%images;]> mesn-170 Slave narratives, a folk history of slavery in the United States from interviews with former slaves. Virginia Narratives, Volume XVII: a machine-readable transcription. Born In Slavery: Ex-Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Projectmesn Selected and converted.American Memory, Library of Congress.

Washington, DC, 2000.

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 2000/05/26
Untitled Section 001

S A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY THE FEDERAL WRITERS PROJECT 1936 1938 ASSEMBLED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Illustrated with Photographs WASHINGTON 1941 SLAVE NARRATIVE

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~: . VOLUME XVII VIRGINIA NARRATIVES Prepared by the Federal Writers Project of the W~orks Progress Administration for the State of Virginia

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INFOI~iIANTS Berry, Fannie Crawley, Charles Fulkes, ~mnnie Giwba (Gibbs?), Georgina Goodwin, Candis Grandy, Charles Harris, Della Hines, ~Iarriah Hopson, Moble rones, Albert Kelly, Susan, and Stok s, Simon Slaughter, Richard Sparks, Elizabeth 1 7 11 15 17 21 24 2? Wilson, Mary Tane 31 42 44 46 50 55

Interview of Mrs. Fannie Berry. 004 001

P IT :::~ Interview of ~ ~ ~ Ex~s1ay. ~ E361 E. ank Street ~ Petersburg, Vtrg ~nia .~. :-; ~ ~ j By 3ueie byrd, ~ ~ . ~ 4 5000g ~te~~February ~6, ~ . ~ . ~ . J ~ ~ ~~f? ~ \ . H~ ~193; L~L!~R!~4~ - ~_/ I Back fore the aixtise, I can member my Mistress, Mise Sara Ann, co~nin. to de ~ndow an hO1IC1i&~ De ni~gers te ~ j~4~ niggere is a:rtaLn Z De rtiggere is kiiii& all de ~chite fo~kr~, ki11in ~ali de b~biee j ri de oradlel lt muet have been Nat Turner e lriaurrection; which wuz sorr~etin~e fo de. break~n ~ de Civil War, I viuz waitin on table in dini& room an1 dis &ey dey had f~niehed eating early an1 I wuz oleanin off table. Don t you knovz I muet have been a good size gal. . Ye , I member ecmeth1n~ ~ too. ~I kflow my Master sara. hGme an said, dat on hie way to de ~&iiow5 o ~e John topped an ~ little ntgg~r child. ~Ho~ corn I don t ~rt~ewber? Don t tell me t don t t cause I do, I don t care if its don bin a thousar~d years . I kiww what Maetr said an it is as fr sh in my mind a. it wui~ dat day.. Die te de song I h .. sr4 ~y Master ethgt old John Brown came to Rarpere Perr~y Toy Purpose to raise an &neurrectlon .. . ~ 014 Governor WI se put the . specks upon hie eyes ~ fl showed him the happy iaxi4 of Ca~*an. ~ ~ ~- ~ ~ ~ . ~ V ~ Mt Matter toZe tie dat de nigg~r* started thO railroad, an dat * / a

005 002

2 2~ nir~er lookin at a boum coffee pot on a stove one day got the idea dat he could cause it to run by putting wheels on it. Die ni~,ger being a blackemith put hie thoughts into action by ~nakin wheels art1 put coff e on it, an ~ by eome kinder means he made it run the idea ~z etole from him an ~ dey bui lt de eteameagine . ~ ~ Rl?:LATI( NS~ TP I wuz one slave dat de poor white man had his match, See Miee Sue? Deee here ol white men eald, what I can t do by fair meane I Il do by oul.~ One tried to throw me, but ho couldn t. We tueeeled an~ knocked over chaire an ~Then I got a grin I ecratchod hie face all to pieces; an da r wu~ no more botheri rig Fannie from him ; but oh, honey, eorne e lave e viould be beat up so, ~ ~vhen dey reeleted, ~n ~o~ietimes if you ll ~belled de overeeer ~ou1d kill yo . U~ Colored ~ornen had to go through a plenty, I tell you. ~ MARRIAGE ~ Elder Wiliiar~e married me in Miee Delia Wann s (whit.) parlor on de crater road. The houae still stands, The houes wuz full of ~olored~ople. Miee Sue Jones ~rtt Miee Molley Clark (white), waited on me. ~y took de lampe ant we walked up to de preacher. One waiter joined my hans ~t one my hueband a han . After marr1a~~e de wl ite folks give me a ception; an ,~ hone~r, ts~lkin bout a table~~-~-- hit wuz etretched clean croee de dinin room. We had everythin to eat you could call for. No, didn t )~e no c~ n eate. ~e could sing tri dar, an dance o1 e~uar dance aU ue ehoosed, ha! ha~ ha~ Lord! Lordi I can eee dorn gale now on dat fie j ~ee ekippin ~ an ~ e trattin . An honey, dar wuz no white tollte to set down an ~ eat to yo&.

006 003

5.. a WAR Novt, Mi. se Sue take up I jee ~ like to ta 1k to you, honey bout dem daye ob ~ilavery; ~cauee you look like you wan ta hear all bout em~.~ AU bout de ol~ rebels; an de~ r~ic~gers who left wU de Yankee. s~1 *ere eat free, but, poor thinc~, dey had no place to go after dey got freed. Baby, all us WQZ helpiese an a&&t had ncthth , ~ I ~aw free a lonc~ time :fo I knew it. My VLst~ee still hired me out, ~t~tl one day in t~nun to ~te woz~tin ehe hired me to, ehe, God blees her eoul ~ ehe told me, Fannie yo~ ar ~. free,an I dor~1t have to pay your Mai.. ter for you now. ~ You etay vdth ins, She didn t cive me no money, but let me etay there an1 work for vitals an olothee ~ctuee I ain t had no where to go. JeediB, Jeeue, God heLp uei Um, ~u, ~n ~ You O}iilhAn don1t know. I tidn t eay rtothi when sh~~ wuz t Ihnt me, but done sided to leave her Einl go b~ k to the white falke dat f~44 own* ~p, r plan to ~tend a big &ance. Let n~e eec, t think it wuz on a Thura~ d~ y nig}~t. Some ho~* it tooken got out, you know how gals i~ii I 1 ta 1k an ~ it got to Bu Duffeye tara dog ~ an baby do you know, mind you twont :e1t~very tii~~, but de or~~r~ got eo n~d caupe I rurtned away from her dat ~he get a 7~h~l.e paeeel of ~ !~ o t looking for me~ Dar wuz a boy, ~ho heard em talki~t an1 eayj~~ dey wuz ~oin~ to kilt rie if I were found. I willnever forget die boy so& up to me while I w~ dancin wid aaotber man ant .ed, *iiobod~y~ knowee bers you ar1, Mi e Moore,. dey is lookin ter you, ar~ ~ it gwine ~U ii you, co 70 ~*c~e on wX d me. Have mercy, heie mercy 1~ Lord, honey, you Min jee ~a~in ~ my f~eelin fer a minuts, I oou dn t move. Tau know de gais an boys aU ~ot round ~e an told me to go wid 8qur.bail, dat he wouid show me de way to my old Mistese house, Out we til*, tTL~ we ran one straight mile up de road, den through de woods, den w. he4 ta go through a et~*w field. Oat field s,ei~~ ilks three miles.

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s, .4.. After den, we met another skit of ~roo . Mies Sue, baby my eyes, (ha~haJM~ \~l1z bu~k d an too if it is ~etch a thin as being so scared yo~ hair stand on yo~ head, r know, nine did. An dat wasn t all, dat boy an ne puffed an ~ sweated like bulla. Was feared to stop, cause we might 1~ve been tracked. At laat we neared de house an ~ :i: started throwin rooks n de porch. c~ lid I look a n ~ hea rd dat ~thite ~om~n when ehe hit dat f.loo;, bound n ~ out dat be d she mus fe lt dat I wuz comI n ~ back to her She called a 11 de men an had 1eni throw a rope to me an~ day drawed me up a piece to ~e window, den I held my arms up an1 dey si~tched me in. Roney, $qureball fled to de woods. I am t neye r heard nothin bout him. An do you know, I didn t leave day $ ~ fl~9 house no more for fifteen years? LordJ Lordihoney, Squteball an~ I use to sing dis song. Twae l~6l, the Yankees niade de Rebels run we ll all go atone bun When de Johh;y e oo~ne a marchin hone. Ohild arr here s another one we use to sing. 1~ernber de war dont. bin *en v~e vould eir~ dese songe. Li sten noii t Ain t no mort blov:in of dat da~rhorn ~ ~ I will sin~, brethern, I ~il~ sing. A~:eoi frosty morn%n de nigger a mighty good ~ . Take your ax upon your shoulder. Nigger talk to de ~ioode, g, Ain t no mor blowin of dat fo~ day horn. I will ~ brethern, I will sing.

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SONG ~&rxo, E:imo, dar you are Rehe hO~ ~ ~~flP to punie did dle. s.t back pinkey riink, Oome Torn Nipreaat 8ing eang Kitty cat, oari1t You carry me o1er? 2 Up d~ darkie~, head ao bold Sing song, Kitty, c~ari t you Carry UIE~ O er? 8ing 8on;~, Kitty, can t 70~ O~rry ~e hoync? I wuz at P~rnrlin an de Yankeee an~ R~bale were fIghtiV~ an dey ~ere ~za n the bloody flap an1 s confederate eoldier wuz upo~i a poet an~ they wore ~hootiri~ terribly. GUnB were firm eierywhere. All. a eudden dey struck up Yunk4 Doodle So~. A eoldler same along ~ called to UIS~ ~ 110W far is it to the Rebels , an I honey, wuz feared to tell himj So, I o~aid, I d on t kno~~ He ~ called inc agath. Scared to ~ death~I recol1e~ct gittin beh1n~ the houae an1 pointed in the direotion, You see, ef de Rebele knew dat I tol~ the soldier, they would h&ve killed UIO These were the Uni on men t, after Lee e irmy whi eh had ~i bi n ~o re det~i t ~ppomattox. .~ The Colored regiment came up behind art wher~ they saw the Colored regimen1~ they put up the white flags ( rg 1ment~er 1~0t ~ red or bloody flag was up).. Now~ do you know why dey raised d~t white f la~t Well., honey , dat white flag wuz a token d*t X#a, had surrendered. ~

009 006

G Ql ry3 Gloryl yea, child the Ne~roee are free, en when the~r knew dat de~r we~ e free dey, Obi &thy1~ began to eingt Maay d n~t yo cook no mo ~ Yot ar free, yo ar free. . Roi~1er don t y ,1 crow no, mo~ To ~r free, yo er free, . 01 ~ hen, don t y lay no ~ ~ eggs To free, yo~ free. Bech rejoicing an~ ehoutiri , you never he rd in you life. Tea, I can re~oU~ot de b1o~ rin up of the crater. We had fled, but I do kr~ow bout the ehellirt of Petersburg, We left ~etereburg when tie ehellin commenced an~ went to Pamplin i~n bcx oars, gettin out of de STay. Dem mere ecared timee too, cause you looked to be kilt any minute by stray bullete. Just before the ahellin~ of ~etereburg~ d~y were seI1in~ nigg~re for litti. nothin hardly. . Juntue Broadie, e~ white man bought eome ni~re, but dey didn t stay slave lon~, cau e de Tazikees cerne an sot ern free,

The story of Charles Crawley, ex-slave. 010 007

Interview of Mr. O~iar1ee .Ora~i,y, ~x~eiave By Susie Byrd ~ j~sb~trg, Virgi.rii~ L~te ~bru~try 20, 1937 ~ 450003 ~\ THE STORY OF CHARLF.S CRA~Ifl, FX-SLAVE ~ ll~ ~ God bows, ~ow old I ~ ~ I I know i~ ~ ~ ~z born fore de war. Tee, X wuz a slave an belonged to a failly of Allen s In Luenburg County, caine here to diB Peteraburg de arcond we k of Lee e Burrender. My M~r5tfr and ~ktetess wuz good to me ae well as all us s1aves~ Dey owned bout fifty head of (~olor.d ~eople. All de work I did wuz to play an drive cows, being only a boy worked around as chilluri; do~n dis, an dat, 1ii~le things de white folks would call me to do. Marstir i~llen, owned my Mother, an sister too; we emigrant (emigrated) here, came to dis town of Petersburg after Lee s sur~ render, I mean you ~GW de ending of de Civil War. My mother, sister, and I cerne on down de road In a box car, which stopped out~ side de outskirts; hit didn t go through de city. Yes, I know when de first railroads wers built, de Norfolk and ~!estern an de Atlantic Coast Line~dey were-run through Petersburg an in dem da~ I I it wus called de Southern. Mie and }Aat~ ~Ulen didn t want us t o leave dat ~ part of de Lountry to come to die here place do,fn de road, but we corned our selves to make a homi fo ourselvea. ~.ll rtow, we worked here an dar, wid die here man an ~at man; ~/wel1wid dirferent people tu we bought us selves i~ horn, an paid for it. Moth r died right here in dis here house; twelve years ago, die comin March levenih. I

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~r ~ ~2 am yei livin in die eame house, dat she an u~ all labored an worked fo b~ de sweat of our brow, an wid dese hands, Lord Lord Quid dem d~,,z wuz some ~ Lej~me firiishbaby1teli ~n you bout ;~cj dis house. Degroun *u~bought from a lady (~o1ored) name Sis Jackey, an she wuz sometimes called in dem da~ e de Mother of Har~ neon Street Baptie Church. I reftcori dis ch rch is de o1 e~t one in Petersburg. o, yes, honey, I can member when de Yankees came into dia town; broke in etoros an told all de niggers to ~o in an git enyihing day dey wanted. ~Then s lavee ran away t ;ey werk br ought back t o their 1~4aster and ~isteee; when dey couldn t catch em they didn t bother, but let em go. Sometimes d~ slaves would go an take up an live at tother places; some of em lived i~ de woods off of takin things, Bech as hogs, corn~an vegetable. from other foftke~ farm. ~ell, if dese eiav~e ~ cq~ght, dey wer~.~eo)d by their ~ew~aeters to go down)outh. Dey tell me dem Masters down South/wuz. so mean to slaves de~would let em work dem cotton fields tu dey fall dead eid hoes in dare hands~ en would beat dem. I m glad to 5ay~ 4e had good o~ners.~ There ~ a auction block, I saw right here in Petersburg on the corner of Sycamore Btreet and Bank street. Slaves were ~u~tioned off to de highest bidder. Some refused to be sold~y datj I mean, cried . I~i1~. I Lord : Lord ~ I done seen dem young une fot4 a~ d kick like crazy fofr~.; hild it WUZ) ~ttiful to see ~em. Den dey wou d handcuff an beat em unmerciful. I don like to talk bout b~ck dar. It brun a sad feelin up me. If slaves belied, I done seed dem w}i.ip em wid a strop cal cat mine taue. Honey, dis strop wut bout broad as yo hand, from

012 009

() ~ 3 ~ . thum to littl finger, an iwas cut in stripe up. b done SIOfl dese whips dat they whip horses wid? ?~e11 dey w~ uied too. You sod somethin bout how we served God. Um, ~ child, I tell you jest how we use to do. ~e use to worship at different houses. You see you would git a remit to go to deee places. You would have to show your remit. If de Pattyrollere, caught you dey would whir yo . Date de wa dey dore in dem da s. Fattyrollers, is a gang of white men git ting together (~ in through de country catching slaves, an whipping an beatin em up il dey had no remit. ~4arster Allen wouldn t how no one to whip an beat hii~ elavee, an he would handle anybody if aey did; 80~ Marster s slaves met 8fl worshipped from house to house, an honey, we talked to~)J~ God all US wanted. You know we use to call Mareter i llen, Colonel Allen. His name w~z . He ma home general7 an a law) er too hen he went to court any slave he said to free, wu.z freed an turned aloose. De white fo ks aa4well as slaves obeyed Mareter Allen. Did you know poor whites like slaves had to git a pass? I mean, a remit like as slaves, to sell anythin an to go places, or do anythir& . Jest am we iColoredfreo~le~ dey had to go to some big white man like Colonel EJJ.en, dey1 did If Mareter wanted to, he would give dem a remit J~4~ I or pasa3ari if he didn t feel like it, he wouldn t do it. lt ~ ~_ jee as :~ ~ he felt bout hit. ~ts what made all feared him. 01 Marster ~z more hard on dem poor White fo~ke din he ~ on us niggers. . I ~ I don t know but two sets of white foJ ke slaves up my way; one ~ naine iatman, an de tother one Nellovies. Dese two families worked on Allen s farm as we did. Off from us on a plot called Morgan s lot, there dey lived as slaves jes like us colored fo ks. Yes de poor white man had so~z~e dark an tough d7, like us poor nigger.; I mean wert.~

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:1.0 lashed an treat d,eo~re of Sm, jes as pitiful an unmerciful. Lords Lord ~ baby I hope yc young to ke wil 1. never know what slavery I s ~ will nover suffer a. yo forepare!~ts. O God God ~ I m livin o telL de tale to yo , honey. Yee, Jesus, yo ve spared me~~ For clothin we wer,L ~lowed two suite a year ~ one fer spring, an one fer winter ~ w~s all yo had. De underclothes wer2.~ made at home. Yo also got two paire of ehoes an homeaad hats an capi. The white fo/ke or your slave owners would teach dem who could catch on easy an dey would teach de other slaves, an d~ ts how dey kept all slaves clothed. Our summer hate w r~i-niado out of plaitsd straw; $d.rdotbes made out of sacks an bags. w. had plenty of food ee~h se twasAcort*readP buttermilk, sweet ~ot~itoes~ i~n week da~e. ~Ia ~ ~ I ho~oy, ~ues~ d~t:a ~ihy ntg:~ero don t lIke cornbread toda~r; dey got a di3lIke for dat bread from baok fo~ke. On Sunday we had biscuite, and sometimes a little extra food, which ol~ ~ Wieteee would eend out to Mother fer us. ?er as I think, jf$ elavery had ;lai3ted it would have been pretty 4~.4*#~ tough. 1~.B it ~ goyflo fared good, w~1ie othf~re fared co~on. You know, slaves ~iho ~erL beat an1 treated bad; some of dein had atz~rted gittin to~ geth~r an kil lin de white ~ olke when dey o~rried dem out to de fie id to work. God ~ e puni&iln corne of dem 01 suckers an thel r CM hun right now ter da wa~/dey use to treat us poor Solored fo ke, I think by Negro gittln educated he hats profited, an1 die here younger generation is gwine to take nothin off 4e.. here poor white f when de~r don t treat dem right, cause r~ow die country le a free country; no slavery now.

Interview of Mrs. Minnie Fulkes. 014 011

45OO1~ . Interview of Wre. Minnie ~ u1kes - 459 ~ Byrne Street ~ PetersbUrg~ Virginia By ~ Byrd ~ March 5, 1937 . ~ ~ (I, I wae born the twenty fifth of December and I am 77 years old. My mothsr : was a slave an. ehe belonged to Dick Beicher in Cheeterfield County. Old Dick 2. sold US again to Gela8pe Graves, ~emb~r now fifteen of mother s chillun went with her having de same master. Honey, I don t like to talk bout dem times, cause my mother did suffer misert. You know dar an overseer who use to tie mother up in 4. barri iith a rope aroun her arme up over her head, while she stood on a block. Soon ae dey got her tied, dis block was moved an her feet dangled, yo know~,$~ldn t tech de Lb . Dis o~ man, now, would start beatin her nekkid til the blood r~az~i down her back to her heels. I took an seed th whelpe an scars fer my own self wid dese here two ~ was a whip like dey use to use on horse~ it uz a peice of leather bout as wide as my han froxn little finger to thumb~After dey had beat my muma all dey wanted another overseer. Lord, Lord, I hate white people and de flood waters gym. drown some ~o. Weib honey dis man would bathe her in salt and water. Don t you kno dem places ~ hurtin . Um, uni. ( ~ I asked mother ~~iat she done fer en to beat and do her so? She eaid, 3nothin ~ tother than ehe refused to b. wife to dis man. ~n muma eay~(4~~ h. didn t tr at her die iay a dozen times, it wasn t ~f,% nary ufle. Mind you, now inuma e niarster didn t know dis wuz going on. You know, if slaves would tell, why dem overseers would kill em. An she sod dat ey use to have m.etinge an sing and pray an th ob paddy rollers would hear dem, o to keep th sound from goin out, slaves would

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12 V~4:4_t~~ put a gra big iron po~ at the door~, an you know some timee dey would fer git to put ai pot dar an the paddy roliere would come an horse whip every las one of em, joe cause r~oor soui$~ were praying ~o God to free ein from dat awful bondage. Ra.! ha ha: dar wu~ one ol brudder who etudied fer em one day an toi all de elaves how to git even wid m. He toi eni to tie grape vines an other vinea across th road, den when de Faddy rollers come galantin wid their horsee runnin so fast you see dem vines would tangle em up an cause ih horses to stumble and fail. An lote of times, badly dey would break dore lege and horses too; one interval on~ ol poor devil got tangled so an de horse kept a carryin him, til. he fell off horse and next day a sucker vas found In road whar dem vines wu~ wind aroun hi s neck so many 1 I times yes had chok d him, dey said, totely dead. 3er~e m right cause dem ol white folks treated ~s so mean. Well, someTtimee, you know dey would, the others of em, keep going tu dey fin ~har die m.eiing wuz gwine on. Dey would come in and start whippin an beatin the slaves unmerciful. All dis wuz done to keep yo from servin God4 an do you know some of dem devil s wuz mean an sinful nough to say . ~ Ef I ket eh ~ou here agin servin God I ll beat you. You haven t time to serve God. We bought you to serve us. Um, um. God s gwine rod dem wicket inaraters. Ef hit taint ein shut gite hit, hits gonna fall on deir chillun. In dem back days child, meetings wuz carried on je. like we do today, some whatly. Only difference is the slave dat knowed th most bout d~ Bible wo~ild tell and *~p1ain what God had told him in a vIsion (yo young folks say, dream ) datdis freedom would cometo pass; an den dey prayed fer die vision to corne to pass, an dare what de paddy rollers would whip em ag in. Lords Lord dey, pew.! pews pw.! Baby, I jee kno I could if I knowed how

016 013

to write, an had a little 1earn~ng i could put off a book on die here situation. Yo kno what I mean bout dese way back questions yoP~ is a asking ~e to tell yo bout; as fer as I can r~ca11ect in my mind. VThen Graves bought us, he sold three of us an three slaves. My brother an ~jster went down south. Muma sed to de cotton country an too, she say, they were niade to wrok in th cotton fields by their new marster, out in dem white fields in th brawlin sun from th time it breeked day till yo couldn t see at night an , yes if God len t my right ous judge they were given not half to eat, rio riot nough, to oat. Dey witz beaten of dey aek d for any mo . Ae to marriage, when a slave wanted to marry, why ho would Joe ask his mareter to go over and ask de tother mareter could he take un ~t~ himself dis certain gal fer a wife. Ittnd you now, all de slaves dat mareter called out of quarters an he d make em line up see, stand in a row lake soldiers, and de slave man is arid his inareter when die aekin is gwine on, and he pulls de gal to hi~ he wante;an de rnareter den make both jump over broom stick an after dey does, dey is pronounced man an wife, both stayin wid same marstere (I mean ei John .%arris Sal1ie~ John 8tay wid hie ol mareter an Sal wid hers~but had privileges, you know~Iike married folks; an of chillun were $~n all of em, no matter how many, belonged to de narster whar de woman stayed. If I amt made a mistake, I think it wuz in April when de war surrendered an muma an all us wuz turned aloose in May. Yee dat ol wench, a o~ heifer, oh child, it makes my blood bile when I think bout it. Yea ehe kept muna i~runt. Didn t t*ll her nuthing bout being free til den in J~~ay. Den her mi.te e, )Ltes Betsy Godsey, toi her she wus free, an she (muma) C cook fer her j e s same dat she wo uld give her something to eat help clothe us chillun, dat wus of muma continuai to eta wid her an work. . You see we didn t have an no whar to go um uzn,um so we all you know, ~os took en stayed iii we wus able wid God s help to pull us solves ta-.~. gether. ut my Cod it vuz ginst our will, but, baby, couldn t help ourselves.

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14 My father2 ~aatsr to . him he could farm orte ha! fer tother an when time rolled roun fer dem viding crope h. took &n give to him hie part like any honiet man would &o. A~, Lor~~ child, dem wuz terrible times too, oh it makee me shudder ~en I think of eom elaves had to stay in de wooda an git long beet way dey could after freedom done bin dared; ~OU eee elavee who had ~iean easter would rather be dar dan whar dey lived. By an by God opened a way an dey got wid other elavee who had huts. You aee, after Ui render no white folks could keep slavee. Do yo know even now, honey, an dat done bin way bac yonder, de~e 01 white folks think us poor colored people i~ made to work an slave fer dem, look dey amt give you no wages worth nuthin . Gal cook all week fer two an three dollars~ ~ow can you live off it, how kin, ~Ir kin ye 7 ~y father waited on soldiers and after de e render dey carried hia an his brother as fer as ~aehington D.C. I think we all use to say den, ~asbington CityJint you done heard folks talk bout dat city? Tie a grade big city, daus whar de President of dis here country stay; an in bac daye it ~us known as vidin lin fer de North an South. I done hear de~ white folks t.l1 aU bout dea things~gdis line. Ai I wus tellin you, h s brother wuz kept, but dey sent father bac home. Uncle S~encer wuz left in Prince ~illians County. All his chillun ai still dar. I don t know de name of Yankee who carried him off. Lord, Lord, floney, de~i times too over sad cause Yankees took lote of slaves aw~y tRi dey Made homee,An whole heap of families beL eight of each other. ~I know of a case whar after hit wuz ten years a brother an sister lived side by sida an didn t know dey wuz blood kin.~ ~Ly views bout de chilltrn in dem bac days is dat dese here chillun what is now coatin up is too pisen brazen fer m.. No4 je. isa ~e tell you how I did I aarz~ d when I vuz 14 years old. Sc) help me God, I didn t know what marriage meant. I had an idea when you loved do ~ 701L au he could be aarried an his wife had to cook, clean up, wash2 an, iron fer him was aI .. I slept in bed he on his side *~ T s~ ~ fer

018

SI. three months an~ di~ amt ~o lie. Ulee Sue, he never got close to me c~use murna had aed ~n t let no body bother yo principle~ cause dat wuz all yo had. I bey my muma, an toi him 807 and I said to go an ask ~u~a an et e~e 5 d he could get cloee to ~e hit ~as airight. AD he an I went to gether to aee and aek Lauma. Den intima eaid ~ Come here chi1lun,~and ehe began tellin me to please my husband, an twa~ my duty as a wife, dat he had mar~ed a pu fect lady. Dees here chillun don t think of deir principle. Run purfectly wild. Old women too . Dey ai~ t all est true to one but have tao. Je. what is gittin ir t~ cue generation; is hit de wor . comiri to an end? Kt~ had haZ I goin ~ tel yo som thin else I had a young man to come to see me ~e an he s.d die to me, ~ .~oore Let me jin my fence to your plantation. :i give him his hat. I say, Mno ~ yo go yo way an I go mine. I wz through wid him, an mind I from thi.t da t il di e ami knowed what he wuz talkin bout an wuz a ehamed to ask mura; but I thought he insulted me. I didn t never go to school. Had to work an ana working now an when hit breaks good weather, I go fishing. And who works dat big garden out dar? No body but me. You know I m mother of eleven chillui~,an tie seven living an four of dem ded.

Interview of Mrs. Georgina Giwbs, ex-slave. 019 015

450014 ~ ~ Duplicate - Copy # 1 D 4 Interview of Mrs. &eorgina Giwba, Ex~s1a~re ~ . / ~ ~ S ~3y ~- Thelma Dunston i-J: : ~ ~ portsnouth~j~iflia ~: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 1937 . \r~ ~ ~ ;~5 ~ \\~S~, ~ ~ Mrs. Georgina Giwba, an ex-.slave, r Id~s ~t 707 Lind~sey Avent~e, Portamouth, Virginia. The old lady marveled at the great change that has been made in the clothings, habita and living conditions of the Negro since she was a child. She described the clothing of the slaves in. a calm manner, All of de cloth during slavery time was made on de loom. My inastah had three slaves who w~rked in de loom house. After de cloth was made, inastah sent hit over town to a white woman who made hit in clothes. We had to knit all our stockings and glovea. VIe d plait blades of wheat to make us bonnets. We had to wear wooden bottom shoes. Dere won t no stores, so we growed everything ~e et, an we d make everything we d wear. We had a washing house. Dere w~az five women who done de washing an ironing. Dey had to make de soap. Dat wuz done by letting water drip over oak ashes. Dis made oak ash lye and di. s wuz used in ~ making soap After de~ l,othea had soaked in dis lye soap and water, dey put de clothes on tables and. beat em till dey wuz white. ~ Mastah give us huts to live in. De beds iuz ixiade of long boards dat wuz nailed to de wall. De mattress wuz stuffed wif straw and pine tags. De only light we had wuz from de fire~place. We didn t use no matches, stead we d strick a rock on a piece of steel. We d let the sparks~fall on some cotthn. S My ma stah had bout five hundred slaves ~ d never sell none of hi s s laves, but he d always buy more . Dat keeps de slave s from marrying in dere famblies. Then yer married, yer had to jump over a broom three times. Oat wuz de licence. Ef mastah seen two slaves together too much he would marry them. Hit didn t make no difference ef yer won t but fourteen years old. S Work began at sun rise and last ~ sun down. When I wuz eight years old, I started working in de field wif two paddles to keep de crows from eatin de crops..

020 016

:16 z ~Ie had a half day off on Sunday, but you won t 1owe~ to visit. Sometimes de men slaves would put logs in de beds, and dey d cover ent up, den dey go out. Maatah would see de logs and think dey wuz de slaves. ~ ~t~~1y father told nie dere wuz once a mastah who sold a slave woman and her son. Many years after dis, de womanmarried. One day when she wuz washing her I ~ ba ck ehe seen a scar on hi s back . De woman membere d de scar. ~t wuz de scar her mastah had put on her son. Course dey didn t stay married, but de woman wouldn t ever let her son leave her. Superstitions told by Mrs. Georgina ~liwbs 1. Ef a dog turns on hi. s back and howls is a sign of death. ~ 2. tIEf yer drope a dish rag on de floor and it spreads out, tie de sign dat a hungry woman is gwine ter corne to yer house. Ef de rag don t spread out den a hungry man is a coming. 1. ~Ef a black cat crosses yer path going to d~ right, tis good luck. Ef de cat goes tQ de left tie bad luck.~ 4. Ef a girl walks aroung wif one shoe off and one on, she li stay single as niany years as de nwnber of steps she taken.

Interview of Mrs. Candis Goodwin. 021 017

-~- ~ ~ ~ 450006 . . \I/ /~ ~ ~ 1, Interview of Mrs. Candis Goodwin . //~ ~? ~ A Aged 80 ~ 1L~T:~ ;;t~ ~ ~ ~. Cape Charles, Virginia ~L. ~- Ah ain t kriowd, xactly, how ol ah is, but ah ba~n fo d~ K~jz7~1 Baw~xoj~ ~ ~-J ~ ~ yonder at Seaview, on ol Masser Scott s plantation. Tain t fur f om here. Yes, ~ ~ reckon ah bout six yeah ol when c~e Yankees come, jes a lii thin , you know. My whi~.peop1e dey good tuh me. Cose dey gits mad wid you but dey don beat non o us; jes ack lak it. Why, ah was jes lak dey s chullun; ah played wid eui, et wid ein an eb n slep wid em. Ah kinder chilhish, ah reckon. Had muh own way. Muh mommer, she wuck in de qizater kitchen. She ahi ha tuh wuck hawd lak s me. }~~ad it kinder easy, too. 3es lak ah tells yub ah al ye had my way. Ah git s whut ah want s an eli n dey don t g! tuh me ah j ee teks it. ~ No neber had no wuck to do in dem days ceptin nursin de babies. Twas jeep lak play; twan no wuck. UBter go ober to Nottingham s tub play, go long wid Missu~ chillun, yuh know. Ah lake tuh go ober there cause dey has good jam an biscuits. Ef ri dey don gi me none, ah jes teks ~ some. Dey don do nuttin ; 3es say, Tek yuh han out dat plate . But ah got whut ah wants der. Wh~!f We chillun user hab a time round ol Missus place. iUi us chillun uster git t~ogeder an go in de woods iuh play. Yes, de white and. black uns, too. De grea big whi boys uster go long wid us, too. Know how we play? We tek de brown pine shadows an zuek houses outer em an den mek grass outer de green uns. Den we go ober Missus dairy and steal inythirig we want an tek it to our houses in de woods. Dem was good ol times, ah tel yuh, honey. ~ Tel yuh, whut ah uster do. Ah uster play pranks on ol ~sse~ . ~h ~s regular lii devil, ah was.Come night, ev y body sit round big ffre place in living room. Soon it git kinder late, Massa git up outer his cheer tuh win up . de clock. Ah gits hin his cheer ret ea8y, an quick eneak his cheer f orn un er h t; an When h finish h set sn~ek on de flow Den he Bay Dogone yuh ~ c~tt~ ~~ ab gwan ~ itcb yuh$ ~ Ah 5es fly ut de ~ room. 1Worf~ sc4 ~red though ~ise ~

022 018

- 2w ~. 18 &h knows Massawon gon do no~~n tuh me. What ah know botet whippin . Well. ah am had uh whippin in ~y life. But ah hear tel o how dey whips um though . Yuh know dey uster tek dat cowhide an cut em till dey backs beeds. Some jes lak see de bleod run down. Better not cry neider.. Mek yuh holler, ~ prayoh prayf~&uldn t say nottin else. But Liassa Scott neber had none dat kinder stuff on his place. He say tain t right. Didn t low no paddyrollers round eid r. Say dey trechous . Massa Nottin harn neber had em on his place neider. He didn neber strike one o his niggers; no~ body else better not neider. Honey, ah teh yuh ah growd jee as good s ~jiy il in dis country. O Missus Scott gimn~e good clothes; cose ah didn t git ein rnone twice a yeah, but dey s good when ah g te em. She ginnnte Sis dresses. Sist one ob Missue 1~H - e girls. An de whi ~ chillun dey learn rae how tuh read, too. Cose de whi :~ foflc~ din wan yuh to learn. Ah member jes &8 dare as yes-tidy how one dem chillun learn me how tuh read cornpr ~ ss~i b11ity . Thought ah wa suppin den! Ah kin read Bible 1il~- now but ah can write; neber learn tuh wr~te. ~ Old ah eber go tuh church? Cose ah di&~ Vient ret long wid Missus chillun. Had tuh set in de back, but dat won nottin . My moimner, she went tuh church too. ~ Sometime de ol folk uster git toge~er in de quater-kitchen tuh shout an pray. ~ Date where my mommer git ligion. She kinder tender omaricouldn stan dat~ preachin~ no longer. ~ What bout muh peppy? Dat s suppin ah am toi yuh bout. Well, yuE know ~incle Stephen, he kinder overseer fa some widow omans. H M ninier husband.He come see muh mominer ~jiy time he gi t s ready. But ah 1 out he ai n muh pappy. Ah knowd dat since when ah s a li 1 thin . Ah uster ja ovur tuh rnass~ Wil 11am s plantation. Dey tell me all bout. De folks ober dere dey uster say tuh me, Who s yuh pappy? Who a yuh pappy? ~ Ah jee say Tuckey. buzzard lay me an de sun hatch me ~ an den .gWan bout my b ei~nes s Cose a 11 de ti~xie dey knows an ah know. ~ ~ ~

023 019

~. 19 too dat ~1assa William8 was rauh pappy, Ah tell yuh suppin else. Got uh brother libin ret on di here etreet~ one denntoof doctors, yuh lcnow.what pulle yer teef. Cose he s white. But tain t knowed ro~ here. Twould ruin him. He s a nice itan though. Uster go tuh see muh sonan his wife, lots uh times. Yes dey s good frientas Ye, dey had overseers. $onietiiae dey call dera stewards. Had colored uns too. Massa Scott had white overseers, good. man though; but Massa Nottin ham, he had big black boss on his p lace, c~~ member his name. He am had to git no p mission tuh come tuh our place. He j come afl goes when he gits ready. Kin ah member de war? Yes, indeed~ Member jes lak twas yestidy. Well dey had a stow down de conner f om Massa B plantation, an de~al ys sen me tuh stow fo tuh buy things. Uster go down dere, an dem..Yankees be sittin all long de road wid dey blue coats; ret pret-ty site ~ twas. But ah s sceard tuh deaf, when ah gits neah ~ Ah gits what ah wants f orn de stow, afl flys pass em. Dem Yankees show had. dey way. Dey went in all de white folks house; tek dey silver, an inythirig dey big ~ nough carry out. Jes ruin ~Aissus furniture ; get up on de tab le an jest cut capper. Nasty things~ Den de Yankees goes round at night~tek anybody dey wants tuh help em fight. Twas dey Civil right . Got my Jake~ cose ah neber knowd hIm den. He twelve yeah oiler ah is. . Lernmie tell .yuh bout inuh Jake, how he did in de war. He big man in dey war. He drill soldiers ev y day. Firs he be inone dem companies Company C ah bliebe. Den he wucked up to be sergentS-Major, in de Tenth Regiment. Jacob ~ his name was. He say. a1~L look up tuh him an spect him too. See dat Sowd 0V1 in dat conerJ ~t ~ s de ye y sowd he used in de war, an ah kep. ~ it ail dese yeahs. No de soldiers neber did no fighting round here s ah know of. But plenty ob em camped here. My Jake, he hansome man, he was. Member, how we firs got togeder . We al. 1 was tuh church one Sunday, an1 Jake he kep cHin up to me. An , ah lookin at him outer de coner mub eye, till finally he come up an took holt niuh han e. ~ Twas af t I de war ah had growd up. Ah was In mub early teens den. Dey say. ah s de purtiet girl onde ~ An whenJake ~ me got zna~r ~ ied, ev ybody said, You show meks a purty .

024 020

20 couple. De ol Scott chillun what ah growd up wid? No, mone dem lef now. Dey las girl died heah las yeah an hur daughter come way down here f om up in Maryland tuh tell An Candis bout it. Wouldn tell me ~ sceard twould. cite me. But ah hea d hur tellin my chi 1 dere all bout it. 01 Massa s chi hun, some dem, dey still comes tuh see me. Slip me some money now n den, an suppin t eat, too. Dey s all rnoughty nice folke, dem Scotts is.

Interview of Mr. Charles Grandy. 025 021

w~ ~ ~:: History of Ex slave and Civil War Veter~>. ~ . ~ . ~\ f /~ ; ~ ~ \ .~ ~ ~ Charlee Grandy wae born February 19, 1842, jn Miseieslppi. ~i1 still an infant 1~i was b3 ought to Nozfo 1k. Then the fa~ai ly arri ved i n . ~ Norfolk his father was arrested on soins preten.tious charge, and the whole family was placed In pri8on. After their release they weje taken to a plantation near Hickory Ground, Virginia, and sold. Slaves, at this time, were often taken to rural districts in carts, and Bold to owners of plan-. tations, as they were needed. Family Life, friendships, and love affairs were often broken up; many times never to be united. Following the general routine of slaves, the Grandy family was given a shanty ; food and o lothing was a lao issued to them, and had to last until the master decided to give out another supply. Usual1y~ he issued them their allowance of food weekly. Often the supply was insufficient for their needs. Oharles played around the plantati~n big house s, doing 8mall errands until he reached the age of five, then his play days ended. While playing on the wood pi le one morning, hi s master cal led him, boy do you see thi. a grass growing along the side of the fence?~ Well pull ital up. Then his first task was finished, he was carried to the field to pull the grass from the young cotton and other growing crops. This work was done by ha~nd because he was still too young to use the farm implements. Now he went to his task &aily;. from early in the morning until late in the evening. The long toi isome days comp lets ly exhai.~sted the youngster. Often he would faLl asleep efore reaching home, and spend a good p rtion ofthe night ou the ba~~ growid. Awakening, he would find. it quite a prob~.em to ~ 1o4~4te ~ his. ~ - ~ ~.. ~ h~m! in A~!z~ 4a1b~~~5 o:~~ ~gIit. ~ . . ~ ~. . ~ . ~ . f d%p ~ ~ 21. T ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -~ ~ ~ ~ r~riew of Mr. Charles Grand~ Ex-elaye ~ David Hoggard -~ ?ebn*rY26, 19~7 450011 ~ .

026 022

4 ~ ~ t~t~ -.2-. From the etage of grass pulling by hand, ~ie grew strong enough,in a few years, to use the hoe rake and sic le. While attempting to carry out hi masters ordersto cut corn tassels with a large sharp knife, his elbow waB seriously cut. He was taken to the house and treated, the application being chirrimey soot, to stop the bleedtng. After this treatment the arm waa placed in a sling, and eventually became deTorned from instifficient care. He was sent back to the fields to pick cotton, with one free hand and. his teeth, while painfully carrying the other hand in the 3ling. Fail-. ing to obey this command, he would haie been given a whipping, or sent to the southiands. Sending slaves to the plantations of Mississippi and other southern states w&s a type of punishment all slaves feared. Slaves r~ere not~ allowed much freedom of worship. The Yankee soldiers and officers p layed a great part in the s s moral training, and re ligious worship. They secretly instructed small gatherings of slaves, at night. The points stressed most were, obedience and the evLls of stealing. There were some sections where masters were liberal in their views toward their slaves, and permitted them to worship openly. Slave s were a I lowe d to have sine. 1 1 quantiti e s of whi skey, even dun ng the days of their ~ rship, to use for medicinal purposes. It ~as a common occurrence to see whiskey beirg sold at the foot of the hill near the churchyard. The news of war, and the possibility of Negroes enlistthg as soldiers was truly a step closer to the answering of their prayers for freedom. Upon hearing of this good news randy joined a few of the others in this break for freedom. On night, he anda close friend packed a small quantity of food in a cloth and set out about midnight to join the northern army. Traveling at night most of the ~ime, ~ they were constantly confronted with the danger of beiri.g recaptured. Successfully eluding their followers, they reached.Portsmouth after many narrow escapea. From Portsmouth they moved to Norfolic.

027 023

1m~, ~ 23 Arriving in Norfolk, Grandy and his friend decided to take different road3 of travel. Several days and. nighte found him wandering about the outskirts of Norfolk, feeding on wild berries, etc. While picking berries along a ditch bank, he was hailed by a Yankee soldier, who having come in contact with run away slaves before, greeted him. friendly, and questioned him of his home and of his knowledge of work. He was taken to camp and. assigned as cook. At first, he was not very successful in his jcb, ~ut gradually improvement wae shown. He was asked what wages he woulci accept. It wa~ such a p leasure to know that he h~&d escap ed the clutches of slavery, . }~e did not ask for wages; but instead, he was willing to work tbor anything they . . would give him, no matter how erriall, ae long as he didn t have to return to slavery. .. .~. ~Vithin a short period he was given a uniform and gun; w&~ f lly en1ist.~ ed aa a srldier, in the 19th regiment of Wisconsin, Company E. Here he re~ mained in service until November, 1862, after which time he returned to Nor.~ folk to spend some time with his mother, who was still living. While sitting in the doorway one day, with hIs ~Mother, he was again confronted with the proposition of reenlisting. He agreed to do so for one year, to serve as guard at Fortress Monroe. He remained there until the close of the War, offering brave and faithful services. Mr. Grandy is now ninty.4ive years old, residing at 609 Smith Street, Norfolk, Virginia. He is still able to attend the various conventions of Civil War Veterans. He can read, write, and has a fair knowledge of the Bible. His main interest is the *~anization of N*groee into strong groups. He enjoys talking about religion and is quite an interesting and intelligent person to talk with. ~

Interview of Mrs. Della Harris. 028 024

~- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -~-4+ - -~r~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ r ~: . ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~: 450005 ~ / ~ /~~:~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~- ~ /1(~ ~ ~ ~ ~:~: ~: Interview of Mrs. Della }~arrie ~ ~ -~. ~ ~. . \ ~ 2 E~ Byrne Street ~ ~ ~ ~ . . ~ Petersburg, Virginia \ . ~ ~ ~ ~ By ~ s a ~~ B~d \~ ~ ~ .~ . February 5, 1937 ~ S ~ ~ ~ I don t know just how old I is. Muiua sent/~ne to private school wid white clii I lun f0 one week . I wa~ 13 years old at de time uh Lee ~ a surrender. I be long to Petez or Bi ily Buck Turnbull ?Iarrenton, N. . Put this down. My mother and ~ family. all belong to Peter Buck as his slaves. We didn t work until after the war; then we cazi~e ~t~Fitersburg. I vient to dancing 8chool wid the white folks ~id can dance any kind of dance sets. My father was a muaicianer. He belonged to John Carthan, in ~Varrenton, N. O. In dein days you had to take your Mster~e and Mi Btees name. In slavery tinie when a slave married he had to ask his Moster and Mistess. ~ . . S We never went to church. We used to hear de bells ringing loud, baby, yes, clear and strong. No,never seer~ Sunday school, and the first tiziie I went in a church I looked all around~and baby, I thought dat I was in heaven. It wasn t long, Miss Sue, before I got l~geon, and, yes, I jined~church, 15 years old I wuz. Never will forget the time, or dat place. Den I lived here~ith an ant, xnuna s sister, who was name d Kate ~1i I llama Her husband wuz my unc arid he worked and die d at de ~Yhite House in Washington City. ~ S t, I don t know de name of de President he worked for, but you can find dat out on dem books. You know you young folks calls t.mi records. Yes child I m proud of my age never gave no body no trouble. . I haire 8 children dead and now only one son livi~ig. Peter Turnbull was good. to al I hi s s lave s, as far a s I know. Mama wa s a e ook in s lavexy time . She died in Petersburg, yes, right here in dis hole. . . . S S ~ ~ ~No muma never oiiried any thing~a.lways rented and amt never owned nothing but ~ a paseel of.cbi~dren. S S S L S ~Iy ~~a: wa~ a gerilune Indian. Some people day you ca&t .own Indians. .1 don t ~. knoj~zow cum, but I do know she was owned by these people, but ehe surely was an S ~ ~ S ~ ~ .5 5 .5, Indian. Every bO(~y knows nie all ~n Virginia. ~ .~. ~ S ~ 5 ~ S S S. ~ ~ s S. ~ o

029 025

25 -2 . When I use to be in din~ing room service I would hear de white folks talk, arid, d~ you know, Miss Sue you can hear a lot that way Moster said he couldn t sell me cause I was so 1ittle,~ust kept me fur to wait 021 de little chillun in de house. Mi 38 Sue, you 11 have to give me something for tel ling you al 1 dis here, ~ it it ain/ nothing but a horse cake. ni ye seen lots of dis world in travel. Done bin to BaltimoreCity; done bin ~ to Phili4delphia. ni amt gwine give you no more, gal. ~ / ~ Yes, to Lynchburg, den I worked at Mont Royal School~ Baby where Mrs V~cDanie1 was manager. ~The man gwirie say, dat woman bin some where. If I stayed long enough I migh4a got some learning but I stayed only one year. Got tired of that place. From ~ one sea Bon to another is a year, amt it? Mi I Lord~ ~ - Young folks now adays are just fur~ a- good time, anda good time too they have. Yes, Siree BobZ Gwine stop now, Miss Sue, amt gwine give you no mo Man gwine say, Miss Sue, where in the devil did you get this stuff~ Gal, you are a mess. You gonaa write most ai 1 dat book about De lia . Go on now, date nough. ~ il In . dem days chi 1 lun were chi I lun, now every body is grown.. Chi 1 lun then were seen and not heard. when old persons came around ~uma sent us out and you better not be seen. Now every body~grown. Make the man laugh. I ve always enjoyed good health.~ver had a Doctor in my life,not even when my chillun wuz born. Dis rubbing when people got pain just rubs it in. Eating so much and late hour s i s cause you young fo Iks dying . Al I muma s chi I lun wuz healthy. 9~e food in dem day8, yes~muma fed us good vituals from white folks. I tell you, we had good owners. I didn t see sun set when I wuz a child,Always went to bed early,

030 026

.~. ~ ~ii1d, I wiah I could call back dem daysi ~ma said people lived so much longer because they took care of themselves. All dis here education a& people juet now got it. ~Jt4~_~ Do you think, Mrs . Harris~ education has helped our ra ce? Well, child, I don ~no ~ volke are eo indifferent now I am afraid to say. -~- . ~ ~ Pehaw. . Colored folks now, some are messy~~don t know how to be polite . ~ 11 Ta iking about 1ightning~ days, It s lightning at every bod.ys ~hou ~e . Lord have ~ mercy on dese here young folks and deliber me from the plantation5l pray. ~ O Courting dem days wuz like every-thing I re&n you all do now *adays. ~ ~ou promise to bey the rnari,~,but before you. finish~ its cussing,Honey. In olden days husbands loved. Sho ~od ~ .--~ ~- -~ -~ - --~. them and they had to stay home cause it YJuz always a. new baby. I tell you~Mise Sue, man ought not never had you to find history ~ause you gwine tell it all. ~ A~ I said, we loved Is ~ ~e young fo Iks marrying fur love? Dey don t stay to~. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ :. ~ ~ :~ ~ ~ ~ gether long enough to warm~iand6. We went to church together and. praisei God; ~ led prayer meetings and,yes siree,would feel good. ~. Now you aLl done start opening theatreson Sunday. Miss Sue, all dat stuff ~ . you putting down wi Il sure make the man laugh.

Interview of Mrs. Marriah Hines. 031 027

4 5 0 0 0 4 1 ~ ~ ~ ~ j, J~ 2~ Interview of Mrs. !~arriah Hines E. Avenue RIPF.D. 1. / ~ 4i~ Oakwood NorfoIk~ Virginia ~ ~ ~ By ~ David Hoggard ~ - )~. ~ - ~ . ::arch 26, 1937 / .- . Mrs. Marriah Pines - Born July 4, 1835, South Hampton County Virginia0 a slave on James. Pressmans plantation. Now residing on lE. Avenue, Oakwo~ Norfolk, ~ Virginia R.F. D. 1. ~ . ~ Even though the general course of slavery was cruel, Marriah Hines was ~/ fortunate enough, not to have to endure its seventies. James Pressman was one of the few slave masters that looked upon the slave with a certain degree of corn passions to whom Marriah was fortunate, to be owned by. Although slavery in its self was cruel; but the fact that Mr. Pressman was generous and kind -~o the slaves ~ that he owned, because of necessity in the process of his far~irw~, should not be overlooked. it is quite true that slave masters near him did not grant their slaves such priviliges as he did. I do not wish to impress the idea that lJr. Pressman did not approve of slavery, but only his general attitude to~ard his slaves was different from the majority of the slaves holders. From the following story of i~rriah s life in E~1avery, it may be clearly seen that her master was an exception. ~ ~ her, ~he rs ates lier i fe~ st~ry as toi~iow~~ UI lived with good people, my white folks treated us good. There was plenty of em that didn t fare as we did. Some of the poor folks alniosi starved to death. iThy the way their masters treated them was scandalous, treated them like cats and dogs. 71e always had plenty of food, never knowed what it was to want food bad enough to have to steal it like a whole lot of em. Master would always give us plenty when he give us our rations. O course we slav~es were given food and clothing and just enough to keep us goin good. ~Thy master would buy cloth by the loads and heaps, shoes by the big box full; den he d call us to the house and give each on us our share. Plenty to keep us comfortable, course it ~~jb silk nor satin, no ways the best there was, but twas plenty good nough for us, and we was plenty glad to git .71

032 028

iSt. ~Jhen we would look and see how the Blaves on the jibing farm waa fareing, twould almOst make us ~ied tears. lt made us feel like we was gitting long most fine. Dat ~ f why we loved spected master course he wae so good to us. ~ ~Cause master was good and kind to ue, some of the other white folks used to call him nigger lover, He didn t pay dat no mind though. He was a true Christian man, and I mean he sho lived up to it He never did ~ force any of us to go to church, if we didn t want to, dat was 1~f~ to us to cide. ~If you wanted to you could, if you didn t you didn t have to, but he d always tell us, you ought to go. . . Not only was master good but his whole family was too. When the weather was good we worked in the fields and on other little odd jobs that ~s needed done. We slaves would. eat our breakfast, and go to the fields, dare wont no hurry-scurry. Lots o tirnes when we got in the fields the other slaves had been in the field a. long time. IDar was t une s though we had o git o i~ early too pecially if it had been rainy weather and the work had been held up for a day oi~ so. raster didn t make us work a tall in bad weather neither when it got real cold. The men might have to git in fire (w wood or su~pin of that sort but no all day work in the cold ~ just little odd jobs. ~e didn t even have to work on Sundays not even in-the ~house?. The master and the pre~her both said dat Was the Lord s day and you won t epose to work on that day. . ~ CIA. So we didn t. We d cook the white folks vit~a1s on Saturday and lots o3times dey at t~ P%j~~ cold ~ vitals on Sundays. Master would sometimes ask the preacher home to dinner. ~You M . ~ ~l. plenty welcome to go home with me for dinner, but you ll have o eat cold v&~al.s cause there aintno cooking on Sundays at my house~ Lots of times we slaves would take turns on helping em serve Sunday meals just c~,uae we li~d ~ them so much. We hated to see Misais fULb ing round in the kitchen all out a her place. We ~didn t ~ have to doit~we~juet did it on our own free will. Master Sometimes gives us a little ~ money for it 1mo, which made it all the bett r. Marter and Mi*DUI was so good to us ~ we didn t m nd W rking ~ little on S nd~s ~ in the hou 8~. Ma8te! had pra~er itib th hole family every night, prayed for us slaves too. Any of the slaves that wanted to 4~e him could. Or if they wanted to tray by 4em selves they c~uld. 5unday~ is w~r~ ~ A~L ~ )~ I

033 029

29 to church and etayed th.e biggest portion of the day. No body had torush home. Oy~ our plantation we had general prayer meeting every Wednesday night at church. cRuse SOme of the masters didn t like the way we slaves carried on we would turn pots down, and tubs to keep the sound from going out. Den we would have a good time, shouting singing and praying just like we pleased. The paddarollers didn t pay us much tention cous ed they knew how master let us do. Dey would say nasty things bout master cause he let us do like we did. .~ . We had plenty time to ourselves. Most of the time we spent singing and praying cause master was sich a good Christian and most of us had fessed religion. Evenings we would spin on the old spinning wheel, quilt make clothes, talk, -tell j kes, and a few had learned to weave a little b~t from MISBUB, We would have candy pulls, from cooked molasses, and sing in the moonlight by the tune of an old banjo picker. Chpllen was mostly seen, not heard, different from youngens of today talking backward and foward cross their ma~ies and pappies. C~llen dat did dat den would git de breath slapped out on em. Your mantes didn t have to do it either; any old person would~ and send you home to git another lickin . We slaves had two hours off for dihner, when we could go home and eat before we finished work bout suri down. We amt had no colored overseers to whip us nor no vthite ones. We just went long so and did what we had to, wid out no body watching over us. Every body was just plum crazy bout master. Doing the day you could see hirn strutting down the field like a big turkey gobbler to see how the work was going on. Always had a smile and a joke wid you. F~e allu s tell us we wa.s doing fine, even sometimes when we want. We d always catch up our work, so he wouldn t have to fuss. We loved Misses and the c}~llen so much we wouldn t even let em eat hardly. M1$8~5 didn t have to do nothing, hardly. Dare was always some of us round the house. ~ . Bout a year fore we heard bout freedom, master took sick and the s laves wouldn t er looked sadder if one of their own youngene had been sick. Dey spected him to die, and he kept calling for some cabbage. Misses finally let me cook him some cabbage and let him have . some pot licker (the water t he cabbage wie cooked in).

034 030

3() -~ He didn t die den but a few years later he did die. Dat was the first and the last time any cooking ever was done in that house on Sunday. ~ ~ When master told us we was free it didn t take much fect on US. He told us we could go where we pleased and corne when we pleased that we didn t have to work for him any more less we wanted to. Most of us slaves stayed right there and raised our own crops. Master helped us much as he could. Some of us he gave a cow Or a mule or any~ thing he could spare to help us. Some of us worked on the saine plantation and bought our own little farms and little log cabins, and lived right there till master dies aiid the family moved away. Some of us lived there right on. Waster married me tocrie of the best colored men in the world) Benjamin F. Hines. I had five chullun by him, four girls and one boy, two of the girls and the boy are dead. Dey died bout 1932 or 33 r~ ~ I stay with one a while, den I go and stay a ~hi1e wid the other one. ~ we didn~t have no public schools in dem days ri time. What little learning you got it from the white cI~t1len. ~ ~-.--~ / ~ .~ Marriah is about four feet and a half tall neti~ .fivo -~-e.t weigh~~. about one I, ~_j~~ji~ ~ hi,~ndred paunde, i~i~,;r a pretty head of white hair covering her round brown face Her memory of her mother and father is very v4.gue,due to th~- ~eath when she was young. She is able to dress hers lf practically with ~out help, and to get about from plaie . ~ * .~ A~ - to place alone, enjoying talking about religion an~tho wor~f today.

The story of "Uncle" Moble Hopson. 035 031

.~ ~T~ ~ ~ :v ~ ~-: ~ ir 4~~~c ~ ~AY 4$~1A 4D%~ c~M!c~::.d4 ~ ~iviA ~~e~~ta4 ~vt 4~i~~VieW~ ~ . //<\T~ ~ ~\ . ~:~ ~ -~\ ~ (~i~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ThE STW~Y ~ ~UNCLF: ~O~LE ~iOP6~N. L~ ~ ~ . ~ (prono~m~e~:1 Mobile) \~ .~ ~ ~iS :: ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ;~. ~ ~ . ~ .~ :_ Interview Saturctay, Govez~ber 28th at h1~ h~ome on the~!J ~ ~ ~oq~oo~J~1ver . ;~ . (Recorded from asmory ~vithtn I hour after betng taLked to b~r hia~~ Uncle ~ob1e hobbles ui:ste~c~iiy t~FuLl. his little ~hade bc~ sj~~:~ t~e outh~use int~, tr~ w~rnL kitchen, 1e~u~ing heavily on the ami ~r his niece. He loukszp on ~earing niy v~1ce, ~ ex~ tenus a gnarled ar~t totmicco~stained liand. He s~nk~ fu~b1ing1~r ifltc~ a ckiair. I~ Is then th~t lsee that Uncle k~b1ei~ bilad, No, (i~fl~t n~i.nd effen yuh ast nie quetiuns. Try tuh answer ein, i: will, be~L ways I kin. Don t r~i1n~. et all, cu~en yuh tell t~e whut yuh want to know. Born~cI in fifty-.~two, I w~, yessuIi, rigiit her~ over theer wheer dat gr~e big e1un~ tree usta be, ~ ~ ~ ~ Mami4 was uii Ixzjun ant ~ p~~ppy ~ L~k~ wt~1~e n~n,ieust way~ he warn ~ t no 1avE~ even eiTen lie wz~s sorta dark~skiu~d . ~O1e pappy t~e we tho~t now cuu~ t~ wkiite~ aflt t~e blacks an thL Injuns get aLL r~1xed up, ~ ~y beck long in dere it gar,. ye~r6 ~ be i~Mii teU ~eJes wb4t yea, dey. was a tribe i~1i I~uns ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ .. ~ ~ j ~ ~ il ~ i&~~f ~ ~ ~* ~ ~ L~ k ~ ~. ~ ~ ~ : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -~:~ ~ ~ 450012

036 032

. 2. . ~ ~ 321 long dis ribber. Dey las kin to de Kinksko*tafls, but dey C..%.__________~____~,,%,__~__.____~._._.&_____..?._.a .. . *. ~ +~- ~ *.. ~ $ ~ ~ - ? ~ ~ ~ ~ wasn t dc saine. Dey Mi ober on the Zanies de Kink~ko~taas .~ .~ . . ~ ~ s~ . ~.. ~ ~ ~ ~ an dey had dis tribe aber re~ . ~?Cefl, de white tan corne. Not turn ober dere, De white ------------------------ -- -----.- ~ . ~ ~ 4snj,~. man cuth cross de Potowac,ant A~. he cuit on cross de Po~~uoson ribber ict dis place. My pappy . -~ ~ ~ tell me jest bow curndeycross all un 4ose ribbers. He ain t seeit, yuh unnerstana, but he heLr teflhow et happen. ~ .. I Dis whut c~e white mars cxo. ~ He pick iiisself a tall eflum ~ long siue 4e ribber ant he olakb to de top an is mark ot on ~ de trunk wick he ax uh section long bout, oh, long bout ~ thirtyafo ty feet. Den he cut d top off an . den ho cut de :~ bottom off so de thick. trunk ftil riflt on de edge Wi de ribber. ~ An1 den he huilar Out dat chum log tell he wake hisselr. ~ bout H~an he akin. orr de bark so et dun t ketch in de weeds. Den he j tha~te~ tutese t tah pattle at dey ail makes patties an dey tlcuts is dat boat an patties cross tode udder side. . . . . ~ . ~ wen. uey cross 4e PQtQXIaC an dey has tuA tig1~t de Ifluns : k ~&~ ~ c~ ~15. Y . . : ~ . ... j~t~~: ~ :.:.:.~ .t.t ~ .. .. .. : : ~: : : ~ : . ~ : ~ ~ ~ ~. ~ j;: . ~ : . .:; ~ . . : . . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

037 033

w &~4~4~ V ~ ~ 3, . ~ ~ 33 \ . I ~ run tern way. When dey cross de Poquosan uey fine de ~ Injuns ain t airnin tuh fight but aey kilt de men an tek ~ de injun wonien fo~ ~ey wives. Coursen dey warn t no n~arry . in dem at dut ti~ei ~ . . : T ~ Well eat s how curn r~y people started. Ah hear tell on hot dey halte light de Injuns now an den, an den de }3ritishers come an1 dey fit ce British. - ~ -~- An all tih dat time dere warntt no black blood mixed in ern,lr sst wise, not as .1 heer d tell tilt any. Panty blacks round; asi seen mt. lAy pappy Nevub would have nofle. ~y . oncle had text, ob r on dat pasture land are was his land, .. ~Thy I usta get right out dere musny Uh day and watch tern ~ a.e.%aet7 ieIJj~ ~ *1; workn~ Big f U.ars dey wasp wid cole~black . skins ashA~n:t wic sweat ~ IsA dey rub hog tat ober dere faces-i Jas ain t . n~evub bbthered en~ but wy bt utherslxe daid now ~ ii~i ce rUn ~ ty: three he got tzt~ hidin one day goint tri de field wId de blacks. . . ~ ~ ... ~n oh/,Wea fl da q,,wn~#f&t9~~~ r ~~ 4: Weil we afl ~ tefl st~ 4e w;t)Abi~t dey ain t paid so s s~_~ t.

038 034

. 0 -1 4. ~ . t.) an laugh an dey get down an walt1but uey cLot leave dat field all ~te manning. An den de wor~ cum dat ~e ~t~nkees was a coxnin, .an all c~en~ blacks start tuh noupin an holl rin ) ans den dey go on cwwn ~ ueer snacks an dey don u~ no work at ail dat day. . . . ~#.he~ fl~fl~ when la YaflksAess~. dey ain t n~n~ LI de slaveshoLtders no whers round. Dey aLL cleared out an~ ue bl~cJ s ja ~ an prtyint flt shu ul4n fo joy cause 1Mar~e Lincoln duntset en~ free. ~ ~ . Weil, dey tuh de blacks an uey u~areiA EA UOWfl ~ie turnpike to haznpton7an 4.y *i put en tuh work at ~e rort. J~i ain t nevuh go ober dere but an heer teAl i~u~ de biack~ C~n~e ciere turn all roux2.ct tell dey g~t S~ &any dey ain t ~ot wurk fo ~eai tuA do,~o dey put en. tub pilin up l~gs an tekin~ ~en~ d~wn agin,an de #nvhtfl Yankees cuu~e axi~a~ ~oan new ones cou~. but uey ain t ~~ut notbin niucti ceptin ttili poach tih ha*g or turkeyniw tin den. All was 3es a little shaver flttin in &y teens den but ab clear il n tea~bec ~Ss aa,~%i~ ~ aj dat, /ui akt heer tell till uk* bIg

039 035

. ~ ~ 35~ D. . battle up Bethel way g~~t dey say dey kilt ~pj~ereuhbuncA Wi meu, de r&uer~tes an ac Yankees buth. But ah ain t seed it, thoughit Oncle Shep Browfl u~rze tule a~c als tbout et. Oflcle they Brown liveu cLown aw&ys ~ de ribber~ t~ong tiore de S~ankees ooiue he jined up wici do ~feUekates. lie Lit in ciat btittle at Big Bethe~i but ~ ain t get uhscratcb. Fie tell me all bout de w~r when he eorue b~ek home, ~ . ~ ~ Re tell me ail bout cie rail uki ~iobnuud, he did. . . Was one day uown:de lower woods in de atsaae ht tell n ~ bout Riciimond, ui~cle tihep dU. Wkiy, I renaber et ifl. lak it was yestiddy. Was whittlin uh stick, b~ ~ se~tin on Wi stttmh wid kits game 1ai~ hunehed~up o~LJUh,,yh bent sapiirW he ne whitta lin away fo ~2h Xcng tians tkzotetsayin mucu1an all at Qnce he ~u*p up in de air an de .aaplin spnng up sn k~tuatartin tub cus ein . . ~ ~ . . ~ !~S!4t*~U~ .~gawdaau4t, axai . 4C kept s~fln tuh itts e. : ant. U*ia z oun , Qfldat. 1.flg g~g~ ~j~j .4* ro4aLissum, Ab i~ksw M gant tefl me scapin tien cause rn~en Oncle Sliep giS ebene

040 036

~ y -~ ~Wfr 6, 36 ed he always got uh lot tuhsay. Gawdatrd.t, A say, ~twau de tiggdl%s tek B1cki~qM:tfl How dey c~ dat OraCle St~ep? ah ast, though li knowet he wag gonna tell me anyway. . . ~ s t, De niggetis done tuk Richx oncL, rie k ep on .s .afln an final15~ he tell me how cun dey tsk Richzn~~nd. ~ h seed et wut~setr,t9 t~. say, my cornp ny w~s stationed on de tuntpike Clu~ ~ tub Richmond. We istas in uh oie nrehouse~ he toL~. me, wid de WInL&ers an~ de doors all barred up an +crbae.t den packed wict ~ebte4 bales awaltin fo~ ~e lanks tuh cor~e, An we was ~4j5t fljfl an~ pCepSn Out an~ we beer4 waitin den most deev nmn ) . all ~. AU den we tseer4whistlin an~ uh roarin like tab big blow 8~t it itpp gittin closer, ~ :l3ut we couldn t see nothin Uh coi4nt de night was so dark. ~ roarint ke~ta gittin loud~ er an louder ant l ng ibout da~ break there owi~. tuna dot de pike . ~ ~ aM t sech ui;.~ sboutifl ~ an titt )rellin ab ~ttth in xtagi barri days~ ~ ~ ~ beeS.t,

041 037

.1. j ~:t ~37 debbils de Yanke~~ was aj,et tj~ loose. But tth a stayed. right t~ere wid den~ dat k4 ~e courag tuh face et,cause ah know big noise t~ean uh little storw. Dar was tbuut Lurty oi us left in aat. oie wars1xouse ~ hhidint back of dem bales uh cotton an terbaccy,an eepin out t}usW de cracks. 8?J~ den dey come. Oowzi de street dey corne a siwutin 4t aprancin ant a yeluin an~ assingin an1 j~j jflt sueb Wi ( noise like a~ ef all heu dunc beex; turn t loose, Ubkigguhs~ Ah ain t netub know4 nig~u~seven alluh.dem niggubs~~could mR S~Cb iah ruckus. One huge sea uh bL~c?~ faces Lilt de streets fuxv wail tWa walI,an uey wan t nothin but niggu~s in slght.~ : t, Well, suli, uey ~~arn t no useza us firm on den~ cause dey ain t no way we gonna kill U ula dens nig~u~s, An prettysoon dey bus in de dot uh dat warehouse,an we stoqd~ere whilst dej pranced ~Z OUflSt us b h fl* an .. iioiitrint ar~ not tecUn . us at ~ ~ SoIjerS . . . ~ al tell de Yankees e~4i~n cut wp,an tek away uur guns )~flt sek us prisoners t~ petty aoa dey n&are~s us M%Ut~ town en lock us up La *2* *b* Prison.1 V ~ ~ L ~ ~ M~

042 038

~8i ~ ~ 38 ThOU-SiflbS ~ te~_~ e~ n1~~ths.~ ne sa-y, Y-assir--wai de niggu~5 uat 14k ~ichi~on~. Tia~ -~e Yankees ~et iere de uig~ubs t~o# de o;5~ -/-.~ k~ done ~~ci aire . z- ~j~aNe~0 - Uncl~: k ble i~ L~ noblo f~ig re. k~e turx~3i~ b~1s k~e~~d Lwarct u~e ~t fly qu~::stiu~x1$~, just ~t& str~i~z~t ~s 1~ A~e aet~li~ w~w~ see~ *5_~c,okt,~i~~ a? e - ~:fl~-~e-~ - Yuh w~nta know why~I n~ put with t~ e~lor~ pou~1e1~~ 5r~4,~,ah ~o-~ I,4h;4~& ~ )80~!y~i~Q .1 yvas ~k ~- /~5 ~~/-/in~& ~ 4 ~e~ rd~ ~ . ~eIl~ ah ain t white an -ah atn t bk~ck, Ieast~ wise not so fur ~s ah know. T~~ th~ : w~I dOfl6 tki~t. Fo d v~ar dere w~rrk t ~ questLi~ ~ up b~ut -et. ~ sci~is 1roun~~. here tu~i both~hi bt~ut, - 1LL~cks w~rk in ue fields, OWn - ~fl a~e wuites P~ de Lielus. ~ J~1er!, beerL owne~i by de ~1opson s st~nce ~e tust ~hu~sun cub. here, ~L ~ b~ci~ ~ d~ BrltistL war, ru de :Lnjirn wer, ~&ki reck n. Ustuh g~ tu1~i de - - 9hurc~ Cho - wid oie Shep Browu ~- cblIlui, sat O~ de sa~e b~ucb, ~ ~ Lb - . - ~ ~ - *e-~U did. - But dewar ~ian~e~ all ~at~ Arter dt~ soljers cu~nc b~ok hofle, it wag dift runt, t1~st dey say d~tt ~1i wI~ut ~iu t wx4te, Ls bI~ck. - . . ~. ~ . - 4 - :

043 039

v.39 9. den .... . -... ... ~ . . ayey ten de inju a yuh kain t tarry no more de wizitssjnt den dey tefl tian dat we kain t Cult flO mon tuh enurob school. IIn~ d~ won t let us cL 1*0 bisness wid de whltes1sa wo is th own inflddeblacks. . . _ t gh nrA/4 SoaeAaove~ awty, but aey ~ t no use u~ uovin cause ah hantais et be tie sass ev~y wAeer. Co perty soya et cote time tub Mfly1 t~S ~ dey am t no wbats woman o te tub tarry so ah marries lih black wotan. an Gat sas we bli~ck, ah epos. ~cause ah ben livia black e~ y arace. . But sah bruther couldnt Line no black wotaan dat suited him, ah reckon, cause he terrie~ Aiitust cosain, who was a liopsort Mahsi t. ~ . \ 1 ~) . Den den ~~Iil7 chile m~rriea hisse r ~ hopsun, and Mopsons been marryin . Mopaou~ n y asce, ah t~1fl 5 . . I . . # I . s . . . . . . . . e : t _t I I~ ... . . .% . .. . .. j ....*.. ~ ~ # ~ 4% ~ . . : . ~ . .. # ; . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . % . .. . . .t ?.~ .~ ;ts. .4 r ct s ~ f .t I ~a ~ L ; 4baw$%Ms&? c%Z

044 040

Uncle Mobke Tells Where to Di~ A nell ~ ~at well out dere? Naw, dat ain t old. Dataint been ctere mo un ritteenT7 twenty year. Dc o14 ~e 11, she was oit ~hou~h she nevub war much ~ood. Paw ain t ) dug et in de ri)~bt p la ce . 01 d Shep 13r o n toit him, but my old r~n ~ in t nevuh pay ~ no mine to old Shop. But old Shop oho did lcnow ho uh dig uh well, Ah kin eee now~hi~n at~ coinin tip de lane ;:hen ~~7J w~c; adig~in , ~obile ~e ~ay ~ my ~w ant me lad de earne name.. ~obile, ye ain t di~r~in dat ~ ell de ri~ht place. Di~in et ~heer ah want et, ~ paw, a di .~in a~va~r en de hole &~ou1der deep. ~ ;ell, ye tUn t ~onna ~it much viater. Oghta got yo ee f uh elluin etick. Don need, no elitmi etick. Diy~int dio well in my o\vn y:e~d ant ah xn ~::onr~ di~ et jes wheez ah wante et. Go haid an dij yo own well. ~ ell~, old Shep mueta r~ot aorta i~n.d, cauee he~oes home a~t de next day he di~s hieee f uh well. Ah eeen him. Ah watched him when he fi.~red ~ z tuh 4ig dat well. Th~I?h ~ ~. ~ e~ 4~ w~ nuf old Shep got hieee f ub prime ellum atick ft~~good eized s~ke =br&ac~,. ~ Firet he ekint all de bark of~f. . ~ ~ t~e ~i~( o~ , Kam t fine no water lesson ~ karli ~ttnt ~ he tell me. Long bout 2..3 feet on each limb, et ~ WeU1 old Shep tek dat eliwn itick wid one fork in

045 041

41 ~ each hand ~.W d<~ bip~ end trai~ht up in de air an i:~e holt ~t tight an started tuhw walk around, ~iid inc followin right on hi~ heels. An shoe ~ff~ party soon ah Beed dat branch ooi~ence tub shake an den et started tub bend an old Shep ~ l&~ et ~ lead hirn aeroas de fteld wid et bendin 1ov~rer all de time tel . perty oon de b~, end uh dat eI~.u stick point atrai~ht down. Old Shop marked de spot an c,t hie pick an co~~mience tuh d~ out dat spot. An fo old Shep h~d Cot down rno~ fiv~e uh six ft ah be d~w ~ ef he don h.t uh Stre&fll ub v~ater dat flit up de well in ub hurry so dat he git hi~ 1ai~s all wet ~ ~2~ka~A~3 o~J*~. fa he e~14 g~t ~out.. ~ An~ yuh moughten beliove et but ah ~ow~ dat tuh be uh fao cause ahtt~ dat e hum stick in muh own h~ri e an ah fe lt dat eti k apul. ~ in me back tuh ~a+ water. No i~tter ~}~ich way ah turn, dat stick ke~ atwi atm me roun toward dat water, An ah tried tiTh pull et back i~nt old ahep tuk h *4 uh et ~id me an~ tried ~ tub hole et up atra~~ht but de big end ub dat e II~ branch pult down and pointed ~ tuh dat well spite uh both uh us. ~ Still, dere? Naweuh, ah reckon date old weil been ortu~bl~d in an filiedp ~ ion~ time now. Old Shop diedb~tok en 93, ah reckon, Ute o1d ~ck blowed down, an1 5h reokcr~ dat oie well all severed up, But dat was e*ne wefl shile ah~ laete4~ G~y~ mo water dan all 4e udder weile in Poquoson~ ah reokon.

Civil War veteran of Portsmouth, Virginia. 046 042

450008 Interview of Ex ~ s1ave and Civil War Veteran By -~ Thelma Durieton January 8, 1937 3 ~ec1~ \bN~*~ . ~ ~ ~. 42 Civil War Veteran of Portsmouth, Virginia On the out ~irts of Portszaouth, Virginia where one seldom }iears of or goes f. ~ ~ ) for sightseeing lives Mr. Albert Jones. In a four room cottage at 126 Lindsey Aveziue, the aged Civil War Veteran lives alone with the care of Mr. Jones niece, who resides next door to him. He tias managed to survive his riinety.~fifth year. It is almost a miracle to see a man at his age as suple as he. On enterir~g a scanty room in the small house, Mr. Jones was nodding in a chair near the stove. When asked about his early li~ e, he straightened up e~-h4. ~p !t,, crossed his legs and said, l s perty old ninety six. I ~as born a slave in Souf Hampton county, bt~t my mastah wuz mighty good to me. He won t ruff ; dat is f yer done right. The aged man cleared his throat and chuckled. Then he said, But you better never let xnastah catch yer wif a book or paper, and yer couldn t praise God so he could hear yer. 1f yer done dem things, he sho would beat yer. Course he wuz good to me, cause I never doria none of em. My work won t hard neiver. I had to wait on my mastah, open de gates fer him, drive de wagon and tend de horses. 1 was sort of a house boy. Fer twenty years I stayed wif znastah, and I didn t tryto run away. V~hen I wuz twenty one, ~e and one of my brothers run away to fight wif the Yankees. Us left Sauf Hampton county and went to Petersburg. Dere we got some food. Den us went to . Fort Hatton where we met some more slaves who had done run away. when we got in Fort . Hatton, us had to cross a bridge to git to de Yankees. De rebels had torn de bridge ~ ~ down. We all got together and builded back de bridge, and we went on to de Yankees. Dey give us food and clothes.

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43 The old ~ man then got up and eiziptied his mouth of the tobacco juice scrat ched j his bald head and continued. Yer know, I was one of de first colored cavalry soijers, and I fought in Couipany K . I fought for three years and a half. Sometimes I slept o~zt doors, and sometimes I slept in a tent. De Yankees always give us plenty of blankets. During the war some un us had to always stay up nights and watch fer de rebels. Plenty of ~iights I has watched, bt~t de rebels never tack~ us when I wuz Not only wuz dere men slaves dat run to de Yankees, but some un de women slaves followed dore husbands. Dey use to help by washing and cooking. ;:t~Ofl5 day when I wuz fighting, de rebels shot at me, and dey sent a bullet through my hand. I wuz~lucky not to be kilt. Looks See how my hand is? The old man held up his right hand, arid it was half closeth Due to the wound he received in the war, that was as far as he could open his hand. Still looking at his hand L~r. Jones said, But dat didn t stop me, I had it bandaged and kept oi~ fighting. 1 The uniform dat I wore wuz blue wif brass buttons; a blue cape, lined wif red flannel, black leather boots and a blue cap. I rode on a bay color horse - fact every body in Company K had bay color horses. I tooked my, .nap~ sack and blankets ~ A on de horse back. I~ mY~na~~sack I had water, hard tacks and other food. ~ ~en de war ended, I goes back to my mastah and he treated me like his brother. Guess he wu~ scared of me cause 1 had so much ammunition on me. ~y brother, who went wif r~ie to de Yankees, caught rhet~thatism doing de war. He died after de war endeth

Folklore material from Upper Guinea. 048 044

In the upper part of Guinea, geuera11y~ lcnown as the HoOk, you ~V11I find two very interesting characters,, both Negroes. Aunt Susan Kelly, ~who is a ~4~n4VG4 years old, and Simon Stokes, who is near a hundred. Aunt Susan is loved by all who know her, for she is a very lofable old Negro. Aunt Susan s Story .. . My mammy, Anna I3urrell, ~~YEZ a slave, her massa v~z Col. Hayes, of Woodwell; he v~uz very good ter his slaves. He nebber sold mainmij or Suis ehilluns; he kept we ails tergether, and we libediri a little cabin in d~e yard. My job wuz xnindin massa s and inissus ohulluns ail dey long, &idpuitin dem ter bald at night; dey had ter habe a story told ter dem befo dey would go ter sleep; and de baby hed ter be rocked; and I had ter sing fo kier!Rook a~by bz~tby, close dem e~res, befo ol can man comes, rock as by baby don? let old san iflE~fl cotch y peepin ~ befo~ she would go ter sleep. MsiTmly used ter bake ash cakes; dey ~iz made wid iiieal, i~id a little salt and mixed wid water; den mammy would rake up de ashes in de fire. place;den she would make up de meal in round caks, and put de~ onde hot brickster bake; wexi dey hed cooked roun de edges, she would put ashes on de top ob dem, arnd wen dey wus nice and brown she took dein ot~t and I~&~& dem off wid water. ~JIa:nm y said it wuz very bad hack ter meet a woman early in de mornin walkin ~ and nebber carry back salt dat t hate borrowed, fo it wi Il bring bad luck ter .~ yo andter de oneyo brungitter. If yo nose idhe3 on de right side a man ~ is cothnb if de lef side iches a woman is ooxnin ; if it lobes on de end a man and woman ~ sho ter come ~in a short. ~ ~ . 1...~ ror a hawk ter fly ober de house is sho sig ob death, tot de hawk ~ i .rcall ~ corpses wen Ite flies ober. ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ ~ ~ WriteZ~ Gloucester FOLK~~ORE M~1teri~ from Upper Gi4ziea.

049 045

Joy~ie ~ ~ ~: i~~ ~ From Upper Guinea ~ 45 Simon Stokes, so~ of Kit ax~d Anna Stokes, is quite ~ type. He and his with parents ~Qw~c~?r his brothers and sisters were slaves; owned by George W. Billups, of ~rathews County, who later moved to Gloucester County and bought a farm hear Gloucester Point. They had eleven children, Simon is the only one living. Simon s St~ry ~vIassa George and ndssus. wu~ good ter his slaves. ~y m~in~ay ~wuz mi~sus eoo~c; and him and de odder boys on de f~rrn worked in de oOtn and de terbaccer md cotton fields. ~ !~e sho didn t like dat job, pickir~ worms off de terbaccer plants; fo our oberseer iivuz de meanes old hound you se eber seen, he hed hawk eyes fer seem de worms on de terbaccer, so yo sho hed ter git dem all, or you d habe ter bite e.l1 de worms dat yo miss into ot git three lashes on back wid his old lash, and dat wuz powf~lt bad, ~usser dan bit-bin de worius, fer yo could bite r5pht smart quick, and dat v~uz all at dar v~uz ter it; but dem lashes done last ~ pow ful~ long time. . 1tMe s1~o did like ter git behind de oxz.team in de oo n field, fo I could 5111g and holler all de day, Gee thar Buck, whoa thar Peter, git off dat sir co n., ~ de m~tter ~id yo Buck, ca&t yo hear, gee thar Buck. t In de fall w~n de sbnxnons ~wu;~ ripe, me axid de odder boys had a bi g time possum huntin , we ails would g t two or three a night; and we ails would put dem up and f~d dem. hoe cake arid :Sin~irions ter git dem nice and fat; den my inan~ny would roast dem wid sweet taters round them. Dey wuz shot good, all roasted nice and brown wid de sweet tatars in de graby. ~ ~ ~ ails believed dat it wuz bad luck ter turn back if ~rer started anywher, if .yo.~< did bad luck would sho folier yer; but ter turn yo ~ck, ~o back and make a :CrQSS in yo p ~.th and spit in it . ~ . ~

Autobiography of Richard Slaughter. 050 046

cl ~ : : 14 ! ~ /~: ~ I H ~~\( ~o. ~ ~ 46 ~: ~N 1 ~/ ~_ J . . ~ I ;r~ ~ ~ . ? ~ q / 4.~y ~ . ~ .- A . /_~1 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ # ~ ~ -- ~ ~ I ~ ~ ~ ~ .. ~ - 450001 . ~ utobto~raphj of Richard Slaughter (Jlnn by himself n an oral account during an intarvien b.ta en b~W ! ~ /~. and writer, December 27, 1936. ) Claude N. Anderson -~ Hampton, Virginia ~~ J ti~om. in, eon. Have a seat, who are you and how *nyo~t~y life? ~ Ch~ certatnly you don t want to hear tPttZ Weil, son, have you been born a~in? Do you know Christ? ~eli, that s good. Qood for you. ~ t ~f glad to hosr it~ Al~ays glad to t*ik to arty tiii Chtistian liver, 4 God bless you,son. . PI ne born January 9, 1P49 on the James at a pjao o~U1ed Epp s Island, Ctt~ ?otht. t Vs*s born a elave~ )low old am t ~ ~1e1l, there ~s the ~ date. ount it up for yournlt, My owner s trim as i)r. Ric~srd P,, F:ppe, I stayed there witi t I as around thirteen or four~en year. old when I ~ ~ cane to n~pton. ~ sti don t kr~w much about the meanness et slavery, There ne so ~ many degrees in slavery, and .1 belonged to ft very nies ssn. ~ Me never ~ sold but one man, fur s I can rener,isr, and that fltis cousin ~3en. :3o 4 ~ him South. Tes1, wy irster was a nias old man, Ito ain t ltving now, Dr. ?;ppe died nrid hie sort ~vrote r~e r~cy ~e. I ~crt it upstairs in a letter now. ~ 01t happened this tefly. ~1&~Pthfl fl already burnt when I oame ~are. ~ I caine to ? mpton in JUfl l ~62. The tankees burned Hampton and the ftec~t I went up the Jatte River. My father and nether and cousine went aboard the MeritaS ~Ith me, You tee, my father and three or tour men left in the darkness first and got aboard, The ~ ga boats would tire on the towni aM plantations and run tin white folks oft. After that they would carry ail the colored folks ** down he . to Old Point and put sis behind the Union line5, I know the names at ait Us gunboats t?4t came up the tint. tenir, There ne the Galets1 we stied her the old cheese boa, the Dstnrs, the Tankes~ the Wo*er, and the Meritaras which was the ship t ne board of, Thnt ass year the Merrisi~ S Monitor taught ott

051 047

u ~ 4 ~:e~port Ne~J ?oint. No, I dtdn t a e lt. i: didfltt cone down .11 th way on the 1~unbo ~t. I !~ad the ~eas1ee on the ~erttanz~ ay~d tise put otT at ~rrieon s Lend.. ~ ~i~ ~ ~ Wc~T~e11an retreated from ~U~hmortd tbrou ~h the peninsizla to ~ashtngton, ~: ~a~e to ar~pton a~ a ~overrvi .. . ent w*ter boy. !! ~ M le I ~~ae aboard the gwiboet~ ehe captured e rebel gunboat et ~ ~lac~ c~Ied ~Jrury~e L3luff. Thn I first case to Hrn~pton, there ~vere.~ only berrGok ~where the lnetitute i.j when i returned ~enerel ~ !~*d done . rite 1~&Z~t. ~i loft HBri)ton still ~ork1n~ a. s w*ter boy and t~.nt to ~ uiro Cr~ek, ~ell Plaint;, ~(s,, a place near Harper e 1!orry. I left the creek aboard a etoamey, the icn~,rf~l ~ookor, end ~~ient to A1exandri~, ~Ia. AbreM~ Linooln o& ~e aboard the atea~er and ~e ~arri~ hi?~ to Mt. Vernon, (~eorge ~aehington s old ho a. ~het did he look ltke? h~p, be 1o4*od more like en old pre~aher than anything I kr~ow. rre~ Heh~ ~ ~eve you ever seen any pictures oC him? ~.ll, if you e~en~ e picture or ~ y~ ee~r* him. ?~o e suet like the picture. Tau say you think I e- ,.ak verj ~od r~ng1Iah. H.h~ Heh~ ~1eh~ ~e1l, on I ou~t to. : b.~ every7here. b ! never tuent to whet v~u ~sou1d c*ll school e~oe~t to echool as e soldier. I went to I~sltIrnore tg~ ir$4 end enlisted. I ~vae about 17 yeftre Old then. !~y offloore ne~ee were Cept. Joe deed, Lleuten&nt ~3tir~eon1 end Colonel Joseph E~ Perkins. I vms es.etgrked to the Nineteenth ~sj~1.. !!%ent of ~sr~~tand Company . ht le I ~&s in training, they fought at P.trsburg. I rient to the regii~ertt in e~ and sta~ped in UntIl 67. 1 ~as e cook. ~ay taken Richmond the fifth day of April 1~. C~fl th*t d~7 T ~lke~ u~ the road in ~ itchrnond. ~hen y. ~ ft ~ioheond, m~r brt~p3.d~ ~e ordered to ~rownev1 11e, ?exas. ~. Went there by ~*y or Od P~ty~ Oc~ifort, where we esrt aboard a trenepoz t~ ~ Th n we got to 3ro~tn~vtlte, I 17*5 det*tled t~ s hosPit*1 tit~t. ~ arrived th ~ U. tn J&r~uary l~7. The OfllY tMt~ t~t heppned in ~rovnsville

052 048

s a . 48 nhi le I was there n. the )~nn~tng of three Ynicane tot the murder of an aide. in Z~epternber n left Arowns vtlle arid came t*ck to ~1timore. Before c~e left I ~vae sent up the Rio Or&nde to Ringo Mrn*. ae boa, cook. ni then returned to Haripton ana lived se an O7eterrsn and fisherman for over forty yesre. n :t ~ nver been vsund~!, My cloUtes have been out off me by bullets but the Lord kept the;~. nfl t~y back, T i ~ue,e. 1 teIl you ~7F*t ! did flCA. !ty couetrt and I went down t~o the shore . once. 1~!:e river ehon, you knot, up whore I ne born. mils ye tiere walking ~klong O*t&tir\~ tMpotee, rzimoa, and anythIng we could catch, t tnppened to ~~e a b~g .r~oconIn erake h~niflnr~ in a eu~tt bush 3uet s ewin~thr, hie head back ~nd forth. I s~unjr~ at im with a atick and he nailed his head alt up big and ri~red back, Then I hit In and knocked him on the ~ound fiat. nie belly wee vny big so sie kept hittin im art it until ) ~e opemed his niouth and a ata flsh a. lonp) s tity an (forean), j~ped out jest a tloppth~. ~eIl the Cats floh hnd ~ bIg belly t$ so we ttat en on hie belly until ha o~mne4 his : nouth and out came one of these ~iot ~en s snapper pocketbooks. Tau know the ~ind that closes by a stay, at the top. seil the pocket book was swelling all : out, so us opened it, and ~tmso what n. in it? two b~g corper pennies, ~ ~ave t,~ cousin one and I took or~. r~ow yeti r*yn t believe Vat, but it s trta. I be~m trytn~ ~ to make people believe t?at for near fU y years. Tau osa put it In the book or not, jest te you please, but it s true. ~at fish etnilowed Bone vionan s pocketbook arid that rake just awaliowod him. I bave told ~.n that for years and they wouldn t balten trie. ~Thi1e I uts aasy ~y i ather died in flaiwton. He waited on a Gffioer. ~Yy mother lind in ~t*Pt0n and aw ~ married in fl4, i ~u~ht a lot on Union attest for a hundred dol lare cash. t reared a nephew, j~~tve his the lot and Un house I built on it an he threw it any. ~~Sn t acted around here, I paId

053 049

~: 49 cash for this hose. hid sl* n lier tun sayZ Lord yes. *11 the time. Ihore I was born, there is ~ lots of ater. Thy there used to be as high a~ ten and tain 1)utoh three nisten tri the hstbot at et tine. I need to catCh llttl enak s and other thLn~e like ter~pine and sell em to the sailor for to at roaches on the ships. In those days a jt~cod oaptatn would hide a elan ny up in the top Sal I and ~rry hirn out of ?ir~lnts to New York and ~mton. _ ~1 near usent tri the ~~ardgh ~rjSn rar, too old, but I t*d some ootA,eins that enlIsted. That ne during !1&Unley s ttno Re went down the ~exas rand sot~e of them other ships they ~n, Puerto ;4loo Hall Golunbia. They blew up the t~tstne with a nine. The t*s blond up inward. The Maine loft T~anpton 9oads r;oinc toverds ~3annnsh, fl~fl they looked at what rs~ left of her all the steel tias bent tn nrd which shous that she as blond up from the outs side in. Understand. During the ~orl4 ~~ar I tient to ~ash14~ton and haven t beon anyplace since. t ~xn ft little herd ut hearing and Mn high blood pressure. So I ~rsve to sit most the Use. ~ot an invitation in t!*ro now waTytin t~e to cerne to a eraS nunton of Yathoea and the Rebels this year but I can t go. r3~~~jg~ too old. ~1elt goodbye9 son. Glad to han you as scam somotirne.~

Autobiography of Elizabeth Sparks. 054 050

~ ~ t ~ 45001u :I ~ ~ ;~ Autobiography of Elizabeth Sparks ~ . ( Intervi,ve~i at Matthews Court House, Virginia January 13 1931T~ ~ ~y Olaude~k~ Ander son. ) ~ . ~. come in boys. Sure am glad ter see ya. You re lookin so well. That s whut I say. Fight boys. Hold .m You re dom airight. !~e, I in so mear~ nothin can hurt me. ~~ hat e thatJ You want as to tell yer bout slavery d~~ye. ~ell I kin till yer, but I ain t. S al . pat:t now so I say let er rest s too awful to tell anyway. yer ro too young to know all that talk anyway. Ill I ll tell yer ~onie to put in yer book, but I ain ta goin tell yer the worse. ~1y mistress s name was Miss J~nrie Brown. No, I guess I d better not tell yer. Done forgot about dat. Oh well, I ll tel . yer. Soee, I guess. She died bout four years ago. Bless her. She us a good woman. Course I mean ehe d slap an beat yer ? ~ j~ a while but shs warn t no woman fur fighting fussin an beatin yer all day aak some I inow. Shi was too young when da war anded fur that. Course no while folks perfect. Her parents a little rough, Thut dat? Kin I tell yer about her parents? Lord yr.a~ I wasn t born then but my parent. told me. But I ain t a goin tell yer nuffin. 1\ X ain t. Tain t no sense fur. yer ta know bout all those mean white folk2. Dey all daid now. They aeany good I reckon. Leastway. most of im got salvation on their death beds. ~ll I ll tell yer some, but I ain ta goin tell yer much more. No sir. Ship ~iller was my master. His ei father he was a tough one. Lord I ve sein im kill em. He d git the meanest overseers to put over en. ~Yhy I member time after he was dead when I d peep in the closet en j.. se his old clothes hangin there an Je. fly. Yessir, I t run from them clothes an X was 3es a little .g~rl then. He wuz that way with them black folks. Is he in heavin No, he ain t in heavens Went past heaven. H. was clerk an was he tougW Sometimes he beat 1!i until they couldn t work. Give em more work than they could do. They d ~git beatin if they didn t get work done. Bought myaother, a little girl, wben h was married. She wus a real ~hristian an he ~eepected her a little. Didn t beat her so much.. Coutse he beat her once in s r

055 051

. ~-2 !~ while. Sb.p Miller warn t rribie. There wai no nd.to ths biatin I aw it vif my own eyes. Beat wom n1~ ~hy sure hi beat women. Beat women Je. lak men. Beat woven naked an wash sa down in brin., Some times they beat m so bad, they J s~ couldn t stand it an th.y run away to th woods. If yer git in the woods, thiy couldn t git y r. Yer could hide an psopi. slip yer eom.pla to eat. Th.n he call y.r every day. After while hi tell one of colored forez~an tel . yer comi on back. Hi aiu ta goin beat yer anyiiaors. They had colorii:oreman but they always have a white overseer, Foreman git yer to come back then h. beat~ yer to death again. They ~rk~d six days fum sun to sun. If thsy forcin wheat or other crops, th.y start to work long fo day. Usual work day began when the horn blow an stop when the horn blow. Th.y git off j,. long nut to eat at noon. Didn t have euch to eat. They git some suet an slice a bread to brsakfas, ~ell, they give the colored people an aUowance every wsek. b dinner they d eat ash cake baked on blade of a hoi. I lived at Siafoid then an was roun fiftsen or sixteen when my mistress married. Ship ~il1ir livid at Bpringdale. I nimber jes as well when they gave me to Jennie. we wuz all in a room helpin her dress. She was soon to b. marri d, an she turns roun an ez to us. ~.ich of yer niggers think I m goima git when I git married? %S~e all say, doan know, An ahs looks right at me an point h r finger at me like this an eaysd yer I vas so glad. I had to maki er believe I us cryin , but i: vas glad to go with er. She didn t beat.. She vus 3es a. young thing. Coure. she take a whack at me sometime, but that weren t nuff in . Her mother vu a man thin . She 6 beat yer with a broom or a Isather strap or anythin she d git her hands on. Shi ustsr make my aunt ~roline knit all day en when eh. git so tired aftab dark that shi d git sleepy, she d m e er stan up an knit She work hit : hard that she d go to sleep standin up an i ry time h r haid nod an her

056 052

.131. g 52 knees sag, ths lady d come down across her bald with a switch. That wus Miss Jennie s mother. She d give the cook 3es so much meal to make bread turn an effen she burnt it, she d b. scared to d ath cause they d whup her. I member pl~~ty of timse the cook ask say. Maria please ecuse dis bread, hits a little too brown. Yeesir~ Beat the devil out er if she burn dat bread. i: went ~df Miss J~nnie an worked at house. I didn t have to cook. I got ~ permission to git married, Yer always had to git permission. ~hite folks ud ~ give yer away. Yer jump cross a broom stick tergether an yer wus married. My ~ hu~ban~ lived on another plantation. I slep in my mistress s room but I ain t ~ elep in any bd. Noeir I elep on a carpet an ~Z~rug, beta the fiahplace. ~ 3 ~ ~ ~ ! i had to git permission to go to church, everyb~dy did. W ~ set in the ~ gallery at the white folks service in the nornin an in the evenin the folk ~ neid baptise service in the gallery wif white present. ~ Ship went to war but not for long. ~e didn t see none of it, but the ; slaves knew what the war wuz bout. ~Lfter the war they tried to fool the lav s J bout frs~dorn an wanted to keep m on a workin but the Yankees told em they wuz free. They sent soas of the slaves to $outh Caroiin~*4~n tie Yankees carne near to keep the Yankees from gittin ein. Sent cousin James to South Carolina. : ~ nevah will ~orgit Whin the Yankees came through. They wuz takin all the liv,.1 . etock an all the men slaves back to Norfolk, rid em to break up the system. ~hits . folks head wus je. goin to keep on havin slaves. The slaves wanted freedom, but ~ they e scared to tell the white folk. so. anyway the Yankees wus givin vsryihin to the slaves. I kin heab am tellin ol Missy now. Yea3 give er cLothes. Lt er ; take anythin she wants.~ They even took some of Mise Jennie s things an offered . ~ to me. I didn t take em tho cause she d been purty nice to me. ~hut tickled ~ !ne wuz my hueban , John Spark.. ifs didn t want to leave a. an go cause he didn t ~t. knOw whab they s takin m nor what they s gonna do, but he wanted to be free; ...i~ so h, played lame to k,d~T~ ~ goin . N was Jeit a limpin round. It wis 911 1

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53 could do to keep fun laffin . I kin hear Missjeruiie now yellin at th a Yankees. No: who ar9er to judge. I ll be the judge. If John Sparks wants to stay here, he ll stay~hsy was gonna take im anyhow an he went ineid. to pack an the baby started cryin . So one of em said that a~ long as he had a wife an a baby that young ~h.y guesS he could stay. They took all the horses, cows, and pigs and chickene an any~ thing they could t; ~e an left. I was about nineteen when I married. I wuz married in 1861, my oldest boy was born in 1862 an the Lahm of Richmond cams in 1865. Bfore Mi.. Jennie was married she was born an lived at her old home right up the river heah. Yet kin see the place fun ou~ side hsah.On the plantation my mother wuz a house woman. She had to wash white folks cloth e all d~y an huh s after dark. Sometimes she d be washiri clothes way up round midnight. Nosir, couldn t wash any nigguh e clothes In daytime. ~y mother lived in a big one room log house wif upstairs. Sometimes the white folks give yer bout ten cents to etend. A woman with children ud git bout half bueh l of meal a we.k; a childless ioman ud git bout a peck an a half of meal a week. If yer vus workin , thsy d give yer shoes. thildrsn went barefooted, the yeah round. The men on the road got one cotton shirt an jacket. I had five sisters an five brother s. Might as we .1 quit lookin a~e . I am t gonna tell yer any more. Cain t tell yer all I know. 01 Shep might come back an git me. ~ by if I was to tell yer the really bad things, some of dim daid white folks would corne right up outen dere gr~es. ~~ell, I ll tell somemore, but I cain t tell all. Once in a while they was free nigguhe come tua eomewhah, They could come see yer if yer was their folks. Nigguha used to go way off in quartera an slip an have me(~tiflB. They called ii stealin the meetin . The children used to teach me to read. Schools! Son, there warn t no schools for niggere. Slaves went to bed when they didn t have anything to do. Most time they went to b d when they co ld. Sometimes the men had to shuck corn till eleven arid twelve o clock at night. If you wont out at night.the paddyrols tad catch yer if yer was out aftah time without a pass. Mos a the slaves was afeared to go out. Plenty cf elaves ran away. If they ketch em they beat em near to dsath.

058 054

J ~#.. 5/4 But yer know diy a good an bad p ople ev.ry where. That e ths way the whit, folk. wug. Soue had hiarts; some had gizzard. itead o hiarti. ~kten my raother~ s master died, 4, called my mother an brothir Major au got r.llgion an ta1ke~ o pur/ty. ie say he so eorry that he hetn t found the Lord befor an had nuttin gaiziet his colored people. He wae eorry an ecared, but cOnfes8 d0 ~y ~c~her died twenty years since then at the age of She wug viry religious an all w~.te folks set store to er. Old Maasa done so wuch wrcngneea I couldn t tell yer all of it. Slave girl Betty Lilly always had good clothes an all the priviligee. She wuz~a favorite of his n, But cain t tell a11 God . got aUJ ~. uster sing a song when he was 3hippin the slaves to sell em bout ~asea e ~wyne Sell U~ Termerrer . No~ I ~in t sing it for yer. ~y husban lived on the plantati~u flex to my mistress. He lived with a bachelor master. He tell us say once when he was a pickinnany ol JMree ~i1liame shot at im. He didn t shoot em; he jet shoot in the air an ol ~an wuz so ace~red he ran home an~ got in his mammy s bed. Massa ?~illiwns uster play wit iii; then dey got 80 bad that th y ud run an grab is laige so s he couldn t hardly walk so when he sees eni he jes shoots in de air. 01 Ma~aa, he, jee come on up ter the cabin an say mammy whah dat boy? She say, in dah undah the bed. Yer done scared im to deaf.! 01 ~assa go on in an say, Boy: That s the mattah ~id yer. Boy say, yer shot ras master yer shot me! Maeter cay, ~ C~an ~ Git up ~n come t~long. I ain t shot yer. I je. shot an scared yer. HOh~ Heh Heh Yeseir my ol husban sayed he sure was scared that day. Now yer take dat an go. Fut that in the book. Yer kin make out wif dat, I ain t a gonna tell yer no more. No.ir. The end a time im at hand anyway. 2Tain t no use ter write a book. The Bible say when it git so s yer cain t till one season from t othsr the won s coinir~ to endher hit i~ so warm in winter that,~fiols like Sumr er. Goodbye. Keep lookin good an co~ again.

Negro pioneer teacher of Portsmouth, Virginia. 059 055

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ r i~ ~ ~ .~~: ~ ~ -~---- D ~ ~ ~ injervibv of Ii$~ Mary ane Wileon portirnotrt?i, Virginia . / \> ~ ~ By ~ Thelzna DLUl8tOfl ~ /~f ~ ~ ~ ~ . NEGRO PIONE~ER TEACHER O~ PORTSMOUTH, YIRd~IA ~ ~ .. ~ ~ (_ ~ 5~ ~:; ~ ~ 1~: ~. ~ ~ ~ One of the rooms in the Old Folks Home for Co~o~~ Ports~uth~ Vir- (~S~%~ ginia is occupied by an ex-slave -- one of the firet Ne~o~ a ~ki1i,e of Porte- ~ ~ . c~? mouth. . On meeting Miss Mary Jane Wilson, very. little questioning was needed to get her to tell of her life. Drawing her chair near a small etove, abe said, my Mother a~d Father was slaves, and when I was born, that made s~e a slave. I was the only child. My Mother was owned by one family, and ~y Father was owned by another family. My mother and father was allowed to live together. One day my father s maatah took my father to Norfolk and put him in a Jail to stay until he could sell him. My miasue bought my father so he could be with ~A ~e ~ Thiring this time I was small, and I didn t have so much work to do. I jus helped around the house. ~ I was in the yard one day, and I saw so many men come marching down the street, I ran and told my mother what I~d seen. She tried to tell me ~ehat it was all about, but t couldn t understand her. Not long after that we was free. . ~ Taking a long breath, the old wonian said, My father went to work in the Norfolk Navy Yard as a teamster. He began right away buying us a home. We was one of the first Negro-land owners in Portsmouth after emancipation. . My father bulled his own house. It e only two blocks from here, and it still stands with few improvements. . . With a broad smile Miss Wilson added, I didn t get any teachings ~ien I was a slave. Ihen I was free, I went to $chool. The ffrst,.school I went to, was held in a church. Soon they builded a ibho~ building that was called, Chest- nut Street Academy and I went there After f inishing Chestnut Street Academy, ~ : ~ went to Hampton Institute, In 1874, six years after Hampton Institute was started, I graduated. ~ ~ . ~ . ~ . - . ~ ~ . . .. . .:~ ~ ~4 L ~ ~

060 056

-2 ~ .:~ 56 At this point Miss Wilson s pride was unconcealed. She c~ontinued her conversation, but her voice was much louder and her speech waa znuch faster. She remarked My deaire was t o t each, I opened a school in ~iy home and I had lots of students. After t~o years my class grew so fast and large that my father built a school for me in our back yard. I had as mamy as seventy- five pupils at one time. Many of them became teachers. I had my graduation exercises in the Emanuel A. M. E. Church. Those were myhappi?st days. 1~