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	~.‚	34




241-Charlie Davenport, Ex-slave, Adams County
YEC
~dith Wyatt Moore
Rewrite, Pauline Loveless
Edited, Clara E. Stokes



CHARLIE DAVENPORT

Natchez, Mississippi


	“I was named Charlie Davenport wit *œcordjnt to de way I 1° iggers I ought; to be nearly a hund ‚ ed years old. Nobody knows my birthday, ‘eause all my white tolks is gone.

	“I was born one night an‘ de very nex‘ mornln‘ my po‘ little maniny died. Her name was Lucindy. My pa Was William Davenport .

	“When I was a little mite dey turnt me over to de granny nurse on de plantation. She was de one dat ‘tended to de little picka. ninnie s . She got a ~m to nurse n~ what had a young baby ‚ so I didn‘ know no dif‘ence. Any woetan what had a baby tbout my age would wet nurse me ‚ s o I growed up in de quart ers an‘ was aa well an ‚ as happy as aiiy other chil‘.

	“When I could tote *taters dey‘d. let me pick ‘em up in de fiel ‚ . Us always hid. a pile away where us could git ‚ em en‘ roast ‘em at night.

	“Old mat~ny nearly always made a heap o‘ dewberry an‘ ~ ‚ sin~non wine.

	“Us little tykes would gather black walnuts in de woods en‘ store ‘em mider de cabins to dry.

*accordj~g
*S~wetpOtatOe8	1
~persimmon