SLAVE NARRATIVES A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews ivith 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 XIV SOU1H CAROLINA NARRATIVES PART 3 Prepared by the Federal Writers1 Project of the Works' Progress Administration for the State of South Carolina INFORMANTS Jackson, Adeline 1 Lyles, Moses 139 Jackson, Cordelia 5 James, Agnes 8 McAlilley, George 142 Janes, Fred 14 Mc-Ororey, Ed (Mack) 146 Jeffries, Isiah 17 Mack, Richard 151 Jefferson, Thomas 20 McLeod, Jake 157 Jenkins, Henry D. 23 McNeil, Bill 164 Jenkins, Iv'aria 27 Marion, Andy 167 Jenkins, Paul 30 Marshall, Milton 172 Jeter, Emma 33 Meadow, Charlie 176 Johnson, Adeline Hall 35 Means, Albert 182 Johnson, Anna 40 Means, Andrew 185 Johnson, Jack 41 Miller, Jason 188 Johnson, James 42 Miller, Lucinda 191 Johnson, Rev. James H. 45 Milling, Cureton 194 Johnson, Jane 48 Mishow, Abbey 197 Johnson, Jimraie 53 Mitchell, Sam 200 Johnson, Mary- 56,58 Moore, Charity 205 Johnson, Miemy 59 Moore, Sena 209 Johnson, Tom 62 Jones, Richard (Look-up) 63 Nelson, Silas 213 Jones, Wesley 72 Nelson, Susan 214 Keenan, Sallie Layton 74 Oliver, William 217 Kelly, Ella 80 Oxner, Albert 221 Kelly, Martha 83 Kelley, Mary Jane 89 Palmer, Ann 223 Patterson, George 226,230 Lance, Gabe 91 Paul, Sallie 231 ,238,243 Lawrence, Ephriam (Mike) 94,97 Pendergrass, Lina Anne 248 Leitner, Ben 100 Perry, Amy 251 Lipscomb, Mary Ann 103 Perry, Rob 256 Littiejohn, Govan 105,106 Perry, Victoria 260 Lockhart, Easter 108 Petty, John 263 Locklier, Gable 112 Poindexter, Sarah 268 Long, Walter 118 Polite, Sam 271 Lowden, Gillam 124 Pratt, William 277 Lowran, Emma 125 Pristell, Henry 280 Loyd, Nellie 126,127 Lumpkin, Amie 130 Lyles, Ballam 134 Lyles, Eison 136 Quattlebaum, Junius 283 project #1655 0Qno7 r W. W* Dixon OOUC ( l winnsboro, S* C» ADELINE JACKSON EX-SLAVE 88 YEARS OLD. " I was born four miles southwest of where I is now, on de other side of woodward Station* I ma a slave of old Marster John Ifohley, de richest man* de largee9 land owner, and wid more ndggera than any other white men in de county* ^e was de seventh son of de seventh son, so he allowed, and you knows dat's a sign of a big family, lota of cows, mules, horses, money* chillun and everything dat9a worth bavin*• ^e had a good wife too$ die de way he got her, he sayo She de daughter of old ifaj* Andy McLean, who got a body full of bullets in de Revolution? he didnH want &atie to marry Marster John* Mar at or John git on a mule and ride up in de night* Miss &atie runned out, Jump up behin9 him, run away and marry Marster John* They had de same birthday, Jflarch 27th, but Marster John two years older than IfiLss Katie* Bat day was looked to, same as Christmas, every year dat come* Big times then*. I tell you! * My mistress had long hair, techin9 de floor and could dance, **o Mar~ star John said, wid a glass of water on top of her head* Marster John got •ligion and went all de way lak de jailer in de Bible* All de house Jined wid him and mos9 of de slaves* It was Baptist and he built a epankin9 good church buiidin9 down de road, all out of hie own money * and de cemetery dere yet* H* called it fellowship*9 Some fine tombstones in dere yet* De finest coat two thousand dollars, datfa his daughter Kaney9s tomb* Marster John and my old mistress buried in dereo " When my younges* mistress, name Marion Rebecca* married her second cousin, uareter Edward P. Mobley, I was give to her and went wid thee to I* V de June place• It was called dat because old Doctor June built it and sold it to Marster Bd* I nussed her first chillum Edward, *oses Hill, John end &atie* *t was a large, twoOstory frame house, with chimney a at each gable end* Jiarster Edward got to be as rich as ©Id marsteri he owned de June place, de Rochelle plantation * de Feay place and de Roebuck place * Yes sir, course us had overseers for so many slaves and plantations* I •member Mr* Ose Brown, Mr* ^eely and Mr* Tiia Gladney#Ih course of time I was too!: off de nussin9 and put to de field* I drapped cotton seed, hoed some»and picked cotton* " I don$t 9member no poor buckra, outside de overseers, 9cept a Mr* Reed dat lived down on ttateroe, pas sinf our house sometime* **e was a (rod* forsaken Icokin9 man dat marster or mistress always give scmethin9* 11 Our neigh tors was de reaye, ds Durhams, de Picketts, de Barbers and Bouiwares* doctor Henry Gibson was our doctor* *11 dese folks kep9 a pack of hounds to run deer and foxes? fas, I has eat many pieces of deer* Good? I wouldnH fool you, taste it and you9!! hunger for it ever after- ward* * Yes sir, at certain times we worked long and hard, and you had to be 9ticular* De only whipping I got was for chopping down a good corn stalk near a stump in a new ground* Marster never sold a slave but swaps were made wid kin people to advantage, slaves9 wives and husbands some- times • I never learned to read or write* I went to White foplar Springs Church, de Baptist church my mistress Handed* De preacher was Mr* °art~ ledge* He allowed Miss Marion was de flower of his fleck* * Slaves lived in quarters, a stretch of small houses off from de White House* ^atrollers often come to search for stray slaves; wouldn't take your word for it*> Th*y would search de house* If they ketch one widout a pass, they whipped him* We got raost our outside news Sunday at church. When farm work was not pressing, we got all of Saturday to clean up •round de houses, and wash and iron our clothes. tf Everything lively at Ghristiaas time, dances wid fiddles, pattin9 and stick rattlin9, but when I jined de church* I quit dancinS * After de war, a raen came along on a red horse; he was dressed in a blue uniform and told us we was free* De Yankees det I 'neahers was not gentlefolks. They stole everything they could take and de meanest thing I ever see was shoats they half killed, cut off de hams, end left de other parts quiverin9 on de ground. * I married Mose Jackson, after freedom, and had a boy, Henry, ^ast I heard, he was at Shelby, North Carolina. We had a daughter, Mary, she married Eph Brown. She had ten chillun, many gran* chillun, theyfs aay great-granf chillun. Vy mistress was a good Christian woman, she give ids a big supper when I was married. Her house, durin9 de war, always had some sick or wounded soldier. I 9nemher her brother, Zed, come home wid a leg gone. Her cousin, Theodore, was dere wid a part of his jaw gone. Vty met re sb could play de piano and sing de old songs. I 'members Max- ster Theodore had trouble wid de words. JJere was a song called 9Jaimita', •bout a fountain. Marater Theodore would try hard, but would say, every- time, 'Jewneeta9, and de folks would laugh but sdetress never would crack a smile but just go on wid another song. I thinks everybody should jine de church and then live right. Have prayers in de family befo9 gitting in de bed. It would have good change, 9specially in de towns I thinks* " Tes, women in family way worked up to near de time, but guess Doctor Gibson knowed his business. Just befo9 de time, they was took out and put in de cerdin9 and spinnin9 roo&so 4* * Yes, I see folks put irons in de fire and some throw a big chunk of fire into de yard to sake de screech owl stop his scary sounds* " Befo9 1 forgits, Ifarster Edward bought a slave in Tennessee just •cause he could play de fiddle* Named him fTennessee Ike1 and he played flong wid Ben Murray, another fiddler? Sometime all of us would be called up into de front yard to play and dance end sing for Miss Marion, de chil- lun and visitors• I was much happier them days than now* Maybe it won*t be so bad when I gits zsy old age pension* * Project 1885-1 fOLKLORE Edited by: y Spartanburg, Dist.4 390233 Elmer Turnage Sept. 9, 1937 STORIES Of EX-SLAVES Cordelia lives in a small shack with some friends. She is quite an actor and a tireless teller of yarns. She still ties her head up in a white rag and has large eyes set far apart a.nd a very flat nose. She is ebony colored. She is a firm believer in her re- ligion and she enjoys shouting on any occasion for joy or for sorrow. "White, folks tells stories 'bout 'ligion. Dey tells stories 'bout it kaise dey's 'fraid of it. I stays independent of what white folks tells me when I shouts. De Spirit moves me every day, dat's how I stays in. White, folks don't feel sech as I does; so dey stays out. Can't serve God all de time; allus something getting in de way. Dey tries me and den I suddenly draps back to serving de Holy God. Never does it make no difference how-I's tossed about, Jesus, He comes and saves me everytime. I's had a hard time, but I's blessed now —"no mo' mountains. "Ever since la child I is liked white folks. Dey's good and dey does not know why dey tells stories 'bout Jesus. I got a heap mo' in slavery dan I does now; was sorry when freedom got here. I 'specks I- is nigh to a hundred, but dat's so old, I jest calls myself any whars twixt seventy-five and a hundred. I recollects slavery, though. Ma was Charlotte Anderson and she lived in Union- County wid de Tuckers, jest across from de Richards Quarter. "Biggest sight I ever see'd was dat balloon when it come downun Pea Ridge. De man in it everybody addressed as Professor (Prof. L©we - 1861). He let uncle Jerry git in it. Mr. MeKissiek helped uncle Jerlpy up in it. It was de first balloon ever eome to Union Oenaty, and 'til dis day I don't like no balloons. Stories Of Ex-Slaves — (Cordelia Jackson) Page 2 i. 6 "Airplanes jest tickles, I cannot tell you how come, but dey jest does. I went out dar (throwing her arm in the direction of the landing field) and see'd 'em light. Dressed-up white folks hop- ped down out'n it from, a little do' dat a man wid leg'uns and a cap on opened. Thing gwine on wid lots of burring and all like dat. When dem folks got out, some mo' clam'ned in. Dat same iSan opened de do'; shot (shut) it, and de plane tuck off. White folks lowed dat it was gwine to 'lanta, Ga. "Right dar I'low !d, when I goes up like dat, I sho ain't gwine up wid no man — I'sergwine ua wid Jesus. "Dat white woman went up and ain't nobody found her yet and it been two months. Lawd, she looking, fex de world's end. God don't mean fer womens to do nothing like dat. ftomens is stumbling blocks at times. _ "I got a boy dat been through school. He stays off, but he treats me so good and talks to me like white folks does; so I calls him, 'white child'. I 'longs to de church club. He tries to larn me to talk proper when I goes out to dem meetings,, but I fer- gits how befo' I reaches de meeting. Us named it de 'Mothers' Club'. ?White Shild' pays fer me to 'long dar, and then 'I is down wid spells, dey nurses me. •White child.' pays fer my 'onsurance' so dat I does not have no worriment to aggravate my soul. "White ehild birthed one Sunday morning jest a year atter de big earthquake. It was.....also Christmas morning, kaise my child drapped a y_ear to de day atter dat earthquake and r feared dat he was not gwinter have no sense. But My God, how he can read.' "One night, Aug. 30th, our house started rocking. We thought a panther was a-rocking it, kaise my old oian had see'd one. -^>i^^«^r^:^:'^^ Stories Of Ex-Slaves - (Cordelia Jackson) ¦•.¦¦-¦ page S|. He run out wid a gun and went to de wood pile; den he hollered to me and said, 'Delia, come out here, de whole world is shaking'. God sho showed his power dat night. Ever since dat I been fixed wid Goa. It won't long-atter dat, us heard a noise in our other room. Old man. went in dar and see'd a panther climbing up fer our rations. He"grab- bed his gun from over de do' and shot dat panther in de corner. "I used to think dat niggers was fools dat called me a nig- ger. I go and tell Miss Nellie Tucker. She low, 'No, you ain't no nigger when other niggers calls yoU one.' Marse William whistle like a partridge; den Miss Nellie play her pianny. I dance and Marse send fer me a sugar and butter biscuit. Marse git his banjo and he pick it fer me to sing f0h, Bob white, is your wheat ripe? Ko.no, not quite. ' Dat when- I lived as a little gal on Ivlarse William's home tract, called Musgrove Tract. VISION: "Was traveling in a gold chariot to Heaven. De overseer had come to -bleed me, but I went up. Something say to"look back and see whar you been. I looked back and said, 'Lawd, tfcke me whar no rent won't bother me.'*'Lawd answer, 'Do not pray dat way. Pray fer Him to do His will*. Den I axed de Lawd whar is^ I. He say, 'Did you look down on dem chimneys?' Den I see'd dat I was in de chariot wid water all under me. It looked like de sky. "To-day, I am so glad to walk about in Jesus' care. I wish people could see my faith. I am a Christian." Source: Cordelia Anderson Jackson (78), 157 Kings St. Spartanburg.S.C Interviewer: Galdwell Sims^ Union, Si <3*_ (9/2/37) ^MM&mF^^^" Code No, Project, 1S&5-U) Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Place, Marion, S.C. Date, January 12, 193S No. Wojecte Reduced from_ Rewritten by" words Page 1. MOM AGNES JAMES Ex-Slave, SO Years 190430 "Yes'am, I used to live in slavery time, but de Lord above know, I sho don! really recollect nothin much to tell know you bout slavery time. I don*/exactly how old I is. Think I bout SO some odd. Think dat bout de a'ge Bubba Gregg say I is. I tell you, I was so chillunfied in slavery time, I ain1 had no time to study bout no age. I say, I was so chillunfied. Yes'urn, dat it. Dat somethin dat I ought to had ax my grandmammy bout how old I is, so den I might could call it up to you right sharp. Oh, I wishes now I had ax my grandmammy dat word fore she die." "Us belong to Mr. Hector Cameron fore freedom come here. Right down dere to Salem Church, dat whe1 I was born, You hear talk of Miss Janie Little over dere to Marion, ain1 you? Dat who used to be my mittie in dem days, Yes,mam, boss had pick me out to tend to Miss Janie. You see, he give all his daughters one of us to have a care for dem.11 "My white folks, dey had a right smart of colored people dey own en far as I can reckon, dey been spend mighty good treatment to dem all de time. I know bout old Miss used to love to feed us, my mercyt White folks would send for all us chillun to go up to de big house en get somethin to eat twixt meals. Yesfum, dey had a colored people quarter dat been settin way back up on de hill. Had to have a quarter Code No. Project, 1S&5-U) Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Place, Marion, 8.C. Date, January 12, 193& No. Words___ Reduced from_ Rewritten by" word 8 Page 2. 9 cause dat whe1 us been stay all de time old Miss won' stuff in somethin down we mouth, I remember, dere used to was de most pretty flowers in de lane gwine through dem woods from us house right up to old Massa's yard en my Lord, honey, I did love to be de first one long dere on a mornin to see could I find a blossom to fetch to old Miss, Look like* old Miss would be so please to see my granny marchin all we chillun up dat path cause when we would go dere on a mornin, she would set right down on de steps en talk wid us. Would set dere in listen to see could all us say dat prayin blessin she had learned us to speak fore she would hand us anything to eat. Den she would give us everyone a spoonful of dis here worm cure. Great JerusalemJ Miss would make dat herself out dese black lookin seed mixed up in molasses. I remember, she would bring a big bowl of dat out dere en would make Pickle tote it round for her while she put it in us mouth. Yes,mam, Miss would give us all a spoonful of dat every mornin en den she would ax us de next mornin if any us had any worms. No,mam, she never didn' give us any other kind of medicine as I can remember. Just give us dat en den feed us some milk en bread. Dat all she give us, but I tell you, I was as proud of dat milk en bread as I is of de rations I get dese dayB cause I never know no different den. No'urn, didn' nobody eat den like dey do now. All de people would make dey own gardens in dem days en would fix soup en fry meat. I used to been bo glad to get Code No. Project, 18S5-U) Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Place, Marion, S.C. Date, January 12, 1936 No. Words___ Reduced from_ Rewritten by" words Page 3. me a •tatoe en a piece of bread. I thought I was eatin cake." "I never didn1 work in no field or nothin like dat no time. When I was a little small girl, I would stay dere home en play bout de yard en nurse my mammy's baby while she was workin in de field. Yes'urn, old Massa would give her task to pick cotton en hoe cotton en pick peas or somethin another like dat bout all de time. Don' know whe» she work all day or no, but I know she would always let up at 12 o'clock en come to de house to get her somethin to ett. Can remember dat good as anything. Oh, she would have to cook herself when she come home bein dere wasn' none of we chillun big enough to cook nothin. I recollects, I used to get chips en pile dem up for her cause she always been tell me, if de baby go to sleep, to get up some chips en put dem on de steps for her to hurry en start fire wid. She would cook us meat en bread like corn hoecake en fry meat de most of de time. Den another time, she would bake a big round loaf like dat en break it in two en give me half en my brother Charlie de other part. Would lay a piece of meat on de top of it. No'um, I reckon bout all de people used to cook in de chimney. I know my mammy used to cook, in de chimney en I don1 think she thought nothin bout no stove in dem days. Cose if she did, I know we chillun didn' get it." "Yes, Lord, I been married bout 16 years fore my husband died. Yes'urn, I had a tolerable good size weddin over dere Code No. Project, 1S85-(1) Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Place, Marion, S.C. Date, January 12, 193S No. Words Reduced from words Rewritten by Page k. 11 to Mr. Elija Gregg's house. Been married in a white dress trimmed wid blue ribbon. You is hear talk of a cream of tartar dress, ain' you? Oh, my Lord of mercy, dere was a crowd of people dere dat night to get dey eye full en deyself full, too, I say. Yes'um, I had four waiters in my ceremony. En had cake en rice en 'tatoe custard en'a yearlin pig wid a red apple stuck in he mouth, so dey tell me. Dat what was for de refreshments. De old man Charles Reynolds, he was de preacher dere dat night en,say, he eat so much pig till you could see pig in he face, so dey tell me. Cose I never had no mind to know nothin bout it. Oh, yes Lord, I got seven chillun dat come here fore my old man die, but dey all done gone en get married en left me by myself. Dat how-come I stays over here wid Miss Bertie cause she ain' have nobody to stay wid her neither en I tries to help her out somehow. Yes'urn, me en Miss Bertie does rest right well together, I say. '• "Oh, great jumpin mercy, de shakel I sho knows all bout dat cause I was stayin right up dere to old man Elija Gregg's place den. I tell in you, it was a time, honey. I was gwine down side de road to prayer meetin dat night wid my baby in my arms en dere come such a roarin en a rockin in de elements till I thought my baby had got out my arms en I was just a hollerin for somebody to come en help me get my babby back. Been so crazy dat I was lookin in all de ditches for my baby. Code No. Project, lSb5-(l) Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Place, Marion, S.C. Date, January 12, 193& No. Words Reduced from. Rewritten by" words Page 5. 12 My husband, he come a runnin to see what ailed me en say, •Agnes, what de matter wid you?' I say, 'My baby lost. Do Lord, whe' my baby gone?' He say, 'Agnes, you must be ailin in de head. Dere de baby on your arm.* Yes'um, I was crazy cause I had my baby in my arms en didn1 know it. Oh, de people done a piece of hollerin dat night. Everybody was a hollerin en a prayin. I hear talk three or four of dem got converted in de spirit dat night. I tellin you, it been a long- time fore I got over dat thing, too, cause I was scared most to death.« "No* urn, I never didn' believe in nothin like dat. Never didn' believe in no conjurin. Don' care what dey say bout it, I never didn' believe in it. Yes'um, I hear people talk bout somebody had hurt dem, but dey make a wrong mistake to cay somebody do somethin to dem. Ain' nobody but de Lord do nothin, I,say. I know dere ain' nobody never do nothin to me. Hear people say dey wear money round dey ankle to keep folks from hurtin dem, but ain' nobody never bother me, I tell dem. If dey live right, ain' nobody gwine trouble dem neither. No, Lord, ain' nobody never speak no harm word to me en I ain' got no mind to harness up myself." "Well, it just seems like de world growin wilder for de young folks. Dey don' never think bout nothin 'cept gwine right head first all de time. I know when I been comin up, Code No. Project, 18&5-(1) Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Flace, Marion, S.O. Date, January 12, 193S No. Word8___ Reduced from_ Rewritten by" words Page 6. 13 I never see no such livin like de people makin dese days. Dey just gwine head over heels to de worser. Don' never think near a day dey got to stop some of dese days." "I tell de truth, it ain' make no difference which time I think de best time to live in. Everything went well en good wid me in de old days en everything still gwine dat way, Thank de Lord, too." Source: Agnes James, colored, age SO, Clauseens, S.C. Personal interview by Annie Ruth Davis, Dec, 1937 Project 1885-1 folklore Soartanburg, Dist .4 Jan. 19, 1938 Edited by: Elmer Turnage 14 STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES *Yes, I 'member slavery time and de war. I was about 7 or 8 years old. I belonged to Iviarse Tom Price. My father, John James, belonged to Madison Brooks and my mammy belonged to Tom Price. When dey married dey lived wid Madison Brooks awhile, out dey was wid Tom Price when I was a boy. "Of cose I 'member de war. Us chaps, both niggers and white, was made to go upstairs in de big house and look out de window to see de soldiers when dey come. ;Ve heard de Yankees marching befo1 dey. oOt dar, but dey come from de other side of de house, facing south towards Caldwells, and we didnft see dera marching in.-Dey stopped at our house and looked around and asked if marster was at home. We told him dat he wasnft dar. We was eating apples, and dey asked us whar we got 'em. We told dem dat we got de apples on de place, and dey asked us for some. liVe give dem some apples; den dey left. Marse had carried his fine stock about a mile off in de woods so de soldiers couldn't find dem; but we didn't tell ae soldiers. "We lived in a little log cabin made wid mud between de logs, dat was de kind of houses Marse had for his slaves. We slept on eUh wood beds wid ropes streched tight across in place of slats. Dis held our straw mattress. ffMy father's daddy oome from Africa. His name was Emmanuel James. Atter freedom come he give me a little yearling. We wasn't allowed to have anything befo' freedom come; and we wasn't allowed to learn to read and write. Dey whipped us if dey caught us wid a book trying to read or write. Ma said dey cut off a hand if dey caught you. Stories From Ex-Slaves -- 2 -- 15 tfwe raised hogs, sheep, goats, cows and plenty chickens; raised everything at home, and had a good garden with plenty vege- tables. Dem cows and hogs and other cattle were branded and allowed to graze around in bottoms of de low lands vi/har dar was no fence. rtMy clothes was m:-,de from yarn spun by my mammy, and she rmde.my clothes, too. Marse had my mammy to spin and weave for all de slaves on de place. But marse and mistress was good to us. He had a nigger overseer who sometimes brought a nigger to marse when he misbehaved; den marse would have de nigger overseer to whip him. He had S to 10 slaves all de time. "Some slaves dat lived on places close to us would run off sometimes ana hide in de woods, and live dar in a den which dey dug. .it night dey would #o out ana hunt food, like hogs; den iill »em at night ana dress 'em. Most of de day dey would stay in de den. ffI 'member when freedom come, old marse said, f You is all free, but you can work on and make dis cr6p of corn and cotton; den I will divide up wid you when Christmas comes.f Dey all worked, and when Christmas come, marse told us we ciould get on and shuffle for ourselves, and he didn't £ive us anything. We had to steal corn out of de crib. We prized de ears out between ae cracks and took dem home and parched dem. We would have to eat on dese for several days. "We had to work all day, sun up to dark, and aever had Sat- urday afternoons off anytime. My mammy haa to wash clothes on Satur- day nights for us to wear on Sundays. tTWe chaps played marbles most all de time. Marse used to try to scare us by telling us dar was spooks. Some of de old folks did believe in spooks, but I donft know much about dem. lie never used much medicine den but quinine. Folks had l&ts of chills den, but dey never had any kind of strokes or things like dat as dey do dese days. Stories From Sx-Slaves . .. — 3 — ^ "We had to get a pass from marse if we went out. If de patrollers caught us widout a pass dey would whip us. "Right atter de war de Ku Klux started. I fmember dem when dey would march up and down de road. Dey marched most at night, and we could hear de horses for a long distance as deir feet struck de ground. "I married Nellie Wilson, and had 12 children. I got now 6 children; my wife is dead. I got five grandchildren and eight great- grandchildren. rtI think Abraham Lincoln and Jeff Davis was good men in deir way, as dey thought. Booker T. Washington is a great man, and he is done lots of good for de niggers. I think slavery was good in some ways and bad in others. I was better off den dan I am now. ftI jined de church when I was 20 years old, because it was de law----to trust in de Lawd, you got to belong to de cikurch. "I member something 'bout 40 acres of land and a mule dat de slaves would get, but never come anything about it. When freedom come most of de slaves hired out as wage hands, cutting wood and working on farms or any odd jobs dey could get. Dar was lots of new ground, and many of de niggers got work clearing it up. "We didn't get any money in slavery time, but got plenty to eat; and atter de war, we got a little money and a little to eat. I 'member dat old Mr. Brown hired me out once about 45 years ago at ZQ4 a day and my meals. I think de younger generation ain't so good. Dey have deir own way and don't respect old folks. Dat's de way it is wid both whites and blacks." Source: Fred James (81), Newberry, s.C. RH) Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C- 1/10/38 project 1885-1 FOLKLORE Spartanburg, Dist.4 Sept. 7, 1937 390235 STORIES 01 EX-SLAVES 17 Edited by: Elmer Turnage ' V;TV)~ U "I is what is known as a outside child. My Ma went to Ham- Jet. I lived on de Jefferies plantation, below Wilkinsville in Cherokfee County. My father .was Henry Jefferies. My mother was Jane -'. Jefferies. My mother's husband was named Ned. Before her marriage she was 4 Davis. She was sold in slavery to Henry Jefferies. I allus lived with my mother, and Ned was as good to me as he was to his own chillun. My mother had three outside chilluns, and we each had a different father. Atter she married Ned; den he jest come to be our Pa, dat is he let her give us his name. She' and Ned had four chillun. *My first wife is dead and my second wife is named Alice Jefferies. I, got one child by my first wife, and I ain't got no out- side chilluns. Dat works, out bad, at best. None of my folks is liv- ing. All of dem is done dead now; jest me, my wife and my sister's daughter, Emma.who is grown now. Her pa and her Ma took and went crazy befo' dey died. Both of dem died in de asylum. We took Emma, and she ain't jest 'zactly right; but stie ain't no bother to us. •?first thing I had to dp as a, child was to mind my Ma's other chilluns as I was de first outside one dat she had. Dis I did until I was -about twelve years old. My Ma and Ned was working one day, and I was minding her chilluns as usual when I looked up and seed de top of out house on fire. I hollered and dey come running from de field... De other hands come with dem kalse I made such a noise Jiollerjjag, $ooa de big folks got de fire out. Atter dat, Marse ¦ 'j)>.'' ^ :'*j |$^|:,had^ i^lSJfaStJi^^ ..&"•<' -&^t^:dk:'fi&£'t- si'-; »i ^'"¦a. . ".irtft'-^l&ii Stories of Ex-Slaves:' Isiah jefferies Page 2 lo "It was spring and I started in chopping cotton. 'Peers dat I got on pretty well, and dat de overseer liked me from de start. From dar on I was broke into field work of all kinds and den I did work around de lot as well. It was not long befo' everybody started calling me "uncle Zery*, why — I did not know; but anyway dat name still sticks to me by dem dat knows me well. My grandpa never called me dat,"kaise I was named atter him, and he too proud of dat fact to call me any nickname'. I stayed wid him at his house lots atter I started working fer de marster, kaise he showed me how to do things. I worked fer him to git my first money and he would give me a quarter fer a whole day's work. Dat made me feel good and I thought I was a man kaise I made a quarter. In dem days a quarter was a lot of money. I spent it fer chawing tobacco, and dat made me sick at first. Dats all men had to spend money fer in dem days. Everything was give you on de plantation and you did not need much money. Sometimes we cooked out in de field and I have cooked bread in de field in a lid. *Ma teached me how to cook befo' I was twelve years old. We.had good things to eat den; more dan my chilluns has dese times. Ill de slaves had dere gardens on my'marster's plantation. He made dem do it", and dey liked it. Niggers do not seem to take no pains wid gardens now. Land,ain't soft and mellow like it used to be. -In cold weather we had to bank out 'taters, rutabegas, beets, carrots _ and pumpkins. De pumpkins and carrots was fer de hogs and cows. "In warm weather we had cotton clothes and in cold weather we had woolen cihothes dat our marster had made fer us by de old ladies on de plantation. But we did go barefooted all winter until we was grown and married. We had all de wood we wanted fer fire. ii&Si'v* \ , Stories of ex-Slaves: Isiah Jefferies Page 3 19 We kept fire all day and all night. We sot by de fire in winter and popped corn, parched pinders and roasted corn ears. "Marster and Mistress had six chilluns. Her name was Ellen and her house was three stories high. Dere overseers allus lived wid dem. Dere was a lot of slaves and dey all loved de white foiks. De whole plantation was allus up at sunup. But we did not work very late. I remember de Patter-rollers, de Ku Klux and de Yankees. Niggers dreaded all three. Dere was.no jail fer us; de patter-roll- ers kept us straight. "When I got to be a big boy, my Ma got religion at de Camp meeting at El-Bethel. She shouted and sung fer three days, going all over de plantation and de neighboring ones, inviting her friends to come to see her baptized and shouting and paaying fer dem. She went around to all de people dat she had done wrong and begged dere forgiveness. She sent fer dem dat had wronged her, and told dem dat she was born again and a new woman, and dat she would forgive dem. She wanted everybody dat was not saved to go up wid her. rtDe white folks was baptized in de pool first, and den dere darkies. When de darkies time come, dey sung and shouted so loud dat de Patter-rollers come from'somewhar, but Marster and Miss- us made dem go away and let us shout and rejoice to de fullest. Missus had all her darkies to wear white calico in de pool dat was a-gwine in fer baptizing. In de sewing-room she had had calico robes made fer everybody. My Ida took me wid her to see her baptized, and I was so happy dat I sung and fchouted wid her, 411 de niggers jined in singing. De white folks stayed and saw us baptize our folks, and dey liked our singing.* SOURCE: Isiah Jefferies, Gaffney, S.C. Rt,6. (age 86) Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. 8/23/37. Project 1385 -1- 20 District #4 390098 Spartanburg, &.C. June 2, 1937 FOLK-LORE: EX-SLAVES It is not often that a person 102 years old is seen doing manual labor, and especially as hard a job as picking cotton. Yet that is just what Thomas Jefferson was doing, who, as he himself stated, is, "102 years and 18 days old today." Asked why he was doing this, he replied, "Just to take a little exercise." Thomas lives with his daughter, Florence Humphreys, on a small farm, out near Shiloh Church, on Highway 29. Until recently, he slept in a little shack nearby, taking his meals with his daughter. He is too feeble to live alone now, however. Thomas Jefferson was born on the farm of &r. Jenkins Hammond, on the old Hammond place, out on the Williams ton road, on November 1, 1834. Yftien Mr. Hammondfs daughter, Mary Amanda Pauline, married Elias John Earle, son of Samuel Grirard Earle, who was one of the very first citizens of Anderson county, Mr. Hammond gave her, as a wedding gift, Thomas Jeffersonfs mother and five children, of -which Thomas was one. And here he lived with the Earles on Evergreen" plantation, for many, many years. During the War Between the States, Mr. Earle operated a corn and flour mill, and Thomas Jefferson was his miller. Asked if he ronembered this, he replied, "Well, I do remember it. I remember one time we worked all night Saturday night, all day Sunday and Sunday night, and Monday morning had ten barrels of flour to send the Confederate army.11 -2 - 21 Shiloh (Baptist) Church, nearby, Thomas said, was being constructed at the time the war started, and was not finished until after the war was over. The first person buried in the Shiloh graveyard, was Elijah Herring, who was in the Confederate army and became ill and died, and was brought home to be buried. When Samuel Girard Earle died in 1848, and his wife in 1865, they were buried under a large apple tree at "Ever- green" plantation. Later, their bodies were removed to the Shiloh graveyard, by their granddaughter, Miss Betty Earle* Thomas says he helped to move and rebury the bodies. Thomas was at one time a member of Shiloh, but is now a member of the Mt. Sinai colored church. Thomas is remarkably well for a person one hundred and two years old* His eyes are dim, his steps tottering, but his hearing is good and his mind is as clear as it ever was. Asked about his appetite, he said, !tI eat anything I can get, I can e at anything/1 Many people much younger than he is, and certainly with more money than he has, would envy him for his splendid digestion* Thomas has been on the relief rolls now for several years. It is a peculiar pleasure for Mrs* A# M* Mitchell, bounty Director of Temporary State'Department of Public Welfare, to look after Thomas personally, because her grandmother was the bride to whom he was given, with his mother and brothers and sisters* The old man eagerly anticipates %s* Mitchell fs coming each month, to bring his check and to look after his comfort* He is very - * - £2 humble and exceedingly grateful for everything done for him, and says he is expecting to live many more years, with the good care he is getting* SOURCE: Personal visit to Thomas Jefferson, vdth Mrs. A. M# Mitchell, County Director D«P#W. fo£. Anderson County, made by Mrs# Ellie S« Rice, Anderson, S« C# ^^^I^^MiiS^H^^^v;:;,, ):,mm,;: Project #1655 W* W* Dixon 0Qn07/I Wifinsboro, S. C* 03U£ ('i 23 HENRY D* JENKINS EX-SLAVE 87 YEARS OLD. Henry D* Jenkins lives in a four-room frame house, 'which he owns* His wife, two single daughters* his son and his sonfs wife and three small children live with him* The house is constructed on a tract of land containing four hundred and eighty (480) acres, which Henry also owns* He does not suffer with an inferiority complex* He is self- reliant and thrifty, with a pardonable pride in his farm and.rise from slavery to a position of respectibility as a church member* citizen* and tax payer* He is well preserved physically, for his age, 87 years, alert in his movements and animated in conversation* His plantation and home is in the south western part of Fairfield County, six or seven hundred yards east of State highway #215* " Yes sir, tho* I am a 'spectable colored citizen, as you see me; I pays taxes and owns my own plantation* I was once a slave on de Reese place, in Smarter County, below Columbia* Just when I come to bflong to Mr* Joseph Howell, I don9t know* I recollects dat Marse Joe had fbout twenty families of slaves and dere was six hundred acres in his planta- tion* • Ity mistress was his wife, IfiLss Sara* They had four chillun. Hiss Mattie, married Oscar Chappell* Johnnie, married a Miss Lever* ftiomas, mar- ried some lady in Columbia, disremember de fam'ly name* Kiss Jessie, married Rev* Kuggins, a Baptist preacher, though her folks wasnH pf dat ? suasion? they was Methodist* Us niggers was fstructed early in fligion* Took to Ce- dar Creek and camp meeting My white folks had a fine carriage* A mulatto boy, Adam, was de driver* Sometime If4 go wid him to meet visitors from de low country at de station, and look after de baggage and sich* » Yes sir, I doesn't deny it, I got many whuppins* Derefs not much to a boy, white or black, dat don't need a whuppixift sometime on de way up* When you break a wild spirited colt, they make de best hose or mule* I can do more work today, than most of dese triflin', cigaret young mens* You sees me today, as straight as a arrow and like a wild cat on my foots* * You bet yof life, my white folks was de bestest in de land. They wasnft mealy mouthed; they made everybody work, sun to sun, seven days in de week* But didn't de good Lord set de fsample? Yes sir, he made us all workj women in de perils of child birth, drapped cotton seed and corn kernels* Br* Turnipseed, dat was our doctor, flow dat light labor lak dat good for them* " Farm hands got a peck of meal, three pounds bacon, quart of flasses, cup of salt, and two cups middlin1 flour, no white flour# Had good warm clothes in winter, one-piece cotton suit in summer, and de little niggers went dressed in deir shirt tails from fust of June, to fust of October• They sho* did, and was as happy over it as de day was long* 11 My mother named Enma* Never married to my daddy, 'cause they didn't live on de same place and b'long to same master* Daddy b'long to de Halls* I have a brother by dis same aammy* Daddy go by de name of Dinkins* He took up wid another woman after freedom, and my brother and me was shame of him* Us 'cided to take Jenkins for our name but keep a 'Df in de middle, so if anything come up,de lDf could 'cite 'membranes of who us really is* You see Y&at I mean? * Our shoes for de winter was made on de place, out of leather from our own tan-yard and from our own cow hides* Mar star had a good fish pond* He had a four-hoss gin, though mules pulled it* &e lint cotton was packed in a bale and a screw pit* Baggin* was any old thing, like old sacks or canvas sheeting w My mother jined de Baptis1 church, and I followed in her foot steps* Everybody ought to bflong to some church, fcause itfs *spectable, and mem- bership in de church is both a fire and a life insurance* It fsures you •ginst hell fire, and gives you at death, an eternal estate in Hebben* What you laughin* at? Itfs de gospel truth Ifm givin1 you right now* Wish everybody could hear it and believe it* * My marster,Joe Howell, went off to de old war* His niggers was so well trained, dat they carried on for him whilst he was gone and dere was no trouble* Everything went on jusg de sane as if he was dere* * Pat~a-rdllers(patroliers) would come often and ketch niggers seme- time; caught my daddy once and whup him good* Ours was a fine body of slaves and loyal to de mistress and her chillun* w Dances? Yes sir, I can hear them fiddles and de pattinf now* Die de way de deuice was called: 'Balance all; sashshay to your partners; swing her •round and promenade all; forward on de head; ladies change;9 and all dat* Then de jigs went on* Believe me .them was times* " The main drawback on Harster Joefs plantation was, de water on de place was no fcount* Us had to haul water on a sled* wid a mule, from de Friday place; dat's de onliest trouble us had* Sometime us had to tie up fodder and ftend to de hay in de field on Sunday* " I married fust, a girl name Sarah, In 1878* Got three chillun by her* She died* Not good for a man to live alone, de lord say* I picked cut another Sarah, but called her Sal lie* Us has had nine chillun* Three of dese, Sailor, Tera, and Unnroe* Monroe lives on my place and farms 4. •long side of me» Sam is in Detroit, Michigan* Henry in Florida*(Florida) " When de Yankees come, what they do? They did them things they ought not to have done and they left undone de things they ought to have done* Yes, dat just fbout tells it* One thing you might like to hear* Mistress got all de money, de silver, de gold and de jewels, and got de well dig- ger to hide them in de bottom of de wello Them Yankees smart* When they got dere, they asked for de ve9y things at de bottom of-da well* Mistress wculdnft tell* They held a court of fquiry in de yard; called slaves up, one by one, good many* Must have been a Judas •mongst us* Soon a Yankee was let down in de well, and all dat money, silver, gold, jewelry, watches, rings, brooches, knives and forks, butter-dishes, waters, goblets, and cups was took and carried *way by a army dat seemed more concerned 9boufc stealin9, than they was fbout de Holy War for de liberation of de poor African slave people* They took off all de hosses, sheeps, cows, chickens, and geese, took de seine and de fishes they caught, corn in crib* meat in smoke house, and everything* Uarse General Sherman said war was hell* It she9 was* Mebbe it was hell for some of them Yankees when they come to die and give account of de deeds they done in Surrter and Richland Coun- ties* " 2 < Project #-1655 390108 Appro*. 585 Words Martha S. Pinckney 16 Longitude Lane Charleston, S. C. STORY BY EX-SLAVE Maria Jenkins, who is about ninety, is very nearly blind, and only by quiet persistence can she be made to hear; once started, her mind is clear. She show no bitterness. Occasion- ally there are flashes of humor. Her body is brawny, sturdy and well carried, considering her age. Maria Jenkins was a daughter of Aaron Grant; her mother's name is Ellen Grant, all of whom? were owned by Mr. ^ugh Wilson of Wadmalaw Island. "I b'long Wadmalaw. When de Yankee come I ole ,nuf for mind chillun, and take um to de field. I go up to Maussa* hov.se ebery day for de milk for we; and dey give we clabba (clabber) and cow peas and ting out de garden. We git ebery evening a bushel ob corn grind and hand ober to de nurse,, and him sift out de flour. Yes Mam. He done grind in de hand mill in de barn yard - de stone mill. Dat been uh big mill too. And dey gib we uh big piece ob meat - so - (measuring with hands) and sometime chicken. Rachel cook in de big pot for we chillun, and he dip um out. (She here explained the big ladle or dipper.) You know dem big ladle. We put um in we pan. Yes, Ma1 am, he name Rachel, and he lick we. We haffa love um or she lick we." Her huge mouth was illumined by a humorous smile. "He teach me to wash de baby clean and put on he dipa (diaper), and if I ain!t do um good he konk my head. When de wah come, my pa put heself free off to New Orleans; I dunno how he look. I dunno if he libbin or dead now. My ma dead fust Project #-1655 Page - 2 Martha S. Pinckney Charleston, S. C» year ob de v/ah, I hab twelve chillun, and all dead; I got tv/o grand chillun left - de one in New York - I raise him from baby atter he ma and pa dead." "Your grand son helps you?" "Wat dat?", leaning forward with her hand back of her ear. The question was repeated. "Him ainH no man, him my grand daughter, Ellen Jenk- ins. I raise him from baby yes, she name Ellen. Him good to me; him help me ebery minute." "Jre all your people dead?" "De whole nation dead," reflectively, "De whole nation dead - Peggy dead - Toby dead - all leaning on de Lord." "V/hen dem boat come up de ribber, and he shoot, and shoot, de big gun, dat been de awful time. My ma dead de fust year ob de wah - I dunno if dem big gun kill um# He kill »nuf people." "Maussa come and he say: *T/i(ho«na (all of you) nigger take care ob yourself, I must leab to take my fambly away. Will is here; and d© cow, and de pig in de pen, and de chicken all ober de place - I gib you sour freedom for take care ob yourself.1 W*en he gone, dem nigger break for the thick woods. Some dead and some ain*t dead." Later a camp was established for this plantation of .negroes, back in the pine woods* When asked what they did Project #-1655 Page - 3 29 Martha S# Pinckney Charleston, S# C, after the war, Maria raised her hands and said* "jfifter de wah we all come home, tank de Lord! tank de Lord!" "But your master didn't have any money to -c are for you." "Haffa scrabble for yo'self." Said she. SOURCE: Interview with Maria Jenkins, aboufe 90, 64 Montague Street, Charleston, S# C# Project #1655 Stiles H# Scruggs Columbia, S. C. 390414 3() PAUL JENKINS, SON OP A SLAVE, TELLS OF HIS FATHER'S POLITICAL EXPERIENCES. Paul Jenkins, age seventy, living at 18 Belser's Alley, Columbia, S* C*, is a son of Paul Jenkins, a former slave, who decided to endure the burdens he had in Colleton County, South Carolina, after he was set free in 1865, rather than to fly to other places he knew nothing of• There he won the respect of the white folks and Negroes alike, was repeatedly elected to office, and lived there happily to the end of his life* Here the present P&ul Jenkins takes up the story, with a nI was born in Colleton County in 1867• My daddy was in office when I begin to recall things, and he keep in office, by the will of the people, until I was nearly grown* % mammy, too, was a slave, when she and daddy marry* She die when I was fbout twelve years old, and my only brother, Edgar, was goin* on ten* My daddy never marry again* nQne day some white men come to see daddy long after mamray was gone, and they say to daddy: fPaul, when you gwine to jump the broomstick again?1 % daddy was the only one who not laugh when they say that* He reply; f I has no women in iriew and no weddin1 dream in the back of ny head* I has decided a wicked woman am a big bother and a good woman am a bore* To m^ way of thinkin1, that is the only difference between them*' The white folks not smile, but say: !You!ll seel Just wait ftil the right girl come along.1 "Daddy just seem to make friends of all the people fbout him, and our house, close to Sraoak, was a big meetin1 place most of the time* Sometimes the visitors are all white men* But at other days the niggers come and talk, tell funny tales, and laugh* Most of the meetin1 s at the house was late at night, foause ny daddy always go to his office at Walterboro, on week days* People comin* and goin1 there, all the time* Daddy was shof popular with the people, generally speakin1• "The biggest crowd I ever seen up to that time, was when General H* C. Butler come to Walterboro in 1882, to speak* He had been United States Senator since 1876, and was a candidate for re-election* General Butler much pleased, that day, when many white leaders and daddy call at his hotel and tell him that daddy had been asked by his neighbors to introduce him* He say: fWell, from what I hears, Paul Jenkins can do that job as well as anybody in the State*f Then he pat daddy on the shoulder* "At the speakin1, daddy gets up, and the big crowd elaps its hands for joy, and laughs, too* Daddy not laugh much, just smile* Then he throw back his shoulders and say: fGeneral Butler, lak Moses, led us forth at last, The barren wilderness he passfd Did on the very border stand Of the blessfd Promise Land, And from the misty mountain tops of his exalted wit, Saw it himself and showed us itt1 n fThat*s why we am sendin* him back----1 • That was all I hear* Daddy not allowed to finish* ^he people riot with pleasure, and General Butler say the tribute am de finest he ever hear, and smile at daddy sittin1 there on the plat- form with the other big folks* At another tim^daddy has a nigger lawyer runnin' 'gainst him for County Commissioner* The lawyerfs name was Amphibious Mclver* They begin the campaign at Cottageville* Mclver speak first* Daddy follow, and begin with* 3* 32 fA bullfrog tied by its tail to a stump, It rear and it croak, but it couldn!t make a jumpi1 wThe white folks and the niggers clap, stamp, throw hats, and laugh; finally, marchin1 up to the table to grab daddy and carry him up the street on their shoulders • He keep say in1: fBoys, *why donft you let me finish ray speech?1 They would laugh and say: fPaul, you done made de best speech in de worldtf Daddy win at the f lection, in a big way* nWy daddy learn to read, write, and cipher while he was a slave* The Jenkins family help him, he say, !cause he always keep the peace, and work as he was told to do* 'When hefs set free, that white family help him get settled and loaned him books* He go to Charleston *bout 1868 and buy an armful of books and studied at night or whenever he had the chance • That is why he was able to make the political races which he make and profit by* He send me and iny brother, Edgar, to school, so that we learn a good deal in books• Edgar, he fidgitty lak, and decide he go to Pennsylvania and make a fortunel ttEdgar got work in a steel mill at Johnstov/n, soon after he got there, and had considerable money, -when he was sent to the hospital with pneumonia* He pull through that sickness and go back to his job, but the big flood come (May 31, 1889) and the girl he was $o marry was among the 2,000 unknown people who was drowned,' and he never has married---peculiar lak our daddy, don't you think? I just been married to one* She is 68 and Ifs 70 and I may say wefs through, tool f,I specialized on bridge-buildin*• I has helped build a sight of bridges in my time, travelin' as far as Memphis, Tenn*, in that work* I has made oodles of money, but my dollars always has wings and, one way or the other, they get away from me* Still me and my old woman not stafferin1 much and we hopes, when we goes away for good, we goes together*11 project 1885-i FOLKLORE 390087 Edited by: QQ Soartanburg - Dist. 4 wwwwi Elmer Turnage && May 17, 1937 STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES Tv "Lordy, Honey, I aho was born in slavery and I is proud o» it too. Ole Marse Cole Lawson was my ole marster. fhen I axed him how old I was, he allus lowed something like dis, 'you is older than you is good', and dat all he ever said 'bout my age. Sweet Dreams (her gratid daughter}, come here and :fetch me a drink from de well to wet my mouthI My grand-daughter stay wid me at night. When she doan stay, some o' de other grand uns stays. Sometime it's jest me ¦^rnd Sago here all alone. I jes' sets and looks at him _at night while he sleep. He work de rich white folks' flower yards fer 'em, and dat brings him in at night raal tired. My grand-daughter's raal name is Marguerite porter, but nobody don't "hardly know dat; kaise everybody call her Sweet Dream, her lil baby name. She my oldest daughter's fifth chile. My feelings tells me I is ole, and ffiy w&ite folks *11 tell you I was born in slavery, 'cept dey is all daed. "Light furs' struck me on de large plantation o» Ole Marse Cole Lawson, de paw o» Mr. Vidtor Lawson. Mr. Victor ain't no spring chicken no mo» hisself. Dat over in Sedalia in de Minter Section. You kno's 'bout de larce plantation o' Marse James E. Minter, dat gib de section its name? (CHS show boundaries of Minter lands-)* Way back over dar whar I was born. ""Paw stay in Union ^ounty. Maw was sold to a man name Marse Bailey Suber over in fairfield, while I still a suckling. At dat time, my paw was bought by a widder woman, Miss Sarah Barnett,, in Union Cnty. Lawd Jesus I Dat separate my maw and paw. Maw tuck me ?lonf wid her. Maw name Clara Sims. When Me and maw went to Pair- field, us didn't stay dar long 'fo .ole man Harrison sartor of San- Folklore: Stories From Ex-Slaves Page 2 <}j tuck, bought my maw. Us glad to git back to Union. I was a big size gal by dis time and I start to be de waiting gal in my new Parse's house fer his wife, Miss Betsy. Miss Betsy had one sister, Miss Nancy Wilson, dat live wid her. Her missus and old Marster and dere son, Willie, was all dat I had to wait on, kaise dat was all dar was in de household. "God-A-Mightyl Is you gwine to fill up dat boot wid all dat I says? Well, Marse Harrison didn't 'low paw to see maw 'cept twice a year—' laying-by time and Christmas. My paw still 'longed to Miss Sarah Barnett. Dat's 'zactly why I is got five half-sisters and one-half brother. Paw got him another wife at Miss Sarah's. Hiss Sarah want young healthy slaves. Maw had jes' me and Ann. Ann been daed, Oh, Lord, forty years. Dis all to my recollections, "Is you gwine to fix fer me and Sago to git some pension? Gawd naw, some dese lil babies whats «er sucking de maw's-titties is gwine to git dat pension. Us all gwine to be daed »fo it even come out. You ain't gwine to even sho1 dat to no Gov'ment man; no Lawd, ain't never thought I's gwine to git it. "Yes, Honey, I was in Ifairfield den, but I 'members when crowds o' men come in from de war. All us chilluns seed mens com- ing and us run and tuck ogf fas' as us could fer de nearest woods, kaise us wuz dat scared, dat dem mens gwine to git us. Atter dat, us found out dey was our own folks. Us had done tuck and run from dem den. "Chile, you come back when Sago here, and us tell you dat book full, sho miff." SOURCE:"Aunt" Mm& Jeter, 21 Long Twelve, Union, S.C. Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. (B/4/37) Project #1655 W. W. Dixon, 390265 K>5 Ytfinnsboro, S» G* ADELINE JOHNSON ALIAS ADELINE HALL EX-SLAVS 93 TSARS OLD* Adeline Hallfs husband was Tom Johnson but she prefers to be called "Hall", the name of her old master* Adeline lives with her daughter, Emma, and Emma's six children, about ten miles southeast of Winnsboro, S* C«, in a three-room frame house on the Durham place, a plantation owned by *lr«A* M* Owens of ©innsboro* The plantation contains 1,500 acres, populated by over sixty Negroes, run as a diversified farm* under the supervision of a white overseer in the employ of Mr* Owens* The wide expanse of cotton and corn fields, the large number of dusky Negro laborers working along side by side in the fields and singing Negro spirituals as they work, give a fair presentation or picture of what slavery was like on a well conducted Southern plantation before the Civil War* Ade- line fits into this picture as the old Negro "Mauma" of the plantation, re- spected by all, white and black, and tenderly cared for* She has her clay pipe and stick ever with and about her* There is a spacious pocket in her dress underneath an apron* In that pocket is a miscellany of broken pieces of china, crumbs of tobacco, a biscuit, a bit of wire, numerous strings of various colors, and from time to time the pipe becomes the warm individual member of the varied assortment* Her eyes are bright and undimmed by age and the vigor with which she can telegraph her wants to the household by the rappings of that stick on the plank floor is interesting and amusing. She is confident that she will round out a century of years,because: 36 ,f Marse Arthur Owen3 done tell me I'll live to be a hundred, if I stay on his place and never 'lope away wid any strange young buck nigger"• 11 Ifs not so feeble as I might fpear, white folks* Long time I suffer for sight, but dese last years I see just as good as I ever did* Dats a blessin1 from de Lord I ff Who I bflong to in slavery time? Where I born? I born on what is now called de Jesse Gladden place but it all b'long to my old marster, William Hall, then* 11 My old marster was one of de richest man in de world• Him have lands in Chester and Fairfield counties, Georgia and Florida, and one place on de Red River in Arkansas * He also had a plantation, to raise brown suger on, in old Louisiana* Then him and his brudder, Daniel, built and givs Bethesda Church, dats standinf yet, to de white Methodisf of Mitford, for them to 'tend and worship at* He fmembered de Lord, you see, in all hi3 ways and de Lord guide his steps* w I never have to do no field work; just stayed *round de house and wait on de mistress, and de chillun* I was whupped just one time* %t was for 'markin9 de mantels-piece wid a dead coal of fire.# They make mammy do de lashinf# Hadnft hit me three licks befo* Miss Dorcas, Mss Jemima, MLss Ju- lia, and Marse Johnnie run dere, ketch de switch, and say: fDat enough Mauma Ann! Addie wonft do it aginf* Dats all de beatin* I ever fceived in slavery time* " Now does you wanna know what I do when I was a child, from de time I git up in de mornin* to de time I go to bed? I wa3 fbout raised up in de house* Well, in de evenin1, I fill them boxes wid chips and fat splinters• When morninf come, I go in dere and make a fire for my young mistresses to 3? git up by* I help dress them and comb deir hair* Then I goes down stairs end put flowers on de breakfas* table and lay de Bible by Marse William's chair. Then I bring in de breakfast (Table have to oe set de night befo1) When everything was on de table* I ring de bell* White folks come down and I wait on de table* ff After de meal finish, %rse ttfilliam read de Bible and pray* I clear de table and help wash de dishes* When dat finish,I cleans up de rooms* Then I acts as maid and waitress at dinner and supper* I warms up-de girls* room, where they sleep, after supper* Then go home to poppy John and Mauma Anne* Dat v/as a happy time, wid happy days* '• Dat v/as a happy family* Marse William have no trouble, ccept once when hirn brudder, Daniel, come over one mornin* and closet wid %rse William* When Marse Daniel go, Marse William come in dere where me and de mistress was and say: fTom's run away from school* • (Dats one of Marse Danielfs boys dat •tended school at 1ft # Zion, in Winnsboro) Her flow: fWhat him run away for?f 'Had a fool duel wid a Caldwell boy,f him say* I hear no more fbout dat ftil Marse Tom come home and then I hear plenty* White folks been laughin1 fbout it ever since* Special talk fbout it since Marse Tomfs grandson b'come a United State Judge* Bet Marse Dan Hall told you fbout it* Want me to go ahead and tell you it my way? Well, 'twas dis a way: %rse Tom and %rse Joe Caldwell fell out fbout a piece of soap when they was roominf together at school* Boys crowd 'round them and say: 'Fight it outJ1 They hit a lick or two, and wa3 parted* Then de older boys say dere must be a duel* Marse Joe git se- conds • Marse Tom git seconds* They load guns wid powder but put no bullets in them* Tell Marse Joe fbout it but donH tell *arse Tom* Then they gojgown town, fix up a bag of pokeberry juice, and have it inside Marse Joefs westcoat, 4. on his breast* Took them out in a field, face them, and say: 'One, two, three, firel f Guns went off, Marse Joe slap his hand on his chest, and de bag bust* Red juice run all over hinu Older boys say: fRun Tom and git out de way.f *arse Tom never stop ftil him git to Liverpool, England* Marse William and Marse Daniel find him dere, sent money for to fetch him home and him laugh •bout it when he git backo Yes sir, dat is de grandpappy of Marse Lyle Glenn, a big judge right now* 11 De white folks near, was de Melliciaamps,de Gladdens, de Mobleys, Lump- kins, Boulwares, Fords, Picketts, and Johnsons* " When de Yankees come, they was struck dumb wid de way raarster acted. ?ney took things,wid a beg your, pardon kind of way, but they never burnt a single thing, and went off wid deir tails twixt deir legs, kinda shame lak. H After freedom I marry a preacher, Tom Johnson* Him die when in his sixties, thirty years ago. uur chillun was Emma, Mansell, Tom, and Grover* Bad white folks didn't lak my husband* ^ere was a whiskey still, near our house ^iiere you could git three gallons of liquor for a silver dollar * Him preach agin.1 it* Dat gall both makers and drinkers* Him fdured persecution for de Lordfs sake, and have gone home to his awards* * In slavery, us have all de clothes us need, all de food us want, and work all de harder fcwzse us love de white folks dat cared for us* No sir~ ree, none of our slaves ever run fway* Us have a week off, Christmas* Go widout a pass to Marse Daniel#s quarters and they come to ourfn* * Dr# Scott and Dr. Douglas ftend sick slaves* I donft set myself up to judge Marse Abe Lincoln* ^ere is sinners, black and white, but I hope and prays to git -to hebben* Whether Ifs white or black when I git dere, 1*11 be satisfied to see my Savilfit dat bqt old marster worshipped and my husband 38 39 preach fbout» I wants to be in habben wid all my white folks, just to wait on them, and love them and serve them, sorta lak I did in slavery time* Dat will be fnough hebben for Adelineo* Project 1885-1 folklore Soartanburg, Dist.4 Nov. 29, 1937 390331 Edited by: An Elmer Turnage STOaiES FROM EX-SLAVES \ tfI sho is spry, kaise 1 sho is done took care of myself and I done dat good, too. I know V7111 3vans who is 72 and he is all bent over and wrinkled and all stewed up. Dat fs de way folks wants to see you befof dey calls you old, but dey ainft gwine to see me like dat, Tdeed dey ain't. Most folks calls me de youngest, but I was born on de 30th day of July, and I is. passed by 75 Julys and still gitting around better dan some dat is seed but 60 Julys. ffWell does I remember when my young marster, John Kitchens, Went to de 'Federate War. He was a big fat feller, and jolly. De morning he left, he come through de yard leading a fine bay. All of us was dar to see him off. We had fetched him things, but he say dat you couldn't carry nothing to war but a pack on your back and he laid dem all down and wiped his eyes and rode off wid -a big yell to as. Dat was de rebel yell and we answered back. tr0ne morning de very next week we heard our young missus hoi- lering and we went to see'what de trouble was. She had got word dat he had done gone and got kil't by a Yankee. Tie all cried. De little chilluns, John, ./ill, Ella and Bob cried, too. Missus went to her ma and pa, Mr. Green and Miss Sallie Mitchel, near Trough .Shoals. Frankie Brown and Malissa Chalk went wid her to her pa'si Our plan- tation was awful big. It was sold and us wid it. "Wasn't long till young Missus married again and went to Vir- ginia to live, Prankie and Malissa come back to our plantation. Den slavery was over and dat is de last dat I ever heard of our Missus.'1 Source: Anna Johnson (N*75), Rt.4, Gaffney, S.C. Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. (11/3/37) Project #1655 W* W* Dixon Winnsboro, S* C# JACK JOHNSON EX-SLAVE 84 YEARS OLD* "You see me right here, de sin of both races in my face, or was it just de sin of one? Ify Marster was iqy father, his name was Tom Reed, and he lived six miles from Lancaster Court Houses Dats where I was born* Ify mamcy name Jane, donft know where she come from* Bfy mars- ter was kind to us* I done no work much, just picked peas and sich like during de war* I was my mammy1 s only child, and when de war was over, and I grow up, I left dere and come to Cedar Creek, low part of Fair- field County* I marry a gal# Bella Cook, and us had sixteen chillun, thirteen of them is a livin1 now* I then marry Hannah Dubard, a widow* She and me have had no child** nI bflong to de Sanctified Church, and you have to go down into de water and come up straight way out of de water to b*long to dat church* Tffhere is it? Its on Little Cedar Creek in dis county* Who de preacher? His name is the Reverend Edmunds* Us sings spirituals, one is, fDat Heavenly Railroad Train1, another is fDere is a Hock in my Heart1, another, fSo glad Ifm here, but Ifd rather be up yonder Lord1* Some colored churches f sinuate a child born out of wedlock can't enter de king- dom of heaven* Our church say he can if he ainft a drunkard, and is de husband of one wife and to beliewe on, and trust in de Lord as your Bavior, and live a right kind of life dat he proves of* Dat seem reason to me, and I jine and find peace as long as I does right** "Never was sick a day in ny life, can plow yet, eat three meals a day, but canft sleep as much as I use to, six hours plenty for me now* I1 s just here today findin1 out fbout dat old age pension dats a comin** t Will you kinda keep a eye on it for me and let me tend to de ox and de grass at my hone on Little Cedar Creek? A short loss is soon curried, so • dats fbout all I kin •member to tell you now*" Project #1655 r>Qr\00~T Henry Grant, OOUOO I Columbia, S* C. ZIP JAMES JOHNSON THE COTTON MAN • EX-SLAVE 79 YEARS OLD. James Johnson lives with a sister at 1045 Barron Street, College Place, A S. c* He is incapable of self support on account of age, ill health, and im- paired feet* One of his feet was mashed off and the other ba^ly damaged by handling bales of cotton several years ago* we subsists on what his sister and other people are able to give him* rt I has been livin1 right here in Columbia for the past thirty-six years* I has worked in de cotton business, first as ginner and then wid cotton buyers, ever since I has been here* I knows all de grades of line cotton and can name them right now* (He ran through the different grades fairly correct)) 11 I learned all I knows fbout cotton and de grades from Hr* U* C« Heath and Mr* #• B* Smith, cotton buyers in Columbia for thirty years or more* They thought so much of my knowledge of cotton, dat they sent me many times to settle claims wid big men and big buyers* (a) n It ain't what a nigger knows dat keeps him down* No, sir* It is what he donH know, dat keeps de black man in de background* White folks dat is business folks, pays no Hention to our color as much as they does to dat mon- ey makin* power us has* Of course, de white man sticks to his color and you can't blame him for dat* If de nigger shows dat he is willin1 to v/ork and to learn to be business lak, make money and walk straight wid his boss and fel- lowman, de better class of de white people is gwine to treat him right* I knows what Jfs tellin1 you is so, from my own fsperience wid Iflr* Heath and Mr* Smith* They always treated me better than I deserved and even now in ay 2. * 43 old age, deir folks and deir friends gives me money, dat keeps ma out de poorhouse* rt No, sir, I don't "member de GLvil War a-tall myself but I has heard all 'bout it from my own folks and de white folks I has worked wid* It seems lak I knows too much fboufc them awful times* I shof am glad I didn't come flong then* I feels and knows dat de years after de war was worser than be- fo'. 3efof de war, niggers did have a place to lie down at night and some- where to eat, when they got hungry in slavery time* Since them times, a many a nigger has had it tough to make a livdn'* I knows dat is so, too, fcause I has been all 'long dere* 11 Many niggers have gone north to live, since freedom, but de most of them either comes back south again or they wants to come back* De north don t suit de nigger* Cold climate lak they has up dere is too hard on him* He has thin blood and you knows dat a thin pan gwine to git hot quicker than a thick one and cold de same way* You see a heap of niggers is lak wild animals, in a way* He laks to eat a heap, sleep a heap, and move 'bout slow* When he goes up north he haa to step 'round fas', 'cause if he don*t, he gits in de way of them Yankees dat move fbout quick * w De black man is natchally lazy, you knows dat* De reason he talks lak he does, is fcause he don't want to go to de trouble to 'nounce his words lak they ought to be* When he says 'datf-he saves a letter, same way wid 'dis' and nearly all other words* It ain*t after savin' so much; he is just too care- less and lazy to care 'bout it* A nigger wants what is in sight and not dat what he can't seej it can look out for itself* I is sorry I has to say all dis 'bout my own color but it is de truth* De truth makes you free and runs de devil* I is a nigger myself and I knows what they is and what they does* " Is de nigger 'ligious? Yes, sir, many of them is very fligious widoufc 44 •ligion* He takes all dat from white folks* So many think fligion is gwine to git them somethin* widout workin' for it and fool people by makin1 them think they is good and can be trusted and all dat* But I 'spects some of them is right, even at dat, 'cause if they ain't got fligion they shof ainft got nothin' in dis world* I pays no ftention to all dis 'gwine on' lak I see some 'ligious folks does* Maybe I wouldn't be in de fix I is, if I paid more ftention to churches and all dato I believes in churches and goed folks but I don't practice them good things lak I ought to* Boss, if you take de dol- lar out of 'ligion and de churches, you sho' would have to hunt for them* I believes dat* I don't see no 'ciples gwine 'bout a preachinf and doin* good, lak I has heard they once done, barefooted and askin1 no pay* &e preachers- dese days is a ridin* in de finest automobiles and you shof better look out for yourself, if you don't, you is gwine to git run over* w I has been a good man, in body, all de time since I got grown* For many years I didn't know my own strength* I never seen a bale of cotton I couldn't pick up and tote where I wanted to, by myself* You see dese foots of mine? %ey was mashed off, from drappin' bales of cotton on them, back yonder many years ago* 11 I 'members mighty well, when de fust skyscraper was built in Columbia* My bosses was one of de fust to have a office in dere* Dat was de Loan and Exchange Bank Building*, on de corner of Washington and Main streets* I has been here and seen dis city grow from a small place to what you see 'tis now. n My xnamroy and daddy bflong to Mr* Andrew Johnson of Orangeburg County, of dis State* They said dat they was treated mighty good by deir marster all de time they was slaves* My daddy took his old marster fs name* I was born a slave but all I knows is what I has heard* Some of it might be right and some might be wrong* * (a) Verification not available. mm- ¦ Project #1665 Stiles 1U Scruggs 390307 s Columbia, S* C* 40 HEV. JAMES H. JOHHSON EX-SLAVE 82 YEARS OLD. *lfy name is James H* Johnson. I was born December 20, 1855, t at the town servants quarters of Alfred Brev^rt at Camden, South Caro- lina, and that was home until I was turning into twelve years of age* I was nearly ten years old, when the army of General Sherman came to Camden* I talked to some of the soldiers, soon after they arrived** Such was the greeting of the Rev. James H# Johnson? a retired, and well educated Methodist Episcopal minister, when a WPA reporter called at his residence, 2029 Marion Street, Columbia, South Carolina, and asked for an interview* He sat in his study, furnished for com- fort and equipped about as well as any study, of this kind, in Columbia* "My mother J he explained,^was one of the maids at the Br.evort home, and my father was one of the overseers of the plantation* We did not hear about President Lincoln's freedom proclamation in.1865, but the status quo of slavery kept right on as it had been until Sherman1 s army came through* You know General Lee surrendered the same spring, and we learned we were free* ttIM 1866 my father bought four acres in the vicinity of Camden and improved it with a house and barn, and we lived there for several years* % father went into the mercantile business in Camden and prospered* There I went to the public schools* We had teachers from the Uorth, and I finish- ed all the grades* There m*& no high schools in the state at that time* '•We had our own home-raised hams and plenty of food products in our quarters, when my Aether and I heard shooting nearby* We stepped into the yard and saw a big number of soldiers shooting at a running white man of the community* They did not hit him* In a moment or two five soldiers strode into our yard and we were scared at first, but they told us they were friends, and one of them spied the hams and asked if they belonged to the big house* When told that they were ours, they said they were hungry, and mother fixed them a dinner of ham and eggs and plenty of other things. They thanked us and left, doing no harm* "Before they left, I noticed a crowd of soldiers at the Brevort home* I ran there, and told the troops, please, to do no damage to the premises, as the mistress, then in charge, was the best friend my mother and I had ever had* They left soon afterward, showing no animus toward the Brevort family and taking nothing away* ^e never received any aid from the Freedmenfs bureau, for we did not need it» AJfter I finished the public school work at Camden and help- ed iqjr father in his store for a time, I entered the University of South Carolina, in October, 1874 and stayed there until 1877* You know there was a change in government in 1876, and Negroes were excluded from the university in 1877* I was in my junior year, when I left* nI returned to Camden and taught school in Kershaw County for ten years* During that time I opened school in the Browning Home, which still stands in Camden* In the meantime, I had been an interested member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since my early years, and I was made an elder in that denomination in 1888, and sent t& Columbia as pastor of the Wesley Methodist Church • '•'When I came here as pastor, that church stood on the corner of Sumter and Gervais streets, on the site where the United States postoffice now stands* The congregation sold that corner in 1910 and built the brick church at Barnwell and Gervais streets* I was the pastor all that time, 3, retiring in 1930 due to physical feebleness* The congregation of that church has always been rather small• This accounts for my doing other work* I was a clerk in the internal revenue office in Columbia for eighteen years• !,Now, I am a notary public and make some income from that* The church gives me a saall pension, and I advise and do literary work for a large number of Negro residents* In that way, I keep fairly busy and my family has never gone hungry* I did preach some, a few years ago* I am now too feeble to undertake that task, and have to be content, most- ly at home*" (Reporter1 s Note: The Rev« James H* Johnson speaks no dialect* He speaks choice, gramatical diet ion and has a most pleasing personality* His is one of the very few Methodist Episcopal Churches in South Carolina for Negroes* He says he is glad the church is now seeking to void the split over slavery in I860* He resides in a comfortable home at 2029 %rion Street, Columbia, Sm C#) Project #1655 SCtc 390259 •' "48 JANE JOHNSON EX-SLAVE 90 YEARS OLD* Jane Johnson is living with her niece at 1430 Harden Street, Colum- bia, S» C# She is of small statue, dark, not black, plump and apparently well cared for* On account of her age and bodily afflictions,she is in- capable of self-support• Her niece is unmarried, owns a comfortable home, works and provides for her grandmother in a good and satisfactory manner? "Come in white folks, take dat chair and set down. I hears dat you wants to talk to me fbout i^yg^lf and my master in slavery time. % name is Jane Johnson and Ifs !bout ninety years old, from de best fmembrance I has from my white folks friends and my own people ? One thing I does know, I* s.been here so long, dat I- sometimes think I's'near 'bout a hundred years .old* "I Vlong to Master Tom Robertson# % mistress1 name was Ophelia. I didnft see her much in slavery time, f cause she stayed in de big house on Arsenal Hill, Columbia, S. C# De onliest time I see her a-tall, was when I was sent to de big house for_ somethin1 and dat wasn!t often* Master and mistress had heaps of chillun, 'mong them was twins, all dead now, if I 'members right, fcept Master Tom Robertsoja, a grandson and a rich man tooj he "living right here in Columbia* % old master lived in Columbia but his plantation, inhere us slaves lived, was !bout four or five miles from Columbia on de Sumter road, just beyond de soldiers hospital (Veterans Hospital), dat's right* ' ' * ttlaster Tom come to de plantation every day feept Sundays and some- 2. 49 times he come dat day, Specially in crop season* He never talked to us slaves much, just talked to de overseer fbout us all, I reckon. De overseer was a nigger and de meanest man, white or black* I ever see* Dat nigger would_strut fround wid a leather strap on his shoulder and would whip de other slaves unmerciful* He worked us hard from sunrise to sunset every day in de week, fcept some Saturday evenin's* fMost of de grown slave women knocked off from field work at dinner time on Saturdays and done de washin* for de rest of de slaves* nYes sir, us had a plenty of rations to eat; no fancy vittles, no. just plain corn bread, meat and vegetables* Dere was/flour bread or any kind of sweet stuff for de slaves to eat* Master say sweet things ffected de stomach and teeth in a bad way* He wanted us to stay well and healthy so us could work hard* ^Master Tom was good to us* course he was, !cause he didnH see us much no-way* But dat nigger overseer was de devil settin* cross-legged for de rest of us dm de plantation all de time* I never has believed dat master ftended for dat nigger to- treat us like he did* He took Vantage of his beinT 'way and_talk soft talk when he come again* Yes sir, he shof did* nNot very long after de Yankees come, us was told dat de niggers was free* - You might think dat was a happy ciay for us slaves, but I didn't think lak dat* I was kinda lonesome and sad lak* Us slaves was lost, didn*t know what to do or where to go* Don't you think dat was a sad time? *How old was I -when I done my courtin'? tftmt's dat? Dat courtin! . stuff is what white folks does, no nigger knows what dat fancy thing is* Us just, natchally lives together; men and women mates lak de animals out ^^^M^^^^^M^^A^t^k^&A 3, 50 dere* Colored people don't pay no f tent ion to what white folks call love, they just fsires de woman they wants, dat's all* I jrarried dat man of mine, Tilgfonan Thompson, and us got flong right smart, ftil he die# I got 'nother one, Anderson Johnson, and he die too, so here I is, left here yit* "You knows de black man has had a long, hard road to travel since he was first brought to cflis country* From de first, he b!long to de white'man to be took care of and to work* Some colored folks *pear to be do in1 right well dese days but back yonder long befo1 I was born, I!s been told, they didnrt know how to provide for themselves* "What I wants to know, what de nigger gwine to do widout de fsistance of de white man? What they has got come from them, you knows dat* I hear some of them growlin1 f round, dat they is gwine to do dis and g«rine do- dat and they don't do nothin1 , cept talk too much* They shof better do right; live in peace and git somethin1 dat will stay with them* u-l&.ybe I!s wrong to say dis but you knows,.white man, de nigger is a far way back of de white manj his time ain't come yit, leastwise dat!s de way it 'pear to me* De nigger come from Africa and other hot places, so he takes after de hot country he come from and has a short temper, hard head, and not fnough sense to keep him out of trouble when he gits mad or 1 cited,* "When he come here, de white man made him work, and he didnft like dat* He is natcfyally lazy and when he had to work, then he began to get huffy and to conjure up in he mind hate and other bad things against de whites* Ever since the first time de nigger found out he had to work, he has silently despised the white man. If he had lived and done nothin1, II" W&Mii'i'j.' ¦'' 7 then he would b* a ftirely different person to dis very day, I knows dat* "Does I 'member President Lincoln? I ghd* does, but not so much, 1 cause I was too young to have much sense. I has heard my mammy and daddy say he was a good man and wanted everybody to be free,, both white and black. Dere was a heap of poor white folks in slavery time, and some of them lived mighty hard, worse than the slaves sometimes* You knows blood is thick and it is gwine to turn to its kind befo1 helpin* de others* They say slavery. was wrong but what !bout hard times? Dat is de worse kind of slavery, I thinks* All dis holler in1 f round *bout freedom they has, shucks, all dat kind of talk ainft nothin* • Ifllhen. you has work and some money in your pocket so you can go to de store and buy some meat and bread, then you has de best freedom there is, don't tell me* "President Roosevelt is * no the r good man* He has looked down on de poor and Stressed in.dis land wid mercy; has give work and food to de poor people when nobody else would* He sho! has turnt dis country Tround and tried so hard to make things right wid de people. "When he turn dis way and turn dat wayr them men up there where he is, try to stop him from helpin* us, but de Blessed Master is gwine to hold his hands up* They ain't gwine to be able to stop him, 'cause he has done so-much good in de world* Dat man is gwine to be fmembered by de people always, but them dat has fought him and worked-against him is hho' gwine to be forgot* Nobody wants to 1 member them for de evil they has done* You knows dat if you sows evil you is sho' gwine to gather evil in time* They ain't gwine sow much longer; their harvest time is right out dere in sight, but de President is gwine to live onwdd us» ttIfs gettin1 old now, I has to draw on de fmembrance of de past, tottle * 52 flong in de present and stare wid dese old eyes out dere into v/hat is to come (future)* I has rheumatism and high blood pressure, so you see IJs in for a troublesome time from now on to dat last day* Ifs livin* wid mv niece now, in her own home, dat is some pleasure to me in my old age*11 Home Address: 1430 Harden St# &i X Project 1885 - 1. o^««rt« ^Q Folk Lor* 390089 Edited by: °° District Ho. 4. J. J. Murray. May 27, 1957. STORIES OF EX-SLATES "I was born in Virginia, but Dr. L. C» Kennedy bought me, my mother and brothers and we moved to Spartanburg. My father stayed in Virginia. Dr. Kennedy lived near where lorth Church Street and Kennedy Place now is, and I lived in a two-room house in his back yard. I was Just a baby at the time. My old masser was as good and kind to me as he could be, so was my missus. My mother died when I was ten years old, and Missus was just like a mother to me all the time. When I got old enough I used to do some things around the yard for Masser and Missus. Masser was an Episcopalian, and I went to Sunday School where the rock church now stands (Church of the Advent). Miss Mary Legg was my teacher, and she was a saintly woman. She was a niece of old Masser. Old Missus used to come to the house where I lived and teach me my alphabet. After I got older, I used to take care of Masser'a horse and buggy for him; used to hitch- up the horse j for him and go with him on his wayo to see a pa- tient. Bless his heart, he let me take my Webster's blue back speller and my history with me when I would drive with him. I would study those books and Masser would tell me how to pro- nounce the hard words. That is the way I got my education. Mas- ser would tell Missus that Jimmie was a smart boy, that he had no father nor mother and that they must be. good to him. They sure was. I never wanted for a thing. Sometimes on our drives Masser would tell me some Latin words, but I never did study Latin—just English. Folk Lore: Stories from Ejc-slaves Page 2.: fj<|. "My masser would say that Jimmie had sense, was a good boy, so Missus would let me practice on her organ or her piano in the house. I got pretty good on these, so when I got to be a young man, I taught lessons on both the reed organ and the melo- dian, then on the piano. I taught the rudiments of music and piano for about 25 years. "When the Yankee soldiers come to Spartanburg it scared me. They kept telling me that they were not going to hurt me, but I got a pile of brick-bats and put them under the house. I told Missus I wasn't going to let any of the soldiers hurt her. The Yankee soldiers did not bother me. They came all around our house, but every one of them was quiet and orderly. They took some of Missus' sugar and hams, but did not kill any of the chickens. I told them not to take the sugar, but they tooK it and the hams anyhow. "Missus told me that I was free, but I told her I was going to stay on where I was and protect her until I died. And when Masser died, I grieved and grieved about him. I loved him dearly and I know he loved me. He was good and kind to me al- ways. He never whipped me, not once. I grieve about my masser to this day* He was a kind gentleman. "Ho, I never married, and I haven't got anybody kin to me now. My brothers all died and I am the only one left. I adopted four children. I taught them music and we got on pret- ty well after Missus died. I stayed with her until she died. Folk Lore: Stories of Ex-slaves Page 3. 55 I told Masser I was going to stay with them even if I was free, and I did. When Masser died, I had no one to love bat wiissus. I taught music and gave piano lessons, but I can't do that now, as I am too old. Lately I tried to cut some wood. I would cut a lick, then rest; cut a lick, then rest, so I gave it up. "Lord blesa your soulJ I am so glad you told who you are, and you talk like Masser Dan. You know he and I used to play together as boys. He would give me anything he had. Honey, come around and see me again. I is sure glad to see you. What did you say your name was?" Upon being told, his face would light up with a smile, and he would repeat just what he had said before. He was then asked when he got to be a poet. KLaw-' chile, my old missus told me I was going to be a poet." This ninety-year-old ex-slave then sat down at the piano and played for the writer. SOURCE: "Uncle" Jimmie Johnson, 172 S. Park Ave., Spartanburg, S. C. Interviewer: F. S. DuPre, Spartanburg, S. C. project. 1885-1 FOLKLORE SOnnC*? •<•-'> Edited by:- kc\ Spartanburg - Dist.4 03WU0J xj^ Elmer Turnage ^ May 24, 1937 STORIES PROM EX-SLAVES J " I was born seven miles from Newberry, near Jalapa. I was a slave of John Johnson and his sife, Polly(Dorrohj Johnson. They was good to dere slaves. My daddy was Danile and my mudder Elisa Johnson who was slaves of marster John Johnson. My mudder come from Georgia when she was 14 years old, bought by Marse Johnson. We lived in a little one-room house in dere yard. The mistress learned me to card and spin, and to weave when I was a child, when I was old enough, dey put me in de field to work, hoe and pick cotton. We got no money for working, but got our place to live, some victuals and a few clothes to wear. We had no garden, but helped de mistress in her garden and she give us something to eat from it. We had homespun dresses; we made not much underclothes, but sometimes in awful cold weather, we had red flannel underskirts. rt Nigger boys in slavery when dere work was done in evening, sometime went hunting and caught rabbits, squirrels or 'possums. "We got up at sun-up in mornings and worked 'till sun-down. We had Saturday afternoon off to do anything we wanted to do. At Christmas time, we got dat day off, and de master would have a big dinner wid all kinds good things to eat, spread out in de yard . "We never did learn to read and write — had no nigger school and had no nigger church, but sometimes de white folks would have us go to dere church and set in back seat or gallery, "The white folks had cotton pickings and corn shuckings often and we helped. Dey had good dinners for them coming to it. De chil- drens, white and black played marbles sometimes, and played base. Us slave children played base and jumped from one base to another before could be caught; and we singr'Can I git $o Molly's bright? Folklore: storied From Ex-Slaves Page 2 QJ j Three course and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? yes, if your legs are ibang and light.1 "Marse John's youngest son got to be a doctor. He was a good man and helped us when we was sick.He did not gibe herbs much, but some of de ole folks used 'life everlasting', now called rabbit tobacco, for cure of bad colds or pneumonia. Dey boiled it and make a plaster and put it on sore places of chest. Dey used holly bush or spice bush bark, boiled to a tea and drunk for sickness. "De padderrollers come in dat sedtion, they rode at night and if caught, a nigger, when he was out of his place, would be took in and told dat he would get §5 lashes if he was caught again. When de war was over, de Yankees went through but didn't bother us; but dey stold horses, mules, cows and supplies. When freedom come, we left the place, 'cause marse Johnson and some his folks went to Mis- sissippi. Whe hired out to Kirk Richards nearby. "De Ku Klux was not a bother. Dey jus marched sometimes at night, wid long white sheets over dem and all over de horses. Dere heads were covered with small holes for eyes, nose and mouth, and had long white ears like a horses ears. "I think Abe Lincoln was a fine man, and Jeff Davis was good too. Slaver.idid good to nigger, made him careful and know how to work." ' SOURCE: Mary Johnson (85J, Newberry, S.C. Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. (5/19/37) ^^^^^f^^W^\-'^-f?:i^ff^^r:'''', project 1885-1 folklore Spartanburg, Dist.4 Oct. 21, 1937 ^QD^P1 Edited by; K oouooj. Elmer Turnage stories mom ex-slates rtI live in town in a little two-room house wid some of my .^randchilluns. We rent de house. I am too old to work, but do what I can. !'I was de slave of John Johnson. His wife was Miss Polly, Dey was good to de slaves, and I had no trouble. My mother was Eliza Johnson and my pa was Daniel Johnson. Dey .was both slaves to Marse John Johnson. Eiy mother was from Georgia. We always lived in de yard behind de house in a small one-room cabin, a pretty good place to ' live, I reckon. "We didn't git no money fer our work. We got something to eat, but not much clothes to wear. We worked hard dem days; got up - at sun-ug and worked all day till sun-down or as long-as we could see. We didn't git much- time off, 'cept maybe a day at Christmas. - tNo, de white folks didn't learn us to read and write, fe had no school and no church in slavery time, but some of de niggers was made to go to de white folks' church and sit in de back seat. *Yes* de Yankees was bad, Dey burn't everything in deir way, and stole cattle; but dey didn't come near our place." Source": Mary Johnson (85), Newberry, S.C. Interviewer: G.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. (9/20/37) ^^Sii^Bi^^tt^MSilSiiilii^SS^&BSSASfelll ¦¦'¦¦¦ ¦ .¦¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ v .v..-., - :.'¦¦ WftSH Project #1655 W#f*Dixon Winnsboro, S# C. 390336 , 59 MIEMY JOHNSON EX^SIAVE 82 YEARS OLD* IfcLemy Johnson has no particular place of abode• She is a transient among her children, kin people, and friends* In whatever home she may be temporarily an occupant, she does the cooking and family washing* ttI knowed when dat bunty rooster hopped in de door, flap his wings and crowed, dis mornin*, dat us gonna have company today* I told Sam so befo1 he left here* Him laugh and say* *Ma dat bunty rooster is a big liar sometime* Maybe him just wanna reconmend hisself to you and beat de pig to de slop bucket dat you ainft carried out to de pen yet*1 Ifs sure glad dat you come, for itfll show Sam dat dat chicken never told a lie* nSet down dere and let me fetch you a plate of boil peanuts, which I just is set off de fire* You lak them? Glad you do* honey* Most white folks love them dat way, 9 stead of parched* How you been? You sure is growed since de last day I clap my eyes on you* How1 s I been? Poorly* Ifs just a waitin1 for de chariot to carry me home* "Well* us done cut down de underbrush, now let us git into de new ground* You just wanna talk fbout me and what happen to me all 'long de last eighty years? Datfs some big field to go over* *% pappy was name Henry* % mammy name Ceily* They both b'long to old It&rse Johnnie lbbley,but my pappy1 s pappy bYlong to de Johnson1 s; theyYs big white folks on de Catawba River side of de county* They sold deir plantation and some of de slaves, to old marster and his daughter, Ifiss Hancy* She was de widow Thompson befo9 her marry dat Kentucky hoss drover, H&rse Jim Jane** 60 "Freedom cone* % pappy 'membered de Johnson1 s and took dat for his name* I never been able to git fway from dat name* I marry little Phil Johnson* Vy brudder was Adam Johnson and my sister was Easter* Her marry Allan Foster* 11 Ify husband and me live in de old Mbbley quarter, three miles southwest of Woodward and just fbout a quarter of a mile from where you settin1 dere a writin1 right now* Long as him live, him was de carriage driver for de liobleys* He ftend Fellowship Church* An de Mobleys done dead or moved fway* Dere is no-thin1 left to tell de tale but dat cemetery you passed, comin* flong down here and de ghosts dat shiver fround dere in de nighttime* "Whenever it snow, them ghosts have been seen travelin1 down de road and up de avenue to Cedar Shades* You know datfs fbout a quarter of a mile farther down de road from where Marse Johnnie1 s brudder, James Mobley, lived* Fine old house dere yet, but just col- ored folks live in it* "Our chillun was Roxanna, Malinda, Ben, Mary, Waddell, Queen Elizabeth, Russell, Pearly, Thomasine. Helen, Alberta, Maggie, Mary Jane, Willie, Sam and Roy* Ha& de easiest birth pains when, to my big surprise, de twins, Sam and Roy come* Dat been forty years ago last July* I fmembers well, dat de twins was born on a Wednesday end I walk to Red Hill Church de very nex* Sunday* Rev* Richard Cook was de preacher* Him didnYt see me a sett in1 in de church and he pray for me by name, as bein1 in de perils of childbirth* And bless God, me right dere in dat church a goin1 flong wid de rest of them a singin1 * fAmasinf Grace How Sweet He Sound Dat Saved A Wretch Lak Me1 * I was a proud wretch dat day as sure's you born* "Does I 'member anything 9bout de earthquakef Jesus my Lord, yesi Us «E8 holdin* a revival meet in1 in Red Hill dat night* It was a moonlight Tuesday &ight* Brother Stevenson and Brother Moore was a help in1 Brother Richard Cook *• 61 carry on de meeting It was de last day of August , in f86* Brother Jtoore had preached, de choir had sung a hymn, and Brother Stevenson was in de middle of a prayer* Him said sumpin* fboit de devil goin1 fround lak a roarin1 lion a seek- in' folks for to devour* Then de roarin1 was heard* De church ooasaence to crack and shake and rock* Then all de folks holler: f0h Lordy#' They run out dat church and some took up de big road to de depot at Woodward* Some fell down in de moonlight and cry and pray* Brother Cook say de Bible saysi fBow down, or kaeel or fall on your face befo1 de Lord1* Then he sayt fLet us all fall on our faces dis time.1 Us did and each one of them preachers pray* 'Bout time they git through* us see a rider on a milk white hoss a gallopin* up to de church wid de white mane and tail of dat hoss a wavin1 and shinin1 in de moonlight* De people went Trild' wid fear and scream at de top of deir voices? tit's de white hoss wid his rider of de book of Revelations goinf forth, conquer in* and to con- quer*1 They bust forth in dat mighty spiritual f0h Hun Here, Believer, Run Here, Oh Sinner Your House On Firel Oh Sinner Your House On Firel* They run and sur- round de white hoes and his rider and what you reckon? Us find out it was just Marse Bd Woodward on his white hoss, John, comin1 back from courtin1 my young mistress, Tillie Mobley, dat him marry de nex* Christmas* "Marse Ed got down off dat hoss when us bfcg him to stay wid us* Itfs a powfful comfort to have a brave white man fround at sich a time fmongst a passle of terrified niggers, I tells you I And to think Marse Ed done dead* "You goin1 now? You ainft eat all your peanuts* Put them in your pocket and eat them on de way to de Boro* Goodbye I fspect I111 git to glory befo1 you does* If I does, I'll be dere a waitin1 wid a glad hand and a glad voice to welcome you to de everlastin1 home** Project 1885 -1- £££&*.<>. 390101 62 May 31, 1937 FOLK-LORE: EX-SLAVES "I was born on the Gilliam place, I reckon about 1854* My father died when I was little; I donft remember him* My mother was Lucy Gilliam who belonged to Reuben Gilliam. Reuben Gilliam was a big farmer and slave-owner. He .was good to de nigger chaps but whipped de big ones every day or two. I was too little to learn to read and write, but dey never learned any slaved to do dat. Dey never paid us any money wages, just give us eats and a place to sleep, and a little clothes. I worked in de field when I got bigger. Never had school in de place, and never had a church, either. nUs children played lots of games, like roily-hole. There are two holes and you try to roll a ball in one hole. The white folks had corn-3huckings, lots of them, as they raised lots of corn on de farms. Dey had cotton pickings, too, and carding and spinning bees, quilting bees• I used to feed de shippers when women folks spin de yarn, when I was a small boy. We raised plenty corn, cotton, and other things. We had a big garden, too. "When freedom come all of us left and went off. I went back to get something to eat. I married Mattie Kinard who belonged to old Maj. John Kinard. We had nine children* ,fI * member de red shirts when dey come through our place* I like it better now dan in slavery times/1 SOURCE: Tom Johnson (83), Newberry. S.C.; interviewed by G« Leland Smuaer* Hewberry, S# C* Project 1885-1 FOLKLORE 390141 Edited by: & 63 Spartanburg Dist.4 " Elmer Turnage July 15, 1937 Stories From Ex-Slaves 0 Dick has an upward stare all the time, and holds his head as if he were always looking up into the sky, consequent- ly he has won the sobriquet, 'Look-Up'. "Everybody dat knows me knows dat I was born on de Jim Gist plantation, and it used to jine Mr. Winsmith's and de Glenn Peak plantations. Mr. Winsmith was a doctor. Marse Jim sho was a good man to his darkies. MMy father was named Ned Jones and he belonged to Marse Berry Jones. His plantation was across de forest, next to West Springs. Mother was Lucy &ist, belonging to Marse Jim. My parents had de following chilluns: Just her, Bella, Sphriam, Griggs, John, Penfield, me and ^ichard. Dey married and so we was all £ones. "De slaves in de Gist Quarter lived well. All nigger chilluns in dat quarter had very small tasks until dey was seventeen or eighteen years old. De Quarter had nine houses. Dere was seventeen hundred acres in our plantation; or dat is, de part where we lived and worked. We lived in one-room log cabins dat had to be well kept all of de time. "All de chilluns in de Quarter was well fed, clothed, housed and doctored until dey was strong and well developed younguns* Den dey was give tasks and learnt to do what de master and de mistresa thought dey would do well at. Stories Prom Ex-Slaves (Dick-Look-Up$ Page 2 H p* "In de houses we had comfortable home-made beds and chairs. We had nice tables and plenty to eat. Our clothes was kept mended by a seamstress, and dese things was looked after by one of de mammies on de plantation dat was too old to work. f,Ah yes, well does I 'member my Granny from Africa, and straight from dere, too; Judith Gist, dey named her. Dat ole lady could not work when she died, fer she was a hundred and ten years old. Dey had in de paper dat I was 125"* It gives me notice to say dat I is de oldest man in Union bounty. Can't ?member any of my grandfathers. Millie Gist was my mother, and aunt Judith was her mother, "Granny Judith said dat in ifrica dey had very few pretty things, and dat dey;; had no red colors in cloth, in fact* dey had no cloth at all. Some strangers wid pale faces come one day and drapped a small piece of red flannel down on de ground. All de black folks grabbed fer it. Den a larger piece was drapped a little further on, and on until de river was reached. Den a large piece was drapped in de river and on de other side. Dey was led on, each one trying to git a piece as it was drapped. finally, when de ship was reached, dey drapped large pieces on de plank and up into de ship 'till dey got as many blacks on board as dey wanted. Den de gate was chained up and dey could no+ get back. Dat is de way Granny Judith say dey got her to America. Of course she did not even know dat de pieces was red flannel, or dat she was being enticed away. Dey just drapped red flannel to dem like us draps corn to chickens to git dem on de roost at night. ' 70 "Got to Cherokee Palls, wid water so high couldn't tell no falls dar. Marster say, 'Lay her to de right, we can't wreck dis boat widout putting up a honest man's fight.' Den he say, 'If us does, us'11 sho go to hell.' We tried to swing her by grabbing to a big willow, and we broke a lot of limbs in trying, but we did swing her and she run a 100 yards widout steering, and de boat landed on a little mountain of land,. Marse 'low, "Ain't never seed sech a ocean of water since I was eighteen years old, damn if I have.' He look at me and say, 'Don't know whether Dick scared or not, but he sho is a brave man.' I was a-setting my feets on land den, and I look at him and 'low, 'No sir, I ain't skeer't, why I could come over dat little place in my bateau.' Truth is, dat I was so skeer't dat I wasn't skeert. We lay over a day and a half. De water had done rece/ded back some, and we come 27 miles down to Lockhart Shoals in dat one day. De water was still so high dat we run over de shoals widout a tremor. Come sailing on down to Fish Dam and went over de' J?ish Dam and never knowed dat it was dar. Den we landed at de road wid everybody safe but still scar't. "Dar was two Charlie Gilmores ... one was kil't right below Fish Dam. He was hit in de head by a private. When de private was cutting de boat, ^harlie got in de way of de pole and it hit him ih one of his temples and he fell over in de water dead* When dey got him, wasn't narry drap of water in his lungs, dat's how-come us knowed dat he was kil't straight out. Some says dat he was hit in de yer (ear), but anyway Stories From Sx-Slaves (Dick Look-up) Page 9 v?* it was on a tender spot and de lick sho done him up. Nothing wasnft done to de private, kaise it was all accidental and I'.iarse and everybody felt sorry fer him* n0n river trips, we took rations sech as meat, bread and cabbage, and us cotch all de fish dat we wanted and had coffee. We each took day in and day out to cook, dat is, all dem dat could half-way cook did dat.rt *" _., ,- x> ...............¦......' vp^ Source: Richard Jones (Dick Look-up) age19Si County Home, Union, S.C. '^"'\ Interviewed by: Caldwell Sims, Union,\ S.C. (7/9/27) / ? \, fcause certain times you got to take medicine •cordin1 to doctors orders, and a 3lave might make a mistake* Oh, they was Hicular fbout sickness* They has a hard time wid some nigger chillun and dat cast1 oil bottle, I tell youJ n One of my young marsters was name Charlie* After freedom he marry one of Colonel Province fs daughters and me and my mamjny moved and lived wid them a while* Then I got married to Wates Kelly, and went to live and work for a white man fbove White Oak* His name was Long John Cameron, de best white man to work for, but when Satfday come and all de hands paid off, he git dat red hoss and turn and gallop to Winnsboro and bring back a passel of low dovm white trash wid him to de disturbment of all de good colored person on de place* *Yas sir, KLu Hux was a terror to certain colored persons* I •members they come dressed up in white and false faces, passed on to de Richacdson place and whipped somebody one night* "My husben1 been dead twelve years* Ifs got thirteen chillun and Minnie is de onliest one livinf wid me in dis house* Her name Minnie 82 Martin* Got whole lot of gran* chillunj they cover de earth from Charlotte to Jacksonville, and from Frisco to Harlem, New York; but never see them, just three, Franklin, Masie and Marie Martin* 11 I heard fbout Lincoln and Booker T. Washington* De President now in de White House, Mr* Roosevelt, have done more good for de nigger in four years than all de other presidents since Lincoln, done in fifty years* You say its been seventy~two years? Well*than all de rest in seventy«two years• DonH you know dat is so? Yas sir, dats de gospel truth* •* Ifa a member of de Baptist Church* Been buried wid my Lord in baptism and hope for a resurrection wid him in Beulah Land* "Yes, de overseer was de poor buckra, he was what you calls dis poor white trash* You know boss, dese days dere is three kind of people* Lowest down is a layer of white folks, then in de middle is a layer of colored folks and on top is de cream, a layer of good ufaite folks* fSpect itfll be dat way Hill Jedgement day* 11 I got one boy name Ben Tillman, livin* in dis town• White folks calls him Blossom, but he don't bloom 'round here wid any money, though he is on de relief roll by sayin* he got a poor old mammy nigh a hundred years old and he have to keep her up* 'Spect when I gits my old age pension my chillun will pay me some little Hention, thank God* DonH you know they will, sure they will* w Oode No. Project, lgg5-(l) Prepared hy Annie Ruth Davis Place, Marion, S.O. Date, November 1, 1937 No* Hoards Reduced from____words Rewritten by Page l. 83 MARTHA KELLY ^, Ex-Slave, Age €¦•// 390397 "All I can tell you, I come here de second year of freedom. Close I had a lot of trouble en I can1 hardly imagine how long it be dat I de age I is. My mother, she know my age good, but she been dead for de years come en gone from here, Ain1 much I can remember to tell you cause . I was small den. No, my mammy didn' tell we chillun nothin. Didn' have no time to tell we chillun nothin. She had to go out en work in de field in de day en she would be tired when night come,M wMy mammy white people was name Charlie Law en his family en dey lived in Britton's Neck till dey come up here to Marion, We lived in a rice country down in dat place call Britton's Neck. Ain1 you hear talk of it? My mammy en her ohillun stay^ ed right dere on old man Law's place till long time after dey tell dem dey was free to leave dere. Stayed to de nigger quarter in my mammy house cause we was learn to be field hands, (Harold, I told you hold off me cause I don' feel like you layin on me dis mornin.) (Harold - small grandson). Didn' know bout nothin much to eat in dat day en time, but bread en meat en rice en all such as dat. Oh, de peoples in dat country made plenty rice, Dey would plant it on dis here black loo3cin dirt en when dey would see dat it was right ripe, dey would cut it en thrash it out. Den dey would have one of dem pestle en mortar to beat it wid. My blessed, child, dat been turn out Code No* Project, lgg5-(l) Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Place, Marion, B.C. Date, November 1, 1937 No. Words Reduced from. Rewritten by" words Page 2. 84 de nicest kind of rice, No,mam, don' see no such rice dese days dat been eat like dat rice eat.M "I recollects I used to be right much of a hand to pull fodder en pick cotton en all such like dat cause all my work was in de field mostly till I got to de place dat I couldn' work no longer. You see, when I was married, I moved out dere on Dr. Miles' place over next Pee Dee en bout all my days was spent in de country. Lived out dere on Br. Miles' place till I come here to town to live bout seven or eight years ago. You is hear talk of Dr. Miles, ain1 you? I used to do what you might say a right good size washin, but I ain1 able to get bout to do nothin dese days much. Just washes out a piece or two like a apron every now en den.a "Some of de peoples used to sing dere, but I wouldn' never bear much along dat line, Didn1 have no voice much to sing. I8 you got die one? 'Lord, I wonder, Lord, I wonder, Lord, I wonder, When de lighthouse Gwine shine on me." (Repeat 3 , Times) "Dat all dere be to dat one. I don1 know whe» if I could remember dat other one or no. Seem like it go somethin like dis: Code No. Project, 1SS5-(1) Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Place, Marion, S.C. Date, November 1, 1937 No. Words Reduced from____words Rewritten by Page 3. 85 •Oh, didn» it rain? It rain *K) days, En it rain 40 nights, It ain' never stop a droppin yet, En I heard de angel in de mornin sing, Oh, didn> it rain? But do*n by de graveyard, Me en my Lord gwine stand en talk. Up on de mountain fire en smoke, I wouldn' be so busy bout de fire en smoke. I heard de angel in de mornin sing, Oh, didn« it rain? Oh, didn' it rain? It rain 4o days, En it rain 4o nights, Widout still a droppin yet, I heard de voice of de angel in de mornin sing, Oh, didn* it rain? Oh, didn« it rain? Down by de graveyard, Me en my Lord gwine stand en talk. Ohillun, my good Lord, I heard de voice of de moanin angel, Oh, didn' it rain? *^* Code No. Project, lgS5-(l) Prepared by Annie Ruth Pavis Place, Marion, S.C. Date, November 1, 1937 No. Words_ Reduced from. Rewritten by" words Page 4. 86 Oh, didn» it rain? It rain 40 days, In it rain 40 nights, Widout still a droppin yet, En I heard de voice of de angel in de oornin, Oh, didn' it rain?« "fell, dere ain* been so much dat I remember dat happen when I come along but what been happen in a way dis day en time. Oose dere been a difference cause de people ain1 used to live fast like dey do dese days. Dere been de shake dat come here in •66 dat I ain1 never see de like since en ain' want to see nothin like dat no more neither. I remember it come here on a night en when I get in bed dat night, I ain1 been expectin nothin had been de matter. Den dere somethin been rouse me up en all de dishes was a rattlin • When I get up en go out in de yard, de house en all de elements was a rockin. Yes,mam, I was scared. Didn1 know what was de matter. Thought it was de Jedgment comin when I wake up en hear all de people round bout dere screamin en a hollerin, Jedgment4 Oh, JedgmentJ Say dem what ain' right better get right. I tell de people dat dere won1 no need to run to de church den cause we was all gwine be destroyed dere together. Child, I give myself up den en I get just as happy as I could be.M "Oh, dey had slavery time doctors to tend de people when dey was siok in dat day en time. Yes,mam, had dey plantation Code No. Project, 1S85-(1) Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Place, Marion, S.C. Date, November 1, 1937 No. Words Reduced from. Rewritten by" Page 5. words 87 doctor right dere dat would go from one plantation to de other en doctor dem what was ail in. De doctor would come dere to my white folks plantation en tell my grandmother what to feed dem on en she would give dem de remedy dey tell her. Dey would use all kind of different herbs in dat day en time dat dey would get out de old fields en de woods for dey cures. Honey, dey was good too en dey good yet. I couldn1 tell you half de herbs dey use, but I recollects dere was bone~set dat was good for fever, sage for de baby, pennyroyal dat was good for girls dat oatoh cold, mint for sick stomach, catnip to hope a cold, horehound to strike a fever en dat bout all I recollect. No,mam, I can1 remember half de herba dere was in de field, but I know we got some of dat sage growin dere in de garden now.« wI hear talk of dem Yankees plenty times, but I don* know much to speak bout dem. Oouldn1 tell de first word bout dem. I die kind of person, I don1 pay much mind to nothin like dat. Dey was white people, I think.M "Seems like it was better livin long time ago den dere be now. Seems like times so tight dese days. Reckon it cause I ain* able to work, but dey tell me de people don* get nothin muoh to speak bout for dey work die day en time. Seems like I got along good when I was able to whip round en bout.M MI hear de people say dere such a thing as ghost, but I don* know en I ain* de kind to speak bout de devil business. I hear talk dey could be walkin right along wid you en dere some people could see dem en den dere others could look wid Code No. Project, lSg5-(l) Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Place, Marion, S.C. Date, November 1, 1937 No. Words___ Reduoed from Rewritten by" words Page 6. 88 all de eyes dey got en couldn* see dem. No, I ain1 never see dem. I has seen people wear one of dese dime round dey ankle, but I never didn* ax dem no thin bout what dey wear it for cause some people is curious en don* like for you to be axin dem bout things. I did always keep out of fuss en I still keepin out it. Never did bother none wid it. When I see anybody fussin, I shuns dem. My mammy didn* raise me to do dat.H Source; Martha Kelly, Marion, 8.0. ( age between 70 and 75) (Colored.) Personal interview by Annie Ruth Davis, Oct., 1937. project 1885-1 folklore Spartanburg, Dist.4 Dec. 7, 1937 390423 Edited by: Elmer Turnage (Htlltq) STORIES IROM EX-SLAVES "I live in a rented house wid my daughter who takes care of me. I was born in de Santuc section. My pa and ma was Richard Daw kins and Martha Shelton Dawkins, I think dey lived v?id de Hendersons in de Maybinton section near Broad River, but dey lived wid Marse Bill Jeter near Santuc 7.;hen I v?as born. My husband was Ike Kelley, he .been'dead good-many years. /?Marse whipped me once or tfvice. We had to work in de cot- ton fields, and I have split rails and ditched like men, too. f*'We had home-raised meat, lots of hogs and cattle. Marse - '¦ had" a big garden and v?e got lots of vegetables. Marse fed slaves in a trough in deyard. Pie had his own-smokehouse whar he cured his meat. His flour was ground in de neighborhood. Sometimes he give a slave family a small patch to plant watermelons in. "We wore heavy brogans wid brass toes, sometimes Marse would make his own leather and have shoes made in de neighborhood and dese would have wooden bottoms. He never let us learn to read and write. He never allowed us to go" from one place to another unless -it was., on his place. De patrollers would git us if ^e didn't have a pass; even if we went to church, wid white folks we" had to have a pass. Niggers didn't have no church till atter de war; den dey built brush arbors in de woods. *»I married at my .house._We is-Baptists, and I used to go _ and see dem baptize sinners, •We used to go home at night when de work was over and go 'f-'^;^&M!;JM£^^{£i^^fi Stories from Ex-Slaves Page 8 to bed and rest. We worked all day on Saturdays, but never worked on Sundays. On Christmas Days we had off, and Marse would give us good things to eat and some whiskey to drink. "My'mother worked around de house in slavery time, she helped cook, clean up and wash dishes, and sometimes she would card, spin and.weave. MDey used to make a yellowish dye from mud, a grayish dye from maple tree bark and a brownish dye from walnut tree bark. We allus planted by de signs or de scales.rIrish potatoes, turnips and sweet potatoes we planted in de dark of de moon; while beans was planted in de. sign of de craw-fish. "I remember when de Yankees come through atter de war. Dey stole everything and burned up everything dey couldn't steal. De Ku Klux was in our section. Dey killed lots of niggers around dar. ' "I don't remember anything about Abraham Lincoln nor - Jefferson Davis, only heard about dem. I don't know much about Booker Washington, either." - Source: Mary Jane Kelley (N, 85), Newberry, S.C. Interviewer: "G-.L. Summer, Newberry, S.C. 11/10/27. .\^# $80432 = 91 ^psSProjeot 1655 Genevieve W* Chandler Murrells Inlet Georgetown County, S* C* FOLKLORE EX-SIAVB STORY ( UNCLE GAJBE IANCE - BORN AND LIVING ON SAHDY ISLAND ) "Great Peace* Missus, have to study up that In Uncle Gabe had just arrived from Sandy Island at the country post-office, having routed over for his month fs supply of sugar and coffee and things he can- not raise* After the five or six mile row he must needs walk three miles to the office. *I could remember when the Yankee boats come to Montarena* —• gun •» boats* Bout ten o'clock in the morning* Soldier all muster out and scatter all over the island* You know that cause«*etf- couldnvt done task! 'Give fem less rations to boot! Cut fem down to 1 qt, molasses 1 lb, meat 1 pk, corn for a week Good Master all right. Give plenty to eat* Reasonable task. Task dem time one-fourth to one half acre. Ditching man ten compass. Get to slush fefe out. Got to bail that water out till you kin see track. All dem rice-field been nothing but swamp. Slavery people cut kennel (canal) and dig ditch and cut down woods — and dig ditch through the raw woods. All been clear up for plant rice by slavery people. Beat my B& and Ma. to death and turn me loosej Ought to take care 'o mej I send off my 35 ct# fust (first) time, next time twenty-five cents I put what little I have in it, Ainft hear no answer. Some ten or fifteen head round here send off blank and don*t get no hearing; Take what little I have Project 1655 Genevieve W« Chandler FOLKLORE Murrells Inlet 0 Georgetown County, S# C# Bage 3 ^'*> and don't send me nothing TALLJ I tired with that nowJ Aint had a hearing;n ( Referring to fold age compensation* )# SOURCE* Uncle Gabe Lance, Age 77, Sandy Island, Murrells Inlet, S* C. Project #-1655 390168 Approx* 690 Words & C« S, Murray Director Charleston, S# c, STORY BY EX-SLAVE "I don't •member much 'bout slavery time »cause I been lee (little) boy when war declare, I raise up under de Murray - all my generation belong to de Murray, Dey know how to treat slave. AinTt lick urn much, hardly any. Chill- un hab easy time. All I been require to do was tote coal to Mosser when he ready fer light. Adam Mack and me, we been de fire boy. Mosser gib Adam to Mister Eberson. I ain't gib to nobody - !specially, "All white people ain't treat slave good. Some make urn wuk haa'd all day, and 'cuss um plenty. De slave who been live near Steamboat -Landing had rough time when dere old Miss git in tantrum. She been 'nuse to trabbel all over de world, and when she come back, she call all de slave together, and say: "When I come, de debbil come," "We family ain't had all dat to worry 'bout. Behave yourself and you all right. Plenty to eat, plenty to drink. Run 'round and en^foy yourself if you got uh mind to* Vfak when you wuk, play when you play, Ole Miss 'nuse to 'tend all de sick nigger* Go from house to house, wid lee pair of scale and bottle ram jam pack of" calomel. Give lee nigger big dose of castor oil, and dey git well quick, mighty quick. "Old Mosser 'nuse %o keep all de likker in de world on hand* Had to keep plenty, 'cause he friend drink lot and nigger drink lot too* He ain't drink so much he self* CB$ nigger been live on de place call John Fraser, same one I Project #-1655 Pap,e . ,2 05 C. S. Murray & •^ Director Charleston, S. C. tell you '"bout, dat cut all dem tree down* John sure been slick. When Mosser call fer he fine likker to hand 'round, John come hack and tell hin all gone, Mosser want to know why. John make reply: 'Yfriy, Mosser you knov? you hab Mister Binyard to supper last night and he finish all dat good stuff. You knov; how Mr. Binyard drink. Sometime he drink when your back t'un. (turned.) Hov/ you 'speck um to last?' Mosser scratch he ha id, and say, yes he knov; how Mr. Binyard drink, and mebbe dats why de last bottle empty. He ain't satisfy, but he can't prove dat John drink um. "Mosser 'nuse to keep de whiskey down in de cellar by de barrel, and he draw um off in botcle when he need um and take um upstair to de wine room. Be nigger dat wuk 'round de house and de yaa'd, help dem self out de barrel when dey feel tired. Mosser 'spect dem to do dat - dey 'title (en- title) to um. Whiskey been kinder ration in dem day. "Nigger jest knov/ haa'd time now. Ain't been dat way when I been lee boy. You ain't lacking fer nutting den dat you really need, No tussling 'bout fer yotirself anrd knock 'round from pillar to post. If we need anything slavery time we ax (ask) fer um - make we want known. Any feelingably white man who hab slave, gib v/e what we need. No puzzling 'tall (at all.) "Ain't I tell you 'bout dat time when John Praser take overcoat from Mosser right on Meeting ^street? No, Well, Project #-1655 Page - 3 96 C* S* Murray Director Charleston, S. C» it been uh cold day, and Mosser tell John Praser to meet him on de corner Meeting and Broad wid de overcoat, 'cause he going out dat night and he want 'urn* John been wid Abel Wright, and de two of dem walk down de street to meet de Major. John say to Abel: 'I cold-as de debbil, and I going to ax Mosser fer he coat*1 Abel say: 'You crazy* He send fer urn and he sure ain't going, to gib you he good new coat anyhow*' John say: 'You wait and see** "Soon Mosser come in sight* When he see John he git mad right off 'cause John hab on he overcoat* /"Before he kin say uh wud (word) John speak up fast* He.say:f^es, Mos- ser I got on your coat 'cause it mighty cold* Got to excuse old nigger* You hab 'nother coat* I ain't got nutting but dis here jumper* Go on home Mosser and git torrer (the other) coat* I going to keep dis* He jest fit me. Go on home*' Mosser study fer uh while, den he laugh* Se see how keen de coat fit John, and he know it been cold sure 'nough* John look sekker (just like) dress up monkey in dat long tail overcoat, and dat make de Major laugh all de more* So he tu'n round and go home, and John hab dat coat till he die* "Old Mosser scarcely going to deny you nutting, if he like ybu#tt SOURCE: Interview with Ephriam Lawrence, about 81, farmer, Edisto Island, S# C, Project #-1655 ^90107 Approx. 880 Words C. S* Murray OOU1U / * ^ Director See^H, )0 Charleston, S* C* FOLELCEE FOLK TALES Mike Lawrence belonged to what he calls "de Murray state" in slavery times* He was one of Major William Meggett Murray's "fire boys", who was charged with the specific duty of bring live coals to the master whenever he wanted to light his pipe* Mike was only a*small lad when war was declared, but he remembers numerous stories relating to "Mausea's niggers", some of which are worth recording. He' speaks from first hand knowledge he says, for the things that he tells about happened during his childhood and still stand out clearly in his mind* H ere is one of Mike's stories: "Old John Drayton)was de smaa'test of all de nigger de Maussa place. He wuk so haa'd some time dat Maussa jest got to stop him, or he kill heself. I nebber see sech uh man fer wuk in all my life. Maussa tfink uh lot ob urn, 'cause he been uh good field hand, beside know lot 'bout cutting 'ood (wood) and building fence. What been more old John play fer all de dance on de plantation. He fair (really) mek fiddle tqlk. When Maussa gib uh dance he always call 'pon John. "Xas, suh dat man sure could play. W'en he saw down on de fiddle and pull out dat June (tune) "Oh, de Monkey Marry to de Babboon Sister," he mek paa'son (parson) dance* "One day more dan all, Maussa Murray send wud (word) to John dat de cow der break out ob de pasture, and he 1—n ft a c - 7i a ~> &/:¦ Project #-1655 page -, 2 Qft C. S. Murray 6 ^o Director Charleston, S. C. got to mend de fence quick. But John done promise some nigger on Penwick Island to play fer uh dance, and he steal paa't (path) ami go. (This expression means to go away by stealth). Dat been Friday night and Maussa say John got to finish de fence by sundown the next day. "Wen Old John ain't show up Saturday morning* Maussa ax eberybody where he been and de nigger all band togedder (together) and tell Maussa dat dey see him leabe in uh boat to go fish and he ain't seen since. Maussa been worry sure bought den !cause he t'ink John might be drown. He 'gage (en- gage) four man to shoot gun all ober creek to mek John body rise. Atter dat dey drag all 'bout in de gutter. "Maussa gone bed wid heaby haa't (heart) cause he been very fond ob Old John. "John come back from Penwick Island early Monday morning and •fore day clean he in de 'odd der cut fence rail. Now, one hundred rail been call uh good day wuk, but Old John de- cide he going to do better dan dat. He find fibe (five) tree grow close togedder, and he cut piece out ob every one. Den he chop at the biggest tree till he fall, and dat tree knock all de rest ober wid um. "Wen all dem tree fall togedder, it make sech uh noise, dat ole Maussa hear um in he bed, and hasten to dress so he kin see w'at der go on in de woods. "Maussa saddle de horse and ride Hill he git to de cen- Project #-1655 Page - 3 00 C. S. Murray vJ Director Charleston, S. C. ter ob de noise and dere he see Old John cutting 'way like he crazy. Maussa been mad sure 'nough, but den he glad to see John ain't drown. He staa't to say some t'ing but Old John interrupt, and sing out: 'Go 'way Maussa,..I ain't got time to talk wid you now.' "Old John den gather up five ax, and go to de five tree laying down on de ground. He dribe uh ax in ebery tree and den grab uh heaby maul. Wen Maussa look on, he tek de maul and run from one tree to torrer (one to the other) and quick as he hit de ax, de tree split wide open* Maussa staa't to say some t'ing 'gain but John ain't let him talk. He say: 'Go on home to Missus, Maussa, I too shame, great God I to@ shame 1 Go onf home.1 Maussa tun (turn) 'round in he track and go home wid- out uh wud, 'cause he see de old nigger ain't going to gib him any satisfaction 'bout Saturday. Wen he go back in de ood dat evening he check up and find dat Old John done cut five hundred rail. Oh, dera been man in dose day, I tell you." SOURCE: Interview with Ephriam (Mike) Lawrence, about 80, far- mer and laborer, Edistoii Island, S. C* Project #1655 W* W# Bixon ^Qn97 1 Winnsboro, 3. C. wC*Jd ! l 100 BEN LEITMER EX-SIAVE 65 YEARS * * I see you go by de road de other day, on your way to old man Wade Jack son fs house* f Member de old fellow dat am paralyzed, de one dat lives beyond Fellowship graveyard? I was settenf in dat graveyard when you and Marse Thomas pass in de automobile* I fquire nex* day where you was a goin*, then Marse Thomas say you goin1 'round doin' sumpin* bout old slaves and fspect ycu9d like to see me* So here I is* H Well, Ifs knowed you since you was knee-high and Marse Thomas say* maybe you help me to get a pension* If you canH^nobody can* ** I was born a slave of old Marse Robin Brice, not far from New Hope A*R#P* Church* Vy mistress was name Miss Jennie* My young marsters• was: Marse John, Marse Chris, and Marse Tom* Iferse Tom been a little runt; they call him Tom Shanty* Him got to be a member of de Legislature, after de war* All them went to de 'Federate War* Deir sister, Amanda, marry Marse Bill Kitchen* You fmember him,donft you? Course you does. " 'Member dat day baseball fust come out end they got up a team, not a team then; they called it a 'Nine*, when de game fust come to woodward section? If you ketch a ball on de fust bounce, dat was a 'out** No sich thing as a mask for de face, gloves for de hands, and mats to protect your belly* No curves was allowed, or swift balls throwed by de pitcher* Him have to pitch a slow dropball. De aim then was to see how far a batter could knock de ball, how fast a fellow could run, and how many tallies a side could make* Mighty poor game if de game didn't last half a day and one side or de other make forty tallies* 101 * Marse Bill Kitchen was workin9 in de store of his bruddar^in-law* Marse John A* Brice* Him was called out to make one of de fNines*• Kim went to de bat, and de very fust lick, him knock de ball way over center field* Everybody holler: fRun Kitchen! Run Kitchen! Run KitchenJ f Marse Bill stand right dere wid de bat; shake his head and long black whiskers and say: 9Why should I run? I got two m©re licks at dat ball** They git de ball* tech him and de umpire say: 90ut9* tearse Bill throw de ball down and say: 9D»-*i sich a game!9 Folks laugh 9bout dat 9til die day* * toy daddy name Bill Leitner* Him never b9long to Marse Robin* Kim belong to Marse John Partook Brice* Mammy b9long to Marse Robin* Her neme Sarah* Daddy have to have a pass to come to see mamay* * Uy brudders and sisters was Eliza* Aleck, and Hilton* Patrollers whup daddy one time when they come to de house and find him widout a pass* Marster have maaay whup us chillun, when us need a whuppen* Her milk de cowSi churn, and 9tend to de milk* butter and dairy* I helped her wid de cows end calves• and churaiti'. » Tou ask me is I had plenty to eat? Sure I did, wid all dat milk •round me all de time* Best thing I 9member right now was runnin9 my fin- ger fround de jar where de cream cling, end suckin9 it off my fingers* * Marster took good care of his slaves* They never went hungry or cold* 19 Uy mrster and mistress live in a big two-story house* Us live in little log house, wid log chimneys* I 9members fightin9 chinches in de summertime and fleas all de time* I wore a asafetida bag 9round my neck, when a child to keep off croup* measles, diphtheria* end whoopin9 cou^u Marster send for Or# Walter Brice when any slave get very ill* .02 * De fust year of freedom I -work for Marse Chris Brice* Been wid de Brioes all my life* Now livinf on Marse Tom Bricefs place* * When de Yankees come, they ramsack de house for silver and gold* They burn de house and gin-housej carry off mules, bosses, and cows* They took de chickens* load all de provisions, put them in a four-hoss wagin, and leave us and de white folks cold and hungry* It was cold winter time then too* 11 I marry a ginger cake lady, one-fourth white, daughter of Louis (Jrier* Tho1 I ainH much on looks as you sees me today, dat gal often, befo* and after de wed dinf, put her arms fbout me and says fBen you is de hansomeat man I ever have see in de world*f H Us had three chillun* !^y wife led rae to de light of de Lord* I jined de Red Hill Baprfcist Church, under de 3pell of Peter Cookfs preachin* and my wife up in de choir a singin1: *Give me dat old time Religion.1 Preacher Miller is my pastor now* Peter Cook dead and gone to glory long years ago* I ^members now dat old preacher fs warm hand, when he took my hand dat night I jined* Him say: fGod give you a life to live* You have a soul to save. God give you His Son to save dat soul* Glory be His name?* " Project 1885-1 Spartanburg, Dist.4 Elmer Turna^e KM Jan. 7, 1938 REMINISCENCES 390026 "My husband, Nathan Lipscomb, was over on Mt. pleasant fighting, and I had been over there to see him. He was a private in the rear ranks. When we were coming back to Charleston on a rice steamer, an open boat, the Yankees were shelling the town. I played with my finders in the water of the bay as the steamer went along. He landed at a different landing from the one where we had started from. When I got off the steamer I was very mucJa frightened, for they had shot through the hotel where we were staying. "We immediately left the city by train. I hated to leave my husband so far behind, but I could do nothing about it. In that day the train used only wood for fuel. Only two trains a day came from Columbia to Charleston. They made about 18 miles per hour, but that was good traveling at that time. MMy brother, Thomas Wilkins, went through the war. My father, Russell, and Richard were in training when the surrender came. I stayed with my father at White Plains while my husband was off to war. When we heard that the Yankees were coming, we had the njgroes to hide all the horses but two, and to hide the cows and turn the hogs loose to ramble in the woods. "When the Yankees rode up to the yard and got off their horses, we could easily tell they had been drinking. We told them that our horses were in the stable and that the negroes had fled in terror, which was true. They ate up everything they could find and ransacked the closets and pantry. They then caught the chickens, took the two horses in the stable and went away. Reminiscences -- 2 — 104 ??The darkies came back with the cows and horses, and we got settled for the night. About nine o'clock, the Yankees came un- expectedly and took all the horses and cows. They killed the cows, and made our darkies help them to butcher them and barbecue them. The Yankees soon ate everything up and left with our horses. "My grandmother, Agnes Wood, gave my mother, Elizabeth Wilkins a beautiful young mare. The Yankee who took that mare, turned over a pot of fresh soap when my mother asked him not to take the mare. Our cook, Matilda, had the soap ready to cut in the pot, so we saved some of it. "During the second year of the war I was making me a homespun dress, and while my father helped me with the weaving he told me of a dress that one of his friends made during the Nulli- fication days. I carded and spun the filling for my new dress, wove it , made the dress and wore it to Charleston when I went to see my husband. It had broad, black stripes the width of my two fingers, and two green threads between the black stripes. It also had a little yellow stripe. It was really a beautiful dress and looked very much like silk." Source: Mrs. Mary Ann Lipscomb, Gaffney, S.C. Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. 12/22/37 Project 1885-1 -3Qni71 -in*» FOLKLORE OSUIfl Edited by: JLUO Spartanburg Dist.4 Elmer Turnage July 9, 1937 STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES "C^pt. Sam Little,)ohn whipped Miss Sallie H's slave. His name was Ambus H. Cap' tied him to a tree. Never had no corn- shuckings, us shucked de corn quick as us hauled it from de field. "My marse kilt as many as twenty 'logs every time he butchered, which be about fo' times every winter. Marse Richard Littlejohn never married. He lived wld his mother, and seven brothers. "Marse was one good man and he love his darkies. He never had no overseer, because he had only 'bout 80 slaves as I re- members. I de onliest chile dat my ma had and I be 88 if I live to see dis coming December. My ma teach me to fight nothing ijd dis world but de devil. "My father was Peter Littlejohn. Lawyer Tommie Dawkins was his marster. I never was sold. I married, tut never had no chilluns. My old lady been gone over de river dese many years, so many dat I cannot recall how many. Yes Sit, I used to light my jna's pipe and wear home-made clothes. Ole lady Rhoda was de seamstress. She died not long atter we was liberated. "I lives in de Woods funeral Home which is on de corner of Park Ave. and Liberty Street. Once I befriend a man in distress. He now own interest in de undertaking 'stablishment and dat is why I has a room dar in my.old age." Source: Govan Littlejohn, Park Ave. and Liberty St., Spartanburg. Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. (5/14/37) Project 1885-1 FOLKLORE ?9nifi1 Edited by: Elmer Turnage Spartanburg, Dist.4 ^ uj.ua June 14, 1937 . i!t . 106 STORIES PROM EX-Slaves Govan Little,) ohn, of Spartanburg, told the writer he was 87 years old and that he remembered slavery times. He said he was born on the farm of Dicky Littlejohn, located near Grindal Shoals. He said Richard LittleJohn owned a mill on Pacolet River, though his brother, Jim Littlejohn, owned the land. This was a grist mill. Govan Littleftohn's father was a colored man from another farm and his name was Hawkins, but he took the name of Littlejohn. He remembers the Yankee Soldiers passing in the public road, but they did not bother any one there; didn't take or steal anything, and just passed on quietly. He says his master did not know how to whip anybody, though he remembers hi© ^catching hold of him one day and switching him with a small twig, saying "You little rascal, you". His master whipped some of the grown negroes but not hard enough to hurt them, though once or twice he saw a grown negro with bare back feel the swich. "But he did not know how to whip anybody." "Yes, I been conjured," he said. "Uou see that left foot? Well, once wh&n I was a young 'buck', I was setting up to a gal and there was another fellow setting up to her, too. I held a little bit the upper hand with the gal. But when my left foot began to swell up and pain me, I had to go to bed. I stayed there three months. Dr. Nott came to see me and treated me with corn poultices, but they would dry up and fall off and I didn't get any better. He lanced my foot three times, but nothing but blood would come. One day a herb doctor came to see me and said he Stories from Ex-slaves Page 2 i(Y7 could care my foot. He took corn meal poultices, rhubarb roots and some other things, and it wasn't long before my foot got well. About that time, my mother found the ?conjuration1 right in the front yard at the door-steps. I must have stepped over it, or got my foot caught in it some way. The 'conjuration* was, pins, feathers and something el3e all tied up in a bag. My mother heard that if it was put in running water, the conjurer would leave the country. So pretty soon after she put the stuff in running water, that fellow left the country. He got his arm caught in a cotton gin not long after he left, and got it chewed off right to his shoulder. "Vegetables should be planted during the dark of the moon. One day, the man I was working for told me he wanted his Irish potatoes planted. I told him that wasn't the time to plant potatoes. He told me to plant some in one particular place that day and call them his potatoes, then when I thought the time was right, to plant the rest in another place. His potatoes came up and made prettier vines than mine, had pretty blooms on them and the vines grew very high. He ragged me about how fine his potatoes were. He told me to gather the potatoes under my vines for the house, but not to disturb his potatoes. For several days, the family ate potatoes from my vines, then I gathered up the potatoes left. I got five or six wheelbarrows full. I then dug his potatoes and got a little more than one wheelbarrow full. He told me to plant the garden when I thought the time was right, and not to say anything to him about when and what to plant. I always had plenty of vegetables for his family." Source: Govan LittleJohn, 387 S. Liberty St., Spartanburg, S.C. Interviewed by; B.S. DuPre, Spartanburg Office, Dist.4 (April 30, 1937) Project 1885-1 folklore Spartanburg Dist Nov. 18, 1937 390329 STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES Edited by: Elmer Turnage V vWv\ V> W \CN ' "Folks thinks that I was born round Easter, but that ain't so* March the 9th is what they always told me. The year I cannot re- collect hearing, but by my count that I keep I am running close to eighty years. White folks, give me my age to keep when I married, and I have kept it ever since, so I cannot be far wrong. "It was the chief of police's grandpa that.I knew and it was off.his place that my old man come from. I was born Easter Norris and I married Nathan Lockhart when I was young, maybe fifteen, ain't sure about that. He was a little older than me. In slavery I was .born and my mother was sold while I was a very young child, so they say. We then lived with Mr. Clayton Clark, freedom broke when I was around thirteen, and we then.went back to the Lockhart plantation. There is where I nursed Henry, a.little baby. He is now. the chief-of police. Miss Bessie, his mother, had me to clean up her yards for her. ttMiss Bessie fixed ae up to be baptized at the Limestone Baptist church. It was then near Johnson Street and across from where Central school now stands. It was a negro church. We "had to go to the spring_pond called Austin's jpond where all the baptizing took place in those days. Mr. Austin had a mill there run by a big water wheel. The white folks carried on their-baptizing there, too. The first warm Sunday in May was when I was baptized. -. - - "All Saturday I prayed and Miss Bessie, told me what I was goiJig to dp, and read to me from the Bible about baptizing and about ^oiitt the Baptist M|tizing OJari»t. Yes sir, the Bible say Christ went :'ifit#f^KJ#%he''w^t^*s of jfoHah. Mlm Bessie was telliig . II8«ill:sltSfcSlkM; ifc^ Project 1885-1 Stories from Ex-Slaves (Easter Lockhart) Page Z 109 my ma how to fix my clothes while she was reading the Bible to me, 111 my clothes was white but my shoes. In those days they did not have white shoes. I wore white cotton stockings. I had a white dress to wear to the pond and I took two pairs of ^hite stockings. A crowd was to be baptized at 2:30 o'clock that evening. The sun was good and hot. I went with my folks. Miss Bessie went and all the white folks went to see their negroes go under. "The dress I wore to the baptizing was starched so stiff it stood out. I wore a white handkerchief over my head that Miss Bessie give me. On top of that I had a white bonnet that had frills and tucks all over it. When we got there the- banks of Austin's pond was lined with jiegroes shouting and singing glory and praises. They sang all the songs they could think of and the preacher lined out son&s to them. The people to be baptized congregated before the preacher, and he told them what to do. Then we went in and put on the clothes we was to go under in. "I had a long white gown gathered from my shoulders and it . had a big kind of sleeves. On my head I wore a v.hite cap and kept on my white stockings, but I pulled off my black shoes. Never had no white shoes that I ¦ know of way back then. I felt so good that I seem- ed to walk real light. While we were getting in our baptizing clothes we shouted praises as the people on the banks sang. Some of us jump- ed up. When my time come I started to the pond and just before the preacher turned to take my hand, I shouted 'Lord have^/Kercy' and clapped my hands over my head. Somebody said, .'Dat child sho is gitting a new soul?. wDown in the water I went, first it hit my ankles and then I felt the hem of my skirts getting wet. I looked down and my gown Stories From Sx-Slaves (Easter Lockhart) Page .f was floating on top the water. I took my hand and pushed it down. The preacher pulled me to him and I went in water to my waist. I said 'Oh Lordy' when that water hit my stomach. The preacher said, 'Now sister, you just hold your breath and shut your mouth; trust in the Lord and don't act like a grunting pig, hut have faith'. Then the singing seemed far off and the preacher's voice got deep. He put his big hand over my mouth and told me to limber up my back. His other hand was- under my back. He pushed me over, and down in the water I went; then up.I come. The preacher put a towel over my face, and while I was getting water out of my eyes and mouth, he was say- ing about the Lord done reached down from Heaven and created a new soul. I felt real funny when I turned to walk up out of the water. I could hardly walk for I had on so many cl-othes and they were so heavy. As soon as I could I got into, the clothes that I wore to the - baptizing and jput on my black shoes and the pair of white, stockings that I had fetched with me. While aunt Kizie Lockhart was tying the handkerchief around my head that Miss Bessie give me, I told her about how I felt. She said, 'Why, su^e-child, ain't you done washed your sins away and got converted?' "Then she grabbed me by the hand" and we went out among the people shouting.praises to the Lord. I ain't never felt the same since. Aunt Kizie took me round to say 'howdy to Miss Bessie. When the preacher had got them all baptized, we went into the church and had services. The white folks went on home after the baptizing was over. At the church we shouted till we could not shout no more. Folks don't like that now. They don't feel good when they join the church n@ m©re, eit|@f* I ain't had nothing to come ggainst me since I was i^lfeiii:-¦:.*¦©%§'; ©JC ¦ .-tjtt^lfl^li»¦. !b.u* ¦ |*o.t my religion. |^^^^^^^||Kl^^^^^^^^^^^^^i^Ss^^^iiL^#ic^6ked wus- ser dan any darky's clothes had looked *fo de war. None o' dem never had no garments a fittin 'em. Us'd look out and say,'Yonder comes some mo' o» dem old lousy soldiers.1* folklore: Stories from fix-Slaves page 2. 135 "Wheeler's soldiers come to Mr. Oxner's place and burnt de crib and tuck all our corn and jes' wasted it. Den dey tuck our meat and carried on something scandalous. Dey stayed a day or two and when dey had 'stroyed everything and scared us all half to death, dey went on somewheres else." Source: MUnclert Ballam Lyles (col. 74), Carlisle, S.C. Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, s.C. (2/22/37) m i project 1885-1 ^ folklore 39GG30 Edited by: jorr Spartahburg, Dist.4 vw^ww Elmer Turnage -LOU leb. 8, 1938 REMINISCENCES "Dey comes slow -.— dem things you calls recollects, or what- ever it is; but I knows what I is talking "about, dat I does. My daddy named Aaron Lyles. Him and Betsy Lyles was my parents, she come from Virginia. Deir white folks, de Lyles, brought dem from Virginia to Maybinuon, S.C. '"I was too little to know much of de old war, but jes« can remember living wid Mr, Alf Wright when de horn blow, saying dat de war was done over. I thought Jedg*ment Day done cornel rtI soon learn»t to put up »hopper'.' Dat was hanging up strong ash wood and hickory ashes in a bag dat was wet, so dat de lye would drip out in a box whar soap was made. When de moon got right, de grease was biled off de bones and put In de lye; den it was cooked up into soap.. It was done on de increase of de moon and only a sassafras stick was used for stirring. De soap maker stirred from her all de time. When a real hopper was made, it was in a V shape, wid a trough underneath for de drippings. Dat is all of de kind of soap folks had in dem hard times. If it was too strong when you took a bath, de skin would come off. Hard soap was used for washing, and soft soap for clothes. Another thing we did wid lye, was to shell corn and put de grains in lye and clean it. When it come white, we called it ?hominy1. ^Things slip me sometimes, dat is, dey slips my memb'aince. I radons dat old Gordam Mill was run by water, down-yonder on Tyger--- River. Tyger separates Maybinton from Goshen Hill. Mr. Bill oxner had de post office, and he lived up in a big grove whar de squirrels was ;^||tl,/ti^..attd\;jyTred^,fc©: p|#y. •• ' ¦ ---•-'•-;•¦.-.-..•.<•¦¦. •. ; ¦ _ ¦-.¦-..¦ •¦•¦ -, ¦ •-• ¦ ¦ •• -.-:¦• • ." -,,¦.¦ -¦¦.-,,--.,.,¦.•-,---:-.-...;.¦¦¦¦-. ¦...-.-.¦.,y.,;;.<:-, ':,'.¦• .¦;v,c -..•-••./;-.v-.*-:^f^;«v^y^^^ „ Reminiscences — 2 — • _ 137 *When we lived on de old Lyons place I got acquainted wid Mr. Bob Lyons, His family refuged from Charleston to Maybinton during de war, and dey stayed dar until he died; den his folks went back to Charleston. I know'd.Mr. Jim Thomas, den. "My father went from dat to Herbert's. We had it hard dar. Had so many ups and downs, and de overseer was hard on us, too. As to age, I ain't so sho about my right age, but I been old enough to sleep by myself for a long time. Folks knows me well and I stands well wid dem, and I tries to stand well wid God. My name was down in de old Lyles Bible, but it done buirn't now. Miss Ellen done dead and ain't none of my set of Lyles living dat I knows de wharabouts of. I was born over on de dewberry side, so dey says; but dat don't matter, I knows de Union side jes' as well. *I lived wid Mr. Byars at Herbert's on a big plantation. Oh, Lawdy, I couldn't remember how many plows dey run down dar. I was git- ting big enough to go to see de gals, and I sho had to walk a fur ways to see 'em. De first buggy in dat country belonged to Mr,. Epps Tucker. He had a net to go on de horse to keep de flies offn him. Dat's de first horse wid a net on him to come to Gilliam's Chapel. *I run around four or five years for nature and for fun. Had in mind picking a wife, and I got one dat I like de looks of in about four years. Us up and married. I know'd Dr. Cofield, Dr. Geo. Douglas, Dr. Peak Gilliam and men like dat. Things run along all right till de- night of August 31, 1886. Dat night dis old man prayed, '0 Lawd, come down, we need lou. We need you and we need You bad. Ain't no time for chillun's foolishness, so don't send your Son, Jesus Christ, kaise it»s Xou we needs. Dat earth sho was shaking everywhars, and things was falling. De Lawd or something had things by de hand dat night. Reminiscences --3 — -400 loo Next day de Lawd heard folks prayers and stopped dat earth's gwines on. Of all de ups and downs, I spec dat was de worst scared I ever was. •Utter dat us built St. Luke, and we had logs for seats. We marched together and sung: 'Let's go down to de water and be baptized. I promised de Lawd dat I'd b<^ baptized when St. Luke was finished. 'Ligion is so sweet, 'ligion is so sweet. "Little boys wat-ched us while us was building St. Luke's. Dey would play in de branch and sing: 'Little boy wouldn't swim, kaise leather tacked to his shoe'. Den dey would catch hands and jump up and down on de bank and sing: 'Loop de la — loop de loop de la; Deacon coming out, deacon coming out.' "Den all would run to de shade trees and put on deir clothes. And when us finished St, Lukes, such a baptizing as us had.' All of us marched down to de pool while we sung: •Les go down to de water and be baptized. 'Ligic-n is so sweet, I's promised de Lawd I'd be baptized; 'Ligion is so sweet, and I's promised de Lawd I'd be baptized." Source: Eison Lyles, (73), Santuc, S.C. Interviewer: Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C. 1/20/38 S&'ku&i&liM^i®^^ M.k '•'!:$£& Project #1655 W* W* Dixon Wixmsboro, S# c* 390355 ±;$t) MOSES LYLES EX-SLAVE 81 YEARS OLD. Moses Lyles lives in the section of Pairfield County that borders on Broad River* He lives in a two-room house, of the ttsaddlebagtt type, with his wife, Carrie, and his daughter, Carita* The home is the ordinary tenant house of a Negro in the South* Pictures, cut out of the illustrated Sunday editions of newspapers, are used to decorate the inside walls of the rooms* There are two windows to each room, which are closed with plank shutters* The floors are clean and yellowed from much scouring and sweeping* On the outside is a tiny walk to the house, bordered on either side by rows of jonquils* And about the yard are ttbutter and egg* flowers, that were so much in vogue in slavery times* "Yes sir, I was a slave* I b!long to Dr* John J* McMahon, dat is, my mamny was his cook* Jfy father b'long to Marse Thomas Lyles* Deir plantations jined and folks could see f cross de fields from one house to another* I never hear 'bout any trouble dat was caused by pappy coiDon' every so often to see and be wid sy mammy* nlfy mistress name Sarah* Her and Marster John was de father and mother of young Marster John J* Mclfahon, a lawyer* % old marster and mistress have two girls, Miss Annie and Miss Lillie, dat was livin* when Marster die* Just a few weeks after he die, here come young Marse John into a troubled land, in de last year of de war, f65* "What you think of dat? Niggers flow datfs what give him de power dat him have* You never hear fbout datt Wall, they do say, when a male child come after de father1 s death, dat male child gwine to be a big man in all sorts of ways* How was him great? What did him do? Why everything* Widout a daddy and widout money, hira got to be a ffessor in de college and a 140 lawyer* He tell de judge what's what in dat very court house over yonder• Git to be de head of all de teachers in de State and show them how to learn de chil- luru He come back sometimes and show farmers how to farm* Know how to cure my dog of de mange, show ay wife how to cure her chickens dat had de •pip1, and tell us what to do if ever a cow git sick wid de hollow horn or de hollow tail# Why, liarse John could count all de stars in de sky, tell you deir names while settin1 on de top rail of de lot fence at nighty git up de nex* mornin1, look * round and say whether it gonna rain or not, dat day* He not tell by de sky, but just go out, run his fingers through de grass, and dat grass tell him, some- how, it gonna rain or it not gonna rain. How him love dat old place, and de Salem cross road and Monti cello. Him was riding high in de saddle of might and power down dere in Columbia* Him come home and say to me and Carrie: 9I love dis old place, wid its red hills and gullies, its pine trees, ash trees, hickory trees and stoaly bark trees, de berry weeds and thistles fbout de barn- yard fence and I want to be buried up here, not in Columbia, so dat de weeds and grasses, dat I walk on when a boy, might grow over me when Ifs dead*1 Then him say* 'Hose does you know how to castrate and spay pigs?* I say: fI does not*1 Him say: fTime for you to learn#f TJs and de hands go out to de lot and wid de guff, guff, guff and guffin* of de old hogs and de squealin1 of de pigs, him take all patience and learn me spayance and castration* *}ty pappy, as I might have told you, was Henry Lyles and my manmy, Mary Woodward* % brudders and sisters was John, Henry, Martha, Sallie, Jim, and de baby of all, Bill* Bill and me is de only ones livin1* "One day I was plowin1 •long and a thinkin* a whole lot of foolishness fbout social f quality dat was be in* preached to us \f de leaders of de Radical 3* 141 •Publican party, which I b'longed to. Nigger men lak dat kinda talk, nigger women didnft lak it so much* They fear dat if nigger man have a chance to git a white wife, they would have no chance wid de nigger men* They was sure dat no white man would take a black wife, 'eeptin' it be a poor white trash man and then if they git one of them, him would beat her and work her harder than in slavery time* ""When I git to de end of de row, I say: |1Whoa*f I turns ray back to de plowstock, ketches xay hands on de handles and say to myself i 'De great &>ses in de Bible have a black wife* What is good fnough for him is just too good for me*1 Then Carrie flit through lay mind, as I see her de last time in a red pokeberry dyed dress, a singin': 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Jesus Gonna Carry Me Home* • Then I think 'bout dat word f carry1 in de tune and dat word fhomef in de song and dat word fmef twist and 'tween them two words f carry1 and fhomef , I says: 'Come 'round here, mule* Dat sun soon go down; ain't got long here for to stay* You got to eat and you's got to trot and I's got to ride* You's got to carry me to see Carrie*f I went dat night and ask her for to be m^ wife* Her say: 'Die is mighty sudden, Mose* When de idea fust come to you?' Then I tell her and she laugh* What she laugh 'bout? Laugh at de fool things I tell her and de very joy of de moment* "Us marry dat fall and have had nine chillun* Who they? Dere's Henry, Tosier, Lydia, MoGee, Nancy, Tolliver, Bessie, May, and Carita* Carita name Carrie for her mammy but her loll it 'bout her tongue and change it to Carita* "Old Marse Dr* John McJfehon was of de buckra type* Freedom come too soon* De nigger was de right arm of de buckra class* De buckra was de horn of plenty for de nigger* Both suffer in consequence of freedom©11 Project #1655 W, W. Dixon Wiimsboro, S. C. 39035G 142 GEORGE MCALILLEY EX-SLilVE 84 YEARS OLD» George McAlilley lives with his son-in-law, daughter, and small grand- children, in a one-room frame house, with a lean-to shod room annex. The annex has no fireplace, no -window, is ten feet by .eight feet in dimension and it is in this pen that George and the two small"children sleep. The house is three miles north of the town of Winnsboro, set back in a cotton field, 500 yards east of US #21. George gathers the firewood from the neighboring woods, picks blackberries in summer, and assists in the harvesting of cotton from the fields in September. "You think I feeble? Looks is 'ceivin' sometimes* Dere is some stren'tn in me yet* Just set a nice dish of collards, fat back, corn bread, and butter- milk befo1 dis old nigger and you can see what dese old gums can do vdd them* 'Specte: I. can make 'way wid a plate of fried chicken,too, quick as de nex' one* If you don't believe it, try me dis day, at dinner time I 4 nI was born in slavery time, on Mr* Jno* S* Douglas's plantation, close to Little River* ~I b'long to him* He told me I was born in 1853* Had it *rote down in a book* flhen I was birthed, de master set de.date down in a book, wid de name of my pappy, Joe and my mamn$r, Rachael* Bless de Lord! They b'long to de same master and live on de sajne place, in a teency log house* _I 'members it* I sho' does* De roof leaked and-us had a time when it rain* nUy mistress name Miss Ifaggie; ^he was a fine vfoman* Come from de Boyce stock, a buekra* I tells you dere -was no finer mistress in de land, than she vfas. She was good to her little niggers; special, I rlowl I was one of them* 2. 143 nUs had a white overseer, Mr* Brwin* If it hadn't been for icy mistress, !spect he'd a wore de hide off me one time when he ketched me in de watermelon patch* ttWhat kind of work I do? Hoe cotton, pick cotton, pick .peas, mind de covfs and keep de calf off at milkin1 time* I plowed some de last year of de war, '65 it was* ll% marster. and mistress was very 'ligious in deir 'suasions* They was 3eceder# an sir, I never marry durin* slavery time* I was just a boy; wasn*t too young to like de gal1 s company, though* Ifetrse. John was a rich man; had two plan- tations* One was de home place and de other de river place, where de corn, oats, and hay was raised* He had a flock of sheep, too* nAll of our olothes was made from wool and cotton dat was made right dere on de plantation* Wool was sheared from de sheep* Cotton was picked from de 144 field* De cotton was hand-carded, took to de spinnin1 wheels, made into thread, loomed into cloth, sewed into clothes, or knitted into socks and stockin!s» nMarster had a hoss-gin and a screw-pit, to git de seed out de cotton and pack de lint into bales* % brothers was Vince, Bill, Sara, and $ohn* % sisters was Mary and Liza* "Does I Recollect de Yankees? 1 sho* does* They burnt de gin-house and school house* Took de "males, hosses, chickens, and eggs* I^ferster was sharp !nough to bury de meat in de woods, T>long wid other things they didn't git* They set de house afire at de last, and rode off* Us put de fire out and save de mansion for Marse John* Hl didn't 3±ne de church in slavery time; lak to dance them* Our fiddler was-Buck Manigo, de best fiddler, black or-white, in de £>tate, so white folks say* nKu Klux didnTt come !round our parts* % ma stay on as cook, after free- dom* 1 stay for |5*00 a month and eat at de kitchen* 1 was always a democrat and vfeared a" red shirt in de Hampton parades* ttI marry Patsy Jenkins* She lire twenty years and us had seven chillun* Did you know, boss., after Patsy dead and buried, I got to be a old fool fbout women again? Bat I did* De devil put it into dis old gray head to marry a young gajj J&try Douglas was her name* Joy come dat fust night and misery popped in de.door de verjr nex1 mornin1 * Us couldnft ,Gt fbout nothin1* * She, at de last, left me for Another man over on de Broad River side* Ifs steered my course clear of de women's skirts ever since* ITs now livin1 wid my granddaughter, Irene Wil- son j fbove town* tt rBout de tale you-want to hear* Well, Psreacher Alfred Moore, a colored slave, search de scripture for names for his chillun* One boy him name Isaiah and one name, Phillip* They both was mighty good slaves of Dr* Walter Brioe, Ife ^MM ^.MmM} ! our doctor* % marater and Dr# Price's &m$ Marse Thorns, Barry/" see.a heap of Isaiah and Phillip* Isaiah bad a tale xbo\^^mM^B^TB and I and Phil had a tale !bout a eunuch* Which c$e you ji^gPBs^gerdeiao s (lacodemus) gittin1 tired# I'll jurfe tell Isaiah's tala *J^HP^0 h*a*t Both? Ifu de blisters om sycamore,trees? I knows ^Umf^ Niggerdeiaos* You has seon 'bout in dis Y~)2 Martha S* Pinckney Charleston, S* C. call him - he was a musician - always played the violin," here he mentioned the names of songs of that day, before the War of 1861, and repeated these words with much merriments "Would have been married forty year ago, If it hadn't been for Cotton Eye Joe" "Songs - lots of tun • "Run, nigger, run, de Patrol ketch you" he roared with laughter - "When de patrol come, I had my badge; I show him my paper and my badge I I got it still* I love dem days - I love dem people." "My mother was a good woman - she used to get down on her knees, like this, and get up like this (he knelt with agility, and rose unassisted, quickly, and without the least difficulty; My aunt lived to be 141; she saw George Washington - she told me so*" "Cherokee - kickapoo - I don't remember - my great grand- father was an Indian Chief - my nose is straight, see here*" °e went into the pocket of his overall, brought out a pair of eyeglasses, put them on the end of his nose, and looked over them* "I loved dem days, I loved dem people* We lived better - we had no money - we had nothing to worry about - just do your task. Spin wheel and reel and reel for the yarn* I filled my arms full of quilt - hand made* Had task; I done all my task, Project #-1655 Page - 3 i 5,'J Martha S» Pinckney Charleston, S* C. and I help others with their task s© they wouldn't get whipped; if people lazy and wont do, they got to be made to do; if children bad they get whipped - if nigger bad, they get a whipping." "Old Satan wear a big shoe - he got one club foot* He can disguise himself - he make you think he got power, but he ain't got any power* ^e get you in trouble and leave you there* I always pray for wisdom and understanding like Solomon* I pray all the time to our good Father* People say - »l#hy you call him Good Father?1 (Quoted from the Bible) I love everybody - 'Love thy neighbor as thyself*' wYea Ma'amI Oh Heaven! - we got to be clean - we change out of the flesh to the spirit; a crown prepared for us; all we save and help are stars in our crown; you go from Mansion to Mansion - higher - higher." (He raised his arms with a rapt look) Then he was told about "Green Pastures" and asked what he thought of it* "Why my Lord have Mercyl The Lord is a Spirit - we are changed." "I roll the carpet for Missis to get in the carriage; a two- foet carpet from the house roll to the stoop for the carriage*" "My mother - yes Ma'am - 108 years old - a smart woman in the house* Oh my Lord, Missis - cook I She wouldn't kill a chicken out of the yard; she had a coop to put them in, and it was cleaned out every day* My mother would fix the flowers; Project #-1665 Page - 4 ,K.% Martha S. Pinckney ±0<£ Charleston, S. C. she would take this little flower, and that little flower, and put them together, and make up a beautiful bouquet, and hand them out to everybody. My father knew all about plant- ing; the people would come to ask 'Daddy Tony* how to plant this and when to plant that." nI heard all the War talk, I saw a comet•' (Indicating , its position in the heavens, he seemed inspired, forgot his surroundings, looking back)* I saw the curtain-cloud - and snow clouds - rolls and rolls* In the War I was with my master, Capt. Cherry, and Dr. 2noz, Captain In the Civil War, and Capt. Dick McMlehael - all those fine gentlemen. They had hog-skin saddles that creaked - Crunch - crench - as they rode; (He was enthusiastic) the way they could ridel Those hosses were as sensible as people; they could jump from side to side; they knew everything." "Capt. Cherry said to me - 'Why weren't you white. 'Why weren't you whiteI Why weren't you white I» I lost my old Captain - then I was with Gen. Frank Bamberg, and with his brother, Capt. Isaac Bamberg - I was Orderly. Sometimes in the War we had one hardtack a day, and had to drink water on 'urn, to make 'urn swell. tfe had to get out salt out of water, most anywhere.w "I saw Gen. Lee many times; I knew him; he had his close beard around his faoe; he looked fine and sat his horse so splendid." Hack was asked the color of the horse, and describ- Project #-1655 Page - 5 155 Martha S. Pinckney x^^ Charleston, S. C. ed the gray. Here he remembered the battlefield - "I did this" - he enacted silently - dexterously - the placing of the dead and wounded on the stretchers and bearing them away - worked so rapidly that his breath was labored. "I made the balloon flight - my eyes were good - they carried me because any object that I saw, 1 knew what it was; a rope ladder led up to the bas- ket - the beautiful thing - we went up on the other side of Beaufain street; there were no houses there then, and we came down on the Citadel Green." Mack had spoken several times with enthusiasm of the officer1s cavalry 'pump sole boots'. After he had polished them - "Capt. Edwards (of Elloree) gave me a $500.00 bill for cleaning his 'pump sole boots'." Mack proudly enacted the Captain's jolly but pompous manner, as he gave the bill, and added, nI had thousands of dollars in Confederate money when the War broke up# If we had won I would be rich." After War period: "The time Capt. Wade Hampton was stumping X followed him all over the State; I led 500 head; was with him to Camden, °rangeburg and all the way to Hampton County; led 500 hundred negroes through the County; I was Captain of them; I rode 'Nellie Ponsa' and wore my red jacket and cap and boots; I had a sword too; my 'red shirt' died year before last." Asked if he knew 'Riley', Mack answered promptly - 'Democracy Riley1, yes Ma'am, used to drive that fine carriage, and old Col. Cunningham's family.n Riley was an ex-slave, a tall black man, Project #-1655 Page - 6 iftfi Martha S. Pinckney * Charleston, S. C. _^C" devoted to the South, as he was, a Democrat of high principle, and respected by all - hated by many - a power in himself* "l lose all ray ancestors. l got a niece, Queenie Brown, in Orangeburg; I got a daughter in New Jersey; one in New York, married to a Clyde Line man; lost sight of both; both old." "Bless the LordI 1 got friends! Mr. Pooser came to see me yesterday; been in South America four years; just got back and hunt me up right off 1 Married Miss Dantzler of Orangeburg - I raised them all." - with a benign look of love and ownership. Sources Richard Mack, Rosemont School, Charleston, »• G. Code No. Projeot, 1885-il) Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Place, liar ion, S.O. Bate, August 25, 1937 ITo. Words____ Reduced from_ Rewritten by" words 157 Page 1 Jake MoLeod Ex-Slave, 83 Years Timmonsville, S.G. 390230 "You see what oolor I am. I born in Lynohburg, South Carolina de 13th day of Sovember, 1854. Born on de MeLeod plaoe. Grandparents born on de llcLeod place too. Ky white folks, dey didn' sell en buy slaves en dat how-come my grand- father Riley licLeod fell to Prank KcLeod en grandmother fell to de HoRaes. Ily boss give my grandfather to his sister, Carolina, dat had married de licRae, so dey wonldn' be separated, Dey take dem en ^o to Florida en when de Yankees went to Florida, di.ey hitched up de teams en offered to bring dem back to South Carolina. Some of my uncles en aunts come back, but my grand- father en grandmother stayed in Florida till dey died." "De ivioLeods, dey was good people. Believe in plenty work, eat en wear all de time, but work us very reasonable. De over- seer, he blow horn for us to go to work at sunrise. G-ive us task to do en if you didn' do it, dey put de little thing to you. Dat was a leather lash or some kind of a whip. Didn' have no whippin post in our neighborhood. I recollect my boss unmeroifully whipped man I thought, but I found out dat it was reasonable. He (the slave) beat up my uncle (a slave) en my old boss put it on him. Striped him down en tied him wid buck- skin string. Whipped him till he get tired en come back en whip him more. I looked right on at it. When he turn him loose, Code No. Ho. "Jords_______ Project, lbb5-(l) Reduced from____words Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Rewritten by Place, Marion, 3.0._____________________158 Date, August 25, 1937 rage 2. told him to go. See him whip my mother one time cause she whip me. Caught her bgr de hand en whip her right in de same field dat she whip me. It was so hot I dig; holes en put my foot in de hole en dat de reason she whip me. Den if he find anyone steal a thing, he whip dem for dat." "Hey didn' have no jails in dem days, but I recollects one woman hanged on de galleries (-gallows). Hang dem up by harness en broke neck for wrongdoing like killin somebody or tryin to kill. Old woman cookin for de Sootts, named Soggy, tried to poison de Sootts. Mean to her, she say, en she put poison in de coffee. Hy mother walked bout 10 miles to see dat hangin oause dey turn de slaves loose to go to a hangin. Took her from de quarter in de wagon en I heard her tell dat de old lady, ieggy, was sittin on her coffin, lly mother say she used to use so much witchcraft en some one whispered, 'why don' you do somethin bout it?' She say, 'It too late now.' I hear tell bout dem hangin, but I ain' see none of it." "My boss had four slave house dat was three or four hundred yards from his house en I reckon he had bout 25 slaves. One waa pole house wid brick chimney en two rooms petitioned off en de other three was olay house. Us had frame bed en slept on shucks en hay mattress. Dey didn' give us no money but had plenty to eat every day. Give us buttermilk en sweeten potatoes en meat en corn bread to eat mostly. Catch nigger wid wheat, dey give him 'wheat1. Den dey let us have a garden en extra Code Ho. No. Words_________ Project, 1885-Q) Reduced from_____words Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Rewritten by 4 r^O Place, Marion, 3.C. ______________________ -L *-"*•' Date, August £5, 1937 Page 3. patches of we own dat we work on Saturday evenings. En we catch much rabbits en fish as us want. Catch pikes en eels en oats. Catch fish wld hook en line in Lynches river wld Senator E.D. Smith's father. Rev. Bill Smith de father of E.D. Smith." "De white folks, dey had a woman to each place to weave de cloth en make all us clothes. De women had to weave five cuts a week, one out a ni^ht. Have reel in de shape of wheel en spokes turn en hold thread en turn en when it cliok, it a out. Any over, keep it to de next week. Dey wore cotton clothes in de summer en wool olothes in de winter en had more den one garment too. Had different olothes to wear on Sunday oause de slaves go to de white folks church in dat day en time. Den dey had shoemaker to oome dere en make all de colored peoples shoes. De Durant shoemaker come to de iioLeod plantation en make desr shoes," "I tellin you my boss was a good man en he had a big plantation wid six or seven hundred acres of land, but he didn1 have to mind to see bout none of de work. De over- seer name Dennis en he was de one to look out for all de plantation work. He lived on de KcLeod place en he was good man to us. I had to thin ootton en drop peas en corn en I was a half ianfel two years durin de war. If a whole A hand hoes one acre, den a half hand hoes half a acre. Dat what a half hand is. Waited on de wounded de last year of de war," Code Bo. Ho. Word*___________ Project, 1885-(1) Reduced from_____words Prepared by Annie Ruth Davis Rewritten by i(%(\ Plaoe, Marion, S,G. ______________________±ou Date, August 86, 1937 Page 4. "Wheat, peas, oorn en ootton was de things dat peoples plant mostly in dem days, Dis how I see dem frail de wheat out. Put pole in hard land en drive horse in oirole en let dem stamp it out. You could ride or walk. Two horses tramp en shake it out en den take straws en have somethin to catch it in en wind it out. Had to piok en thrash a bushel of peas a day." "When oorn haulin time come* every plantation haul oorn en put in oirole in front of de barn. Have two piles en point two captains. Dey take sides en give oorn shuckin like dat. Shuck oorn en throw in front of door en sometimes shuck corn all night. After dey get through wid all de shuckin, give big supper en march all round old Massa's kitchen en house. Have tin pans, buckets en canes for music en dance in front of de house in de road. Go to another plaoe en help dem shuck corn de next time en so on dat way." "My old Miss en Massa, dey always look after dey slaves when dey get sick. Use herbs for dey medicine. I used to know different herbs my mother would get. BoneTset en life- everlastin make teas for fever en colds. When I was a boy, dey used to carry dem what have smallpox by de swamp en built a dirt house for dem. ILept dem dere en somebody carried feed to dem. People used to have holes in dey skin wid dat thing en most of dem died." Code Wo. Project, 1886-(1) Prepared Toy Annie Ruth Davis Plaoe, karion, 3.G. Date, August 25, 1937 Ho. Words____ Reduced from_ Rewritten by" words 16:1 Page 5. "I hear tell bout one man runnin away from Black Greek en gwine to iPree State. Oatch ride wid people dat used to travel to Charleston haulin cotton en things. He come back bout 15 years after de war en lived in dat plaoe join to me. Come back wid barrels en boxes of old second hand clothes en accumulated right smart here. Talk good deal bout how he associated wid de whites. Don' know how-come he run away, but (ley didn' catch up wid him till it was too late. De community have man den call pataroller en (Ley business was to catch dem dat run away. Say like you be authorized to look after my place, you oatoh dem dat slipped off to another man plaoe. Couldn' leave off plantation to go to another place widout you ask for a pass en have it on you. White folks used to kill beef what dey call club beef. If you kill beef this week, you send this one en that one a pieoe till de beef all gone. White folks give me pass en tell me carry beef en deliver it» Uest time, another man send us beef." "I run away one time en somehow another de overseer know who' I was. I reoollects old Kiss had me tied to de tester bedstead en she whip me till de whip broke. I see her gettin another arm bout full en I tear loose en run away. I slip home on steps at my mother's house lookin down playin wid de oat en look up in her face. She say, 'You good for rothin, you get out of here en get to dat barn en help dem shuck corn. I go but I didn1 go in cause I keep a watch on her. Another Code Ho. Ho. 7/ords_______ Project, 1885-(l) Reduced from_____words Prepared "by Annie Ruth Davis Rewritten by Place, Marion, 3.0. _____________________ 162 Bate, August 35, 1937 rage 6. time boss had a horse apple tree dat just had one apple on it en he wanted to save dat apple till it get ripe enough for seed en fall. White man, I couldn" stand it. I eat dat apple, lie put it on me dat time cause he saw my tracks en dat how he knew it was me. He know it was me en I oouldn' get out of it." "I get married in f 76. l.iy old boss, we all went gether. iied Shirt canvassed the country. People tried to get me to quit my wife cause dey say de Democrats would bring baok slavery. Some voted 8 or 10 tickets. I was on de stand when Hampton spoke in Sumter. Chamberlain was elected on de Republican ticket. Sam Lee one of de men. Ee was white, I believe he was colored. Wade Hampton have him brought on de stand en ask questions. Ask what kind of Government it gwine be. Dey had tissue tickets en blindfolded man en he didn' take out tispue tickets. Hame en mimber on de ticket." "All I know bout de war dat brin^ freedom was dat de war was gwine on. I remember when dey couldn' get coffee, sugar or nothin like dat. You know dat was a tough time to think bout we oouldn' get no salt. Gut up potatoes en parch to make coffee. Sweetened wid syrup en fore de war closed, made sugar from sugar cane. Boil dirt out de smoke house en put liquor in food. Sat poke berry for greens. Den one day we hear gun fire in Charleston en Miss made miration. Code Ho. Project, 1865-(1) Prepared by Annie Hath Davis Plaoe, Marion, 3.0« Date, August 25, 1937 Ho. Words___ Reduoed from_ Rewritten by" words 163 Page 7. I don' remember freedom, but I know when we signed de con- tract, de Yankees give us to understand dat we was free as our Massa was. Couldn' write, just had to touoh de pin. Ask us what name we wanted to go in* We work on den for one third de orop de first year wid de boss furnishing everything. Soon as got little ahead went to shareoropping." "I tell you it been a pretty hard time to be up against. I own dis here plaoe en my nephew live here wid me. Dey give him government job wid de understandin he help me. Get $ £4.60 a month en live off dat. Daughters in Hew York pay tax. If dey oarry out de President's plan, it be a good one. It been pretty tough in some instanoe. God sent thing. I tell you it a good thing. If carried out like de President want it oarried out, it be better den slavery time. You know some slaves got along mighty bad cause most of de white people won' like our white folks," "I belongs to do iiethodist church en I believe it de rignt thing, i^an ought to do as God arranged it cause he plan it. We know right from wrong." Source: Jake McLeod, ex-slave, 83 years, Timmonsville, S.C. Personal interview by lire. Lucile Young and H. Grady Davis. Projeot #1655 W. W. Dixon Wiansboro, S* C. 390187 BILL MoMEIL 164 gTSULVB 82 YEARS OLD. RIDGEWAY, S« C# "In December 1355, de family Bible say, I was born on de McNeil Place in York County ? De last person who have dat Bible was Captain Conductor True of de Southern Railroad trains • Had dis one name in dat Bible, just vBillf is set down on de page* I hear them say de Good Book am now in Tennessee, but I wouldnft swear to dat* I was born fbout twelve miles from Chester Court House on a creek called Bullock or something lak dat* % PaPPy oame Wills my mammy name Leah* I was put down in de Book as their child* When Miss Jane, daughter of old Marster McNeil, ( I forgits his first name) marry, then rqy new marster was Marster Jim True* Miss Jane just up and marry Marster Jim and come wid him to Fair* field* Then old Marster McNeil give me, my mammy, and brother Eli, to Miss Jane* }fy pappy done passed out, ceased to live, befo9 us come to Fair- field* Him b'long to de Rainey family of York* Had to git a pass to see his wife and chillun* Dat was one of de hard parts of slavery, I thinks* Does X fmembers Conductor True9s name? Sho , I does* It was Thurston Time* When I git on de train him always slap me on de head and say* 'Well Bill, how your oorporosity seem to sagasherate dis morning?9 And I says 9Very galopshous, I thaziks you, Captain1 • Then us both laugh, and he pass on down de coach and all de people on dat car 9steem me very highly* I feel a little bigger than all de other niggers, all dat day long, I sho does* Does you know de Warren Castles Place? flout two miles from dere 165 is where us lived befof freedom* Marster Jim True was killed in de war* Us carry on then and make corn for de f federate arny* Our house had a dirt floor and a stick and moud chimney• Us slept on a pallet on de floor* In de siimmer time I run fround in iqy shirt tail* De overseer, Tom True, de daddy of Marster Jim was a rough and hard task marster* After freedom I went to de Rembert Place, Wateree Creek, then to de DesPortes1 Place five miles from Winnsboro, then to de Jordan Place on de Gum Tree Road, then to de Buchanan Place, then I buy seventy acres from S4r* Jim Curlee and live there every since 1905* % wife was there wid me and my daughter and her four chillun, "Willie, Anne, Andy and Henrietta Jackson* I got a heap of whippin1 s in slavery time from old Marster Tom True* I see lots of de Yankees and their doings in war timot They just ride high, taurn and take off everything from us, lak they did everywhere else* I vote de fpublican ticket, as I try to show my fpreciation, and dat gits me in bad wid de Klu Klux* They scare me, but no touch me* De red shirts try to fsuade me to vote their way* Some of de best -white folks was in dat movement, but this time I fmembers old Tom True beating me often for little or nothing* I sticks out to de end wid de party dat freed me# I find out, and you111 find out, boss, dat only de Lord is pure in de beginning and to de end, in His plans* De works of man and parties lak democrat and ^blioan have their day; if they reign long enough de people will mourn so de Bible say* % old overseer, Marster Tom was a school teacher* I feel sorry for de chillun he teached,f cause him whip me just when him git out of sorts# 3* 166 Miss Jane couldnft stop him, she just cry* Yas sir, I have knowed good white man* Mr* Warren Castles was a good man* and Manigault here in town is fit to go to heaven, when he die* I sure dat he is, although he is a nigger* % house and land worth $590*00, but I been going baokfards every year for last eight years • Canft get labor, can't work myself• Wonder if you white folks will help me get a pension* Ifs not going to beg* Dats my last word** Project #1655 W* V* DiX0H ~>r\'\ .Lc) 4 Winnsboro, $• C« 3JUoUiJ ANDY MARION K-SLAVE 92 YiftfiS * Yes, sir, I was bom befof de war Hween de white folks, on account of us niggers* They was powerful concerned fbout it and we was not* Ify mammy always said she found me a babe in de chinkapin bushes, but you can leave dat out if you want to* They say I coised into de world in *1844# X she* was a good plow-hand when de first gun was fired at some place down near Charleston} I think it was at Burster* They say I was born where Marster Eugene Mobley lives now, tut it belonged to Marster Williexn Brice, when I was born in 1844, bless GedJ My father neiaed Aleck and xry mother lilary* Us colored folks didnH git nc»es •til after de war* I took my naree, when I went up to de •lection box first time to vote for Gen* Qrant for president* Wy father was from old Virginia, ^y ae- ther from South Carolina* uur plantation had seventy-t-cc slaves living about here md yon in log houses wid dirt floors* They bored auger holes in de sides of de room, stuck end of poles in dese holes* De pole reach9 out into de room and rested on wooden blocks sort of hollowed out on topi then some slats of pine finish up de contraption bed* Quilts was spread on die which was all de bed we had* • I been married four tiroes since de war and Ifm here to tell you dat a nigger had a hell of a time gittin* a wife durin* slavery* If you didnH see one on de place to suit you and chances was you didnH suit then,, why what could you do? CeuldnH spring up* grab a iflule and ride to de next plan* tstion widout a written pass* S*pose you gits your marsterfs consent to go? Look here, de galfs narster got to consent, de gal got to consent, de gal9a daddy got to consent, de gal9s maflaray got t© consent* It was a hell of a i(i8 way I * I helped my marster 9mong de bullets out along de Mississippi River, but X's glad we didn't *hip them • cause I9s had four wives and dere is de las1 one sett in1 right over dere, a fixin9 you some strawberries and a shakin9 her belly at me laugh in0 lak Sarah in de Bible and thinkin9 of namin9 de child of her old age, 'Isaac*• * What kind of work I do in slavery? I was de carriage driver* Os had a fine carriage and two highesteppln* horses, Frank and Charlie* I used to hear lots of things from behin9 me, while drivln9 de folks and saying nothin9? Money, did you say? We had no use for money* Kind words from de white folks was money 9nough for me* We just worked hard, eat more and slsp' well* lie got meat, hominy, and corn meal on Mondays and wheat bread, lard and 'lasses on Saturdays? No time for f isfaia* or hunt in9* Carried slaves was encouraged to have their own gardens* "ur clothes was of wool in de winter from oar own sheep* and cot- ion in de sunnier from our own fields* Had many spinnin9 wheels and cards* Miss Mary, de mistress, saw to dis part* * Our white folks was Paalm-singin9, old style Presbyterians* You daresiiH whistle a hymn on Sunday which they called Sabbath* Just as soon as I got free, I ji&ed de Baptist church, hard shell* Brother fright is my preacher at Black- stock now* My marster, Milllam Brice* his wife, Miss Mary* his son, Christie, and his daughters, Hiss Uz&Le, Miss Kitty and Miss Mary, was de ones I drove de carriage to Hopewell church on Sunday for* Oat church is flourishing now* De pastor of dat church, Rev* John tfhite, befo9 he died I waited on him six- teen years, and in his will, he give me dis house and forty acres around it for my life* Oat#s what I calls religion* Hy mistress was a angel, good, and big heaftted* I lay my head in her lap many a time* Marster had a everseer £ / * twice* They was poor white trash, not as good as de niggers* Miss Mary run them both off and told marster what she couldnft see to when he was away* she'd pick out one of de slaves to see after • All de overseer done was to wake us up, see to feeding stock and act biggity* Us slaves worked from sun up to sun dowsw " Sometime hef&* de war* my oar star sold out and bought a big place in Mississippi» On de way dare* de slaves (grown) was chained together* Yes sir, de chain was * round de necks * We went by wagons and steamboats sometime* We stayed in Mississippi 9til durin* de war we refugeed back to South Carolina* Dat9s when de Yankees got possession of de rivor* We settled near Hew Hope church* It was in dis church dat I saw sprinkling wid a kind a brush when baptixin9 de chillun* Over at Bopewell, you had to have a brass trinket (token) to show befof you could take Communion of de Saints* We was always compelled to go to church4 Eoss like for de slaves to sing while workinf# We had a jack-leg slave preacher who'd hist de tunes* Some was spirituals} soy wife and me will sing you one now, *0ot to Fight de Devil when You Come Up oufc de Water9* (This was well rendered by the old man and his wife)* Nothing stopped for slave funerals• De truth is, I can#t 9raember any dyinf on our places. None of our slaves ever run away* * A pass was lak dis, on it was ye* name, what house you goinf to and de hour expected back* If you was cotched any other house, pataroller whip you she9* Always give us Chris*mus Day* Dere was a number of dances dis time of de year a Cot passes to different plantations* Dere would be corn ehuckin9 different places* Kot much games or play in9 in our set* Wife, let9s sing another spiritual* Gome on Janie, let** sing 9You Got to Lay Your Burden "pan de Lord9* "Sickness of slaves was quickly Handed to by de doctor* Member gallcpin9 for old Doctor Douglas many a time* *• 170 n I went to de war from IfiLsfissippi as body guard for my marster* I was close to de fightinf and see it * If it was hell then, it must be tarna- tion now wid all dese air-planes flyin1 roun* droppin* booms on old people lak Janie and me, over dere fixin* them strawberries* De good Lord, save us from a war over Blackstock and my garden out dere! * I was free three years befo9 I knowed it* worked along just de same* (tee day we was in de field on 1ft** Chris Brice's place* Man come along on big, black horse, tail platted and tied wid a red ribbon* Stopped, waved his hands and shouted fYou is free, all of you* So anywhere you wants to** Us quit rigfrt then and acted de fool* tfe ougjht to have gone to de white folks 9bout it* What did de Yankees do when they come? They tied me up by my two thumbs, try to make me tell where I hided de money and gold watch and silver, but I swore I didnH know* Did I hide it? ?es, so good it was two years bafef I could find it again* I put everything in a keg, went into de woods, spaded the dirt by a pine stump, put de keg in, covered it up wid leaves and left it* Sometime after, we looked for it, but couldn't find it* Two years later, I had a mule and cart in de woods* ^e mulefs foot sunk down into de old stump hole and dere was de keg, de money, de silver and de watch* Marster was mighty glad dat I was a faithful servant, and not a liar and a thief lak he thought X was* % mar star was not a Nil ffiLux* *hey killed some obstreppary (obstreperous) niggers in them times* * I first married Sara Halsey in 1375* she had three chillun* She died* Ifen months after, I took Harriett Daniels; she had three chillun, then she died* Eigfrt months after, I married Millie Gladden, no chillun. She lived seventeen years, died, and ten years ego I fooled dat good-lookinf Jane a sett in • over dere* She was a widow then, she was de widow Arthur* She was a Caldwell, when she was born* We have no chillun but she is still lookinf for 5. a blesminf« (Here the nonagenarian broke forth in a quiet chuckle) ? " There wasnH as much sin in slavery time, not as much suffering not as ixuch sickness and eye-sore poverty« ^ere was no peniienftry and chain gangs •cause dere was no need for them* Cuttin* out de brutishness on soRe places, it was a good thing for de raceo * project 1885-1 oon/101 folklore OaUH^J. Edited by: **?£> Spartanburg, Dist.4 Elmer Turnage X Dec. 8, 1937 , .,-. STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES "I live in Newberry County, a few miles from town on Mr. Alan Johnstone's place. I rent and make a fair living. I have ten children now living and two dead. Dey is all on a farm. I was born in Union County, jes» across de Newberry line, near de Goshen Kill section.- I was young when we moved to Newberry and I have lived) dar nearly all my life. My father, Ned Worthy, was a slave of frank Bynum's mother. My mother was Maria 7/orthy-who was a slave of Mr. Burton Maybin. She cooked for a long time for de Maybih family. rtI was small in slavery time, and played wid de white chaps. We used to go wid Mr. Burt Maybin to see dem muster at de old Goshen Hill muster ground. "Marse Burt Maybin owned 88 slaves, and I Was one, and is de only one now living. We had nomoney in slavery time, Jes' got food and clothes for our. work; but my marster was a good feeder, always had enough to eat. Some of de jnarsters didn't give niggers much to eat, and dey had to slip off and steal. We had plenty of what was de rule for eating in dem days. We had home-made molasses, peas, cornbread and home raised meat sometimes. We killed rabbits and possums-to eat, and sometimes went fishing and hunting. Marse wouldn't allow fishing and hunting on Sundays, but-de chaps would slip off on Sundays sometimes and catch lots of fish. »0ur clothes was .made at home, spun and wove by de women folks,and made by dem. Qopper straw and white cloth was used. Our shoes was made by a shoe-maker in de neighborhood who was named Liles. Dey Has made wid wooden soles or bottoms. Dey tanned de leather or had it tanned in de neighborhood. It was tacked around de soles. Ex-Slave: Milton Marshall Page 2 *-<*r> It was raw-hide leather, and de shoes had to be soaked in warm water and greased wid tallow or meat skin so de shoes would slip on de feet. HI married Missouri Rice at her own house. We had a big wedding and she wore a white dress wid two frills on it. I wore a dove-colored suit and a high brim hat wid a small crown. I bought de hat for #7.00 jes' to marry in, but used it for Sundays. ttWe had good white neighbors in^slavery time. My marster and mistress was all right. All of us had to go to work at daylight and work till dark. Dey whipped us a little and dey was strict about some things. "Us chaps did not learn to read and write, dat is why I can't read and write today. Marse wouldn't allow us to learn. Once he saw me and some other chaps, white chaps, under a tree playing wid letter blocks". Dey had de A B C's on dem. Marse got. awful mad and got off his horse and whipped me good. rtDe niggers didn't have a church on de plantation but was made to go to de white folks church and set in back of de church. Dey had to git a pass to go to church same as any other place, or de patrollers would catch 'em and beat »em. ??Atter de war was over de niggers built brush arbors for to hold meetings in. I sho' remember de old brush arbor and de glorious times den, and how de niggers used to sing and pray and shout. I am a Baptist and we baptised in de creek atter we dammed it up to hold water deep enough, sometimes we used a waterhole ih_ de woods. I remember one old Baptist song, it went: "Down to de water I be baptised, for my Savior die; ©omn to de water,de liver of Jordan, fbere my gavior bjaptised. Ex-Slave:^Milton Marshall '" page 3 **** . 1 *^1 "Some of de slaves was whipped while dey was tied to a stock. My marster was all right, but awful strict about two things, stealing and telling a lie. He sho* whipped dem if dey was caught in dem things. Some marsters didn't feed de slaves much, but my marster always had enough. Every Sunday he would give each nigger a quart of flour extra for breakfast. HWe had to work all day Saturdays, but Marse wouldnft let anybody work on Sunday. Sometimes he would give de women part of Saturday afternoons so dey could wash. He wouldn't allow fishing and hunting on Sundays either, unless it looked like rain and de fodder in de field had to be brought in,- Pie always give us Christ- mas Day off, and we had lots of good eats den. *I remember de old corn-shuckings, cotton-pickings and log-rollings. He would ask all de neighbors' hands in ana dey would come by crowds. I can remember dem good, I remember de-grain was put in drains and de horses was made to tramp on it to git de seed out. Den it was put in a house and poured in a big wooden fan machine which fanned out de chaff. De machine was turned by two men. Dgy made molasses by taking de cane and squeezing out de juice in a big woolen machine. De machines now is different. Dey is made of cast. *& stage dat was drawn by two horses went past our place. It carried mail and people, Tfhen Marse wanted to send word to any people in de neighborhood he sent it by somebody on a horse. "Many of de slaves, and some old white people, too, thought dar was witches in dem days. Dey believed a witch could ride you and stop blood circulation. "Dar was many i-tPtytf-'r «3W 3901S5 Project 1885 - 1 __ OLD CUSTOMS' Ex-Slave, UNCLE ALBEKT kalAiTS,i^ge 91) Union, 3. C. Date: 5/7/37 wSho' wuz1 born in '46, das' whut my white folks says* Xccalls myself 97, out dat* don't make no'diffunt, 'boat a few years. I lives near Monarch, on whut's still called the "Ben Brandon place. Mi*.-Ben had a sister , : is1 Polly. Beys' de aunt and uncle -to Mis' Emma Bran- don. Mr. Ben had two overseers, Mr. Caleb and Mr. Heal Willard, deys' both Willards, Yes suh1 dey' sho' wuz1* B.ofer wuz very kind mens1. 11 Masse' Ben nebber' low' much whippin', and he wuz as good a man as anybody has ever seed*. But one -day us nigger' boys hopped-into a fight. Marse' Ben done his ov/k whippin' den'. And dats1 de onliest' time dat' I is. ever knowed' of anybody on all dem' plantat- ions- to -be whipped. u Marse Ben had a small house. Didn't nobody live darr but him-and his sister* Den' she up and went to Kennedy's on de Meansville road. Dat' place wuz' called in Dem ' -days^a 'Cedar Grove*.T'aint much dar' now. " I'se named Albert, 'case my pa belong to Marse Albert Means. 182 \ -2- 183 I wuz always a field-hand. Marse Ben let me eat from his table after his sister went to'Cedar Grove', kaze' wad'n nobody dar' in the house wid' him. •Cindy' Brandon wuz de woman dat* cooked for us. Ky mother always belonged to de' Brandons, and my pa never 'longed to nobody but Marse Albert Means. ¥y Marster1 had only-one body slave whose name was Keith. He was born , lived and died and was buried on the plantation. Marse Ben also had a cousin .whose name was Marse Keith. When he died he gave all his slaves to Marse' Ben, and this is how Keith became my Masters-' body slave. W~t Marse Ben had he left to his young neice Miss Emma Brandon, and to his cousins Miss Hettiek.and Miss Mary Emma Foster. MOn Sunday we get the best things to eat of any day in- the week. Sometimes we were allowed to go to - churdh with our white folks.-at al