SLAVE NARRATIVES A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPAREDLY 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 i VOLUME XVI TEXAS NAERATIVE5 PART 1 Prepared by the Federal Writers* Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of Texas ' INFORMANTS Adams, Will 1 Adams, William 4 9 Adams, William M. 12 Allen, Sarah Anderson, Andy 14 Anderson, George Washington (Wash) 17 Anderson, Willis 21 Armstrong, Mary 25 Arnwine, Stearlin 31 Ashley, Sarah 34 Babino, Agatha Barclay, Mrs. John Barker, John Barnes, Joe Barrett, Armstead Barrett, Harriet Bates, John Beckett, Harrison Bell, Frank Bell, Virginia Bendy, Edgar Bendy, Minerva Benjamin^ Sarah Bess, Jack Betts, Ellen Beverly, Charlotte Black, Francis Blanchard, Olivier Blanks, Julia Boles, Elvira Bormer (Bonner), Betty Boyd, Harrison Boyd, Issabella Boyd, James Boykins, Jerry Brackins, Monroe Bradshaw, Gus Brady, Wes Branch, Jacob Branch, William Brim, Clara Brooks, Sylvester Broussard, Donaville Brown, Fannie 37 39 42 45 47 49 51 54 59 62 66 68 70 72 75 84 87 90 93 106 109 112 114 117 121 124 130 133 137 143 147 149 151 154 Brown, Fred Brown, James Brown, Josie Brown, Zek Bruin, Madison Bunton, Martha Spence Butler, Ellen Buttier, Henry H. Byrd, William 156 160 163 166 169 174 176 179 182 Cain, Louis Calhoun, Jeff Campbell, Simp Cape, James Carruthers, Richard Carter, Cato Cauthern, Jack Chambers, Sally Banks Choice, Jeptha Clark, Amos Clark, Anne Cole, Thomas Coleman, Eli Coleman, Preely Collins, Harriet Columbus, Andrew (Smoky) Connally, Steve Coimier, Valmar Cornish, Laura Crawford, John Cumby, Green Cummins, Tempie Cunningham, Adeline 185 188 191 193 197 202 212 214 217 220 223 225 236 240 242 246 249 252 254 257 260 263 266 Daily, Will Daniels, Julia Francis Darling, Katie Davenport, Carey Davis, Campbell Davis, William Davison, Eli Davison, Elige Day, John Denson, Nelsen Duhon, Victor 269 273 278 281 285 289 295 298 302 305 307 ILLUSTRATIONS Facing page Will Adams 1 William Adams 4 Mary Armstrong 25 Sterlin Arnwine 31 Sarah Ashley 34 Edgar and Minerva Bendy ^ 66 Jack Bess1s House 72 Jack Bess 72 Charlotte Beverly 84 Francis Black 87 Betty Bormer (Bonner) 109 Issabella Boyd 114 James Boyd 117 Monroe Brackins 124 Wes Brady 133 William Branch 143 Clara Brim 147 Sylvester Brooks 149 Donaville Broussard 151 Fannie Brown 154 Fred Brown 156 James Brown 160 Josie Brown 163 Facing page Zek Brown 166 Martha Spence Bunton 174 Ellen Butler 176 Simp Campbell 191 James Cape 193 Cato Carter 202 Amos Clark1 s Sorghum Mill 220 Amos Clark 220 Anne Clark 223 Preely Coleman 240 Steve Connally 249 Steve Connallyfs House ' 249 Valmar Cormier 252 John Crawford 257 Green Cumby 260 Tempie Cummins 263 Adeline Cunningham 266 Will Daily's House 269 Will Daily 269 Julia Francis Daniels 273 Katie Darling 278 Carey Davenport 281 Campbell Davis 285 Nelsen Denson 305 430241 EX-SLATE STORIES (Texas) Page One WILL ADAMS was bom in 1857, a slave of Dave Gavin, in Harrison Co.f Texas* He remained with the Gavins until 1885, then farmed for himself. Will lives alone in Marshall, Texas, supported by a $13,00 monthly pension. M My folks allus belongs to the Cavins and wore their name till after fmaacipation. Pa and ma was named Preeman and Amelia Gavin and Massa Dava fotches them to Texas from Alabama, along with ma's mother, what we called Maria. The Cavins allus thank lots of their niggers and Grandma Maria say* 'Why shouldn't they - it was their money.1 She say there was plenty Indians here when they settled this country and they bought and traded with them without killin' them, if they could. jus1 pilfer and loaf fround all the time. The Indians was poor folks, The niggers was a heap sight better off than they was, 'cause we had plenty to eat and a place to stay. 11 Young Massa Tom was my special massa and he still lives here. Old Man Dave seemed to think more of his niggers than anybody and we thunk lots of our white folks. seer or driver. My pa was leader on the farm, and there wasn't *i over- When pa whip a nigger he needn't go to Massa Dave, but pa say, * So you way# you nigger. Freeman didn't whip you for nothin1. f Massa Dave allus believe paf 'cause he tells the truth. M 0ne time a peddler come to our house and after supper he goes to see 'bout his pony. Pa done feed that pony fifteen ears of corn. The peddler tell massa his pony ain't been fed nothin1, and massa git mad |||^ you gwine *cuee my niggers of lyin1.' lllllil^ . ^*%^ ' '..- -" . ' Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two w We had good quarters and plenty to eat, I ^members when Ifs jus* walkin* round good pa come in from the field at night and taken me out of bed and dress me and feed me and then play with me for hours. leader, hefs gone from 'fore day till after night. Him bein* The old heads got out early but us young scraps slep' till eight or nine o*clock, and don't you think Massa Dave ain't comin' round to see we is fed, 1^'members him like it was yest'day, comin1 to the quarters with his stick and askin' us, 'Had your breakfas'?' We'd say, 'Yes, suh.' wanted any more. Then he'd ask if we had fnough or It look like he taken a pleasure in seein' us eat. At dinner, when the field hands come in, it am the same way. He was shof that potlicker was fill as long as the niggers want to eat. "The hands worked from sun to sun. Massa give them li'l crops and let them work them on Saturday. Then he bought the stuff and the niggers go to Jefferson and buy clothes and sech like. Lots saved money and bought freedom 'fore the war was over* "We went to churcjz and first the white preacher preached and then he lams our cullud preachers. him to allus be honest. I seed him ordain a cullud preacher and he told When the white preacher laid his hand on him, all the niggers git to hollerin1 and shout in' and prs^in1 and that nigger git scart mos' to death. w On Christmas we had all we could eat and drink and after that a big party, and you ought to see them gals swingin* they partners round, Then massa have two niggers wrestle, and our sports and dances was big sport far ilifl white folksu brown. They'd .sit on the gallery and watch the niggers put it oh ^ *; p ^ Ex~slave Stories (Texas) Page Three g&- "Massa didn't like his niggers to marry oix txxe place, hut sometimes theyfd do it, and massa tell his neighbor, 'My nigger m corain' to you place* Make him behave.1 Jftl the niggers 'haved then and they wasn't no Huntsville and gallows and burnin's then. "Old massa went to war with his boy, Billie. and weepin' when they sot us free* Theyfs lots of cryin1 lots of them didn't want to be free, 'cause they knowed nothin1 and had nowhere to go. Then what had good massas stayed right on. ^ M I 'members when that Ku KLux business starts up. that* Smart niggers causes The carpet-baggers mint the niggers and the white men couldn't do a thing with them, so they got up the Ku ELux and stirs up the world. Them carpet- baggers come round larnin' niggers to sass the white folks what done fed them. They come to pa with that talk and he told them, 'Listen, white folks, you is gwine start a graveyard if you come round here teachin' niggers to sass white folks.*1 Them carpet baggers starts all the trouble at 'lections in Reconstruction* Niggers didn't know anythin' *bout politics* M Mos' theyoung niggers ain't usin' the education they got now* here eighty years and still has to be showed end told by white folks. young niggers wonft git told by whites or blacks either. I*s been These They thinks they done knowed it all and that gits them in trouble. w l stays with the Gavins mos1 twenty years after the war. leaves, I allus farms end does odd jobs round town here. Chilian by one woman* After I I's father of ten I lives by myself now and they gives me $13.00 a month. !*e>s It oho1 am de eril power# money. "Well,1 he say, Bat am de way It go, so I comes to you.1 111 says to him, 'Its de evil power dat have you control .ad we*uns shall cause it to be oast out*' Its done and he has no more trouble* "You wants to know if persons with de power for good can be successful In east in9 oat derlls in all eases? Well,, I answers dat$ yes and no. Dey can in every case if de affected person liiar* de faith. If de party not have enough faith, den it ays a failure* Wearin1 de coin for protection 'gainst de evil power? Dat as simple* Lots of folks wears sich and dey uses mixtures dat am rprink- led in de house, and sich. Dat am a question of faiths true faith in sich, it works. If dey has de Otherwise, it won't. *Sorae folks wonH think for a minute of golJii1 without lods~ stone or de salt and pepper mixture In de little sack, tied round d y neck. Some wears de silver coin tied round dey neck, ill sich am for ana aef acc^dently lose de charm, Hey sho1 am miserable. w n old darky dat has faith in lodestone for de eh&ra told me de 'sperlence he has in Atlanta once. Re carry in* de hod and d* fust thing he does m drop some brick on he foot. Be next thing, *e foot slip as him starts up de laAder and him and de bricks drag* to e ground. It am lucky for him it wasnH far* de boss sends him home for de day. Jus1 a sprain ankle aad He am *cited and gits on de street car and when de conductor call fer de fare, Eufas reacts for be acney '/ Ix-slare St tries "(Texas) Face Tire out he loe1 it or ferjlts It at hone, nex' tlae anil aaks where he Live. ulgger, you is on de wrong cur.* W Be conductor say he let hia pay Bufus tells hia and he say* 'Why, $al cause *ufus to walk farther with de lame foot dan if he st&rtnd wait in' la de fust place. // / '' He think, Iere I sits all day, and I won't y-' aake another acre till I giti! de lacleitone. When de chillen cc ei^ rom school I tends den to de tirutfstore for soae of de stone and g* ls fisted. "low, BOW, I*II toon w it;lii for dat one 'bout io black eat //' orossia* de road, and.sho' Miough,, it eoue. Let BO ej^you one. How aany people can youa find dab llk$s t<# hare de bl^jfc oat cross in front of lejiT Dat'ii right, no (me liken 1st. / &et d*; old cullud person inY form youa dat it aa she' de ')ad luck ilga. so turn hack. It is sign ef bad luck ahead, Stop what youi doin*, :/ "I's tellin' ye is of i'yx, of aany cases of failure to took warnla1 from 4le black cat. I fe ':#we a aan call* Miller. His wife and bin / aa takln' an auto ride and d> Mack at eross de road and he cussed a ./ little and goes on. Den f/tu not long till he terns de corner and his wife falls out of da ear duyiii' 4* turn, she an dead, then he goes back and picks her upg / "iioVher fallow, call' Br wa, was a-rldia* hosabaek and a / black eat or blaek eat. / - / .' i . dt- He thinks there aus* he soaethlag wrong with he chant, and he look for it and it gone! Sho noughf it aa loo'. Q ; Bat aa a waraln', 4 0193 XX SLA7M ST0BI18 (Jexaa) $> ' Pace One WIKEJAM M. ADAMS, spiritualist preacher and healer, who lives at 1404 Illinois Are., Jt. Worth, Texas, was horn a slave en the James Davis plantation, in San Jaeinto Co., Texas. After the war he worked in a grocery, punched cattle, famed and preached. Bo moved to It. Worth la 1902. "I was ho*n 93 jeers ago, dat la vhut my mother says. We didn* keep no record like folks doea today. All I know is I been yere a long time. My mother, si* was Julia, Adawa and my father he was James Adams. She's bo'n in Holliu Springs, Mississippi and my father, now den, he was bo'n ill. Tier Ida* He was a Black Creek Indian. Sere was 12 of us eMllen. When I was 'bout seven de missus, the oome and gits me for her servant. Z lived in de hi** house till she die. Her <*nd Marster Davis was powerful coed to ae. "Marster Davis he was a bic lawyer and de owner of a plantation. But all I do was wait on ole els BUS. pipe for her and I helped her wld her knlttia' all de tiae. I'd li are ashamed to tell it, "but I thank God I was times as well as now* You know, some people f 11 owed to see them Itfs a pretty hard story, how cruel some of the marsters was, "but I had the luck to he with good white people. some I knew were put on the block and sold. But I 'member when they'd come to John Goodren's place to buy but he not sell any. They'd have certain days when they*d sell off the tlock and they took chillen fway from mothers, screamin* for dere chillen, "I was birthed in ole Virginia in de Blue Ridge Mountains. When de white people come to Tex^s, de cullud people come with them. Datfs been a long time. "Hy maw was named Charlotte, my paw Parks Adams. white man. He's a I guessVm about eightv some years ole. "You know, in slavery times when day had bad marsters dey'd run away, but we didnf want to. My missus would see her people had something good to eat every Sunday mornin1. and marster m& you be treated well. You had to mind your missus I think I was about twelve when dey freed us and we stayed with marster 'bout a year, then went to John Ecols1 place and rented some Ian', We made two bales of cotton and it was the first money we ever saw. "Back when we lired with Marster Goodren we had big candy > Q *~ Ex-slave Stories ^ ('JPexas) pullin!s. Page Two Invite everybody and play. We hstd good times. De worst thing, we dicta* never kave no schoolin1 till after I married. went to school two weeks. slave, My husban* was teacher, Den I Ee never was a His father bought freedom through a blacksmith shop, some way. "I had & nice weddin1. ribbon. 13 My dress was hite and trimmed with blue My second day dress was white with red dots, ful veil and a wreath and M f bout two, three waiters for table dat day. My mother was nearly white. father in Virginia. I had & beauti- Brighter than me. We lef* my I was jus1 as white as de chillen I played with. I used to be plum bright, but here lately Vm gettin1 awful dark. H My husban1 was of a mixture, like you call bright ginger-cake color, I don1 know where he got his learnin1. I feel so bad since hefs gone to Glory. "Now I1^ ole, de Lord has taken care of me. He put th*.t spirit in people to look after ole folks and now my chillen look after me. I*ve two sons, one name Jaxaes Allen, one IUM. Both live in SI Paso. "After we go to sleep, de people will know these things, *cause if freedom hadn1 come, it would have been so miserable. ************* iJl^fe'^ 420149 BX-SLA7X 8T0BIXS (Texas) Page One ^ AHDY AHDERSOV, 94, was bora a slave of Jack Haley, who owned a plantation In Williamson Co., Texas. During the Clril far, Andy was sold to W. T. Bouse, of Blanco County, who in less than a year sold Andy to his brother, John louse. Andy now lives with his third wife and eight of his children at 301 Amour St., fort Worth, Texas. "My name an Andy J. Anderson, and 1*8 horn on Massa Jack Haley* s plantation in Williamson County, Texas, and Massa Heloy owned ay folks and 'bout twelve other families of niggers, I*s horn in 1843 and that Bakes ae 94 year old and 18 year when do war starts. I's had *aperlenees duria' dat time. "Massa Haley an kind to his cullud folks, and Mat am kind to everybody, and all do folks likes him. De other unite folks called we'uns do pet- ted niggers. There aa 'hout 30 old and young niggers and 'tout 20 piccaninnies too little too work, and de BUSS cares for den while day Beanies works. "I's gwino plain how it aa aaaaged on Massa Haley's plantation. It aa sort of like de saall town, cause everything we uses aa aade right there. There aa da shoemaker sad ho is de tanner and Bake de leather from da hides. Dvn aassa has 'boat a thousand sheep and he gits de wool, and de niggers cards and spins and weaves it, and dat makes all de clothes. Ian aassa have cattle and slch purvide da milk and de butter and beef meat for eat in'. have de turkeys and chickens and de hawga and de hoes. San massa With all that, us never was hongry* "So plantation aa planted la cotton, mostly, with de com and da wheat a little, cause aassa don't need much of dem. He never sell nothia* Kifet de> cotton. ' 14 Bx-alare Stories (fexas) Page Two "De llTla* for de cullud folks an good. like dey's all in dea days* what is aade on de place. 15 De quarters an built froa logs Be floor aa de dirt but we has de baches and And we has de big fireplace for to cook and we has plenty to cook in dat fireplace, ' cause aassa allus 'lows plenty good rations, hut he watch close for de wast in' of de food, "De war Breaks and dat Bake de Dig change on de aassa1 s place. He jines de aray and hires a nan call* Delbridge for orerseer. After dat, de hell start to pop, 'cause de first thing Delbridge do is cut de rations. He weighs oat de neat, three pound for de week, and he aeasure a peck of seal* And 'twarn't enough. He half starre us niggers and he want ao' work and he start de whippia's. I guesses he starts to eduaacate *ea. I guess dat Delbridge go to hell when he died, but I don't see how de debbil could stand hia, "ffe'uns aa not use* to sich and soae runs off. there an a whlppla' at de stake. House, in Blanco County. then day an cotched But dat Delbridge, he sold ae to Massa I's sho' glad when I's sold, but it an short glad- ness, 'cause here ss another Ban what hell aa too good for. He gives ae de whippia' and de seers a* still on ay arms and ay back, too. dea to ay gravev I'll cariy He sends ae for firewood and when I gits it loaded, de wheel hits a stuap and de teaa jerks and dat breaks de whlppletree. So he ties ae to de stake and every half hour for four hours, dey lays ta lashes on ay back, lor da first couple hears da pain aa awful. I'e newer forgot it. Dea I'c stood so auch pain I not feel so auch and when dey takes ae loose, I's jus' bout half dead. I lays in de bunk two days, gittia* over dat nalppla', gittia* orer it ia da body bat not de heart. Ho, sun, I has dat in de heart till die ip <;- >... BSSSv:;.:"-. ,.: ~ ^ Ex-slave Stories (fexas) Page fhree 10 "After dat whippin1 I doesn't have de heart to work for de massa. If I seed de cattle in de cornfield, I turns de back, em out* John* 8 stead of chasin1 I guess dat de reason de nassa sold me to his brother, Massa And he am good like my first massa, he never whipped me. "Ben surrender an *nounced and massa tells us wefs free* takes place, it am *bout one hour by sun. here long,1 When dat I says to myself, * I won't be But 1's not realise what I9s in for till after Ifs started, but I couldn't turn back, patter rollers. for dat means de whippin* or danger from de Dere I was and I kepf on gwine. Ho nigger am sposed to be off de massa1 s place without de pass, so I travels at night and hides dnrin' de daylight. but not much to eat. I stays in de bresh and gits water from de creeks, Twice Ifs sfao* dem patter rollers am pasain1 while Ifs hiding M I*a 21 year old den, but it am de first tine I*s gone any place, cept to de neighbors,so I's worried 'bout de right way to Massa Haley's place. But de mornin' of de third day I comes to he place and I*s so hongry and tired and scairt for fear Massa Haley not home from de army yit. So I finds my pfppy and he hides me in he cabin till a week and den luck comes to me when Massa Haley cone home. Hie come at night and de next mornin1 dat Del- bridge am shunt off de place, 'cause Massa Haley seed he niggers was all gaunt and lots am run off and de fields am not plowed rightf and only half de sheep and everything left. So massa say to dat Delbridge, 'Dere em no words can 'splain what yeas done. 0it off ay place 'fore I smashes you.f "Den I kin come out from ay pappy1 s cabin and de old massa was glad to see me, and he let me stay till freedom am ordered. time in my life, when 1 gits back to Massa Haley* -3- Bat's de happies' 420317 Dibble, Fred, P.l., Beehler. Rheba, P.18., Beaumont, Jefferson, Dist. #3. A frail sick man, neatly clad in white pajamas lying patiently in a clean bed awaiting the end which dees net seem far away. Although we pretested against his talking, because ef his weakness, he teld a brief stery of his life in a whisper, his breath very shert and every word was speken with great., effort. His light skin and his features denete n characteristic f his race, has a bald head with a bit f gray hair around the crown and a slight growth f gray whiskers about his face, is medium in height and build. WASH AHDERSON, although b rn in Charleston, S. C., has spent practically all f his life in Texas ( '/^^^^-vX, t/^-* < 1 folks call me Wash Anderson, but dey uster eall me George. My whole name* George Washington Anderson. I was b 'n in Charleston, Sou'f Ca'lina in 1855. derson was my olf marster. in his family. Bill An- Dey was tw boy' and tw gal1 We all lef' Charleston and c me t Orange, Texas, bef ' freedom come. I was f ' year' 1' when dey mek dat trip." tt I d n! 'member auttin' 'b ut Charlest n. Y u see where I was bo'n was 'bout tw mile' from de city. I went back no time in 1917, but I didn' stay dere long." "My pa was Irvln' Anderson and my mommer was name' Eliza. '01 marster was pretty reugh a his niggers. Dey 17 18 Dibble, Fred, P.W., Beehler, Rheba, P.l,, Beaumont, Jefferson, Dist, #3. tell me he had my gran'daddy beat to death. Dey never did beat me." "Dey made de trip from Charleston 'cross de country and settle1 in Duncan's Wood' down here In Orange county. Dey had a big plantation dere. I dunn if el' marster had money back In Charleston, but I t'lnk he must have. He had 'bout 25 or 30 slaves on de place." "01' man Anderson he had a big two-story house. was bull' out of logs but it was a big fine house. laves jis' had little log huts. 'em, nuthin' but de greun'. room in 'em. It De Dere wam't no flo's to Dem little huts jis' had one Dey was one family to de house, 'oep'n' some- time dey put two or free family' to a house. Dey jis' herd de slaves in dere like a bunch of pigs." "Dey uster raise cotton, and co'a, and sugar cane, and ich like, but dey didn' uster raise no rice. Dey uster sen' stuff to ferry on a railroad to aen1 it to market. Sometime dey hitch up dey teams and sen' it to Orange and Beaumont in wagons. De 1' marster he had a boat, toe, and sometime he sen' a boatload of his stuff to Beaumont." "My work was to drive de surrey for de family and look atter da mosses and de harness and sich. bes' bosses on de place to see attar." I jis' have de 19 Dibble, Fred, P.W., Beehler. Rheba, P.W., Beaumont, Jefferson, Dist. #3. "I saw lets ef sojers durin' de war. I fee 'em marenin1 by, goln' te SabIn Pass 'beut de time of dat battle." "Back in slavery tiae dey uster have a white preacher to come 'roun' and preach te de cullud felks. But I don't 'member much 'bout de songs what dey uster sing." tt I play 'reun1 right smart when I was little. Dey uster have lets of fun playin' 'hide and seek,' and 'hide de switch.' We uster ride stick hesses and play 'reun' at all dem t'imgs what chillun play at." "Dey had plenty of hesses and mules and cews en de el' plantation. I had te leek atter seme ef de hesses, but dem what I hatter leek atter was s'pose te be de bes' hesses in de bunch. Like I say, I drive de surrey and dey allus have de bes' hesses to pull dat surrey. a leg stable. Dey kep' de harness in dere, te . Dey had Eb'ry- t'ing what de st ck eat dey raise on de plantatien, all de ce'a and fodder and slch like." "Atter freedom come I went 'reun' dein1 dif'rent kind of work. 1 uster work on steamboats, and en de railroad and at sawmillln'. 1 was a sawyer for a long, long time. I work 'reun' in Lou'sana and Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as 20 Dibble, Fred, P.W,, deehler, Rheba, P.W., Beaumont, Jefferson, Dist. #3. well as in Texas. When I wasn't dein1 dem kinds ef work, I uster werk 'reun1 at anyt'ing what ceme t han*. I 'member ene time I was werkin' for de Burr Lumber Cempany at Pert Tewnsend up dere in Arkansas." "When I was 'bout 36 year1 el' I git marry. married twice. I been My fus' wife was name' Hannah and Rever- end Geerge Childress was de preacher dat marry us. was a cullud preacher. I marry my secen' wife. Later en, us separate. He Atter Hannah been dead seme time Her name was Tempie Perkins. Us sep'rate n 'count ef meney matters." "I t>'longs te de Baptis' Chu'ch. cher ceme 'roun' and see me. dis week." Semetime1 de prea- He was here a few days age TEXAS "UNCLE WILLIS AKPBRSON" rairas A. Coronrdofs Children KJ. Prank Dobie, Fub. 1929, Austin, Tex, 3* Leon County News -Centervilie, Texas Thursday May 31, 1936. C. Consultant Tfacle Willis Anderson, resident of Centerville, Tex, horn Jipril 15, 1844, An interesting character at Centerville, Texas, is ,r Uncle Willis" Anderson, an ex-slavet born April 15, 1844, 6 miles west of Centerville on the old McDaniels plantation near what is now known as Hopewell Settlement. It is generally said that ^Uncle Willis" is one of the oldest living citizens in the Couaty, "boack or white. He is referred to generally for information con- cerning days gone by and for the history of thr*t County, especially in the immediate vicinity of Centerville# w Uacle Willis" is an interesting figure. He may he found sitting on the porches of the stores facing Federal Highway ITo. 75, nodding or conversing with small groups of white or colored people that gather around him telling of the days gone by. He also likes to watch the busses and automobiles that pass through the small town musirg and commenting on the swiftness of thing today. Uncle Willis still cultivates a smallpatch five miles out from the town. *Unele Willis* is a tall dark, brown-skinned man having a large heed covered with mixed gray wotS.ly hair. his age. He has lost rery few teeth considering When sitting on the porches of the stores the soles of his farm-shoes may be seen tied together with pieces of wire. cane made from the Elm tree. He supports himself with a At present he wears a tall white Texas Ce& tennial hat which makes him appear more unique than ever* "Uncle Willis1 " memory is vivid. ures in the history of the County, He is familiar with the older fig- He tells tales of having travelled by oxen to West Texas for flour and being gone for six months at a time. He re- members the Keechi and the Kickapoo Indians and also claims that he can point out a tree where the Americans hung an Indian Chief. He says that he has plowed pp arrows, pots and flints on the Reubens Bains place and on the Mc Daniel farm** He can tell of the early lawlessness in the County. His face lights up when he recalls how the Yankee soldiers came through Centerville telling the slave owners to free their slaves. He also talks very low when he mentions the name of Jeff Davis because he says, "fha* man eavesdrop! the niggers houses in slavery time and if yer1 sed1 that Jeff Davis was a good $an, they barbecued a hog for yout but if yer1 sed1 that Abe Lincoln was a good man, jtiugc yer1 had to fight or go to the woods," Among the most interesting tales told by "Uncle Willis" is the tale of the "Lead mine," "Uncle Willis" says that some where along Boggy Creek near a large hickory tree and a red oak tree, near Patrick*s Lake, he and his master, Auss McDaniels, would dig lead out of the ground whicji they used to make pistol and rifle balls for the old Mississippi rifles during slavery time, tftxcle Willis claims that they woulcfiig slags of lead out of the ground some 13 and 15 inches long, and others as large as a man's fist, They would carry this ore back to the big house and melt it down to get the trash out of it, then they would pour it into molds and make rifle balls and pistol i>ja& tells me he a legislature man and takes me and lets me stay with his slaves. He is a good Ban, n He tells me there fs a slave refugee casip in Wharton County but I didn*t have no money left, but he pays me some for wcikin* and when the war's over I starts to bunt mamma 'gain, and finds her in Wharton County near where "karton is. wre done it. Law me, talk fbout cryin* and singin* and cryin1 some moref we I stays with mamma till I gets married in 1871 10 John Armstrong, -5- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Six and then we all cones to Houston* 11 1 gets me a job nusein1 for Dr* Eellaford and was all through the yellow fever epidemic* with the rots* I "lects in f75 people die jesf like sheep I9s seen folks with the fever jump from their "bed with death on *em and grab other folks. The doctor saved lots of folksf white and black, * cause he sweat it out of 'em* He mixed up hot water and vinegar and mustard and some else in it* "But, law me, so much is gone out of my mind, cause 1*8 91 year old now and my mind jes1 like my legs, jes1 kinda hobble 'round a bit. ************* ' 30 420085 BMLA7E STORMS (fexas) Page Oae S2SABLIN AENWINE, 34, was born a slave to Albertus Arnwine, near Jacksonville. Texasf who died when St earlin was seven or eight. He was bought by Joha Moseley, of Busk, Texas, who made Stearlin a houseboy, and was very kind to him. He now lives about six miles west of Jacksonville. ^ v *I \iras bofa ff6re de war, in 1853, right near this here tomat, on Gtaa Creek. My maaaay belonged to Mass a Albertus Arnwine, and he wasn* ever married. He owned four woae^ ay mammy, Aanf ay r grandaother, &racief and my Aunt Winnie and Aunt Mary. own say nigger men, f cept the chillea of these women. He didn1 Orandioa lived ia de house with Mass a Arnwiae sad the rest of us lived ia . cabins ia de ya'd. My mammy come from Merqphis but I don1 know whar ay pappy come froa# He was Ike lane. I has three half brothers, and their names is Joe and Will and Joha Schot, and two sisters called Polly and Bosie, "Massa Arawine died 'fore de war and he made a will and it gave all he owned to the women he owned, and Jedge Jowell promised massa on his deathbed he would take us to de free country, but he dida1. He took us to his place to work for him for *bout two years and the women never did get that 900 acres of land Massa Arawine willed io*em# I don1 kaow who got it, but they didn1, I knows I still has a share ia that land, but it takes moaey to git it ia cou9t "When war broke I fell into the hen's of Massa Joha Moseley at Busk, They brought the dogs to roua1 us up from the fiel*s whar we was workia** I was the oaDLy one of ay fam'ly to go to Massa Joha. Q* OX Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two "I never did wo k in the flel's at Massa Johnfs place. I mus1 be his houseboy and houseboy I was. He said Uassa was sho1 good to me and I did love to be with him and follow him *rount, *fThe kitchen was oat in de yafd and I had to carry the victuals to the big dinin^room. When dinner was over, Massa John tuk a nap and I had to fan him, and lawsy me, ltd git so sleepy. I kin hear him now, for he*d wake up and say, 'Oo get me a drink outta the northeast corner of de well.1 11 We had. straw and grass beds, we put it in sacks on de groun1 and slepf on de sacks* I don1 'member how much land Uassa Job* h&& "but it was a big place axtd he had lots of slaves* We chillun had supper early in deerenia1 and mostly corabread and hawg meat and milk. from a big pot. We all ate I larned to spin and weave and knit and made lots of socks. "Massa John had two step-daughters, Kiss Mollie and Miss Laura, and they wen1 to school at Husk. It was my job to take *em thsr evfxy Monday mornin1 on horses and go back after fem Friday afternoon. H I never earat no money ffore freedom come, but once my brother- ia-law give me five dollars. I was so proud of it I showed it to de ladies aad one of 'em saidf fYou don1 need datt* and she give me two sticks of candy and tuk df> money. But I didn1 know aay better then. *1 seed slaves for sale on de auction block. cordia' to strengt1 and muscles. They sol1 fera They was stripped to de wais1. I seed the women and little chillun cryia* and beggin1 not to be separated, but it didn9 do no good. They had to go. 33 Es~*lave Stories (Texas) Page Three K The only chu'ch I knowed fbout was when wefd git together in de night and hare prayer meetin1 and singin.f We use1 to go way oat in de woods so de white folks woaldn* hear nothing Sometimes we*d stay nearly all night on Saturday, ^caase we didn1 have to work Sunder. 1,1 Bout the only thing we could play ras stick hosses/ I made miles and miles on the stick hosses. After the War liassa John have his chillun a big roll of Confederate money and they give us some of it to trade and buy stick hosses \fithv *When Massa John tol* us we was free, he didn1 seem to minff but Miss Em, she bawled and squalled, say her prepay taken fway from her. After dat, my mammy gathers us togedder and tuk us to the Dr. Middleton placet out from Jacksonville, Prom thar to de Bagsdale place whar I's been ever since. n l wore my first pants when I was fourteenyears olef and they stung 'till I was aia*ble. at home. The cloth was store bought bat mammy made the pants It was what we called dog-hair cloth. we called fem *red rippers ************** Mammy tfade w first shoes, 33 420075 EUSULVB STORMS Page One * (*exas) 8ARAH ASHLEY, 93, was born la Mississippi She recalls her esperiences when sold on the btock In Hew Orleans, and on a cotton plantation In Texas, She now lives at Ooodrich, Texas. 11 1 ainft able to do nothin' no more. oat and I stays here by myself. Ifs Jus1 pluarb give My daughter. Georgia ftrime, she used to live with ne bat shefs been dead fear year* *I was born in Mlss'ippi and Massa Henry Thomas buy us and bring us here* He a spectator and buys up lots of niggers and sells 'en* Us fanily was separated* papa was sold to a nan in Georgia. Md ne off a Den dey put me on a block and Dat in lew Orleans and I scairt and cry. but dey put me up dere anyway. first dey takes me to Georgia and dey didn't sell ne for a long spell* sell niggers* My two sisters and ay Massa Thomas he travel round and buy and Us stay in de speculators drove de long time* *Af ter 'i&ile Massa Mose Davis come froa Cold Spring, in Texas, and buys us. He was buyin1 up little chillen for he Chilian. Dat fbout four year befo* de first war* I was 19 year old whan de burst of free&oa come in June and I git turn loose # *I was worldn8 in de field den* he go off and buy acre niggers* Jus* befo* dat de old aassa He go east* up and he die and never come back no sore* 1- He on a boat what git stove Us never see hia no mar*. 34 Sx~slave Stories (Texas) Page Jwo "X used to have to pifc cotton and sometime I pick 300 pound and tot* it a nile to de cottoe house. Sam pick 300 to 800 pound cotton and have to tote da bag da whole a lie to da gin. Iffen day didn9t do day work day git whip till day have blister on 9ea. Ban iffen day didn't do it, de man on a hose goes down da rows and whip with a paddle aake with holes in it and hue9 da blisters, f git whip, I never causa X allus git my 300 pound. Us have to go early to do d&t, when da horn goes early, befo9 daylight. Us have to tates da victuals in da bucket to de field. "Maesa have de log house and ue live in little houses9 Dere wasn't no aeetln9s * lowed in de quarters strewed In long rows* and iffen day have prayer aeetin9 de boss man whip dan. run off at night and go to caap aeetin*. Soaetiae ua I takes de white Chilian to church soaetiae. but day couldn't l&rn ne to sing no songs 9cause I didn* have no spirit, M Us never got 'nough to eat, so us keeps steal In9 stuff. Us has to. fi ey give ue da peck of seal to last da week and two. three pound bacon In chunk. de meat and Haters, Ua n^r&r have flour or sugar9 jus1 cornaesl and De niggers has da big box under de fireplace, where day kep9 all de pig and chickens what day steal, down in salt. "X seed a aan run away and de white Jien got da dogs and day ketch hla and put hla in de front rooa and ha juap through de big window and break de glass all up. Say she1 whips hla whan day ketches hia. "De way day whip da niggers was to sttlp 9ea off naked and whip ea till day aate blisters and bus9 da blisters* t2k_ Dsn day take de salt ~r OO gx~slawe Sterlea (fexas) ?age fhroo and rod pepper and put la do wounds, if tor doy wash and grease don and put tomethim1 on dea, to keep dean from blood to death* "When do bos* nan told us freedom was coma ho didn't like ltf hut ho give all us do halo of cotton and some corn. Ho ask us to stay and he'p with do crop hut wefuns so glad to git *way d&t nobody stays* - I got fb^ * AGATHA 3ABIN0, bom a slave of Ogis Guidry, near Carenco* Louisiana, now lives in a cottage on the property of the Blessed Sacrament Church, in Beaumont, Texas, She says she is at least eightyseven and probably much older. "Old Marse was Ogis &uidry. Old Miss was Laurentine, Dey had four chillen, Placid, Alphonse and Mary and Alexandrine, and live in a big, one-story house with a gallery and brick pillrrs. Dey had a big place. I ' spect a mile fcross it, and fifty slaves. "My m^jma nans was Clarice Richard. Papa was Dick Richard. Placid Guilbeau. She come from South Carolina. He come from North Carolina. He was slave of old He live near Old Marse. My brothers was Joe and Nicholas and Oui and Albert and Maurice, and sisters was Maud and Cfelestine and Pauline. "Us slaves lived in shabby houses. Dey builded of logs and have dirt We have a four foot bench. We pull it to a table nnd. set on it, floor, De bed a platform with planks and moss. M We had Sunday off. Christmas was off, too. Dey give us chicken and flour den. But most holidays de white folks has company. Dat mean more work for us. "Old Marse bad. in. He beat us till we bleed. One time I sweep de yard, my face. She want to beat me. He rub salt and pepper Young miss come home from college. She slap Mama say to beat her, so dey did. She took de beat in1 for me. M My aunt run off 'cause dey beat her so much. Dey brung her back and beat her some more. Sr-slflve Stories (Texas) 11 page Two 3g We have dance outdoors sometime. Somebody play fiddle and banjo. We dance de reel and quadrille and buck dance. De men dance dat. If we go to dance on *nother plantation we have to have pass. and make us show de slip. De patterrollers come If dey ain't no slip, we git beat. M I see plenty sojers, Dey fight at Pines PJ\A we hear ball gs Younr marse have blue coat. He put it on and climb a tree to see. come and think he a Yankee* Dey take his gun. f zing zing.' De sojers Dey turn him loose when dey find out he ainft no Yankee, "When de real Yankees come dey take corn and gooses and hosses. Dey don't ask for nothin', Dey take what dey wants* M Some masters have chillen by slaves. Some sold dere own chillen. Some sot dem free. f, When freedom come we have to sign up to work for money for a year. We couldn't go work for nobody else. After de year some stays, but not long. H De Ku Klux kill niggers,, Dey come to take my uncle. He open d door. Dey don't take him but tell him to vote Democrat next day or dey will. Dey kilt some niggers what wouldn't vote Democrat. "Dey kill my old uncle Davis. He won't vote Democrat. Dey shoot him. Den dey stand him up and let him fall down. Dey tie him by de feet, through de bresh. Dey drag him Dey dare his wife to cry. H When I thirty I marry Tesisfor Sabino. Pere Abadie marry us at Grand Coteau. We have dinner with wine. Den come big dance. We have twelve chillen. We works in de field in Opelousas. We come here twenty-five year ago. He die io 1917* Dey let's me live here. It nice to be near de church. I csm go to prayers when I wants to, 430164 ix>r 3x-slave volume page one' EX-SLATS STORIES (Texas) . ?- -vgg" ,; . . g i''3& % i>* '& **r .3^-f, " *>3* :?D EX-SLAVE AUTOBIOGRAPHY MRS. JOHH BARCLAY (nee sarah Sanders) Brownwood, Texas was born in Komo, Mississippi, September 1, 1853* she was born a slave at the north slades* place. Mr* and urs. ITorth slade were the only owners she ever had. she served as nurse-maid for her marsterTs children and did general housework. She, with her mother and father and family stayed with the slades until the end of the year after the civil war. They then moved to themselves, hiring out to "White Folks** "My marster and mistress was good to all de slaves dat worked for dem. mean. But our over-seer, jimmy shearer, was sho1 One day he done git mad at me for some little some- thin* and when I take de ashes to de garden he catches me and churns me up and down on de groun1. One day he got mad page two at my brother and kicked him end over end, jes' like a stick ox wood. He-would whip us 'til we was raw and then put pep- per and salt in de sores. If he thought we was too slow .in doinT anything he would kick us off de 3r un' and churn us up and down. seer. Our punishment depended on de mood of de over- I never did see no slaves sold, give us medicine out of drug stores, When we was sick de^ De over-seer would git some coarse ootton cloth to make our work clothejout of and den he would make dem so narrow we couldn' hardly walk, "There was 1800 acres in Marster slade's plantation, we got up at 5:00 o'clock in de mornin' and de field workers would quit after sun-down, We didn' have no jails for slaves. Me went to church with de white folks and there was a place in de back of de church for us to sit, "I was jesf a child den and us chilluns would gather in de back yard and sing songs and play games and dance jigs. Song I 'member most is '1'he Day is past and Gone,' "One time marster found out the over-seer was so mean to me, so he discharged him and released me from duty for awhile, "We never did wear shoes through de week but on Sunday we would dress up in our white cotton dresses and put on shoes. "We wasn't taught to read or Y 49 EX-SLAVE STORIES Page Two (Texas) * 11 1 have de good massa, bless he soul, and missy she plumb good, I 1*11 never forgit dem. IWssa 'low us have holiday Saturday night and go to nigger dance if it on fnother plantation. Boyt oh boy, de tin pa* beat in1 and de banjo pickin1 and de dance all night long. "When de war start, white missy die, and massa have de preacher. She was white angel. Den massa marry Missy Alice Long rjid she de bad woman with us niggers. She hard on us, not like old missy. ,f I larned lots of remedies for sick people. Charcoal and onions and honey for de li'l booby an good, and cauphor for de chills and fever and teeth cut tin1. Ifs boil red oak bark and make tea for fever and make cactus weed root tea for fever and chills and colic. De best remedy for chills and fever am to git rabbit foot tie on string fround de neck. J, Massat he carry me to war with him, 'cause I*s de good cook. In dat New Orleans battle he wounded and guns roarin1 everywhere* massa in and Ifs jus* as white as he am den. off de house, Dey brung Dem Yankees done shoot de roof I nuss de sick and wounded clean through de war and seed dem dyin1 on eveiy side of me. M f I s most scared to death when de war end. Us still in New Orleans and all de shout in1 dat took place 'cause us free! 4 and was in a stir jus! as thick as flies on de dog, Dey crowds on de streets Massa say I*s free as ;j&iwf but iffen I wants to cook for him and missy I gits $2.50 de month, so |lfepoks for him till I marries Armstead Barrett, and then uff faro for de Jl^in1* Us have big church weddin1 and I has white loyal dress and black *8^ an shoes. it """ TJs been married 51 years notf* ******* r ' OU aOiBO ENSLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One JOHN BATES, 84, was bora in Little Rock, Arkansas, a slave of Mock Bateraaja. Wheat still very young, John moved with his mother, a slave of Harry Hogan, to Limestone Co.,Texas. John now lives in Corsicana, supported by his children and an old age pension* -V "My pqppy was Ike Bateman, 'cause his massa1s name am Moekbateman, and mammy1 s nnm^ was Francis. and I had four brothers and six sisters, They come from Tennessee tfe jes1 left de last part of de name off and call it Bates and dat*s how I got ny name. 1 Manny longed to Massa-Harry Hogaa and while Ifs- small us move to Texas, to Limestone County, and I don'T Member much fbout pap-.y, ! cause I ain't never seed him since. "Massa Hogan was a pu^ty good sort of fellow, but us went hongry de fust winter in Texas. He lived in de big log house with de hallway clean through and a gallery clean fcross de front. De chimney was big 'nough to burn logs in and it she1 throwed out de heat. It was a good, big place and young massa come out early and holler for us to git up and be in de field. "Missy Eogaa was de good woman and try her dead level best to teach me to read and write, but my head jes* too thick, I jes1 couldn't lara. My Uaele Bea he could read de Bible and he allus tell us some day us be free and Massa Harry laugh, haw, haw, haw, and he say, 'Hell, no, yous aever be free, yous aiaft got sense faough to make de livia* if ^ous was free.1 Dea he takes de Bible fway from Uaele Bea and say it put de bad ideas ia he head, but Uaele gits Mother Bible aad hides it aad massa aever finds it out* ~1- K 51 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two ,f Wefuns gees to de big baptisin1 one time and itfs at de big sawmill tank and 50 is baptise1 and Ifs in dat bunch myself. But dey didn't have no funerals for de slaves, but jes1 bury dero like a cow or a boss, jes1 dig de hole and roll *em in it and cover *em up. "War come and durin1 dem times jes1 like today nearly everybody knows what gwine on, news travels purty fast, and if fen de slaves couldnft git it with de pass dey slips out after dark and go in another plantation by de back wgy. Course, if fen don patterrollers cotch dem it JBS1 too bad and dey gits whip. "When de news comes in dat us free, Massa Harry never call us up like everybody else did the slaves, us has to go up and ask him fbout it. He come out on de front gallery and says we is free and turns goes in de house without f not her word. f round and We all shof feels sorry for him the way he acts and hates to leave him, but we waats to go. We^cnowed he wasnft able to give us mothin1 so begins to scatter ajtd fbout ten or fifteen days Mass a Harry dies. I think he jes1 grieve himself to death, all he trouble coanin1 on him to once, "Us worked on diff*rent farms till I marries a d my fust wife am Emma Williams a#d a cullud preacher marries us at her house. Us picked cotton after dat and den I rents a place on de halvers for five year and after sevfral years I buys eighty acres of land. Finfly us done paid dat out and done some repairs and den us sepfrate after livin* twenty-three year together. So I gives dat place to her and de six chillen ?>nd I walks out ready to start all over fgaia* *3 " vO Ex-slave Stories (Te:\as) Page Three "Then I meets Sarah Jones and us marries, but she gives me de divorcement. All dis time I works on a farm ^or de day wages, den I rents *nother farm on de halvers on de black land and stays dere sevfral year, Pin'ly I gits de job workia1 at de cotton oil mill in Corsicana and stays at dat job till dey gays Ifs too old* here and now has a place to live, seven chillen. I done buy dis li'l home Sarah done come back to rae and us has One of de boys works at de cotton oil mill and two works at de compress right here in Corsicana and one works at de beer place in Dal las M Us raises a lifl on dese tw lots and de chillen brings some from de farm, I mean my fust wife's chillen, and with de pension check us manage to live a li'l longer. Us boys pays dejt&xes and de insurance for us# ****** >G 420306 EX-SLAVS STOEIES (Texas) KAt *** Page One HARRISON BECKETT, born a slave of I. D. Thomas of San Augustine, Texas, now lives in Beaumont. A greatgrandson climbed into Harrison^ lap during the interview, and his genial face lit up with a smile. He chuckled as he told of his own boyhood days, and appeared to enjoy reminiscing. At times he uses big words, some of his own coining. N? Ifs purty "I's 'mong de culls now, like a hoss what m too old. small yit when 'mancipation comes and didn't have no hard work. have me and de othfcr li!l jtiggers keep de stock out de fields. Old Massa Us li'l boogers have to run and keep de cows out de corn and de cotton patch. Dat ought to been fnough to keep us out of debbilment. 11 It cone to pass my mammy work in de field. Her name Cynthia Thomas and daddy's name Isaac Thomas. But after freedom he goes back to Florida and find .out he people end git he real name, and dat am Beckett. years after 'mancipation he go back to he old home in Florida. was de Folkses, in Georgia Dat 'bout ten Mammy1 s people M mmy come in from de field at nine or ten ofclock at night and she be all wore out and too tired to cook lots of times. But she have to git some food for us. table and dat like a feast. We all had a tin pan and git round de But lots of times shefs so tired she go to bed without eatin' nothin1 herself f, My sisters was Elian and Sani and &eorgy~Ann and Cindy and Sidi-Ann. D^y's all hig 'nough to work in de field. My brudders name Matthew and Ed and Henry and Harryt what am me, and de oldes* one am General Thomas. "Dey orefn a hundred head of black folks on Massa Thomas' two farms, and 'bout a hundred fifty acres in each faim* One de farms in iron ore, what Ex-slave Stories (Texas) P^ge Two am red land, and. de other in fray land, half sand an^ half "black dirt, "Us slaves live in pole houses a^id some in split log houses, with two rooms, one for to sleep in and one for to cook in. glass windows, jus1 holes in de walls* made out of poles. Day ain't no Bare was jack "beds to sleep on, Dey has four legs and ain't nail to de wplls, "Old Massa he care for he hands purty well, consider in1 everything. In ginnin1 time he 'low de women to pick up cotton from de ground and make mattresses and quilts. He make some cloth and ."buy some, A woman weave all de time and when de shickle jump out on de floor I picks it up* I used to could knit socks and I was jesf a lifl hoy then, hut I keep everything in f memb ranee, "Dey have some school and de chillen larnt readin' and writin', and manners and "behaviour, too. teacher. Sometime dey git de broke-down white man to he But us didn,t know much and it taken ten years or more after freedom to git de hlack men de qualification way he could handle things* "One' time us boys git some watenaillions out in de bresh and hit 5em or drap !em to break fem open. eatin* he watenaillions. Dere come massa and cotch us not workin', but He tell my daddy to whip me. But lots of times when us sposed to mind de calves, us am out eatin1 wa,termillions in de bresh. Den de calves git out and massa see Asm run and cotch us, "Old massa was kind and good, though. and wouldnft whip nobody without de cause. He have partiality 'bout him, He whip with de long, keen switch and it didn't bruise de back, but sho1 did sting. pull up you shirt and whip on de bare hide* * 3* When he git real mad, he One time he whippin1 me and I j i Ex~slave Stories (Texas) Page Three busts de button off my shirt what he holdin1 on to, and runs away* to outrun him, and dat tickle him. But dem whippin*s done me good. I tries I sho* give de ground fits with my feets. Dey break me up from thievin1 and make de mpn cf me* H De wgjr dey dress us li'l nigger bo~s den, dey give us a shirt what come way down 'tween de knees and ankles. When de weather am too coldf dey sometimes give us pants* "De white preachers come round and preach, Dey have de tabernacle like a arbor and cullud folks come from all round to hear de Gospel 'spounded. Most every farat have de cullud man larnin1 to preach. I used to 'long to de Methodist8 but now I 'longs to de Church of Christ. "Massa Thomas, he de wholesale merchant and git kilt in New Orleans. A big box of freight goods fall on him, a box 'bout a yard square on de end and six yards long. He's carryin* back some good for to make exchangement and dey pullin* up de box with pulley and rope and it fall on him. De New Orleans folks say it am de ace identment, but de rest say de rope am cut. One of massa's old friends was Lawyer Brooks. He used to firmanlze de word. "Ilassa have two boys, Mr. Jimmie and Li'l Ide and dey both goes fex> de war, Li'l Ide, he go up in Arkansas and dey say when dat first cannon busts at Li'l Rock* he starts runnin' and never stops till he gits back home, I don't see how he could do dat, 'cause Lifl Hock am way far off, but dat what dey say. Dsn de men comes to git barters and dey gits Li'l Ide and takes him back Mr. Jimmie, he didn't break de ranks* He stood he ground. ' ifeamy and dem tell me when war am over de boss and he wifef dey calls txc\ Ot> Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Four de slaves up in de bunch and tells fem, *Youfs free as I is. if you wants. I feed you and pay you.1 of meat, Keep on or quit, You don't have to stay no further, you*s free today*1 June 19th, end all of *em stays. *'' Dat near Massa say, !Go fhead and finish-de crop and Dey all knowed when he kilt de hawgs us git plenty Dat young massa say all datf *cause old massa done git kilt. 11 It1 s at Panola County where I first hears of de Klux. dem White Gaps den, Dey call Dey move over in Panola County and ranges at de place call Big Creek IServal, "by McFaddin Creek, Dey's purty rough. De landowners tell dey niggers not to kill de White Caps hat to scare dem fwqjr* At night dey come knock and if you don't open it dey pry it open and run you out in de field. Dey run de niggers from Merryville round Longview. Klux and some had men. Dey some good men in de But us work hard and go home and dey ainft "bother us none* M Dey used to he a nigger round dere, call Bandy Joe. at Nacogdoches finfly He could turn into anything. He git kilt De jedge of he parish was Massa Lee and he say dey ought let Bandy Joe livet so dey could larn he art. Dey done try cotch him de long timef and mayhe he hoi din1 him and first thing they know he gone and dey left holdin1 he coat. him. Dey shoot at him and not hurt He tell he wife dey ain*t no kind "bullet can hurt him hut de silver hullet. ,f Dat Bandy Joef he say he a spirit and a human hoth. want you to see him you jus* couldn't see him* Iffen he didnft Lots of folks liked him. De je&ge sey he wish he could1 a heen hrung to town, so he could *zamine him fhout he gifts. $|^ 1>e jedgs knowed Bandy Joe could dis pear jus1 like nothin1, and he he git out he *liu fryt&^k^a^^iiM&^^ I'd like to know dat myself. K>V ' Ex-*slave Stories (Texas) Page Jive f, I fmagines I seed ghosties two, three times. nighttime, ro ^O I used to range round at I rides through a old slavery field and de folks tell me, 'Harry, you better be careJfttl gwine 'cross dat old field, mules run fway. They's things dere what makes One night it am late end my mule ran fway. 1 make my mind I go back and see what he run from and some thin1 am by de fence like de bear stand up straight* of it. It stpnd dere fbout fifteen minutes while I draws my best 'pinion I didn't S** &W nearer dan to see itt A man down de road tell me de place am hanted and he dunno how many wagons and mul^s git pull by dat thing at dat place w One time I5s livin1 'nother place and it am 'twixt sundown and dusk. I had a li'l boy !hind me and I seed a big sow with no head comin* over de fence. My maf she allus say what I see aight be Pagination and to turn my head and look 'gain and I does dat. But it still dere. Den I seed a hoss , go in1 down de road and he drag a chain, and cross de bridge and turn down de side road. But when I git to de side road I ain't seed no hoss or nothin1. I didnft say nothin1 to de li'l boy fhind me on de mule till I gits most home, den asks him did he see anythin1. 1 He say no. I wouldnft tell him ffore dat, cause I *fraid he light out and outrun me and I didn't want to be hy myself with dem things. Whan I gits home and tell everybody, dey sqjr dat a man name McCoy, what was kilt dere and I seed he spirit. *Ifs fbout twenty-one when I marries Mandy &reen. and a world of grandchillen. and come here three year ago* Us has twelve chillen, I travels all over Louisiana and Texas in my time, My son he work in de box factfry here, and he git a bodily injurement while he workin1 and die, and I come here to de burial and I been here ever since. ******* 4? M>9 lUUSLAVS STORIES Page One rn ?' (Texas) > OtJ FRANK BELL, 86, was a slave of Johnson Bell, who ran a saloon in New Orleans Frank lives in Madisonville, Texas* "I was owned by Johnson Bell and horn in New Orleans, -in Louisiana. 'Cordin1 to the hill of sale, Vm eighty-six years old, and my master was a Frenchman and was real mean to me. He run saloon and kept had women. I donft know nothing 'bout my folks, if I even had anyt fcept mama. They done tell me she was a bad woman and a French Creole. H I worked fround master's saloon, kep1 everything cleaned up after theyfd have all night drinkin1 parties, men and women. I earned nickels to tip off where to go, sofs they could sow wild oats. I buried the nickels under rocks. If master done cotch me with money, he'd take it and beat me nearly to death. All I had to eat was old stuff those people left, all scraps what was left. "One time some bad men come to master9 s and gits in a shoo tin1 scrape and they was two men kilt. I sho1 did run. But master cotch me and make me take them men to the river and tie a weight on them, so they'd sink and the law wouldn't git him. "The clothes I wore was some master's old ones. in them. They allus had holes Master he stay drunk nearly all time and was raean to his slave. I'm the only one he had, and didn't cost him nothing. He have bill of sale made, 'cause the law say he done stole me when If small child. chains sometimes. He shot several men. -1~ Master kept me in Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two r^n ou "I didn*t have no quarters but stays 'round the place and throw old sack down and lay there and sleep. I'm 'fraid to run, 'cause master say he'd hunt me and kill nigger. "When IfJE 'bout seventeen I marries a gal while master: on drunk spell. Master he run her off, and I slips off at night to see her, but he finds it out. He takes a big, long knife and cuts her head plumb off, and ties a great, heavy weight to her and makes rae throw her in the river. Then he puts me in chains and every night he come give me a whippin1, for long time* "When war come, master swear he not gwine fight, but the Yankees they captures New Orleans and throws master in a pen and guards him. He gets a chance and 'scapes. "When war am over he won't free me, says If3i valuable to him in his trade. He say, 'Nigger, you's suppose to be free but I'll pay vou a dollar a week and iff en you runs off I'll kill you,' So he makes me do like befo' the war, but give me 'bout a dollar a month, 'stead week. "He say I cost more'n Ifm worth, but he won't let me go. Times I don't know why I didn't die befo1 Ifm growed, sleep in' on the ground, winter and summer, rain and snow. But not much snow there. "Master helt me long years after the war. If anybody git after him, he told them I stay 'cause I wants to stay, but told me if I left he'd kill him nother nigger, I stayed till he gits in a drunk brawl one night with men and women and they gits to shootin* and some kilt. Master got kilt. Then I'm left to live or die, so I wanders from place to place. I nearly starved to death befo1 I'd leave New Orleans, 'cause I couldn't think master am dead and I*a 'fraid. Finally I gits up nerve to leave town, and stays the first night -2- Bx-slave Stories Page Three (Texas) I never slap1, in white man's barn. Evsry time I hears something, I jumps up and master be standin1 there, lookin' at me, hut soonf8 I git up he'd leave. Next night I slep1 out in a hay field, and master he git right top of a tree and start holler in3 at me. place. I never stays in that place, I gits gone from that I gits hack to town fast as my legs carry me* Then I gits locked up in jail, I donft know what for, never did know. One the men says to me to come with him and takes me to the woods and gives me an ax, I. cuts rails till I nearly falls, all with chain locked fround feet, so I couldnft run off. He turns me loose and I wanders 'gain. Never had a home. Works for men long 'nough to git fifty, sixty cents, then starts roamin1 'gain, like a stray dog like. 11 After long time I marries Feline Graham. a white preacher marry us. Then I has a home and we has We has one hoy and he farms and I lives with him, I worked at sawmill and farms all my life, but never could make much money. 11 You know, the nigger was wild till the white man made what he has out of the nigger. He done ed'cate them real smart* ***** f\4 4-20i(.)3 Page One BX-SLAVS Si'OfiISS (.Texas) Aunt Virginia Bell, 1205 Buthven St., Houston, was born a slave near Opelousae, Louisiana, on the plantation of Thomas Lewis. Although sue rentes-* bars being told she was born on Christmas Day, sne does not know tne year, but says she guesses she is about 83 years old. *Wellt sun, the fusf question you ask mef 'bout how old I is, I don1 know fzactly. day* You see it ain't like things is to- The young folks can tell you their 'zact agfi and everything, but in tnose days we didn1 pay much f tent ion to such things. But I knows I was bo'n in slavery times and my pappy tol1 xae I was bo'n on a Christmas Bay, out ditto* 'member jus1 what year* "We was owned by Hassa Lewis. he was a United States lawyer. Thomas Lewis was his name, and I ain't gwineter talk 'gainst my w*ite folks like some cullud folks do, 'cause Mass a Lewis was a mighty fine man and so was Miss Mary, and they treated us mighty good. "Maesa had a big plantation near Opelousa* and I was bo'n there. I 'memoer tne neignoor folks used to bring tneir cotton to the gin on his farm for ginnin1 and baling Delia* fhat was allt jus' Delia. My mother's name was My pappy'e name was Jim Bleir. Botn of them was from Tirginny, but from diff*rent places, eind was brougnt to Louisiana by nigger traders and sold to Massa Lewis. I know my pappy was lots older than my motner and he nad a wife and five Chilian back in Tirginny and nad oeen sold away irom tnem ou* here* -1- Bx~slave Stories (Texas) Page Two Then ne and my mother started a family out here, become of his family back in Yirginny, f I don* know what cause when we was freed ne stayed with us. M Whan I got old enough I was housegirl and used t and us sets traps for birds* -1 Kx-slaT* Stories (V~; Page Two (fexa.) * *Bey ainft nothin1 batter dat go in de wood dan da big, fat possua. Day git fat on black haws and acorns and chinquapin and sich* Chinquapin is good for people to eat and to roast I used to be pluab give up to be de best banter in Tyler and in de whole country. I kilt aore deer dan any other man in de county and I been guide for all da big nan what cosies hare to hunt. My wife9 Minenra, she used te go taint in1 with no* "X kep9 on huntin* and bant in* till de Jack-&~ay~l&nterns git after ae* Bat a light you sees all 'round you. and dey atop you still* Bey follow all Ben one time it git all over ae. f long Cone like de wind, blow. blow9 and case jes9 like fire all on my ars and ay clothes and things* When dat git after ma I quit taunt in9 at nlghttiae and ala9t been huntin9 since* "One time I f ishia* on de creek and I ain't got no gon9 and I look up and dere a blgt wild cat, He nerer pay me no aindf no aore dan nothin1, but dat adn9t make no difference to ae. I jes9 flew in dat oreekl "I used to belong to de lodge but when I git so old I couldn9t pay ay jews. I git unfinancial and X ain't a aeaber no aore* eeeeeeeee ' ^ 4:20174 ^y ~ SX-SLATB 8D0BXBS (fesas) Page One > MXKERTJL BENBT, 83, was bom a slave to Lasarus Soolsby, Henry Co* Alabama* who brought her to $exas when she was five. They settled near Woodvillaf where Minerva still lives. l, My earlles* *membrasce was de big# white sandy road what lead *way from de house* It was clean and white and us chillen love to walk in de soft, hot sand* Bat in Henxy County. Alabama* where X*s born and sy old marster was Lazarus doolsby and he have de big plantation with lots of nigger folks* X f member jus' as good as yesterday wlgglln' my toes in dat sandy road and runnin' grits ill where dey grind de meal* f way to de Bat have debig water wheel dat sing and squeak as it go *reund# "Aunt Mary, she sake all us little chillen sleep in de heat of de day under de big, spreadin* oak tree in de yard* Kama have 17 chillen* My Her name Bollie and my daddy name Herd* SX's Jus9 a little chile In de days and I *tsy in de house with de white folks. Bey raise me a pet in de family* Soolsby, she have two gals and dey give e to de oldest* Missus Wteen she die dey put me in de bed with her but iffen I knowed she dyinf dey wouldnH been able to cotch me* She rub my head and tell her papa and mama, *I9& gwine *way but I wants you promise you ainft never whip my little nigger*1 Bey never did* *Xfa jus1 f bout five year old when us make de trip to Texas. Us come right near ffoodville and make de plantation. and dey raise corn and cotton and cane* -1\ \ Xt a big piece We makes our own mxgox and has rn ^ x slave Stories (Texas) Page Two many aa six kettle cm da furnace at erne tine* Dey raise day tobacco, too. I's sictc and a old nan ha say ha nake ne tobacco nedicine and dey dry da leafs and neke dec sweet like sugar and feed ma like candy,, w I 'aeaber old narster say war broke out and Capt* Collier1 s nan was a-drillia* right dera south of Woo drill*, watch dan drill* ill da wives and Chilian Bay was lots of den9 hut I couldn't count* De whole shebang frcn de town go watch den, "Jour of da Goolsby boys goes to dat war and dey call John and Ziby and Zafcud and * dlson* Addlsoa he git wounded* Za&ud* he git wounded, no ha git kilt, and I worry den, * cause I ain't see no reason for den to have to die* "After us free dey turn us loose in de woods and dat de bad time* 'cause nost us didn't know where to turn. and I didn't know how* I wasn't raise to do not bin' Dey didn't even give us a hoecake or a slice of bacon* "I's a June bride 59 year ago when I git narried* Be old white Baptist preacher nane Blacksheer put ne and dat nigger over dare, Sdgar Bendy* togadder and us been togeddar ever since* chile* Us neret have chick or I's such a good nuss I guess de Lawd didn't want ne to have none of ay own* so'a I could nuss all de others and I 'spect I's nussed nost de white chillsn and cuilud* too* hare in foodvllle. eeee ^ b>v* EX-SLAVS STORIES (Texas) page One f\) SAfiAH BENJAMIN, 82, was born a slave of the Gilbert family, in Clavin Parish, iouisiana. In 1867 she married Cal Benjamin and they settled in Carsicana, Texas, where Sarah now lives* W I is SaFah Benjamin and is 82 year old, 'cause my mammy told me I!s horn in 1855 in Clavin Parish in liouisiana. IPannie and my pappy1 n^me was Jack Callahaa* Her name was There was jus1 three of us chillen and Ifs de oldest. M Marse Gilbert was tol'able good to we*unsf and give us plenty to eat. He had a smokehouse "big as a church and it was full, and in d big kitchen we all et, chillen and all. and den de chillen* barrels full! De grown folks et first Did we have plenty of possums and fish by de All dis was eoeked in de racks over do fireplace and it were good, 11 Our clothes was all homespun and de shoes mada "by de shoemaker. Old marse wanted all us to go to church and if dey didnft have shoes dey have something like de moccasin, *I donft know how mary slaves there was, but it was a lot, maybe 60 or 70. Dey worked hard every day fcept Sunday, If fen they was bad they might git whappinfs, bit not too hard, not to de blocs.. Iffen dey was still bad, dey puts chains on dem and puts dem in de stocks, ca&se there wasnH no jail there, * nee when Ifa little * marse stripped me stark modern naked and puts me on do bloek, but he wouldnft sell me, f ca&se he was bid only $350,00 and ho say no, 'cause I was good and fat, -1- f^~ Ex^slave Stories (Texas) Pa^e Two vy\ 11 Dey didnft larn us nothin1 ami if fen you did larn to writs, you "better keep it to yourseff, ^sease some slaves Ot de thumb or finger cut off for larnin* to write,, When de slaves come in from de fields dty didn't larn nothin1, they ju:if go to "bed, flessen de moonshine nights come and dey eould work in ie tobacco patch. Do marsfcer give each one de little tobacco patch ar^d iffen he raised merefn he could use he could sell it. "Cn Christmas we all has de week vacation and maybe de dance. 7fe allus have de ranf dinner on dat day, and no whuppin's. But dey couldn't leave ie plantation without de pass, even on - Christmas. "De women had to run de gin in de daytime and de &an at night. Dey fe& ie old gin from baskets and my nammy fed from cose baskets sll day with de high faver and died dat night. She woul&nH tell de marster she sick, for fear she have to take de quinine. H De day we was freed, de slaves jus1 scattered, ! cepting me. Missy Gilbert says I wasn't no slave no more but I had to stay arA he'p her for ny board !till I's grown, j stayed 'till I v?as 'bout 16, den I runs away and marries Cal Benjamin, and we comes to Texas. chillen, but he died 'fore dey was rovm, **** *$* Cal and ^ has six iX 420023 For Bx-Slave Volume Page one EX-SLAVS STORIES (Texas) 7 00T 21937 EX-SLAVE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 36CK BBSS was born near Go 11 ad, Texas in 1854, a slave of Steve Bess who was a rancher He worked with stock as a very young boy and this was bis duty during and after the Civil War, as be remained with bis boss for three years after emancipation* He then came to old Ben Fioklin four miles south of the present San Angelo, Texas, when it was the oounty seat of Tom Green County and before there was a. San Angelo* He continued his work on ranches here and has never done any other kind of work* For the past several years he has been very feeble and has made his home with a daughter in San Angelo, Texas* Jaok who was assisted out of bed and dressed by bis grandson, hobbled in on bis cane and said, *I was jes' a small boy workln* on de ranch when I hear talk 'bout con- *yp Page two scriptin' da men for de war what was agoin' to set de slaves free* We didn' know hardly what day was a talkin' *bout 'cause wa knowed dat would be too good to be true* I jes' keeps on workin' wid my hosaes and my cattla (dare wasn't no sheep den) jea' like dare wasn't no war, 'cause dat was all I aver knowed how to do* Our ole marster, he wasn't so very mean to us, course he whips us onca and awhile but dat wasn't like de slays holders what had dem colored drivers* de slaves. Dey sho' was rough on I's bean told lots 'bout da chains and de diffe'nt punishments but our treatment wasn't so bad* pratty good when we uses dem* Our beds was Lots of de time we jes' sleeps on da groun', 'specially in summer* "Our log huts was comfortable and wa had some kind of floors in all of dem* Some was plank and some was poles but but dat was better dan de dirt floors some cabins have* "De eats we have was jes' good eats, lots of meats and vegetables and de like; 'possum and coon and beef and pSjojk all oooked good* Our clothes was jes' home spun like all de others* "Wa didn' have such a big ranch and not many slaves but wa all gits along* We laarns a little 'bout readln* and writin** *I don't 'member any camp meetin's 'til after de war* Wa had a few das and on Christmas times we jes' tears up de country* Lawdyf LawdJ Dat fiddlin' want on all night. and wa danoe awhile dan lay down and sleeps* den gits up and dances some mo'e* We would have big cakes and everything ^3 Page three good to eat* "When we gits sick dey jes* gives us some kind of tea, mostly made from weeds* Mos* of de time we gits well* n When de news comes dat we was free our boss, he say, *You free now.* Course we was glad but we didn* know nothin* $0 do but jes* stay on dere and we did *bout three years and de boss pays us a little by de month for our work, **I*s lef * dere den and comes to old Ben Fickl-in to work on a ranch, as* Dat was before dere was any San Angelo,Tex I*s been here ever since, jes* a workin* from one ranch to another long as I was able. Now I's jes* stayin* *round wid my ohillun and dey takes good care of me." I-^J 420170 EX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One ELLEN BETTS, 118 H. Live Oak St.* Houston, Texas, is 84. All of her people and their masters came fron Virginia and settled in Louisiana about 1853. Her grandparents belonged to the Green family and her parents, Charity and William Green, "belonged to Tolas Parsons* Ellen lives with friends $iio support her. Her sole belonging is an old trunk and she carries the key on a string around her neck* , ^ \ 9 v ^A "I got borned on de Bayou Teche, clost to Opelousas* Dat in St. Maryfs Parish, in Louisiana, end I belonged to Tolas Parsons, what had fbout 500 slaves, count in1 de big ones and de little ones, snd he had God know what else* When my eyes jes' barely fresh open, Marse Tolas die and will de hull lot of us to he brother. William Tolas. And I tells you dat Marse Willie am de greates1 man what ever walk dis earth* Datfs de truth. I can't lie on him when de pore man's in he grave* H When a whuppin1 got to be done, old Marse do it heself* He don't 'low no overseer to throw he gals down and pull up dere dress and whup on dere bottoms like I hear tell some of 'em do. Hvin1 I fspect one part of he hands be with him today* Was he still I knows I would. "When us niggers go down de road folks say, * Bern's Parson's niggers. D0B!t hit one dem niggers for God's sake, or Parsons sho' eat your jacket up.1 "Aunt Rachel what cook in de big house for Miss Cornelia had four youngfuns and dem chillen fat and slick as I ever seen. All de niggers have to stoop to Annt Rachel jes1 like dey curtsy to Missy* I mind de 75 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two * time her husband, Uncle Jiraf git mad and hit her over de head with de poker. k "big knot raise tip on Aunt Rachel's head and when Marse 'quire 'bout it, she say she done Trump de he^d. him. She dassn't tell on Uncle Jim or Marse sho1 heat liarse sho' proud dera black, slick chillen of Rachels. find a yaller chile on he pl^cc. You couldn't He sho' got no use for mixin1 black and white. "Marse William h^ve de pretties1 place up and down dat bayou, with de fine house aw fine trees and sech. From where we live it's five mile to Centerville one way and five mile to Patterson t'other. Dey hauls de lumber from one place or t'other to make wood houses for d.e slaves. Sometime Marse buy de furniture and sometime de carpenter make it. ; "Miss Sidney was Marse1 s first wife and he had six boys by her. he marry de widow Cornelius #nd she give him four boys, Den With ten chillen springin' up quick like dat and all oe cullud chillen comin' 'lonp fast as pig litters, I don't do nothin1 all my days, but nuss, nuss, nuss. I nuss so many chillen it don* went ard stunted my growth and dat's why I ain't nothin' but bones to dis day. r ; "When de cullud women has to cut cajie all day till midnight come and after, I has to nuss de babies for dem and tend de white chillen, too. Some oem babies so fat and big I had to tote de feet while 'nother gal tote de head. I was sech a li'l one, 'bout seven or eight year old. De bifr folks leave some toddy for colic and cryin* and sech and I done drink de toddy and let de chillen have de milk. I don't know no better. Lawsy me, it a wonder I ain't de bigges1 drunker in dis here country, count in1 all de toddy I done put in my young bell^i *& Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Thsee % f, When late of night come, if fen dem babies wake up and bawl, I set up a screech and out-screech dem till dey shut dere mouth. bawl de louder I bawl. De louder day Sometime when Marse hear de babies cryf he"come down f W:l$r de chillen cry like dat, Ellen?1 I say, 'Marse* I git so hongiy and say, and tired I done drink de milk up.1 When I talk sassy like dat, Marse jes' shake he finger at me, 'cause he knowed I's a good one and don't let no little mite starve. "Nobody ever nit me a lick. Marse allus say bein1 mean to de youngfuns make dem mean when dey grows up and nobody gwineter buy a mean nigger. donft even let de chillen go to de big cane patch. Marse He plant little bitty patches close to de house and each li'l nigger have a patch and he work it till it got Marse have de house girls make popcorn for fem and candy. growed. M I nuss de sick folks too. Sometime I dose with Blue Mass pills and sometime Dr. Fawcett leave rhubarb and ipicac and calomel &n<& castor oil and sech. Two year after de war I git marry and git chillen of my own and den I turn into de wet nuss.. all de same color. I wet nuss de white chillen and black chillen, like dey S0metime I have a white'un pullin1 de one side anda black one de other. "I wanted to git de papers for midwifin1 butf law, I don't nerer have no time for larnin1 in slave time. whop jrou. If Marse cotch e paper in you hand he sho1 He don't 'low no bright niggers round, he sell fem quick. He allus say, 'Book larnin1 donft raise no good sugar cane.1 De only larnin1 he flow was when dey laxn de cullud chillen de Methodist catechism. De only writin1 a nig- ger ever gitt am when he git born or marry or diet den Marse put cte name in de big book# -& 7*7 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Four ,n, Law, I 'lect de time Marse marry Miss Cornelia. mail "boat ana brung her tram New Orleans. ?' He went on de Sne ae pretties1 women in ae world almost, 'ceptin1 sne nave ae bigges4 raou&u I nearly ever seed. He brung her up to ae house BXICL *11 de niggers and boys and girls ana cats end dogs and sech come an& salute her, Dere she stand on de gallery, with a purty white dress on with red stripes runnin' up and down. Marse say to her, 'Honey, see all de black folks, &ej 'longs to you now.1 She wave to us and smile on us and nexf day she give her weddin' dress to my ma. Dat de fines' dress I ever seen. It was purple and green silk and nil de nigger gals wear dat dress when dey git marry. My sister Sidney wore it and Sary and Mary. M Miss Cori&ia was de fines' woman in de world. Come Sunday mornin' she done put a bucket of dimes on de front gallery and stand dere and ttirow dimes to de nigger chillen jesf like feeain' chickens. cause I's right dere help in1 grab. I sho' rignt here to test'fy, Sometime she done put de wasiitub of butter- milk on de back gallery and us chillen bring us gourds and dip up dat good, old buttermilk till it all git drunk up. Sometime she fotch bread and butter to de back gallery and pass it out when it don't even come mealtime. "Miss Cornelia set my ma to cut tin' patterns and sewin1 right away. She give all de women a bolt of linsey to make clothes and ma cut de pattern. Us all have de fine drawers down to de ankle, buttoned with pretty white buttons on de bottom. Lawsy, ma sho' cut a mite of drawers, with sewin' for her eleven gals and four boys, too. In de summertime we all git a bolt of blue cloth and white tape for trimmin1, to make Sunday dresses. homespun what you make junipers out of. field dirty Monday mornin1. ?or de field, all de niggers git I 'lect how Marse say, 'Don't go into de Scrub youself and put on de clean jumper.' 4 ^8 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Five "Marse sho1 good to dem gals md bucks what cut tin1 de cane. ;. * When d*7 git done makin' sugar, he give a drink call 'Peach 'n Honey1 to de women folk and whiskey and brandy to, de men. you ever seenl And of all de dancin1 ant caperin' My pa was fiddler and we'd cut de pigeon wing and cut de "buck and every otner kind of dance. Sometime pa git tired and say he ain't gwinetcr play no more and us gals git busy r^nd pop him corn md make candy, so to 'tice him to play more. "Marse sho1 turn over in he grave did he know fbout- some dat Dem black boys don't" care. f lasses. I seen 'em pull rats out de sugar barrel and dey taste de sugar and say, 'Ain't nothin' wrong with dat sugar. It still sweet.1 One day a pert one pull a dead scorpion out de syrup kettle and he jas1 laugh and say, 'Ma^se don't want waste non^ dis syrup,' and he lick de syrup right off dat scorpion's body and legs. ,f Lawsy me, I seen thousands and thousands sugar barrels and kettles of syrup in my day. Lawd knows how much cane old Marse have. To dem cuttin' de cane it don't seem Jo much, but to dem what work hour in, hour out, dem sugar cane fields sho' stretch from one end de earth to de other. and hogs of sugar down vie bayou. Marse ship hogs I seen de river boats go ^own with big signs what say, 'Buy dis here "lasses' on de side. And lie raise a world of rice snd 'taters and corn and peanuts, too. "When de work slight, us black folks sno have de balls and dinners and sech. We git all day to barbecue meat down on de bayou p,nd de white folks come down and eat long side de cullud. "When a blacfc gal marry, Marse marry her hisself in de bi-: house. He marry !em Saturday, so dey git Sunday off, too. -5- One time de river boat come ^Q *^ Ex~slave Stories (Texas) Page Six bearin1 drf license for niggers to git marry with. Marse chase fem off and say, 'Don't you come truckin' no no-count papers roun1 my niggers. When I marry fem, dey marry as good as if de Lawd G-od hisself marry fem and it don!t take no paper to bind de tie.1 Marse don't stand no messin' 'r-ound, neither. A gal have to be of sge and ask her pa and ma and Marse 8nd Missy, and if dey *gree, day go ahead and git marry. Marse have de marry book to put de name down. "One time Marse take me 'long to help tote some chillen. write up to Virginny for to buy fresh hands, He done Dey a old man dat hobble 'long de road and de chillen start to throw rocks and de old man tu-n 'round to one prissy one and say, 'Go on, young'un, you'll be where dogs can't bark at you tomorrow. Nex' mornin' us cookin' in de kitchen and all a sudden dat li'l boy js' cruiaple up dead on de floor. Law, we's scairt. Nobody ever bother dat old msn no more, for he sho' lay de evil finger on vou. "" "Marse's brother, Conrad, what was a widdyraan, cone to live on de plantation and he had a lifl gal 'bout eight year old. On* day she in de plum orchard pi ay in1 with a rattlesnake and Marse Conrad have de fit. wonft let nobody hurt dat snake and she play with him. De li'l gal He won't bite her. She keeps him 'bout three year, and she'd rub and grease him. One day he get sick and dey give him some brandy, but he die and old Doc pickle him in de bottle of brandy. Dat gal git so full of grief dey take her to de infirm'ry in New Orleans and den one day she up and die. "Dat snake ain't all what Doc Jewcett pickle. A slave woman give birth to a baby gal what have two faces witn a strip of hair runnin' 'tween. Old Doc Fawcett pickle it in de jar of brandy. Old doc start to court Miss 80 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Seven Cornelia when Marse die, bu^. she donft have none of him and he done ^ent straight !way and kill hisself. H One day a li'l man come ridin1 by on a lifl dun boss so fast you couldn't see dat hoss tail a-switchinf. gers fgun whoop and holler, too, He whoopin1 ajid hollerin1. Us nig- T)en first thing ^ou know de Tanks and de Democrats fgun to fight right dere. Dey a high old mountain front Marse1 s house and de Ya,nks fgun pepper cannon ball down from de top dat hill. Da war met right dere and dera Yanks and Democrats fit for twenty-four hours straight runnin1. "When da bullets starts rainin1 down, Marse call us and slip us way back into de woods, where it so black and deep. Next day, when de fight over, Marse come out with great big wagons piles full of mess-poke for us to eat. Dat what us call hog meat. Us sho1 glad to 'scape from de Yankees. "Whan us driv back to de plantation, sech a sight I never seen. de things I can tell. Dem Yanks have kilt men and women. up from de road with dere brains bust right out. and a cannon ball shoots him ri^ht in de well, line. Law, I seed babies pick One old loan am drawin1 water Dey draws him up with de fish in1 Dey's a old sugar boat out on de bayou-with blood and sugar runnin1 long side de busted barrels, Masses run in de bayou and blood run in de ditches. Marse have de great big orcnard on de road and it wipe clean as de whistle. Bullets wipe up everythin1 and bust dat sugar cane all to pieces. far back and f De house sot scape de bullets, but, law, de time dey have! w Deyfs awful, awful times after dat. A old cotton dress cost five dol- lars and a pound of coffee cost five dollars and a pint cup flour cost six bits. -7~ Q* Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Eight oS De Yanks fround all de time and one dry thev comes right in de house where Miss Cornelia eatin1 her dinner. Dey marcn 'round de table, jes1 scoopin' up meat and Haters and grabbin' cornpone right and left. don!t s y a word, jes' smile sweet as honey-cake. Miss Cornelia T reckon dem sobers might a took de silver and seen only she charm 'em by bein1 so quiet and ladylike. First thing you know dem sojers curtsy to Missy and take dereself right out de door and don't come "back. H Den it seem liice Marse have all de trouble in de world. He boy, Ned, die in de war and William, what name for he pa, drink bad all de tine. And after de war dem Ku Kluxers what wear de false faces try to tinker with Marse*s niggers. One day Uncle Dave start to town and a Kluxer ask him where am he pass. Dat Kluxer clout him but Uncle Dave outrun him in de cane, grab de and go 'rest dat man and Marse a jedge and he make dat man pay JIORS de fine for hittin1 Uncle "Dave. Marse After day hears of dat, dem old poky faces sho' scairt of old Marse and dey git out from Opelousas a,nd stays out. When me and my husband, John, come to Texas de folks say dat Louisiana masters de raeanes1 in de world and I say right beck at every spot of de earth. f em dat dey is good and mean in What more, de Louisiana masters free dere niggers a year befo' any Texas nigger git free. "When Mancipation come, Ma^se git on * e big block and say, 'You all is as free as I is, standin' right here. with me, you can, and Ifll pay you for de work.' Does ^ou want to stay All de niggers cheer and say day want to stay, but Marse die not long after and all us niggers scatter. W I sho1 ?,iect dat day old Marse die. there. He won't die till ma gits He keep sayin', "flhere1* Charity, tell Charity to come.* Dey fotch. Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Nine ma from de cane patch and she hold Marse's hand till h** die. Us niggers went to de graveyard and us sho1 cry over old Msrse. "Marsefs brother, Goldhta, carries all he hands back to de free country to turn fem loose. He say de free country am de ones what's ye11in* f bout slave times, so dey could jesf take care of de niggers. Marse Goldiiam so big dat when he stand in de door you co Idn't git by him, 'thout he stand sideways, "Law, times ainft like dey was in slave days. All my ten chillen is dead and ay old nan gone, and now I reckon my time 'bout 'rive. All I got to do now am pray de La.wd to keep me straight, den when de great da^ come, I can march ae road to glory. *********** 83 420125 EX-SLAVE STOKIBS (Texas) Page One CHABLOTTE BEVERLY was born a slave to Captain Pankey^ wife, in Montgomery County, Texas. She has lived most of her life within a radius of 60 miles from Houston, and now lives with one of h r children in a little house on the highway bet we between Cleveland and Shepherd, Texas. S>he does not know her age, but appears to be about ninety "I1 a born in Montgomery County and Ifs tne reudder of eleven chillen, four gals and seven boys. My grandma come from Alabama and my daddy was Strawder Green and he belong to Col. Hughes. My maw named Phyllis and she belong to Capt. Pmkey. H There was fbout forty niggers, big and little, on the plantation. Lawd, they was good to us. Us didn1 know nothin1 bad times and cutting ani whipping and slashing. f bout I had to woxk in the house and I fraember one thing I has to do was scrub Mistus1 gol1 snuffbox twict a week. She kep1 sweet, Scotch snuff and sometimes I take6 a pinch out. H We used to go to the white folks church and if us couldn1 git in wefd stand round by the door and sing. Mistus wouldn* *low us dance on the place but they give us pass to go to dance on nest1 plantation, where my daddy live. w Bvery year they have bit Christmas dinner and ham &n& turkey and allus feed us good. Us have Christmas party and sing songs. That was sweet music* "Marster have a lovely nouse, all ceiled and plastered. It was a log house but it was make aitl ueautiful inside with mirrors and on the board was lots of silver and china and silver spoons with the gol1 ll iafs and part of my job vas to keep em sparkling Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two Q^ "Folks in them times cooks in the fireplace and my auntie, she cook. She make fsimmon "oread and Hater pone and the like. She mash up simmons with butter and pour sweet milk and flour in it. That make good Simmon bread. We has skillets what was flat and deep and set on three legs, "The slaves lived, in little log houses and sleep on wood "beds. beds was make three-legged. The They make augur hole in side of the house and put in pieces of wood to make the ted frnme, and they put straw and cotton mattress on them bed. n 01d aarster used to let he slaves have a extry cotton patch to they- selves and they work it by the moonlight. They could sell that cotton and have the money for theyselves# "My white mistus was a Christian and she'd own her &od anywhere. She used to shout, jus1 sit and clap her hands and say, 'Hallalujsh.* Once I seed her shout in church and I tninks; something ail her and I ran down the aisle and goes to fannin1 her. M One of tne slaves was a sort-a preacher and sometimes marster f lowed him to preach to tne niggers, but he have to preacn with a tub over nis tie&&% 'cause he git so happy he talk too loud. nouse liable to come down and make him quit f Somebody froa tne big cause he makin1 f sturbanc*. "I brings water from the well and they have what they call piggins , and they was little tubs with two handles. Mistus wouldn1 flow me to do aj^sr heavy work, "I see sojers and knits socks for em by moonshine. was married by a Yankee sojer. Me and my busban* I was dress ia white Tarleyton weddin1 dress and I didn1 wear no hoop skirt. I had a pretty wreath of little white flowerst little bitty, little dainty ones, the pretties1 little ~3- Ex-slave Stories (3exas) things. Page Two When I marry, ay sister marry too and our husban's was brudders. My hasban1 dress in suit of white linen. He sho1 look handsome. give me a gol1 ring and a cup and saucer for weddin1 gif. in Huntsville and us didn* go no weddin1 journey trip. couldn1 go round the house J I don1 know jus1 how old. He We git married We was so poor we I's '"bout twenty some year when I marries, but We has a big dance that night and the white folks come, 'cause they likes to see the niggers dance. "The white folks had iateres' in they cullud people where I live. Sometimes they1 s as many as fifty cradle with little nigger babies in fem and the mistust she look after them and take care of them, toe. and dry them herself. She turn them She had a little gal git water and help. had no chillen of her own. She never I'd blow the horn for the mudders of the little babies to come in from tne fields and nurse 'em, in mornin' and afternoon. Mistus feed them what was old enough to eat victuals. Sometimes, they mammies take than to the field and fix pallet on ground for them to lay on. "The las' word my old Mistus Pankey say when she die was, 'You take care of Charlette.1 *********** 4802349 IX SLJLVE STOHIES (Texas) Page One . QHN 'Of FBUTCIS BLACK was horn at Grand Bluff, Mississippi, about 1850, on the Jim Carlton plantation. When five years old, she was stolen and taken to the slave market in New Orleans# failing to sell her there, the slave traders took her to Jefferson, Texas, md. sold her to Bill5 EX-slave Autobiographies Julia Blanks Page j&r (Tsxas) mother's marster was good; he wouldn't whip any of his slaves. But his wife wasn't good. If she got mad at the women, when he would come home she would say: Or Martha. them.' And he would say, 'John, I want you to uhip Liza. f Them are your slaves, You whip He was good and she was mean. "When my aunt would go to clean home, she (Mrs. ilcox) would turn all the pictures in the house but one, the meanest looking one you know how it always looks like a picture is watching you every where you go and she would tell her if she touched a thing or left a bit of dirt or if she didn't do it good, this, picture would tell. And she believed it. "My grandmother told a tale one time. You know in slave time they had an old loman to cook for the ehillen. they were going to have company. One day iis woman that was the boss of the place where the ehillen was kept told the old cullud woman to take a piece of bacon and grease the mouths of all the ehillen. Hhen she told a boy to bring them up to these people, and the woman, said: 0h, you must feed these ehillen good, just look at their mouthsi' they eat,' And the woman said, They didn't get meat often. 'Oh, that's the way That was just to make them believe they had lots to eat. No. They were out off from education. O&e way my step- father got his learning was a cullud blacksmith would teach school at night, and us ehillen taught our mother. know how to spell or read or nothin'. builds foot. She didn't She didn't know B from Some of them were allowed to have church and some didaH. Mighty few read the Bible 'cause they eouldn't read. As 96 EX-slave Autobiographies Julia Blanks (Texas) Page $IY 9T my mother used to say, they were raised up as green as cucumbers. That old blacksmith was the onlyist man that knew how to read and write in slavery time that I knew of. My grandmother or none of them knew how to read; they could count, but that was all. That's what makes me mad. I tell my grandchillen they ought to learn all they can 'cause the old people nearer had a chance. My husband never did have any schooling, but he sure could figger. Now, if you want me to get tangled up, just give me a pencil and paper and I don't know nothing.n figger in my head! She tapped her skull. "I The chillen, today, ought to appreciate an education. *0h, yea, they were good to the slaves when they were sick. They would have the doctor come out and wait on them. Most plantations had what they called an old granny cullu^d woman that treated the chillen with herbs and such things. "Games? I don't know. We used to play rap jacket. would get switches and Ttiip one another. hit several times it didn't hurt much. We You know, after you was I've played a many time. m slave time the men used to go huntin* aft night, and hunt 'possums and 'coons. r 4hey would have a dog or two along. They used to go six or seven miles afoot to corn buskin's and quiltin's. And those off the other plantations would come over and join in the work. And they would nearly always have a good dinner. Sometimes sons of the owners would giva 'em a hog or some thin' nice to eat, but some of 'em didn't. "No'm, I don't know if they run off to the North, but 4, Ex-slave Autobiographies Tulia Blanks Page Sii (T zas) some of them runned off and stayed in the swamps, and they was mean. They called them runaways. If they saw you,they would tell you to bring them something to eat. And if you didn't do it, if they ever got you they sure would fix you. "I don't know when my mother was set free. marster's name was King. He was from Savannah, Georgia, but at the time was living close to Boerne. killed in the war. My husband's My husband's father was When my husband was about ten years old, his marster hadn't told them they was free. You know some of them didn't tell the slaves they was free until they had to. After freedom was declared, lots of people didn't tell the slaves they were free. One morning, my husband said, he happended to look out and he saw a big bunch of men coming down the road, and he thought he never saw such pretty men in his life on them horses. !Ehey had so many brass buttons on their clothes it looked like gold. So he run and told his mama, and she looked and saw it was soldiers, and some of 'em told the boss, and he looked and saw them soldiers comin' in the big gate and he called 'em in quick, and told them they were free. So when the soldiers come, they asked him if he had told his slaves they were free, and he said yes. ley asked the Neg|o^es if they lived there, and they said yes. One said, /'He just told us we was free.'/ 'i'he soldiers asked him why he had just told them, and he said they wasn't all there and he was waiting for them all to be there. My husband said he thought them was the prettiest bunch of men he ever saw, and the prettiest horses. -6- Of course, he 9 Ex-slave Autobiographies Julia .Blanks hadn't never saw any soldiers before. Page Sevea I know it looked pretty to me when I used to see the soldiers at the barracks and hear the band playin' and see them drillin* and ever*thing. You see, we lived on a little cross-street right back of St. Mary*s Church in San Antonio, i don't know how that place is now. where the post office is now, there used to be a blacksmith shop and my father worked there. 1 went back to San Antonio about fifteen years ago and jes took it afoot and looked at the changes. n I was fifteen years old the first time I married. almost a run-a-way marriage. I was married in San Antonio. first husband's name was Kenry Hall. as wide as a wagon sheet. It was My My first wedding dress was It was white lawn, full of tucks, and had a big ruffle at the bottom, I had a wreath and a veil, too. The veil had lace all around it. We danced and had a supper. We danced all the dances they danced then; the waltz, square, quadrille, polka, and the gallopade and that's what it was, all right; you shore galloped. You d start from one end of the hall and run clear to the other end. In those days, the women with all them long trains the men would hold it over his arm. Ho, Lord! Honeymoons wasn't thought of then. worked out a day in my life." No'm, I never Jokingly, -*I guess they thought I was too good looking. I was about twenty years old when I married the second time. I was married in Leon Springs the second time. "Before we come out to this country from Leon Springs, they was wild grapes, dewberries, plums and agaritas, black haws, QQ Ex-slave Autobiographies JUlia Blanks Page li^ht^O (Sight) red haws. M-m-m! Them dewberries, I dearly love em! did see wild cherries out here. but they make fine wine. I never I didn't like the cherries much, e used to gather mustang grapes end make a barrel of wine. "After I married the second time, we lived on the Adams ranch on the i'rio and stayed on that ranch fifteen years. raised all our chillen right on that ranch. Mexkin very often. I am taken for a I jes' talk Mexkin back to 'em. to talk it on the ranch. We I learned As long as I have lived at this place, I have never had a cross word about the chillen. All my neighbors here is Mexkins. They used to laugh at me when I tried to talk to the hands on the ranch, but I learned to talk like 'em. "We used to have big round-ups out on the Adams ranch. They had fences then. The neighbors wuld all come over and get out and gather the cattle and bring em in. Up at Leon Springs at that time they didn t have any fences, and they would have big round-ups there. ent. But after we come out here, it was differ- He would notify his neighbors they were go in' to gather cattle on a certain day. The ohuck wagon was right there at the ranch, that is, I was the chuck wagon. But if they were goin* to take the cattle off, they would have a chuck wagon. They would round up a pasture at a time and come in to the ranch for their meals. a chuck wagon. Now on the Wallace ranch, they would always take Ihen they were gettin' ready to start brandin' at the ranch, my husband always keg* his brand in' irons all in the house, hangin up right where he could get his hands on em. -8- Ex-slave Autobirgraphies Julia Blanks (Texas) Page VintlOl Whenever they would go off to other ranches to gather cattle, you would see ever* man with his beddin* tied up behind him on his horse. He*d have jes a small roll. a slicker if nothin* else. sometimes. They would always have That slicker answered for ever*thing My husband slep* many a night with his saddle under his head. "He used to carry mail from San Antonio to Dog Town, horseback. That was the town they used to call Lodi (Lodo), but I don't know how to spell it, and don*t know what it means. was a pretty tough torn. and pickets. It The jail house was made out of dobe They had a big picket fence all around it. They had a ferry that went right across the San Antonio River from Floresville to Dog Town. I know he told me he come to a place and they had a big sign fchat said, 'Nigga, don't let the sun go down on you here.* They was awful bad down in there. He would leave Dog Town in the evenin* and he would get to a certain place up toward San Antonio to camp, and once he stopped before he got to the place he always camped at. He said he didn't know what made *im stop there that time, but he stopped and took the saddle off his horse and let *im graze while he lay down. After a while, he saw two cigarette fires in the dark right up the road a little piece, and he heard a Mexkin say, *I don't see why he's so late tonight. there.* He always gets here before night and camps right He knew they was waylayin* im, so he picked his saddle up right easy and carried it fu'ther back down the road in the brush and then come got his horse and took him out there and sfddled fim up and went away * round them Mexkins. -9- He went on in Ex-slave Autobigraphies JXilia Blanks Page Tea (IIXM) to San Antonio and didn't go back any more. A white man took the mail to carry then and the first trip he made, he never come back. He went down with the mail and they found the mail scattered somewhere on the road, but they never found the man, or the horse, either. n 0n the Adams ranch, in the early days, we used to have to pack water up the bank. You might not believe it, but one of these sixty-pound lard cans full of water, I've a-carried it on my head many a time. We had steps cut into the bank, and it was a good ways down to the water, and I'd pack that can up to the first level and go back and get a .couple a buckets of water, and carry a bucket in each hand and the can on my head up the next little slantin' hill before I got to level ground. I carried water that way till my chillen got big enough to carry water, then they took it up. When I was carryin' water in them big cans my head would sound like new leather you know how it squeaks, and that was the way it sounded in my head. hurt me. But, it never did You see, the Mexkins carry loads on their heads, but they fix a rag around their heads some way to help balance it. But I never did. that way. I jes set it up on my head and carried it Oh, we used to carry wateri My goodnessi My mother said it was the Indian in me the way I could carry water. "linen we were first married and moved to the Adams ranch, we used to come here to Uvalde to dances. then, now. "Ehey had square dances ley hadn't commenced all these frolicky dances they have Biey would have a supper, but they had it to sell. fellow would have to treat his girl he danced with, -10- Every 1.02 Ex-slave Autobiographies Julia Blanks (T xas) Page iifcren 103 n I can remember \ll a party. clothes on. And then I h.?d to work every day, I'd leave my b^.by cryin1 in de yard and he'd be cryin1, but I couldn1 st*y. split rails. do. I We cut timber and ploughed. Me just had common Done everything but Done everything a. man could I couldn1 notice de time, but I'd be glp.d to git back to my baby. "Log cabins h;~d dirt floor, sometimes plankin1 down. worked late and mrde pretty quilts. Sometimes dey & let us have a party, Saturday nights, de white people give us meat and stuff. and we'd make candy, oat in de yard* night. dere. Den go to work next day. Give us syrup We'd ask our frien's and dance all We'd, clean off de yard and dance out Christm&s corae, dey give us a big eggnog add give us cake. white folks did. I White folks chillen had bought ca^idy. but dey let us play wid de white chillen. wid de cards, he'd git to smut you. Our We didn1 git any, We'd play smut. Whoever beat Take de smut from fireplace snd rub on your face, "Doctor take care of us if fen we sick, sofs git us well to git us to work. "Iffen dey had a pretty girl &&y would take *emf and Ifse one of 'em, and my oldest child, he boy by Boles, almost white, r' "We had to steal away at night to have church on de ditch bank, / and crawl home on de belly. Once overseers heered us pray in15 give us one day each 100 lashes. -a- Ex-slave stories (Texas) Page Three "Den when de Yankees come through, dey fud be good to de slaves, to keep lem from tellin1 on *em. Pre* doe* was give Jpn. 1, 18651 "but de *gr slaves didn1 know it Hill June 19. We'se refugees. Boles, our mereter, sent us out rjid we come from Holmes County to Cherokee County in a wagon. We was a dodgin* in and out, runnin1 from de Yankees. Marster said dey was runnin1 us from de Yankees to keep us, but we was free and didn* know it. I lost my baby, its buried somewhere on dat road. and we left it us. Died at Red River De white folks go out and huy food 'long de road ?nd hide Dey say wefd never be free if fen day could git to Texas wid us, but de people in Texas to!1 us we*s free. world, without a penny. Den marster turn us loose in de Oh, dey was awful tiroest We jus1 worked from place to place after freedom. "When we started from Mississippi, dey tolf us de Yankees !u& kill us iff en dey foun1 us, and dey say,1 You ainH got no time to take nothin1 to whar you goin1. in your house*1 on* Take your little bundle and leave all you has So when we got to Texas I jus1 had one dress, what I had Dat*s de way all de cullud people was 3ter freedom, never had nothin1 but what had on de back. Some of dern had right smart in dere cabins, but they was skeered and dey lef * everything. lef1. We didn1 know any "better den, ,f ************ Bed clothes and all you had was i08 4:20102 SX.SLAV2 STORIKS (Texas) Page One BETTY BCKMER, 80, was born a slave to Col* M.T. Johnson, who farmed at Johnson Station in T&rrant County. He owned Betty's parents, five sisters and four brothers, in addition to about 75 other slaves. After the family was freed, they moved with the other slaves to a piece of land Col. Johnson allowed them the use of until his death. Betty lives in a negro settlement at Stop Six, a suburb of fort Worth. H f I se bo'n ipril 4thf in 1857, at Johnson Station, named after my marster. many acres. It was He had a big farm, I'se don1 know how He had seven chillen; three boys, Ben, torn and Mart, and four girls, Elizabeth, Sally, Roddy and faanna. "Marster Johnson was good to us cullud folks and he feeds us 00#T He kep? lots of hawgs, dat makes de meat. In de smokehouse am hung up meat enough for to feed de army, it looks like. have all de clothes we need and dey was made on de place. am de sewing woman and my pappy am de shoemaker. We'uns My mammy My work, for to nuss de small chillen of de marster. w 0n Sat1 day we*s let off work and lots de time some of us come to Fort Worth wid de marster and he gives us a nickel or a dime for to buy candy. "Dey whips de niggers sometimes, but 'twarn't hard. Tcu know, de nigger gits de devilment in de head, like folks do, sometimes, and de marster have to larn em better. no overseer. He done dat hisself and he have No nigger tried run away, 'cause each family have a cabin -1- t()9 Sx=slare Stories (Texas) 110 a&e Two wld bunks for to sleep on and we'uns all live in de quarters. Sich nigger as wants to larn read and writet de marster1 s girls and boys larns 'em, De girls lamed my auntie how to play de piano. lf Dere am lots of music on dat place; piano. fiddlet banjo and de Singin,' we had lots of dat, songs like Ole Black Joe and 'llgious songs and sich. Often de marster have we'uns come in his house and clears de dinin' room for de dance. special occasion. Dat am big time, on Day not calls it 'dance1 dem daysf dey calls it de ball* "5ho't wefuns goes to church and de preacher's name, it was Jack Ditto. w Durin* de war, I notices de vittles am 'bout de same. De soldiers come dere and dey driv* off over de hill some of de cattle for to kill for to eat. Once dey took some bosses and I hears marster sey dem was de Qjaaatrell mens. Dey comes several times and de marster don* like it, but he eain't help it. "When freedom come marster tells all us to come to front of de He am standin1 on de porch. house. Him 'splains fbout freedom and says, You is now free and can go whar you pleases.1 Den he tells us he have lamed us not to steal and to be good and we'uns should 'member dat and if wefuns gets in trouble to come to hia and he will help us, He sho' do dat, too, 'cause de niggers goes to him lots of times and he always helps* M Marster says dat he needs help on de place and sich dat stays, he'd pay f^m for de work. Lots of dem stayed, but some left. ~2- To dem Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three dat leaves* marster giv&s a mule, or cow and sich for de at art. my folks, marster gives some land. To He doesnH give us de deed, but de right to stay till he dies. "Sho*, I seen de ELux after de war but I has no *sperience My uncle, he gits whipped by fem, what for I don1 know wid *ea. zactly, but I think it was !bout a boss. Marster sho1 rave *bout dat, cause my uncle werenH to blame. "When de KLux come de no count nigger sho make de scatterment. Some climb up de chimney or jump out de winder and hide in de dugout and sich. M De marster dies fbout seven years after freedom and every- body sorry den. Austin comes. I never seen such a fun*ral and lots of big men from He was de blessed man! "I married de second year after de T.P. railroad come to Port Worth, to Sam Jones and he work on de Burk Burnett stock ranch. Ifse dlvoreeted from him aftar five years and den after 12 more years I marries Bubbin Felps. My las1 fausban1 s name- Joe Bonier, but Ifse never married to the father of my only chile. "I allus gits long fair, doin* de nussln9. His name am George Pace. f cause after freedom I keeps on workin1 How Ifse gittin1 'leven dollars from de state for pension, and gits it every month so now Ifse sho1 of somethin* to eat and dat makes me happy. ************** 11X 420289 EX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One ULS HARBISOK BOTD, 87, was born in Busk County9 Texas, a slave of Wash Trammel. Boydremained with his master for four years after emancipation, then moved to Harrison County, where he now lives. His memory is poor, but he managed to recall a few incidents. M I was fifteen years when they says we'r free. Old Missy done give me when the war stopped. That's~the age my She had all us niggers1 ages in a book, and told me I was bora near Henderson. My Old Marse was Wash Trammel and he brunged me and my mama and papa from Alabama. named Juliet and papa,Amos. Mama was Marse Trammel owned my grandpa and grandma, too, and they was named Jeanette and Josh. M The plantation Awas two made into one, and plenty big, and morefn a hundred slaves to work it. Marse lived in a hewed log house, weather- boarded out and in, and the quarters was good, log houses with bed railin's hewed out of logs* We raised everything we et, ' cept sugar, end Marse bought that in big hogsheads. We got our week!s rations every Sunday, and when we went to eat, everybody's part was pux out to them on a tin plate. M Marse Trammel give a big cornshucking every fall. fields in corn. He had two bottom First we'd gather peas and cushaws and pumpkins out the corn field, then get the corn and pile it front the cribs/They was two big cribs for the corn we kep1 to use and five big cribs for sale cor&. My uncle stayed round the sale corn cribs all spring, till ginnin1 time, cause folks come for miles after corn. one rye crib. Marse had five wheat cribs and We went ten mile to Tatura to git our meal and flour ground. "The patterrollers darun't come 'bout our place or bother us niggers. Marse Wash allus say, 'I'll patterroller my own place.1 -1- Marse was good to Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two 1i Q XAO us and oaly once a overseer heat a woman up a trifle, and Marse Trammel fired him that same day, "The sojers 'fiscated lots of corn from Marse and some more owners in Rusk County piled corn up in a big heap and made me go mind it till the rest the sojers got there. I was sett in1 top that corn pile, me and my big bulldog, and the General rode up. My dog growled and I made him hush. The General man say to me, 'Boy, you is 'soused now, go on homeo* I got to a fence and looked back, and that General was hewim*. him a hoss trough out a log. sojers come in droves and set up they camp. pass. The I sot on a stump and watched them They stayed three, four days till the corn was all fed up. "While they's camped there they'd cotch chickens. They had a fishia' pole and line and hook. They'd put a grain of corn on the hook and ride on they hoss and pitch the hook out 'mong the chickens. When a chicken swallowed the corn they'd jerk up the line with that chicken and ride off. "Marse had six hundred bales cotton in the Shreveport warehouse when wa* was over. He got word them Yankees done take it on a boat. He got his brother to take him to Shreveport and say, 'I'll follow that cotton to Hell and back.' He followed his cotton to Alabama and got it back, but he died and was buried there in Alabama 'fore Old Missy kaowed it. M I stayed with her four years after surrender and then went to farmin1 with my folks, for $10.00 a month. After a year or two I went to railroadin', helping cut the right-of-way for the T. & P. Bsilroad, from Marshall to Longview. ' ... They paid us $1.50 the day and thre? drinks of whiskey a day. *I marries four tines out had only one child,bu t I never done nothin' citin1. I lives hy myself now, and gits $11.00 pension to eat on. ****** # 420074 2X-SLXTO STORIES (Soxaa) J |>.* page One ISSABSLIti BOIP wa* born a lare of Gus Wood, la Richmond, Y& , who aorod to foxas by boat boforo the Civil War, Ieabella still Urea in Baannont. H Learns see, I come from Richmond, Yirginy, to Texas* Gus food was my owner and I kin recollect ay white folks. 14 ass a I1 a born in dat country and day brought ma over to Richmond and ay papa and mama, too* I was jus9 'bout big '&ough to begin to 'member* M I come fro Richmond yera on de boat, sometime da steamboat* sometime da big boat* a big storm* When wa laft Haw Orleans dat even in* we struck Us git on dat boat in Richmond and want float in1 down to da big boat dat mornin1* Looks like it Jus* ton for us, but every time we look back and think fbout home it make us sad* *I had a dear, good mistus and ay boss man, he furnish a house for ha servants* a purty good house. School* Dam was good times* And day had a place for da Sunday Da mistus cook dinner and send it down for da old folks and ohllen to have plenty* "Ky mlstua kep1 me right in da house, right by her, sewing. I could sew so fast I git my task over 'fore de others git started good* "Lots of times when da gals wants to go to de dance I he'p make da dresses* I 'member de pretties9 one like yesterday* It have tucks from de waist to da ham and had diamonds cut all in da skirt* 1- JSx^elave Storiea (Texas) Page Two Our boss Ban was 'ticular ftoout us helng tended to and we was well took care of. He brung us to Beaumont when It was de pluah oud hole, and he settle down and try to build up and make It a go. "Massa Wood he allus takes de paper and one night they set up de long time and do day readin1. lext aomia' de old cook woman, she say* 'fell, dey hare de hig war* and lots of den wounded*9 Befe' long us has to take care of same den wounded soldiers, and dey has de caap plaoe near us. Dey all caap * round dere and X don't know which was de Yankees and de 'federates* "When we all gits tr**, dey's de long tiae let tin1 us know* Dey wants to git thr gh with de corn and de cotton Befo' dey let's de hands loose* Dey wee people from other plantations sayf 'liggers% you1 free and yere you woxkin'*' Us say, we** free*1 f Ee, de gov'aent tell us whan fe wozkln' one day when soaebody froa ttassa Grlssoa plt&e coae hy and tell us we1* free, and us stop working Dey tell us to go on workln1 and de hoes man he come up and he say he gwine knock us off de fence if we don't go to work. Mlstus cone out and say, gwine make dea niggers go to work?' f Ain't you He send her hack in de house and he call for de carriage and say he gcin' to town for to see what de ger'aaat go in' do* Hex' day he coae hack and say, 'Well* yen's jus1 as tr^B as X Is*1 "He say to si I could stay and cook for dea9 and he give me five dollar a month and a house to stay in and all X kin eat* de aonth to do dere work* -3- X stays $ /* r ^1*3 Sa^elave Stories (fexas) 11 Page Three After dat I wishes some times dat old times is hack 'gain* I likes to be free9 hut I wasn't used to it and it was hard to know how to do# I 'nemhers de dances we has in de old times* when we makes de music with banjo and other things* Some de good massas flowed de niggers dance in de hack yard and if we goes over dere without de pass de patter* roles gits us maybe* One time gr papa he runnin9 from dem patterroles and he run slap into de yoking massa and he say, '0ht you ain9t no nigger> X kin tell by de smell* "Bat mind me of de ghost story dey used to tell 9bout de ghosties what live in de big bridge down in de hollow* De niggers day say dat ghostie make too ouch noise, with all he hollerin9 and he rattlin9 dem chain* So dat night one us niggers what dey call Charlief he say he ainft 9 fraid and he gwineter git him a ghost ie* she9 'nough* Us didn't believe him but purty soon us hears right smart wrastlin1 with de chains and boilerin9 down by de bridge and after 9while he come and say he git de best of dat ghost it, 9C iise he ain9t got strength like de man* "Me and my old man us have twelve Chilians altogedder. husban9 he come from South Carolina whar dey eats cottonseed* joke him 'bout it. My I used to I allus say Tirginny de best, fcanse I come from dere* ***** ^ .% i* ^xu 420039 E3USLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One 11/7 JAMES BOYD was born in Phantom Valley, Indian Territory, in nn Indian hut, A man named Sanford V/ooldrige stole him and "brought him to Texas, somewhere near Waco. James does not know his age, but thinks he is a hundred years or more old. He now lives in Itasca,', Texas. ,f f I s torn in dat Phantom Yalley, in de Indian Territory, what am now call Oklahoma. Us live in a Indian hut. My pappy Blue Bull Bird and mammy Nancy Will, She come to de Indian Territory with Santa Anna, from Mississippi, and pappy raise in de Territory. I donf 'member much '"bout my folks, 'cause I stole from dem when I a real li'l feller. I's a-fishin' in de Cherokee River and a man name Sanford Wooldrige come "by. You see, de white folks and de Indians have de fight 'hout dat day. Ifs on de river and I heared yellin1 and shoot in1 and folkses runnin1 and I slips into son-* "bresh right near. Den come de white man and he say, Everybody kilt, nigger, and dem Indians gwine kill you iffen day cotch you. Come with me and I ain't 'low dem hurt you.1 So I goes with him. M He brung me to Texas, "but I don't know jus1 where, 'cause I didn't know nothin' '"bout dat place, Massa Sanford good to us, "but look out for he missus, she sho1 tough on niggers. in de plantation and de "big house am nice. work dey whup fem. in a rush. Dere 'bout 1,600 acres When de niggers wouldn't Us work all week and sometime Sunday, iffen de crops Massa not much on presents or money hut us have warm clothes and plenty to eat and de dry place to live, and dat more'n lots of niggers has now, -1- Ex-slave (Texas) Stories Page Two "Sometime us have de com huskin1 and dere a dollar for de one what shuck de mos' corn. Us have de big dance 'bout twict a year, on Christmas and sometime in de summer. When de white folks have dere big balls us niggers cook and watch dem dance. Us have fun den. H I likes to think of dem times when as fish all de hot day or hunts or jus1 lazed 'round when de crops am laid "by. and "be back in old times and hear 'em sing, I likes to shet de eyes M Swing, low, Sweet Chariot.1 I can't sing, now you knows canft no old man sing what ain't got no teef or hair. I used to like to swin>s dat 'Ginia Reel and I's spry and young den. "Dere's lots I can't 'member, 'cause my mem'ry done gone weak like de res' of me, but I 'member when us free us throw de hats in de air and holler. Old massa sayt 'How you gwine eat and git clothes and sech?' Den us sho' scairt and stays with us white folks long as us can. But 'boat a year after dat I gits de job punchin' catfe on a ranch in South Texas. I drav cattle into Kansas, over what de white folks calls de Chissum Trail. I worked lots of cattle and is what dey call a top hand. I's workin' for Massa Boyd den, and he gits me to drive some cattle to Mexico. He say he ainft well no more and for me to sell de cattle and send him de money and git de job down dere. I goes on down to Mexico and do what he say. I marries a gal name Martina in 1869f down in Matajnoras. Us have four chillen and she die. Dat break me up and I drifts back to Huntsville. "I done change my name from Scott Bird, what it am up in de Territory, and make it Jaaes Boydf * cause I done work for Massa Boyd. I's gwine be *bout 108 year old in next January, if fen de Lawd spare me dat long. -2- Ex-slaveStories (Texas) page Three "After I been in Euntsville awhile, I marries Emma Smith "but us only stay together 'bout a year and a half. Wasn't no chillen. Den I drifts to Port Bend County and dere I marries Mary McDowd and us have two chillen. County. She die with de yellow fever and off I goes for^Burleson Dere I marries Sally McDave and she quits rae after us have three chillen. Down in old Washington County I marries Stances Williams and us lived together till 1900. Dere am no chillen dere. Den 1 goes to Austin after she die and marries Eliza Bunton in 1903. Us have eight chillen and she die in 1911. Mittie Cahee in 1916. to Milford. Den I comes to Hill County and marries She quit me. In 1924 I marries Hegsr Price clost Us live together now, in Itasca. hut dat donft matter, Us didnft have no chillen, ! cause Ifs de daddy of *hout twenty already. 11 1 raos1 allus wore de black suit when I marries. Jes1 seemed more dressed up like. Some my wives wear white and some colors, didn't make much diff'rence, so dey a likely lookin1 gal for me. Sometime it am a preacher and sometime it am Jestice of Peace, but de.fust time it am Catholic and priest and all. "Talkin1 scar. f bout all dis marryin1, I mos1 forgit to show you my I fit in dat freedom war *long side Massa Sanford and got shot. Dat bullet go through de breast and out de back and keep me six months in de bed. 4Jn 119 De fust battle X's in am at Halifax, in North Carflina. Us git de news of freedom when us at Vic^sburg, in Mississippi. us niggers *fraid say much. Mos1 De new niggers fspect de ;ovfxaent give dem de span of mules and dey be rich and not work. -3- But dey done larn Ex-slave Stories (Texas) \ a lot dese past years. us git work. d^y didn't. Page Four Us am sho' slaves now to hard work, and lucky if fen Lots dem nigge.^s figgers dey!d git dere massa'3 land, "but Dey oughta of knowed dey wouldn't, Warnft no plantation ever divided I knowed of, "but some de massas give de oldest slaves a li1! piece land. "After de cattle days done gone, I farms in Hill County. I works twelve year for Massa Claude Wakefield, right near Milford, too. De old man ain't due to live nowhere long and Ifs git tin1 'bout ready to cross de river. Ifs seed a heap of dis here earth and de people in it, but I tells you it am sho1 hard time now. Us is old and cripple1 and if fen de white folks don't holp us I don't know what us gwine do. H Some d^se young niggers gone plumb wild with dere cigars and cars and truckin1 <*nd jazzin' and sech. Some go to school and larn like white folks and teach and be real helpful. slave time 'twarn't so hard as now. now you fuss fca22.se dere ain't no work. But talk 'bout workin1 in Den ^rou fuss 'cauae dere's work, But den us have somethin* to eat and wear and a place to sleep, and now us don't know one day what gwine fill us tomorrow, or nothin'. "I'd sho' like to shake Massa Boyd's hand again and hear him cQme singin* down de lane. Us hear Jaim sing or whistle long 'fore he git dere and it mighty good to see him. De slaves allus say, 'I's gwine way tomorrow,' and I guess I's gwine 'way pretty soon tomorrow. ******* -ft OC\ X ^U 1:30195 ENSLAVE STORIXS (Texas) A ^ Page One .f O-f "^J JEHRY BOYKIHS, spiy and jolly at the age of 92, live* with his afied wife in their own cabin at 1015 Plum St t Abilene, Texas, He was born a slave to John Thomas Boykin, (Troupe Co., Georgia, 80 miles frost Lagrange, Gteu His master was a very wealthy plantation owner, working 19000 slaves* W I been well taken care of durin1 ay life. When I was young I lived right in de big house with my marster. I was houseboy. My mother's name was Betsy Ann Boykin and she was cook for Old Missus. My grandpa was blacksmith, I slept on a pallet in dekitehen and in A f winter time on cold nights I members how cold I would get. up and slip in by marsters bed and den I'd say, about to freeze.8 devil. Ifd wake f Marster John, X's Hefd say, 'Tou ought to freeze, you little black What you standin1 dere for?1 jes1 let me crawl in \*y your feet.1 I!d say, fPlease, marster John, He*d say, 'Well, I will dis one time,1 and dat's de way I'd do every cold night. "X was full of mischief and I'd tufn de mules out of de lot, jus8 to see de stableboy git a llckln'. One time X wanted a fiddle a white man named Cocoanut Harper kep9 try in1 to sell me for $7.50, X didba' never have any money, *cept a little the missie give me, so I top1 teasin9 her to buy de fiddle for me. She was allus on my side, so she to!1 me to take some co'n from de crib and trade in for de fiddle. In de night I slips out and hitch up de mules and fetched de co'n to old Harper's house and traded for dat fiddle. Den I hides out and play it, so's marster wouldn1 fin1 out, but he did and he whip all de daylight a J^ Ex-Slave Stories Page Two (Texas) -4 OO JL/3^ When de missie try to whip me. I jes1 wrop up in her "big outta me. skirts and she never could hurt me MUCH. "I allus ate my meals in de house at de white folks tablef after dey done et. If fen I couldn* sit in de marster's chair. Ifd swell up like a toad, w De marster done all de whipping 'cause dey had been two over- seers killed on de plantation for whippin1 slaves till de "blood run out dey body, f, W&s I hovered with haints and spooks? all my life, I been meet in1 up with fem Ihm I was younger I was such an old scratch I'd meet 'em right in de road, some without heads, I!d take to my heels and then I'd 8top and look 'round and they'd he gone, 11 1 wore home-weaved shirts till I was grown, then I had some pants and dey was homemade, too, The women gathered womack leaves to dye de goods "black, *I well rec'lects when my marster went to war. He called all us in de kitenen and tolled us ne nad to go over dare and wnip tnose sons-oiDitcues and would be hack 'fore breakfast. He didn* return for two years, I seers, 'Marster. we sno1 would have waited breakfast on you a long time.1 He said, l Tes; days de hardes* sons-of-hitches to whip I ever had dealins1 witn.' rt fnen war was over, he called us together and tol us we were free. He said, 'low. I'm go in1 to give you a big day and after that you can stay and work for pay or you can go.f So he rolled out two barrels of whiskey and killed hogs and spread a big day. - Page 'fnree Ex-Sl&ve Stories (Texas) N I wants to tell you 'boat now we killed nogs in my day. We digged a deep pit in de groan1 and heated big rocks red hot and filled up de pit with water and dropped dem not rocks in and got de water not; den we stuck de hogs and rolled fem in dat pit. "Soon after X's free a man come for me from Louisville to nire me as foreman in nis cotton mule oarn* I worked in Kentucky for 18 year. So I went tne re and Piity-one years ago I married my ol* woman, Rachel Taylor, at Corslcana* Texas, and I tniuk shefs Jos' as fine as tne day I married her. We has six chlllen and all works hard for a llvin1 and we got one 1111 grandbaby 10 years ol* She lives here at our house and we're educatin* her# "I knows I*s goin1 to live to to over 100 years ol*f canse my marster done tol1 me so." ****************** 420073 EX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One. MQHROB HRACKINS, born in Monroe Co#l Mississippi, in 1853f was the property of George Reedes. He was brought to Medina County, Texas, when two ye^rs old. Monroe learned to snare *nd breakmust angs pnd became cowpuncher. He lives in Hondo* Texps. He has an air of pride and self-respect, and explained that he used little dialect because he learned to talk from the "white folks* as he was growing up. M I was bo'n in Mississippi, Monroe County. Ifm 84 years old. My master, George Reedes, brought me, sijr father and mother and my two sisters to Texas when I was two years old. My father was Nelson Brackins and my mother was Rosanna. *My master settled here at a place called Malone, on the Hondo River. He went into the stock business. Our house there was a little, old picket house with a grass roof over it out of the sage grass. The bed was ra<->de with a tick of shucks and the children slept on the floor. house. The boss had just a little lumber Later on he taken us about 20 miles fuHher down on the Hondo, the Old Adams Ranch, snd he had a rock house. I was about six years old then. I had some shoes, to keep the thorns out a my feet, and I had rawhide leggin's. We just had such clothes as we could get, old patched-up clothes. They just had that jeans clothf homemade clothes. "I was with George Reedes 10 or 12 years. It was my first trainin* learnin9 the stock business and horse tore*in.1 tollable good to us, to be slaves as we was. ~1~ He was His brother had a 124 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) page Two hired man that whipped me once, with a quirt, and mother tell how they shipped 'em. I've heard my father They*d tie era down on a log or up to a post and whip 'era till the blisters rose, then take a paddle and open 'en up rmd pour salt in 'em. women* Yes!mf they whipped the The most I remember about that, my father sjnd sister was in the barn shuckin' co'n and the master cone in there md whipped my sister with a cowhide whip. My father caught a lick in the face and he told the master to k^ep his whip of fen him* on my father and he run away, So the master started 7/hen he finally come in he was so wild his master, had to call him to get orders for work, red finally the boss shot at him, but they didn't whip him any more. of 'em whipped with more mercy. Of course, some They had a whippin* post crA when they strapped 'am down on a log they called it a fstroppin* log.1 "I remember they tasked the cotton pickers in Mississippi. They had to bring in so many pounds in the evenin' and if they didn't they got ^ whippin1 for it. a dgy. My sister there, she hpd to bring in 900 pounds Ir Well, cotton was heavier there. 900 pounds. It was heavier and fluffier. Most pny of 'em could pick We left the cotton country in Mississippi, but nobody knew anything about cotton out here that I knew of. "I've heard my parents say too, them men that had plantations and a great lot of slaves, they would speculate with 'em and would have a chain that run from the front ones to the back ones. Sometimes they would have 15 or 20 miles to make to get them to the sale place* but they wouldn't make a break. -a* Where they expected to make a sale, they X/w5 Enslave Stories (Texas) Pa^e Three kept fem in corrals and they had a block there to put 'em up on and hid f em off. The averageprice was about $500, hut -ome that had good practice, like a blacksmith, brought a good price, as high as $1,500. W I heard my mother and father say they would go 15 or 20 miles to a dance,\J walking and get back before daylight, before the fpadderollers5 got fenu The slaves would go off when they had no permission nd them that would ketch *em and whip !em was the *p adder oilers. * Sometimes they would have an awful race, w If they happened to be a slave on the plantation that could jes1 read a little print, they would get rid of him right now. gers, they would get too smart. culluds in early deys. good education. He would ruin the nig- The1 was no such thing as school here for The white folks we was raised up with had pretty That's why I donft t*lk like most cullud folks. I was about grown and the1 was an English family settled close, about half a mile, I guess. They had a little boy, his name was Arthur S&erle, and he come over and learned me how to spell *catf and dog1 rnd 'hen1 and such like. I was right around about 20 years old. I couldnH sign my name when I was 18 years old. 11 1 can remember one time when I was young, I saw something I couldn't f magine what it was, like a billy goat reared up on a tree, But I knew the1 wasn't a billygoat round there near, nor no other kinds of goats. It was in the daytime and I was out in a horsepasture, I was jes1 walkin' along, hunt in1, when I saw that sight. I guess I got within 50 steps of it, then I turned around and got away. I never did think much about a ghost, but I think it could be possible. ****> * ^OfS X ^ Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Four "I donft remember scarcely anything about the w/ir because I was so little and times was so different; the country wasn*t settled up and everything was wild, no people, hardly. Of course, Bay life w&s in the woods, you might say, didn!t hardly know when Sunday come. "The northern soldiers never did get down in here that I know of. I know once, when they was enlisting men to go to battle a ifcole lot of 'era didnft want to fight and would run away and dodge out, and they would follow 'em snd try to make *em fight, and killed some of 'em. They had a battle up here on the Nueces once I know my boss was in the hunch that followed %m and he got scared for fear this old case would be brought up after the war. The company that followed these men was called Old Duff Coarpany. I think somewhere around 40 was in the bunch that they followed, but I don't know how msny was killed. They was a big bluff and a big water hole and they said they was throwed in that big water hole. "We had possums and fcoons to eat sometimes. My father, he gen1 rally cooked the fcoons, he would dress fem snd stew 'em and then bake fem# wouldn't eat then. There was plenty of rabhitts, too. had potatoes they cooked *ea with fem. a little patch of blackhead sugar cane. Lly mother Sometimes when they I remember one time they had just .After the freedom, my mother had a kind of garden and she planted snap beans and wctemelons pretty much every year. "The master fed us tolfbly well. Everything was wild, beef was free, just had to bring one in and kill it. Once in awhile, cf a Sunday mornin1, we'd get biscuit flour bread to e& It w&s a treat to us. and it had to pan out just like they measured. They measured the flour out He give us a little somethin1 ^n^ -^' 'Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Five ever1 Chrlstmr.s and soraethin1 good to eat. ^ 0o A^O I heard my people say coffee was high, at times, ^nd I know we didn't get no flour, only Sunday mornin'. lived on co'nbread, mostly, and "beef ond gpme outta the woods. We That was durin* the war and after the war, too. "I was around about 6 or' 7 years old when we was freed, We worked for George Eeedes awhile, then drifted on down to the Brio river ?nd stayed there about a year, then we come to Medina County and settled here close to where I was raised. We didn't think it hard times at all right after the war. rnd unsettled, with ranches 15 or 20 niles apart. The country was wild You never did see mybody and we didn't know really what was goin1 on in the rest of the country. Some- times soraething could happen in 5 miles of us and we didn't know it for a month. "I was on the Adams Ranch on the Hondo when ray master come out and told us we were ns free as he was. wanted to. children. He said we could stay on and work or could go if we He gpve ray mother pjad father 50 cents apiece oxid 2~ cents for the We stayed awhile ajid then went west to the Frio. 11 1 used to be along with mighty fine man. there. old mm Big-foot Wallace in my early days. He was fit I worked for the people that w&s gathering stock together Big Foot raised nice horses, old reg'lar Texas horses, smd they was bet- ter than the regflar old Spanish bronco. San Miguel. I used to ^o to his camp down on the He lived in one part cyid his chickens in the rest of his house. His friends liked to hear him talk about his travels. He used to run stock horses and had a figger 7 on theleft shoulder for his brand and the tip of each ear split was his earmark. w Tto last man I broke horses for was Wilson Bailey. I was there about 12 years. He raised just cavi-y*rd - we celled it a cavi-yard of horses, just the sgxae thing as a reamda. W called 'em that later, but we got that from the Spanish. ~5~ 3x-slave Stories (Texas) Page Six. We would get up in a tree with our loop till the horse comeuader ??nd drop it down on him. V/hen they were so spoiltf we got 'em in a sort of cavi- yard and drove 'em under trees and caught 'em in a snare. wild horses, just this side of Fearsail* was to get careless. and get on Hm snd let We had lots of 'Bout the only way I'd get throwed We'd ketch 'im upf hpckcjaore flm up, saddle f ia go. l im up Sometimes he'd he too wild to pitch, he'd break and run pud you hnd to let 'im run himself down. ketch up a wild horse and break f I used to rather im thai to eat "breakfast. "When I first started farrain' I taken up some state land, about 30 acres, down on Black Creek, in Medina County. I stayed there ten or twelve years. Cotton hadn't got in this country snd I* raised some corn, sugar cane and watermelons. I commenced with horses, but 'long 'way down the line I used oxen some, too. I used one of those old walking plows. ?I I sold that place and noved to a place on the Tywajukney Oreek(Tozikawa). I come up to church and met my wife then. was 38 years old. #e lived down on the Tywaukney right about 23 years and raised our children there, suit, dark suit. Her name was Ida Bradley and I Vie jes' had a little, home weddin'. I wore a V/e got narried about 8 o'clock in the evenin1 and we had barbecue, cake end ice cream. You see, in them times I wasn't taught any- thing about yeard sm& dates, but I judge it was about 25 years after the war before I settled on the Tywaukney.w 0*0*0*0* 129 420310 EX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One * on AtiU GUS BRADSHAW was born about 1845, .at Keechqye, Alabama, a slave of David Cavin. He recalls being brought to Texas in the 1850*s, when the Gavin family settled near old Port Caddo. Gus remained with his master for ten years after emancipation. He now lives alone on a fifty acre farm seven miles northeast of Marshall, which he bought in 1877. Gus receives an $11.00 per month pension. w I was born at Keecheye, Alabama, and belonged to old man David The only statement I can wake fbout my age is I knows I was *bout Cavin. twenty year* old when us slaves was freed. my mammy was Amelia Cavin. Ifs heard her say she's born in Alabama rsore times than I got fingers and toes. I1 s a good sized kid. a week in New Orleans. they was cattle. I never knowed my daddy, but Our old master brung us to Texas when I Members liks it am yesterday, how we camped more'n I seed era sell niggers off the block there jus1 like Then we came to old Port Caddo on Caddo Lake and master settles a big fana close to where the boats run. Port Caddo was a big ship- ping place then, and Dud and John Perry run the first store there. The folks hauled cotton there from miles awsy. "Manny's folks was named Maria and Joe Gioster and they come to Texas with the Cavins. My grandma say to me, fGus, don't run you mouth too much and allus have manners to whites and blacks*1 but now they come up any way. drink *fore old folks. M Chillen was r^ise right then, 1 seed young niggers turn the dipper up and I wouldn't dare do that when Ifs comin1 up. Maria say to me one day, f Son, Ifs here when the stars fell.1 She tell m they fell like a sheet and spread over the ground. ! Ike Hood, the Ex-slave Stories Page Two (Texas) 181 old blacksmith on our place, he told me, too. I says, 'Ike, how old was you when the stars fell?' He say, I*s thirty-two.' H Mas8a David had "big quarters for us niggers, with chimneys and firijplaces. They use to go round and pick up old hawg or cow bones to "bile-with greens and cabbage. They was plenty of wild game, and deer and wolves howlin1 right through this country,"but ycai can't even find the track of one now. "The first work I done was pickin' cotton. light pickin' cotton or hoein' or plOwin'. Every fellow was out at day- They was one overseer and two nigger But at night you could hear us laughin' and talkin' and singin1 and drivers. prayin', and hear them fiddles and things playin'. more better then than now. It look like darkies git 'long Some folks says niggers oughtn't to-be slaves, but I says they ought, 'cause they jus1 won't do right onless they is made to do it. "Massa David allus give us eggnog and plenty good whiskey at Christmas. We had all day to eat and drink and sing and dance. We didn't git no presents, but we hat? good time, M I don't know mx to the pen for KLuxing.1 |f you?1 Two of 'em come to I knowed old Col. Alford, one of He told me once, 'Qus, they done send me I say, 'Massa Alford, didn't they make a gentleman of He say, 'Hell, noj Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three 11 1 knowed old Col, Eaggerdy, too. chief, name Mclntosh. He marries a widow of a rich old Indian He "broke a treaty with his people and had to hide out in a cave a long time, and his wife brung food to him. cave he was gons. 4 oo ^ X One time when she went to the She knowed then the Indians done git him and kilt him for vi'latin1 the treaty. So she marries old Col. Haggerdy. "The only time I votes was against whiskey, I voted for it. Some white folks done say they'd whip me if I voted fomtr hut Mr. Joe Strickland done told me they jus1 tryin1 scare me, so I voted for it. I donft think niggers ought to vote. If some niggers had things in hand 'stead of white folks, I couldn't stay here. These eddicated niggers aza causin1 the devilment. The young niggers ain't got no 'spect for old age. "I "bought and paid for fifty acres land here in Harrison County and I has lived on it sixty years. done raise two chillen, I lived with ujy wife fifty years 'fore she died and These young niggers donft stay married fifty days, some- tisss, I don't mess with femf hut if I needs help I goes to the white folks. If you 'have youself, they allus help you if you needs it. ******** 420:240 B3USLAVE STOEIES (Texas) Page One WES BRADTt88f was born a slave of John Jeems, who had a farm five miles north of Marshall. Wes has farmed in Harrison County all his life. He now lives with friends on the Longfs Camp Road, and draws a $11.00 monthly pension. "I was bora and raised in Harrison County, and I was eightyeight years old this July past and has wore myself out here in this county, I was born on Massa John Jeem's place, on the old Jefferson Koad, and my father was Peter C&llowsy, and he was born in Alabama and his whole famfly brought to Texas by nigger traders. My mother was Harriet Ellis and I had two brothers named George and Andrew, and four sisters, Lula and Judy and Mary and Sallie. My old Grandpa Phil told me how he helped run the Indians off the land, H ' Grandpa Phil told rne 'bout meetin' his massa. Massa Jeems had three or four places and grandpa hadn't seed him and hi went to one of the other farms and meets a man goin* down the road. belong to?1 Grandpa Phil say, 'Massa Jeems,* man?1 The man say, 'Who you The man say, 'Is he a mean Grandpa say, 'I donft knar him, but they say hefs purty tight,f It was Massa Jeems talkin1 and he laughs and gives Grandpa Phil five dollars* We niggers lived in log houses and slep* on hay mattress with lowell covers, and et fat pork and cornbread and 'lasses and all kinds garden stuff. If we et flour bread, our women folks had to slip the flour sifting from missy's kitchen and darsnH let the white folks know it. We wore one riggin* lowell clothes a year and I never had shoes on till after surrender come. I run all over the place till I was a big chap -1- 1'1^ Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two | o/i Ao* in jes' a long shirt with a string tied round the bottom for a belt. I went with my young massa that way when he hunted in the woods, and toted squirrels for him. "Some white folksmight want to put me back in slavery if I tells he* we was used in slavery time, but you asks me for the truth. The overseer was 'straddle his big horse at three ofclock in the morninff roustin* the hands off to the ^field. for breakfas1. He got them all lined itp and then come back to the house The rows was a mile long and no matter how much grass was in themf if you leaves one sprig on your row they beats you nearly to death. Lots of times they weighed cotton by candlelight. All the hands took dinner to the field in buckets and the overseer give them fifteen minutes to git dinner. He'd start cuff in1 some4 of them over the head when it was time to stop eat in1 and go back to work. He'd go to the house and eat his dinner and then he'd come back and look in all the buckets and if a piece 'of anything that was there when he left was et, he'd say you was losin1 time and had to be whipped. He'd drive four stakes in the ground and tie a nigger down and beat him till he's raw. Then he'd take a brick and grind it up in a powder and mix it with lard and put it all over him and roll him in a sheet, It'd be two days cr more 'fore that nigger could work 'gain. done that way for stealin' a meat bone from the meathouse. fifteen hundred lashes I seed one nigger That nigger got The li'l chaps would pick up egg shells and play with them and if the overseer seed them he'd say you was stealin' eggs and give you a beatin1* I seed long lines of slaves chained together driv by a white man on a hossf down the Jefferson road. -3- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three ^ ?^ luO "The first work I done was drappin1 corn, and then cow-pen boy and sheep herder. All us house chaps had to shell a half bushel corn every night for to feed the sheep. Many times I has walked through the quarters when I was a little chap, crvin1 for my mother. Sunday. We mosfly only saw her on Us chillen was in bed when the folks went to the field .*cnd come back. I members wakin1 up at ni^ht lots of times and seein1 her mske a little mush on the coals in the fireplace> bit she allus made sho1 that overseer was asleep 'fore she done that. "One time the stock got in the field and the overseer fcuses a old man and jumps on him and breaks his neck. >?hen he seed the old man dead, he run off to the woods, b\it massa sent some nigger after him and say for him to come back, the old mm jus1 got overhet and died. M We went to church on the place and you ought to heared that preachin1. Obey your massa and missy, don't steal chickens and eggs and meat, but nary a word 'bout havin1 a soul to save. M We had parties Saturday nights and massa come out and showed us new steps. He allus had a extra job for us on Sundayt but he gave us Christmas Day end all the meat we wanted. 1 But if you had money youfd better hide itf cause hefd git it. M The fightinf was did off from us. Josh Calloway. My father never come back, My father went to war to wait on Massa Jeems cussed and 'bused us niggers more'n everf but he took sick and died and stepped off to Hell fbout six months 'fore we got free. When we was free, the# beat drums in Marshall. I stayed on tbout seven months and then ray mother ane me went to farmin1 for ~3- Ex~slave Stories (Texas) Page Jour ourselves. W I wore myself out right in thi3 county and now Ifm too old to work. These folks I lives with takes good care of rae and the gov*ment gives me $11.00 a month what I is proud to git. ********* JL36 420165 EX-SLAVE STORIES . Cv^ Page (fee JACOB BRANCH, about 86, was a slave of the Van Loos family, in Louisiana, who sold him when a baby to Elisha Stevenson, of Double Bayou, Texas. Jacob helps his son, Enrichs, faun, a ^d is unusually agile for his age. They live in the Double Bayou settlement, near Beaumont, Texas. ^yr % 11 11 s bought and fotched here to Double Bayou when Ifs jes1 three year old. I and ray half-brother, Eleck, he de baby, was both born in Louisiana on de Van Loos place, but I go by de name of Branch, cause my daddy name Branch. My majaa naiae Senee. Dey split up us family and Elisha Stevenson buy my mama and de two chillen. I ain't never see my daddy no more and donft member him at all. "Old fLisha Stevenson he a great one for to raise pigs. sometime 500 hawgs at one time. He sell He take he dogs and drive dem hawgs 'cross de Heches River all by hisself, to sell dem. Dat how he git money to buy de niggers, sellin1 hnwgs and cowhides. "Old massa he sho* a good old man, but de old missy, she a tornado.1 Her najae Miss ! Liza. She could be te rible mean. But sometime she take her old morrel - dat a sack make for to carry things in - and go out and come back with plenty joints of sugar cane. She take a knife and sit on de gallary and peel dat cane and give a joint to every one de li*l chillen. "Mama, she work up in de big house, doin1 cookin1 and washin1. Old massa go buy a cullud man name Uncle Charley Fenner. old cullud man. He a good Massa brung him to de quarters and say, fRenee, here you husband,1 and den he turn to Uncle and say, 'Charley, dis you woman.* -1- 137 Ex-slave Stories \xexas) Page Two Den dey consider marry. Dat de way dey marry den, by de massa1 s word. -8 '7Q Uncle Charley, he good step-pa to us. u De white folks have de good house with a brick chimney. ters de good, snug lifl house with flue and oven. much furn'chure,'cause us in dere only to sleep. and 'Georgia Hoss' bed with hay mattress. de kitchen de big house. Us quar- Bey didn't bother to hsve Us have homemake bench All us cookin1 and eat in' done in Us have plenty to eat, too. De smokehouse allus full white 'taters and cracklin's hangin' on de wall. Us git dem mos* any zime us want, jes' so long us didn't waste nothin1. Dey have big jar with buttermilk and 'low us drink all us want. M 01d lady 'Liza, she have three women to spin when she git ready make de clothes for everybody. Dey spin and weave and make all us clothes. Us all wear shirt tail till us fbout twelve or fourteen, boys and gals, too. You couldn't tell us apart. M Us chillen start to work soon's us could toddle. firewood. First us gather If fen it freezin' or hot us have to go to tougjaen us up. git li!l bigger us tend de cattle and feed hosses and hawgs. sprouts us pickin1 cotton and pull in' cane. By time us good Us ain't never idle. us git far out in de field and lay down in de corn row and nap. if fen dey cotch you, dey sho' wore you out! When us Sometime But, Lawdy, Sunday de onliest rest day and den de white folks 'low,us play. "Massa never whup Uncle Charley, cause he good nigger and work hard. It make missy mad and one time when massa gone she go down in de field. Uncle Charley hoein* corn jes' like massa done told him, jes* singin' and happy. Old missy she say, Nigger, I s sho gwineter whup you.1 Ee say, fWhat for you -2- Ex-slave Stories (fexas) Page Three whap me, I doin' eve-y bit what old massa done tell me.1 But missy think: he gittin1 it too good, fcause he ain't never "been whupped. She dumb over Uncle Charley, he ainft de fence and start down de row with de cowhide. even raise he voice but he cut de las1 weed outen dat corn and commence to wave he hoe in de air, and he say, 'Missy, I ain't 'vise you come any step closeter.f Dat sho1 make her madp but she 'fraid to do nothin'. u One tine she have 'nother nigger name Charlie, Massa go on de trip and she tell dis Charley if fen he ain't finish grindin1 all de cornmeal by Monday she gwineter give him a t'ousand lashes. He try, but he ain't able make dat much meal,, so come Monday he runned off in de bayou. Dat night come de big freeze and he down dere with water up to he knees and when massa come home and go git him, he so froze he couldn't walk. Dey brung him in de kitchen and old missy cuss him out. Soon's he thaw out, he done die right dere on de spot, "My pore mama! Svexy washday old missy give her de beat in1. She couldn't keep de flies from speckin1 de clothes overnight. Old missy git up soon in de mornin*, 'fore mama have time git dem specks off. sayf $Eenee, I's gwineter teach you how to wash.1 de cowhide. Book like she cut my mama in two. She snort and Den she beat mama with Many's de time I edges up and tries take some dem licks off my mama. 11 Slavery,one to 'nother, was purty rough. Every plantation have f$ answer for itself. ./-vV\::y*r^ ipfljp^^ but I don't know many now. Spiritual ^ can make 'dem better -fl on xo ^ Sx-slave Stories vlexas/ dan white folks. p^e Four J|^Q I knowed one song what start out " fDe Jews done kill pore Jesus, And "bury him in de sepulchur; De grave wouldn't hold him, Dey place guards all 'round him, But de angels move de stone, De Jews done kill pore Jesus, But de grave it wouldn't hold him.1 11 Dey 'nother song what say ,f 'Runf sinner, run, Gawd is a-callin' you. Run, sinner, run, De fire'11 overtake -ou.' M \7hen I '"bout ten dey sets me ginnin' cotton. de cotton with de hand crank. turnin' dat crank. Old ra^ssa he done make It "built on a bench like. I gin de cotton by When I gits a lapful I puts it in de tow sack and dey take it to Miss Susan to make de twine with it. I warm and dpmp de cotton 'fore de fireplace 'fore I start ginnin* it. u Dere school for de white chillen in Double Bayou and I used to go meet de chillen comin1 home and dey stop longside de' way and teach me my ABC. Dey done carry me as far as Baker in de book when old missy find it out and moke dem stop. De war comin' on den and us darsn't even pick up a piece of paper. De white folks didn't want us to lam to read for fear us find out things. r 'Us livin' down by de Welborn's den and I seed dem haul de logs out of Pine Island to make dat Welborn house. builded dat V/elbom house. Old man Hams hire and old man Remington It 'cross de bayou, left hand side Smith's ferry. Dat house still standin1 in p&rts. Jl 0ne mornin' Eleck amd me git up at crack of dawn to milk. All at once come a shock what shake de earth. De big fish jump clean out de bay and turtles ~4 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Five and alligators run out dere ponds. Dey plumb ruint Gal vest onl de house and all de dishes and things done jump out de shelf, bombardment of Galveston. Us runned in Dat de first De sojers put powder under people's houses and blowin1 -up Galveston. tTounief massa Shake Stevenson he vol'teer and git kilt somewheres in Virginny. Young massa Tucker Stevenson, he ain't 'lieve in war and he say he never gwine fight. him. He hide in de woods so de conscrip1 men can t find Old man LaCour come 'round and say he have orders for find Tucker and bring him in dead or 'live. But 'cause he old massa1 s friend, he say, 'Why don't you buy de boy's services off?' So old massa take de boat, 'Cat- rig,' us calls it, and loads it with corn and sich and us pole it down to Galveston. De people need dat food so much, dat load supplies done buy off Massa Tucker from fight in'. "After war starts lots of slaves runned off to git to de Yankees. All dem in dis part heads for de Rio Grande river* De Mexicans rig up flat- boats out in de middle de river, tied to stakes with rope, ^'hen de cullud people gits to de rope dey can pull deyself 'cross de rest de way on dem boats. De white folks rid de 'Merican side dat river all de time, but plenty slaves git through, anyway. n l wait on lots of sojers. salt water to bath dem in. I have to get smartweed and bile it in Dat help de rheumatism. Dem sojers have rheu- matism so bad for sta&din1 day aoid night in de water, "Us sho* in good health dem days. If fen a cullud man weak dey move de mscles in he arms, bleed him and give him plenty bacon and cornbread, |^..';|i*;:gi't so strong he e<%ld lift a log. j^y didn't go in for cuttin1, q n/t - * Jfc to-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two "Massa have garden seed he brang to Texas, but he didn't think it would grow, so he kep9 it several months, but den he plants it and up it come, jus9 like in de old states* Us used dem tomatoes for flowers, cause us thank dem pretty red things would kill us or put de spell on us. But de white folks et dem si3a& us lam to. "I was growed and have chillen 'fore de freedom war, hare no special husban9 9fore de war* I never did I marries after de war. "My, how dem niggers could play de fiddle back in de good old days. On de moonlight nights, us dance by de light of de moon under a big oak tree, till most time to go to work next mornin9. 19 De fus1 barb wire us ever seen, us acairt of it* lightnin* be she9 to strike it. Us tbunk It sho1 keep de stock in, though. "I seed men rid in1 bosses with dead men tied f cross dey boss, endurin9 de freedom war. But I can't tell much bout dat war, * cause I couldn't read and I never git aqsr place 9cept home at my work* I love dem day* better dan I do dese times now, but I'm too old to 'member much* ********* 4 -^ AJJ 420086 iSJUSLAYE SiOBIZS (Texas) Page One FEED BROWBT, 84, 1414 Jones St., Pert Worth, Texas, was "born a slave to Mr. John Brown, who owned a plantation along tiie Mississippi River, in Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Jred was eight years old when the Civil War started. During the War, he and a number c& >$>? of other slaves were taken to Kaufman Co., Texas, as refugees, by Henry Bidder, an overseer* He werieed five years as a laborer after he was freed, then worked as a cook until 1933* <. % * ^p7 * w Shof, I has time to talk to you fbout my life, I caaft work any more and I has nothin1 hut time. f cause It am de rhumatis1 in de leg, it ketch me dat way, from de hip to de knee, - zip - dat pain goesj HPs bofn in ole Louisiana, in Baton Rouge Parish, on de 16th of November, in 1853. statement. I knows, 'cause massa give dis nigger a You see, dey donf larn de niggers to read in dem days, nor figger, hat I can read figgsrs. See dem on dat car? Dat am vl3f Dat am bad figgers, I never has any truck with sich numbers as de 7 or de 13. "Massa have quite pert a plantation in Louisiana, dis side de Mississippi River. De slaves him own am from 40 to 50 sometimes. In our family am pappy, mammy and three brudders and one sister, Julia, and six cousins. Dat am 13 and dat1 a why massa had so much trouble with niggers runnin* 9 way2 "Everyone have dere certain wefk and duties for to do. am d family cook and she hefp at do loom, makin1 de clothe -1- Mammy My daddy 156 ,Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Pa*e Two am de blackmmith and shoemaker and de tanner* I fspains how he do tennin.1 He puts de hides in de water with black-oak baxk and purty sow de hair come off and den he rolls and peunfs de hides for to make dam soft. f, When Ifs bout 8 years old, or sicht day starts me to he'pin1 in de yard and as I grows older I hefps in de fields. Massa, hia raises cane and cefn mostly, no cotton. M De buildings en de place am de resident of de mass a and de quart- ers for de niggers, Dey am built from logs and. de quarters has no floors and no windows, jus* square holes whar de windows ought to be. Dey have bunks for sleepin1 and a table and benches, and cooks in de fireplace. w We allus have plenty for to eat, plenty ce,nmeal, lasses and heavy, brown sugar. and milk. We gits flour bread once de week, but lots of butter For de coffee, we roasts meal bran and for de tea, de sassafras. Den we has reg1 tables and fruit dat am raised on de place* De meat mostly am de wil' game, deer and de turkey, but sometimes hawg meat. "Massa have overseer and overlooker, De overseer am in charge of wefk and de overlooker am in charge of de cullud women, all de whippln's. home aid takin1 De overseer give Sometimes when de nigger gits late, * stead of comin1 de whippin1 him goes to de caves of de river and stays and jus1 comes in night time for food. When dey do dat, de dawgs is put after de and den it am de fight ftween de nigger and de dawg. Jus1 once a nigger kills de dawg with de knife, dat was close to freedom and it come fore dey ketches him. When dey whips for runnin1 off, de nigger am tied down over a barrel and whipped hafd, till dey draws blood, sometimes. w Dem fool niggers what sneak off without do pass, have two things for to watch, one is not to be ketched by de overseer and de other am -2~ 4 xj*i ' 0 u smM* Page 158 De nigger she1 am skeert of de patters* One time my de patter-rollers, pappy and zay mammy gees out without de pass and de patters takes after dem. Ifse home, 'cause VB too young te "be pester in1 roun1 and you ceuldn1 catched dem with a jackraVbit. One time anoudder nigger am runnin1 from de patters and hides under de house, Dey fin1 him and make him Toufs seen de dawg quaver when himfs col1? come out, hare de nuaverment jus1 like dat, and lets him ge. I sees dem com in,1 Well, dat nigger De patters hits him five or six licks Dat nigger have lets of power - him gits t de quarters ahead of his shadow, w STowt I tell fbout seme good times. We is flowed te have parties and de dance and we has for music, sich as de han$ and de Jew's harp and a fcordian, Dey dance de promenade and de jog, - Sometimes day have de jiggin1 contest and two niggers puts a glass of water on dere heads and den see i&e can dance do lenges1 without spillin1 any water. leg-rellln1, Dere was twe teams, which can roll de log de fastes9. Den we has f hout three te de team, and dey see Den sometimes a couple am lowed to git married and dere am extry fixed for supper. De couple steps over de broom laid en de floor, dey's married den. "Sometimes de overlooker don1 let dem git married. I fspi&ins it dis way. He am used for to father de chillun. r Him picks de pertly, and de healthy women dat an te reai de portly chill en De overlooker, he am portly man.; Dem dat him picks he overlooks, and not flew dem to marry er te ge reund'with ether nigger men. If dey de, its whippin* sho.1 De massa raises some fine9 portly chillen, and dey sol9 some, after dey's half-grown, for $500 and sometimes mere. J&m V Ex-slave Stories page SUP^ H i ^Q w De war didn* make no difffruncet dat I notices, fcept massa and one overseer Jines de army. Massa come back, bat de overseer am captured by de Yankees, so massa says, and we never hears 'bout him after dat. De soldiers passes by lots of timeet both de ffsderates and de *blue bellies1, but we s never bothered with dem. make trouble. Do fight in1 was net close enough to Jus1 ffore freedom come, de now overseer am fctructed to take us to Texas and takes us to Kaufman County and we is refugees dare. De Yankee mans tells us we am free and can do sich as we pleases. Dat lef us in charge of no one and we'uns, jus1 like cattle, wen' wanderin*. "Pappy, him goes back to Lousiana to massa1 s place, we hears from him. Dat am de las1 Mammy and I gees to Henderson and I works at dis and dat and cares for my mammy ton years, till she dies. Den I gits jobs as cook in Dallas and Houston and lots of ether places, W I gits married in 1901 to Ellen Tilles and I cooks till bout four years age, till I gits de rhumatis1. Datfs all I can tell you *beut de ole days. ********* 120096 fflUSLATO STOHMS (fexas) Page One JiMBS BH0WH, 84p Mind for the last 12 years and now living alone in a shack at 408 W. Belknap, fort forth, 3Pexas, was horn a slave of Mr, Barney in Bell Co*, Texas, in 1853. While still m infant9 he and his mother were sold to Mr* John Blairf who farmed four miles south of Wacof Texas, JJUffiS has no known living relatives and a pension of $14.00 a month is his sole support. AX y o ^ ^ *My fust Marater was named Marater Berney. member hims fust name nor nothin8 *bout him. Ifse don* Ifse don1 know nothin9 'bout my pappy, hut Marster Blair told me hlms name waa John Brown. "Marster Blair have hima farm four miles south of Waco. We9uns lived in de cabins and have de fiddle and de banjoes. We^uns sins and have music on Sundays. wefi 8 and him was allus good to us* eat, and meat, too. Marster never whups Him gives us plenty to Hims keeps bout 20 hawgs dere all de time. De women makes de clothes and we'uns have all we need. "De fust work I does is drivin1 de Marster to town. Marster have fine bosses. Marster have hims office in Waco and we drive dere every day* I'se stays all day ready to dtive him home. Mos* every day hims give me five cents or maybe de dime. Hlms was a big law man and went to de legislature down in Austin. His picture am in Austin, f cause I'se down dere years ago and seen his picture in a case wid Gov ner Boss* picture. "Jbmdder thing dat Marater does powe'ful good am trade -1- 160 Ex-slaw Stories de niggers. '%{*\ Page Two He boys and sells 'en all de time. Tou see, dere was traders dat traveled from place to place dem days and dey takes sometimes as much as 100 niggers for to trade. Dere was sheds outside of town, whar dey keeps de niggers when dey comes to town, "De Marster and de trader talks dls away: fI98e give you even taade.9 i I5 86 gives you $5*00.* f Eow you trade?9 9 Ko, I9se wants $25*00 for de diff9runce.f Dat'a de way dey talks on and on. Maybe dey makes de trade and maybe dey don1, *Dey have auction sometime and Marster allus tend 'em. At de auction Ifse seen dem sell a family. Maybe one man buy de mammy, anudder buy de pappy and anudder buy all de chlllens or maybe Jus1 onet like dat. parted. Ifse see dem cry like dey at de funeral when dey am Dey has to drsg fem away. "When de motion begin, he says? 'Dls nigger is so and so ole9 he never fbusedf he soun9 as a dollar* Jus1 look at de muscle and de big shoulders* much m I offered?1 He's worth a thousan9 of any man* money. Den de biddinf starts. How It goes like dis* f$200 I9se hear, does I*se hear $250, does I hear $300.* Den de nigger takes hims clothes - $&y have one extry suit - and goes wid de man dat buys him, w De day befo1 Marster gives we'uns freedom, he says to we9unsf 9 9 I se wants all yoa niggers to cense to de front of de house Sunday mornint9 We'uns was derm and he was stand in* on de gallery, hold in1 a paper in hims han9 and readin1. drap on ds paper. Dere was tears in hims eyes and some I9se haw tears In my eyes, too? mos1 of 9ea have. When hims done readin9f hims says* 9Tou darkies is as free as Ifse is. 3* Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three You can 40 or you can stay Riose dat stay till de crops laid hyt Ifse will give $5.00 a month*f Den he takes de little niggers and aaye, f De little fellows who I'se hare sold dere marries will stay wld me till dey am 21 years ole. Tou little fellowsf Ifs know you*s age and I*se give yous de statement .f "Mos1 of de niggers stays wld him, but dey lef9 fust one and den tudder, man* I1 se stays on wld hi* for many years and works as coach- When I lef1 de Marater, *twas to wort: for a farmer for one year, den I*ae comes to Tort Worth* I*se works in lumberyafd for long time* "Por de las1 12 years Pse been blin*. I'se had hard time after dat till de las9 year but Ifse gits de pension each month, dat am a heap of help. Die nigger am thankftil for what de Lawd have blessed me wid. ********** fno i0<5 EX-SLAVE STOEIES (Texas) Page Ov JOSIE BROWN was born about 1859, in 7ictoriaf Texas. She belonged to George Heard Her mother was born free, a member of the Choctaw Nation, but she was stolen and sold as a slave. Josie now lives in Woodville, Texas. * ^y / ^ "Its bo!n on Christmas day, in Victoria* time for de eggnogi Got h^re jus1 in Dat fbout 1859, * cause I*s six year ole de Christinas ffore freedom. My mudder was a free bofn Injjun woman. Jus1 like any ole,demmed Choctaw down in de woods. and sol1 by a spectator's gang. She was stole Us move to Tyler when I one mont1 ole. H We lib on a big farm and my madder suckle her thirteen chillun and ole mistus seven. Bob, ray brudder, he go to Mansfiel1 and we never hear of him no more. Wesley Heard. He wen1 with young marster, I Member de mornin1 dey lef , dey had to wait for him, fcanse hefd been out seein' his gal. l? De marster hab a big log house close to de road. was lcordinf to de family what live dare. Woodville pass close by. de stage go by. De quarters De stage line through I Member sittin1 on de rail fence to see Dat was a fine sight! De stage was big, rough carriage and dey was four or five hosses on de line. when dey so by, with de dus1 behin* dem. De bugle blow Dey was comin1 from Jasper, in louisian1, and everywhere. M Whea us little dey hab to keep us in dehouse fcause de bald eagle pick up chillen Jus1 like de hawk pick up chicken. was lots of catamoua* aad biitrs and deer in de woods. 1* Us never Dey 163 Page Two Ex~slave Stories (Texas) 164 f llowed play 'lone in de woods. H I didn1 do nothin1 fcep eat and sleep and foiler ole mistus round. She giv me good clothes 'cause my mudder was de weaver. De clothes jus1 cut out straight down and dyed with all kirf^s of hark. I hab to keep de head comb and grease with lard. De lil1 white chillun play with me hut not de udder nigger chilluns much. Us pull de long, leaf grass and plait it and us make rag doll and playhouse and grapevine swing. Dere's plenty grapes, scudlong, sour blue grape and sweet, white grape, Dey make jelly and wine outta dem. Dey squeeze de grapes and put de juice in a j iiami j ohn( deai j ohn) to fo^en*. H My mudder name was eyia. Dat Injun. Daddy1 s name was Eeuben. I fmember when Ifs lil1 us goes visit my uncle, Me,1or Scott* He lib in Polk County and he wore earring in he ears and beads and everytfing. a Injun. Hefs He dead now, many year. H My daddy work in de fiel1. have fisPs of it. He sow de rice and raise tfbaccy. Dey Dey put it in de crack of de fence to press, dien dey dxy it on de bam roof, Dat was smokin* t1 baccy! dey soak it in sugar and honey. For de chewin* tfbaccy, Us never see snuff den. "On Sunday us didn' work. ?fe has chufch meetin1. But dey has to have it in de ya'd, so de white folks could see de kin1 of religion *spounded. "I seed some bad sight in slavery, but ain* never been'bused nyself. I seed chillun too lil1 to walk from dey mammies sol1 right off de olock in toodville. w Dey was sol1 jus1 like calf*. I seed niggers in han1 locks, After freedom dey wuk a whole year and den Major Sangers, he finally come and make de white folks tvJn in loose. till ole mistus die. I stay on for years, She lara me to knit and spin and sich like* Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three w In de early day, us hab to be keerful. dey hosses on de da!k nigjhts. to keep de witcli out. Dey say witches ride Us allus put hossshoes over de door If fen us go out at night, us go rounT de house three time so de witch not come in while us gone* "I* a fifteen year ole when I marry. Grills Paul was from de Wes1. He was de fus1 husban1. veil. My weddin* dress hang fway back on de floff and shine like silver. Us hab a real weddin1 with a bride Dey hab big dance and eat supper. "tfy second husban1 name* Robert Brown and I1* raudder of ten chillun. 1 f Sides dat, I raises six or seven day I pick up on de street cause dey orfums and hab nobody to care for dem. drif f Some dem chillun bout now and I wouldn1 know feia if I seed *ml ************* A05 mo2ii E3USLA71 STORIES (Texas) Page One 1.66 ZEK SHOWN, 80, was horn a slave of Green Brown, owner of six slave families, in Warren County, Tennessee. Zek came to Texas in 1868, with Sam Bragg.Zek now lives at 407 W. Bluff St.t in Fort Worth, Texas. w My name am Zek Brown and Massa Green Brown owned me. He have a plantation in Tennessee and own all my folks f what was my pappy and mammy and two sisters* I never seed any of dem since I ran fway from there, when I1 s ten years old* ,f I sometimes wishes I*s hack on de plantation. lfs took good care gach famfly have dere own cahin and it of dere and massa em awful good. warnH so much for niceness hut we lives comfOrfble and has plenty to eat and wear. My mammy work de loom, makin1 cloth, and us chillen wears linsey cloth shirts till dey gives us pants* dey wears linsey clothes everyday. Massa "buy he famfly nice clothes hut Same with shoes, dey am made on de plantation and de first store shoes I has am after surrender. My mammy huys me a pair with brass tips on de toe, and am I dress up de&f M De food am hester dan what Ifs had since dem deys. all hut de salt and sich. Dey raises it You wouldnft flieve how us et den. and bacon, 'cause dey raises all de hnwgs. flour and fruit and honey and as I is and dat am some black* f It am ham It am cornmeel and some white lasses and brown sugar. De f lasses am black I wishes I was dere and mammy call me, and I can smell dat ham fry in1 rigfrt now. ^Sofc once does I know of de massa whipping and him don't talk rough even. tTu&V so do worite am done we does ad we pleases, long as us reasfble. J^^ P^0=^: W'':^--':1^.'V.'S'---":.< '' . : and singin** De music am de banjo and de fiddle. Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Pgge Two 11 1 don't Member when de war start "but I Member ^4ien it stop and massa call all us together pnd tell us we's no more slaves. Him talk lots 'bout what it mean and how it am difffrent and we'uns have to make our own way and can't 'pend on him like. He say if us stay dere'11 be wages or we can share crop and everybody stay. to 'nother he farms. My folks stays one year and den moves Pappy keep de farm and mammy teach school. Her missie done larnt her to read and sich from time she a voung'un, so she have eddication so good dey puts her to teaching M De way I leaves home am dis. One day maaaay teach in1 school and me and my sister am home, and I fcides she ne*d de haircut. She want itf too* So I gits de shears and goes to work and after I works a while de job don't look so good, so I cuts some more and den it look worse and I tries to fix it and first thing I knows dere ainft no hair left to cut. When mami^r come home she pays me for de work with de rawhide whip and dat hurts my feel in's so bad I fcides to git even by runnin1 f way a few days. starts to go and coxaes to Massa San Bragg1 s place, strong fbout de idea and aides to rest. It am 'bout sundown and I I's tired den and not so I walks into he yard and dere am a covered wagon standin' and loaded with lots of stuff and de front end open, I finds de soft place in de b&ck and goes to sleep, and when I wakes up it am jus1 gittin* daylight and dat wagon am a-movin'. ' M I don't say nothin1. Ifs skeert and waits for dat wagon to stop, so's I can crawl out, I jus1 sits and sits and when it stop I crawls out and Massa Bragg say, 'Good gosh, look what am crpwlin1 out de wsgoni He look at me a while and den he sgy, 'You's too far from home for me to take you back **3 * >>*^ JLu ff Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three 1G8 and you'll git lost if you tries to walk home. with me.1 I guesses Ifll have to take you I thinks him am goin' some place and comin' back, hut it am to Texas him come and stop at Birdyille. Dat am how dis nigger come to Texas, M f I s often wish my man my done whip me so hard I couldn't walk off de place, 'cause from den on I has mighty hard times. I stays with tfassa 3ragg four years and then I hunts for a job where I can git some wages. I gits it with Massa Joe Henderson, workin' on he farm and I's been round these parts ever since and farmed most my life, H I gits into a picklement once years ago* I's frested on de street. I's not done a thing, jus1 walkin1 'long de street with 'nother fellow and dey claim he stole something a-loose? I didn't know nothin' 'bout since, Did dey turn me Dey turn me loose after six months on de chain gang. road three months with a ball and chain on de legs. I works on de After dat trouble, I sho* picks my comp'ny. "I marries onct, 'bout forty years ago, and after four years she drops dead with de heart xnis'ry. Us have no chillen so I's alone in de world. It vm all right long as I could work, but five years ago dis right arm gits to shakin' so bad I canf| work no more, for a year now dey pays me $9.00 pension. hard to live on dat for a whole month, but Ifs glad to git it. **** It am 430139 SX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One MADISON BRUIN, 92, spent his early days as a slave on the Curtis farm in the blue grass region of Kentucky, where he had seme experience with some of the fine horses far which the state is famous. Here, too, he had certain contacts with soldiers of John Morgan, of Confederate frsne. His eyes are keen and his voice mellow Qni low. His years have not token a heavy toll f his vitality. w f I s a old Kentucky man. r Vs b$rn in Fayette County, oout five miles from Lexington, right where dere lots of fine hosses. massa was name Jack Curtis and de old.missus was Miss .iddie. nme Mary and she die in 1863 and never did see freedom, My old My mother I don't 'member my daddy a-tall. "De place was jis* a farm, 'cause dey didn't know nothin1 f"bout plantations up dere in Kentucky. and fast hosses, Dey raise com and wheat and garlic Dey used to have big hoss races and dey had big tracks and Ifs stood in de middle of dat "big track in Lexington slid watch dem ex'cise de hosses. Sometimes I got to help dem groom some dem grand hosses and dat was de big day for me. I don!t 'memher dem hosses names, no, suh, "but I knowed one Dig bay hoss what won de race nearly every time, "I had two sisters nme Jeanette and Fanny and a brother, Henry, end. after my daddy dief my mother marries a man name Paris and I had one half-brother call Alfred Paris. "Old maSsa was good to us and give us plenty food. beat us hard. and play lots. He never He had a son what jis1 one month older1 n me and we run 'round Old massa, he whip me and he own son jis1 de same when we -i~ QC) Ex-slaveStories (Texas) bad. Page Two He didn't whip us no more'n he ought to, though. -i^n X U ' Dey was good masses and some mean ones, r& some worthless cullud folks, too. M Durinf de uar de cholera "broke out fmongst de people and everybody Dey say it start with de hurtin1 in de stomach scairt dey gwine cotch it. and every time us hurt in de stomach, missus make us come quick to de big house, Dat suit us jis1 right and when dey sends Will and rae to hoe or do somethin1 us didnft want to do, pretty soon I say, Willie, I think ay stomach 'ginnin to hurt. I think dis misfry a sign I gittin1 de cholera.1 Den hiia say, 'Us "better go to de "big house like ma say,1 and with dat, us quit workin1. Us git out lots of work dat way, hut us ain't ever took de cholera yit. "Darin* de war John Morgan's men come and took all de hosses. Dey left two and Willie and me took dem to hide in de plum thicket, hut us jis1 git out de gate when de sojers come fgain and dey head us off and tpke de last two hosses. "My mother she wore de Yankee flag under her dress like a petticoat when de 'federates come r&idin1. Other times she wore it top de dress. When dey hears de 'federates comin' de white folks makes us hury all de gold and de silver spoons out in de garden. Old massa, he in de Yankee army, 'cause dey 'script him, but he sons, John and Joe, dey volunteers, "Old massa he never sold none of he slaves. I used to hear him aad missus fussin1 'bout de niggers, 'cause some 'long to her and some to him and dey have de time keepin1 dem straighten' out. Us hoys have good time playin'. one side and some de other. Us draw de line and some git on Den one sing out -3~ Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three 11 f ChickaraafChickamaf Went to de well to When I git back ray What time, old HDen somebattr holler out, JLT1 cr&ney crowf wash my toe; chicken was gone, witch?1 ! One o^lock' or 'Two o'clock1 or any time, and dem on one side try to cotch dera on de other side. "When Ifs young I didn't mind plowin', but I didn't like to ride at fust, but dey make me lara anyhow, bourse, dat white boy and me, us like most anything what not too much work. Us go down to de watermelon patch and plug dem melons, d.en us run hide in de woods and eat watermelon. dey lots of time dey 'low us to play jis' by ourselves. Course, Us plr y one game where us choose sides and den sing: 11 'Can, can, candio, Old men Dandio, How many men you got? More'n you're able to cotch.1 ^Endurin1 de war us git whip mfmy a'time for playin1 with shells what us find in de woods. TJs heered de cannons shoot in1 in Lexington end lots of dem shells drap in de woods. "What did I think when I seed all dem sojers? too. I wants to be one, I didn't care what side, I jis'. wants a gun end a hoss and be a sojer. John Morgan, he used to own de hemp factory in Lexington. When young massa jine foolford's 11th Kentucky Cavalry, dey come to de piece and hKLt befo' de big house in de turnpike. Day have shotguns and blind bridles on dere hosses, not open bridle like on de race hosses. Dey jis1 in reg'lar clothes but next time dey come through dey in blue uniforms, from de war and didn't git kilt. dere and never left dem till 1872. -3- ill my white folks come back Nobody ever telt me Ils free. I's happy All de others gone befo1 dat, but I Enslave Stories (Texas) Page P0ur git s all I wants and I didst11 need no money. -fl^O &-(<> I didnH know what paper money was and one time m&ssa's son give roe a paper dime to git some squab and I dida!t know what money was and I "burned it up. w Deyfs jis1 one thing I like to do most and dat's eat, Dey allus had plenty of everything and dey had a "big, wooden tray, or^trough and dey put potlicker and cornbread in dat trough and set it under de big locust tree and all uslifl niggers jis1 set 'round and eat and eat. us wants. Jis1 eat all Us jis1 git Den when us git full us fall over and go to sleep. fat and lazy. When us see dat "bowl comin1, dat howl call us jis1 like hawgs runnin1 to de trough. M Dey was great on gingerbread and us go for dat. Dey couldn't leave it in de kitchen or de pantry so old missus git a big tin box and hide de gingerbread under her bed and kept de switch on us to keep us fway from it. But sometime us sneak up in de bedroom and git some, even den. w flhen I fbout 17 I left Kentuclcy and goes to Indiana and white folks sends me to school to larn readin1 and writin1, but I got tired of dat and run off and jine de anny. Dat in 1876 and dey sends me to Arizona* After dat Ifs at Port Sill in what used to be Indian Territory and den at Tort Clark and Port Davis, dat in Garfield's Ministration, den in Port Quitman on de Sio Grande. Ifs in skirmishes with de Indians on Devilfs River and in de Brazos Canyon, and in de Rattlesnake lange and in de Guadalupe Mouatains. De troops was de Eighth Cavalry and de Tenth Infantiy. De white and de cullud folks was altogether and I have three hosses in de cavalry. De fust one plays out* de next one shot down on caiapaign and one was coadema. On dat campaign us have de White Mountain fpaches with us for scouts. Bx-slave Stories (T^xas) Page Five "When I git discharge1 from de j^rmy I come to Texas and work oa de S.P. Eailroad and I been in Texas ever since, and when Ifs in Dallas I got 'flicted and got de pension 'cause I been in de army. I ainft done much work in ten year. ff I gits married in San Antonio on December 14, 1883 Dolly Gross and dat her right dere. and drink. and I marries TJs have de nice weddin1, plenty to eat Us have only one chile, a gal, and she dead, hut us *dopt sevfral chillen. "Us come to Beaumont in 1903 and I works f I works for de gas people and de waterworks people. round Spindletqp and Ifs been a carpenter and done lots of common work wherever I could find it. "It's been long time since slavery and Ifs old, but me and iny old lady's in go< health and us manage to git flong fairly well. bout all I can 'member fbout de old times. ***** Dat!s JLYO 420236 EX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One 1/ MABTEA 3>ENCE BUHTON, 81f was born a slave, Jan. lt 1856, on the John Bell plantation, in Murphfreesboro, Tennessee, Mr. Bell sold Martha, her mother and four sisters to Joseph Spence. who brought them to Texas. Martha married Andy Bunt on in 1880, and they had nine children. Martha now lives with her sister, Susan, on twelve acres of land which their father bought for $25*00 an acre, The fara is pictu^ resquely located on a thickly wooded hill about six miles east of Austin, Texas. "I was born on New Year's Day. Bell1 s plantation over in Tennessee. Yes, suh, in 1856, on Massa De name of de town was Murphreesboro, and my mammy and my four sisters and me all 'longed to Massa John Bellf but he done sold us to Massa Joseph Spence, and dat how I come by my name. H I 'members how Massa Spence brung us to Texas in wagons, and the way we knowed when we hit Texas am 'cause massa 'gin to talk 'bout a norther. When dat norther done strike, all de weeds and leaves jus' starts rollin1. Us poor, ig'rant niggers thunk at first dey wets rabbits, 'cause we'd never seed a rabbit den. Massa Spence rid his hoss and Missie Spence come 'long in d# richer way, in a coach* De chillen walked momin's and de older folks walked afternoons. "Massa Spence come to Montopolis, right nigh to Austin, and settled down. I helped carry dinner pails to de field workers, and dey was full of meat and cabbage and biscuit. Pappy wasn't dere then, 'cause he was own by Massa Burrows, over in Tennessee. bought pappy and he come out to Texas. Bat when his massa died, my massa Befo' I's a sizeable child, mammy took sick with diphtheria and died and pappy had to be mammy and pappy to us, -1- JL*74 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two JL*75 Pappy was a big-bodied man and on Sunday mornin1 he'd git out of bed and maice a big fire and say, 'Jiminy cripes! de biscuits.1 He would, too. I Tou chillen stay in you beds and I111 make laughs when I thinks fbout dem big, rye bis- cuits, what was so big we called dem 'Nigger heels.1 but dey was good. Dey sho' was big biscuits, We never did git no butter, thou^ki, and sometimes we'd ask the white chillen to give us a piece of biscuit with butter on it. We got plenty other eats - sliced meat and roast in' ears and sweet milk, "After freedom pappy sent us to school to de white teacher, and dat's why I can read and write. lot then. to us. I went to de sixth grade and quit. Pappy was drinkin' a He'd take alcohol and mix it with 'lasses and water. But he was good Sometimes a Texas norther come up and we'd be on the way home and we'd see something cosain' what look like a elephant and it was pappy, with a bundle of coats. "I was twenty-four years old when I married Andy Bunt on and he jes' rented farms here and yonder, fe had a big weddin1 and pork and turkey and cake* Aunt Lucy ftxbbard, what weighed three hundred pounds, done de cookin' dat day. We had such a good time nobody knowed when one de guests stole a whole turkey. "I was mother of nine chillen and three of dem is livin' now. Andy madea purty good livin till he had a paral'sis stroke. Poor old feller! In de end, I took care of him and had to work like I was yo ng again. I cut wood and carried water and washed and cooked. I had to feed him. "I owns my place here. It am twelve acres and pqppy bought it long ago for $25.00 de acre. My sister lives here too, and my son, Howard, comes home sometimes, but he's got eight houn1 dogs he can't feed, pension what I gits. **** I sho' can't feed dem on dat $11.00 420080 EX-SLAVE STORMS (Texas) Page One SLLE3 BUTLER was horn a slave to Richmond Butler, near Ihiska Chittot in the northern part of Calcaeieu Farish(now a part of Basw>regard Parish), in Louisiana, Ellen is about 78 years old. She now lives in Beaumont, Texas, My old saasa was naae Richmond Butler and he used to have a hig plantation over on Wbiska Chit to, in Louisiana, and that's where X was horn. They used to call the place Bagdad, I was hie slave till I six year old and then freedom come* 11 1 don't 'member ay daddy, but ay mammy was name Dicey Ann But- ler, I have seven sister and three brudder, and they was Anderson and Charlie and Vlllle, and the girls was Ltaxra and Rosa and Rachel and Fannie and Adeline and Sottie and Nora, "Us used to live in a 11*1 log house with one room. The floor was dirt and the house was sake jus9 like they used to make Hater house, Thqy was a little window in the back* When I was a baby they wrop me up in cot ten and put me in a coffee pot - that how li'l I was. But I grows to be more sizable, "The plantation were a good, big place and th^y have fbout 200 head of nigger*. to the field* When I gets big enough they start me to totin* water I gits the water out the spring and totes it in gourds. They cut the gourds so that a strip was left round and cross the top and that the handle. They was about a foot cross and a foot deep. Us used to have one good gourd us ksp' lard in and li'l gourds to drink out of. -1- V'7" 1/b Ex-slaw Stories (Texas) Page Two H Massa never 'lowed us slaves go to church hut they have big holes in the fields thqy gits down in and prays. f cause the white folks didn't want them to pray* They done that way They used to pray for free don. "then the white folks go off they writes on the steal and flour with they fingers. That the way they know if us steal meal. Sometime they take a stick and write in front of the door so if anybody go out they step on that writin1 and the massa know. That the way us lam how to write. Old m&ssa didn't give 'em such to eat. When they comes in cut of the field they goes work for other folks for something to eat. "They jus1 have a old frame with planks to sleep on and no mattress or not h in*. In winter they have to keep the fire go in1 all night to keep from freesin'. li'l folks. They put a old quilt down on the floor for the They have a ll'l trough us used to eat out of with a li'l woodea paddle. Us didn't know nothin' f bout knives and forks* "I never did git nothin1 much to eat. My sister she de cook and sometime when the white folks gone us go up to the big house and she give us something But she make us wash the mouth after us finish eat in V, so they won't he no crumbs n our mouth. "Massa used to beat *m all the time. My brudder tell eld massa sometime he git hongry and gwine have to come ask de niggers for somethin9 to eat. ^^ JL// He say he never do that, but he did, 'cause after freedom he go to West Texas and some niggers with him and he los' everything and, sho9 'nough, old massa have to go to my brudder and ask him for food and a shelter to sleep under. Then he say if he had it to do over, he wouldn't -3- Bx-slare Stories (Texas) ?a&> Three I/O treat the hands so bad, H 0ne time my brudder slip off de plantation and they almost beat him to death* to eat. He told fem he hod to do somethin* to git somethin1 They used to put *m 'cross a log or barrel to beat fem# My mammy had a strop fbout eight inch wide they used to beat 'em with, "Most clothes what we git is from the lies, what was rieh folks and lives close by. I hears, They folks lives in DeRidder, in Louisiana, Thay treated the slaves like white folks. "On Christmas time they give us a meal* I 'member that. I don't 'member no other holidays w When us git sick us go to the woods and git herbs and roots and make tea and medicine. We used to git Blackhaw root and cherry bark and dogwood and chinquapin bark, what make good tonic. Black snake root and swamproot make good medicine, too. tt My mammy told us we was free and we starts right off and walks to Sugartown, 'bout 8 mile away. I 'member my brudder wades 'cross a pool tot in9 me "I used to nuss Dr. Irasier. in DeRidder. ******** He used to be the high sheriff .420182 ' OS ^ ^-SBAVE STOBIES (Texas) Page One HENRY H. SUTTEES, 87 , venerable graduate of Washburn College, Tqpeka, Kansas, and ex-school teacher, was born a slave to Mr. George Sullivan on his 300 acre plantation in Farquier Co., Virginia. Henry and a number of other slaves were transported to Arkansas in 1863, and Heniy escaped and joined the Union Army. He now lives at 1308 E. Bessie St., Port Worth, Texas. *My name is Henry H. But tier and I am past 87 years of age. That figure may not be accurate, but you must realize that there were no authentic records made of slave births. I estimate my age on the work I was doing at the commencement of the Civil War and tne fact that I was large enough to be accepted as a soldier in the Union Ajmy, in tne year of 1864. W I waspora on tne plantation of George Sullivan, in Farquier Co., Yirginia. Thaplantation was situated in the valley at the base of Bull Mountain, and presented a beaatiful picture. The plantation consisted of about 30 acres, with about 30 slaves, though this number varied and sometimes reached 50. Mr. Sullivan owned my mother and her children, but ay father was owned by Mr. John Hector, *hose place was adjacent to ours* w The slave quarters consisted of a group of one-room log cabins, with no flooring, and very crude furnishings. There were bunks and benches and a table and the fireplace provided the means for cooking and heating. *The food was wholesome and of sufficient quantity. In that period about all the food was produced and processed on the plantation, which eliminated any reason for failure to provide ample food. The meat 179 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two JLOU was home cured and tne ham and "bacon nad r superior flavor, M 0n tne Sullivpn place there existed consideration for human feelings "but on tne Rector place neither the master nor tne overseer seemed to understand th ?t slaves were human beings. One old slave called Jim, on tne Hector plgce, disobeyed some rule and early one morning they ordered him to strip. They tied him to tne whipping post and from morning until noon, at inoervals, tne lash was applied to nis back. I, myself, saw and hesrd many of tne lr snes and his cries for mercy. "One morning a number of slaves were ordered to lay a fence row on the Rector plp.ce. The overseer said, f This row must be l*id to the Branch and left in time to roll those logs out in tne back woods.1 It was sundown when we laid the last rail but tne overseer put us to rolling logs without any supper and it was eleven when we completed the task. Old Pete, tne ox driver, became so exhausted that he fell asleep without unyoking the oxen. For that, he was given 100 lashes, "The slaves were allowed to marry but were compelled to first obtain permission from trie master. The main factor involved in securing tne master1 s consent was his desire to rear negroes with perfect physiques. On neither plantation was there 9i\y thought or compassion when a sale or trade was in question. I have seen tne separation of husband and wife, child and mother, rnd the extreme grief of those involved, and the lash administered to a grieving slave for neglecting tneir work. All this npde the marriages a farce. H In 1863 Mr. Sullivan transported about 40 of us slaves to Arkansas, locating us on a farm near Pine HLufff so we would not be taken by the Federal soldiers. The general faithfulness of tne slave was noticeable then, as they had a chance to desert and go to free states. But I think I was tne only one ~3- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three r;ho deserted Mr. Sulliyan. I went to Federal Headquarters at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and was received into the army. nearly territory. We campaigned in Arkansas and Tne major battle I fought in ^BJ& that oi Pine Bluff, which lasted one day and part of one night. n 4fter I was mistered out of the array, I set out to get an educa- tion and entered a grade scnool at Pine Bluif. I worked after school at any job I could secure and. managed to enter Washburn C0ll g , in Topeka, Kansas. After I graduated I followed steam engineering for four years, but later I went to Fort Worth and spent 22 years in educatioaaL work gunong my people. I exerted my best efforts to advance my race. I married Lucia Brown in IsbO and we nad tnree children, all of whoa are dead. There is just ray wife and me left oi tne family, and we have a $75,00 per month Union soldierfs pension. **********#*4r **+ jj g| 430283 B3USULVE STORIES (Texas) Page One WXLLIiU BIRD, 97f was horn a slave of Sam Byrd, near Madisonvillef Texas* William was with his master during the Civil War. The old Negro is very feeble, hut enjoyed talking about old times. He lives in Medisonville. H I has a hill of sale what say Ifs horn in 1840f so^ I knows I's ninety-seven years old and !*s owned by Marse Sam Byrd, My mother's name was Fannie and I dunno pappy1 s name, * cause my mother stilus say she found me a stray in the woods. I allus flieves my master was my P&PJP7* but I never did know for sho1. "Our quarters was log and the bed built with poles stuck in the cracks and cowhide stretched over, and we'd gather moss !bout once a month and make it soft* When it was real cold wefd git close together and I donft care how e.prisoner, and Marse Sam won't leave his general, and he say to met 'William, you got to go home alone.' W I lights out a-foot to Texas and it's most a year befo' I gits home. I travels day and night at first. I buys some things to eat but every time I goes by a farmhouse I steiils a chicken. Sometimes I sho1 gits hongry. When I git to the house, Missus Josie faints, 'cause she thunk Marse Sam ain't with me and he mus' be dead. I tells her he's in prison and she say she'll give me $2,00 a month to stay till he gits back* I*s plumb crazy *bout a little gal called l Cricket,' 'cause she so pert and full of live, so I stays, and that's all to our weddin*. ff.e gits us a cabin We stays a year befo' Marse Sam comes back. M He was the plumb awfulest sight you ever done seed! His clothes is tore offen his body and he ain't shaved in three months and he's mos' starved to death. Missus Josie she don't even rec*nize him and wouldn't 'low him in till I tells her dat am Marse Sam, all right. He stays sick a whole year* M I thinks if them Yankees didn't 'tend to fix some way for us pore niggers, dey ought&H turn us a~loose Iff en de white folks in de South hadn't been jes* what they laf us niggers been lots worser off than we was. In slavery time when the nigger am sick, his master pqr de bills, but when nigger sick now, that's his own lookout* "I never done ho thin' but farm and odd jobs. I been married five times, but only my las1 wife am livin' now* Jjy four boys and two gals is all farmin' right ^ # iii the o&i^ty $&& they helps us out* fe gits by somehow. 420277 ENSLAVE STQBIES (Texas) Page One * UK XQO LOUIS CAIN, 88, was born in North Carolina, a slave of Samel Cain. After Louis was freed, he caxae to Texas, and has farmed near Madisonville over sixty years. "I knows I's birthed in 1849, 'cause I had a hill of sale. that. It say My master traded me to Massa Joe Cutt for a hundred acres of land. That's in 1861, and I ^members it well. My daddy was Sam Cain, name after old Massa Cain, and mammy was J<>sie Jones, cause she owned by fnother master. Maiamy was birthed in North Carolina, but daddy allus say he come from Africy* He say they didn't work hard over there, 'cause all they et come out the jangle, and they had all the wives they wanted. That was the 'ligion over t here. w Qur quarters was made of logs, in a long shed six rooms long, like cowsheds or chicken houses, and one door to each room. The bed was a hole dug in a corner and poles around and shucks and straw. We'd sleep warn all night long, but it wouldn't do in this country in summertime. "Massa give us plenty to eat. bread and cooked in the ashes. Our c ombre ad was what you calls water pone We didn't have no stove. hunter and allus had venison and game. Massa was a great They was plenty fish, too. "Massa Cain was purty good to his slaves and mean to them if they didn't behave. Missy was a good woman. They lived in a two-sto^y rock house with plenty trees all 'round. w fe worked long as we could see, from four o'clock in the morn in', and thexa milked twenty cows and fed the work stock. not 'nough niggers to work it easy* -1- They was fifty acres and Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two "If soraeiiggers was mean they'd git it. 186 Massa tied they hands to they feet and tied them to a tree and hit fbout twenty-five or fifty licks with a rawhide belt. Hide and blood flew then. Next mornin1 he'd turn them loose and they'd have to work all day without nothin1 to eat. He-had a cabin called jail for the nigger women, $n/ i "I*s bo'n in yonder southeast Texas and I don1 know what month or de year for shoft but ftwas more dan 100 years ago. My mammy and pappy was bofn in Africa, dats what dey*s tol1 me. Dey was owned by Marster Bob Houston and him had de ranch down dere, whar dey .have cattle and bosses* M When I*s old fnough to set on de hoss, dey larned me to ride, tend inf hosses. f Cause I's good hoss rider, dey uses me all de time gwine after hosses. de river lots of times. 200 hosses north*ards. I goes with dem to Mexico. We crosses I 'members once when we was a drivin1 r bout Bey was a bad hail storm comes into de face of de herd and dat herd turns and starts de other way. Dere was five of us riders and we had to keep dem hosses from scatterment. I was de leader and do you know what happens to dis nigger if my hoss stumbles? Eight dare * s whar Ifd still bej Marster give me a new saddle for savin1 de hosses. -1- >S no X ^ Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two w One day Uarster Bob comes to me and says. like to Jine de army?* Tou see, de war had started. What does I have to do?1 f 4QJL x ^ Jim, how you I says to him, And he says, fTend hosses and ride *ea.f X was young den and thought it would he lots of fun, so I says Ifd go. So de first thing I knows, I*s in de army away off east from here, somewhar dis side of St. Louis and in Tennessee and Arkansas and other places, I goes in de army 9 stead of Dr. Carroll. 11 After I gits in de aray, it wasn9 so much fun, * cause tendin9 bosses and ridin1 wasn9 all I does. git s hooted at I No, sart I has to do shoot in1 and One time we stops de train, takes Yankee money and lots of other things off dat train. Dat was way up de other side of Tennessee. "You1 s heard of de battle of Independence? three days and nights. Dat's whar we fights for 1*8 not tendin1 hosses dat time. Day gives me a rifle and sends me up front figfrtin'.when we wasn1 runnin1.. heap ef runnin* and dat suits dis nigger. fe does a I could do dat hetter*n advance. When de order comes to 9treat. I's all ready. "I gits shot in de shoulder in dat figkt and lots of our soldiers gits killed and we loses our supply, Jus9 leaves it and runs. 'Hother time we fights two days and nights and de Yankees was had dat time, too, and we had to run through de river. I sho1 thought Ifs gwine git drowned den. Dat1 s de time we tries to git in St* louis, hut de Yankee mans stop us. *I9s free after de war and goes hack to Texas,to Oonzales County, and gits a job doin9 cowboy work for Marster Ross herd in' cattle. right derm9 s whar I9s lucky for not gittin9 in jail or hanged. -3~ And It was dis SxHtslare Stories {Texas) Page Three JL95 Ifs in town and dat man, Boss9 says to me, 'I unnerstan* you's a ways good cowhand,1 and ne hires me and takes me way out. Ho house for miles fore we comes to de ranch with cattle and I goes to work* After Ifs workin' a while, I wonders how come dey brings in sich fine steers so often and I says to myself, 'Marster Boss aius9 have heaps of money for to buy all dem steers.1 Day pays no Hention to de raisin1 of cattle, jus1 tarings fam in and Or ires dem 'way. 16 One time Marster Ross and six mens was gone a week and when dey comes back, one of *m was miss in'# Dey had no steers dat time and dey talks 'bout git tin1 frusterated and how one man gits shot. myself, 'What for was dey chased and shot at?' I says to Den I 'members Marster Bob Houston done tol' me 'bout rustlers and how day's hanged when dey's caught, and I knows den dat's how come all dem fine steers is drlv in and out all de time. Bat how to git 'way, dare's de puzzlement. know which way to go and dare's no houses anywhere near. I not I keeps gittin1 scarier, and ever1 time somebody comes, I thinks its de law, But Marster Boss drives de cattle north and I says to him, 'I's good hand at de drive. Kin I go with you nex' tl* you goes north?' dat we starts and we gits to Kansas City. And not long after After Marster Ross gets shut of de critters, he says, 'We'll res1 for couple days, den starts back.1 8ays I to me, 'Hot die nigger.' H speaks {way and was sett in' on a bench when 'long comes a white man and he's tall, had dark hair and was fine look in'. you a cowhand?1 He says to me, 'Is So I tells him X is, and he says he wants a hand on his farm in Missouri and he says, 'Gome with me.' He tells me his name was E*-slaYO Stories (foxas) Page Four James and takes me to his farm whar I tends cattle and hosses for throe years and he pays mo well* He gives me more'n I earns. After three years I leaves, hut not 9cause I lamed he was outlaw, 'cause I lamed dat long time afterwards. I's lonesome for Texas and dat's how I comes to Fort Worth and here's whar I9s stayed ever9 since* n I's married '"bout 40 years ago to a woman dat had eight Chilians. We sep'rated 'cause dem Chilians cause arg'ments, hut not de army* I can fight one9 19G K4> 420180 EX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) pase One RICHARD CARHOTHEES, 100 year old ex-slave, was "born in Memphis, Tennessee. Mr. Billy Coats "bought him and his mother and "brought them to Bastrop Co., Texas, He came to Houston 20 years ago and lives in a negro settlement known as Acres Home, ahout 8 miles northeast of Houston, It is a wooded section, with a clearing here and there for a Hegro shack and plots of ground for growing "victuals and co'n." ,! I wants to tell the Gtospel truf. My mammy's name was Melia Carruthers and my papa's name was Max. name was Carruthers, too. tiy papa's papa's My brothers names was Charlie and Prank and Willie and John and Tom and Adam. n fihen I was still little Mr, Billy Coats "bought my mama and us and with about 500 of his slaves we set out to come to Texas. We goes to Bastrop County and starts to work. My old missy her name was Missy Myra was 99 year old and her head w^s "bald as a egg and had wens on it as big as eggs, too. "In them days the boss men had good houses but the niggers had log cabins and they burned down oftentimes. The chimney would cotch fire, 'cause it was made out of sticks and clay and moss. Many the time we have to git up at midnight and push the chimney 'way frcxn the house to keep the house from hurnin' up. "The chairs was mostly chunks of cordwood put on end, or slabs, jmst rough, and the beds was built like ssaffoldin*. ie made a sort of mattress out of corn shucks or moss. My missy, she was good, but the overseer, he rough. hem of the detail, himse'f. 'Detail Eill.' His temper His name was Tom Hill, but us called him 197 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two 198 Old Debbil Hill, he used to whup me and the other niggers if we don't jump quick enough when he hollef and he stake us out like you stake oat a hide and whup till we "bleed. Many the time I set down and made a eight- plait whup, so he could whup from the heels to the back of the head 'til he figger he get th* proper ret'ibution. Sometime he take salt and rub on the nigger so he smart and burn proper and suffer misery. They was a caliboose right on the plantation, what look like a ice-house, and it was sh 1 bad to git locked up in it. M Us got provisions 'lowaneed to us every Saturday night. If you had two in the family, they 'lowaneed you one-half gallon 'lasses and 12 to 15 pounds bacon and a peck of meal. and parch it and make coffee out of it. We have to take the meal We had our flours. we called biscuit flour and we called it 'shorts.1 One of them We had rye and wheat and buck grain. H If they didn't provision you 'nough, you jus1 had to slip fround and git a chicken. problem. The,t easy 'nough, but grabbin' a pig a sh 1 'nough Tou have to cotch him by the snoot so he won't squeal, and clomp him tight while you knife him. That ain't steal in1, is it? You has to keep right on workin' in the field, if you ain't 'lowaneed 'nough, and no nigger like to work with his belly groania'* "When the white preacher come he preach and pick up his Bible and claim he gittin the text right out from the good Book and he preach: 'The Lord say, don't you niggers steal chickens from your missus. TOUR MARSTER'S h&wgs.' That would be all he preach* -2- Don't you steal 3x-slave Stories (Texas) Pa^e Three iQQ ^^ X ,! Us niggers used to have a pray in' ground down in the hollow and sometime we come out of the field, between 11 and 12 at night, scorchin' and burnin1 up with nothin1 to eat, and we wants to ask the good Lawd to have mercy. We puts grea,se in a snuff pan or bottle and make a lamp. We takes a pine torch, too, *nd goes down in the hollow to pray. Some gits so joyous they starts to holler loud and we has t stop up they mouth. I see niggers git so full of the lawd and so happy they draps unconscious. M I kep1 a eye on the niggers down in the cotton patch. Sometime they lazy 'round and if I see the overseer corain* from the big house I sings a song to warn * em, so they not git whupped, and it go like this: " fEold up, hold up, American Spirit! Hold up, hold up, H-0~0-0-0-O-0~0! M We used to go huntin1 and they was lots of game, bears and panthers and coons. We have bear dawgs, fox dawg and rabbit dawg that mostly jus1 go by the name of houn1 dawg. Then they have a dawg to run niggers. ,M, I never tried the conjure, but they would take hair and brass nails r^xd thimbles and needles and mix them up in a conjure bag. thing. Bat I knows one They was a old gin between ffilbarger and Colorado and it was hanted with spirits of kilt niggers. Us used t hear that old mill hummin1 when dark come and we slip up easy, but it stop, then when you slip away it start up. H i * member when the stars ^ell# it jedgment day. We runs and prays, 'cause we thinks It sure dumb old Debbil Hillf them stars was over his power. "On Sundays we put shoes on our feet and they was brass toed. They -3- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Four QAA ~UU extxy to eat. All them women sho1 knowed how to cook! I often tell my wife how glad I wa wife how glad I was one mernin' when my missy give me a hot, batter biscuit. I goes down and shows it to all the other boys. We didnft git them hot, butter biscuits in them days, "I used to dance the pigeon wing and swing ay partners 'round. You she1 couldn't tell, even when you Was them womenfolks knock-kneed? swung em 'round, 'cause they dresses was so long. "I's been all 'round the mountain and up on top of it in my day* Durin1 slave time I been so cold I mos1 turn white and they sot me 1fore the fire and poultice me with sliced turnips. Corae a norther and it blow with snow and sleet and I didn't have 'nomgh clothes to keep me warm. "When a nigg r marry, he slick up his lowers and put on his brass-toed shoes, then the preacher marry him out of the Bible. My ps^py have a pass to visit my mammy and if he don't have one, the paddle roller conk him on the head. My grandma and grandpa come here in a steamboat. The man come to Africa and say, 'Man and woman, does you want a job?1 So they gits on the boat and then he has the 'vantage. "Then I was 21 and some moref I don't know jus' how oldf I was a free man. That the day I shouted. We niggers scattered like partridges. I had a fiddle and I'd play for the white folks wherever I went, when they has the balls. I marries after 'while, but I don't know what yearf 'cause we n^rer done paid no 'tention to years. -4- My first wife died after a long Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Pive time, I think f"bout 34 year and I married another and she died this very year. Jus1 three months later I marries iay housekeeper, named Luvena Dixon, cause I allus lived a upright life and I knowed the Lawd wouldn't like it if I went on livin1 in the same house with Luvena without we was married. She is 52 year oldf and we is happy. ******* 20J EX-SLAVE STOBISS (Texas) Page One 2{)2 CATO CAHPffit was born in 1836 or 1837, near Pineapple f Wilcox County, Alabama, a slave of the Carter family. He and his wife live at 3429 Booth St., Dallas, Texas. *Vm home today 'cause my 11*1, old dog is lost and I has to stay round to hunt for him. patches. I been goin1 every dy on the truck to the cotton I don't pick no more, 'count my hands git too tired and begin to cramp on me. But I go and set in the field and watch the lunches for the other hands. M I am a hunerd one years old, fcause Ifs twenty-eight, goin' on twenty-nine, a man growned, when the breakin1 up come. my folks live that way. I'm purty old, but My old, black mammy, Zenie Carter, lived to be a hunerd twenty-five, and Oil Carter, my white massa - which was the brother of my daddy - lived to be a hunerd four. He ain't been so long died. Al Carter, my own daddy, lived to be very ageable, but I don't know when he died. "Back in Alabama, Missie Adeline Carter took me when I was past my creepin' days to live in the big house with the white folks. I had a room built on the big house, where I stayed, and they was allus good to me, 'cause I1 B one of their blood. They never hit me a lick or slapped rae once, and told me they'd never sell me away from them. They was the bes' quality white folks and lived in a big, two-story house with a big hall what run all the way through the house. They wasn't rough as some white folks on their niggers. tt My mammy lived in a hewn-oak log cabin in the quarters. There was a long row of cabins, some bigger than t'others, count of fam'ly size. massa had over eighty head of slaves. My Them li'l, old cabins was cozy, *cause -1- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two we chinked fem witn mud and they had stick chimneys daubed with mud, mixed with hawg-hair. H The fixin's was jus1 plain things. The beds was draw-beds - wooden bedsteads helt together with ropes drawed tight, to hold them. We scalded moss and buried it awhile and stuffed it into tickln1 to make mattresses. Them beds slep1 good, betterfn the ones nowadays. "There was a good fireplace for cookin* and Sundays the Missie give us niggers a pint of flour and a chicken, for to cook a mess of victuals. Then there was plenty game to find. Many eighty squirrels out of one big beech. a time Ifve kilt seventy-five or There was lots of deer and bears and quails and every other kind of game, but when they ran the Indians out of the country, the game jus1 followed the Indiana. Ifve seed the bigges1 herds of deer followin1 the way the Indians drifted. Whenever the Indians lef%, the game all lef1 with them, for some reason I dunno. "Tallin* 'bout victuals, our satin1 was good. all places. Canft say the same for Some of the plantations half starved their niggers and *lowanced out their eat in1 till they wasnft fit tin1 for work. to niggers on other places to piece out their meals. They had to slip about They had field calls and other kinds of whoops and hollers, what had a mean in* to fem. "Our place was fifteen hunerd acres in one block, and sides the crops of cotton and corn and rice and ribbon cane we raised in the bottoms, we had veg*tables and sheep and beef. used to tend it. allus liked honey. themts elves. We dried the beef on scaffolds we built and I But bes1 of anythin1 to eat, I liked a big, fat coon, and I Some the niggers fead 11 fl garden patches they tended for nno ^M Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three 204 "Sverythin1 I tel* you am the truth, but theyfs plenty I canft tell you* I heard plenty things from my mammy and grandpappy. He was a fine diver and used to dive in the Alabama river for things what was wrecked out of boats, and the white folks would git him to go down for things they wanted* Theyfd let him down by a rope to find things on the bottom of the-riverbed. He used to git a piece of monsy for doin1 it. w My grandmamay was a juksie, 'cause her mammy was a nigger and her daddy a Choctaw India white blood. That's what makes me so mixed up with Indian and African and Sometimes it mattered to me, sometimes it didnft. It don't no moref 'cause I,m not too far from the end of my days. M I had one brother and one sister I helped raise. They was mostly nigger. The Carters told me never to worry 'bout them, though, f cause my mammy was of their blood and all of us in our famfly would never be sold, and sometime they'd make free man and women of us. My brother and sister lived with the niggers, though. W I was trained for a houseboy and to tend the cows. The bears was so bad then, a Uponsible pusson who could carry a gun had to look after them. n ify massa used to give me a li'l money flongf to buy what I wanted. I allus bought fine clothes. In the stumaer when I was a lifl one, I wore lowerinfs, like the rest of the niggers. That was things made from cotton sackin*. Most the boys wore shirttails till they was big yearlinfs. When they bought me red russets from the town, I cried and cried. they took 'em back. I didn't want to wear no rawhide shoes. So They had a weakness for my cryin'. I did have plenty fine clothes, good woolen suits they splnned on the place, and doeskins and fine -3- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Pour Q/ ur ^ u linens. I druv in the carfage with the white folks and was 'bout the mos1 dudish niggers in them dudish nigger in than parts, "I used to tend the nurslin* thread. The reason they called it that was when the mamides was confined with babies havin' to suck, they had to spin. Ifd take them the thread and bring it back to the house when it was spinned. If they didn't spin seven or eight cuts a dayf they'd git^ a whuppin1. It was consid*ble hard on a woman when she had a fret tin1 baby. But every raornin1 them babies had to be took to the big house, so the white folks could see if they's dressed right. They was money tied up in lifl nigger youngfuns. "They whupped the women and they whopped the mens. I used to work some in the tanfry and we made the whips. and give 'em the whuppin1. but they got it. They'd tie them down to a stob, Soas niggers, it taken four men to viiup "em, The nigger driver was meaner than the white folks. better not leave a blade of grass in the rows. They'd I seed fem beat a nigger half a day to make him 'fess up to steal in1 a sheep or a shoat. Or they'd whup fem for runnin1 awsgr, but not so hard if they come back of their own cordance when they got hungry and sick in the swamps. But when they had to run 'em down with the nigger dogs, they'd git in bad trouble. "The Carters never did have any real 'corrigible niggers, but I heard of f n plenty on other places. When they was real 'corrigible, the white folks said they was like mad dogs and didn't mind to kill them so ouch as killin' a sheep. They'd take em to the graveyard and shoot 'em down and bury em face downward, with their shoes on. I never seed it done, but they made some the niggers go for a lesson to them that they could git the same. "But I didn't even have to cariy a pass to leave my own place, like the other niggers. I had a cap with a sign on it: DonH bother this nigger, -4- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) page Five or there will be Hell to pay.1 I went after the mailf in the town. in coaches and they put on fresh hosses at Pineapple, 206 It come The coachman run the bosses into Pineapple with a "big to-do and blowin1 the bugle to git the fresh hosses ready, 1 I got the mail, 1 was a trusty all my days and never been rested by the law to this day, rt I never had no complaints for my treatment, but some the niggers hated syrup maki^1 time, 'cause when they had to work till midnight makin' syrup, its four o^clock up, jus1 the same. Sun-up to sundown was for fiel' niggers. "Corn shuckin1 was fun. Them days no corn was put in the cribs with shucks on it. They shucked it in the fiel1 and shocked the fodder. They did it by sides and all hands out, A beef was kilt and they'd have a reg'lar picnic feastin1. They was plenty whiskey for the niggers, jus1 like Christmas. H Christmas was the big day at the Carter's. the bakin1 and preparin1 went on for days. Presents for every body, and The lifl ones and the big ones were glad, 'specially the nigger mens, 'count of plenty good whiskey, Mr. Oil Carter got the bes1 whiskey for his niggers. H We used to have frolics, too. Some niggers had fiddles and played the reels, and niggers love to dance and sing and eat, "Course niggers had their ser'ous side, too. and had a li i log chapel for worship. They loved to go to church But I went to the white folks church. In the chapel some nigger mens preached from the Bible, bat couldnft read a line no more than a sheep could. The Carters didnft miad their niggers prayin1 and singin1 hymns, but some places wouldn't 'low them to worship a-tallf and they had to put their heads in pots to sing or pray. "Mos1 the niggers I know, who had their mar1 age put in the book, did it after the breakin1 upf plenty after they had growned chillen. -5- When they got Sxfflslare Stories (Texas) Page Six 2(3? married on the places, mostly they jus1 jumped over a broom and that made 'em married. Sometimes one the white folks read a lifl out of the Scriptures to em and they felt more married* "Take me, I was never one for sickness. sick. But the slaves used to git There was jaundice in them bottoms. First off they'd give some castor oil, and if that didnft cure they'd give blue mass. Then if he was still sick they'd git a doctor. "They used to cry the niggers off jus' like so much cattle, and we didnft think no difff rent of it. I seed them put them on the block and brag on them some thin' big. Everybody liked to hear them cry off niggers. The cryer was a clown and made funny talk and kep' everybody laughin'. "When massa and the other mens on the place went off to war, he called me and said, 'Cato, you's allus been a 'sponsible man, and I leave you to look after the women and the place. Missie Adeline] If I don't come back, I want you to allus stay by I said, 'Fore Gawd, I will, Massa Oil,1 He said, 'Then I can go away peaceable.1 "We thought for a long time the sojers had the Federals whupped to pieces, but there was plenty bad times to go through. place at nighttime. I carried a gun and guarded the The paddyrollers was bad. I cotched one and took him to the house more'n once. They wore black caps and put black rags over their faces and was allus skullduggerying 'round at night. We didn't use torches any more vkten we went 'round at night, 'cause we was afeared. We put out all the fires 'round the house at nighttime. "The young mens in grey uniforms used to pass so gay and singin', in the big road. Their clothes was good and we used to feed them the best we had on the Bx-slave Stories (Texas) ; place. | place Page Seven Ont^ w& Missie Adeline would say, 'Cato, they is our hoys and give them the best this f fords* f We taken out the hams and the wine and kilt chickens for them. That ; was at first "Then the boys and mens in blue got to comin1 that way, and they was fine lookin men, too* Missie Adeline would cry and say, fCatof they is Just mens and boys and we got to feed them, too.1 Wo had a pavilion built 4n the ;Jrardf like they bad at picnics, and we fed the Fedfrals in that. and says to the Yankees, 'Don't take Cato. He is the only nigger man I got by me now. If you take Cato, I Just don't know what 1*11 do.1 by Missie Adeline so long as I live. Missie Adeline set in to cryin' I tells them sojers I got to stay The Yankee mens say to her, 'Don't 'sturb you- self, we ain't gwine to take Cato or harm nothin1 of yours. The reason they's all right by us, was 'cause we prepared for them, but with some folks they was rough somethin' ter'ble. They taken off their hosses and corn. "I seed the trees bend low and shake all over and heard the roar and poppin1 of cannon balls. There was springs not too far from our place and the sojers used to camp there and build a fire and cook a mule, 'cause they'd got down to starvation. When some of the guerillas seed the fire they'd aim to it, and many a time they spoiled that dinner for them sojers. The Yankees did it and our boys did it, toot There was killin' goin' on so ter'ble, like people was dogs. "Massa Oil come back and he was all wore out and ragged. He soon caLled all the niggers to the front yard and saysf 'Mens and womens, you are today as free as I am. You are free to do as you like, 'cause the damned Yankees done 'creed you are. They ainft a nigger on my place what was born here or ever lived here who can't stay here and work and eat to the end of his days, as long as this old place will raise peas and goobers. Go if you wants, and stay if you wants.1 -7- Ex-slaveStories (Texas) Page Eight PHQ ^u^ Some of the niggers stayed and some went, and some what had ran away to the North come hack. They allus called, real humble like, at the hack gate to Missie Adeline, and she allus fixed it up with Massa Oil they could have a place. M Near the close of the war I seed some folks leavin' for Texas. They said if the Federals won the war they'd have to live in Texas to keep slaves. So plenty started drift in1 their slaves to the west. the wagons and the mans on foot. I They'd pass with the womens ridin1 in Some took slaves to Texas after the Ped'rals done 'creed the breakin' up. "Long as I lived I minded what my white folks told me, 'cept one time. I | They was a nigger workin1 in the fiel1 and he kept jerkin1 the mules and Massa I I Oil got mad, and he give me a gun and said, 'Go out there and kill that maa.1 I| I said, 'Massa Oil, please don't tell me that. I ain't never kilt nobody and I | I don't want to^' He said, 'Cato, you do what I tell you. He meant it. I I | went out to the nigger and said, 'You has got to leave this minute, and I is, too, I 1 'cause I is 'spose to kill you, only I ain't and Massa Oil will kill me.' He I | drops the hanes and we run and crawled through the fence and ran away. I hated to go, 'cause things was so bad, >nd flour sold for $25.00 a I f barrel, and pickled pork for $15.00 a barrel. You couldn't bu y nothin' lessen I had plenty of 'federate money, only it wouldn't buy nothin1. I with gold. w But today I is a old man and my hands ain't stained with no blood. | I is allus been glad I didn't kill that man. M Mule8 run to a ter'bie price then. I for $500.00. 1 A right puny pair of mules sold But the Yankees give me a mule and I farmed a year for a white man f and watched a herd of mules, too. I stayed with them mules till four o'clock I even Sundays. So many scoundrels was go in1 fboutf stealin1 mules, -8- Sx-slave Stories (Texas) Page Nine "That year I was boon1 out by 'greement with the white maaf and I made $360.00. The bureau come by that year lookin1 at nigger's contractsf to see they didnft git skunt out their rightful wages. Missie Adeline and Massa Oil didn't stay mad at me and every Sunday they come by to see me, and brung me li'l del1 cate things to eat, "The Garters said a hunerd times they regretted they never lamed me to read or write, and they said my daddy done put up $500.00 for me to go to the New Allison school for cullud folks. Miss Benson, a Yankee, was the teacher. I was twenty-nine years old and jus' start in1 in the blueback speller. I went to school a while, but one mornin1 at ten o1 clock my poor old mammy come by and called me out. She told me she got put out, 'cause she too old to work in the fiel'. I told her not to worry, that I'm the family man n0 f\ ^lq; Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Ten "Endurin1 the big war I got worried 'bout my lifl black m$pm? and I wanted to go back home and see her and the oiai places. shriveled up to not much of anything, I went, and she was That's the last time I saw her. But for forty-four years I didnft forget to send her things I thought she'd want, I saw Massa Oil and he done married after I left and raised a family of chillen. I saw Missie Adeline and she was a old women. We went out and looked at the tombstones and the rock markers in the graveyard on the old place, and some of them done near melted away. I wouldn't be that way fgain. I looked good at lots of things, 'cause I knowed So many had gone on since Ifd been there befo'. "After my first wife died I married fgain and my wife is a good woman but she1 s old and done lost her voice, and has to be in Terrell most the time. But I git 'long all right, fcept my hands cramps some. w You go in8 take my picture? I lived through plenty and I lived a long time, but this is the first time I ever had my picture took. you wanted to do that, I'd have tidied up and put on my best. *** If I'd knowed 211 420 76 EX-SLAVS STORIES (Texas) Page One 21P 'w JACK CAUTHEHN, 85, was born near Austin, Texas. Dick Townes owned Jack and his parents. After they were freed, the family stayed on the plantation, but Jack went to San Angelo, because "times was too dull in Travis County." "My master was Dick Townes and my folks come with him from Alabama. Ee wqned a big plantation fifteen miles from Austin and worked lots of slaves. We had the best master in the whole county, and everybody called us 'Townes' free niggers," he was so good to us, and we worked hard for him, raisin1 cotton and corn and wheat and oats. "Most the slaves lived in two-room log cabins with dirt floors, over in the quarters, but I lived in master's yard. That's where I was born. There was a tall fence 'tween the yard and the quarters and the other nigger boys was so jealous of me they wouldn't let me cross that fence into the quarters. They told me I thinked I was white, jes1 for livin1 in master's yard. "Me and young master had the good times. He was nigh my age and we'd steal chickens from Old Miss and go down in the orchard and barbecue 'em. One time she cotched us and sho' wore us outi She'd send us to pick peas, but f 6w peas we picked I "Old Miss was good to her cullud folks. When she'd hear a baby cry in' in the night she'd put on boots and take her lantern and go see about it. If we needed a doctor she'd send for old Dr. Rector and when I had the measles he give me some pills big as the end of my finger. n* Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two C\A Q ^lo w Young Miss come over Sunday raomin1 We **ent to church all the time. and fetched all us chillen to the house and read the Bible to us. She was kind of a old maid and that was her pleasure. man was a preacher. Lawd, Lawd, we had shoutin1 at them camp meetin's! !, I guess we was glad to be free. managin* the plantation. paper. We h* d baptisinfs, too. One old cullud Old master done die and Old Miss was She had the whole bunch in the yard and read the freedom The old slaves knowed what it meant, but us young ones didnH. She told everybody they could stay and work on shares and most of lem did, but some went back to they old homes in Alabama^ M I stayed a while and marriedf and came to San Angelo. The reason I come, times was dull in Travis County and I done hear so much talk 'bout this town I said I was comin1 and see for myself. here then. That was in 1900 and it was jes1 a forest I worked eighteen years in McCloskeyfs saloon, and he gave me ten dollars every Christmas 'sides my pay and a suit every year. livin' now. I wish he was My wife and I was together fifty-two years and then she died. After a long time I married again, and my wife is out pickin, cotton now. M It seem mighty hard to me now by side of old times, but I don't know if it was ar$r better in slavery days* and canft work, *** It seems mighty hard though, since I'm old 4,20154 EX-SUtVE STOPJES (Texas) x(?* A *kj Page One 214 SALLY BANKS CHAMBERS, wife of Ben Chaabers of Liberty, does not know her age. She was born a slave of Jim Moore, in Oakland, Louisiana. Sally has been married three tini^s and has had seven children, about 54 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Heavy gold earrings hang from her ears and she dresses, even in midsummer, in a longsleeved calico shirt, heavy socks and shoes, and a sweeping skirt many yards wide. Cjf: ,f Befo' I marry de first time my name am Sally Banks, and Ifs borned in de old states, over in Louisiana, round Oakland. I ain't 'member nothin' 'bout dat place, 'cause I's so small when dey brung me to Texas. "Old massa name Jim Moore. He a fair old gen'man, wish a big bald place on he head, and he am good to de slaves. missus, what was de big, stout woman. Not even as stric1 as old She am terrible stric' , but she whip de li'l white chillen too, so dey be good. M My daddy nnne John Moore and mama nme Car'line, and. dey borned in Louisiana. My grandpa was Lewis Moore and grandma name Polly, but &ej wasn't reg'lar Africy people. My grandma, she have right smart good blood in her. "When old massa come to Texas he brung us ever first by wagon, a mule wagon with a cover over de top, and he rent de house clost to Liberty. But de nex' year he find a place on de rive- bottom nenr Grand Gane and it jes1 suit him for de slaves he have, so he brung all de rest over from Louis iana* "My mama have four chillen when us come to Texas, but she have eleven more after freedom. after dat. When war broke out she have six, but she multiply She de milker and washwoman and spinner, and make de good, strong clothes. -1~ Ex-slave Stories (Texas) page jw0 "Day have li'l seperate houses make outten logs for us slaves- 2JL5 De white folks house was one dese big, old double-pen house, with de hall down de uiddle. Dey have right nice things in it. "De white folks flowance out de food eveiy Saturday night and dat spose last de week. All de cullud folks cook for deyself fceptfn de single men f and dey eats up in de big kitchen. Us have syrup and corribread and lots of sweet Haters and homecure1 meat what dey salt down and hang in de smokehouse. M De old missus, she ain't flow no dancin1 or huzzawin1 round dat place, 1 cause she Christian, own washin den1, Dey flow us Saturday and Sunday off, and de women c;o dey De menfolks tend to de gardens round dey own house. Dey raise some cotton BIIA. sell it to massa and git lifl money dat way. Us donft never have no presents, but dey give eatments mostly. N De young massas both go to war. Dey John Calhoun Moore and Williem. De oldes* goes crazy, kind of shellshock like. never git no more better. As far a& 1 knowed, he ain't Young William and de old man comes back without no scratch, but dey ainft serve long. All dey three 'lists by deyselfsf fcause dey didn't have no truck with dem conscrip'ers. One my uncles, Levy Moor*, he go to war to wait pn de massas, and he struck with de fever at Sabine Pass and die right dare. "After freedom ris up, old massa come home. folks and tell dem dey's free. My daddy and mama both stay. Den he call all de growei A heap left, dey jes' broke ranks and left Dey de favfrites. my mama of a heap of things she need. Old missus make present to But de white folks was jus1 rentin1 and when dey have no slaves no more dey give it up and move to Tarkington Piairie. M Us lost track of dem and ain't never seed daa no more. lfy daddy come back to Liberty den and work in de woodyard. Mama, she Ex-slave Stories (!Pexas) Psge Three 2JLG lam me to work and cook and sich and hire me out to nuss a white baby, I ain't knored how much dey pay, 'cause mama she collec' de money. u Ifs 19 year old when I marry de first time. You know I got two dead men, dat Dick Owens and Nero Williams, both of Liberty. . I has two gals, Alice and Airy,for Dick, and five chillen for Nero. out Adlqwyer and Mamie, Houston, Texas, was born inslavery, on the plantation of Jezro Choice, about 6 miles south of Henderson, Texas, Jeptha was sent to school with the white children, and after he was freed, he was sent to school for several years, and became a teacher. He moved to Houston in 1888 and opened a barber shop. Jeptha claims to have been born on Oct. 17, 1835, which would make him 101 years old. He has the appearance of extreme age, but has a retentive memory, and his manner of speaking varies from fairly good English to typical Negro dialect and idiom. 11 1 1 11 be 102 years old, come fall/cause my mother told me I was born on Oct. 17, 1835, and besides, I was about 30 years old at the end of the Civil War. plantation. froa Serbia. We belonged to the Choices and I was born on their My mother1 s name was Martha and she had been brought here My fatherfs name was John and he was from the East Indies. They was brought to this country in a slave boat owned by Captain Adair and sold to someone at New Orleans "before Master Jez:o Choice bought them. I had five sisters and one brother but they are all dead, fcepting one brother who lives near Henderson, "Master Jezro was right kind. He had 50 or 60 slaves and a grist mill and tannery besides the plantation. My white folks sort of picked me out and I went to school with the white children, I went to the fields when I was about SO, but I didnft do much field woriqi fcause they was keepin1 me good and they didnft want to strain me. "Qa Sunday we just put an old Prince Albert coat on some good nigger and made a preacher out of him. -1- We niggers had our bandf too, and I was 217 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two 218 one of the players. "The master was mighty careful about raisin1 healthy nigger families and used us strong, healthy young bucks to stand the healthy nigger gals. When I was young they took care not to strain me and I was as hand- some as a speckledpup and was in demand for breedin'. Later on we niggers was 'lowed to marry and the master and missus would fi*c the nigger and gal up and have the doin's in the big house. The white folks would gather round in a circle with the nigger and gal in the center and then master laid a "broom on the floor and they held hands and jumped over it. That married fem for good. "When "babies was born old nigger grannies handled them cases, but until they was about three years old they wasn't 'lowed round the quarters, out was wet nursed by women who didn't work in the field and kept in separate quarters and in the evenin' their mammies were let to see 'em. "Vie was fed good and had lots of beef and hawg meat and wild r.-ame. Possum and sweet yams is mighty good. You parboil the possum about half done and put him in a skewer pan and put him in a hot oven and just 'fore he is done you puts the yams in the pan and sugar on 'era. That's a feast. "Sometimes when they's short of bread the old missus would say, 'How 'bout some ash cakes?' Then they'd mix cornraeal and water and sweep ashes out of the open hearth and bake the ash cakes. "The master and his boys was all kilt in the war and after freedom I stayed all summer. It was pretty tough on us niggers for a while, 'cause the womenfolks what was left after the war didnt have money. But Colonel Jones, the master's son-in-law, took rae to live in Henderson and paid twentyfive cents a week for more sehoolin' for me and I learned through fractions. -2- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three Then I got me a job teachin' school about six months a year and in off times Ifd farm. I did lots of different kinds of work, on the narrow guhge railroad out of Lon^jview and I learned to be a barber, too. But I had to give it up a few years back 'cause I can't stand up so long any mo e and now I'm tryin1 to help my people by divine iiealing. *********** 219 4kOJ^43 EX-SLAVS STORIES (Texas) Page One 220 AMOS CLABK, 96, was born a slave of Robert Clark, in Washington County, Texas. After Amos was freed, he farmed near Bel ton, Texas f Amos now lives in Waco. W I was "borned on the second of April, in 1841. Mammy say dat de year, 'cause Marse Bob's brother, Tom, done go tradin1 and has a lot of trouble with de Indians, and comeback with scars all over he arms. It warnft all dey fault, fcause Marse Tom allus gittin* in trouble with somebody. 11 When I was still half-growed, Marse Bob traded me to Marse Ed Rosel&orough, and we come to Belton to live. Us piled ox wagons high with beddin1 and clothes and sich, and Old Marse had he books in a special horsehair trunk, jrhat de hide still had hair on. It had brass tacks all trimmin1 it up, and it was sho1 a fine trunk, and he say, Amost you black rascal, keep you eye on dat trunk, and don't git it wet crossis1 de water and don't let no Indian git it.1 Us had a sizeable drove of cattle and soaie sheep and pigs and chickens and ducks. "Marse and Missis finds where dey wants de house and us gits dem axes out and in a few days dere am a nice log house with two big rooms and a hall Hween dem, mos1 as big as de rooms. Us been on de road bout six weeks and Missis sho1 proud of her new house. logs Den us makes into houses for us and a big kitchen close to de big house. Den us builds a office for Old Marse and makes chairs and beds and tables for everybody. Old Miss brung her bed and a spindly, li'l table, and us make all de rest. -1- Ex-slave Stories (Page Two) (Texas) page Two /2&i. ' For eat in1 de good shooters and scouters gits birds and rabbits and wild turkeys and sometimes a lot of wild eggs or honey, when dey chops a bee tree down. A old Indian come to holp us hunt. Ed give him some red calico or a hatchet* He'd work a week if Marse Old Miss done bring a dozen hens and a bag of seeds, and folks come ridin1 twenty miles to swap-things. "Dere warn*t no mill to grind corn, so de boss carpenter, he hollows out a log and gits some smooth, hard rocks and us grind de corn like it was a morter. Old Man Stubblefield builded a waterraill on de creek 'bout eight miles fro us, and den us tooken de corn dere# M Dere was three hundred acres and more'n fifty slaves, and lots of work, clearin1 and buildin1 and plant in1. for two years. S0me de cabins didn't git no floor Jes1 quick as dey could, de men gits out clapboards for de walls and split puncheon slabs for floors and palin's for fences. w Miasis, she takes two de likelies1 young slaves and makes a garden, come spring. Somehow she git herself roses and posies and vegetables. M Dere warnft no overseer. Marse Ed, he jes1 ride round on he big hoss Us didnft know nothin 'bout de war much, 'cause none us could and see to things. read or write* M Dere was two fiddlers 'mongst us, Jim Roseborough and Tom. Deyfd have de big barbecue for folks come from miles round, and coffee and chicken and turkey and dancin1 and fiddlin1 all night. Come daybreak, dey Jes1 goin1 good. dance back de quarters, and call H, A11 eight balance and all eight swing, ill left allemond and right hand grand, Meet your partner and pran'nade, eight, Den march till you come straight. *2* Us niggers 3x-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three Mt First Swing Swing Don't 2 53 lady out to couple on de right, Mr. Adam and swin^ Miss Eve, Old Adam befo' you leave, forgit your own --now you're home.1 f'Two, three years after dat I marries Liza Smith. *Us has four chillen and all dead fcept John, and he lives out west, ,: After freedom Old Marse say kill a yearlin1 and have de big dinner and dance, De young ones he told to scatter out and hunt work, not to steal and work hard. Some de oldes' ones he give a cabin aid a patch of land. He say de niggers what want to stay on and work for him can, if fen he make enough to feed dem. I stays with Marse Ed, hut he give me a patch of twenty acres and a sorghum mill to make a livin1 on , Dat how I gits on my way after freedom. W I gits dat sor^iura mill to workin' good and works de Roseborough land and my patch, and raises corn and cotton and wheat. I was plumb good at fanain' I allus had a piece or two of mone*r in my pocket since I can fmember, hut now de old man'8 too old. De govfment gives me seven or eight dollars a month and I has a few chickens and gits by, and de good white folks nigh by sees dat dis old boy donft git cold. ***** c 430059 B3US1AVE STORIES (Texas) fage One MOTHER AKHE CLARK, 112 years old, lives at 3602 Alameda Are., 11 Paso, Texas. She is too crippled to walk, but a smile lights up the tired old eyes that still see to sew without glasses. One tooth of a third set is in her upper gum. She is deaf, but can hear if you speak close to her ear. She says, "lemme git my ears open, bofe of fem," wets her finger, then pulls so hard on the ear lobes it seems' they would be injured. "lUl be 112 years old, come first day of June(l937). Bofn in Mississippi. nearly 80 years. I had two marsters, but Ifve been free I was freed in Memphis. "My marster was a Yankee. made a slave outta me. He took me to Louisiana and But he had to go to war. He got in a quarrel one day and grabbed two six-shooters, but a old white man got him down and nearly kilt him. Our men got him and gave him to the Yankees. "Capt. Clark, my second marster, took a shot at him and he couldn1 come south no more. seen! You don1 know what a time I I don1 wanna see no more war. Why, we made the United States rich but the Yankees come and tuk it. They buried money and when you bury money it goes fuHher down.down, down, and then you cainft fin1 it, *You know, the white folks hated to give us up worse thing in the world. I ploughed, hoed, split rails. work ever a man ever did, I donejthe hardest I was so strong,Jl fl*njto^^ 1*4 pull theben down so ilm-mun^mT cou d. h^nd/mffj^ea^ 223 Ex-slave Stories Texas Page Two Theyfd whop us with a bullwhip. We got up pt 3 o'clock, at 4 we done et and hitched up the mules and went to the fiel's. pullin1 fodder and choppin1 cotton. V7e worked all day Marster'd say, 'I wan1 you to lead dat fiel1 todayt and if you don' do it I'll put vou in de stocks.' Then he'd whop me if fen I didn* know he was talkin1 to me, "My poppa was strong. He never had a lick in his life. He f helped the raarster, but one day the marster says, Sit you got to have a whoppin'f'and ray poppa says, *I never hs>d a whoppin' and you c&in't whop me,' down. An' the raarster says, 'But I kin kill you,' an' he shot ray poppa My mpme tuk hira in the cabin and put hira on a .pallets {r Uy msjaa did the wash in1 for the big house. on her head and a bucket of water in her hand. They allus said we'd She tuk a big tub My mams* had two white chillen by iaarster and they were sold as slaves, I never married. He died* I had two chillen, too. steal, but I didn' take a thing. Why, they'd put me on a boss with mane:? to take into town ?nd I'd take it to the store in town, and when I'd git back, iaarster'd say, 'Annef you didn* take a thing.' "When women was with child they'd dig a hole in the groun' and put their stomach in the hole, pnd then beat 'em. They'd allus whop us#" "Don' gring me anything fine to werr for my birthday. wan' some candy. I jus' I'm lookin1 for Him to take me away from here.*' *********** /2 54 ^r^U*'^**" EX-SLATE STOBIES (Texas) P?ge One 225 THCUAS COLE was bom in Jackson Co., Alabama, on the 8th of August, 1845, a slave of Bobert Cole. He ran away in 1861 to join the Union Aray. He fought at Chickamauga, under Gen, Hosecran and at Chattanooga, Look Oxt Mt. and Orchard Knob, under Gen, Thomas. After the war he worked as switchman in Chattanooga until his health failed due to old age. He then 6ame to Texas and lives with his daughter, in Corsicana. Thomas is blind. "I might as well begin far back as I remember and tell you all about myself, 8f 1845. I was born over in Jackson County, in Alabama, on August My mother was Elizabeth Cole, her bein' a slave of Robert Cole, and my father was Alex Gerrand, 'cause he was John Gerrand's slave, I was sposed to take my father's name, but be was sech a bad, ornery, nocount sech a human. I jes1 taken my old massa1 s name. } y mother was brung from Virginny by Massa Dr. Cole, and she nussed all his six chillen. My sister's name was Sarah and my brother's name was Ben and w* lived in one room of the big housef and allus had a good bed to sleep in and good things to eat at the saxae table, after de white folks gits through. "I played with Massa Cole's chillen all de time, and when I got older he started me workin1 by tot in1 wood and sech odd jobs, and feed in' de hawgs. Us chillen had to pick cotton every fall. De big baskets weigh about seventy-five to a hundred pounds, but us chillen put our pickinfs in some growed slave1 s basket. De growed slaves was jes' like a mule. He work for grub and clothes, and some of dem didn't have as easier a time as a mule, for mules was fed good and slaves was sometimes half starved. 1- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two But Uassa Cole was a smart man and a good man with it. He had spect for the slaves1 feelin's and didn t treat dem like dumb "brutes, and ' lowed dem more privileges dan any other slaveholder round dere. He WHS one of de best men I ever knows in ray whole life and his vvife was jes1 li>:e him. Dey had a "bit, four-room log house with a big hall down the center up P.JI& down. De logs was all peeled and de chinkin1 a diff'rent color fron de logs and covered with beads. De kitchen am a one-room house behin1 de big house with de big chimney to cook on. '-at where all de meals cooked and carry to de house, M In winter massa allus kill from three to four hundred hawgs, de two killing he done in November and January. Some kill and stick, some scald and scrapef and some dress dem and cut dem up and render de lard. Dey haul plenty hickfry wood to de smokehouse and de men works in shifts to keep de smo^e fire goin1 sev'ral days, den hangs de meat in de meat house. First us eat all de chitlinfsf den massa begin issuin1 cut-back bones to each fara'ly, and den 'long come de spareribsf den de middlin1 or a shoulder, and by dat time he kill de second time-and dis was to go all over 'gain. same kind of meat each week. Each family git de Iff en one git a ham, dey all git a ham. e^rs and feet was pickle and we eats dem, too. All de If de meat run out 'fore killin1 time, us git wild turkeys or kill a beef or a goat, or git a deer, M Massa let us plant pumpkins and have a acre or two for watermelons, iffen us work dem on Saturday eveninfs, Dere a orchard of 'bout fiwe or six acres peaches and apples and he flow as to have biscuits once a week. Yes, we had good eatin1 and plenty of it den, fMassa had one big, stout, healthy lookin? slave 'bout six foot, four inches tall, what he pay $3,000 for* -2- He bought six slaves I knows of and give OOP *"^> Ex~slave Stories (Texas) page Three He never sold a slave fless he git onruly. from $400 up for dem. "Massa allus give us cotton clothes for sumner and wool for winter, 1 c??use he raised cotton and sheep. Den each fam!ly have some chickens and sell dem and de eggs and maybe go huntin1 rnd sell de hides and git some money. Den us buy wh^t am Sunday clothes with dat moneyf sech as hats and pants and shoes and dresses. H tfefd git up early every day in de year, rain or shine, hot or cold, A slave blowed de horn and dere no danger of you not wakin1 up when dat blowed long and loud. He climb up on a platform fbout ten feet tall to blow Wefd work till noon and eat in de shade and rest dat bugle. a little more iff en it hot, but only a hour if it cold. ! bout a hour or You is d. lus tired when you makes de day like dat on de plantation and you can't play all night like de young folks does now. But us lucky, f cause Massa Cole don't whip us. De man what have a place next ours, he sho1 whip he slaves. He have de cat- o-nine tails of rawhide leather platted round a piece of wood for a handle. De wood fbout ten inches long and de leather braided on past de stock quite a piece, and fbout a foot from dat all de strips tied in a knot and sprangle out, and makes de tassle. Dis am call de cracker and it am what split de hide. Some folks call dem bullwhips, f stead of cat-o~nine tails. man do when he buy a slave, am give him de whippin1. De first thing dat He call it puttin1 de fear of Gawd in him. w Massa Cole flow us read de Bible. He awful good fbout dat. de slaveowners wouldn't f we could go to church, De preacher baptize de slaves in de river. low no sech. -3~ Most Uncle Dan he read to us and on Sunday Dat de 00-*J Bx-slave Stories Page Four (fans) good, old-time fligion,and us all go to shoutin1 and has a good time. Ooo *** Dis genfration too dig'fied to have de old-time 'ligion. "When baptizin1 comes off, it almost like goin1 to de circus. P*ople come from all over and dey all singin1 songs and everybody take dere lunch and have de good time. and next summer he die. Massa Cole went one time and den he git sick, Missy Cole, she moves to Huntsville, in Alabama. But she leave me on de plantation, f cause I*m big and stout den. She takes my mother to cook and dat de last time I ever seed my mother. Missy Colo buys de fine house in Huntsville my mother tells me to be good and do all de overseer tells me. I told her goodbye and she never did git to come back to see me, and I never seed her and my brother and sister 'gain. I don!t know whether dqy am sold or not. W I thinks to myself, dat Mr. Anderson, de overseer, he1!! give me dat cat-o~nine tails de first chance he #its, but makes up my mind he won't git de chancef 'cause I's gwine run off de first chance I gits. I didn't know how to git out of dere, but Ifs gwine north where dere ainft no slaveowners, In a year or so dere am 'nother overseer, Mr. Sandson, and he give me de log house and de gal to do my cookin1 and sich. gwine to de field earlier and stayin1 later. Dere am war talk and we 'gins Corn am haul off, cotton am haul off, hawgs and cattle am rounded up and haul off and things 'gins lookin' bad. De war am on, but us donft see none of it. us eats bread out of kaffir corn and maize. But 'stead of eatin1 cornbread, *e raises lots of okra and dey say it gwine be parch and grind to make coffee for white folks. look good either. Dat didn't Dat winter, *atead of kill in1 three or four hundred hawgs Ex-slave Stories \Uexas) like we allus done befol Page Five J2 59 we only done one killin* of a hundred seventy-five, and f dey not aLl "big ones, neither. When de meat supply runs low, Mr. Sandson sends some slaves to kill a deer or wild hawgs or jesf any kind of game. He never sends me in any dem hunches but I hoped he would and one day he calls me to go and says not to go off de plantation too far, hut he shof bring home some meat. Dis de chance I been wantin*, so when we gits to de hunt in1 ground deieader says to scatter out, / and I tells him me and 'nother man goes north and make de circle round de river and meet bout sundown. I crosses de river and goes north, country, where dey ainft no slaves, and follows de north star. I's gwine to de free I travels all dat day and night up de river Sevfral times I thunk de blood houn's am trailin1 me and I gits in de big hurry. Ifs so tired I couldnft hardly move, but I gits in a trot, 11 1 1 s hop in1 and prayin' all de time I meets up with dat Harriet Tubman woman. She de cullud women what takes slaves to Canada. She allus travels de underground railroad, dey calls it, travels at night and hides out in de day. She sho* sneaks dem out de South and I thinks she's de brave woman* H I eats all de nuts and kills a few swasp rabbits and cotches a few fish* I builds de fire mi goes off fbout half a mile and hides in de thicket till it burns down to de coals, den bakes me some fish and rabbit, fraid Ifd git cotched, but 1*^ newly starve to death. Ifs shakin1 all de time, I puts de rest de fish in W cap and travels cm dat night by de north star and hides in a big thicket de nex1 % day and; along <*vening I hears guns shootin*, I sho1 m scart dis time, sho1 'nough. H0m ^OB^ ^ c<^m in and scart to go out, and while Ifs standin1 dere, I hears two "l^jljj&lji^ Ihat yoit d<5inf' I'says, 'TJh~uh-uh,, I dunno. E**slaveStories {Texas) Page Six You ainft gwine take me hack to de plantation, is you?1 you want to fight for de North?1 men. 230 Dey says, !No, Does I says I will, 'cause dey talks like northern Us walk night and day and gits in Gen. Eosecran^ cf?mp and dey thunk I*s de spy from de South. Dey asks rae all sorts of questions and says dey1!! whip me if I didn't tell dem what I*s spyin1 thout. work helpin1 with de cannons, Fin'ly dey flieves me and puts me to I feels fportant den, hut I didnft know what was in front of me, or I 'spects I*d run off fgain, H I helps sot dem cannons on dis Chickamauga Mountain, in hidin* places. I has to go with a man and wait on him end dat cannon, First thing I knows, hang, bang, "boon, things has started, and guns am. shootin1 faster dan you can think, and I looks round for de way to run* But dem guns am shootin1 down de hill in front of me and shootin1 at me, and over me and on hotn sides of me. I tries to dig me a hole and All dis hajpen right now, and first tning I knows, de man am kickin1 me git in it. and wantin1 e to holp him keep dat cannon loaded. "but I has to help anywgy. Manf I didnU want no cannon, We fit till dark and de Bebels got more men dan us, so Sen* Boseeran sends de message to Gen, Woods to come help us oat. When de messenger slips off, I sho1 wish it em me slippin* off, hut I didnft want to see no Gen, Woods. I jes1 wants to git hack to dat old plantation and pick more cotton* Ifd "been wHlin* to do mos* mything to git out that mess, hut I done told Gen. Eosecran I wants to fight de Behels and he shof was let tin1 me do it. 4 he was makin1 me do it. He wasn t jas1 lettin* me do itt I done got in dere and he wouldnft 1st me out. H White folks, dere was men layin1 wantin1 helpf wantin1 water, with hlood ':l:''Ttadasitk%\ out dem and de top or sides dere heads gone, great hig holes in dem, I $:/:.^m^^^mlMBB' de good Lawd if he jes* let me git out dat mess, I wouldn't run off den he wasm1^ gwine let me out with jes1 dat "battle. j|f|^^ WB$^-:' >. W&^c '."' :'-- '-''.' ' ' Sx *slave Stories (Texas) Page Seven OQ-4 Wl He gwine give me plenty more, but dat battle ainft over yet, for ney' mornin' de Rebels fgins shootin* and killin1 lots of our men, and (Jen. foods ain't come, so Gen. Rosecran orders us to 'treat, and didn*t have to tell me what he said, neither. De Rebels comes after us, shootin1, and we runs off and leaves dat cannon what I was with settin* on de hill, and I didn't want dat thing nohow. "We kep' hotfootin* till we gits to Chattanooga and dere is where we stops. Here comes one dem Rebel generals with de big bunch of men and gits right on top of Look Out Mountain, right clost to Chattanooga, and wouldn't let us out. I don't know jes' how long, but a long time. Lots our bosses and mules starves to death and we eats some de hosses.. We all like to starve to death ourselves. Chattanooga is in de- beni de Tennessee River and on Look Out Mountain, on de east, am dem Rebels and could keep up with everything we done. Thomas gits in some way. After a long time a Gen. He finds de rough trail or wegon road round de mountain 'long de river and supplies and men com-s by boat up de river to dis place and comes on into Chattajnooga. More Union men kep1 corain1 and I guess maybe six or eight generals and dey gits ready to fight. It am long latein Pall or early winter. H Dey starts cUmbin' dis steep mountain and when us gits three-fourths de way up it am foggy and you couldnft see no place* slick and dey fgins f ightin1. Everything wet and de rocks em I fspect some shoots dere own men, fcause you couldn't see nothin1, jes1 men runnin1 and de guns roarin1. Fin'ly dem Rebels fled and we gits on Look Out Mountain and takes it. Dere a long range of hills leadin' to Missionary Mdge. f way frcm Look Out Mountain, nearly Dis ridge flongside de Chickamauga River, what m de Indian :^lifef;:'aetoin>v^iv0r" of Death, Dey flights de Rebels on Orchard Knob hill and I Jp|f^Sn' % in daiifc.vV'btft^I^ in de Missionary Ridge battle* S^^^^^^-ir^o;:-.-^;-.-i:-.-.r^.-:" :; !:.' r:-\- v, ...... -.'..,s...'...-, ';..' -. .. m&& i> -i: '!' \*#fo'. We has to come out de timber 3**slaveStories and run 'cross a strip or openin1 up de hill. runs 'cross dat openin'. could. ^ Page Nine Dey sho1 kilt lots our men when we We runs for all we's worth and uses guns or aqything we De Rebels turns and runs off and our soldiers turns de cannons round what we's capture, and kilt some de Hebels with dere own guns. "I never did git to where I wasn't scaxt when we goes into de battle. Dis de lpst one I's in and I's sho' glad, for I never seed de like of dead and wounded men. we could. We picks dera up, de Rebels like de Unions, and doctors defc de bes' When I seed all dat suffering I hopes I never lives to see 'nother war. Dey say de World War m worse but I's too old to 30. M I sho' wishes lots of times I never run off from de plantation. I begs de General not to send me on any more battles, ami he says I's de coward and sympathizes with de South. But I tells him I jes1 couldn't stand to see all dem men layin' dere dyin' pnd hollerin1 and beggin' for help and a drink of water, and blood everywhere you looks. Killin' hawgs back on deplantation didn't bother me none, but dis am diff'rent, n fin'ly de General tells me I can ^o back to Chattanooga and guard de sup- plies in camp dere and take care de wounded soldiers and prisoners. is with me and we has all we can do. We gits de orders to send supplies to some general md it my job to help load de wagons or box cars or boats. leaves sometimes. center. X train of wagons We gits all dem supplies by boat, and Chattanooga am de 'stributing When winter comes, everybody rests awhile and waits for Spring to open. Be Union general sends in some more cullud soldiers. aeh but de las1 year de war dere am lots. |^^:.oan git to windde war. llfT ' ' iiP A bunch of men * 9 Cere ain't been many cullud De North and de South am takin' anything Bx-slaveStories tlexas) Poge Ten 0 >*> && a rt When Spring breaks and all de snow am gone, and de trees fgins puttin1 out and everything 'gins to look purty and peaceable-like, makin1 you think you ought to be plowin1 and plantin1 a crop, dat when de fightin* starts all over fgain, killin1 men and barn in1 homes 'and steal in1 stock end food. clear roads and build tenpfrary bridges. rivers, wadin1 water up to our chins. Den dey sends me out to help We walks miles on muddy ground, cross We builds rafts and pole bridges to git de mules and hosses and cannons 'cross,and up and down hills,and cuts roads through timber. M But when dey wants to battle Gen. Thomas allus leaves me in C^TO to tend de supplies. He calls me a coward, ->nd I she1 glad he thunk I was. coward, I jes1 couldnH stand to see all dem people tore to pieces. I wasnrt no I hears 'bout de battle in a thick forest and de trees big qs my body jesf shot down* I seed dat in de Missionary Ridge battle, too. M I shifts from one camp to *nother and fin'ly gits back to Chattanooga. I bet durin1 my time I handles nough ammunition to kill everybody in de whole United States* I seed mos* de mainest generals in de Union Army and some in de Hebel Army. M After de war am over wefs turned loose, nowhere to go and nobody to help us. I couldn't go South, for dey calls me de traitor and sho1 kill me iffen dey knows I fit for de North. I does sny little job I can git for fbout a year and fin'ly gits work on de railroad, in Stevenson, in Alabama* I gits transfer to Chattanooga X and works layin1 new tracks and turn tables and sich* H In fbout two weeks I had saw a gal next door, but Ifs bashful. :$0 W I dresses up and takes her to a dance. -i^^|ptrrl6A: at her uncles. Her name am Hancy. ^^ird'f^room house built on it. ll|fell^;V-s But after We sparks fbout two months and den We buys a piece of land and I We has two chillen and Vs livin' with de baby -~1Q*^ Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Eleven OO/J && a "I 'lieve de slaves I knoed as a whole was happier and better off after 'mancipation dim b^fo'. hard to git f Of course, de first few years it was awful justed to de new life. All de slaves knowed how to do hard work, end dat de old slaves life, but dey didn't know nothin' - bout how to 'pend on demselves for de livin1. My first year wild game in dem days. as hard, but dere was plenty De south was buoke and I didnft hear of no slaves gittin' anything but to crop on de halves. Dey too glad to be free and didn't want nothin'. M Ti;inga 'gin to git bad for me in Chattanooga as de white men finds out I run off from de South and jined de North. Some de brakemen try to git my job. I fin'ly quits when one of dem opens a switch I jus' closed. I seed him and goes back and fixes de switch, but I quits de job. I goes up north but dey ain't int1 rested, so I comes back and sells my hoi?,e and buys me a team and wagon. for Texas* I loads it with my wife and chlllen and a few things and starts We's on de road 'bout six weeks or two months. every day and de trip didn't cost much. Yfe fishes and hunts I buys ninety acres in timber in Cass County and cuts logs for a house and builds a two-room house and log crib, &y wife built a stomp lot for de team and cow and a rail fence. N We got 'nough land cleared for de small crop, 'bout thirty acres, and builds de barn and sheds outselves. We lived there till de chillen am growed. My wife died of chills and fever and den my boy and I built a four-room house of planks from our timber. Den I gits lonesome, 'cause d e chillen gone, and sells de place. I bougjat it for fifty cents de acre and sold it for $12.00 de acre. -11- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Twelve 23*3 W I hoys sixty acres in Henderson County for $15.00 a acre and mar- ries de second time. I didnft care for her like Nancy. All she think ,hout am raisin1-de devil and never wants to work or save anything. She like to have broke rae down befo1 I gits rid of her. I stayed and farmed sev*ral years. w My son-in-law rents land in Chambers Creek bottom, and he usually gits he crop ffore de flood gits it# We haa some hawgs to kill ev'ry winter and we has our eorauaeal and milk and eggs and. chickens, so de fpression ainft starved us yit. We all got might1 nigh naked durin1 de fpression. de hawgs and chickens night and mornin1. to deia eat in1 and cackle. till dey loses dem. I feeds I canft see dem, but I likes to listen People donft know how dey*s blessed with good eyes, Everybody ought to be more thankful dan they is, H I ainft never voted in my life. I leans to de publicans. I donft know much fbout politics, though. "Today I is broke, f cause I spent all ray money for med*cine and doctors, but I gits a small pension and I spends it moa1 care Ail, ***** 420270 EX-SLAVS STOBIES (Texas) Page One ELI COLEMAK, 91, was horn a slave of George Brady, in Kentucky, Elifs memory is poor and his story is somewhat sketchy. He now lives in Madisonvilie, Texas. rt I has a old bill of sale, end it shows my iaassa m George Brady. ! I B "born in 1S46 and I know my pap-oy1 s nsrae was sane as mine, and msimny was Ella, and I hod one brother n&aed Samf and my sisters was Sadie and Bosa and Viola. They's all dead now# Peppy was owned "by Massa Coleraan, what was brother to Massa Brady. her. Pappy could only see mammy once a week when he's courtin* ^or I heard papny tell fbout his pappjr, over in Africy, and he had near a hundred wives &nd over three hundred chillen. "Pappy neyer did work. All ha ever did was trade. He'd make one thing and 'nother and trade it for something to eat. He could get lots of fruit and game out of the woods then daysf and there was lots of fish. u 0ur log house was built of logs, trimmed, and had six rooms. It was long, like a cowbarn or chicken house, and my room was third, we had one door to each room, covered over with hides. We dug out one corner for the bed and fenced it up rnd gathered straw and moss and tore-up corn shucks, nnd put in the corner to sleep on. Whst I mean, it was a warm bed. t,T 7e did all kinds of work, choppin* cotton nnd split rails pnd cut rockf and work in the tobacco field, ffefd cut that tobpeco pnd hang it in the shed to dry. It had to be hanged by the stubble end. "We had plenty to eat, sech PS corn pones. The corn was grated by hand and cooked in ashes, and no salt or soda or fancy things like they put in bread now* -1- 230 $x~slave Stories (Texas) Page Two nn^ ^' fl There was possum and rabbit and we cooked them different to now* A great bigf old pot hung over the old rock fireplace* still eats good. Pood cooked that way Massa Brady allus give us lots out of the garden. us regflar on goodf He fed f stantial food, jus1 like youfd tend to you hoes, if you had a real good one, w Massa Brady, he was one these jolly fellows and a real good man, illus good to his black folks. Missy, she was plumb angel. They lived in a old stone house with four big rooms. It was the best house in the whole county and lots of shade trees by it. w We had *bout a hundred acres in our plantation and started to the field 1 fore daylight and worked long as we could see, and fed ane stock and got to bed fbout nine o1 clock. Massa whopped a slave if he got stubborn or lazy. whopped one so hard that slave said hefd kill him. He So Massa done put a chain roandi his legs, so he jus1 hardly walk, and he has to work in the field that way. At night he put Mother chain round his neck and fastened it to a tree. After three weeks massa tumt him loose and that the proudes1 nigger in the world, and the hardes1 workin1 nigger massa had after that. M 0n Saturday night we could git a pass or have a party on our own place. Through the week we'd fall into our quarters and them patterrollers come walk all over us, and we14 be plumb still, but after they done gone sorae niggers gits up and out. ' '6ft Christmas Day massa make a great big eggQriogi and let us have ail we [*&&* with a big dnner. r!~-.-<--':'''-'i'''-y\l'..--'y-'- He kilt a yearlin1 and made plenty barbecue for us. .'fPyOiP^ Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three "Massa 'vas z colonel in the war and took me along to car* for his hoss and gun. Them guns, you couldn't hear no thin1 for them poppin'. Us niggers had to go all over and pick up then what got kilt. Them what was hurt we carried back. Them what was too bad hurt we had to carrv to the burying place and the white mam'd finish killin1 them, o we could roll thSra in the hole. "When massa say we're free, we nil 'gun to take on. We didn't have no place to go nd asked mass* could we stay, but he sqy no. But he did let some stay and furnished teams and something to eat p.n&. work on the halves. I stayed and was sharecropper, and that was when slavery start, for when we got our cop made it done take everv bit of it to pay our debts and we had nothing left to buy winter clothes or pay doctor bills. "'Bout a year after the war I marries Nora Brady, jus' a home weddin1. I asks her to come live wtth me as my wife and she *greed and she jus' moved her clothes to my room and we lived together a. long time. One room in1 Nora jus' died, and there warn't no chillenf so I sets out for Texas* I done hear the railroad is buildin1 in Texas and they hires lots of niggers. I gits a hoss from massa and rolls up a few aothes and gits my gun. "I never got very far 'fore the Indians takes my hoss away from me. It was 'bout fifty mile to a train and I didn't have no money, but I found a white man what wants wood cut *=nd I works near a month for him and gits $?t00. I gits on a train and ccsnes a hundred mile from where that railroad was goin' r cross the country, and I has to walk near all that hundred miles. Once and now a white man com in1 or goin1 lets me ride. But I got there and the job pays me sixty cents a day. That was lots of money them days. Near as I 'member, it -3~ O'lQ ^* Enslave Stories (Texas) Page four 239 was 186? or 1868 wfaea, I comes to Texas H Then I marries Agnes Frazer, and we has a big weddin1 and a preacher and a big supper for two or three weeks. all the time* six gals. Her pqspy kilt game and we et barbecue fe had eleven chillenf one a year for a long-time, five boys and One made a school teacher and I ain't seen her nearly forty-five years, * cause she done took a notion to go north and they won't let her back in Texas 'cause she married a white mm in lew York. I don't like that. She don't have no sense or she wouldn't done that, no, sir. "Since the nigger been free it been Hell on the poor old nigger. He has advance some waysf but he's still a servant and will bef long as Gawd's curse still stay on the Negro race. We was tumt loose without nothin' and done been under the white man rule so long we couldnH hold no job but labor, years on that railroad and the rest my life I farms. I worked most two Now I gits a little pension from the gov'ment and them white folks am sho' good to give it to me, 'cause I ain't good for work no more. ********* 4 0003 23USLA7E STORIES (Texas) Pa*e One ; 240 FEEBLY OQ&SMAH was bom ia 1852 on the Souba farm, near New Berry, South Carolina, hut he and his mother were sold and brought to Texas when Freely was a month oh, They settled near Alto, Texas. Freely now lives in Tyler. f, I*a Freely Coleman and I never gits tired of talking. Bia*amf it am Juneteenth, but I*m home, go on them eelerabrations. Yes, e cause Ifm too old now to Where was I born? cause my mammy tells me that a thousand times* I knows that fzactly, I was born down on the old Souba place, in South Carolina, 'bout ten mile from Hew Berry* My mammy belonged to the Souba family, but its a fact one of the Souba boys was my pappy and so the Scubas sells my mammy to Bob and Dan Lewis and they brung us to Texas 'long with a big bunch of other slaves. Mammy tells me it was a ffcill month *fore they gits to Alto, their new home. When I was a chile I has a purty good time, * cause there was plenty chillen on the plantation. We had the big races. Durin1 the war the sojers stops by on the way to Mansfield, in Louisiana, to git somethin* to eat and stay all night, and thenfs when we had the races. There was a mulberry tree we'd run to and we'd line up and the sojers would say, f Now the first one to slap that tree gits a quarter,1 and I nearly allus gits there first. I made plenty Quarters slsppin1 that old mul- berry tree! M So the chillen gits into their heads to fix me, all the quarters. f cause I wins They throws a rope over my head and started draggin- me down the road, and down the hill, and I was nigh 'bout choked to -1- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Pag, 1*0 death. My only friend was Billy and he was a-fightia', try in to git ms loose. 241 They was goin to throw me in the big spring at the foot of that hill, but we neets Capt. Berrymaa, a white nan, and he took his knife and cut the rope from ay neck and took me by the heels and soused ae up and down in the spring till Z come to. They never tries to kill me any mere. * My mammy done married John Salman on the way- to Texas, no / I I cere*aoay, you knows, but with her massa's consent. How our masters, the Lewises, they loses their place and then the Selaan's buy me and maamy. They pays $1,500 for ay mammy and I was throwed in. M Massa Selman has five cabins in ha backyard and they1 a builfr like half circle* I grows big 'nough to hof and den to plow. We has to be ready for the field by daylight and the conk was blowed, and massa call out, ,ill hands ready for the field, At 11:30 he blows the conk, what am the mussel shell, you knows, 'gain and we eats dinner, and at 12:30 we has to be back at work* But massa wouldn't 'low no kind of work on Sunday* "Massa Tom made us wear the shoes, ' cause they's so many snags and stuaps our feets gits sore, and they was red russet shoes. I'll nermr forgit em, they was so stiff at first we could hardly stand 'em. Massa Tom was a good man, though he did lore he drsmu Nut He kep' the bottle in the center of the dining table all the time and every meal he'd have the toddy. Us slaves et out under the trees in summer and in the kitchen in winter and most gen'rally we has bread in pot liquor or milk, but sometimes homey, "I well 'members when freedom come. We was in the field and massa comes up and say, 'Tou all is free as I ia.f and 'fore night us was all 'way to freedom, eeeeee*e*e There was shoutim' and aingin' E3USLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One HAEHIBT COLLINS was bom in Houston, Texas, in 1870 Her family had been slaves of Eichard Coke, and remained with him many years after they were freed. Harriet recalls some incidents of fie construction days, and believes in the superstitions handed down to her from slave days* w My birthday done come in January, on de tenth. I!s birthed in Houston, in 1870f and &ov* Richard Coke allus had owned my daddy and mammy* and dey stayed with him after freedom. Mammy, what was Julia Collins, didn't die till 1910, and she was most a hundred year old# "She done told me many a time 'bout how folkses git all worked up over Uarse Cokefs Section. Mammy took lunch to de Capitol House to Marse Eichard, and dere he am on de top floor with all he congressmen and dat Davis man and he men on de bottom floor, tryin' to say Marse Eichard ain't got no right to be governor dis here State. Old Miss and de folkses didnH sleep a wink dat night, 'cause dey thunk it sho* be a fight* Bat in 1873, mammy allus say* tt De old place at Houston was like most all old places. Dere was little, small dormer windows, dey call fem, in upstairs, and big porches everywhere* Dere was 'hogeny furniture and rosewood bedsteads, and big, black waliiut dressers with big mirrors and little ones down de side* Old JKiss allus have us keep de drapes white as drifted snow, and polish de < vf^^ Dere was sofies with dem claw foots, and lots of ^t|r cbiayaad iltert ^i-J^:- h^:^*#a?.Kd*^fpm j.oa*--^3B!os --*t>im.: 4#re.. w t0 de log house, with quarters and 242 3*wslave Stories (Texas) Page Two 243 de smokehouse and washhouse and "big barns and carriage house, De quarters was little, whitewashed, log houses, one for de family, and a fence of de split palinfs round most of deow M De white and cullud chillen played together, all over de place. Dey went fishin1 and rode de plough hosses and run de calves and colts and sech devilment. De little white gqils all had to wear sunbonnets, and Old Miss, she sew dem bonnets on every daxr, so dey not git sunburnt* Us niggers weared de long, duckin* shirts till us git 'bout growed, pnd den us weared long, dark blue dresses. Dey hsd spinnin1 r nd weavin1 rooms, where de cullud women makes de clothes. "Old Miss, she-sho1 a powerful manager. She knowed jes1 how much med and meat and sorghum it gwine take to run de plantation a year. She know jes1 how much thread it take for spinnin', and she bossed de sett in1 hens and turkeys and fixin1 of 'serves and soap. like she tell you* She was sho' good to you if fen you work and do Many a night she go round to see dat all was right. She a powerful good miss, too, and so was mammy. "De white folks had good times. Dey'd go hossback ridin* and on picnics, and fish in1 and have big dinners and balls. Come Christmas, dey have us slaves cut a big lot of wood and keep fires all night for a week or two. lit with candles from top to toe, and lots of company come. De house be For dinner us have turkey and beef roast and a Mg fginny ham and big bowls of eggnog and a pitcher of apple cider and apple toddy # All us git somethin1 on Christmas and plenty eggnog, but no gittin1 drunk. M I can jes1 see Marse Dick, tall and kinder stooped like, with de big |P$ig> hat and longtail coat and atlus carryin1 a bigt old walkin1 stick* He Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three ^44* was sho1 a brave man and de big men say dey likes dat flop hat, 'cause dey done follow it on de battlefield. He head a. big voice and dey do tell how, in de war, he'd holler, 'Come on, boys,1 and de bullets be like hail and men faUin' all round, but dat don't stop Marse Dick* He'd take off dat flop hat and plunge right on and dey'd foiler he bald head where de fight was hottes1. He was sho1 a man] I'When I gits married it was eight folkses dere. goes to housekeepin1. I jus1 walks off and I had a cal ico dress and a Baptist preacher marries us. H Dere been some queer things white folks canft understand, Dere am folkses can see de spirits, but I can't. My mammy lamed me a lots of doctorin1, what she lamt from old folkses from Africy, and some de Indians lamt hes If you has rheumatism, jes' take white sassafras root and bile it and drink de tea. You makes lin'ment by bilin' mullein flowers and poke roots and aluin and salt* Put red pepper in you shoe and keep de chills off* or string briars round de neck* Make red or black snakeroot tea to cure fever and malaria, but git de roots in de spring when de sap am high* tt When cbillen teethin1 put rattlesnake rattles round de neck, and alligator teeth am good, too. Show de new moon money and you'll have money all month. Throw her five kisses and show her money and make five wishes and you111 git dem. Eat black-eyed peas on Hew Year and have luck all dat year: H, Dose black-eyed peas is lucky, When et on Hew Year's Day; You'll allun have sweet Haters And possum come you way*1 Ifhen anybody git cut I allus burns woolen rags and smokes de wound or |||y^ae a piece fat pine and drops tar from it on scorched wool g^id bind it on de ^H ||&d for headache pat a horseradish poultice on de head, or wear a nutmeg on Enslave Stories (Texas) Page Pour 245 a string round you neck. 11 If you kills de first snake you sees inspring, you enemies ain't gwine git de best of you dat year, for a sprain, git a dirt dauber's nest and put de clay with vinegar and bind round de sprain. De dime on de string round my ankle keeps cr$aps out my leg, and tea from red coon-root good, too. All dese doctorin1 things come clear from Africy, and dey allus woriced for mmmy and for me, too. ****** 420187 SX-SLAVS STOBXBS (Texas) Page One AHDHBf t Smoky) COLUUBUS was horn c\ ^ in lb59 on tne John J. Ellington plantation9 one mile south of Linden, Texas. He continued in &ue service 01 tne Ellingtons until aoout 1878% when he moved to Jefferson, Texas. He carried meals to Abe Hothchild, who was in j stilt charged with the murder of Diamond Bessie Moore* Andrew was 37 years a servant of Hon. Ton Aralstead, and was a porter in tne Capital at Austin when Armistead was a senator. Andrew now lives in Marshall, Texas. ^b nd tell Papa Day and he makes us take him dere and he goes in de briar patch where dem men hidin'. not tell dere massa where dey at, f Day takes him round de knees and begs him do he sause dey maybe git kilt. Lodge and Baldo and dey run 'way 'cause dere massa whips dem, can't work good no more. Dey soy dey am old ! cause day so old dey Papa Day has tears comin1 in he eyes. Dey canft hardly walk, so he sends dem to de house and has Aunt Mandy, de cook, fix up somethin' to eat quick. I never seed sech eatin1, dey so hongry. tells us not to say nothin1. He puts dem in a house and Den he rides off on he hoss and goes to dere massa and tells him 'bout it, and jes1 dares him to come git dem. He pays de man some money and Lodge and Baldo stays with Papa Day and I guess day thunk dey in Heaven. "One mornin1 Papa Day calls all us to de house and reads de freedom papers and say, 'De gov'ment don't need to tell you you is free, 'cause you been free all you days. If you wants to stay you can mt if you wants to go, you can. But if you go, lots of white folks ain't gwine treat you like I does.1 -2- Ex-slave Stories (Texas; Page Three "For de longest time, maybe two years, dey wasn't none of Papa Day's cullud folks what left, but den first one fam'ly dm fnother gits some land to Bake a crop onf and den daddy gits some land and us leaves, too. de lend from Papa Day, f cause it AH far from his plantation. Maybe he gits Us shof work hard on dat piece, but I beared mama say lots of times she wishes we stay on Pspa Day's place* M I 'member one year us don-?t make no crop hardly and daddy say he gwine git out 'fore us starves to death, and he moves to Houston* carpenter work and hires me out for de housegirl. sick and dies, too, He gits a job doin* But mama dies and daddy takes Lawd have mercy, dat sho1 de hard time for me when I loses my mama and daddy, and I has to go to Dayton and stay with ay sister, Rachel. Both my husbands what I marries done been dead a long time now, and de only child I ever had died when he jes1 a baby. Now I1 a J 8! alone, sittin1 and waitin1 for de Lawd to call me#N ***** One* 4^0260 E3USLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One JOHN CRAWFORD, 81, was horn a slave on Judge Thompson Rector*s plantation at Manor, Texas. After emancipation, . John was a share-cropper. He has always lived in Travis County and is now cared fcr hy a daughter at Austin, w John Crawford am me* It am eighty-one years since I!s horned and datfs on de old Rector plantation where Manor a# now* dere den, It wasnft I knowed the man it was named after* H Mafs name was Viney Rector and the old jedge hrung her from Alabama. She milked all the cows- two times a day and I had to turn out all de calves. Sometimes dey'd git purty rough and go right to dere mammies* "Pap's name was Tom Townes, f cause he tlonged on de Townes place. He was my step*pap and when Ifs growed I tooken my own papfs name* what was Crawford* f hout him* I never seed him, though, and didn't know nothin1 much He's sold away 'fore I*s horned* "Pap Townes could make most everything hossahot nails and a good lot of furniture. 'siderin1 he wasn*t my own pap. He made turnin* plows and He was purty good to me, I didnft have no hard time, noway. I had plenty hacon and side-meat and Masses* j 4ge give us our rations for de week* very Sunday mornin1 the He wasn't short with demf neither* "Many was de time Injuns come to Jedge Rector1 s place. Dem Injuns "beg for somethin* and the jedge allus give dem something They wasnrt mean Injuns, jes1 allus heggin1* 237 Ex-slav, Stori,s Pag* ; . *3* S^lfi p Ex-slav. Stories (Texas) ag ^hr.e "In 1877 I marries Jannie Black at de town of Sprinkle. sech a town, & ** a li'l place. four months. It wasn't Me and her stayed married fifty-two years and She died and left me eight year ago, and they is all livin'. We had seven chillen Pour is here in Austin and two in California snd one in Ohio. "I gits a li'l pension, $9.00 de month, and my gal, Susie, takes care of me. 259 I ain't got long to go now 'fore de Lawd gwine call m*. ****** 420076 SX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) i Page One GREEN CIMBY, 86, was "born a slave of the Robert H. Oamby family, in Henderson, Texas. He was ahout 14 at the close of the Civil War* He stayed with'iiis old master four years after he was freed, then mar*ried and settled in Tyler, Texas, where he worked for the compress 30 years. He lives with his daughter at 749 Mesquite St., Abilene, Texas, "Darin1 slavery I had purty rough times. My grandfather, Tater Cumby, was cullud overseer for forty slaves and he called us at four in de mornin' and we worked from sun to sun. Most of de time we worked on Sunday, too. M De white, overseers wbupped us with straps when we didn't do right. I seed niggers in chains lots of times, 'cause there wasn't no jails and thsy jus1 chained fem to trees. "Spec'lators on hosses drove big bunches of slaves past our place from one plaee to another, to auction 'em at de market places. De women would be carryin1 l'il ones in dere arms and at night dey bed em down jus1 like cattle right on de ground 'side of de road, lots of l'il ehillun was sold 'way from de mammy when dey seven or eight, or even smaller. Dat's why us cullud folks donft know our kinfolks to dis day. "De best times was when de corn shuekin* was at hand. Den you didn't have to bother with no pass to leave de plantation, and de patter rolls didn't bother you. If de patter rolls cotch you with- out de pass any other time, you better wish you dead, 'cause you would have yourself some trouble. S^^5fe>i'":- >' ' ***! 260 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two "But de corn shuckin*, dat was de gran* times. 5(31 All de marsters and de-e black boys from plantations from miles 'round wo:ld be der--. Den when we got de corn pile high as dis house, de table was spread out under de shade. All de boys dat 'long to old raarster would take him on de packsaddle 'round de house, den dey bring him to de table and sit by he side; den all de boys dat 'long to Marster Bevan from another plantation take him on de packsaddle fround and 'round de house, allus singin' and dancin', den dey puts him at de other side de table, snd dey all do de same till everybody at de table, den dey have de feast 11 To sae de runaway slaves in de woods scared me to death. They'd try to snatch you -nd hold ^ou, so "rou coul-n't go tell. Sometimes dey cotched dem runaway niggers and d~:y be like wild animals and have to be tamed over 'gain. Dere was a white man call Henderson had 60 bloodhounds and rents 'em out to run slaves, I well ree'lect de hounds run thro gh our place one night, chasin1 de slave what kilt his wife by runnin' de harness needle through her heart. Bey cotch him and de patter rolls took him to Henderson and hangs him. H De patter rolls dey chases me plenty times, but I's lucky, *cause dey never cotched me# I slips off to see de gal on de nex' plantation and I has no pass an& they chases me and was I scairt.1 You should have seed me run through dat bresh, 'cause I didn't dare go out on de road or de path. It near tore de clothes off me, but I goes on and gits home and slides under de houst. But I'd go to see dat gal every time, patter rolls or no patter rolls, and I gits trains so's I could run most as fast as a rabbit. ~2- Sx-slave Stories Page Three Page Three (Texas) w De white chillun larned us to read and write at night, but I never paid much ftentionf hut I kin read de testament now. Other times at night de slaves gathers round de cahins in little bunches and talks till "bedtime. Sometimes we'd dance snd someone wo .Id knock out time for us by snappln' de fingers and slaopin' de knee, fe didn't h-ve nothin1 to make de music on. 11 We mos'ly lived on corn pone and salt bacon de m&rster give us. We didn't h ve no gardens cutselves, 'cause we wouldn't have time to work in dem. We worked all day in de fields and den was so tired we couldn't dojrxothin1 more, My maimny doctored us when we was feelin1 bad and she'd take dogfenley, a yaller leokin' weed, and brew tea, and it driv de chills and de fever out of us. Sometimes she put horse mint on de pallet with us to make us sweat and driv de fever 'way. For breakfast she'd make us sass* fras tea, to clear our blood. w My marster axA his two step-sons goes to de war. a big genfral on de southern side. De marster was I didn't know what dey fight in1 'bout for a long time, den I beared it 'bout freedom and I felt like it be Heaven here on earth to git freedom, 'spite de fac' I allus had de good marster. Be she1 was good to us, but you knows dat ain't de same as be in' free. ************ " ' SHSS /26S # V T 420124 2X-SLAVE STOHXXS (Texas) < Page On* TEMPIB CDMMINS was born at Brookeland, Texas, sometime before the Oivil War,but does not know her exact age. William Neyland owned Terapie and her parents. She now lives alone in a small, weatherbeaten shack in the South Quarters, a section of Jasper, Tex. f, They call me Temple Cummins and I was born at Brookeland but I don1 know jus1 the *xact date. My father1 s name was Jim Starkins and my mother's nscae was Charlotte Brooks and both of fem come from Alabama* I had jus1 one brudderf Bill, and four sisters named Margaret and Hannah and Hairy and 'Liza. I was with them and us play round. Life was good when Miss Fannie Neyland, she Mis1 Phil Scarborough now, she raise me, fcause I was give to them when I was eight year old. M I slept on a pallet on the floor. spun dress onct a year at Christmas time. to run and slip on that dress* They give me a home- When company coroe I had At other time I wore white chillens' cast-off clothes so wore they was ready to throw away. them up with red horse thorns to hide my nakedness. I had to pin My dress was usually split from hem to neck and I had to wear them till they was strings. Weht barefoot summer and winter till the feets crack open, 11 1 never seed my grandparents f cause my mother she sold in Alabama when shefs 17 and they brung her to Texas and treat her rough. At mealtime they hand me a piece of coxnbread and tell me ~1~ 263 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Run long,1 Page Two Sometime I git little piece of meat and biscuit, *bout onct a month. I gathered up scraps the white chillens leff . "Marster was rou^i. He take two beech switches and twist them together and whip *em to a-stub. whippin's. Uany's the time I?s bled from them Our old mistus, she try to be good to usf I reckon, but she was turrible lazy. She had two of us to wait on her and then she didn1 treat us good, "Marster had 30 or 40 acres and he raise cotton, and corn and Uatoes, up. He used to raise 12 bales cotton a year and then drink it all We work from daylight till dark, and after. Marster pianish them what didn1 work hard enough. "The white chillen tries teach me to read and write but I didn1 lam much, f cause I allus workin1. houset and she cooked too. Mother was workin1 in the She say she used to hide in the chimney corner and listen to what the white folks s^. When freedom was f claredf marster wouldn1 tell *emd but mother she hear him tell in1 mistus that the slaves was free but they didn1 know it and he's not gwineter tell fem till he makes another crop or two. When mother hear that she sajr she slip out the chimney corner and crack her heels together four times end shouts, U's free, Ifs free.1 Then she runs to the field, 'gainst aarsterfs will and tol1 all the other slaves and they quit work. Then she run away and in the night she slip into a big ravine near the nouse and have them bring me to her, Marster, he come out with his gun and shot at mother but'she run down the ravine and gits away with me, -2~ #264 ExGslave Stories (Texas) Page Three M I seed lots of gnostics when I*s young. for them. Ifs kind of outgrowed them now* I couldn1 sleep But one time me and my younges1 chile was corain1 over to churcn ana rignt near tne dippin1 vat is two big gates aoid wh*n we git to them, out come a big old white ox, with long legs and horns ana when he git 'bout halfwayt he turns into a man with a Panama hat on. ne tollers us to Sandy Creek bridge. Sometimes at night I sees that same spirit sittin1 on that bridge now. ^My old man say, in slavery time, when he's 21, he had to pass a place whsre patterroles whipped slaves and had kilt some. He was sittin1 on a load of fodaer and tnere come a big light wavin1 down tne road and scarin1 tne team and the bosses drag him and near kilt him. ***** 265 420070 Page One STORIES OF EX-SLAVES (Texas) QA ADELINE OTMINGHAJ4, 1210 Florida St.f born 1852, was a slave in Lavaca County, ^ miles n. e. of Hallettsville. She was a slave of Washington Greenlee Poley and his grandson, John Woods. The Foley plantation consisted of several square leagues, each league containing 4,428.4 acres. Adeline is tall, spare and primly erect, with fiery brown eyes, which akttr snap^ ^^MNMIWH^lwhen she recalls the \ffi ^^f ** somewhat pretentious and well furnished. The day was hot and the granddaughter ^prepared ice water for her grandmother and the interviewer. House and porch were very clean. "I was bo*n on ole man Foleyfs plantation in Lavaca County. got more n 100 slaves. acres of Ian1 he got? He always buy slaves and he never sell. Hefs How many Lawdf dat man ainft got acres, he got leagues. raises cotton and co1n, and cattle and hawgs. Dey Ole man Foley1 s plantation run over Lavaca and Colorado county, he got 1600 acres in one block and some of it on de Navidad River. Ole man Foley live in a big log house wid two doable rooms and a hall, and he build a weavin1 house agin his own house and dey!s anudder house wid de spinnin1 wheels. And ole man Foley run his own cotton gin and his own grindin' mill where dey grinds de co'n and dey got a big potato patch. M Dey was rough people and dey treat evfry body rough. de quarter; We lives in de houses all jine close togedder but you kin walk *tween fem. All de cabins has one room and mostly two fam'lies bunks togedder in de one room wid dirt floors. De slaves builds de cabins, de slaves got no money, dey got no land,. *No suh, we never goes to charch. Times we sneaks in de woods and prays de Lawd to make u free and times one of de slaves got happy and made a noise dat dey Leered at de big house and den de overseer come and whip us 266 Ex-slave stories Pa e TwQ cause we prayed de Lawd to set us free. "You know what a stockman is? cattle, He is a man dat "buys and sells Ev'ry year de stockman comes to ole man Foley's and he lines us up in de yard and de stockman got a lotta slaves tied togedder pnd ole man ?oley he "buys some slaves but he won't sell none. Yassuh, de stockman "buys and sells de slaves jes' de same as cattle. 11 Dey feeds us well sometimes, if dey warn't mad at us. Dey has a "big trough jesf like de trough for de pigs and dey has a hit gourd and dey totes de gourd full of milk and dey "breaks de "bread in de milk. takes a gourd and fills it and gives it to us chillun. Den my mammy How's we eat it? ft e had oyster shells for spoons and de" slaves comes in from de fields and dey hands is all dirty, and dey is hungry. we can't eat none of it. Dey dips de dirty hands right in de trough and De women wuks in de fields until dey has chillun and when de chillun1 s ole enough to wok in de fields den de mother goes to ole man Foley's house. cotton. Dere she's ahouse servant and wuks at spinnin' and weavin1 de Dey makes all de clothes for ole man Poley and his fam'ly and for de slaves. "No suh, we ain't got no holidays. Sundays we grinds co'n and de / men split rails and hoes wid de grubbin' hoe. Ole man Foley has a blaeksmif [ i shop and a slave does de blaeksmif fin. De slaves builds cabins wid split logs 7 and dey makes de roof tight wid co'n shucks and grass. | one time in two months, dey takes us to de white folks church. w Dey's four or five preachers and de slaves. da preacher has a book. One time a month, times If fen days a marriage He's gotter keep it hid, 'cause day's afraid if fen de slaves learns to read dey leexns how to run away. and dey ketches him and puts his eyes out. One of de slaves runs away Dey catches anudder slave dat run Stories of ex-slaves (Texas) Page Three away and dey hanged him up by de arm. Yassuh, I see dat wid my own eyes; dey holds de slave up by one armf dey puts a iron on his knee and a iron on his feet and drag ' im down but his feet cainH reach de groun1. M 01e man Foley ain't bad, but de overseers is mean. gits no money and we never gits no Ian1. No suh, we never Ole man foley,he wants to give us sumpin for gardens but Mr. John Woods,his gran'son, is agin it. "Was I glad when dat was over? free dat I gits married. 7/ouldn1 you be? It's long after we's Yassuh, and I live in San Antonio 'bout 20 years* ************** ******* *** * O/JQ *^ For Ex-Slav Volume Page one 269 SX-SLAVE 3T0HI3S (Texas) EX-SLAVK AUTOBIOGRAPHY WILL DAILY, was born in 1858 in Missouri, near the city of St* Louis* Se was a slave of the John Dally family and served as chore hoy around the house, carried the breakfast to the field and always drove up the horses on the plantation* The latter duty developed a fondness for horses which led to a career as a race horse rider and trainer* He remained with his white folks several years after freedom and in Missouri many years longer in this work* Be came to San Angelo, Texas in It and took up hotel work which he followed until his health broke, only a few years ago* He now lives in his small home in the colored district of the city and depends on his old age pension for a livelihood* "Hah.* That you say, did you say somethin* *bout de ole age pension?*1, questioned Till when approached on the slavery question, but he answered readily, "Sho.* shov I Page two o-* n was a slave an* I aint ashamed to admit dat I was* Some of dese here fellers thinks dey sounds ole when dey says dey was slaves and dey denies it hut I's proud enough of de good treatment I's got, to allus tell about it* My marster had a driver but he say his niggers was human, wid human feelin's, so he makes dat driver reports to him fer what little thrashing we gits* Course we had to do de right thing but jes* some how did. mos* of de time 'cause he was good to us* Soon as I was big enough, about four or five years ole, ole miss, she starts trainin* me fer a house boy* I*s a doin' all sorts of chores by de time I was six years old* Den ole marster he starts sendin* me out on de plantation to drive up de bosses. I sho* likes dat job cause aint nothin* I loves any better den bosses* Den when I was bigger he starts me tc oarryin* de breakfast to de field whar de grown niggers had been out workin' since way 'fore day* Dey all done dat* Dey say de days wasn't long enough to put in enough time so dey works part of de night* n We had good grub 'cause we raised all de co'n and de hogs and de cows and chickens and plenty of every thing* Mos* times we have biscuits and bacon and syrup for breakfast and butter too If we wants it but mos' niggers dey likes dat fat bacon de bes'* "Our log cabins was good and comfortable* Dey was all along in a row and built out of de same kind of,logs what our marsters house was. Page three g-y "We had good beds and day was clean. "I nev*r had no money when I was a slave *cause I was jes' a small boy when de slaves was set free* "We had lots of fish and rabbits, more den we had 'possum but we sho* likes dat 'possum when we could git it. "My marstex had about three hundred slaves and a big plantation* "I seen some slaves sold off dat big auction block and de little Chilian sho* would be a cryinf when dey takes dere mothers away from dem* "We didn* have no jail * cause my marster didn* believe dat way, but I*s seen other slaves in dem chains and thinge* "We didn* know nothin* *bout no learnin5 nor no ehureh neither and when de slaves die dsy was jes* buried without no singin9 or nothin** "When de war started, my father, he goes and once I remember he comes home on a furlough and we was all so glad, den when he goes back he gits killed and we nev*r see him no mo* "Ye had de doctor and good care when we was sick* I*s don't remember much 'bout what kinds of medicine we took but I*s know it was mostly home-made* "We all wears dat asafoetida on a string * round our necks and sometimes we carry a rabbit's foot in cur pockets fer good luck* Page four "When de war vas ended and de slaves was free old Uncle pete, our oldest slave, comes a-walkin* up from de woods whar he always go to keeps from bein* bothered, to read his Bible, and he had dat Bible under his arm an* he say, *I's know some thin*, me an* de Lawd knows somethin', and den he tells us. He say, 'You all la free people now, you can go when you please and come when you pleases and you can stay here or go some other place' Yell I had to stay *cause my mother stayed and I*s jes* keeps on ridln* dem race hosses 'til long after my marster was dead, den I*s gits me some bosses of my own and train other men's hosses too* "1*8 worked at dat racln* business 'til I'e come to Texas and when I went to work In hotels dat killed me up* I*s done ev*r thing from makin* soap fer de scrubbing to oookin' de bes* meals fer de bes* hotels* I aint been no good since, though, and I had to quit several years ago* w De first time I was married was to Phillis Reed in Missouri and we jes* jumps over de broom, and after Phillis die and I comes to Texas I's gits married again to Susie, here in San Angelo; we jes' jumps ov*r de broom too# I's nev*r had no chillun of my own so I's jes* a settin* here a-livin* off de ole age pension." 070 420029 */ EX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One JULIA mNCIS DANIELS, horn in 1848, in Georgia, a slave of the Denman family* who moved to Texas "before the Civil War* Julia's memory fails her when she tries to recall names and dates. She still tries to trke part in church activities ?nd has recently started to learn reading and writing. She lives with a daughter pt i 23 Spring St. Dallas, Texas. They's lots I disremembers and they's lots I remembers, like the year the war's over and the fight in1 all done with, 'cause that the year I lerned to plow and that th*1 time I got married. they lamed me to plow. larn anything. That's the very year I larnt all right, 'cause I wasn't on* slow to Afore to that time, they ain't never had no hoe in the field for me a-tall. I jes' toted water for the ones in the field. f, I had plenty brothers and sisters, 'bout ten of emt but I disremembers some they names. There was Tom and G-eorge and Marthy and Mandy, and they's all name' Denman, 'cause my mammy and da^dy was Lottie and Boyd Denman and they come from Georgia to Cherokee County and then to Houston County, n^ar by to Crockett, with Old Man Denman. He was the one owned all us till he 'vided some with Miss Liszie when she marries Mr. Cramer. H My daddy worked in the fields with Uncle Lot and my brothers, and my Uncle Joe, he's driver. But Briscoe am overseer and he a white man, He can't never whup the growed mens like he wants, 'cause they don't let him unless he ask Old Man Denman. I seed him whup 'em, though. He make 'em take off the shirt and whup with the strap. -1- 273 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two 27*4 "Now, my mammy was cook in the Deronan house and for our family and UncleJoe's family. all the time. and "beef, She didn't haveimich time for aythin1 "but cookin' But she's the bestes1 cook. Us had fine greens and hangs Us et collard greens and pork till us got skittish of it and fihen they quit the pork and kilt a "beef. When they done that, they's jus' pourin1 water on our wheels, 'cause us liked best of anythin' the beef, and I do to this day, only I can't never git it, M 01& Man Denman had a boy what kilt squirrels and throwed fem in the kitchen. The white folks et them. folks then would eat rabbit. You ain't never seen no white * had a brother who hunted, Mostly on Sundays. He'd leave for the swamps 'fore daybreak and we'd know when we'd hear him callin', f0 - - o -o~o~o-da-*da-ske-e~e~e-t, he had something That jus1 a make-up of he own, but we knowed they's rabbits for the pot. H A11 the mens donH hunt on Sunday, fcause Uncle Joe helt meetin' in front he house. Us look out the door and seed Uncle Joe set tin' the benches straight and settin1 he table out under the trees and sweepin' clean the leaves and us know they's gwine be meetin', that ever they was. They's the loveliest days Night times, too, they'd make it 'tween %m whether it'd be at our house or Uncle Joefs. We'd ask niggers from other farms and I used to say, 'I likes meetin' jus' as good as I likes a party.1 wHhen crops is laid by us have the most parties and dence and sing and have play games. The reels is what I used to like but I done quit that foolishness J&any a year ago. I used to cut a step or two. ^^^)e^b;--tiM 'Devil^s Dream.1 It's a fast song W$0^$0>^^'itf^~'?:: ' "' ' ' ' --' ^^mfp^^^i^:^;y^' ;" '" .2~ I remembers one Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three " fGh, de Devil drenpt a dream, He drempt it on a IPriday He drempt he cotch a sinner.f u01d Man Denman am the great one for 'viding he property and when Miss Lizzie marries with Mr. Create Cramer, which am her dead sister's husband, Old Man Denman give me and two my sisters to Miss Lizzie and he gives two more my sisters to he son* Us goes with Miss Lizzie to the Cramer place and lives in the hack yard in a little room by the back door, "Everything fine and nice there till one day Miss Lizzie say to me, 'Julia, go down to the well and fetch m* some water,! and I goes and I seed in the road a heap of m*n all in gray and ridin' hoss^s, cDmin1 our way. I runs "back to the house and calls Miss Lizzie. scairt for?' She say, 'What you I tells her 'bout them men and she say they ain't gwine hurt me none, they jus' wants some water. talk 'bout a fight. I goes back to the well and heered 'em I goes back to the house and some of the mens comes to the gate and says to Mr. Cramer, 'How're you, Creame?1 all right in my health but I ain't so good in my mind.1 the matter, Creame?" He say, ' I's They says, 'What He say, 'I want to be in the fight so bad.1 "When they goes I asks Miss Lizzie what they fight in' *bout and she say it am fhout money. That all I knows. and we don't never see him no more. Right after that Mr. Cramer goes Word come back from the fight in1 he makes some the big, high mens mad and they puts chains 'round he ankles and make him dig a stump in the hot sun. him fever to the brain and he dies. He ain't used to that and it give Ofs^* Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Pour '2>7G "When Mr. Cramer goes 'way, Miss Li-zie takes us all and goes back to Old Man Denman's. The sojers used to pass and all the whoopin' and hollerin1 and carry-in1 ont you ainft never he*red the likes! f Who~o~o-o, Old Man Denman, how1 s your chickens?1 They hollers, And they chunks and throws at 'em till they cripples fera up and puts em in they bags, for cookin'. Old Man Denman cusses at 'em somethin* powerful, M My sister Mandy and me am down in the woods a good, fur piece from the house and us keeps heerin' a noise. My "brother comes down and finds me and say, 'Come git your dinner.1 When I gits there dinner am top the gate post and he say theyfs sojers in the woods and they has "been persecutin1 a old womm on a mule. scairt I can't eat my dinner. She was a nigger woman. I gits so I ainft got no heart for victuals. My brothe- say, 'Wait for pa, he comin1 with the mule and h<*'ll hide you out.1 I gits on the mule front of pa and us pass through the sojers and they grabs at us 9nd says, 'Gimme the gal> gimme the gal.f Pa say I faints plumb 'way. H Us heered guns shootin1 round and 'bout all the time. they fit every time they git a chance. Seems like Old Man Denman's boy gits kilt and two my sisters he property and they don't know what to dof 'cause they has to be somebody's prpperty and they ain't no one to 'heritance fem. has to go to the auction "but Old Man Denman say not to fret. They At the auction the man ssy, '(Join1 high, goin' low, goin' mighty slow, a little while to go. Bid 'en inf bid 'em in. tonight.' Bl&ckstone. The sun am high, the sun am hot, us got to git home An old friend of Old Man Denman's hollers out he buys for William Us all comehome and my sisters too and Old Man Denman lau$a big and say, 'My name allus been William Blackstone Deman. -4- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Jive H I*s a woman growed wh^n the war was to a end. baby when Ifs fourteen. I had my first One day my siste^ call me and say, 'They's fit out, and they's been surrenderin1 and ainft gwine fight no more.1 That dusk Old Man Denman call all us niggers together and stand on ne steps and make he speech, 'Hens and womans, you is free as I am. You is free to go where you wants "but I is beggin1 yous to stay by me till us git the crops laid by.1 Then he say, * Study it over ffore you gives me you answer. as my duty to be fair to I is always try rr ou,f "The mens talks it over a-twixt they selves and includes to stay. They says us might as well stay there as go somewhere else, and us got no money and no place to go, H Tnen Miss Lizzie marries with Mr. Joe McMahon and I goes with her to he house near by and he say he lam me to plow. Miss Lizzie say, 'Now, Julia, ~rou knows- how to plow and don't make no fool of yourself pjid act like you ainft never seed no plow afore.' Us make a corn crop and goes on 'bout same as afore. "I gits married that very year and has a little fixin1 for the weddin1, bakes some caks and I have a dress with buttons and a preacher marries me. I ain't used to wearin* nothin1 but loring(a simple one piece garment made from sacking). Unnerwear? I ain't never wore no unnerwear then. n My husband renos a little piece of land and us raise a corn crop and that's the way us do* Us raises our own victuals. I has lv chillen through the year and they dona scatter to the four win as. dead, I ain t what I used to be for workin'. &$$&."- * : my primer days* I jus1 set Some of them is f round. I done plenty 2?*? 420015 EX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page Oae KATIE DABLIUG, about 88, was "bora a slave oa the plaatati oa of William McCarty, on the Elysian Fields Road, aine miles south of Marshall, Texas. Katie was a aurse and housegirl in the HcCarty household until five years after the end of the Civil Wax. She the a moved to Marshall and married. Her husband and her three childrea are dead and she is supported by Griffin Williams, a boy she found homeless and reared. They live in a neat three-room shack in Sunny South addition of Marshall, Texas. "You is talkin1 now to a nigger what mussed seven white chill en itt them bullwhip days. Miss Stella, my young missy, got all our ages down ia she Bible, and it say I's born in 1849. Massa Bill McCarty my massa and he live east and south of Marshall, clost to the Louisiana line. Me and my three brudders, Peter and Adam end Willis, all lives to be growed and married, but ms^nmy die in slavery and pappy run fway while he and Massa Bill oa they way to the battle of Maasfield, say whea he come back from the war, Massa That triflin' nigger run 'way and jines up with them daron Yankees.1 ,fMassa have six chillen when war come on and I nussed all of 'em. I stays in the house with 'em and slep1 oa a pallet on the floor, and soon I'a big nough to tote thetailk pail they puts me to milkin', too. Massa have morefn 10O cows and most the time me and Violet do all the milkin'. We better be im that cowpen by five o'clock. One raornin1 massa cotched me lettin' one the calves do sorae milkin1 and he let me off without whippin' that time, but that don't mean he allus good, 'cause them cows have more feelin1 for than massa tad missy,, ~1~ 278 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two M We et pe^s and greens and collprds wd middlin's, had better let that ham alone?. We have meaL coffee. in the oven and bile it and drink the liquor. Niggers They parch meal Sometime we gits some of the Lincoln coffee what was leff from the nex1 plantation. "When the niggers done aaythiag massa bullwhip them, but didn't skin them up Y^ry of tea. He'd whip the man for half, doia1 the plowia' or hoeija' but if they done it right he'd find something else to whip them for. and spin. At night the mea had to shuck corn and the women card Us got two pieces of clothes for winter and two for summer, but us have no shoes. We had to work Saturday all day and if that grass was in the field we dida't git no Sunday, either. "They have dances and parties for the white folks' chillen, but missy say, 'Niggers was made to work for white folks,1 and on Christmas Miss Ir*ne bakes two caices for the nigger families but she darsn't let missy know 'bout it. "When a slave die, massa make the coffin hisself and send a couple niggers to bury the body and say, 'Don't be long,' ajad no siagin' or prayia' 'lowed, jus* put them in the ground ana cover 'em up and hurry on back to that field. "Niggers dida't cou't then likethey do now, massa pick out a pt'tly man ?nd a poUly gal and jist put 'em together. What he want am the stock. H I 'member that fight at Mansfield like it yes'dpy. Massa's field am all tore up with cannon holes and ever' time a caanoa fire, missy go eff la a r^ge. Oae time whea a cannon fire, she say t me, 'You lifl -2- 27^) Ex-slave Stories (Texas) page Three black wench, you niggers ainft gwine be free. folks,f SQ{) Youfs made to work for white 'Bout that time she look up and see a Yankee sojer st^ndin* in the door with a pistol. She say, 'K&tie, I didn't say anythin', did IT1 I say, 'I ainft tellin1 no lie, you ssy niggers ainft gwine git free.1 "That day you couldn't git 'round the place for the Yankees and they stays for weeks at a time, 1f When massa come home from the ws*r he wants let us loose, but missy wouldn't do it. I stays on and works for them six years after the war and missy whip me after the war jist like she/did 'fore. lashes laid up for me now, and this how/it am* She has a han'erd My brudders done lef' massa after the war and move nex1 door to the Ware place, and one Saturday some niggers come and tell rae my brudder Peter am comin1 to git me 'way from old missy Sunday night. and missy say it my fault. Thst night the cows and calves got together She say, 'I*m gwine give vou" one hun'erd lushes in the mornin1, now go pen them calves,1 "I don't know whether them calves was ever penned or not, 'cause Peter was waitin1 for me at the lot and takes me %6 live with him on the / Ware place. , - I's so happy to git away from tha old devil missy, I don't know what to do, stfid I stsays there sev'r^Kyears and works out here and there for money. and nothin' f Then I marries ap^moves here and me and my man farms citinf done happened. 420046 EX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) v Page One CAREY DAVENPOKF, retired Methodist minister of Anahuac, Texast appears sturdy despite his 83 years. He was reared a slave of Capt. John Mann, in Walker Co,V Texas. His wife, who has been his devoted companion for 60 years, was born in slavery just before emancipation, Carey is very fond of fishing and spends much time with hook and line. He is fairly well educated and is influential among his fellow Negroes* "If I live till the 13th of August I'll be 82 years old. I was born in 1855 up in Walker County but since then they split the county and the place I was born is just across the line in San Jacinto County now. Jim and Janey Davenport w*s my father and mother and they come from Richmond, Virginia. I had two sisters, Betty and Harriet, and a half brother, William. "Our old master1 a name was John Mann but they called him Capt. Mann. Old missus1 name was Sarah. I'd say old master treated us slaves bad and there was one thing I couldnft understand, cause he was fligious and every Sunday mornin1 everybody had to git ready and go for prayer. I never could understand his *ligion, f cause sometimes he git up off his knees and befo1 we git out the house he cussrus out. 11 years. All my life I been a Methodist and I been a regular preacher 43 Since I quit I been livin1 here at Anahuac and seems like I do bout as much preachin1 now as I ever done. "I donft member no cullud preachers in slavery times. The nhite Methodist circuit riders come round on horseback and preaxsh. Ihere was a big box house for a church house and the cullud folks sit ** in ne corner of the church. -1- 281 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Pa^e Two "Sometimes the cullud folks go down in dugouts and hollows and hold they own service and they used to sing songs what come a-gushinf up from the heart. "They was 'bout 40 slaves on the place, hut I-never seed no slaves bought or sold and I never was sold, "but I seen em beat 0f Lawd, yes. I seen *em make a man put his head through the crack of the rail fence and then they beat him till he was bloody* Thqy give some of fem 300 or 400 licks, H 01d man Jimf he run away lots and sometimes they git the dogs after him. He run away one time and it was so cold his legs git frozen and they have to cut his legs off. Sometimes they put chains on runaway I never knowed of fem puttin1 bells slaves and chained 'em to the house, on the slaves on our place, but over next to us they did. They had a piece what go round they shoulders and round they necks with pieces up over they heads and hong up the bell on the piece over they head. H I was a sheep minder them days. The wolves was bad but they never tackled mef cause theyfd ruther git the sheep. They like sheep meat better*n man meat. Old daptain wanted me to train he boy to herd sheep and one day young master see a sow with nine pigs and want me to catch them and I wouldn't do it* He tried to beat me up and when we git to the lot we have to go round to the big gate and he had a pine knot, and he catch me in the g&te and hit me with that knot. oa the gallery and he seed it all. Old Captain sit tin1 When he heerad the story he whipped young master and the old lady, she ainH like it* 3 82 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three OQO "One tiae after that she sittin1 in the yard knittin1 and she throwed her knittin1 needle off and call me to come git it. I done forgot she wanter whip m and when I bring the needle she grab me and I pull away but she hold on my shirt. catch and whip me. I run round snd round and she call her mother and they My shirt just bad one button on it and I was pullin1 and gnawin1 on that button and directly it come off and the whole shirt pull off and I didn't have nothin1 on but my skin. at the gate and sot there till master come. up there?1 whip me f I run and climb up on the pole He say* Then I tell him the whole transaction. f Carey, why you sittin1 I say, fi^issusf she cause young marse John git whip that time and not me.1 He make me git down and git up on his horse behin1 him and ride up to the big house. Old missus, she done went to the house and go to bed with her leg, fcause when she whippin' me she stJck my head Hween her knees and when she do that I bit her. M 01d master1 s house was two-story with galleries. My mother, she work in the big house and she have a purty good house to live in. It was a plank house, too, but all the other houses was make out of hewed logs* Then my father was a carpenter and old master let him have lumber and he make he own furniture out of dressed lumber and make a box to put clothes in. We never did have morefn two changes of clothes. "My father used to make them old Carey plows and was good at makin1 the mould board out of hardwood. He make the best Carey plows in that part of the country and he make horseshoes and nsAls and everything out of iron. And he used to make spinning wheels and parts of looms. He wa,s a very val- uable man and he make wheels and the hub and put the spokes in. Sx-slaveStories (Texas) Page Pour S84 "Old master had a big farm and he riised cotton and corn and Haters and peanuts and sorghum cane end some ribbon cane. The "bilges' crops was cotton and corn. w My father told us when freedom come. Hefd been a free man, cause he was bodyguard to the old, old master and when he died he give my father he freedom. That was over in Richmond, Virginia. him into slaveiy again. again. But young master steal So he was glad when freedom come and he was free Old master made arrangement for us to stay with him till after the harvest and then we go to the old Rawls house what 'long to Mr. Chiv RPWIS* He and my father and mother rim the place and it was a big farm. 11 1 git marry when I was 'bout 22 years old and that's her right there now. Wefs been married morefn 60 yeaTB and she was 17 years old then. She was raised in Grant1 s colony and her father was a blacksmith* M fe had it all f ranged and we stop the preacher one Sunday morn in1 when he was on the way to preachin1 and he come there to her pa1 s house and marry us. We's had 11 children and aLl has deceased but three. W I was educated since freedom, f cause they wasn't no schools in slavery daysf but after I was freed I went to public schools. Most my learnin' I got from a German man what was principal of a college and he teach me the biggest part of my education. "When I was 14 a desperado 4illed my father and then I had my mother and her eight children to take care of. I worked two months and *ent to school one month and that way I made money to take care of 'em. ******* ~t rm*{h *X O EX-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One CAMPBELL DAVIS, 85, was born in Harrison Co.f Texas, a slave of Henry Hood. He remained on the Hood place about three years after he was freed, then farmed in Louisiana. In 1873 he married and moved "bock to Harrison f!o., where he farmed until old age forced him to stop. He now lives with his nephew, Billie Jenkins, near Karnack. Campbell receives a $33.00 per month old age pension. "I*s big 'nough in slavery time to hear dera tell de darkies to get up and go in the morn in vf and to hear the whistlin1 o^ dem whips and howlin1 of de dogs, Ifs birthed up in the northeast part of this county right on the line of Louisiana and Texas, and flonged to old man Heniy Hood* My mammy and daddy was Campbell snd Judy Davis and dey both come from Alabama, and was brung here by de traders and sold to Massa Hood* They was nine of us chill en, na-e Ellis and Hildaman and Henderson and Henrietta and Georgia and Harriet and Patsy* "Massa Henry didn't ha.ve de fine house but it a big one. sot off 'cross de field in de edge of a skit of woods. Us quarters Dey have dirt floors and a fireplace and old pole and plank bunks nail to de walls* tt Dey fed us beef and. vegetables any kind, jus1 name it and 'low us sop bread in potlicker till de world look level. Dat good eatin1 and all my life I ainft have no better. H Massa didn!t Uow no htt do de preachin1. wagon. Dey rides in de buggy and us follow in de De white folks sets in front de church and us in back, ,f I canft tell you how long us stay at de college, zaetly, but us moves to Warm Springs to take de baths and drink de water, in Scott County. Dat two, three years nefo1 de war, and Massa John run de hotel and preach on Sunday. I think dere am three springs, one sulphur water and one lime water and one a warm spring, I does a little bit of everything round de hotel, helps folks off de stage when it druv up, wait on table and sich. When I hears de horn blow you know, de stage driver blow it when dey top de hill fbout two miles 'way, to let vou know dey comin1 ~ I sho1 hustle round and git ready to meet it, 'cmise most times folks what I totes de grips for gives me something. de first money I ever seed. Dat Some de folks gives me de picayune - dat what us call a nickel, now, and some gives me two shilling, what same as two-bits now. A penny was big den, jes1 like a two-bit piece, now, w But when war begin *tween de Yankees and de South, it sho1 change every- thing up, f cause folks quit comin1 to de Springs and de soldiers trices over de place. Massa Milton go to jine de South Army and gits kill. Morgan and he men make de Springs headquarters most de war, till de Yankees come marchin1 through toward de last part. I know pappy say dem Yankees gwine win, f cause dey allus aarchin1 to de South, but none de South soldiers marches to de North. Sfijjr dat to de white folks, but he sho1 say it to ue# He didn*t When de Yankees come aarchin1 through, de Morgan soldiers jes1 hide out till dey gone. Dey never done &o fightin* round Waric Springs. Lots of times dey goes way for couple weeks and -3- Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Four 292 den comes back and rests atfiile, M Den one mornin' I Members it jes1 like it yestiddy, it de fourth of July in 1865 Miss Lizzie say to me, ' William t I wants you to git you papa and de rest de faaily and have dem come to de porch right away,1 I scurries i*und quick like and tells dean and she came3 out of de house and sayst f Now, de Yankees done sot yeu free and you can do what you wants, but you gwineter see more carpet baggers and liars dan you ever has seed, and you111 be worse off den you everhas been, if you has anythin' to do with dem. Den she pens de book and tells us all when us born and how ok us an, so us have some record 'bout ourselves, She tells me I'm jes1 nineteen and one fourth years old when I'm sot free, "She tell pappy Massa John want to see him in de house and when he comes out he tells us Massa John done told him to take a couple wagons and de family and go to de farm 'bout ten miles 'way on Possum Creek and work it and stay long as he wants. Massa has us load up one wagon with ' vis ions. Pappy made de first crop with jes1 hoes, 'cause us didn't h-we no hosses or mules to plow with. Us raise jes1 corn and some wheat, but dey am fruit trees, peaches and apples and pears and cherries. Massa John pay pappy $120 de year, 'sides us 'visions, and us stays dere till pappy dies in 1868. "Den I beared *bout de railroad what dey buildin' at Knoxville anc* I leaves de folks and gits me de job totin' water. Dey asks my name and I says William Davis, 'cause I knows Mr. Jefferson Davis am President of de to war, and I figgers it a good name. de army. a outh durin1 In 1369 I goes to Nashville and 'lists in I'ia in de 24th Infantry, Company G, and us sent to Fort Stockton to guard de line of T*xa&, but all us do am build fdobe houses. 4~* Col. Wade wa3 de IrAlff* Stories (lexas) 2(3$ Page Five commander de fort and Capfn Johnson was captain of &t Co, Out dere I votes for decfirst time, for Gen, Grant* when Greeley and him run for president. But I gits sick at de Port and am muster out in 1870 and comes to Houston. "I gits me de deckhand job on de Dinah, de steamboat what haul freight and passengers Hween Gelveston and Houston* a bigger boat. Den I works on de Lizzie, what am Course, Houston jes a little bit of place to what it am now day wasnft no git buildin's like dey is now, find mud, I tell you de streets was jes' like de swamp when it rain. w X*ong 'bout 1875 I gits marry to Mary Jones, but she died in 1883 and I gits marry 'gain in 1885 to Arabelk Wilson and has four skirls and one boy from her. She died 'bcut ten years back. Course, us cullud folks marry jes' like white folks do now, but I seen cullud folks marry 'fore de war and massa marry dem dis ways dey goes in de parlor and each carry de broom. Dey lays de brooms on de floor and de woman puther broom front de man and he put he broom front de woman, Dey face one 'nother and step 'cross de brooms at de same time to each other and tarc^s hold of hands and dat marry dem. Dat's de way dey donef she1, 'cause I seed my own sister marry dat way. M I has wished lots of times to go back and see my folksf but I never has been back and never seed dem since I left, and I guess day am all gone 'long 'fore now. I has jobbed at first one thing and 'nother and like pappy tell met I has jobbed at first one tiling and 'nother, and like pappy tells me, I has trials and tribulations and I has good chillen what ain't never got in no trouble and what all helps take care dere old pappy so I guess I ainft got no cemplainin* 'bout things. Page Six Ex-slave Stories (Texas) I 29^ rt I dreams sometimes fbout de peach trees and de pear trees and j I de cherry trees and I*d give lots to see de mountains fgain, f cause ifcen de 1 frost come, fbout now, d leaves on de trees put on pretty colors and de persimmons I and nuts is ready for pickin' and a little later on us kill de hawgs and put by l I de meat for de winter. M | De Lawd forgive me for dis foolishness, 'cause I got a good home, I and has all I need, hut I gits to thinkin* 'bout Virginny soaetimes and my folks | what I ainft seed since I left, and it sho1 make me want to see it once more * fore I die. +0++++ 4&0&81 EX~SLAVE STORIES (Texas) p8g0 One 295 ELI DAVISOH was born in Dunbar, Vfest Virginia, a slave of Will Davison, Eli has a Mil of sale that states he was "born in 1844. His master moved to Texas in 1858, and settled in Madison County Eli lives in Madisonville, with one of his sons. "My first Old Marse was Will Davison. My father1s name was Everett Lee and mema was Susan, and he come to see her twict a month, 1 cause he was owned by !nother master. "Marse Davison had a good home in West Virginia, where Ifs "born, in Dunbar, but most of it 'longed to he wife and she was the boss of him. He had a great many slaves, and one mornin1 he got up and fvided all he hsd and told his wife she could have half the slaves. Then we loaded two wagons and he turned to his oldest son and the next son and said, fToufs gwine with me. Crawl on.1 Then he said to he wif<% 'Elsie, you can have everything here, but I'm takin* Eli and Alex and these here two chillen.l The other two gals and two boys he left, and pulled out for Texas. It taken us aos1 two years to git here, and Marse Will never sot eyes on the redt of his family no more, long as he lived. "Marse never married any more. He!d say> fThey ainH 'nother woman under the sun I*d let wear my name.1 He never said his wifefs name no more, but was alias talkin* of them chillun he done left behind. w We gits here and starts to bAild a on* room log house for Marse Will and his two boys* My quarters was one them covered wagons, till he trades me off. He cried like a baby, but he said, *I hate to do this, but its the only ^ii.i^'I^l'liiaTt anything to leave for my two boys.1 | 1^ i^^Slft0"i^;"' ' . ^;, ' ' ^^mmy:: v. Looks like everything done come to Texas,, and he took sick and died. -' The boys N *!* /-. . / Ex~slave Stories (Texas) Page Two put him away nice and loaded up and went back to Virginia, but the home was nailed up and farm lying out, ?md it took them mos1 a year to find they folks. The mother and one gal was dead, so they come back and lived and died here in Texas. "Marse Will was one more good man back in Virginia. or whipped a slave. He never got mad He allus had plenty to eat, with 1,200 acres, but after we come here all we had to eat was what we kilt In the woods and cornbread. He planted seven acres in corn, but all he did was hunt deer and squirrels. They was never a nigger what tried to run off in Texas, * cause this was a good country, plenty to eat by hunt in1 and not so cold like in Virginia* M Aftey I was traded off, my new master wasn*t so good to me. He thunk all the time the South would win that war and he treated us mean. was Thomas Greer. His name He kept tellin1 us a black nigger never would be free. When it come, he said to us, f WelIf you black ~ , you are just as free as I am.f He tumt us loose with nothin1 to eat and mos1 no clothesf He said if he got up nexf mornin* and found a nigger on his place, he'd horsewhip him. tt I donH know what Ifd done, but one my old.Marse Will!s chillun done settle close by and they let me work for them* end built me a log house *&d I farmed on halves. They stood good for all the groceries I buyed that year. It took all I made that year to pay my debts and thatfs the way its /been ever since* ^1 married Sarah Keys* We had a home weddin1 and 'greed to live together W^tU^-'^ *ifs* I J^ f g *s ^y her home one day and captures her like. tifcr m my saddle behind me and tells her she's my wife then* 290 Ex-slave Stories (Texas) Page Three That's all they was to my weddin1. round here, We had six chillun and they's all farminf Sarah, she dies seventeen years ago and I jus1 lives round with my chillen, *cause Ifs too old to do any work, "All I ever done was to farm. do# That's all this here nigger knew what to 0, I's seed the time when I never had nothinJ to eat and my "big hunch of chillun cryin' for "bread. I could go to the woods then, hut you-can't git wild game no more* In them days it was five or ten mile to your nearest neighbor, hut now they's so close you can stand in your yard and talk to them. M I never done no votin', f cause them KLu Kluxers was allus at the votin1 places for a long time after the niggers was freed. The niggers has got on since them old days. They has gone from nothin1 to a fair educated folks. We has been kind of slow, 'cause we was turnt loose without nothin1, and couldn't read and write. 11 1*8 worked for fifteen and thirty cents a day, hut Lawd, blessed to our president, we gits a li'l pension now and that's kep1 me from plumb starvin' to death. Times is hard and folks had to do away with everything when they had that Hoover for president, but they will be straightened out by and by if theyfll listen to the president now. 'Course, some wants to kill him, * cause he holps the poor, but it do look like we ought to have * 11*1 bread and salt bacon without up set tin' 'emf when they has so much. ****** 9*7 ffP7 420162 13US1ATO STORIES (Texas) Page One 298 ELIGE DiJISON was "born in Richmond, Virginia, a slave < Seorge Davison* Elige worked in the field for some time before he was freed, but does not know his age. He lives with one of his grandsons, in Madisonville, Texas* ,cWi ^ j& $ M Thatfs over in old Virginny, and My "birth was in Richmond, George Davison owned me and my pappy and mammy* I fmember one sister, na&ed Felina Tucker. "Massa and Missus were very good white folks and was good to the black folks* They had a great big rock house with pretty trees all round it, but the plantation was small, not xnorefn a hunerd acres, Massa growed tobaccy on 'bout 30 of them acres, and he had a big bunch of hawgs. He waked us up *bout four in the morain1 to milk the cows and feed them ha^gs, M 0ur quarters was good, builded out of pine logs with a bed in one corner, no floors and windows # it open all down the front. Us wore old loyal dothes and our shirt, In winter mas?a gave us woolen clothes to wear. Us didn't know what shoes was, though. w &assa, he look after us slaves when us sick, 'cause us worth too mach money to let die jus1 like you do a mule. mammy. She make tea out of weeds, betterfn quinine. He git doctor or nigger She put string round oar neck far chills and fever, with camphor on it. That sho* keep off diseases, *Us work all-day till jus1 Sometimes us got whipping. We 4&4&H mind so much* f fore dark. Boss, you know hoir stubborn a male am, he have to be whipped* That the way slaves is. ENSLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page Two 299 "fhen you gather a hunch of cattle to sell they calves, how the calves and cows will bawl, that the way the slaves was then. fbout they kinfolks. They didnft know no thin1 Mos1 chillen didnft know who they pappy was and some they mammy, 'cause they taken *way from the mammy when she man them, and sell or trade the chillen to someone else, so they wouldnft git. Jt ached to they mammy or pappy# "Massa larn us to read and us read the Bible. He lr>rn us to writef too. They a "big church on he plantation and us go to church and larn to tell the truth. M I seed some few run away to "the north and massa sometime cotch !em and put 'em in jail. Us couldnU go to nowhere without a pass. would git us and they do plenty for nigger slave. The patterrollers I*s went to my quarters and be so tired I jus1 fall in the door, on the ground, and a patterroiler come by and hit me several licks with a cat-o-nine-taiis, to see if Ils tired fnough to not ran fway* Sometimes them patterrllers hit us jus1 to hear us holler. M When a slave di*, he ju3f *nother dead nigger. Massa, he builded a wooden box and put the nigger in and carry him to the hole in the ground. Us march round the grave three times and that all. W I been marry once *fore freedom, with home weddin1. . some more women to see me. Massa, he bring He wouldn't let me have jus1 one woman. I have fbout fifteen and I donft know how maoy chillen. Some over a hunerd, I s sho*. M I fmember plenty fbout the war, * cause the Yankees they march on to lictoftond, |*| aeart* They kill everything whab in the way. Everybody scart. I heared them big guns and I didn*t see no fight in1, 'cause I gits out the v^SSP^i^iifiafpt out till it all over. SX-SLJtfS STORIES (Jexas) Page Three But whai they marches right on the town Ifs tendin1 hosses for massa. two bosses kilt right under him. 3QQ He have Then the Yankees, they capture that town. Massa, he send me to git the "buggy and hoss and carry missus to the mountain, tout them Yankees they capture me and say they gwine hang that nigger. glory toe, massa he saves me ffore they hangs me. But, He send he wife and my wife to * not her place thenf 'caaxse they "burn massa1 s house and tear down all he fences. tf f 1?hen the war over massa call me and tells me I*s free as he was, them Yankees win the ^ex. He give me $5,00 and say hefll give me that much a month iff en I stays with him, hut I starts to Texas, to work in Texas, hides for clothes* cause I heared I wouldn't have f cause everything growed on trees and the Texans wore animal I didn't git no land or mule or cow. tations divided what I knowed fhout. They warn't no plan- Mos1 niggers jus1 got turn loose with a cussf and not fnough clothes to cover they bodies. tt It fbout a year 'fore I gits to Texas Sometimes I git a lifl ride with farmer. I walks nearly all the way. Sometimes I work for folks 'long the way and git fifty cents and start !g?in. ff I got to Texas and try to work for white folks and try to farm. couldnH make anything at any work. many year after the war. I I made $5#00 a month for I don't know how If fen the woods wasn't full of wild game us niggers all starve to death them days. "I been marry three time. Mother man. First wife Eve Shelton, Then I marries Pay Elly. Parlee Breyle She run off with Us sepfrate in a year. Then I marry Ho, I done forgot. 'Fore that I marries Sue Wilford, and us ;;jp*setea gals and six boys. They all in Hew York but one. He stays here, |||ipties Parlee and us have two gals. Parlee die three year ago. BX^SUVE STOHIES (lexas) . Page Jour tt The gov'ment give me a pension and I gits lifl odd jobs round, to get by. But times been hard and I ain't had much to eat the las1 few years, Net near so good as what old massa done give me. But I gits by somehow. *I done the b s* I could, fsidering Ifs turned out with nothin* when I*s growed and didnH know much, neither. Tie young folks, they knows more, fcause they got the chance for schoolin1. ******* : ^^^|pi| 3Q-J 4S03W B3USLJLVB STORIES (Texas) Page One ^02 OlJw JOHN DAT, 81, was born near Daytont Tennessee, a slave of Major John Day. John lives in McLennan Co*,Texas. "I was born near three mile from Dayton, and it was the sixteenth of February, in 1856. That's over in Tennessee, Master's name was Major John Day and my fatherfs name was Alfred Day, and he was a first-class blacksmith* Blackmmithin' was a real trade them days, and my father made axes and hoes and plow shares and knives and even Jew's harps. "Master was good to my father and when he done done de day's work he could work and keep the money he made. Hefd work till midnight, some- times, and at de end that war he had fifteen hundred dollars in Confederate money. I never seen such a worker* "Master John thunk lota of father hut he took de notion to sell him one time, fcause why, he could git a lot of money for him. He sold him, but my mama and even Old Missy, cried and took on so dat Master John went after de men what bought him, to git him back. Day already done crossed de river, but master calls and dey brung my father back and he give dem de money back. Dat de only time master sold one of us* ,f He was a preacher and good to us, never beat none of us. have no overseer, but saw to all de work heself. He didn't He had twenty-five slaves and raised wheat and corn and oats and vegetables and fruit. He had four hundred acres and a house with twelve rooms. " A man what owned a farm jinin1 ourn, de houses half a mile apart. He had two slaves, Taylor and Jennie, and he whip dem every day, even if dey hadn't dona nothin1 He allus beatin1 on dem, seemed like. ~1~ One awful cold Sx-slave Stories (Texas) Page Two 303 day in February, Taylor done go to Denton for somethin1 , and when he come back his master starts beatin' on him, and cursed him somethin1 awful. He kep1 it up till my mama, her name was Mariah, gits a butcher knife and runs out dere and say, Iffen you hits him 'nother lick, I'll use this on you.' Old Missy was watchin* So he quit beatin1 on Taylor dat time. and backed her up. But one day dat white man's own son say to him, 'Iffen you don't quit beatin' on dem niggers, I111 knock you in de head.' Den he quit. "Master was in de Confederate army. He gits to be a major and after he done come out dat war he sho1 hated anythin' what was blue color. I got hold a old Yankee cap and coat and is wearin' dem and master yanks dem off and burns dem. rt We heared dem guns in de Lookout Mountain battle. Dey sounded like thunder, rumblln' low. One day de Feds done take Dayton and de soldiers goes by our place to drive dem Feds out. Dere a valley 'bout two miles wide 'twirt our place and Dayton and we could see de Confederate soldiers till dey go up de hill on de other side. Long in evenin1 de Confederates come back through dat valley and they was travelin' with dem Yankees right after dem. and we was gittin' out de way, all right. Dey come by our house Old Missy took all us chillen, black and white9 and puts UB under half a big hogshead, down in de storehouse. "De Yankees got to de place and 'gin ransack it. Old Missy done lock dat storehouse door and sot down on it and she wouldn't git up when dey done tell her to. So dey takes her by de arms and lifts her off it. brefcks de lock and ccaes down in dere. 'cause my heart beatin' like de hammer. 9 3~ Den dey I didn't see whay dey hadn't found us kids, Dey turned dat hogshead over and all us kids skinned out dew like de Devil after us. we done hatch out! Dey didn't hurt her any. One de Yanks hollers, *Look what Ex-slave Stories (fexas) Page Three 304 I tore out past de barn, thinkin1 Ifd go to mama, in de field, but it look like all de Yanks in de world jumpin1 dere hosses over dat fence, so I whirls round and xun in dat barn and dives in a stack of hay and buries myself so deep de folks like to never found me. found me. Us kids scart 9 Dey hunted all over de place befo1 dey done cause we done see dem Yanks1 bayonets and thunk dey was dere horns. "Dem Yanks done take all de flour and meal and wheat and corn and smoked meat. After dat master fixes up a place in de ceilin1 to store stuff, and a trap door so when it closed you couldnft tell its dere. f, I lives in and round de old place till 1910, den comes to Texas. I jist works round and farms and gits byf but I ain't never done nothin1 worth tellin1. ***** 4 0257 3X-SLAVE STORIES (Texas) Page One 305 Nelsen Denson, 90, was born near Eambirg, Arkansas, a slave of Jim Nelson, who sold Nelsen and his family to Felix Grundy. Nelsen's memory is poor, but he managed to recall a few incidents. He now lives in Waco, Tex^s. 11 1 * 11 be ninety years old this December. (1937). I was born in Arkansas, up in Ashley County, and it was the twenty-second day of December in 1847. My mammy was from Virginny and pappy was from old Kentucky, and I was one of they eight Chilian. Our owner, Marse Jim Denben, brung us to Texas and settled near Marl in, but got in debt and sold as all to Marse Pelix Grundy, and he kepf us till freedom, and most of us worked for him after that. M Marse Jim Densen had a easy livin1 in Arkansas, but folks everywhere was comin! to Texas and he *cides to throw in his fortunes. It wasn!t so long after that war with Mexico and folks come in a crowd to f Against Indians and wild animals. tect they selves The wolves was the worst to smell cookin! and sneak into camp, but Indians come up and makes the peace sign and has a pow wow with the white folks. Marse git beads or cloth and trade for leather breeches and things, "I want to tell how we crosses the Red River on de Red River Raft. Back in them days the Red River was near closed up by dis timber raft and de big boats couldn't git up de river at all. to guide us. We gits a li'l boat, and a Caddo Indian Dis Red River raft dey say was centuries old. De driftwood float in1 down de river stops in de still waters and makes a bunch of trees and de dirt t cuimxlates, and broomstraws and willows and brush grows out dis rich dirt what coyer de driftwood, Dis raft grpwgd *bout a mile a year and de oldes1 timber rots ana breaks away, out ais not fast -1- Bx *slave Stories (Texas) Page Two 'nough to keep de river clear, on A *5U We found bee trees on de raft and had honey. "It was long time after us come to Texas when de gov'ment opens up de channel Dat am in 1873. fFore dat, a survey done "been made said dey found de raft am a hundred and twenty-eight miles long. When we was on dat raft it am like a "big swaiap, with trees and thick brush and de driftwood and logs all wedge up tight 'tween everything. "'Fore Texas secedes, Marse Jensen done sell us all to Marse Felix (Jrundv, and he goes to war in General Hardeman's Brigade and is with him for bodyguard. When de battle of Mansfield come I*m sixteen years old. We was camped on the Sebine liver, on the Texas side, and the Yanks on the other side a li*i ways. I 'member the night 'fore the battle, how the campfires looked, and a quiet night and the whippoerwills callin1 in the weeds. to keep cheerful. us. We was Tspectin' a 'tack and sings The Yanks sings the 'Battle Cry of Freedom' when they charges They come on and on and, Lawd, how they fit! I stays clost to Marse Grundy and the rebels wins and takes fbout a thousand Yanks. "Most the slaves was happy, the ones I knowed. They figgers the white men fightin1 for some principal, but lots of them didn't care not bin1 free. f bout bein* I s'pose some was with bad white folks, but not round us. We had more to eat and now I*m so old I wouldn't f el bad if I had old marse to look after me ^in, H&' ***** 420131 EX~ SLAVE STORIES (Texas) 307 Page Oae VICTOR 3XJH0N was bora 97 years ago in Lafayette Parish, La., a slave of the Duhon family. His blue eyes and almost white skin are evidence of the white strain in his "blood* Even after many years of association with English speaking persons, he speaks a French patois, and his story was interpreted hy a Beaumont French teacher. "My papa was Luciea Duhon and my mama Euripp Dupuis. I was bora over in Louisiana in Lafayette Parish, between Broussard and Warvllle. I'm 97 years old now. 'I didn't have brothers or sisters, except half ones. It is like this, my mama was a house servant in the Duhon family. the hairdresser. She was One day she bartered master's son, who was Lucien. He says that he'll shave her head if she won't do whst he likes. After that she his woman till he marries a white lady. "My grandmama was stolen from Africa and she lived to be 125 y^ars old. did. She died last year in April. I think I'll live long as she There were fifteen slaves on the land what Duhon1 s had but I never raja around with them. I had room at the back of the big house. You kaowt Madame Duhon was my grandmama. She was good to me. The only thing I did was look t my master's horse nnd be coachman for Madame, Master had four sons. and Desire. They were Ragant and Jaques and Lucien Desire was shot at the dpjice, "Master had about 100 acres in cotton and the corn. a slave for to hunt all the time. -1- He had He didn't do other things. The Ex-slave Staries Page Two partridge rnd the rice birds he killed were cooked for the white folks. The owls and the rabbits and the coons and the possums were cooked for us. They had a big room for us to eat in. Wh*re they cook they had a. long oven with a piece down the middle. They cooked the white folks things on one side. They cooked their own things on the other. They hod each ones pots pnd skillets. tf I didnft play much with the black children. My time went waiting on ray white folks. "Sometimes the priest c&rae to say Mass* The priest married and baptized the slaves. The slrves went to Mass. They gave a feast of baptizing. We all had real b -ef meat th?t day. "When my mama had 22 years she mprried a Polite Landry slave. Then she went to the Laadry plantation. two plantations. There was often marrying betweem the When they married the wife went to her man's plantation. That made no difference. It wouldn't be long before a girl "rom the other place marry into the man's plantation. That kept things in balance, "My mama married Fairjuste Williams. I daughter. I didn't know them so much. "I had 22 years when war crane. U when the slaves were set free. leave master till he died. M They had two sons *nd a They were hslf brothers and sister. You know what war I mesa. I wasnl bothered about freedom. The war Didn't Then I went to work for Mr. Polite Laadry. I was always in good hands. Some slaves were treated b*d. M7"1. Net ale Valley beat up a slave for stealing. He beat him so hard he Isy in front of the gate a whole day and the night. "I worked on farms all my life. Then I came to E aimont. About 23 years ago, it was. I worked at anything. with my daughter* ******* Now I'm to' old. I live 308