;
- | 1825—Jesus brought de dead to life;
- | 1826—Jesus had all things fixed;
- | 1827—Jesus rose and went to Heben;
- | 1828—Jesus made de plain way straight;
- | 1829—Jesus turned de blood to wine.'
-
-"We played hide-a-hoop. And hide-a-switch. We do dis; you'se huntin'
-switch and gittin' hot, gittin' col', dey take after you, dey have a
-base to go to. Den if dey ketch dem dey whop 'em.
-
-"We played 'Anthony Over,' wid thread balls. We throw dat ball over de
-house. If dey don' ketch it, dey's out. Dat's de way dey had de sport."
-
-Willis Woodson
-==============
-
-**Willis Woodson does not know his age, but looks very aged. He was born
-in Whiterock, but he does not know its location, except that it was
-somewhere east of the Mississippi River. Willis now lives in Tyler,
-Texas.**
-
-"I'm borned at a place called Whiterock, but don't rightly 'member no
-other name, but it was a long, long way from here, though. I was the
-prop'ty of Marse Richards, but he sold me and my maw and a lot of
-darkies to Marse Ike Isom. Maw said Marse Ike done pay $500 for me,
-cheap 'cause I's purty little and couldn't do much work.
-
-"Marse Isom moved to Texas and everybody holped load de wagons, and we
-starts real early in a cold mornin'. De old womens and little chillens
-rode in de wagons, but de men walked. We traveled real slow, though, and
-it wasn't no worse'n plowin' all day. One Marse Isom's sons rid behind
-on a big, white hoss, and seed none of the darkies runned off. At night
-we fixes a supper and goes to bed and all de niggers is chained together
-and slept on straw beds. The white men tooked turns guardin' dem with
-guns.
-
-"We gits to de new farm, long ways from where we lives befo', and starts
-clearin' land. When we gits settled, Old Miss picks me to be nuss to her
-chillen. Maw didn't work in de field. She say she done been hurt when
-she got a whippin' when she ain't growed, and her back ain't good no
-more. Old Miss say, 'Eva, you come in de kitchen and make some
-chittlin's, and iffen you cooks good, you can work in my kitchen.' Maw,
-she make dem chitlin's and dey's damn good, so she gits to cook den.
-
-"Marse and Old Miss lives in de big house, with boards outside,
-'steadin' logs. It have big rooms, lots of dem, and a big fireplace all
-'cross de side one room. Me and 'nother boy has to bring in logs to
-build de fire, him totin' one end and me totin' one end. I stays in de
-house, so I gits good clothes and shoes, too. Some dem niggers didn't
-have hardly no clothes, though,
-
-"De mostest fun I ever got was when Marse Isom 'lows me to be footman.
-He gits me a uniform, most like a sojer's, 'ceptin' mine am red with
-black stripes down de pants. I 'member it jist like yesterday, de first
-time I puts it on. Marse give a cel'bration at he house and de doorman
-am sick, so I has to be it. He give me dat suit and say to hurry put it
-on. Den he make me come to de front door and let him in over and over,
-so as to git de hang of it. He told me to take his hat and cane and put
-dem up, and to say, 'Thank you,' and 'Dis way, please,' and not to say
-no more to nobody, and I didn't. After dat night I opens de door lots of
-times, but mostest I wears dat suit when I takes de white folks to
-church, while dey listens to preachin' and I holds de hosses.
-
-.. _`Willis Woodson`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image214williswoodson.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Willis Woodson
-
- Willis Woodson
-
-"I never did see no niggers whipped, but I done see dat whip hangin' in
-de barn. It a big, long thing, lots bigger'n a horsewhip, and I know it
-must have been used, 'cause it all wore out at one end.
-
-"All de fun we has am huntin' and fishin'. We can go any night if we
-gits a permit from Marse Isom. Sometimes at night, he lets all de big
-niggers git together 'hind de cabins and make a big bonfire. Den we
-sings all de songs we knows, till nine o'clock, den Marse rings de bell,
-to cut out all de noise.
-
-"Jus' befo' dat war am over, some soldiers marches through de farm and
-kilt all de cows and stock and burns de barn, Marse beg dem not to burn
-he house, so dey didn't. Some dem niggers quits when dey freed, without
-no supper, but not dis nigger! I stays sev'ral years, den gits a job
-snakin' logs in a sawmill. Den I marries and has seven chillen and I
-stays with first one, den 'nother. I holps dem all I can. I been
-patchin' up some fishin' tackle today."
-
-James G. Woorling
-=================
-
-**James G. Woorling, of Fort Worth, Texas, tells the story of Uncle
-Dave, one of the slaves that belonged to Mr. Woorling's father, who
-owned a large plantation near Point, in Rains County, Texas. The story
-relates how Uncle Dave provided for his family after they were freed,
-and is valuable as an example of how many ex-slaves managed to secure a
-foothold in a world for which slavery had not prepared them.**
-
-"During pre-war days my father owned a plantation near Point, in Rains
-County, as well as a large number of slaves, including one Uncle Dave.
-After the Negroes were emancipated, my father placed a large number of
-them on tracts of land within the plantation and furnished them with a
-mule team, a few sheep, some chickens, and the implements needed to
-cultivate the land. The Negroes were privileged to occupy the land for
-seven years and to keep whatever they made during that time. After the
-expiration of the seven years they were to pay in money or percentage of
-crops for the use of the land. This plan was followed by a number of
-plantation owners.
-
-"Uncle Dave was an exceptional Negro. He was a natural mechanic, but
-could do carpenter work, blacksmithing, shoemaking and many other things
-equally well. He was a good manager, frugal and industrious, and it is
-doubtful if he paid out $50.00 in a year's time for food, clothing and
-other necessities during the seven years that he lived on the
-seventy-five acres on our plantation.
-
-"He never bought a horsecollar, but made them himself, shaping them to
-prevent galling and packing them with corn husks. He made the hames from
-oak timber and made the metal accessories.
-
-"The shoes for Dave's family he made from hides of animals slaughtered
-for the meat supply. About the only farm implements he bought were those
-that required high grade steel.
-
-"Aunt Julia, his wife, did her part. She was adept at cooking and
-preserving, and knew how to cure meat. Salt and spices were purchased,
-but they raised barley and roasted it, to use in the place of tea or
-coffee. They raised sugar and ribbon cane and made their own sugar and
-molasses. Aunt Julia told father that eggs were traded for any articles
-of food that could not be obtained from the farm.
-
-"Following the Civil War the production of cloth by power driven
-machines enabled manufacturers to sell cloth at a price that did not
-warrant continuance of the hand method. But that did not interest Dave
-and Julia. They had a spinning wheel and a loom made by Uncle Dave
-himself, and they made all the cloth needed by the family, dying it with
-the bark of blackoak, cherry or other trees.
-
-"When the seven year period ended, my father thought that Uncle Dave
-would stay on the land. He had cleared it, built a house and barn and
-other structures, which all belonged to my father under the agreement.
-But Uncle Dave was not interested in renting the land. He had saved
-enough money to buy a thousand acres between the towns of Point and
-Emory. He built a house and barn and moved his family.
-
-"Uncle Dave came home one day from a trip to town with a load of cotton.
-He had a ten gallon keg, which he painted black. He cut a slit in the
-side of the keg and made a plug for the hole and told Julia the keg was
-to hold his surplus cash.
-
-"Uncle Dave hid the keg and during the next twenty years refused to tell
-his wife, children or anyone else where it was. It is obvious that all
-the money he received for his crops, except a small sum, was surplus.
-Julia often asked Uncle Dave to tell her where the keg was, and told my
-father that Uncle Dave had not been well and she feared the possibility
-of his dying without disclosing the secret. Not long after, Uncle Dave
-was found dead one morning. Money was needed for funeral expenses, but
-the keg could not be found and Julia had to borrow the required amount.
-
-"The family searched first in the more likely locations, then made a
-minute search of the whole place, but the keg was never found. On Uncle
-Dave's farm a fortune is cached. The keg must have long ago
-disintegrated, but the gold and silver money, the savings of twenty
-years, remain in their hiding place."
-
-Caroline Wright
-===============
-
-**Caroline Wright, about 90 years old, was born near Baton Rouge,
-Louisiana. Dr. Warren Wortham owned her parents and their 14 children.
-Caroline was 12 when they were freed. Her father, Robert Vaughn, moved
-to Texas, [HW: with master, p.2, para. 4 & 5] where he prospered and
-bought more than 300 acres of Tehuacana bottom land in McLennan County.
-Caroline and her husband now live at 59 Grant St., Waco, in a little
-house they bought after their family was grown.**
-
-"I was bo'ned in Louisiana on Jones Creek, by Baton Rouge, 'bout 90
-years ago. I disremember the year. My pappy was Bob Vaughn and my mammy
-was Rose Ann. Dey was bo'ned by Baton Rouge. I had six sisters, Betsy
-Ann, Lydia, Nancy, Paga and Louisan; and three brothers, Horace, Robert
-and Tom. We was all owned by Dr. Warren Wortham and his wife, Annie. Mr.
-Bob, de doctor's brother, had us in charge, and he hired us out to Hays
-White, who owned a sugar plantation on de Mississippi River by Baton
-Rouge. Us all stayed at his place two year. Dere was sugar cane, co'n,
-peas and tomatoes raised on de farm. We lived in a log cabin made of
-pine logs and our beds was made outta pine timber with co'n shucks
-tacked on de bed, and our kivers was feather beds.
-
-"In Clinton, in Louisiana, we was all put on de block and valued. I was
-six year old and I was valued at $1,500. But our family wasn' sold to
-anyone. I was given to Miss Muriel, Dr. Wortham's daughter. Me and my
-sisters was made house slaves and my mammy and pappy and brothers was
-made fiel' slaves.
-
-"Our marster, Dr. Wortham, sho' was a fine doctor. He never whip us. De
-young missus learned us our A B C's 'cause dere was no school for de
-slaves. Dere wasn' no church on de plantation, but us all went
-'casionally to a big log cabin and camp shed. Sometime a white would
-preach and sometime a cullud preacher.
-
-"I only 'member one slave who ran away. He was so worthless, he came
-back when he got ready. He wasn' punished, 'cause he wasn' mean, just
-lazy. I never saw no jail for slaves and never saw any whipped. We allus
-had from Friday noon to Monday mornin' off.
-
-"On Christmas, the white folks allus give us presents and plenty to eat,
-and us allus had a big dance five or six time a year. Dr. Wortham lived
-in a great big log house made from cedar logs.
-
-"One day, I seen a lot of men and I asked de missus what dey was doin'.
-She tol' me dey come to fit in de war. De war got so bad dat Mr. Bob
-tol' us we was all gwine to Texas. Us all started out on Christmas Day
-of de firs' year of Lincoln's war. We went in ox wagons and us had mules
-to ride.
-
-"On de trip to Texas, one evenin' a big storm come up and Mr. Bob, he
-asked a man to let us use a big, empty house. Dey put me by de door to
-sleep 'cause I was de lightes' sleeper. Some time in de night, I woked
-up and dere stood de bigges' haint I ever saw. He was ten feet high and
-had on a big beaver coat. I hollers to my pappy, 'Pappy, wake up, dere's
-a haint.' Nex' mornin' we got up and dey was nothin' outta place. No,
-ma'am, we didn' cotch de haint, a haint jus' can't be cotched.
-
-"Nex' mornin' we started agin on our journey, and some time in March we
-reach Texas. They took us all 'cross de Brazos on a ferryboat, jus'
-'bout where de 'spension bridge is now.
-
-"De doctor took us all on de farm on de other side of where Bosque is
-now. On de farm us raised all kinds vegetables and grain and sugar cane
-to make sorghum, but no cotton. We all lived in one and two room log
-cabins, made out of cedar posts. Us didn' make any money for ourselves,
-but us had plenty of hog meat, beef, butter, milk, cornbread and
-vegetables to eat, lots mo' dan us have dese days. Us did all de cookin'
-in de fireplaces. Us sho' did have plenty of possum, and rabbit, and us
-cotched lots of fish outta de Bosque River.
-
-"De women slaves, eleven of us, had our own gardens and us spun all our
-own clothes. In de summer us all wore cotton stripe and in de winter,
-linsey dresses. On Sunday us had lawn dresses and us sho' did come out
-looking choicesome.
-
-"Dr. Wortham had Si for an overseer. It was a big farm and had forty or
-fifty slaves to work it. Us got up 'bout four in de mornin' and ate
-breakfas' 'bout nine o'clock. All de slaves had to work from sun to sun,
-and when us was sick, de marster treated us.
-
-"When I was 'bout 16, I married William Wright. He was bo'n a slave near
-Rapid Pass, Kentucky. When he was eight year old, his family's owner
-died, and he went to the daughter, Mrs. Richard Mason, on Black River,
-in Louisiana, as "heir property." He was raised dere, but when he's
-freed he comes to Texas and works for Ganey Mason, seven mile east of
-Waco. He's 105 year old now and you cain't ha'dly unnerstan' what he's
-talkin' 'bout. We was married on the 23d day of December, in 1869. Will
-and me sho' did have a fine weddin'. De women cooked for three days and
-we danced and ate. My weddin' dress was elegant. It was white lawn with
-blue ribbons. Will and me had 12 chillen and raised 9, and us has 14
-grandchildren.
-
-"Will and me has been married 'bout 75 year and is still married. It's
-disrespectful how de young folks treats marriage nowadays.
-
-"Ten year after our chillen's growed, we swaps what land we has for dis
-little house, but we had to pay some money, too. Will was more'n 90
-years old and I was eighty some years old, but we got this house and we
-is happy. We can sit under that big china-berry tree in de fron' yard
-and look at de big trees over dere on Waco Creek, and one of our sons
-lives with us."
-
-Sallie Wroe
-===========
-
-**Sallie Wroe, 81, was born a slave on Mike Burdette's plantation near
-Austin. Her parents were field workers. In 1874 Sallie married John Wroe
-and they raised eleven children. Sallie owns a small farm on the
-outskirts of Austin. One of her daughters lives with her.**
-
-"Befo' I's married, I's Sallie Burdette. De white folks tell me I's born
-eighty-one years ago. I reckon I's dat old. I know I's born on Massa
-Mike Burdette's cotton plantation at Burdette Prairie, right close to
-Austin, and mammy's name was Het Burdette. She chopped and picked cotton
-and been dead long time. John Burdette was my pappy and he was jes' a
-reg'lar fieldman, too. Pappy been dead, mercy, so long!
-
-"Massa Burdette had a overseer and he sho' rough. I think his name must
-be Debbil, he so rough. My sister, Mollie, was weaver at de loom, and
-iffen she didn't git out 'nough for de day she am tied up in sittin'
-form and whipped hard. She had stripes all over de shoulders.
-
-"Dere was a whole row of log cabins close to de big house and de roofs
-was made of clapboards. It didn't rain in none. De only openin' was de
-door, no windows. Dere was mud and stick chimnies and a dirt floor. It
-wasn't no better dan a corncrib but purty warm in winter, 'cause de
-holes chinked with mud.
-
-"Massa Burdette 'low us nigger chillen come to de big house at night and
-his chillen larn us to read. Dey had blue-back spellers, but I didn't
-cotch on much and can't read or write now.
-
-"Pappy a purty good man, 'siderin' he a slave man. One day pappy and
-Uncle Paul and Uncle Andy and Uncle Joe was takin' bales of cotton on ox
-wagons down to de Rio Grande. Each man was drivin' a ox wagon down to
-Brownsville, where dey was to wait to meet Massa Burdette. But pappy and
-de others left de wagons 'long de river bank and rolled a bale of cotton
-in de river and all four of dem gits on dat bale and rows with sticks
-'cross over into Mexico. Dis was durin' de war. Pappy come back to us
-after freedom and say he done git 'long fine with Mexico. He larnt to
-talk jes' like dem.
-
-.. _`Sallie Wroe`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image223sallie.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Sallie Wroe
-
- Sallie Wroe
-
-"Me and mammy stays on at Massa Burdette's place de whole time pappy am
-gone. It was on June 19 we was made free and Massa Burdette say iffen we
-stays on his place and gather de crops, he give each of us a free
-eggnog. We ain't never got no eggnog befo' so it sound purty good and we
-stays and gathers de crops. But dat eggnog made me sick.
-
-"My cousin Mitchell come and got us and brung us to Chapel Hill. He done
-rent him a farm dere and looks out for us till pappy comes back. He
-brung some money back from Mexico and taken us all to Brenham and buyed
-us some clothes. Den he moved us up to Austin and done any work he could
-git. I stayed home till 1874 and den married John Wroe, and he rented
-land and farmed and died in 1927.
-
-"We raises eleven chillen and dey all good and 'haved. All my
-grandchillen calls me 'Big Mama,' but I's so li'l now dey ought to call
-me 'Li'l Mama.' I owns dis li'l farm. John saved 'nough money to buy it
-befo' he died. I gits a li'l pension and my daughter works and when
-she's workin' my grandchil' takes care of me."
-
-Fannie Yarbrough
-================
-
-**Fannie Yarbrough, blind and bedridden, was born a slave of the
-McKinney family, near Egypt, Kaufman Co., Texas. She was about six when
-the Civil War started. At that time her job was to herd sheep. After
-"freedom" she, her mother and sister, stayed with the McKinney's for a
-time. Fannie married Green Yarbrough in Hunt Co., Texas and they now
-live in a little cabin at 843 Plum St., Abilene, Texas.**
-
-"Ole Marster had a world of sheeps. Every day we take dem sheeps and
-watch 'em. The wolves was mean. We'd git to playin', all us little
-niggers, and forgit them sheeps and nex' thing you know an old wolf
-would have himse'f a sheep.
-
-"Sometimes we'd keep playin' so late it was dark 'fore we knowed it and
-we'd start runnin' them sheeps home. Ol' Marster would be at de big gate
-to let us in. He says, 'Now, chillen, you didn' git back with all the
-sheep.' We'd say, 'Ol' wolf got 'em.' But he knowed ol' wolf didn' get
-all de ones missin' and he'd say, 'You're storyin'. Then purty soon some
-of the little stray ones come home. Then he knowed we'd run the sheep
-home and he'd say, 'I 'spose I'll have to whip you,' but he never did.
-Those were sweet times! Ol' Marster was so good, and he give us more to
-eat than you ever saw. Hog meat every day and sweet 'tatoes so big we'd
-have to cut 'em with an ax.
-
-After we et our supper, we had to spin a broach of thread every night
-'fore we went to bed. I larned all 'bout spinnin' and weavin' when I was
-little and by time I's 10 I'd make pretty striped cloth.
-
-"How we played and played! On Sundays we'd strike out for the big woods
-and we'd gather our dresses full of hickory nuts, walnuts and berries
-and a sour apple called 'maypop.' We'd kill snakes and dance and sing
-that ol' song 'bout, 'Hurrah! Mister Bluecoat, Toodle-O.' 'O, Dat Lady's
-Beatin' You.' It meant his pardner was beatin' him dancin.'
-
-"I was jes' lyin' here dreamin' 'bout how we use to go to the woods
-every spring and dig the maypop roots, then bring 'em home and wash 'em
-good and dry 'em—but, mind you, not in the sun—then all us chillen
-would sit 'round and poun' dem roots, tied up in little bags of coarse
-cloth, till it was powder. Then we'd take a little flour and jes' enough
-water to make it stick, and we'd make pills to take when we got sick.
-And work you? Lawd a'mighty! When we took dat stuff we had to keep
-tendin' to de dress tail!
-
-"We went over to Flat Rock to church and de singin' was gran.' All day
-long we'd be at preachin' and singin'. Singin' dat good ol' spiritual
-song 'bout, 'You shan't be Slaves no More, since Christ have made you
-free.' I lay here yes'day and heared all them foolish songs and jubilee
-songs that comes over the radio, and den some of them ol' time
-spirituals come and it jes' made me feel like I was in ol' times.
-
-"I went back every year to see my ol' marster, as long as he lived. Now
-it won' be long till I sees him agin, some day."
-
-Litt Young
-==========
-
-**Litt Young was born in 1850, in Vicksburg, Miss., a slave of Martha
-Gibbs, on whose property the old battleground at Vicksburg was located.
-Litt was freed in 1865, in Vicksburg, and was refugeed by his owner to
-Harrison Co., Texas. He was freed again on June 19, 1866, and found work
-as a sawmill hand, a tie cutter and a woodcutter during the construction
-of the Texas & Pacific Railroad from Marshall to Texarkana. The
-remainder of his life, with the exception of five years on a farm, has
-been spent as a section hand. Litt lives alone on the Powder Mill Road,
-two and a half miles north of Marshall, and is supported by a $12.00
-monthly pension from the government.**
-
-"I's born in 1850 in Vicksburg, and belonged to Missy Martha Gibbs. Her
-place was on Warner Bayou and the old battlefield was right there in her
-field. She had two husbands, one named Hockley and he died of yellow
-fever. Then she marries a Dr. Gibbs, what was a Yankee, but she didn't
-know it till after the war.
-
-"Massa Hockley bought my daddy from a nigger trader up north somewheres,
-but my mammy allus belonged to the Gibbs family. I had a sister and two
-brothers, but the Gibbs sold them to the Simmons and I never seed 'em
-any more.
-
-"Old Missy Gibbs had so many niggers she had to have lots of quarters.
-They was good houses, weatherboarded with cypress and had brick
-chimneys. We'd pull green grass and bury it awhile, then bile it to make
-mattresses. That made it black like in auto seats. Missy was a big, rich
-Irishwoman and not scared of no man. She lived in a big, fine house, and
-buckled on two guns and come out to the place most every morning. She
-out-cussed a man when things didn't go right. A yellow man driv her
-down in a two-horse avalanche. She had a white man for overseer what
-live in a good house close to the quarters. It was whitewashed and had
-glass windows. She built a nice church with glass windows and a brass
-cupola for the blacks and a yellow man preached to us. She had him
-preach how we was to obey our master and missy if we want to go to
-Heaven, but when she wasn't there, he come out with straight preachin'
-from the Bible.
-
-"Good gracious, what we had to eat. They give us plenty, turnip greens
-and hog-jowl and peas and cornbread and milk by the barrels. Old women
-what was too old to work in the field done the cookin' and tended the
-babies. They cooked the cornbread in a oven and browned it like cake.
-When they pulled it out, all the chillen was standin' round, smackin'
-they lips. Every Christmas us got a set white lowell clothes and a pair
-brogan shoes and they done us the whole year, or us go naked.
-
-"When that big bell rung at four o'clock you'd better get up, 'cause the
-overseer was standin' there with a whippin' strap if you was late. My
-daddy got a sleepin' most every morning for oversleeping. Them mules was
-standin' in the field at daylight, waitin' to see how to plow a straight
-furrow. If a nigger was a 500 pound cotton picker and didn't weigh up
-that much at night, that was not gitting his task and he got a whipping.
-The last weighin' was done by lightin' a candle to see the scales.
-
-"Us have small dances Saturday nights and ring plays and banjo and
-fiddle playin' and knockin' bones. There was fiddles make from gourds
-and banjoes from sheep hides. I 'member one song, 'Coffee grows on white
-oak trees, River flows with brandy-o.' That song was started in
-Vicksburg by the Yankee soldiers when they left to go home, 'cause they
-so glad war was over.
-
-"Missy have a big, steam sawmill there on Warner Bayou, where the
-steamboats come up for lumber. It was right there where the bayou
-empties in the Mississippi. I 'member seein' one man sold there at the
-sawmill. He hit his massa in the head with a singletree and kilt him and
-they's fixin' to hang him, but a man promised to buy him if he'd promise
-to be good. He give $500 for him.
-
-"Dr. Gibbs was a powerful man in Vicksburg. He was the 'casion of them
-Yanks takin' 'vantage of Vicksburg like they done. 'Fore the war he'd
-say to missy, 'Darling, you oughtn't whip them poor, black folks so
-hard. They is gwine be free like us some day.' Missy say, 'Shut up.
-Sometimes I 'lieve you is a Yankee, anyway.'
-
-"Some folks say Dr. Gibbs was workin' for the North all the time 'fore
-the war, and when he doctored for them durin' the war, they say they
-knowed it. The 'Federates have a big camp there at Vicksburg and cut a
-big ditch out at the edge of town. Some say Gen. Grant was knowin' all
-how it was fixed, and that Dr. Gibbs let him know.
-
-"The Yankees stole the march on the 'Federates and waited till they come
-out the ditch and mowed 'em down. The 'Federates didn't have no chance,
-'cause they didn't have no cannon, jus' cap and ball rifles. The main
-fight started 'bout four in the morning and held on till 'bout ten. Dead
-soldiers was layin' thick on the ground by then. After the fight, the
-Yanks cut the buttons off the coats of them that was kilt.
-
-"I seed the Yankee gunboats when they come to Vicksburg. All us niggers
-went down to the river to see 'em. They told us to git plumb away,
-'cause they didn't know which way they was gwine to shoot. Gen. Grant
-come to Vicksburg and he blowed a horn and them cannons began to shoot
-and jus' kept shootin'. When the Yankees come to Vicksburg, a big, red
-flag was flyin' over the town. Five or six hours after them cannons
-started shootin' they pulled it down and histed a big, white one. We saw
-it from the quarters.
-
-.. _`Litt Young`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image227litt.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Litt Young
-
- Litt Young
-
-"After surrender the Yanks arrested my old missy and brought her out to
-the farm and locked her up in the black folks church. She had a guard
-day and night. They fed her hard-tack and water for three days 'fore
-they turned her a-loose. Then she freed all her niggers. 'Bout that time
-Massa Gibbs run out of corn to feed he stock and he took my daddy and a
-bunch of niggers and left to buy a boatload of corn. Missy seized a
-bunch us niggers and starts to Texas. She had Irishmen guards, with
-rifles, to keep us from runnin' 'way. She left with ten six-mule teams
-and one ox cook wagon. Them what was able walked all the way from
-Vicksburg to Texas. We camped at night and they tied the men to trees.
-We couldn't git away with them Irishmen havin' rifles. Black folks
-nat'rally scart of guns, anyway. Missy finally locates 'bout three miles
-from Marshall and we made her first crop and on June 19th, the next year
-after 'mancipation, she sot us free.
-
-"Dr. Gibbs followed her to Texas. He said the Yanks captured his niggers
-and took his load of corn as they was comin' down the Tennessee River,
-where it jines the Mississippi. Me and mammy stayed in Texas, and never
-did see daddy 'gain. When us freed the last time us come to Marshall and
-I works in a grist mill and shingle mill. I cut ties for 15¢ apiece. I
-cut wood for the first engines and they paid me $1.25 a cord. I got
-where I cut three cords a day. I helped clear all the land where
-Texarkana is now. When the railroads quit using wood, I worked as
-section hand for $1.25 a day. I farmed five years and never made a cent
-and went back to the railroad.
-
-"I marries in Marshall so long ago I done forgot. I raises six gals and
-has three sets grandchillen. They's all livin' 'cept one. Since my wife
-died and I's too ailing to work, I's been kept by the pension.
-
-"They had provost law in Marshall when us come to Texas. I allus voted
-when they let us. These young niggers ain't like what us was.
-Penitentiaries was made for the white folks, but the young niggers is
-keepin' 'em full."
-
-Louis Young
-===========
-
-**Louis Young, 88, was born a slave of Hampton Atkinson, on a small farm
-in Phillips County, Arkansas. When Louis was twelve, his master sold him
-and his mother to Tom Young, who took them to Robinson Co., Texas. Louis
-now lives at 5523 Bonnell St., Fort Worth, Tex.**
-
-"Mammy done put my age in de Bible and I'm eighty-eight years old now.
-I'm born in 1849. But I can git round. Course, I can't work now, but,
-shucks, I done my share of work already. I works from time I'm eight
-years old till I'm eighty past, and I'd be workin' yit if de rheumatis'
-misery didn't git me in de arms and legs. It make me stiff, so I can't
-walk good.
-
-"Yes, suh, I starts to work when eight on dat plantation where I'm born.
-Dat in Arkansaw, and Massa Hampton own me and my mammy and eight other
-niggers. My pappy am somewhere, but I don't know where or nothin' 'bout
-him.
-
-"Us all work from light to dark and Sunday, too. I don't know what
-Sunday am till us come to Texas, and dances and good things, I don't
-know nothin' 'bout dem till us come to Texas. Massa Hampton, he am long
-on de work and short on de rations, what he measure out for de week.
-Seven pounds meat and one peck meal and one quart 'lasses, and no more
-for de week. If us run out, us am out, dat's all.
-
-"One day us gits sold to Massa Tom Young. He feels mammy's muscles and
-looks on her for marks of de whip. Massa Young say he give $700, but
-Massa Hampton say no, he want $1,000. He say, 'Yous takin' dem to Texas,
-where dey sho' to be slaves, 'spite de war.'
-
-"Finally Massa Young gives $900 for us and off us go to Texas. Dat in
-1861, de fall de year, and it am three teams mules and three teams oxen
-hitch to wagons full of farm things and rations and sich. Us on de road
-more'n three weeks, maybe a month, befo' us git to Robinson County.
-
-"When us git dere, de work am buildin' de cabins and house and den clear
-de land, and by Spring, us ready to put in de crops, de corn and cotton.
-Massa Young am good and give us plenty to eat. He has 'bout twenty
-slaves and us works reason'ble, and has good time 'pared with befo'. On
-Saturday night it am dancin' and music and singin', and us never heared
-of sich befo'.
-
-"One day Massa Young call us to de house and tell us he don't own us no
-more, and say us can stay and he pay us some money, if us wants. He ask
-mammy to stay and cook and she does, but I'm strongheaded and runs off
-to Calvert and goes to work for Massa Brown, and dere I stays till I'm
-growed. He paid me $10.00 de month and den $15.00.
-
-"When I's twenty-five I marries Addie Easter and us have no chillen and
-she dies ten years after. Den I drifts 'round, workin' here and yonder
-and in 1890 I marries dat woman settin' right dere. Den I rents de farm
-and if de crops am good, de prices am bad, and if de prices am good, de
-crops am bad. So it go and us lives, and not too good, at dat. I quits
-in 1925 and comes to Fort Worth and piddles at odd jobs till my
-rheumatis' git so bad five years ago.
-
-"I done forgit to tell you 'bout de Klux. Dem debbils causes lots of
-trouble. Dey done de dirty work at night, come and took folks out and
-whip dem.
-
-.. _`Louis Young`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image232louis.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Louis Young
-
- Louis Young
-
-"Some cullud folks am whip so hard dey in bed sev'ral weeks and I knowed
-some hanged by dey thumbs. Maybe some dem cullud folks gits out dere
-places, but mostest dem I knows gits whip for nothin'. It jus' de
-orneriness dem Klux. It so bad de cullud folks 'fraid to sleep in dey
-house or have parties or nothin' after dark. Dey starts for de woods or
-ditches and sleeps dere. It git so dey can't work for not sleepin', from
-fear of dem Klux. Den de white folks takes a hand and sojers am brung
-and dey puts de stop to dem debbils.
-
-"'Bout de livin' now, us jus' can't make it. Us lives on what de pension
-am and dat $30.00 de month, and it mighty close us has to live to git by
-on sich. I thinks of Massa Young, and us live better den dan now.
-
-"I never votes, 'cause I can't read and dat make troublement for me to
-vote. How I gwine make de ticket for dis and dat? For dem what can read,
-dey can vote."
-
-Teshan Young
-============
-
-**Teshan Young, 86, was born a slave to Buckner Scott, who owned a
-plantation in Harrison County, Texas, and had over one hundred slaves.
-Teshan married Moses Young in 1867 and lived near her old home until
-1915, when she moved to Fort Worth. She lives in a negro settlement on
-the outskirts of Stop Six, a suburb of Fort Worth.**
-
-"I'se 86 years ole. Bo'n in Harrison County, Texas. Marster Scott owned
-me and my parents, one brudder and three sisters. Marster never sold any
-of we'uns, so dere was no separation of de family long's we lived on de
-Marster's place. He had awful big plantation, 'bout seven miles long.
-
-"On dat plantation de Marster have everything. Hims have de gin and de
-mill for to grind de meal and feed, de big blacksmith shop and dere was
-a house whar dey spins de yarn and makes de cloth, de shoes and sich. He
-have 'bout 30 quarters for de cullud folks back of him's house, and dere
-am a house for de nursery, wid a big yard dat have swings and sich for
-de cullud chillens.
-
-"Each cullud family have de cabin for themself. De cabins have bunks for
-sleeping', fireplace for to cook, bench for to set on—but dat's all de
-furniture. Marster Scott feeds all us niggers good. We'uns have beans,
-peas, milk, vegetables, 'lasses and plenty of meat. De marster have
-hawgs on top of hawgs on dat place, for to make de meat.
-
-"We'uns have all de clothes dat we'uns need for to keep warm. De marster
-says, 'De nigger mus' have plenty of food and keep wan for to work
-good. How many hours we'uns work? Dat depen's on de time of de year it
-am. When its time for de hoein' or de pickin' of de cotton, dey work
-late. 'Twarn't sich long hours udder times. But de marster makes de
-cullud folks work and whips 'em when dey don'. I'se 'member one slave
-dat gits whipped so bad hims never gits up, hims died. We'uns chillens
-would go roun' whar hims was and look at 'im. De Marster lets we'uns do
-dat.
-
-"Yes, suh, dey whupped pow'ful hard sometimes. My mammy gits whupped one
-time 'cause she come from de fiel' for to nuss her baby, and once for de
-cause she don' keep up her row in de fiel'. My pappy gits shoot in de
-shoulder by de overseer, 'cause hims runs from de whuppin.' 'Twas dis
-way, de overseer says, 'Come here, I'se gwine whup you for not workin'
-like I says.' Dere was a fence dere and my pappy runs for dat and am
-crawlin' over it when de overseer shoots.
-
-"I'se 'bout 10 year ole when de war starts. It makes no diff'rence, dat
-I'se 'members, 'cept de Marster jines de army. I'se tend to all de
-cullud chillen while dey mammies workin' in de fiel'. De Marster am sho'
-particular 'bout dem chillen. He feeds 'em well, mush, milk, bread,
-'lasses, vegetables and sich. De food am put in de long bowl, like de
-trough. De chillen have wooden spoons and we'uns line dem 'long de bowl.
-Den de fun starts. I'se have de long switch and keeps walkin' back and
-forth to make dem debils behave. De Marster comes in sometimes and hims
-laugh at dem, dey so funny.
-
-"After I'se gits married, I'se has 13 chillen of my own. I'se never
-calls de doctor for my chillen. I'se goes in de woods and gits de plants
-and de herbs. For de stomach misery I'se uses de red petals, boils dat
-and takes de juice. For de cold I'se takes de Kalemas Root, boils dat
-and takes de juice.
-
-.. _`Teshan Young`:
-
-.. figure:: images/image235teshan.jpg
- :align: center
- :figwidth: 75%
- :alt: Teshan Young
-
- Teshan Young
-
-"When de chores am done on Sunday or Christmas, we'uns can have de
-music, dance and singin'. We'uns have some good ole times. De songs am
-de ole timers, sich as Swannee River, Ole Black Joe and dere am de
-fiddles and banjos dat dey play. We'uns sho' cel'brate on Christmas. De
-women all cooks cakes and cookies and sich. De men saves all de bladders
-from de hawgs dey kill, blows 'em full of air and lets 'em dry. De
-young'uns puts dem on sticks and holds 'em over a fire in de yard. Dat
-makes 'em bust and dey goes 'bang' jus' like a gun. Dat was de
-fireworks.
-
-"Marster comes back from de war widout gettin' hurt. At de time freedom
-comes, some cullud folks stays on and works for money. 'Twas de fust
-money dey ever had, and dey don' know what to do wid it and what its
-worth. Some of dem are still on dat lan'! Dey rents or have bought. My
-brudder lives dere, jus' a few yards from de ole quarters. My pappy
-worked for ole Marster till he died. I'se stays wid him till I marries.
-
-"I'se married in a cullud church and I'se have a pretty pink dress and
-hat. My husban' have hims own farm, part of de ole plantation. We
-finally buys it from de Marster. In 1902 my husban' dies and I'se stays
-dere till 1915. Den I'se comes to Fort Worth. I'se still missin' some
-but I'se gettin' de pension of nine dollars a month. Dat sho' helps
-out."
-
-.. topic:: Transcriber's Note
-
- Original spelling has been maintained; e.g. "*stob*—a short
- straight piece of wood, such as a stake" (American Heritage
- Dictionary).—The Works Progress Administration was renamed
- during 1939 as the Work Projects Administration (WPA).
-
-|
-|
-|
-|
-|
-
-.. _pg_end_line:
-
-\*\*\* END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: A FOLK HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES FROM INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER SLAVES: VOLUME XVI, TEXAS NARRATIVES, PART 4 \*\*\*
-
-.. backmatter::
-
-.. toc-entry::
- :depth: 0
-
-.. _pg-footer:
-
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- Volume XVI: Texas Narratives--Part 4 - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost -no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Title: Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States -From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume XVI, Texas Narratives, Part 4 - -Author: Work Projects Administration - -Release Date: February 23, 2011 [EBook #35381] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: A FOLK -HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES FROM INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER -SLAVES: VOLUME XVI, TEXAS NARRATIVES, PART 4 *** - - - - -Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net. - -SLAVE NARRATIVES - - -_A Folk History of Slavery in the United States_ - -_From Interviews with Former Slaves_ - - -TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY - -THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT - -1936-1938 - -ASSEMBLED BY - -THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT - -WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION - -FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA - -SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS - - -_Illustrated with Photographs_ - -WASHINGTON 1941 - - -VOLUME XVI - -TEXAS NARRATIVES--PART 4 - - -Prepared by the Federal Writers' Project of - -the Works Progress Administration - -for the State of Texas - -[HW:] Handwritten note - -[TR:] Transcriber's note - - - - -INFORMANTS - - - - Mazique Sanco - - Clarissa Scales - - Hannah Scott - - Abram Sells - - George Selman - - Callie Shepherd - - Betty Simmons - - George Simmons - - Ben Simpson - - Giles Smith - - James W. Smith - - Jordon Smith - - Millie Ann Smith - - Susan Smith - - John Sneed - - Mariah Snyder - - Patsy Southwell - - Leithean Spinks - - Guy Stewart - - William Stone - - Yach Stringfellow - - Bert Strong - - Emma Taylor - - Mollie Taylor - - Jake Terriell - - J.W. Terrill - - Allen Thomas - - Bill and Ellen Thomas - - Lucy Thomas - - Philles Thomas - - William M. Thomas - - Mary Thompson - - Penny Thompson - - Albert Todd - - Aleck Trimble - - Reeves Tucker - - Lou Turner - - Irella Battle Walker - - John Walton - - Sol Walton - - Ella Washington - - Rosa Washington - - Sam Jones Washington - - William Watkins - - Dianah Watson - - Emma Watson - - James West - - Adeline White - - Sylvester Sostan Wickliffe - - Daphne Williams - - Horatio W. Williams - - Lou Williams - - Millie Williams - - Rose Williams - - Steve Williams - - Wayman Williams - - Willie Williams - - Lulu Wilson - - Wash Wilson - - Willis Winn - - Rube Witt - - Ruben Woods - - Willis Woodson - - James G. Woorling - - Caroline Wright - - Sallie Wroe - - Fannie Yarbrough - - Litt Young - - Louis Young - - Teshan Young - -*ILLUSTRATIONS* - -Mazique Sanco -Clarissa Scales -Abram Sells -George Selman -Callie Shepherd -Betty Simmons -George Simmons -Giles Smith -James W. Smith -Jordon Smith -Millie Ann Smith -John Sneed -Mariah Snyder -Leithean Spinks -William Stone -Yach Stringfellow -Bert Strong -Emma Taylor -Allen Thomas -Bill and Ellen Thomas -Lucy Thomas -Philles Thomas -William M. Thomas -Mary Thompson -Penny Thompson -Albert Todd -Reeves Tucker -Lou Turner -Sol Walton -Rosa Washington -Sam Jones Washington -William Watkins -Emma Watson -James West -Adeline White -Daphne Williams -Lou Williams -Lou Williams' House -Millie Williams -Steve Williams -Wayman Williams and Henry Freeman -Willie Williams -Lulu Wilson -Wash Wilson -Willis Winn -Rube Witt -Ruben Woods -Willis Woodson -Sallie Wroe -Litt Young -Louis Young -Teshan Young - - - - - - - -Mazique Sanco - - -*Mazique Sanco was born a slave of Mrs. Louisa Green, in Columbia, South -Carolina, on February 10, 1849. Shortly after Mazique was freed, he -enlisted in the army and was sent with the Tenth Cavalry to San Angelo, -then Fort Concho, Texas. After Mazique left the army he became -well-known as a chef, and worked for several large hotels. Mazique uses -little dialect. When asked where Mazique is, his young wife says, "In -his office," and upon inquiry as to the location of this office, she -replies mirthfully, "On de river," for since he is too old to work, -Mazique spends most of his time fishing.* - -"My mistress owned a beautiful home and three hundred twenty acres of -land in the edge of Columbia, in South Carolina, just back of the state -house. Her name was Mrs. Louisa Green and she was a widow lady. That's -where I was born, but when her nephew, Dr. Edward Flemming, married Miss -Dean, I was given to him for a wedding present, and so was my mother and -her other children. I was a very small boy then, and when I was ten Dr. -Flemming gave me to his crippled mother-in-law for a foot boy. She got -crippled in a runaway accident, when her husband was killed. He had two -fine horses, fiery and spirited as could be had. He called them Ash and -Dash, and one day he and his wife were out driving and the horses ran -the carriage into a big pine tree, and Mr. Dean was killed instantly, -and Mrs. Dean couldn't ever help herself again. I waited on her. I had a -good bed and food and was let to earn ten cent shin plasters. - -"When the war was over she called up her five families of slaves and -told us we could go or stay. Some went and some stayed. I was always an -adventurer, wanting to see and learn things, so I left and went back to -my mother with Mrs. Flemming. - - -[Illustration: _Mazique Sanco_] - - -"I only stayed there a few months and hired out to Major Legg, and -worked for him several years. I felt I wasn't learning enough, so I -joined the United States Army and with a hundred and eighty-five boys -went to St. Louis, Missouri. From there we were transferred with the -Tenth Cavalry to Fort Concho. I helped haul the lumber from San Antonio -to finish the buildings at the fort. I was there five years. - -"After I went to work at private employment I did some carpenter work, -but most of the houses were adobe or pecan pole buildings, so I got a -job from Mr. Jimmy Keating as mechanic for awhile, and then drifted to -Mexico. Odd jobs were all I could get for awhile, so I landed in El Paso -and got a job in a hotel. - -"That was the start of my success, for I learned to be a skilled chef -and superintended the kitchens in some of the largest hotels in Texas. I -made as high as $80.00, in Houston. My last work was done at the St. -Angelus Hotel here in San Angelo and if you don't believe I'm a good -cook, just look at my wife over there. When I married her she was -fourteen years old and weighed a hundred and fifteen pounds. Now it's -been a long time since I could get her on the scales, not since she -passed the two hundred pound mark." - - - - -Clarissa Scales - - -*Clarissa Scales, 79, was born a slave of William Vaughan, on his -plantation at Plum Creek, Texas. Clarissa married when she was fifteen. -She owns a small farm near Austin, but lives with her son, Arthur, at -1812 Cedar Ave., Austin.* - -"Mammy's name was Mary Vaughan and she was brung from Baton Rouge, what -am over in Louisiana, by our master. He went and located on Plum Creek, -down in Hays County. - -"Mammy was a tall, heavy-set woman, more'n six foot tall. She was a -maid-doctor after freedom. Dat mean she nussed women at childbirth. She -allus told me de last thing she saw when she left Baton Rouge was her -mammy standin' on a big, wood block to be sold for a slave. Dat de last -time she ever saw her mammy. Mammy died 'bout fifty years ago. She was -livin' on a farm on Big Walnut Creek, in Travis County. Daddy done die a -year befo' and she jes' grieves herself to death. Daddy was sho' funny -lookin', 'cause he wore long whiskers and what you calls a goatee. He -was field worker on de Vaughan plantation. - -"Master Vaughan was good and treated us all right. He was a great white -man and didn't have no over seer. Missy's name was Margaret, and she was -good, too. - -"My job was tendin' fires and herdin' hawgs. I kep' fire goin' when de -washin' bein' done. Dey had plenty wood, but used corn cobs for de fire. -Dere a big hill corn cobs near de wash kettle. In de evenin' I had to -bring in de hawgs. I had a li'l whoop I druv dem with, a eight-plaited -rawhide whoop on de long stick. It a purty sight to see dem hawgs go -under de slip-gap, what was a rail took down from de bottom de fence, so -de hawgs could run under. - -"Injuns used to pass our cabin in big bunches. One time dey give mammy -some earrings, but when they's through eatin' they wants dem earrings -back. Dat de way de Injuns done. After feedin' dem, mammy allus say, 'Be -good and kind to everybody.' - -"One day Master Vaughan come and say we's all free and could go and do -what we wants. Daddy and mammy rents a place and I stays until I's -fifteen. I wanted to be a teacher, but daddy kep' me hoein' cotton most -de time. Dat's all he knowed. He allus told me it was 'nough larnin' -could I jes' read and write. He never even had dat much. But he was de -good farmer and good to me and mammy. - -"Dere was a school after freedom. Old Man Tilden was de teacher. One -time a bunch of men dey calls de Klu Klux come in de room and say, 'You -git out of here and git 'way from dem niggers. Don' let us cotch you -here when we comes back.' Old Man Tilden sho' was scart, but he say, -'You all come back tomorrow.' He finishes dat year and we never hears of -him 'gain. Dat a log schoolhouse on Williamson Creek, five mile south of -Austin. - - -[Illustration: _Clarissa Scales_] - - -"Den a cullud teacher named Hamlet Campbell come down from de north. He -rents a room in a big house and makes a school. De trustees hires and -pays him and us chillen didn't have to pay. I got to go some, and I -allus tells my granddaughter how I's head of de class when I does go. -She am good in her studies, too. - -"When I's fifteen I marries Benjamin Calhoun Scales and he was a farmer. -We had five chillen and three boys is livin'. One am a preacher and -Arthur am a cement laborer and Chester works in a printin' shop. - -"Benjie dies on February 15th, dis year (1937). I lives with Arthur and -de gov'ment gives me $10.00 de month. I has de li'l farm of nineteen -acres out near Oak Hill and Floyd, de preacher, lives on dat. All my -boys is good to me. Dey done good, and better'n we could, 'cause we -couldn't git much larnin' dem days. I's had de good life. But we -'preciated our chance more'n de young folks does nowadays. Dey has so -much dey don't have to try so hard. If we'd had what dey got, we'd thunk -we was done died and gone to Glory Land. Maybe dey'll be all right when -deys growed." - - - - -Hannah Scott - - -*Hannah Scott was born in slavery, in Alabama. She does not know her age -but says she was grown when her last master, Bat Peterson, set her free. -Hannah lives with her grandson in a two-room house near the railroad -tracks, in Houston, Texas. Unable to walk because of a paralytic stroke, -Hannah asked her grandson to lift her from the bed to a chair, from -which she told her story.* - -"Son, move de chair a mite closer to de stove. Dere, dat's better, -'cause de heat kind of soople me up. Ain't nothin' left of me but some -skin and bones, nohow. - -"Lemme see now. I's born in Alabama and I think dey calls it Fayette -County. Mama's name was Ardissa and she 'long to Marse Clark Eccles, but -us chillen allus call him White Pa. Miss Hetty, his wife, we calls her -White Ma. - -"I never knowed my own pa, 'cause he 'long to 'nother man and was sold -away 'fore I's old 'nough to know him. Mama has five us chillen, but dey -all dead 'ceptin' me. Dey didn't have no marriage back den like now. Dey -just puts black folks together in de sight of man and not in de sight of -Gawd, and dey puts dem asunder, too. - -"Marse Eccles didn't have no big place and only nine slaves. I guess he -what you calls 'poor folks,' but he mighty good to he black folks. I -'member when he sold us to Bat Peterson. He and White Ma break down and -cry when old Bat puts us in de wagon and takes us off to Arkansas. I -heared mama say something 'bout White Pa sellin' us for debt and he gits -a hunerd dollars for me. - -"Whoosh, it sho' was a heap dif'ent from Alabama. Marse Bat had niggers. -I reckon he must of had a hunerd of dem and two nigger drivers, Uncle -Green and Uncle Jake, and a overseer. Marse Bat was mean, too, and work -he slaves from daylight till nine o'clock at night. I carries water for -de hands. I carries de bucket on my head and 'fore long I ain't got no -more hair on my head den you has on de palm of you hand. No, suh! - -"When I gits bigger, de overseer puts me in de field with de rest. Marse -Bat grow mostly cotton and it don't make no dif'ence is you big or li'l, -you better keep up or de drivers burn you up with de whip, sho' 'nough. -Old Marse Bat never put a lick on me all de years I 'longs to him, but -de drivers sho' burnt me plenty times. Sometime I gits so tired come -night, I draps right in de row and gone to sleep. Den de driver come -'long and, wham, dey cuts you 'cross de back with de whip and you wakes -up when it lights on you, yes, suh! 'Bout nine o'clock dey hollers -'cotton up' and dat de quittin' signal. We goes to de quarters and jes' -drap on de bunk and go to sleep without nothin' to eat. - -"On old Bat's place dat all us know, is work and more work. De onlies' -time we has off am Sunday and den we has to wash and mend clothes. De -first Sunday of de month a white preacher come, but all he say is -'bedience to de white folks, and we hears 'nough of dat without him -tellin' us. - -"I 'member when White Pa come to try git mama and us chillen back. We -been in Arkansas five, six year, and, whoosh, I sho' wants to go back to -my White Pa, but old Bat wouldn't let us go. He come to our quarters dat -night and tell mama if she or us chillen try to run off he'll kill us. -Dey sho' watch us for awhile. - -"Sometimes one of de niggers runs off but he ain't gone long. He gits -hongry and comes back. Den he gits a burnin' with de bullwhip. Does he -run 'way again, Marse Bat say he got too much rabbit in him and chains -him up till he goes to Little Rock and sells him. - -"I heared some white folks treat dey slaves good and give dem time off, -but Marse Bat don't. We has plenty to eat and clothes, but dat all. Dat -de way it was till we's freed, only it wasn't in Arkansas. It was down -to Richmond, here in Texas, 'cause Marse Bat rents a farm at Richmond. -He thunk if he brung us to Texas he wouldn't have to set us free. But he -got fooled, 'cause a gov'ment man come tell us we's free. We had de crop -planted and old Bat say if we'll stay through pickin' he'll pay us. Mama -and us stayed awhile. - -"I gits married legal with Richard Scott and we comes to Harrisburg and -he gits a job on de section of de railroad. I's lived here ever since. -My husban' and me raises five chillen, but only de one gal am alive now. -My grandson takes care of me. He tells me iffen my husband lived so -long, he be 107 years old. I know he was older dan me, but not 'xactly -how much. - -"Sometime I feel I's been here too long, 'cause I's paralyzed and can't -move round none. But maybe de Lawd ain't ready for me yet, and de Debbil -won't have me." - - - - -Abram Sells - - -*Abram Sells was born a slave on the Rimes Plantation, which was located -about 18 miles southeast of Newton, Texas. He does not know his age, but -must be well along in the 80's, as his recollections of slavery days are -keen. He lives at Jamestown, Texas.* - -"I was birthed on the Rimes Plantation, now called Harrisburg. My -great-grand-daddy's name was Bowser Rimes and he was brung to Texas from -Louisiana and die at 138 year old. He's buried on the old Ben Powell -place close to Jasper. My grand-daddy, that's John, he lives to be 103 -year old and he buried on the Eddy plantation at Jasper. My daddy, Mose -Rimes, he die young at 86 and he buried in Jasper County, too. My -mammy's name was Phoebe and she was birthed a Rimes nigger and brung to -Texas from back in Louisiana. The year slaves was freed I was inherit by -a man named Sells, what marry into the Rimes family and that's why my -name's Sells, 'cause it change 'long with the marriage. Us was jes' -ready to be ship back to Louisiana to the new massa's plantation when -the end of the war break up the trip. - -"You see, we all had purty good time on Massa Rimes's plantation. None -of them carin' 'bout being sot free. They has to work hard all time, but -that don' mean so much, 'cause they have to work iffen they was on they -own, too. The old folks was 'lowed Saturday evenin' off or when they's -sick, and us little ones, us not do much but bring in the wood and -kindle the fires and tote water and he'p wash clothes and feed the -little pigs and chickens. - -"Us chillen hang round close to the big house and us have a old man that -went round with us and look after us, white chillen and black chillen, -and that old man was my great grand-daddy. Us sho' have to mind him, -'cause iffen we didn't, us sho' have bad luck. He allus have the pocket -full of things to conjure with. That rabbit foot, he took it out and he -work that on you till you take the creeps and git shakin' all over. Then -there's a pocket full of fish scales and he kind of squeak and rattle -them in the hand and right then you wish you was dead and promise to do -anything. Another thing he allus have in the pocket was a li'l old -dry-up turtle, jes' a mud turtle 'bout the size of a man's thumb, the -whole thing jes' dry up and dead. With that thing he say he could do -mos' anything, but he never use it iffen he ain't have to. A few times I -seed him git all tangle up and boddered and he go off by hisself and sot -down in a quiet place, take out this very turtle and put it in the palm -of the hand and turn it round and round and say somethin' all the time. -After while he git everything ontwisted and he come back with a smile on -he face and maybe whistlin'. - -"They fed all us nigger chillen in a big trough made out'n wood, maybe -more a wood tray, dug out'n soft timber like magnolia or cypress. They -put it under a tree in the shade in summer time and give each chile a -wood spoon, then mix all the food up in the trough and us goes to -eatin'. Mos' the food was potlicker, jes' common old potlicker; turnip -green and the juice, Irish 'taters and the juice, cabbages and peas and -beans, jes' anything what make potlicker. All us git round like so many -li'l pigs and then us dish in with our wood spoon till it all gone. - -"We has lots of meat at times. Old grand-daddy allus ketchin' rabbit in -some kind of trap, mostly make out'n a holler log. He sot 'em round in -the garden and sho' kotch the rabbits. And possums, us have a good -possum dog, sometimes two or three, and every night you heered them dogs -barkin' in the field down by the branch. Sho' 'nuf, they git possum -treed and us go git him and parbile him and put him in the oven and bake -him plumb tender. Then we stacks sweet 'taters round him and po' the -juice over the whole thing. Now, there is somethin' good 'nuf for a -king. - -"There was lots of deer and turkey and squirrel in the wil' wood and -somebody out huntin' nearly every day. Course Massa Rime's folks -couldn't eat up all this meat befo' it spile and the niggers allus git a -great big part of it. Then we kilt lots of hawgs and then talk 'bout -eatin'! O, them chitlin's, sousemeat and the haslets, thats the liver -and the lights all biled up together. Us li'l niggers fill up on sich as -that and go to bed and mos' dream us is li'l pigs. - -"Us allus have plenty to eat but didn't pay much 'tention to clothes. -Boys and gals all dress jes' alike, one long shirt or dress. They call -it a shirt iffen a boy wear it and call it a dress iffen the gal wear -it. There wasn't no difference, 'cause they's all made out'n somethin' -like duck and all white. That is, they's white when you fus' put them -on, but after you wears them a while they git kind of pig-cullud, kind -of grey, but still they's all the same color. Us all go barefoot in -summer, li'l ones and big ones, but in winter us have homemake shoes. -They tan the leather at home and make the shoe at home, allus some old -nigger that kin make shoe. They was more like moc'sin, with lace made of -deerskin. The soles was peg on with wood pegs out'n maple and sharpen -down with a shoe knife. - -"Us have hats make out'n pine straw, long leaf pine straw, tied together -in li'l bunches and platted round and round till it make a kinder hat. -That pine straw great stuff in them days and us use it in lots of ways. -Us kivered sweet 'taters with it to keep them from git freeze and hogs -made beds out'n it and folks too. Yes, sir, us slep' on it. The beds had -jes' one leg. They bored two hole in the wall up in the corner and stuck -two pole in them holes and lay plank on that like slats and pile lots of -pine straw on that. Then they spread a homemake blanket or quilt on that -and sometime four or five li'l niggers slep' in there to keep us warm. - -"The li'l folks slep' mos' as long as they want to in daylight, but the -big niggers have to come out'n that bed 'bout fo' o'clock when the big -horn blow. The overseer have one nigger, he wake up early for to blow -the horn and when he blow this horn he make sich a holler then all the -res' of the niggers better git out'n that bed and 'pear at the barn -'bout daylight. He might not whip him for being late the fus' time, but -that nigger better not forgit the secon' time and be late! - -"Massa Rimes didn't whip them much, but iffen they was bad niggers he -jes' sold them offen the place and let somebody else do the whippin'. -Never have no church house or school, but Massa Rimes, he call them in -and read the Bible to them. Then he turn the service over to some good, -old, 'ligious niggers and let them finish with the singin' and prayin' -and 'zorting. After peach [HW: "?"] cleared, a school was 'stablish and -a white man come from the north to teach the cullud chillen, but befo' -that they didn' take no pains to teach the niggers nothin' 'ceptin' to -work, and the white chillen didn't have much school neither. - -"That was one plantation what was run 'sclusively by itself. Massa Rimes -have a commissary or sto' house, whar he kep' whatnot things--them what -make on the plantation and things the slaves couldn' make for themselfs. -That wasn't much, 'cause we make us own clothes and shoes and plow and -all farm tools and us even make our own plow line out'n cotton and iffen -us run short of cotton sometime make them out'n bear grass and we make -buttons for us clothes out'n li'l round pieces of gourds and kiver them -with cloth. - - -[Illustration: _Abram Sells_] - - -"That wasn't sich a big plantation, 'bout a t'ousand acre and only 'bout -forty niggers. There was'n no jail and they didn't need none. Us have no -real doctor, but of course there was a doctor man at Jasper and one at -Newton, but a nigger have to be purty sick 'fore they call a doctor. -There's allus some old time nigger what knowed lots of remedies and -knowed all dif'rent kinds of yarbs and roots. My grand-daddy, he could -stop blood, and he could conjure off the fever and rub his fingers over -warts and they'd git away. He make ile out'n rattlesnake for the -rheumatis'. For the cramp he git a kind of bark offen a tree and it done -the job, too. Some niggers wo' brass rings to keep off the rheumatis' -and punch hole in a penny or dime and wear that on the ankle to keep off -sickness. - -"'Member the war? Course I does. I 'member how some of them march off in -their uniforms, lookin' so grand, and how some of them hide out in the -wood to keep from lookin' so grand. They was lots of talkin' 'bout -fighting, and rubbing and scrubbing the old shotgun. The oldes' niggers -was settin' round the fire late in the night, stirrin' the ashes with -the poker and rakin' out the roas' 'taters. They's smokin' the old corn -cob pipe and homemake tobacco and whisperin' right low and quiet like -what they's gwineter do and whar they's gwineter to when Mister Lincoln, -he turn them free. - -"The more they talk, the more I git scared that the niggers is going to -git sot free and wondering what I's gwine to do if they is. No, I guess -I don't want to live back in them times no mo', but I sho' seed lots of -niggers not doin' so well as they did when they was slaves and not -havin' nigh as much to eat." - - - - -George Selman - - -*George Selman was born in 1852, five miles east of Alto, Texas. His -father was born in Virginia and his mother in South Carolina, and were -brought to Texas by Mr. Dan Lewis. Green has been a Baptist minister -since his youth. He lives in Jacksonville, Texas.* - -"We was a big fam'ly, nine children. I was born a slave of the Selmans, -Marster Tom and Missus Polly, and they lived in Mississippi. Mother's -name was Martha and my father's name was John Green Selman. - -"Marster's folks come from Mississippi a long ways back and they had a -big house made from hewed logs with a big hallway down the middle. The -kitchen was out in the yard, 'bout forty steps from the house. The yard -had five acres in it and a big garden was in it. Marster had five slave -families and our cabins was built in a half circle in the back yard. I -seemed to be the pet and always went with Marster Tom to town or -wherever he was goin'. Then I learned to plow by my mother letting me -hold the handles and walk along with her. Finally she let me go 'round -by myself. - -"Marster Tom was always good to us and he taught me religion. He was the -best man I ever knew. Then Saturday noon come, they blew the horn and we -quit workin'. We went to church one Sunday a month and we sat on one -side and the white folks on the other. - - -[Illustration: _George Selman_] - - -"I never learnt to read and write, but I learned to work in the house -and the fields. Late in the day Aunt Dicey, who was the cook, called all -us children out under the big trees and give us supper. This was in -summer, but nobody ever fed us but Aunt Dicey. We all ate from one bowl, -or maybe I'd call it a tray 'cause it was made of wood, like a bread -tray but bigger, big enough to hold three, four gallons. She put the -food in the tray and give each chil' a spoon. Mostly we had pot likker -and corn-bread. In winter we ate from the same tray, but in the kitchen. - -"I never seen runaway slaves, but Marster Tom had a neighbor mean to -slaves and sometimes when they was whipped we could hear 'em holler. The -neighbor had one slave called Sallie, and she was a weaver and was so -mean she had to wear a chain. After she died, I heered her ghost one -night. I was stayin' with a white man who had the -malaria-typhoid-pneumonia fever, and one night I heered Sallie scream -and seen her chain drag back and forth. I tol' the man I knowed it was -Sallie, 'cause I'd heered that scream for years. But the man said she -was dead, so it mus' have been her ghost. I heered her night after -night, screamin' and draggin' her chain up and down. - -"When Marster Tom says we's free, I goes to his sister, Miss Ca'line and -works for her. After sev'ral years I larned to preach and I's the author -of most the Baptist churches in this county." - - - - -Callie Shepherd - - -*Callie Shepherd, age 84, lives at 4701 Spring Ave., Dallas, Texas. She -was born near Gilmer, Texas, in 1852, a slave of the Stevens family. At -present she is cared for by her 68 year old son and his wife.* - -"Course I kin tell you. I got 'memberance like dey don't have nowadays. -Dat 'cause things is goin' round and round too fast without no settin' -and talkin' things over. - -"I's native born right down here at Gilmer on de old place and Miss -Fannie could tell you de same if she could be in your presence, but she -went on to Glory many a year ago. She de one what raised me, right in de -house with her own chillen. I slep' right in de house, in de chillens' -room, in a little trundle bed what jus' pushed back under de big bed -when de mornin' come. If her chillen et one side de table I et t'other -side, right by Miss Fannie's elbow. - -"Miss Fannie, she Dr. Steven's wife and dey from Georgia and lived near -Gilmer till de doctor goes off to de war and takes a sickness what he -ain't never get peart from and died. Died right there on de old place. -He was a right livin' man and dey allus good to me and my mammy, what -dey done brought from Georgia and she de main cook. - -"My mammy don't think they ain't nobody like Miss Fannie. My mammy, she -a little red-Indian nigger woman not so big as me, and Miss Fanny tell -her, 'Don't you cry 'cause dey tryin' make freedom, 'cause de doctor -done say we is gwine help you raise your babies.' - -"Some de niggers don't like de treatment what dey white folks gives 'em -and dey run away to de woods. I'd hear de nigger dogs a-runnin' and when -dey cotch de niggers dey bites 'em all over and tears dey clothes and -gits de skin, too. And de niggers, dey'd holler. I seed 'em whip de -niggers, 'cause dey tolt de chillen to look. Dey buckled 'em down on de -groun' and laid it on dey backs. Sometimes dey laid on with a mighty -heavy hand. But I ain't never git no whippin' 'cause I never went with -de cullud gen'ration. I set right in de buggy with de white chillen and -went to hear Gospel preachin'. - - -[Illustration: _Callie Shepherd_] - - -"I danced at de balls in de sixteen figure round sets and everybody in -dem parts say I de principal dancer, but I gits 'ligion and left de old -way to live in de 'termination to live beyon' dis vale of tears. - -"I have my trib'lations after my old daddy die, 'cause he good to us -little chillen. But my next daddy a man mighty rough on us. Dat after -Miss Fannie done gone back to Georgia and my back done hurt me all de -time from pullin' fodder and choppin' cotton. It make a big indif'rence -after Miss Fannie gone, and de war de cause of it all. I heered de big -cannons goin' on over there jus' like de bigges' clap of thunder. - -"Me and de little chillen playin' in de road makin' frog houses out of -sand when we hear de hosses comin'. We looks and see de budallions -shinin' in de sun and de sojers have tin cups tied on side dere saddles -and throwed dem cups to us chillen as dey passed. Dey say war is over -and we is free. Miss Fannie say she a Seay from Georgia and she go back -dere, but I jus' stay on where I's native born." - - - - -Betty Simmons - - -*Betty Simmons, 100 or more, was born a slave to Leftwidge Carter, in -Macedonia, Alabama. She was stolen when a child, sold to slave traders -and later to a man in Texas. She now lives in Beaumont, Texas.* - -"I think I's 'bout a hunnerd and one or two year old. My papa was a free -man, 'cause his old massa sot him free 'fore I's born, and give him a -hoss and saddle and a little house to live in. - -"My old massa when I's a chile, he name Mr. Leftwidge Carter and when he -daughter marry Mr. Wash Langford, massa give me to her. She was call -Clementine. Massa Langford has a little store and a man call Mobley go -in business with him. Dis man brung down he two brothers and dey fair -clean Massa Langford out. He was ruint. - -"But while all dis goin' on I didn't know it and I was happy. Dey was -good to me and I don't work too hard, jus' gits in de mischief. One time -I sho' got drunk and dis de way of it. Massa have de puncheon of whiskey -and he sell de whiskey, too. Now, in dem days, dey have frills 'round de -beds, dey wasn't naked beds like nowdays. Dey puts dis puncheon under de -beds and de frills hides it, but I's nussin' a little boy in dat room -and I crawls under dat bed and drinks out of de puncheon. Den I poke de -head out and say 'Boo' at de little boy, and he laugh and laugh. Den I -ducks back and drinks a little more and I say 'Boo' at him 'gain, and he -laugh and laugh. Dey was lots of whiskey in dat puncheon and I keeps -drinkin' and sayin' 'Boo'. My head, it gits funny and I come out with de -puncheon and starts to de kitchen, where my aunt Adeline was de cook. I -jes' a-stompin' and sayin' de big words. Dey never lets me 'round where -dat puncheon is no more. - -"When Massa Langford was ruint and dey goin' take de store 'way from -him, dey was trouble, plenty of dat. One day massa send me down to he -brudder's place. I was dere two days and den de missy tell me to go to -de fence. Dere was two white men in a buggy and one of 'em say, 'I -thought she bigger dan dat.' Den he asks me, 'Betty, kin you cook?' I -tells him I been cook helper two, three month, and he say, 'You git -dressed and came on down three mile to de other side de post office.' So -I gits my little bundle and whan I gits dere he say, 'Gal, you want to -go 'bout 26 mile and help cook at de boardin' house?' He tries to make -me believe I won't be gone a long time, but when I gits in de buggy dey -tells me Massa Langford done los' everything and he have to hide out he -niggers for to keep he credickers from gittin' dem. Some of de niggers -he hides in de woods, but he stole me from my sweet missy and sell me so -dem credickers can't git me. - -"When we gits to de crossroads dere de massa and a nigger man. Dat -another slave he gwine to sell, and he hate to sell us so bad he can't -look us in de eye. Dey puts us niggers inside de buggy, so iffen de -credickers comes along dey can't see us. - -"Finally dese slave spec'laters puts de nigger man and me on de train -and takes us to Memphis, and when we gits dere day takes us to de nigger -traders' yard. We gits dere at breakfast time and waits for de boat dey -calls de 'Ohio' to git dere. De boat jus' ahead of dis Ohio, Old Capt. -Fabra's boat, was 'stroyed and dat delay our boat two hours. When it -come, dey was 258 niggers out of dem nigger yards in Memphis what gits -on dat boat. Dey puts de niggers upstairs and goes down de river far as -Vicksburg, dat was de place, and den us gits offen de boat and gits on -de train 'gain and dat time we goes to New Orleans. - -"I's satisfy den I los' my people and ain't never goin' to see dem no -more in dis world, and I never did. Dey has three big trader yard in New -Orleans and I hear de traders say dat town 25 mile square. I ain't like -it so well, 'cause I ain't like it 'bout dat big river. We hears some of -'em say dere's gwineter throw a long war and us all think what dey buy -us for if we's gwine to be sot free. Some was still buyin' niggers every -fall and us think it too funny dey kep' on fillin' up when dey gwineter -be emptyin' out soon. - -"Dey have big sandbars and planks fix 'round de nigger yards and dey -have watchmans to keep dem from runnin 'way in de swamp. Some of de -niggers dey have jus' picked up on de road, dey steals dem. Dey calls -dem 'wagon boy' and 'wagon gal.' Dey has one bit mulatto boy dey stole -'long de road dat way and he massa find out 'bout him and come and git -him and take him 'way. And a woman what was a seamster, a man what -knowed her seed her in de pen and he done told her massa and he come -right down and git her. She sho' was proud to git out. She was stole -from 'long de road, too. You sees, if dey could steal de niggers and -sell 'em for de good money, dem traders could make plenty money dat way. - -"At las' Col. Fortescue, he buy me and kep' me. He a fighter in de -Mexican war and he come to New Orleans to buy he slaves. He takes me up -de Red River to Shreveport and den by de buggy to Liberty, in Texas. - -"De Colonel, he a good massa to us. He 'lows us to work de patch of -ground for ourselves, and maybe have a pig or a couple chickens for -ourselves, and he allus make out to give us plenty to eat. - -"De massa, when a place fill up, he allus pick and move to a place where -dere ain't so much people. Dat how come de Colonel fus' left Alabama and -come to Texas, and to de place dey calls Beef Head den, but calls Gran' -Cane now. - -"When us come to Gran' Cane a nigger boy git stuck on one us house girls -and he run away from he massa and foller us. It were a woodly country -and de boy outrun he chasers. I heered de dogs after him and he torn and -bleedin' with de bresh and he run upstair in de gin house. De dogs sot -down by de door and de dog-man, what hired to chase him, he drug him -down and throw him in de Horse Hole and tells de two dogs to swim in and -git him. De boy so scairt he yell and holler but de dogs nip and pinch -him good with de claws and teeth. When dey lets de boy out de water hole -he all bit up and when he massa larn how mean de dog-man been to de boy -he 'fuses to pay de fee. - -"I gits married in slavery time, to George Fortescue. De massa he marry -us sort of like de justice of de peace. But my husban', he git kilt in -Liberty, when he cuttin' down a tree and it fall on him. I ain't never -marry no more. - -"I sho' was glad when freedom come, 'cause dey jus' ready to put my -little three year old boy in de field. Dey took 'em young. I has another -baby call Mittie, and she too young to work. I don't know how many -chillen I's have, and sometimes I sits and tries to count 'em. Dey's -seven livin' but I had 'bout fourteen. - - -[Illustration: _Betty Simmons_] - - -"Dey was pretty hard on de niggers. Iffen us have de baby us only 'lowed -to stay in de house for one month and card and spin, and den us has to -get out in de field. Dey allus blow de horn for us mammies to come up -and nuss de babies. - -"I seed plenty soldiers 'fore freedom. Dey's de Democrats, 'cause I -never seed no Yankees. Us niggers used to wash and iron for dem. At -night us seed dose soldiers peepin' 'round de house and us run 'way in -de bresh. - -"When freedom come us was layin' by de crop and de massa he give us a -gen'rous part of dat crop and us move to Clarks place. We gits on all -right after freedom, but it hard at first 'cause us didn't know how to -do for ourselves. But we has to larn." - - - - -George Simmons - - -*George Simmons, born in Alabama in 1854, was owned by Mr. Steve Jaynes, -who lived near Beaumont, Texas. George has a good many memories of -slavery years, although he was still a child when he was freed. He now -lives in Beaumont, Tex.* - -"I's bo'n durin' slavery, somewhar in Alabama, but I don' 'member whar -my mammy said. Dey brung me here endurin' de War and I belonged to Massa -Steve Jaynes, and he had 'bout 75 other niggers. It was a big place and -lots of wo'k, but I's too little to do much 'cept errands 'round de -house. - -"Massa Jaynes, he raised cotton and co'n and he have 'bout 400 acres. He -'spected de niggers to wo'k hard from mornin' till sundown, but he was -fair in treatin' 'em. He give us plenty to eat and lots of cornbread and -black-eye' peas and plenty hawg meat and sich. We had possum sometimes, -too. Jus' took a nice, fat possum we done cotched in de woods and -skinned 'im and put 'im in a oven and roas' 'im with sweet 'tatoes all -'round and make plenty gravy. Dat was good. - -"Massa Jaynes, he 'lowed de slaves who wanted to have a little place to -make garden, veg'tables and dose kin' of things. He give 'em seed and de -nigger could have all he raised in his little garden. We was all well -kep' and I don' see whar freedom was much mo' better, in a way. Course, -some massas was bad to dere slaves and whipped 'em so ha'd dey's nearly -dead. I know dat, 'cause I heered it from de neighbors places. Some of -dere slaves would run away and hide in de woods and mos' of 'em was -kotched with dogs. Fin'ly dey took to puttin' bells on de slaves so -iffen dey run away, dey could hear 'em in de woods. Dey put 'em on with -a chain, so dey couldn' get 'em off. - -"We could have church on Sunday and our own cullud church. Sam Watson, -he was de nigger preacher and he's a slave, too. - - -[Illustration: _George Simmons_] - - -"I didn' know much 'bout de war, 'cause we couldn' read and de white -folks didn' talk war much 'fore us. But we heered things and I 'member -de sojers on dere way back after it's all over. Dey wasn' dressed in a -uniform and dey clothes was mos'ly rags, dey was dat tore up. We seed -'em walkin' on de road and sometimes dey had ole wagons, but mos' times -dey walk. I 'member some Yankee sojers, too. Dey have canteens over de -shoulder, and mos' of 'em has blue uniforms on. - -"Massa, he tell us when freedom come, and some of us stays 'round -awhile, 'cause whar is we'uns goin'? We didn' know what to do and we -didn' know how to keep ourselves, and what was we to do to get food and -a place to live? Dose was ha'd times, 'cause de country tore up and de -business bad. - -"And de Kluxes dey range 'round some. Dey soon plays out but dey took -mos' de time to scare de niggers. One time dey comes to my daddy's house -and de leader, him in de long robe, he say, 'Nigger, quick you and git -me a drink of water.' My daddy, he brung de white folks drinkin' gourd -and dat Klux, he say, 'Nigger, I say git me a big drink--bring me dat -bucket. I's thirsty.' He drinks three buckets of water, we thinks he -does, but what you think we learns? He has a rubber bag under his robe -and is puttin' dat water in dere!" - - - - -Ben Simpson - - -*Ben Simpson, 90, was born in Norcross, Georgia, a slave of the -Stielszen family. He had a cruel master, and was afraid to tell the -truth about his life as a slave, until assured that no harm would come -to him. Ben now lives in Madisonville, Texas, and receives a small old -age pension.* - -"Boss, I's born in Georgia, in Norcross, and I's ninety years old. My -father's name was Roger Stielszen and my mother's name was Betty. Massa -Earl Stielszen captures them in Africa and brung them to Georgia. He got -kilt and my sister and me went to his son. His son was a killer. He got -in trouble there in Georgia and got him two good-stepping hosses and the -covered wagon. Then he chains all he slaves round the necks and fastens -the chains to the hosses and makes then walk all the way to Texas. My -mother and my sister had to walk. Emma was my sister. Somewhere on the -road it went to snowin' and massa wouldn't let us wrap anything round -our feet. We had to sleep on the ground, too, in all that snow. - -"Massa have a great, long whip platted out of rawhide and when one the -niggers fall behind or give out, he hit him with that whip. It take the -hide every time he hit a nigger. Mother, she give out on the way, 'bout -the line of Texas. Her feet got raw and bleedin' and her legs swoll -plumb out of shape. Then massa, he jus' take out he gun and shot her, -and whilst she lay dyin' he kicks her two, three times and say, 'Damn a -nigger what can't stand nothin'.' Boss, you know that man, he wouldn't -bury mother, jus' leave her layin' where he shot her at. You know, then -there wasn't no law 'gainst killin' nigger slaves. - -"He come plumb to Austin through that snow. He taken up farmin' and -changes he name to Alex Simpson, and changes our names, too. He cut logs -and builded he home on the side of them mountains. We never had no -quarters. When night-time come he locks the chain round our necks and -then locks it round a tree. Boss, our bed were the ground. All he feed -us was raw meat and green corn. Boss, I et many a green weed. I was -hongry. He never let us eat at noon, he worked us all day without -stoppin'. We went naked, that the way he worked us. We never had any -clothes. - -"He brands us. He brand my mother befo' us left Georgia. Boss, that -nearly kilt her. He brand her in the breast, then between the shoulders. -He brand all us. - -"My sister, Emma, was the only woman he have till he marries. Emma was -wife of all seven Negro slaves. He sold her when she's 'bout fifteen, -jus' befo' her baby was born. I never seen her since. - -"Boss, massa was a outlaw. He come to Texas and deal in stolen hosses. -Jus' befo' he's hung for stealin' hosses, he marries a young Spanish -gal. He sho' mean to her. Whips her 'cause she want him to leave he -slaves alone and live right. Bless her heart, she's the best gal in the -world. She was the best thing God ever put life in the world. She cry -and cry every time massa go off. She let us a-loose and she feed us good -one time while he's gone. Missy Selena, she turn us a-loose and we wash -in the creek clost by. She jus' fasten the chain on us and give us great -big pot cooked meat and corn, and up he rides. Never says a word but -come to see what us eatin'. He pick up he whip and whip her till she -falls. If I could have got a-loose I'd kilt him. I swore if I ever got -a-loose I'd kill him. But befo' long after that he fails to come home, -and some people finds him hangin' to a tree. Boss, that long after war -time he got hung. He didn't let us free. We wore chains all the time. -When we work, we drug them chains with us. At night he lock us to a tree -to keep us from runnin' off. He didn't have to do that. We were 'fraid -to run. We knew he'd kill us. Besides, he brands us and they no way to -get it off. It's put there with a hot iron. You can't git it off. - -"If a slave die, massa made the rest of us tie a rope round he feet and -drug him off. Never buried one, it was too much trouble. - -"Massa allus say he be rich after the war. He stealin' all the time. He -have a whole mountain side where he keep he stock. Missy Selena tell us -one day we sposed to be free, but he didn't turn us a-loose. It was -'bout three years after the war they hung him. Missy turned us a-loose. - -"I had a hard time then. All I had to eat was what I could find and -steal. I was 'fraid of everybody. I jus' went wild and to the woods, -but, thank God, a bunch of men taken they dogs and run me down. They -carry me to they place. Gen. Houston had some niggers and he made them -feed me. He made them keep me till I git well and able to work. Then he -give me a job. I marry one the gals befo' I leaves them. I'm plumb out -of place there at my own weddin'. Yes, suh, boss, it wasn't one year -befo' that I'm the wild nigger. We had thirteen chillen. - -"I farms all my life after that. I didn't know nothin' else to do. I -made plenty cotton, but now I'm too old. Me and my wife is alone now. -This old nigger gits the li'l pension from the gov'ment. I not got much -longer to stay here. I's ready to see God but I hope my old massa ain't -there to torment me again." - - - - -Giles Smith - - -*Giles Smith, 79, now residing at 3107 Blanchard St., Fort Worth, Texas, -was born a slave of Major Hardway, on a plantation near Union Springs, -Alabama. The Major gave Giles to his daughter when he was an infant and -he never saw his parents again. In 1874 Frank Talbot brought Giles to -Texas, and he worked on the farm two years. He then went to Brownwood -and worked in a gin seventeen years. In 1908 he moved to Fort Worth and -worked for a packing company. Old age led to his discharge in 1931 and -he has since worked at any odd jobs he could find.* - -"My name am Giles Smith, 'cause my pappy was born on the Smith -plantation and I took his name. I's born at Union Springs, in Alabama -and Major Hardway owned me and 'bout a hundred other slaves. But he gave -me to Mary, his daughter, when I's only a few months old and had to be -fed on a bottle, 'cause she am jus' married to Massa Miles. She told me -how she carried me home in her arms. She say I was so li'l she have a -hard time to make me eat out the bottle, and I put up a good fight so -she nearly took me back. - -"I don't 'member the start of the war, but de endin' I does. Massa Miles -called all us together and told us we's free and it give us all de -jitters. He treated all us fine and nobody wanted to go. He and Missy am -de best folks de Lawd could make. I stayed till I was sixteen years old. - -"It am years after freedom Missy Mary say to me what massa allus say, -'If the nigger won't follow orders by kind treatin', sich nigger am -wrong in the head and not worth keepin'. He didn't have to rush us. We'd -just dig in and do the work. One time Massa clearin' some land and it am -gittin' late for breakin' the ground. Us allus have Saturday afternoon -and Sunday off. Old Jerry says to us, 'Tell yous what us do,--go to the -clearin' this afternoon and Sunday and finish for the Massa. That sho' -make him glad.' - -"Saturday noon came and nobody tells the massa but go to that clearin' -and sing while us work, cuttin' bresh and grubbin' stomps and burnin' -bresh. Us sing - - "'Hi, ho, ug, hi, ho, ug. - De sharp bit, de strong arm, - Hi, ho, ug, hi, ho, ug, - Dis tree am done 'fore us warm.' - -"De massa come out and his mouth am slippin' all over he face and he -say, 'What this all mean? Why you workin' Saturday afternoon?' - -"Old Jerry am a funny cuss and he say, 'Massa, O, massa, please don't -whop us for cuttin' down yous trees.' - -"I's gwine whop you with the chicken stew,' Massa say. And for Sunday -dinner dere am chicken stew with noodles and peach cobbler. - -"So I stays with massa and after I's fifteen he pays me $2.00 the month, -and course I gits my eats and my clothes, too. When I gits the first two -I don't know what to do, 'cause it the first money I ever had. Missy -make the propulation to keep the money and buy for me and teach me 'bout -it. There ain't much to buy, 'cause we make nearly everything right -there. Even the tobaccy am made. They put honey 'twixt the leaves and -put a pile of it 'twixt two boards with weights. It am left for a month -and that am a man's tobaccy. A weaklin' better stay off that kind -tobaccy. - -"First I works in the field and then am massa's coachman. But when I's -'bout sixteen I gits a idea to go off somewheres for myself. I hears -'bout Mr. Frank Talbot, whom am takin' some niggers to Texas and I goes -with him to the Brazos River bottom, and works there two years. I's -lonesome for massa and missy and if I'd been clost enough, I'd sho' gone -back to the old plantation. So after two years I quits and goes to work -for Mr. Winfield Scott down in Brownwood, in the gin, for seventeen -years. - -"Well, shortly after I gits to Brownwood I meets a yaller gal and after -dat I don't care to go back to Alabama so hard. I's married to Dee Smith -on December the eighteenth, in 1880, and us live together many years. -She died six years ago. Us have six chillen but I don't know where one -of them are now. They all forgit their father in his old age! They not -so young, either. - - -[Illustration: _Giles Smith_] - - -"My woman could write a little so she write missy for me, and she write -back and wish us luck and if we ever wants to come back to the old home -we is welcome. Us write back' forth with her. Finally, us git the letter -what say she sick, and then awful low. That 'bout twenty-five years -after I marries. That am too much for me, and I catches the next train -back to Alabama but I gits there too late. She am dead, and I never has -forgive myself, 'cause I don't go back befo' she die, like she ask us -to, lots of times. - -"I comes here fifteen years ago and here I be. The last six year I can't -work in the packin' plants no more. I's too old. Anything I can find to -do I does, but it ain't much no more. - -"The worst grief I's had, am to think I didn't go see missy 'fore she -die. I's never forgave myself for that." - - - - -James W. Smith - - -*James W. Smith, 77, was born a slave of the Hallman family, in -Palestine, Texas. James became a Baptist minister in 1895, and preached -until 1931, when poor health forced him to retire. He and his wife live -at 1306 E. Fourth St., Fort Worth, Texas.* - -"Yes, suh, I'm birthed a slave, but never worked as sich, 'cause I's too -young. But I 'members hearin' my mother tell all about her slave days -and our master. He was John Hallman and owned a place in Palestine, with -my mother and father and fifty other slaves. My folks was house servants -and lived a little better'n the field hands. De cabins was built cheap, -though, no money, only time for buildin' am de cost. Dey didn't use -nails and helt de logs in place by dovetailin'. Dey closed de space -between de logs with wedges covered with mud and straw. De framework for -de door was helt by wooden pegs and so am de benches and tables. Master -Hallman always had some niggers trained for carpenter work, and one to -be blacksmith and one to make shoes and harness. - -"We was lucky to have de kind master, what give us plenty to eat. If all -de people now could have jus' so good food what we had, there wouldn't -be no beggin' by hungry folks or need for milk funds for starved babies. - -"We didn't have purty clothes sich as now, with all de dif'rent colors -mixed up, but dey was warm and lastin', dyed brown and black. De black -oak and cherry made de dyes. Our shoes wasn't purty, either. I has to -laugh when I think of de shoes. There wasn't no careful work put on dem, -but dey covered de feets and lasted near forever. - -"Master always wanted to help his cullud folks live right and my folks -always said de best time of they lives was on de old plantation. He -always 'ranged for parties and sich. Yes, suh, he wanted dem to have a -good time, but no foolishment, jus' good, clean fun. There am dancin' -and singin' mostest every Saturday night. He had a little platform built -for de jiggin' contests. Cullud folks comes from all round, to see who -could jig de best. Sometimes two niggers each put a cup of water on de -head and see who could jig de hardest without spillin' any. It was lots -of fun. - -"I must tell you 'bout de best contest we ever had. One nigger on our -place was de jigginest fellow ever was. Everyone round tries to git -somebody to best him. He could put de glass of water on his head and -make his feet go like triphammers and sound like de snaredrum. He could -whirl round and sich, all de movement from his hips down. Now it gits -noised round a fellow been found to beat Tom and a contest am 'ranged -for Saturday evenin'. There was a big crowd and money am bet, but master -bets on Tom, of course. - -"So dey starts jiggin'. Tom starts easy and a little faster and faster. -The other fellow doin' de same. Dey gits faster and faster and dat crowd -am a-yellin'. Gosh! There am 'citement. Dey jus' keep a-gwine. It look -like Tom done found his match, but there am one thing yet he ain't -done--he ain't made de whirl. Now he does it. Everyone holds he breath, -and de other fellow starts to make de whirl and he makes it, but jus' a -spoonful of water sloughs out his cup, so Tom am de winner. - -"When freedom come, the master tells his slaves and says, 'What you -gwine do?' Wall, suh, not one of dem knows dat. De fact am, dey's scared -dey gwine be put off de place. But master says dey can stay and work for -money or share crop. He says they might be trouble 'twixt de whites and -niggers and likely it be best to stay and not git mixed in dis and dat -org'ization. Mostest stays, only one or two goes away. My folks stays -for five years after de war. Den my father moves to Bertha Creek, where -he done 'range for a farm of his own. They hated to leave master's -plantation, he's so good and kind. - -"Some the cullud folks thinks they's to take charge and run the -gov'ment. They asks my father to jine their org'ization. He goes once -and some eggs am served. Dey am served by de crowd and dem eggs ain't -fresh yard eggs. Father 'cides he wants his eggs served dif'rent, and he -likes dem fresh, so he takes master's advice and don't jine nothing. - -"When de Klux come, de cullud org'ization made their scatterment. Plenty -gits whipped round our place and some what wasn't 'titled to it. Den -soldiers comes and puts order in de section. Dey has trouble about -votin'. De cullud folks in dem days was non-knowledge, so how could dey -vote 'telligent? Dat am foolishment to 'sist on de right to vote. It de -non-knowledge what hurts. Myself, I never voted and am too far down de -road now to start. - - -[Illustration: _James W. Smith_] - - -"I worked at farmin' till 1895 when I starts preachin' in de Baptist -church. I kept that up till 1931, but my health got too bad and I had to -quit. I has de pressure bad. When I preaches, I preaches hard, and de -doctor says dat am danger for me. - -"The way I learns to preach am dis: after surrender, I 'tends de school -two terms and den I studies de Bible and I's a nat'ral talker and gifted -for de Lawd's work, so I starts preachin'. - -"Jennie Goodman and me marries in 1885 and de Lawd never blessed us with -any chillen. We gits de pension, me $16.00 and her $14.00, and gits by -on dat. It am for de rations and de eats, but de clothes am a question!" - - - - -Jordon Smith - - -*Jordon Smith, 86, was born in Georgia, a slave of the Widow Hicks. When -she died, Jordon, his mother and thirty other slaves were willed to Ab -Smith, his owner's nephew, and were later refugeed from Georgia to -Anderson Co., Texas. When freed, Jordon worked on a steamboat crew on -the Red River until the advent of railroads. For thirty years Jordon -worked for the railroad. He is now too feeble to work and lives with his -third wife and six children in Marshall, Texas, supported by the latter -and his pension of $10.00 a month.* - -"I's borned in Georgia, next to the line of North Car'lina, on Widow -Hick's place. My papa died 'fore I's borned but my mammy was called -Aggie. My ole missus died and us fell to her nephew, Ab Smith. My granma -and granpa was full-blooded Africans and I couldn't unnerstand their -talk. - -"My missus was borned on the Chattahoochee River and she had 2,000 acres -of land in cul'vation, a thousand on each side the river, and owned 500 -slaves and 250 head of work mules. She was the richest woman in the -whole county. - -"Us slaves lived in a double row log cabins facin' her house and our -beds was made of rough plank and mattresses of hay and lynn bark and -shucks, make on a machine. I's spinned many a piece of cloth and wove -many a brooch of thread. - -"Missus didn't 'low her niggers to work till they's 21, and the chillen -played marbles and run round and kick their heels. The first work I done -was hoeing and us worked long as we could see a stalk of cotton or hill -of corn. Missus used to call us at Christmas and give the old folks a -dollar and the rest a dinner. When she died me and my mother went to Ab -Smith at the dividement of the property. Master Ab put us to work on a -big farm he bought and it was Hell 'mong the yearlin's if you crost him -or missus either. It was double trouble and a cowhidin' whatever you do. -She had a place in the kitchen where she tied their hands up to the wall -and cowhided them and sometimes cut they back 'most to pieces. She made -all go to church and let the women wear some her old, fine dresses to -hide the stripes where she'd beat them. Mammy say that to keep the folks -at church from knowin' how mean she was to her niggers. - -"Master Ab had a driver and if you didn't do what that driver say, -master say to him, 'Boy, come here and take this nigger down, a hunerd -licks this time.' Sometimes us run off and go to a dance without a pass -and 'bout time they's kickin' they heels and getting sot for the big -time, in come a patterroller and say, 'Havin' a big time, ain't you? Got -a pass?' If you didn't, they'd git four or five men to take you out and -when they got through you'd sho' go home. - -"Master Ab had hunerds acres wheat and made the women stack hay in the -field. Sometimes they got sick and wanted to go to the house, but he -made them lay down on a straw-pile in the field. Lots of chillen was -borned on a straw-pile in the field. After the chile was borned he sent -them to the house. I seed that with my own eyes. - -"They was a trader yard in Virginia and one in New Orleans and sometimes -a thousand slaves was waitin' to be sold. When the traders knowed men -was comin' to buy, they made the slaves all clean up and greased they -mouths with meat skins to look like they's feedin' them plenty meat. -They lined the women up on one side and the men on the other. A buyer -would walk up and down 'tween the two rows and grab a woman and try to -throw her down and feel of her to see how she's put up. If she's purty -strong, he'd say, 'Is she a good breeder?' If a gal was 18 or 19 and put -up good she was worth 'bout $1,500. Then the buyer'd pick out a strong, -young nigger boy 'bout the same age and buy him. When he got them home -he'd say to them, 'I want you two to stay together. I want young -niggers.' - -"If a nigger ever run off the place and come back, master'd say, 'If -you'll be a good nigger, I'll not whip you this time.' But you couldn't -'lieve that. A nigger run off and stayed in the woods six month. When he -come back he's hairy as a cow, 'cause he lived in a cave and come out at -night and pilfer round. They put the dogs on him but couldn't cotch him. -Fin'ly he come home and master say he won't whip him and Tom was crazy -'nough to 'lieve it. Master say to the cook, 'Fix Tom a big dinner,' and -while Tom's eatin', master stand in the door with a whip and say, 'Tom, -I's change my mind; you have no business runnin' off and I's gwine take -you out jus' like you come into the world. - -"Master gits a bottle whiskey and a box cigars and have Tom tied up out -in the yard. He takes a chair and say to the driver, 'Boy, take him -down, 250 licks this time.' Then he'd count the licks. When they's 150 -licks it didn't look like they is any place left to hit, but master say, -'Finish him up.' Then he and the driver sot down, smoke cigars and drink -whiskey, and master tell Tom how he must mind he master. Then he lock -Tom up in a log house and master tell all the niggers if they give him -anything to eat he'll skin 'em alive. The old folks slips Tom bread and -meat. When he gits out, he's gone to the woods 'gain. They's plenty -niggers what stayed in the woods till surrender. - -"I heared some slaves say they white folks was good to 'em, but it was a -tight fight where us was. I's thought over the case a thousand times and -figured it was 'cause all men ain't made alike. Some are bad and some -are good. It's like that now. Some folks you works for got no heart and -some treat you white. I guess it allus will be that way. - -"They was more ghosts and hants them days than now. It look like when -I's comin' up they was common as pig tracks. They come in different -forms and shapes, sometimes like a dog or cat or goat or like a man. I -didn't 'lieve in 'em till I seed one. A fellow I knowed could see 'em -every time he went out. One time us walkin' 'long a country lane and he -say, 'Jordon, look over my right shoulder.' I looked and see a man -walkin' without a head. I broke and run plumb off from the man I's with. -He wasn't scart of 'em. - -"I's refugeed from Georgia to Anderson County 'fore the war. I see Abe -Lincoln onct when he come through, but didn't none of know who he was. I -heared the president wanted 'em to work the young niggers till they was -twenty-one but to free the growed slaves. They say he give 'em thirty -days to 'siderate it. The white folks said they'd wade blood saddle deep -'fore they'd let us loose. I don't blame 'em in a way, 'cause they paid -for us. In 'nother way it was right to free us. We was brought here and -no person is sposed to be made a brute. - - -[Illustration: _Jordon Smith_] - - -"After surrender, Massa Ab call us and say we could go. Mammy stayed but -I left with my uncles and aunts and went to Shreveport where the Yanks -was. I didn't hear from my mammy for the nex' twenty years. - -"In Ku Klux times they come to our house and I stood tremblin', but they -didn't bother us. I heared 'em say lots of niggers was took down in -Sabine bottom and Kluxed, just 'cause they wanted to git rid of 'em. I -think it was desperados what done that, 'stead of the Ku Klux. That was -did in Panola County, in the Bad Lands. Bill Bateman and Hulon Gresham -and Sidney Farney was desperados and would kill a nigger jus' to git rid -of him. Course, lots of folks was riled up at the Kluxers and blamed 'em -for everything. - -"I's voted here in Marshall. Every nation has a flag but the cullud -race. The flag is what protects 'em. We wasn't invited here, but was -brought here, and don't have no place else to go. We was brought under -this government and it's right we be led and told what to do. The cullud -folks has been here more'n a hunerd years and has help make the United -States what it is. The only thing that'll help the cause is separation -of the races. I'll not be here when it comes, but it's bound to, 'cause -the Bible say that some day all the races of people will be separated. -Since 1865 till now the cullud race have done nothing but go to -destruction. There was a time a man could control his wife and family, -but you can't do that now. - -"After surrender I went to Shreveport and steamboated from there to New -Orleans, then to Vicksburg. Old hands was paid $15.00 a trip. I come -here in 1872 and railroaded 30 years, on the section gang and in the -shops. Since then I farmed and I's had three wives and nineteen chillen -and they are scattered all over the state. Since I's too old to farm I -work at odd jobs and git a $10.00 a month pension." - - - - -Millie Ann Smith - - -*Millie Ann Smith was born in 1850, in Rusk Co., Texas, a slave of -George Washington Trammell, a pioneer planter of the county. Trammell -bought Millie's mother and three older children in Mississippi before -Millie's birth, and brought them to Texas, leaving Millie's father -behind. Later he ran away to Texas and persuaded Trammell to buy him, so -he could be with his family.* - -"I's born 'fore war started and 'members when it ceased. I guess mammy's -folks allus belonged to the Trammells, 'cause I 'member my grandpa, Josh -Chiles, and my grandma, call Jeanette. I's a strappin' big girl when -they dies. Grandpa used to say he come to Texas with Massa George -Trammell's father when Rusk County was jus' a big woods, and the first -two years he was hunter for the massa. He stay in the woods all the -time, killing deer and wild hawgs and turkeys and coons and the like for -the white folks to eat, and the land's full of Indians. He kinda taken -up with them and had holes in the nose and ears. They was put there by -the Indians for rings what they wore. Grandpa could talk mos' any Indian -talk and he say he used to run off from his massa and stay with the -Indians for weeks. The massa'd go to the Indian camp looking for grandpa -and the Indians hided him out and say, 'No see him.' - -"How mammy and we'uns come to Texas, Massa George brung his wife and -three chillen from Mississippi and he brung we'uns. Pappy belonged to -Massa Moore over in Mississippi and Massa George didn't buy him, but -after mammy got here, that 'fore I's born, pappy runs off and makes his -way to Texas and gits Massa George to buy him. - -"Massa George and Missy America lived in a fine, big house and they -owned more slaves and land than anybody in the county and they's the -richest folks 'round there. Us slaves lived down the hill from the big -house in a double row of log cabins and us had good beds, like our white -folks. My grandpa made all the beds for the white folks and us niggers, -too. Massa didn't want anything shoddy 'round him, he say, not even his -nigger quarters. - -"I's sot all day handin' thread to my mammy to put in the loom, 'cause -they give us homespun clothes, and you'd better keep 'em if you didn't -want to go naked. - -"Massa had a overseer and nigger driver call Jacob Green. If a nigger -was hard to make do the right thing, they ties him to a tree, but Massa -George never whip 'em too hard, jus' 'nough to make 'em 'have. - -"The slaves what worked in the fields was woke up 'fore light with a -horn and worked till dark, and then there was the stock to tend to and -cloth to weave. The overseer come 'round at nine o'clock to see if all -is in the bed and then go back to his own house. When us knowed he's -sound asleep we'd slip out and run 'round, sometimes. They locked the -young men up in a house at night and on Sunday to keep 'em from runnin' -'round. It was a log house and had cracks in it and once a little nigger -boy pokes his hand in tryin' to tease them men and one of 'em chops his -fingers off with the ax. - -"Massa didn' 'low no nigger to read and write, if he knowed it. George -Wood was the only one could read and write and how he larn, a little boy -on the 'jining place took up with him and they goes off in the woods and -he shows George how to read and write. Massa never did find out 'bout -that till after freedom. - -"We slips off and have prayer but daren't 'low the white folks know it -and sometime we hums 'ligious songs low like when we's workin'. It was -our way of prayin' to be free, but the white folks didn't know it. I -'member mammy used to sing like this: - - "'Am I born to die, to lay this body down. - Must my tremblin' spirit fly into worlds unknown, - The land of deepes' shade, - Only pierce' by human thought.' - -"Massa George 'lowed them what wanted to work a little ground for -theyselves and grandpa made money sellin' wild turkey and hawgs to the -poor white folks. He used to go huntin' at night or jus' when he could. - - -[Illustration: _Millie Ann Smith_] - - -"Them days we made our own med'cine out of horsemint and butterfly weed -and Jerusalem oak and bottled them teas up for the winter. Butterfly -Weed tea was for the pleurisy and the others for the chills and fever. -As reg'lar as I got up I allus drank my asafoetida and tar water. - -"I 'member Massa George furnishes three of his niggers, Ed Chile and -Jacob Green and Job Jester, for mule skinners. I seed the government -come and take off a big bunch of mules off our place. Mos' onto four -year after the war, three men comes to Massa George and makes him call -us up and turn us loose. I heered 'em say its close onto four year we's -been free, but that's the first we knowed 'bout it. - -"Pappy goes to work at odd jobs and mammy and I goes to keep house for a -widow woman and I stays there till I marries, and that to Tom Smith. We -had five chillen and now Tom's dead and I lives on that pension from the -government, what is $16.00 a month, and I's glad to git it, 'cause I's -too old to work." - - - - -Susan Smith - - -*Susan Smith is not sure of her age, but appears to be in the late -eighties. She was a slave of Charles Weeks, in Iberia, Louisiana. Susan -was dressed in a black and white print, a light blue apron and a black -velvet hat when interviewed, and seemed to be enjoying the generous quid -of tobacco she took as she started to tell her story.* - -"I 'lieve I was nine or ten when freedom come, 'cause I was nursing for -the white folks. Old massa was Charlie Weeks and he lived in Iberia. His -sons, Willie and Ned, dey run business in de court house. One of dem tax -collector and de other lookin' after de land, and am de surveyor. Old -missus named Mag Weeks. - -"My pa named Dennis Joe and ma named Sabry Joe, and dey borned and -raised on Weeks Island, in Louisiana. After dey old massa die, dey was -'vided up and falls to Massa Charlie Weeks, and dat where I borned, in -Iberia on Bayou Teche. - -"Massa Charlie, he live in de big brick house with white columns and -everybody what pass dere know dat place. Dey have de great big tomb in -corner de yard, where dey buries all dey folks, but buries de cullud -folks back of de quarters. Dey's well fix in Louisiana, but not so good -after dey come to Texas. - -"Dey used to have big Christmas in Louisiana and lots of things for us, -and a big table and kill hawgs and have lots to eat. But old Missus Mag, -she allus treat me like her own chillen and make me set at de table with -dem and eat. - -"I was with Missus Mag on a visit to Mansfield when de war starts at six -o'clock Sunday and go till six o'clock Monday. I went over dat -battlefield and look at dem sojers dey kill. David McGill, a young -massa, he git kill. He uncle, William Weeks, what done hired him to jine -the army in he place, he goes to the battlefield to look for Massa -David. De only way he knowed it was him, he have two gold eyeteeth with -diamonds in dem. Some dem hurt sojers was prayin' and some cussin'. You -could hear some dem hollerin', 'Oh, Gawd, help me.' Dey was layin' so -thick you have to step over dem. - -"I seed de sojers in Iberia. Dey take anythin' dey wants. Dey cotch de -cow and kill it and eat it. Dey have de camp dere and dey jus' carry on. -I used to go to de camp, 'cause dey give me crackers and sardines. But -after dat Mansfield battle dey have up white flags and dey ain't no more -war dere. But while it gwine on, I go to de camp and sometimes dem -sojers give me meat and barbecue. Dey one place dere a lump salt big as -dis house, and dey set fire to de house and left dat big lump salt. -Anywhere dey camp dey burns up de house. - -"I didn't know I'm free till a man say to me, 'Sissy, ain't you know you -ain't got no more massa or missus?' I say, 'No, suh.' But I stays with -dem till I git marry, and slep' right in dey house and nuss for dem. Dey -give me de big weddin', too. De noter public in Iberia, he marry us. My -husband name Henry Smith and dat when I'm fifteen year old. I so -big-limb and fat den I bigger den what I is now. - -"I ain't had no husband for a time. I can't cast de years, he been dead -so long. Us have fifteen chillen, and seven livin' now. - -"Sperrits? I used to see dem. I scart of dem. Sometime dey looks nat'ral -and sometime like de shadow. Iffen dey look like de shadow, jus' keep on -lookin' at dem till dey looks nat'ral. Iffen you walks 'long, dey come -right up side you. Iffen you looks over you left shoulder, you see dem. -Dey makes de air feel warm and you hair rise up, and sometime dey gives -you de cold chills. You can feel it when dey with you. I set here and -seed dem standin' in dat gate. Dey goes round like dey done when dey -a-livin'. Some say dey can't cross water. - -"I heared talk of de bad mouth. A old woman put bad mouth on you and -shake her hand at you, and befo' de day done you gwine be in de -acciden'. - -"I seed de Klu Klux. Po' Cajuns and redbones, I calls dem. Dey ought to -be sleepin'. One time I seed a man hangin' in de wood when I'n pickin' -blackberries. His tongue hangin' out and de buzzards fly down on he -shoulder. De breeze sot him to swingin' and de buzzards fly off. I tells -de people and dey takes him down to bury. He a fine, young cullud man. I -don't know why dey done it. Dat after peace and de Yankees done gone -back home. - -"I been here in Texas a good while, and it such a rough road it got my -'membrance all stir up. I never been to school, 'cause I bound out to -work. I lives with my daughter and dis child here my grandchild. I can't -'member no more, 'cause my head ain't good as it used to be." - - - - -John Sneed - - -*John Sneed, born near Austin, Texas, does not know his age, but was -almost grown when he was freed. He belonged to Dr. Sneed and stayed with -him several years after Emancipation.* - -"I's borned on de old Sneed place, eight miles south of Austin, and my -mammy was Sarah Sneed and pappy was Ike. Dey come from Tennessee and -dere five boys and two gals. De boys am Dixie and Joe and Jim and Bob -and me, and de gals name Katy and Lou. Us live in quarters what was log -huts. Dere's one long, log house where dey spinned and weaved de cloth. -Dere sixteen spinnin' wheels and eight looms in dat house and my job was -turnin' one dem wheels when they'd thresh me out and git me to do it. -Mos' all de clothes what de slaves and de white folks have was made in -dat house. - -"Mos' and usual de chillen sleept on de floor, unless with de old folks. -De bedsteads make of pieces of split logs fasten with wooden pegs and -rope criss-cross. De mattress make of shucks tear into strips with maybe -a li'l cotton or prairie hay. You could go out on de prairie mos' any -time and get 'nough grass to make de bed, and dry it 'fore it put in de -tick. De white folks have bought beds haul by ox teams from Austin and -feather beds. - -"Dr. Sneed raise cotton and corn and wheat. Sometime five or six oxen -hitch to de wagon and 25 or 30 wagons make what am call de wagon train. -Dey haul cotton and corn and wheat to Port Lavaca what am de nearest -shipping point. On de return trip, dey brung sugar and coffee and cloth -and other things what am needed on de plantation. First time massa 'low -me go with dat ox-train, I thunk I's growed. - -"Dere a big gang of white and cullud chillen on de plantation but Dr. -Sneed didn't have no chillen of he own. De neighbor white chillen come -over dere and played. Us rip and play and fight and kick up us heels, -and go on. Massa never 'low no whippin' of de chillen. He make dem pick -rocks up and make fences out dem, but he didn't 'low no chillen work in -de field till dey 'bout fourteen. De real old folks didn't work in de -fields neither. Dey sot 'round and knit socks and mend de shoes and -harness and stuff. - -"Massa John mighty good to us chillen. He allus give us a li'l piece -money every Sunday. When he'd git in he buggy to go to Austin to sell -butter, de chillen pile in dat buggy and all over him so you couldn't -see him and he'd hardly see to drive. - -"Us had possum and rabbit and fish and trap birds for eatin'. Dere all -kind wild green dem days. Us jus' go in de woods and git wild lettuce -and mustard and leather-britches and polk salad and watercress, all us -want to eat. Us kilt hawgs and put up de lard by de barrel. Us thresh -wheat and take it to de li'l watermill at Barton Creek to grind. Dey'd -only grind two bushel to de family, no matter how big dat family, 'cause -dere so many folks and it such a small mill. - -"Each family have de li'l garden and raise turnips and cabbage and sweet -'taters and put dem in de kiln make from corn stalks and cure dem for -winter eatin'. Us have homemake clothes and brogan shoes, come from -Austin or some place. Us chillen wear shirt-tail till us 'bout thirteen. - -"Massa live in de big two-story rock house and have he office and -drug-store in one end de house. Missy Ann have no chillen so she 'dopt -one from Tennessee, name Sally. - -"Dere 'bout four or five hunerd acres and 'bout sixty slaves. Dey git up -'bout daylight and come from de field in time to feed and do de chores -'fore dark. After work de old folks sot 'round, fiddle and play de -'cordian and tell stories. Dat mostly after de crops laid by or on rainy -days. On workin' time, dey usually tired and go to bed early. Dey not -work on Saturday afternoon or Sunday, 'cept dey gatherin' de crop 'gin a -rain. Old man Jim Piper am fiddler and play for black and white dances. -On Sunday massa make us go to church. Us sing and pray in a li'l log -house on de plantation and sometimes de preacher stop and hold meetin'. - -"Massa John Sneed doctored from Austin to Lockhart and Gonzales and my -own mammy he train to be midwife. She good pneumonia doctor and massa -'low her care for dem. - -"On Christmas all us go to de big house and crowd 'round massa. He a -li'l man and some black boys'd carry him 'round on dere shoulders. All -knowed dey gwine git de present. Dere a big tree with present for -everyone, white and black. Lots of eggnog and turkey and baked hawgs and -all kind good things. Dere allus lots of white folks company at massa's -house and big banquets and holidays and birthdays. Us like dem times, -'cause work slack and food heavy. Every las' chile have he birthday -celebrate with de big cake and present and maybe de quarter in silver -from old massa, bless he soul. Us play kissin' games and ring plays and -one song am like dis: - - "'I'm in de well, - How many feet? - Five. Who'd git you out?' - -"Iffen it a man, he choose de gal and she have to kiss him to git him -out de well. Iffen a gal in de well, she choose a man. - -"I well 'member de day freedom 'clared. Us have de tearin'-down dinner -dat day. De niggers beller and cry and didn't want leave massa. He talk -to us and say long as he live us be cared for, and us was. Dere lots of -springs on he place and de married niggers pick out a spring and Massa -Doctor give dem stuff to put up de cabin by dat spring, and dey take -what dey have in de quarters. Dey want to move from dem slave quarters, -but not too far from massa. Dey come to de big house for flour and meal -and meat and sich till massa die. He willed every last one he slaves -somethin'. Mos' of 'em git a cow and a horse and a pig and some -chickens. My mammy git two cows and a pair horses and a wagon and 70 -acres land. She marries 'gain when my daddy die and dat shif'less nigger -she marry git her to sign some kind paper and she lose de land. - -"My wife was Nanny Madeira and us have six chillen and five is livin'. I -followed cattle till I's 'bout 26. I's went up de Chisholm Trail eight -or nine times and druv for Massa Blocker and Jedge Brackenridge and -others. On one stampede I rode 24 hours straight and after we rounds up -all de cattle, I goes to sleep under a tree. Dat day I has on a buckskin -coat I in gen'ral wore and I feels somethin' grab dat coat and bite my -side. I rouses up and sees de big panther draggin' me off to de thicket. -I has de six-gun but I couldn't git to it. Every once in a while dat -panther lay me down and sniff at my nose. I jes' hold de breath, 'cause -if dat panther cotch me breathin' dat been de end of me. He drug me to -some bushes and den goes off a li'l way and give de yell. Dat yell make -me turn cold, 'cause it sound jes' like a man screamin'. Den dat cat dug -a shallow hole. I eases out my old gun, takes careful aim and den says, -'Thank you, old man,' and he turns to look at me and I shoots him right -'tween he eyes. After 'while, dat cat's mate and cub come runnin', -'cause he yell for dem, and I kilt dem, too. - - -[Illustration: _John Sneed_] - - -"'Nother time, I seed de panther a-draggin' a white man off and I slips -up jes' as de cat seizes him and shoots dat cat. Us have to run dat man -down and cotch him, 'cause he scared stiff when dat dead cat fall on -him. - -"Some time after dat I works for a man what freights supplies 'round -Austin and I's one de drivers. Us start in September with sev'ral -six-wheel wagons, 'nough to las' a town de year, and not git back to -Austin till January. Sometimes de mud so bad it take six oxen to pull de -wagon out. - -"One time us movin' and stampedin' de bunch cattle and me and my brother -gits los' from de rest and was los' three days and nights. All us eat am -parched corn. De grass nearly waist high to a man and us scoop out de -hole in de ground and cut off tops de grass and weeds and make de fire. -Den us drap de corn on de fire and parch it. De woods full wild animals -and panthers and wolves. De wolves de worst. Dey slip up on us to git de -chicken us has with us. At last us come to a house and finds us folks." - - - - -Mariah Snyder - - -*Mariah Snyder, 89, was born in Mississippi, a slave of Sam Miller, who -brought her to Texas when she was five. Since Mariah's second husband -died, twenty-two years ago, she has earned her living by washing and -cooking. Now too old to do much, she is cared for by her only living -daughter, with the aid of a $10.00 monthly pension.* - -"I's borned in Mississippi. Yes, sar. I 'longed to Massa Miller and he -name am Sam, and my name am Mariah. My pappy was Weldon and my mammy, -Ann. Massa Sam fotches all us to Texas when I's jes' five year old and -we come in wagons and hossback. He done buy my mammy and pappy in the -slave market, so I don't know nothin' 'bout none my other 'lations. - -"Massa Sam live in a great big, ceiled house, and had plenty land and -niggers. The quarters was logs and any kind beds we could git. We wore -lowell clothes and I never seed no other kind of dress till after -surrender. We et meat and collards and cornbread and rough grub, and -they biled all the victuals in a big, black pot what hung on a rack in -the kitchen fireplace. We had red russet, flat shoes and no stockin's, -but in winter we made wool panties to wear on our legs. - -"Missy was name Patsy and she was purty good, and Massa Sam was purty -good, too. He'd whip us if we needed it. He'd pull off our clothes and -whip in the field. But he wouldn't 'low the driver to whip us if we -didn't need it. No, sar. And he wouldn't have no patterrollers on the -place. - -"The driver come round and woke everybody up and had 'em in the field by -daybreak. I's seed a whole field of niggers abreast, hoein'. The rows of -cotton was so long you couldn't make but one 'fore dinnertime. I driv -the gin, what was run by two mules. The cotton was wropped in baggin' -and tied with ropes. It was a long time after 'fore I seed cotton tied -with steel like they bales it now. - -"I seed plenty niggers whipped while I driv that gin. They tied the -feets and hands and rawhided 'em good. They tied a bell on one woman -what run away all the time. They locks it round her head. - -"I seed lots of niggers put on the block and bid off and carry away in -chains. One woman name Venus raises her hands and hollers, 'Weigh dem -cattle,' whilst she's bein' bid off. - -"The big folks dances all night Sat'day. That's all the fun we had. We -used to sing - - "I'm in a lady's garden, I'm in a lady's garden, - So let me out. I'm sufferin' for water and wine. - -"The slaves most allus sings whilst theys workin' in the field, and one -song was - - "When I's here you calls me honey, - When I's gone you honies everybody. - -or - - "The raccoon am de funny thing, - Ramblin' round in de dark. - -"Massa Sam have a cullud man what give us our ABC's. I still got mine, -but didn't never git no further. - - -[Illustration: _Mariah Snyder_] - - -"Massa Sam git kilt 'fore the war. A mule throwed him. He had plenty -good hosses but allus rid a mule. He come in from a neighbor's one day -and the mule throwed him on a stob 'fore he got to the house. We heared -a hollerin' down the road, but didn't pay no 'tention, 'cause they's -allus all kind racket gwine on. Fin'ly somebody say, 'That sound like a -man,' and we goes down there and it was massa. 'Fore he die he calls all -the cullud chillen to him and shakes hands and tells 'em to be good. - -"We 'longs to he son, Ruben, then, and stays with him three years after -surrender. Lordy me! How I hates to think of 'em talkin' 'bout that war! -Young missy cry a whole week, 'cause she fear her men folks gwine git -kilt. They did, too. Her two boys, George and Frank, gits kilt, and heap -of the neighbors boys gits kilt, too. - -"Fin'ly us leaves Massa Ruben and goes to Shreveport and I marries -Snyder. The 'Progo' Marshal marries us. We raises two gals and I lives -with Mary. Snyder died twenty-two years ago and all them years I made a -livin' washin' and ironin' and cookin', up to six years ago. I gits a -pension from the gov'ment now and it am $10.00 a month. It's mighty good -of the white folks to take care of this old nigger, but I'd rather work, -only I ain't able no more." - - - - -Patsy Southwell - - -*Patsy Southwell, 83, was born in Jasper Co., Texas. She has lived on or -near the old plantation all her life. Her master was Bill Trailor.* - -"My name Patsy Southwell and I lives at Rock Hill. I been livin' on dat -plantation all my life, but not allus in the very same place. I think -the house was move and 'nother builded. - -"My pappy was John Redd and he 'longed to Bill Trailor and he brung here -from Virginny. Mammy's name Rose Redd and she a yaller nigger, come from -South Carolina and maybe she white and Indian, too. My brothers call -Dennis, George, William, and Charles and dey all dead. - -"We all live in the quarters and massa a tol'able good one 'sidering -others what cut and slashes bad. Pappy and mammy work in the field and -dey send pappy and he sons off six months at the time, over to -Alexandria, to make salt. - -"My brothers hunt all the time and brung in deer and wild turkey, so we -has lots to eat. We has butter and milk and honey and pappy allus have -he li'l garden patch. - -"We wears slip homespun dress make outten cloth from us loom. I never -have shoes and us has no Sunday clothes. Massa was tol'ably good to the -old folks and not so mean to the chillen. He wasn't no barbarian like -some what whip the slaves every Monday mornin' befo' dey starts to work. - -"Massa plantation have fifteen hunnerd acre in it and he didn't have -'nough slaves so they works awful hard. I seed 'em hit my mammy five -hunnerd licks and my pappy six hunnerd. Pappy have run 'way and been -gone long time and they cotch him in de water in the Neches River. He -have meat and stuff and they say mammy feedin' him, but I think it the -other way. I think he gittin' and sendin' her stuff. - -"The white folks has the big church with the bar 'cross it and the -cullud folks sit behin' the bar. If any wants to jine us tell massa and -he tell the preacher, and he old man Southwell. They baptise at the mill -pond. - -"I marries Jerry Southwell and us git marry at home. Jerry wears the -black suit and I wears the dotted white Swiss dress with the overskirt. - -"When freedom breaks and massa say we free, we goes to the Haynes' place -and my pappy farms for hisself. We gits on better den in slavery days -and after 'while pappy buys him some land and den we all right. Me and -my husban', we stays on with pappy awhile, but we gits our own farm and -farm all us life." - - - - -Leithean Spinks - - -*Leithean Spinks, 82, was born a slave to Fay Thompson, in Rankin -County, Mississippi. Soon after Leithean's birth, Mr. Thompson moved to -E. Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. Leithean was happy in slave days, and -stayed with her master two years after she was freed. She lives at 2600 -Merrick St., Fort Worth, Texas.* - -"Does I look old 'nough to be birthed in slavery? I's eighty-two years -old and mammy had it right there in de Bible, marked when I's birthed, -in 1855. I's birthed in Mississippi but a little while after, massa goes -to Louisiana, over in East Feliciana Parish, and when I's old 'nough to -'member, we'uns am there, 'twixt New Roads and Jackson, right near the -Mississippi River. - -"Massa Thompson had a awful big plantation and more'n 300 cullud folks, -and three rows of cabins 'bout two blocks long, and 'bout one family to -a cabin. No floors in dem cabins, you stands on dirt, and de furniture -am something you knows ain't there. Why, man, there am jus' benches to -sit on and a homemake table and bunks. Dere am de fireplace but all de -main cookin' am done in de big cookin' shed, and old Mammy Dice done it, -with four to holp her. - -"De bell am rung when meal time comes and all de slaves lines up, with -their pans and cups and passes de service table, and de food am put on -dere pans and milk in de cup. Dat de one time massa could allus 'pend on -de niggers. When de bell say, 'Come and git it,' all us am there. Us -takes de food to de cabins and eats it. - -"Dis old nigger come near gwine to Glory once when mammy am gone to de -cook shed. How 'twas am dis-a-way. She latches de door on de outside to -keep us three chillen in de cabin, my sis and brudder and me. Well, in -dem days, us uses tallow candles for light and pine knots when candles -am short. Mammy lights de pine knot befo' she leaves and after she am -gone, it falls off de hook and hits de ground and rolls a couple feet -under de bunk. There am straw in de tick and right off de whole shebang -am on fire. There am three of us with de door latch and all de grown-ups -in de cook shed. Us hollers and yells but it am no use, and de hollerin' -don't last long, 'cause de smoke gittin' thick. De fire am spreadin' -fast and de bunks starts burnin'. Us am huddle togedder, skeert plumb -out our wits and chokin' and coughin'. - -"Den my brudder gits de idea and he grabs de big spoon and de iron poker -and starts diggin' de dirt from under de log next de door. De smoke -ain't so bad next de ground, and did yous ever see de dog diggin' in de -rabbit hole? Dat how us digs, and seems it never gwine come a hole. -Finally, a hole busted through and lets in fresh air, and den us dig -some more, and it am big 'nough for my little sis to crawl through. Den -us dig some more and I crawls out and my brudder starts but he gits he -head outside and his shoulders wedges and there he am, stucked. Us pull -and pull, but nary a inch could us budge him. He try to back up but he -shirt caught on a knot and he can't do dat. So us runs for de cook shed -and yells, 'Mammy, de cabin on fire.' Everybody starts to holler, -'Fire,' and mammy busts in de door and yanks brudder out dat hole, and -he am sweatin' like a latherin' mare. After dey puts de fire out with de -water buckets, mammy say, 'When sis gits out, why didn't she unlatch de -door?' 'Cause de 'citement, us never think of dat! - -"Us have plenty hawg meat and veg'tables and butter and 'lasses and -honey. De food ain't short no time 'round massa, 'cause he say niggers -works better when dey feeds good. De mammies leaves de babies in de -nursery durin' de day and dem chillen am take good care of and has lots -of milk and am all fat like hawgs. - -"In de mornin' when de bell ring, everybody goes to work, but I is -little and does de chores and am gap tender. De cattle am 'lowed to run -where dey wants, here, there and all over. Fences am 'round de fields -and yards and there am gates to go through, but us calls dem gaps. It am -my job to open and close dem, 'cause somebody allus wantin' to drive or -walk through dem gaps. - -"MY sis am de fly chaser. She has de big fan make from de tail feathers -of de peacock. 'Twas awful purty thing. She stands 'round de white folks -and shoo off de flies. - -"Massa Fay ain't hard on he cullud folks. He works dem steady but don't -drive dem. Lots de slaves goes fishin' in de river on Saturday afternoon -and Sunday, and dey cotches plenty fish. - -"Us has parties and singin' and dancin' and fiddle music. Oh, Lawdy! How -lonesome I gits when I thinks 'bout dem days, and de music and singin'. -Sometimes 'bout a hunerd sings to once and dat sound purty and jus' go -all through me. - - -[Illustration: _Leithean Spinks_] - - -"For runnin' off am de only hard whuppin's massa give. De run-off am tie -to de log and massa lay de whuppin' on he back. De plantation am near de -river and dere am lots of caves and cliffs to hide in. Massa cotch de -run-offs with de nigger hounds and if he don't, dey git hongry and -sneaks back. Only one gits clear away. - -"One Sunday mornin' 'bout ten o'clock, massa have de bell ring and calls -all us to de front gallery and makes de talk. He say, 'I's happy to tell -yous is free and, 'cording to de law, yous am all citizens. Dem what -wants to stay with me I'll pay de wages or dey can work on shares.' He -gives us all de paper, with de name and age and where us am birthed. Me -and mammy stays two years after freedom. I marries Sol Pleasant in 1872 -and us has two chillen. Us sep'rate in 1876. De trouble am, he wants to -be de boss of de job and let me do de work. I 'cides I don't need no -boss, so I transports him, and says, 'Nigger, git out of here and don't -never come back. If you comes back, I'll smack you down.' - -"In 1876 I marries Frank Spinks and us has eight chlllen and he dies in -1930. All dem eight chillen lives here and I's livin' with one of dem, -Mrs. Covy Kelly. 'Tain't many years befo' old Gabriel blow he horn, and -I's waitin' for him." - - - - -Guy Stewart - - -*Guy Stewart, 87, 209 Austin Ave., Ft. Worth, was born Nov. 26, 1850, a -slave of Jack Taylor, who also owned Guy's parents, 3 brothers and 3 -sisters. They lived in Mansfield Parish, La. Stewart started work in the -fields at seven years, and remained with his owner three years after he -was freed. He then moved onto his own farm where he lived until 1898, -when he moved to Fort Worth.* - -"Yas, suh, I'se an ol' slave and I'se 'bout 11 years ol' when de War -starts. My marster am Jack Taylor and my family belongs to him. - -"I 'members de war well, 'cause we'uns hears shootin' and see soldiers. -Dey comes to marster's place and takes hosses and vittals. One time dey -wants some of de niggers for to help fix for de battle. Dere am heap of -'citement and de marster's 'fraid de battle come too close. He say, -'It's too close for saftment.' And he say, 'Put dis and dat away so de -soldier cain't find it.' - -"I starts work long 'fore dat, when I'se seven, in de cotton and co'n -field. I just peddles 'round first. Marster sho' am good to us and so -good dat de other white folks calls us de 'free niggers.' - -"We'uns have cabins for to live in and sleep in bunks with straw ticks -on 'em. We'uns has lots to eat, all we wants. And we'uns have all de -clothes we needs. - -"Sho, we went to church with de marster. Dey tol' us 'bout Heaven and de -devil and sich. But dey never 'lows us to have books in de hands. Dey -says it wasn' good for us to larn readin' or writin.' "We'uns has lots -of music on dat place 'cause de marster, he am de good fiddler and he -learns some of us niggers to play de fiddle and de banjo. We gits -together and has de music, sing and dance. If I thinks 'bout dem days -now, I can see we'uns dancin' and hear de singin' of dem ol' songs, sich -like Ol' Black Joe and Swanee River. Iffen I thinks too much 'bout dem -days, tears comes in dis ol' nigger's eyes. Dem were de happy days of my -life. In dem days, we'uns not know what am money, never have any. What -for we'uns need it? I'se more happy den, dan I been since, with money. - -"De marster am scart for to lose all de hosses and everything, 'cause -dey takes it for de army man, so he gits to thinkin' 'bout movin' to -Texas. De war warn't over when he goes to Texas and takes all us niggers -with him. De roads dem days am not so good. No bridges over de rivers, -'cept de bigges' ones. Lots of times we'uns has to push for help de -hosses pull de wagons outta de mudhole, and we'uns is over a month -gettin' to Williams County. De marster rents de land dere and we stays -for one crop, and den we all goes to Travis County, whar marster settle -for to raise de wheat. - -"When freedom comes, de marster says we'uns has to work for wages and -buy all de food and de clothes and everything dat we'uns gits. Dat's not -so easy. At first he pays me $5.00 a month and den pays me $10.00 de -month. After three years I quits and rents a farm and works for myself, -I gits married in 1877 and my wife dies in 1915. We'uns has one chile. -In 1898 I comes to Fort Worth and gits me a job in de woodyard and sich. - -"White man, I sho' likes for to see dat ol' plantation down in Louisiana -and it would do dis ol' darky good. I sits here and thinks of de marster -and de good times. And de fishin down dere! Is dere good fishin'? De -folks here don' know what am fishin'. - -"You has dis nigger thinkin' heaps 'bout de ol' plantation and de good -times. If I don' stop talkin' 'bout dat, I gits to cryin'." - - - - -William Stone - - -*William Stone was born in a covered wagon, on the way from Alabama to -Texas, about 1863. Though he was too small to remember slave days, he -does recall many things told him by his parents and other ex-slaves. -William lives in Mart, Texas.* - -"My parents done told me where I's borned. It am in a covered wagon on -de way from Alabama to Texas, two years 'fore freedom. Old Marse, Lem -Stone, he left Alabama for Texas, where de war not so bad, and brung -some he slaves with him. He done lost so much in Alabama, Yankees -burnin' he house and cotton and killin' he stock, he want to git 'way -from dere. - -"First he come to Rusk County, den goes back to Shreveport and stays -till freedom. Pappy and mammy was Louis and Car'line Stone. I lived in -Louisiana till I's growed. - -"Mammy and pappy done told me all 'bout de old plantation. It am -hundreds of acres of land, part worked and part jus' timber and pasture. -It was near Montgomery, and dey raised more cotton den anything else, -but had some corn and peas and cane. Dey made sorghum and ribbon cane -'lasses and had boilin' vats for sugar, too. - -"De soldiers come through. Dey named, Yankees. Dey make mammy cook -somethin' to eat and den kilt all de hawgs and took de meat with dem, -and burn de barn and house. Old Marse had pens to put cotton in, hid way -out in de bresh. Dey picked it in gunny sacks and hides it, and slips it -out to de gin by night and tries to sell it 'fore dem Yankees finds it -and burns it. - -"Mammy say dey all went to church and had to drive four horses when de -roads muddy in winter and sand deep in summer. Dey allus carry dinner -and stay all day. Den in de evenin', after de niggers had dey preachin', -dey all go home. Sometimes a preacher come out to de plantation and hold -church for de white folks in de mornin' and in de evenin' for de -niggers, out under a big oak tree. - -"De Lawd say iffen us trusts him and help to be good he gwine make our -path straight. Dis was true in de days of den, 'cause our white folks -tooken care of us, befo' dey was freedom and sech. Now, us gittin' old, -and gits de old age pension when us too old to work. - -"I works all up and down de old river when I's growed. De plantations -has long staple cotton. Dey raise sugar cane and dere be twenty wagons -haulin' cane to de boilin' mills. We was happy to do dat work, 'cause we -knowed it mean us have plenty 'lasses in winter. Lawdy, I wish I knowed -I could have all de 'lasses and bread I wanted dis winter! Dem was good -times, Lawd! Us sing dis song: - - "'We'll stick to de hoe till de sun go down, - We'll rise when de rooster crow, - And go to de field where de sunshine hot, - To de field where de sugar cane grow. - Yes, chilluns, we'll all go.' - -"I can jes' see dem long rows of cotton and niggers drivin' de oxen and -mules. I know 'nother song: - - "Nigger mighty happy when he layin' by de corn, - Nigger mighty happy when he hear dat dinner horn; - But he more happy when de night come on, - Dat' sun's a'slantin', as sho's you born! - Dat old cow's a shakin' dat great big bell, - And de frogs tunin' up, 'cause de dew's done fell.' - -"Dat jes' after freedom. Dey have plantations and overseers like -slavery, but most de overseers niggers, and dey didn't whip you den. On -Saturday night de overseer pay us, mostly in rations. He give us five, -maybe ten pounds rations of meat, and a peck or two or meal, and some -coffee and 'lasses. - - "'Dat ration day come once a week, - Old massa rich as Gundy. - But he give 'lasses all de week, - And buttermilk for Sunday. - - "'Old massa give a pound of meat, - I et it all on Monday; - Den I et 'lasses all de week, - And buttermilk for Sunday.' - -"All dis was down on de Mississippi bottom. Old Man River was sho' purty -in de fall, when dem wild geeses come in droves and de blossoms red and -yaller. De fogs come hang over and chills and fever gits started. De -woman sot by de fire piecin' quilts and spinnin' thread, and de old men -weave cotton baskets and chair bottoms, and de young men work on da -levees, so dey hold Old Man River back when he start prowlin' round -'gain. - - -[Illustration: _William Stone_] - - -"Floods come down, no matter what time of year. One day Old Man River be -runnin' 'long, jes' as peaceful and quiet, and everybody happy. -Everybody meet de boats at de landin'. Den way in de night you wake up -and hear a roarin' like thunder and dat river be on a tear. Folks know -he am in de ugly mood, and starts movin' to higher ground. Everybody -what have a wagon and mule gits out. Some jes' gits to de levee. It look -like my folks told me when dey run from de Yankees, only dis time it's -de river. Old Man River sho' treach'ous. After he go on one he rarin' -and tearin' spells, den he gwine be so peaceful and quiet like. Look -like he try to make up for he meanness. - -"I gits married and moves clost to de Trinity River, and stays till my -family done raised. Dey has free schools in Texas den. I works in de -sawmill and dere so much wild game us can eat easy. Dem days on de -Mississippi bottom is like a dream, but when I hears talk 'bout Old Man -River, I can dem big waters roarin' down." - - - - -Yach Stringfellow - - -*Yach Stringfellow, 90, was born a slave of Frank Hubert, in Brenham, -Texas. His memory is poor and, though he recalled a good many incidents -of slavery days, he had little to say about his life from 1865 to the -present. He now lives in Watt, Texas.* - -"I'll be ninety-one years old next May, and I was borned in Brenham. My -massa and missus was Frank Hubert and Sarah Ann Hubert. My daddy come -from de old Africa and was tall and straight as a arrow. He was sold to -a man what tooked him to California in de gold rush in 1849 and me and -mammy stays with Massa Hubert. Dat how come my name ain't de same as -massa have. - -"I got so much misery in de head I can't 'member like I should. But I -know us live in little log houses all kind of group together, and us eat -in a long lean-to builded on to the big house. Us chillen had a long, -scooped-out dish on a split log table. What we had to eat was dumped in -dat trough and us ate it like slop. But it sho' taste good when you been -huntin' for eggs or calves or gittin' in chips or breakin' bresh. - -"When I's big 'nough I carries water, sometimes from de spring and -sometimes from de deep well. Dere danger a little child fall in and -drown and massa, he say niggers too valu'ble to risk dem dat way. It was -hard work to tote water for niggers workin', 'cause allus somebody -hollerin' for de water. I had to trot down de slippery bank through de -thorns to de spring or pull de heavy sweep to git it out de well, and -carry two buckets most de time. - -"Us cut two saplin's de right size to fasten together at de end and -stick dem in holes in de wall, to make de bed. Us use lace cowhide -strings or any kind rope across de poles to hold de bed up. Den put hay -or corn shucks and a little cotton in de ticks. - -"Us eat bacon and cornbread and greens, but de white folks had more'n -better. Dey didn't have to eat string victuals like us; us have to eat -something to stick to de ribs. Right 'bout de time dis state come to be -de United States, and de Mexicans raisin' de old billy, us cook most -usual on de fireplace and have ovens by de side to make bread, and -cranes for de pots. - -"Us slaves used pine torches and sometimes a little bit of candle. De -women make all de candles demselves for de white folks. Us didn't need -much light at night, 'cause us tired after de long day, workin' from can -see to can't see, and us git in de bed early. - -"I wore shirt tail till I's fourteen, den de homespun britches and -shirt. My weddin' suit was de dark jeans and I was fix up fine as any -nigger on de plantation. She wore white and massa fix supper and git de -fiddler and all sich. - -"Massa have John to oversee, and he sho' de stepper. He be every place -you didn't think he gwine come. He have de big, boom voice and allus -slingin', and wail, 'Look along, black man, look along, dere trouble -comin' sho'.' Iffen de black boy or woman lyin' in de corn row, dey git -up quick and be mighty bust right soon, 'cause dat black snake whip -reach for dem. Dey scramble deyself together and be de busiest in de -bunch by time John git dere. - - -[Illustration: _Yach Stringfellow_] - - -"In de long winter days de men sat round de fire and whittle wood and -make butter paddles and troughs for de pigs and sich, and ax handles and -hoe handles and box traps and figure-four traps. Dey make combs to git -de wool clean for de spinnin'. Us take de long strip of leather and put -wire in it and bend dem so dey stay, den cut dem comb-like teef and dere -you are. - -"Come Christmas us slaves have de big dinner and eat all day and dance -till nex' mornin'. Some de niggers from near plantations git dey passes -and come jine us. Course dey a drap egg nog round and candy for de -chillen. De white folks have dey big carriage full of visitors and big -goin's on dey come to from miles round. Us didn't have no money, but -didn't have no place to go to spend it, neither. - -"At night, us sat round de fire sometimes and de women sew and knit and -de men whittle and told things. Dey talk 'bout charms and sich. You -gwine have lots of luck iffen you cotch de rabbit in de graveyard on de -dark of de moon and cut off he hind leg and wear it. Iffen you chews de -piece of shoe-string root, jus' you ask anybody a favor and you sho' -gwine git it." - - - - -Bert Strong - - -*Bert Strong was born in 1864, a slave of Dave Cavin. He and his mother -remained in the service of the Cavin family for ten years after they -were freed. Bert has farmed in Harrison County all his life and now -lives alone on Long's Camp Road, twelve miles northeast of Marshall. He -is supported by a $15.00 per month pension.* - -"I been livin' here all my life. I was birthed a year and more 'fore the -war stopped and 'longed to old Dave Cavin. All my folks 'longed to him -over in Montgomery, in Alabama. Massa Dave buyed my mammy's papa off a -'baccy farm in Richmond, in Virginny. I heared Massa Dave say he done -come to Texas 'cause he heared in Alabama this was a rich country--hawgs -walkin' round with a knife in they back and you could shake money off -the trees. His folks and 'bout thirty slaves cone to Texas in wagons. -They was on the road three months. - -"I heared my grand-people tell 'bout holpin' run the Indians out of -Texas. Big Lake, on Caddo Lake, was jus' a small kind of stream them -days. My grandpa was name Gloster and he died at a hunerd five years. - -"Massa Cavin had 'bout four hunerd acres and builded us all good -quarters with chimnies and fireplaces, and good beds and plenty food. -I's too little to know all this 'fore the war, but my folks stayed with -massa ten years after freedom and things was jus' the same as in slave -times, only they got a little money, so I can 'member. - -"My grandma was cook and there was plenty wild game, turkey and deer and -pigeon and rabbits and squirrels. I 'member once they's grumblin' 'bout -what they have to eat and old massa comes to the quarters and say, 'What -you fussin' 'bout? They's a gallon good potlicker in the pot." I's raise -on greens and pork and potlicker and 'taters and ash-cake. Dat am good -food, too. I ain't never hope to see no better food dan dat. - -"Massa give he slaves two sets clothes a year and one pair 'bachelor' -brogan shoes with brass toes. The white folks larnt us Negroes to read -and write, at night and on Sunday, and we could go to church. We had our -own preacher, and massa let us have fun'rals when a slave died. They -wasn't no undertakers then. They jus' made the coffin and planed the -boards and lined it with black cloth. The white folks and the cullud -folks, too, was put 'way nice on our place. - -"They was a overseer a while, but massa fires him for cuttin' and -slashin' he niggers. He made my uncle Freeman overlooker. We is heared -slaves on farms close by hollerin' when they git beat. Some the -neighbors works they hands till ten at night and weighed the last -weighin' by candles. If the day's pickin' wasn't good 'nough, they beat -them till it a pity. - -"Christmas was the big time. Massa kilt the hawg or beef and sometimes a -mutton, and give the slaves the big dinner. Us all hang the stockin' up -on massa's gallery and it was a run to see what we'd git. He give the -chillen toys and apples and the big folks somethin' to wear. He'd 'low -the chillen to have candy pullin' Saturday nights and the growed folks -parties. My cousin, Tom, was songster and call the plays at all the -dances, and they turned 'cordin' to what he'd sing. - -"When young massa went to war they calls all the slaves to tell him -good-bye. They blowed the horn. He come home two times on a furlough and -says, 'I's smellin' and seein' the Devil.' Then the nex' time he come -home he say, 'Las' time I tells you 'bout smellin' the Devil. I's -smellin' and seein' Hell now.' When the war am over, he come home and -say to old massa, 'Ain't you read the 'lamation to you niggers yet?' -Massa say he hasn't, and young massa blowed the horn and calls us all up -and tells us we's free as he is and could work for who we please, but he -like us to stay till the crop am out. He say he'd hire us and make a -contrac'. Me and my mammy stays ten years, 'cause they so good it ain't -no use to leave. One of the young massas am livin' here now, Mr. Tom, -and I goes to see him. - - -[Illustration: _Bert Strong_] - - -"I stays with mammy till I marries and then farms for myself. That all I -ever done and I'd be doin' it now if I was able. I raises two boys but -they am both dead now. - -"I votes once in the county 'lection and once in the president 'lection. -I think any man should vote, but it ain't 'tended for women to vote. - -"Mos' the young niggers am gwine to Hell. They don't 'preciate things. -They has lots more'n we ever did. They can go to school and all, but -they don't 'preciate it." - - - - -Emma Taylor - - -*Emma Taylor, 89, was born a slave of the Greer family, in Mississippi. -She and her mother were sold to a Texas man, whose name Emma has -forgotten. Emma lives with one of her children, in Tyler, Texas.* - -"My maw and paw lived in Mississippi, and belonged to Marse Greer. Dat -dere name, too. All the slaves tooken dere master's name, 'cause dey -hadn't no use for a name, nohow. - -"De first thing I 'members is followin' my maw in the cotton patch. She -allus went ahead, pickin' cotton, and made a clean place with her sack -draggin' on the ground. But de first work I ever done was feed de -chickens and geese and shell corn to feed dem. - -"Us nigger chillen couldn't play with de white chillen. De worstest -whippin' I ever got was fer playin' with a doll what belonged to one -marse's chillen. I 'members it yet and I ain't never seed a doll purty -as dat doll was to me. It was make out a corncob with arms and legs what -moved and a real head, with eyes and hair and mouth painted on. It had a -dress out of silk cloth, jist like one my missus weared when she went to -meetin'. Dat li'l gal done leave de doll under de tree, but missus found -me playin' with it and whipped me hard. - -"We lived in a cabin in de back field 'hind de big house, one room and a -shed room, where maw done all de cookin' for de whole family. I had -three brothers and three sisters, all dead, I supposes. Dey all older'n -what I was. We cooked on a fireplace, and a big pot hanged on poles over -de fire and de bread cook on dat fire in a skillet what was made of two -pieces of iron, turn up all round. We puts de dough in one and turns de -other one over it, den buries it in de coals a few minutes till it brown -on de top and bottom. It was good, jist as good as nowadays, baked in a -oven. Our beds was made out of straw and old rags, but we kept warm -sleepin' a whole lot in one bed in winter, but we slept outside in -summer. - -"I was sold one time. Marse, he gittin' old and 'cide he didn't need so -many slaves, so he have de sale and a man come and put us all up on a -big platform. We pulls off nearly all our clothes, so as to show how big -we was, and he 'gins hollerin' 'bout who gwineter buy, who gwineter buy. -I was scart and thunk I has to leave maw, so I 'gins hollerin' jist as -loud as he does. He turn 'round and say, 'Shut up, you li'l coon, you. I -can't hear nothin'.' I hides my face in maw's apron and didn't know no -more till we's all loaded in a wagon and starts to de new home. We gits -dere and is give new clothes and shoes, de first ones I ever had on and -it taken me a long time to larn to wear dem things on my feet. - -"Us niggers has to git up at four in de mornin', and work, work till us -can't see no more. Den dey work at night. De men chops wood and hauls -poles to build fences and make wood, and de women folks has to spin four -cuts of thread every night and make all de clothes. Some has to card -cotton to make quilts and some weave and knits stockin's. Marse give -each one a chore to do at night and iffen it warn't did when we went to -bed, we's whipped. One time I falls plumb asleep befo' I finishes -shellin' some corn, but I didn't git a bad whippin' dat time. - -"Sometimes de niggers danced and played de fiddle and us chillen played -in de yard. We could stay up all night dem times, but had to work next -day, and hardly ever stayed up all night. Dat durin' harvest or at -Christmas time. - -"All de victuals was issued out by de overseer and he give 'nough for -one week, den iffen us eat it all up too soon, it am jist go without. -Lots of times, I went down to de 'tato patch a long time after everybody -am in bed, and stole 'tatoes, so we wouldn't be hungry next day. I allus -covered de hole up good and never did git cotched. De dogs got after me -one time, but I put pepper in dey eyes and dey stopped. I allus carried -pepper with me. - - -[Illustration: _Emma Taylor_] - - -"I marries when I's fifteen, not so long befo' I'm free. Nigger men -didn't git no license to marry dey gals den. Dey jist picked her out and -asked marse, and iffen he 'grees, dey's married. But iffen he don't want -it, dat man has to find heself 'nother gal. De men what lived on 'nother -plantation couldn't see dere wives but onct every two weeks. Marse buyed -my husban', Rube Taylor, and he come to live with me. - -"One day marse say we's all free and we has a big celebration, eatin' -and dancin'. But we near all stayed on his place for a long time after -day. He paid us thirty-five cents de day and let us live in de same old -houses. - -"After we done left him, we jist drifts 'round, workin' for white folks, -till we manages to git a farm. Rube done died a long time back, and I -lives with my baby child." - - - - -Mollie Taylor - - -*Mollie Taylor, 84, was born a slave to John Wilson, at Campbell, Texas. -After she was freed, Mollie moved with her family to an adjoining farm -which they worked on shares. Mollie now lives at 522 Seaton St., Fort -Worth, Texas.* - -"Now den, I's no record of when I's born and just what de white folks -tells me is all I knows. I'll be 84 this coming October, but just what -day I don't know. I's born on Massa John Wilson's farm at Campbell, -Texas and him owned my father and mother and 'bout 20 more slaves. Dere -was 'bout four or five chillen in we'uns family. My father died and I -don't 'member much 'bout him, but his name was Anson Wilson and my -mother name was Hattie Wilson. We'uns gits de name from de massa. - -"Us slaves lived in log houses back of massa's house, and they was two -and three-room houses with dirt floors and de rock fireplace and just -holes for windows. De flies come in de door and go out de window, but -most of 'em stayed in de house. Dere was no furniture like am today. No, -suh, it was homemake stuff. De bunks was built 'gainst de wall and full -of straw or hay and de tables was made of split logs. Dere was de cook -room and de eatin' room where all de slaves meals cooked and they ate, -'tween de slaves quarters and de massa's house. - -"Massa Wilson, him feed us purty good, with de cornmeal and 'lasses and -plenty coffee and milk. We has white flour once a week and massa git de -sugar by de barrel. De slaves could have dere own gardens and dey raised -most dere vegetables. All de chillen ate out of de wooden trough with -wooden spoons. It was a sight to watch them, day just like de bunch of -pigs. - -"De overseer, him ring de bell 'bout half past four in de mornin' and -everybody what work go to de fields. De massa purty reason'ble with de -work and didn't whip much. On Sundays de old slaves goes to de church -and de chillen plays. - -"When war come dere lots of soldiers allus ridin' by de place, all deck -out in de uniform with big, shiny buttons on de coat. When us chillen -seed dem we took to de woods. - -"After freedom we'uns moves to de next farm and works and I stays dere -with my family till I's 'bout 25 year old, and den I marries Tom Gould -and move to McLennan County. But he so mean I didn't stay with him very -long, and 'bout six months of his foolishness and I ups and leaves him. -After two years I marries George Taylor and I lives with dat man for 12 -years and took 'nough of his foolishness, so I leaves him. I's had four -chillen but Tom Gould nor George Taylor wasn't de father of any of 'em. -No, suh, I just found dem chillen." - - - - -Jake Terriell - - -*Jake Terriell, born a slave of Felix Terriell in Raleigh, South -Carolina, does not know his age. He was grown and married at the close -of the Civil War, so is probably in the 90's. He lives in Madisonville, -Texas.* - -"Pappy and mammy was called Tom and Jane and they's cotched in Africy -and brung to America and sold. My brother was called James and my -sisters Lucindy and Sally. Massa Felix Terriell owned me and pappy and -mammy but when I's still a chile he done give me to he son, Massa Dalton -Terriell. - -"My papy was de wild man and he so wild Massa Felix have to keep him -locked up at night and in de chains by day to keep him from runnin' off. -He had to wear de chains in de field and den he couldn't run fast. - -"Massa Dalton growed de tobaccy. He was a good massa and give me de -nickel and de dime sometime and I'd buy candy. He have lots of slaves -and de cook fix our grub in big old skillets. We allus have de cornbread -and de syrup and some meat. I likes possum cooked with sweet 'taters. - -"Missy Mary try larn me read and write but I never did care for de book -larnin'. Massa wake us 'bout four o'clock with de great iron and hammer -and us work long as us could see. - -"Massa didn't have to whip us but I seed pappy whip, with de rawhide -with nine tails. He got thirty-nine licks and every lick, it brung de -blood. - -"I seed slaves sold and you has heared cattle bawl when de calves took -from de mammy and dat de way de slaves bawls. When massa sell de slave -he make 'em wash up and grease de face good and stand up straight and he -fatten 'em jus' like you do hawgs to sell. I had de good massa. He was -good to black debbils, what he call us niggers. Us could rest when us -git to de quarters or go by de big tank and take de bath, and every -Saturday night us git de holiday and have banjo and tin pan beatin' and -dance. On Christmas massa kilt de big hawg and us fix it jus' like us -wants and have big dinner. - -"Massa have doctor when us sick. He say us too val'ble. If us sold us -brung 'bout $1,000. Old mammy could fix de charm and git us well. She -gather bark and make de tea. Most us sickness chill and fever. Sometime -a slave git leg broke and massa say he no more 'count and finish him up -with de club. - -"Massa nearly kilt in de fightin' and he had he doctor write missy to -set us free. I had two wives and missy said I couldn't keep but one, so -I takes Mary and us starts out for Texas, a-foot. Us most starved to -death 'fore us got here and then us have hard time. But dere plenty wild -meat and dat what us lived on three, four year. Us had two chillen and -den she dies and I marry a half-Indian gal and she died. Us jus' 'greed -to live together in dem days, no weddin'. Then I marries Lucie Grant and -us have 11 chillen and de preacher calls us man and wife. I's pappy to -17 chillen and I don't know how many grandchillen. Lucie say more'n a -hun'erd." - - - - -J.W. Terrill - - -*J.W. Terrill was born in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, and is about 100 -years old. His master was his father. He now lives in Madisonville, -Texas.* - -"My father took me away from my mother when at age of six weeks old and -gave me to my grandmother, who was real old at the time. Jus' befo' she -died she gave me back to my father, who was my mammy's master. He was a -old batchelor and run saloon and he was white, but my mammy was a Negro. -He was mean to me. - -"Finally my father let his sister take me and raise me with her chillen. -She was good to me, but befo' he let her have me he willed I must wear a -bell till I was 21 year old, strapped 'round my shoulders with the bell -'bout three feet from my head in steel frame. That was for punishment -for bein' born into the world a son of a white man and my mammy, a Negro -slave. I wears this frame with the bell where I couldn't reach the -clapper, day and night. I never knowed what it was to lay down in bed -and get a good night's sleep till I was 'bout 17 year old, when my -father died and my missy took the bell offen me. - -"Befo' my father gave me to his sister, I was tied and strapped to a -tree and whipped like a beast by my father, till I was unconscious, and -then left strapped to a tree all night in cold and rainy weather. My -father was very mean. He and he sister brung me to Texas, to North -Zulch, when I 'bout 12 year old. He brung my mammy, too, and made her -come and be his mistress one night every week. He would have kilt every -one of his slaves rather than see us go free, 'specially me and my -mammy. - -"My missy was purty good to me, when my father wasn't right 'round. But -he wouldn't let her give me anything to eat but cornbread and water and -little sweat 'taters, and jus' 'nough of that to keep me alive. I was -allus hongry. My mammy had a boy called Frank Adds and a girl called -Marie Adds, what she give birth to by her cullud husban', but I never -got to play with them. Missy worked me on the farm and there was 'bout -100 acres and fifteen slaves to work 'em. The overseer waked us 'bout -three in the mornin' and then he worked us jus' long as we could see. If -we didn't git 'round fast 'nough, he chain us to a tree at night with -nothin' to eat, and nex' day. if we didn't go on the run he hit us 39 -licks with a belt what was 'bout three foot long and four inches wide. - -"I wore the bell night and day, and my father would chain me to a tree -till I nearly died from the cold and bein' so hongry. My father didn't -'lieve in church and my missy 'lieved there a Lord, but I wouldn't have -'lieved her if she try larn me 'bout 'ligion, 'cause my father tell me I -wasn't any more than a damn mule. I slep' on a chair and tried to res' -till my father died, and then I sang all day, 'cause I knowed I wouldn't -be treated so mean. When missy took that bell offen me I thinks I in -Heaven 'cause I could lie down and go to sleep. When I did I couldn't -wake up for a long time and when I did wake up I'd be scairt to death -I'd see my father with his whip and that old bell. I'd jump out of bed -and run till I give out, for fear he'd come back and git me. - -"I was 'bout 17 year old then and I so happy not to have that bell on -me. Missy make us work hard but she have plenty to eat and I could -sleep. On Christmas she cook us a real dinner of beef meat. - -"Plenty time I listens to the cannon popping till I mos' deaf, and I was -messenger boy and spy on the blue bellies. When I'd git back to the -Southern sojers I he'ped 'em bury they dead and some what was jus' -wounded I he'ped carry home. - -"When we heered was was over and we's free, we all jus' jumped up and -hollers and dances. Missy, she cries and cries, and tells us we is free -and she hopes we starve to death and she'd be glad, 'cause it ruin her -to lose us. They was a big bunch of us niggers in town and we stirrin' -'round like bees workin' in and out a hive. We was jus' that way. I went -wild and the first year I went north, but I come back 'gain to Texas. - -"After 'while I marries a Indian maid. It was nothin' much but Indians -'round and there wasn't much law. I lived with her 'bout two year and -then the Indians come and captured her jus' befo' she was to give birth. -They kilt her or carried her 'way and lef' me for dead, and I never seed -or heered of her since. While I was sick a outlaw, what was Tomas -Jafferies, he'ped me git well and then I turns outlaw and follows all -signs of Indians, all over the earth. But I never could git word of my -wife. - -"It mus' be 'bout 15 year after that, I marries Feline Ford, by a -preacher. My first weddin' was common weddin' with the Indian maid. I -jus' give her deerskin in front of Tomas Jefferies and she my wife." - - - - -Allen Thomas - - -*Allen Thomas, 97, was owned by several ranchers of Jefferson and Orange -Counties, Texas, but recalls Moise Broussard of Hamshire the best. Ill -health has affected his memory and his story is not coherent. He is a -familiar figure on the streets of Beaumont, Texas, a small man clad in -none too clean and somewhat ragged clothes, with a tow sack across his -shoulders, into which he puts such things as he finds in his wanderings -about the city. Rumor has it that Allen is fairly well to do and that -his begging attitude is assumed, for reasons of his own.* - -"I figgers I's gwine be 97 year old on de fourth of August, I's borned -over in Duncan Woods, over in Orange County. My daddy's name was Lockin -Thomas. I never see my daddy. He git drown in de river here at Beaumont. -My mammy's Hetty Anderson. - -"I 'longed to three masters. One John Adam and he was mean. One Stowers, -and he was mean but not so mean to me. Den dere Moise Broussard, he was -purty mean, but he never beat me. De las' man what finish raise me was -Amos Harrison and he purty good man. He wife name Mag and dey lives on -Turtle Bayou over in Chambers County. He buy me from Lewis Pinder. He -was good. My brudder was Kelly Idonia and I had a sister Lessie -Williams. Dey beat her with clubs. I's walk over many a dead person. Dey -beat 'em to death. - -"Us had tins dishes dem times, master and slaves, too. Dey have wooden -paddles what us take de food out de dishes with. De white folks sot at -one table and de cullud folks have table to deyself, but 'bout what de -white folks has. - -"Us have watermilion and sugar cane and milk and butter. Den us have de -possum. Us clean him and put him top de house and 'low de frost fall on -him. Den us fill him full salt and pepper and put him in de oven. -Sometime put sweet 'taters all 'round him. Us have de long, square oven -with de lid on it. - -"Us wore knitted shirt make on dem looms and dey gives us boots with -brass toes on 'em. Me and mammy work on de spinnin' wheel many a night -up to one or two o'clock. I used to card de bats. - - -[Illustration: _Allen Thomas_] - - -"Dere plenty hawgs and hosses and dem cattle what am longhorn. Us have -plenty meat and raise veg'tables, too. - -"I never seed no sojers but I heared de cannons. I disremember when -peace am corral'. I come up here to Beaumont when I thank I's a man and -I's been here every Gawd's since. - -"I see some sperrits, but I see 'em only special times. You see 'em -twict a year, 'tween spring and summer and den 'gain 'twixt fall and -winter. Sometime dey comes right 'long and den sometime dey jis' -standin' still. When you looks at 'em dey looks kinder vagueish. I can -allus tell when sperrits 'round. Dey got a queer scent. When you walk -'bout 20 feet, steam gwineter hit you in de face. I can tell dey dere -iffen I can't see 'em. Dey look like men. Dey ain't white but dey got a -pale look." - - - - -Bill and Ellen Thomas - - -*Bill and Ellen Thomas live in the Old Slave Settlement, 3 miles north -of Hondo. Bill is 88 and Ellen is 81. They seem to be happy; their -fields are tilled, a horse and a cow graze near the house; a kitchen -garden is under way and several broods of baby chicks are in the yard. -They were dressed in simple, clean clothes, and Ellen wears a string of -nutmegs around her neck, to 'make yer eyes strong.'* - -Uncle Bill's Story - -"Does you want me to start right at the beginnin'? Well, I'll tell you -jes' how I went to this country. I left Falls County where I belonged to -the man there that kept the post office. He was named Chamlin. He had -lots of land, I reckin about 50 acres. They kep' us in a little house -right in their yard. Reckin how old I was when he bought me? Jus' five -years old! He give $500 for me, but he bought my mother and my sisters, -too. He had to buy me, 'cause my mother, she wouldn't go without me. No, -suh, she tol' 'em she wouldn't go if they didn' buy me, too. An' the man -he bought us f'om, he wanted to keep me, so he wouldn't take less than -$500 for me. Massa Chamblin bought the whole family, 'cept my father. -They sold him and we never laid eyes on him again. - -"My mother cooked. Massa Chamlin, he always fed us plenty, an' whatever -they had, we had. If he cooked sausage, you had it too; if he cooked -ham, you got it too; if he cooked lye hominy, you got it; an' if he had -puddin', you got some. - -"When I was 6 or 7 years old I chopped cotton and I plowed too, and I -could lay as straight rows with oxen as any you ever saw. - -"The massa whipped me with a dogwood switch, but he never did bring no -blood. But it taken 7 men to whip my father. - -"I'll tell you how I got away f'om there. Massa bought cotton and -carried it to Mexico. He taken his 2 boys with him and we had 3 wagons -and I drove one. I had 4 oxen and I had 3 bales of cotton on my wagon; -he had 6 oxen and 6 bales of cotton, and the last wagon, it had 10 bales -on it and 6 oxen. He had to ship it acrost the Rio Grande. If a Mexican -bought it, he come across and took it over hisself. Reckin how much he -got for that cotton? He got 60c a pound. Yes'm, he sho' did. Cotton was -bringin' that then. - -"I was freed over there in Mexico. I was about 14 years old. Massa -Chamlin, he stayed over there till the country was free. He didn't -believe in that fightin'. - -"I cooked in a hotel over there in Mexico. I cooked two years at $1.00 a -day. - -"When Massa owned me, he always give us good clothes. Our pants was made -out of duckin' like wagon sheets, but my mother took some kind of bark -and dyed 'em. I think it was blackjack bark. He give us shoes, too. They -was half-tan leather brogans." - -"I used to play the fiddle for dances when I was young, but not after I -joined the church. I played for the white people. Oh, yes'm, the cullud -folks had dances, they sho' did dance. - -"Yes'm, I saw a ghost onct. One night after I was livin' down here, I -was goin' to Sabinal, me and another man, and a great long thing passed -right in front of us. It was the blackest thing you ever saw. It was -about six feet long. Yes'm, it sho' was a ghost or sumpin; it -disappeared, and me lookin' at it. The other fellow that was with me, he -seen it, too. - -"Yes, they was lots of panthers and bears here. If this ghost was a -bear, he sho' was a big 'un. We had a ghost down here on the creek we -called the 'Ball Water Hole Ghost.' He was seen lots of times. He used -to stay down there, but he ain't been seen lately. My wife, she seen -him." - -Aunt Ellen's Story - -"Yes'm, I seen him walkin' 'long the trail ahead of us. He had on a -black hat, like a tall stovepipe hat, and a long black coat, and when we -got up close he jes' disappeared. He was a big man, and tall, too. We -didn' know which way he went; he jes' seemed to disappear. My oldest -daughter saw him too. Lots of folks did. He was always seen down at that -water hole somewhere. - -"Another time, I was stayin' with Mrs. Reedes. Mr. Reedes was killed and -all night long he'd come back and grind coffee and sprinkle it all over -us. I was so bad scared I nearly died. Next mornin' there'd be coffee -all over the floor. We supposed it was Mr. Reede's ghost. They say if a -person was wicked they come back like that. Onct he pulled Mrs. Reedes -outta bed and pitched her on the floor, and he would take the dishes out -of the shelves and throw 'em down. I couldn't stand it but a night or -two and I said I was goin' home. Yes, ma'am, it sho' was a ghost. He -sho' did tear up that house every night. Why, they'd be a light shine in -that room just as plain as daylight, nearly. They say ghosties will run -you, but I never had any to run me." - -"I was born in Mississippi. We come to Texas and my mother died, so -grandma raised me. I was jes' a baby when we come to Texas. Mr. Harper -owned us. I remember the war, but it's so long ago I don't remember -much. I remember when John Harper read the free paper to us. He had a -big lot of slaves, but - -when he read, the free papers they jes' flew out like birds. But I -didn't. I was stickin' to my grandmother. She was on crutches and she -stayed on at the Harper place. - - -[Illustration: _Bill and Ellen Thomas_] - - -"After we was free I worked for them a long time. I cooked, washed, -ironed, milked the cows. He was pretty good to us, Judge Harper was. I -went along with him when he went to war, his wife and chillun did too, -and I nursed them, I'd give a young baby shuck tea to break him out with -the hives. For chills and fever I give quinine weed. It don't grow here. - -"When Judge Harper went up to Hondo my grandma grabbed me and kept me. -So I stayed and worked. I was still a young girl, but I plowed, hauled -and grubbed. I used to wear 'cotton stripes.' I remember 'em well. It -was a homespun cloth. I know how to spin and weave and I could knit a -pair of socks in two nights. - -"I never did hear much about hard times. I was treated good but I got -switched many a time. Oh, yes'm. I've been whipped, but not like some of -'em was. They used to tie some of 'em down. I've heered tell, they shore -whopped 'em. They used to be a runaway that got away and went to Mexico -now and then, and if they caught him they shore whopped him awful. - -"That old piano in there, my daughter bought a long time ago. The -varnish is off, but a man tol' us it could be sandpapered and refinished -and it would be a beautiful thing. It's about 75 years old." - - - - -Lucy Thomas - - -*Lucy Thomas,86, was born in Harrison Co., Texas, a slave of Dr. William -Baldwin. She stayed with her master until 1868. In 1869 she married -Anthony Thomas. She now lives with her son at Baldwin Switch, sixteen -miles northeast of Marshall, Texas, on part of the land originally owned -by the Baldwins.* - -"My name am Lucy Baldwin Thomas and I's birthed right here in Harrison -County, on the old Baldwin place at Fern Lake. The log cabin where I's -birthed sot in a grove of trees right by the lake. The Baldwin place -jined the Haggerty and Major Andrews places. - -"The best statement I can make of my age am I's 'bout fourteen the last -year of Abe Lincoln's war. It was true, 'cause I starts hoein' in the -field when I's nine years old and I'd been hoein' a long time. - -"They called my papa, Ike. The Baldwins bought him out of Alabama, and -mama's name was Nancy and she's birthed in Virginny, and the Baldwins -bought her out the New Orleans slave market for $1,100.00. I's heared my -gran'ma, Barbara, tell how some Alabama owners drug they niggers with a -mule and laid dem face down in a hole and beat dem till they's raw as -beefsteak. But her folks wasn't like that and the Baldwins wasn't -neither. They was good white folks, and Missy was named May Amelia and -then there was Old Marse Doctor William. He was a doctor but he worked a -hundred acres land and owned 'bout eighty-five niggers, what lived in -log quarters. They had son-of-a-gun beds peg to the walls, and wore -bachelor brogan shoes and blue and stripe lowel clothes made on the -place, and had lots to eat. My mama say she had a lots better time in -slavery than after. - -"All hands was up and in the field by daylight and Marse Baldwin allus -kep' a fifty gallon barrel whiskey on the place and a demijohn on the -front porch all the time for the niggers to git they drink on way to the -field. But nobody ever got drunk. - -"Marse's brother-in-law, Marse Lewis Brantly, was overseer, but never -kicked and beat the niggers. He give us a light breshin' when we needed -it. We would go mos' anywhere but had to git a pass first, and had play -parties on Saturday night. - - -[Illustration: _Lucy Thomas_] - - -"I went to school three months. A Yankee named Old Man Mills run a -school and I quit workin' in the field to go. Them days, the Klu Kluxers -was runnin' round and I seed big bunches of niggers with they heads tied -up, goin' to report the Kluxers to the Progee Marshal. - -"Three years after it was all over, my folks moved to the Haggerty -place. I know lots 'bout old Col. Haggerty's widow. She was an Indian -and her first husband was a big chief of the Caddo Indians on Caddo -Lake. He betrayed the Indians to the white folks and he and her hid on a -cave on the lake, and she slipped out to git food, and the Indians took -him away. They say they scalped him like they done white folks. Then she -married Col. Haggerty and he got kilt on a gamblin' spree and left her a -lot of land and 'bout three hundred slaves. She kept a nigger woman -chained to a loom for a year and when she knew the slaves was gittin' -free, she poisoned a lot of dem and buried dem at night. We'd hear the -other slaves moanin' and cryin' at night for the dead ones. That widow -Haggerty was somthin'! - -"I seed the 'Mattie Stephens' boat the day after it burned and kilt -sixty people. Me and Anthony Thomas went to Marshall and married the day -'fore it burnt. That was on February 12th, in 1869. I lived with him -fifty-five years and raised seven chillen, and after he died I kep' on -farmin' until 'bout three years ago. Then I come to live with one my -son's here and this land we're on right now was part the land old Marse -Baldwin owned. I gits $10.00 a month from the gov'ment. They sho' is -good to me, and my son is good, too, so I's happy in my old age." - - - - -Philles Thomas - - -*Philles Thomas, 77, was born a slave of Dave Miles, who owned a -plantation in Brazoria Co., Texas. Philles does not remember her father, -but was told by her mother that he was sent to the Confederate Army and -was fatally injured at Galveston, Texas. Philles stayed with her family -until she was seventeen, then married William Thomas. They now live at -514 Hayes St., Fort Worth, Tex.* - -"I don't 'member much 'bout de war, 'cause I's jus' a young'un when it -start and too small to have much mem'randum when it stop. I's still on -de place where I's born when surrender come, de Lowoods Place, own by -Massa Dave Miles, 'twixt Brazoria and Columbia. Massa Dave sho' have de -big plantation but I don' know how many slaves. - -"When I's a young'un, us kids didn't run round late. We'uns am put to -bed. When sundown come, my mammy see dat my feets am wash and de gown -put on, and in de bunk I goes. - -"I can't 'member my daddy, but mammy told me him am sent to de 'Federate -Army and am kilt in Galveston. She say dey puttin' up breastworks and de -Yanks am shootin' from de ships. Well, daddy am watchin' de balls comin' -from dem guns, fallin' round dere, and a car come down de track loaded -with rocks and hit him. Dat car kilt him. - -"Mammy marries Bill Bailey after freedom and moves to de Barnum Place, -what Massa John Miles own. I stays with mammy till I's seventeen and -holp dem share crop. Den I leaves. Dat de way with chillen, dey gives -you lots of trouble raisin' dem and den off dey goes. When my chillen am -young'uns dey's on my lap, and when dey's growed up, dey's on my heart. - -"Us have de hard time share croppin'. Times was hard den and de niggers -didn't know much 'bout takin' care demselves. Course, dey better off -free, but dey have to larn. Us work hard and make 'nough to live on de -first year us free. Us raise cotton and veg'tables and when I's not -helpin' mammy I goes out and gits a li'l work here and yonder. - -"I marries in Galveston, to dat old cuss, settin' right dere, William -Thomas am he name and I's stood for him ever since. Him am dock -wallopin' when I's marry to him. Sho', him am a dock walloper. If you -wants to talk big, you calls it stev'dore on de wharf. - -"Dat cullud gen'man of mine allus brung in de bacon. We'uns am never -rich, but allus eats till de last few years. Us goes on de farm and it -hand and mouth livin', but us eats someway. After while, us come to Fort -Worth and he works as mortar man and cement mixer. We'uns live good till -de few years back, when him break down in de back and can't work no -more. - -"It am ten chillun us raise but only five livin' now. One live at Stop -Six, right here in Fort Worth, and de others am all over de world. Us -don't know where dey am. Since Bill can't work no more, us git de -pension from de State and dat $26.00 de month for de two of us. - -"Does I ever vote? Christ for 'mighty! No. Why yous talk dat -foolishment. Why for dis igno'mous old woman want to vote? No, sar, and -no tother womens ought to vote. Dat am for de mens to do. My Bill votes -couple times, when us in Galveston, and I tells you 'bout dat. - -"Dey gives de eddication with a couple cups whiskey and de cheroot. When -de whiskey and de cheroot works on Bill's brain, dere am den de smart -nigger, and he votes 'telligent. I asks him what he votes for and him -say, 'I's vote for what am on de ticket.' 'What am on de ticket,' I -says. 'How does I know, I can't read.' Den I says, 'Better yous not -vote, 'cause maybe yous vote to put youself in de jailhouse.' So I guess -him think 'bout dat and him see what foolishment and troublement him -maybe git into, and him quit votin'. We'uns am lucky with de trouble. -Guess it 'cause we'uns knows how to 'have. When I's young my mammy larn -me how to 'have and where I 'long, so de patterrollers and de Ku Klux -never bother we'uns. Now, we'uns so old us can't git round, so us double -safe now. - - -[Illustration: _Philles Thomas_] - - -"Gosh for 'mighty! What yous want next? Now it for me to sing. Well, -yous can't put de bluff on dis old nigger, so here it am: - - "'Put on my long white robe, - Put on de golden crown, - Put on de golden slipper, - And forever be Jesus' lamb.' - -"But I likes 'nother song better, like dis: - - "'Herodias go down to de river one day, - Want to know what John Baptist have to say, - John spoke de words at risk of he life, - Not lawful to marry yous brudder's wife.' - -"Not dat am 'nough. If I's here much longer, yous have dis old woman -dancin'." - - - - -William M. Thomas - - -*William M. Thomas, 87, now residing at 514 Hayes St., Fort Worth, -Texas, was born a slave of Dr. Frank Thomas, in Lauderdale County, Miss. -William's father was sold when William was a baby and his mother mated -with another slave. It was seven years after they were freed that the -family left their master and moved onto a tract of land. William stayed -with them until he was twenty-four, then worked twelve years in -Galveston, as a stevedore. He farmed until 1910, then worked as a mortar -man at the Purina Mills in Fort Worth until 1931. He and his wife -receive a $13.00 monthly pension.* - -"I knows 'zactly how old I is. Massa done give my mammy de statement. He -do dat for all he niggers when dey freed. I's borned May 17th, in 1850, -and dat make me eighty-eight next May. Dat's on Massa Doctor Frank -Thomas's plantation, over near Meridian, in Mississippi. Dere forty-four -slave families on he place and he own 'bout seven hunerd acres land, so -him have plenty pasture, wood and field land. De money crop was cotton, -of course. - -"My mammy and sis was in de place and my step-pa. My pappy am sold and -took to Texas when I's so li'l I don't 'member him. After dat, mammy -done took another man. - -"All de slaves live in quarters 'cept de house servants, and dey live in -servants' quarters, and dere's where I's de lucky nigger. My mammy am -cook for massa and I's round de kitchen what 'twas plenty of good eats. -And I plays with massa's two boys, 'twas Frank and Lawrence. - -"I's so li'l 'fore surrender I never really works, 'cept to be de errand -boy. I fetches eggs and sich. Massa have lots of chickens and us fetch -in high as a thousand eggs in one day sometimes. Us have eggs to eat, -too. Massa Thamas am awful good and dere am never de holler 'bout -feedin'. I bet none dem niggers done live so good after dey free. - -"Us have all de meat us want, mostest pork and beef and mutton. Dey -kills five hunderd hawgs when killin' time came, and make hams and bacon -and sausages. If yous ever ate sich ham and bacon what am made by -massa's butcher right dere on de place, you say dere never am sich. Dat -sausage, it make de mouf water to think 'bout it. 'Sides de meat, us -have cornbread and 'lasses and de rations ain't measure out, 'cept de -white flour on Sunday mornin'. All week de meals am cook in dat kitchen -and serve in de big shed, but each family cook for deyself on Sunday. - -"Us go to church if us want, 'bout four miles off. Massa give anybody de -pass to go dere. Dere am no parties and sich, but old Jack saw on de -fiddle and us sing. - -"Massa didn't whip, only once. Dat 'cause a nigger steal he fav'rite -pumpkin. He am savin' dat for to git de seed and it am big as de ten -gallon jug. De corn field am full of pumpkins, but dat nigger done took -massa's choice one. Dat pumpkin am so big, he have to tussle with it -'fore he git it to he cabin. It like stealin' a elephant, you can't hide -it in de watch pocket. Course, lots of niggers seed dat cullud gen'man -with dat pumpkin, and 'fore long massa knew it. - -"Well, sar, it am de funny sight to see him punish dat nigger. First, -massa set him down on de ground front de quarters, where us all see him. -Den he make dat nigger set down and give him de big bowl pumpkin sauce -and make him eat it. Him eat and eat and git so full him can't hardly -swallow and massa say, 'Eat some more, it am awful good.' Dat nigger -try, but him can't eat no more. Massa give him de light breshin' and it -am funny to see, dat cullud gen'man with pumpkin smear on he face and -tears runnin' down he face. After dat, us chillen call him Massa Pumpkin -and massa never have no more trouble with stealin' he seed pumpkins. - -"When war starts I's 'bout fifteen year old. 'Bout half mile from de -plantation am de crossroads and one go to New Orleans and one go to -Vicksburg. Dere am a 'Federate camp dere at de start, but after 'while -dey goes and de Yanks comes. Dere a battle near, and us hear de shootin' -but us have to stay on de place. - -"I done slip off and see de camp, though. De Yanks puts up two big tents -and use dem for de hospital and de wounded am fetch dere. What I sees -and hears dere, I never forgits, and it done turn dis nigger 'gainst -war. Why can't dey settle dey 'sputes without killin'? Dey's moanin' and -cryin' and screamin' in dem tents. - -"One day de Yanks come clean de crib of all de corn and de meat house of -all de meat. Massa am smart and fix it so dey don't find all de rations. -Him dig a big ditch in de woods and hide lots of rations. - -"Us didn't know when freedom came. It a long time after dat de Yanks -come tell us, and it de same way on all de plantations round dere. De -Yanks come and make massa pay us all fifty cents de day. After dat massa -puts dem what wants to go on pieces of land and dey ain't charge for it -till seven year after. Den dey has to pay rent and part de crop, and for -de mules and tools all de time. - -"I stays with my folks till I's twenty-four year old and den I's on my -way to Galveston and gits work as de stevedore. Dat am on de wharf and I -works dere twelve year. I votes dere two times. Some white folks done -come to us, and de boss, too, and gives us de ticket. It am all mark up. -Boss say us don't have to work de next day, and us to report at a place. -When us comes dere, 'twas a table with meat and bread and stuff for to -eat, and whiskey and cigars. Dey give us something to eat and a cup or -two of dat whiskey and puts de cigar in de mouth. Us am 'portant -niggers, ready to vote. With dat cup of whiskey in de stomack and dat -cigar in de mouth and de hat cock on side de head, us march to de votin' -place and does our duty. Fix up de way us was, us would vote to put us -back in slavery. And de nigger what didn't vote, after all dat, him am -in for de fixin'. I means he gits fixed. Dey pounds he head till him -won't forgit to do it right next time. - -"But I gits to thinkin' how massa say when us leave him, 'Don't let no -white folks use you for to make trouble.' I figgers dat what am -happenin' with dat votin' business, and I quits votin' and goes to -farmin'. I 'lieve de cullud folks should vote, but not de igno'mous -niggers like us was den. - - -[Illustration: _William M. Thomas_] - - -I farms till 1910 and den comes to Fort Worth, and dey am buildin' de -Purina Mills Elevators on East 4th Street and I works dere at mortar -work. Den I works at cement on lots de big buildin's in dis city, till -'bout ten year ago, when it git too hard for me. I has de back misery. - -"I gits married to Phillis Wilson when I's twenty-nine, in Galveston, -and us don't allushave lots, but us gits by and raises de family. Now us -have to live on de pension from de State, what am $13.00, and sometimes -us am awful short, tryin' to pay de rent and buy de rations and what -clothes us needs, but us am glad to git it. Ten chillen am what us -raises and five am dead and four am scattered and us don't know where, -and one live here. - -""Ain't it diff'rent how peoples lives? Us used to travel with de ox and -now dey flies in de sky. Folks sings in New York and us sets right here -and hears dem. Shucks! De way things am gwine, I's all fussed up and -can't understand whether I's gwine or comin'." - - - - -Mary Thompson - - -*Mary Thompson was born a slave 87 years ago, in Denton, Miringo County, -Alabama. Her mother, Viney Askew, and father, Wesley Jones, belonged to -Green Askew, a Georgian. She was 15 when she was freed. Mary now lives -at 1104 East Avenue, Austin, Tex.* - -"I was bo'n in Alabama and my mother was Viney Askew. She belonged to -Marster Green Askew. My father was Wesley Jones, 'cause he took his -marster's name. - -"My mother was a good cook and she cooked for de marster. She had a -great big stove and she made salt-risin' bread, too. We and all de -slaves lived in cabins near de big house and some of de slaves would -have chillen by de marster. - -"When we come home from de fields at night, de women cooked de food and -den dey was so tired dey jus' went to bed. We didn' have fun in de -evenin's, but on Christmas mornin' de marster give us eggnog and sich. -Den we'd sing but I don' 'member de songs now. - -"De crops in Alabama would be cleared by July 4 and den we'd have -sev'ral days off, all de slaves. Dey'd give us pits of barbecue and pies -and cakes to eat. - -"When we was sick de marster would sen' for de doctor and we made teas -outta herbs and sich. Alabama was full of chills and fevers in dem days -and we drunk catnip tea for fevers and blue and white sage. Calamus -root, looks like an onion, was good for de chillens' colic. - -"My mistress' niece had a big plantation and she had a place whar she -had de slaves whopped. She had a reg'lar whoppin' post. My marster jes' -had a large cowhide whoop. Yes, I got a whoppin' more'n once. Sev'ral -times marster took hold my ears and bumped my head 'gainst de wall. But -gen'rally dey was good to me. - -"We wasn't 'lowed no whiskey, 'less we was sick. De poor white folks was -good to us, better'n rich folks. Dey'd give us a quarter now'n den. - -"I can 'member how de slaves was fattened like hawgs and den marched to -town and 'round and auctioned off like cattle. Some of 'em had done -somethin' mean and was sold off. Some of 'em brought more'n a thousand -dollars down in New Orleans. - -"I knows of one slave who liked to run 'round at night. She was nuss to -marster's girl and she give it morphine to put it to sleep. She give de -baby girl so much morphine dat her body was full of it and she died. De -cullud folks got to talkin' too much and de baby was dug up and -'xamined. De slave nuss was put in jail and kep' there a long time and -den she was sold. - -"Heap of de slaves would run away and go up north. Dey would try to find -'em by sendin' nigger houn's after 'em. Once de houn's caught a slave -and he kep' sayin', 'O, Lawd ... O, Lawd!' - - -[Illustration: _Mary Thompson_] - - -"After de war, when we was free, de slaves would go here and there and a -lot of 'em died. Dey'd git de black measles, go out in de woods and die. -Dey didn' know how to take care of demselves. - -"I stayed at marster's house eight months, den hired out at ten dollars -a month. Dat was de fus' money I ever made and I didn' want to go to -school, 'cause I wanted to make dat money. Dat looked like big money to -me. I was proud to have it, 'cause I could git what I wanted. I cain't -read or write to this day. - -"I was married to General Thompson, and he'd been a slave too, in -Alabama. Yes, General was his given name. I was 16 years old when I -married and a white preacher married us durin' a 4th of July -celebration. Yes, we had a big time and a good time. - -"We come to Texas later and my husban' farmed on the Brazos. We had -eight chillen, and two of 'em is livin.' My husban' died and I buried -him, den I took up with a Horace Foster, and he was nothin' but a -gambler. I lived with him 'bout 8 years, but he never would marry me, so -I lef' him." - - - - -Penny Thompson - - -*Penny Thompson, 86, now living at 1100 E. 12th St., Fort Worth, Texas, -was born a slave to Calvin Ingram, in Coosa Co., Alabama. In 1867 Penny -was brought to Tyler, Texas, and several years later she married Ike -Thompson and moved to Fort Worth.* - -"Do I 'member slavery days? Yes, suh! How could I forgit dem? For an old -person I has good 'collection. I's 10 year old when de war start and my -massa am Calvin Ingram. My mammy and pappy was a weddin' present to -Massa Ingram from his pappy. Mammy give birth to 15 chilluns, but I -never saw any of my brothers and sisters, 'cause they all born on Massa -Ingram's pappy's plantation 'fore he give my mammy to Massa Ingram. - -"De plantation dat Massa Ingram have was 200 acres or mo'. Him own 'bout -20 grown-up slaves, and on dat place dey raises 'bout everything we eats -and wears, includin' de vinegar and de peach brandy. Everybody am -'signed to dey duties and my mammy am chief cook for de big house. I -he'ps her and feeds chickens, gits eggs and totes water. - -"De treatmen' couldn't be better. Massa am de bestes' and de kindes' -fellow dat ever live. He am in Heaven, for sho', but de missy mus' be in -Hell, for she sho' was a debbil. Massa have de fight with her lots of -times 'bout de treatment of us, but he wouldn't let her 'buse us. - -"We'uns was never hongry for food, 'cause we have lots of meat, chickens -and eggs and cornmeal and 'lasses and honey. De hams is smoked on de -place and dey am de hams, white man, dey am de hams! Den massa have a -big cellar jus' full of everything and I never forgit de big, brass key -what lock dat cellar. Dere was de jams and de jellies and de preserves, -and de massa give us somethin' of all of dat. Him makes de gran' peach -brandy and every mornin' we could have two fingers in de glass. 'Twas de -same at night. Dere was somethin' else was reg'lar every mornin' and -night and dat am de prayer. He calls all us together and says de -prayers. I often thinks of dat brandy and de prayers, two times every -day. - -"As for de whuppin,' dere wasn't any on massa's place. Him have only one -nigger what am unruly and dat am Bill McClure, and a bigger thief never -lived. - -"On de nex' plantation dey gives de whuppin' and we hears dem niggers -beller. On dat plantation dey trades and sells de niggers all de time -and de speculation wagon comes by often. Sometime it am awful to see de -babies sold from de mothers and de wife from de husban'. Sich bemoanin' -at some of dem sales, yous jus' can't 'magine. - -"But on massa's place we has no tradin' of slaves and we'uns have pass -for go to church and parties and de dance. When de night for de party -come on our place, de yard am cleaned off and we makes sandwiches. One -time massa come to me and say, 'Jus' wait a minute, I nearly forgits de -mos' 'portant part,' and he give me a new pink dress. I's so happy I -cries for joy, and everybody says I looks like de Queen of Sheba. - -"De other big time am de corn huskin' bee. Once a year all de neighbors -comes fust to one place den to de other. At de huskin's, dey gives de -prize when you finds a red ear. De prize am two fingers of dat peach -brandy. When dey gits de fus' one dey works a little harder, de second -still faster, and de third, Lawd-a-massy, how dem husks do fly! Dey -don't git drunk, 'cause you am lucky to find as much as three red ears -at one huskin'. - -"We has de weddin's too, but no preacher or cer'mony. When a man sees a -girl him likes and de girl am willin', dey says dey wants a weddin'. De -womens cooks extra and dey gits de cedar boughs and wets dem and -sprinkles flour on dem and puts dem on de table. We sits at de table and -eats and sings 'ligious songs and after supper dey puts de broom on de -floor an de couple takes de hands and steps over de broom, and den dey -am put to bed. - - -[Illustration: _Penny Thompson_] - - -"We was never bother with de patter rollers, but I 'members a song 'bout -dem, like dis: - - "'Up de hill and down de hollow - Patter rollers cotched nigger by de collar; - Dat nigger run, dat nigger flew, - Dat nigger tear his shirt in two.' - -"In de war soldiers comes to massa's place and every time he feeds dem. -You hears de clippity clop of de hosses and dey is off de saddle 'fore -you gits to de door. Dey says, 'We wants de meal,' or maybe dey wants to -sleep. Massa's wife say, 'I's not goin' do nothin' for dem blue -bellies,' but massa make her fix de chicken. Dere was everything dere -but manners, 'cause dey have de pistols drawed. - -"After freedom, mos' of us stays with massa, 'cause we don't know where -to go and we don't want to go, but 'fore long massa dies and dat was -mournin' time. After de death, we all leaves. - -I marries Bill Thompson but he won't work so after 15 year I gits de -divorcement." - - - - -Albert Todd - - -*Albert Todd, 86 years old, was born a slave to Capt. Hudson, in -Russellville, Kentucky. His master was killed in the Civil War and he -then came to Texas in a covered wagon. His "Missus" kept him a slave for -three years after the War. He now lives with his wife, daughter and two -sons at 703 Center St., San Antonio, Texas.* - -"I most suppose my memory is too jumpy, but I'll try to bring it 'long -from de time I was born. I don't know de year, but it was in -Russellville, Kentucky and my massa, Captain Hudson, had a fruit -orchard. My reg'lar work was protectin' my young missus, Nannie Hudson. -She had to walk five miles to and forth from school every day and I was -her protector. I was only 8 and she was 11. I sat on the steps until she -got through larnin' and then brung her home. She come to be grown and -married and died, but I allus loved her. - -"When war comes, my massa goes and gets kilt and my missus got 'gusted -with the orchard and packs up in two covered wagons and heads crossland -to Texas. We finally gets to Lavernia and gets a farm and us worked -plenty hard. - - -[Illustration: _Albert Todd_] - - -"Our missus was good to us, but one white man neighbor got a new set of -niggers every year. He say if they didn't die, they wasn't any good work -left in them after they works for him a year. He allus cut off one they -ears, so if they run away he'd know 'em. - -"My clothes was a long shirt, made out of a meal sack. That's all I wore -them days. I was a slave three year after the others was freed, 'cause I -didn't know nothin' 'bout bein' free. A Mrs. Gibbs got holt of me and -makes me her slave. She was a cruel old woman and she didn't have no -mercy on me. She give me one sausage and one biscuit in the mornin' and -nothin' else all day. One day she gone and I stole some biscuits, and -she comes back and says, 'Did you take them biscuits?' She tells me if I -tells de truth she won't punish me, but she knocks me down and beats me -till I not know nothin'. But after 'while her house burns and she burns -up in it. - -"But 'fore that I was goin' to run away and I goes to the road and sits -down and then my sisters comes 'long and finds me and takes me to a -place where they was livin' on the ranch of a man name Widman. We works -for him a long time and then I is free from that Gibbs woman." - - - - -Aleck Trimble - - -*His skin was of an extremely dark chocolate color, his hair thin and -gray. A blue shirt was about his body while blue trousers enclosed his -nether limbs. His bare feet protruded as he sat on an old dilapidated -chair. Under his flat nose was a gray mustache, and one eye had -completely lost its vision. This small negro man was Aleck Trimble who -thoughtfully told the story of his life. [HW: Veth, Tex.]* - -"I was bo'n in 1861. I warn't much of a chile when freedom come, but yet -dey's right smart of t'ings I kin 'member in slavery times." - -"My pa name was Aleck Trimble and dat's my name, too. My ma was Ellen -Trimble and I was de onlies' son. I didn' hab no brudders. Ol' marster's -las' name was Alexander, but I dis'member his fus' name." - -"I uster hafter do a li'l wuk 'roun' de place like pullin' up weeds and -drivin' de calfs. I 'member one time I was drivin' a calf up to de lot -and I saw a crazy man. He didn' try to do nuffin' to me. I jis' walk up -on him and he sittin' dere mumblin' and I know right den dere was -sump'n' wrong wid him. He didn' try to hu't me nor run atter me, but he -sho' scare me and I run away from him fas' as I kin." - -"I warn't so glad when freedom come. I was a-farin' pretty well in de -kitchen. I didn' t'ink 'eber see better times dan what dem was, and I -ain't. I t'ought I was jis' as near hebben as I want to be. It didn' -look to me like dey coulder been no betterer dan what dey was." - -"I uster had jis' all I want to eat. Us hab biscuit and syrup, and -plenty milk and butter. And dey give us all de collard greens and hog -jowls us could hol'." - -"Dey uster had lots of cows and all de milk and butter anybody want. Dey -had a big bucket hangin' in de well. Dey put de butter in dat in de -summer time to keep it from meltin'. How dey kep' it from sp'ilin'? Why, -dey et it up, dat's how dey keep it from sp'ile." - -"I neber see 'em do de slaves bad. Iffen dey did dey tek 'em off in de -woods somers where nobody see 'em." - -"Sometime nigger traders come 'long de road wid a big drove of niggers. -I neber pay dat no min' though. It was jis' a drove of niggers to me." - -"Dey gimme 'bout as good clo's as I got now. When I was doin' 'roun' de -yard at Marster' house I wo' a shu't wid pleats 'cross de bosom in -front." - -"Dey gimme some britches befo' freedom come, and den I t'ought I's 'bout -as big as anybody. Dey gimme dem when I was big 'nuff to dribe de calfs -up from de lot. But I neber go in de fiel' to wuk." - -"Atter freedom come I go to school to a white lady name' Mrs. Tunsten -she had a son name' Waddy. She teach de school at Shiloh and all de -white chillun and nigger chillun go to school in de same room. She teach -her own chillun in dat school on de Huntsville road. I 'member de stages -and t'ings gwine by. I t'ought she was a good teacher, but she whip me -half a day one time 'cause I didn' spell "gangrene." She whip me 'till I -learn how to spell it and I ain't neber forgit. I kin spell dat word -yit. I's satisfy she from de Nor'f. Dere was a ol' stage stan' dere by -de school house." - -"I went to dat teacher and dat school t'ree or fo' year'. Atter she quit -teachin' dey was other teachers what come drappin' in and teachin' t'ree -or fo' months." - -"My pa he uster wuk in de fiel' 'till freedom come. My ma she wuk in de -kitchen. Dat how come I git so much outer de kitchen to eat. Sometime -she hafter wuk in de fiel' too." - -"Jis' like I say, I stay 'roun' de big house. I raise up wid de white -chillun 'till I was 25 or 30 year' ol'." - -"I t'ink dey stay at de ol' place a year or mo' atter freedom. Den dey -'gin to drif' 'roun' to diff'rent place w'ere dey find wuk to do. I stay -wid de ol' folks and he'p s'po't (support) 'em wid what money I git for -de wuk what I doin'. My ma lef' my pa at de ol' plantation, and her and -me and a gal what was ol'er dan me, what was my sister, us move." - -"De fus' wuk I done and de fus' money I mek was pickin' cotton for a -white man. De fus' money I git I buy me a ol' Webster Blue-back speller. -Lawd, I uster look at dat book sometime 'till dem A B C's all run -togedder seem like." - -"Dat plantation was de Johnnie Murchison plantation. Us stay dere 'bout -five or six year'. Atter dat I lef' dere and went to wuk for cullud man -what was name' Sam Scott. I wuk 'roun' in de fiel' and go to mill when I -was on dat place." - -"I 'member seein' de sojers. Dey was a big troop of 'em come marchin' -down de road. Dey was all of 'em dress' up in blue coats and some of 'em -had blue capes over dey shoulders. Dey had wagons and lots of sich -t'ings comin' 'long behin'." - -"I can't tell you much 'bout de ol' marster 'cause I didn' see him eb'ry -day. Lots and lots of time I didn' hab no notion where he was." - -"Dey was a large troop of cullud folks on de place. When dey want 'em -dey blow a bugle or ho'n or sump'n'." - -"I git marry in Houston county. I don' 'member what year it was but it -was back in Cleveland's 'ministration. Den atter while she die and dat -lef' me a widower. Den 'bout 28 year' ago I marry Ollie Washington. I -was wukkin' for Scott befo' I marry Washington. Dat's my li'l 'dopted -gran'chile dere. You see dat t'ing 'roun' her neck? Dat's hoss hair roll -up in a clo'f. Dat to he'p when she teethin'. Dat good for stomach and -bowel trouble, too. Long as she wear dat she ain't gwine to hab no fever -in de head needer. I gwine to let her wear it 'till she finish cuttin' -her teef. I jis' put dat rag 'roun' it to keep it from stickin' her. You -kin see how healthy she is." - -"Anudder t'ing what good for chillun when dey's teethin' is for to tek a -rabbit head and 'noint (anoint) dey gums good wid rabbit brains. Some of -de ol' folks wear a dime tie' 'roun' dey leg wid a hole in it for de -rheumatism." - -"May-apple for a good purgative too, but you got to know how to use it. -Iffen you don' use it right though, it gwine to stir up your stomach and -mek you sick. And you better not drink no milk when you tek dat -May-apple root and you don' want to eat nuffin' needer. Dat's bitter'n -quinine." - -"Co'se, sometime some of de slaves die on de plantation. I know dey have -home-mek coffin, but I ain't neber see 'em mekin' one. Sometime' when de -corpse a-layin' dere dead dey have a wake." - -"Dem what wanted 'em had a li'l patch of groun' where dey plant garden -truck and veg'tables for deyself. Dey have half a day off on Sunday, and -den co'se, dey have Sunday. All de slaves have big holiday on Crismus." - -"Dey lib in log houses. Moss and du't (dirt) was pack' all in 'tween de -logs and boards was nail' on over dat. Ol' marster he have a awful large -house buil' outer plank. It had a gallery to de front and back." - -"Dey had a li'l house down de way dey had preachin' in. De white -preacher he do de preachin'. Seem to me dat soon play out." - -"Dey had a ol' lady what ten' to de chillun when dey in de fiel' pickin' -cotton. Sometime she uster sing: - - 'My Lord say dey's room enough, - Room enough in hebben fer us all.' - -fotch (fetch) 'em a whack on de head and say: - - 'Come 'long wid dat row." - -"Atter freedom come de darkies uster have a song what go like dis: - - 'Come along - Come along - Make no delayin' - Soon be so Uncle Sam give us - all a farm. - - 'Come from de way - Come from de nation - 'Twon't be long 'till Uncle Sam - give us all a farm.' - -Atter while de Klu Kluxers git atter de cullud folks. Den dey mek a -song: - - 'Run nigger run de Klu Klux git you.' - -Lots of time dey come on Sunday. One place dere was a big plum thicket -'long de road and dey dodge in dere and ketch people. Lots of cullud -folks hafter pass by dere to git where dey gwine. In de day time dem Klu -Kluxes was jis' in dey common clo's but when dey come in de nights dey -did figger deyself wid dem high p'int hats and white t'ings wrap 'roun' -'em." - -"I b'longs to de Baptis' Chu'ch. I reckon dat was de Baptis' chu'ch back -in dem days, but I don' 'member no baptisms back in slavery. I 'members -though that dey was a blin' cullud man what uster preach." - -"I 'members dey was lots of smallpox one time. Dat was atter freedom -come, 'bout 50 year' ago. De people was sho' scare' of it, wusser'n if -it was a Winchester. When I fus' 'member 'bout dat smallpox dey was a -man had it and dey run him 'bout a mont' and bu'n him. If dey find out -you got de smallpox you jis' long gone, you better not go out nor in. -Dey put de food on de gate-pos'. If you don' git better in so many days -dey bu'n you and de house and eb'ryt'ing up." - -"I uster farm 'till de boll weevil start in dis part of de country. -Atter dat sawmillin' and public works. Jis' go from one sawmill to -anudder. But I spen' my bes' days on de farm." - -"When I was cut off dem sawmill and public works jobs I was done wo' -out. Dey orter stop' me fifteen years befo' dey did, 'cause den I -mightenter (might not have) been wo' out. Now I can't do nuffin'." - -"I los' one of my eye 'bout seben year' ago. I have de fever and it -settle in my eye and jis' cook. Dat was when I had meningitis." - -"I can't plow no mo'. I jis' live on my li'l bit of pension and dat -ain't nuttin'." - - - - -Reeves Tucker - - -*Reeves Tucker, 98 year old Negro farmer of Harrison Co., Texas, was -born in Bibb Co., Alabama, a slave of George Washington Tucker, Sr. When -Reeves was six his master died and Reeves was separated from his family -and brought to Texas by George Tucker, Jr. Reeves now lives with his -son, who owns a farm nine miles northwest of Marshall, Texas.* - -"My father was Armistead Tucker and my mother Winnie Tucker and they's -both born slaves of Massa George Washington Tucker. He lived over in old -Alabama, between Selma and Maplesville. My brothers was Andy and John -and Peter and there was two girls, Anne and Dorcus, and we was all born -on Massa Tucker's plantation. My missy died 'fore I was born and my old -massa died when I was jest a shirt-tail boy and his chillen had a -dividement of his lands and mammy and all the chillen but me fell to the -daughter and pappy was give to the son. Pappy begs too hard for me to go -with him that fin'ly they lets me. I never seed my mammy after that, -bein' as how Missy Emogene stays in Alabama and us come to Texas. - -"Massa George settles near Gilmer and he sho' have a big place with lots -of acres and a good house. He didn't 'low no beatin' on that place but -I've saw slaves on other places whopped till the blood run off them onto -the groun'. When they was cut loose from the tree or whippin' post they -falls over like dead. But our massa was good to us and give us lots to -eat and wear. We et pork meat and white flour jest like the white folks -and every woman have to spin so many yards cloth 'fore she go to bed, so -we allus had the clothes. - -"I've saw lots of slaves bid off like stock and babies sold from their -mammy's breast. Some brung 'bout $1,500, owing to how strong they is. -Spec'lators used to ride all over the country near our place and buy up -niggers and I've saw as many as fifty in a gang, like convicts. - - -[Illustration: _Reeves Tucker_] - - -"But Massa George wouldn't sell and buy slaves and none of 'em ever run -off 'cept my pappy and one night he started to go 'cross a shirt of -woods to the neighbors and young massa was a pattyroller and tells pappy -to wait and go with him, but pappy hard headed as a mule and goes -hisself and the pattyrollers cotches him and nigh beats him to death. -Young massa was sho' mad as fire, 'cause he didn't want his niggers beat -up. - -"Them circuit ridin' preachers come to the white church and tries to -make the white folks bring their slaves to preaching. Preacher say, -'Nigger have a soul to save same as us all.' Massa allus went to church -but I don't 'lieve it done him any good, 'cause while he there at -meetin' the niggers in the field stacking that fodder. He did give us -Christmas Day and a big dinner and 'cept for workin' the lights outten -us, gen'rally treated us decent and we had heap easier time than any -other slaves 'round. - -"I 'member the war and Jeff Davis and Abe Lincoln was warfaring 'bout -freein' the niggers 'bout four year 'fore they fought. Massa Tucker jest -grunted when we was freed, 'cause he knowed the thing was up, and he -tells us if we'd stay and help the crop out he'd give us a horse and -saddle, but we didn't git nothin'. So I lef' him soon as the crop laid -by the year of freedom and then moved with pappy to a farm near -Hallsville and stays with him till I marries. I had seven chillen to be -growed and married and I farmed near Hallsville mos' my life, till I too -old. My son, Reeves after me, owns this farm and we's all right. Never -did have hard times after freedom, like some niggers, 'cause we just sot -down on the land." - - - - -Lou Turner - - -*Lou Turner, 89, was born at Rosedale, near Beaumont, Texas, on the -Richard West plantation. She has spent her entire life within three -miles of Beaumont, and now lives in her own little home, with her -daughter, Sarah.* - -"I hears you been 'round to see me befo', but you ain't never gwine find -me to home. I sho' love to go 'round visitin'. You know dey say iffen -you treats the cat too good, you ain't never know where the cat is. - -"I's gwine on seventeen year old when freedom come. I's born right here -near Beaumont, on the big road what they calls the Concord Road, in the -place what they calls Rosedale. I's a growed-up young lady befo' I ever -sees Beaumont. I's gwine on 89 year old now. - -"Richard West, he's my massa and Mary Guidry she my missy. Dey used to -call her the 'Cattle King.' Dey have a big plantation and jes' a few -slaves. Dey raises my mammy since she eleven year old. Her name Maria -and she marry Sam Marble. He come from Miss'ippi. - -"I stay up at the big house and missy fix my plate when she fix hers. -God bless her heart, she kind to me, I know now I's sassy to her but she -didn't pay me no 'tention 'cause I's li'l. I slep' on a trundle bed by -missy's side and I git so smart I allus smell my bed to see iffen dey -puts nice, clean sheets on mine like dey did on hers. Sometime I play -sick, but old missy a good doctor and she gimme beefoot oil and it so -nasty I quit playing off. She French and she so good doctor they send -for her to other folks houses. - -"Old missy was real rich. I's taken her money out of de wardrobe ane -make tall playhouse out of gold and silver money. Iffen she have to buy -somethin' she have to come and borrow it from me. Us allus has to figger -how to take dat money out of de corners so de house won't fall down. I -cried and cried iffen she tored it up. - -"She'd take me with her when she go to see her grandchillen in de French -settlement. Us come in buggy or hack and bring jelly and money and -things. I thought I's gwine to Heaven, 'cause I gits to play with li'l -chillen. Us play 'ring place', dat's draw a ring and hop 'round in it. -Us jump rope and swing. Dey have a hair rope swing with a smooth board -in it so it ain't scratch us behin'. - -"Old missy so kind but what got 'way with me, I couldn't go to school. I -beg and beg, but she kep' sayin', 'Some day, some day,' and I ain't -never sit in a school in my life. - -"Old massa didn't work 'em hard. He make 'en come in when the sun got -bad, 'cause he feared dey git sunstroke. He mighty good in early days, -but when he figger dey gwine loose he slaves he start bein' mean. He -split 'em and sold 'em, tryin' to make he money out of 'em. - -"De house what the white folks live in was make out of logs and moss and -so was the quarters houses. Better'n New Orleans, dem quarters was. Us -slaves have de garden patch. The white folks raises hogs and kilt 'em by -the twenties. Dey smoke hams and shoulders and chittlin's and sich and -hang 'em up in the smokehouse. Us allus have plenty to eat and us have -good, strong clothes. Missy buy my dresses separate, though. She buy me -pretty stripe cotton dress. - -"Bout the only work I ever done was help watch the geese and turkeys and -fill the quilts. I larn to card, too. Old missy never whip me much, she -jes' like to scare me. She whip me with big, tall straw she git out the -field or wet a towel and whip my legs. My old massa done a trick I never -forgit while I's warm. I's big gal 'bout sixteen year old and us all -'lone on the place. He tells me to crawl under the corncrib and git the -eggs. I knowed dey ain't nothin' dere but the nest egg, but I have to -go. When I can't find nothin' he pull me out backwards by the feet and -whip me. When old missy come home I ain't know no better'n to tell her -and she say she ought to kill him, but she sho' fix him, anyway. He say -she spile me and dat why he whip me. - -"Old missy taken to preachin'. She was real good preacher. Dey have de -big hall down the center of the house where they have services. A -circuit rider come once a month and everybody stop workin' even if it -wasn't Sunday. - - -[Illustration: _Lou Turner_] - - -"When war was on us there wasn't no sojers 'round where I was, but dat -battle on Atchafalia shook all the dishes off the dresser and broke 'em -up. Jes' broke up all the fine Sunday and company dishes. - -"After de trouble my mammy have gettin' me 'way from there when freedom -come, she gits me after all. Old missy have seven li'l nigger chillen -what belong to her slaves, but dey mammies and daddys come git 'em. I -didn't own my own mammy. I own my old missy and call her 'mama'. Us cry -and cry when us have to go with us mammy. I 'members how old missy rock -me in her arms and sing to me. She sing dat 'O, Susanna' and telt me a -story: - -"'Dere a big, old brown bear what live in de woods and she have lots of -li'l cub bears and dey still nussin' at de breast. Old mama bear she out -huntin' one day and she come by de field where lots of darkies workin' -and dere on a pallet she see fat, li'l pickaninny baby. Mama bear she up -and stole dat li'l pickaninny baby and takes it home. It hongry but -after she git all de cub bears fed, dere ain't no milk left for de -nigger baby. Mama bear git so 'sasperated she say to her babies, 'Go -long, you go way and play.' Dan she feed de li'l pickaninny baby and dat -how she raise dat nigger baby.' - -"Now, every time old missy come to dat place in de story, she start -laughin', 'cause I allus used to ask her. - -"'How come dey didn't no hair grow on dat baby.'" - - - - -Irella Battle Walker - - -*Irella Battle Walker, 86, was born a slave at Craft's Prairie, Texas. -Her parents, Mesheck and Becky Battle, belonged to Mr. Battle, but were -sold while Irella was a baby to Tom Washington, of Travis County. Irella -learned her A B C's from an o1d slave, Jack James, although it was -against the rules. This was the only schooling she ever had. Irella -receives a monthly old age pension of eight dollars. She lives at 2902 -Cole St., Austin, Texas.* - -"My name was Irella Battle and I was borned on August 15th, in 1851, -down at Craft's Prairie, in Bastrop County. I was 86 years old last -August, and I'm blind in one eye. - -"Mammy's name was Becky Battle and she was a field worker, and dat about -de most work she have to do, 'cept on rainy days. She had five girls and -one boy and I'm de youngest and de only livin' one now. Daddy was -Mesheck Battle and when I'm a baby in mammy's arms, us sold to Massa -Washington. - -"Daddy had to do field work. I never knowed him do nothin' but farm. He -sho' make us behave and whop us if we didn't. Massa was purty good. De -massas dem times, some was good and some was bad, and about de most of -dem was bad. I had to he'p round de big house and dey purty good to me. -But when I still little I went to de fields. Dey give me a sack what de -slaves make to pick cotton in. Dey spin de thread and make cloth on de -loom and stitch it and make cotton sacks. Dey short for us chillen and -de older folks had a short one to pick in and a big sack to empty in. I -could pick about a hundred fifty pounds a day when I's twelve. Israel -Roberts could pick five hundred a day. Us never got no money for -pickin', only food and clothes and a place to stay at night. Old man -Jonas watched us chillen and kept us divin' for dat cotton all de day -long. Us wish him dead many a time. - -"De plantation had a hoss-power gin and some days our rows of cotton -tooked us right to de gin house and we'd look up and watch de slave boys -settin' on de lever and drivin' dem hosses round and round. - -"De cabins was log and mud and stick chimney. When one dem chimneys -catch fire us git on top and throw water on it. - -"In summer us go barefoot, but dere shoemakers what make shoes for -winter. When a beef killed, de hide kept and cleaned and put in de -tannin' trough. When de leather ready, de shoes make in de little shoe -shop, and when dem shoes git dry dey hard as a rock. Daddy make us rub -tallow or fried grease meat or any other kind grease into dat hard shoe -leather, and it make dem soft, but when de dew and sun git on dem again -dey's hard again. Times de coyotes steal dem greased shoes and make off -with dem. Dat act'ly happen a lot of times. - -"Old man Jack James work at day and have night school at night. He have -long boards for benches and let dem down by ropes from de rafters, and -have blue back spellers. He point to de letters with de long broom straw -and dat's how we larn our A B C's. I can read purty good, when my eyes -let me, but I can't write nothin'. - -"If it rained we had to shuck and shell corn or pull weeds in de yard, -and it was a big one, too. De women spin thread for de looms, two of dem -and a spinnin' wheel in every cabin. - -"Us have beds de men make and take wore out clothes and breeches and -piece dem and stuff with cotton for quilts. When it cold us keep fire -all night long. De plates am tin and a big gourd dipper to drink water -with. De men make dere own cedar water pails. - -"De week's rations for a growed person run like three pounds bacon and a -peck cornmeal and some home-made 'lasses. No flour and no coffee, but us -parch bran or wheat and make coffee. Each night dey give a pint of sweet -milk. But de chillen all et in a special place in de kitchen. - -"One mornin' Massa Washington call us all and he read from de big paper. -He say, 'You is free to live and free to die and free to go to de devil, -if you wants to.' He tell us if we gather he crops he'd pay us for it. -Den he turned and walked away and started cryin'. All de families stays -but one man. De highest price massa pay anybody was about $15.00, but -dat seem like a lot of money to folks what wasn't used to gittin' any -money at all. - -"Finally my folks moved on a farm on Onion Creek, in Travis County, on -rented land from Nat Watters and Dr. Shears, and farm on de third and -fourth. We stays about six years and raises cotton and corn. - -"But when I's twenty years old I marries Joe Walker and us move to -Bastrop County, add I stays dere till he dies in 1932. Us have eleven -chillen and nine of dem still livin'. I gits a pension, nine dollars de -month, and it sho' am a help now I's old and nearly blind." - - - - -John Walton - - -*John Walton, 87, was born August 15, 1849, a slave of Bill Walton, who -lived in Austin, Texas, until the Civil War. He then purchased a farm in -Robertson County, Texas. John and his wife, Missouri, own a little home -at 1008 Juniper St., Austin. Each receives an old age pension of $10.00 -a month.* - -"My name am John Walton, yes, suh, and I's born right here in Austin. -Dat on de 15th day of August, in 1849. I done had de papers on dat but -where dey is now I don't know. Pappy's named Gordon Walton and I 'member -he die while de war goin' on, or jes' befo'. I disremember. My mammy was -a small woman, named Mary. - -"Massa Bill Walton owns all us, and he de brother of Buck Walton, and us -live in Austin till it said de Yankees comin'. Some southern folks here -in Austin was diggin' ground for a fort, old Fort MacGruder, jes' south -of Austin. So Massa Bill takes us all 'way from Austin and up to -Robertson County, 'cause he done figured de Yankees can't git up dere. - -"I done field work up dere and even us kids had to pick 150 pounds -cotton a day, or git de whoppin'. Us puts de cotton in de white-oak -baskets and some dem hold more'n 100 pounds. It 'cordin' to de way you -stamps you cotton in. De wagon with de yoke of oxen standin' in de field -for to pour de cotton in and when it full, de oxen pulls dat wagon to de -hoss-power gin. Us gin'rally use 'bout 1,600 pounds cotton to make de -bale. - -"Purty soon after Massa Walton opens he farm he die and Missus Walton -den marries a Dr. Richardson and he git de overseer what purty rough on -us. He want all us to stay right in line and chop 'long and keep up with -de lead man. If us didn't it am de bullwhip. He ride up and down and hit -us over de back if us don't do de job right. Sometimes he'd git off he -hoss and have two slaves hold one down and give him de bullwhip. He'd -give it to him, too. - -"I helped break up de land and plant and chop cotton and a little of -everything. Jes' what had to be done at de time, I goes out and does it. -I run 'cross plenty snakes and one day one bit me right top de foot. -Dere plenty varmints, too. - -"In de fall of de year us kill plenty hawgs and put up de gamblin' racks -and hang dat meat up for de night. Dere some big dogs what watched de -meat and one old dog, old Jefferson, was bigger'n any dog I ever seed. -He kilt many 'nother dog. One night a big panther try steal de hawg meat -and old Jeff cotch him and helt him till de men comes. De panther tore -Jeff up purty bad. Us heered dem panthers scream at night, and if you -didn't know, you'd think it a woman. I could tell de diff'rence, 'cause -de panther scream have de little growl at de end. If he half mile 'way, -you'd hear dat little whang. - -"One night I goes out in de bottom with my dog. I was huntin' but I -don't like what I finds. A big panther follows me and old Nig, dat my -big, black bulldog, scart him 'way from me. I sho' run dat night, and I -never slip 'way no more at night. - -"Massa's big house sot 'way from our cabins. Us have de big room where -de slaves' meals all cook and de fireplace 'bout four foot 'cross and -plenty ashes in de mornin' to make de ashcakes. For breakfast us have -meat and ashcakes and bran-coffee or sassafras tea. You could keep dem -dried sassafras roots de year 'round and dey jes' as strong. Us plowed -'em up in de field, 'cause dey growed wild. - -"Us didn't have time for de playin' of games durin' de week, 'cause it -dark when us goes out and it dark when us comes back. Us sho' was tired. -At night dat overseer walk by our cabins and call out to us, to see if -us all inside. If us don't answer he come up and find out why, and he'd -find us, too. - -"I larned to read and write a little jes' since freedom. Us used -Webster's old blue-back spellers and I has one in de house to dis day -and I wouldn't take nothing for it. - -"The first year after freedom I farms with mammy and my stepdaddy. Pappy -done die. Us done purty good de first year and I keeps on farmin' most -my life. I marries Georgia Anne Harper in 1875 or 1876 in Limestone -County. Us have four chillen and three is livin'. I marries 'gain in -1882 to Missouri Fisher and us have eight chillen and six is livin'. - -"Us gits 'long on what de state give us now, and it ain't so bad. Times -is diff'rent. I never done much but farm, so I don't know so much 'bout -everything what goes on." - - - - -Sol Walton - - -*Sol Walton, 88, was born in Mobile, Alabama, a slave of Sam Lampkin. -Sol and his father stayed on the Lampkin Plantation, then in -Mooringsport, Louisiana, until 1873, and farmed on shares. From 1876 to -1922 Sol worked in the T.& P. shops, in Marshall, Texas. Sol and his -wife are supported by odd jobs Sol secures about town and they receive -money from a son who is in a CCC camp.* - -"I was knockin' round, a good-sized chap, way back yonder in Buchanan's -and Henry Clay's time. I was born in 1849, in Mobile, Alabama, and -belonged to Sam Lampkin. My father was bought by the Lampkins and he -allus kept the name of his first master, Walton. My mammy was a Alabama -Negro and her name was Martha, and I had four brothers and four sisters, -Robert, Jim, Richard, Alex, Anna, Dora, Isabella, Bettie. - -"My master was Sam Lampkin and his wife was Missus Mary, and their first -plantation was in Alabama, but they moved to Mississippi when I was -'bout six, and we lived on Salt Water Creek. They had a big, frame house -and we lived in log quarters, slept on rough rail beds and had plenty to -eat, peas, pumpkins, rice and other truck we raised on the place, and -plenty of fish out of the creek. - -"The first work I done in slavery was totin' water and dinner to the -field hands, in gourd buckets. We didn't have tin buckets then. The -hands worked from sun to sun, and if the overseer seed 'em slackin' up -he cussed 'em and sometimes whacked 'em with a bullwhip. I seed 'em -whipped till their shirt stuck to their back. I seed my mammy whipped -for shoutin' at white folks meetin'. Old massa stripped her to the waist -and whipped her with a bullwhip. Heaps of 'em was whipped jus' 'cause -they could be whipped. Some owners half fed their hands and then whipped -them for beggin' for grub. - -"After our folks came in from the field they et supper and some went to -Salt Water Creek to cotch fish and crabs. They used to spin at night, -too. On Christmas Day massa allus give the slaves a little present, -mostly somethin' to wear, 'cause he goin' to git that anyhow. - -"Massa never had but one white overseer. He got kilt fightin'. The hands -was burnin' logs and trash and the overseer knocked a old man down and -made some of the niggers hold him while he bullwhipped him. The old man -got up and knocked the overseer in the head with a big stick and then -took a ax and cut off his hands and feet. Massa said he didn't ever want -another white overseer and he made my cousin overlooker after that. - -"The slaves had their own prayer meetin's and that's 'bout the biggest -pleasure they had. We'd slip off sometimes to dances and parties, but -the patterrollers come and run us home with hounds. The black and white -children all played together and there was 'bout sixty of us. - -"The old folks told us ghost stories but I never seed a ghost but once, -after I was married. Me and some men was walkin' down the Shreveport -road and saw a big house all lit up and fiddlin' and dancin' goin' on -inside. But when we got close the music stops and the lights went out. -When we got on past a piece it lit up and the fiddlin' starts 'gain. I -wasn't scared, but we didn't hang round to see what made it do that way. - -"Some of the cullud folks on our place could read and write. They larned -it theyselves. The white folks didn't larn 'em. All they larned 'em was -to work hard. But they took care of us when we was sick and old women -made lots of medicine. There was boneset tea and willow tea and shuck -tea and cottonseed tea for chills and fever and Jerusalum Oak for worms. - - -[Illustration: _Sol Walton_] - - -"Master left Mississippi for Texas 'bout time the war got goin' good, -with his fam'ly and sixty slaves. We'd been on the road three weeks when -a gang of Yankees come on us one day at dinner. The niggers scatters -like birds. 'Bout half of 'em never come back, but the rest of us come -on and settled seven miles southwest of Mooringsport, in Louisiana. -Young master went to the war after we got there and come home sev'ral -times. But they didn't talk the war 'mongst us cullud folks. - -"Nothin' special happened the day they said we was free, 'cept some of -'em didn't stay ten minutes. Master told 'em if they'd stay he'd give -them the third and fourth. The ones who left wasn't promised nothin' and -didn't git nothin'. My folks stayed for 'most twenty years after -'mancipation, workin' on the halves. - -"I left my folks in '73 and come to Jimmie D. Scott's place, in Texas, -'bout eight miles east of Marshall, and worked for $10.00 the month. -That's where I met Liza Montecue, who is my wife. She was born on the -Scott's place the same year I was born. We moved to Marshall in '76 and -I got a job in the railroad shops and worked till the big strike in -1922. I didn't belong to the strike but the strikers wouldn't let me -work. After they run me off my job, I never could get back on and had to -make a livin' at anythin' I could find till my boy got in the CCC camp. -I been married sixty-four years and raised eight children, and three of -'em lives here and works at anythin' they can find to make a dollar." - - - - -Ella Washington - - -*Ella Washington, 82, was born a slave of Dave Mann, in St. Mary's -Parish, Louisiana. When the slaves were freed in Louisiana Ella was -taken to Calvert, Texas, and put on the Barton plantation. Soon after -the civil war she came to Galveston, and lives with her daughter, who -supports herself and her mother by taking in washing.* - -"You got to 'scuse how I looks, 'cause I been out in de back yard -helpin' my daughter with de washin'. She allus fuss at me 'cause I work -like dat, but I tells her jes' 'cause I is a old woman ain't no reason -why I got to act like one. - -"I don't know for sho' jes' when I'm birthed, but my sister allus say -I's one year and six months older'n her and she say she's birthed 'bout -1857. Dey didn't make no record den like now. I thinks old massa, Dave -Mann, keep some kind record on us, but he been dead de long time. - -"My mammy and pappy was name Meine, Car'line and Charles Meine. De -slaves used to take de massa's name and sometimes when dey sold dey drap -de old name and take de new massa's name. Dat how come it so hard to -keep up with dem. - -"Massa Mann sho' nice but him and he missy die and Massa Jim Ross step -into dere shoes on de plantation. Us gits swamp den. When you git swamp -dat mean you got to live with a mean man. He sho' was mean, too. - -"De plantation was big and 'bout a hundred slaves on it. Dey work dem -hard, too, sometimes till nine o'clock at night. A lot of dem run away -but dey sic de nigger dogs on dere trail and cotch dem. When dey cotch -dem dey whup dem. Dey put sticks in de ground and tie dere hands and -feet to dem. Some places dey strip dem naked and whip dem. - -"Sometimes Massa Jim 'low us go to de Catholic Church at Marion. Dey -wouldn't 'low us to pray by ourself. But we sneaks off and have pot -prayin'. Two men carry de great big hog pot dey uses to scald hogs and -take it out in de woods and us stick de head in it and pray. All de -noise go in de pot and you couldn't hear it outside. - -"Old massa fed us good, meal and syrup and meat 'nough to last. He give -us watermelons every Sunday. But Massa Jim didn't 'lieve in pamperin' -niggers, he say. He didn't give us much to eat and de houses leak 'cause -de walls rotten. - -"One time he take de notion to sell us. He put my mother and me and -sister on de block up in Marion. Us all cryin' hard, 'cause us thunk us -gwine git sep'rate. Den I looks up sudden and right at my young miss, -Miss Mary. She so mad she pale like de ghost. She say, 'Ella, you git -'way from dat block and come over to me, and you too, Della.' Me and my -sister runs over dere to her and wrop ourself round her dress and hold -on with all our might. De massa come after us and Miss Mary say, 'What -you mean sellin' my slaves?' He say us slaves his and she say, do he -want to have to prove what he say. Den she start in and raise so much -sand he have to call mammy down off de block and take us back home. - -"I heared everybody say a war goin' on and my uncle and cousin run 'way -to de head bureau, where de Yankees at. My mammy say it at Milligan, -Texas. Time dey ready for freedom in Louisiana, dey refugees us to -Texas, in de wagons. Us travel all day and half de night and sleep on de -ground. It ain't take us so long to git to Calvert, out dere in de -bottom of Texas, and dey puts us on de Barton plantation. We's diggin' -potatoes dere when de Yankees come up with two big wagons and make us -come out of de fields and free us. Dere wasn't no cel'bration 'bout it. -Massa say us can stay couple days till us 'cide what to do. - -"Well, den somethin' funny happen dere. De slaves all drinks out an old -well. Dey'd drink water in de mornin' and dey'd have de cramps awful bad -'bout dinner time and in de evenin' dey's dead. Dey dies like flies, so -fast dey couldn't make de coffins for dem. Dey jes' sew dem up in sacks -and bury dem dat way. Some de slaves say massa put de poison in de well. -I don't know what kill dem but it sho' look funny. - -"Mammy and me goes to Calvert and hires out, but 'fore long us come to -Galveston and pappy go back to Louisiana. If he ain't dead he still live -dere in St. Mary's Parish. I never seen him no more. - -"I marries 'bout 1886, and stays right here in Galveston. I seen Wright -Cuney lots of times but I ain't never knowed him to talk to. I 'member -when dey say he be governor some day, but dey ain't gwine have no cullud -man governor. Course, he did git to congress." - - - - -Rosa Washington - - -*Rosa Washington is 90 years old and lives in her own little adobe house -at 3911 Manzana St., El Paso, Texas. She was born a slave of the Watson -family, on a large plantation seven miles from St. Joe, Louisiana. Her -parents came from Georgia. After the Civil War she left her former -owners, but later returned and was with them until they died. She came -to Texas in 1921, and her three children provide for her. Her son, Le -Roy, has been in the U.S. Emigration service in El Paso for 27 years.* - -"My name's Rosa Washington and my husban' was Joe Washington. He's been -dead a long time. I was bo'n on a big plantation, white man's name Bill -Watson, wife Ann Watson, seven miles from St. Joe. Mama had four chillen -and I had seven. Marster had a fine house and plenty of slaves. I dunno -how many. - -"'Fore we was free we was in the fiel' workin' and they come out and got -us. Everybody threw up their hands and started to run. The Yanks busted -open a sugar hogshead and give everybody all they wanted. Dey threw all -de milk away and dey carried our marster away by force and tuk him to -jail in Vicksburg. Our missus wept. When the Yankees got us, dey tuk us -about three miles from whar we live, put us in a fine house, give us -plenty to eat until war's ended. Me and my chillen and my father and -mother were together there. - -"We had a good cabin on the plantation, made out-a planks, ole rip-rap -plunder. Dey treated us good. I worked in water garden, worked in fiel's -when 10 years old. Hoe'd my row every day. Dey didn' whop me, though. My -mistress wouldn' let 'em. Marsa and missus good to me. I not tell lie on -'em. Tell truf. Truf shines. - -"I seed niggers put in stocks, put 'em in stocks head in fust. Tear -their clothes off backs, whop till sores come, den dey pour coal oil and -turpentine in sores. I see dat with my own eyes. My dad druv the -carriage, carried 'em 'round all time. My mother worked in the fiel' -like I do. Work every day. Dey give us everything to eat. Marster and -missus, too, give plenty, but if ole cow died with cholera, they give to -us niggers. I got good shoes once a year. When marster went to New -Orleans, mama had to tie my feet up in rags. I had to work with the rest -of 'em. Got up at 4 o'clock. We he'ped on other plantations when dey'd -git behind. Go he'p 'em out. - -"I waited on overseers table, Joe Crusa. He was mean. He stuck a fork in -my head. Ole Aunt Clarissie cooked for us. She cook in cabin for us, had -big fireplace. She cook for all niggers on the place. She was mean to -me, never married. She had two rooms, all she do was cook, tell lies on -me to white overseer. That woman told a lie on me 'cause said I lef' a -fork dirty. He look at it, says, 'Who rubbed dis fork?' Woman says, -'Rosa,' and he stuck the fork in my head. Missus turn him off nex' day. - -"We had co'nbread, no sugar, plenty okra and coffee; plenty milk, 'cause -they had 17 cows. They give us clabber and peaches. Every day overseer -blow horn in yard to wake us up, a bugle at four o'clock Sundays. We -take cotton outta fiel' and put it up on scaffold to dry iffen it rain. -Overseer sit in dry, big overcoat on; we work in mud and rain. One -mornin' they carried us to stockhouse to whip us. My missus and marster -never let 'em whip me, but no white folks he'p me to read and write. -He'p me to do nothin' but work. - -"White folks had church. I couldn' go. I hadda mind the white chillen -every Sunday. Cullud people had to go way back in woods to have church. -Never let white folks see 'em. Had to slip and hide to have our church, -run like deer if foun' out. Marster never know a bit more'n this chair -whar we was gwine. He couldn' ask us on Sunday, it be against the law. -Iffen niggers run away, dogs 'ud catch 'em. - -"Dey had doctor right dere. Kep' us well. Kep' us well so's we could -work. Brother-in-law to marster. - -"When the niggers was married, dey put a broom down and dey jump over -the broom, same time missus and marster'd marry 'em. He'd marry 'em and -she as witness. Sometimes celebrate. She'd cook 'em some cake, give 'em -a fine dress. We'd take meat and skillets down to the bar on Sundays. -Had fish frys. Wouldn' take no fussy chillen to the bar. We chillen -would have fish fry whar dey couldn't watch us. - -"Had to go to gin at four o'clock in evenin'. Couldn' play week-days, -had to go in cabin and be still. Never got to play much till Yankees -come and got us, but we had a big ball and dance in yard Christmas. Had -candy, dey give us dresses and socks and a good feast for Christmas. -Give us things for 4th of July. Dey give us dat day. No, dey wouldn' -whip us dat day. We had a big quiltin' Christmas day. We'd piece de -quilts outta scraps. Some couldn' quilt. Dey'd dance in de yard all day. - -"We niggers got wool clothes in winter, good clothes woven on de place. -Marster had black sheep and white sheep. He bought our summer clothes in -New Orleans--linsey, calicy, plaid, some white ones. Dey'd give us color -what we like. - - -[Illustration: _Rosa Washington_] - - -"Sure, I seed ghosts. Dey come with no head, come outta de fiel' one -night so late, 'bout eight, nine o'clock. I was scared, yes, suh, I sure -was scared, but my mammy say, 'Dey ain' goin' to hurt you, baby.' Dey -scare me. My mammy give me beads for my neck, china-berry beads to keep -me well. They's pretty. I never had no other kind. - -"We never git no money befo' freedom. I stay away from Marster and -missus de first year, den go back. Dey give us 50c a day after war. Had -to pay for rations. Better since war, though. No whippin's goin' on like -they did 'fore. - -"I'se a full Baptist--been ever since '67. I'se happy. Sometimes I gits -too happy. I don' move till de spirit move me. I goes to church when -I'se able. But I'se gittin' too old to go now--I'se just waitin' to go -home." - - - - -Sam Jones Washington - - -*Sam Jones Washington, 88, was born a slave of Sam Young, who owned a -ranch along the Colorado River, in Wharton Co., Texas. Sam was trained -to be a cowhand, and worked for his master until 1868, receiving wages -after he was freed. He farmed until 1905, then moved to Fort Worth and -worked in the packing plants until 1931. He lives at 3520 Columbus Ave., -Fort Worth, and is supported by an $11.00 per month old age pension, -supplemented by what Sam raises in his garden and makes out of a few -hogs.* - -"How old I is? I's 16 year when surrender come. I knows dat, 'cause of -massa's statement. All us niggers gits de statement when surrender come. -I's seed plenty slave days. - -"Massa Young run de small farm 'long de Colorado River and him don't own -many slaves. Dere my mammy and her six chillen, and Majoria and her four -chillens. My pappy am not on de place. I don't know my pappy. Him am -what dey calls de travelin' nigger. Dey have him come for service and -when dey gits what dey wants, he go back to he massa. De womens on Massa -Young place not married. - -"Massa raise jes' a little cotton, dat two womens and de chillen could -tend to, and some veg'tables and sich. Us have lots of good food. Us -sleep in de sleepin' room, nex' to massa's house, but I sleeps in -massa's room. - -"One night massa say, 'Don't tie my hoss to de stake tonight.' But I's -sleepy and gits de nodfies and draps off to sleep. Mammy shake me and -say, 'Did you stake de hoss?' Massa sees dat hoss in de mornin' and say, -'You done stake dat hoss and I told you not to.' He gives me couple -licks and I larns to do what I's told. He never whip nobody, not de hard -whippin' like other niggers gits. He am de good massa. - -"I fust runs errands and den massa larn me to ride, soon's I could sit -de hoss. Den I stays out with de cattle mos' de time and I's tickled. I -sho' likes to ride and rope dem cattle and massa allus fix me up with -good clothes and good hoss and good saddle. I stays dere till long after -surrender. - -"Us have stampedes from de cattle. Dat am cust'mary with dem critters. -Dat mean ride de hoss to turn de cattle. Us ride to side de leader and -crowd him and force him to turn, and keep forcin' him, and by and by dem -critters am runnin' in de circle. Dat keep dem from scatterment. Dat -sho' dangerous ridin'. If de hoss throw you off dem cattle stamp you to -death. Gabriel sho' blow he horn for you den! - -"I sho' 'joys dat business, 'cause we'uns have de good time. Us go to -town and have fun. One time I comes near gittin' in trouble, but it -ain't my fault. I's in town and massa, too, and a white man come to me -and him show de drink. 'Who you 'long to, nigger?' he say. 'I's Massa -Young's nigger,' I says, polite-like. 'You looks like de smart nigger -and I's de notion smack you one,' he say. 'You better not smack me any,' -I says. You unnerstand, dat de way massa raise me. I don't unnerstand -some cruel white mens gits de arg'ment, jus' for de chance to shoot de -nigger. Massa am standin' near by and him come up and say, 'If you -touches dat nigger, I'll put de bullet through you.' Dat man see massa -have no foolishment in he words and gits gwine. But if massa am not -dere, Gabriel blow he horn for dis nigger's Jubilee, right den, yes, -sar. - - -[Illustration: _Sam Jones Washington_] - - -"I comes near gittin' cotched by de patterrollers once. I's jus' 12 den -and 'nother nigger and me, us want some cane stalk. It good to eat raw, -you knows. Jus' peel de bark off and chew dat inside. Well, we'uns in de -man's cane patch, breakin' dem stalks and dey makes de poppin' noise. A -patterroller come by and hear dat poppin', and holler, 'Who's dere in de -cane patch?' Us didn't answer him, no, sar. I 'cides right quick dat I -don't like cane and I comes 'way from dat patch. I outsmarts and outruns -dat patterroller. I keeps to de cane fields and de woods and I runs dis -way and dat way. I twists 'round so he couldn't follow my tracks. Like -de snake's track, you can't tell if it am gwine north or comin' back. -Lawd a'mighty! How fast I runs. I stays 'head of my shadow. I tells you, -I's a-gwine! - -"De war? White man, we'uns didn't know dere am de war. We seed some -sojers at de start, but dat all. One day massa say to me, 'After dis, -you gits $15.00 de month wages. I works for him three more years and den -he sold out. Den I goes farmin' till 1905. I works in de packin' plants -here in Fort Worth den, till I's wore out, 'bout six year ago. Now I -raises de hawgs, not very many, and does what work I can git. Dat -pension from de State sho' holps me. With dat and de hawgs and de little -garden I gits by, and so I lives. - -"Was I ever marry? Man, man, three time. Fust time, 'bout 1869 and -we'uns gits de seperment in 1871. Dat woman sho' deal me mis'ry! She am -de troublin' woman. Den 'bout 1873 I marries 'gain and she die 'fore -long. Den in 1905 I marries 'gain and she's dead, too. I never has de -chillen. I's jus' 'lone and old now, and stay here till my time comes. I -'spect it quite a spell yit, 'cause I's got lots of substance left, yes, -sar." - - - - -William Watkins - - -*William Watkins, born 1850, to Julia and Hudson Watkins. All were -slaves on the Watkins plantation where William was born, on the edge of -Charlotte County, Virginia. William is tall, heavy set, and does not -look his age. He lives with William Branch, who came from an adjoining -county in Virginia. Both men served in the same campaigns in the United -States Army.* - -"My name is William Watkins. De name comes frum de name of Terbaccer -Watkins, who owned de Watkins Terbaccer Plantation. He got a factory in -Richmond and de plantation in Charlotte County in Virginia, 'bout 50 -mile east of Richmond. Marse Watkins got a big frame house and 400 acres -and 100 acres is terbaccer. Yassuh, dey's other crops--barley, wheat, -oats, and den dey's stock--hogs, cows, hosses and mules. - -"We lives in log cabins wid plank floors and we made de beds ourself. -Dey feeds us good and we gits milk and bread and lotsa pork. Marse -Watkins got lotsa hawgs. - -"Yassuh, we's got a church. De slaves built it in de woods. We never got -no wages but sometimes he give us four bits or six bits. What we do wid -it? We buys candy. Sometimes we run de rabbits or goes fishing. De -Marster gives us lil' patches of groun'. He's good but de overseer's -rough. He whips all de slaves. - -"Dey's a patrol what watches for slaves dat runs away, but we don't have -no patrol on our plantation. We has dances Sat'day nights. Sundays we -didn't wuk much. - -"Dey's ghosts dere--we seed 'em. Dey's w'ite people wid a sheet on 'em -to scare de slaves offen de plantation. We wears charms to keep us well. -Dere's asafoetida in a bag and we wear's it roun' de neck. It cure most -ev'ryting. When we gits real sick, dey sends medicine frum de big house. - -"Ev'ry year de slave traders comes and de Marster sells some slaves down -river to New Orleans. Who dey sell? Jes' no count slaves. Dey walks all -de way. De traders dey rides in ox-carts. We never wuk much Sundays, -only to milk de cows. Jes' dat. Yessuh, I was married on de plantation. -De preacher say de words and we's married. - -"Den de war come and de Yankees come down thick as leaves. Dey burns de -big house and de slave houses and ev'ryting. Dey turns us loose. We -ain't got no home nor nuthin' to eat, 'cause dey tells us we's free. - -"We's gotta leave de plantation. De Marster's gone, de crops is gone, de -stock's gone. We goes to anudder place and works on shares. De first -time we sees de Ku Klux is right after de war. Dey whips de slaves what -leaves de plantations, dey don' wan' dem to be free. - -"Bout 1870 I goes to Ohio and enlists in de army at Jefferson Barracks -and right off dey sends us to Texas to fight Indians. I goes to San -Antonio and dey puts me on guard at de Alamo to fight off de Indians. -Den I goes to Fort Davis. I'm in de cullud Indian Scouts, Co. K, and -dey's a banker name of Miller in de Chihuahua jail. One night de kuhnel -takes us from Fort Davis, and we marches all night wid guns and 150 -rounds of ammunition in belts, and rations for 30 days. We marches all -night long twel we gits to Del Norte, Texas(Presidio) and we crosses de -river and takes Mr. Miller out of jail. - - -[Illustration: _William Watkins_] - - -"While we's at Fort Davis a wagon train comes through de canyon and de -Apaches rolls big rocks down on de white people and kills 26 of dem. Dey -scalps all dey kills and we go out and fit de Apaches. De lieutenant is -killed in de fight. Yassuh, we fit Apaches all de time and when we goes -to Fort Concho dey gives us a fit all 'long de road. Den we fitten de -Cheyennes and dey is wust of all. Dey's great big Indians 'bout seven -feet tall and at de battle of de Wichita in de Indian Territory a -Cheyenne shoots an arrer through my wrist. (He exhibited the scar. Same -battle described in interview with Wm. Branch.) - -"Den after my wound heals we's sent to Fort Clark and de sergeant, Jeff -Walker, got it in for me. Kuhnel Andrews is at Fort Davis and Jeff -Walker trumps up some charges dat I'se mistrusted, so dey gives me a -dishonnuble discharge 'cause of dat Jeff Walker. I ain't had no court -martial nor no trial and I cain't git no pension 'count of de -dishonnuble discharge. - -"And now I'se strong and well but I cain't git no wuk 'cause I'se so -ole. And 'cause Jeff Walker didn't like me, I gits a dishonnuble -discharge." - - - - -Dianah Watson - - -*Dianah Watson, 102, was born a slave of Tom Williams, at New Orleans. -In 1870, Dianah went to Jefferson, Texas. She now lives with a married -daughter in the Macedonia Community, five miles northwest of Marshall, -Tex.* - -"My name am Dianah Watson and I used to keep my age, but I done got sick -and can't 'member it now. I can't say 'zactly how old I is but I's a -past-growed woman when the war broke out, and my old missy's daughter -done told me once out the book I's borned in 1835. - -"I's borned and bred 'bout a half mile from New Orleans. My mammy was -s*arah Hall and she's borned in Galveston, and my papa was Bill -Williams. My old missy done take me from my mammy when I's a small baby -and raised me to a full-growed woman. I slep' in the same room with my -young missy and had a good time in slavery, didn't suffer for nothin' -and never was cut and slashed like some. Me and Miss Laura come right up -together and I's her own nigger slave. - -"Massa Williams treated his black folks with 'spect. They was in the -field from 'fore day till dark, but they was took good care of and fed -and plenty clothes. Old Master Tom done the bossin' hisself and when -he's dyin' he calls all his five boys to his bed and say, 'Boys, when -I's gone, I don*t want no cuttin' and slashin' my niggers. They's got -feelin' same as us.' - -"But the oldes' boy, William, got the debbil in him and hires a -overseer, and he rid in the fields with a quirt and rope and chair on -his saddle. When he done take a notion to whip a nigger, he'd make some -the men tie that nigger to the chair and beat him somethin' scand'lous. -He got mad at my mother's sister, Aunt Susie Ann, and beat her till the -blood run off her on the ground. She fall at his feets like she passed -out and he put up the whip and she trips him and gits the whip and whips -him till he couldn't stand up. Then some the niggers throwed him off a -cliff and broke his neck. His folks gits the sheriff but master's boys -orders him off the place with a gun. There warn't no more overseers on -the place after that. - -"If niggers of these days done see what I seed in slavery time they'd -pray and thank they Gawd every day. My master's place sot right 'cross -the big road from a place they cut and slashed they niggers. You'd hear -that white man's black folks bellerin' like cows. I's stood many a time -on our front gallery and seed them cut and slash the blood off them -niggers. I seed old women half-bent from beatin's goin' to the field. -They overseer had a wooden paddle with nails in it. I used to say to -missy, 'Why they cuttin' and slashin' them black folks that-a-way?' -Missy say, 'Dianah, that there white man got the debbil in him.' - -"I seed them sell my mama. I ask my old missy why and she say, 'To go to -her husband.' - -"When the war broke out I's a full-growed woman. New Orleans was full of -sojers and they wouldn't let us go to town. Me and young Mr. Tom used to -git on the roof and watch them. The cannons was roarin' like thunder and -smoke thick and black as clouds. I got scart when they sot the niggers -free, at the niggers shoutin'. I didn't know what 'twas for. Old Miss -say to me, 'They been in slavery but you don't know what slavery is, -Dianah.' - -"Two years after that my old miss carries me to Galveston to my mammy. -She tell her to take good care of me and we lived there three years and -moved to Jefferson. Our things come by boat but we come in wagons. I -married John Smith purty soon after that but he died 'fore long. Then I -married Noah Watson and now he's dead. I done raise six chillen but only -one am livin' now and that's my younges' gal and I lives with her here. - -"I tells the young race iffen they come up like me they wouldn't act so -smart. They needs somebody to take the smartness outten them. But my gal -am good to me. I gits a pension and pays it to her to take care of me. I -been here a hundred years and more and I won't stay much longer, and I -don't want to be no 'spense to nobody." - - - - -Emma Watson - - -*Emma Watson, born in 1852 or 1853, in Ellis Co., Texas, was one of the -slaves of the Carl Forrester family. Emma worked in the fields most of -her life, but is now too old to work, and is cared for by her daughter. -They live at 318 Allen St., Dallas, Texas.* - -"I axed my old missus when I's borned and she rec'lect I'm eight or nine -year old when de freedom war starts. She say she don't make recall de -'xact time, but I takes May for a birthin' time. They's a time when some -sich was writ in de Bible, but it got burnt up 'fore I's ageable. I -knows where I'm borned, though, and it am on Capt. Forrester's farm in -Ellis County. His mother, Miss Susan, raises me like she am my mammy. I -calls her Sis Sue. She was old miss and Miss Lee was young miss. - -"My paw, I don't know nothin' 'bout. My sister Anna and me, us have de -same paw, but my mammy's sold out of Miss'sippi 'way from my paw 'fore -my birthin'. My maw kept de name of Lucindy Lane, but Martha and Jennie, -my other sisters, had diff'rent paws. - -"I's gone through so much of hard times all my life, but when I's de -li'l gal I didn't have much to do 'cept tend my Aunt Matilda's babies -and wash they clothes. The rest the time I jes' plays round. Miss Lee -have a china doll with a wreath of roses round it head. We takes turns -playin' with it. I had a rag doll, and it jes' a bundle of rags with -strings tied round it to give it a shape. Us make playhouses. Capt. -Forrester goes away and I heared he gone to some war, but, law me, I -didn't know 'bout war den. - -I's jus' glad to play and eat anythin' I can git. When I git a tin can -of clabber and some bread, that's what I wanted. They didn't buy no -dishes for nigger young'uns to break up. Us et bacon and beef and salt -pork and cornbread with us fingers. Mussel shells is what we dipped -'stead of spoons. I did love de souse, too. - -"When I had de chills, Sis Sue, dat Old Miss, come out to de quarters -and give me sweet milk boiled with pepper. I got shut of dem chills -'cause I didn't like dat pepper tea, but I like it better'n quinine or -sage tea. I didn't like to be sick noways, 'cause dey jus' two -bedsteads, one for my mammy and my step-paw, and one for us gals. - -"They allus promise me they'll larn me to read and write, but never did -git to dat. Aunt Matilda did most de spinnin' and weavin' and sewin'. I -used to wear a shimmy and a dress in de week and a clean one for Sunday. -In winter sometimes us have a li'l sacque and homemake calfskin shoes -but mostly us have to stay inside iffen de weather ain't mod'rate. - -"De only frolics I 'member was candy pullin's on Christmas. Dat all us -niggers knowed 'bout Christmas. - -"One day Miss Tilda git de buggy whip to whip my mammy. It's noontime, -and dey had blowed de horn for de field niggers to come eat. Maw grabs -de whip and says, 'Miss Tilda, you ain't gwine do dat.' Miss Tilda -didn't say nothin' for a day or two, den she say, 'Lucindy, you git your -young'uns and leave dis place.' So us goes walkin' down de road till us -come to some folk's house and dey takes us in. Us dere 'bout a month -when mammy git sick. Dem folks sends word to de Forresters dere niggers -am sick and Sis Sue hitch up de hoss and come over. She brung food for -us every day, and say, 'Now, Lucindy, when you git able you bring your -young'uns on home and 'have yourself.' My mammy dies when I's 'bout ten -year old. - - -[Illustration: _Emma Watson_] - - -"After Capt. Forrester come back home dey tell us to watch out for de -Feds. Sis Sue say dey kill nigger young'uns. One day I's comin' through -de fields and see three men in blue coats on big bay hosses. I ran, but -dey passes me by big as you please. I seed plenty after dat, 'cause dey -come and asks for corn and Sis Sue allus say us don't have 'nough for de -hosses. But dat night de corn allus leave de cribs. Dem Feds was sho' -thievin' folks. - -"I stays with de Forresters till I's 22 year old, and dey give me food -and clothes, but never no money. Sis Sue used to say, 'Come here, you -li'l old free nigger.' It make me so mad. But den I marries and have de -swiss white dress and us walk 'cross de fields to de preachers. Dat -every bit of fixin' us have. - -"Den us raise crops on de half-shares and sot up housekeepin' with a -bedstead, some quilts and a li'l old stove. I has four young'uns and -every one of dem had schoolin' and larnin'." - - - - -James West - - -*James West, 83, was born a slave to Mr. William West, near Ripley, in -Tippah Co., Mississippi. This was close to the battle fought near -Corinth and James witnessed some exciting events. In 1885 James came to -Texas and now lives with a friend at 1114 Hardy St., Fort Worth, Texas.* - -"Yes, suh, I 'members de slavery days and de War, 'cause I's born in -1854, on de plantation of Massa William West, in Mississip'. It weren't -a big plantation, jus' 'bout 100 acres, and Massa West owned my mammy -and four other slaves, Buck, Sam, Rufus and Mary. I don't know nothin' -'bout my pappy, 'cause I ain't never seed him, and my mammy never told -me nothin' of him. - -"All us cullud folks lived in cabins and they has two rooms. De bunks is -built to de wall and has straw ticks and we has floors and real windows. - -"Sam and Buck and Rufus am field workers and plants cotton and sich and -looks after de stock. Sometimes de work is heavy and sometimes not. When -it am finish, de massa lets 'em go fishin' or visitin' or rest. We goes -to church when we wants and we has parties with Sam and Rufus to play de -music, de fiddle and de banjo. How I wishes I could be back dere for -jus' one year and have it like befo'. Jus' one year befo' I die! - -"We has a good massa in every way. Him gives all we can eat. Folks don't -eat like we used to, 'cause we had home-cured hams, and when you put it -in your mouth, it was a treat for your taster. As for de clothes, massa -say, 'De 'terial here and if yous don't supply yourselves, its yous -fault.' - -"Dere never anyone what gits whippin's on massa's place, 'cept dis -nigger, but dey only spankin's. You see, dere was allus a bit of -devilment in me. But de massa so good, we all tries to please him and we -has no whippin's. - -"De massa gives me a he goat and de shoemaker makes me de harness and -cart for dat goat and when I gits him trained good, I has a job gittin' -de chips for kindlin' and de wood and I totes de water. One day I takes -Billy, de goat, 'cross de road for wood and it downhill from de woodpile -so I jus' rides de load. Billy was gwine jus' as nice as yous kin like, -but him says BAAH, and starts to run like a skeert bull. I thinks what -kin be wrong with dat fool goat, when somethin' hits me back of de neck -like a coal of fire, and de cart hits a rock and off I goes. To says I's -skeert am not tellin' de truf, and I starts hollerin'. It was de bee -stung me and when I gits to de house I looks Billy over and, sho' -'nough, on his hip was de bee sting. Dat bee sting sho' put de life in -Billy. - -"'bout de War time, de plantation was near whar dey fights a battle two -days and I seed lots of soldiers. Before dat, de soldiers begins to come -to massa's house and water de hosses and eat de lunch. Dey never did -raid his place like other places 'round dere, but I hides when dey -comes, 'cause I skeert of dem. I quavers and gits skeert when I sees -'em. - -"We is jus' settin' down to breakfast one mornin' and we hears a big -boomin'. When dat start, dis nigger don't eat his breakfast. I starts -for some place to hide. I runs to one place, den I hears de boom, den I -runs to another place. I finally crawls under de shed and dere I stays. -Dey couldn't git me out and dere I stays for dat day and night and 'til -noon de nex' day. I has no water or food. Lots of folks from Ripley what -massa knows was kilt in dat battle. - -"Buck and I goes to de battleground after de fightin' quits and dere was -heaps of dead hosses but dey had dug de trench and buried de dead -soldiers. - - -[Illustration: _James West_] - - -"I don' know about de Klux, but we use to sing a song 'bout de patter -rollers, like dis, - - 'Run nigger run, patter roller kotch you, - Run nigger run, 'cause it almos' day, - Dat nigger run, dat nigger flew, - Dat nigger los' his Sunday shoe.' - -"I stays with de massa after freedom 'til I's 21 year old and den I -leaves and works for diff'runt folks. I marries in Tennessee when I's 22 -and we has one chile, but my wife takes him when he's five and leaves, -and I never seen or heard of 'em since. I comes to Texas 'bout 52 year -ago. - -"I has 'joyed talkin' 'bout dem old days, 'cause talk am all I kin do -since my legs have de misery so bad." - - - - -Adeline White - - -*Adeline White, 90 odd years old, was born at Opelousas, Louisiana, a -slave of Dr. Bridget. She lives with her daughter, Lorena, in Beaumont, -Texas.* - -"I's born at Opelousas and my massa and missis was Dr. Bridget and his -wife. They was mean and they beat us and put the hounds after us. They -beat the little ones and the big ones and when massa ain't beatin' his -wife is. It am continual. My pappy call Thomas Naville and my mammy -'Melia Naville. They was born in Virginia. I had four brothers and two -sisters, all dead now. - -"Like I says, old massa sho' whip us and when he whip he put us 'cross a -barrel or chain us and stake us out with a rope. We didn't have much to -eat and not much clothes. They weave us clothes on the loom and make the -dress like a sack slip over the head. - -"Our cabin wasn't so bad, made of logs with dirt 'tween the logs. The -chimney make out of sticks and dirt and some windows with a wooden -shutter and no glass in 'em. Massa give 'em lumber and paint to make -things for the house and they have homemake bed and table and benches to -sit on. - -"Massa have the hoss power cotton gin and a hoss power sugar cane mill, -too. Us work hard all day in the gin and the sugar cane mill and doesn't -have no parties nor fun. Sometimes in the evenin' us git together and -talk or sing low, so the white folks won't hear. - - -[Illustration: _Adeline White_] - - -"I 'member going through the woods one time and seein' somethin' black -come up 'fore me. It must a been a ghost. I got a boy call' Henry what -live in Welch and he kin see ghosties all the time. He jus' look back -over he lef' shoulder and see plenty of 'em. He say they has a warm heat -what make him sweat. - -"Old massa didn't go to the war and his boys was too little. We jus' -heared about the war and that it was goin' to free us. In the night us -would creep out way in the woods and have the prayer meetin', prayin' -for freedom to come quick. We has to be careful for if massa find out he -whip all of us, sho'. We stays nearly all night and sleeps and prays and -sleeps and prays. At las' we hears freedom is on us and massa say we are -all free to go, but if we stay he pay us some. Most of us goes, for that -massa am sho' mean and if we doesn't have to stay we wouldn't, not with -that massa. - -"We scatters and I been marry twice. The first man was Eli Evans in -Jennings, in Louisiana and us have six chillen. The second man he James -White but I has no more chillen. Now I lives with my gal what called -Lorena and she make me happy. She sho' good to her old mammy, what ain't -much good no more." - - - - -Sylvester Sostan Wickliffe - - -*Sylvester Sostan Wickliffe, of Ames, Texas, was born in St. Mary's -Parish, Louisiana, in 1854. A free-born Negro, Wickliffe tells an -interesting story about his life and that of his uncle, Romaine Vidrine, -who was a slave-holder. Wickliffe has a nicely furnished home in -Beaumont, and two of his children have been to college.* - -"I's what dey call a free-born nigger. Its a long story how dat come -about, but I can tell you. - -"Three Frenchmen come to Louisiana from France. In three generations dey -mix with Indians and Negroes. Dey high-born Frenchmen and 'cumulate -plenty property. Before dey die dey make 'greement 'mongst demselves. -When one die de property go to de other two; de last one livin' git all -three plantations and all dat's on dem. It so happen dat old man -Vidrine's daddy live longes', so he git it all. But he so good he divide -up and my daddy gits forty acres good land. My daddy's greatgrandpapa -was one dem first three Frenchmen. - -"My daddy was Michael and mama was Lucy and dey a whole passel chillen, -Frances, Mary, Clotilde, Astasia and Tom, Samuel, Gilbert and Edward. My -daddy was part Indian and I had some half-brothers and sisters what wore -blanket and talk Indian talk. Dey used to come see daddy and set round -and talk half de night and I never understan' a word dey sayin'. - -"Mama didn't have no Indian blood in her, but she born in Louisiana and -a right purty, brown-skin woman, probably some French or Spanish in her. - -"My uncle, Romaine Vidrine, de son of old man Vidrine, he have de -bigges' property. He was a slave-holder. Dey was a number niggers in -Louisiana what owned slaves. Romaine, he have 'bout thirty-eight. Dey -was a big dif'ence make 'tween slave niggers and owner niggers. Dey so -much dif'ence as 'tween white folks and cullud folks. My uncle wouldn't -'low slave niggers to eat at de same table with him or with any of us -free-born niggers. - -"Folks come down from de noth sometimes and mistook de slave for de -owner or de owner for de slave. My uncle was sech a purty, bright man, -he must of been a quadroon. He had long burnsides and a long tail coat -all de time. He was very dignified. He was good to all he slaves, but -when he say work, he mean work. He ain't never 'low none de slaves be -familiar with him. - -"De old Romaine house was a old*fashioned house make out of cypress. Dat -everlastin'. It come to a peak on top and dere was one big room what run -de whole length in de back and dat de sleepin' room for all de li'l -chillen. De growed-up folks have sleepin' rooms, too. Dey have a cook -shack outside. It a sep'rate house. - -"Us live in a purty good house not very far from de big house. Dey have -what dey calls a private school. It was kep' by my uncle. Only de -free-born niggers went to it. De older ones educated in French and de -young ones in French and 'merican, too. After de war dey hire a white -man named William Devoe to be teacher. He educate de chillen to de third -gen'ration. He come to Texas with me and die 'bout five years ago. - -"When a couple want to git marry on de old Romaine place, uncle sent for -de priest from St. Martin. Dey wasn't no priest round Franklin or what -dey call New Iberia later. When I's most a growed boy de priest come -baptise 'bout forty of us. He use de water* out uncle's cistern for de -ceremony. When us goin' down de road to de baptisin' dey's a squirrel -run 'cross de road and us chillen all broke and run to cotch it. Law, -dat jus' 'bout scare my old godmother to death. She took so much pain -dat us all nice and clean and 'fraid us git dirty. Her name was Nana -Ramon Boutet and she live here in Ames settlement for many year. Us -laugh many time 'bout dat squirrel. - -"Dey used to call us de free Mulattoes from 'cross de bayou. De nearest -town was Pattersonville and it five mile away. Now dey calls de -settlement Vidrinville for old man Romaine Vidrine. De plantation -suppor' a grist mill and a raw sugar mill. Dey make de sugar dark, big -grain, 'cause dey ain't no 'finery in dem days. Dey put de sugar in big -five hunerd pound hogshead and take it by boat down de Teche to New -Orleans and sell it. Dey use de money to buy coffee and cotton. Us -didn't raise cotton. I never see no cotton till I's a big boy and come -to Fort LaFayette. - -"De grist mill was built 'way from de house. Dey have a long lever what -stand out de side and hitch hosses with a rawhide belt to make de mill -turn. Us folks all raise rice. Not like now, Lawdy, no. Dey jes' plant -rice in rows like corn and cultivate it like any other crop. Dey wasn't -no irrigation ditch. After de rice harves' dey put it in a mortar make -out a cypress log or block and knock de roughness off de rice with de -pestle. - -"Every fall us go huntin' deer round Chicimachi Lake. Dey calls it Grand -Lake now, but de reg'lar Indian name am Chicimachi. Dere was a tribe of -Indians by dat name. Dey wasn't copper skin, but more yaller like. - -"When war commence it purty hard on folks. Us see soldiers comin' 'cross -de bayou in blue suits. Dey raid de sugar mill and take de livestock and -foodstuff on de Pumphrey place. Dey have a awful battle five mile away. -Dat at Camp Boesland, on de Teche. Dat a awful battle! My brother go -dere next day and see soldiers standin' up dead 'gainst trees with dey -bay'nets still sot. - -"De Confed'rates come and took all de slaves to build de fort at -Alexandria. When dey come to de Romaine place dey see niggers, and ain't -know which free and which slaves. Dey line my daddy up with deothers, -but a white man from town say, 'Dat a good, old man. He part Indian and -he free. He a good citizen. He ain't s'pose do work like dat.' So dey -didn't take him. - -"De Yankees damage de Romaine property 'siderable. Dey take a whole year -crop of sugar and corn and hosses. Afterwards dey pass a law and de -gov'ment 'low money for dat. It was 'bout twenty year before dey git de' -money, but dey git it. Romaine and he heirs git $30,000 for dem damages. - -"After war over, old man Romaine tell he slaves dey free now. But he -say, 'You is most born right here and iffen you is bright you stay right -here.' Dey all did stay. But dey ain't never git to jine with de -free-born. Dey still make a dif'ence. - -"After freedom I 'cide to larn a trade. I 'prentice myself to de -blacksmith trade for clothes and board. I larn all I can in three year -and quit and open a shop on Bayou Tortue, 'tween St. Martin and -Lafayette. I charge $2.00 for to shoe a hoss all de way round. Den I -beat plows, build two-wheel buggy and hack. I make sweepstocks and -Garrett and Cottman plow. Dat after de time of de wood mould boards. I -make mine with metal. - -"I come to Texas in 1890, to Liberty, and been right round dere and Ame -for forty-seven year. I start me a gin and blacksmith shop when I first -come. I marry in Houston to Epheme Pradia, 'nother free-born nigger, and -I still marry to her after forty-seven year. Dat a good long hitch. We -have seven chillen, all livin'. One gal went to de Catholic church -school in Galveston. One boy go to Pradeau University in New Orleans. -Dey two blacksmith, one farmer, one good auto mechanic and de three gals -keeps house. - -"I 'member lots of songs us sing in French but I can't give 'merican for -dem. I know de song, _LaLoup Garou_. I try to translate one song for -you: - - "Master of de house - Give me meat without salt; - When de stranger come, - He give me roast chicken." - - - - -Daphne Williams - - -*Daphne Williams was born in Tallahassee, Florida, a slave to Mrs. Nancy -Herring. Daphne does not know her exact age, but must be close to or -over 100. She claims to have witnessed the fall of the stars in 1833. -She lives in Beaumont, Texas.* - -"It won't be long 'fore I's sleeping the long sleep. I expect I's about -the mos' agreeables person in the county, 'cause I's so old. I's born in -Tallahassee, in Florida, but I don' know when. The Herrings used to own -me and I took their name. Missus' name was Nancy Herring and the marster -was still alive when I's born, but he die when I's a baby. I guess I's -about 10 or 12 year old when us come to Texas. - -"Dat place where I's born was sho' a place! They have a three-story -house with a porch at the front and another at the back. They was -posties what stand from one porch floor to the nex' and brace it up. I -used to live in the big house, 'cause I's nuss for the white chillen. I -didn' stay round with cullud folks a-tall. - -"The missus was a widow woman ever since I 'member her. She have two boy -and three gal, and that sho' was a lovely house. They have they ownself -painted in pictures on the wall, jus' as big as they is. They have them -in big frames like gold. And they have big mirrors from the floor to the -ceilin'. You could see you ownself walk in them. - -"My mother was named Millie and my daddy named Daniel. I don' know how -many niggers missus have on the plantation. I was never 'lowed to play -with the cullud chillen, but I have two brothers named Abram and Handy -and I seed them sometimes. I took care of the white chillen and took 'em -to church. Iffen baby git to cryin' I walked round with him, but you -better be careful not to let the briar scratch him or he git a scar on -him and then they gwinter put a scar on you. - -"They give me pretty clothes to wear and make me keep clean and -expectable. I wore homespun and gingham dresses, jus' cut straight down. -They didn' have no sewin' 'chine. They have a woman to cut out and sew -and she do that all day long. - -"My white folks have mighty nice company. My missus up on the top. They -have nice, fine, intelligen' dishes and table cloth. - -"They give us holiday on Christmas and sometimes a whole week. They -treat the white chillen and black chillen all good and give 'em whippin' -iffen they needs it. When there's disturbance, missus holler, 'You all -chillen, come in here to me,' and whip us all, then she know she whip -the right one. - -"I seed the stars fall. God give me a good eyesight. The sun was shinin' -and it was plain daylight and the stars fall jus' like hail, only they -never fall all the way to the groun'. They fall so far and then they -stop and go out. They stay up in the element all the time. Missus sent -for the niggers to come up to the house and pray. All that time the -stars was a-comin' through the element. All the darkies, little and big, -was a-prayin' on their knees, 'cause they thing the jedgment sho' come -then. - -"Before us move from Florida us git mos' us goods for clothes from North -and South Carolina. The war commence in North Caroline to the good of my -recollection. That was six month or a year after us lef' Florida. They -was a-tryin' to smuggle it down then. When the missus 'cided come to -Texas she sent the niggers on ahead and they done make two crops 'fore -us git there. The place was five mile from Woodville. We come to Texas -in a boat what's big as a house. When the boat git there I was so 'cited -when I seed all the pretty trees. I never mever used to trees, 'cause -from where us come was jus' prairie land far's you kin see. No tree -round Tallahassee and no hill. - -"My mother was cook and when she like to die one time they starts -breakin' me in to do the cookin'. Then when she die I was cook and been -doing that two, three year when freedom come. - - -[Illustration: _Daphne Williams_] - - -"When they tol' us freedom come us thought they was foolin'. My uncle -say we's free and to go and look out for number one. They let us stay -awhile, but they 'lowanced us. Iffen us spen' the 'lowance us jus' had -to go rustle up something to eat or do without. My daddy was a widow man -by then and he stay, 'cause he say he want to see further into the -subjec'. - -"One time I gwineter see my father and had my baby in my arms, 'cause I -done married. I was gwine through the wilderness and I heared something -squall like a woman cry. I 'gin walk faster. The squall come again. -Something say to me, 'You better run.' The hair commence stand on my -head and I walk pretty peart. That squall come again and I run fastes' I -knows how. I have that poor little baby carried any way. - -When I get to the fence I jump over and sot down. The chillen come -running and say, 'Yonder Daphne.' They help me into the house but I's so -scart I couldn' tell 'em till near bedtime and then I say I hear squall -like woman cryin'. Mister Goolsbee say, 'Daphne, make soun' like you -hear,' and I makes a squall, and he say, 'That a panther and iffen he -kotched you that would have been the end of you and that baby of yourn -what you was totin'.' So 'bout four o' clock in that mornin' he gits -'bout fourteen neighbors and the dawgs and they hunts that rascal and -runs him in 'bout 8 or 10 o'clock. A span of mules couldn' pull that -rascal, I don' 'lieve. He have the biggest tushes I ever seed with these -two eyes. They put him in a pot and bile him and make soap out of the -grease. That panther didn' git me or my baby but they got him and made -soap out of him." - - - - -Horatio W. Williams - - -*Horatio W. Williams, known as "Rash" to his friends, is 83 years old. -He was a slave of Woodruff Norseworthy, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Horatio -has lived in Jasper, Texas, for many years.* - -"I was born in slavery in Pine Bluff in de state of Arkansas, on July 2, -1854, and dey tells me dat make me 'bout 84 years old. Woodruff -Norseworthy was my owner and boss all de time I a slave. I marry in 1875 -and I lost my wife two year ago, and when a man looses a good woman he -loses somethin'. Us had 13 chillen, but only two of dem alive now. - -"My boss man was mean to he niggers and I 'member crawlin' down through -de woods and listenin' one time when he beat a nigger. Every time he hit -him he pray. Boss have 15 slaves and I recollect one time he gwine beat -my mother. She run to de kitchen and jump behin' de door and cover -herself up in de big pile of dirty clothes. Dey never think to look for -her there and she stay there all day. But de next day dey cotch her and -whip her. - -"Dem what runs away, dey gits bloodhounds after 'em. Dey clumb de tree -when dey heered dem hounds comin' but de massa make dem git down and dey -shoot dem, iffen dey didn't. When dey gits down de dogs jumps all over -dem and would tear dem to pieces, but de massa beats dem off. - -"Once de boss has company and one our niggers sleeps on de porch outside -de company's room, and in de night he slip in dat room and thiefed de -fine, white shirt out de suitcase and wears it round de next mornin'. - -"Course he couldn't read and he ain't know de [HW: white] man have he -name on dat shirt. When de boss find it out he takes dat nigger down in -de bottom and I crawls through de bresh and watches. Dey tie he foots -together over de limb and let he head hang down and beat him till de -blood run down on de roots of dat tree. When dey takes him down he back -look like raw meat and he nearly die. - -"Sometime when de nigger won't mind dey puts de chain to one foot and a -ball on it 'bout big as a nigger's head, and he have to drag it down -with him whe ever he go. - -"My white folks moved to Bastrop in Louisiana and den to Texas and brung -me with them. When us work in de field us have de cook what put us food -on big trays and carry it to de field, den we stop and eat it under -shade of a tree, if dey any. Dey give us bread and meat and syrup for -dinner and us has bacon long as it lasts. - -"When I's free I rents land and crops 'round, after I gits marry. Befo' -dat, I was here, dere and yonder, for my board and clothes and four bits -de day. I give all my chillen de eddication, leastwise dey all kin read -and write and dat's what I cain't do. - -"I 'longs to de Meth'dist church and I don't unndestan' some dese other -churches very well. Seems strange to me dat at dis late time dey's -tryin' find new ways of gittin' to Heaven." - - - - -Lou Williams - - -*Lou Williams, said to be the oldest citizen of San Angelo, Texas, was -born in southern Maryland in 1829. She and her family were slaves of -Abram and Kitty Williams, of that section, and Lou served as nursemaid -to her master's children from the age of eight until after the Civil -War. She then went to Louisiana where she worked as a cook for several -years before coming to San Angelo. She is very active for her 108 years -and is a familiar figure about town, with her crutch.* - -"I's have de bes' white folks in Maryland. I's born in a three-room -frame house and I had one of them statements (birth certificates). When -I five years old my old missy she say, 'Dat gal, she sho' am gwine be -dependable and I makes nursemaid out of her.' When I eight years old she -trusts me with dem white chillen. I loves to fish so well I'd take de -li'l chillen to de creek and take off my underskirt and spread it out on -de bank and put de chillen on it while I sho' cotch de fish. Massa, he -start lookin' for me and when he gits to de creek, he say, 'Dar's de -li'l devil.' He know dem chillen safe, so he jus' laugh. - -"In de fall massa puts us nigger chillen on de bale of cotton and takes -us to town and gives us money to buy candy and dolls with. We allus had -good food and lots of fish and rabbits and possums, but when my missy -see dem possums carryin' de baby possums round she fall out with possum -and she say, 'No more possum bein' cooked 'round here.' - -"When I jes' a li'l gal I seed de stars fall and when everything got -dark like and dem bright stars begin to fall we all start runnin' and -hollerin' to our missy and she say, 'Chillen, don't git under my coat, -git on your knees and start prayin', and when we begins to pray de Lawd -he sends a shower of rain and puts out dem stars or de whole world would -a been burned up. - -"When massa take us to town he say he want us to see how de mean slave -owners raffles off de fathers and de husban's and de mothers and de -wives and de chillen. He takes us 'round to de big platform and a white -man git up dere with de slave and start hollerin' for bids, and de slave -stands dere jes' pitiful like, and when somebody buy de slave all de -folks starts yellin' and a cryin'. Dem sho' was bad times. Our massa -wouldn't do his niggers dat way and we loved him for it, too. - -"We had big gardens and lots of vegetables to eat, 'cause massa had -'bout eight hundred slaves and 'bout a thousand acres in he plantation. -In summer time we wore jes' straight cotton slips and no shoes till -Sunday, den we puts on shoes and white dresses and ties a ribbon 'round -our waists, and we didn't look like de same chillen. - -"Dere a big arbor for de whites to go to church and we goes, too. When -we starts down de road to church, our mama, she start sayin' things to -make us be quiet. We pass de graveyard and she say, 'See dat spirit -runnin' 'long here with us?' When we gits dere we hardly moves. We could -jine, if we wants to. - -"My mama, she Black Creek Indian and none of dem white folks wants her. -When massa buys my daddy and us chillen we had done been sold 'way from -her and we cry and she cry, and den she follow us to our plantation and -cry and beg our massa let her stay. He say, 'She ain't no good but put -her in de house and let her do some patchin' and mendin'.' Mama, she cry -and say, 'Thank God, Thank God! I's git to be with my husban' and li'l -chillen.' She make de good spinner and weaver and old missy, she say she -couldn't do without her, 'cause she spin cotton cloth for summer and -woolen cloth for winter. - -"Niggers didn't have much weddin's, but when massa find dem takin' up he -tells everybody to dress in white and de two what was takin' up together -has to march up and down till de big supper comes off. Dey was man and -wife den, but me, I's diff'rent. I's had a 'spectable weddin', 'cause -missy, she say I's her nursemaid. De preacher, he reads, and I's all -dressed in white clothes and sech a supper we never had befo'. - -"All de slaves wasn't so lucky as we was, though. We lives close to de -meanest owner in de country. Our massa wouldn't keep no overseer, 'cause -he say his niggers wasn't dogs, but dis other man he keeps overseers to -beat de niggers and he has de big leather bullwhip with lead in de end, -and he beats some slaves to death. We heared dem holler and holler till -dey couldn't holler no mo! Den dey jes' sorta grunt every lick till dey -die. We finds big streams of blood where he has whopped dem and when it -rained de whole top of de ground jes' looks like a river of blood dere. -Sometime he bury he niggers and sometime de law come out and make him -bury dem. He put dem in chains and stockades and sometimes he would buck -and gag dem. - - -[Illustration: _Lou Williams_] - - -"We seed he niggers goin' by our plantation with de oven on de heads -'round three o'clock in de mornin' on de way to de fields. Dese ovens -made of wood and tin over de tin cup dat fit de slaves' heads. Each -nigger have he bread and some old hairy bone meat a-cookin' with fire -coals in dese ovens. Dey made not to burn de head and when dey gits to -de fields dey sets dem down to finish cookin' while dey works till -breakfast time. De mamas what expectin' babies was whopped to make dem -work faster and when babies was sick dey has to put dem in de basket on -top dere heads and take dem to de cotton patch, and put dem under de -cotton stalks and try to 'tend to dem. Lawd, Lawd, dem was awful times, -and I sho' is glad I has good white folks. - - -[Illustration: _Lou Williams' House_] - - -"Some dat man's niggers allus runnin' 'way and dey sets de nigger dogs -on dem and catch dem mos' times. Den dey treat 'em so bad dey wouldn't -never want to run away no more. - -"We allus gits Saturday evenin' off to wash our clothes and sometime we -has dances Saturday night. I has two brothers, Jim and William and -William git kilt in de war. My two sisters named Relia and Laura. We has -corn shuckin's and big suppers and on Christmas our massa buys us de -present, most times shoes, 'cause we didn't have any shoes. - -"When de white folks dies or gits married everybody sho' carries on big. -When we sick dey gives us snakeroot tea and cana and sage tea and if -we's bad sick, dey gits de doctor. Missy, she make hog hoof tea, jes' -bile de hoofs in good whiskey for de cold. Den she put camphor ball and -asafoetida 'round our necks to keep off diseases. - -"When de war ends we sees a white man comin' down de road on a hoss and -de road full of niggers followin' him, singin' and shoutin' and prayin'. -I stays with massa till he die, then I marries and has one chile and one -grandchile, and I lives with her." - - - - -Millie Williams - - -*Millie Williams, 86, lives at 1612 E. Fourth St., Fort Worth, Texas. -She was born a slave to Joe Benford, in Tennessee, was sold to Bill -Dunn, who brought her to Texas and traded her to Tommy Ellis for some -land. She has lived in Fort Worth since the 1870's.* - -"I don't know when I was born, 'cause I was taken from my folks when I -was a baby, but massa told me I was born in de spring of de year, in -1851. I know I been in dis world a long time, but I has have good white -folks. I was born on Massa Benford's place in Tennessee and my mama's -name was Martha Birdon. She say my pappy's name Milton Wade, but I never -seed him. And I didn't know my mama a long time, 'cause she's sold away -from Massa Benford's place, and I was sold with her, den he took me -back, and I never seed my mama no mo'. - -"After I was sold back to Massa Benford, he puts me in de nigger yard. -Dat whar de massa kep' slaves what he traded. It was jus' a bunch of -shacks throwed together and dirty was no name for it, it was worse than -a pig pen. De man what watch over us in dat nigger yard was de meanest -man what ever lived. He'd take a club and beat de daylight out of us, -'cause de club wouldn't leave scars like de bullwhip, and didn't bring -de price down when we is sold. - -"One day Massa Benford takes us to town and puts us on dat auction block -and a man name Bill Dunn bought me. I was 'bout seven years old. Talkin' -'bout somethin' awful, you should have been dere. De slave owners was -shoutin' and sellin' chillen to one man and de mama and pappy to -'nother. De slaves cries and takes on somethin' awful. If a woman had -lots of chillen she was sold for mo', 'cause it a sign she a good -breeder. - -"Right after I was sold to Massa Dunn, dere was a big up-risin' in -Tennessee and it was 'bout de Union, but I don't know what it was all -about, but dey wanted Massa Dunn to take some kind of a oath, and he -wouldn't do it and he had to leave Tennessee. He said dey would take de -slaves 'way from him, so he brought me and Sallie Armstrong to Texas. -Dere he trades us to Tommy Ellis for some land and dat Massa Ellis, he -de best white man what ever lived. He was so good to us we was better -off dan when we's free. - -"Massa Ellis' plantation was one of de bigges', and he owned land as far -as we could see. Dere was 'bout 50 slaves and we lived in a row of log -cabins long side de big house. In winter we sleeps inside but in summer -we sleeps in de yard, and de same 'bout eatin'. Sometimes massa fed good -and den 'gain he didn't, but dat 'cause of de War. We has cornbread and -milk and all de coffee you would drink. On Sundays we fills de pot half -full of meat and shell peas on top de meat. - -"I 'member de time we steals one of massa's big chickens and its in de -pot in de fireplace when we seed missy comin'. I grabs dat chicken and -pot and puts it under de bed and puts de bedclothes top dat pot. Missy, -she come in and say, 'I sho' do smell somethin' good.' I say, 'Whar, -Missy Ellis?' She don't find nothin' so she leaves. When she's gone I -takes dat chicken and we eats it in a hurry. - -"De overseer woke 'em up 'bout four in de mornin', but I works in de -house. De field workers gits off Thursdays and Saturday evenin's and -Sunday. De reason dey gits off Thursday is dat de massa has some kind of -thought we shouldn't work dat day. Maybe it was 'ligion, I don't know. - -"We has parties and sings - - 'Massa sleeps in de feather bed, - Nigger sleeps on de floor; - When we'uns gits to Heaven, - Dey'll be no slaves no mo'.' - -"Den we has de song 'bout dis: - - 'Rabbit in de briar patch, - Squirrel in de tree, - Wish I could go huntin', - But I ain't free. - - 'Rooster's in de henhouse, - Hen's in de patch, - Love to go shootin', - But I ain't free.' - -"When de nigger leaves de plantation without no pass, and de padder -rollers kotched him, dey gives him 39 licks with de bullwhip. When we's -in de fields and sees de padder roller ride by, we starts murmerin' out -loud, 'Patter de pat, patter de pat.' One after 'nother took it up and -purty soon everybody murmerin'. We allus do dat to let everybody know de -padder roller 'round. Den we sing songs 'bout 'em, too. - - -[Illustration: _Millie Williams_] - - -"When War start dere a army camp jus' below de plantation, and 'bout a -thousand soldiers. We hears 'em shout, 'Halt, march, halt, march,' all -day long. Dey sung - - 'Lincoln's not satisfied, - He wants to fight 'gain, - All he got to do, - Is hustle up his men.' - -"I stays with Massa Ellis after we's freed. Dere sho' was a mighty purty -sight when de slaves knows dey's free. Dey hug one 'nother and almos' -tear dere clothes off. Some cryin' for de husban', and some cryin' for -de chillen. - -"When I was 'bout 20 I lef' massa's home and moves to Dallas, whar I -marries my first man. His name was Bill Jackson. He lef' me and goes -back to Dallas and I hear he die, so I marry Will Williams and he dies. -Now I been here since de Lawd know when." - - - - -Rose Williams - - -*Rose Williams is over 90. She was owned by William Black, a trader -whose plantation lay in Bell County, Texas. Rose and her parents were -sold in 1860 to Hall Hawkins, of Bell County. Rose was forced to mate -with a slave named Rufus when she was about sixteen, and had two -children by him, one born after Rose was freed. She forced Rufus to -leave her and never married. For the last ten years Rose has been blind. -She lives at 1126 Hampton St., Fort Worth, Texas.* - -"What I say am de facts. If I's one day old, I's way over 90, and I's -born in Bell County, right here in Texas, and am owned by Massa William -Black. He owns mammy and pappy, too. Massa Black has a big plantation -but he has more niggers dan he need for work on dat place, 'cause he am -a nigger trader. He trade and buy and sell all de time. - -"Massa Black am awful cruel and he whip de cullud folks and works 'em -hard and feed dem poorly. We'uns have for rations de cornmeal and milk -and 'lasses and some beans and peas and meat once a week. We'uns have to -work in de field every day from daylight till dark and on Sunday we'uns -do us washin'. Church? Shucks, we'uns don't know what dat mean. - -"I has de correct mem'randum of when de war start. Massa Black sold -we'uns right den. Mammy and pappy powerful glad to git sold, and dey and -I is put on de block with 'bout ten other niggers. When we'uns gits to -de tradin' block, dere lots of white folks dere what came to look us -over. One man shows de intres' in pappy. Him named Hawkins. He talk to -pappy and pappy talk to him and say, 'Dem my woman and chiles. Please -buy all of us and have mercy on we'uns.' Massa Hawkins say, 'Dat gal am -a likely lookin' nigger, she am portly and strong, but three am more dan -I wants, I guesses.' - -"De sale start and 'fore long pappy am put on de block. Massa Hawkins -wins de bid for pappy and when mammy am put on de block, he wins de bid -for her. Den dere am three or four other niggers sold befo' my time -comes. Den massa Black calls me to de block and de auction man say, -'What am I offer for dis portly, strong young wench. She's never been -'bused and will make de good breeder.' - -"I wants to hear Massa Hawkins bid, but him say nothin'. Two other men -am biddin' 'gainst each other and I sho' has de worryment. Dere am tears -comin' down my cheeks 'cause I's bein' sold to some man dat would make -sep'ration from my mammy. One man bids $500 and de auction man ask, 'Do -I hear more? She am gwine at $500.00.' Den someone say, $525.00 and de -auction man say, 'She am sold for $525.00 to Massa Hawkins.' Am I glad -and 'cited! Why, I's quiverin' all over. - -"Massa Hawkins takes we'uns to his place and it am a nice plantation. -Lots better am dat place dan Massa Black's. Dere is 'bout 50 niggers -what is growed and lots of chillen. De first thing massa do when we'uns -gits home am give we'uns rations and a cabin. You mus' believe dis -nigger when I says dem rations a feast for us. Dere plenty meat and tea -and coffee and white flour. I's never tasted white flour and coffee and -mammy fix some biscuits and coffee. Well, de biscuits was yum, yum, yum -to me, but de coffee I doesn't like. - -"De quarters am purty good. Dere am twelve cabins all made from logs and -a table and some benches and bunks for sleepin' and a fireplace for -cookin' and de heat. Dere am no floor, jus' de ground. - -"Massa Hawkins am good to he niggers and not force 'em work too hard. -Dere am as much diff'ence 'tween him and old Massa Black in de way of -treatment as 'twixt de Lawd and de devil. Massa Hawkins 'lows he niggers -have reason'ble parties and go fishin', but we'uns am never tooken to -church and has no books for larnin'. Dare am no edumcation for de -niggers. - -"Dere am one thing Massa Hawkins does to me what I can't shunt from my -mind. I knows he don't do it for meanness, but I allus holds it 'gainst -him. What he done am force me to live with dat nigger, Rufus, 'gainst my -wants. - -"After I been at he place 'bout a year, de massa come to me and say, -'You gwine live with Rufus in dat cabin over yonder. Go fix it for -livin'.' I's 'bout sixteen year old and has no larnin', and I's jus' -igno'mus chile. I's thought dat him mean for me to tend de cabin for -Rufus and some other niggers. Well, dat am start de pestigation for me. - -"I's took charge of de cabin after work am done and fixes supper. Now, I -don't like dat Rufus, 'cause he a bully. He am big and 'cause he so, he -think everybody do what him say. We'uns has supper, den I goes here and -dere talkin', till I's ready for sleep and den I gits in de bunk. After -I's in, dat nigger come and crawl in de bunk with me 'fore I knows it. I -says, 'What you means, you fool nigger?' He say fer me to hush de mouth. -'Dis am my bunk, too,' he say. - -"You's teched in de head. Git out,' I's told him, and I puts de feet -'gainst him and give him a shove and out he go on de floor 'fore he know -what I's doin'. Dat nigger jump up and he mad. He look like de wild -bear. He starts for de bunk and I jumps quick for de poker. It am 'bout -three foot long and when he comes at me I lets him have it over de head. -Did dat nigger stop in he tracks? I's say he did. He looks at me steady -for a minute and you's could tell he thinkin' hard. Den he go and set on -de bench and say, 'Jus wait. You thinks it am smart, but you's am -foolish in de head. Dey's gwine larn you somethin'. - -"'Hush yous big mouth and stay 'way from dis nigger, dat all I wants,' I -say, and jus' sets and hold dat poker in de hand. He jus' sets, lookin' -like de bull. Dere we'uns sets and sets for 'bout an hour and den he go -out and I bars de door. - -"De nex' day I goes to de missy and tells her what Rufus wants and missy -say dat am de massa's wishes. She say, 'Yous am de portly gal and Rufus -em de portly man. De massa wants you-uns for to bring forth portly -chillen. - -"I's thinkin' 'bout what de missy say, but say to myse'f, 'I's not gwine -live with dat Rufus.' Dat night when him come in de cabin, I grabs de -poker and sits on de bench and says, 'Git 'way from me, nigger, 'fore I -busts yous brains out and stomp on dem.' He say nothin' and git out. - -"De nex' day de massa call me and tell me, 'Woman, I's pay big money for -you and I's done dat for de cause I wants yous to raise me chillens. I's -put yous to live with Rufus for dat purpose. Now, if you doesn't want -whippin' at de stake, yous do what I wants.' - -"I thinks 'bout massa buyin' me offen de block and savin' me from bein' -sep'rated from my folks and 'bout bein' whipped at de stake. Dere it am. -What am I's to do? So I 'cides to do as de massa wish and so I yields. - -"When we'uns am given freedom, Massa Hawkins tells us we can stay and -work for wages or share crop de land. Some stays and some goes. My folks -and me stays. We works de land on shares for three years, den moved to -other land near by. I stays with my folks till they dies. - -"If my mem'randum am correct, it am 'bout thirty year since I come to -Fort Worth. Here I cooks for white folks till I goes blind 'bout ten -year ago. - -"I never marries, 'cause one 'sperience am 'nough for dis nigger. After -what I does for de massa, I's never wants no truck with any man. De Lawd -forgive dis cullud woman, but he have to 'scuse me and look for some -others for to 'plenish de earth." - - - - -Steve Williams - - -*Steve Williams was born a slave of the Bennett family in 1855. They -were residents of Goliad County, Texas and owners of only a small bunch -of slaves. He and the other slaves were driven away hurriedly after the -soldiers had threatened the slave owners for not having turned the -slaves loose as soon after emancipation as they should have. Steve -worked around his old home for his victuals and clothes a few years, -then drifted about the country as a farm hand, finally landing in San -Angelo, Texas where he worked for awhile as cook at a barbecue stand. He -now lives alone in the back yard of his niece and is hardly able to get -in and out of his small cabin on his crutches.* - -Steve relates the story of his life as follows: - -"I wasn't very big when I was a slave. Fact is, we was set free 'fore I -was big enough to remember much about how dey does but I's hear my -mother tells 'bout dem Louisiana slave holders, dem what had dem -drivers. Now dey was sho' rough on dem. My mother's name was Charlotte -Williams and my father he was name Bill and dey belong to de Williams -dere, you see, and was sold to Mr. Bennett and brought to Goliad. Dats -how come I's named Williams and my marster named Bennett. Our little log -huts was put up 'round in de back yard and our beds was home-made, jes' -kind of plank scaffolds like. Our beddin' wasn't too good, jes' fair -cotton beds. Ole marster's folks dey have big feather beds and a nice -log house. - -"I never seen any money when I was a boy to 'mount to anything and for a -long time after dat war I never seen too much. - -"We had pretty good to eat such as vegetables from de boss's garden and -plenty of all kinds of meats. Some of de colored folks likes 'possum de -best but I always likes coon. Jes' bile him, den bake him good and brown -and aint no 'possum can come up wid dat. - -"We had good homespun clothes and some times we have shoes. - -"I never did see none of the slaves sold but I hear my mother tells -'bout how horrible dat was. I didn' learn much readin' and writin' -'cause no body never teach me none. - -"We goes to camp meetin' after de war but not much, den dat was de white -folks meetin'. - -"On Christmas we usually have a shoat and cakes and lots of fiddlin' and -dancin'. - - -[Illustration: _Steve Williams_] - - -"Slaves didn' have no weddin's. De boss he jes' puts dem in a cabin and -gives dem a wife and dey all calls dat married. Fact is, dey jes' wasn' -so much marryin' done 'mong de colored. - -"When we hear we was free we hear it from some of de other slaves and we -was held longer den some in de north, but one day our boss comes from -town and he say to his wife, he say, 'Dem soldiers say iffen we don't -git dem niggers 'way from here dey goin' come out here and sweeps us out -of de cradle.' - -"He sho' got busy den. He comes out and he say, 'You all git, I mean git -from here'. So we jes' scatters 'round, here and yonder, not knowin' -'zactly what to do. Some of us works on one farm and some on another for -a little co'n or some clothes or food. Finally I works 'round 'til I -comes to San Angelo, Texas and I cooks barbecue for a long time 'til I -jes' finally breaks down. Now, I don' try to do nothin' but jes' hobble -'round a little on my ole crutches." - - - - -Wayman Williams - - -*Wayman Williams does not know his age, but he was a small boy when the -slaves were freed. He was born in Mississippi, but the first place he -remembers is the Sanama plantation on the Trinity river, in Texas. He -now lives on North Falls St., in Mart, Texas.* - -"I was one of four chillen of Calvin and Julia Williams, of de state of -Mississippi, when they was first married, 'fore they come to Texas. But -de earlies' 'lection I has, was livin' on a plantation belongin' to a -Mr, Sanama. It was on de Trinity river, right down in de bottoms. My -folks stayed on dere after freedom and I lived with dem till I was -nearly growed. Dere massa give dem supplies and let dem work a piece of -land and they give him half de crop. - -"I 'member times us go huntin' and kill most anything we want, wild -turkeys and wild hawgs and deer. My father used to go out and kill deer -and not git out of sight of de house. Livin' was easier den now, for we -had all dem things without havin' to buy dem. I 'member de bear hunts. -We had great big, brindle dogs for de bears and dey surroun' him and -stand him at bay till de men came and kill him. - -"A man by name of Burton lived near us, and one day he sent one he boys -to town on a little race hoss. On de way home dat boy crossin' de river -bottom and a panther git after him, and he race he hoss and outrun dat -panther. He Jump off de hoss and run in de house and lock de door. De -panther try to git in and de men in de field hear he cries and shoots -him. In dose days de men took guns to de fields. - -"They cotched wolves and bears in traps but de panther was de most -dang'rous animal us have to fight. Us never know when he goin' to -strike. One our neighbors go to town after a turkey and on he way home a -panther was sittin' in a tree by de road, and he make a lunge at de man -and grab de turkey and tear de man's arm. Once my grandpa ridin' 'long -one night, crossin' de river, and a panther git after him. He had a fast -hoss and outran dat panther, and got to de house, and two our bear dogs -kep' it off till he shot it. I knows dese things am true, for they -happen jes' like I tell it. - -"Our house was close to de boat landin' on de river and my father helped -unload supplies from de boats, when he not workin' in de fields. Jedge -Beavers own de storehouse what kep' de supplies, and he ship he cotton -by boat to de Gulf, mostly to Galveston. - -"De 'Federate sojers pass our house and go to Jedge for him to give dem -something to eat and he allus did. Sometimes dey was men on hosses and -he give dem feed for de hosses. Once a crowd young fellows comin' home -from de war on hosses and dey got supplies, and de Jedge give dem a -little toddy for to make dem feel good. Dey feels so good dey gits some -ribbon from de store and tie it to de hosses heads and rides off, with -dat ribbon jes' a-streamin' from de hosses mane. - -"De Jedge enjoy all day. He felt like dey been fightin' for him and dey -welcome to what he have. It was de common thing for de sojers to stop at -the house and ask for food or to sleep. Sometimes niggers come, what run -away to de North 'fore freedom. Dey done got tired of dat cold weather -up dere and when freedom come, dey ready to come back home. - -"When de slaves sot free, dey have big times, and feel like dey not work -at all. But when old massa give dem a place to farm and tell dem iffen -dey don't work dey won't eat, dey stays with him and works de crops on -halves, mostly. De nigger do de work and massa feed him and give him -team and tools, den massa git half de crop. - -"De slaves what went up North and come back, tell how dey call -'Contrabands' up dere. Dey didn't know what it mean, but dey come back -anyway. - -"Some white school teachers from up North come to teach de chillen, but -dey didn't talk like folks here and didn't understan' our talk. Dey -didn't know what us mean when us say 'titty' for sister, and 'budder' -for brother, and 'nanny' for mammy. Jes' for fun us call ourselves big -names to de teacher, some be named General Lee and some Stonewall -Jackson. We be one name one day and 'nother name next day. Until she git -to know us she couldn't tell de diff'rence, 'cause us all look alike to -her. Us have good times tellin' her 'bout black magic and de conjure. Us -tell her night birds full of magic and dere feathers roast in ashes work -spells what kill evil conjure. If a rabbit run 'cross de path, turn your -hat round and wear it hind part befo' to keep bad luck away. A buzzard's -claw tie round de baby's neck make teethin' easy. De teacher from de -North don't know what to think of all dat. But our old missy, who live -here all de time, know all 'bout it. She lets us believe our magic and -conjure, 'cause she partly believe it, too. - -"I lives in dat place till I's a big boy and den works for Mr. John -Mergersen and a Mr. Porter. Dey come from Mississippi right after -freedom and was jes' like homefolks. So I works for dem till I gits -married and starts out for myself. - -"I 'member some songs my mammy and old missy larnt me. One go like dis: - - "'De top bolls ain' open, - De bottom bolls am rotten. - I can't git my number here, - I has to quit and go 'way. - - "'When de sun go down and de moon go up, - Iffen I can't git my number, I can't git my pay.' - -"When I was little, my father split de rails out of trees to make -fences, and I have an aunt what was de big woman, and she holp. She have -a song what go like dis, and when she sing, she come down on a rail, -'biff'. - - "'Times are gittin' hard,' (biff) - Money's gittin scarce,' (biff) - Times don't git no better here,' (biff) - I bound to leave dis place.' - -"But when de big meetin' goin' on, dis one de songs dey likes to sing: - - "'As I went down in de valley to pray, - I met de debbil on my way, - What you reckon he say to me? - You're too young to die, - And too young to pray, - I made him a lie, and kep' on my way.' - -"We raised corn and cotton and potatoes and lots of vegetables and -fruit. We didn't have no wheat, so we couldn't have flour and it too -high to buy. All dem what could buy it, was de landowner. - -"When de corn gathered, us pile it in piles and have corn shuckin' at -night, cook our supper and all eat together and listen to de stories -tell by de old folks. When dey git de piles of corn ready for shuckin', -dey lay a rail in de middle and 'vide de piles, and de side what git -through first git supper first. De song go like dis: - - "'Hits a mighty dry year, when de crab grass fail, - Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail? - Hit am mighty dark night when de nigger turn pale, - De big foot nigger what laid dat rail! - Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail? - Rinktum, ranktum, laid dat rail. - Show me de nigger what laid dat rail, - Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail? - - "'When de niggers fuss, de white folks fail, - Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail? - We're gittin' dere now, don't tell no tale, - Show me de nigger what laid dat rail. - I'll stick he head in a big tin pail. - Oh, turn me loose, let me tech dat rail, - Oh, row, row, row, who laid dat rail? - -"First us have white preachers and den, after freedom, de niggers starts -to git up in meetin' and talk to sinners, and dey call dem 'Exhorters.' -De white folks larnt de exhorters to read de Bible and some songs, and -de niggers all larn de songs, too. De exhorter git up and read de -scripture and it 'bout King Neb'kudneezer, when he have a golden image -with silver horns, and all de kings and rulers come and bow down 'fore -dat image, 'cepting three. Dem was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Dey -would not bow down, so de old king throw dem in de furnace and dey not -burn up, and dey say, 'De Gawd us worship am able to deliver us from de -fiery furnace.' - - -[Illustration: _Wayman Williams and Henry Freeman_] - - -"Den de exhorter say: 'Now, you no count niggers, what you mean stealin' -de white folks chickens and watermillions? Dey ain't safe no longer dan -de white man back am turned. Do you think Gawd would save you? No, sir! -You be turned into de pillar of salt iffen you don't stop you -unrighteous ways, and den where you be? You won't see no dancin' or hear -no chickens hollerin'. Come on into de pearly gates and live right. -Leave your stealin' and cussin' and dancin' to de debbil, and come to de -mourners' bench. - - "'Let de sun of salvation shine square on you face, - Fight de battles of de Lawd, fight soon and fight late, - And you'll allus find de latch to de golden gate. - No use for to wait till tomorrow, - De sun mustn't sot on you sorrow, - Sin's sharp as a bamboo briar, - Ask de Lawd for to fotch you up higher.' - -"Dem songs was de gateway to enter, de pearly gateway. All de niggers -git on de mourners' bench and git saved." - - - - -Willie Williams - - -*Willie Williams, 78, was born a slave to Mr. William Maddox, who owned -about 90 slaves, including Willie's parents, five brothers and a sister. -The plantation was in Vermillion Parish, La., near Sparta. In 1867 Mr. -Maddox took Willie, who was still working for him, to Texas. Willie now -lives in Fort Worth.* - -"Dis nigger am 78 years old, and I's born in slavery, down in old -Louisiana. Marster William owned me, and he am de father of Marster Ed -Maddox what now runs de Maddox Milk and Ice Company here in Fort Worth. -I knowed him when him and dis nigger am tiny chiles. I goes and visits -with him often and we talks 'bout old times and sich. We laughs 'bout -some things and de tears come in de eyes 'bout some things. Him allus -give dis nigger de quarter or de half dollar for old times sake. - -"Marster William owns sich a big plantation dat it was miles and miles -'round and had 'bout 90 grown nigger slaves. I 'members it well and sho' -am glad for to tell yous 'bout it and how dey does. De marster have a -two-story house for his family and de place look like a town with all de -buildings. Dere was de nigger quarters with 30 cabins and de nursery for -de young niggers, de sheds and de smokehouse for de meat. Den dey have -de gin and de mill for to grin' de grist, de spinning house and de shoe -shop. - -"Marster have a nigger what make de shoes out of hides tanned dere off -de cattle what am killed for meat. Him makes good shoes, they las' a -long time, but they sure is tough on de feets. - -"Marster William raises de corn and rice and wheat and barley and -vegetables and honey, and lots of cotton. Dey works animals, de mules -and de oxen, but I seed de niggers hitched to de plow sometimes. But de -marster allus took good care of his niggers and him feeds plenty good -victuals. Every Sunday dey measures out de rations, 'cept de vegetables. -But if what dey give am not 'nough, we'uns calls for more. De marster -wants for we'uns to have plenty. - -"All us am given de pass for to go to de church or to de party and -dere's a place near de quarters for de dance and sich. Some fool niggers -sneaks off without de pass sometimes and gits catched by de patter -rollers and gits couple passes from de whup. - -"One time de niggers puts one on dem patter rollers. Dere am de dance -and some niggers has no pass and de patter rollers am a-comin'. De -niggers 'cide to best 'em and one gits de pan of hot ashes and when dem -patter rollers comes to de door de ashes am thrown in de face. De -niggers all rush out and knocks de rollers down, and de niggers am gone. -Dats once de niggers 'prise de rollers. - -"On dat plantation dere am sort of hospital fix for to care for de sick. -Dey uses herbs and sich and sometimes calls de doctor. De small chillens -is kep' dere and de marster sho' am 'ticular 'bout dem. Lots of times he -look dem over and say, 'Dat one be worth a t'ousand dollars,' or 'Dat -one be a whopper.' You see, 'twas jus' like raisin' young mules. - - -[Illustration: _Willie Williams_] - - -"On dat plantation, dere am no weddin' 'lowed for to git married. Dey -jus' gits married, but some not 'lowed to git married, 'cause de marster -anxious to raise good, big niggers, de kind what am able to do lots of -work and sell for a heap of money. Him have 'bout ten wenches him not -'low to git married and dey am big, strong women and de doctor 'xamine -dem for de health. Den de marster picks out de big nigger and de doctor -'xamine him, too. Dat nigger do no work but watch dem womens and he am -de husban' for dem all. De marster sho' was a-raisin' some fine niggers -dat way. - -"As for de whippin', dey gives dat punishment. Dey straps de nigger over -de barrel but de marster don't 'low for to draw de blood. - -"Durin' de War, dere am de shortage of food and one time we is 'bliged -eat all de chickens, and 'twarnt hard to do. We hunts de wild hawg and -wild turkey and de deer and sich. - -"When freedom come, dey tell all us niggers we's free and we can stay or -leave and work for wages if we stay. Three year after freedom de marster -sells de plantation and comes to Fort Worth and I and five other niggers -still with him. I works for him 'til he dies, 'bout 50 year ago." - - - - -Lulu Wilson - - -*Lulu Wilson, blind, bedridden Negro, does not know her age, but -believes that she is ninety-seven. She was born near the Mammoth Cave, -in Kentucky. Lulu owns a little home at 1108 Good Street, Dallas, -Texas.* - -"Course I's born in slavery, ageable as I am. I'm a old time, slavery -woman and the way I been through the hackles, I got plenty to say 'bout -slavery. Lulu Wilson says she knows they ain't no good in it and they -better not bring it back. - -"My paw warn't no slave. He was a free man, 'cause his mammy was a full -blood Creek Indian. But my maw was born in slavery, down on Wash Hodges' -paw's place, and he give her to Wash when he married. That was the only -woman slave what he had and one man slave, a young buck. My maw say she -took with my paw and I's born, but a long time passed and didn't no more -young'uns come, so they say my paw am too old and wore out for breedin' -and wants her to take with this here young buck. So the Hodges sot the -nigger hounds on my paw and run him away from the place and maw allus -say he went to the free state. So she took with my step-paw and they -must of pleased the white folks what wanted niggers to breed like -livestock, 'cause she birthed nineteen chillen. - -"When I's li'l I used to play in that big cave they calls Mammoth and -I's so used to that cave it didn't seem like nothin' to me. But I was -real li'l then, for soon as they could they put me to spinnin' cloth. I -'members plain, when I was li'l there was talk of war in them parts, and -they put me to spinnin' and I heared 'em say it was for sojers. They -marched round in a li'l, small drove and practices shootin'. - -"Now, when I was li'l they was the hardes' times. They'd nearly beat us -to death. They taken me from my mammy, out the li'l house built onto -they house and I had to sleep in a bed by Missus Hodges. I cried for my -maw but I had to work and wash and iron and clean and milk cows when I -was most too li'l to do it. - -"The Hodges had three chilluns and the olderes' one they was mean to, -'cause she so thickheaded. She couldn't larn nothin' out a book but was -kinder and more friendly like than the rest of the lot. Wash Hodges was -jes' mean, pore trash and he was a bad actor and a bad manager. He never -could make any money and he starved it out'n the niggers. For years all -I could git was one li'l slice of sowbelly and a puny, li'l piece of -bread and a 'tater. I never had 'nough to stave the hongriness out'n my -belly. - -"My maw was cookin' in the house and she was a clink, that am the bes' -of its kind. She could cuss and she warn't 'fraid. Wash Hodges tried to -whop her with a cowhide and she'd knock him down and bloody him up. Then -he'd go down to some his neighbor kin and try to git them to come help -him whop her. But they'd say, 'I don't want to go up there and let Chloe -Ann beat me up." I heared Wash tell his wife they said that. - -"When maw was in a tantrum, my step-paw wouldn't partialise with her. -But she was a 'ligious woman and 'lieved time was comin' when niggers -wouldn't be slaves. She told me to pray for it. She seed a old man what -the nigger dogs chased and et the legs near off him. She said she was -chased by them bloody hounds and she jus' picked up a club and laid they -skull open. She say they hired her out and sold her twice but allus -brung her back to Wash Hodges. - -"Now, Missus Hodges studied 'bout meanness more'n Wash done. She was -mean to anybody she could lay her hands to, but special mean to me. She -beat me and used to tie my hands and make me lay flat on the floor and -she put snuff in my eyes. I ain't lyin' 'fore Gawd when I say I knows -that's why I went blind. I did see white folks sometimes what spoke -right friendly and kindly to me. - -"I gits to thinkin' now how Wash Hodges sold off maw's chillun. He'd -sell 'em and have the folks come for 'em when my maw was in the fields. -When she'd come back, she'd raise a ruckus. Then many the time I seed -her plop right down to a settin' and cry 'bout it. But she 'lowed they -warn't nothin' could be done, 'cause it's the slavery law. She said, 'O, -Lawd, let me see the end of it 'fore I die, and I'll quit my cussin' and -fightin' and rarin.' My maw say she's part Indian and that 'countable -for her ways. - -"One day they truckled us all down in a covered wagon and started out -with the fam'ly and my maw and step-paw and five of us chillun. I know -I's past twelve year old. We come a long way and passed through a free -State. Some places we druv for miles in the woods 'stead of the big -road, and when we come to folks they hid us down in the bed of the -wagon. We passed through a li'l place and my maw say to look, and I seed -a man gwine up some steps, totin' a bucket of water. She say, 'Lulu, -that man's your paw.' I ain't never think she's as consid'ble of my -step-paw as of my paw, and she give me to think as much. My step-paw -never did like me, but he was a fool for his own young'uns, 'cause at -the end of the wars when they sot the niggers free, he tramped over half -the country, gatherin' up them young'uns they done sold 'way. - -"We went to a place called Wadefield, in Texas, and settled for some -short passin' of time. They was a Baptist church next our house and they -let me go twict. I was fancified with the singin' and preachin'. Then we -goes on to Chatfield Point and Wash Hodges built a log house and covered -it with weather boarding and built my maw and paw quarters to live in. -They turned in to raisin' corn and 'taters and hawgs. I had to work like -a dog. I hoed and milked ten cows a day. - -"Missus told me I had ought to marry. She said if I'd marry she'd togger -me up in a white dress and give me a weddin' supper. She made the dress -and Wash Hodges married me out'n the Bible to a nigger 'longin' to a -nephew of his'n. I was 'bout thirteen or fourteen. I know it warn't long -after that when Missus Hodges got a doctor to me. The doctor told me -less'n I had a baby, old as I was and married, I'd start in on spasms. -So it warn't long till I had a baby. - -"In 'twixt that time, Wash Hodges starts layin' out in the woods and -swamps all the time. I heared he was hidin' out from the war and was -sposed to go, 'cause he done been a volunteer in the first war and they -didn't have no luck in Kentucky. - -"One night when we was all asleep, some folks whooped and woke us up. -Two sojers come in and they left more outside. They found Wash Hodges -and said it was midnight and to git 'em something to eat. They et and -some more come in and et. They tied Wash's hands and made me hold a lamp -in the door for them to see by. They had some more men in the wagon, -with they hands tied. They druv away and in a minute I heared the -reports of the guns three or four times. Nex' day I heared they was -sojers and done shot some conscripts in the bottoms back of our place. - -"Wash Hodges was gone away four years and Missus Hodges was meaner'n the -devil all the time. Seems like she jus' hated us worser than ever. She -said blobber-mouth niggers done cause a war. - -"Well, now, things jus' kind of drifts along for a spell and then Wash -Hodges come back and he said, 'Well, now, we done whop the hell out them -blue bellies and that'll larn 'em a lesson to leave us alone.' - - -[Illustration: _Lulu Wilson_] - - -"Then my step-paw seed some Fed'ral sojers. I seed them, too. They -drifted by in droves of fifty and a hundred. My step-paw 'lowed as how -the Feds done told him they ain't no more slavery, and he tried to pint -it out to Wash Hodges. Wash says that's a new ruling, and it am that -growed-up niggers is free, but chillun has to stay with they masters -till they's of age. - -"My maw was in her cabin with a week old baby and one night twelve Klu -Kluxses done come to the place. They come in by ones and she whopped 'em -one at a time. - -"I don't never recall just like, the passin' of time. I know I had my -little boy young'un and he growed up, but right after he was born I left -the Hodges and felt like it's a fine, good riddance. My boy died, but he -left me a grandson. He growed up and went to 'nother war, and they done -somethin' to him and he ain't got but one lung. He ain't peart no more. -He's got four chillun and he makes fifty dollars a month. I'm crazy -'bout that boy and he comes to see me, but he can't holp me none in a -money way. So I'm right grateful to the president for gittin' my li'l -pension. I done study it out in my mind for three years and tell him, -Lulu says if he will see they ain't no more slavery, and if they'll pay -folks liveable wages, they'll be less stealin' and slummerin' and goin's -on. I worked so hard. For more'n fifty years I waited as a nurse on sick -folks. I been through the hackles if any mortal soul has, but it seems -like the president thinks right kindly of me, and I want him to know -Lulu Wilson thinks right kindly of him." - - - - -Wash Wilson - - -*Wash Wilson, 94, was born a slave of Tom Wilson, in Louisiana, near the -Ouachita Road. Wash and his family were purchased by Bill Anderson, who -brought them to Robertson Co., Texas. Wash lives in Eddy, Texas.* - -"I was 'bout eighteen years old when de Civil war come. Us calls it de -Freedom War. I was born in Louisiana, clost to de Ouachita Road, and -Marse Tom Wilson owned mammy and us chillen. But Marse Bill Anderson he -come from Texas to buy us from Marse Tom. Marse Tom, he 'lowed de -gov'ment gwine let dem damn Yankees give de South a whuppin' and dere -wasn't gwine be no slaves nowhere. But Marse Bill say we's a likely -bunch of chillen and mammy am a grand cook, so guess he take de resk. - -"Marse Tom starts to Texas where he had a passel of land. Us was sold on -de block to him, 'cause Marse Tom say he gwine git all he done put in us -out us, iffen he can 'fore de Yanks take dis country. - -"Mammy was named Julia Wilson. Sis Sally was oldest of us chillen, den -brudder Harry and me. Marse Bill he had 27,000 acres of land in -Robertson County what he git for fightin' Indians and sech. He lived in -seven mile of Calvert, Texas, and dat where he brunged us and de -supplies and sech. Us traveled in ox carts and hoss back, and de mos' us -niggers walked. - -"Us was sot free on de road to Texas. Us camp one night and some folks -come talk with Marse Bill. De next mornin' he told us, 'Boys, you's free -as I is.' Us was only 'bout sixteen mile from where us gwine and Marse -Bill say, 'All what want to stay with me can.' Us didn't know nobody and -didn't have nothin' and us liked Marse Bill, so all us stayed with him. -When we got to his place us did round and 'bout, clearin' new ground and -buildin' cabins and houses. Dere was three log houses but us had to -build more. - -"My pappy name was Bill Wilson. All my folks am dead now, but on de -plantation in Louisiana we had a good time. Mammy could cook and spin -and weave. Dey raised cotton and sugar cane and corn. - -"Dere wasn't many Indians when us come, in our part de country. All I -ever saw jes' steal and beg. Dere was plenty wild turkeys and wild hawgs -and deer and prairie chickens. - -"On Marse Bill's place every quarters had its barn and mule, but Marse -and he wife, Miss Deborah, lived in de quality quarters. Round dem was -de blacksmith shop and smokehouse and spinnin' house and Marse Bill have -a li'l house jus' for he office. De cookhouse was a two-room house side -de big house with a covered passage to de dinin' room. De milk house was -de back part de cook house. - -"In de smokehouse was hams and sides of hawg meat and barrels of syrup -and sugar and lard, and bushels of onions, and de 'tater room was allus -full. Dey dug a big place and put poles and pieces of cane and lumber -cross, like a top, and put dirt and leaves and banked de dirt round de -'tater room. Dey'd leave a place to crawl in, but dey kep' it tight and -dem 'taters dey kep' most all winter. - -"Dey was hayricks and chicken roosties and big lye hoppers where us put -all de fireplace ashes. Come de rain and de water run through dat hopper -into de trough under it, and dat make lye water. De women put old meat -skins and bones and fat in de big, iron pot in de yard and put in some -lye water and bile soap. Den dey cut it when it git cold and put it on -de smokehouse shelves to dry. Dat sho' fine soap. - -"Mammy worked in de kitchen mostly and spin by candlelight. Dey used a -bottle lamp. Dat a rag or piece of big string, stuck in de snuff bottle -full of tallow or grease. Later on in de years, dey used coal oil in de -bottles. Sometimes dey wrap a rag round and round and put it in a pan of -grease, and light dat for de lamp. Dey used pine torches, too. - -"De black folks' quarters was log cabins, with stick and dirt chimneys. -Dey had dere own garden round each cabin and some chickens, but dere -wasn't no cows like in Louisiana. Dere was lots of possums in de bottoms -and us go coon and possum huntin'. I likes cornbread and greens, cook -with de hawg jowls or strip bacon. Dat's what I's raised on. Us had lots -of lye hominy dem days. Marse Bill, he gwine feed everybody good on his -place. Den us had ash cake, make of corn meal. Us didn't buy much till -long time after de War. - -"Us had poles stuck in de corner and tied de third pole cross, to make -de bed. Dey called 'Georgia Hosses'. Us filled ticks with corn shucks or -crab grass and moss. Dey wasn't no cotton beds for de niggers, 'cause -dey wasn't no gins for de long time and de cotton pick from de seed by -hand and dat slow work. De white folks had cotton beds and feather beds -and wool beds. - -"Marse Bill allus had de doctor for us iffen de old woman couldn't git -us well. All de seven families Marse Bill done buy in Louisiana stayed -round him and he family till dey all dead, white and cullud. I's de -onlies' one left. - -"Us piled 'bout a hundred or two or maybe three hundred bushels corn -outside de shed. Us have corn shuckin' at night and have de big time. De -fellow what owned de corn, he give a big supper and have all de whiskey -us want. Nobody got drunk, 'cause most everybody carry dey liquor purty -well. After shuckin' us have ring plays. For music dey scratch on de -skillet lids or beat bones or pick de banjo. Dere be thirty to fifty -folks, all cullud, and sometimes dey stay all night, and build de big -fire and dance outdoors or in de barn. - -"Dere wasn't no music instruments. Us take pieces a sheep's rib or cow's -jaw or a piece iron, with a old kettle, or a hollow gourd and some -horsehairs to make de drum. Sometimes dey'd git a piece of tree trunk -and hollow it out and stretch a goat's or sheep's skin over it for de -drum. Dey'd be one to four foot high and a foot up to six foot 'cross. -In gen'ral two niggers play with de fingers or sticks on dis drum. Never -seed so many in Texas, but dey made some. Dey'd take de buffalo horn and -scrape it out to make de flute. Dat sho' be heared a long ways off. Den -dey'd take a mule's jawbone and rattle de stick 'cross its teeth. Dey'd -take a barrel and stretch a ox's hide 'cross one end and a man sot -'stride de barrel and beat on dat hide with he hands, and he feet, and -iffen he git to feelin' de music in he bones, he'd beat on dat barrel -with he head. 'Nother man beat one wooden side with sticks. Us 'longed -to de church, all right, but dancin' ain't sinful iffen de foots ain't -crossed. Us danced at de arbor meetin's but us sho' didn't have us foots -crossed! - -"When de niggers go round singin' 'Steal Away to Jesus,' dat mean dere -gwine be a 'ligious meetin' dat night. Dat de sig'fication of a meetin'. -De masters 'fore and after freedom didn't like dem 'ligious meetin's, so -us natcherly slips off at night, down in de bottoms or somewheres. -Sometimes us sing and pray all night. - -"I voted till I's 'bout forty five year old, den I jes' kinder got out -de habit. - -"I got married in a suit of doeskin jeans, ain't none like dem nowadays. -I married Cornelia Horde and she wore a purty blue gingham de white -folks buyed and made for her. Us had six chillen, Calvin and Early and -Mary and Fred and Frank. - -"Iffen you knows someone workin' a conjure trick 'gainst you, jes' take -some powdered brick and scrub the steps real good. Dat'll kill any -conjure spell, sho'. De bes' watchdog you can get for de hoodoo is a -frizzly chicken. Iffen you got one dem on de place, you can rest in -peace, 'cause it scratches up every trick lay down 'gainst its owner. -Iffen you see dat frizzly chicken scratchin' round de place, it a sho' -sign you been conjured. A frizzly chicken come out he shell backwards, -and day why he de devil's own. - -"De old folks allus told me to make a cross inside my shoe every mornin' -'fore leavin' de house, den ain't no conjurer gwine git he conjure -'gainst you foots. Iffen you wear you under clothes wrong side out, you -can't be conjured. 'nother way am to put saltpetre in de soles you -shoes. Iffen you wears a li'l piece de 'peace plant' in you pocket or -you shoe, dat powerful strong 'gainst conjure. A piece of de Betsy bug's -heart with some silver money am good. But iffen you can't git none dose, -jes' take a piece newspaper and cut it de size of you shoe sole and -sprinkle nine grains red pepper on it. Dere ain't no hoodoo gwine ever -harm you den, 'cause he'd have to stop and count every letter on dat -newspaper and by dat time, you gwine be 'way from dere. - - -[Illustration: _Wash Wilson_] - - -"Iffen you want to find de conjure tricks what done been sot for you, -jes' kill you a fat chicken and sprinkle some its blood in da conjure -doctor's left palm. Den take you forefinger and hit dat blood till it -spatter, and it gwine spatter in da direction where dat trick am hid. -Den when you find de trick, sprinkle a li'l quicksilver over a piece of -paper and put da paper on de fire, and dat trick gwine be laid forever. - -"Old folks done told me how to make a conjurer leave town. Make up a -hick'ry fire and let it burn down to coals. Den you take up two live -coals. One dese gwine be you, and de other gwine be de luck. Take up one -dead coal, and dat you enemy. Den you jes' keep 'wake till de rooster -crow or midnight. Dat am de end of de day. Now you chunk de live coal -what am you to de south, de warm country; den throw de other live coal -to de east; den chunk de dead coal, you enemy, to de north, de cold -country. Nothin' of de conjurer can't git over fire, and 'fore de week -out, dat conjurer be leavin'. - -"A old Indian who used to hang round Marse Bill's place say to git de -best of a conjurer, git some clay from da mouth a crawfish hole, and -some dirt from a red ant's hole. Mix dem and wet dem with whiskey or -camphor. Git some angleworms and boil dem and add de worm water to de -clay and dirt. Iffen you rubs de conjured pusson with dis, he trouble -done go 'way." - - - - -Willis Winn - - -*Willis Winn claims to be 116 years old. He was born in Louisiana, a -slave of Bob Winn, who Willis says taught him from his youth that his -birthday was March 10, 1822. When he was freed Willis and his father -moved to Hope, Arkansas, where they lived sixteen years. Willis then -moved to Texarkana and from there to Marshall, where he has lived -fourteen years. Willis lives alone in a one-room log house in the rear -of the Howard Vestal home on the Powder Mill Road, north of Marshall, -and is supported by an $11.00 per month old age pension.* - -"The onliest statement I can make 'bout my age is my old master, Bob -Winn, allus told me if anyone ask me how old I is to say I's borned on -March the tenth, in 1822. I's knowed my birthday since I's a shirt-tail -boy, but can't figure in my head. - -"My pappy was Daniel Winn and he come from Alabama, and I 'member him -allus sayin' he'd like to go back there and get some chestnuts. Mammy -was named Patsy and they was nine of us chillen. The five boys was me -and Willie and Hosea and two Georges, and the gals was Car'lina and Dora -and Anna and Ada, and all us lived to be growed and have chillen. - -"Massa Bob's house faced the quarters where he could hear us holler when -he blowed the big horn for us to git up. All the houses was made of logs -and we slept on shuck and grass mattresses what was allus full of -chinches. I still sleep on a grass mattress, 'cause I can't rest on -cotton and feather beds. - -"We et yellow bread and greens and black-eyed peas and potlicker and -sopped 'lasses. Us and the white folks all cooked in fireplaces. A big -iron pot hung out in the yard for to bile greens and hog jowl and sich -like. We didn't know nothing 'bout bakin' powder and made our soda from -burnt cobs. That's jes' as good soda as this Arm and Hammer you get in -the store. We et flour bread Sundays, but you daren't git cotch with -flour dough 'cept on that day. Mammy stole lots of it, though. She -rolled it up and put it round her head and covered it with her head-rag. -Wild game was all over the country, buffalo and bears and panthers and -deer and possum and coon. The squirrels 'most run over you in the woods. -We et at a long, wooden trough and it was allus clean and full of plenty -grub. We used buffalo and fish bones for spoons, and some et with they -hands. The grub I liked best was whatever I could git. - -Us slaves didn't wear nothing but white lowell cloth. They give us pants -for Sunday what had a black stripe down the leg. The chillen wore wool -clothes in winter, but the big folks wore the same outfit the year -round. They didn't care if you froze. - -"I can show you right where I was when the stars fell. Some say they -covered the ground like snow, but nary one ever hit the ground. They -fell in 'bout twelve feet of the ground. The chillen jumped up and tried -to cotch them. I don't 'member how long they fell, but they was shootin' -through the air like sky-rockets fer quite a spell. - -"Missy Callie had one gal and two boys and Massa Bob had three -overseers. He didn't have nigger drivers, but had his pets. We called -them pimps, 'cause they was allus tattlin' when we done anything. His -place was jes' as far as you could let your eyes see, 'bout 1,800 or -1,900 acres, and he owned more'n 500 niggers. - -"I still got the bugle he woke us with at four in the mornin'. When the -bugle blowed you'd better go to hollerin', so the overseer could hear -you. If he had to call you, it was too bad. The first thing in the -mornin' we'd go to the lot and feed, then to the woodpile till -breakfast. They put our grub in the trough and give us so long to eat. -Massa hollered if we was slow eatin'. 'Swallow that grub now and chaw it -tonight. Better be in that field by daybreak.' We worked from see to -can't. - -"I's seed many a nigger whipped on a 'buck and gag' bench. They buckled -'em down hard and fast on a long bench, gagged they mouth with cotton -and when massa got through layin' on that cowhide, the blood was runnin' -off on the ground. Next mornin' after he whip you, he'd come to the -quarters when you git up and say, 'Boy, how is you feelin'? No matter -how sore you is, you'd better jump and kick you heels and show how -lively you is.' Massa hated me to he dying day, 'cause I told missy -'bout him whippin' a gal scandously in the field, 'cause she want to go -to the house to her sick baby. Missy Callie didn't whip us, but she'd -twist our nose and ears nearly off. Them fingers felt like a pair of -pinchers. She stropped on her guns and rode a big bay horse to the -field. - -"Massa had a gin and I hauled cotton to Port Caddo, on Caddo Lake. I -druv eight mules and hauled eight bales of cotton. Massa followed me -with two mules and two bales of cotton. I usually had a good start of -him. The patterrollers has cotched me and unhitched my mules and druv -'em off, leavin' me in the middle of the road. They'd start back home, -but when they overtook massa they stopped, 'cause he druv the lead -mules. He fetched 'em back and say, 'Willis, what happen?' He sho' -cussed them patterrollers and said he'll git even yet. - -"They was sellin' slaves all the time, puttin' 'em on the block and -sellin' 'em, 'cordin' to how much work they could do in a day and how -strong they was. I's seed lots of 'em in chains like cows and mules. If -a owner have more'n he needed, he hit the road with 'em and sold 'em off -to 'joinin' farms. None of 'em ever run off. They couldn't git away. I's -seed too many try it. If the patterrollers didn't cotch you, some white -folks would put you up and call your massa. They had a 'greement to be -on the watch fer runaway niggers. When the massa git you back home and -git through with you, you'd sho' stay home. - -"In slavery time the niggers wasn't 'lowed to look at a book. I larned -to read and write after surrender in the jail at Hot Springs, in -Arkansas. - -"They give us cake at Christmas and eggnog and 'silly-bug'. Eggnog is -made from whites of eggs and 'silly-bug' from yallers. You have to churn -the whiskey and yallers to make 'silly-bug'. - -"Corn shuckin's was the things them days. I liked to see 'em come. They -cooked up guineas and ducks and chickens and sometimes roast a pig. -Massa kept twenty, thirty barrels whiskey round over the place all the -time, with tin cups hangin' on the barrels. You could drink when you -want to, but sho' better not git drunk. Massa have to watch he corners -when cornshuckin' am over, or us niggers grab him and walk him round in -the air on their hands. - -"When some of the white folks died every nigger on the place had to go -to the grave and walk round and drap in some dirt on him. They buried -the niggers anyway. Dig a ditch and cover 'em up. I can show you right -now down in Louisiana where I was raised, forty acres with nothin' but -niggers buried on 'em. - -"I 'member lots 'bout the war but can't tell you all, 'cause every war -have its secrets. That war had four salutes, and you'd better give the -right one when you meet the captain. I's heared the niggers sing, 'Gonna -hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree.' My pappy fought in the last -battle, at Mansfield, and so did Massa Bob. - -"When the 'Federates come in sight of Mansfield they was carryin' a red -flag, and kept it raised till surrender. When the Yanks come in sight -they raised a white flag and wanted the 'Federates to surrender, but -they wouldn't answer. It wasn't long till the whole world round there -smelt like powder. Guns nowadays jus' goes 'pop-pop', but them guns -sounded like thunder. - -"After surrender, massa freed the men and missy freed the women, but he -didn't let us loose when he ought. They wasn't no places 'vided with -niggers as I heared 'bout. Niggers in Louisiana say Queen Elizabeth sent -a boatload of gold to America to give the free men, but we never seed -any of it. Massa give us each a barrel meal, a barrel flour, a side of -meat and ten gallons 'lasses and tell us we can work for who we pleases. -Daddy bought two cows and a horse and eight hawgs and a goat from massa -on credit and we moved and made three crops. - -"The Yanks stayed round Louisiana a long time after surrender. They come -to white folks houses what hadn't freed they slaves and busted they meal -and flour barrels and burn they meat and say, 'If we have to face you -'gain, we'll sweep you from the cradle up.' - -"I's been cotched by them Ku Kluxers. They didn't hurt me, but have lots -of fun makin' me cut capers. They pulls my clothes off once and make me -run 'bout four hunerd yards and stand on my head in the middle the road. - -"They is plenty niggers in Louisiana that is still slaves. A spell back -I made a trip to where I was raised, to see my old missy 'fore she died, -and there was niggers in twelve or fourteen miles of that place that -they didn't know they is free. They is plenty niggers round here what is -same as slaves, and has worked for white folks twenty and twenty-five -years and ain't drawed a five cent piece, jus' old clothes and somethin' -to eat. That's the way we was in slavery. - -"Bout four years after surrender pappy say he heared folks say gold was -covering the ground at Hope, Arkansas, so we pulled up and moved there. -We found lots of money where they'd been a big camp, but no gold. We -lived there sixteen years, then I came to Texarkana and worked twelve -years for G.W. George Fawcett's sawmill. I never married till I was old, -in Little Washington, Arkansas, and lived with my wife thirty-six years -'fore she died. We raised eighteen chillen to be growed and nary one of -'em was ever arrested. - - -[Illustration: _Willis Winn_] - - -"I was allus wild and played for dances, but my wife was 'ligious and -after I married I quieted down. When I jined the church, I burned my -fiddle up. I allus made a livin' from public road work since I left -Texarkana, till I got no count for work. The only time I voted was in -Hope, and I voted the 'publican ticket and all my folks got mad. - -"If it wasn't for the good white folks, I'd starved to death. 'Fore I -come here to the Vestals, I was livin' in a shack on the T. & P. tracks -and I couldn't pay no rent. I was sick and the woman made me git out. -Master Vestal found me down by the tracks, eatin' red clay. I'd lived -for three days on six tomatoes. I et two a day. Master Vestal went home -and his wife cooked a big pot of stew, with meat and potatoes, and -fetched it to me. Then they built a house down behind their back yard -and I's lived with 'em ever since. - -"I allus say the cullud race started off wrong when they was freed and -is still wrong today. They had a shot to be well off, but they can't -keep money. You give one a bank of money and he'll be busted tomorrow. I -tells young niggers every day they ought to come down where they'll have -some sense. I serves the Lord at home and don't meddle with 'em." - - - - -Rube Witt - - -*Rube Witt, 87, was a slave of Jess Witt of Harrison County, Texas. He -enlisted in the Confederate Army at Alexandria, La., and was sent to -Mansfield, but his regiment arrived after the victory of the North. He -worked for his master for a year after the war, then moved to Marshall -and worked for Edmund Key, Sr., pioneer banker and civic leader. Rube -cooked for eighteen years at the old Capitol Hotel in Marshall, and took -up preaching as a side line. He and his wife live at 707 E. Crockett -St., in Marshall. They receive a $15.00 pension.* - -"I was born on the Jess Witt place, right here in Harrison County, on -the tenth day of August, in 1850, and allus lived in and round Marshall. -My father and mother, Daniel and Jane, was bred and born in Texas, and -belonged to the Witts. I had five brothers, named Charlie and Joe and -George and Bill and Jim, and six sisters, named Mary and Susan and Betsy -and Anna and Effie and Lucinda. They all lived to be growed but I'm the -onliest chile still livin'. - -"Master Witt had a big place, I don't recall how many acres. He didn't -have so many slaves. Slavery was a tight fight. We lived in li'l cabins -and slept on rough plank beds and et bacon and peas and pa'ched corn. We -didn't hardly know what flour bread was. Master give us one outfit of -clothes to a time and sometimes shoes. We worked all day in the fields, -come in and fed the stock and did the chores and et what li'l grub it -took to do us and went to bed. You'd better not go nowhere without a -pass, 'cause them patterrollers was rolling round every bush. - -"My missus was named Kate and had two chillen. The Witts had a good set -of niggers and didn't have to whip much. Sometimes he give us a light -brushin' for piddlin' round at work. I seed plenty niggers whipped on -ole man Ruff Perry and Pratt Hughes places, though. They was death on -'em. Lawyer Marshall used to whip his niggers goin' and comin' every day -that come round. - -"I 'members white folks sayin' war was startin' 'bout keepin' slaves and -then I seed 'em mendin' the harness and wagons to go and fight. I was -the houseboy for the Witts durin' the war and 'bout time it was over I -enlisted at Alexandria as a soldier and they sent me to Mansfield. The -Yanks had done won the victory when our reg'ment got there. They turned -us loose to git home the best we could. I come back to the Witts and -master calls up all the slaves and says we was free, but if we stayed -and worked for him we'd have plenty to eat and wear, and if we left, -it'd be root, hawg or die. Most of 'em left but I stayed a year. You'd -ought to seed 'em pullin' off them croaker-sack clothes when master says -we's free. - -"I come to Marshall with my mother and the whole state was under United -States law. The 8th Regiment of Illinois was at Marshall for two years -after the war, and no man, black, white or red or what is you, darsn't -git cotched after dark without a pass. When they'd stop you, if you -couldn't give the U.S. sign, 'Grant's Friend,' they'd shoot the devil -out of you. You didn't pass 'less you knowed the sign. - -"The Confederates had a big gun powder mill on Mill's Creek, two and a -half miles north of Marshall and it stayed operatin' two or three years. -But Gen. Atichon and Capt. Bishop and Lt. Rives and a bunch of Yanks -tried to capture it and the Confederates blowed it up. - -"When I was 'bout sixteen my mother hires me out to a Mr. Acorns, who -was refugeed from Georgia to Marshall. Ole man Acorns was a mile of hell -anywhere you met him and he nearly beat me to death and I run away. His -son and him and 'nother man starts after me and I has to light a shuck. -We sho' had some race down that hill over where the new water tower is -in Sunny South, but they didn't cotch me. The white folks round here -didn't 'lieve us niggers was free then. - - -[Illustration: _Rube Witt_] - - -"Then I goes to work for Mr. Edmond Key, Sr., and stays with him till -I'm growed. I used to help chase rabbits where the court house is now. I -recalls the Buzzard Roost Hotel and some stores was on that square then. - -"I cooks for the old Capitol Hotel eighteen years, then I quit and tries -railroadin', but it didn't take long to decide to go back to the cook -apron. I allus made a livin' from cookin' and preachin', and I've -preached forty-five years. The only times I voted was for high sheriff -once and for President Garfield and President Grant. - -"I marries in 1915 and my wife is still with me. I'm too stove up with -rhumatis' now to work and her and me gits $15.00 a month from the -government." - - - - -Ruben Woods - - -*Ruben Woods, hale and strong despite his 84 years, was born a slave of -the John Woods family in Taladiga County, Alabama. He served as houseboy -in their home until he was 21, then came to Tyler, Texas, with one of -his master's children. He now lives in El Paso, Texas.* - -"I'se de oldest of seven chillen. My father was John Woods, mother Laura -Woods. She was a cook for de marster's family on de plantation. We lived -in a log house, logs was hewed in de woods. De marster's house was -plastered inside. He had 1,000 acres plantation and 96 slaves. He took -good care of 'em. Onct a week dey would come and dey allowanced 'em out -pervisions. Not fine stuff; no, dey didn' gib 'em nothin' like dat ham -and such. Dey would gib you enough flour for biscuit for Sunday mornin' -and dey gib potatoes. I tell you how dey done dat; ev'ry family, he had -a basket and when dey blow de ho'n in de evenin' ev'ry chile dat was big -enough come and he know his basket and take it home. - -"De quarters was all in rows. You had to have a pass frum de massa to go -from one place to anudder or the pateroller would ketch you and whop -you. Overseers whopped 'em, too. - -"You worked frum time you could see 'till dark. You couldn' git outta -dat, no suh, time you coul' see de stuff in de fiel', you was out -workin.' - -"Ole man Woods was a powerful good man. He wouldn' raise cotton for -sale, only jus' enough for de women to make clothes. He raised hogs and -cattle. I 'member Ben Averit; he had a big plantation over on de island. -Took boatloads of slaves and work 'em hard. We'd hear de boats go over, -clop-clop. - -"We'd take two yoke of oxen with co'n and wheat to de mill, stay all -day, den bring it back to give ev'rybody. I go to mill lots of times and -allus drive oxen. In hot weather, dey run off to de creek. What you -talkin' erbout, when it gits hot and dey smell dat water, dey travel! - -"I 'member stagecoach. Had erbout six or eight hosses to 'em. Driver'd -blow bugle for stops jus' like trains. Dey didn' have much trains dem -days. - -"When de war comes, we had soldiers. I se'ed 'em drillin' and marchin'. -I se'ed dem hep-hep-hep! Yes, ma'am, when de Yanks come we was a runnin' -and a squattin' like partridges a hidin'. Dem guns was a firin' and -shootin' dem cannon, spoilin' fiel's and killin' hawgs. Wasn't no fun. -Drums a beatin'. It was excitable, yes, ma'am. We had to run and hide. -We all run up to whut dey call a cave and down in dat cave we had eats. -All come what could git in dere. De soldiers try to roun' 'em up, but -not dem niggers. All run from one place to anudder. - -"I learned to read and write after freedom. Dey not allow you no book -larnin'. Obey your marster and missus, dat's all. - -"I 'member jist as well as dat I'se sittin' here, when freedom come. -Marster had 'em all come near de gate and he say, 'You all is free as I -am now.' He hollered and cried. It tickled me to see him cry. And den he -say, 'But now iffen you want to, all kin stay and finish up de crop. -I'll feed you.' Some, dey go to de neighbors. Dey didn' know whut to do. -Dey hadn' been taught to do for demselves. But dey couldn' whop 'em no -more. I stayed 'till I was 21. - - -[Illustration: _Ruben Woods_] - - -"No, ma'am, I never coul' sing, but I 'member one song. It went dis way: - - '1821--Jesus work is jus' begun; - 1822--Jesus brought de sinner through; - 1823--Jesus sot de prisoner free; - 1824--Jesus preached 'mong de poor; - 1825--Jesus brought de dead to life; - 1826--Jesus had all things fixed; - 1827--Jesus rose and went to Heben; - 1828--Jesus made de plain way straight; - 1829--Jesus turned de blood to wine.' - -"We played hide-a-hoop. And hide-a-switch. We do dis; you'se huntin' -switch and gittin' hot, gittin' col', dey take after you, dey have a -base to go to. Den if dey ketch dem dey whop 'em. - -"We played 'Anthony Over,' wid thread balls. We throw dat ball over de -house. If dey don' ketch it, dey's out. Dat's de way dey had de sport." - - - - -Willis Woodson - - -*Willis Woodson does not know his age, but looks very aged. He was born -in Whiterock, but he does not know its location, except that it was -somewhere east of the Mississippi River. Willis now lives in Tyler, -Texas.* - -"I'm borned at a place called Whiterock, but don't rightly 'member no -other name, but it was a long, long way from here, though. I was the -prop'ty of Marse Richards, but he sold me and my maw and a lot of -darkies to Marse Ike Isom. Maw said Marse Ike done pay $500 for me, -cheap 'cause I's purty little and couldn't do much work. - -"Marse Isom moved to Texas and everybody holped load de wagons, and we -starts real early in a cold mornin'. De old womens and little chillens -rode in de wagons, but de men walked. We traveled real slow, though, and -it wasn't no worse'n plowin' all day. One Marse Isom's sons rid behind -on a big, white hoss, and seed none of the darkies runned off. At night -we fixes a supper and goes to bed and all de niggers is chained together -and slept on straw beds. The white men tooked turns guardin' dem with -guns. - -"We gits to de new farm, long ways from where we lives befo', and starts -clearin' land. When we gits settled, Old Miss picks me to be nuss to her -chillen. Maw didn't work in de field. She say she done been hurt when -she got a whippin' when she ain't growed, and her back ain't good no -more. Old Miss say, 'Eva, you come in de kitchen and make some -chittlin's, and iffen you cooks good, you can work in my kitchen.' Maw, -she make dem chitlin's and dey's damn good, so she gits to cook den. - -"Marse and Old Miss lives in de big house, with boards outside, -'steadin' logs. It have big rooms, lots of dem, and a big fireplace all -'cross de side one room. Me and 'nother boy has to bring in logs to -build de fire, him totin' one end and me totin' one end. I stays in de -house, so I gits good clothes and shoes, too. Some dem niggers didn't -have hardly no clothes, though, - -"De mostest fun I ever got was when Marse Isom 'lows me to be footman. -He gits me a uniform, most like a sojer's, 'ceptin' mine am red with -black stripes down de pants. I 'member it jist like yesterday, de first -time I puts it on. Marse give a cel'bration at he house and de doorman -am sick, so I has to be it. He give me dat suit and say to hurry put it -on. Den he make me come to de front door and let him in over and over, -so as to git de hang of it. He told me to take his hat and cane and put -dem up, and to say, 'Thank you,' and 'Dis way, please,' and not to say -no more to nobody, and I didn't. After dat night I opens de door lots of -times, but mostest I wears dat suit when I takes de white folks to -church, while dey listens to preachin' and I holds de hosses. - - -[Illustration: _Willis Woodson_] - - -"I never did see no niggers whipped, but I done see dat whip hangin' in -de barn. It a big, long thing, lots bigger'n a horsewhip, and I know it -must have been used, 'cause it all wore out at one end. - -"All de fun we has am huntin' and fishin'. We can go any night if we -gits a permit from Marse Isom. Sometimes at night, he lets all de big -niggers git together 'hind de cabins and make a big bonfire. Den we -sings all de songs we knows, till nine o'clock, den Marse rings de bell, -to cut out all de noise. - -"Jus' befo' dat war am over, some soldiers marches through de farm and -kilt all de cows and stock and burns de barn, Marse beg dem not to burn -he house, so dey didn't. Some dem niggers quits when dey freed, without -no supper, but not dis nigger! I stays sev'ral years, den gits a job -snakin' logs in a sawmill. Den I marries and has seven chillen and I -stays with first one, den 'nother. I holps dem all I can. I been -patchin' up some fishin' tackle today." - - - - -James G. Woorling - - -*James G. Woorling, of Fort Worth, Texas, tells the story of Uncle Dave, -one of the slaves that belonged to Mr. Woorling's father, who owned a -large plantation near Point, in Rains County, Texas. The story relates -how Uncle Dave provided for his family after they were freed, and is -valuable as an example of how many ex-slaves managed to secure a -foothold in a world for which slavery had not prepared them.* - -"During pre-war days my father owned a plantation near Point, in Rains -County, as well as a large number of slaves, including one Uncle Dave. -After the Negroes were emancipated, my father placed a large number of -them on tracts of land within the plantation and furnished them with a -mule team, a few sheep, some chickens, and the implements needed to -cultivate the land. The Negroes were privileged to occupy the land for -seven years and to keep whatever they made during that time. After the -expiration of the seven years they were to pay in money or percentage of -crops for the use of the land. This plan was followed by a number of -plantation owners. - -"Uncle Dave was an exceptional Negro. He was a natural mechanic, but -could do carpenter work, blacksmithing, shoemaking and many other things -equally well. He was a good manager, frugal and industrious, and it is -doubtful if he paid out $50.00 in a year's time for food, clothing and -other necessities during the seven years that he lived on the -seventy-five acres on our plantation. - -"He never bought a horsecollar, but made them himself, shaping them to -prevent galling and packing them with corn husks. He made the hames from -oak timber and made the metal accessories. - -"The shoes for Dave's family he made from hides of animals slaughtered -for the meat supply. About the only farm implements he bought were those -that required high grade steel. - -"Aunt Julia, his wife, did her part. She was adept at cooking and -preserving, and knew how to cure meat. Salt and spices were purchased, -but they raised barley and roasted it, to use in the place of tea or -coffee. They raised sugar and ribbon cane and made their own sugar and -molasses. Aunt Julia told father that eggs were traded for any articles -of food that could not be obtained from the farm. - -"Following the Civil War the production of cloth by power driven -machines enabled manufacturers to sell cloth at a price that did not -warrant continuance of the hand method. But that did not interest Dave -and Julia. They had a spinning wheel and a loom made by Uncle Dave -himself, and they made all the cloth needed by the family, dying it with -the bark of blackoak, cherry or other trees. - -"When the seven year period ended, my father thought that Uncle Dave -would stay on the land. He had cleared it, built a house and barn and -other structures, which all belonged to my father under the agreement. -But Uncle Dave was not interested in renting the land. He had saved -enough money to buy a thousand acres between the towns of Point and -Emory. He built a house and barn and moved his family. - -"Uncle Dave came home one day from a trip to town with a load of cotton. -He had a ten gallon keg, which he painted black. He cut a slit in the -side of the keg and made a plug for the hole and told Julia the keg was -to hold his surplus cash. - -"Uncle Dave hid the keg and during the next twenty years refused to tell -his wife, children or anyone else where it was. It is obvious that all -the money he received for his crops, except a small sum, was surplus. -Julia often asked Uncle Dave to tell her where the keg was, and told my -father that Uncle Dave had not been well and she feared the possibility -of his dying without disclosing the secret. Not long after, Uncle Dave -was found dead one morning. Money was needed for funeral expenses, but -the keg could not be found and Julia had to borrow the required amount. - -"The family searched first in the more likely locations, then made a -minute search of the whole place, but the keg was never found. On Uncle -Dave's farm a fortune is cached. The keg must have long ago -disintegrated, but the gold and silver money, the savings of twenty -years, remain in their hiding place." - - - - -Caroline Wright - - -*Caroline Wright, about 90 years old, was born near Baton Rouge, -Louisiana. Dr. Warren Wortham owned her parents and their 14 children. -Caroline was 12 when they were freed. Her father, Robert Vaughn, moved -to Texas, [HW: with master, p.2, para. 4 & 5] where he prospered and -bought more than 300 acres of Tehuacana bottom land in McLennan County. -Caroline and her husband now live at 59 Grant St., Waco, in a little -house they bought after their family was grown.* - -"I was bo'ned in Louisiana on Jones Creek, by Baton Rouge, 'bout 90 -years ago. I disremember the year. My pappy was Bob Vaughn and my mammy -was Rose Ann. Dey was bo'ned by Baton Rouge. I had six sisters, Betsy -Ann, Lydia, Nancy, Paga and Louisan; and three brothers, Horace, Robert -and Tom. We was all owned by Dr. Warren Wortham and his wife, Annie. Mr. -Bob, de doctor's brother, had us in charge, and he hired us out to Hays -White, who owned a sugar plantation on de Mississippi River by Baton -Rouge. Us all stayed at his place two year. Dere was sugar cane, co'n, -peas and tomatoes raised on de farm. We lived in a log cabin made of -pine logs and our beds was made outta pine timber with co'n shucks -tacked on de bed, and our kivers was feather beds. - -"In Clinton, in Louisiana, we was all put on de block and valued. I was -six year old and I was valued at $1,500. But our family wasn' sold to -anyone. I was given to Miss Muriel, Dr. Wortham's daughter. Me and my -sisters was made house slaves and my mammy and pappy and brothers was -made fiel' slaves. - -"Our marster, Dr. Wortham, sho' was a fine doctor. He never whip us. De -young missus learned us our A B C's 'cause dere was no school for de -slaves. Dere wasn' no church on de plantation, but us all went -'casionally to a big log cabin and camp shed. Sometime a white would -preach and sometime a cullud preacher. - -"I only 'member one slave who ran away. He was so worthless, he came -back when he got ready. He wasn' punished, 'cause he wasn' mean, just -lazy. I never saw no jail for slaves and never saw any whipped. We allus -had from Friday noon to Monday mornin' off. - -"On Christmas, the white folks allus give us presents and plenty to eat, -and us allus had a big dance five or six time a year. Dr. Wortham lived -in a great big log house made from cedar logs. - -"One day, I seen a lot of men and I asked de missus what dey was doin'. -She tol' me dey come to fit in de war. De war got so bad dat Mr. Bob -tol' us we was all gwine to Texas. Us all started out on Christmas Day -of de firs' year of Lincoln's war. We went in ox wagons and us had mules -to ride. - -"On de trip to Texas, one evenin' a big storm come up and Mr. Bob, he -asked a man to let us use a big, empty house. Dey put me by de door to -sleep 'cause I was de lightes' sleeper. Some time in de night, I woked -up and dere stood de bigges' haint I ever saw. He was ten feet high and -had on a big beaver coat. I hollers to my pappy, 'Pappy, wake up, dere's -a haint.' Nex' mornin' we got up and dey was nothin' outta place. No, -ma'am, we didn' cotch de haint, a haint jus' can't be cotched. - -"Nex' mornin' we started agin on our journey, and some time in March we -reach Texas. They took us all 'cross de Brazos on a ferryboat, jus' -'bout where de 'spension bridge is now. - -"De doctor took us all on de farm on de other side of where Bosque is -now. On de farm us raised all kinds vegetables and grain and sugar cane -to make sorghum, but no cotton. We all lived in one and two room log -cabins, made out of cedar posts. Us didn' make any money for ourselves, -but us had plenty of hog meat, beef, butter, milk, cornbread and -vegetables to eat, lots mo' dan us have dese days. Us did all de cookin' -in de fireplaces. Us sho' did have plenty of possum, and rabbit, and us -cotched lots of fish outta de Bosque River. - -"De women slaves, eleven of us, had our own gardens and us spun all our -own clothes. In de summer us all wore cotton stripe and in de winter, -linsey dresses. On Sunday us had lawn dresses and us sho' did come out -looking choicesome. - -"Dr. Wortham had Si for an overseer. It was a big farm and had forty or -fifty slaves to work it. Us got up 'bout four in de mornin' and ate -breakfas' 'bout nine o'clock. All de slaves had to work from sun to sun, -and when us was sick, de marster treated us. - -"When I was 'bout 16, I married William Wright. He was bo'n a slave near -Rapid Pass, Kentucky. When he was eight year old, his family's owner -died, and he went to the daughter, Mrs. Richard Mason, on Black River, -in Louisiana, as "heir property." He was raised dere, but when he's -freed he comes to Texas and works for Ganey Mason, seven mile east of -Waco. He's 105 year old now and you cain't ha'dly unnerstan' what he's -talkin' 'bout. We was married on the 23d day of December, in 1869. Will -and me sho' did have a fine weddin'. De women cooked for three days and -we danced and ate. My weddin' dress was elegant. It was white lawn with -blue ribbons. Will and me had 12 chillen and raised 9, and us has 14 -grandchildren. - -"Will and me has been married 'bout 75 year and is still married. It's -disrespectful how de young folks treats marriage nowadays. - -"Ten year after our chillen's growed, we swaps what land we has for dis -little house, but we had to pay some money, too. Will was more'n 90 -years old and I was eighty some years old, but we got this house and we -is happy. We can sit under that big china-berry tree in de fron' yard -and look at de big trees over dere on Waco Creek, and one of our sons -lives with us." - - - - -Sallie Wroe - - -*Sallie Wroe, 81, was born a slave on Mike Burdette's plantation near -Austin. Her parents were field workers. In 1874 Sallie married John Wroe -and they raised eleven children. Sallie owns a small farm on the -outskirts of Austin. One of her daughters lives with her.* - -"Befo' I's married, I's Sallie Burdette. De white folks tell me I's born -eighty-one years ago. I reckon I's dat old. I know I's born on Massa -Mike Burdette's cotton plantation at Burdette Prairie, right close to -Austin, and mammy's name was Het Burdette. She chopped and picked cotton -and been dead long time. John Burdette was my pappy and he was jes' a -reg'lar fieldman, too. Pappy been dead, mercy, so long! - -"Massa Burdette had a overseer and he sho' rough. I think his name must -be Debbil, he so rough. My sister, Mollie, was weaver at de loom, and -iffen she didn't git out 'nough for de day she am tied up in sittin' -form and whipped hard. She had stripes all over de shoulders. - -"Dere was a whole row of log cabins close to de big house and de roofs -was made of clapboards. It didn't rain in none. De only openin' was de -door, no windows. Dere was mud and stick chimnies and a dirt floor. It -wasn't no better dan a corncrib but purty warm in winter, 'cause de -holes chinked with mud. - -"Massa Burdette 'low us nigger chillen come to de big house at night and -his chillen larn us to read. Dey had blue-back spellers, but I didn't -cotch on much and can't read or write now. - -"Pappy a purty good man, 'siderin' he a slave man. One day pappy and -Uncle Paul and Uncle Andy and Uncle Joe was takin' bales of cotton on ox -wagons down to de Rio Grande. Each man was drivin' a ox wagon down to -Brownsville, where dey was to wait to meet Massa Burdette. But pappy and -de others left de wagons 'long de river bank and rolled a bale of cotton -in de river and all four of dem gits on dat bale and rows with sticks -'cross over into Mexico. Dis was durin' de war. Pappy come back to us -after freedom and say he done git 'long fine with Mexico. He larnt to -talk jes' like dem. - - -[Illustration: _Sallie Wroe_] - - -"Me and mammy stays on at Massa Burdette's place de whole time pappy am -gone. It was on June 19 we was made free and Massa Burdette say iffen we -stays on his place and gather de crops, he give each of us a free -eggnog. We ain't never got no eggnog befo' so it sound purty good and we -stays and gathers de crops. But dat eggnog made me sick. - -"My cousin Mitchell come and got us and brung us to Chapel Hill. He done -rent him a farm dere and looks out for us till pappy comes back. He -brung some money back from Mexico and taken us all to Brenham and buyed -us some clothes. Den he moved us up to Austin and done any work he could -git. I stayed home till 1874 and den married John Wroe, and he rented -land and farmed and died in 1927. - -"We raises eleven chillen and dey all good and 'haved. All my -grandchillen calls me 'Big Mama,' but I's so li'l now dey ought to call -me 'Li'l Mama.' I owns dis li'l farm. John saved 'nough money to buy it -befo' he died. I gits a li'l pension and my daughter works and when -she's workin' my grandchil' takes care of me." - - - - -Fannie Yarbrough - - -*Fannie Yarbrough, blind and bedridden, was born a slave of the McKinney -family, near Egypt, Kaufman Co., Texas. She was about six when the Civil -War started. At that time her job was to herd sheep. After "freedom" -she, her mother and sister, stayed with the McKinney's for a time. -Fannie married Green Yarbrough in Hunt Co., Texas and they now live in a -little cabin at 843 Plum St., Abilene, Texas.* - -"Ole Marster had a world of sheeps. Every day we take dem sheeps and -watch 'em. The wolves was mean. We'd git to playin', all us little -niggers, and forgit them sheeps and nex' thing you know an old wolf -would have himse'f a sheep. - -"Sometimes we'd keep playin' so late it was dark 'fore we knowed it and -we'd start runnin' them sheeps home. Ol' Marster would be at de big gate -to let us in. He says, 'Now, chillen, you didn' git back with all the -sheep.' We'd say, 'Ol' wolf got 'em.' But he knowed ol' wolf didn' get -all de ones missin' and he'd say, 'You're storyin'. Then purty soon some -of the little stray ones come home. Then he knowed we'd run the sheep -home and he'd say, 'I 'spose I'll have to whip you,' but he never did. -Those were sweet times! Ol' Marster was so good, and he give us more to -eat than you ever saw. Hog meat every day and sweet 'tatoes so big we'd -have to cut 'em with an ax. - -After we et our supper, we had to spin a broach of thread every night -'fore we went to bed. I larned all 'bout spinnin' and weavin' when I was -little and by time I's 10 I'd make pretty striped cloth. - -"How we played and played! On Sundays we'd strike out for the big woods -and we'd gather our dresses full of hickory nuts, walnuts and berries -and a sour apple called 'maypop.' We'd kill snakes and dance and sing -that ol' song 'bout, 'Hurrah! Mister Bluecoat, Toodle-O.' 'O, Dat Lady's -Beatin' You.' It meant his pardner was beatin' him dancin.' - -"I was jes' lyin' here dreamin' 'bout how we use to go to the woods -every spring and dig the maypop roots, then bring 'em home and wash 'em -good and dry 'em--but, mind you, not in the sun--then all us chillen -would sit 'round and poun' dem roots, tied up in little bags of coarse -cloth, till it was powder. Then we'd take a little flour and jes' enough -water to make it stick, and we'd make pills to take when we got sick. -And work you? Lawd a'mighty! When we took dat stuff we had to keep -tendin' to de dress tail! - -"We went over to Flat Rock to church and de singin' was gran.' All day -long we'd be at preachin' and singin'. Singin' dat good ol' spiritual -song 'bout, 'You shan't be Slaves no More, since Christ have made you -free.' I lay here yes'day and heared all them foolish songs and jubilee -songs that comes over the radio, and den some of them ol' time -spirituals come and it jes' made me feel like I was in ol' times. - -"I went back every year to see my ol' marster, as long as he lived. Now -it won' be long till I sees him agin, some day." - - - - -Litt Young - - -*Litt Young was born in 1850, in Vicksburg, Miss., a slave of Martha -Gibbs, on whose property the old battleground at Vicksburg was located. -Litt was freed in 1865, in Vicksburg, and was refugeed by his owner to -Harrison Co., Texas. He was freed again on June 19, 1866, and found work -as a sawmill hand, a tie cutter and a woodcutter during the construction -of the Texas & Pacific Railroad from Marshall to Texarkana. The -remainder of his life, with the exception of five years on a farm, has -been spent as a section hand. Litt lives alone on the Powder Mill Road, -two and a half miles north of Marshall, and is supported by a $12.00 -monthly pension from the government.* - -"I's born in 1850 in Vicksburg, and belonged to Missy Martha Gibbs. Her -place was on Warner Bayou and the old battlefield was right there in her -field. She had two husbands, one named Hockley and he died of yellow -fever. Then she marries a Dr. Gibbs, what was a Yankee, but she didn't -know it till after the war. - -"Massa Hockley bought my daddy from a nigger trader up north somewheres, -but my mammy allus belonged to the Gibbs family. I had a sister and two -brothers, but the Gibbs sold them to the Simmons and I never seed 'em -any more. - -"Old Missy Gibbs had so many niggers she had to have lots of quarters. -They was good houses, weatherboarded with cypress and had brick -chimneys. We'd pull green grass and bury it awhile, then bile it to make -mattresses. That made it black like in auto seats. Missy was a big, rich -Irishwoman and not scared of no man. She lived in a big, fine house, and -buckled on two guns and come out to the place most every morning. She -out-cussed a man when things didn't go right. A yellow man driv her down -in a two-horse avalanche. She had a white man for overseer what live in -a good house close to the quarters. It was whitewashed and had glass -windows. She built a nice church with glass windows and a brass cupola -for the blacks and a yellow man preached to us. She had him preach how -we was to obey our master and missy if we want to go to Heaven, but when -she wasn't there, he come out with straight preachin' from the Bible. - -"Good gracious, what we had to eat. They give us plenty, turnip greens -and hog-jowl and peas and cornbread and milk by the barrels. Old women -what was too old to work in the field done the cookin' and tended the -babies. They cooked the cornbread in a oven and browned it like cake. -When they pulled it out, all the chillen was standin' round, smackin' -they lips. Every Christmas us got a set white lowell clothes and a pair -brogan shoes and they done us the whole year, or us go naked. - -"When that big bell rung at four o'clock you'd better get up, 'cause the -overseer was standin' there with a whippin' strap if you was late. My -daddy got a sleepin' most every morning for oversleeping. Them mules was -standin' in the field at daylight, waitin' to see how to plow a straight -furrow. If a nigger was a 500 pound cotton picker and didn't weigh up -that much at night, that was not gitting his task and he got a whipping. -The last weighin' was done by lightin' a candle to see the scales. - -"Us have small dances Saturday nights and ring plays and banjo and -fiddle playin' and knockin' bones. There was fiddles make from gourds -and banjoes from sheep hides. I 'member one song, 'Coffee grows on white -oak trees, River flows with brandy-o.' That song was started in -Vicksburg by the Yankee soldiers when they left to go home, 'cause they -so glad war was over. - -"Missy have a big, steam sawmill there on Warner Bayou, where the -steamboats come up for lumber. It was right there where the bayou -empties in the Mississippi. I 'member seein' one man sold there at the -sawmill. He hit his massa in the head with a singletree and kilt him and -they's fixin' to hang him, but a man promised to buy him if he'd promise -to be good. He give $500 for him. - -"Dr. Gibbs was a powerful man in Vicksburg. He was the 'casion of them -Yanks takin' 'vantage of Vicksburg like they done. 'Fore the war he'd -say to missy, 'Darling, you oughtn't whip them poor, black folks so -hard. They is gwine be free like us some day.' Missy say, 'Shut up. -Sometimes I 'lieve you is a Yankee, anyway.' - -"Some folks say Dr. Gibbs was workin' for the North all the time 'fore -the war, and when he doctored for them durin' the war, they say they -knowed it. The 'Federates have a big camp there at Vicksburg and cut a -big ditch out at the edge of town. Some say Gen. Grant was knowin' all -how it was fixed, and that Dr. Gibbs let him know. - -"The Yankees stole the march on the 'Federates and waited till they come -out the ditch and mowed 'em down. The 'Federates didn't have no chance, -'cause they didn't have no cannon, jus' cap and ball rifles. The main -fight started 'bout four in the morning and held on till 'bout ten. Dead -soldiers was layin' thick on the ground by then. After the fight, the -Yanks cut the buttons off the coats of them that was kilt. - -"I seed the Yankee gunboats when they come to Vicksburg. All us niggers -went down to the river to see 'em. They told us to git plumb away, -'cause they didn't know which way they was gwine to shoot. Gen. Grant -come to Vicksburg and he blowed a horn and them cannons began to shoot -and jus' kept shootin'. When the Yankees come to Vicksburg, a big, red -flag was flyin' over the town. Five or six hours after them cannons -started shootin' they pulled it down and histed a big, white one. We saw -it from the quarters. - - -[Illustration: _Litt Young_] - - -"After surrender the Yanks arrested my old missy and brought her out to -the farm and locked her up in the black folks church. She had a guard -day and night. They fed her hard-tack and water for three days 'fore -they turned her a-loose. Then she freed all her niggers. 'Bout that time -Massa Gibbs run out of corn to feed he stock and he took my daddy and a -bunch of niggers and left to buy a boatload of corn. Missy seized a -bunch us niggers and starts to Texas. She had Irishmen guards, with -rifles, to keep us from runnin' 'way. She left with ten six-mule teams -and one ox cook wagon. Them what was able walked all the way from -Vicksburg to Texas. We camped at night and they tied the men to trees. -We couldn't git away with them Irishmen havin' rifles. Black folks -nat'rally scart of guns, anyway. Missy finally locates 'bout three miles -from Marshall and we made her first crop and on June 19th, the next year -after 'mancipation, she sot us free. - -"Dr. Gibbs followed her to Texas. He said the Yanks captured his niggers -and took his load of corn as they was comin' down the Tennessee River, -where it jines the Mississippi. Me and mammy stayed in Texas, and never -did see daddy 'gain. When us freed the last time us come to Marshall and -I works in a grist mill and shingle mill. I cut ties for 15c apiece. I -cut wood for the first engines and they paid me $1.25 a cord. I got -where I cut three cords a day. I helped clear all the land where -Texarkana is now. When the railroads quit using wood, I worked as -section hand for $1.25 a day. I farmed five years and never made a cent -and went back to the railroad. - -"I marries in Marshall so long ago I done forgot. I raises six gals and -has three sets grandchillen. They's all livin' 'cept one. Since my wife -died and I's too ailing to work, I's been kept by the pension. - -"They had provost law in Marshall when us come to Texas. I allus voted -when they let us. These young niggers ain't like what us was. -Penitentiaries was made for the white folks, but the young niggers is -keepin' 'em full." - - - - -Louis Young - - -*Louis Young, 88, was born a slave of Hampton Atkinson, on a small farm -in Phillips County, Arkansas. When Louis was twelve, his master sold him -and his mother to Tom Young, who took them to Robinson Co., Texas. Louis -now lives at 5523 Bonnell St., Fort Worth, Tex.* - -"Mammy done put my age in de Bible and I'm eighty-eight years old now. -I'm born in 1849. But I can git round. Course, I can't work now, but, -shucks, I done my share of work already. I works from time I'm eight -years old till I'm eighty past, and I'd be workin' yit if de rheumatis' -misery didn't git me in de arms and legs. It make me stiff, so I can't -walk good. - -"Yes, suh, I starts to work when eight on dat plantation where I'm born. -Dat in Arkansaw, and Massa Hampton own me and my mammy and eight other -niggers. My pappy am somewhere, but I don't know where or nothin' 'bout -him. - -"Us all work from light to dark and Sunday, too. I don't know what -Sunday am till us come to Texas, and dances and good things, I don't -know nothin' 'bout dem till us come to Texas. Massa Hampton, he am long -on de work and short on de rations, what he measure out for de week. -Seven pounds meat and one peck meal and one quart 'lasses, and no more -for de week. If us run out, us am out, dat's all. - -"One day us gits sold to Massa Tom Young. He feels mammy's muscles and -looks on her for marks of de whip. Massa Young say he give $700, but -Massa Hampton say no, he want $1,000. He say, 'Yous takin' dem to Texas, -where dey sho' to be slaves, 'spite de war.' - -"Finally Massa Young gives $900 for us and off us go to Texas. Dat in -1861, de fall de year, and it am three teams mules and three teams oxen -hitch to wagons full of farm things and rations and sich. Us on de road -more'n three weeks, maybe a month, befo' us git to Robinson County. - -"When us git dere, de work am buildin' de cabins and house and den clear -de land, and by Spring, us ready to put in de crops, de corn and cotton. -Massa Young am good and give us plenty to eat. He has 'bout twenty -slaves and us works reason'ble, and has good time 'pared with befo'. On -Saturday night it am dancin' and music and singin', and us never heared -of sich befo'. - -"One day Massa Young call us to de house and tell us he don't own us no -more, and say us can stay and he pay us some money, if us wants. He ask -mammy to stay and cook and she does, but I'm strongheaded and runs off -to Calvert and goes to work for Massa Brown, and dere I stays till I'm -growed. He paid me $10.00 de month and den $15.00. - -"When I's twenty-five I marries Addie Easter and us have no chillen and -she dies ten years after. Den I drifts 'round, workin' here and yonder -and in 1890 I marries dat woman settin' right dere. Den I rents de farm -and if de crops am good, de prices am bad, and if de prices am good, de -crops am bad. So it go and us lives, and not too good, at dat. I quits -in 1925 and comes to Fort Worth and piddles at odd jobs till my -rheumatis' git so bad five years ago. - -"I done forgit to tell you 'bout de Klux. Dem debbils causes lots of -trouble. Dey done de dirty work at night, come and took folks out and -whip dem. - - -[Illustration: _Louis Young_] - - -"Some cullud folks am whip so hard dey in bed sev'ral weeks and I knowed -some hanged by dey thumbs. Maybe some dem cullud folks gits out dere -places, but mostest dem I knows gits whip for nothin'. It jus' de -orneriness dem Klux. It so bad de cullud folks 'fraid to sleep in dey -house or have parties or nothin' after dark. Dey starts for de woods or -ditches and sleeps dere. It git so dey can't work for not sleepin', from -fear of dem Klux. Den de white folks takes a hand and sojers am brung -and dey puts de stop to dem debbils. - -"'Bout de livin' now, us jus' can't make it. Us lives on what de pension -am and dat $30.00 de month, and it mighty close us has to live to git by -on sich. I thinks of Massa Young, and us live better den dan now. - -"I never votes, 'cause I can't read and dat make troublement for me to -vote. How I gwine make de ticket for dis and dat? For dem what can read, -dey can vote." - - - - -Teshan Young - - -*Teshan Young, 86, was born a slave to Buckner Scott, who owned a -plantation in Harrison County, Texas, and had over one hundred slaves. -Teshan married Moses Young in 1867 and lived near her old home until -1915, when she moved to Fort Worth. She lives in a negro settlement on -the outskirts of Stop Six, a suburb of Fort Worth.* - -"I'se 86 years ole. Bo'n in Harrison County, Texas. Marster Scott owned -me and my parents, one brudder and three sisters. Marster never sold any -of we'uns, so dere was no separation of de family long's we lived on de -Marster's place. He had awful big plantation, 'bout seven miles long. - -"On dat plantation de Marster have everything. Hims have de gin and de -mill for to grind de meal and feed, de big blacksmith shop and dere was -a house whar dey spins de yarn and makes de cloth, de shoes and sich. He -have 'bout 30 quarters for de cullud folks back of him's house, and dere -am a house for de nursery, wid a big yard dat have swings and sich for -de cullud chillens. - -"Each cullud family have de cabin for themself. De cabins have bunks for -sleeping', fireplace for to cook, bench for to set on--but dat's all de -furniture. Marster Scott feeds all us niggers good. We'uns have beans, -peas, milk, vegetables, 'lasses and plenty of meat. De marster have -hawgs on top of hawgs on dat place, for to make de meat. - -"We'uns have all de clothes dat we'uns need for to keep warm. De marster -says, 'De nigger mus' have plenty of food and keep wan for to work good. -How many hours we'uns work? Dat depen's on de time of de year it am. -When its time for de hoein' or de pickin' of de cotton, dey work late. -'Twarn't sich long hours udder times. But de marster makes de cullud -folks work and whips 'em when dey don'. I'se 'member one slave dat gits -whipped so bad hims never gits up, hims died. We'uns chillens would go -roun' whar hims was and look at 'im. De Marster lets we'uns do dat. - -"Yes, suh, dey whupped pow'ful hard sometimes. My mammy gits whupped one -time 'cause she come from de fiel' for to nuss her baby, and once for de -cause she don' keep up her row in de fiel'. My pappy gits shoot in de -shoulder by de overseer, 'cause hims runs from de whuppin.' 'Twas dis -way, de overseer says, 'Come here, I'se gwine whup you for not workin' -like I says.' Dere was a fence dere and my pappy runs for dat and am -crawlin' over it when de overseer shoots. - -"I'se 'bout 10 year ole when de war starts. It makes no diff'rence, dat -I'se 'members, 'cept de Marster jines de army. I'se tend to all de -cullud chillen while dey mammies workin' in de fiel'. De Marster am sho' -particular 'bout dem chillen. He feeds 'em well, mush, milk, bread, -'lasses, vegetables and sich. De food am put in de long bowl, like de -trough. De chillen have wooden spoons and we'uns line dem 'long de bowl. -Den de fun starts. I'se have de long switch and keeps walkin' back and -forth to make dem debils behave. De Marster comes in sometimes and hims -laugh at dem, dey so funny. - -"After I'se gits married, I'se has 13 chillen of my own. I'se never -calls de doctor for my chillen. I'se goes in de woods and gits de plants -and de herbs. For de stomach misery I'se uses de red petals, boils dat -and takes de juice. For de cold I'se takes de Kalemas Root, boils dat -and takes de juice. - - -[Illustration: _Teshan Young_] - - -"When de chores am done on Sunday or Christmas, we'uns can have de -music, dance and singin'. We'uns have some good ole times. De songs am -de ole timers, sich as Swannee River, Ole Black Joe and dere am de -fiddles and banjos dat dey play. We'uns sho' cel'brate on Christmas. De -women all cooks cakes and cookies and sich. De men saves all de bladders -from de hawgs dey kill, blows 'em full of air and lets 'em dry. De -young'uns puts dem on sticks and holds 'em over a fire in de yard. Dat -makes 'em bust and dey goes 'bang' jus' like a gun. Dat was de -fireworks. - -"Marster comes back from de war widout gettin' hurt. At de time freedom -comes, some cullud folks stays on and works for money. 'Twas de fust -money dey ever had, and dey don' know what to do wid it and what its -worth. Some of dem are still on dat lan'! Dey rents or have bought. My -brudder lives dere, jus' a few yards from de ole quarters. My pappy -worked for ole Marster till he died. I'se stays wid him till I marries. - -"I'se married in a cullud church and I'se have a pretty pink dress and -hat. My husban' have hims own farm, part of de ole plantation. We -finally buys it from de Marster. In 1902 my husban' dies and I'se stays -dere till 1915. Den I'se comes to Fort Worth. I'se still missin' some -but I'se gettin' de pension of nine dollars a month. Dat sho' helps -out." - - - - -Transcriber's Note - - -Original spelling has been maintained; e.g. "_stob_--a short straight -piece of wood, such as a stake" (American Heritage Dictionary).--The -Works Progress Administration was renamed during 1939 as the Work -Projects Administration (WPA). - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: A FOLK HISTORY -OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES FROM INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER SLAVES: -VOLUME XVI, TEXAS NARRATIVES, PART 4 *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35381 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. 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