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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:42:26 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:42:26 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13579-0.txt b/13579-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ff2476 --- /dev/null +++ b/13579-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6607 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13579 *** + +[TR: ***] = Transcriber Note +[HW: ***] = Handwritten Note + + + +[Illustration: Old Slave, Peter Dunn] + + + + +SLAVE NARRATIVES + + +A Folk History of Slavery in the United States +From Interviews with Former Slaves + + +TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY +THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT +1936-1938 +ASSEMBLED BY +THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT +WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION +FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA +SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS + +Illustrated with Photographs + + +WASHINGTON 1941 + + + +VOLUME V + +INDIANA NARRATIVES + + + + +Prepared by +the Federal Writers' Project of +the Works Progress Administration +for the State of Indiana + + +INFORMANTS + +Arnold, George W. [TR: with Professor W.S. Best and Samuel Bell] +Ash, Thomas, and Crane, Mary + +Barber, Rosa +Blakeley, Mittie +Boone, Carl +Bowman, Julia +Boyce, Angie +Boysaw, Edna +Bracey, Callie [TR: daughter of Louise Terrell] +Buckner, Dr. George Washington +Burns, George Taylor +Butler, Belle [TR: daughter of Chaney Mayer] + +Carter, Joseph William +Cave, Ellen +Cheatam, Harriet +Childress, James +Colbert, Sarah +Cooper, Frank [TR: son of Mandy Cooper] + +Edmunds, Rev. H.H. +Eubanks, John [TR: and family] + +Fields, John W. +Fortman, George [TR: and other interested citizens] + +Gibson, John Henry +Guwn, Betty [TR: reported by Mrs. Hattie Cash, daughter] + +Hockaday, Mrs. +Howard, Robert +Hume, Matthew + +Jackson, Henrietta +Johnson, Lizzie +Jones, Betty +Jones, Nathan + +Lennox, Adeline Rose +Lewis, Thomas +Locke, Sarah H. [TR: daughter of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor] + +McKinley, Robert +Miller, Richard +Moorman, Rev. Henry Clay +Morgan, America +Morrison, George +Mosely, Joseph [TR: also reported as Moseley in text of interview] + +Patterson, Amy Elizabeth +Preston, Mrs. + +Quinn, William M. + +Richardson, Candus +Robinson, Joe +Rogers, Rosaline +Rollins, Parthena +Rudd, John + +Samuels, Amanda Elizabeth +Simms, Jack +Slaughter, Billy +Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Alex +Stone, Barney +Suggs, Adah Isabelle +Sutton, Katie + +Thompson, George + +Wamble (Womble), Rev. +Watson, Samuel +Whallen, Nancy +Whitted, Anderson +Woodson, Alex + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Mary Crane [TR: not in original index] + +John W. Fields + +Anderson Whitted + + +[TR: Federal Writer Anna Pritchett annotated her interviews by marking +each paragraph to indicate whether the information was obtained from the +respondent (A) or was a comment by the interviewer (B). Since the +information was presented in sequence, it is presented here without +these markings, with the interviewer's remarks set apart by the topic +heading 'Interviewer's Comment'.] + +[TR: Information listed separately as References, such as informant +names and addresses, has been incorporated into the interview headers. +In some cases, information has been rearranged for readability. Names in +brackets were drawn from text of interviews.] + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District No. 5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +AN UNHAPPY EXPERIENCE +[GEORGE W. ARNOLD] + + +This is written from an interview with each of the following: George W. +Arnold, Professor W.S. Best of the Lincoln High School and Samuel Bell, +all of Evansville, Indiana. + +George W. Arnold was born April 7, 1861, in Bedford County, Tennessee. +He was the property of Oliver P. Arnold, who owned a large farm or +plantation in Bedford county. His mother was a native of Rome, Georgia, +where she remained until twelve years of age, when she was sold at +auction. + +Oliver Arnold bought her, and he also purchased her three brothers and +one uncle. The four negroes were taken along with other slaves from +Georgia to Tennessee where they were put to work on the Arnold +plantation. + +On this plantation George W. Arnold was born and the child was allowed +to live in a cabin with his relatives and declares that he never heard +one of them speak an unkind word about Master Oliver Arnold or any +member of his family. "Happiness and contentment and a reasonable amount +of food and clothes seemed to be all we needed," said the now +white-haired man. + +Only a limited memory of Civil War days is retained by the old man but +the few events recalled are vividly described by him. "Mother, my young +brother, my sister and I were walking along one day. I don't remember +where we had started but we passed under the fort at Wartrace. A battle +was in progress and a large cannon was fired above us and we watched the +huge ball sail through the air and saw the smoke of the cannon pass over +our heads. We poor children were almost scared to death but our mother +held us close to her and tried to comfort us. The next morning, after, +we were safely at home ... we were proud we had seen that much of the +great battle and our mother told us the war was to give us freedom." + +"Did your family rejoice when they were set free?" was the natural +question to ask Uncle George. + +"I cannot say that they were happy, as it broke up a lot of real +friendships and scattered many families. Mother had a great many pretty +quilts and a lot of bedding. After the negroes were set free, Mars. +Arnold told us we could all go and make ourselves homes, so we started +out, each of the grown persons loaded with great bundles of bedding, +clothing and personal belongings. We walked all the way to Wartrace to +try to find a home and some way to make a living." + +George W. Arnold remembers seeing many soldiers going to the pike road +on their way to Murfreesboro. "Long lines of tired men passed through +Guy's Gap on their way to Murfreesboro," said he. "Older people said +that they were sent out to pick up the dead from the battle fields after +the bloody battle of Stone's river that had lately been fought at +Murfreesboro. They took their comrades to bury them at the Union +Cemetery near the town of Murfreesboro." + +"Wartrace was a very nice place to make our home. It was located on the +Nashville and Chattanooga and St. Louis railroad, just fifty-one miles +from Nashville not many miles from our old home. Mother found work and +we got along very well but as soon as we children were old enough to +work, she went back to her old home in Georgia where a few years later +she died. I believe she lived to be seventy-five or seventy six years of +age, but I never saw her after she went back to Georgia." + +"My first work was done on a farm (there are many fine farms in +Tennessee) and although farm labor was not very profitable we were +always fed wherever we worked and got some wages. Then I got a job on +the railroad. Our car was side tracked at a place called Silver +Springs," said Uncle George, "and right at that place came trouble that +took the happiness out of my life forever." Here the story teller paused +to collect his thoughts and conquer the nervous twitching of his lips. +"It was like this: Three of us boys worked together. We were like three +brothers, always sharing our fortunes with each other. We should never +have done it, but we had made a habit of sending to Nashville after each +payday and having a keg of Holland rum sent in by freight. This liquor +was handed out among our friends and sometimes we drank too much and +were unfit for work for a day or two. Our boss was a big strong +Irishman, red haired and friendly. He always got drunk with us and all +would become sober enough to soon return to our tasks." + +"The time I'm telling you about, we had all been invited to a candy +pulling in town and could hardly wait till time to go, as all the young +people of the valley would be there to pull candy, talk, play games and +eat the goodies served to us. The accursed keg of Holland rum had been +brought in that morning and my chum John Sims had been drinking too +much. About that time our Boss came up and said, 'John, it is time for +you to get the supper ready!' John was our cook and our meals were +served on the caboose where we lived wherever we were side tracked." + +"All the time Johny was preparing the food he was drinking the rum. When +we went in he had many drinks inside of him and a quart bottle filled to +take to the candy pull. 'Hurry up boys and let's finish up and go' he +said impatiently. 'Don't take him' said the other boy, 'Dont you see he +is drunk?' So I put my arms about his shoulders and tried to tell him he +had better sleep a while before we started. The poor boy was a breed. +His mother was almost white and his father was a thoroughbred Indian and +the son had a most aggravating temper. He made me no answer but running +his hand into his pocket, he drew out his knife and with one thrust, cut +a deep gash in my neck. A terrible fight followed. I remember being +knocked over and my head stricking something. I reached out my hand and +discovered it was the ax. With this awful weapon I struck my friend, my +more than brother. The thud of the ax brought me to my senses as our +blood mingled. We were both almost mortally wounded. The boss came in +and tried to do something for our relief but John said, 'Oh, George? +what an awful thing we have done? We have never said a cross word to +each other and now, look at us both.'" + +"I watched poor John walk away, darkness was falling but early in the +morning my boss and I followed a trail of blood down by the side of the +tracks. From there he had turned into the woods. We could follow him no +further. We went to all the nearby towns and villages but we found no +person who had ever seen him. We supposed he had died in the woods and +watched for the buzzards, thinking thay would lead us to his body but he +was never seen again." + +"For two years I never sat down to look inside a book nor to eat my food +that John Sims was not beside me. He haunted my pillow and went beside +me night and day. His blood was on my hands, his presence haunted me +beyond endurance. What could I do? How could I escape this awful +presence? An old friend told me to put water between myself and the +place where the awful scene occurred. So, I quit working on the railroad +and started working on the river. People believed at that time that the +ghost of a person you had wronged would not cross water to haunt you." + +Life on the river was diverting. Things were constantly happening and +George Arnold put aside some of his unhappiness by engaging in river +activities. + +"My first job on the river was as a roust-about on the Bolliver H Cook a +stern wheel packet which carried freight and passengers from Nashville, +Tennessee to Evansville, Indiana. I worked a round trip on her and then +went from Nashville to Cairo, Illinois on the B.S. Rhea. I soon decided +to go to Cairo and take a place on the Eldarado, a St. Louis and +Cincinnati packet which crused from Cairo to Cincinnati. On that boat I +worked as a roust-about for nearly three years." + +"What did the roust-about have to do?" asked a neighbor lad who had come +into the room. "The roust-about is no better than the mate that rules +him. If the mate is kindly disposed the roust-about has an easy enough +life. The negroes had only a few years of freedom and resented cruelty. +If the mate became too mean, a regular fight would follow and perhaps +several roust-abouts would be hurt before it was finished." + +Uncle George said that food was always plentiful on the boats. +Passengers and freight were crowded together on the decks. At night +there would be singing and dancing and fiddle music. "We roust-abouts +would get together and shoot craps, dance or play cards until the call +came to shuffle freight, then we would all get busy and the mate's voice +giving orders could be heard for a long distance." + +"In spite of these few pleasures, the life of a roust-about is the life +of a dog. I do not recall any unkindnesses of slavery days. I was too +young to realize what it was all about, but it could never have equalled +the cruelty shown the laborer on the river boats by cruel mates and +overseers." + +Another superstition advanced itself in the story of a boat, told by +Uncle George Arnold. The story follows: "When I was a roust-about on the +Gold Dust we were sailing out from New Orleans and as soon as we got +well out on the broad stream the rats commenced jumping over board. 'See +these rats' said an old river man, 'This boat will never make a return +trip!'" + +"At every port some of our crew left the boat but the mate and the +captain said they were all fools and begged us to stay. So a few of us +stayed to do the necessary work but the rats kept leaving as fast as +they could." + +"When the boat was nearing Hickman, Kentucky, we smelled fire, and by +the time we were in the harbor passengers were being held to keep them +from jumping overboard. Then the Captain told us boys to jump into the +water and save ourselves. Two of us launched a bale of cotton overboard +and jumped onto it. As we paddled away we had to often go under to put +out the fires as our clothing would blaze up under the flying brands +that fell upon our bodies." + +"The burning boat was docked at Hickman. The passengers were put ashore +but none of the freight was saved, and from a nearby willow thicket my +matey and I watched the Gold Dust burn to the water's edge." + +"Always heed the warnings of nature," said Uncle George, "If you see +rats leaving a ship or a house prepare for a fire." + +George W. Arnold said that Evansville was quite a nice place and a +steamboat port even in the early days of his boating experiences and he +decided to make his home here. He located in the town in 1880. "The +Court House was located at Third and Main streets. Street cars were mule +drawn and people thought it great fun to ride them." He recalls the +first shovel full of dirt being lifted when the new Courthouse was being +erected, and when it was finished two white men finishing the slate +roof, fell to their death in the Court House yard. + +George W. Arnold procured a job as porter in a wholesale feed store on +May 10, 1880. John Hubbard and Company did business at the place, at +this place he worked thirty seven years. F.W. Griese, former mayor of +Evansville has often befriended the negro man and is ready to speak a +kindly word in his praise. But the face of John Sims still presents +itself when George Arnold is alone. "Never do anything to hurt any other +person," says he, "The hurt always comes back to you." + +George Arnold was married to an Evansville Woman, but two years ago he +became a widower when death claimed his mate. He is now lonely, but were +it not for a keg of Holland gin his old age would be spent in peace and +happiness. "Beware of strong drink," said Uncle George, "It causes +trouble." + + + + +Emery Turner +District #5 +Lawrence County +Bedford, Indiana + +REMINISCENCES OF TWO EX-SLAVES +THOMAS ASH, Mitchell, Ind. +MRS. MARY CRANE, Warren St., Mitchell, Ind. + + +[Thomas Ash] + +I have no way of knowing exactly how old I am, as the old Bible +containing a record of my birth was destroyed by fire, many years ago, +but I believe I am about eighty-one years old. If so, I must have been +born sometime during the year, 1856, four years before the outbreak of +the War Between The States. My mother was a slave on the plantation, or +farm of Charles Ash, in Anderson county, Kentucky, and it was there that +I grew up. + +I remember playing with Ol' Massa's (as he was called) boys, Charley, +Jim and Bill. I also have an unpleasant memory of having seen other +slaves on the place, tied up to the whipping post and flogged for +disobeying some order although I have no recollection of ever having +been whipped myself as I was only a boy. I can also remember how the +grown-up negroes on the place left to join the Union Army as soon as +they learned of Lincoln's proclamation making them free men. + + +Ed. Note--Mr. Ash was sick when interviewed and was not able to do much +talking. He had no picture of himself but agreed to pose for one later +on. [TR: no photograph found.] + + +[Mrs. Mary Crane] + +[Illustration: Mrs. Mary Crane] + +I was born on the farm of Wattie Williams, in 1855 and am eighty-two +years old. I came to Mitchell, Indiana, about fifty years ago with my +husband, who is now dead and four children and have lived here ever +since. I was only a girl, about five or six years old when the Civil War +broke out but I can remember very well, happenings of that time. + +My mother was owned by Wattie Williams, who had a large farm, located in +Larue county, Kentucky. My father was a slave on the farm of a Mr. +Duret, nearby. + +In those days, slave owners, whenever one of their daughters would get +married, would give her and her husband a slave as a wedding present, +usually allowing the girl to pick the one she wished to accompany her to +her new home. When Mr. Duret's eldest daughter married Zeke Samples, she +choose my father to accompany them to their home. + +Zeke Samples proved to be a man who loved his toddies far better than +his bride and before long he was "broke". Everything he had or owned, +including my father, was to be sold at auction to pay off his debts. + +In those days, there were men who made a business of buying up negroes +at auction sales and shipping them down to New Orleans to be sold to +owners of cotton and sugar cane plantations, just as men today, buy and +ship cattle. These men were called "Nigger-traders" and they would ship +whole boat loads at a time, buying them up, two or three here, two or +three there, and holding them in a jail until they had a boat load. This +practice gave rise to the expression, "sold down the river." + +My father was to be sold at auction, along with all of the rest of Zeke +Samples' property. Bob Cowherd, a neighbor of Matt Duret's owned my +grandfather, and the old man, my grandfather, begged Col. Bob to buy my +father from Zeke Samples to keep him from being "sold down the river." +Col. Bob offered what he thought was a fair price for my father and a +"nigger-trader" raised his bid "25 [TR: $25?]. Col. said he couldn't +afford to pay that much and father was about to be sold to the +"nigger-trader" when his father told Col. Bob that he had $25 saved +up and that if he would buy my father from Samples and keep the +"nigger-trader" from getting him he would give him the money. Col. Bob +Cowherd took my grandfather's $25 and offered to meet the traders offer +and so my father was sold to him. + +The negroes in and around where I was raised were not treated badly, as +a rule, by their masters. There was one slave owner, a Mr. Heady, who +lived nearby, who treated his slave worse than any of the other owners +but I never heard of anything so awfully bad, happening to his +"niggers". He had one boy who used to come over to our place and I can +remember hearing Massa Williams call to my grandmother, to cook +"Christine, give Heady's Doc something to eat. He looks hungry." Massa +Williams always said "Heady's Doc" when speaking of him or any other +slave, saying to call him, for instance, Doc Heady would sound as if he +were Mr. Heady's own son and he said that wouldn't sound right. + +When President Lincoln issued his proclamation, freeing the negroes, I +remember that my father and most all of the other younger slave men left +the farms to join the Union army. We had hard times then for awhile and +had lots of work to do. I don't remember just when I first regarded +myself as "free" as many of the negroes didn't understand just what it +was all about. + + +Ed. Note: Mrs. Crane will also pose for a picture. + + + + +Submitted by: +William Webb Tuttle +District No. 2 +Muncie, Indiana + +SLAVES IN DELAWARE COUNTY +ROSA BARBER +812 South Jefferson +Muncie, Indiana + + +Rosa Barber was born in slavery on the Fox Ellison plantation at North +Carden[TR:?], in North Carolina, in the year 1861. She was four [HW: ?] +years old when freed, but had not reached the age to be of value as a +slave. Her memory is confined to that short childhood there and her +experiences of those days and immediately after the Civil War must be +taken from stories related to her by her parents in after years, and +these are dimly retained. + +Her maiden name was Rosa Fox Ellison, taken as was the custom, from the +slave-holder who held her as a chattel. Her parents took her away from +the plantation when they were freed and lived in different localities, +supported by the father who was now paid American wages. Her parents +died while she was quite young and she married Fox Ellison, an ex-slave +of the Fox Ellison plantation. His name was taken from the same master +as was hers. She and her husband lived together forty-three years, until +his death. Nine children were born to them of which only one survives. +After this ex-slave husband died Rosa Ellison married a second time, but +this second husband died some years ago and she now remains a widow at +the age of seventy-six years. She recalls that the master of the Fox +Ellison plantation was spoken of as practicing no extreme discipline on +his slaves. Slaves, as a prevailing business policy of the holder, were +not allowed to look into a book, or any printed matter, and Rosa had no +pictures or printed charts given her. She had to play with her rag +dolls, or a ball of yarn, if there happened to be enough of old string +to make one. Any toy or plaything was allowed that did not point toward +book-knowledge. Nursery rhymes and folk-lore stories were censured +severely and had to be confined to events that conveyed no uplift, +culture or propaganda, or that conveyed no knowledge, directly or +indirectly. Especially did they bar the mental polishing of the three +R's. They could not prevent the vocalizing of music in the fields and +the slaves found consolation there in pouring out their souls in unison +with the songs of the birds. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. MITTIE BLAKELEY--EX-SLAVE +2055 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Blakeley was born, in Oxford, Missouri, in 1858. + +Her mother died when Mittie was a baby, and she was taken into the "big +house" and brought up with the white children. She was always treated +very kindly. + +Her duties were the light chores, which had to be well done, or she was +chided, the same as the white children would have been. + +Every evening the children had to collect the eggs. The child, who +brought in the most eggs, would get a ginger cake. Mittie most always +got the cake. + +Her older brothers and sisters were treated very rough, whipped often +and hard. She said she hated to think, much less talk about their awful +treatment. + +When she was old enough, she would have to spin the wool for her +mistress, who wove the cloth to make the family clothes. + +She also learned to knit, and after supper would knit until bedtime. + +She remembers once an old woman slave had displeased her master about +something. He had a pit dug, and boards placed over the hole. The woman +was made to lie on the boards, face down, and she was beaten until the +blood gushed from her body; she was left there and bled to death. + +She also remembers how the slaves would go to some cabin at night for +their dances; if one went without a pass, which often they did, they +would be beaten severely. + +The slaves could hear the overseers, riding toward the cabin. Those, who +had come without a pass, would take the boards up from the floor, get +under the cabin floor, and stay there until the overseers had gone. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Blakeley is very serious and said she felt so sorry for those, who +were treated so such worse than any human would treat a beast. + +She lives in a very comfortable clean house, and said she was doing +"very well." + +Submitted January 24, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Submitted by: +Robert C. Irvin +District No. 2 +Noblesville, Ind. + +SLAVES IN MADISON COUNTY +CARL BOONE +Anderson, Indiana + + +This is a story of slavery, told by Carl Boone about his father, his +mother and himself. Carl is the last of eighteen children born to Mrs. +Stephen Boone, in Marion County, Kentucky, Sept. 15, 1850. He now +resides with his children at 801 West 13th Street, Anderson, Madison +County, Indiana. At the ripe old age of eighty-seven, he still has a +keen memory and is able to do a hard day's work. + +Carl Boone was born a free man, fifteen years before the close of the +Civil War, his father having gained his freedom from slavery in 1829. He +is a religious man, having missed church service only twice in twenty +years. He was treated well during the time of slavery in the southland, +but remembers well, the wrongs done to slaves on neighboring +plantations, and in this story he relates some of the horrors which +happened at that time. + +Like his father, he is also the father of eighteen children, sixteen of +whom are still living. He is grandfather of thirty-seven and great +grandfather of one child. His father was born in the slave state of +Maryland, in 1800, and died in 1897. His mother was born in Marion +County, Kentucky, in 1802, and died in 1917, at the age of one hundred +and fifteen years. + +This story, word by word, is related by Carl Boone as follows: "My name +is Carl Boone, son of Stephen and Rachel Boone, born in Marion County, +Kentucky, in 1850. I am father of eighteen children sixteen are still +living and I am grandfather of thirty-seven and great grandfather of one +child. I came with my wife, now deceased, to Indiana, in 1891, and now +reside at 801 West 13th street in Anderson, Indiana. I was born a free +man, fifteen years before the close of the Civil War. All the colored +folk on plantations and farms around our plantation were slaves and most +of them were terribly mistreated by their masters. + +After coming to Indiana, I farmed for a few years, then moved to +Anderson. I became connected with the Colored Catholic Church and have +tried to live a Christian life. I have only missed church service twice +in twenty years. I lost my dear wife thirteen years ago and I now live +with my son. + +My father, Stephen Boone, was born in Maryland, in 1800. He was bought +by a nigger buyer while a boy and was sold to Miley Boone in Marion +County, Kentucky. Father was what they used to call "a picked slave," +was a good worker and was never mistreated by his master. He married my +mother in 1825, and they had eighteen children. Master Miley Boone gave +father and mother their freedom in 1829, and gave them forty acres of +land to tend as their own. He paid father for all the work he did for +him after that, and was always very kind to them. + +My mother was born in slavery, in Marion County, Kentucky, in 1802. She +was treated very mean until she married my father in 1825. With him she +gained her freedom in 1829. I was the last born of her eighteen +children. She was a good woman and joined church after coming to Indiana +and died in 1917, living to be one hundred and fifteen years old. + +I have heard my mother tell of a girl slave who worked in the kitchen of +my mother's master. The girl was told to cook twelve eggs for breakfast. +When the eggs were served, it was discovered there were eleven eggs on +the table and after being questioned, she admitted that she had eaten +one. For this, she was beaten mercilessly, which was a common sight on +that plantation. + +The most terrible treatment of any slave, is told by my father in a +story of a slave on a neighboring plantation, owned by Daniel Thompson. +"After committing a small wrong, Master Thompson became angry, tied his +slave to a whipping post and beat him terribly. Mrs. Thompson begged him +to quit whipping, saying, 'you might kill him,' and the master replied +that he aimed to kill him. He then tied the slave behind a horse and +dragged him over a fifty acre field until the slave was dead. As a +punishment for this terrible deed, master Thompson was compelled to +witness the execution of his own son, one year later. The story is as +follows: + +A neighbor to Mr. Thompson, a slave owner by name of Kay Van Cleve, had +been having some trouble with one of his young male slaves, and had +promised the slave a whipping. The slave was a powerful man and Mr. Van +Cleve was afraid to undertake the job of whipping him alone. He called +for help from his neighbors, Daniel Thompson and his son Donald. The +slave, while the Thompsons were coming, concealed himself in a +horse-stall in the barn and hid a large knife in the manger. + +After the arrival of the Thompsons, they and Mr. Van Cleve entered the +stall in the barn. Together, the three white men made a grab for the +slave, when the slave suddenly made a lunge at the elder Mr. Thompson +with the knife, but missed him and stabbed Donald Thompson. + +The slave was overpowered and tied, but too late, young Donald was dead. + +The slave was tried for murder and sentenced to be hanged. At the time +of the hanging, the first and second ropes used broke when the trap was +sprung. For a while the executioner considered freeing the slave because +of his second failure to hang him, but the law said, "He shall hang by +the neck until dead," and the third attempt was successful." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. JULIA BOWMAN--EX-SLAVE +1210 North West Street, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Bowman was born in Woodford County, Kentucky in 1859. + +Her master, Joel W. Twyman was kind and generous to all of his slaves, +and he had many of them. + +The Twyman slaves were always spoken of, as the Twyman "Kinfolks." + +All slaves worked hard on the large farm, as every kind of vegetation +was raised. They were given some of everything that grew on the farm, +therefore there was no stealing to get food. + +The master had his own slaves, and the mistress had her own slaves, and +all were treated very kindly. + +Mrs. Bowman was taken into the Twyman "big house," at the age of six, to +help the mistress in any way she could. She stayed in the house until +slavery was abolished. + +After freedom, the old master was taken very sick and some of the former +slaves were sent for, as he wanted some of his "Kinfolks" around him +when he died. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Bowman was given the Twyman family bible where her birth is +recorded with the rest of the Twyman family. She shows it with pride. + +Mrs. Bowman said she never knew want in slave times, as she has known it +in these times of depression. + +Submitted January 10, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Wm. R. Mays +Dist 4 +Johnson Co. + +ANGIE BOYCE +BORN IN SLAVERY, Mar. 14, 1861 on the +Breeding Plantation, Adair Co. Ky. + + +Mrs. Angie Boyce here makes mention of facts as outlined to her by her +mother, Mrs. Margaret King, deceased. + +Mrs. Angie Boyce was born in slavery, Mar. 14, 1861, on the Breeding +Plantation, Adair County, Kentucky. Her parents were Henry and Margaret +King who belonged to James Breeding, a Methodist minister who was kind +to all his slaves and no remembrance of his having ever struck one of +them. + +It is said that the slaves were in constant dread of the Rebel soldiers +and when they would hear of their coming they would hide the baby +"Angie" and cover her over with leaves. + +The mother of Angie was married twice; the name of her first husband was +Stines and that of her second husband was Henry King. It was Henry King +who bought his and his wife's freedom. He sent his wife and baby Angie +to Indiana, but upon their arrival they were arrested and returned to +Kentucky. They were placed in the Louisville jail and lodged in the same +cell with large Brutal and drunken Irish woman. The jail was so infested +with bugs and fleas that the baby Angie cryed all night. The white woman +crazed with drink became enraged at the cries of the child and +threatened to "bash its brains out against the wall if it did not stop +crying". The mother, Mrs. King was forced to stay awake all night to +keep the white woman from carrying out her threat. + +The next morning the Negro mother was tried in court and when she +produced her free papers she was asked why she did not show these papers +to the arresting officers. She replied that she was afraid that they +would steal them from her. She was exonerated from all charges and sent +back to Indiana with her baby. + +Mrs. Angie Boyce now resides at 498 W. Madison St., Franklin, Ind. + + + + +Special Assignment +Walter R. Harris +District #3 +Clay County + +LIFE STORY OF EX-SLAVE +MRS. EDNA BOYSAW + + +Mrs. Boysaw has been a citizen of this community about sixty-five years. +She resides on a small farm, two miles east of Brazil on what is known +as the Pinkley Street Road. This has been her home for the past forty +years. Her youngest son and the son of one of her daughters lives with +her. She is still very active, doing her housework and other chores +about the farm. She is very intelligent and according to statements made +by other citizens has always been a respected citizen in the community, +as also has her entire family. She is the mother of twelve children. +Mrs. Boysaw has always been an active church worker, spending much time +in missionary work for the colored people. Her work was so outstanding +that she has been often called upon to speak, not only in the colored +churches, but also in white churches, where she was always well +received. Many of the most prominent people of the community number Mrs. +Boysaw as one of their friends and her home is visited almost daily by +citizens in all walks of life. Her many acts of kindness towards her +neighbors and friends have endeared her to the people of Brazil, and +because of her long residence in the community, she is looked upon as +one of the pioneers. + +Mrs. Boysaw's husband has been dead for thirty-five years. Her children +are located in various cities throughout the country. She has a daughter +who is a talented singer, and has appeared on programs with her daughter +in many churches. She is not certain about her age, but according to her +memory of events, she is about eighty-seven. + +Her story as told to the writer follows: + +"When the Civil War ended, I was living near Richmond, Virginia. I am +not sure just how old I was, but I was a big, flat-footed woman, and had +worked as a slave on a plantation. My master was a good one, but many of +them were not. In a way, we were happy and contented, working from sun +up to sun down. But when Lincoln freed us, we rejoiced, yet we knew we +had to seek employment now and make our own way. Wages were low. You +worked from morning until night for a dollar, but we did not complain. +About 1870 a Mr. Masten, who was a coal operator, came to Richmond +seeking laborers for his mines in Clay County. He told us that men could +make four to five dollars a day working in the mines, going to work at +seven and quitting at 3:30 each day. That sounded like a Paradise to our +men folks. Big money and you could get rich in little time. But he did +not tell all, because he wanted the men folk to come with him to +Indiana. Three or four hundred came with Mr. Masten. They were brought +in box cars. Mr. Masten paid their transportation, but was to keep it +out of their wages. My husband was in that bunch, and the women folk +stayed behind until their men could earn enough for their transportation +to Indiana." + +"When they arrived about four miles east of Brazil, or what was known as +Harmony, the train was stopped and a crowd of white miners ordered them +not to come any nearer Brazil. Then the trouble began. Our men did not +know of the labor trouble, as they were not told of that part. Here they +were fifteen hundred miles from home, no money. It was terrible. Many +walked back to Virginia. Some went on foot to Illinois. Mr. Masten took +some of them South of Brazil about three miles, where he had a number of +company houses, and they tried to work in his mine there. But many were +shot at from the bushes and killed. Guards were placed about the mine by +the owner, but still there was trouble all the time. The men did not +make what Mr. Masten told them they could make, yet they had to stay for +they had no place to go. After about six months, my husband who had been +working in that mine, fell into the shaft and was injured. He was unable +to work for over a year. I came with my two children to take care of +him. We had only a little furniture, slept in what was called box beds. +I walked to Brazil each morning and worked at whatever I could get to +do. Often did three washings a day and then walked home each evening, a +distance of two miles, and got a dollar a day. + +"Many of the white folks I worked for were well to do and often I would +ask the Mistress for small amounts of food which they would throw out if +left over from a meal. They did not know what a hard time we were +having, but they told me to take home any of such food that I cared to. +I was sure glad to get it, for it helped to feed our family. Often the +white folks would give me other articles which I appreciated. I managed +in this way to get the children enough to eat and later when my husband +was able to work, we got along very well, and were thankful. After the +strike was settled, things were better. My husband was not afraid to go +out after dark. But the coal operators did not treat the colored folks +very good. We had to trade at the Company store and often pay a big +price for it. But I worked hard and am still alive today, while all the +others are gone, who lived around here about that time. There has sure +been a change in the country. The country was almost a wilderness, and +where my home is today, there were very few roads, just what we called a +pig path through the woods. We used lots of corn meal, cooked beans and +raised all the food we could during them days. But we had many white +friends and sure was thankful for them. Here I am, and still thankful +for the many friends I have." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. CALLIE BRACEY--DAUGHTER [of Louise Terrell] +414 Blake Street + + +Mrs. Callie Bracey's mother, Louise Terrell, was bought, when a child, +by Andy Ramblet, a farmer, near Jackson, Miss. She had to work very hard +in the fields from early morning until as late in the evening, as they +could possibly see. + +No matter how hard she had worked all day after coming in from the +field, she would have to cook for the next day, packing the lunch +buckets for the field hands. It made no difference how tired she was, +when the horn was blown at 4 a.m., she had to go into the field for +another day of hard work. + +The women had to split rails all day long, just like the men. Once she +got so cold, her feet seemed to be frozen; when they warmed a little, +they had swollen so, she could not wear her shoes. She had to wrap her +foot in burlap, so she would be able to go into the field the next day. + +The Ramblets were known for their good butter. They always had more than +they could use. The master wanted the slaves to have some, but the +mistress wanted to sell it, she did not believe in giving good butter to +slaves and always let it get strong before she would let them have any. + +No slaves from neighboring farms were allowed on the Ramblet farm, they +would get whipped off as Mr. Ramblet did not want anyone to put ideas in +his slave's heads. + +On special occasions, the older slaves were allowed to go to the church +of their master, they had to sit in the back of the church, and take no +part in the service. + +Louise was given two dresses a year; her old dress from last year, she +wore as an underskirt. She never had a hat, always wore a rag tied over +her head. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Bracey is a widow and has a grandchild living with her. She feels +she is doing very well, her parents had so little, and she does own her +own home. + +Submitted December 10, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +A SLAVE, AMBASSADOR AND CITY DOCTOR +[DR. GEORGE WASHINGTON BUCKNER] + + +This paper was prepared after several interviews had been obtained with +the subject of this sketch. + +Dr. George Washingtin [TR: Washington] Buckner, tall, lean, whitehaired, +genial and alert, answered the call of his door bell. Although anxious +to oblige the writer and willing to grant an interview, the life of a +city doctor is filled with anxious solicitation for others and he is +always expecting a summons to the bedside of a patient or a professional +interview has been slated. + +Dr. Buckner is no exception and our interviews were often disturbed by +the jingle of the door bell or a telephone call. + +Dr. Buckner's conversation lead in ever widening circles, away from the +topic under discussion when the events of his own life were discussed, +but he is a fluent speaker and a student of psychology. Psychology as +that philosophy relates to the mental and bodily tendencies of the +African race has long since become one of the major subjects with which +this unusual man struggles. "Why is the negro?" is one of his deepest +concerns. + +Dr. Buckner's first recollections center within a slave cabin in +Kentucky. The cabin was the home of his step-father, his invalid mother +and several children. The cabin was of the crudest construction, its +only windows being merely holes in the cabin wall with crude bark +shutters arranged to keep out snow and rain. The furnishings of this +home consisted of a wood bedstead upon which a rough straw bed and +patchwork quilts provided meager comforts for the invalid mother. A +straw bed that could be pushed under the bed-stead through the day was +pulled into the middle of the cabin at night and the wearied children +were put to bed by the impatient step-father. + +The parents were slaves and served a master not wealthy enough to +provide adaquately for their comforts. The mother had become invalidate +through the task of bearing children each year and being deprived of +medical and surgical attention. + +The master, Mr. Buckner, along with several of his relatives had +purchased a large tract of land in Green County, Kentucky and by a +custom or tradition as Dr. Buckner remembers; land owners that owned no +slaves were considered "Po' White Trash" and were scarcely recognized as +citizens within the state of Kentucky. + +Another tradition prevailed, that slave children should be presented to +the master's young sons and daughters and become their special property +even in childhood. Adherring to that tradition the child, George +Washington Buckner became the slave of young "Mars" Dickie Buckner, and +although the two children were nearly the same age the little mulatto +boy was obedient to the wishes of the little master. Indeed, the slave +child cared for the Caucasian boy's clothing, polished his boots, put +away his toys and was his playmate and companion as well as his slave. + +Sickness and suffering and even death visits alike the just and the +unjust, and the loving sympathetic slave boy witnessed the suffering and +death of his little white friend. Then grief took possession of the +little slave, he could not bear the sight of little Dick's toys nor +books not [TR: nor?] clothing. He recalls one harrowing experience after +the death of little Dick Buckner. George's grandmother was a housekeeper +and kitchen maid for the white family. She was in the kitchen one late +afternoon preparing the evening meal. The master had taken his family +for a visit in the neighborhood and the mulatto child sat on the veranda +and recalled pleasanter days. A sudden desire seized him to look into +the bed room where little Mars Dickie had lain in the bed. The evening +shadows had fallen, exagerated by the influence of trees, and vines, and +when he placed his pale face near the window pane he thought it was the +face of little Dickie looking out at him. His nerves gave away and he +ran around the house screaming to his grandmother that he had seen +Dickie's ghost. The old colored woman was sympathetic, dried his tears, +then with tears coursing down her own cheeks she went about her duties. +George firmly believed he had seen a ghost and never really convinced +himself against the idea until he had reached the years of manhood. He +remembers how the story reached the ears of the other slaves and they +were terrorized at the suggestion of a ghost being in the master's home. +"That is the way superstitions always started" said the Doctor, "Some +nervous persons received a wrong impression and there were always others +ready to embrace the error." + +Dr. Buckner remembers that when a young daughter of his master married, +his sister was given to her for a bridal gift and went away from her own +mother to live in the young mistress' new home. "It always filled us +with sorrow when we were separated either by circumstances of marriage +or death. Although we were not properly housed, properly nourished nor +properly clothed we loved each other and loved our cabin homes and were +unhappy when compelled to part." + +"There are many beautiful spots near the Green River and our home was +situated near Greensburgh, the county seat of Dreen [TR: Green?] +County." The area occupied by Mr. Buckner and his relatives is located +near the river and the meanderings of the stream almost formed a +peninsula covered with rich soil. Buckner's hill relieved the landscape +and clear springs bubled through crevices affording much water for +household use and near those springs white and negro children met to +enjoy themselves. + +"Forty years after I left Greensburg I went back to visit the springs +and try to meet my old friends. The friends had passed away, only a few +merchants and salespeople remembered my ancestors." + +A story told by Dr. Buckner relates an evening at the beginning of the +Civil War. "I had heard my parents talk of the war but it did not seem +real to me until one night when mother came to the pallet where we slept +and called to us to 'Get up and tell our uncles good-bye.' Then four +startled little children arose. Mother was standing in the room with a +candle or a sort of torch made from grease drippings and old pieces of +cloth, (these rude candles were in common use and afforded but poor +light) and there stood her four brothers, Jacob, John, Bill, and Isaac +all with the light of adventure shining upon their mulatto countenances. +They were starting away to fight for their liberties and we were greatly +impressed." + +Dr. Buckner stated that officials thought Jacob entirely too aged to +enter the service as he had a few scattered white hairs but he remembers +he was brawny and unafraid. Isaac was too young but the other two uncles +were accepted. One never returned because he was killed in battle but +one fought throughout the war and was never wounded. He remembers how +the white men were indignant because the negroes were allowed to enlist +and how Mars Stanton Buckner was forced to hide out in the woods for +many months because he had met slave Frank Buckner and had tried to kill +him. Frank returned to Greensburg, forgave his master and procurred a +paper stating that he was at fault, after which Stanton returned to +active service. "Yes, the road has been long. Memory brings back those +days and the love of my mother is still real to me, God bless her!" + +Relating to the value of an education Dr. Buckner hopes every Caucassian +and Afro-American youth and maiden will strive to attain great heights. +His first efforts to procure knowledge consisted of reciting A.B.S.s +[TR: A.B.C.s?] from the McGuffy's [HW: ?] Blue backed speller with his +unlettered sister for a teacher. In later years he attended a school +conducted by the Freemen's Association. He bought a grammar from a white +school boy and studied it at home. When sixteen years of age he was +employed to teach negro children and grieves to recall how limited his +ability was bound to have been. "When a father considers sending his son +or daughter to school, today, he orders catalogues, consults his friends +and considers the location and surroundings and the advice of those who +have patronized the different schools. He finally decides upon the +school that promises the boy or girl the most attractive and comfortable +surroundings. When I taught the African children I boarded with an old +man whose cabin was filled with his own family. I climbed a ladder +leading from the cabin into a dark uncomfortable loft where a comfort +and a straw bed were my only conveniences." + +Leaving Greensburg the young mulatto made his way to Indianapolis where +he became acquainted with the first educated Negro he had ever met. The +Negro was Robert Bruce Bagby, then principal of the only school for +Negroes in Indianapolis. "The same old building is standing there today +that housed Bagby's institution then," he declares. + +Dr. Buckner recalls that when he left Bagby's school he was so low +financially he had to procure a position in a private residence as house +boy. This position was followed by many jobs of serving tables at hotels +and eating houses, of any and all kinds. While engaged in that work he +met Colonel Albert Johnson and his lovely wife, both natives of Arkansas +and he remembers their congratulations when they learned that he was +striving for an education. They advised his entering an educational +institution at Terre Haute. His desire had been to enter that +institution of Normal Training but felt doubtful of succeeding in the +advanced courses taught because his advantages had been so limited, but +Mrs. Johnson told him that "God gives his talents to the different +species and he would love and protect the negro boy." + +After studying several years at the Terre Haute State Normal George W. +Buckner felt assured that he was reasonably prepared to teach the negro +youths and accepted the professorship of schools at Vincennes, +Washington and other Indiana Villages. "I was interested in the young +people and anxious for their advancement but the suffering endured by my +invalid mother, who had passed into the great beyond, and the memory of +little Master Dickie's lingering illness and untimely death would not +desert my consciousness. I determined to take up the study of medical +practice and surgery which I did." + +Dr. Buckner graduated from the Indiana Electic Medical College in 1890. +His services were needed at Indianapolis so he practiced medicine in +that city for a year, then located at Evansville where he has enjoyed an +ever increasing popularity on account of his sympathetic attitude among +his people. + +"When I came to Evansville," says Dr. Buckner, "there were seventy white +physicians practicing in the area, they are now among the departed. +Their task was streneous, roads were almost impossible to travel and +those brave men soon sacrificed their lives for the good of suffering +humanity." Dr. Buckner described several of the old doctors as "Striding +[TR: illegible handwritten word above 'striding'] a horse and setting +out through all kinds of weather." + +Dr. Buckner is a veritable encyclopedia of negro lore. He stops at many +points during an interview to relate stories he has gleaned here and +there. He has forgotten where he first heard this one or that one but it +helps to illustrate a point. One he heard near the end of the war +follows, and although it has recently been retold it holds the interest +of the listener. "Andrew Jackson owned an old negro slave, who stayed +on at the old home when his beloved master went into politics, became an +American soldier and statesman and finally the 7th president of the +United States. The good slave still remained through the several years +of the quiet uneventful last years of his master and witnessed his +death, which occurred at his home near Nashville, Tennessee. After the +master had been placed under the sod, Uncle Sammy was seen each day +visiting Jackson's grave. + +"Do you think President Jackson is in heaven?" an acquaintance asked +Uncle Sammy. + +"If-n he wanted to go dar, he dar now," said the old man. "If-n Mars +Andy wanted to do any thing all Hell couldn't keep him from doin' it." + +Dr. Buckner believes each Negro is confident that he will take himself +with all his peculiarities to the land of promise. Each physical feature +and habitual idiosyncrasy will abide in his redeemed personality. Old +Joe will be there in person with the wrinkle crossing the bridge of his +nose and little stephen will wear his wool pulled back from his eyes and +each will recognize his fellow man. "What fools we all are," declared +Dr. Buckner. + +Asked his views concerning the different books embraced in the Holy +Bible, Dr. Buckner, who is a student of the Bible said, "I believe +almost every story in the Bible is an allegory, composed to illustrate +some fundemental truth that could otherwise never have been clearly +presented only through the medium of an allegory." + +"The most treacherous impulse of the human nature and the one to be most +dreaded is jealousy." With these words the aged Negro doctor launched +into the expression of his political views. "I'm a Democrat." He then +explained how he voted for the man but had confidence that his chosen +party possesses ability in choosing proper candidates. He is an ardent +follower of Franklin D. Roosevelt and speaks of Woodrow Wilson with +bated breath. + +Through the influence of John W. Boehne, Sr., and the friendly advice of +other influential citizens of Evansville Dr. Buckner was appointed +minister to Liberia, on Woodrow Wilson's cabinet, in the year 1913. Dr. +Buckner appreciated the confidence of his friends in appointing him and +cherishes the experineces gained while abroad. He noted the expressions +of gratitude toward cabinet members by the citizens of that African +coast. One Albino youth brought an offering of luscious mangoes and +desired to see the minister from the United States of America. Some +natives presented palm oils. "The natives have been made to understand +that the United States has given aid to Liberia in a financial way and +the customs-service of the republic is temporarily administered headed +by an American." "A thoroughly civilized Negro state does not exist in +Liberia nor do I believe in any part of West Africa. Superstition is the +interpretation of their religion, their political views are a hodgepodge +of unconnected ideas. Strength over rules knowledge and jealousy crowds +out almost all hope of sympathetic achievement and adjustment." Dr. +Buckner recounted incidents where jealousy was apparent in the behavior +of men and women of higher civilizations than the African natives. While +voyaging to Spain on board a Spanish vessel, he witnessed a very +refined, polite Jewish woman being reduced to tears by the taunts of a +Spanish officer, on account of her nationality. "Jealousy," he said, +"protrudes itself into politics, religion and prevents educational +achievement." + +During a political campaign I was compelled to pay a robust Negro man to +follow me about my professional visits and my social evenings with my +friends and family, to prevent meeting physical violence to myself or +family when political factions were virtually at war within the area of +Evansville. The influence of political captains had brought about the +dreadful condition and ignorant Negroes responded to their political +graft, without realizing who had befriended them in need." + +"The negro youths are especially subject to propoganda of the +four-flusher for their home influence is, to say the least, negative. +Their opportunities limited, their education neglected and they are +easily aroused by the meddling influence of the vote-getter and the +traitor. I would to God that their eyes might be opened to the light." + +Dr. Buckner's influence is mostly exhibited in the sick room, where his +presence is introduced in the effort to relieve pain. + +The gradual rise from slavery to prominence, the many trials encountered +along the road has ripened the always sympathetic nature of Dr. Buckner +into a responsive suffer among a suffering people. He has hope that +proper influences and sympathetic advice will mould the plastic +character of the Afro-American youths of the United States into proper +citizens and that their immortal souls inherit the promised reward of +the redeemed through grace. + +"Receivers of emancipation from slavery and enjoyers of emancipation +from sin through the sacrifice of Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ; Why +should not the negroes be exalted and happy?" are the words of Dr. +Buckner. + + +Note: G.W. Buckner was born December 1st, 1852. The negroes in Kentucky +expressed it, "In fox huntin' time" one brother was born in "Simmon +time", one in "Sweet tater time," and another in "Plantin' time." + +--Negro lore. + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +THE LIFE STORY OF GEORGE TAYLOR BURNS +[HW: Personal Interview] + + +Ox-carts and flat boats, and pioneer surroundings; crowds of men and +women crowding to the rails of river steamboats; gay ladies in holiday +attire and gentleman in tall hats, low cut vests and silk mufflers; for +the excursion boats carried the gentry of every area. + +A little negro boy clung to the ragged skirts of a slave mother, both +were engrossed in watching the great wheels that ploughed the +Mississippi river into foaming billows. Many boats stopped at Gregery's +Landing, Missouri to stow away wood, for many engines were fired with +wood in the early days. + +The Burns brothers operated a wood yard at the Landing and the work of +cutting, hewing and piling wood for the commerce was performed by slaves +of the Burns plantation. + +George Taylor Burns was five years of age and helped his mother all day +as she toiled in the wood yards. "The colder the weather, the more hard +work we had to do," declares Uncle George. + +George Taylor Burns, the child of Missouri slave parents, recalls the +scenes enacted at the Burns' wood yards so long ago. He is a resident of +Evansville, Indiana and his snow white hair and beard bear testimony +that his days have been already long upon the earth. + +Uncle George remembers the time when his infant hands reached in vain +for his mother, the kind and gentle Lucy Burns: Remembers a long cold +winter of snow and ice when boats were tied up to their moorings. Old +master died that winter and many slaves were sold by the heirs, among +them was Lucy Burns. Little George clung to his mother but strong hands +tore away his clasp. Then he watched her cross a distant hill, chained +to a long line of departing slaves. George never saw his parents again +and although the memory of his mother is vivid he scarcely remembers his +father's face. He said, "Father was black but my mother was a bright +mulatto." + +Nothing impressed the little boy with such unforgettable imagery as the +cold which descended upon Greogery's Landing one winter. Motherless, +hungry, desolate and unloved, he often cried himself to sleep at night +while each day he was compelled to carry wood. One morning he failed to +come when the horn was sounded to call the slaves to breakfast. "Old +Missus went to the Negro quarters to see what was wrong" and "She was +horrified when she found I was frozen to the bed." + +She carried the small bundle of suffering humanity to the kitchen of her +home and placed him near the big oven. When the warmth thawed the frozen +child the toes fell from his feet. "Old Missus told me I would never be +strong enough to do hard work, and she had the neighborhood shoemaker +fashion shoes too short for any body's feet but mine," said Uncle +George. + +Uncle George doesn't remember why he left Missouri but the sister of +Greene Taylor brought him to Troy, Indiana. Here she learned that she +could not own a slave within the State of Indiana so she indentured the +child to a flat boat captain to wash dishes and wait on the crew of +workers. + +George was so small of stature that the captain had a low table and +stool made that he might work in comfort. George's mistress received +$15,00 [TR: $15.00?] per month for the service of the boy for several +years. + +From working on the flat boats George became accustomed to the river and +soon received employment as a cabin boy on a steam boat and from that +time through out the most active days of his life George Taylor Burns +was a steam-boat man. In fact he declares, "I know steamboats from wood +box to stern wheel." + +"The life of a riverman is a good life and interesting things happen on +the river," says Uncle George. + +Uncle George has been imprisoned in the big jail at New Orleans. He has +seen his fellow slaves beaten into insensibility while chained to the +whipping post in Congo Square at New Orleans. + +He was badly treated while a slave but he has witnessed even more cruel +treatment administered to his fellow slaves. + +Among other exciting occurrences remembered by the old negro man when he +recalls early river adventures is one in which a flat boat sunk near New +Orleans. After clinging for many hours to the drifting wreckage he was +rescued, half dead from exhaustion. + +In memory, George Taylor Burns stands in the slave mart at New Orleans +and hears the Auctioneers' hammer, for he was sold like a beast of +burden by Greene Taylor, brother of his mistress. Greene Taylor, +however, had to refund the money and return the slave to his mistress +when his crippled feet were discovered. + +"Greene Taylor was like many other people I have known. He was always +ready to make life unhappy for a negro." + +Uncle George, although possessing an unusual amount of intelligence and +ability to learn, has a very limited education. "The Negroes were not +allowed an education," he relates. "It was dangerous for any person to +be caught teaching a Negro and several Negroes were put to death because +they could read." + +Uncle George recalls a few superstitions entertained by the rivermen. +"It was bad luck for a white cat to come aboard the boat." "Horse shoes +were carried for good luck." "If rats left the boat the crew was uneasy, +for fear of a wreck." Uncle George has very little faith in any +superstition but remembers some of the crews had. + +Among other boats on which this old river man was employed are "The +Atlantic" on which he was cabin boy. The "Big Gray Eagle" on which he +assisted in many ways. He worked where boats were being constructed +while he lived at New Albany. + +Many soldiers were returned to their homes by means of flat boats and +steam boats when the Civil War had ended and many recruits were sent by +water during the war. Just after peace was declared George met +Elizabeth Slye, a young slave girl who had just been set free. "Liza +would come to see her mother who was working on a boat." "People used to +come down to the landings to see boats come in," said Uncle George. +George and Liza were free, they married and made New Albany their home, +until 1881 when they came to Evansville. + +Uncle George said the Eclipse was a beautiful boat, he remembers the +lettering in gold and the bright lights and polished rails of the +longest steam boat ever built in the West. Measuring 365 feet in length +and Uncle George declares, "For speed she just up and hustled." + +"Louisville was one of the busiest towns in the Ohio Valley," says Uncle +George, but he remembers New Orleans as the market place where almost +all the surplus products were marketed. + +Uncle George has many friends along the water-front towns. He admires +the Felker family of Tell City, Indiana. He is proud of his own race and +rejoices in their opportunities. He remembers his fear of the Ku Klux, +his horror of the patrol and other clans united to make life dangerous +for newly emancipated Negroes. + +George Taylor Burns draws no old age pension. He owns a building located +at Canal and Evans Streets that houses a number of Negro families. He is +glad to say his credit is good in every market in the city. Although +lamed by rheumatic pains and hobbling on feet toeless from his young +childhood he has led a useful life. "Don't forget I knew Pilot Tom +Ballard, and Aaron Ballard on the Big Eagle in 1858," warns Uncle +George. "We Negroes carried passes so we could save our skins if we were +caught off the boats but we had plenty of good food on the boats." + +Uncle George said the roustabouts sang gay songs while loading boats +with heavy freight and provisions but on account of his crippled feet he +could not be a roustabout. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. BELLE BUTLER--DAUGHTER [of Chaney Mayer] +829 North Capitol Avenue + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Belle Butler, the daughter of Chaney Mayer, tells of the hardships her +mother endured during her days of slavery. + + +Interview + +Chaney was owned by Jesse Coffer, "a mean old devil." He would whip his +slaves for the slightest misdemeanor, and many times for nothing at +all--just enjoyed seeing them suffer. Many a time Jesse would whip a +slave, throw him down, and gouge his eyes out. Such a cruel act! + +Chaney's sister was also a slave on the Coffer plantation. One day their +master decided to whip them both. After whipping them very hard, he +started to throw them down, to go after their eyes. Chaney grabbed one +of his hands, her sister grabbed his other hand, each girl bit a finger +entirely off of each hand of their master. This, of course, hurt him so +very bad he had to stop their punishment and never attempted to whip +them again. He told them he would surely put them in his pocket (sell +them) if they ever dared to try *anthing like that again in life. + +Not so long after their fight, Chaney was given to a daughter of their +master, and her sister was given to another daughter and taken to +Passaic County, N.C. + +On the next farm to the Coffer farm, the overseers would tie the slaves +to the joists by their thumbs, whip them unmercifully, then salt their +backs to make them very sore. + +When a slave slowed down on his corn hoeing, no matter if he were sick, +or just very tired, he would get many lashes and a salted back. + +One woman left the plantation without a pass. The overseer caught her +and whipped her to death. + +No slave was ever allowed to look at a book, for fear he might learn to +read. One day the old mistress caught a slave boy with a book, she +cursed him and asked him what he meant, and what he thought he could do +with a book. She said he looked like a black dog with a breast pin on, +and forbade him to ever look into a book again. + +All slaves on the Coffer plantation were treated in a most inhuman +manner, scarcely having enough to eat, unless they would steal it, +running the risk of being caught and receiving a severe beating for the +theft. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Butler lives with her daughters, has worked very hard in "her +days." + +She has had to give up almost everything in the last few years, because +her eyesight has failed. However, she is very cheerful and enjoys +telling the "tales" her mother would tell her. + +Submitted December 28, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +5th District +Vandenburgh County +Lauana Creel + +SLAVE STORY +JOSEPH WILLIAM CARTER + + +This information was gained through an interview with Joseph William +Carter and several of his daughters. The data was cheerfully given to +the writer. Joseph William Carter has lived a long and, he declares, a +happy life, although he was born and reared in bondage. His pleasing +personality has always made his lot an easy one and his yoke seemed easy +to wear. + +Joseph William Carter was born prior to the year 1836. His mother, +Malvina Gardner was a slave in the home of Mr. Gardner until a man named +D.B. Smith saw her and noticing the physical perfection of the child at +once purchased her from her master. + +Malvina was agrieved at being compelled to leave her old home, and her +lovely young mistress. Puss Gardner was fond of the little mullato girl +and had taught her to be a useful member of the Gardner family; however, +she was sold to Mr. Smith and was compelled to accompany him to his +home. + +Both the Gardner and Smith families lived near Gallatin, Tennessee, in +Sumner County. The Smith plantation was situated on the Cumberland River +and commanded a beautiful view of river and valley acres but Malvina was +very unhappy. She did not enjoy the Smith family and longed for her old +friends back in the Gardner home. + +One night the little girl gathered together her few personal belongings +and started back to her old home. + +Afraid to travel the highway the child followed a path she knew through +the forest; but alas, she found the way long and beset with perils. A +number of uncivil Indians were encamped on the side of the Cumberland +mountains and a number of the young braves were out hunting that night. +Their stealthy approach was heard by the little fugitive girl but too +late for her to make an escape. An Indian called "Buck" captured her and +by all the laws of the tribe was his own property. She lived for almost +a year in the teepe with Buck and during that time learned much about +Indian habits. + +When Malvina was missed from her new home, Mr. Smith went to the Gardner +plantation to report his loss, not finding her there a wide search was +made for her but the Indians kept her thoroughly concealed. Miss Puss, +however, kept up the search. She knew the Indians were encamped on the +mountain and believed she would find the girl with them. The Indians +finally broke camp and the members of the Gardner home watched them +start on their journey and Miss Puss soon discovered Malvina among the +other maidens in the procession. + +The men of the Gardner plantation, white and black, overtook the Indians +and demanded the girl be given up to them. The Indians reluctantly gave +her to them. Miss Puss Gardner took her back and Mr. Gardner paid Mr. +Smith the original purchase price and Malvina was once more installed in +her old home. + +Malvina Gardner was not yet twelve years of age when she was captured by +the Indians and was scarcely thirteen years of age when she became the +mother of Joseph William, son of the uncivil Indian, "Buck". The child +was born in the Gardner home and mother and child remained there. The +mother was a good slave and loved the members of the Gardner family and +her son and she were loved by them in return. + +Puss Gardner married a Mr. Mooney and Mr. Gardner allowed her to take +Joseph William to her home. The Mooney estate was situated up on the +Carthridge road and some of Joseph William's most vivid memories of +slavery and the curse of bondage embrace his life's span with the +Mooneys. + +One story that the aged man relates is of an encounter with an eagle and +follows: "George Irish, a white boy near my own age, was the son of the +miller. His father operated a sawmill on Bledsoe Creek near where it +empties into the Coumberland river. George and I often went fishing +together and had a good dog called Hector. Hector was as good a coon dog +as there was to be found in that part of the country. That day we boys +climbed up on the mill shed to watch the swans in Bledsoe Creek and we +soon noticed a great big fish hawk catching the goslings. It made us mad +and we decided to kill the hawk. I went back to the house and got an old +flint lock rifle Mars. Mooney had let me carry when we went hunting. +When I got back where George was, the big bird was still busy catching +goslings. The first shot I fired broke its wing and I decided I would +catch it and take it home with me. The bird put up a terrible fight, +cutting me with its bill and talons. Hector came running and tried to +help me but the bird cut him until his howls brought help from the +field. Mr. Jacob Greene was passing along and came to us. He tore me +away from the bird but I could not walk and the blood was running from +my body in dozens of places. Poor old Hector, was crippled and bleeding +for the bird was a big eagle and would have killed both of us if help +had not come." The old negro man still shows signs of his encounter with +the eagle. He said it was captured and lived about four months in +captivity but its wing never healed. The body of the eagle was stuffed +with wheat bran, by Greene Harris, and placed in the court yard in +Sumner County. "The Civil War changed things at the Mooney plantation," +said the old man. "Before the War Mr. Mooney never had been cruel to me. +I was Mistress Puss's property and she would never have allowed me to be +abused, but some of the other slaves endured the most cruel treatment +and were worked nearly to death." + +Uncle Joe's memory of slavery embraces the whole story of bondage and +the helpless position held by strong bodied men and women of a hardy +race, overpowered by the narrow ideals of slave owners and cruel +overseerers. "When I was a little bitsy child and still lived with Mr. +Gardner," said the old man, "I saw many of the slaves beaten to death. +Master Gardner didn't do any of the whippin' but every few months he +sent to Mississippi for negro rulers to come to the plantation and whip +all the negroes that had not obeyed the overseers. A big barrel lay near +the barn and that was always the whippin place." Uncle Joe remembers two +or three professional slave whippers and recalls the death of two of the +Mississippi whippers. He relates the story as follows: "Mars Gardner had +one of the finest black smiths that I ever saw. His arms were strong, +his muscles stood out on his breast and shoulders and his legs were +never tired. He stood there and shoed horses and repaired tools day +after day and there was no work ever made him tired." + +The old negro man so vividly described the noble blacksmith that he +almost appeared in person, as the story advanced. "I don't know what he +had done to rile up Mars Gardner, but all of us knew that the Blacksmith +was going to be flogged. When the whippers from Mississippi got to the +plantation. The blacksmith worked on day and night. All day he was +shoein horses and all the spare time he had he was makin a knife. When +the whippers got there all of us were brought out to watch the whippin +but the blacksmith, Jim Gardner did not wait to feel the lash, he jumped +right into the bunch of overseers and negro whippers and knifed two +whippers and one overseer to death; then stuck the sharp knife into his +arm and bled to death." + +Suicide seemed the only hope for this man of strength. He could not +humble himself to the brutal ordeal of being beaten by the slave +whippers. + +"When the war started, we kept hearing about the soldiers and finally +they set up their camp in the forest near us. The corn was ready to +bring into the barn and the soldiers told Mr. Mooney to let the slaves +gather it and put it into the barns. Some of the soldiers helped gather +and crib the corn. I wanted to help but Miss Puss was afraid they would +press me into service and made me hide in the cellar. There was a big +keg of apple cider in the cellar and every day Miss Puss handed down a +big plate of fresh ginger snaps right out of the oven, so I was well +fixed." The old man remembers that after the corn was in the crib the +soldiers turned in their horses to eat what had fallen to the ground. + +Before the soldiers became encamped at the Mooney plantation they had +camped upon a hill and some skirmishing had occurred. Uncle Joe +remembers the skirmish and seeing cannon balls come over the fields. The +cannon balls were chained together and the slave children would run +after the missils. Sometimes the chains would cut down trees as the +balls rolled through the forest. + +"Do you believe in witchcraft?" was asked while interviewing the aged +negro. "No" was the answer. "I had a cousin that was a full blooded +Indian and a Voodoo doctor. He got me to help him with his Voodoo work. +A lot of people both white and black sent for the Indian when they were +sick. I told him I would do the best I could, if it would help sick +people to get well. A woman was sick with rhumatism and he was going to +see her. He sent me into the woods to dig up poke roots to boil. He then +took the brew to the house where the sick woman lived. Had her to put +both feet in a tub filled with warm water, into which he had placed the +poke root brew. He told the woman she had lizards in her body and he was +going to bring them out of her. He covered the woman with a heavy +blanket and made her sit for a long time, possibly an hour, with her +feet in the tub of poke root brew and water. He had me slip a good many +lizards into the tub and when the woman removed her feet, there were the +lizards. She was soon well and believed the lizards had come out of her +legs. I was disgusted and would not practice with my cousin again." + +"So you didn't fight in the Civil War," was asked Uncle Joe. + +"Of course I did, when I got old enough I entered the service and +barbacued meat until the war closed." Barbacueing had been Uncle Joe's +specialty during slavery days and he followed the same profession during +his service with the federal army. He was freed by the emancuapation +proclamation, and soon met and married Sadie Scott, former Slave of Mr. +Scott, a Tennessee planter. Sadie only lived a short time after her +marriage. He later married Amy Doolins. Her father was named Carmuel. He +was a blacksmith and after he was free, the countrymen were after him to +take his life. He was shot nine times and finally killed himself to +prevent meeting death at the hands of the clansmen. + +Joseph William Carter is a cripple. In 1933 he fell and broke his right +thigh-bone and since that time he has walked with a crutch. He stays up +quite a lot and is always glad to welcome visitors. He possesses a noble +character and is admired by his friends and neighbors. Tall, straight, +lean of body, his nose is aquiline; these physical characteristics he +inherited from his Indian ancesters. His gentle nature, wit, and good +humor are characteristics handed to him by his mother and fostered by +the gentle rearing of his southern mistress. + +When Uncle Joe Carter celebrated the 100dth aniversary of his birth a +large cake was presented to him, decorated with 100 candles. The party +was attended by children and grandchildren, friends and neighbors. "What +is your political viewpoint?" was asked the old man. + +"My politics is my love for my country". "I vote for the man, not the +party." + +Uncle Joe's religion is the religion of decency and virtue. "I don't +want to be hard in my judgement," said he, "But I wish the whole world +would be decent. When I was a young man, women wore more clothes in bed +than they now wear on the street." + +"Papa has always been a lover of horses but he does not care for +Automobiles nor aeroplanes," said a daughter of Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe has +seven daughters, he says they have always been obedient and attentive to +their parents. Their mother passed away seven years ago. The sons and +daughters of Uncle Joe remember their grand-mother and recall stories +recounted by her of her captivity among the Indians. + +"Papa had no gray hairs until after mama died. His hair turned gray from +grief at her loss," said Mrs. Della Smith, one of his daughters. Uncle +Joe's smile reveals a set of unusually sound teeth from which only one +tooth is missing. + +Like all fathers and grandfathers, Uncle Joe recounts the cute deeds and +funny sayings of the little children he has been associated with: how +his own children with feather bedecked crowns enacted the capture of +their grandmother and often played "Voo-Doo Doctor." + +Uncle Joe stresses the value of work, not the enforced labor of the +slave but the cheerful toil of free people. He is glad that his sons and +daughters are industrious citizens and is proud they maintain clean +homes for their families. He is happy because his children have never +known bondage, and he respects the laws of his country and appreciates +the interest that the citizens of Evansville have always showed in the +negro race. + +After Uncle Joe became a young man he met many Indians from the tribe +that had held his mother captive. Through them he learned much about his +father which his mother had never told him. + +Though he was a Gardner slave and would have been Joseph Gardner, he +took the name of Carter from a step father and is known as Joseph +Carter. + + + + +Grace Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +OHIO COUNTY EX-SLAVE, MRS. ELLEN CAVE, RELATES HER EXPERIENCES + + +Assistant editor of "The Rising Sun Recorder" furnished the following +story which had appeared in the paper, March 19, 1937. + +Mrs. Cave was in slavery for twelve years before she was freed by the +Emancipation Proclamation. When she gave her story to Aubrey Robinson +she was living in a temporary garage home back of the Rising Sun +courthouse having lost everything in the 1937 flood. + +Mrs. Cave was born on a plantation in Taylor County Kentucky. She was +the property of a man who did not live up to the popular idea of a +Southern gentleman, whose slaves refused to leave them, even after their +freedom was declared. + +When she was a year old her mother was sold to someone in Louisana and +she did not see her again until 1867, when they were re-united in +Carrolton, Kentucky. Her father died when she was a baby. + +Mrs. Cave told of seeing wagon loads of slaves sold down the river. She, +herself was put on the block several times but never actually sold, +although she would have preferred being sold rather than the +continuation of the ordeal of the block. + +Her master was a "mean man" who drank heavily, he had twenty slaves that +he fed now and then, and gave her her freedom after the war only when +she would remain silent about it no longer. He was a Southern +sympathiser but joined the Union army where he became a captain and was +in charge of a Union commissary. Finally he was suspected and charged +with mustering supplies to the rebels. He was imprisoned for some time, +then courtmartialed and sentenced to die. He escaped by bribing his +negro guard. + +Mrs. Cave said that her master's father had many young women slaves and +sold his own half-breed children down the river to Louisiana plantations +where the work was so severe that the slaves soon died. + +While in slavery, Mrs. Cave worked as a maid in the house until she grew +older when she was forced to do all kinds of outdoor labor. She +remembered sawing logs in the snow all day. In the summer she pitched +hay or any other man's work in the field. She was trained to carry three +buckets of water at the same time, two in her hands and one on her +head and said she could still do it. + +On this plantation the chief article of food for the slaves was +bran-bread, although the master's children were kind and often slipped +them out meat or other food. + +Mrs. Cave remembered seeing General Woolford and General Morgan of the +Southern forces when they made friendly visits to the plantation. She +saw General Grant twice during the war. She saw soldiers drilling near +the plantation. Later she was caught and whipped by night riders, or +"pat-a-rollers", as she tried to slip out to negro religious meetings. + +Mrs. Cave was driven from her plantation two years after the war and +came to Carrollton [TR: earlier, Carrolton] Kentucky, where she found +her mother and soon married James Cave, a former slave on a plantation +near hers in Taylor county. Mrs. Cave had thirteen children. + +For many years Mrs. Cave has lived on a farm about two and one half mi. +south of Rising Sun. Everything she had was washed away in the flood and +she lived in the court house garage until her home could be rebuilt. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #8 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. HARRIET CHEATAM--EX-SLAVE +816 Darnell Street + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Incidents in the life of Mrs. Cheatam as she told them to me. + + +Interview + +"I was born, in 1843, in Gallatin, Tennessee, 94 years ago this coming +(1937) Christmas day." + +"Our master, Martin Henley, a farmer, was hard on us slaves, but we were +happy in spite of our lack." + +"When I was a child, I didn't have it as hard as some of the children +in the quarters. I always stayed in the "big house," slept on the floor, +right near the fireplace, with one quilt for my bed and one quilt to +cover me. Then when I growed up, I was in the quarters." + +"After the Civil war, I went to Ohio to cook for General Payne. We had a +nice life in the general's house." + +"I remember one night, way back before the Civil war, we wanted a goose. +I went out to steal one as that was the only way we slaves would have +one. I crept very quiet-like, put my hand in where they was and grabbed, +and what do you suppose I had? A great big pole cat. Well, I dropped him +quick, went back, took off all my clothes, dug a hole, and buried them. +The next night I went to the right place, grabbed me a nice big goose, +held his neck and feet so he couldn't holler, put him under my arm, and +ran with him, and did we eat?" + +"We often had prayer meeting out in the quarters, and to keep the folks +in the "big house" from hearing us, we would take pots, turn them down, +put something under them, that let the sound go in the pots, put them in +a row by the door, then our voices would not go out, and we could sing +and pray to our heart's content." + +"At Thanksgiving time we would have pound cake. That was fine. We would +take our hands and beat and beat our cake dough, put the dough in a +skillet, cover it with the lid and put it in the fireplace. (The covered +skillet would act our ovens of today.) It would take all day to bake, +but it sure would be good; not like the cakes you have today." + +"When we cooked our regular meals, we would put our food in pots, slide +them on an iron rod that hooked into the fireplace. (They were called +pot hooks.) The pots hung right over the open fire and would boil until +the food was done." + +"We often made ash cake. (That is made of biscuit dough.) When the dough +was ready, we swept a clean place on the floor of the fireplace, +smoothed the dough out with our hands, took some ashes, put them on top +of the dough, then put some hot coals on top of the ashes, and just left +it. When it was done, we brushed off the coals, took out the bread, +brushed off the ashes, child, that was bread." + +"When we roasted a chicken, we got it all nice and clean, stuffed him +with dressing, greased him all over good, put a cabbage leaf on the +floor of the fireplace, put the chicken on the cabbage leaf, then +covered him good with another cabbage leaf, and put hot coals all over +and around him, and left him to roast. That is the best way to cook +chicken." + +Mrs. Cheatam lives with a daughter, Mrs. Jones. She is a very small old +lady, pleasant to talk with, has a very happy disposition. Her eyes, as +she said, "have gotten very dim," and she can't piece her quilts +anymore. That was the way she spent her spare time. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +She has beautiful white hair and is very proud of it. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +JAMES CHILDRESS' STORY +312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana + + +From an interview with James Childress and from John Bell both living at +312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana. + +Known as Uncle Jimmy by the many children that cluster about the aged +man never tiring of his stories of "When I was chile." + +"When I was a chile my daddy and mamma was slaves and I was a slave," so +begins many recounted tales of the long ago. + +Born at Nashville, Tennessee in the year 1860, Uncle Jimmie remembers +the Civil War with the exciting events as related to his own family and +the family of James Childress, his master. He remembers sorrow expressed +in parting tears when "Uncle Johnie and Uncle Bob started to war." He +recalls happy days when the beautiful valley of the Cumberland was +abloom with wild flowers and fertile acres were carpeted with blue +grass. + +"A beautiful view could always be enjoyed from the hillsides and there +were many pretty homes belonging to the rich citizens. Slaves kept the +lawns smooth and tended the flowers for miles around Nashville, when I +was a child," said Uncle Jimmie. + +Uncle Jimmie Childress has no knowledge of his master's having practiced +cruelty towards any slave. "We was all well fed, well clothed and lived +in good cabins. I never got a cross word from Mars John in my life," he +declared. "When the slaves got their freedom they rejoiced staying up +many nights to sing, dance and enjoy themselves, although they still +depended on old Mars John for food and bed, they felt too excited to +work in the fields or care for the stock. They hated to leave their +homes but Mr. Childress told them to go out and make homes for +themselves." + +"Mother got work as a housekeeper and kept us all together. Uncle Bob +got home from the War and we lived well enough. I have lived at +Evansville since 1881, have worked for a good many men and John Bell +will tell you I have had only friends in the city of Evansville." + +Uncle Jimmie recalls how the slaves always prayed to God for freedom and +the negro preachers always preached about the day when the slaves would +be no longer slaves but free and happy. + +"My people loved God, they sang sacred songs, 'Swing Low Sweet Charriot' +was one of the best songs they knew". Here uncle Jimmie sang a stanza of +the song and said it related to God's setting the negroes free. + +"The negroes at Mr. Childress' place were allowed to learn as much as +they could. Several of the young men could read and write. Our master +was a good man and did no harm to anybody." + +James Childress is a black man, small of stature, with crisp wooly dark +hair. He is glad he is not mulatto but a thorough blooded negro. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. SARAH COLBERT--EX-SLAVE +1505 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Sarah Carpenter Colbert was born in Allen County, Kentucky in 1855. +She was owned by Leige Carpenter, a farmer. + +Her father, Isaac Carpenter was the grandson of his master, Leige +Carpenter, who was very kind to him. Isaac worked on the farm until the +old master's death. He was then sold to Jim McFarland in Frankfort +Kentucky. Jim's wife was very mean to the slaves, whipped them regularly +every morning to start the day right. + +One morning after a severe beating, Isaac met an old slave, who asked +him why he let his mistress beat him so much. Isaac laughed and asked +him what he could do about it. The old man told him if he would bite her +foot, the next time she knocked him down, she would stop beating him and +perhaps sell him. + +The next morning he was getting his regular beating, he willingly fell +to the floor, grabbed his mistress' foot, bit her very hard. She tried +very hard to pull away from him, he held on still biting, she ran around +in the room, Isaac still holding on. Finally, she stopped beating him +and never attempted to strike him again. + +The next week he was put on the block, being a very good worker and a +very strong man, the bids were high. + +His young master, Leige Jr., outbid everyone and bought him for +$1200.00. + +His young mistress was very mean to him. He went again to his old friend +for advice. This time he told him to get some yellow dust, sprinkle it +around in his mistress' room and if possible, got some in her shoes. +This he did and in a short time he was sold again to Johnson Carpenter +in the same county. He was not really treated any better there. By this +time he was very tired of being mistreated. He remembered his old +master telling him to never let anyone be mean to him. He ran away to +his old mistress, told her of his many hardships, and told her what the +old master had told him, so she sent him back. At the next sale she +bought him, and he lived there until slavery was abolished. + +Her grandfather, Bat Carpenter, was an ambitious slave; he dug ore and +bought his freedom, then bought his wife by paying $50.00 a year to her +master for her. She continued to work on the farm of her own master for +a very small wage. + +Bat's wife, Matilda, lived on the farm not far from him, he was allowed +to visit her every Sunday. One Sunday, it looked like rain, his master +told him to gather in the oats, he refused to do this and was beaten +with a raw hide. He was so angry, he went to one of the witch-crafters +for a charm so he could fix his old master. + +The witch doctor told him to get five new nails, as there were five +members in his master's family, walk to the barn, then walk backwards a +few steps, pound one nail in the ground, giving each nail the name of +each member of the family, starting with the master, then the mistress, +and so on through the family. Each time one nail was pounded down in the +ground, walk backwards and nail the next one in until all were pounded +deep in the ground. He did as instructed and was never beaten again. + +Jane Garmen was the village witch. She disturbed the slaves with her +cat. Always at milking time the cat would appear, and at night would go +from one cabin to another, putting out the grease lamps with his paw. No +matter how they tried to kill the cat, it just could not be done. + +An old witch doctor told them to melt a dime, form a bullet with the +silver, and shoot the cat. He said a lead bullet would never kill a +bewitched animal. The silver bullet fixed the cat. + +Jane also bewitched the chickens. They were dying so fast anything they +did seemed useless. Finally a big fire was built and the dead chickens +thrown into the fire, that burned the charm, and no more chickens died. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Colbert lives with her daughter in a very comfortable home. She +seems very happy and was glad to talk of her early days. How she would +laugh when telling of the experiences of her family. + +She has reared a large family of her own, and feels very proud of them. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Wm. R. Mays +Dist. 4 +Johnson County, Ind. +July 29, 1937 + +SLAVERY DAYS OF MANDY COOPER OF LINCOLN COUNTY, KENTUCKY +FRANK COOPER +715 Ott St., Franklin, Ind. + + +Frank Cooper, an aged colored man of Franklin, relates some very +interesting conditions that existed in slavery days as handed down to +him by his mother. + +Mandy Cooper, the mother of Frank Cooper, was 115 years old when she +died; she was owned by three different families: the Good's, the +Burton's, and the Cooper's, all of Lincoln Co. Kentucky. + +"Well, Ah reckon Ah am one of the oldest colored men hereabouts," +confessed aged Frank Cooper. "What did you all want to see me about?" My +mission being stated, he related one of the strangest categories +alluding to his mother's slave life that I have ever heard. + +"One day while mah mammy was washing her back my sistah noticed ugly +disfiguring scars on it. Inquiring about them, we found, much to our +amazement, that they were mammy's relics of the now gone, if not +forgotten, slave days. + +"This was her first reference to her "misery days" that she had evah +made in my presence. Of course we all thought she was tellin' us a big +story and we made fun of her. With eyes flashin', she stopped bathing, +dried her back and reached for the smelly ole black whip that hung +behind the kitchen door. Biddin' us to strip down to our waists, my +little mammy with the boney bent-ovah back, struck each of us as hard as +evah she could with that black-snake whip, each stroke of the whip drew +blood from our backs. "Now", she said to us, "you have a taste of +slavery days." With three of her children now having tasted of some of +her "misery days" she was in the mood to tell us more of her sufferings; +still indelibly impressed in my mind. [TR: illegible handwritten note +here.] + +'My ole back is bent ovah from the quick-tempered blows feld by the +red-headed Miss Burton. + +'At dinner time one day when the churnin' wasn't finished for the +noonday meal', she said with an angry look that must have been reborn in +mah mammy's eyes--eyes that were dimmed by years and hard livin', 'three +white women beat me from anger because they had no butter for their +biscuits and cornbread. Miss Burton used a heavy board while the missus +used a whip. While I was on my knees beggin' them to quit, Miss Burton +hit the small of mah back with the heavy board. Ah knew no more until +kind Mr. Hamilton, who was staying with the white folks, brought me +inside the cabin and brought me around with the camphor bottle. Ah'll +always thank him--God bless him--he picked me up where they had left me +like a dog to die in the blazin' noonday sun. + +'After mah back was broken it was doubted whether ah would evah be able +to work again or not. Ah was placed on the auction block to be bidded +for so mah owner could see if ah was worth anything or not. One man bid +$1700 after puttin' two dirty fingahs in my mouth to see my teeth. Ah +bit him and his face showed angah. He then wanted to own me so he could +punish me. + +'Thinkin' his bid of $1700 was official he unstrapped his buggy whip to +beat me, but my mastah saved me. My master declared the bid unofficial. + +'At this auction my sister was sold for $1900 and was never seen by us +again.' + +"My mother related some experiences she had with the Paddy-Rollers, +later called the "Kuklux", these Paddy-Rollers were a constant dread to +the Negroes. They would whip the poor darkeys unmercifully without any +cause. One night while the Negroes were gathering for a big party and +dance they got wind of the approaching Paddy-Rollers in large numbers +on horseback. The Negro men did not know what to do for protection, they +became desperate and decided to gather a quantity of grapevines and tied +them fast at a dark place in the road. When the Paddy-Rollers came +thundering down the road bent on deviltry and unaware of the trap set +for them, plunged head-on into these strong grapevines and three of +their number were killed and a score was badly injured. Several horses +had to be shot following injuries. + +"When the news of this happening spread it was many months before the +Paddy-Rollers were again heard of." + + + + +Albert Strope, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +St. Joseph County--District #1 +Mishawaka, Indiana + +EX-SLAVE +REV. H.H. EDMUNDS +403 West Hickory Street +Elkhart, Indiana + + +Rev. H.H. Edmunds has resided at 403 West Hickory Street in Elkhart for +the past ten years. Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1859, he lived there +for several years. Later he was taken to Mississippi by his master, and +finally to Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived until his removal to +Elkhart. + +Mr. Edmunds is very religious, and for many years has served his people +as a minister of the Gospel. He feels deeply that the religion of today +has greatly changed from the "old time religion." In slavery days, the +colored people were so subjugated and uneducated that he claims they +were especially susceptible to religion, and poured out their religious +feelings in the so-called negro spirituals. Mr. Edmunds is convinced +that the superstitions of the colored people and their belief in ghosts +and gobblins is due to the fact that their emotions were worked upon by +slave drivers to keep them in subjugation. Oftentimes white people +dressed as ghosts, frightened the colored people into doing many things +under protest. The "ghosts" were feared far more than the slave-drivers. + +The War of the Rebellion is not remembered by Mr. Edmunds, but he +clearly remembers the period following the war known as the +Reconstruction Period. The Negroes were very happy when they learned +they were free as a result of the war. A few took advantage of their +freedom immediately, but many, not knowing what else to do, remained +with their former masters. Some remained on the plantations five years +after they were free. Gradually they learned to care for themselves, +often through instructions received from their former masters, and then +they were glad to start out in the world for themselves. Of course, +there were exceptions, for the slaves who had been abused by cruel +masters were only too glad to leave their former homes. + +The following reminiscense is told by Mr. Edmunds: + +"As a boy, I worked in Virginia for my master, a Mr. Farmer[TR:?]. He +had two sons who served as bosses on the farm. An elder sister was the +head boss. After the war was over, the sister called the colored people +together and told them that they were no longer slaves, that they might +leave if they wished. + +"The slaves had been watering cucumbers which had been planted around +barrels filled with soil. Holes had been bored in the barrels, and when +water was poured in the barrels, it gradually seeped out through the +holes thus watering the cucumbers. + +"After the speech, one son told the slaves to resume their work. Since I +was free, I refused to do so, and as a result, I received a terrible +kicking. I mentally resolved to get even some day. Years afterward, I +went to the home of this man for the express purpose of seeking revenge. +However, I was received so kindly, and treated so well, that all +thoughts of vengeance vanished. For years after, my former boss and I +visited each other in our own homes." + +Mr. Edmunds states that the Negro people prefer to be referred to as +colored people, and deeply resent the name "nigger." + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +Lake County--District #1 +Gary, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +JOHN EUBANKS & FAMILY +Gary, Indiana + + +Gary's only surviving Civil War veteran was born a slave in Barren +County, Kentucky, June 6, 1836. His father was a mulatto and a free +negro. His mother was a slave on the Everrett plantation and his +grandparents ware full-blooded African negroes. As a child he began work +as soon as possible and was put to work hoeing and picking cotton and +any other odd jobs that would keep him busy. He was one of a family of +several children, and is the sole survivor, a brother living in +Indianapolis, having died there in 1935. + +Following the custom of the south, when the children of the Everrett +family grew up, they married and slaves were given them for wedding +presents. John was given to a daughter who married a man of the name of +Eubanks, hence his name, John Eubanks. John was one of the more +fortunate slaves in that his mistress and master were kind and they were +in a state divided on the question of slavery. They favored the north. +The rest of the children were given to other members of the Everrett +family upon their marriage or sold down the river and never saw one +another until after the close of the Civil War. + +Shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, when the north seemed to +be losing, someone conceived the idea of forming negro regiments and as +an inducement to the slaves, they offered them freedom if they would +join the Union forces. John's mistress and master told him that if he +wished to join the Union forces, he had their consent and would not have +to run away like other slaves were doing. At the beginning of the war, +John was twenty-one years of age. When Lincoln freed the slaves by his +Emancipation Proclamation, John was promptly given his freedom by his +master and mistress. + +John decided to join the northern army which was located at Bowling +Green, Kentucky, a distance of thirty-five miles from Glasgow where John +was living. He had to walk the entire thirty-five miles. Although he +fails to remember all the units that he was attached to, he does +remember that it was part of General Sherman's army. His regiment +started with Sherman on his famous march through Georgia, but for some +reason unknown to John, shortly after the campaign was on its way, his +regiment was recalled and sent elsewhere. + +His regiment was near Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the time Lee +surrendered. Since Lee was a proud southerner and did not want the +negroes present when he surrendered, Grant probably for this reason as +much as any other refused to accept Lee's sword. When Lee surrendered +there was much shouting among the troops and John was one of many put to +work loading cannons on boats to be shipped up the river. His company +returned on the steamboat "Indiana." Upon his return to Glasgow, [HW: +Ky.] he saw for the first time in six years, his mother and other +members of his family who had returned free. + +Shortly after he returned to Glasgow at the close of the Civil War, he +saw several colored people walking down the highway and was attracted to +a young colored girl in the group who was wearing a yellow dress. +Immediately he said to himself, "If she ain't married there goes my +wife." Sometime later they met and were married Christmas day in 1866. +To this union twelve children were born four of whom are living today, +two in Gary and the others in the south. After his marriage he lived on +a farm near Glasgow for several years, later moving to Louisville, where +he worked in a lumber yeard. He came to Gary in 1924, two years after +the death of his wife. + +President Grant was the first president for whom he cast his vote and he +continued to vote until old age prevented him from walking to the polls. + +Although Lincoln is one of his favorite heroes, Teddy Roosevelt tops his +list of great men and he never failed to vote for him. + +In 1926, he was the only one of three surviving memebers of the Grand +Army of the Republic in Gary and mighty proud of the fact that he was +the only one in the parade. In 1937 he is the sole survivor. + +He served in the army as a member of Company K of the 108th, Kentucky +Infantry (Negro Volunteers). + +When General Morgan, the famous southern raider, crossed the Ohio on his +raid across southern Indiana, John was one of the Negro fighters who +after heavy fighting, forced Morgan to recross the river and retreat +back to the south. He also participated in several skirmishes with the +cavalry troops commanded by the famous Nathan Bedfored Forrest, and was +a member of the Negro garrison at Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi which +was assaulted and captured. This resulted in a massacre of the negro +soldiers. John was in several other fights, but as he says, "never onct +got a skinhurt." + +At the present time, Mr. Eubanks is residing with his daughter, Mrs. +Bertha Sloss and several grandchildren, in Gary, Indiana. He is badly +crippled with rheumatism, has poor eyesight and his memory is failing. +Otherwise his health is good. Most of his teeth are good and they are a +source of wonder to his dentist. He is ninety-eight years of age and +his wish in life now, is to live to be a hundred. Since his brother and +mother both died at ninety-eight and his paternal grandfather at one +hundred-ten years of age, he has a good chance to realize this ambition. + +Because of his condition most of this interview was had from his +grandchildren, who have taken notes in recent years of any incidents +that he relates. He is proud that most of his fifty grandchildren are +high school graduates and that two are attending the University of +Chicago. + +In 1935, he enjoyed a motor trip, when his family took him back to +Glasgow for a visit. He suffered no ill effects from the trip. + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +816 Mound Street, Valparaiso, Indiana +Federal Writers' Project +Lake County, District #1 +Gary, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +INTERVIEW WITH JOHN EUBANKS, EX-SLAVE + + +John Eubanks, Gary's only negro Civil War survivor has lived to see the +ninety-eighth anniversary of his birth and despite his advanced age, +recalls with surprising clarity many interesting and sad events of his +boyhood days when a slave on the Everett plantation. + +He was born in Glasgow, Barron County, Kentucky, June 6, 1839, one of +seven children of a chattel of the Everett family. + +The old man retains most of his faculties, but bears the mark of his +extreme age in an obvious feebleness and failing sight and memory. He is +physically large, says he once was a husky, weighing over two hundred +pounds, bears no scars or deformities and despite the hardships and +deprivations of his youth, presents a kindly and tolerant attitude. + +"I remembah well, us young uns on the Everett plantation," he relates, +"I worked since I can remembah, hoein', pickin' cotton and othah chohs +'round the fahm. We didden have much clothes, nevah no undahweah, no +shoes, old ovahalls and a tattahed shirt, wintah and summah. Come de +wintah, it be so cold mah feet weah plumb numb mos' o' de time and manya +time--when we git a chanct--we druve the hogs from outin the bogs an' +put ouah feet in the wahmed wet mud. They was cracked and the skin on +the bottoms and in de toes weah cracked and bleedin' mos' o' time, wit +bloody scabs but de summah healed them agin." + +"Does yohall remembah, Granpap," his daughter prompted, "Yoh +mahstah--did he treat you mean?" + +"No," his tolerant acceptance apparent in his answer, "it weah done +thataway. Slaves weah whipt and punished and the younguns belonged to +the mahstah to work foah him oh to sell. When I weah 'bout six yeahs +old, Mahstah Everett give me to Tony Eubanks as a weddin' present when +he married mahstah's daughtah Becky. Becky would'n let Tony whip her +slaves who came from her fathah's plantation. 'They ah my prophty,' she +say, 'an' you caint whip dem.' Tony whipt his othah slaves but not +Becky's." + +"I remembah" he continued, "how they tied de slave 'round a post, wit +hands tied togedder 'round the post, then a husky lash his back wid a +snakeskin lash 'til hisn back were cut and bloodened, the blood +spattered" gesticulating with his unusually large hands, "an' hisn back +all cut up. Den they'd pouh salt watah on hem. Dat dry and hahden and +stick to hem. He nevah take it off 'till it heal. Sometimes I see +marhstah Everett hang a slave tip-toe. He tie him up so he stan' tip-toe +an' leave him thataway. + +"I be twenty-one wehn wah broke out. Mahstah Eubanks say to me, 'Yohall +don' need to run 'way ifn yohall want to jine up wid de ahmy.' He say, +'Deh would be a fine effin slaves run off. Yohall don' haf to run off, +go right on and I do not pay dat fine.' He say, ''nlist in de ahmy but +don' run off.' Now I walk thirty-five mile from Glasgow to Bowling Green +to dis place--to da 'nlistin' place--from home fouh mile--to Glasgow--to +Bowling Green, thirty-five mile. On de road I meet up with two boys, so +we go on. Dey run 'way from Kentucky, and we go together. Then some +Bushwackers come down de road. We's scared and run to the woods and hid. +As we run tru de woods, pretty soon we heerd chickens crowing. We fill +ouah pockets wit stones. We goin' to kill chickens to eat. Pretty soon +we heerd a man holler, 'You come 'round outta der'--and I see a white +man and come out. He say, 'What yoh all doin' heah?' I turn 'round and +say, 'well boys, come on boys,' an' the boys come out. The man say, 'I'm +Union Soldier. What yoh all doin' heah?' I say, 'We goin' to 'nlist in +de ahmy.' He say, 'Dat's fine' and he say, 'come 'long' He say, 'git +right on white man's side'--we go to station. Den he say, 'You go right +down to de station and give yoh inforhmation. We keep on walkin'. Den we +come to a white house wit stone steps in front so we go in. An' we got +to 'nlistin' place and jine up wit de ahmy. + +"Den we go trainin' in d' camp and we move on. Come to a little town ... +a little town. We come to Bolling Green ... den to Louiville. We come to +a rivah ... a rivah (painfully recalling) d' Mississippi. + +"We weah 'nfantry and petty soon we gits in plenty fights, but not a +scratch hit me. We chase dem cavalry. We run dem all night and next +mohnin' d' Captain he say, 'Dey done broke down.' When we rest, he say +'See dey don' trick you.' I say, 'We got all d' ahmy men togedder. We +hold dem back 'til help come.' + +"We don' have no tents. Sleep on naked groun' in wet and cold and rain. +Mos' d' time we's hungry but we win d' war and Mahstah Eubanks tell us +we no moah hisn property, we's free now." + +The old man can talk only in short sentences and his voice dies to a +whisper and soon the strain became evident. He was tired. What he does +remember is with surprising clearness especially small details, but with +a helpless gesture, he dismisses names and locations. He remembers the +exact date of his discharge, March 20, 1866, which his daughter verified +by producing his discharge papers. He remembers the place, Vicksburg, +the Company--K, and the Regiment, 180th. Dropping back once more to his +childhood he spoke of an incident which his daughter says makes them all +cry when he relates it, although they have heard it many times. + +"Mahstah Everett whipt me onct and mothah she cried. Then Mahstah +Everett say, 'Why yoh all cry?--Yoh cry I whip anothah of these young +uns. She try to stop. He whipt 'nother. He say, 'Ifn yoh all don' stop, +yoh be whipt too!' and mothah she trien to stop but teahs roll out, so +Mahstah Everett whip her too. + +"I wanted to visit mothah when I belong to Mahst' Eubanks, but Becky +say, 'Yoh all best not see youh mothah, or yoh wan' to go all de time' +then explaining, 'she wan' me to fohgit mothah, but I nevah could. When +I cm back from d' ahmy, I go home to mothah and say 'don' y'know me?' +She say, 'No, I don' know you.' I say, 'Yoh don' know me?' She say, 'No, +ah don' know yoh.' I say, 'I'se John.' Den she cry and say how ahd growd +and she thought I'se daid dis long time. I done 'splain how the many +fights I'se in wit no scratch and she bein' happy." + +Speaking of Abraham Lincoln's death, he remarked, "Sho now, ah remembah +dat well. We all feelin' sad and all d'soldiers had wreaths on der +guns." + +Upon his return from the army he married a young negress he had seen +some time previous at which time he had vowed some day to make her his +wife. He was married Christmas day, 1866. For a number of years he lived +on a farm of his own near Glasgow. Later he moved with his family to +Louisville where he worked in a lumber yard. In 1923, two years after +the death of his wife, he came to Gary, when he retired. He is now +living with his daughter, Mrs. Sloss, 2713 Harrison Boulevard, Gary. + + + + +Cecil C. Miller +Dist. #3 +Tippecanoe Co. + +INTERVIEW WITH MR. JOHN W. FIELDS, EX-SLAVE OF CIVIL WAR PERIOD +September 17, 1937 + +[Illustration: John W. Fields] + + +John W. Fields, 2120 North Twentieth Street, Lafayette, Indiana, now +employed as a domestic by Judge Burnett is a typical example of a fine +colored gentleman, who, despite his lowly birth and adverse +circumstances, has labored and economized until he has acquired a +respected place in his home community. He is the owner of three +properties; un-mortgaged, and is a member of the colored Baptist Church +of Lafayette. As will later be seen his life has been one of constant +effort to better himself spiritually and physically. He is a fine +example of a man who has lived a morally and physically clean life. But, +as for his life, I will let Mr. Fields speak for himself: + +"My name is John W. Fields and I'm eighty-nine (89) years old. I was +born March 27, 1848 in Owensburg, Ky. That's 115 miles below Louisville, +Ky. There was 11 other children besides myself in my family. When I was +six years old, all of us children were taken from my parents, because my +master died and his estate had to be settled. We slaves were divided by +this method. Three disinterested persons were chosen to come to the +plantation and together they wrote the names of the different heirs on a +few slips of paper. These slips were put in a hat and passed among us +slaves. Each one took a slip and the name on the slip was the new owner. +I happened to draw the name of a relative of my master who was a widow. +I can't describe the heartbreak and horror of that separation. I was +only six years old and it was the last time I ever saw my mother for +longer than one night. Twelve children taken from my mother in one day. +Five sisters and two brothers went to Charleston, Virginia, one brother +and one sister went to Lexington Ky., one sister went to Hartford, Ky., +and one brother and myself stayed in Owensburg, Ky. My mother was later +allowed to visit among us children for one week of each year, so she +could only remain a short time at each place. + +"My life prior to that time was filled with heart-aches and despair. We +arose from four to five O'clock in the morning and parents and children +were given hard work, lasting until nightfall gaves us our respite. +After a meager supper, we generally talked until we grew sleepy, we had +to go to bed. Some of us would read, if we were lucky enough to know +how. + +"In most of us colored folks was the great desire to able to read and +write. We took advantage of every opportunity to educate ourselves. The +greater part of the plantation owners were very harsh if we were caught +trying to learn or write. It was the law that if a white man was caught +trying to educate a negro slave, he was liable to prosecution entailing +a fine of fifty dollars and a jail sentence. We were never allowed to go +to town and it was not until after I ran away that I knew that they sold +anything but slaves, tobacco and wiskey. Our ignorance was the greatest +hold the South had on us. We knew we could run away, but what then? An +offender guilty of this crime was subjected to very harsh punishment. + +"When my masters estate had been settled, I was to go with the widowed +relative to her place, she swung me up on her horse behind her and +promised me all manner of sweet things if I would come peacefully. I +didn't fully realise what was happening, and before I knew it, I was on +my way to my new home. Upon arrival her manner changed very much, and +she took me down to where there was a bunch of men burning brush. She +said, "see those men" I said: yes. Well, go help them, she replied. So +at the age of six I started my life as an independent slave. From then +on my life as a slave was a repetition of hard work, poor quarters and +board. We had no beds at that time, we just "bunked" on the floor. I had +one blanket and manys the night I sat by the fireplace during the long +cold nights in the winter. + +"My Mistress had separated me from all my family but one brother with +sweet words, but that pose was dropped after she reached her place. +Shortly after I had been there, she married a northern man by the name +of David Hill. At first he was very nice to us, but he gradually +acquired a mean and overbearing manner toward us, I remember one +incident that I don't like to remember. One of the women slaves had been +very sick and she was unable to work just as fast as he thought she +ought to. He had driven her all day with no results. That night after +completeing our work he called us all together. He made me hold a light, +while he whipped her and then made one of the slaves pour salt water on +her bleeding back. My innerds turn yet at that sight. + +"At the beginning of the Civil War I was still at this place as a slave. +It looked at the first of the war as if the south would win, as most of +the big battles were won by the South. This was because we slaves stayed +at home and tended the farms and kept their families. + +"To eliminate this solid support of the South, the Emancipation Act was +passed, freeing all slaves. Most of the slaves were so ignorant they did +not realize they were free. The planters knew this and as Kentucky never +seceeded from the Union, they would send slaves into Kentucky from other +states in the south and hire them out to plantations. For these reasons +I did not realize that I was free untill 1864. I immediately resolved to +run away and join the Union Army and so my brother and I went to +Owensburg, Ky. and tried to join. My brother was taken, but I was +refused as being too young. I [HW: tried] at Evansville, Terre Haute and +Indianapolis but was unable to get in. I then tried to find work and was +finally hired by a man at $7.00 a month. That was my first independent +job. From then on I went from one job to another working as general +laborer. + +"I married at 24 years of age and had four children. My wife has been +dead for 12 years and 8 months. Mr. Miller, always remember that: + + "The brightest man, the prettiest flower + May be cut down, and withered in an hour." + +"Today, I am the only surviving member who helped organize the second +Baptist Church here in Lafayette, 64 years ago. I've tried to live +according to the way the Lord would wish, God Bless you." + + "The clock of Life is wound but once. + Today is yours, tomorrow is not. + No one knows when the hands will stop." + + + + +Cecil Miller +Dist. #3 +Tipp. Co. [TR: Tippecanoe Co.] + +NEGRO FOLKLORE +MR. JOHN FIELDS, EX-SLAVE +2120 N. 20th St. Lafayette, Indiana + +[Illustration: John W. Fields] + + +Mr. Fields says that all negro slaves were ardent believers in ghosts, +supernatual powers, tokens and "signs." The following story illustrates +the point. + +"A turkey gobbler had mysteriously disappeared from one of the +neighboring plantations and the local slaves were accused of commeting +the fowl to a boiling pot. A slave convicted of theft was punished +severly. As all of the slaves denied any knowledge of the turkey's +whereabouts, they were instructed to make a search of the entire +plantation." + +"On one part of the place there was a large peach orchard. At the time +the trees were full of the green fruit. Under one of the trees there was +a large cabinet or "safe" as they were called. One of the slaves +accidently opened the safe and, Behold, there was Mr. Gobbler peacefully +seated on a number of green peaches. + +"The negro immediately ran back and notified his master of the +discovery. The master returned to the orchard with the slave to find +that the negro's wild tale was true. A turkey gobbler sitting on a nest +of green peaches. A bad omen. + +"The master had a son who had been seriously injured some time before by +a runaway team, and a few days after this unusual occurence with the +turkey, the son died. After his death, the word of the turkey's nesting +venture and the death of the master's son spread to this four winds, +and for some time after this story was related wherever there was a +public gathering with the white people or the slave population." + +All through the south a horseshoe was considered an omen of good luck. +Rare indeed was the southern home that did not have one nailed over the +door. This insured the household and all who entered of plesant +prospects while within the home. If while in the home you should perhaps +get into a violent argument, never hit the other party with a broom as +it was a sure indication of bad luck. If Grandad had the rheumatics, he +would be sure of relief if he carried a buckeye in his pocket. + +Of all the Ten Commandments, the one broken most by the negro was: Thou +Shalt Not Steal This was due mostly to the insufficent food the slaves +obtained. Most of the planters expected a chicken to suddenly get +heavenly aspirations once in a while, but as Mr. Fields says, "When a +beautiful 250 pound hog suddenly tries to kidnap himself, the planter +decided to investigate." It occured like this: + +A 250 pound hog had been fruitless. The planter was certain that the +culprit was among his group of slaves, so he decided to personally +conduct a quiet investigation. + +One night shortly after the moon had risen in the sky, two of the +negroes were seated at a table in one of the cabins talking of the +experiences of the day. A knock sounded on the door. Both slaves jumped +up and cautiously peeked out of the window. Lo there was the master +patiently waiting for an answer. The visiting negro decided that the +master must not see both of them and he asked the other to conceal him +while the master was there. The other slave told him to climb into the +attic and be perfectly quiet. When this was done, the tenant of the +cabin answered the door. + +The master strode in and gazed about the cabin. He then turned abruptly +to the slave and growled, 'Alright, where is that hog you stoled.' +'Massa, replied the negro, 'I know nothing about no hog. The master was +certain that the slave was lying and told him so in no uncertain terms. +The terrified slave said, 'Massa, I know nothing of any hog. I never +seed him. The Good Man up above knows I never seed him. HE knows every +thing and HE knows I didn't steal him; The man in the attic by this time +was aroused at the misunderstood conversation taking place below him. +Disregarding all, he raised his voice and yelled, 'He's a liar, Massa, +he knows just as much about it as I do.' + +Most of the strictly negro folklore has faded into the past. The younger +negro generations who have been reared and educated in the north have +lost this bearing and assumed the lore of the local white population +through their daily contact with the whites. The older negro natives of +this section are for the most part employed as domestics and through +this channel rapidly assimilated the employers viewpoint in most of his +beliefs and conversations. + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District 5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +INDIANS MADE SLAVES AMONG THE NEGROES. +INTERVIEWS WITH GEORGE FORTMAN +Cor. Bellemeade Ave. and Garvin St. +Evansville, Indiana, and other interested citizens + + +"The story of my life, I will tell to you with sincerest respect to all +and love to many, although reviewing the dark trail of my childhood and +early youth causes me great pain." So spoke George Fortman, an aged man +and former slave, although the history of his life reveals that no Negro +blood runs through his veins. + +"My story necessarily begins by relating events which occurred in 1838, +when hundreds of Indians were rounded up like cattle and driven away +from the valley of the Wabash. It is a well known fact recorded in the +histories of Indiana that the long journey from the beautiful Wabash +Valley was a horrible experience for the fleeing Indians, but I have the +tradition as relating to my own family, and from this enforced flight +ensued the tragedy of my birth." + +The aged ex-slave reviews tradition. "My two ancestors, John Hawk, a +Blackhawk Indian brave, and Racheal, a Chackatau maiden had made +themselves a home such as only Indians know, understand and enjoy. He +was a hunter and a fighter but had professed faith in Christ through the +influence of the missionaries. My greatgrandmother passed the facts on +to her children and they have been handed down for four generations. I, +in turn, have given the traditions to my children and grandchildren. + +"No more peaceful home had ever offered itself to the red man than the +beautiful valley of the Wabash river. Giant elms, sycamores and maple +trees bordered the stream while the fertile valley was traversed with +creeks and rills, furnishing water in abundance for use of the Indian +campers. + +"The Indians and the white settlers in the valley transacted business +with each other and were friendly towards each other, as I have been +told by my mother, Eliza, and my grandmother, Courtney Hawk. + +"The missionaries often called the Indian families together for the +purpose of teaching them and the Indians had been invited, prior to +being driven from the valley, to a sort of festival in the woods. They +had prepared much food for the occasion. The braves had gone on a long +hunt to provide meat and the squaws had prepared much corn and other +grain to be used at the feast. All the tribes had been invited to a +council and the poor people were happy, not knowing they were being +deceived. + +"The decoy worked, for while the Indians were worshiping God the meeting +was rudely interrupted by orders of the Governor of the State. The +Governor, whose duty it was to give protection to the poor souls, +caused them to be taken captives and driven away at the point of swords +and guns. + +"In vain, my grandmother said, the Indians prayed to be let return to +their homes. Instead of being given their liberty, some several hundred +horses and ponies were captured to be used in transporting the Indians +away from the valley. Many of the aged Indians and many innocent +children died on the long journey and traditional stories speak of that +journey as the 'trail of death.'" + +"After long weeks of flight, when the homes of the Indians had been +reduced to ashes, the long trail still carried them away from their +beautiful valley. My greatgrandfather and his squaw became acquainted +with a party of Indians that were going to the canebrakes of Alabama. +The pilgrims were not well fed or well clothed and they were glad to +travel towards the south, believing the climate would be favorable to +their health. + +"After a long and dreary journey, the Indians reached Alabama. Rachael +had her youngest papoose strapped on to her back while John had cared +for the larger child, Lucy. Sometimes she had walked beside her father +but often she had become weary or sleepy and he had carried her many +miles of the journey, besides the weight of blankets and food. An older +daughter, Courtney, also accompanied her parents. + +"When they neared the cane lands they heard the songs of Negro slaves as +they toiled in the cane. Soon they were in sight of the slave quarters +of Patent George's plantation. The Negroes made the Indians welcome and +the slave dealer allowed them to occupy the cane house; thus the Indians +became slaves of Patent George. + +"Worn out from his long journey John Hawk became too ill to work in the +sugar cane. The kindly-disposed Negroes helped care for the sick man but +he lived only a few months. Rachel and her two children remained on the +plantation, working with the other slaves. She had nowhere to go. No +home to call her own. She had automatically become a slave. Her +children had become chattel. + +"So passed a year away, then unhappiness came to the Indian mother, for +her daughter, Courtney, became the mother of young Master Ford George's +child. The parents called the little half-breed "Eliza" and were very +fond of her. The widow of John Hawk became the mother of Patent George's +son, Patent Junior. + +"The tradition of the family states that in spite of these irregular +occurrences the people at the George's southern plantation were +prosperous, happy, and lived in peace each with the others. Patent +George wearied of the Southern climate and brought his slaves into +Kentucky where their ability and strength would amass a fortune for the +master in the iron ore regions of Kentucky. + +"With the wagon trains of Patent and Ford George came Rachel Hawk and +her daughters, Courtney, Lucy and Rachel. Rachel died on the journey +from Alabama but the remaining full blooded Indians entered Kentucky as +slaves. + +"The slave men soon became skilled workers in the Hillman Rolling Mills. +Mr. Trigg was owner of the vast iron works called the "Chimneys" in the +region, but listed as the Hillman, Dixon, Boyer, Kelley and Lyons +Furnaces. For more than a half century these chimneys smoked as the most +valuable development in the western area of Kentucky. Operated in 1810, +these furnaces had refined iron ore to supply the United States Navy +with cannon balls and grape shot, and the iron smelting industry +continued until after the close of the Civil War. + +"No slaves were beaten at the George's plantation and old Mistress +Hester Lam allowed no slave to be sold. She was a devoted friend to all. + +"As Eliza George, daughter of Ford George and Courtney Hawk, grew into +young womanhood the young master Ford George went oftener and oftener to +social functions. He was admired for his skill with firearms and for +his horsemanship. While Courtney and his child remained at the +plantation Ford enjoyed the companship of the beautiful women of the +vicinity. At last he brought home the beautiful Loraine, his young +bride. Courtney was stoical as only an Indian can be. She showed no hurt +but helped Mistress Hester and Mistress Loraine with the house work." + +Here George Fortman paused to let his blinded eyes look back into the +long ago. Then he again continued with his story of the dark trail. + +"Mistress Loraine became mother of two sons and a daughter and the big +white two-story house facing the Cumberland River at Smith Landing, +Kentucky, became a place of laughter and happy occasions, so my mother +told me many times. + +"Suddenly sorrow settled down over the home and the laughter turned into +wailing, for Ford George's body was found pierced through the heart and +the half-breed, Eliza, was nowhere to be found. + +"The young master's body lay in state many days. Friends and neighbors +came bringing flowers. His mother, bowed with grief, looked on the still +face of her son and understood--understood why death had come and why +Eliza had gone away. + +"The beautiful home on the Cumberland river with its more than 600 acres +of productive land was put into the hands of an administrator of estates +to be readjusted in the interest of the George heirs. It was only then +Mistress Hester went to Aunt Lucy and demanded of her to tell where +Eliza could be found. + +'She has gone to Alabama, Ole Mistus', said Aunt Lucy, 'Eliza was scared +to stay here.' A party of searchers were sent out to look for Eliza. +They found her secreted in a cane brake in the low lands of Alabama +nursing her baby boy at her breast. They took Eliza and the baby back to +Kentucky. I am that baby, that child of unsatisfactory birth." + +The face of George Fortman registered sorrow and pain, it had been hard +for him to retell the story of the dark road to strange ears. + +"My white uncles had told Mistress Hester that if Eliza brought me back +they were going to build a fire and put me in it, my birth was so +unsatisfactory to all of them, but Mistress Hester always did what she +believed was right and I was brought up by my own mother. + +"We lived in a cabin at the slave quarters and mother worked in the +broom cane. Mistress Hester named me Ford George, in derision, but +remained my friend. She was never angry with my mother. She knew a slave +had to submit to her master and besides Eliza did not know she was +Master Ford George's daughter." + +The truth had been told at last. The master was both the father of Eliza +and the father of Eliza's son. + +"Mistress Hester believed I would be feeble either in mind or body +because of my unsatisfactory birth, but I developed as other children +did and was well treated by Mistress Hester, Mistress Lorainne and her +children. + +"Master Patent George died and Mistress Hester married Mr. Lam, while +slaves kept working at the rolling mills and amassing greater wealth for +the George families. + +"Five years before the outbreak of the Civil War Mistress Hester called +all the slaves together and gave us our freedom. Courtney, my +grandmother, kept house for Mistress Lorainne and wanted to stay on, so +I too was kept at the George home. There was a sincere friendship as +great as the tie of blood between the white family and the slaves. My +mother married a negro ex-slave of Ford George and bore children for +him. Her health failed and when Mistress Puss, the only daughter of +Mistress Lorainne, learned she was ill she persuaded the Negro man to +sell his property and bring Eliza back to live with her." + +[TR: in following section the name George 'Fordman' is used twice.] + +"Why are you called George Fordman when your name is Ford George?" was +the question asked the old man. + +"Then the Freedsmen started teaching school in Kentucky the census taker +called to enlist me as a pupil. 'What do you call this child?' he asked +Mistress Lorainne. 'We call him the Little Captain because he carried +himself like a soldier,' said Mistress Lorainne. 'He is the son of my +husband and a slave woman but we are rearing him.' Mistress Lorainne +told the stranger that I had been named Ford George in derision and he +suggested she list me in the census as George Fordsman, which she did, +but she never allowed me to attend the Freedmen's School, desiring to +keep me with her own children and let me be taught at home. My mother's +half brother, Patent George allowed his name to be reversed to George +Patent when he enlisted in the Union Service at the outbreak of the +Civil War." + +Some customs prevalent in the earlier days were described by George +Fordman. "It was customary to conduct a funeral differently than it is +conducted now," he said. "I remember I was only six years old when old +Mistress Hester Lam passed on to her eternal rest. She was kept out of +her grave several days in order to allow time for the relatives, friends +and ex-slaves to be notified of her death. + +"The house and yard were full of grieving friends. Finally the lengthy +procession started to the graveyard. Within the George's parlors there +had been Bible passages read, prayers offered up and hymns sung, now the +casket was placed in a wagon drawn by two horses. The casket was covered +with flowers while the family and friends rode in ox carts, horse-drawn +wagons, horseback, and with still many on foot they made their way +towards the river. + +"When we reached the river there were many canoes busy putting the +people across, besides the ferry boat was in use to ferry vehicles over +the stream. The ex-slaves were crying and praying and telling how good +granny had been to all of them and explaining how they knew she had gone +straight to Heaven, because she was so kind--and a Christian. There were +not nearly enough boats to take the crowd across if they crossed back +and forth all day, so my mother, Eliza, improvised a boat or 'gunnel', +as the craft was called, by placing a wooden soap box on top of a long +pole, then she pulled off her shoes and, taking two of us small children +in her arms, she paddled with her feet and put us safely across the +stream. We crossed directly above Iaka, Livingston county, three miles +below Grand River. + +"At the burying ground a great crowd had assembled from the neighborhood +across the river and there were more songs and prayers and much weeping. +The casket was let down into the grave without the lid being put on and +everybody walked up and looked into the grave at the face of the dead +woman. They called it the 'last look' and everybody dropped flowers on +Mistress Hester as they passed by. A man then went down and nailed on +the lid and the earth was thrown in with shovels. The ex-slaves filled +in the grave, taking turns with the shovel. Some of the men had worked +at the smelting furnaces so long that their hands were twisted and +hardened from contact with the heat. Their shoulders were warped and +their bodies twisted but they were strong as iron men from their years +of toil. When the funeral was over mother put us across the river on the +gunnel and we went home, all missing Mistress Hester. + +"My cousin worked at Princeton, Kentucky, making shoes. He had never +been notified that he was free by the kind emancipation Mrs. Hester had +given to her slaves, and he came loaded with money to give to his white +folks. Mistress Lorainne told him it was his own money to keep or to +use, as he had been a free man several months. + +"As our people, white and black and Indians, sat talking they related +how they had been warned of approaching trouble. Jack said the dogs had +been howling around the place for many nights and that always presaged a +death in the family. Jack had been compelled to take off his shoes and +turn them soles up near the hearth to prevent the howling of the dogs. +Uncle Robert told how he believed some of Mistress Hester's enemies had +planted a shrub near her door and planted it with a curse so that when +the shrub bloomed the old woman passed away. Then another man told how a +friend had been seen carrying a spade into his cousin's cabin and the +cousin had said, 'Daniel, what foh you brung that weapon into by [TR: +my?] cabin? That very spade will dig my grave,' and sure enough the +cousin had died and the same spade had been used in digging his grave. + +"How my childish nature quailed at hearing the superstitions discussed, +I cannot explain. I have never believed in witchcraft nor spells, but I +remember my Indian grandmother predicted a long, cold winter when she +noticed the pelts of the coons and other furred creatures were +exceedingly heavy. When the breastbones of the fowls were strong and +hard to sever with the knife it was a sign of a hard, cold and snowy +winter. Another superstition was this: 'A green winter, a new +graveyard--a white winter, a green graveyard.'" + +George Fortman relates how, when he accompanied two of his cousins into +the lowlands--there were very many Katy-dids in the trees--their voices +formed a nerve-racking orchestra and his cousin told him to tiptoe to +the trees and touch each tree with the tips of his fingers. This he did, +and for the rest of the day there was quiet in the forest. + +"More than any other superstition entertained by the slave Negroes, the +most harmful was the belief on conjurors. One old Negro woman boiled a +bunch of leaves in an iron pot, boiled it with a curse and scattered the +tea therein brewed, and firmly believed she was bringing destruction to +her enemies. 'Wherever that tea is poured there will be toil and +troubles,' said the old woman. + +"The religion of many slaves was mostly superstition. They feared to +break the Sabbath, feared to violate any of the Commandments, believing +that the wrath of God would follow immediately, blasting their lives. + +"Things changed at the George homestead as they change everywhere," said +George Fortman. "When the Civil War broke out many slaves enlisted in +hopes of receiving freedom. The George Negroes were already free but +many thought it their duty to enlist and fight for the emancipation of +their fellow slaves. My mother took her family and moved away from the +plantation and worked in the broom cane. Soon she discovered she could +not make enough to rear her children and we were turned over to the +court to be bound out. + +"I was bound out to David Varnell in Livingston County by order of Judge +Busch and I stayed there until I was fifteen years of age. My sister +learned that I was unhappy there and wanted to see my mother, so she +influenced James Wilson to take me into his home. Soon goodhearted Jimmy +Wilson took me to see Mother and I went often to see her." + +Sometimes George would become stubborn and hard to control and then Mr. +Wilson administered chastisement. His wife could not bear to have the +boy punished. 'Don't hit him, Jimmie, don't kick him,' would say the +good Scotch woman, who was childless. 'If he does not obey me I will +whip him,' James Wilson would answer. So the boy learned the lesson of +obedience from the old couple and learned many lessons in thrift through +their examples. + +"In 1883 I left the Wilson home and began working and trying to save +some money. River trade was prosperous and I became a 'Roustabout'. The +life of the roustabout varied some with the habits of the roustabout and +the disposition of the mate. We played cards, shot dice and talked to +the girls who always met the boats. The 'Whistling Coon' was a popular +song with the boatmen and one version of 'Dixie Land'. One song we often +sang when near a port was worded 'Hear the trumpet Sound'-- + + Hear the trumpet sound, + Stand up and don't sit down, + Keep steppin' 'round and 'round, + Come jine this elegant band. + + If you don't step up and jine the bout, + Old Missus sure will fine it out, + She'll chop you in the head wid a golen ax, + You never will have to pay da tax, + Come jine the roust-a-bout band." + +From roust-a-bout George became a cabin boy, cook, pilot, and held a +number of positions on boats, plowing different streams. There was much +wild game to be had and the hunting season was always open. He also +remembers many wolves, wild turkeys, catamounts and deer in abundance +near the Grand River. "Pet deer loafed around the milking pens and ate +the feed from the mangers" said he. + +George Fortman is a professor of faith in Christ. He was baptized in +Concord Lake, seven miles from Clarksville, Tennessee, became a member +of the Pleasant Greene Church at Callwell, Kentucky and later a member +of the Liberty Baptist Church at Evansville. + +"I have always kept in touch with my white folks, the George family," +said the man, now feeble and blind. "Four years ago Mistress Puss died +and I was sent for but was not well enough to make the trip home." + +Too young to fight in the Civil War, George was among those who watched +the work go on. "I lived at Smiths Landing and remember the battle at +Fort Donnelson. It was twelve miles away and a long cinder walk reached +from the fort for nearly thirty miles. The cinders were brought from the +iron ore mills and my mother and I have walked the length of it many +times." Still reviewing the long, dark trail he continued. "Boatloads of +soldiers passed Smith's Landing by day and night and the reports of +cannon could be heard when battles were fought. We children collected +Munnie balls near the fort for a long time after the war." + +Although the George family never sold slaves or separated Negro +families, George Fortman has seen many boats loaded with slaves on the +way to slave marts. Some of the George Negroes were employed as pilots +on the boats. He also remembers slave sales where Negroes were auctioned +by auctioneers, the Negroes stripped of clothes to exhibit their +physique. + +"I have always been befriended by three races of people, the Caucassian, +the African, and the Negro," declares George Fortman. "I have worked as +a farmer, a river man, and been employed by the Illinois Central +Railroad Company and in every position I have held I have made loyal +friends of my fellow workmen." One friend, treasured in the memory of +the aged ex-slave is Ollie James, who once defended George in court. + +George Fortman has friends at Dauson Springs, Grayson Springs, and other +Kentucky resorts. He has been a citizen of Evansville for thirty-five +years and has had business connections here for sixty-two years. He +janitored for eleven years for the Lockyear Business College, but his +days of usefulness are over. He now occupies a room at Bellemeade Ave. +and Garvin St. and his only exercise consists of a stroll over to the +Lincoln High School. There he enjoys listening to the voices of the +pupils as they play about the campus. "They are free", he rejoices. +"They can build their own destinies, they did not arrive in this life by +births of unsatisfactory circumstances. They have the world before them +and my grandsons and granddaughters are among them." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +JOHN HENRY GIBSON--EX-SLAVE +Colton Street + + +John Henry Gibson was born a slave, many years ago, in Scott County, +N.C. + +His old master, John Henry Bidding, was a wealthy farmer; he also owned +the hotel, or rooming house. + +When court was in session the "higher ups" would come to this house, and +stay until the court affairs were settled. + +Mr. Bidding, who was very kind to his slaves, died when John Gibson was +very young. All slaves and other property passed on to the son, Joseph +Bidding, who in turn was as kind as his father had been. + +Gibson's father belonged to General Lee Gibson, who was a neighboring +farmer. He saw and met Miss Elizabeth Bidding's maid; they liked each +other so very much, Miss Elizabeth bought him from General Gibson, and +let him have her maid as his wife. The wife lived only a short time, +leaving a little boy. + +After the Civil war, a white man, by the name of Luster, was comming to +Ohio, brought John Gibson with him. They came to Indianapolis, and +Gibson liked it so well, he decided to remain; Mr. Luster told him if he +ever became dissatisfied to come on to Ohio to him, but he remained in +Indianapolis until 1872, then went back south, married, came back, and +made Indianapolis his home. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Gibson is very old, but does not know his exact age. He fought in +the Civil war, and said he could not be very young to have done that. + +His sight is very nearly gone, can only distinguish light and dark. + +He is very proud of his name, having been named for his old master. + +Submitted January 24, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Submitted by: +William Webb Tuttle +District No. 2 +Muncie, Indiana + +NEGRO SLAVES IN DELAWARE COUNTY +MRS. BETTY GUWN +MRS. HATTIE CASH, DAUGHTER, residing at 1101 East Second Street +Muncie, Indiana + + +Mrs. Betty Guwn was born March 25, 1832, as a slave on a tobacco +plantation, near Canton, Kentucky. It was a large plantation whose +second largest product was corn. She was married while quite young by +the slave method which was a form of union customary between the white +masters. If the contracting parties were of different plantations the +masters of the two estates bargained and the one sold his rights to the +one on whose plantation they would live. Her master bought her husband, +brought him and set them up a shack. Betty was the personal attendant of +the Mistress. The home was a large Colonial mansion and her duties were +many and responsible. However, when her house duties were caught up her +mistress sent her immediately to the fields. Discipline was quite stern +there and she was "lined up" with the others on several occasions. + +Her cabin home began to fill up with children, fifteen in all. The +ventilation was ample and the husband would shoot a prowling dog from +any of the four sides of the room without opening the door. The cracks +between the logs would be used by cats who could step in anywhere. The +slaves had "meetin'" some nights and her mistress would call her and +have her turn a tub against her mansion door to keep out the sound. + +Her master was very wealthy. He owned and managed a cotton farm of two +thousand acres down in Mississippi, not far from New Orleans. Once a +year he spent three months there gathering and marketing his cotton. +When he got ready to go there he would call all his slaves about him and +give them a chance to volunteer. They had heard awful tales of the slave +auction block at New Orleans, and the Master would solemnly promise +them that they should not be sold if they went down of their own accord. +"My Mistress called me to her and privately told me that when I was +asked that question I should say to him: "I will go". The Master had to +take much money with him and was afraid of robbers. The day they were to +start my Mistress took me into a private room and had me remove most of +my clothing; she then opened a strong box and took out a great roll of +money in bills; these she strapped to me in tight bundles, arranging +them around my waist in the circle of my body. She put plenty of +dresses over this belt and when she was through I wore a bustle of money +clear around my belt. I made a funny "figger" but no one noticed my odd +shape because I was a slave and no one expected a slave to "know +better". We always got through safely and I went down with my Mistress +every year. Of course my husband stayed at home to see after the family, +and took them to the fields when too young to work under the task +master, or over-seer. Three months was a long time to be separated." + +"When the Civil War came on there was great excitement among we slaves. +We were watched sharply, especially soldier timber for either army. My +husband ran away early and helped Grant to take Fort Donaldson. He said +he would free himself, which he did; but when we were finally set free +all our family prepared to leave. The Master begged us to stay and +offered us five pounds of meal and two pounds of pork jowl each week if +we would stay and work. We all went to Burgard, Kentucky, to live. At +that time I was about 34 years old. My husband has been dead a long time +and I live with my children. If the "Good Lord" spares me until next +March the 25th, I will be 106 years old. I walk all about lively without +crutches and eye-glasses and I have never been sick until this year when +a tooth gave me trouble; but I had it pulled." + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +Porter County--District #1 +Valparaiso, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +MRS. HOCKADAY +2581 Madison Street +Gary, Indiana + + +Mrs. Hockaday is the daughter of an ex-slave and like so many others +does not care to discuss the dark side of slavery and the cruel +treatment that some of them received. + +After the Civil War the slaves who for the most part were unskilled and +ignorant, found it very difficult to adjust themselves to their new life +as free persons. Formerly, they lived on the land of their masters and +although compelled to work long hours, their food and lodging were +provided for them. After their emancipation, this life was changed. They +were free and had to think for themselves and make a living. Times for +the negro then was much the same as during the depression. Several of +the slaves started out to secure jobs, but all found it difficult to +adjust themselves to the new life and difficult to secure employment. +Many came back to their old owners and many were afraid to leave and +continued on much as before. + +The north set up stores or relief stations where the negro who was +unable to secure employment could obtain food and shelter. Mrs. Hockaday +says it was the same as conditions have been the last few years. + +About all the negro was skilled at was servant work and when they came +north, they encountered the same difficulties as several of the colored +folks who, driven by the terrible living conditions in the south four +years ago, came to Gary. Arriving here they believed they were capable +of servant work. However they were not accustomed to modern appliances +and found it very difficult to adjust themselves. It was the same after +the Emancipation. + +Many owners were kind and religious and had schools for their slaves, +where they could learn to read and write. These slaves were more +successful in securing employment. + +Although the negro loved the Bible most of all books, and were mostly +Methodists and Baptists, their different religious beliefs is caused by +the slave owners having churches for the slaves. Whatever church the +master belonged to, the slaves belonged to, and continued in the same +church after the war. + +Since slaves took the name of their owners, children in the same family +would have different names. Mr. Hockaday's father and his brothers and +sisters all had different names. On the plantation they were called +"Jones' Jim," "Brown's Jones," etc. Many on being freed left their old +homes and adopted any name that they took a fancy to. One slave that +Mrs. Hockaday remembers took the name of Green Johnson and says he often +remarked that he surely was green to adopt such a name. His grandson in +Gary is an exact double for Clark Gable, except he is brown, and Gable +is white. + +Many slave owners gave their slaves small tracts of land which they +could tend after working hours. Anything raised belonged to them and +they could even sell the products and the money was theirs. Many slaves +were able to save enough from these tracts to purchase their freedom +long before the Emancipation. + +Another condition that confronted the negro in the north was that they +were not understood like they were by the southern people. In the south +they were trusted and considered trustworthy by their owners. Even +during the Civil War, they were trusted with the family jewels, silver, +etc., when the northern army came marching by, whereas in the north, +even though they freed the slaves, they would not trust them. For that +reason, many of the slaves did not like the northern people and remained +or returned to the southern plantations. + +The slave owners thought that slavery was right and nothing was wrong +about selling and buying human beings if they were colored, much as a +person would purchase a horse or automobile today. The owners who +whipped their slaves usually stripped them to the waist and lashed them +with a long leather whip, commonly called a blacksnake. + +Mrs. Hockaday is a large, pleasant, middle-aged woman and does not like +to discuss the cruel side of slavery and only recalls in a general way +what she had heard old slaves discuss. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +ROBERT HOWARD--EX-SLAVE +1840 Boulevard Place + + +Robert Howard, an ex-slave, was born in 1852, in Clara County, Kentucky. + +His master, Chelton Howard, was very kind to him. + +The mother, with her five children, lived on the Howard farm in peace +and harmony. + +His father, Beverly Howard, was owned by Bill Anderson, who kept a +saloon on the river front. + +Beverly was "hired out" in the house of Bill Anderson. He was allowed to +go to the Howard farm every Saturday night to visit with his wife and +children. This visit was always looked forward to with great joy, as +they were devoted to the father. + +The Howard family was sold only once, being owned first by Dr. Page in +Henry County, Kentucky. The family was not separated; the entire family +was bought and kept together until slavery was abolished. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Howard seems to be a very kind old man, lives in the house for aged +colored people (The Alpha Home). + +He has no relatives, except a brother. He seems well satisfied living in +the home. + +Submitted January 10, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Grace Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +MR. MATTHEW HUME, A FORMER SLAVE + + +Mr. Hume had many interesting experiences to tell concerning the part +slavery had played in his family. On the whole they were fortunate in +having a good master who would not keep an overseer who whipped his +"blacks". + +His father, Luke Hume, lived in Trimble County Kentucky and was allowed +to raise for himself one acre of tobacco, one acre of corn, garden +stuff, chickens and have the milk and butter from one cow. He was +advised to save his money by the overseer, but always drank it up. On +this plantation all the slaves were free from Saturday noon until Monday +morning and on Christmas and the Fourth of July. A majority of them +would go to Bedford or Milton and drink, gamble and fight. On the +neighboring farm the slaves were treated cruelly. Mr. Hume had a +brother-in-law, Steve Lewis, who carried marks on his back. For years he +had a sore that would not heal where his master had struck him with a +blacksnake whip. + +Three good overseers were Jake Mack and Mr. Crafton, Mr. Daniel Payne +was the owner who asked his people to report any mistreatment to him. He +expected obedience however. + +When Mr. Hume was a small boy he was placed in the fields to hoe. He +also wanted a new implement. He was so small he was unable to keep near +enough to the men and boys to hear what they were talking about, he +remembered bringing up the rear one day, when he saw a large rock he +carefully covered it with dirt, then came down hard on it breaking his +hoe. He missed a whipping and received a new tool to replace the old +one, after this he could keep near enough to hear what the other workers +were talking about. + +Another of his duties was to go for the cattle, he had to walk around +the road about a mile, but was permitted to come back through the fields +about a quarter of a mile. One afternoon his mistress told him to bring +a load of wood when he came in. In the summer it was the custom to have +the children carry the wood from the fields. When he came up he saw his +mistress was angry this peeved him, so that he stalked into the hall and +slammed his wood into the box. About this time his mistress shoved him +into a small closet and locked the door. He made such a howl that he +brought his mother and father to the rescue and was soon released from +his prison. + +As soon as the children were old enough they were placed in the fields +to prepare the ground for setting tobacco plants. This was a very +complicated procedure. The ground was made into hills, each requiring +about four feet of soil. The child had to get all the clods broken fine. +Then place his foot in the center and leave his track. The plants were +to be set out in the center and woe to the youngster who had failed to +pulverize his hill. After one plowing the tobacco was hand tended. It +was long green and divided into two grades. It was pressed by being +placed in large hogsheads and weighted down. On one occasion they were +told their tobacco was so eaten up that the worms were sitting on the +fence waiting for the leaves to grow but nevertheless in some manner his +master hid the defects and received the best price paid in the +community. + +The mistress on a neighboring plantation was a devout Catholic, and had +all the children come each Sunday after-noon to study the catechism and +repeat the Lord's Prayer. She was not very successful in training them +in the Catholic faith as when they grew up most of them were either +Baptists or Methodists. Mr. Hume said she did a lot of good in leading +them to Christ but he did not learn much of the catechism as he only +attended for the treat. After the service they always had candy or a cup +of sugar. + +On the Preston place there was a big strapping negro of eighteen whom +the overseer attempted to whip receiving the worst of it. He then went +to Mr. Hume's owner and asked for help but was told he would have to +seek elsewhere for help. Finally some one was found to assist. Smith was +tied to a tree and severely beaten, then they were afraid to untie him, +when the overseer finally ventured up and loosened the ropes, Smith +kicked him as hard as he could and ran to the Payne estate refusing to +return. He was a good helper here where he received kind treatment. + +A bad overseer was discharged once by Mr. Payne because of his cruelty +to Mr. Luke Hume. The corncrib was a tiny affair where a man had to +climb out one leg at a time, one morning just as Mr. Hume's father was +climbing out with his feed, he was struck over the head with a large +club, the next morning he broke the scoop off an iron shovel and +fastened the iron handle to his body. This time he swung himself from +the door of the crib and seeing the overseer hiding to strik him he +threw his bar, which made a wound on the man's head which did not knock +him out. As soon as Mr. Payne heard of the disturbance the overseer was +discharged and Mr. Mack placed in charge of the slaves. + +One way of exacting obedience was to threaten to send offenders South to +work in the fields. The slaves around Lexington, Kentucky, came out +ahead on one occasion. The collector was Shrader. He had the slaves +handcuffed to a large leg chain and forced on a flat boat. There were +so many that the boat was grounded, so some of the slaves were released +to push the boat off. Among the "blacks" was one who could read and +write. Before Shrader could chain them up again, he was seized and +chained, taken to below Memphis Tennessee and forced to work in the +cotton fields until he was able to get word from Richmond identifying +him. In the meantime the educated negro issued freedom papers to his +companions. Many of them came back to Lexington, Kentucky where they +were employed. + +Mr. Hume thought the Emancipation Proclamation was the greatest work +that Abraham Lincoln ever did. The colored people on his plantation did +not learn of it until the following August. Then Mr. Payne and his sons +offered to let them live on their ground with conditions similar to our +renting system, giving a share of the crop. They remained here until +Jan. 1, 1865 when they crossed the Ohio at Madison. They had a cow which +had been given them before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued but +this was taken away from them. So they came to Ind. homeless, friendless +and penniless. + +Mr. Hume and his aged wife have been married 62 years and resided in the +same community for 55 years where they are highly respected by all their +neighbors. + +He could not understand the attitude of his race who preferred to remain +in slavery receiving only food and shelter, rather than to be free +citizens where they could have the right to develop their individualism. + + + + +Virginia Tulley +District #2 +Fort Wayne, Indiana + +EX-SLAVE OF ALLEN COUNTY +[MRS. HENRIETTA JACKSON] + +References: +A. Ft. Wayne News Sentinel November 21, 1931 +B. Personal interview +[TR: There are no 'A' and 'B' annotations in the interview.] + + +Mrs. Henrietta Jackson, Fort Wayne resident, is distinguished for two +reasons; she is a centennarian and an ex-slave. Residing with her +daughter, Mrs. Jackson is very active and helps her daughter, who +operates a restaurant, do some of the lighter work. At the time I +called, an August afternoon of over 90 degrees temperature, Mrs. +Jackson was busy sweeping the floor. A little, rather stooped, shrunken +body, Mrs. Jackson gets around slowly but without the aid of a cane or +support of any kind. She wears a long dark cotton dress with a bandana +on her head with is now quite gray. Her skin is walnut brown her eyes +peering brightly through the wrinkles. She is intelligent, alert, +cordial, very much interested in all that goes on about her. + +Just how old Mrs. Jackson is, she herself doesn't know, but she thinks +she is about 105 years old. She looks much younger. Her youngest child +is 73 and she had nine, two of whom were twins. Born a slave in +Virginia, record of her birth was kept by the master. She cannot +remember her father as he was soon sold after Mrs. Jackson's death [TR: +birth?]. When still a child she was taken from her mother and sold. She +remembers the auction block and that she brought a good price as she was +strong and healthy. Her new master, Tom Robinson, treated her well and +never beat her. At first she was a plough hand, working in the cotton +fields, but then she was taken into the house to be a maid. While there +the Civil War broke out. Mrs. Jackson remembers the excitement and the +coming and going. Gradually the family lost its wealth, the home was +broken up. Everything was destroyed by the armies. Then came freedom for +the slaves. But Mrs. Jackson stayed on with the master for awhile. After +leaving she went to Alabama where she obtained work in a laundry +"ironing white folks' collars and cuffs." Then she got married and in +1917 she came to live with her daughter in Fort Wayne. Her husband, Levy +Jackson, has been dead 50 years. Of her children, only two are left. +Mrs. Jackson is sometimes very lonesome for her old home in "Alabamy", +where her friends lived, but for the most part, she is happy and +contented. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. LIZZIE JOHNSON +706 North Senate Avenue, Apt. 1 + + +Mrs. Johnson's father, Arthur Locklear, was born in Wilmington, N.C. in +1822. He lived in the South and endured many hardships until 1852. He +was very fortunate in having a white man befriend him in many ways. This +man taught him to read and write. Many nights after a hard days work, he +would lie on the floor in front of the fireplace, trying to study by the +light from the blazing wood, so he might improve his reading and +writing. + +He married very young, and as his family increased, he became ambitious +for them. Knowing their future would be very dark if they remained +South. + +He then started a movement to come north. There were about twenty-six or +twenty-eight men and women, who had the same thoughts about their +children, banded together, and in 1852 they started for somewhere, +North. + +The people selected, had to be loyal to the cause of their children's +future lives, morally clean, truthful, and hard-working. + +Some had oxen, some had carts. They pooled all of their scant +belongings, and started on their long hard journey. + +The women and children rode in the ox-carts, the men walked. They would +travel a few days, then stop on the roadside to rest. The women would +wash their few clothes, cook enough food to last a few days more, then +they would start out again. They were six weeks making the trip. + +Some settled in Madison, Indiana. Two brothers and their families went +on to Ohio, and the rest came to Indianapolis. + +John Scott, one of their number was a hod carrier. He earned $2.50 a +day, knowing that would not accumulate fast enough, he was strong and +thrifty. After he had worked hard all day, he would spend his evenings +putting new bottoms in chairs, and knitting gloves for anyone who wanted +that kind of work. In the summer he made a garden, sold his vegetables. +He worked very hard, day and night, and was able to save some money. + +He could not read or write, but he taught his children the value of +truthfulness, cleanliness of mind and body, loyalty, and thrift. The +father and his sons all worked together and bought some ground, built a +little house where the family lived many years. + +Before old Mr. Scott died, he had saved enough money to give each son +$200.00. His bank was tin cans hidden around in his house. + +Will Scott, the artist, is a grandson of this John Scott. + +The thing these early settlers wanted most, was for their children to +learn to read and write. So many of them had been caught trying to learn +to write, and had had their thumbs mashed, so they would not be able to +hold a pencil. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Johnson is a very interesting old woman and remembers so well the +things her parents told her. She deplores the "loose living," as she +calls it of this generation. + +She is very deliberate, but seems very sure of the story of her early +life. + +Submitted December 9, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District No. 5. +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +THE STORY OF BETTY JONES +429 Oak Street, Evansville, Ind. + + +From an Interview with Elizabeth Jones at 429 Oak Street, Evansville, +Ind. + +"Yes Honey, I was a slave, I was born at Henderson, Kentucky and my +mother was born there. We belonged to old Mars John Alvis. Our home was +on Alvis's Hill and a long plank walk had been built from the bank of +the Ohio river to the Alvis home. We all liked the long plank walk and +the big house on top of the hill was a pretty place." + +Betty Jones said her master was a rich man and had made his money by +raising and selling slaves. She only recalls two house servants were +mulatoes. All the other slaves were black as they could be. + +Betty Alvis lived with her parents in a cabin near her master's home on +the hill. She recalls no unkind treatment. "Our only sorrow was when a +crowd of our slave friends would be sold off, then the mothers, +brothers, sisters, and friends always cried a lot and we children would +grieve to see the grief of our parents." + +The mother of Betty was a slave of John Alvis and married a slave of her +master. The family lived at the slave quarters and were never parted. +"Mother kept us all together until we got set free after the war," +declares Betty. Many of the Alvis negroes decided to make their homes at +Henderson, Kentucky. "It was a nice town and work was plentiful." + +Betty Alvis was brought to Evansville by her parents. The climate did +not agree with the mother so she went to Princeton, Kentucky to live +with her married daughter and died there. + +Betty Alvis married John R. Jones, a native of Tennessee, a former slave +of John Jones, a Tennessee planter. He died twelve years ago. + +Betty Jones recalls when Evansville was a small town. She remembers when +the street cars were mule drawn and people rode on them for pleasure. +"When boats came in at Evansville, all the girls used to go down to the +bank, wearing pretty ruffled dresses and every body would wave to the +boat men and stay down at the river's edge until the boat was out of +sight." Betty Jones remembers when the new Court House was started and +how glad the men of the city were to erect the nice building. She +recalls when the old frame buildings used for church services were razed +and new structures were erected in which to worship God. She does not +believe in evil spirits, ghosts nor charms as do many former slaves, but +she remembers hearing her friends express superstitions concerning black +cats. It was also a belief that to build a new kitchen onto your old +home was always followed by the death of a member of the immediate +family and if a bird flew into a window it had come to bring a call to +the far away land and some member of the family would die. + +Betty Jones was not scared when the recent flood came to within a block +of her door. She had lived through a flood while living at Lawrence +Station at Marion County, Indiana. "We was all marooned in our homes for +two weeks and all the food we had was brought to our door by boats. +White river was flooded then and our home was in the White River Flats." +"What God wills must happen to us, and we do not save ourselves by +trying to run away. Just as well stay and face it as to try to get +away." + +The old negro woman is cared for by her unmarried daughter since her +husband's death. The old woman is lonely and was happy to recieve a +caller. She is alone much of the time as her daughter is compelled to do +house work to provide for her mother and herself. "Of course I'm a +Christian," said the aged negress. "I'm a religious woman and hope to +meet my friends in Heaven." "I would like to go back to Henderson, +Kentucky once more, for I have not been there for more than twenty +years. I'd live to walk the old plank walk again up to Mr. Alvis' home +but I'm afraid I'll never get to go. It costs too much." + +So desire remains with the aged and memories remain to comfort the +feeble. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +NATHAN JONES--EX-SLAVE +409 Blake Street + + +Nathan Jones was born in Gibson County, Tennessee in 1858, the son of +Caroline Powell, one of Parker Crimm's slaves. + +Master Crimm was very abusive and cruel to his slaves. He would beat +them for any little offense. He took pleasure in taking little children +from their mothers and selling them, sending them as far away as +possible. + +Nathan's stepfather, Willis Jones, was a very strong man, a very good +worker, and knew just enough to be resentful of his master's cruel +treatment, decided to run away, living in the woods for days. His master +sent out searchers for him, who always came in without him. The day of +the sale, Willis made his appearance and was the first slave to be put +on the block. + +His new master, a Mr. Jones of Tipton, Tennessee, was very kind to him. +He said it was a real pleasure to work for Mr. Jones as he had such a +kind heart and respected his slaves. + +Nathan remembers seeing slaves, both men and women, with their hands and +feet staked to the ground, their faces down, giving them no chance to +resist the overseers, whipped with cow hides until the blood gushed from +their backs. "A very cruel way to treat human beings." + +Nathan married very young, worked very hard, started buying a small +orchard, but was "figgered" out of it, and lost all he had put into it. +He then went to Missouri, stayed there until the death of his wife. He +then came to Indiana, bringing his six children with him. + +Forty-five years ago he married the second time; to that union were four +children. He is very proud of his ten children and one stepchild. + +His children have all been very helpful to him until times "got bad" +with them, and could barely exist themselves. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. and Mrs. Jones room with a family by the name of James; they have a +comfortable, clean room and are content. + +They are both members of the Free Will Baptist Church; get the old age +pension, and "do very well." + +Submitted December 15, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Albert Strope, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +St. Joseph County--District #1 +Mishawaka, Indiana + +ADELINE ROSE LENNOX--EX-SLAVE +1400 South Sixth Street, Elkhart, Indiana + + +Adeline Rose Lennox was born of slave parents at Middle--sometimes known +as Paris--Tennessee, October 25, 1849. She lived with her parents in +slave quarters on the plantation of a Mr. Rose for whom her parents +worked. These quarters were log houses, a distance from the master's +mansion. + +At the age of seven years, Adeline was taken from her parents to work at +the home of a son of Mr. Rose who had recently been married. She +remembers well being taken away, for she said she cried, but her new +mistress said she was going to have a new home so she had to go with +her. + +At the age of fourteen years she did the work of a man in the field, +driving a team, plowing, harrowing and seeding. "We all thought a great +deal of Mr. Rose," said Mrs. Lennox, "for he was good to us." She said +that they were well fed, having plenty of corn, peas, beans, and pork to +eat, more pork then than now. + +As Adeline Rose, the subject of this sketch was married to Mr. Steward, +after she was given her freedom at the close of the Civil War. At this +time she was living with her parents who stayed with Mr. Rose for about +five years after the war. To the Steward family was born one son, +Johnny. Mr. Steward died early in life, and his widow married a second +time, this time [HW: to] one George Lennox whose name she now bears. + +Johnny married young and died young, leaving her alone in the world with +the exception of her daughter-in-law. After her second husband's death, +she remained near Middle, Tennessee, until 1924, when she removed to +Elkhart to spend the remainder of her life living with her +daughter-in-law, who had remarried and is now living at 1400 South Sixth +Street, Elkhart, Indiana. + +In the neighborhood she is known only as "Granny." While I was having +this interview, a colored lady passed and this conversation followed: + +"Good morning Granny, how are you this morning?" + +"Only tolerable, thank you," replied Granny. + +The health of Mrs. Lennox has been failing for the past three years but +she gets around quite well for a lady who will be eight-eight years old +the twenty-fifth day of this October. She gets an old age pension of +about thirteen dollars per month. + +A peculiar thing about Mrs. Lennox's life is that she says that she +never knew that she was a slave until she was set free. Her mistress +then told her that she was free and could go back to her father's home +which she did rather reluctantly. + +Mrs. Lennox smokes, enjoys corn bread and boiled potatoes as food, but +does not enjoy automobiles as "they are too bumpy and they gather too +much air," she says. "I do not eat sweets," she remarks "my one ambition +in life is to live so that I may claim Heaven as my home when I die." + +There is a newspaper picture in the office along with an article +published by the Elkhart Truth. This is being sent to Indianapolis +today. + + + + +Submitted by: +Estella R. Dodson +District #11 +Monroe County +Bloomington, Ind. +October 4, 1937 + +INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS LEWIS, COLORED +North Summit Street, Bloomington, Ind. + + +I was born in Spencer County, Kentucky, in 1857. I was born a slave. +There was slavery all around on all the adjoining places. I was seven +years old when I was set free. My father was killed in the Northern +army. My mother, step-father and my mother's four living children came +to Indiana when I was twelve years old. My grandfather was set free and +given a little place of about sixteen acres. A gang of white men went to +my grandmother's place and ordered the colored people out to work. The +colored people had worked before for white men, on shares. When the +wheat was all in and the corn laid by, the white farmers would tell the +colored people to get out, and would give them nothing. The colored +people did not want to work that way, and refused. This was the cause of +the raids by white farmers. My mother recognized one of the men in the +gang and reported him to the standing soldiers in Louisville. He was +caught and made to tell who the others were until they had 360 men. All +were fined and none allowed to leave until all the fines were paid. So +the rich ones had to pay for the poor ones. Many of them left because +all were made responsible if such an event ever occurred again. + +Our family left because we did not want to work that way. I was hired +out to a family for $20 a year. I was sent for. My mother put herself +under the protection of the police until we could get away. We came in a +wagon from our home to Louisville. I was anxious to see Louisville, and +thought it was very wonderful. I wanted to stay there, but we came on +across the Ohio River on a ferry boat and stayed all night in New +Albany. Next morning the wagon returned home and we came to Bloomington +on the train. It took us from 9 o'clock until three in the evening to +get here. There were big slabs of wood on the sides of the track to hold +the rails together. Strips of iron were bolted to the rails on the +inside to brace them apart. There were no wires at the joints of the +rails to carry electricity, as we have now, for there was no electricity +in those days. + +I have lived in Bloomington ever since I came here. I met a family named +Dorsett after I came here. They came from Jefferson County, Kentucky. +Two of their daughters had been sold before the war. After the war, when +the black people were free, the daughters heard some way that their +people were in Bloomington. It was a happy time when they met their +parents. + +Once when I was a little boy, I was sitting on the fence while my mother +plowed to get the field ready to put in wheat. The white man who owned +her was plowing too. Some Yankee soldiers on horses came along. One rode +up to the fence and when my mother came to the end of the furrow, he +said to her, "Lady, could you tell me where Jim Downs' still house is?" +My mother started to answer, but the man who owned her told her to move +on. The soldiers told him to keep quiet, or they would make him sorry. +After he went away, my mother told the soldiers where the house was. The +reason her master did not want her to tell where the house was, was that +some of his Rebel friends were hiding there. Spies had reported them to +the Yankee soldiers. They went to the house and captured the Rebels. + +Next soldiers came walking. I had no cap. One soldier asked me why I +did not wear a cap. I said I had no cap. The soldier said, "You tell +your mistress I said to buy you a cap or I'll come back and kill the +whole family." They bought me a cap, the first one I ever had. + +The soldiers passed for three days and a half. They were getting ready +for a battle. The battle was close. We could hear the cannon. After it +was over, a white man went to the battle field. He said that for a mile +and a half one could walk on dead men and dead horses. My mother wanted +to go and see it, but they wouldn't let her, for it was too awful. + +I don't know what town we were near. The only town I know about had only +about four or five houses and a mill. I think the name was Fairfield. +That may not be the name, and the town may not be there any more. Once +they sent my mother there in the forenoon. She saw a flash, and +something hit a big barn. The timbers flew every way, and I suppose +killed men and horses that were in the barn. There were Rebels hidden in +the barn and in the houses, and a Yankee spy had found out where they +were. They bombed the barn and surrounded the town. No one was able to +leave. The Yankees came and captured the Rebels. + +I had a cousin named Jerry. Just a little while before the barn was +struck a white man asked Jerry how he would like to be free. Jerry said +that he would like it all right. The white men took him into the barn +and were going to put him over a barrel and beat him half to death. Just +as they were about ready to beat him, the bomb struck the barn and Jerry +escaped. The man who owned us said for us to say that we were well +enough off, and did not care to be free, just to avoid beatings. There +was no such thing as being good to slaves. Many people were better than +others, but a slave belonged to his master and there was no way to get +out of it. A strong man was hard to make work. He would fight so that +the white men trying to hold him would be breathless. Then there was +nothing to do but kill him. If a slave resisted, and his master killed +him, it was the same as self-defense today. If a cruel master whipped a +slave to death, it put the fear into the other slaves. The brother of +the man who owned my mother had many black people. He was too mean to +live, but he made it. Once he was threshing wheat with a 'ground-hog' +threshing machine, run by horse power. He called to a woman slave. She +did not hear him because of the noise of the machine, and did not +answer. He leaped off the machine to whip her. He caught his foot in +some cogs and injured it so that it had to be taken off. + +They tell me that today there is a place where there is a high fence. +If someone gets near, he can hear the cries of the spirits of black +people who were beaten to death. It is kept secret so that people won't +find it out. Such places are always fenced to keep them secret. Once a +man was out with a friend, hunting. The dog chased something back of a +high fence. One man started to go in. The other said, "What are you +going to do?" The other one said, "I want to see what the dog chased +back in there." His friend told him, "You'd better stay out of there. +That place is haunted by spirits of black people who were beaten to +death." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. SARAH H. LOCKE--DAUGHTER [of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor] + + +Mrs. Locke, the daughter of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor, was born in +Woodford County, Kentucky in 1859. She went over her early days with +great interest. + +Jacob Keephart, her master, was very kind to his slaves, would never +sell them to "nigger traders." His family was very large, so they bought +and sold their slaves within the families and neighbors. + +Mrs. Locke's father, brothers, and grandmother belonged to the same +master in Henry County, Kentucky. Her mother and the two sisters +belonged to another branch of the Keephart family, about seven miles +away. + +Her father came to see her mother on Wednesday and Saturday nights. They +would have big dinners on these nights in their cabin. + +Her father cradled all the grain for the neighborhood. He was a very +high tempered man and would do no work when angry; therefore, every +effort was made to keep him in a good humor when the work was heavy. + +Her mother died when the children were very young. Sarah was given to +the Keephart daughter as a wedding present and taken to her new home. +She was always treated like the others in the family. + +After the abolition of slavery, Mr Keephart gave Wm. a horse and rations +to last for six months, so the children would not starve. + +Charles and Lydia French, fellow workers with the Taylors, went to +Cincinnatti and in 1867 sent for the Mrs. Locke and her sister, so they +could go to school, as there were no schools in Kentucky then. The girls +stayed one year with the French family; that is the longest time they +ever went to school. After that, they would go to school for three +months at different times. Mrs. Locke reads and writes very well. + +The master worked right along with the slaves, shearing the sheep. + +The women milk ten or twelve cows and knit a whole sock in one day. They +also wove the material for their dresses; it was called "linsey." + +She remembers one night the slaves were having a dance in one of the +cabins, a band of Ku Kluxers came, took all firearms they could find, +but no one was hurt, all wondered why, however, it did not take long for +them to find out why. Another night when the Kluxers were riding, the +slaves recognised the voice of their young master. That was the reason +why the Keephart slaves were never molested. + +Christmas was a jolly time for the Keephart slaves. They would have a +whole week to celebrate, eating, dancing, and making merry. + +"Free born niggers" were not allowed to associate with the slaves, as +they were supposed to have no sense, and would contaminate the slaves. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Locke is an intelligent old lady, has been a good dressmaker, and +served for a great number of the "first families" of Indianapolis. + +She has been married twice; her first husband died shortly after their +marriage, and she was a widow for twenty-five years before she took her +second "venture." + +She gets the old age pension and is very happy. + +Submitted December 17, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +ROBERT MCKINLEY--EX-SLAVE +1664 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Robert McKinley was born in Stanley County, N.C., in 1849, a slave of +Arnold Parker. + +His master was a very cruel man, but was always kind to him, because he +had given him (Bob) as a present to his favorite daughter, Jane Alice, +and she would never permit anyone to mistreat Bob. + +Miss Jane Alice was very fond of little Bob, and taught him to read and +write. + +His master owned a large farm, but Jane Alice would not let little Bob +work on the farm. Instead, he helped his master in the blacksmith shop. + +His master always prepared himself to whip his slaves by drinking a +large glass of whiskey to give him strength to beat his slaves. + +Robert remembers seeing his master beat his mother until she would fall +to the ground, and he was helpless to protect her. He would just have to +stand and watch. + +He has seen slaves tied to trees and beaten until the master could beat +no longer; then he would salt and pepper their backs. + +Once when the Confederate soldiers came to their farm, Robert told them +where the liquor was kept and where the stock had been hidden. For this +the soldiers gave him a handful of money, but it did him no good for his +master took it away from him. + +The McKinley family, of course, were Parkers and after the Civil war, +they took the name of their father who was a slave of John McKinley. + +A neighbor farmer, Jesse Hayden, was very kind to his slaves, gave them +anything they wanted to eat, because he said they had worked hard, and +made it possible for him to have all he had, and it was part theirs. + + +The Parker slaves were not allowed to associate with the Hayden slaves. +They were known as the "rich niggers, who could eat meat without +stealing it." + +When the "nigger traders" came to the Parker farm, the old mistress +would take meat skins and grease the mouths of the slave children to +make it appear she had given them meat to eat. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. McKinley is an "herb doctor" and lives very poorly in a dirty little +house; he was very glad to tell of his early life. + +He thinks people live too fast these days, and don't remember there is a +stopping place. + +Submitted January 10, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +RICHARD MILLER--AN OLD SOLDIER +1109 North West Street + + +Richard Miller was born January 12, 1843 in Danville, Kentucky. His +mother was an English subject, born in Bombay, India and was brought +into America by a group of people who did not want to be under the +English government. They landed in Canada, came on to Detroit, stayed +there a short time, then went to Danville, Kentucky. There she married a +slave named Miller. They were the parents of five children. + +After slavery was abolished, they bought a little farm a few miles from +Danville, Kentucky. + +The mother was very ambitious for her children, and sent them to the +country school. + +One day, when the children came home from school, their mother was gone; +they knew not where. + +It was learned, she was sending her children to school, and that was not +wanted. She was taken to Texas, and nothing, was heard from her until +1871. + +She wrote her brother she was comming to see them, and try to find her +children, if any of them were left. + +The boy, Richard, was in the army. He was so anxious to see his mother, +to see what she would look like. The last time he saw her, she was +washing clothes at the branch, and was wearing a blue cotton dress. All +he could remember about her was her beautiful black hair, and the cotton +dress. When he saw her, he didnot recognize her, but she told him of +things he could remember that had happened, and that made him think she +was his mother. + +Richard was told who had taken the mother from the children, went to the +man, shot and killed him; nothing was done to him for his deed. + +He remembers a slave by the name of Brown, in Texas, who was chained +hand and feet to a woodpile, oil thrown over him, and the wood, then +fire set to the wood, and he was burned to death. + +After the fire smoldered down, the white women and children took his +ashes for souvenirs. + +When slavery was abolished, a group of them started down to the far +south, to buy farms, to try for themselves, got as far as Madison +County, Kentucky and were told if they went any farther south, they +would be made slaves again, not knowing if that was the truth or not, +they stayed there, and worked on the Madison County farms for a very +small wage. This separated families, and they never heard from each +other ever again. + +These separations are the cause of so many of the slave race not being +able to trace families back for generations, as do the white families. + +George Band was a very powerful slave, always ready to fight, never +losing a fight, always able to defend himself until one night a band of +Ku Kluxers came to his house, took his wife, hung her to a tree, hacked +her to death with knives. Then went to the house, got George, took him +to see what they had done to his wife. He asked them to let him go back +to the house to get something to wrap his wife in, thinking he was +sincere in his request, they allowed him to go. Instead of getting a +wrapping for his wife, he got his Winchester rifle, shot and killed +fourteen of the Kluxers. The county was never bothered with the Klan +again. However, George left immediately for the North. + +The first Monday of the month was sale day. The slaves were chained +together and sent down in Miss., often separating mothers from children, +husbands from wives, never to hear of each other again. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Miller lives with his family in a very comfortable home. + +He has only one eye, wears a patch over the bad one. + +He does not like to talk of his early life as he said it was such a +"nightmare" to him; however he answered all questions very pleasantly. + +Submitted December 9, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +William R. Mays +District 4 +Johnson County + +HENRY CLAY MOORMAN +BORN IN SLAVERY IN KENTUCKY +427 W. King St., Franklin, Ind. + + +Henry Clay Moorman has resided in Franklin 34 years, he was born Oct. 1, +1854 in slavery on the Moorman plantation in Breckenridge County, +Kentucky. + +Mr. Moorman relates his own personal experiences as well as those handed +down from his mother. He was a boy about 12 years old when freedom was +declared. His father's name was Dorah Moorman who was a cooper by trade, +and had a wife and seven children. They belonged to James Moorman, who +owned about 20 slaves, he was kind to his slaves and never whipped any +of them. These slaves loved their master and was as loyal to him as his +own family. + +Mr. Moorman says that when a boy he did small jobs around the plantation +such as tobacco planting and going to the mill. One day he was placed +upon a horse with a sack of grain containing about two bushels, after +the sack of grain was balanced upon the back of the horse he was started +to the mill which was a distance of about five miles, when about half +the distance of the journey the sack of grain became unbalanced and fell +from the horse being too small to lift the sack of grain he could only +cry over the misfortune. There he was, powerless to do any thing about +it. After about two hours there was a white man riding by and seeing the +predicament he was in kindly lifted the sack up on the horse and after +ascertaining his master's name bade him to continue to the mill. It was +the custom at the mill that each await their turn, and do their own +grinding. After the miller had taken his toll, he returned to his master +and told of his experience. Thereafter precautions were taken so he +would not again have the same experience. + +The slave owners had so poisoned the minds of the slaves, they were in +constant fear of the soldiers. One day when the slaves were alone at the +plantation they sighted the Union soldiers approaching, they all went +to the woods and hid in the bushes. The smaller children were covered +with leaves. There they remained all night, as the soldiers (about 200 +in number) camped all night in the horse lot. These soldiers were very +orderly; however, they appropriated for their own use all the food they +could find. + +The slave owners would hide all their silverware and other articles of +worth under the mattresses that were in the negro cabins for safe +keeping. + +There were three white children in the master's family. Wickliff, the +oldest boy and Bob was the second child in age. The younger child, a +girl, was named Sally and was about the same age as the subject of this +article. Both children, being babies about the same age, the black +mother served as a wet nurse for the white child, sometimes both the +black child and the white child were upon the black mammies lap which +frequently was the cause of battles between the two babies. + +Some of the white mistresses acted as midwife for the black mothers. + +There were two graveyards on the plantation, one for the white folks and +one for the blacks. There is no knowledge of any deaths among the white +folks during the time he lived on the plantation. One of this black +boys' sisters married just before slavery was abolished. He remembers +this wedding. In connection with the marriages of the slaves in slavery +days, it is recalled that slaves seldom married among themselves on the +same plantation but instead the unions were made by some negro boy from +some other plantation courting a negro girl on a distant plantation. As +was the custom in slavery days the black boy would have to get the +consent of three people before he was allowed to enter upon wedlock; +first, he would get the consent of the negro girls' mother, then he +would get the consent of his own master as well as the black girl's +master. This required time and diplomacy. When all had given their +consent the marriage would take place usually on Saturday night, when a +great time was had with slaves coming from other plantations with a +generous supply of fried chicken, hams, cakes and pies a great feast and +a good time generally with music and dancing. The new husband had to +return to his own master after the wedding but it was understood by all +that the new husband could visit his wife every Saturday night and stay +until Monday morning. He would return every Monday to his master and +work as usual indefinitely unless by chance one or the other of the two +masters would buy the husband or wife, in such event they would live +together as man and wife. Unless this purchase did occur it was the rule +in slavery days that any children born to the slave wife would be the +property of the girl's master. + +When the required consent could not be had from all parties concerned it +sometimes caused friction and instances have occured when attempts at +elopement was made causing no end of trouble. This condition was very +rare, as in most all cases of this kind the masters were quite willing +for this marriage and would encourage the young couple. It is remembered +that there were no illegitimate children born on the Moorman plantation. + +The slaves would have their parties and dances. Slaves would gather from +various plantations and these parties would sometimes last all night. It +was customary for the slaves to get passes from their masters +permitting them to attend, but sometimes passes were not given for +reasons. In line with these parties it is remembered that there existed +at that time what was known as the Paddle-Rollers, these so called +Paddy-Rollers was made up of a bunch of white boys who would sneak up on +these defenseless negroes unawares late in the night and demand that all +show their passes. Those that could not show passes were whipped, both +the negro boys and girls alike. The loyalty of these poor black boys was +shown when they would volunteer to take an extra flogging to protect +their girl friends. The Paddy-Rollers were a mean bunch of white boys +who reviled in this shameful practice. + +After slavery was abolished, this colored slave family remained on the +same plantation for one year. They left the plantation via Cloverport by +boat for Evansville, Ind., where they remained until the subject of this +sketch removed to Franklin, Ind. in 1903 where he took pastorate with +the African Methodist Episcopal Church where he served for 12 years. He +is now a retired minister residing at 427 W. King St. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. AMERICA MORGAN--EX-SLAVE +816 Camp Street + + +America Morgan was born in a log house, daubed with dirt, in Ballard +County, Kentucky, in 1852, the daughter of Manda and Jordon Rudd. She +remembers very clearly the happenings of her early life. + +Her mother, Manda Rudd, was owned by Clark Rudd, and the "devil has sure +got him." + +Her father was owned by Mr. Willingham, who was very kind to his slaves. +Jordon became a Rudd, because he was married to Manda on the Rudd +plantation. + +There were six children in the family, and all went well until the death +of the mother; Clark Rudd whipped her to death when America was five +years old. + +Six little children were left motherless to face a "frowning world." + +America was given to her master's daughter, Miss Meda, to wait on her, +as her personal property. She lived with her for one year, then was sold +for $600.00 to Mr. and Mrs. Utterback stayed with them until the end of +the Civil war. + +The new mistress was not so kind. Miss Meda, who knew her reputation, +told her if she abused America, she would come for her, and she would +loose the $600.00 she had paid for her. Therefore, America was treated +very kindly. + +Aunt Catherine, who looked after all the children on the plantation, +was very unruly, no one could whip her. Once America was sent for two +men to come and tie Aunt Catherine. She fought so hard, it was as much +as the men could do to tie her. They tied her hands, then hung her to +the joist and lashed her with a cow hide. It "was awful to hear her +screams." + +In 1865 her father came and took her into Paduca, Kentucky, "a land of +freedom." + +When thirteen years old, America did not know A from B, then "glory to +God," a Mr. Greeleaf, a white man, from the north, came down to Kentucky +and opened a school for Negro children. That was America's first chance +to learn. He was very kind and very sympathetic. She went to school for +a very short while. + +Her father was very poor, had nothing at all to give his children. + +America's mistress would not give her any of her clothes. "All she had +in this world, was what she had on her back." Then she was "hired out" +for $1.00 a week. + +The white people for whom she worked were very kind to her and would try +to teach her when her work was done. She was given an old fashioned +spelling book and a first reader. She was then "taught much and began to +know life." + +She was sent regularly to church and Sunday school. That was when she +began to "wake up" to her duty as a free girl. + +The Rev. D.W. Dupee was her Sunday school teacher, from him she learned +much she had never known before. + +At seventeen years of age, she married and "faced a frowning world +right." She had a good husband and ten children, three of whom are +living today, one son and two daughters. + +She remembers one slave, who had been given five hundred lashes on his +back, thrown in his cabin to die. He laid on the floor all night, at +dawn he came to himself, and there were blood hounds licking his back. + +When the overseers lashed a slave to death, they would turn the +bloodhounds out to smell the blood, so they would know "nigger blood," +that would help trace runaway slaves. + +Aunt Jane Stringer was given five hundred lashes and thrown in her +cabin. The next morning when the overseer came, he kicked her and told +her to get up, and wanted to know if she was going to sleep there all +day. When she did not answer him, he rolled her over and the poor woman +was dead, leaving several motherless children. + +When the slaves were preparing to run away, they would put hot pepper on +their feet; this would cause the hounds to be thrown off their trail. + +Aunt Margaret ran off, but the hounds traced her to a tree; she stayed +up in the tree for two days and would not come down until they promised +not to whip her any more, and they kept their promise. + +Old mistress' mother was sick a long time, and little America had to +keep the flies off of her by waving a paper fly brush over her bed. She +was so mean, America was afraid to go too near the bed for fear she +might try to grab her and shake her. After she died, she haunted +America. Anytime she would go into the room, she could hear her knocking +on the wall with her cane. Some nights they would hear her walking up +and down the stairs for long periods at a time. + +Aunt Catherine ran off, because "ole missie" haunted her so bad. + +The old master came back after his death and would ride his favorite +horse, old Pomp, all night long, once every week. When the boy would go +in to feed the horses, old Pomp would have his ears hanging down, and he +would be "just worn out," after his night ride. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +America believes firmly in haunts, and said she had lived in several +haunted houses since coming up north. + +Mrs. Morgan lives with her baby boy and his wife. She is rather +inteligent, reads and writes, and tries to do all she can to help those +who are less fortunate than she. + +Submitted December 27, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Iris Cook +District 4 +Floyd County + +STORY OF GEORGE MORRISON +25 East 5th St., New Albany, Ind. + + +Observation of the writer + +(This old negro, known as "Uncle George" by the neighbors, is very +particular about propriety. He allows no woman in his house unless +accompanied by a man. He says "It jest a'nt the proper thing to do", but +he came to a neighbors for a little talk.) + +"I was bawn in Union County, Kentucky, near Morganfield. My master was +Mr. Ray, he made me call him Mr. Ray, wouldent let me call him Master. +He said I was his little free negro." + +When asked if there were many slaves on Mr. Ray's farm, he said, "Yes'm, +they was seven cabin of us. I was the oldes' child in our family. Mr. +Ray said "He didn't want me in the tobacco", so I stayed at the house +and waited on the women folk and went after the cows when I was big +enough. I carried my stick over my shoulder for I wus afraid of snakes." + +"Mr. Ray was always very good to me, he liked to play with me, cause I +was so full of tricks an' so mischuvus. He give me a pair of boots with +brass toes. I shined them up ever day, til you could see your face in +'em." + +"There wuz two ladies at the house, the Missus and her daughter, who was +old enough to keep company when I was a little boy. They used to have me +to drive 'em to church. I'd drive the horses. They'd say, 'George, you +come in here to church.' But I always slipped off with the other boys +who was standing around outside waitin' for they folks, and played +marbles." + +"Yes, ma'am, the War sho did affect my fambly. My father, he fought for +the north. He got shot in his side, but it finally got all right. He +saved his money and came north after the war and got a good job. But, I +saw them fellows from the south take my Uncle. They put his clothes on +him right in the yard and took him with them to fight. And even the +white folks, they all cried. But he came back, he wasnt hurt but he +wasent happy in his mind like my pappy was." + +"Yes ma'am, I would rather live in the North. The South's all right but +someways I just don't feel down there like I does up here." + +"No ma'am, I was never married. I don't believe in getting married +unless you got plenty of money. So many married folks dont do nuthin but +fuss and fight. Even my father and mother always spatted and I never +liked that and so I says to myself what do I want to get married for. +I'm happier just living by myself." + +"Yes Ma'am. I remember when people used to take wagon loads of corn to +the market in Louisville, and they would bring back home lots of +groceries and things. A colored man told me he had come north to the +market in Louisville with his master, and was working hard unloading the +corn when a white man walks up to him, shows him some money and asks him +if he wanted to be free? He said he stopped right then and went with the +man, who hid him in his wagon under the provisions and they crossed the +Ohio River right on the ferry. That's the way lots of 'em got across +here." + +"Did I ever hear of any ghosts. Yes ma'am I have. I hear noises and I +seed something once that I never could figger out. I was goin't thru +the woods one day, and come up sudden in a clear patch of ground. There +sat a little boy on a stump, all by his-self, there in the woods. I asks +him who he wuz & wuz he lost, and he never answered me. Jest sat there, +lookin at me. All of a sudden he ups and runs, and I took out after him. +He run behind a big tree, and when I got up to where I last seed him, he +wuz gone. And there sits a great big brown man twice as big as me, on +another stump. He never seys a word, jest looks at me. And then I got +away from there, yes ma'am I really did." + +"A man I knew saw a ghost once and he hit at it. He always said he +wasn't afraid of no ghost, but that ghost hit him, and hit him so hard +it knocked his face to one side and the last time I saw him it was still +that way. No ma'am, I don't really believe in ghosts, but you know how +it is, I lives by myself and I don't like to talk about them for you +never can tell what they might do. + +"Lady you ought to hear me rattle bones, when I was young. I caint do it +much now for my wrists are too stiff. When they played Turkey in the +Straw how we all used to dance and cut up. We'ed cut the pigeon wing, +and buck the wind [HW: wing?], and all. But I got rewmaytism in my feet +now and ant much good any more, but I sure has done lots of things and +had lots of fun in my time." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +JOSEPH MOSLEY, EX-SLAVE +2637 Boulevard Place + +[TR: Also reported as Moseley in text of interview.] + + +Joseph Mosley, one of twelve children, was born March 15, 1853, fourteen +miles from Hopkinsville, Kentucky. + +His master, Tim Mosley, was a slave trader. He was supposed to have +bought and sold 10,000 slaves. He would go from one state to another +buying slaves, bringing in as many as 75 or 80 slaves at one time. + +The slaves would be handcuffed to a chain, each chain would link 16 +slaves. The slaves would walk from Virginia to Kentucky, and some from +Mississippi to Virginia. + +In front of the chained slaves would be an overseer on horseback with a +gun and dogs. In back of the chained slaves would be another overseer on +horseback with a gun and dogs. They would see that no slave escaped. + +Joseph's father was the shoemaker for all the farm hands and all adult +workers. He would start in September making shoes for the year. First +the shoes for the folks in the house, then the workers. + +No slave child ever wore shoes, summer or winter. + +The father, mother, and all the children were slaves in the same family, +but not in the same house. Some with the daughters, some with the sons, +and so on. No one brother or sister would be allowed to visit with the +others. + +After the death of Tim Moseley, little Joseph was given to a daughter. +He was seven years old; he had to pick up chips, tend the cows, and do +small jobs around the house; he wore no clothing except a shirt. + +Little Joseph did not see his mother after he was taken to the home of +the daughter until he was set free at the age of 13. + +The master was very unkind to the slaves; they sometimes would have +nothing to eat, and would eat from the garbage. + +On Christmas morning Joseph was told he could go see his mother; he did +not know he was free, and couldn't understand why he was given the first +suit of clothes he had ever owned, and a pair of shoes. He dressed in +his new finery and was started out on his six mile journey to his +mother. + +He was so proud of his new shoes; after he had gotten out of sight, he +stopped and took his shoes off as he did not want them dirty before his +mother had seen them, and walked the rest of the way in his bare feet. + +After their freedom, the family came to Indiana. + +The mother died here, in Indianapolis, at the age of 105. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Moseley, who has been in Indianapolis for 35 years, has been +paralyzed for the last four years. He and a daughter room with a Mrs. +Turner. + +He has a very nice clean room; a very pleasant old man was very glad to +talk of his past life. + +He gets a pension of $18.00 a month, and said it was not easy to get +along on that little amount, and wondered if the government was ever +going to increase his pension. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +MEMORIES OF SLAVERY AND THE LIFE STORY OF +AMY ELIZABETH PATTERSON + + +The slave mart, separation from a dearly beloved mother and little +sisters are among the earliest memories recalled by Amy Elizabeth +Patterson, a resident of Evansville, Indiana. + +Amy Elizabeth, now known as "Grandmother Patterson" resides with her +daughter Lula B. Morton at 512 Linwood Avenue near Cherry Street. Her +birth occurred July 12, 1850 at Cadiz, Trigg County, Kentucky. Her +mother was Louisa Street, slave of John Street, a merchant of Cadez. +[TR: likely Cadiz] + +"John Street was never unkind to his slaves" is the testimony of +Grandmother Patterson, as she recalls and relates stories of the long +ago. "Our sorrow began when slave traders, came to Cadiz and bought such +slaves as he took a fancy to and separated us from our families!" + +John Street ran a sort of agency where he collected slaves and yearly +sold them to dealers in human flesh. Those he did not sell he hired out +to other families. Some were hired or indentured to farmers, some to +stock raisers, some to merchants and some to captains of boats and the +hire of all these slaves went into the coffers of John Street, yearly +increasing his wealth. + +Louisa Street, mother of Amy Elizabeth Patterson, was house maid at the +Street home and her first born daughter was fair with gold brown hair +and amber eyes. Mr. and Mrs. Street always promised Louisa they would +never sell her as they did not want to part with the child, so Louisa +was given a small cabin near the master's house. The mistress had a +child near the age of the little mulatto and Louisa was wet nurse for +both children as well as maid to Mrs. Street. Two years after the birth +of Amy Elizabeth, Louisa became mother of twin daughters, Fannie and +Martha Street, then John Street decided to sell all his slaves as he +contemplated moving into another territory. + +The slaves were auctioned to the highest bidder and Louisa and the twins +were bought by a man living near Cadiz but Mr. Street refused to sell +Amy Elizabeth. She showed promise of growing into an excellent +house-maid and seamstress and was already a splendid playmate and nurse +to the little Street boy and girl. So Louisa lost her child but such +grief was shown by both mother and child that the mother was unable to +perform her tasks and the child cried continually. Then Mr. Street +consented to sell the little girl to the mother's new master. + +Louisa Street became mother of seventeen children. Three were almost +white. Amy Elizabeth was the daughter of John Street and half sister of +his children by his lawful wife. Mrs. Street knew the facts and +respected Louisa and her child and, says grandmother Patterson, "That +was the greatest crime ever visited on the United States. It was worse +than the cruelty of the overseers, worse than hunger, for many slaves +were well fed and well cared for; but when a father can sell his own +child, humiliate his own daughter by auctioning her on the slave block, +what good could be expected where such practices were allowed?" + +Grandmother Patterson remembers superstitions of slavery days and how +many slaves were afraid of ghosts and evil spirits but she never +believed in supernatural appearances until three years ago when she +received a message, through a medium, from the spirit land; now she is a +firm believer, not in ghosts and evil visitations, but in true +communication with the departed ones who still love and long to protect +those who remain on earth. + +Several years ago a young grandson of the old woman was drowned. The +little boy was Stokes Morton, a very popular child rating high averages +in school studies and beloved by his teachers and friends. The mother, +Lulu B. Morton and the grandmother both gave up to grief, in fact they +both have declined in health and were unable to carry on their regular +duties. + +Grandmother Patterson began suffering from a dental ailment and was +compelled to visit a dental surgeon. The dental surgeon suggested that +she visit a medium and seek some comforting message from the child. + +She at once visited a medium and received a message. "Stokes answered +me. In fact he was waiting to communicate with us. He said 'Grandmother! +you and mother must stop staying at the cemetary and grieving for me. +Send the flowers to your sick friends and put in more time with the +other children. I am happy here, I am in a beautiful field, The sky is +blue and the field is full of beautiful white lambs that play with me.'" + +The message comforted the aged woman. She began occupying her time with +other members of the family and again began to visit with her neighbors. + +She felt a call two years later and again consulted the medium. That +time she received a message from the child, his father and a little girl +that had died in infancy. Grandmother Patterson said she would not +recall the ones who had gone on to the land of promise. She is a +christian and a believer in the Word of God. + +Grandmother Patterson, in spite of her 87 years of life (fifteen of +which were passed in slavery) is useful in her daughter's home. Her +children and grand children are fond of her as indeed they well may be. +She is a refined woman, gracious to every person she encounters. She is +hoping for better opportunities for her race. She admonishes the younger +relatives to live in the fear and love of the Lord that no evil days +overtake them. + +"Yes, slavery was a curse to this nation" she declares, "A curse which +still shows itself in hundreds of homes where mulatto faces are evidence +of a heinous sin and proof that there has been a time when American +fathers sold their children at the slave marts of America." She is glad +the curse has been erased even if by the bloodshed of heroes. + + + + +G. Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +MRS. PRESTON'S STORY + + +Mrs. Preston is an old lady, 83 years old, very charming and hospitable +She lives on North Elm Street, Madison, Indiana. Her first recollections +of slavery were of sleeping on the foot of her mistress' bed, where she +could get up during the night to "feed" the fire with chips she had +gathered before dark or to get a drink or anything else her mistress +might want in the night. + +Her 'Marse Brown', resided in Frankfort having taken his best horses and +hogs, and leaving his family in the care of an overseer on a farm. He +was afraid the Union soldiers would kill him, but thought his wife would +be safe. This opinion proved to be true. The overseer called the slaves +to work at four o'clock, and they worked until six in the evening. + +When Mrs. Preston was a little older part of her work was to drive about +a dozen cows to and from the stable. Many a time she warmed her bare +feet in the cattle bedding. She said they did not always go barefooted +but their shoes were old or their feet wrapped in rags. + +Her next promotion was to work in the fields hauling shocks of corn on a +balky mule which was subject to bucking and throwing its rider over its +head. She was aided by a little boy on another mule. There were men to +tie the shocks and place them on the mule. + +She remembered seeing Union and Confederate soldiers shooting across a +river near her home. Her uncle fought two years, and returned safely at +the end of the war. + +She did not feel that her Master and Mistress had mistreated their +slaves. At the close of the war, her father was given a house, land, +team and enough to start farming for himself. + +Several years later the Ku Klux Klan gave them a ten days notice to +leave, one of the masked band interceded for them by pointing out that +they were quiet and peacable, and a man with a crop and ten children +couldn't possibly leave on so short a notice so the time was extended +another ten days, when they took what the Klan paid them and came north. +They remained in the north until they had to buy their groceries "a +little piece of this and a little piece of that, like they do now", when +her father returned to Kentucky. Mrs. Preston remained in Indiana. Her +father was burned out, the family escaping to the woods in their night +clothes, later befriended by a white neighbor. Now they appealed to +their former owner who built them a new house, provided necessities and +guards for a few weeks until they were safe from the Ku Klux Klan. + +Mrs. Preston said she was the mother of ten children, but now lives +alone since the death of her husband three years ago. Her white +neighbors say her house is so clean, one could almost eat off the floor. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Harry Jackson + +WILLIAM M. QUINN (EX-SLAVE) +431 Bright Street, Indianapolis, Ind. + + +William M. Quinn, 431 Bright street, was a slave up to ten years of +age--"when the soldiers come back home, and the war was over, and we +wasn't slaves anymore". Mr. Quinn was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, +on a farm belonging to Steve Stone. He and a brother and his mother were +slaves of "Old Master Stone", but his father was owned by another man, +Mr. Quinn, who had an adjoining farm. When they were all freed, they +took the surname of Quinn. + +Mr. Quinn said that they were what was called "gift slaves". They were +never to be sold from the Stone farm and were given to Stone's daughter +as a gift with that understanding. He said that his "Old master paid him +and his brother ten cents a day for cutting down corn and shucking it." + +It was very unusual for a slave to receive any money whatsoever for +working. He said that his master had a son about his age, and the son +and he and his brother worked around the farm together, and "Master +Stone" gave all three of them ten cents a day when they worked. +Sometimes they wouldn't, they would play instead. And whenever "Master +Stone" would catch them playing when they ought to have been at work, he +would whip them--"and that meant his own boy would get a licking too." + +"Old Master Stone was a good man to all us colored folks, we loved him. +He wasn't one of those mean devils that was always beating up his slaves +like some of the rest of them." He had a colored overseer and one day +this overseer ran off and hid for two days "cause he whipped one of old +Mas' Stone's slaves and he heard that Mas' Stone was mad and he didn't +like it." + +"We didn't know that we were slaves, hardly. Well, my brother and I +didn't know anyhow 'cause we were too young to know, but we knew that we +had been when we got older." + +"After emancipation we stayed at the Stone family for some time, 'cause +they were good to us and we had no place to go." Mr. Quinn meant by +emancipation that his master freed his slaves, and, as he said, +"emancipated them a year before Lincoln did." + +Mr. Quinn said that his father was not freed when his mother and he and +his brother were freed, because his father's master "didn't think the +North would win the war." Stone's slaves fared well and ate good food +and "his own children didn't treat us like we were slaves." He said some +of the slaves on surrounding plantations and farms had it "awful hard +and bad." Some times slaves would run away during the night, and he said +that "we would give them something to eat." He said his mother did the +cooking for the Stone family and that she was good to runaway slaves. + +Submitted September 9, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Harry Jackson + +EX SLAVE STORY +MRS. CANDUS RICHARDSON +[HW: Personal Interview] + + +Mrs. Candus Richardson, of 2710 Boulevard Place, was 18 years of age +when the Civil War was over. She was borned a slave on Jim Scott's +plantation on the "Homer Chitter river" in Franklin county, +Mississippi. Scott was the heir of "Old Jake Scott". "Old Jim Scott" +had about fifty slaves, who raised crops, cotton, tobacco, and hogs. +Candus cooked for Scott and his wife, Miss Elizabeth. They were both +cruel, according to Mrs. Richardson. She said that at one time her +Master struck her over the head with the butt end of a cowhide, that +made a hole in her head, the scar of which she still carries. He struck +her down because he caught her giving a hungry slave something to eat at +the back door of the "big house". The "big house" was Scott's house. + +Scott beat her husband a lot of times because he caught him praying. But +"beatings didn't stop my husband from praying. He just kept on praying. +He'd steal off to the woods and pray, but he prayed so loud that anybody +close around could hear, 'cause he had such a loud voice. I prayed too, +but I always prayed to myself." One time, Jim Scott beat her husband so +unmerciful for praying that his shirt was as red from blood stain "as if +you'd paint it with, a brush". Her husband was very religious, and she +claimed that it was his prayers and "a whole lot of other slaves' that +cause you young folks to be free today". + +They didn't have any Bible on the Scott plantation she said, for it +meant a beating or "a killing if you'd be caught with one". But there +were a lot of good slaves and they knew how to pray and some of the +white folks loved to hear than pray too, "'cause there was no put-on +about it. That's why we folks know how to sing and pray, 'cause we have +gone through so much, but the Lord is with us, the Lord's with us, he +is". + +Mrs. Richardson said that the slaves, that worked in the Master's house, +ate the same food that the master and his family ate, but those out on +the plantation didn't fare so well; they ate fat meats and parts of the +hog that the folks at the "big house" didn't eat. All the slaves had to +call Scott and his wife "Master and Miss Elizabeth", or they would get +punished if they didn't. + +Whenever the slaves would leave the plantation, they ware supposed to +have a permit from Scott, and if they were caught out by the +"padyrollers", they would whip them if they did not have a note from +their master. When the slaves went to church, they went to a Baptist +church that the Scotts belonged to and sat in the rear of the church. +The sermon was never preached to the slaves. "They never preached the +Lord to us," Mrs. Richardson said, "They would just tell us to not +steal, don't steal from your master". A week's ration of food was given +each slave, but if he ate it up before the week, he had to eat salt pork +until the next rations. He couldn't eat much of it, because it was too +salty to eat any quanity of it. "We had to make our own clothes out of a +cloth like you use, called canvass". "We walked to church with our shoes +on our arms to keep from wearing them out". + +They walked six miles to reach the church, and had to wade across a +stream of water. The women were carried across on the men's backs. They +did all of this to hear the minister tell them "don't steal from your +Master". + +They didn't have an overseer to whip the slaves on the Scott +plantation, Scott did the whipping himself. Mrs. Richardson said he +knocked her down once just before she gave birth to a daughter, all +because she didn't pick cotton as fast as he thought she should have. + +Her husband went to the war to be "what you call a valet for Master +Jim's son, Sam". After the war, he "came to me and my daughter". "Then +in July, we could tell by the crops and other things grown, old Master +Jim told us everyone we was free, and that was almost a year after the +other slaves on the other plantations around were freed". She said +Scott, in freeing (?) then said that "he didn't have to give us any +thing to eat and that he didn't have to give us a place to stay, but we +could stay and work for him and he would pay us. But we left that night +and walked for miles through the rain to my husban's brother and then +told them that they all were free. Then we all came up to Kentucky in a +wagon and lived there. Then I came up North when my husband died". + +Mrs. Richardson says that she is "so happy to know that I have lived to +see the day when you young people can serve God without slipping around +to serve him like we old folks had to do". "You see that pencil that +you have In your hand there, why, that would cost me my life 'if old +Mas' Jim would see me with a pencil in my hand. But I lived to see both +him and Miss Elizabeth die a hard death. They both hated to die, +although they belonged to church. Thank God for his mercy! Thank God!" +"My mother prayed for me and I am praying for you young folks". + +Mrs. Richardson, despite her 90 years of age, can walk a distance of a +mile and a half to her church. + +Submitted August 31, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +JOE ROBINSON--EX-SLAVE +1132 Cornell Avenue + + +Joe Robinson was born in Mason County, Kentucky in 1854. + +His master, Gus Hargill, was very kind to him and all his slaves. He +owned a large farm and raised every kind of vegetation. He always gave +his slaves plenty to eat. They never had to steal food. He said his +slaves had worked hard to permit him to have plenty, therefore they +should have their share. + +Joe, his mother, a brother, and a sister were all on the same +plantation. They were never sold, lived with the same master until they +were set free. + +Joe's father was owned by Rube Black, who was very cruel to his slaves, +beat them severely for the least offense. One day he tried to beat Joe's +father, who was a large strong man; he resisted his master and tried to +kill him. After that he never tried to whip him again. However, at the +first opportunity, Rube sold him. + +The Robinson family learned the father had been sold to someone down in +Louisiana. They never heard from, or of him, again. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Robinson lives with his wife; he receives a pension, which he said +was barely enough for them to live on, and hoped it would be increased. + +He attends one of the W.P.A. classes, trying to learn to read and write. + +They have two children who live in Chicago. + +Submitted January 24, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett, 1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. ROSALINE ROGERS--EX-SLAVE--110 YEARS OLD +910 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Rogers was born in South Carolina, in 1827, a slave of Dr. Rice +Rogers, "Mas. Rogers," we called him, was the youngest son of a family +of eleven children. He was so very mean. + +Mrs. Rogers was sold and taken to Tennessee at the age of eleven for +$900.00 to a man by the name of Carter. Soon after her arrival at the +Carter plantation, she was resold to a man by the name of Belby Moore +with whom she lived until the beginning of the Civil war. + +Men and women were herded into a single cabin, no matter how many there +were. She remembers a time when there were twenty slaves in a small +cabin. There were holes between the logs of the cabin, large enough for +dogs and cats to crawl through. The only means of heat, being a wood +fireplace, which, of course, was used for cooking their food. + +The slaves' food was corn cakes, side pork, and beans; seldom any sweets +except molasses. + +The slaves were given a pair of shoes at Christmas time and if they were +worn out before summer, they were forced to go barefoot. + +Her second master would not buy shoes for his slaves. When they had to +plow, their feet would crack and bleed from walking on the hard clods, +and if one complained, they would be whipped; therefore, very few +complaints were made. + +The slaves were allowed to go to their master's church, and allowed to +sit in the seven back benches; should those benches be filled, they were +not allowed to sit in any other benches. + +The wealthy slave owner never allowed his slaves to pay any attention to +the poor "white folks," as he knew they had been free all their lives +and should be slave owners themselves. The poor whites were hired by +those who didnot believe in slavery, or could not afford slaves. + +At the beginning of the Civil war, I had a family of fourteen children. +At the close of the war, I was given my choice of staying on the same +plantation, working on shares, or taking my family away, letting them +out for their food and clothes. I decided to stay on that way; I could +have my children with me. They were not allowed to go to school, they +were taught only to work. + +Slave mothers were allowed to stay in bed only two or three days after +childbirth; then were forced to go into the fields to work, as if +nothing had happened. + +The saddest moment of my life was when I was sold away from my family. I +often wonder what happened to them, I haven't seen or heard from them +since. I only hope God was as good to them as He has been to me. + +"I am 110 years old; my birth is recorded in the slave book. I have good +health, fairly good eyesight, and a good memory, all of which I say is +because of my love for God." + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Rogers is certainly a very old woman, very pleasant, and seems very +fond of her granddaughters, with whom she lives. + +Submitted December 29, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. PARTHENA ROLLINS +848 Camp Street (Rear) + + +Mrs. Parthena Rollins was born in Scott County, Kentucky, in 1853, a +slave of Ed Duvalle, who was always very kind to all of his slaves, +never whipping any of the adults, but often whipped the children to +correct them, never beating them. They all had to work, but never +overwork, and always had plenty to eat. + +She remembers so many slaves, who were not as fortunate as they were. + +Once when the "nigger traders" came through, there was a girl, the +mother of a young baby; the traders wanted the girl, but would not buy +her because she had the child. Her owner took her away, took the baby +from her, and beat it to death right before the mother's eyes, then +brought the girl back to the sale without the baby, and she was bought +immediately. + +Her new master was so pleased to get such a strong girl who could work +so well and so fast. + +The thoughts of the cruel way of putting her baby to death preyed on her +mind to such an extent, she developed epilepsy. This angered her new +master, and he sent her back to her old master, and forced him to refund +the money he had paid for her. + +Another slave had displeased his master for some reason, he was taken to +the barn and killed, and was buried right in the barn. No one knew of +this until they were set free, as the slaves who knew about it were +afraid to tell for fear of the same fate befalling on them. + +Parthena also remembers slaves being beaten until their backs were +blistered. The overseers would then open the blisters and sprinkle salt +and pepper in the open blisters, so their backs would smart and hurt all +the more. + +Many times, slaves would be beaten to death, thrown into sink holes, and +left for the buzzards to swarm and feast on their bodies. + +So many of the slaves she knew were half fed and half clothed, and +treated so cruelly, that it "would make your hair stand on ends." + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Rollins is in poor health all broken up with "rheumatiz." + +She lives with a daughter and grandson, and said she could hardly talk +of the happenings of the early days, because of the awful things her +folks had to go through + +Submitted December 21, 1937 +Anatolia, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +TOLD BY JOHN RUDD, AN EX-SLAVE + + +"Yes, I was a slave," said John Rudd, "And I'll say this to the whole +world, Slavery was the worst curse ever visited on the people of the +United States." + +John Rudd is a negro, dark and swarthy as to complexion but his nose is +straight and aqualine, for his mother-was half Indian. + +The memory of his mother, Liza Rudd, is sacred to John Rudd today and +her many disadvantages are still a source of grief to the old man of 83 +years. John Rudd was born on Christmas day 1854 in the home of Benjamin +Simms, at Springfield, Kentucky. The mother of the young child was house +maid for mistress Simms and Uncle John remembers that mother and child +received only the kindliest consideration from all members of the Simms +family. + +While John was yet a small boy Benjamin Simms died and the Simms slaves +were auctioned to the highest bidders. "If'n you wants to know what +unhappiness means," said Uncle John Rudd, "Jess'n you stand on the Slave +Block and hear the Auctioneer's voice selling you away from the folks +you love." Uncle John explained how mothers and fathers were often +separated from their dearly loved children, at the auction block, but +John and his younger brother Thomas were fortunate and were bought by +the same master along with Liza Rudd, their mother. An elder brother, +Henry, was separated from his mother and brothers and became the +property of George Snyder and was thereafter known as Henry Snyder. + +When Liza Rudd and her two little sons left the slave block they were +the property of Henry Moore who lived a few miles away from Springfield. +Uncle John declares that unhappiness met them at the threshold of the +Moore's estate. + +Liza was given the position of cook, housemaid and plough-hand while +her little boys were made to hoe, carry wood and care for the small +children of the Moore family. + +John had only been at the Moore home a few months when he witnessed +several slaves being badly beaten. Henry Moore kept a white overseer and +several white men were employed to whip slaves. A large barrel stood +near the slave quarters and the little boy discovered that the barrel +was a whipping post. The slaves would be strapped across the side of the +barrel and two strong men would wield the "cat of nine tails" until +blood flowed from gashed flesh, and the cries and prayers of the +unfortunate culprits availed them nothing until the strength of the +floggers became exhausted. + +One day, when several Negroes had just recovered from an unusual amount +of chastisement, the little Negro, John Rudd, was playing in the front +yard of the Moore's house when he heard a soft voice calling him. He +knew the voice belonged to Shell Moore, one of his best friends at the +Moore estate. Shell had been among those severely beaten and little John +had been grieving over his misfortunes. "Shell had been in the habbit of +whittling out whistles for me and pettin' of me," said the now aged +negro. "I went to see what he wanted wif me and he said 'Goodby Johnnie, +you'll never see Shellie alive after today.'" Shell made his way toward +the cornfield but the little Negro boy, watching him go, did not realize +what situation confronted him. That night the master announced that +Shell had run away again and the slaves were started searching fields +and woods but Shell's body was found three days later by Rhoder McQuirk, +dangling from a rafter of Moore's corn crib where the unhappy Negro had +hanged himself with a leather halter. + +Shell was a splendid worker and was well worth a thousand dollars. If he +had been fairly treated he would have been happy and glad to repay +kindness by toil. "Mars Henry would have been better to all of us, only +Mistress Jane was always rilin' him up," declared John Rudd as he sat in +his rocking chair under a shade tree. + +"Jane Moore, was the daughter of Old Thomas Rakin, one of the meanest +men, where slaves were concerned, and she had learnt the slave drivin' +business from her daddy." + +Uncle John related a story concerning his mother as follows: "Mama had +been workin' in the cornfield all day 'till time to cook supper. She was +jes' standin' in the smoke house that was built back of the big kitchen +when Mistress walks in. She had a long whip hid under her apron and +began whippin Mama across the shoulders, 'thout tellin' her why. Mama +wheeled around from whar she was slicin' ham and started runnin' after +old Missus Jane. Ole Missus run so fas' Mama couldn't catch up wif her +so she throwed the butcher knife and stuck it in the wall up to the +hilt." "I was scared. I was fraid when Marse Henry come in I believed he +would have Mama whipped to death." + +"Whar Jane?" said Mars Henry. "She up stairs with the door locked," said +Mama. Then she tole old Mars Henry the truth about how mistress Jane +whip her and show him the marks of the whip. She showed him the butcher +knife stickin' in the wall. "Get yer clothes together," said Marse +Henry. + +John then had to be parted from his mother. Henry Rudd [TR: 'Moore' +written above in brackets.] believed that the Negroes were going to be +set free. War had been declared and his desire was to send Liza far into +the southern states where the price of a good negro was higher than in +Kentucky. When he reached Louisville he was offered a good price for her +service and hired her out to cook at a hotel. John grieved over the loss +of his mother but afterwards learned she had been well treated at +Louisville. John Rudd continued to work for Henry Moore until the Civil +War ended. Then Henry Snyder came to the Moore home and demanded his +brothers to be given into his charge. + +Henry Snyder had enlisted in the Federal Army and had fought throughout +the war. He had entered or leased seven acres of good land seven miles +below Owensboro, Kentucky, and on those good acres of Davies County farm +land the mother and her three sons were reunited. + +John Rudd had never seen a river until he made the trip to Owensboro +with his brother Henry. The trip was made on the big Gray Eagle and +Uncle John declares "I was sure thrilled to get that boat ride." He +relates many incidents of run-away Negroes. Remembers his fear of the Ku +Klucks, and remembers seeing seven ex-slaves hanging from one tree near +the top of Grimes-Hill, just after the close of the war. + +When John grew to young manhood he worked on farms in Davis County near +Owensboro for several years, then procured the job of portering for John +Sporree, a hotel keeper at Owensboro, and in this position John worked +for fifteen years. + +While at Owensboro he met the trains and boats. He recalls the boats; +Morning Star, and Guiding Star; both excursion boats that carried gay +men and women on pleasure trips up and down the Ohio river. + +Uncle John married Teena Queen his beloved first wife, at Owensboro. To +this union was born one son but he has not been to see his father nor +has he heard from him for thirty years, and his father believes him to +have died. The second wife was Minnie Dixon who still lives with Uncle +John at Evansville. + +When asked what his political ideas were, Uncle John said his politics +is his love for his government. He draws an old age compensation of 14 +dollars a month. + +Uncle John had some trouble proving his age but met the situation by +having a friend write to the Catholic Church authorities at Springfield. +Mrs. Simms had taken the position of God Mother to the baby and his +birth and christening had been recorded in the church records. He is a +devout Catholic and believes that religion and freedom are the two +richest blessings ever given to mankind. + +Uncle John worked as janitor at the Boehne Tuberculosis Hospital for +eight years. While working there he received a fall which crippled him. +He walks by the aid of a cane but is able to visit with his friends and +do a small amount of work in his home. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +AMANDA ELIZABETH SAMUELS +1721 Park Avenue + + +Lizzie was a child in the home of grandma and grandpa McMurry. They were +farmers in Robinson County, Tennessee. + +Her mother, a slave hand, worked on the farm until her young master, +Robert McMurry was married. She was then sold to Rev. Carter Plaster and +taken to Logan County, Kentucky. + +The child, Lizzie was given to young Robert. She lived in the house to +help the young mistress who was not so kind to her. Lizzie was forced to +eat chicken heads, fish heads, pig tails, and parsnips. The child +disliked this very much, and was very unhappy with her young mistress, +because in Robert's father's home all slave children were treated just +like his own children. They had plenty of good substantial food, and +were protected in every way. + +The old master felt they were the hands of the next generation and if +they were strong and healthy, they would bring in a larger amount of +money when sold. + +Lizzie's hardships did not last long as they were set free soon after +young Robert's marriage. He took her in a wagon to Keysburg, Kentucky to +be with her mother. + +Lizzie learned this song from the soldiers. + + Old Saul Crawford is dead, + And the last word is said. + They were fond of looking back + Till they heard the bushes crack + And sent them to their happy home + In Cannan. + Some wears worsted + Some wears lawn + What they gonna do + When that's all gone. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Samuels is an amusing little woman, she must be about 80 years old, +but holds to the age of 60. Had she given her right age, the people for +whom she works would have helped her to get her pension. + +They are amused, yet provoked because Lizzie wants to be younger than +she really is. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +G. Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +MR. JACK SIMMS' STORY + + +Personal Interview + +Mr. Simms was born and raised on Mill Creek Kentucky, and now lives in +Madison Indiana on Poplar Street diagonally North West of the hospital. + +He was so young he did no remember very much about how the slaves were +treated, but seemed to regret very much that he had been denied the +privilege of an education. Mr. Simms remembers seeing the lines of +soldiers on the Campbellsburg road, but referred to the war as the +"Revolution War". + +This was a very interesting old man, when we first called, his daughter +invited us into the house, but her father wanted to talk outside where +he "spit better". When his daughter conveyed this information Mr. Simms' +immediately decided that we could come in as we "wouldn't be there long +anyhow". + +After we gained entrance, the daughter remarked that her father was very +young at the time of the war, whereupon he answered very testily "If you +are going to tell it, go ahead. Or am I going to tell it?" + + + + +Beulah Van Meter +District 4 +Clark County + +BILLY SLAUGHTER +1123 Watt St. +Jeffersonville + + +Billy Slaughter was born Sept. 15, 1858, on the Lincoln Farm near +Hodgenville, Ky. The Slaughters who now live between the Dixie Highway +and Hodgenville on the right of the road driving toward Hodgenville +about four miles off the state highway are the descendants of the old +slave's master. This old slave was sold once and was given away once +before he was given his freedom. + +The spring on the Lincoln Farm that falls from a cliff was a place +associated with Indian cruelty. It was here in the pool of water below +the cliff that the Indians would throw babies of the settlers. If the +little children could swim or the settlers could rescue them they +escaped, otherwise they were drowned. The Indians would gather around +the scene of the tragedy and rejoice in their fashion. The old slave +when he was a baby was thrown in this pool but was rescued by white +people. He remembers having seen several Indians but not many. + +The most interesting subject that Billy Slaughter discussed was the +Civil War. This was ordinarily believed to be fought over slavery, but +it really was not, according to his interpretation, which is unusual for +an old slave to state. The real reason was that the South withdrew from +the Union and elected Jefferson Davis President of the Confederacy. In +his own dialect he narrated these events accurately. The southerners or +Democrats were called "Rebels" and "Secess" and the Republicans were +called "Abolitionists." + +Another point of interest was John Brown and Harpers Ferry. When +Harper's Ferry was fired upon, that was firing upon the United States. +It was here and through John Brown's Raid that war was virtually +declared. The old Negro explained that Brown was an Abolitionist, and +was captured here and later killed. While the old slave had the utmost +respect for the Federal Government he regarded John Brown as a martyr +for the cause of freedom and included him among the heroes he +worshipped. Among his prized possessions is an old book written about +John Brown's Raid. + +The old slave's real hero was Abraham Lincoln. He plans another +pilgrimage to the Lincoln Farm to look again at the cabin in which his +Emancipator was born. He asked me if I read history very much. I assured +him that I read it to some extent. After that he asked me if I recalled +reading about Lincoln during the Civil War walking the White House floor +one night and a Negro named Douglas remained in his presence. In the +beginning of the War the Negroes who enlisted in the Union Army were +given freedom, also the wives, and the children who were not married. + +Another problem that was facing the North at this time was that the men +who were taken from the farm and factory to the army could not be +replaced by the slaves and production continued in the North as was +being done in the south. Not all Negroes who wanted to join the Union +forces were able to do so because of the strict watchfulness of their +masters. The slaves were made to fight in the southern army whether they +wanted to or not. This lessened the number of free Negroes in the +Northern army. As a result Lincoln decided to free all Negroes. That was +the decision he made the night he walked the White House floor. This was +the old darkey's story of the conditions that brought about the +Emancipation Proclamation. Freeing the Negroes was brought about during +the Civil War but it was not the reason that the war was fought, was the +unusual opinion of this Negro. "Uncle Billy's" father joined the Union +army at the Taylor Barracks, near Louisville, Ky., which was the Camp +Taylor during the World War. Uncle Billy's father and mother and their +children who were not married were given freedom. The old slave has kept +the papers that were drawn up for this act. + +The old darkey explained that the Negro soldiers never fought in any +decisive battles. There must always be someone to clean and polish the +harness, care for the horses, dig ditches, and construct parapets. This +slave's father was at Memphis during the battle there. + +The Slaughter family migrated to Jeffersonville in '65. Billy was then +seven years old. At that time there was only one depot here--a freight +and passenger depot at Court and Wall Streets. What is now known as +Eleventh St. was then a hickory grove--a paradise for squirrel hunters. +On the ridge beginning at 7th and Mechanic Sts. were persimmon trees. +This was a splendid hunting haven for the Negroes for their favorite +wild animal--the o'possum. The ridge is known today as 'Possum Ridge. +The section east of St. Anthony's Cemetery was covered in woods. Since +there were a number of Beechnuts, pigeons frequented this place and were +sought here. One could catch them faster than he could shoot them. + +At this time there were two shipyards in Jeffersonville--Barmore's and +Howard's. Barmore's shipyard location was first the location of a big +meat-packing company. The old darkey called it a "pork house". + +The old slave had seen several boats launched from these yards. Great +crowds would gather for this event. After the hull was completed in the +docks the boat was ready to launch. The blocks that served as props were +knocked down one at a time. One man would knock down each prop. There +were several men employed in this work on the appointed day of the +launching of the boat. The boat would be christened with a bottle of +champagne on its way to the river. + +"Uncle Billy" worked on a steamboat in his earlier days. This boat +traveled from Louisville to New Orleans. People traveled on the river +for there were few railroads. The first work the old darkey did was to +clean the decks. Later he cleaned up inside the boat, mopped up the +floors and made the berths. The next job he held was ladies' cabin man. +Later he took care of the quarters where the officials of the boat +slept. The darkey also worked as a second pantry man. This work +consisted of waiting on the tables in the dining room. The men's +clothes had to be spotless. Sometimes it would become necessary for him +to change his shirt three times a day. + +The meats on the menu would include pigeon, duck, turkey, chicken, +quail, beef, pork, and mutton. Vegetables of the season were served, as +well as desserts. It was nothing unusual for a half dollar to be left +under a plate as a tip for the waiter. Those who worked in the cabins +never set a price for a shoe shine. Fifteen cents was the lowest they +ever received. + +During a yellow fever epidemic before a quarantine could be declared a +boatload of three hundred people left Louisville at night to go to +Memphis, Tenn. During the same time this boat went to New Orleans where +yellow fever was raging. The captain warned them of it. In two narrow +streets the old darkey recalled how he had seen the people fall over +dead. These streets were crowded and there were no sidewalks, only room +for a wagon. Here the victims would be sitting in the doorways, +apparently asleep, only to fall over dead. + +When the boat returned, one of the crew was stricken with this disease. +Uncle Billy nursed him until they reached his home at Cairo, Ill. No one +else took the yellow fever and this man recovered. + +Another job "Uncle Billy" held was helping to make the brick used in the +U.S. Quarter Master Depot. Colonel James Keigwin operated a brick kiln +in what is now a colored settlement between 10th and 14th and Watt and +Spring Sts. The clay was obtained from this field. It was his task to +off-bare the brick after they were taken from the molds, and to place +them in the eyes to be burned. Wood was used as fuel. + +"Uncle Billy" reads his Bible quite often. He sometimes wonders why he +is still left here--all of his friends are gone; all his brothers and +sisters are gone. But this he believes is the solution--that there must +be someone left to tell about old times. + +"The Bible," he quotes, "says that two shall be working in the field +together and one shall be taken and the other left. I am the one who is +left," he concludes. + + + + +Henrietta Karwowski, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +St. Joseph County--District #1 +South Bend, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +MR. AND MRS. ALEX SMITH +127 North Lake Street +South Bend, Indiana + + +Mr. and Mrs. Alex Smith, an eighty-three year old negro couple were +slaves in Kentucky near Paris, Tennessee, as children. They now reside +at 127 North Lake Street, on the western limits of South Bend. This +couple lives in a little shack patched up with tar paper, tin, and wood. + +Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, the talkative member or the family is a small +woman, very wrinkled, with a stocking cap pulled over her gray hair. She +wore a dress made of three different print materials; sleeves of one +kind, collar of another and body of a third. Her front teeth were +discolored, brown stubs, which suggested that she chews tobacco. + +Mr. Alex Smith, the husband is tall, though probably he was a well built +man at one time. He gets around by means of a cane. Mrs. Smith said that +he is not at all well, and he was in the hospital for six weeks last +winter. + +The wife, Elizabeth or Betty, as her husband calls her, was a slave on +the Peter Stubblefield plantation in Kentucky, the nearest town being +Paris, Tennessee, while Mr. Smith was a slave on the Robert Stubblefield +plantation nearby. + +Although only a child of five, Mr. Smith remembers the Civil War, +especially the marching of thousands of soldiers, and the horse-drawn +artillery wagons. The Stubblefields freed their slaves the first winter +after the war. + +On the Peter Stubblefield plantation the slaves were treated very well +and had plenty to eat, while on the Robert Stubblefield plantation Mr +Smith went hungry many times, and said, "Often, I would see a dog with a +bit of bread, and I would have been willing to take it from him if I had +not been afraid the dog would bite me." + +Mrs. Smith was named after Elizabeth Stubblefield, a relative of Peter +Stubblefield. As a child of five years or less, Elizabeth had to spin +"long reels five cuts a day," pick seed from cotton, and cockle burrs +from wool, and perform the duties of a house girl. + +Unlike the chores of Elizabeth, Mr. Smith had to chop wood, carry water, +chop weeds, care for cows, pick bugs from tobacco plants. This little +boy had to go barefoot both summer and winter, and remembers the +cracking of ice under his bare feet. + +The day the mistress and master came and told the slaves they were free +to go any place they desired, Mrs. Smith's mother told her later that +she was glad to be free but she had no place to go or any money to go +with. Many of the slaves would not leave and she never witnessed such +crying as went on. Later Mrs. Smith was paid for working. She worked in +the fields for "wittels" and clothes. A few years later she nursed +children for twenty-five cents a week and "wittels," but after a time +she received fifty cents a week, board and two dresses. She married Mr. +Smith at the age of twenty. + +Mr Smith's father rented a farm and Mr. Smith has been a farmer all his +life. The Smith couple have been married sixty-four years. Mrs. Smith +says, "and never a cross word exchanged. Mr. Smith and I had no +children." + +The room the writer was invited into was a combination bed-room and +living room with a large heating stove in the centre of the small room. +A bed on one side, a few chairs about the room. The floor was covered +with an old patched rug. The only other room beside this room was a very +small kitchen. The whole home was shabby and poor. + +The only means of support the family has is a government old age pension +which amounts to about fourteen dollars a month. + +Their little shack is situated in the center of a large lot around which +a very nice vegetable garden is planted. The property belongs to Mr. +Harry Brazy, and the old couple does not pay rent or taxes and they may +stay there as long as they live, "which is good enough for us," says +Mrs. Smith. + +As the writer was leaving Mrs. Smith said, "I like to talk and meet +people. Come again." + + + + +Robert C. Irvin +Noblesville, Ind. +District #2 + +EX-SLAVE, LIFE STORY OF +BARNEY STONE, FORMER SLAVE, HAMILTON CO. + + +This is the life story of Barney Stone, a highly respected colored +gentleman of Noblesville, Hamilton County seat. Mr. Stone is near +nintey-one years old, is in sound physical condition and still has a +remarkable memory. He was a slave in the state of Kentucky for more than +sixteen years and a soldier in the Union army for nearly two years. He +educated himself and taught school to colored children four years +following the Civil War. He studied in 1868, and has been a preacher in +the Colored Baptist Faith for sixty nine years, having been instrumental +in the building of seven churches in that time. Mr. Stone joined the K. +of P. Lodge, the I.O.O.F. and Masonic Lodge and is still a member of the +latter. + +This fine old colored man has always worked hard for the uplift and +advancement of the colored race and has accomplished much in this effort +in the States of Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana. He, together with his +preaching of the gospel, and his lecturing, has followed farming. He now +has a field of sweet corn and a fine, large garden, which he plowed, +planted and tended himself and not a weed can be found in either. He is +the only ex-slave now living in Hamilton County, the others all +deceased, and is one of three living members of Hamilton county G.A.R. +the other two members being white. + +Mr. Stone has given to the writer "My Life's Story", which he desires to +call it, and in this story he pictures to the reader, "sixteen years of +hell as a slave on a plantation," a story which will convince the reader +that, even though much blood was shed in our Civil War, the war was a +Godsend to the American Nation. This story is told just as given by Mr. +Stone. + + +MY LIFE'S STORY + +"My name is Barney Stone, I was born in slavery, May 17, 1847, in +Spencer County, Kentucky. I was a slave on the plantation of Lemuel +Stone (all slaves bore the last name of their master) for nearly +seventeen years and was considered a leader among the young slaves on +our plantation. My Mammy was mother to ten children, all slaves, and my +Pappy, Buck Grant, was a buck slave on the plantation of John Grant, his +Mastah; my pappy was used much as a male cow is used on the stock farm +and was hired out to other plantation owners for that purpose and was +regarded as a valuable slave. His Mastah permitted him to visit my +mother each week-end on our plantation. + +My Mastah was a hard man when he was angry, drinking or not feeling +well, then at times he was kind to us. I was compelled to pick cotton +and do other work when I was a very small boy. Mastah would never sell +me because I was regarded as the best young slave on the plantation. +Different from many other slaves, I was kept on the plantation from the +day I was born until the day I ran away. + +Slaves were sold in two ways, sometimes at private sale to a man who +went about the Southland buying slaves until he has many in his +possession, then he would have a big auction sale and would re-sell them +to the highest bidder, much in the same manner as our live-stock are +sold now in auction sales. Professional slave buyers in those days were +called "nigger buyers". He came to the plantation with a doctor. He +would point out two or three slaves which looked good to him and which +could be spared by the owner, and would have the doctor examine the +slave's heart. If the doctor pronounced the slave as sound, then the +nigger buyer would make an offer to the owner and if the amount was +satisfactory, the slave was sold. Some large plantation owners, having a +large number of slaves, would hold a public auction and dispose of some +of them, then he would attend another sale and buy new slaves, this was +done sometimes to get better slaves and sometimes to make money on the +sale of them. + +Many times, as I have said before, our treatment on our plantation was +horrible. When I was just a small boy, I witnessed my sister sold and +taken away. One day one of horses came into the barn and Mastah noticed +that she was caripped. He flew into a rage and thought I had hurt the +horse, either that, or that I knew who did it. I told him that I did not +do it and he demanded that I tell him who did it, if I didn't. I did not +know and when I told him so, he secured a whip tied me to a post and +whipped me until I was covered with blood. I begged him, "Mastah, +Mastah, please don't whip me, I do not know who did it." He then took +out his pocket knife and I would have been killed if Missus (his dear +wife) had not make him quit. She untied me and cared for me. + +Many has been the time, I have seen my mammy beaten mercilessly and for +no good reason. One day, not long before the out-break of the Civil +War, a nigger buyer came and I witnessed my dear Mammy and my one year +old baby brother, sold. I seen er taken away, never to see her again +until I found her twenty-seven years later at Clarksburg, Tennessee. My +baby brother was with her, but I did not know him until Mammy told me +who he was, he had grown into a large man. That was a happy meeting. +After those experiences of "sixteen long years in hell, as a slave", I +was very bitter against the white man, until after I ran away and joined +the Union army. + +At the out-break of the Civil War and when the Northern army was +marching into the Southland, hundreds of male slaves were shot down by +the Rebels, rather than see them join with the Yankees. One day when I +learned that the Northern troops were very close to our plantation, I +ran away and hid in a culvert, but was found and I would have been shot +had the Yankee troops not scattered them and that saved me. I joined +that Union army and served one year, eight months and twenty-two days, +and fought with them in the battle of Fort Wagnor, and also in the +battle of Milikin's Bend. When I went into the army, I could not read or +write. The white soldiers took an interest in me and taught me to write +and read, and when the war was over I could write a very good letter. I +taught what little I knew to colored children after the War. + +I studied day and night for the next three years at the home of a +lawyer, educating myself and in 1868, I started preaching the gospel of +Jesus Christ and have continued to do so for sixty-nine years. In that +time I have been instrumental in the building of seven churches in +Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. I did this good work through +gratefulness to God for my deliverance and my salvation. During my life, +I have joined the K. of P. Lodge, and I.O.O.F and Masonic Lodge. I have +preached for the up-life and advancement of the colored races. I have +accomplished much good in this life and have raised a family of eight +children. I love and am loyal to my country and have received great +compensation from my government for my services. I am in good health and +still able to work, and I am thankful to my God and my country." + + + + +Stories from Ex-Slaves +5th District +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel +1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana + +ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE OF ADAH ISABELLE SUGGS + + +Among the interesting stories connected with former slaves one of the +most outstanding ones is the life story of Adah Isabelle Suggs, indeed +her escape from slavery planned and executed by her anxious mother, +Harriott McClain, bears the earmarks of fiction, but the truth of all +related occurences has been established by the aged negro woman and her +daughter Mrs. Harriott Holloway, both citizens of Evansville, Indiana. + +Born in slavery before January the twenty-second, 1862 the child Adah +McClain was the property of Colonel Jackson McClain and Louisa, his +wife. + +According to the customary practice of raising slave children, Adah was +left at the negro quarters of the McClain plantation, a large estate +located in Henderson county, three and one half miles from the village +of Henderson, Kentucky. There she was cared for by her mother. She +retains many impressions gained in early childhood of the slave +quarters; she remembers the slaves singing and dancing together after +the day of toil. Their voices were strong and their songs were sweet. +"Master was good to his slaves and never beat them" were her words +concerning her master. + +When Adah was not yet five years of age the mistress, Louisa McClain, +made a trip to the slave quarters to review conditions of the negroes. +It was there she discovered that one little girl there had been +developing ideas and ideals; the mother had taught the little one to +knit tiny stockings, using wheat straws for knitting needles. + +Mrs. McClain at once took charge of the child taking her from her +mother's care and establishing her room at the residence of the McClain +family. + +Today the aged Negro woman recalls the words of praise and encouragement +accorded her accomplishments, for the child was apt, active, responsive +to influence and soon learned to fetch any needed volume from the +library shelves of the McClain home. + +She was contented and happy but the mother knew that much unhappiness +was in store for her young daughter if she remained as she was situated. + +A custom prevailed throughout the southern states that the first born +of each slave maiden should be the son or daughter of her master and the +girls were forced into maternity at puberty. The mothers naturally +resisted this terrible practice and Harriott was determined to prevent +her child being victimized. + +One planned escape was thwarted; when the girl was about twelve years of +age the mother tried to take her to a place of safety but they were +overtaken on the road to the ferry where they hoped to be put across the +Ohio river. They were carried back to the plantation and the mother was +mildly punished and imprisoned in an upstair room. + +The little girl knew her mother was imprisoned and often climbed up to a +window where the two could talk together. + +One night the mother received directions through a dream in which her +escape was planned. She told the child about the dream and instructed +her to carry out orders that they might escape together. + +The girl brought a large knife from Mrs. McClain's pantry and by the aid +of that tool the lock was pried from the prison door and the mother made +her way into the open world about midnight. + +A large tobacco barn became her refuge where she waited for her child. +The girl had some trouble making her escape; she had become a useful and +necessary member of her mistress' household and her services were hourly +in demand. The Daughter "young missus" Annie McClain was afflicted from +birth having a cleft palate and later developing heart dropsy which made +regular surgery imperative. The negro girl had learned to care for the +young white woman and could draw the bandages for the surgeon whey +"Young Missus" underwent surgical treatment. + +The memory of one trip to Louisville is vivid in the mind of the old +negress today for she was taken to the city and the party stopped at the +Gault House and [TR: line not completed] + +"It was a grand place," she declares, as she describes the surroundings; +the handsome draperies and the winding stairway and other artistic +objects seen at the grand hotel. + +The child loved her young mistress and the young mistress desired the +good slave should be always near her; so, patient waiting was required +by the negro mother before her daughter finally reached their +rendezvous. + +Under cover of night the two fugitives traveled the three miles to +Henderson, there they secreted themselves under the house of Mrs. +Margaret Bentley until darkness fell over the world to cover their +retreat. Imagine the frightened negroes stealthily creeping through the +woods in constant fear of being recaptured. Federal soldiers put them +across the river at Henderson and from that point they cautiously +advanced toward Evansville. The husband of Harriott, Milton McClain and +her son Jerome were volunteers in a negro regiment. The operation of the +Federal Statute providing for the enlistment of slaves made enlisted +negroes free as well as their wives and children, so, by that statute +Harriott McClain and her daughter should have been given their freedom. + +When the refugees arrived in Evansville they were befriended by free +negroes of the area. Harriott obtained a position as maid with the +Parvine family, "Miss Hallie and Miss Genevieve Parvine were real good +folks," declares the aged negro Adah when repeating her story. After +working for the Misses Parvine for about two years, the negro mother had +saved enough money to place her child in "pay school" there she learned +rapidly. + +Adah McClain was married to Thomas Suggs January 18, 1872. Thomas was a +slave of Bill McClain and it is believed he adopted the name Suggs +because a Mr. Suggs had befriended him in time of trouble. Of this fact +neither the wife nor daughter have positive proof. The father has +departed this life but Adah Suggs lives on with her memories. + +Varied experiences have attended her way. Wifehood and devotion; +motherhood and care she has known for she has given fifteen children to +the world. Among them were one set of twins, daughters and triplets, two +sons and a daughter. She is a beloved mother to those of her children +who remain near her and says she is happy in her belief in God and +Christ and hopes for a glorious hereafter where she can serve the Lord +Jesus Christ and praise him eternally. + +What greater hope can be given to the mortal than the hope cherished by +Adah Isabelle Suggs? + + + + +Folklore +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +"A TRADITION FROM PRE-CIVIL WAR DAYS" +KATIE SUTTON, AGED EX-SLAVE +Oak street, Evansville, Ind. + + +"White folks 'jes naturally different from darkies," said Aunt Katie +Sutton, ex-slave, as she tightened her bonnet strings under her wrinkled +chin. + +"We's different in color, in talk and in ligion and beliefs. We's +different in every way and can never be spected to think oe [TR: or?] to +live alike." + +"When I was a little gal I lived with my mother in an old log cabin. My +mammy was good to me but she had to spend so much of her time at +humoring the white babies and taking care of them that she hardly ever +got to even sing her own babies to sleep." + +"Ole Missus and Young Missus told the little slave children that the +stork brought the white babies to their mothers but that the slave +children were all hatched out from buzzards eggs and we believed it was +true." + +"Yes, Maam, I believes in evil spirits and that there are many folks +that can put spells on you, and if'n you dont believe it you had better +be careful for there are folks right here in this town that have the +power to bewitch you and then you will never be happy again." + +Aunt Katie declared that the seventh son of a seventh son, or the +seventh daughter of a seventh daughter possesses the power to heal +diseases and that a child born after the death of its father possesses a +strange and unknown power. + +While Aunt Katie was talking, a neighbor came in to borrow a shovel from +her. + +"No, no, indeed I never lends anything to nobody," she declared. After +the new neighbor left, Aunt Katie said, "She jes erbout wanted dat +shovel so she could 'hax' me. A woman borrowed a poker from my mammy and +hexed mammy by bending the poker and mammy got all twisted up wid +rhumatis 'twill her uncle straightened de poker and den mammy got as +straight as anybody." + +"No, Maam, nobody wginter take anything of mine out'n this house." Aunt +Katie Sutton's voice was thin and her tune uncertain but she remembered +some of the songs she heard in slavery days. One was a lullaby sung by +her mother and the song is given on separate pages of this artical. + +Three years ago Aunt Katie was called away on her last journey although +she had always emmerced the back and front steps of her cottage with +chamber lye daily to keep away evil spirits death crept in and demanded +the price each of us must pay and Katie answered the call. + +Aunt Katie sprinkled salt in the foot prints of departing guests "Dat's +so dey kain leave no illwill behind em and can never come agin 'thout an +invitation," she explained. + +She said she one time planted a tree with a curse and that her worst +enemy died that same year. + +"Evil spirits creeps around all night long and evil people's always able +to hex you, So, you had best be careful how you talks to strangers. +Always spit on a coin before You gives it to a begger and dont pass too +close to a hunchbacked person unless you can rub the hump or you will +have bad luck as sure as anything." + +Aunt Katie declared a rabbit's foot only brought good luck if the rabbit +had been killed by a cross eyed negro in a country grave yard in the +dark of the moon and she said that she believed one of that description +could be found only once in a lifetime or possibly a hundred years. + + + +"A Slave Mammy's Lullaby." + +Sung by Katie Sutton, Ex-slave of Evansville, Indiana. + + "A snow white stork flew down from the sky. + Rock a bye, my baby bye, + To take a baby gal so fair, + To young missus, waitin there; + When all was quiet as a mouse, + In ole massa's big fine house. + + Refrain: + Dat little gal was borned rich and free, + She's de sap from out a sugah tree; + But you are jes as sweet to me; + My little colored chile, + Jes lay yo head upon my bres; + An res, and res, and res, an res, + My little colored chile. + + To a cabin in a woodland drear, + You've come by a mammy's heart to cheer; + In this ole slave's cabin, + Your hands my heart strings grabbin; + Jes lay your head upon my bres, + Jes snuggle close an res an res; + My little colored chile. + + Repeat Refrain. + + Yo daddy ploughs ole massa's corn, + Yo mammy does the cooking; + She'll give dinner to her hungry chile, + When nobody is a lookin; + Don't be ashamed, my chile, I beg, + Case you was hatched from a buzzard's egg; + My little colored chile." + + Repeat Refrain. + + + + +Dist. No. 4 +Johnson Co. +William R. Mays +Aug. 2, 1937 + +SLAVERY DAYS OF GEORGE THOMPSON + + +My name is George Thompson, I was born in Monroe County, Kentucky near +the Cumberland river Oct. 8, 1854, on the Manfred Furgeson plantation, +who owned about 50 slaves. Mister Furgerson [TR: before, Furgeson] was a +preacher and had three daughters and was kind to his slaves. + +I was quite a small boy when our family, which included an older +sister, was sold to Ed. Thompson in Medcalf Co. Kentucky, who owned +about 50 other slaves, and as was the custom then we was given the name +of our new master, "Thompson". + +I was hardly twelve years old when slavery was abolished, yet I can +remember at this late date most of the happenings as they existed at +that time. + +I was so young and unexperienced when freed I remained on the Thompson +plantation for four years after the war and worked for my board and +clothes as coach boy and any other odd jobs around the plantation. + +I have no education, I can neither read nor write, as a slave I was not +allowed to have books. On Sundays I would go into the woods and gather +ginseng which I would sell to the doctors for from 10¢ to 15¢ a pound +and with this money I would buy a book that was called the Blue Back +Speller. Our master would not allow us to have any books and when we +were lucky enough to own a book we would have to keep it hid, for if our +master would find us with a book he would whip us and take the book from +us. After receiving three severe whippings I gave up and never again +tried for any learning, and to this day I can neither read nor write. + +Slaves were never allowed off of their plantation without a written +pass, and if caught away from their plantation without a pass by the +Pady-Rollers or Gorillars (who were a band of ruffians) they wore +whipped. + +As there were no oil lamps or candles, another black boy and myself +were stationed at the dining table to hold grease lamps for the white +folks to see to eat. And we would use brushes to shoo away the flies. + +In 1869 I left the plantation to go on my own. I landed in Heart County, +Ky. and went to work for Mr. George Parish in the tobacco fields at +$25.00 per year and two suits of clothes; after working two years for +Mr. Parish I left. I drifted from place to place in Alabama and +Mississippi, working first at one place and then another, and finally +drifted into Franklin in 1912 and went to work on the Fred Murry farm on +Hurricane road for 10 years. I afterwards worked for Ashy Furgerson, a +house mover. + +I have lived at my present address, 651 North Young St. since coming to +Franklin. + +(Can furnish photograph if wanted) [TR: no photograph found.] + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +Porter County--District #1 +Valparaiso, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +REV. WAMBLE [TR: above in handwriting is 'Womble'] +1827 Madison Street +Gary, Indiana + + +Rev. Wamble was born a slave in Monroe County, Mississippi, in 1859. The +Westbrook family owned many slaves in charge of over-seers who managed +the farm, on which there were usually two hundred or more slaves. One of +the Westbrook daughters married a Mr. Wamble, a wagon-maker. The +Westbrook family gave the newly-weds two slaves, as did the Wamble +family. One of the two slaves coming from the Westbrook family was Rev. +Wamble's grandfather. It seems that the slaves took the name of their +master, hence Rev. Wamble's grandfather was named Wamble. + +Families owning only a few slaves and in moderate circumstances usually +treated their slaves kindly since like a farmer with only a few horses, +it was to their best interest to see that their slaves were well +provided for. The slaves were valuable, and there was no funds to buy +others, whereas the large slave owners were wealthy and one slave more +or less made little difference. The Reverend's father and his brothers +were children of original African slaves and were of the same age as the +Wamble boys and grew up together. The Reverend's grandfather was manager +of the farm and the three Wamble boys worked under him the same as the +slaves. Mr. Wamble never permitted any of his slaves to be whipped, nor +were they mistreated. + +Mr. Westbrook was a deacon in the Methodist Church and had two slave +over-seers to manage the farm and the slaves. He was very severe with +his slaves and none were ever permitted to leave the farm. If they did +leave the farm and were found outside, they were arrested and whipped. +Then Westbrook was notified and one of the over-seers would come and +take the slave home where he would again be whipped. The slave was tied +to a cedar tree or post and lashed with a snake whip. + +Rev. Wamble's mother was a Deerbrook [HW: Westbrook] slave and when the +Reverend was two years of age, his mother died from a miscarriage caused +by a whipping. When the women slaves were in an advanced stage of +pregnancy they were made to lie face down in a specially dug depression +in the ground and were whipped. Otherwise they were treated like the +men. Their arms were tied around a cedar tree or post, and they were +lashed. + +Since the Reverend appeared to be a promising slave, both the Westbrooks +and the Wambles wanted him, much like one would want a valuable colt +today. Since the Reverend's grandmother was a Westbrook and the Wambles +treated the slaves much better, she wanted him to become a Wamble. She +hid the child in a shed, what would probably be a poor dog-house today, +and fed the child during the night time. + +During this period of his life the Reverend remembers what happened to +one of the Westbrook slaves who had run away. One evening he came to the +Wamble home and asked for some supper. Wamble took the slave into his +home and after feeding him, placed a log chain which was hanging above +the fire-place, around the slave's waist, left him to sleep on a bench +in front of the fire-place. The next morning after the slave was given +breakfast by the Wambles, Westbrook, his son and over-seer appeared. +Rev. Wamble in his hide-out remembers being awakened by the sound of the +slave being whipped and the moaning of the slave. After the whipping, +the slave was turned loose. After he had gone about a mile through the +bottom-land toward the river, Westbrook turned his hounds loose on the +slave's tracks. The hounds treed the slave before he had gone another +mile, much like a dog would tree a cat. + +The Westbrooks pulled the slave down from the tree and the dogs slashed +his foot. The slave was then whipped and long ropes placed around him. +He was driven back to the Wamble place with whips where he was once +again whipped. They [TR: Then?] they drove him two miles to the +Westbrook place where he was whipped once more. Whatever became of the +slave, whether he died or recovered, is unknown. One unusual feature of +this story is that Westbrook who permitted his slaves to be whipped, was +a church deacon, whereas Wamble, who never attended church, never +whipped or mistreated his slaves. + +The Reverend states that in the community where he resided the slaves +were well treated except for the whippings they received. They were +well-fed, and if injured or sick, were attended by a doctor on the same +principal that a person would care for an injured horse or sick cow. The +slaves were valuable, and it was to the best interest of the owner to +see that they were able to work. + +In case of slaves having children, the children became the property of +the mother's owner. If the south had won the war, Wamble would have been +a Westbrook since his mother was a Westbrook slave, and if it lost, he +would go to live with his father and take the name of his father, a +Wamble slave. So until the war was over he was hid out much like a small +child would bring a stray dog home and hide it somewhere for fear that +if his parents discovered it, it would be taken away. + +The living quarters of the slaves were made of logs covered with mud, +and the roof was covered with coarse boards upon which dirt about a +foot in depth was placed. There were no floors except dirt or the bare +ground. The furniture consisted of a small stove and the beds were two +boards extending from two walls, the extending ends resting on a peg +driven into the ground. This would make a one-legged bed. The two boards +were covered across ways with more boards and the slaves slept on these +boards or upon the dirt floor. There were no blankets provided for them. +For food the slaves received plenty of meat, potatoes, and whatever +could be raised. If the master had plenty to eat, so did the slaves, but +if food was not plentiful for the master, the slaves had less to eat. + +Only one of the three Wamble boys joined the southern army. Until the +war was over, the other two boys who refused to go to war hid out in the +surrounding woods and hills. The only time the Reverend's father left +the farm was to attend his master Billy, when he was in a hospital +recovering from wounds received in battle. + +Wamble was a wagon-maker, and he made two or three wagons which usually +took about six months. Then he hitched teams to them and went north to +Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas and kept going until he had sold the +wagons and teams, keeping one wagon and team, with which to return home. +Some times the master would be gone for a period of nine to twelve +months. During his absence the Reverend's grandfather was in charge of +the farm. + +The grandmother of Rev. Wamble was a full-blooded African negro, brought +to this country as a slave at seventeen years of age. She was a very +large and strong woman and was often hired out to do a man's work. +Slaves were forbidden to have papers in their possession and since they +were forbidden to read papers, hardly any slaves could read or write. +There never was any occasion or need to do these things. It was not +known that the Reverend's grandmother could read and write until after +the Civil War. The Reverend remembers his grandmother bringing an old +newspaper to his hide-out during the Civil War, late at night, after +the Wamble family had retired, and making a candle from fried meat +grease and a cord string, which made a very tiny light. She placed some +old blankets over the walls so that no light could be seen through the +cracks in the hut. She would then place the paper as near as possible to +the light, without burning it, and read the paper. It was never +discovered where or how she learned to read and write. + +If a young, good-looking, husky negro was trustworthy, the family would +make him the driver of the family carriage. They would dress him in the +best clothes obtainable and with a silk-finished beaver skin hat. The +driver sat on a seat on the top and towards the front of the carriage. +He was compelled to stay on this seat when waiting for any of the family +that he might be driving, regardless of the weather or the length of +time that he had to wait. + +The mail was carried in the same kind of vehicle with negro drivers. In +each town there was a certain rack at which this mail carriage would +stop in each village or wherever the designated stop was made. Upon +nearing the rack and coming to a stop, the driver would blow a bugle +call which could be heard for miles around, and people hearing this +bugle would come and get their mail. The Reverend remembers that several +of these drivers froze to death during the cold weather, and that in the +winter, many times the horses on the mail carriage upon coming to this +rack would stop, and the driver would be sitting frozen to death in his +seat. + +Men would take him down, carefully saving the silk beaver-skin hat for +some other driver. + +Since the slaves had no votes, they had no interest in politics when +they became free and knew nothing about political conditions other than +that after the Civil War they were free and had a vote. As a boy the +Reverend remembers seeing the white and black soldiers marching on +election day. + +The politicians would always tell the negroes what was good for them and +making it appear that it was for their best interest, and they should +vote for him, always giving them the desert first and making them think +that they were on the level no matter what the meal might be or what +hardships they were causing the negro to suffer. On one instance after +the negroes were forbidden to vote they marched in a body to the polls +and demanded a Democratic ballot and were then permitted to vote. + +Rev. Wamble was twenty-seven years of age before he saw and read his +first newspaper. He lived with the Wambles for twenty years after the +war, when his father then in partnership with another man, purchased +forty acres of land. He attended his first school for a period of two +months only in 1871. In 1872 the government built a school on his +father's farm and it was taught by a missionary. The school term was for +a period of three months each year. The Reverend attended this school +for seven years. + +In 1880 he married the first time. His first wife died in Memphis, +Tennessee, in 1888. By this marriage there were four children. On +February 1, 1892, the Reverend with his two surviving children all +entered school at a college in Little Rock, Arkansas. One of his +daughters died in the third year of her school year, but the other +graduated from the Normal School and was a teacher for several years. At +the present time she is married to a minister in Louisiana and is the +mother of ten children and is a nurse. The three oldest children have +degrees and the others are expected to do the same. + +The Reverend married his second wife in 1894. She died in 1907. By this +marriage nine children were born. + +The Reverend has been in the ministry for thirty-seven years. Seeing the +need of making more money, two of his sons came to Gary, Indiana, to +work in 1924. Now both are working in the post-office. Two years later +he came to Gary for the same reason and after working two years in the +coke plant, was laid off due to the depression. The youngest daughter of +the Reverend by his second marriage graduated from a college in Pine +Bluff, Arkansas, and is now teaching in New York City. + +Although the Reverend is advanced in years, he is quite active and +healthy. He says he has a small pension and is just waiting until it is +time to pass on to the next world. He has six children and seventeen +grandchildren living. + +As the Reverend remembered the south, none of the white people worked at +manual labor, but usually sat under a shade tree. They were usually +clerks, bookkeepers or tradesmen. + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +5th District +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel +1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana + +THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHILD BORN IN SLAVERY +SAMUEL WATSON +[HW: Personal Interview] + + +Samuel Watson, a citizen of Evansville, Indiana, was born in Webster +County, Kentucky, February 14, 1862. His master's home was located two +and one half miles from Clay, Kentucky on Craborchard Creek. + +"Uncle Sammy" as the negro children living near his home on South East +Fifth Street call the old man, possesses an unusually clear memory. In +fact he remembers seeing the soldiers and hearing the report of cannon +while he was yet an infant. + +One story told by the old negro relates how; "old missus" saved "old +massa's horses". The story follows: + +The mistress accompanied by a number of slaves was walking out one +morning and all were startled by the sound of hurrying horses. Soon many +mounted soldiers could be seen coming over a hill in the distance. The +child Samuel was later told that the soldiers were making their way to +Fort Donelson and were pressing horses into service. They were also +enlisting negroes into service whenever possible. + +Old master, Thomas Watson, owned many good able-bodied slaves and many +splendid horses. The mistress realised the danger of loss and opening +the "big gate" that separated the corral from the forest lands, Mrs. +Watson ran into the midst of the horses shouting and frailing them. The +frightened horses ran into the forest off the highway and toward the +river. + +When the soldiers stopped at the Watson plantation they found only a few +old work horses standing under a tree and not desiring these they want +on their way. + +The little negro boy ran and hid himself in the corner made by a great +outside chimney, where he was found later, by his frightened mother. +Uncle Samuel remembers that the horses came home the following +afternoon, none missing. + +Uncle Samuel remembers when the war ended and the slaves were +emancipated. "Some were happy! and some were sad!" Many dreaded leaving +their old homes and their masters' families. + +Uncle Samuel's mother and three children were told that they were free +people and the master asked the mother to take her little ones and go +away. + +She complied and took her family to the plantation of Jourdain James, +hoping to work and keep her family together. Wages received for her work +failed to support the mother and children so she left the employ of Mr. +James and worked from place to place until her children became half +starved and without clothing. + +The older children, remembering better and happier days, ran away from +their mother and went back to their old master. + +Thomas Watson went to Dixon, Kentucky and had an article of indenture +drawn up binding both Thomas and Laurah to his service for a long number +of years. Little Samuel only remained with his mother who took him to +the home of William Allen Price. Mr. Price's plantation was situated in +Webster County, Kentucky about half-way between Providence and Clay on +Craborchard Creek. Mr. Price had the little boy indentured to his +service for a period of eighteen years. There the boy lived and worked +on the plantation. + +He said he had a good home among good people. His master gave him five +real whippings within a period of fourteen years but Uncle Samuel +believes he deserved every lash administered. + +Uncle Samuel loved his master's family, he speaks of Miss Lena, Miss +Lula, Master Jefferson and Master John and believes they are still +alive. Their present home is at Cebra, Kentucky. + +It was the custom for a slave indentured to a master to be given a fair +education, a good horse, bridle, saddle and a suit of clothes for his +years of toil, but Mr. Price did not believe the boy deserved the pay +and refused to pay him. A lawyer friend sued in behalf of the Negro and +received a judgement of $115.00 (one hundred and fifteen dollars). +Eighteen dollars repaid the lawyer for his service and Samuel started +out with $95.00 and his freedom. + +Evansville became the home of Samuel Watson in 1882. The trip was made +by train to Henderson then on transfer boat along the Ohio to +Evansville. + +The young negro man was impressed by the boat and crew and said he loved +the town from the first glimpse. + +Dr. Bacon, a prominent citizen living at Chandler Avenue and Second +Street, employed Samuel as coachman. His next service was as house-man +for Levi Igleheart, 1010 Upper Second Street. Mr. Igleheart grew to +trust Samuel and gave him many privileges allowing him to care for +horses and to manage business for the family. + +Samuel was married in 1890. His wife was born in Evansville and knew +nothing of slavery by birth or indenture. + +Uncle Samuel was given a job at the Trinity Church, corner of Third and +Chestnut Streets. Mr. Igleheart recommended him for the position. He +received $30.00 per month for his services for a period of six years. + +Mr. McNeely employed him for several years as janitor for lodges and +secret orders. The old negro was also a paper hanger and wall cleaner +and did well untill the panic seized him as it did others. + +Uncle Samuel was entitled to an old age pension which he recieved from +1934 until 1935 but January 15th, 1936 something went wrong and the +money was with held. Then uncle Samuel was sent to the poor house. Still +he was not unhappy and did what he could to make others happy. + +In 1936 he again applied and received the pension. $17.00 per month is +paid for his upkeep, his only labor consists of tending a little garden +and doing light chores. He lives with William Crosby on S.E. Fifth +Street. + + + + +Iris L Cook +District #4 +Floyd County + +SLAVE STORY +STORY OF NANCY WHALLEN +924 Pearl St. +New Albany, Ind. + + +Nancy Whallen is now about 81 years of age. She doesn't know exactly. +She was about 5 year of age when Freedom was declared. Nancy was born +and raised in Hart County near Hardinsburg, Kentucky. She is very hard +to talk to as her memory is failing and she can not hear very well. + +The little negro girl lived the usual life of a rural negro in Civil War +Time and afterwards. She remembers the "sojers" coming thru the place +and asking for food. Some of them camped on the farm and talked to her +and teased her. + +She tells about one big nigger called "Scott" on the place who could +outwork all the others. He would hang his hat and shirt on a tree limb +and work all day long in the blazing sun on the hottest day. + +The colored folk, used to have revivals, out in the woods. They would +sometimes build a sort of brush shelter with leaves for a roof and +service a would be held here. Preachin' and shouting' sometimes lasted +all day Sundays. Colored folks came from miles around when they possibly +could get away. These affairs were usually held away from the "white +folks" who seldom if ever saw these gatherings. + + +Observation of the writer. + +The old woman remembers the Big Eclipse of the sun or the "Day of Dark" +as she called it. The chickens all went to roost and the darkies all +thought the end of the world had come. The cattle lowed and everyone was +scared to death. + +She lived down in Kentucky after the War until she was quite a young +woman and then came to Indiana where she has lived ever since. She lives +now with her daughter in New Albany. + + + + +Special Assignment +Emily Hobson +Dist. #3 +Parke County + +INTERVIEW WITH ANDERSON WHITTED, +COLORED EX-SLAVE, OF ROCKVILLE, INDIANA + +[Illustration: Anderson Whitted] + + +Mr. Whitted will be 89 years old next month October 1937. He was born in +Orange County, North Carolina. His mother took care of the white +children so her nine children were very well treated. The master was a +Doctor. The family were Hickory Quakers and did not believe in +mistreating their slaves, always providing them with plenty to eat, and +clothing to wear to church on Sunday. Despite a law that prohibited +books to Negroes, his family had a Bible, and an elementary spelling +book. Mr. Whitted's father belonged to his master's half-brother and +lived fourteen miles away. He was allowed a horse to go see them every +two weeks. The father could read, and spell very well so would teach +them on his visits. Mr. Whitted learned to read the Bible first, then in +later years has learned to read other things. It was the custom for the +master to search the negro huts, but Mr. Whitted's master never did. + +The Doctor often took Mr. Whitted's grandmother with him to help care +for the sick. When the war broke out the Master's son joined the +southern forces. The son was wounded. The Doctor and Mr. Whitted's +grandmother went for the boy. On the way home the Doctor died but the +grandmother got the boy home and nursed him back to health. Life for the +Negroes was different after the son began running the place, he was not +good to them. Mr. Whitted was then 16 years old, and the older brother +was the overseer. The negroes had been allowed a share of the crop but +the new master refused them anything to live on. In that region the +wheat was harvested the middle of June. There was a big crop that year +but the entire family was turned out before the harvest, with nothing. +Mr. Whitted left his older brother with his mother and the children +sitting by the road, while he ran the 14 miles for his father to find +out what to do. The father borrowed two teams and wagons, rented a house +in the edge of town, and moved the family in. + +The slaves were freed about that time, and for the first time in their +lives they were free, and the entire family together. The father went to +the governor for food. The government was allowing hard tack and +pickled beef for the negroes. They received their allotment, and were +well satisfied with hard tack because they were free. In telling about +the pickled beef he says he never has seen any beef since that looked +like it; he believed that it was horse meat. The father started working +in a mill in 1865. He was soon bringing home food stuff from there, and +in time they had a crop on their little place. + +The older brother worked in the mornings and went to a Quaker Normal +School in the afternoon. Pres. Harrison gave him an appointment in the +revenue department, then as he grew older he was transferred to the post +office department. He was retired on a pension at the age of 75. He is +still living in Washington, D.C., and is now 97 years old. + +During the war Mr. Whitted ran away, going 12 miles to the camp of the +northern soldiers where he stayed two weeks. They gave him a horse to +ride, and sent him gathering fuel through the woods for them. Those were +the happiest days he had ever known--his first freedom. + +Mr. Whitted was never sold, but he often saw processions go past after a +sale, the wagon loaded with provisions first, then the slaves tied +together following. They often took the babies away from their mothers, +and sold them. Some old woman, too old to work, would then care for the +little ones until they were old enough to work. At six years old they +were put to work thinning corn, worming the tobacco, and pulling weeds. +At seven they were taught to use a hoe. At 16 they were full hands, +working along with the older men. + +In April 1880 Mr. Whitted left Orange County, it was so very rough it +was hard to make a living. He just started out in search of a better +place, leaving his wife and seven children there. In November he sent +for them, he was working at the brick yards in Rockville. They were +finishing the court house. He was so anxious to make a living he often +did as much as two men. One child was born here. His wife died soon +after coming to Rockville. He stayed single for three years, but found +he could not care for his family and married again. His second wife died +a number of years ago. He now spends the winters with his three living +daughters, and during the summer months, a daughter comes to Rockville +to enjoy his home. + +Mr. Whitted's uncle belonged to a mean master. The slaves worked hard +all day, then were chained together at night. The uncle ran away in the +early part of the war, and after two years broke through the lines, and +joined the northern army, going back after emancipation. + + + + +Iris Cook +Dist 4 +Floyd Co. + +SLAVE STORY +THE STORY OF ALEX WOODSON +905 E. 4th St. +New Albany, Ind. + + +Observation of Writer + +Alex Woodson is an old light skinned darkey, he looks to be between 80 +and 85, it is hard to tell his age, and colored folks hardly ever do +know their correct age. I visited him in his little cottage and had a +long talk with him and his wife (his second). "Planted the fust one." +They run a little grocery in the front room of the cottage. But the +stock was sadly run down. Together with the little store and his +"pinshun" (old age pension) these old folks manage to get along. + +Alex Woodson was born at Woodsonville, in Hart County, Kentucky, just +across Green River from Munfordville. He was a good sized boy, possibly +7 years or more when "Freedom wuz declared". His master was "Old Marse" +Sterrett who had about a 200 acre place and whose son in law Tom +Williams ran a store on this place. When Williams married Sterretts +daughter he was given Uncle Alex and his mother and brother as a +present. Williams was then known as "Young Master." + +When war come Old Master gave his (Woodson's) mother a big roll of +bills, "greenbacks as big as Yo' arm", to keep for him, and was forced +to leave the neighborhood. After the war the old darkey returned the +money to him intact. + +Uncle Alex remembers his mother taking him and other children and +running down the river bank and hiding in the woods all night when the +soldiers came. They were Morgan's men and took all available cattle and +horses in the vicinity and beat the woods looking for Yankee soldiers. +Uncle Alex said he saw Morgan at a distance on his big horse and he "wuz +shore a mighty fine looker." + +Sometimes the Yankee soldiers would come riding along and they "took +things too". + +When the War was over old Master came back home and the negroes +continued to live on at the place as usual, except for a few that wanted +to go North. Old Master lived in a great big house with all his family +and the Negroes lived in another good sized house or quarters, all +together. There were a few cabins. + +"Barbecues! My we shore used to have 'em, yes ma'am, we did! Folks would +come for miles around. Would roast whole hawgs and cows, and folks would +sing, and eat and drink whiskey. The white folks had 'em but we helped +and had fun too. Sometimes we would have one ourselves." + +"Used to have rail splittin's and wood choppins. The men woud work all +day, and get a pile of wood as big as a house. At noon they'd stop and +eat a big meal that the women folks had fixed up for em. Them wuz some +times, I've spent to many a one." + +"I remember we used to go to revivals sometimes, down near Horse ave. +Everybody got religion and we shore had some times. We don't have them +kind of times any more. I remember I went back down to one of those +revivals years afterwards. Most of the folks I used to know was dead or +gone. The preacher made me set up front with him, and he asked me to +preach to the folks. But I sez that "no, God hadn't made me that away +and I wouldn't do it." + +I've saw Abraham Lincoln's cabin many a time, when I was young. It set +up on a high hill, and I've been to the spring under the hill lots of +times. The house was on the Old National Road then. I hear they've fixed +it all up now. I haven't been there for years. + +After the war when I grewed up I married, and settled on the old place. +I remember the only time I got beat in a horse trade. A sneakin' nigger +from down near Horse Cave sold me a mule. That mule was jest natcherly +no count. He would lay right down in the plow. One day after I had +worked with him and tried to get him to work right, I got mad. I says to +my wife, Belle, I'm goin' to get rid of that mule if I have to trade him +for a cat. An' I led him off. When I came back I had another mule and +$15 to boot. This mule she wuz shore skinny but when I fattened her up +you wouldn't have known her." + +"Finally I left the old place and we come north to Indiana. We settled +here and I've been here for 50 years abourt. I worked in the old Rolling +Mill. And I've been an officer in the Baptist Church at 3rd and Main for +41 years." + +"Do I believe in ghosts" (Here his second wife gave a sniff) Well ma'am +I don't believe in ghosts but I do in spirits. (another disgusted sniff +from the second wife) I remember one time jest after my first wife died +I was a sittin right in that chair your sittin in now. The front door +opened and in come a big old grey mule, and I didn't have no grey mule. +In she come just as easy like, put one foot down slow, and then the +other, and then the other I says 'Mule git out here, you is goin through +that floor, sure as youre born. Get out that door.' Mule looked at me +sad-like and then just disappeared. And in its place was my first wife, +in the clothes she was buried in. She come up to me and I put my arms +around her, but I couldn't feel nothin' (another sniff from the second +wife) and I says, "Babe, what you want?" + +Then she started to git littler and littler and lower and finally went +right away through the floor. It was her spirit thats what it was. +("Rats" says the second wife.) + +"Another time she came to me by three knocks and made me git up and +sleep on another bed where it was better sleepin'." + +"I like to go back down in Kentucky on visits as the folks there wont +take a thing for bed and vittles. Here they are so selfish wont even +gave a drink of water away." + +"Yes'm the flood got us. Me and my wife here, we whet away and stayed +two months. Was 5 feet in this house, and if it ever gets in here agin, +we're goin down in Kentucky and never comin' back no more." + +The old man and his wife bowed me out the front door and asked me to +come back again and we'ed talk some more about old times. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Slave Narratives: A Folk History of +Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, by Work Projects Administration + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13579 *** diff --git a/13579-h/13579-h.htm b/13579-h/13579-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c503fcb --- /dev/null +++ b/13579-h/13579-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6717 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938: +Indiana Narratives, Volume V</title> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13579 ***</div> + +<p>[TR: ***] = Transcriber Note</p> +<p>[HW: ***] = Handwritten Note</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"><br><br> + +<a name="img_PD"></a> +<center> +<img src='images/pdunn.jpg' width='360' height='477' alt='Peter Dunn'> +</center> + + + +<h1>SLAVE NARRATIVES</h1> +<br> + +<h2><i>A Folk History of Slavery in the United States<br> +From Interviews with Former Slaves</i></h2> +<br> + + +<h4>TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY<br> +THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT<br> +1936-1938<br> +ASSEMBLED BY<br> +THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT<br> +WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION<br> +FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA<br> +SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS</h4> +<br> + + +<p><i>Illustrated with Photographs</i></p> + +<br> + + +<p>WASHINGTON 1941</p> +<br><br><br> + +<h2>VOLUME V</h2> + +<h2>INDIANA NARRATIVES</h2> + + + +<h3>Prepared by<br> +the Federal Writers' Project of<br> +the Works Progress Administration<br> +for the State of Georgia</h3> +<br><br><br> + + +<h2>INFORMANTS</h2> + +<a href='#ArnoldGeorge'>Arnold, George W.</a> [TR: with Professor W.S. Best and Samuel Bell]<br> +<a href='#AshThomasCraneMary'>Ash, Thomas, and Crane, Mary</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#BarberRosa'>Barber, Rosa</a><br> +<a href='#BlakeleyMittie'>Blakeley, Mittie</a><br> +<a href='#BooneCarl'>Boone, Carl</a><br> +<a href='#BowmanJulia'>Bowman, Julia</a><br> +<a href='#BoyceAngie'>Boyce, Angie</a><br> +<a href='#BoysawEdna'>Boysaw, Edna</a><br> +<a href='#BraceyCallie'>Bracey, Callie</a> [TR: daughter of Louise Terrell]<br> +<a href='#BucknerGeorgeWashington'>Buckner, Dr. George Washington</a><br> +<a href='#BurnsGeorgeTaylor'>Burns, George Taylor</a><br> +<a href='#ButlerBelle'>Butler, Belle</a> [TR: daughter of Chaney Mayer]<br> +<br> +<a href='#CarterJosephWilliam'>Carter, Joseph William</a><br> +<a href='#CaveEllen'>Cave, Ellen</a><br> +<a href='#CheatamHarriet'>Cheatam, Harriet</a><br> +<a href='#ChildressJane'>Childress, James</a><br> +<a href='#ColbertSarah'>Colbert, Sarah</a><br> +<a href='#CooperMandy'>Cooper, Frank</a> [TR: son of Mandy Cooper]<br> +<br> +<a href='#EdmundsHH'>Edmunds, Rev. H.H.</a><br> +<a href='#EubanksJohn'>Eubanks, John</a> [TR: and family]<br> +<a href='#EubanksJohn2'>Eubanks, John</a> + [TR: second interview]<br> +<br> +<a href='#FieldsJohnW'>Fields, John W.</a><br> +<a href='#FieldsJohnW2'>Fields, John</a> + [TR: second interview]<br> +<a href='#FortmanGeorge'>Fortman, George</a> [TR: and other interested citizens]<br> +<br> +<a href='#GibsonJohnHenry'>Gibson, John Henry</a><br> +<a href='#GuwnBetty'>Guwn, Betty</a> [TR: reported by Mrs. Hattie Cash, daughter]<br> +<br> +<a href='#HockadayMrs'>Hockaday, Mrs.</a><br> +<a href='#HowardRobert'>Howard, Robert</a><br> +<a href='#HumeMatthew'>Hume, Matthew</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#JacksonHenrietta'>Jackson, Henrietta</a><br> +<a href='#JohnsonLizzie'>Johnson, Lizzie</a><br> +<a href='#JonesBetty'>Jones, Betty</a><br> +<a href='#JonesNathan'>Jones, Nathan</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#LennoxAdelineRose'>Lennox, Adeline Rose</a><br> +<a href='#LewisThomas'>Lewis, Thomas</a><br> +<a href='#LockeSarahH'>Locke, Sarah H.</a> [TR: daughter of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor]<br> +<br> +<a href='#McKinleyRobert'>McKinley, Robert</a><br> +<a href='#MillerRichard'>Miller, Richard</a><br> +<a href='#MoormanHenryClay'>Moorman, Rev. Henry Clay</a><br> +<a href='#MorganAmerica'>Morgan, America</a><br> +<a href='#MorrisonGeorge'>Morrison, George</a><br> +<a href='#MosleyJoseph'>Mosely, Joseph</a> [TR: also reported as Moseley in text of interview]<br> +<br> +<a href='#PattersonAmyElizabeth'>Patterson, Amy Elizabeth</a><br> +<a href='#PrestonMrs'>Preston, Mrs.</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#QuinnWilliamM'>Quinn, William M.</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#RichardsonCandus'>Richardson, Candus</a><br> +<a href='#RobinsonJoe'>Robinson, Joe</a><br> +<a href='#RogersRosaline'>Rogers, Rosaline</a><br> +<a href='#RollinsParthenia'>Rollins, Parthena</a><br> +<a href='#RuddJohn'>Rudd, John</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#SamuelsAmandaElizabeth'>Samuels, Amanda Elizabeth</a><br> +<a href='#SimmsJack'>Simms, Jack</a><br> +<a href='#SlaughterBilly'>Slaughter, Billy</a><br> +<a href='#SmithMrMrsAlex'>Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Alex</a><br> +<a href='#StoneBarney'>Stone, Barney</a><br> +<a href='#SuggsAdahIsabelle'>Suggs, Adah Isabelle</a><br> +<a href='#SuttonKatie'>Sutton, Katie</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#ThompsonGeorge'>Thompson, George</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#WambleRev'>Wamble (Womble), Rev.</a><br> +<a href='#WatsonSamuel'>Watson, Samuel</a><br> +<a href='#WhallenNancy'>Whallen, Nancy</a><br> +<a href='#WhittedAnderson'>Whitted, Anderson</a><br> +<a href='#WoodsonAlex'>Woodson, Alex</a><br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<a href='#img_MC'>Mary Crane</a> [TR: not in original index]<br> +<br> +<a href="#img_PD">Peter Dunn</a> [TR: frontispiece, no accompanying interview]<br> +<br> +<a href='#img_JF1'>John W. Fields</a><br> +<a href='#img_JF2'>John Fields</a> + [TR: second photograph]<br> +<br> +<a href='#img_AW'>Anderson Whitted</a><br> +<br> + +<p>[TR: Federal Writer Anna Pritchett annotated her interviews by marking +each paragraph to indicate whether the information was obtained from the +respondent (A) or was a comment by the interviewer (B). Since the +information was presented in sequence, it is presented here without +these markings, with the interviewer's remarks set apart by the topic +heading 'Interviewer's Comment'.]</p> + +<p>[TR: Information listed separately as References, such as informant +names and addresses, has been incorporated into the interview headers. +In some cases, information has been rearranged for readability. Names in +brackets were drawn from text of interviews.]</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="ArnoldGeorge"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District No. 5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +AN UNHAPPY EXPERIENCE<br> +[GEORGE W. ARNOLD]</h3> +<br> + +<p>This is written from an interview with each of the following: George W. +Arnold, Professor W.S. Best of the Lincoln High School and Samuel Bell, +all of Evansville, Indiana.</p> + +<p>George W. Arnold was born April 7, 1861, in Bedford County, Tennessee. +He was the property of Oliver P. Arnold, who owned a large farm or +plantation in Bedford county. His mother was a native of Rome, Georgia, +where she remained until twelve years of age, when she was sold at +auction.</p> + +<p>Oliver Arnold bought her, and he also purchased her three brothers and +one uncle. The four negroes were taken along with other slaves from +Georgia to Tennessee where they were put to work on the Arnold +plantation.</p> + +<p>On this plantation George W. Arnold was born and the child was allowed +to live in a cabin with his relatives and declares that he never heard +one of them speak an unkind word about Master Oliver Arnold or any +member of his family. "Happiness and contentment and a reasonable amount +of food and clothes seemed to be all we needed," said the now +white-haired man.</p> + +<p>Only a limited memory of Civil War days is retained by the old man but +the few events recalled are vividly described by him. "Mother, my young +brother, my sister and I were walking along one day. I don't remember +where we had started but we passed under the fort at Wartrace. A battle +was in progress and a large cannon was fired above us and we watched the +huge ball sail through the air and saw the smoke of the cannon pass over +our heads. We poor children were almost scared to death but our mother +held us close to her and tried to comfort us. The next morning, after, +we were safely at home ... we were proud we had seen that much of the +great battle and our mother told us the war was to give us freedom."</p> + +<p>"Did your family rejoice when they were set free?" was the natural +question to ask Uncle George.</p> + +<p>"I cannot say that they were happy, as it broke up a lot of real +friendships and scattered many families. Mother had a great many pretty +quilts and a lot of bedding. After the negroes were set free, Mars. +Arnold told us we could all go and make ourselves homes, so we started +out, each of the grown persons loaded with great bundles of bedding, +clothing and personal belongings. We walked all the way to Wartrace to +try to find a home and some way to make a living."</p> + +<p>George W. Arnold remembers seeing many soldiers going to the pike road +on their way to Murfreesboro. "Long lines of tired men passed through +Guy's Gap on their way to Murfreesboro," said he. "Older people said +that they were sent out to pick up the dead from the battle fields after +the bloody battle of Stone's river that had lately been fought at +Murfreesboro. They took their comrades to bury them at the Union +Cemetery near the town of Murfreesboro."</p> + +<p>"Wartrace was a very nice place to make our home. It was located on the +Nashville and Chattanooga and St. Louis railroad, just fifty-one miles +from Nashville not many miles from our old home. Mother found work and +we got along very well but as soon as we children were old enough to +work, she went back to her old home in Georgia where a few years later +she died. I believe she lived to be seventy-five or seventy six years of +age, but I never saw her after she went back to Georgia."</p> + +<p>"My first work was done on a farm (there are many fine farms in +Tennessee) and although farm labor was not very profitable we were +always fed wherever we worked and got some wages. Then I got a job on +the railroad. Our car was side tracked at a place called Silver +Springs," said Uncle George, "and right at that place came trouble that +took the happiness out of my life forever." Here the story teller +paused to collect his thoughts and conquer the nervous twitching of his +lips. "It was like this: Three of us boys worked together. We were like +three brothers, always sharing our fortunes with each other. We should +never have done it, but we had made a habit of sending to Nashville +after each payday and having a keg of Holland rum sent in by freight. +This liquor was handed out among our friends and sometimes we drank too +much and were unfit for work for a day or two. Our boss was a big strong +Irishman, red haired and friendly. He always got drunk with us and all +would become sober enough to soon return to our tasks."</p> + +<p>"The time I'm telling you about, we had all been invited to a candy +pulling in town and could hardly wait till time to go, as all the young +people of the valley would be there to pull candy, talk, play games and +eat the goodies served to us. The accursed keg of Holland rum had been +brought in that morning and my chum John Sims had been drinking too +much. About that time our Boss came up and said, 'John, it is time for +you to get the supper ready!' John was our cook and our meals were +served on the caboose where we lived wherever we were side tracked."</p> + +<p>"All the time Johny was preparing the food he was drinking the rum. When +we went in he had many drinks inside of him and a quart bottle filled to +take to the candy pull. 'Hurry up boys and let's finish up and go' he +said impatiently. 'Don't take him' said the other boy, 'Dont you see he +is drunk?' So I put my arms about his shoulders and tried to tell him he +had better sleep a while before we started. The poor boy was a breed. +His mother was almost white and his father was a thoroughbred Indian and +the son had a most aggravating temper. He made me no answer but running +his hand into his pocket, he drew out his knife and with one thrust, cut +a deep gash in my neck. A terrible fight followed. I remember being +knocked over and my head stricking something. I reached out my hand and +discovered it was the ax. With this awful weapon I struck my friend, my +more than brother. The thud of the ax brought me to my senses as our +blood mingled. We were both almost mortally wounded. The boss came in +and tried to do something for our relief but John said, 'Oh, George? +what an awful thing we have done? We have never said a cross word to +each other and now, look at us both.'"</p> + +<p>"I watched poor John walk away, darkness was falling but early in the +morning my boss and I followed a trail of blood down by the side of the +tracks. From there he had turned into the woods. We could follow him no +further. We went to all the nearby towns and villages but we found no +person who had ever seen him. We supposed he had died in the woods and +watched for the buzzards, thinking thay would lead us to his body but he +was never seen again."</p> + +<p>"For two years I never sat down to look inside a book nor to eat my food +that John Sims was not beside me. He haunted my pillow and went beside +me night and day. His blood was on my hands, his presence haunted me +beyond endurance. What could I do? How could I escape this awful +presence? An old friend told me to put water between myself and the +place where the awful scene occurred. So, I quit working on the railroad +and started working on the river. People believed at that time that the +ghost of a person you had wronged would not cross water to haunt you."</p> + +<p>Life on the river was diverting. Things were constantly happening and +George Arnold put aside some of his unhappiness by engaging in river +activities.</p> + +<p>"My first job on the river was as a roust-about on the Bolliver H Cook a +stern wheel packet which carried freight and passengers from Nashville, +Tennessee to Evansville, Indiana. I worked a round trip on her and then +went from Nashville to Cairo, Illinois on the B.S. Rhea. I soon decided +to go to Cairo and take a place on the Eldarado, a St. Louis and +Cincinnati packet which crused from Cairo to Cincinnati. On that boat I +worked as a roust-about for nearly three years."</p> + +<p>"What did the roust-about have to do?" asked a neighbor lad who had come +into the room. "The roust-about is no better than the mate that rules +him. If the mate is kindly disposed the roust-about has an easy enough +life. The negroes had only a few years of freedom and resented cruelty. +If the mate became too mean, a regular fight would follow and perhaps +several roust-abouts would be hurt before it was finished."</p> + +<p>Uncle George said that food was always plentiful on the boats. +Passengers and freight were crowded together on the decks. At night +there would be singing and dancing and fiddle music. "We roust-abouts +would get together and shoot craps, dance or play cards until the call +came to shuffle freight, then we would all get busy and the mate's voice +giving orders could be heard for a long distance."</p> + +<p>"In spite of these few pleasures, the life of a roust-about is the life +of a dog. I do not recall any unkindnesses of slavery days. I was too +young to realize what it was all about, but it could never have equalled +the cruelty shown the laborer on the river boats by cruel mates and +overseers."</p> + +<p>Another superstition advanced itself in the story of a boat, told by +Uncle George Arnold. The story follows: "When I was a roust-about on the +Gold Dust we were sailing out from New Orleans and as soon as we got +well out on the broad stream the rats commenced jumping over board. 'See +these rats' said an old river man, 'This boat will never make a return +trip!'"</p> + +<p>"At every port some of our crew left the boat but the mate and the +captain said they were all fools and begged us to stay. So a few of us +stayed to do the necessary work but the rats kept leaving as fast as +they could."</p> + +<p>"When the boat was nearing Hickman, Kentucky, we smelled fire, and by +the time we were in the harbor passengers were being held to keep them +from jumping overboard. Then the Captain told us boys to jump into the +water and save ourselves. Two of us launched a bale of cotton overboard +and jumped onto it. As we paddled away we had to often go under to put +out the fires as our clothing would blaze up under the flying brands +that fell upon our bodies."</p> + +<p>"The burning boat was docked at Hickman. The passengers were put ashore +but none of the freight was saved, and from a nearby willow thicket my +matey and I watched the Gold Dust burn to the water's edge."</p> + +<p>"Always heed the warnings of nature," said Uncle George, "If you see +rats leaving a ship or a house prepare for a fire."</p> + +<p>George W. Arnold said that Evansville was quite a nice place and a +steamboat port even in the early days of his boating experiences and he +decided to make his home here. He located in the town in 1880. "The +Court House was located at Third and Main streets. Street cars were mule +drawn and people thought it great fun to ride them." He recalls the +first shovel full of dirt being lifted when the new Courthouse was being +erected, and when it was finished two white men finishing the slate +roof, fell to their death in the Court House yard.</p> + +<p>George W. Arnold procured a job as porter in a wholesale feed store on +May 10, 1880. John Hubbard and Company did business at the place, at +this place he worked thirty seven years. F.W. Griese, former mayor of +Evansville has often befriended the negro man and is ready to speak a +kindly word in his praise. But the face of John Sims still presents +itself when George Arnold is alone. "Never do anything to hurt any other +person," says he, "The hurt always comes back to you."</p> + +<p>George Arnold was married to an Evansville Woman, but two years ago he +became a widower when death claimed his mate. He is now lonely, but were +it not for a keg of Holland gin his old age would be spent in peace and +happiness. "Beware of strong drink," said Uncle George, "It causes +trouble."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="AshThomasCraneMary"></a> +<h3>Emery Turner<br> +District #5<br> +Lawrence County<br> +Bedford, Indiana<br> +<br> +REMINISCENCES OF TWO EX-SLAVES<br> +THOMAS ASH, Mitchell, Ind.<br> +MRS. MARY CRANE, Warren St., Mitchell, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>[Thomas Ash]</b></p> + +<p>I have no way of knowing exactly how old I am, as the old Bible +containing a record of my birth was destroyed by fire, many years ago, +but I believe I am about eighty-one years old. If so, I must have been +born sometime during the year, 1856, four years before the outbreak of +the War Between The States. My mother was a slave on the plantation, or +farm of Charles Ash, in Anderson county, Kentucky, and it was there that +I grew up.</p> + +<p>I remember playing with Ol' Massa's (as he was called) boys, Charley, +Jim and Bill. I also have an unpleasant memory of having seen other +slaves on the place, tied up to the whipping post and flogged for +disobeying some order although I have no recollection of ever having +been whipped myself as I was only a boy. I can also remember how the +grown-up negroes on the place left to join the Union Army as soon as +they learned of Lincoln's proclamation making them free men.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Ed. Note</b>—Mr. Ash was sick when interviewed and was not able to do much +talking. He had no picture of himself but agreed to pose for one later +on. [TR: no photograph found.]</p> +<br> + +<p><b>[Mrs. Mary Crane]</b></p> + +<a name="img_MC"></a> +<center> +<img src='images/mcrane.jpg' width='400' height='250' alt='Mrs. Mary Crane'> +</center> + +<p>I was born on the farm of Wattie Williams, in 1855 and am eighty-two +years old. I came to Mitchell, Indiana, about fifty years ago with my +husband, who is now dead and four children and have lived here ever +since. I was only a girl, about five or six years old when the Civil War +broke out but I can remember very well, happenings of that time.</p> + +<p>My mother was owned by Wattie Williams, who had a large farm, located in +Larue county, Kentucky. My father was a slave on the farm of a Mr. +Duret, nearby.</p> + +<p>In those days, slave owners, whenever one of their daughters would get +married, would give her and her husband a slave as a wedding present, +usually allowing the girl to pick the one she wished to accompany her to +her new home. When Mr. Duret's eldest daughter married Zeke Samples, she +choose my father to accompany them to their home.</p> + +<p>Zeke Samples proved to be a man who loved his toddies far better than +his bride and before long he was "broke". Everything he had or owned, +including my father, was to be sold at auction to pay off his debts.</p> + +<p>In those days, there were men who made a business of buying up negroes +at auction sales and shipping them down to New Orleans to be sold to +owners of cotton and sugar cane plantations, just as men today, buy and +ship cattle. These men were called "Nigger-traders" and they would ship +whole boat loads at a time, buying them up, two or three here, two or +three there, and holding them in a jail until they had a boat load. This +practice gave rise to the expression, "sold down the river."</p> + +<p>My father was to be sold at auction, along with all of the rest of Zeke +Samples' property. Bob Cowherd, a neighbor of Matt Duret's owned my +grandfather, and the old man, my grandfather, begged Col. Bob to buy my +father from Zeke Samples to keep him from being "sold down the river." +Col. Bob offered what he thought was a fair price for my father and a +"nigger-trader" raised his bid "25 [TR: $25?]. Col. said he couldn't +afford to pay that much and father was about to be sold to the +"nigger-trader" when his father told Col. Bob that he had $25 saved up +and that if he would buy my father from Samples and keep the +"nigger-trader" from getting him he would give him the money. Col. Bob +Cowherd took my grandfather's $25 and offered to meet the traders offer +and so my father was sold to him.</p> + +<p>The negroes in and around where I was raised were not treated badly, as +a rule, by their masters. There was one slave owner, a Mr. Heady, who +lived nearby, who treated his slave worse than any of the other owners +but I never heard of anything so awfully bad, happening to his +"niggers". He had one boy who used to come over to our place and I can +remember hearing Massa Williams call to my grandmother, to cook +"Christine, give Heady's Doc something to eat. He looks hungry." Massa +Williams always said "Heady's Doc" when speaking of him or any other +slave, saying to call him, for instance, Doc Heady would sound as if he +were Mr. Heady's own son and he said that wouldn't sound right.</p> + +<p>When President Lincoln issued his proclamation, freeing the negroes, I +remember that my father and most all of the other younger slave men left +the farms to join the Union army. We had hard times then for awhile and +had lots of work to do. I don't remember just when I first regarded +myself as "free" as many of the negroes didn't understand just what it +was all about.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Ed. Note:</b> Mrs. Crane will also pose for a picture.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BarberRosa"></a> +<h3>Submitted by:<br> +William Webb Tuttle<br> +District No. 2<br> +Muncie, Indiana<br> +<br> +SLAVES IN DELAWARE COUNTY<br> +ROSA BARBER<br> +812 South Jefferson<br> +Muncie, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Rosa Barber was born in slavery on the Fox Ellison plantation at North +Carden[TR:?], in North Carolina, in the year 1861. She was four [HW: ?] +years old when freed, but had not reached the age to be of value as a +slave. Her memory is confined to that short childhood there and her +experiences of those days and immediately after the Civil War must be +taken from stories related to her by her parents in after years, and +these are dimly retained.</p> + +<p>Her maiden name was Rosa Fox Ellison, taken as was the custom, from the +slave-holder who held her as a chattel. Her parents took her away from +the plantation when they were freed and lived in different localities, +supported by the father who was now paid American wages. Her parents +died while she was quite young and she married Fox Ellison, an ex-slave +of the Fox Ellison plantation. His name was taken from the same master +as was hers. She and her husband lived together forty-three years, until +his death. Nine children were born to them of which only one survives. +After this ex-slave husband died Rosa Ellison married a second time, but +this second husband died some years ago and she now remains a widow at +the age of seventy-six years. She recalls that the master of the Fox +Ellison plantation was spoken of as practicing no extreme discipline on +his slaves. Slaves, as a prevailing business policy of the holder, were +not allowed to look into a book, or any printed matter, and Rosa had no +pictures or printed charts given her. She had to play with her rag +dolls, or a ball of yarn, if there happened to be enough of old string +to make one. Any toy or plaything was allowed that did not point toward +book-knowledge. Nursery rhymes and folk-lore stories were censured +severely and had to be confined to events that conveyed no uplift, +culture or propaganda, or that conveyed no knowledge, directly or +indirectly. Especially did they bar the mental polishing of the three +R's. They could not prevent the vocalizing of music in the fields and +the slaves found consolation there in pouring out their souls in unison +with the songs of the birds.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BlakeleyMittie"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. MITTIE BLAKELEY—EX-SLAVE<br> +2055 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Blakeley was born, in Oxford, Missouri, in 1858.</p> + +<p>Her mother died when Mittie was a baby, and she was taken into the "big +house" and brought up with the white children. She was always treated +very kindly.</p> + +<p>Her duties were the light chores, which had to be well done, or she was +chided, the same as the white children would have been.</p> + +<p>Every evening the children had to collect the eggs. The child, who +brought in the most eggs, would get a ginger cake. Mittie most always +got the cake.</p> + +<p>Her older brothers and sisters were treated very rough, whipped often +and hard. She said she hated to think, much less talk about their awful +treatment.</p> + +<p>When she was old enough, she would have to spin the wool for her +mistress, who wove the cloth to make the family clothes.</p> + +<p>She also learned to knit, and after supper would knit until bedtime.</p> + +<p>She remembers once an old woman slave had displeased her master about +something. He had a pit dug, and boards placed over the hole. The woman +was made to lie on the boards, face down, and she was beaten until the +blood gushed from her body; she was left there and bled to death.</p> + +<p>She also remembers how the slaves would go to some cabin at night for +their dances; if one went without a pass, which often they did, they +would be beaten severely.</p> + +<p>The slaves could hear the overseers, riding toward the cabin. Those, who +had come without a pass, would take the boards up from the floor, get +under the cabin floor, and stay there until the overseers had gone.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Blakeley is very serious and said she felt so sorry for those, who +were treated so such worse than any human would treat a beast.</p> + +<p>She lives in a very comfortable clean house, and said she was doing +"very well."</p> + +Submitted January 24, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BooneCarl"></a> +<h3>Submitted by:<br> +Robert C. Irvin<br> +District No. 2<br> +Noblesville, Ind.<br> +<br> +SLAVES IN MADISON COUNTY<br> +CARL BOONE<br> +Anderson, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>This is a story of slavery, told by Carl Boone about his father, his +mother and himself. Carl is the last of eighteen children born to Mrs. +Stephen Boone, in Marion County, Kentucky, Sept. 15, 1850. He now +resides with his children at 801 West 13th Street, Anderson, Madison +County, Indiana. At the ripe old age of eighty-seven, he still has a +keen memory and is able to do a hard day's work.</p> + +<p>Carl Boone was born a free man, fifteen years before the close of the +Civil War, his father having gained his freedom from slavery in 1829. He +is a religious man, having missed church service only twice in twenty +years. He was treated well during the time of slavery in the southland, +but remembers well, the wrongs done to slaves on neighboring +plantations, and in this story he relates some of the horrors which +happened at that time.</p> + +<p>Like his father, he is also the father of eighteen children, sixteen of +whom are still living. He is grandfather of thirty-seven and great +grandfather of one child. His father was born in the slave state of +Maryland, in 1800, and died in 1897. His mother was born in Marion +County, Kentucky, in 1802, and died in 1917, at the age of one hundred +and fifteen years.</p> + +<p>This story, word by word, is related by Carl Boone as follows: "My name +is Carl Boone, son of Stephen and Rachel Boone, born in Marion County, +Kentucky, in 1850. I am father of eighteen children sixteen are still +living and I am grandfather of thirty-seven and great grandfather of +one child. I came with my wife, now deceased, to Indiana, in 1891, and +now reside at 801 West 13th street in Anderson, Indiana. I was born a +free man, fifteen years before the close of the Civil War. All the +colored folk on plantations and farms around our plantation were slaves +and most of them were terribly mistreated by their masters.</p> + +<p>After coming to Indiana, I farmed for a few years, then moved to +Anderson. I became connected with the Colored Catholic Church and have +tried to live a Christian life. I have only missed church service twice +in twenty years. I lost my dear wife thirteen years ago and I now live +with my son.</p> + +<p>My father, Stephen Boone, was born in Maryland, in 1800. He was bought +by a nigger buyer while a boy and was sold to Miley Boone in Marion +County, Kentucky. Father was what they used to call "a picked slave," +was a good worker and was never mistreated by his master. He married my +mother in 1825, and they had eighteen children. Master Miley Boone gave +father and mother their freedom in 1829, and gave them forty acres of +land to tend as their own. He paid father for all the work he did for +him after that, and was always very kind to them.</p> + +<p>My mother was born in slavery, in Marion County, Kentucky, in 1802. She +was treated very mean until she married my father in 1825. With him she +gained her freedom in 1829. I was the last born of her eighteen +children. She was a good woman and joined church after coming to Indiana +and died in 1917, living to be one hundred and fifteen years old.</p> + +<p>I have heard my mother tell of a girl slave who worked in the kitchen of +my mother's master. The girl was told to cook twelve eggs for +breakfast. When the eggs were served, it was discovered there were +eleven eggs on the table and after being questioned, she admitted that +she had eaten one. For this, she was beaten mercilessly, which was a +common sight on that plantation.</p> + +<p>The most terrible treatment of any slave, is told by my father in a +story of a slave on a neighboring plantation, owned by Daniel Thompson. +"After committing a small wrong, Master Thompson became angry, tied his +slave to a whipping post and beat him terribly. Mrs. Thompson begged him +to quit whipping, saying, 'you might kill him,' and the master replied +that he aimed to kill him. He then tied the slave behind a horse and +dragged him over a fifty acre field until the slave was dead. As a +punishment for this terrible deed, master Thompson was compelled to +witness the execution of his own son, one year later. The story is as +follows:</p> + +<p>A neighbor to Mr. Thompson, a slave owner by name of Kay Van Cleve, had +been having some trouble with one of his young male slaves, and had +promised the slave a whipping. The slave was a powerful man and Mr. Van +Cleve was afraid to undertake the job of whipping him alone. He called +for help from his neighbors, Daniel Thompson and his son Donald. The +slave, while the Thompsons were coming, concealed himself in a +horse-stall in the barn and hid a large knife in the manger.</p> + +<p>After the arrival of the Thompsons, they and Mr. Van Cleve entered the +stall in the barn. Together, the three white men made a grab for the +slave, when the slave suddenly made a lunge at the elder Mr. Thompson +with the knife, but missed him and stabbed Donald Thompson.</p> + +<p>The slave was overpowered and tied, but too late, young Donald was dead.</p> + +<p>The slave was tried for murder and sentenced to be hanged. At the time +of the hanging, the first and second ropes used broke when the trap was +sprung. For a while the executioner considered freeing the slave because +of his second failure to hang him, but the law said, "He shall hang by +the neck until dead," and the third attempt was successful."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BowmanJulia"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. JULIA BOWMAN—EX-SLAVE<br> +1210 North West Street, Indianapolis, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Bowman was born in Woodford County, Kentucky in 1859.</p> + +<p>Her master, Joel W. Twyman was kind and generous to all of his slaves, +and he had many of them.</p> + +<p>The Twyman slaves were always spoken of, as the Twyman "Kinfolks."</p> + +<p>All slaves worked hard on the large farm, as every kind of vegetation +was raised. They were given some of everything that grew on the farm, +therefore there was no stealing to get food.</p> + +<p>The master had his own slaves, and the mistress had her own slaves, and +all were treated very kindly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bowman was taken into the Twyman "big house," at the age of six, to +help the mistress in any way she could. She stayed in the house until +slavery was abolished.</p> + +<p>After freedom, the old master was taken very sick and some of the +former slaves were sent for, as he wanted some of his "Kinfolks" around +him when he died.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Bowman was given the Twyman family bible where her birth is +recorded with the rest of the Twyman family. She shows it with pride.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bowman said she never knew want in slave times, as she has known it +in these times of depression.</p> + +Submitted January 10, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BoyceAngie"></a> +<h3>Wm. R. Mays<br> +Dist 4<br> +Johnson Co.<br> +<br> +ANGIE BOYCE<br> +BORN IN SLAVERY, Mar. 14, 1861 on the<br> +Breeding Plantation, Adair Co. Ky.</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Angie Boyce here makes mention of facts as outlined to her by her +mother, Mrs. Margaret King, deceased.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Angie Boyce was born in slavery, Mar. 14, 1861, on the Breeding +Plantation, Adair County, Kentucky. Her parents were Henry and Margaret +King who belonged to James Breeding, a Methodist minister who was kind +to all his slaves and no remembrance of his having ever struck one of +them.</p> + +<p>It is said that the slaves were in constant dread of the Rebel soldiers +and when they would hear of their coming they would hide the baby +"Angie" and cover her over with leaves.</p> + +<p>The mother of Angie was married twice; the name of her first husband was +Stines and that of her second husband was Henry King. It was Henry King +who bought his and his wife's freedom. He sent his wife and baby Angie +to Indiana, but upon their arrival they were arrested and returned to +Kentucky. They were placed in the Louisville jail and lodged in the same +cell with large Brutal and drunken Irish woman. The jail was so infested +with bugs and fleas that the baby Angie cryed all night. The white woman +crazed with drink became enraged at the cries of the child and +threatened to "bash its brains out against the wall if it did not stop +crying". The mother, Mrs. King was forced to stay awake all night to +keep the white woman from carrying out her threat.</p> + +<p>The next morning the Negro mother was tried in court and when she +produced her free papers she was asked why she did not show these papers +to the arresting officers. She replied that she was afraid that they +would steal them from her. She was exonerated from all charges and sent +back to Indiana with her baby.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Angie Boyce now resides at 498 W. Madison St., Franklin, Ind.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BoysawEdna"></a> +<h3>Special Assignment<br> +Walter R. Harris<br> +District #3<br> +Clay County<br> +<br> +LIFE STORY OF EX-SLAVE<br> +MRS. EDNA BOYSAW</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Boysaw has been a citizen of this community about sixty-five years. +She resides on a small farm, two miles east of Brazil on what is known +as the Pinkley Street Road. This has been her home for the past forty +years. Her youngest son and the son of one of her daughters lives with +her. She is still very active, doing her housework and other chores +about the farm. She is very intelligent and according to statements made +by other citizens has always been a respected citizen in the community, +as also has her entire family. She is the mother of twelve children. +Mrs. Boysaw has always been an active church worker, spending much time +in missionary work for the colored people. Her work was so outstanding +that she has been often called upon to speak, not only in the colored +churches, but also in white churches, where she was always well +received. Many of the most prominent people of the community number Mrs. +Boysaw as one of their friends and her home is visited almost daily by +citizens in all walks of life. Her many acts of kindness towards her +neighbors and friends have endeared her to the people of Brazil, and +because of her long residence in the community, she is looked upon as +one of the pioneers.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Boysaw's husband has been dead for thirty-five years. Her children +are located in various cities throughout the country. She has a daughter +who is a talented singer, and has appeared on programs with her daughter +in many churches. She is not certain about her age, but according to her +memory of events, she is about eighty-seven.</p> + +<p>Her story as told to the writer follows:</p> + +<p>"When the Civil War ended, I was living near Richmond, Virginia. I am +not sure just how old I was, but I was a big, flat-footed woman, and +had worked as a slave on a plantation. My master was a good one, but +many of them were not. In a way, we were happy and contented, working +from sun up to sun down. But when Lincoln freed us, we rejoiced, yet we +knew we had to seek employment now and make our own way. Wages were low. +You worked from morning until night for a dollar, but we did not +complain. About 1870 a Mr. Masten, who was a coal operator, came to +Richmond seeking laborers for his mines in Clay County. He told us that +men could make four to five dollars a day working in the mines, going to +work at seven and quitting at 3:30 each day. That sounded like a +Paradise to our men folks. Big money and you could get rich in little +time. But he did not tell all, because he wanted the men folk to come +with him to Indiana. Three or four hundred came with Mr. Masten. They +were brought in box cars. Mr. Masten paid their transportation, but was +to keep it out of their wages. My husband was in that bunch, and the +women folk stayed behind until their men could earn enough for their +transportation to Indiana."</p> + +<p>"When they arrived about four miles east of Brazil, or what was known as +Harmony, the train was stopped and a crowd of white miners ordered them +not to come any nearer Brazil. Then the trouble began. Our men did not +know of the labor trouble, as they were not told of that part. Here they +were fifteen hundred miles from home, no money. It was terrible. Many +walked back to Virginia. Some went on foot to Illinois. Mr. Masten took +some of them South of Brazil about three miles, where he had a number of +company houses, and they tried to work in his mine there. But many were +shot at from the bushes and killed. Guards were placed about the mine by +the owner, but still there was trouble all the time. The men did not +make what Mr. Masten told them they could make, yet they had to stay for +they had no place to go. After about six months, my husband who had been +working in that mine, fell into the shaft and was injured. He was unable +to work for over a year. I came with my two children to take care of +him. We had only a little furniture, slept in what was called box beds. +I walked to Brazil each morning and worked at whatever I could get to +do. Often did three washings a day and then walked home each evening, a +distance of two miles, and got a dollar a day.</p> + +<p>"Many of the white folks I worked for were well to do and often I would +ask the Mistress for small amounts of food which they would throw out if +left over from a meal. They did not know what a hard time we were +having, but they told me to take home any of such food that I cared to. +I was sure glad to get it, for it helped to feed our family. Often the +white folks would give me other articles which I appreciated. I managed +in this way to get the children enough to eat and later when my husband +was able to work, we got along very well, and were thankful. After the +strike was settled, things were better. My husband was not afraid to go +out after dark. But the coal operators did not treat the colored folks +very good. We had to trade at the Company store and often pay a big +price for it. But I worked hard and am still alive today, while all the +others are gone, who lived around here about that time. There has sure +been a change in the country. The country was almost a wilderness, and +where my home is today, there were very few roads, just what we called a +pig path through the woods. We used lots of corn meal, cooked beans and +raised all the food we could during them days. But we had many white +friends and sure was thankful for them. Here I am, and still thankful +for the many friends I have."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BraceyCallie"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. CALLIE BRACEY—DAUGHTER [of Louise Terrell]<br> +414 Blake Street</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Callie Bracey's mother, Louise Terrell, was bought, when a child, +by Andy Ramblet, a farmer, near Jackson, Miss. She had to work very hard +in the fields from early morning until as late in the evening, as they +could possibly see.</p> + +<p>No matter how hard she had worked all day after coming in from the +field, she would have to cook for the next day, packing the lunch +buckets for the field hands. It made no difference how tired she was, +when the horn was blown at 4 a.m., she had to go into the field for +another day of hard work.</p> + +<p>The women had to split rails all day long, just like the men. Once she +got so cold, her feet seemed to be frozen; when they warmed a little, +they had swollen so, she could not wear her shoes. She had to wrap her +foot in burlap, so she would be able to go into the field the next day.</p> + +<p>The Ramblets were known for their good butter. They always had more than +they could use. The master wanted the slaves to have some, but the +mistress wanted to sell it, she did not believe in giving good butter to +slaves and always let it get strong before she would let them have any.</p> + +<p>No slaves from neighboring farms were allowed on the Ramblet farm, they +would get whipped off as Mr. Ramblet did not want anyone to put ideas in +his slave's heads.</p> + +<p>On special occasions, the older slaves were allowed to go to the church +of their master, they had to sit in the back of the church, and take no +part in the service.</p> + +<p>Louise was given two dresses a year; her old dress from last year, she +wore as an underskirt. She never had a hat, always wore a rag tied over +her head.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Bracey is a widow and has a grandchild living with her. She feels +she is doing very well, her parents had so little, and she does own her +own home.</p> + +Submitted December 10, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BucknerGeorgeWashington"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +A SLAVE, AMBASSADOR AND CITY DOCTOR<br> +[DR. GEORGE WASHINGTON BUCKNER]</h3> +<br> + +<p>This paper was prepared after several interviews had been obtained with +the subject of this sketch.</p> + +<p>Dr. George Washingtin [TR: Washington] Buckner, tall, lean, whitehaired, +genial and alert, answered the call of his door bell. Although anxious +to oblige the writer and willing to grant an interview, the life of a +city doctor is filled with anxious solicitation for others and he is +always expecting a summons to the bedside of a patient or a professional +interview has been slated.</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner is no exception and our interviews were often disturbed by +the jingle of the door bell or a telephone call.</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner's conversation lead in ever widening circles, away from the +topic under discussion when the events of his own life were discussed, +but he is a fluent speaker and a student of psychology. Psychology as +that philosophy relates to the mental and bodily tendencies of the +African race has long since become one of the major subjects with which +this unusual man struggles. "Why is the negro?" is one of his deepest +concerns.</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner's first recollections center within a slave cabin in +Kentucky. The cabin was the home of his step-father, his invalid mother +and several children. The cabin was of the crudest construction, its +only windows being merely holes in the cabin wall with crude bark +shutters arranged to keep out snow and rain. The furnishings of this +home consisted of a wood bedstead upon which a rough straw bed and +patchwork quilts provided meager comforts for the invalid mother. A +straw bed that could be pushed under the bed-stead through the day was +pulled into the middle of the cabin at night and the wearied children +were put to bed by the impatient step-father.</p> + +<p>The parents were slaves and served a master not wealthy enough to +provide adaquately for their comforts. The mother had become invalidate +through the task of bearing children each year and being deprived of +medical and surgical attention.</p> + +<p>The master, Mr. Buckner, along with several of his relatives had +purchased a large tract of land in Green County, Kentucky and by a +custom or tradition as Dr. Buckner remembers; land owners that owned no +slaves were considered "Po' White Trash" and were scarcely recognized as +citizens within the state of Kentucky.</p> + +<p>Another tradition prevailed, that slave children should be presented to +the master's young sons and daughters and become their special property +even in childhood. Adherring to that tradition the child, George +Washington Buckner became the slave of young "Mars" Dickie Buckner, and +although the two children were nearly the same age the little mulatto +boy was obedient to the wishes of the little master. Indeed, the slave +child cared for the Caucasian boy's clothing, polished his boots, put +away his toys and was his playmate and companion as well as his slave.</p> + +<p>Sickness and suffering and even death visits alike the just and the +unjust, and the loving sympathetic slave boy witnessed the suffering and +death of his little white friend. Then grief took possession of the +little slave, he could not bear the sight of little Dick's toys nor +books not [TR: nor?] clothing. He recalls one harrowing experience after +the death of little Dick Buckner. George's grandmother was a housekeeper +and kitchen maid for the white family. She was in the kitchen one late +afternoon preparing the evening meal. The master had taken his family +for a visit in the neighborhood and the mulatto child sat on the veranda +and recalled pleasanter days. A sudden desire seized him to look into +the bed room where little Mars Dickie had lain in the bed. The evening +shadows had fallen, exagerated by the influence of trees, and vines, +and when he placed his pale face near the window pane he thought it was +the face of little Dickie looking out at him. His nerves gave away and +he ran around the house screaming to his grandmother that he had seen +Dickie's ghost. The old colored woman was sympathetic, dried his tears, +then with tears coursing down her own cheeks she went about her duties. +George firmly believed he had seen a ghost and never really convinced +himself against the idea until he had reached the years of manhood. He +remembers how the story reached the ears of the other slaves and they +were terrorized at the suggestion of a ghost being in the master's home. +"That is the way superstitions always started" said the Doctor, "Some +nervous persons received a wrong impression and there were always others +ready to embrace the error."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner remembers that when a young daughter of his master married, +his sister was given to her for a bridal gift and went away from her own +mother to live in the young mistress' new home. "It always filled us +with sorrow when we were separated either by circumstances of marriage +or death. Although we were not properly housed, properly nourished nor +properly clothed we loved each other and loved our cabin homes and were +unhappy when compelled to part."</p> + +<p>"There are many beautiful spots near the Green River and our home was +situated near Greensburgh, the county seat of Dreen [TR: Green?] +County." The area occupied by Mr. Buckner and his relatives is located +near the river and the meanderings of the stream almost formed a +peninsula covered with rich soil. Buckner's hill relieved the landscape +and clear springs bubled through crevices affording much water for +household use and near those springs white and negro children met to +enjoy themselves.</p> + +<p>"Forty years after I left Greensburg I went back to visit the springs +and try to meet my old friends. The friends had passed away, only a few +merchants and salespeople remembered my ancestors."</p> + +<p>A story told by Dr. Buckner relates an evening at the beginning of the +Civil War. "I had heard my parents talk of the war but it did not seem +real to me until one night when mother came to the pallet where we slept +and called to us to 'Get up and tell our uncles good-bye.' Then four +startled little children arose. Mother was standing in the room with a +candle or a sort of torch made from grease drippings and old pieces of +cloth, (these rude candles were in common use and afforded but poor +light) and there stood her four brothers, Jacob, John, Bill, and Isaac +all with the light of adventure shining upon their mulatto countenances. +They were starting away to fight for their liberties and we were greatly +impressed."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner stated that officials thought Jacob entirely too aged to +enter the service as he had a few scattered white hairs but he remembers +he was brawny and unafraid. Isaac was too young but the other two uncles +were accepted. One never returned because he was killed in battle but +one fought throughout the war and was never wounded. He remembers how +the white men were indignant because the negroes were allowed to enlist +and how Mars Stanton Buckner was forced to hide out in the woods for +many months because he had met slave Frank Buckner and had tried to kill +him. Frank returned to Greensburg, forgave his master and procurred a +paper stating that he was at fault, after which Stanton returned to +active service. "Yes, the road has been long. Memory brings back those +days and the love of my mother is still real to me, God bless her!"</p> + +<p>Relating to the value of an education Dr. Buckner hopes every Caucassian +and Afro-American youth and maiden will strive to attain great heights. +His first efforts to procure knowledge consisted of reciting A.B.S.s +[TR: A.B.C.s?] from the McGuffy's [HW: ?] Blue backed speller with his +unlettered sister for a teacher. In later years he attended a school +conducted by the Freemen's Association. He bought a grammar from a +white school boy and studied it at home. When sixteen years of age he +was employed to teach negro children and grieves to recall how limited +his ability was bound to have been. "When a father considers sending his +son or daughter to school, today, he orders catalogues, consults his +friends and considers the location and surroundings and the advice of +those who have patronized the different schools. He finally decides upon +the school that promises the boy or girl the most attractive and +comfortable surroundings. When I taught the African children I boarded +with an old man whose cabin was filled with his own family. I climbed a +ladder leading from the cabin into a dark uncomfortable loft where a +comfort and a straw bed were my only conveniences."</p> + +<p>Leaving Greensburg the young mulatto made his way to Indianapolis where +he became acquainted with the first educated Negro he had ever met. The +Negro was Robert Bruce Bagby, then principal of the only school for +Negroes in Indianapolis. "The same old building is standing there today +that housed Bagby's institution then," he declares.</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner recalls that when he left Bagby's school he was so low +financially he had to procure a position in a private residence as house +boy. This position was followed by many jobs of serving tables at hotels +and eating houses, of any and all kinds. While engaged in that work he +met Colonel Albert Johnson and his lovely wife, both natives of Arkansas +and he remembers their congratulations when they learned that he was +striving for an education. They advised his entering an educational +institution at Terre Haute. His desire had been to enter that +institution of Normal Training but felt doubtful of succeeding in the +advanced courses taught because his advantages had been so limited, but +Mrs. Johnson told him that "God gives his talents to the different +species and he would love and protect the negro boy."</p> + +<p>After studying several years at the Terre Haute State Normal George W. +Buckner felt assured that he was reasonably prepared to teach the negro +youths and accepted the professorship of schools at Vincennes, +Washington and other Indiana Villages. "I was interested in the young +people and anxious for their advancement but the suffering endured by my +invalid mother, who had passed into the great beyond, and the memory of +little Master Dickie's lingering illness and untimely death would not +desert my consciousness. I determined to take up the study of medical +practice and surgery which I did."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner graduated from the Indiana Electic Medical College in 1890. +His services were needed at Indianapolis so he practiced medicine in +that city for a year, then located at Evansville where he has enjoyed an +ever increasing popularity on account of his sympathetic attitude among +his people.</p> + +<p>"When I came to Evansville," says Dr. Buckner, "there were seventy white +physicians practicing in the area, they are now among the departed. +Their task was streneous, roads were almost impossible to travel and +those brave men soon sacrificed their lives for the good of suffering +humanity." Dr. Buckner described several of the old doctors as "Striding +[TR: illegible handwritten word above 'striding'] a horse and setting +out through all kinds of weather."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner is a veritable encyclopedia of negro lore. He stops at many +points during an interview to relate stories he has gleaned here and +there. He has forgotten where he first heard this one or that one but it +helps to illustrate a point. One he heard near the end of the war +follows, and although it has recently been retold it holds the interest +of the listener. "Andrew Jackson owned an old negro slave, who stayed on +at the old home when his beloved master went into politics, became an +American soldier and statesman and finally the 7th president of the +United States. The good slave still remained through the several years +of the quiet uneventful last years of his master and witnessed his +death, which occurred at his home near Nashville, Tennessee. After the +master had been placed under the sod, Uncle Sammy was seen each day +visiting Jackson's grave.</p> + +<p>"Do you think President Jackson is in heaven?" an acquaintance asked +Uncle Sammy.</p> + +<p>"If-n he wanted to go dar, he dar now," said the old man. "If-n Mars +Andy wanted to do any thing all Hell couldn't keep him from doin' it."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner believes each Negro is confident that he will take himself +with all his peculiarities to the land of promise. Each physical feature +and habitual idiosyncrasy will abide in his redeemed personality. Old +Joe will be there in person with the wrinkle crossing the bridge of his +nose and little stephen will wear his wool pulled back from his eyes and +each will recognize his fellow man. "What fools we all are," declared +Dr. Buckner.</p> + +<p>Asked his views concerning the different books embraced in the Holy +Bible, Dr. Buckner, who is a student of the Bible said, "I believe +almost every story in the Bible is an allegory, composed to illustrate +some fundemental truth that could otherwise never have been clearly +presented only through the medium of an allegory."</p> + +<p>"The most treacherous impulse of the human nature and the one to be most +dreaded is jealousy." With these words the aged Negro doctor launched +into the expression of his political views. "I'm a Democrat." He then +explained how he voted for the man but had confidence that his chosen +party possesses ability in choosing proper candidates. He is an ardent +follower of Franklin D. Roosevelt and speaks of Woodrow Wilson with +bated breath.</p> + +<p>Through the influence of John W. Boehne, Sr., and the friendly advice +of other influential citizens of Evansville Dr. Buckner was appointed +minister to Liberia, on Woodrow Wilson's cabinet, in the year 1913. Dr. +Buckner appreciated the confidence of his friends in appointing him and +cherishes the experineces gained while abroad. He noted the expressions +of gratitude toward cabinet members by the citizens of that African +coast. One Albino youth brought an offering of luscious mangoes and +desired to see the minister from the United States of America. Some +natives presented palm oils. "The natives have been made to understand +that the United States has given aid to Liberia in a financial way and +the customs-service of the republic is temporarily administered headed +by an American." "A thoroughly civilized Negro state does not exist in +Liberia nor do I believe in any part of West Africa. Superstition is the +interpretation of their religion, their political views are a hodgepodge +of unconnected ideas. Strength over rules knowledge and jealousy crowds +out almost all hope of sympathetic achievement and adjustment." Dr. +Buckner recounted incidents where jealousy was apparent in the behavior +of men and women of higher civilizations than the African natives. While +voyaging to Spain on board a Spanish vessel, he witnessed a very +refined, polite Jewish woman being reduced to tears by the taunts of a +Spanish officer, on account of her nationality. "Jealousy," he said, +"protrudes itself into politics, religion and prevents educational +achievement."</p> + +<p>During a political campaign I was compelled to pay a robust Negro man to +follow me about my professional visits and my social evenings with my +friends and family, to prevent meeting physical violence to myself or +family when political factions were virtually at war within the area of +Evansville. The influence of political captains had brought about the +dreadful condition and ignorant Negroes responded to their political +graft, without realizing who had befriended them in need."</p> + +<p>"The negro youths are especially subject to propoganda of the +four-flusher for their home influence is, to say the least, negative. +Their opportunities limited, their education neglected and they are +easily aroused by the meddling influence of the vote-getter and the +traitor. I would to God that their eyes might be opened to the light."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner's influence is mostly exhibited in the sick room, where his +presence is introduced in the effort to relieve pain.</p> + +<p>The gradual rise from slavery to prominence, the many trials encountered +along the road has ripened the always sympathetic nature of Dr. Buckner +into a responsive suffer among a suffering people. He has hope that +proper influences and sympathetic advice will mould the plastic +character of the Afro-American youths of the United States into proper +citizens and that their immortal souls inherit the promised reward of +the redeemed through grace.</p> + +<p>"Receivers of emancipation from slavery and enjoyers of emancipation +from sin through the sacrifice of Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ; Why +should not the negroes be exalted and happy?" are the words of Dr. +Buckner.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Note:</b> G.W. Buckner was born December 1st, 1852. The negroes in Kentucky +expressed it, "In fox huntin' time" one brother was born in "Simmon +time", one in "Sweet tater time," and another in "Plantin' time."</p> + +<p>—Negro lore.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BurnsGeorgeTaylor"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +THE LIFE STORY OF GEORGE TAYLOR BURNS<br> +[HW: Personal Interview]</h3> +<br> + +<p>Ox-carts and flat boats, and pioneer surroundings; crowds of men and +women crowding to the rails of river steamboats; gay ladies in holiday +attire and gentleman in tall hats, low cut vests and silk mufflers; for +the excursion boats carried the gentry of every area.</p> + +<p>A little negro boy clung to the ragged skirts of a slave mother, both +were engrossed in watching the great wheels that ploughed the +Mississippi river into foaming billows. Many boats stopped at Gregery's +Landing, Missouri to stow away wood, for many engines were fired with +wood in the early days.</p> + +<p>The Burns brothers operated a wood yard at the Landing and the work of +cutting, hewing and piling wood for the commerce was performed by slaves +of the Burns plantation.</p> + +<p>George Taylor Burns was five years of age and helped his mother all day +as she toiled in the wood yards. "The colder the weather, the more hard +work we had to do," declares Uncle George.</p> + +<p>George Taylor Burns, the child of Missouri slave parents, recalls the +scenes enacted at the Burns' wood yards so long ago. He is a resident of +Evansville, Indiana and his snow white hair and beard bear testimony +that his days have been already long upon the earth.</p> + +<p>Uncle George remembers the time when his infant hands reached in vain +for his mother, the kind and gentle Lucy Burns: Remembers a long cold +winter of snow and ice when boats were tied up to their moorings. Old +master died that winter and many slaves were sold by the heirs, among +them was Lucy Burns. Little George clung to his mother but strong hands +tore away his clasp. Then he watched her cross a distant hill, chained +to a long line of departing slaves. George never saw his parents again +and although the memory of his mother is vivid he scarcely remembers his +father's face. He said, "Father was black but my mother was a bright +mulatto."</p> + +<p>Nothing impressed the little boy with such unforgettable imagery as the +cold which descended upon Greogery's Landing one winter. Motherless, +hungry, desolate and unloved, he often cried himself to sleep at night +while each day he was compelled to carry wood. One morning he failed to +come when the horn was sounded to call the slaves to breakfast. "Old +Missus went to the Negro quarters to see what was wrong" and "She was +horrified when she found I was frozen to the bed."</p> + +<p>She carried the small bundle of suffering humanity to the kitchen of her +home and placed him near the big oven. When the warmth thawed the frozen +child the toes fell from his feet. "Old Missus told me I would never be +strong enough to do hard work, and she had the neighborhood shoemaker +fashion shoes too short for any body's feet but mine," said Uncle +George.</p> + +<p>Uncle George doesn't remember why he left Missouri but the sister of +Greene Taylor brought him to Troy, Indiana. Here she learned that she +could not own a slave within the State of Indiana so she indentured the +child to a flat boat captain to wash dishes and wait on the crew of +workers.</p> + +<p>George was so small of stature that the captain had a low table and +stool made that he might work in comfort. George's mistress received +$15,00 [TR: $15.00?] per month for the service of the boy for several +years.</p> + +<p>From working on the flat boats George became accustomed to the river and +soon received employment as a cabin boy on a steam boat and from that +time through out the most active days of his life George Taylor Burns +was a steam-boat man. In fact he declares, "I know steamboats from wood +box to stern wheel."</p> + +<p>"The life of a riverman is a good life and interesting things happen on +the river," says Uncle George.</p> + +<p>Uncle George has been imprisoned in the big jail at New Orleans. He has +seen his fellow slaves beaten into insensibility while chained to the +whipping post in Congo Square at New Orleans.</p> + +<p>He was badly treated while a slave but he has witnessed even more cruel +treatment administered to his fellow slaves.</p> + +<p>Among other exciting occurrences remembered by the old negro man when he +recalls early river adventures is one in which a flat boat sunk near New +Orleans. After clinging for many hours to the drifting wreckage he was +rescued, half dead from exhaustion.</p> + +<p>In memory, George Taylor Burns stands in the slave mart at New Orleans +and hears the Auctioneers' hammer, for he was sold like a beast of +burden by Greene Taylor, brother of his mistress. Greene Taylor, +however, had to refund the money and return the slave to his mistress +when his crippled feet were discovered.</p> + +<p>"Greene Taylor was like many other people I have known. He was always +ready to make life unhappy for a negro."</p> + +<p>Uncle George, although possessing an unusual amount of intelligence and +ability to learn, has a very limited education. "The Negroes were not +allowed an education," he relates. "It was dangerous for any person to +be caught teaching a Negro and several Negroes were put to death because +they could read."</p> + +<p>Uncle George recalls a few superstitions entertained by the rivermen. +"It was bad luck for a white cat to come aboard the boat." "Horse shoes +were carried for good luck." "If rats left the boat the crew was uneasy, +for fear of a wreck." Uncle George has very little faith in any +superstition but remembers some of the crews had.</p> + +<p>Among other boats on which this old river man was employed are "The +Atlantic" on which he was cabin boy. The "Big Gray Eagle" on which he +assisted in many ways. He worked where boats were being constructed +while he lived at New Albany.</p> + +<p>Many soldiers were returned to their homes by means of flat boats and +steam boats when the Civil War had ended and many recruits were sent by +water during the war. Just after peace was declared George met Elizabeth +Slye, a young slave girl who had just been set free. "Liza would come to +see her mother who was working on a boat." "People used to come down to +the landings to see boats come in," said Uncle George. George and Liza +were free, they married and made New Albany their home, until 1881 when +they came to Evansville.</p> + +<p>Uncle George said the Eclipse was a beautiful boat, he remembers the +lettering in gold and the bright lights and polished rails of the +longest steam boat ever built in the West. Measuring 365 feet in length +and Uncle George declares, "For speed she just up and hustled."</p> + +<p>"Louisville was one of the busiest towns in the Ohio Valley," says Uncle +George, but he remembers New Orleans as the market place where almost +all the surplus products were marketed.</p> + +<p>Uncle George has many friends along the water-front towns. He admires +the Felker family of Tell City, Indiana. He is proud of his own race and +rejoices in their opportunities. He remembers his fear of the Ku Klux, +his horror of the patrol and other clans united to make life dangerous +for newly emancipated Negroes.</p> + +<p>George Taylor Burns draws no old age pension. He owns a building located +at Canal and Evans Streets that houses a number of Negro families. He is +glad to say his credit is good in every market in the city. Although +lamed by rheumatic pains and hobbling on feet toeless from his young +childhood he has led a useful life. "Don't forget I knew Pilot Tom +Ballard, and Aaron Ballard on the Big Eagle in 1858," warns Uncle +George. "We Negroes carried passes so we could save our skins if we were +caught off the boats but we had plenty of good food on the boats."</p> + +<p>Uncle George said the roustabouts sang gay songs while loading boats +with heavy freight and provisions but on account of his crippled feet he +could not be a roustabout.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="ButlerBelle"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. BELLE BUTLER—DAUGHTER [of Chaney Mayer]<br> +829 North Capitol Avenue</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Belle Butler, the daughter of Chaney Mayer, tells of the hardships her +mother endured during her days of slavery.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interview</b></p> + +<p>Chaney was owned by Jesse Coffer, "a mean old devil." He would whip his +slaves for the slightest misdemeanor, and many times for nothing at +all—just enjoyed seeing them suffer. Many a time Jesse would whip a +slave, throw him down, and gouge his eyes out. Such a cruel act!</p> + +<p>Chaney's sister was also a slave on the Coffer plantation. One day their +master decided to whip them both. After whipping them very hard, he +started to throw them down, to go after their eyes. Chaney grabbed one +of his hands, her sister grabbed his other hand, each girl bit a finger +entirely off of each hand of their master. This, of course, hurt him so +very bad he had to stop their punishment and never attempted to whip +them again. He told them he would surely put them in his pocket (sell +them) if they ever dared to try *anthing like that again in life.</p> + +<p>Not so long after their fight, Chaney was given to a daughter of their +master, and her sister was given to another daughter and taken to +Passaic County, N.C.</p> + +<p>On the next farm to the Coffer farm, the overseers would tie the slaves +to the joists by their thumbs, whip them unmercifully, then salt their +backs to make them very sore.</p> + +<p>When a slave slowed down on his corn hoeing, no matter if he were sick, +or just very tired, he would get many lashes and a salted back.</p> + +<p>One woman left the plantation without a pass. The overseer caught her +and whipped her to death.</p> + +<p>No slave was ever allowed to look at a book, for fear he might learn to +read. One day the old mistress caught a slave boy with a book, she +cursed him and asked him what he meant, and what he thought he could do +with a book. She said he looked like a black dog with a breast pin on, +and forbade him to ever look into a book again.</p> + +<p>All slaves on the Coffer plantation were treated in a most inhuman +manner, scarcely having enough to eat, unless they would steal it, +running the risk of being caught and receiving a severe beating for the +theft.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Butler lives with her daughters, has worked very hard in "her +days."</p> + +<p>She has had to give up almost everything in the last few years, because +her eyesight has failed. However, she is very cheerful and enjoys +telling the "tales" her mother would tell her.</p> + +Submitted December 28, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="CarterJosephWilliam"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +5th District<br> +Vandenburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +JOSEPH WILLIAM CARTER</h3> +<br> + +<p>This information was gained through an interview with Joseph William +Carter and several of his daughters. The data was cheerfully given to +the writer. Joseph William Carter has lived a long and, he declares, a +happy life, although he was born and reared in bondage. His pleasing +personality has always made his lot an easy one and his yoke seemed easy +to wear.</p> + +<p>Joseph William Carter was born prior to the year 1836. His mother, +Malvina Gardner was a slave in the home of Mr. Gardner until a man named +D.B. Smith saw her and noticing the physical perfection of the child at +once purchased her from her master.</p> + +<p>Malvina was agrieved at being compelled to leave her old home, and her +lovely young mistress. Puss Gardner was fond of the little mullato girl +and had taught her to be a useful member of the Gardner family; however, +she was sold to Mr. Smith and was compelled to accompany him to his +home.</p> + +<p>Both the Gardner and Smith families lived near Gallatin, Tennessee, in +Sumner County. The Smith plantation was situated on the Cumberland River +and commanded a beautiful view of river and valley acres but Malvina was +very unhappy. She did not enjoy the Smith family and longed for her old +friends back in the Gardner home.</p> + +<p>One night the little girl gathered together her few personal belongings +and started back to her old home.</p> + +<p>Afraid to travel the highway the child followed a path she knew through +the forest; but alas, she found the way long and beset with perils. A +number of uncivil Indians were encamped on the side of the Cumberland +mountains and a number of the young braves were out hunting that night. +Their stealthy approach was heard by the little fugitive girl but too +late for her to make an escape. An Indian called "Buck" captured her and +by all the laws of the tribe was his own property. She lived for almost +a year in the teepe with Buck and during that time learned much about +Indian habits.</p> + +<p>When Malvina was missed from her new home, Mr. Smith went to the Gardner +plantation to report his loss, not finding her there a wide search was +made for her but the Indians kept her thoroughly concealed. Miss Puss, +however, kept up the search. She knew the Indians were encamped on the +mountain and believed she would find the girl with them. The Indians +finally broke camp and the members of the Gardner home watched them +start on their journey and Miss Puss soon discovered Malvina among the +other maidens in the procession.</p> + +<p>The men of the Gardner plantation, white and black, overtook the Indians +and demanded the girl be given up to them. The Indians reluctantly gave +her to them. Miss Puss Gardner took her back and Mr. Gardner paid Mr. +Smith the original purchase price and Malvina was once more installed in +her old home.</p> + +<p>Malvina Gardner was not yet twelve years of age when she was captured by +the Indians and was scarcely thirteen years of age when she became the +mother of Joseph William, son of the uncivil Indian, "Buck". The child +was born in the Gardner home and mother and child remained there. The +mother was a good slave and loved the members of the Gardner family and +her son and she were loved by them in return.</p> + +<p>Puss Gardner married a Mr. Mooney and Mr. Gardner allowed her to take +Joseph William to her home. The Mooney estate was situated up on the +Carthridge road and some of Joseph William's most vivid memories of +slavery and the curse of bondage embrace his life's span with the +Mooneys.</p> + +<p>One story that the aged man relates is of an encounter with an eagle and +follows: "George Irish, a white boy near my own age, was the son of the +miller. His father operated a sawmill on Bledsoe Creek near where it +empties into the Coumberland river. George and I often went fishing +together and had a good dog called Hector. Hector was as good a coon +dog as there was to be found in that part of the country. That day we +boys climbed up on the mill shed to watch the swans in Bledsoe Creek and +we soon noticed a great big fish hawk catching the goslings. It made us +mad and we decided to kill the hawk. I went back to the house and got an +old flint lock rifle Mars. Mooney had let me carry when we went hunting. +When I got back where George was, the big bird was still busy catching +goslings. The first shot I fired broke its wing and I decided I would +catch it and take it home with me. The bird put up a terrible fight, +cutting me with its bill and talons. Hector came running and tried to +help me but the bird cut him until his howls brought help from the +field. Mr. Jacob Greene was passing along and came to us. He tore me +away from the bird but I could not walk and the blood was running from +my body in dozens of places. Poor old Hector, was crippled and bleeding +for the bird was a big eagle and would have killed both of us if help +had not come." The old negro man still shows signs of his encounter with +the eagle. He said it was captured and lived about four months in +captivity but its wing never healed. The body of the eagle was stuffed +with wheat bran, by Greene Harris, and placed in the court yard in +Sumner County. "The Civil War changed things at the Mooney plantation," +said the old man. "Before the War Mr. Mooney never had been cruel to me. +I was Mistress Puss's property and she would never have allowed me to be +abused, but some of the other slaves endured the most cruel treatment +and were worked nearly to death."</p> + +<p>Uncle Joe's memory of slavery embraces the whole story of bondage and +the helpless position held by strong bodied men and women of a hardy +race, overpowered by the narrow ideals of slave owners and cruel +overseerers. "When I was a little bitsy child and still lived with Mr. +Gardner," said the old man, "I saw many of the slaves beaten to death. +Master Gardner didn't do any of the whippin' but every few months he +sent to Mississippi for negro rulers to come to the plantation and whip +all the negroes that had not obeyed the overseers. A big barrel lay near +the barn and that was always the whippin place." Uncle Joe remembers two +or three professional slave whippers and recalls the death of two of the +Mississippi whippers. He relates the story as follows: "Mars Gardner had +one of the finest black smiths that I ever saw. His arms were strong, +his muscles stood out on his breast and shoulders and his legs were +never tired. He stood there and shoed horses and repaired tools day +after day and there was no work ever made him tired."</p> + +<p>The old negro man so vividly described the noble blacksmith that he +almost appeared in person, as the story advanced. "I don't know what he +had done to rile up Mars Gardner, but all of us knew that the Blacksmith +was going to be flogged. When the whippers from Mississippi got to the +plantation. The blacksmith worked on day and night. All day he was +shoein horses and all the spare time he had he was makin a knife. When +the whippers got there all of us were brought out to watch the whippin +but the blacksmith, Jim Gardner did not wait to feel the lash, he jumped +right into the bunch of overseers and negro whippers and knifed two +whippers and one overseer to death; then stuck the sharp knife into his +arm and bled to death."</p> + +<p>Suicide seemed the only hope for this man of strength. He could not +humble himself to the brutal ordeal of being beaten by the slave +whippers.</p> + +<p>"When the war started, we kept hearing about the soldiers and finally +they set up their camp in the forest near us. The corn was ready to +bring into the barn and the soldiers told Mr. Mooney to let the slaves +gather it and put it into the barns. Some of the soldiers helped gather +and crib the corn. I wanted to help but Miss Puss was afraid they would +press me into service and made me hide in the cellar. There was a big +keg of apple cider in the cellar and every day Miss Puss handed down a +big plate of fresh ginger snaps right out of the oven, so I was well +fixed." The old man remembers that after the corn was in the crib the +soldiers turned in their horses to eat what had fallen to the ground.</p> + +<p>Before the soldiers became encamped at the Mooney plantation they had +camped upon a hill and some skirmishing had occurred. Uncle Joe +remembers the skirmish and seeing cannon balls come over the fields. The +cannon balls were chained together and the slave children would run +after the missils. Sometimes the chains would cut down trees as the +balls rolled through the forest.</p> + +<p>"Do you believe in witchcraft?" was asked while interviewing the aged +negro. "No" was the answer. "I had a cousin that was a full blooded +Indian and a Voodoo doctor. He got me to help him with his Voodoo work. +A lot of people both white and black sent for the Indian when they were +sick. I told him I would do the best I could, if it would help sick +people to get well. A woman was sick with rhumatism and he was going to +see her. He sent me into the woods to dig up poke roots to boil. He then +took the brew to the house where the sick woman lived. Had her to put +both feet in a tub filled with warm water, into which he had placed the +poke root brew. He told the woman she had lizards in her body and he was +going to bring them out of her. He covered the woman with a heavy +blanket and made her sit for a long time, possibly an hour, with her +feet in the tub of poke root brew and water. He had me slip a good many +lizards into the tub and when the woman removed her feet, there were the +lizards. She was soon well and believed the lizards had come out of her +legs. I was disgusted and would not practice with my cousin again."</p> + +<p>"So you didn't fight in the Civil War," was asked Uncle Joe.</p> + +<p>"Of course I did, when I got old enough I entered the service and +barbacued meat until the war closed." Barbacueing had been Uncle Joe's +specialty during slavery days and he followed the same profession during +his service with the federal army. He was freed by the emancuapation +proclamation, and soon met and married Sadie Scott, former Slave of Mr. +Scott, a Tennessee planter. Sadie only lived a short time after her +marriage. He later married Amy Doolins. Her father was named Carmuel. He +was a blacksmith and after he was free, the countrymen were after him to +take his life. He was shot nine times and finally killed himself to +prevent meeting death at the hands of the clansmen.</p> + +<p>Joseph William Carter is a cripple. In 1933 he fell and broke his right +thigh-bone and since that time he has walked with a crutch. He stays up +quite a lot and is always glad to welcome visitors. He possesses a noble +character and is admired by his friends and neighbors. Tall, straight, +lean of body, his nose is aquiline; these physical characteristics he +inherited from his Indian ancesters. His gentle nature, wit, and good +humor are characteristics handed to him by his mother and fostered by +the gentle rearing of his southern mistress.</p> + +<p>When Uncle Joe Carter celebrated the 100dth aniversary of his birth a +large cake was presented to him, decorated with 100 candles. The party +was attended by children and grandchildren, friends and neighbors. "What +is your political viewpoint?" was asked the old man.</p> + +<p>"My politics is my love for my country". "I vote for the man, not the +party."</p> + +<p>Uncle Joe's religion is the religion of decency and virtue. "I don't +want to be hard in my judgement," said he, "But I wish the whole world +would be decent. When I was a young man, women wore more clothes in bed +than they now wear on the street."</p> + +<p>"Papa has always been a lover of horses but he does not care for +Automobiles nor aeroplanes," said a daughter of Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe has +seven daughters, he says they have always been obedient and attentive +to their parents. Their mother passed away seven years ago. The sons and +daughters of Uncle Joe remember their grand-mother and recall stories +recounted by her of her captivity among the Indians.</p> + +<p>"Papa had no gray hairs until after mama died. His hair turned gray from +grief at her loss," said Mrs. Della Smith, one of his daughters. Uncle +Joe's smile reveals a set of unusually sound teeth from which only one +tooth is missing.</p> + +<p>Like all fathers and grandfathers, Uncle Joe recounts the cute deeds and +funny sayings of the little children he has been associated with: how +his own children with feather bedecked crowns enacted the capture of +their grandmother and often played "Voo-Doo Doctor."</p> + +<p>Uncle Joe stresses the value of work, not the enforced labor of the +slave but the cheerful toil of free people. He is glad that his sons and +daughters are industrious citizens and is proud they maintain clean +homes for their families. He is happy because his children have never +known bondage, and he respects the laws of his country and appreciates +the interest that the citizens of Evansville have always showed in the +negro race.</p> + +<p>After Uncle Joe became a young man he met many Indians from the tribe +that had held his mother captive. Through them he learned much about his +father which his mother had never told him.</p> + +<p>Though he was a Gardner slave and would have been Joseph Gardner, he +took the name of Carter from a step father and is known as Joseph +Carter.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="CaveEllen"></a> +<h3>Grace Monroe<br> +Dist. 4<br> +Jefferson County<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +OHIO COUNTY EX-SLAVE, MRS. ELLEN CAVE, RELATES HER EXPERIENCES</h3> +<br> + +<p>Assistant editor of "The Rising Sun Recorder" furnished the following +story which had appeared in the paper, March 19, 1937.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave was in slavery for twelve years before she was freed by the +Emancipation Proclamation. When she gave her story to Aubrey Robinson +she was living in a temporary garage home back of the Rising Sun +courthouse having lost everything in the 1937 flood.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave was born on a plantation in Taylor County Kentucky. She was +the property of a man who did not live up to the popular idea of a +Southern gentleman, whose slaves refused to leave them, even after their +freedom was declared.</p> + +<p>When she was a year old her mother was sold to someone in Louisana and +she did not see her again until 1867, when they were re-united in +Carrolton, Kentucky. Her father died when she was a baby.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave told of seeing wagon loads of slaves sold down the river. She, +herself was put on the block several times but never actually sold, +although she would have preferred being sold rather than the +continuation of the ordeal of the block.</p> + +<p>Her master was a "mean man" who drank heavily, he had twenty slaves that +he fed now and then, and gave her her freedom after the war only when +she would remain silent about it no longer. He was a Southern +sympathiser but joined the Union army where he became a captain and was +in charge of a Union commissary. Finally he was suspected and charged +with mustering supplies to the rebels. He was imprisoned for some time, +then courtmartialed and sentenced to die. He escaped by bribing his +negro guard.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave said that her master's father had many young women slaves and +sold his own half-breed children down the river to Louisiana plantations +where the work was so severe that the slaves soon died.</p> + +<p>While in slavery, Mrs. Cave worked as a maid in the house until she +grew older when she was forced to do all kinds of outdoor labor. She +remembered sawing logs in the snow all day. In the summer she pitched +hay or any other man's work in the field. She was trained to carry three +buckets of water at the same time, two in her hands and one on her +head and said she could still do it.</p> + +<p>On this plantation the chief article of food for the slaves was +bran-bread, although the master's children were kind and often slipped +them out meat or other food.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave remembered seeing General Woolford and General Morgan of the +Southern forces when they made friendly visits to the plantation. She +saw General Grant twice during the war. She saw soldiers drilling near +the plantation. Later she was caught and whipped by night riders, or +"pat-a-rollers", as she tried to slip out to negro religious meetings.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave was driven from her plantation two years after the war and +came to Carrollton [TR: earlier, Carrolton] Kentucky, where she found +her mother and soon married James Cave, a former slave on a plantation +near hers in Taylor county. Mrs. Cave had thirteen children.</p> + +<p>For many years Mrs. Cave has lived on a farm about two and one half mi. +south of Rising Sun. Everything she had was washed away in the flood and +she lived in the court house garage until her home could be rebuilt.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="CheatamHarriet"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #8<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. HARRIET CHEATAM—EX-SLAVE<br> +816 Darnell Street</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Incidents in the life of Mrs. Cheatam as she told them to me.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interview</b></p> + +<p>"I was born, in 1843, in Gallatin, Tennessee, 94 years ago this coming +(1937) Christmas day."</p> + +<p>"Our master, Martin Henley, a farmer, was hard on us slaves, but we were +happy in spite of our lack."</p> + +<p>"When I was a child, I didn't have it as hard as some of the children in +the quarters. I always stayed in the "big house," slept on the floor, +right near the fireplace, with one quilt for my bed and one quilt to +cover me. Then when I growed up, I was in the quarters."</p> + +<p>"After the Civil war, I went to Ohio to cook for General Payne. We had a +nice life in the general's house."</p> + +<p>"I remember one night, way back before the Civil war, we wanted a +goose. I went out to steal one as that was the only way we slaves would +have one. I crept very quiet-like, put my hand in where they was and +grabbed, and what do you suppose I had? A great big pole cat. Well, I +dropped him quick, went back, took off all my clothes, dug a hole, and +buried them. The next night I went to the right place, grabbed me a nice +big goose, held his neck and feet so he couldn't holler, put him under +my arm, and ran with him, and did we eat?"</p> + +<p>"We often had prayer meeting out in the quarters, and to keep the folks +in the "big house" from hearing us, we would take pots, turn them down, +put something under them, that let the sound go in the pots, put them in +a row by the door, then our voices would not go out, and we could sing +and pray to our heart's content."</p> + +<p>"At Thanksgiving time we would have pound cake. That was fine. We would +take our hands and beat and beat our cake dough, put the dough in a +skillet, cover it with the lid and put it in the fireplace. (The covered +skillet would act our ovens of today.) It would take all day to bake, +but it sure would be good; not like the cakes you have today."</p> + +<p>"When we cooked our regular meals, we would put our food in pots, slide +them on an iron rod that hooked into the fireplace. (They were called +pot hooks.) The pots hung right over the open fire and would boil until +the food was done."</p> + +<p>"We often made ash cake. (That is made of biscuit dough.) When the +dough was ready, we swept a clean place on the floor of the fireplace, +smoothed the dough out with our hands, took some ashes, put them on top +of the dough, then put some hot coals on top of the ashes, and just left +it. When it was done, we brushed off the coals, took out the bread, +brushed off the ashes, child, that was bread."</p> + +<p>"When we roasted a chicken, we got it all nice and clean, stuffed him +with dressing, greased him all over good, put a cabbage leaf on the +floor of the fireplace, put the chicken on the cabbage leaf, then +covered him good with another cabbage leaf, and put hot coals all over +and around him, and left him to roast. That is the best way to cook +chicken."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cheatam lives with a daughter, Mrs. Jones. She is a very small old +lady, pleasant to talk with, has a very happy disposition. Her eyes, as +she said, "have gotten very dim," and she can't piece her quilts +anymore. That was the way she spent her spare time.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>She has beautiful white hair and is very proud of it.</p> + +Submitted December 1, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="ChildressJane"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave stories<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +JAMES CHILDRESS' STORY<br> +312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>From an interview with James Childress and from John Bell both living at +312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana.</p> + +<p>Known as Uncle Jimmy by the many children that cluster about the aged +man never tiring of his stories of "When I was chile."</p> + +<p>"When I was a chile my daddy and mamma was slaves and I was a slave," so +begins many recounted tales of the long ago.</p> + +<p>Born at Nashville, Tennessee in the year 1860, Uncle Jimmie remembers +the Civil War with the exciting events as related to his own family and +the family of James Childress, his master. He remembers sorrow expressed +in parting tears when "Uncle Johnie and Uncle Bob started to war." He +recalls happy days when the beautiful valley of the Cumberland was +abloom with wild flowers and fertile acres were carpeted with blue +grass.</p> + +<p>"A beautiful view could always be enjoyed from the hillsides and there +were many pretty homes belonging to the rich citizens. Slaves kept the +lawns smooth and tended the flowers for miles around Nashville, when I +was a child," said Uncle Jimmie.</p> + +<p>Uncle Jimmie Childress has no knowledge of his master's having practiced +cruelty towards any slave. "We was all well fed, well clothed and lived +in good cabins. I never got a cross word from Mars John in my life," he +declared. "When the slaves got their freedom they rejoiced staying up +many nights to sing, dance and enjoy themselves, although they still +depended on old Mars John for food and bed, they felt too excited to +work in the fields or care for the stock. They hated to leave their +homes but Mr. Childress told them to go out and make homes for +themselves."</p> + +<p>"Mother got work as a housekeeper and kept us all together. Uncle Bob +got home from the War and we lived well enough. I have lived at +Evansville since 1881, have worked for a good many men and John Bell +will tell you I have had only friends in the city of Evansville."</p> + +<p>Uncle Jimmie recalls how the slaves always prayed to God for freedom and +the negro preachers always preached about the day when the slaves would +be no longer slaves but free and happy.</p> + +<p>"My people loved God, they sang sacred songs, 'Swing Low Sweet Charriot' +was one of the best songs they knew". Here uncle Jimmie sang a stanza of +the song and said it related to God's setting the negroes free.</p> + +<p>"The negroes at Mr. Childress' place were allowed to learn as much as +they could. Several of the young men could read and write. Our master +was a good man and did no harm to anybody."</p> + +<p>James Childress is a black man, small of stature, with crisp wooly dark +hair. He is glad he is not mulatto but a thorough blooded negro.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="ColbertSarah"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. SARAH COLBERT—EX-SLAVE<br> +1505 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Sarah Carpenter Colbert was born in Allen County, Kentucky in 1855. +She was owned by Leige Carpenter, a farmer.</p> + +<p>Her father, Isaac Carpenter was the grandson of his master, Leige +Carpenter, who was very kind to him. Isaac worked on the farm until the +old master's death. He was then sold to Jim McFarland in Frankfort +Kentucky. Jim's wife was very mean to the slaves, whipped them regularly +every morning to start the day right.</p> +<br> + +<p>One morning after a severe beating, Isaac met an old slave, who asked +him why he let his mistress beat him so much. Isaac laughed and asked +him what he could do about it. The old man told him if he would bite her +foot, the next time she knocked him down, she would stop beating him and +perhaps sell him.</p> + +<p>The next morning he was getting his regular beating, he willingly fell +to the floor, grabbed his mistress' foot, bit her very hard. She tried +very hard to pull away from him, he held on still biting, she ran around +in the room, Isaac still holding on. Finally, she stopped beating him +and never attempted to strike him again.</p> + +<p>The next week he was put on the block, being a very good worker and a +very strong man, the bids were high.</p> + +<p>His young master, Leige Jr., outbid everyone and bought him for +$1200.00.</p> + +<p>His young mistress was very mean to him. He went again to his old friend +for advice. This time he told him to get some yellow dust, sprinkle it +around in his mistress' room and if possible, got some in her shoes. +This he did and in a short time he was sold again to Johnson Carpenter +in the same county. He was not really treated any better there. By this +time he was very tired of being mistreated. He remembered his old master +telling him to never let anyone be mean to him. He ran away to his old +mistress, told her of his many hardships, and told her what the old +master had told him, so she sent him back. At the next sale she bought +him, and he lived there until slavery was abolished.</p> + +<p>Her grandfather, Bat Carpenter, was an ambitious slave; he dug ore and +bought his freedom, then bought his wife by paying $50.00 a year to her +master for her. She continued to work on the farm of her own master for +a very small wage.</p> + +<p>Bat's wife, Matilda, lived on the farm not far from him, he was allowed +to visit her every Sunday. One Sunday, it looked like rain, his master +told him to gather in the oats, he refused to do this and was beaten +with a raw hide. He was so angry, he went to one of the witch-crafters +for a charm so he could fix his old master.</p> + +<p>The witch doctor told him to get five new nails, as there were five +members in his master's family, walk to the barn, then walk backwards a +few steps, pound one nail in the ground, giving each nail the name of +each member of the family, starting with the master, then the mistress, +and so on through the family. Each time one nail was pounded down in the +ground, walk backwards and nail the next one in until all were pounded +deep in the ground. He did as instructed and was never beaten again.</p> + +<p>Jane Garmen was the village witch. She disturbed the slaves with her +cat. Always at milking time the cat would appear, and at night would go +from one cabin to another, putting out the grease lamps with his paw. No +matter how they tried to kill the cat, it just could not be done.</p> + +<p>An old witch doctor told them to melt a dime, form a bullet with the +silver, and shoot the cat. He said a lead bullet would never kill a +bewitched animal. The silver bullet fixed the cat.</p> + +<p>Jane also bewitched the chickens. They were dying so fast anything they +did seemed useless. Finally a big fire was built and the dead chickens +thrown into the fire, that burned the charm, and no more chickens died.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Colbert lives with her daughter in a very comfortable home. She +seems very happy and was glad to talk of her early days. How she would +laugh when telling of the experiences of her family.</p> + +<p>She has reared a large family of her own, and feels very proud of them.</p> + +Submitted December 1, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="CooperMandy"></a> +<h3>Wm. R. Mays<br> +Dist. 4<br> +Johnson County, Ind.<br> +July 29, 1937<br> +<br> +SLAVERY DAYS OF MANDY COOPER OF LINCOLN COUNTY, KENTUCKY<br> +FRANK COOPER<br> +715 Ott St., Franklin, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>Frank Cooper, an aged colored man of Franklin, relates some very +interesting conditions that existed in slavery days as handed down to +him by his mother.</p> + +<p>Mandy Cooper, the mother of Frank Cooper, was 115 years old when she +died; she was owned by three different families: the Good's, the +Burton's, and the Cooper's, all of Lincoln Co. Kentucky.</p> + +<p>"Well, Ah reckon Ah am one of the oldest colored men hereabouts," +confessed aged Frank Cooper. "What did you all want to see me about?" My +mission being stated, he related one of the strangest categories +alluding to his mother's slave life that I have ever heard.</p> + +<p>"One day while mah mammy was washing her back my sistah noticed ugly +disfiguring scars on it. Inquiring about them, we found, much to our +amazement, that they were mammy's relics of the now gone, if not +forgotten, slave days.</p> + +<p>"This was her first reference to her "misery days" that she had evah +made in my presence. Of course we all thought she was tellin' us a big +story and we made fun of her. With eyes flashin', she stopped bathing, +dried her back and reached for the smelly ole black whip that hung +behind the kitchen door. Biddin' us to strip down to our waists, my +little mammy with the boney bent-ovah back, struck each of us as hard as +evah she could with that black-snake whip, each stroke of the whip drew +blood from our backs. "Now", she said to us, "you have a taste of +slavery days." With three of her children now having tasted of some of +her "misery days" she was in the mood to tell us more of her sufferings; +still indelibly impressed in my mind. [TR: illegible handwritten note +here.]</p> + +<p>'My ole back is bent ovah from the quick-tempered blows feld by the +red-headed Miss Burton.</p> + +<p>'At dinner time one day when the churnin' wasn't finished for the +noonday meal', she said with an angry look that must have been reborn in +mah mammy's eyes—eyes that were dimmed by years and hard livin', 'three +white women beat me from anger because they had no butter for their +biscuits and cornbread. Miss Burton used a heavy board while the missus +used a whip. While I was on my knees beggin' them to quit, Miss Burton +hit the small of mah back with the heavy board. Ah knew no more until +kind Mr. Hamilton, who was staying with the white folks, brought me +inside the cabin and brought me around with the camphor bottle. Ah'll +always thank him—God bless him—he picked me up where they had left me +like a dog to die in the blazin' noonday sun.</p> + +<p>'After mah back was broken it was doubted whether ah would evah be able +to work again or not. Ah was placed on the auction block to be bidded +for so mah owner could see if ah was worth anything or not. One man bid +$1700 after puttin' two dirty fingahs in my mouth to see my teeth. Ah +bit him and his face showed angah. He then wanted to own me so he could +punish me.</p> + +<p>'Thinkin' his bid of $1700 was official he unstrapped his buggy whip to +beat me, but my mastah saved me. My master declared the bid unofficial.</p> + +<p>'At this auction my sister was sold for $1900 and was never seen by us +again.'</p> + +<p>"My mother related some experiences she had with the Paddy-Rollers, +later called the "Kuklux", these Paddy-Rollers were a constant dread to +the Negroes. They would whip the poor darkeys unmercifully without any +cause. One night while the Negroes were gathering for a big party and +dance they got wind of the approaching Paddy-Rollers in large numbers on +horseback. The Negro men did not know what to do for protection, they +became desperate and decided to gather a quantity of grapevines and tied +them fast at a dark place in the road. When the Paddy-Rollers came +thundering down the road bent on deviltry and unaware of the trap set +for them, plunged head-on into these strong grapevines and three of +their number were killed and a score was badly injured. Several horses +had to be shot following injuries.</p> + +<p>"When the news of this happening spread it was many months before the +Paddy-Rollers were again heard of."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="EdmundsHH"></a> +<h3>Albert Strope, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +St. Joseph County—District #1<br> +Mishawaka, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVE<br> +REV. H.H. EDMUNDS<br> +403 West Hickory Street<br> +Elkhart, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Rev. H.H. Edmunds has resided at 403 West Hickory Street in Elkhart for +the past ten years. Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1859, he lived there +for several years. Later he was taken to Mississippi by his master, and +finally to Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived until his removal to +Elkhart.</p> + +<p>Mr. Edmunds is very religious, and for many years has served his people +as a minister of the Gospel. He feels deeply that the religion of today +has greatly changed from the "old time religion." In slavery days, the +colored people were so subjugated and uneducated that he claims they +were especially susceptible to religion, and poured out their religious +feelings in the so-called negro spirituals. Mr. Edmunds is convinced +that the superstitions of the colored people and their belief in ghosts +and gobblins is due to the fact that their emotions were worked upon by +slave drivers to keep them in subjugation. Oftentimes white people +dressed as ghosts, frightened the colored people into doing many things +under protest. The "ghosts" were feared far more than the slave-drivers.</p> + +<p>The War of the Rebellion is not remembered by Mr. Edmunds, but he +clearly remembers the period following the war known as the +Reconstruction Period. The Negroes were very happy when they learned +they were free as a result of the war. A few took advantage of their +freedom immediately, but many, not knowing what else to do, remained +with their former masters. Some remained on the plantations five years +after they were free. Gradually they learned to care for themselves, +often through instructions received from their former masters, and then +they were glad to start out in the world for themselves. Of course, +there were exceptions, for the slaves who had been abused by cruel +masters were only too glad to leave their former homes.</p> + +<p>The following reminiscense is told by Mr. Edmunds:</p> + +<p>"As a boy, I worked in Virginia for my master, a Mr. Farmer[TR:?]. He had +two sons who served as bosses on the farm. An elder sister was the head +boss. After the war was over, the sister called the colored people +together and told them that they were no longer slaves, that they might +leave if they wished.</p> + +<p>"The slaves had been watering cucumbers which had been planted around +barrels filled with soil. Holes had been bored in the barrels, and when +water was poured in the barrels, it gradually seeped out through the +holes thus watering the cucumbers.</p> + +<p>"After the speech, one son told the slaves to resume their work. Since I +was free, I refused to do so, and as a result, I received a terrible +kicking. I mentally resolved to get even some day. Years afterward, I +went to the home of this man for the express purpose of seeking revenge. +However, I was received so kindly, and treated so well, that all +thoughts of vengeance vanished. For years after, my former boss and I +visited each other in our own homes."</p> + +<p>Mr. Edmunds states that the Negro people prefer to be referred to as +colored people, and deeply resent the name "nigger."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="EubanksJohn"></a> +<h3>Archie Koritz, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +Lake County—District #1<br> +Gary, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVES<br> +JOHN EUBANKS & FAMILY<br> +Gary, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Gary's only surviving Civil War veteran was born a slave in Barren +County, Kentucky, June 6, 1836. His father was a mulatto and a free +negro. His mother was a slave on the Everrett plantation and his +grandparents ware full-blooded African negroes. As a child he began work +as soon as possible and was put to work hoeing and picking cotton and +any other odd jobs that would keep him busy. He was one of a family of +several children, and is the sole survivor, a brother living in +Indianapolis, having died there in 1935.</p> + +<p>Following the custom of the south, when the children of the Everrett +family grew up, they married and slaves were given them for wedding +presents. John was given to a daughter who married a man of the name of +Eubanks, hence his name, John Eubanks. John was one of the more +fortunate slaves in that his mistress and master were kind and they were +in a state divided on the question of slavery. They favored the north. +The rest of the children were given to other members of the Everrett +family upon their marriage or sold down the river and never saw one +another until after the close of the Civil War.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, when the north seemed to +be losing, someone conceived the idea of forming negro regiments and as +an inducement to the slaves, they offered them freedom if they would +join the Union forces. John's mistress and master told him that if he +wished to join the Union forces, he had their consent and would not have +to run away like other slaves were doing. At the beginning of the war, +John was twenty-one years of age. When Lincoln freed the slaves by his +Emancipation Proclamation, John was promptly given his freedom by his +master and mistress.</p> + +<p>John decided to join the northern army which was located at Bowling +Green, Kentucky, a distance of thirty-five miles from Glasgow where John +was living. He had to walk the entire thirty-five miles. Although he +fails to remember all the units that he was attached to, he does +remember that it was part of General Sherman's army. His regiment +started with Sherman on his famous march through Georgia, but for some +reason unknown to John, shortly after the campaign was on its way, his +regiment was recalled and sent elsewhere.</p> + +<p>His regiment was near Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the time Lee +surrendered. Since Lee was a proud southerner and did not want the +negroes present when he surrendered, Grant probably for this reason as +much as any other refused to accept Lee's sword. When Lee surrendered +there was much shouting among the troops and John was one of many put to +work loading cannons on boats to be shipped up the river. His company +returned on the steamboat "Indiana." Upon his return to Glasgow, [HW: +Ky.] he saw for the first time in six years, his mother and other +members of his family who had returned free.</p> + +<p>Shortly after he returned to Glasgow at the close of the Civil War, he +saw several colored people walking down the highway and was attracted to +a young colored girl in the group who was wearing a yellow dress. +Immediately he said to himself, "If she ain't married there goes my +wife." Sometime later they met and were married Christmas day in 1866. +To this union twelve children were born four of whom are living today, +two in Gary and the others in the south. After his marriage he lived on +a farm near Glasgow for several years, later moving to Louisville, where +he worked in a lumber yeard. He came to Gary in 1924, two years after +the death of his wife.</p> + +<p>President Grant was the first president for whom he cast his vote and he +continued to vote until old age prevented him from walking to the polls.</p> + +<p>Although Lincoln is one of his favorite heroes, Teddy Roosevelt tops his +list of great men and he never failed to vote for him.</p> + +<p>In 1926, he was the only one of three surviving memebers of the Grand +Army of the Republic in Gary and mighty proud of the fact that he was +the only one in the parade. In 1937 he is the sole survivor.</p> + +<p>He served in the army as a member of Company K of the 108th, Kentucky +Infantry (Negro Volunteers).</p> + +<p>When General Morgan, the famous southern raider, crossed the Ohio on his +raid across southern Indiana, John was one of the Negro fighters who +after heavy fighting, forced Morgan to recross the river and retreat +back to the south. He also participated in several skirmishes with the +cavalry troops commanded by the famous Nathan Bedfored Forrest, and was +a member of the Negro garrison at Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi which +was assaulted and captured. This resulted in a massacre of the negro +soldiers. John was in several other fights, but as he says, "never onct +got a skinhurt."</p> + +<p>At the present time, Mr. Eubanks is residing with his daughter, Mrs. +Bertha Sloss and several grandchildren, in Gary, Indiana. He is badly +crippled with rheumatism, has poor eyesight and his memory is failing. +Otherwise his health is good. Most of his teeth are good and they are a +source of wonder to his dentist. He is ninety-eight years of age and +his wish in life now, is to live to be a hundred. Since his brother and +mother both died at ninety-eight and his paternal grandfather at one +hundred-ten years of age, he has a good chance to realize this ambition.</p> + +<p>Because of his condition most of this interview was had from his +grandchildren, who have taken notes in recent years of any incidents +that he relates. He is proud that most of his fifty grandchildren are +high school graduates and that two are attending the University of +Chicago.</p> + +<p>In 1935, he enjoyed a motor trip, when his family took him back to +Glasgow for a visit. He suffered no ill effects from the trip.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="EubanksJohn2"></a> +<h3>Archie Koritz, Field Worker<br> +816 Mound Street, Valparaiso, Indiana<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +Lake County, District #1<br> +Gary, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVES<br> +INTERVIEW WITH JOHN EUBANKS, EX-SLAVE</h3> +<br> + +<p>John Eubanks, Gary's only negro Civil War survivor has lived to see the +ninety-eighth anniversary of his birth and despite his advanced age, +recalls with surprising clarity many interesting and sad events of his +boyhood days when a slave on the Everett plantation.</p> + +<p>He was born in Glasgow, Barron County, Kentucky, June 6, 1839, one of +seven children of a chattel of the Everett family.</p> + +<p>The old man retains most of his faculties, but bears the mark of his +extreme age in an obvious feebleness and failing sight and memory. He is +physically large, says he once was a husky, weighing over two hundred +pounds, bears no scars or deformities and despite the hardships and +deprivations of his youth, presents a kindly and tolerant attitude.</p> + +<p>"I remembah well, us young uns on the Everett plantation," he relates, +"I worked since I can remembah, hoein', pickin' cotton and othah chohs +'round the fahm. We didden have much clothes, nevah no undahweah, no +shoes, old ovahalls and a tattahed shirt, wintah and summah. Come de +wintah, it be so cold mah feet weah plumb numb mos' o' de time and manya +time—when we git a chanct—we druve the hogs from outin the bogs an' +put ouah feet in the wahmed wet mud. They was cracked and the skin on +the bottoms and in de toes weah cracked and bleedin' mos' o' time, wit +bloody scabs but de summah healed them agin."</p> + +<p>"Does yohall remembah, Granpap," his daughter prompted, "Yoh +mahstah—did he treat you mean?"</p> + +<p>"No," his tolerant acceptance apparent in his answer, "it weah done +thataway. Slaves weah whipt and punished and the younguns belonged to +the mahstah to work foah him oh to sell. When I weah 'bout six yeahs +old, Mahstah Everett give me to Tony Eubanks as a weddin' present when +he married mahstah's daughtah Becky. Becky would'n let Tony whip her +slaves who came from her fathah's plantation. 'They ah my prophty,' she +say, 'an' you caint whip dem.' Tony whipt his othah slaves but not +Becky's."</p> + +<p>"I remembah" he continued, "how they tied de slave 'round a post, wit +hands tied togedder 'round the post, then a husky lash his back wid a +snakeskin lash 'til hisn back were cut and bloodened, the blood +spattered" gesticulating with his unusually large hands, "an' hisn back +all cut up. Den they'd pouh salt watah on hem. Dat dry and hahden and +stick to hem. He nevah take it off 'till it heal. Sometimes I see +marhstah Everett hang a slave tip-toe. He tie him up so he stan' tip-toe +an' leave him thataway.</p> + +<p>"I be twenty-one wehn wah broke out. Mahstah Eubanks say to me, 'Yohall +don' need to run 'way ifn yohall want to jine up wid de ahmy.' He say, +'Deh would be a fine effin slaves run off. Yohall don' haf to run off, +go right on and I do not pay dat fine.' He say, ''nlist in de ahmy but +don' run off.' Now I walk thirty-five mile from Glasgow to Bowling Green +to dis place—to da 'nlistin' place—from home fouh mile—to Glasgow—to +Bowling Green, thirty-five mile. On de road I meet up with two boys, so +we go on. Dey run 'way from Kentucky, and we go together. Then some +Bushwackers come down de road. We's scared and run to the woods and hid. +As we run tru de woods, pretty soon we heerd chickens crowing. We fill +ouah pockets wit stones. We goin' to kill chickens to eat. Pretty soon +we heerd a man holler, 'You come 'round outta der'—and I see a white +man and come out. He say, 'What yoh all doin' heah?' I turn 'round and +say, 'well boys, come on boys,' an' the boys come out. The man say, +'I'm Union Soldier. What yoh all doin' heah?' I say, 'We goin' to 'nlist +in de ahmy.' He say, 'Dat's fine' and he say, 'come 'long' He say, 'git +right on white man's side'—we go to station. Den he say, 'You go right +down to de station and give yoh inforhmation. We keep on walkin'. Den we +come to a white house wit stone steps in front so we go in. An' we got +to 'nlistin' place and jine up wit de ahmy.</p> + +<p>"Den we go trainin' in d' camp and we move on. Come to a little town ... +a little town. We come to Bolling Green ... den to Louiville. We come to +a rivah ... a rivah (painfully recalling) d' Mississippi.</p> + +<p>"We weah 'nfantry and petty soon we gits in plenty fights, but not a +scratch hit me. We chase dem cavalry. We run dem all night and next +mohnin' d' Captain he say, 'Dey done broke down.' When we rest, he say +'See dey don' trick you.' I say, 'We got all d' ahmy men togedder. We +hold dem back 'til help come.'</p> + +<p>"We don' have no tents. Sleep on naked groun' in wet and cold and rain. +Mos' d' time we's hungry but we win d' war and Mahstah Eubanks tell us +we no moah hisn property, we's free now."</p> + +<p>The old man can talk only in short sentences and his voice dies to a +whisper and soon the strain became evident. He was tired. What he does +remember is with surprising clearness especially small details, but with +a helpless gesture, he dismisses names and locations. He remembers the +exact date of his discharge, March 20, 1866, which his daughter verified +by producing his discharge papers. He remembers the place, Vicksburg, +the Company—K, and the Regiment, 180th. Dropping back once more to his +childhood he spoke of an incident which his daughter says makes them all +cry when he relates it, although they have heard it many times.</p> + +<p>"Mahstah Everett whipt me onct and mothah she cried. Then Mahstah +Everett say, 'Why yoh all cry?—Yoh cry I whip anothah of these young +uns. She try to stop. He whipt 'nother. He say, 'Ifn yoh all don' stop, +yoh be whipt too!' and mothah she trien to stop but teahs roll out, so +Mahstah Everett whip her too.</p> + +<p>"I wanted to visit mothah when I belong to Mahst' Eubanks, but Becky +say, 'Yoh all best not see youh mothah, or yoh wan' to go all de time' +then explaining, 'she wan' me to fohgit mothah, but I nevah could. When +I cm back from d' ahmy, I go home to mothah and say 'don' y'know me?' +She say, 'No, I don' know you.' I say, 'Yoh don' know me?' She say, 'No, +ah don' know yoh.' I say, 'I'se John.' Den she cry and say how ahd growd +and she thought I'se daid dis long time. I done 'splain how the many +fights I'se in wit no scratch and she bein' happy."</p> + +<p>Speaking of Abraham Lincoln's death, he remarked, "Sho now, ah remembah +dat well. We all feelin' sad and all d'soldiers had wreaths on der +guns."</p> + +<p>Upon his return from the army he married a young negress he had seen +some time previous at which time he had vowed some day to make her his +wife. He was married Christmas day, 1866. For a number of years he lived +on a farm of his own near Glasgow. Later he moved with his family to +Louisville where he worked in a lumber yard. In 1923, two years after +the death of his wife, he came to Gary, when he retired. He is now +living with his daughter, Mrs. Sloss, 2713 Harrison Boulevard, Gary.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="FieldsJohnW"></a> +<h3>Cecil C. Miller<br> +Dist. #3<br> +Tippecanoe Co.<br> +<br> +INTERVIEW WITH MR. JOHN W. FIELDS, EX-SLAVE OF CIVIL WAR PERIOD<br> +September 17, 1937</h3> +<br> + +<a name="img_JF1"></a> +<center> +<img src='images/jfields1.jpg' width='280' height='379' alt='John W. Fields'> +</center> +<br> + +<p>John W. Fields, 2120 North Twentieth Street, Lafayette, Indiana, now +employed as a domestic by Judge Burnett is a typical example of a fine +colored gentleman, who, despite his lowly birth and adverse +circumstances, has labored and economized until he has acquired a +respected place in his home community. He is the owner of three +properties; un-mortgaged, and is a member of the colored Baptist Church +of Lafayette. As will later be seen his life has been one of constant +effort to better himself spiritually and physically. He is a fine +example of a man who has lived a morally and physically clean life. But, +as for his life, I will let Mr. Fields speak for himself:</p> + +<p>"My name is John W. Fields and I'm eighty-nine (89) years old. I was +born March 27, 1848 in Owensburg, Ky. That's 115 miles below Louisville, +Ky. There was 11 other children besides myself in my family. When I was +six years old, all of us children were taken from my parents, because my +master died and his estate had to be settled. We slaves were divided by +this method. Three disinterested persons were chosen to come to the +plantation and together they wrote the names of the different heirs on a +few slips of paper. These slips were put in a hat and passed among us +slaves. Each one took a slip and the name on the slip was the new owner. +I happened to draw the name of a relative of my master who was a widow. +I can't describe the heartbreak and horror of that separation. I was +only six years old and it was the last time I ever saw my mother for +longer than one night. Twelve children taken from my mother in one day. +Five sisters and two brothers went to Charleston, Virginia, one brother +and one sister went to Lexington Ky., one sister went to Hartford, Ky., +and one brother and myself stayed in Owensburg, Ky. My mother was later +allowed to visit among us children for one week of each year, so she +could only remain a short time at each place.</p> + +<p>"My life prior to that time was filled with heart-aches and despair. We +arose from four to five O'clock in the morning and parents and children +were given hard work, lasting until nightfall gaves us our respite. +After a meager supper, we generally talked until we grew sleepy, we had +to go to bed. Some of us would read, if we were lucky enough to know +how.</p> + +<p>"In most of us colored folks was the great desire to able to read and +write. We took advantage of every opportunity to educate ourselves. The +greater part of the plantation owners were very harsh if we were caught +trying to learn or write. It was the law that if a white man was caught +trying to educate a negro slave, he was liable to prosecution entailing +a fine of fifty dollars and a jail sentence. We were never allowed to go +to town and it was not until after I ran away that I knew that they sold +anything but slaves, tobacco and wiskey. Our ignorance was the greatest +hold the South had on us. We knew we could run away, but what then? An +offender guilty of this crime was subjected to very harsh punishment.</p> + +<p>"When my masters estate had been settled, I was to go with the widowed +relative to her place, she swung me up on her horse behind her and +promised me all manner of sweet things if I would come peacefully. I +didn't fully realise what was happening, and before I knew it, I was on +my way to my new home. Upon arrival her manner changed very much, and +she took me down to where there was a bunch of men burning brush. She +said, "see those men" I said: yes. Well, go help them, she replied. So +at the age of six I started my life as an independent slave. From then +on my life as a slave was a repetition of hard work, poor quarters and +board. We had no beds at that time, we just "bunked" on the floor. I had +one blanket and manys the night I sat by the fireplace during the long +cold nights in the winter.</p> + +<p>"My Mistress had separated me from all my family but one brother with +sweet words, but that pose was dropped after she reached her place. +Shortly after I had been there, she married a northern man by the name +of David Hill. At first he was very nice to us, but he gradually +acquired a mean and overbearing manner toward us, I remember one +incident that I don't like to remember. One of the women slaves had been +very sick and she was unable to work just as fast as he thought she +ought to. He had driven her all day with no results. That night after +completeing our work he called us all together. He made me hold a light, +while he whipped her and then made one of the slaves pour salt water on +her bleeding back. My innerds turn yet at that sight.</p> + +<p>"At the beginning of the Civil War I was still at this place as a slave. +It looked at the first of the war as if the south would win, as most of +the big battles were won by the South. This was because we slaves stayed +at home and tended the farms and kept their families.</p> + +<p>"To eliminate this solid support of the South, the Emancipation Act was +passed, freeing all slaves. Most of the slaves were so ignorant they did +not realize they were free. The planters knew this and as Kentucky never +seceeded from the Union, they would send slaves into Kentucky from other +states in the south and hire them out to plantations. For these reasons +I did not realize that I was free untill 1864. I immediately resolved to +run away and join the Union Army and so my brother and I went to +Owensburg, Ky. and tried to join. My brother was taken, but I was +refused as being too young. I [HW: tried] at Evansville, Terre Haute and +Indianapolis but was unable to get in. I then tried to find work and was +finally hired by a man at $7.00 a month. That was my first independent +job. From then on I went from one job to another working as general +laborer.</p> + +<p>"I married at 24 years of age and had four children. My wife has been +dead for 12 years and 8 months. Mr. Miller, always remember that:</p> + +<pre> +"The brightest man, the prettiest flower +May be cut down, and withered in an hour." +</pre> + +<p>"Today, I am the only surviving member who helped organize the second +Baptist Church here in Lafayette, 64 years ago. I've tried to live +according to the way the Lord would wish, God Bless you."</p> + +<pre> +"The clock of Life is wound but once. +Today is yours, tomorrow is not. +No one knows when the hands will stop." +</pre> + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="FieldsJohnW2"></a> +<h3>Cecil Miller<br> +Dist. #3<br> +Tipp. Co. [TR: Tippecanoe Co.]<br> +<br> +NEGRO FOLKLORE<br> +MR. JOHN FIELDS, EX-SLAVE<br> +2120 N. 20th St. Lafayette, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<a name="img_JF2"></a> +<center> +<img src='images/jfields2.jpg' width='300' height='289' alt='John W. Fields'> +</center> + +<br> + +<p>Mr. Fields says that all negro slaves were ardent believers in ghosts, +supernatual powers, tokens and "signs." The following story illustrates +the point.</p> + +<p>"A turkey gobbler had mysteriously disappeared from one of the +neighboring plantations and the local slaves were accused of commeting +the fowl to a boiling pot. A slave convicted of theft was punished +severly. As all of the slaves denied any knowledge of the turkey's +whereabouts, they were instructed to make a search of the entire +plantation."</p> + +<p>"On one part of the place there was a large peach orchard. At the time +the trees were full of the green fruit. Under one of the trees there was +a large cabinet or "safe" as they were called. One of the slaves +accidently opened the safe and, Behold, there was Mr. Gobbler peacefully +seated on a number of green peaches.</p> + +<p>"The negro immediately ran back and notified his master of the +discovery. The master returned to the orchard with the slave to find +that the negro's wild tale was true. A turkey gobbler sitting on a nest +of green peaches. A bad omen.</p> + +<p>"The master had a son who had been seriously injured some time before by +a runaway team, and a few days after this unusual occurence with the +turkey, the son died. After his death, the word of the turkey's nesting +venture and the death of the master's son spread to this four winds, +and for some time after this story was related wherever there was a +public gathering with the white people or the slave population."</p> + +<p>All through the south a horseshoe was considered an omen of good luck. +Rare indeed was the southern home that did not have one nailed over the +door. This insured the household and all who entered of plesant +prospects while within the home. If while in the home you should perhaps +get into a violent argument, never hit the other party with a broom as +it was a sure indication of bad luck. If Grandad had the rheumatics, he +would be sure of relief if he carried a buckeye in his pocket.</p> + +<p>Of all the Ten Commandments, the one broken most by the negro was: Thou +Shalt Not Steal This was due mostly to the insufficent food the slaves +obtained. Most of the planters expected a chicken to suddenly get +heavenly aspirations once in a while, but as Mr. Fields says, "When a +beautiful 250 pound hog suddenly tries to kidnap himself, the planter +decided to investigate." It occured like this:</p> + +<p>A 250 pound hog had been fruitless. The planter was certain that the +culprit was among his group of slaves, so he decided to personally +conduct a quiet investigation.</p> + +<p>One night shortly after the moon had risen in the sky, two of the +negroes were seated at a table in one of the cabins talking of the +experiences of the day. A knock sounded on the door. Both slaves jumped +up and cautiously peeked out of the window. Lo there was the master +patiently waiting for an answer. The visiting negro decided that the +master must not see both of them and he asked the other to conceal him +while the master was there. The other slave told him to climb into the +attic and be perfectly quiet. When this was done, the tenant of the +cabin answered the door.</p> + +<p>The master strode in and gazed about the cabin. He then turned abruptly +to the slave and growled, 'Alright, where is that hog you stoled.' +'Massa, replied the negro, 'I know nothing about no hog. The master was +certain that the slave was lying and told him so in no uncertain terms. +The terrified slave said, 'Massa, I know nothing of any hog. I never +seed him. The Good Man up above knows I never seed him. HE knows every +thing and HE knows I didn't steal him; The man in the attic by this time +was aroused at the misunderstood conversation taking place below him. +Disregarding all, he raised his voice and yelled, 'He's a liar, Massa, +he knows just as much about it as I do.'</p> + +<p>Most of the strictly negro folklore has faded into the past. The younger +negro generations who have been reared and educated in the north have +lost this bearing and assumed the lore of the local white population +through their daily contact with the whites. The older negro natives of +this section are for the most part employed as domestics and through +this channel rapidly assimilated the employers viewpoint in most of his +beliefs and conversations.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="FortmanGeorge"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District 5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +INDIANS MADE SLAVES AMONG THE NEGROES.<br> +INTERVIEWS WITH GEORGE FORTMAN<br> +Cor. Bellemeade Ave. and Garvin St.<br> +Evansville, Indiana, and other interested citizens</h3> +<br> + +<p>"The story of my life, I will tell to you with sincerest respect to all +and love to many, although reviewing the dark trail of my childhood and +early youth causes me great pain." So spoke George Fortman, an aged man +and former slave, although the history of his life reveals that no Negro +blood runs through his veins.</p> + +<p>"My story necessarily begins by relating events which occurred in 1838, +when hundreds of Indians were rounded up like cattle and driven away +from the valley of the Wabash. It is a well known fact recorded in the +histories of Indiana that the long journey from the beautiful Wabash +Valley was a horrible experience for the fleeing Indians, but I have the +tradition as relating to my own family, and from this enforced flight +ensued the tragedy of my birth."</p> + +<p>The aged ex-slave reviews tradition. "My two ancestors, John Hawk, a +Blackhawk Indian brave, and Racheal, a Chackatau maiden had made +themselves a home such as only Indians know, understand and enjoy. He +was a hunter and a fighter but had professed faith in Christ through the +influence of the missionaries. My greatgrandmother passed the facts on +to her children and they have been handed down for four generations. I, +in turn, have given the traditions to my children and grandchildren.</p> + +<p>"No more peaceful home had ever offered itself to the red man than the +beautiful valley of the Wabash river. Giant elms, sycamores and maple +trees bordered the stream while the fertile valley was traversed with +creeks and rills, furnishing water in abundance for use of the Indian +campers.</p> + +<p>"The Indians and the white settlers in the valley transacted business +with each other and were friendly towards each other, as I have been +told by my mother, Eliza, and my grandmother, Courtney Hawk.</p> + +<p>"The missionaries often called the Indian families together for the +purpose of teaching them and the Indians had been invited, prior to +being driven from the valley, to a sort of festival in the woods. They +had prepared much food for the occasion. The braves had gone on a long +hunt to provide meat and the squaws had prepared much corn and other +grain to be used at the feast. All the tribes had been invited to a +council and the poor people were happy, not knowing they were being +deceived.</p> + +<p>"The decoy worked, for while the Indians were worshiping God the meeting +was rudely interrupted by orders of the Governor of the State. The +Governor, whose duty it was to give protection to the poor souls, caused +them to be taken captives and driven away at the point of swords and +guns.</p> + +<p>"In vain, my grandmother said, the Indians prayed to be let return to +their homes. Instead of being given their liberty, some several hundred +horses and ponies were captured to be used in transporting the Indians +away from the valley. Many of the aged Indians and many innocent +children died on the long journey and traditional stories speak of that +journey as the 'trail of death.'"</p> + +<p>"After long weeks of flight, when the homes of the Indians had been +reduced to ashes, the long trail still carried them away from their +beautiful valley. My greatgrandfather and his squaw became acquainted +with a party of Indians that were going to the canebrakes of Alabama. +The pilgrims were not well fed or well clothed and they were glad to +travel towards the south, believing the climate would be favorable to +their health.</p> + +<p>"After a long and dreary journey, the Indians reached Alabama. Rachael +had her youngest papoose strapped on to her back while John had cared +for the larger child, Lucy. Sometimes she had walked beside her father +but often she had become weary or sleepy and he had carried her many +miles of the journey, besides the weight of blankets and food. An older +daughter, Courtney, also accompanied her parents.</p> + +<p>"When they neared the cane lands they heard the songs of Negro slaves as +they toiled in the cane. Soon they were in sight of the slave quarters +of Patent George's plantation. The Negroes made the Indians welcome and +the slave dealer allowed them to occupy the cane house; thus the Indians +became slaves of Patent George.</p> + +<p>"Worn out from his long journey John Hawk became too ill to work in the +sugar cane. The kindly-disposed Negroes helped care for the sick man but +he lived only a few months. Rachel and her two children remained on the +plantation, working with the other slaves. She had nowhere to go. No +home to call her own. She had automatically become a slave. Her children +had become chattel.</p> + +<p>"So passed a year away, then unhappiness came to the Indian mother, for +her daughter, Courtney, became the mother of young Master Ford George's +child. The parents called the little half-breed "Eliza" and were very +fond of her. The widow of John Hawk became the mother of Patent George's +son, Patent Junior.</p> + +<p>"The tradition of the family states that in spite of these irregular +occurrences the people at the George's southern plantation were +prosperous, happy, and lived in peace each with the others. Patent +George wearied of the Southern climate and brought his slaves into +Kentucky where their ability and strength would amass a fortune for the +master in the iron ore regions of Kentucky.</p> + +<p>"With the wagon trains of Patent and Ford George came Rachel Hawk and +her daughters, Courtney, Lucy and Rachel. Rachel died on the journey +from Alabama but the remaining full blooded Indians entered Kentucky as +slaves.</p> + +<p>"The slave men soon became skilled workers in the Hillman Rolling +Mills. Mr. Trigg was owner of the vast iron works called the "Chimneys" +in the region, but listed as the Hillman, Dixon, Boyer, Kelley and Lyons +Furnaces. For more than a half century these chimneys smoked as the most +valuable development in the western area of Kentucky. Operated in 1810, +these furnaces had refined iron ore to supply the United States Navy +with cannon balls and grape shot, and the iron smelting industry +continued until after the close of the Civil War.</p> + +<p>"No slaves were beaten at the George's plantation and old Mistress +Hester Lam allowed no slave to be sold. She was a devoted friend to all.</p> + +<p>"As Eliza George, daughter of Ford George and Courtney Hawk, grew into +young womanhood the young master Ford George went oftener and oftener to +social functions. He was admired for his skill with firearms and for his +horsemanship. While Courtney and his child remained at the plantation +Ford enjoyed the companship of the beautiful women of the vicinity. At +last he brought home the beautiful Loraine, his young bride. Courtney +was stoical as only an Indian can be. She showed no hurt but helped +Mistress Hester and Mistress Loraine with the house work."</p> + +<p>Here George Fortman paused to let his blinded eyes look back into the +long ago. Then he again continued with his story of the dark trail.</p> + +<p>"Mistress Loraine became mother of two sons and a daughter and the big +white two-story house facing the Cumberland River at Smith Landing, +Kentucky, became a place of laughter and happy occasions, so my mother +told me many times.</p> + +<p>"Suddenly sorrow settled down over the home and the laughter turned into +wailing, for Ford George's body was found pierced through the heart and +the half-breed, Eliza, was nowhere to be found.</p> + +<p>"The young master's body lay in state many days. Friends and neighbors +came bringing flowers. His mother, bowed with grief, looked on the still +face of her son and understood—understood why death had come and why +Eliza had gone away.</p> + +<p>"The beautiful home on the Cumberland river with its more than 600 acres +of productive land was put into the hands of an administrator of estates +to be readjusted in the interest of the George heirs. It was only then +Mistress Hester went to Aunt Lucy and demanded of her to tell where +Eliza could be found.</p> + +<p>'She has gone to Alabama, Ole Mistus', said Aunt Lucy, 'Eliza was scared +to stay here.' A party of searchers were sent out to look for Eliza. +They found her secreted in a cane brake in the low lands of Alabama +nursing her baby boy at her breast. They took Eliza and the baby back to +Kentucky. I am that baby, that child of unsatisfactory birth."</p> + +<p>The face of George Fortman registered sorrow and pain, it had been hard +for him to retell the story of the dark road to strange ears.</p> + +<p>"My white uncles had told Mistress Hester that if Eliza brought me back +they were going to build a fire and put me in it, my birth was so +unsatisfactory to all of them, but Mistress Hester always did what she +believed was right and I was brought up by my own mother.</p> + +<p>"We lived in a cabin at the slave quarters and mother worked in the +broom cane. Mistress Hester named me Ford George, in derision, but +remained my friend. She was never angry with my mother. She knew a slave +had to submit to her master and besides Eliza did not know she was +Master Ford George's daughter."</p> + +<p>The truth had been told at last. The master was both the father of Eliza +and the father of Eliza's son.</p> + +<p>"Mistress Hester believed I would be feeble either in mind or body +because of my unsatisfactory birth, but I developed as other children +did and was well treated by Mistress Hester, Mistress Lorainne and her +children.</p> + +<p>"Master Patent George died and Mistress Hester married Mr. Lam, while +slaves kept working at the rolling mills and amassing greater wealth for +the George families.</p> + +<p>"Five years before the outbreak of the Civil War Mistress Hester called +all the slaves together and gave us our freedom. Courtney, my +grandmother, kept house for Mistress Lorainne and wanted to stay on, so +I too was kept at the George home. There was a sincere friendship as +great as the tie of blood between the white family and the slaves. My +mother married a negro ex-slave of Ford George and bore children for +him. Her health failed and when Mistress Puss, the only daughter of +Mistress Lorainne, learned she was ill she persuaded the Negro man to +sell his property and bring Eliza back to live with her."</p> + +<p>[TR: in following section the name George 'Fordman' is used twice.]</p> + +<p>"Why are you called George Fordman when your name is Ford George?" was +the question asked the old man.</p> + +<p>"Then the Freedsmen started teaching school in Kentucky the census taker +called to enlist me as a pupil. 'What do you call this child?' he asked +Mistress Lorainne. 'We call him the Little Captain because he carried +himself like a soldier,' said Mistress Lorainne. 'He is the son of my +husband and a slave woman but we are rearing him.' Mistress Lorainne +told the stranger that I had been named Ford George in derision and he +suggested she list me in the census as George Fordsman, which she did, +but she never allowed me to attend the Freedmen's School, desiring to +keep me with her own children and let me be taught at home. My mother's +half brother, Patent George allowed his name to be reversed to George +Patent when he enlisted in the Union Service at the outbreak of the +Civil War."</p> + +<p>Some customs prevalent in the earlier days were described by George +Fordman. "It was customary to conduct a funeral differently than it is +conducted now," he said. "I remember I was only six years old when old +Mistress Hester Lam passed on to her eternal rest. She was kept out of +her grave several days in order to allow time for the relatives, +friends and ex-slaves to be notified of her death.</p> + +<p>"The house and yard were full of grieving friends. Finally the lengthy +procession started to the graveyard. Within the George's parlors there +had been Bible passages read, prayers offered up and hymns sung, now the +casket was placed in a wagon drawn by two horses. The casket was covered +with flowers while the family and friends rode in ox carts, horse-drawn +wagons, horseback, and with still many on foot they made their way +towards the river.</p> + +<p>"When we reached the river there were many canoes busy putting the people +across, besides the ferry boat was in use to ferry vehicles over the +stream. The ex-slaves were crying and praying and telling how good +granny had been to all of them and explaining how they knew she had gone +straight to Heaven, because she was so kind—and a Christian. There were +not nearly enough boats to take the crowd across if they crossed back +and forth all day, so my mother, Eliza, improvised a boat or 'gunnel', +as the craft was called, by placing a wooden soap box on top of a long +pole, then she pulled off her shoes and, taking two of us small children +in her arms, she paddled with her feet and put us safely across the +stream. We crossed directly above Iaka, Livingston county, three miles +below Grand River.</p> + +<p>"At the burying ground a great crowd had assembled from the neighborhood +across the river and there were more songs and prayers and much weeping. +The casket was let down into the grave without the lid being put on and +everybody walked up and looked into the grave at the face of the dead +woman. They called it the 'last look' and everybody dropped flowers on +Mistress Hester as they passed by. A man then went down and nailed on +the lid and the earth was thrown in with shovels. The ex-slaves filled +in the grave, taking turns with the shovel. Some of the men had worked +at the smelting furnaces so long that their hands were twisted and +hardened from contact with the heat. Their shoulders were warped and +their bodies twisted but they were strong as iron men from their years +of toil. When the funeral was over mother put us across the river on the +gunnel and we went home, all missing Mistress Hester.</p> + +<p>"My cousin worked at Princeton, Kentucky, making shoes. He had never +been notified that he was free by the kind emancipation Mrs. Hester had +given to her slaves, and he came loaded with money to give to his white +folks. Mistress Lorainne told him it was his own money to keep or to +use, as he had been a free man several months.</p> + +<p>"As our people, white and black and Indians, sat talking they related +how they had been warned of approaching trouble. Jack said the dogs had +been howling around the place for many nights and that always presaged a +death in the family. Jack had been compelled to take off his shoes and +turn them soles up near the hearth to prevent the howling of the dogs. +Uncle Robert told how he believed some of Mistress Hester's enemies had +planted a shrub near her door and planted it with a curse so that when +the shrub bloomed the old woman passed away. Then another man told how a +friend had been seen carrying a spade into his cousin's cabin and the +cousin had said, 'Daniel, what foh you brung that weapon into by [TR: my?] cabin? +That very spade will dig my grave,' and sure enough the cousin had died +and the same spade had been used in digging his grave.</p> + +<p>"How my childish nature quailed at hearing the superstitions discussed, +I cannot explain. I have never believed in witchcraft nor spells, but I +remember my Indian grandmother predicted a long, cold winter when she +noticed the pelts of the coons and other furred creatures were +exceedingly heavy. When the breastbones of the fowls were strong and +hard to sever with the knife it was a sign of a hard, cold and snowy +winter. Another superstition was this: 'A green winter, a new +graveyard—a white winter, a green graveyard.'"</p> + +<p>George Fortman relates how, when he accompanied two of his cousins into +the lowlands—there were very many Katy-dids in the trees—their voices +formed a nerve-racking orchestra and his cousin told him to tiptoe to +the trees and touch each tree with the tips of his fingers. This he did, +and for the rest of the day there was quiet in the forest.</p> + +<p>"More than any other superstition entertained by the slave Negroes, the +most harmful was the belief on conjurors. One old Negro woman boiled a +bunch of leaves in an iron pot, boiled it with a curse and scattered the +tea therein brewed, and firmly believed she was bringing destruction to +her enemies. 'Wherever that tea is poured there will be toil and +troubles,' said the old woman.</p> + +<p>"The religion of many slaves was mostly superstition. They feared to +break the Sabbath, feared to violate any of the Commandments, believing +that the wrath of God would follow immediately, blasting their lives.</p> + +<p>"Things changed at the George homestead as they change everywhere," said +George Fortman. "When the Civil War broke out many slaves enlisted in +hopes of receiving freedom. The George Negroes were already free but +many thought it their duty to enlist and fight for the emancipation of +their fellow slaves. My mother took her family and moved away from the +plantation and worked in the broom cane. Soon she discovered she could +not make enough to rear her children and we were turned over to the +court to be bound out.</p> + +<p>"I was bound out to David Varnell in Livingston County by order of Judge +Busch and I stayed there until I was fifteen years of age. My sister +learned that I was unhappy there and wanted to see my mother, so she +influenced James Wilson to take me into his home. Soon goodhearted Jimmy +Wilson took me to see Mother and I went often to see her."</p> + +<p>Sometimes George would become stubborn and hard to control and then Mr. +Wilson administered chastisement. His wife could not bear to have the +boy punished. 'Don't hit him, Jimmie, don't kick him,' would say the +good Scotch woman, who was childless. 'If he does not obey me I will +whip him,' James Wilson would answer. So the boy learned the lesson of +obedience from the old couple and learned many lessons in thrift through +their examples.</p> + +<p>"In 1883 I left the Wilson home and began working and trying to save +some money. River trade was prosperous and I became a 'Roustabout'. The +life of the roustabout varied some with the habits of the roustabout and +the disposition of the mate. We played cards, shot dice and talked to +the girls who always met the boats. The 'Whistling Coon' was a popular +song with the boatmen and one version of 'Dixie Land'. One song we often +sang when near a port was worded 'Hear the trumpet Sound'—</p> + +<pre> +Hear the trumpet sound, +Stand up and don't sit down, +Keep steppin' 'round and 'round, +Come jine this elegant band. + +If you don't step up and jine the bout, +Old Missus sure will fine it out, +She'll chop you in the head wid a golen ax, +You never will have to pay da tax, +Come jine the roust-a-bout band." +</pre> + +<p>From roust-a-bout George became a cabin boy, cook, pilot, and held a +number of positions on boats, plowing different streams. There was much +wild game to be had and the hunting season was always open. He also +remembers many wolves, wild turkeys, catamounts and deer in abundance +near the Grand River. "Pet deer loafed around the milking pens and ate +the feed from the mangers" said he.</p> + +<p>George Fortman is a professor of faith in Christ. He was baptized in +Concord Lake, seven miles from Clarksville, Tennessee, became a member +of the Pleasant Greene Church at Callwell, Kentucky and later a member +of the Liberty Baptist Church at Evansville.</p> + +<p>"I have always kept in touch with my white folks, the George family," +said the man, now feeble and blind. "Four years ago Mistress Puss died +and I was sent for but was not well enough to make the trip home."</p> + +<p>Too young to fight in the Civil War, George was among those who watched +the work go on. "I lived at Smiths Landing and remember the battle at +Fort Donnelson. It was twelve miles away and a long cinder walk reached +from the fort for nearly thirty miles. The cinders were brought from the +iron ore mills and my mother and I have walked the length of it many +times." Still reviewing the long, dark trail he continued. "Boatloads of +soldiers passed Smith's Landing by day and night and the reports of +cannon could be heard when battles were fought. We children collected +Munnie balls near the fort for a long time after the war."</p> + +<p>Although the George family never sold slaves or separated Negro +families, George Fortman has seen many boats loaded with slaves on the +way to slave marts. Some of the George Negroes were employed as pilots +on the boats. He also remembers slave sales where Negroes were auctioned +by auctioneers, the Negroes stripped of clothes to exhibit their +physique.</p> + +<p>"I have always been befriended by three races of people, the Caucassian, +the African, and the Negro," declares George Fortman. "I have worked as +a farmer, a river man, and been employed by the Illinois Central +Railroad Company and in every position I have held I have made loyal +friends of my fellow workmen." One friend, treasured in the memory of +the aged ex-slave is Ollie James, who once defended George in court.</p> + +<p>George Fortman has friends at Dauson Springs, Grayson Springs, and other +Kentucky resorts. He has been a citizen of Evansville for thirty-five +years and has had business connections here for sixty-two years. He +janitored for eleven years for the Lockyear Business College, but his +days of usefulness are over. He now occupies a room at Bellemeade Ave. +and Garvin St. and his only exercise consists of a stroll over to the +Lincoln High School. There he enjoys listening to the voices of the +pupils as they play about the campus. "They are free", he rejoices. +"They can build their own destinies, they did not arrive in this life +by births of unsatisfactory circumstances. They have the world before +them and my grandsons and granddaughters are among them."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="GibsonJohnHenry"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +JOHN HENRY GIBSON—EX-SLAVE<br> +Colton Street</h3> +<br> + +<p>John Henry Gibson was born a slave, many years ago, in Scott County, +N.C.</p> + +<p>His old master, John Henry Bidding, was a wealthy farmer; he also owned +the hotel, or rooming house.</p> + +<p>When court was in session the "higher ups" would come to this house, and +stay until the court affairs were settled.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bidding, who was very kind to his slaves, died when John Gibson was +very young. All slaves and other property passed on to the son, Joseph +Bidding, who in turn was as kind as his father had been.</p> + +<p>Gibson's father belonged to General Lee Gibson, who was a neighboring +farmer. He saw and met Miss Elizabeth Bidding's maid; they liked each +other so very much, Miss Elizabeth bought him from General Gibson, and +let him have her maid as his wife. The wife lived only a short time, +leaving a little boy.</p> + +<p>After the Civil war, a white man, by the name of Luster, was comming to +Ohio, brought John Gibson with him. They came to Indianapolis, and +Gibson liked it so well, he decided to remain; Mr. Luster told him if he +ever became dissatisfied to come on to Ohio to him, but he remained in +Indianapolis until 1872, then went back south, married, came back, and +made Indianapolis his home.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. Gibson is very old, but does not know his exact age. He fought in +the Civil war, and said he could not be very young to have done that.</p> + +<p>His sight is very nearly gone, can only distinguish light and dark.</p> + +<p>He is very proud of his name, having been named for his old master.</p> + +Submitted January 24, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="GuwnBetty"></a> +<h3>Submitted by:<br> +William Webb Tuttle<br> +District No. 2<br> +Muncie, Indiana<br> +<br> +NEGRO SLAVES IN DELAWARE COUNTY<br> +MRS. BETTY GUWN<br> +MRS. HATTIE CASH, DAUGHTER,<br> +residing at 1101 East Second Street<br> +Muncie, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Betty Guwn was born March 25, 1832, as a slave on a tobacco +plantation, near Canton, Kentucky. It was a large plantation whose +second largest product was corn. She was married while quite young by +the slave method which was a form of union customary between the white +masters. If the contracting parties were of different plantations the +masters of the two estates bargained and the one sold his rights to the +one on whose plantation they would live. Her master bought her husband, +brought him and set them up a shack. Betty was the personal attendant of +the Mistress. The home was a large Colonial mansion and her duties were +many and responsible. However, when her house duties were caught up her +mistress sent her immediately to the fields. Discipline was quite stern +there and she was "lined up" with the others on several occasions.</p> + +<p>Her cabin home began to fill up with children, fifteen in all. The +ventilation was ample and the husband would shoot a prowling dog from +any of the four sides of the room without opening the door. The cracks +between the logs would be used by cats who could step in anywhere. The +slaves had "meetin'" some nights and her mistress would call her and +have her turn a tub against her mansion door to keep out the sound.</p> + +<p>Her master was very wealthy. He owned and managed a cotton farm of two +thousand acres down in Mississippi, not far from New Orleans. Once a +year he spent three months there gathering and marketing his cotton. +When he got ready to go there he would call all his slaves about him and +give them a chance to volunteer. They had heard awful tales of the slave +auction block at New Orleans, and the Master would solemnly promise them +that they should not be sold if they went down of their own accord. "My +Mistress called me to her and privately told me that when I was asked +that question I should say to him: "I will go". The Master had to take +much money with him and was afraid of robbers. The day they were to +start my Mistress took me into a private room and had me remove most of +my clothing; she then opened a strong box and took out a great roll of +money in bills; these she strapped to me in tight bundles, arranging +them around my waist in the circle of my body. She put plenty of dresses +over this belt and when she was through I wore a bustle of money clear +around my belt. I made a funny "figger" but no one noticed my odd shape +because I was a slave and no one expected a slave to "know better". We +always got through safely and I went down with my Mistress every year. +Of course my husband stayed at home to see after the family, and took +them to the fields when too young to work under the task master, or +over-seer. Three months was a long time to be separated."</p> + +<p>"When the Civil War came on there was great excitement among we slaves. +We were watched sharply, especially soldier timber for either army. My +husband ran away early and helped Grant to take Fort Donaldson. He said +he would free himself, which he did; but when we were finally set free +all our family prepared to leave. The Master begged us to stay and +offered us five pounds of meal and two pounds of pork jowl each week if +we would stay and work. We all went to Burgard, Kentucky, to live. At +that time I was about 34 years old. My husband has been dead a long time +and I live with my children. If the "Good Lord" spares me until next +March the 25th, I will be 106 years old. I walk all about lively without +crutches and eye-glasses and I have never been sick until this year when +a tooth gave me trouble; but I had it pulled."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="HockadayMrs"></a> +<h3>Archie Koritz, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +Porter County—District #1<br> +Valparaiso, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVES<br> +MRS. HOCKADAY<br> +2581 Madison Street<br> +Gary, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Hockaday is the daughter of an ex-slave and like so many others +does not care to discuss the dark side of slavery and the cruel +treatment that some of them received.</p> + +<p>After the Civil War the slaves who for the most part were unskilled and +ignorant, found it very difficult to adjust themselves to their new life +as free persons. Formerly, they lived on the land of their masters and +although compelled to work long hours, their food and lodging were +provided for them. After their emancipation, this life was changed. They +were free and had to think for themselves and make a living. Times for +the negro then was much the same as during the depression. Several of +the slaves started out to secure jobs, but all found it difficult to +adjust themselves to the new life and difficult to secure employment. +Many came back to their old owners and many were afraid to leave and +continued on much as before.</p> + +<p>The north set up stores or relief stations where the negro who was +unable to secure employment could obtain food and shelter. Mrs. Hockaday +says it was the same as conditions have been the last few years.</p> + +<p>About all the negro was skilled at was servant work and when they came +north, they encountered the same difficulties as several of the colored +folks who, driven by the terrible living conditions in the south four +years ago, came to Gary. Arriving here they believed they were capable +of servant work. However they were not accustomed to modern appliances +and found it very difficult to adjust themselves. It was the same after +the Emancipation.</p> + +<p>Many owners were kind and religious and had schools for their slaves, +where they could learn to read and write. These slaves were more +successful in securing employment.</p> + +<p>Although the negro loved the Bible most of all books, and were mostly +Methodists and Baptists, their different religious beliefs is caused by +the slave owners having churches for the slaves. Whatever church the +master belonged to, the slaves belonged to, and continued in the same +church after the war.</p> + +<p>Since slaves took the name of their owners, children in the same family +would have different names. Mr. Hockaday's father and his brothers and +sisters all had different names. On the plantation they were called +"Jones' Jim," "Brown's Jones," etc. Many on being freed left their old +homes and adopted any name that they took a fancy to. One slave that +Mrs. Hockaday remembers took the name of Green Johnson and says he often +remarked that he surely was green to adopt such a name. His grandson in +Gary is an exact double for Clark Gable, except he is brown, and Gable +is white.</p> + +<p>Many slave owners gave their slaves small tracts of land which they +could tend after working hours. Anything raised belonged to them and +they could even sell the products and the money was theirs. Many slaves +were able to save enough from these tracts to purchase their freedom +long before the Emancipation.</p> + +<p>Another condition that confronted the negro in the north was that they +were not understood like they were by the southern people. In the south +they were trusted and considered trustworthy by their owners. Even +during the Civil War, they were trusted with the family jewels, silver, +etc., when the northern army came marching by, whereas in the north, +even though they freed the slaves, they would not trust them. For that +reason, many of the slaves did not like the northern people and remained +or returned to the southern plantations.</p> + +<p>The slave owners thought that slavery was right and nothing was wrong +about selling and buying human beings if they were colored, much as a +person would purchase a horse or automobile today. The owners who +whipped their slaves usually stripped them to the waist and lashed them +with a long leather whip, commonly called a blacksnake.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hockaday is a large, pleasant, middle-aged woman and does not like +to discuss the cruel side of slavery and only recalls in a general way +what she had heard old slaves discuss.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="HowardRobert"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +ROBERT HOWARD—EX-SLAVE<br> +1840 Boulevard Place</h3> +<br> + +<p>Robert Howard, an ex-slave, was born in 1852, in Clara County, Kentucky.</p> + +<p>His master, Chelton Howard, was very kind to him.</p> + +<p>The mother, with her five children, lived on the Howard farm in peace +and harmony.</p> + +<p>His father, Beverly Howard, was owned by Bill Anderson, who kept a +saloon on the river front.</p> + +<p>Beverly was "hired out" in the house of Bill Anderson. He was allowed to +go to the Howard farm every Saturday night to visit with his wife and +children. This visit was always looked forward to with great joy, as +they were devoted to the father.</p> + +<p>The Howard family was sold only once, being owned first by Dr. Page in +Henry County, Kentucky. The family was not separated; the entire family +was bought and kept together until slavery was abolished.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Commen</b>t</p> + +<p>Mr. Howard seems to be a very kind old man, lives in the house for aged +colored people (The Alpha Home).</p> + +<p>He has no relatives, except a brother. He seems well satisfied living in +the home.</p> + +Submitted January 10, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="HumeMatthew"></a> +<h3>Grace Monroe<br> +Dist. 4<br> +Jefferson County<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +MR. MATTHEW HUME, A FORMER SLAVE</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mr. Hume had many interesting experiences to tell concerning the part +slavery had played in his family. On the whole they were fortunate in +having a good master who would not keep an overseer who whipped his +"blacks".</p> + +<p>His father, Luke Hume, lived in Trimble County Kentucky and was allowed +to raise for himself one acre of tobacco, one acre of corn, garden +stuff, chickens and have the milk and butter from one cow. He was +advised to save his money by the overseer, but always drank it up. On +this plantation all the slaves were free from Saturday noon until Monday +morning and on Christmas and the Fourth of July. A majority of them +would go to Bedford or Milton and drink, gamble and fight. On the +neighboring farm the slaves were treated cruelly. Mr. Hume had a +brother-in-law, Steve Lewis, who carried marks on his back. For years he +had a sore that would not heal where his master had struck him with a +blacksnake whip.</p> + +<p>Three good overseers were Jake Mack and Mr. Crafton, Mr. Daniel Payne +was the owner who asked his people to report any mistreatment to him. He +expected obedience however.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Hume was a small boy he was placed in the fields to hoe. He +also wanted a new implement. He was so small he was unable to keep near +enough to the men and boys to hear what they were talking about, he +remembered bringing up the rear one day, when he saw a large rock he +carefully covered it with dirt, then came down hard on it breaking his +hoe. He missed a whipping and received a new tool to replace the old +one, after this he could keep near enough to hear what the other workers +were talking about.</p> + +<p>Another of his duties was to go for the cattle, he had to walk around +the road about a mile, but was permitted to come back through the fields +about a quarter of a mile. One afternoon his mistress told him to bring +a load of wood when he came in. In the summer it was the custom to have +the children carry the wood from the fields. When he came up he saw his +mistress was angry this peeved him, so that he stalked into the hall +and slammed his wood into the box. About this time his mistress shoved +him into a small closet and locked the door. He made such a howl that he +brought his mother and father to the rescue and was soon released from +his prison.</p> + +<p>As soon as the children were old enough they were placed in the fields +to prepare the ground for setting tobacco plants. This was a very +complicated procedure. The ground was made into hills, each requiring +about four feet of soil. The child had to get all the clods broken fine. +Then place his foot in the center and leave his track. The plants were +to be set out in the center and woe to the youngster who had failed to +pulverize his hill. After one plowing the tobacco was hand tended. It +was long green and divided into two grades. It was pressed by being +placed in large hogsheads and weighted down. On one occasion they were +told their tobacco was so eaten up that the worms were sitting on the +fence waiting for the leaves to grow but nevertheless in some manner his +master hid the defects and received the best price paid in the +community.</p> + +<p>The mistress on a neighboring plantation was a devout Catholic, and had +all the children come each Sunday after-noon to study the catechism and +repeat the Lord's Prayer. She was not very successful in training them +in the Catholic faith as when they grew up most of them were either +Baptists or Methodists. Mr. Hume said she did a lot of good in leading +them to Christ but he did not learn much of the catechism as he only +attended for the treat. After the service they always had candy or a cup +of sugar.</p> + +<p>On the Preston place there was a big strapping negro of eighteen whom +the overseer attempted to whip receiving the worst of it. He then went +to Mr. Hume's owner and asked for help but was told he would have to +seek elsewhere for help. Finally some one was found to assist. Smith was +tied to a tree and severely beaten, then they were afraid to untie him, +when the overseer finally ventured up and loosened the ropes, Smith +kicked him as hard as he could and ran to the Payne estate refusing to +return. He was a good helper here where he received kind treatment.</p> + +<p>A bad overseer was discharged once by Mr. Payne because of his cruelty +to Mr. Luke Hume. The corncrib was a tiny affair where a man had to +climb out one leg at a time, one morning just as Mr. Hume's father was +climbing out with his feed, he was struck over the head with a large +club, the next morning he broke the scoop off an iron shovel and +fastened the iron handle to his body. This time he swung himself from +the door of the crib and seeing the overseer hiding to strik him he +threw his bar, which made a wound on the man's head which did not knock +him out. As soon as Mr. Payne heard of the disturbance the overseer was +discharged and Mr. Mack placed in charge of the slaves.</p> + +<p>One way of exacting obedience was to threaten to send offenders South to +work in the fields. The slaves around Lexington, Kentucky, came out +ahead on one occasion. The collector was Shrader. He had the slaves +handcuffed to a large leg chain and forced on a flat boat. There were so +many that the boat was grounded, so some of the slaves were released to +push the boat off. Among the "blacks" was one who could read and write. +Before Shrader could chain them up again, he was seized and chained, +taken to below Memphis Tennessee and forced to work in the cotton fields +until he was able to get word from Richmond identifying him. In the +meantime the educated negro issued freedom papers to his companions. +Many of them came back to Lexington, Kentucky where they were employed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hume thought the Emancipation Proclamation was the greatest work +that Abraham Lincoln ever did. The colored people on his plantation did +not learn of it until the following August. Then Mr. Payne and his sons +offered to let them live on their ground with conditions similar to our +renting system, giving a share of the crop. They remained here until +Jan. 1, 1865 when they crossed the Ohio at Madison. They had a cow which +had been given them before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued but +this was taken away from them. So they came to Ind. homeless, friendless +and penniless.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hume and his aged wife have been married 62 years and resided in the +same community for 55 years where they are highly respected by all their +neighbors.</p> + +<p>He could not understand the attitude of his race who preferred to remain +in slavery receiving only food and shelter, rather than to be free +citizens where they could have the right to develop their individualism.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="JacksonHenrietta"></a> +<h3>Virginia Tulley<br> +District #2<br> +Fort Wayne, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVE OF ALLEN COUNTY<br> +[MRS. HENRIETTA JACKSON]</h3> + +References:<br> +A. Ft. Wayne News Sentinel November 21, 1931<br> +B. Personal interview<br> +[TR: There are no 'A' and 'B' annotations in the interview.]<br> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Henrietta Jackson, Fort Wayne resident, is distinguished for two +reasons; she is a centennarian and an ex-slave. Residing with her +daughter, Mrs. Jackson is very active and helps her daughter, who +operates a restaurant, do some of the lighter work. At the time I +called, an August afternoon of over 90 degrees temperature, Mrs. Jackson +was busy sweeping the floor. A little, rather stooped, shrunken body, +Mrs. Jackson gets around slowly but without the aid of a cane or support +of any kind. She wears a long dark cotton dress with a bandana on her +head with is now quite gray. Her skin is walnut brown her eyes peering +brightly through the wrinkles. She is intelligent, alert, cordial, very +much interested in all that goes on about her.</p> + +<p>Just how old Mrs. Jackson is, she herself doesn't know, but she thinks +she is about 105 years old. She looks much younger. Her youngest child +is 73 and she had nine, two of whom were twins. Born a slave in +Virginia, record of her birth was kept by the master. She cannot +remember her father as he was soon sold after Mrs. Jackson's death [TR: +birth?]. When still a child she was taken from her mother and sold. She +remembers the auction block and that she brought a good price as she was +strong and healthy. Her new master, Tom Robinson, treated her well and +never beat her. At first she was a plough hand, working in the cotton +fields, but then she was taken into the house to be a maid. While there +the Civil War broke out. Mrs. Jackson remembers the excitement and the +coming and going. Gradually the family lost its wealth, the home was +broken up. Everything was destroyed by the armies. Then came freedom for +the slaves. But Mrs. Jackson stayed on with the master for awhile. After +leaving she went to Alabama where she obtained work in a laundry +"ironing white folks' collars and cuffs." Then she got married and in +1917 she came to live with her daughter in Fort Wayne. Her husband, Levy +Jackson, has been dead 50 years. Of her children, only two are left. +Mrs. Jackson is sometimes very lonesome for her old home in "Alabamy", +where her friends lived, but for the most part, she is happy and +contented.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="JohnsonLizzie"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. LIZZIE JOHNSON<br> +706 North Senate Avenue, Apt. 1</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Johnson's father, Arthur Locklear, was born in Wilmington, N.C. in +1822. He lived in the South and endured many hardships until 1852. He +was very fortunate in having a white man befriend him in many ways. This +man taught him to read and write. Many nights after a hard days work, he +would lie on the floor in front of the fireplace, trying to study by the +light from the blazing wood, so he might improve his reading and +writing.</p> + +<p>He married very young, and as his family increased, he became ambitious +for them. Knowing their future would be very dark if they remained +South.</p> + +<p>He then started a movement to come north. There were about twenty-six or +twenty-eight men and women, who had the same thoughts about their +children, banded together, and in 1852 they started for somewhere, +North.</p> + +<p>The people selected, had to be loyal to the cause of their children's +future lives, morally clean, truthful, and hard-working.</p> + +<p>Some had oxen, some had carts. They pooled all of their scant +belongings, and started on their long hard journey.</p> + +<p>The women and children rode in the ox-carts, the men walked. They would +travel a few days, then stop on the roadside to rest. The women would +wash their few clothes, cook enough food to last a few days more, then +they would start out again. They were six weeks making the trip.</p> + +<p>Some settled in Madison, Indiana. Two brothers and their families went +on to Ohio, and the rest came to Indianapolis.</p> + +<p>John Scott, one of their number was a hod carrier. He earned $2.50 a +day, knowing that would not accumulate fast enough, he was strong and +thrifty. After he had worked hard all day, he would spend his evenings +putting new bottoms in chairs, and knitting gloves for anyone who wanted +that kind of work. In the summer he made a garden, sold his vegetables. +He worked very hard, day and night, and was able to save some money.</p> + +<p>He could not read or write, but he taught his children the value of +truthfulness, cleanliness of mind and body, loyalty, and thrift. The +father and his sons all worked together and bought some ground, built a +little house where the family lived many years.</p> + +<p>Before old Mr. Scott died, he had saved enough money to give each son +$200.00. His bank was tin cans hidden around in his house.</p> + +<p>Will Scott, the artist, is a grandson of this John Scott.</p> + +<p>The thing these early settlers wanted most, was for their children to +learn to read and write. So many of them had been caught trying to learn +to write, and had had their thumbs mashed, so they would not be able to +hold a pencil.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Johnson is a very interesting old woman and remembers so well the +things her parents told her. She deplores the "loose living," as she +calls it of this generation.</p> + +<p>She is very deliberate, but seems very sure of the story of her early +life.</p> + +Submitted December 9, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="JonesBetty"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District No. 5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +THE STORY OF BETTY JONES<br> +429 Oak Street, Evansville, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>From an Interview with Elizabeth Jones at 429 Oak Street, Evansville, +Ind.</p> + +<p>"Yes Honey, I was a slave, I was born at Henderson, Kentucky and my +mother was born there. We belonged to old Mars John Alvis. Our home was +on Alvis's Hill and a long plank walk had been built from the bank of +the Ohio river to the Alvis home. We all liked the long plank walk and +the big house on top of the hill was a pretty place."</p> + +<p>Betty Jones said her master was a rich man and had made his money by +raising and selling slaves. She only recalls two house servants were +mulatoes. All the other slaves were black as they could be.</p> + +<p>Betty Alvis lived with her parents in a cabin near her master's home on +the hill. She recalls no unkind treatment. "Our only sorrow was when a +crowd of our slave friends would be sold off, then the mothers, +brothers, sisters, and friends always cried a lot and we children would +grieve to see the grief of our parents."</p> + +<p>The mother of Betty was a slave of John Alvis and married a slave of her +master. The family lived at the slave quarters and were never parted. +"Mother kept us all together until we got set free after the war," +declares Betty. Many of the Alvis negroes decided to make their homes at +Henderson, Kentucky. "It was a nice town and work was plentiful."</p> + +<p>Betty Alvis was brought to Evansville by her parents. The climate did +not agree with the mother so she went to Princeton, Kentucky to live +with her married daughter and died there.</p> + +<p>Betty Alvis married John R. Jones, a native of Tennessee, a former slave +of John Jones, a Tennessee planter. He died twelve years ago.</p> + +<p>Betty Jones recalls when Evansville was a small town. She remembers when +the street cars were mule drawn and people rode on them for pleasure. +"When boats came in at Evansville, all the girls used to go down to the +bank, wearing pretty ruffled dresses and every body would wave to the +boat men and stay down at the river's edge until the boat was out of +sight." Betty Jones remembers when the new Court House was started and +how glad the men of the city were to erect the nice building. She +recalls when the old frame buildings used for church services were razed +and new structures were erected in which to worship God. She does not +believe in evil spirits, ghosts nor charms as do many former slaves, but +she remembers hearing her friends express superstitions concerning black +cats. It was also a belief that to build a new kitchen onto your old +home was always followed by the death of a member of the immediate +family and if a bird flew into a window it had come to bring a call to +the far away land and some member of the family would die.</p> + +<p>Betty Jones was not scared when the recent flood came to within a block +of her door. She had lived through a flood while living at Lawrence +Station at Marion County, Indiana. "We was all marooned in our homes for +two weeks and all the food we had was brought to our door by boats. +White river was flooded then and our home was in the White River Flats." +"What God wills must happen to us, and we do not save ourselves by +trying to run away. Just as well stay and face it as to try to get +away."</p> + +<p>The old negro woman is cared for by her unmarried daughter since her +husband's death. The old woman is lonely and was happy to recieve a +caller. She is alone much of the time as her daughter is compelled to do +house work to provide for her mother and herself. "Of course I'm a +Christian," said the aged negress. "I'm a religious woman and hope to +meet my friends in Heaven." "I would like to go back to Henderson, +Kentucky once more, for I have not been there for more than twenty +years. I'd live to walk the old plank walk again up to Mr. Alvis' home +but I'm afraid I'll never get to go. It costs too much."</p> + +<p>So desire remains with the aged and memories remain to comfort the +feeble.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="JonesNathan"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +NATHAN JONES—EX-SLAVE<br> +409 Blake Street</h3> +<br> + +<p>Nathan Jones was born in Gibson County, Tennessee in 1858, the son of +Caroline Powell, one of Parker Crimm's slaves.</p> + +<p>Master Crimm was very abusive and cruel to his slaves. He would beat +them for any little offense. He took pleasure in taking little children +from their mothers and selling them, sending them as far away as +possible.</p> + +<p>Nathan's stepfather, Willis Jones, was a very strong man, a very good +worker, and knew just enough to be resentful of his master's cruel +treatment, decided to run away, living in the woods for days. His master +sent out searchers for him, who always came in without him. The day of +the sale, Willis made his appearance and was the first slave to be put +on the block.</p> + +<p>His new master, a Mr. Jones of Tipton, Tennessee, was very kind to him. +He said it was a real pleasure to work for Mr. Jones as he had such a +kind heart and respected his slaves.</p> + +<p>Nathan remembers seeing slaves, both men and women, with their hands and +feet staked to the ground, their faces down, giving them no chance to +resist the overseers, whipped with cow hides until the blood gushed from +their backs. "A very cruel way to treat human beings."</p> + +<p>Nathan married very young, worked very hard, started buying a small +orchard, but was "figgered" out of it, and lost all he had put into it. +He then went to Missouri, stayed there until the death of his wife. He +then came to Indiana, bringing his six children with him.</p> + +<p>Forty-five years ago he married the second time; to that union were four +children. He is very proud of his ten children and one stepchild.</p> + +<p>His children have all been very helpful to him until times "got bad" +with them, and could barely exist themselves.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Jones room with a family by the name of James; they have a +comfortable, clean room and are content.</p> + +<p>They are both members of the Free Will Baptist Church; get the old age +pension, and "do very well."</p> + +Submitted December 15, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="LennoxAdelineRose"></a> +<h3>Albert Strope, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +St. Joseph County—District #1<br> +Mishawaka, Indiana<br> +<br> +ADELINE ROSE LENNOX—EX-SLAVE<br> +1400 South Sixth Street, Elkhart, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Adeline Rose Lennox was born of slave parents at Middle—sometimes known +as Paris—Tennessee, October 25, 1849. She lived with her parents in +slave quarters on the plantation of a Mr. Rose for whom her parents +worked. These quarters were log houses, a distance from the master's +mansion.</p> + +<p>At the age of seven years, Adeline was taken from her parents to work at +the home of a son of Mr. Rose who had recently been married. She +remembers well being taken away, for she said she cried, but her new +mistress said she was going to have a new home so she had to go with +her.</p> + +<p>At the age of fourteen years she did the work of a man in the field, +driving a team, plowing, harrowing and seeding. "We all thought a great +deal of Mr. Rose," said Mrs. Lennox, "for he was good to us." She said +that they were well fed, having plenty of corn, peas, beans, and pork to +eat, more pork then than now.</p> + +<p>As Adeline Rose, the subject of this sketch was married to Mr. Steward, +after she was given her freedom at the close of the Civil War. At this +time she was living with her parents who stayed with Mr. Rose for about +five years after the war. To the Steward family was born one son, +Johnny. Mr. Steward died early in life, and his widow married a second +time, this time [HW: to] one George Lennox whose name she now bears.</p> + +<p>Johnny married young and died young, leaving her alone in the world with +the exception of her daughter-in-law. After her second husband's death, +she remained near Middle, Tennessee, until 1924, when she removed to +Elkhart to spend the remainder of her life living with her +daughter-in-law, who had remarried and is now living at 1400 South Sixth +Street, Elkhart, Indiana.</p> + +<p>In the neighborhood she is known only as "Granny." While I was having +this interview, a colored lady passed and this conversation followed:</p> + +<p>"Good morning Granny, how are you this morning?"</p> + +<p>"Only tolerable, thank you," replied Granny.</p> + +<p>The health of Mrs. Lennox has been failing for the past three years but +she gets around quite well for a lady who will be eight-eight years old +the twenty-fifth day of this October. She gets an old age pension of +about thirteen dollars per month.</p> + +<p>A peculiar thing about Mrs. Lennox's life is that she says that she +never knew that she was a slave until she was set free. Her mistress +then told her that she was free and could go back to her father's home +which she did rather reluctantly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lennox smokes, enjoys corn bread and boiled potatoes as food, but +does not enjoy automobiles as "they are too bumpy and they gather too +much air," she says. "I do not eat sweets," she remarks "my one ambition +in life is to live so that I may claim Heaven as my home when I die."</p> + +<p>There is a newspaper picture in the office along with an article +published by the Elkhart Truth. This is being sent to Indianapolis +today.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="LewisThomas"></a> +<h3>Submitted by:<br> +Estella R. Dodson<br> +District #11<br> +Monroe County<br> +Bloomington, Ind.<br> +October 4, 1937<br> +<br> +INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS LEWIS, COLORED<br> +North Summit Street, Bloomington, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>I was born in Spencer County, Kentucky, in 1857. I was born a slave. +There was slavery all around on all the adjoining places. I was seven +years old when I was set free. My father was killed in the Northern +army. My mother, step-father and my mother's four living children came +to Indiana when I was twelve years old. My grandfather was set free and +given a little place of about sixteen acres. A gang of white men went to +my grandmother's place and ordered the colored people out to work. The +colored people had worked before for white men, on shares. When the +wheat was all in and the corn laid by, the white farmers would tell the +colored people to get out, and would give them nothing. The colored +people did not want to work that way, and refused. This was the cause of +the raids by white farmers. My mother recognized one of the men in the +gang and reported him to the standing soldiers in Louisville. He was +caught and made to tell who the others were until they had 360 men. All +were fined and none allowed to leave until all the fines were paid. So +the rich ones had to pay for the poor ones. Many of them left because +all were made responsible if such an event ever occurred again.</p> + +<p>Our family left because we did not want to work that way. I was hired +out to a family for $20 a year. I was sent for. My mother put herself +under the protection of the police until we could get away. We came in a +wagon from our home to Louisville. I was anxious to see Louisville, and +thought it was very wonderful. I wanted to stay there, but we came on +across the Ohio River on a ferry boat and stayed all night in New +Albany. Next morning the wagon returned home and we came to Bloomington +on the train. It took us from 9 o'clock until three in the evening to +get here. There were big slabs of wood on the sides of the track to hold +the rails together. Strips of iron were bolted to the rails on the +inside to brace them apart. There were no wires at the joints of the +rails to carry electricity, as we have now, for there was no electricity +in those days.</p> + +<p>I have lived in Bloomington ever since I came here. I met a family named +Dorsett after I came here. They came from Jefferson County, Kentucky. +Two of their daughters had been sold before the war. After the war, when +the black people were free, the daughters heard some way that their +people were in Bloomington. It was a happy time when they met their +parents.</p> + +<p>Once when I was a little boy, I was sitting on the fence while my mother +plowed to get the field ready to put in wheat. The white man who owned +her was plowing too. Some Yankee soldiers on horses came along. One rode +up to the fence and when my mother came to the end of the furrow, he +said to her, "Lady, could you tell me where Jim Downs' still house is?" +My mother started to answer, but the man who owned her told her to move +on. The soldiers told him to keep quiet, or they would make him sorry. +After he went away, my mother told the soldiers where the house was. The +reason her master did not want her to tell where the house was, was that +some of his Rebel friends were hiding there. Spies had reported them to +the Yankee soldiers. They went to the house and captured the Rebels.</p> + +<p>Next soldiers came walking. I had no cap. One soldier asked me why I did +not wear a cap. I said I had no cap. The soldier said, "You tell your +mistress I said to buy you a cap or I'll come back and kill the whole +family." They bought me a cap, the first one I ever had.</p> + +<p>The soldiers passed for three days and a half. They were getting ready +for a battle. The battle was close. We could hear the cannon. After it +was over, a white man went to the battle field. He said that for a mile +and a half one could walk on dead men and dead horses. My mother wanted +to go and see it, but they wouldn't let her, for it was too awful.</p> + +<p>I don't know what town we were near. The only town I know about had only +about four or five houses and a mill. I think the name was Fairfield. +That may not be the name, and the town may not be there any more. Once +they sent my mother there in the forenoon. She saw a flash, and +something hit a big barn. The timbers flew every way, and I suppose +killed men and horses that were in the barn. There were Rebels hidden in +the barn and in the houses, and a Yankee spy had found out where they +were. They bombed the barn and surrounded the town. No one was able to +leave. The Yankees came and captured the Rebels.</p> + +<p>I had a cousin named Jerry. Just a little while before the barn was +struck a white man asked Jerry how he would like to be free. Jerry said +that he would like it all right. The white men took him into the barn +and were going to put him over a barrel and beat him half to death. Just +as they were about ready to beat him, the bomb struck the barn and Jerry +escaped. The man who owned us said for us to say that we were well +enough off, and did not care to be free, just to avoid beatings. There +was no such thing as being good to slaves. Many people were better than +others, but a slave belonged to his master and there was no way to get +out of it. A strong man was hard to make work. He would fight so that +the white men trying to hold him would be breathless. Then there was +nothing to do but kill him. If a slave resisted, and his master killed +him, it was the same as self-defense today. If a cruel master whipped a +slave to death, it put the fear into the other slaves. The brother of +the man who owned my mother had many black people. He was too mean to +live, but he made it. Once he was threshing wheat with a 'ground-hog' +threshing machine, run by horse power. He called to a woman slave. She +did not hear him because of the noise of the machine, and did not +answer. He leaped off the machine to whip her. He caught his foot in +some cogs and injured it so that it had to be taken off.</p> + +<p>They tell me that today there is a place where there is a high fence. +If someone gets near, he can hear the cries of the spirits of black +people who were beaten to death. It is kept secret so that people won't +find it out. Such places are always fenced to keep them secret. Once a +man was out with a friend, hunting. The dog chased something back of a +high fence. One man started to go in. The other said, "What are you +going to do?" The other one said, "I want to see what the dog chased +back in there." His friend told him, "You'd better stay out of there. +That place is haunted by spirits of black people who were beaten to +death."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="LockeSarahH"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. SARAH H. LOCKE—DAUGHTER [of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor]</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Locke, the daughter of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor, was born in +Woodford County, Kentucky in 1859. She went over her early days with +great interest.</p> + +<p>Jacob Keephart, her master, was very kind to his slaves, would never +sell them to "nigger traders." His family was very large, so they bought +and sold their slaves within the families and neighbors.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Locke's father, brothers, and grandmother belonged to the same +master in Henry County, Kentucky. Her mother and the two sisters +belonged to another branch of the Keephart family, about seven miles +away.</p> + +<p>Her father came to see her mother on Wednesday and Saturday nights. They +would have big dinners on these nights in their cabin.</p> + +<p>Her father cradled all the grain for the neighborhood. He was a very +high tempered man and would do no work when angry; therefore, every +effort was made to keep him in a good humor when the work was heavy.</p> + +<p>Her mother died when the children were very young. Sarah was given to +the Keephart daughter as a wedding present and taken to her new home. +She was always treated like the others in the family.</p> + +<p>After the abolition of slavery, Mr Keephart gave Wm. a horse and rations +to last for six months, so the children would not starve.</p> + +<p>Charles and Lydia French, fellow workers with the Taylors, went to +Cincinnatti and in 1867 sent for the Mrs. Locke and her sister, so they +could go to school, as there were no schools in Kentucky then. The girls +stayed one year with the French family; that is the longest time they +ever went to school. After that, they would go to school for three +months at different times. Mrs. Locke reads and writes very well.</p> + +<p>The master worked right along with the slaves, shearing the sheep.</p> + +<p>The women milk ten or twelve cows and knit a whole sock in one day. They +also wove the material for their dresses; it was called "linsey."</p> + +<p>She remembers one night the slaves were having a dance in one of the +cabins, a band of Ku Kluxers came, took all firearms they could find, +but no one was hurt, all wondered why, however, it did not take long for +them to find out why. Another night when the Kluxers were riding, the +slaves recognised the voice of their young master. That was the reason +why the Keephart slaves were never molested.</p> + +<p>Christmas was a jolly time for the Keephart slaves. They would have a +whole week to celebrate, eating, dancing, and making merry.</p> + +<p>"Free born niggers" were not allowed to associate with the slaves, as +they were supposed to have no sense, and would contaminate the slaves.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Locke is an intelligent old lady, has been a good dressmaker, and +served for a great number of the "first families" of Indianapolis.</p> + +<p>She has been married twice; her first husband died shortly after their +marriage, and she was a widow for twenty-five years before she took her +second "venture."</p> + +<p>She gets the old age pension and is very happy.</p> + +Submitted December 17, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="McKinleyRobert"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +ROBERT MCKINLEY—EX-SLAVE<br> +1664 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Robert McKinley was born in Stanley County, N.C., in 1849, a slave of +Arnold Parker.</p> + +<p>His master was a very cruel man, but was always kind to him, because he +had given him (Bob) as a present to his favorite daughter, Jane Alice, +and she would never permit anyone to mistreat Bob.</p> + +<p>Miss Jane Alice was very fond of little Bob, and taught him to read and +write.</p> + +<p>His master owned a large farm, but Jane Alice would not let little Bob +work on the farm. Instead, he helped his master in the blacksmith shop.</p> + +<p>His master always prepared himself to whip his slaves by drinking a +large glass of whiskey to give him strength to beat his slaves.</p> + +<p>Robert remembers seeing his master beat his mother until she would fall +to the ground, and he was helpless to protect her. He would just have to +stand and watch.</p> + +<p>He has seen slaves tied to trees and beaten until the master could beat +no longer; then he would salt and pepper their backs.</p> + +<p>Once when the Confederate soldiers came to their farm, Robert told them +where the liquor was kept and where the stock had been hidden. For this +the soldiers gave him a handful of money, but it did him no good for his +master took it away from him.</p> + +<p>The McKinley family, of course, were Parkers and after the Civil war, +they took the name of their father who was a slave of John McKinley.</p> + +<p>A neighbor farmer, Jesse Hayden, was very kind to his slaves, gave them +anything they wanted to eat, because he said they had worked hard, and +made it possible for him to have all he had, and it was part theirs.</p> +<br> + +<p>The Parker slaves were not allowed to associate with the Hayden slaves. +They were known as the "rich niggers, who could eat meat without +stealing it."</p> + +<p>When the "nigger traders" came to the Parker farm, the old mistress +would take meat skins and grease the mouths of the slave children to +make it appear she had given them meat to eat.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. McKinley is an "herb doctor" and lives very poorly in a dirty little +house; he was very glad to tell of his early life.</p> + +<p>He thinks people live too fast these days, and don't remember there is +a stopping place.</p> + +Submitted January 10, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="MillerRichard"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +RICHARD MILLER—AN OLD SOLDIER<br> +1109 North West Street</h3> +<br> + +<p>Richard Miller was born January 12, 1843 in Danville, Kentucky. His +mother was an English subject, born in Bombay, India and was brought +into America by a group of people who did not want to be under the +English government. They landed in Canada, came on to Detroit, stayed +there a short time, then went to Danville, Kentucky. There she married a +slave named Miller. They were the parents of five children.</p> + +<p>After slavery was abolished, they bought a little farm a few miles from +Danville, Kentucky.</p> + +<p>The mother was very ambitious for her children, and sent them to the +country school.</p> + +<p>One day, when the children came home from school, their mother was gone; +they knew not where.</p> + +<p>It was learned, she was sending her children to school, and that was not +wanted. She was taken to Texas, and nothing, was heard from her until +1871.</p> + +<p>She wrote her brother she was comming to see them, and try to find her +children, if any of them were left.</p> + +<p>The boy, Richard, was in the army. He was so anxious to see his mother, +to see what she would look like. The last time he saw her, she was +washing clothes at the branch, and was wearing a blue cotton dress. All +he could remember about her was her beautiful black hair, and the cotton +dress. When he saw her, he didnot recognize her, but she told him of +things he could remember that had happened, and that made him think she +was his mother.</p> + +<p>Richard was told who had taken the mother from the children, went to the +man, shot and killed him; nothing was done to him for his deed.</p> + +<p>He remembers a slave by the name of Brown, in Texas, who was chained +hand and feet to a woodpile, oil thrown over him, and the wood, then +fire set to the wood, and he was burned to death.</p> + +<p>After the fire smoldered down, the white women and children took his +ashes for souvenirs.</p> + +<p>When slavery was abolished, a group of them started down to the far +south, to buy farms, to try for themselves, got as far as Madison +County, Kentucky and were told if they went any farther south, they +would be made slaves again, not knowing if that was the truth or not, +they stayed there, and worked on the Madison County farms for a very +small wage. This separated families, and they never heard from each +other ever again.</p> + +<p>These separations are the cause of so many of the slave race not being +able to trace families back for generations, as do the white families.</p> + +<p>George Band was a very powerful slave, always ready to fight, never +losing a fight, always able to defend himself until one night a band of +Ku Kluxers came to his house, took his wife, hung her to a tree, hacked +her to death with knives. Then went to the house, got George, took him +to see what they had done to his wife. He asked them to let him go back +to the house to get something to wrap his wife in, thinking he was +sincere in his request, they allowed him to go. Instead of getting a +wrapping for his wife, he got his Winchester rifle, shot and killed +fourteen of the Kluxers. The county was never bothered with the Klan +again. However, George left immediately for the North.</p> + +<p>The first Monday of the month was sale day. The slaves were chained +together and sent down in Miss., often separating mothers from children, +husbands from wives, never to hear of each other again.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. Miller lives with his family in a very comfortable home.</p> + +<p>He has only one eye, wears a patch over the bad one.</p> + +<p>He does not like to talk of his early life as he said it was such a +"nightmare" to him; however he answered all questions very pleasantly.</p> + +Submitted December 9, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="MoormanHenryClay"></a> +<h3>William R. Mays<br> +District 4<br> +Johnson County<br> +<br> +HENRY CLAY MOORMAN<br> +BORN IN SLAVERY IN KENTUCKY<br> +427 W. King St., Franklin, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>Henry Clay Moorman has resided in Franklin 34 years, he was born Oct. 1, +1854 in slavery on the Moorman plantation in Breckenridge County, +Kentucky.</p> + +<p>Mr. Moorman relates his own personal experiences as well as those handed +down from his mother. He was a boy about 12 years old when freedom was +declared. His father's name was Dorah Moorman who was a cooper by trade, +and had a wife and seven children. They belonged to James Moorman, who +owned about 20 slaves, he was kind to his slaves and never whipped any +of them. These slaves loved their master and was as loyal to him as his +own family.</p> + +<p>Mr. Moorman says that when a boy he did small jobs around the plantation +such as tobacco planting and going to the mill. One day he was placed +upon a horse with a sack of grain containing about two bushels, after +the sack of grain was balanced upon the back of the horse he was started +to the mill which was a distance of about five miles, when about half +the distance of the journey the sack of grain became unbalanced and fell +from the horse being too small to lift the sack of grain he could only +cry over the misfortune. There he was, powerless to do any thing about +it. After about two hours there was a white man riding by and seeing the +predicament he was in kindly lifted the sack up on the horse and after +ascertaining his master's name bade him to continue to the mill. It was +the custom at the mill that each await their turn, and do their own +grinding. After the miller had taken his toll, he returned to his master +and told of his experience. Thereafter precautions were taken so he +would not again have the same experience.</p> + +<p>The slave owners had so poisoned the minds of the slaves, they were in +constant fear of the soldiers. One day when the slaves were alone at the +plantation they sighted the Union soldiers approaching, they all went to +the woods and hid in the bushes. The smaller children were covered with +leaves. There they remained all night, as the soldiers (about 200 in +number) camped all night in the horse lot. These soldiers were very +orderly; however, they appropriated for their own use all the food they +could find.</p> + +<p>The slave owners would hide all their silverware and other articles of +worth under the mattresses that were in the negro cabins for safe +keeping.</p> + +<p>There were three white children in the master's family. Wickliff, the +oldest boy and Bob was the second child in age. The younger child, a +girl, was named Sally and was about the same age as the subject of this +article. Both children, being babies about the same age, the black +mother served as a wet nurse for the white child, sometimes both the +black child and the white child were upon the black mammies lap which +frequently was the cause of battles between the two babies.</p> + +<p>Some of the white mistresses acted as midwife for the black mothers.</p> + +<p>There were two graveyards on the plantation, one for the white folks and +one for the blacks. There is no knowledge of any deaths among the white +folks during the time he lived on the plantation. One of this black +boys' sisters married just before slavery was abolished. He remembers +this wedding. In connection with the marriages of the slaves in slavery +days, it is recalled that slaves seldom married among themselves on the +same plantation but instead the unions were made by some negro boy from +some other plantation courting a negro girl on a distant plantation. As +was the custom in slavery days the black boy would have to get the +consent of three people before he was allowed to enter upon wedlock; +first, he would get the consent of the negro girls' mother, then he +would get the consent of his own master as well as the black girl's +master. This required time and diplomacy. When all had given their +consent the marriage would take place usually on Saturday night, when a +great time was had with slaves coming from other plantations with a +generous supply of fried chicken, hams, cakes and pies a great feast and +a good time generally with music and dancing. The new husband had to +return to his own master after the wedding but it was understood by all +that the new husband could visit his wife every Saturday night and stay +until Monday morning. He would return every Monday to his master and +work as usual indefinitely unless by chance one or the other of the two +masters would buy the husband or wife, in such event they would live +together as man and wife. Unless this purchase did occur it was the rule +in slavery days that any children born to the slave wife would be the +property of the girl's master.</p> + +<p>When the required consent could not be had from all parties concerned it +sometimes caused friction and instances have occured when attempts at +elopement was made causing no end of trouble. This condition was very +rare, as in most all cases of this kind the masters were quite willing +for this marriage and would encourage the young couple. It is remembered +that there were no illegitimate children born on the Moorman +plantation.</p> + +<p>The slaves would have their parties and dances. Slaves would gather from +various plantations and these parties would sometimes last all night. It +was customary for the slaves to get passes from their masters permitting +them to attend, but sometimes passes were not given for reasons. In line +with these parties it is remembered that there existed at that time what +was known as the Paddle-Rollers, these so called Paddy-Rollers was made +up of a bunch of white boys who would sneak up on these defenseless +negroes unawares late in the night and demand that all show their +passes. Those that could not show passes were whipped, both the negro +boys and girls alike. The loyalty of these poor black boys was shown +when they would volunteer to take an extra flogging to protect their +girl friends. The Paddy-Rollers were a mean bunch of white boys who +reviled in this shameful practice.</p> + +<p>After slavery was abolished, this colored slave family remained on the +same plantation for one year. They left the plantation via Cloverport by +boat for Evansville, Ind., where they remained until the subject of this +sketch removed to Franklin, Ind. in 1903 where he took pastorate with +the African Methodist Episcopal Church where he served for 12 years. He +is now a retired minister residing at 427 W. King St.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="MorganAmerica"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. AMERICA MORGAN—EX-SLAVE<br> +816 Camp Street</h3> +<br> + +<p>America Morgan was born in a log house, daubed with dirt, in Ballard +County, Kentucky, in 1852, the daughter of Manda and Jordon Rudd. She +remembers very clearly the happenings of her early life.</p> + +<p>Her mother, Manda Rudd, was owned by Clark Rudd, and the "devil has sure +got him."</p> + +<p>Her father was owned by Mr. Willingham, who was very kind to his slaves. +Jordon became a Rudd, because he was married to Manda on the Rudd +plantation.</p> + +<p>There were six children in the family, and all went well until the death +of the mother; Clark Rudd whipped her to death when America was five +years old.</p> + +<p>Six little children were left motherless to face a "frowning world."</p> + +<p>America was given to her master's daughter, Miss Meda, to wait on her, +as her personal property. She lived with her for one year, then was +sold for $600.00 to Mr. and Mrs. Utterback stayed with them until the +end of the Civil war.</p> + +<p>The new mistress was not so kind. Miss Meda, who knew her reputation, +told her if she abused America, she would come for her, and she would +loose the $600.00 she had paid for her. Therefore, America was treated +very kindly.</p> + +<p>Aunt Catherine, who looked after all the children on the plantation, was +very unruly, no one could whip her. Once America was sent for two men to +come and tie Aunt Catherine. She fought so hard, it was as much as the +men could do to tie her. They tied her hands, then hung her to the joist +and lashed her with a cow hide. It "was awful to hear her screams."</p> + +<p>In 1865 her father came and took her into Paduca, Kentucky, "a land of +freedom."</p> + +<p>When thirteen years old, America did not know A from B, then "glory to +God," a Mr. Greeleaf, a white man, from the north, came down to Kentucky +and opened a school for Negro children. That was America's first chance +to learn. He was very kind and very sympathetic. She went to school for +a very short while.</p> + +<p>Her father was very poor, had nothing at all to give his children.</p> + +<p>America's mistress would not give her any of her clothes. "All she had +in this world, was what she had on her back." Then she was "hired out" +for $1.00 a week.</p> + +<p>The white people for whom she worked were very kind to her and would +try to teach her when her work was done. She was given an old fashioned +spelling book and a first reader. She was then "taught much and began to +know life."</p> + +<p>She was sent regularly to church and Sunday school. That was when she +began to "wake up" to her duty as a free girl.</p> + +<p>The Rev. D.W. Dupee was her Sunday school teacher, from him she learned +much she had never known before.</p> + +<p>At seventeen years of age, she married and "faced a frowning world +right." She had a good husband and ten children, three of whom are +living today, one son and two daughters.</p> + +<p>She remembers one slave, who had been given five hundred lashes on his +back, thrown in his cabin to die. He laid on the floor all night, at +dawn he came to himself, and there were blood hounds licking his back.</p> + +<p>When the overseers lashed a slave to death, they would turn the +bloodhounds out to smell the blood, so they would know "nigger blood," +that would help trace runaway slaves.</p> + +<p>Aunt Jane Stringer was given five hundred lashes and thrown in her +cabin. The next morning when the overseer came, he kicked her and told +her to get up, and wanted to know if she was going to sleep there all +day. When she did not answer him, he rolled her over and the poor woman +was dead, leaving several motherless children.</p> + +<p>When the slaves were preparing to run away, they would put hot pepper on +their feet; this would cause the hounds to be thrown off their trail.</p> + +<p>Aunt Margaret ran off, but the hounds traced her to a tree; she stayed +up in the tree for two days and would not come down until they promised +not to whip her any more, and they kept their promise.</p> + +<p>Old mistress' mother was sick a long time, and little America had to +keep the flies off of her by waving a paper fly brush over her bed. She +was so mean, America was afraid to go too near the bed for fear she +might try to grab her and shake her. After she died, she haunted +America. Anytime she would go into the room, she could hear her knocking +on the wall with her cane. Some nights they would hear her walking up +and down the stairs for long periods at a time.</p> + +<p>Aunt Catherine ran off, because "ole missie" haunted her so bad.</p> + +<p>The old master came back after his death and would ride his favorite +horse, old Pomp, all night long, once every week. When the boy would go +in to feed the horses, old Pomp would have his ears hanging down, and he +would be "just worn out," after his night ride.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>America believes firmly in haunts, and said she had lived in several +haunted houses since coming up north.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Morgan lives with her baby boy and his wife. She is rather +inteligent, reads and writes, and tries to do all she can to help those +who are less fortunate than she.</p> + +Submitted December 27, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="MorrisonGeorge"></a> +<h3>Iris Cook<br> +District 4<br> +Floyd County<br> +<br> +STORY OF GEORGE MORRISON<br> +25 East 5th St., New Albany, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>Observation of the writer</b></p> + +<p>(This old negro, known as "Uncle George" by the neighbors, is very +particular about propriety. He allows no woman in his house unless +accompanied by a man. He says "It jest a'nt the proper thing to do", but +he came to a neighbors for a little talk.)</p> + +<p>"I was bawn in Union County, Kentucky, near Morganfield. My master was +Mr. Ray, he made me call him Mr. Ray, wouldent let me call him Master. +He said I was his little free negro."</p> + +<p>When asked if there were many slaves on Mr. Ray's farm, he said, "Yes'm, +they was seven cabin of us. I was the oldes' child in our family. Mr. +Ray said "He didn't want me in the tobacco", so I stayed at the house +and waited on the women folk and went after the cows when I was big +enough. I carried my stick over my shoulder for I wus afraid of snakes."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Ray was always very good to me, he liked to play with me, cause I +was so full of tricks an' so mischuvus. He give me a pair of boots with +brass toes. I shined them up ever day, til you could see your face in +'em."</p> + +<p>"There wuz two ladies at the house, the Missus and her daughter, who was +old enough to keep company when I was a little boy. They used to have me +to drive 'em to church. I'd drive the horses. They'd say, 'George, you +come in here to church.' But I always slipped off with the other boys +who was standing around outside waitin' for they folks, and played +marbles."</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am, the War sho did affect my fambly. My father, he fought for +the north. He got shot in his side, but it finally got all right. He +saved his money and came north after the war and got a good job. But, I +saw them fellows from the south take my Uncle. They put his clothes on +him right in the yard and took him with them to fight. And even the +white folks, they all cried. But he came back, he wasnt hurt but he +wasent happy in his mind like my pappy was."</p> + +<p>"Yes ma'am, I would rather live in the North. The South's all right but +someways I just don't feel down there like I does up here."</p> + +<p>"No ma'am, I was never married. I don't believe in getting married +unless you got plenty of money. So many married folks dont do nuthin but +fuss and fight. Even my father and mother always spatted and I never +liked that and so I says to myself what do I want to get married for. +I'm happier just living by myself."</p> + +<p>"Yes Ma'am. I remember when people used to take wagon loads of corn to +the market in Louisville, and they would bring back home lots of +groceries and things. A colored man told me he had come north to the +market in Louisville with his master, and was working hard unloading the +corn when a white man walks up to him, shows him some money and asks him +if he wanted to be free? He said he stopped right then and went with the +man, who hid him in his wagon under the provisions and they crossed the +Ohio River right on the ferry. That's the way lots of 'em got across +here."</p> + +<p>"Did I ever hear of any ghosts. Yes ma'am I have. I hear noises and I +seed something once that I never could figger out. I was goin't thru the +woods one day, and come up sudden in a clear patch of ground. There sat +a little boy on a stump, all by his-self, there in the woods. I asks him +who he wuz & wuz he lost, and he never answered me. Jest sat there, +lookin at me. All of a sudden he ups and runs, and I took out after +him. He run behind a big tree, and when I got up to where I last seed +him, he wuz gone. And there sits a great big brown man twice as big as +me, on another stump. He never seys a word, jest looks at me. And then I +got away from there, yes ma'am I really did."</p> + +<p>"A man I knew saw a ghost once and he hit at it. He always said he +wasn't afraid of no ghost, but that ghost hit him, and hit him so hard +it knocked his face to one side and the last time I saw him it was still +that way. No ma'am, I don't really believe in ghosts, but you know how +it is, I lives by myself and I don't like to talk about them for you +never can tell what they might do.</p> + +<p>"Lady you ought to hear me rattle bones, when I was young. I caint do it +much now for my wrists are too stiff. When they played Turkey in the +Straw how we all used to dance and cut up. We'ed cut the pigeon wing, +and buck the wind [HW: wing?], and all. But I got rewmaytism in my feet +now and ant much good any more, but I sure has done lots of things and +had lots of fun in my time."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="MosleyJoseph"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +JOSEPH MOSLEY, EX-SLAVE<br> +2637 Boulevard Place</h3> + +<p>[TR: Also reported as Moseley in text of interview.]</p> +<br> + +<p>Joseph Mosley, one of twelve children, was born March 15, 1853, fourteen +miles from Hopkinsville, Kentucky.</p> + +<p>His master, Tim Mosley, was a slave trader. He was supposed to have +bought and sold 10,000 slaves. He would go from one state to another +buying slaves, bringing in as many as 75 or 80 slaves at one time.</p> + +<p>The slaves would be handcuffed to a chain, each chain would link 16 +slaves. The slaves would walk from Virginia to Kentucky, and some from +Mississippi to Virginia.</p> + +<p>In front of the chained slaves would be an overseer on horseback with a +gun and dogs. In back of the chained slaves would be another overseer on +horseback with a gun and dogs. They would see that no slave escaped.</p> + +<p>Joseph's father was the shoemaker for all the farm hands and all adult +workers. He would start in September making shoes for the year. First +the shoes for the folks in the house, then the workers.</p> + +<p>No slave child ever wore shoes, summer or winter.</p> + +<p>The father, mother, and all the children were slaves in the same family, +but not in the same house. Some with the daughters, some with the sons, +and so on. No one brother or sister would be allowed to visit with the +others.</p> + +<p>After the death of Tim Moseley, little Joseph was given to a daughter. +He was seven years old; he had to pick up chips, tend the cows, and do +small jobs around the house; he wore no clothing except a shirt.</p> + +<p>Little Joseph did not see his mother after he was taken to the home of +the daughter until he was set free at the age of 13.</p> + +<p>The master was very unkind to the slaves; they sometimes would have +nothing to eat, and would eat from the garbage.</p> + +<p>On Christmas morning Joseph was told he could go see his mother; he did +not know he was free, and couldn't understand why he was given the first +suit of clothes he had ever owned, and a pair of shoes. He dressed in +his new finery and was started out on his six mile journey to his +mother.</p> + +<p>He was so proud of his new shoes; after he had gotten out of sight, he +stopped and took his shoes off as he did not want them dirty before his +mother had seen them, and walked the rest of the way in his bare feet.</p> + +<p>After their freedom, the family came to Indiana.</p> + +<p>The mother died here, in Indianapolis, at the age of 105.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. Moseley, who has been in Indianapolis for 35 years, has been +paralyzed for the last four years. He and a daughter room with a Mrs. +Turner.</p> + +<p>He has a very nice clean room; a very pleasant old man was very glad to +talk of his past life.</p> + +<p>He gets a pension of $18.00 a month, and said it was not easy to get +along on that little amount, and wondered if the government was ever +going to increase his pension.</p> + +Submitted December 1, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="PattersonAmyElizabeth"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +MEMORIES OF SLAVERY AND THE LIFE STORY OF<br> +AMY ELIZABETH PATTERSON</h3> +<br> + +<p>The slave mart, separation from a dearly beloved mother and little +sisters are among the earliest memories recalled by Amy Elizabeth +Patterson, a resident of Evansville, Indiana.</p> + +<p>Amy Elizabeth, now known as "Grandmother Patterson" resides with her +daughter Lula B. Morton at 512 Linwood Avenue near Cherry Street. Her +birth occurred July 12, 1850 at Cadiz, Trigg County, Kentucky. Her +mother was Louisa Street, slave of John Street, a merchant of Cadez. +[TR: likely Cadiz]</p> + +<p>"John Street was never unkind to his slaves" is the testimony of +Grandmother Patterson, as she recalls and relates stories of the long +ago. "Our sorrow began when slave traders, came to Cadiz and bought such +slaves as he took a fancy to and separated us from our families!"</p> + +<p>John Street ran a sort of agency where he collected slaves and yearly +sold them to dealers in human flesh. Those he did not sell he hired out +to other families. Some were hired or indentured to farmers, some to +stock raisers, some to merchants and some to captains of boats and the +hire of all these slaves went into the coffers of John Street, yearly +increasing his wealth.</p> + +<p>Louisa Street, mother of Amy Elizabeth Patterson, was house maid at the +Street home and her first born daughter was fair with gold brown hair +and amber eyes. Mr. and Mrs. Street always promised Louisa they would +never sell her as they did not want to part with the child, so Louisa +was given a small cabin near the master's house. The mistress had a +child near the age of the little mulatto and Louisa was wet nurse for +both children as well as maid to Mrs. Street. Two years after the birth +of Amy Elizabeth, Louisa became mother of twin daughters, Fannie and +Martha Street, then John Street decided to sell all his slaves as he +contemplated moving into another territory.</p> + +<p>The slaves were auctioned to the highest bidder and Louisa and the twins +were bought by a man living near Cadiz but Mr. Street refused to sell +Amy Elizabeth. She showed promise of growing into an excellent +house-maid and seamstress and was already a splendid playmate and nurse +to the little Street boy and girl. So Louisa lost her child but such +grief was shown by both mother and child that the mother was unable to +perform her tasks and the child cried continually. Then Mr. Street +consented to sell the little girl to the mother's new master.</p> + +<p>Louisa Street became mother of seventeen children. Three were almost +white. Amy Elizabeth was the daughter of John Street and half sister of +his children by his lawful wife. Mrs. Street knew the facts and +respected Louisa and her child and, says grandmother Patterson, "That +was the greatest crime ever visited on the United States. It was worse +than the cruelty of the overseers, worse than hunger, for many slaves +were well fed and well cared for; but when a father can sell his own +child, humiliate his own daughter by auctioning her on the slave block, +what good could be expected where such practices were allowed?"</p> + +<p>Grandmother Patterson remembers superstitions of slavery days and how +many slaves were afraid of ghosts and evil spirits but she never +believed in supernatural appearances until three years ago when she +received a message, through a medium, from the spirit land; now she is a +firm believer, not in ghosts and evil visitations, but in true +communication with the departed ones who still love and long to protect +those who remain on earth.</p> + +<p>Several years ago a young grandson of the old woman was drowned. The +little boy was Stokes Morton, a very popular child rating high averages +in school studies and beloved by his teachers and friends. The mother, +Lulu B. Morton and the grandmother both gave up to grief, in fact they +both have declined in health and were unable to carry on their regular +duties.</p> + +<p>Grandmother Patterson began suffering from a dental ailment and was +compelled to visit a dental surgeon. The dental surgeon suggested that +she visit a medium and seek some comforting message from the child.</p> + +<p>She at once visited a medium and received a message. "Stokes answered +me. In fact he was waiting to communicate with us. He said 'Grandmother! +you and mother must stop staying at the cemetary and grieving for me. +Send the flowers to your sick friends and put in more time with the +other children. I am happy here, I am in a beautiful field, The sky is +blue and the field is full of beautiful white lambs that play with me.'"</p> + +<p>The message comforted the aged woman. She began occupying her time with +other members of the family and again began to visit with her neighbors.</p> + +<p>She felt a call two years later and again consulted the medium. That +time she received a message from the child, his father and a little girl +that had died in infancy. Grandmother Patterson said she would not +recall the ones who had gone on to the land of promise. She is a +christian and a believer in the Word of God.</p> + +<p>Grandmother Patterson, in spite of her 87 years of life (fifteen of +which were passed in slavery) is useful in her daughter's home. Her +children and grand children are fond of her as indeed they well may be. +She is a refined woman, gracious to every person she encounters. She is +hoping for better opportunities for her race. She admonishes the younger +relatives to live in the fear and love of the Lord that no evil days +overtake them.</p> + +<p>"Yes, slavery was a curse to this nation" she declares, "A curse which +still shows itself in hundreds of homes where mulatto faces are evidence +of a heinous sin and proof that there has been a time when American +fathers sold their children at the slave marts of America." She is glad +the curse has been erased even if by the bloodshed of heroes.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="PrestonMrs"></a> +<h3>G. Monroe<br> +Dist. 4<br> +Jefferson County<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +MRS. PRESTON'S STORY</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Preston is an old lady, 83 years old, very charming and hospitable +She lives on North Elm Street, Madison, Indiana. Her first recollections +of slavery were of sleeping on the foot of her mistress' bed, where she +could get up during the night to "feed" the fire with chips she had +gathered before dark or to get a drink or anything else her mistress +might want in the night.</p> + +<p>Her 'Marse Brown', resided in Frankfort having taken his best horses and +hogs, and leaving his family in the care of an overseer on a farm. He +was afraid the Union soldiers would kill him, but thought his wife would +be safe. This opinion proved to be true. The overseer called the slaves +to work at four o'clock, and they worked until six in the evening.</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Preston was a little older part of her work was to drive about +a dozen cows to and from the stable. Many a time she warmed her bare +feet in the cattle bedding. She said they did not always go barefooted +but their shoes were old or their feet wrapped in rags.</p> + +<p>Her next promotion was to work in the fields hauling shocks of corn on a +balky mule which was subject to bucking and throwing its rider over its +head. She was aided by a little boy on another mule. There were men to +tie the shocks and place them on the mule.</p> + +<p>She remembered seeing Union and Confederate soldiers shooting across a +river near her home. Her uncle fought two years, and returned safely at +the end of the war.</p> + +<p>She did not feel that her Master and Mistress had mistreated their +slaves. At the close of the war, her father was given a house, land, +team and enough to start farming for himself.</p> + +<p>Several years later the Ku Klux Klan gave them a ten days notice to +leave, one of the masked band interceded for them by pointing out that +they were quiet and peacable, and a man with a crop and ten children +couldn't possibly leave on so short a notice so the time was extended +another ten days, when they took what the Klan paid them and came +north. They remained in the north until they had to buy their groceries +"a little piece of this and a little piece of that, like they do now", +when her father returned to Kentucky. Mrs. Preston remained in Indiana. +Her father was burned out, the family escaping to the woods in their +night clothes, later befriended by a white neighbor. Now they appealed +to their former owner who built them a new house, provided necessities +and guards for a few weeks until they were safe from the Ku Klux Klan.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Preston said she was the mother of ten children, but now lives +alone since the death of her husband three years ago. Her white +neighbors say her house is so clean, one could almost eat off the floor.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="QuinnWilliamM"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Harry Jackson<br> +<br> +WILLIAM M. QUINN (EX-SLAVE)<br> +431 Bright Street, Indianapolis, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>William M. Quinn, 431 Bright street, was a slave up to ten years of +age—"when the soldiers come back home, and the war was over, and we +wasn't slaves anymore". Mr. Quinn was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, +on a farm belonging to Steve Stone. He and a brother and his mother were +slaves of "Old Master Stone", but his father was owned by another man, +Mr. Quinn, who had an adjoining farm. When they were all freed, they +took the surname of Quinn.</p> + +<p>Mr. Quinn said that they were what was called "gift slaves". They were +never to be sold from the Stone farm and were given to Stone's daughter +as a gift with that understanding. He said that his "Old master paid him +and his brother ten cents a day for cutting down corn and shucking it."</p> + +<p>It was very unusual for a slave to receive any money whatsoever for +working. He said that his master had a son about his age, and the son +and he and his brother worked around the farm together, and "Master +Stone" gave all three of them ten cents a day when they worked. +Sometimes they wouldn't, they would play instead. And whenever "Master +Stone" would catch them playing when they ought to have been at work, he +would whip them—"and that meant his own boy would get a licking too."</p> + +<p>"Old Master Stone was a good man to all us colored folks, we loved him. +He wasn't one of those mean devils that was always beating up his slaves +like some of the rest of them." He had a colored overseer and one day +this overseer ran off and hid for two days "cause he whipped one of old +Mas' Stone's slaves and he heard that Mas' Stone was mad and he didn't +like it."</p> + +<p>"We didn't know that we were slaves, hardly. Well, my brother and I +didn't know anyhow 'cause we were too young to know, but we knew that we +had been when we got older."</p> + +<p>"After emancipation we stayed at the Stone family for some time, 'cause +they were good to us and we had no place to go." Mr. Quinn meant by +emancipation that his master freed his slaves, and, as he said, +"emancipated them a year before Lincoln did."</p> + +<p>Mr. Quinn said that his father was not freed when his mother and he and +his brother were freed, because his father's master "didn't think the +North would win the war." Stone's slaves fared well and ate good food +and "his own children didn't treat us like we were slaves." He said +some of the slaves on surrounding plantations and farms had it "awful +hard and bad." Some times slaves would run away during the night, and he +said that "we would give them something to eat." He said his mother did +the cooking for the Stone family and that she was good to runaway +slaves.</p> + +Submitted September 9, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="RichardsonCandus"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Harry Jackson<br> +<br> +EX SLAVE STORY<br> +MRS. CANDUS RICHARDSON<br> +[HW: Personal Interview]</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Candus Richardson, of 2710 Boulevard Place, was 18 years of age +when the Civil War was over. She was borned a slave on Jim Scott's +plantation on the "Homer Chitter river" in Franklin county, Mississippi. +Scott was the heir of "Old Jake Scott". "Old Jim Scott" had about fifty +slaves, who raised crops, cotton, tobacco, and hogs. Candus cooked for +Scott and his wife, Miss Elizabeth. They were both cruel, according to +Mrs. Richardson. She said that at one time her Master struck her over +the head with the butt end of a cowhide, that made a hole in her head, +the scar of which she still carries. He struck her down because he +caught her giving a hungry slave something to eat at the back door of +the "big house". The "big house" was Scott's house.</p> + +<p>Scott beat her husband a lot of times because he caught him praying. But +"beatings didn't stop my husband from praying. He just kept on praying. +He'd steal off to the woods and pray, but he prayed so loud that anybody +close around could hear, 'cause he had such a loud voice. I prayed too, +but I always prayed to myself." One time, Jim Scott beat her husband so +unmerciful for praying that his shirt was as red from blood stain "as if +you'd paint it with, a brush". Her husband was very religious, and she +claimed that it was his prayers and "a whole lot of other slaves' that +cause you young folks to be free today".</p> + +<p>They didn't have any Bible on the Scott plantation she said, for it +meant a beating or "a killing if you'd be caught with one". But there +were a lot of good slaves and they knew how to pray and some of the +white folks loved to hear than pray too, "'cause there was no put-on +about it. That's why we folks know how to sing and pray, 'cause we have +gone through so much, but the Lord is with us, the Lord's with us, he +is".</p> + +<p>Mrs. Richardson said that the slaves, that worked in the Master's house, +ate the same food that the master and his family ate, but those out on +the plantation didn't fare so well; they ate fat meats and parts of the +hog that the folks at the "big house" didn't eat. All the slaves had to +call Scott and his wife "Master and Miss Elizabeth", or they would get +punished if they didn't.</p> + +<p>Whenever the slaves would leave the plantation, they ware supposed to +have a permit from Scott, and if they were caught out by the +"padyrollers", they would whip them if they did not have a note from +their master. When the slaves went to church, they went to a Baptist +church that the Scotts belonged to and sat in the rear of the church. +The sermon was never preached to the slaves. "They never preached the +Lord to us," Mrs. Richardson said, "They would just tell us to not +steal, don't steal from your master". A week's ration of food was given +each slave, but if he ate it up before the week, he had to eat salt pork +until the next rations. He couldn't eat much of it, because it was too +salty to eat any quanity of it. "We had to make our own clothes out of a +cloth like you use, called canvass". "We walked to church with our shoes +on our arms to keep from wearing them out".</p> + +<p>They walked six miles to reach the church, and had to wade across a +stream of water. The women were carried across on the men's backs. They +did all of this to hear the minister tell them "don't steal from your +Master".</p> + +<p>They didn't have an overseer to whip the slaves on the Scott plantation, +Scott did the whipping himself. Mrs. Richardson said he knocked her down +once just before she gave birth to a daughter, all because she didn't +pick cotton as fast as he thought she should have.</p> + +<p>Her husband went to the war to be "what you call a valet for Master +Jim's son, Sam". After the war, he "came to me and my daughter". "Then +in July, we could tell by the crops and other things grown, old Master +Jim told us everyone we was free, and that was almost a year after the +other slaves on the other plantations around were freed". She said +Scott, in freeing (?) then said that "he didn't have to give us any +thing to eat and that he didn't have to give us a place to stay, but we +could stay and work for him and he would pay us. But we left that night +and walked for miles through the rain to my husban's brother and then +told them that they all were free. Then we all came up to Kentucky in a +wagon and lived there. Then I came up North when my husband died".</p> + +<p>Mrs. Richardson says that she is "so happy to know that I have lived to +see the day when you young people can serve God without slipping around +to serve him like we old folks had to do". "You see that pencil that you +have In your hand there, why, that would cost me my life 'if old Mas' +Jim would see me with a pencil in my hand. But I lived to see both him +and Miss Elizabeth die a hard death. They both hated to die, although +they belonged to church. Thank God for his mercy! Thank God!" "My mother +prayed for me and I am praying for you young folks".</p> + +<p>Mrs. Richardson, despite her 90 years of age, can walk a distance of a +mile and a half to her church.</p> + +Submitted August 31, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="RobinsonJoe"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +JOE ROBINSON—EX-SLAVE<br> +1132 Cornell Avenue</h3> +<br> + +<p>Joe Robinson was born in Mason County, Kentucky in 1854.</p> + +<p>His master, Gus Hargill, was very kind to him and all his slaves. He +owned a large farm and raised every kind of vegetation. He always gave +his slaves plenty to eat. They never had to steal food. He said his +slaves had worked hard to permit him to have plenty, therefore they +should have their share.</p> + +<p>Joe, his mother, a brother, and a sister were all on the same +plantation. They were never sold, lived with the same master until they +were set free.</p> + +<p>Joe's father was owned by Rube Black, who was very cruel to his slaves, +beat them severely for the least offense. One day he tried to beat Joe's +father, who was a large strong man; he resisted his master and tried to +kill him. After that he never tried to whip him again. However, at the +first opportunity, Rube sold him.</p> + +<p>The Robinson family learned the father had been sold to someone down in +Louisiana. They never heard from, or of him, again.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. Robinson lives with his wife; he receives a pension, which he said +was barely enough for them to live on, and hoped it would be increased.</p> + +<p>He attends one of the W.P.A. classes, trying to learn to read and write.</p> + +<p>They have two children who live in Chicago.</p> + +Submitted January 24, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="RogersRosaline"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. ROSALINE ROGERS—EX-SLAVE—110 YEARS OLD<br> +910 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Rogers was born in South Carolina, in 1827, a slave of Dr. Rice +Rogers, "Mas. Rogers," we called him, was the youngest son of a family +of eleven children. He was so very mean.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Rogers was sold and taken to Tennessee at the age of eleven for +$900.00 to a man by the name of Carter. Soon after her arrival at the +Carter plantation, she was resold to a man by the name of Belby Moore +with whom she lived until the beginning of the Civil war.</p> + +<p>Men and women were herded into a single cabin, no matter how many there +were. She remembers a time when there were twenty slaves in a small +cabin. There were holes between the logs of the cabin, large enough for +dogs and cats to crawl through. The only means of heat, being a wood +fireplace, which, of course, was used for cooking their food.</p> + +<p>The slaves' food was corn cakes, side pork, and beans; seldom any sweets +except molasses.</p> + +<p>The slaves were given a pair of shoes at Christmas time and if they were +worn out before summer, they were forced to go barefoot.</p> + +<p>Her second master would not buy shoes for his slaves. When they had to +plow, their feet would crack and bleed from walking on the hard clods, +and if one complained, they would be whipped; therefore, very few +complaints were made.</p> + +<p>The slaves were allowed to go to their master's church, and allowed to +sit in the seven back benches; should those benches be filled, they were +not allowed to sit in any other benches.</p> + +<p>The wealthy slave owner never allowed his slaves to pay any attention to +the poor "white folks," as he knew they had been free all their lives +and should be slave owners themselves. The poor whites were hired by +those who didnot believe in slavery, or could not afford slaves.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the Civil war, I had a family of fourteen children. +At the close of the war, I was given my choice of staying on the same +plantation, working on shares, or taking my family away, letting them +out for their food and clothes. I decided to stay on that way; I could +have my children with me. They were not allowed to go to school, they +were taught only to work.</p> + +<p>Slave mothers were allowed to stay in bed only two or three days after +childbirth; then were forced to go into the fields to work, as if +nothing had happened.</p> + +<p>The saddest moment of my life was when I was sold away from my family. I +often wonder what happened to them, I haven't seen or heard from them +since. I only hope God was as good to them as He has been to me.</p> + +<p>"I am 110 years old; my birth is recorded in the slave book. I have good +health, fairly good eyesight, and a good memory, all of which I say is +because of my love for God."</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Rogers is certainly a very old woman, very pleasant, and seems very +fond of her granddaughters, with whom she lives.</p> + +Submitted December 29, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="RollinsParthenia"></a> +<h3>Federal writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. PARTHENA ROLLINS<br> +848 Camp Street (Rear)</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Parthena Rollins was born in Scott County, Kentucky, in 1853, a +slave of Ed Duvalle, who was always very kind to all of his slaves, +never whipping any of the adults, but often whipped the children to +correct them, never beating them. They all had to work, but never +overwork, and always had plenty to eat.</p> + +<p>She remembers so many slaves, who were not as fortunate as they were.</p> + +<p>Once when the "nigger traders" came through, there was a girl, the +mother of a young baby; the traders wanted the girl, but would not buy +her because she had the child. Her owner took her away, took the baby +from her, and beat it to death right before the mother's eyes, then +brought the girl back to the sale without the baby, and she was bought +immediately.</p> + +<p>Her new master was so pleased to get such a strong girl who could work +so well and so fast.</p> + +<p>The thoughts of the cruel way of putting her baby to death preyed on +her mind to such an extent, she developed epilepsy. This angered her new +master, and he sent her back to her old master, and forced him to refund +the money he had paid for her.</p> + +<p>Another slave had displeased his master for some reason, he was taken to +the barn and killed, and was buried right in the barn. No one knew of +this until they were set free, as the slaves who knew about it were +afraid to tell for fear of the same fate befalling on them.</p> + +<p>Parthena also remembers slaves being beaten until their backs were +blistered. The overseers would then open the blisters and sprinkle salt +and pepper in the open blisters, so their backs would smart and hurt all +the more.</p> + +<p>Many times, slaves would be beaten to death, thrown into sink holes, and +left for the buzzards to swarm and feast on their bodies.</p> + +<p>So many of the slaves she knew were half fed and half clothed, and +treated so cruelly, that it "would make your hair stand on ends."</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Rollins is in poor health all broken up with "rheumatiz."</p> + +<p>She lives with a daughter and grandson, and said she could hardly talk +of the happenings of the early days, because of the awful things her +folks had to go through</p> + +Submitted December 21, 1937<br> +Anatolia, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="RuddJohn"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +TOLD BY JOHN RUDD, AN EX-SLAVE</h3> +<br> + +<p>"Yes, I was a slave," said John Rudd, "And I'll say this to the whole +world, Slavery was the worst curse ever visited on the people of the +United States."</p> + +<p>John Rudd is a negro, dark and swarthy as to complexion but his nose is +straight and aqualine, for his mother-was half Indian.</p> + +<p>The memory of his mother, Liza Rudd, is sacred to John Rudd today and +her many disadvantages are still a source of grief to the old man of 83 +years. John Rudd was born on Christmas day 1854 in the home of Benjamin +Simms, at Springfield, Kentucky. The mother of the young child was house +maid for mistress Simms and Uncle John remembers that mother and child +received only the kindliest consideration from all members of the Simms +family.</p> + +<p>While John was yet a small boy Benjamin Simms died and the Simms slaves +were auctioned to the highest bidders. "If'n you wants to know what +unhappiness means," said Uncle John Rudd, "Jess'n you stand on the Slave +Block and hear the Auctioneer's voice selling you away from the folks +you love." Uncle John explained how mothers and fathers were often +separated from their dearly loved children, at the auction block, but +John and his younger brother Thomas were fortunate and were bought by +the same master along with Liza Rudd, their mother. An elder brother, +Henry, was separated from his mother and brothers and became the +property of George Snyder and was thereafter known as Henry Snyder.</p> + +<p>When Liza Rudd and her two little sons left the slave block they were +the property of Henry Moore who lived a few miles away from Springfield. +Uncle John declares that unhappiness met them at the threshold of the +Moore's estate.</p> + +<p>Liza was given the position of cook, housemaid and plough-hand while her +little boys were made to hoe, carry wood and care for the small children +of the Moore family.</p> + +<p>John had only been at the Moore home a few months when he witnessed +several slaves being badly beaten. Henry Moore kept a white overseer and +several white men were employed to whip slaves. A large barrel stood +near the slave quarters and the little boy discovered that the barrel +was a whipping post. The slaves would be strapped across the side of the +barrel and two strong men would wield the "cat of nine tails" until +blood flowed from gashed flesh, and the cries and prayers of the +unfortunate culprits availed them nothing until the strength of the +floggers became exhausted.</p> + +<p>One day, when several Negroes had just recovered from an unusual amount +of chastisement, the little Negro, John Rudd, was playing in the front +yard of the Moore's house when he heard a soft voice calling him. He +knew the voice belonged to Shell Moore, one of his best friends at the +Moore estate. Shell had been among those severely beaten and little John +had been grieving over his misfortunes. "Shell had been in the habbit of +whittling out whistles for me and pettin' of me," said the now aged +negro. "I went to see what he wanted wif me and he said 'Goodby Johnnie, +you'll never see Shellie alive after today.'" Shell made his way toward +the cornfield but the little Negro boy, watching him go, did not realize +what situation confronted him. That night the master announced that +Shell had run away again and the slaves were started searching fields +and woods but Shell's body was found three days later by Rhoder McQuirk, +dangling from a rafter of Moore's corn crib where the unhappy Negro had +hanged himself with a leather halter.</p> + +<p>Shell was a splendid worker and was well worth a thousand dollars. If he +had been fairly treated he would have been happy and glad to repay +kindness by toil. "Mars Henry would have been better to all of us, only +Mistress Jane was always rilin' him up," declared John Rudd as he sat in +his rocking chair under a shade tree.</p> + +<p>"Jane Moore, was the daughter of Old Thomas Rakin, one of the meanest +men, where slaves were concerned, and she had learnt the slave drivin' +business from her daddy."</p> + +<p>Uncle John related a story concerning his mother as follows: "Mama had +been workin' in the cornfield all day 'till time to cook supper. She was +jes' standin' in the smoke house that was built back of the big kitchen +when Mistress walks in. She had a long whip hid under her apron and +began whippin Mama across the shoulders, 'thout tellin' her why. Mama +wheeled around from whar she was slicin' ham and started runnin' after +old Missus Jane. Ole Missus run so fas' Mama couldn't catch up wif her +so she throwed the butcher knife and stuck it in the wall up to the +hilt." "I was scared. I was fraid when Marse Henry come in I believed he +would have Mama whipped to death."</p> + +<p>"Whar Jane?" said Mars Henry. "She up stairs with the door locked," said +Mama. Then she tole old Mars Henry the truth about how mistress Jane +whip her and show him the marks of the whip. She showed him the butcher +knife stickin' in the wall. "Get yer clothes together," said Marse +Henry.</p> + +<p>John then had to be parted from his mother. Henry Rudd [TR: 'Moore' +written above in brackets.] believed that the Negroes were going to be +set free. War had been declared and his desire was to send Liza far into +the southern states where the price of a good negro was higher than in +Kentucky. When he reached Louisville he was offered a good price for her +service and hired her out to cook at a hotel. John grieved over the loss +of his mother but afterwards learned she had been well treated at +Louisville. John Rudd continued to work for Henry Moore until the Civil +War ended. Then Henry Snyder came to the Moore home and demanded his +brothers to be given into his charge.</p> + +<p>Henry Snyder had enlisted in the Federal Army and had fought throughout +the war. He had entered or leased seven acres of good land seven miles +below Owensboro, Kentucky, and on those good acres of Davies County farm +land the mother and her three sons were reunited.</p> + +<p>John Rudd had never seen a river until he made the trip to Owensboro +with his brother Henry. The trip was made on the big Gray Eagle and +Uncle John declares "I was sure thrilled to get that boat ride." He +relates many incidents of run-away Negroes. Remembers his fear of the Ku +Klucks, and remembers seeing seven ex-slaves hanging from one tree near +the top of Grimes-Hill, just after the close of the war.</p> + +<p>When John grew to young manhood he worked on farms in Davis County near +Owensboro for several years, then procured the job of portering for John +Sporree, a hotel keeper at Owensboro, and in this position John worked +for fifteen years.</p> + +<p>While at Owensboro he met the trains and boats. He recalls the boats; +Morning Star, and Guiding Star; both excursion boats that carried gay +men and women on pleasure trips up and down the Ohio river.</p> + +<p>Uncle John married Teena Queen his beloved first wife, at Owensboro. To +this union was born one son but he has not been to see his father nor +has he heard from him for thirty years, and his father believes him to +have died. The second wife was Minnie Dixon who still lives with Uncle +John at Evansville.</p> + +<p>When asked what his political ideas were, Uncle John said his politics +is his love for his government. He draws an old age compensation of 14 +dollars a month.</p> + +<p>Uncle John had some trouble proving his age but met the situation by +having a friend write to the Catholic Church authorities at Springfield. +Mrs. Simms had taken the position of God Mother to the baby and his +birth and christening had been recorded in the church records. He is a +devout Catholic and believes that religion and freedom are the two +richest blessings ever given to mankind.</p> + +<p>Uncle John worked as janitor at the Boehne Tuberculosis Hospital for +eight years. While working there he received a fall which crippled him. +He walks by the aid of a cane but is able to visit with his friends and +do a small amount of work in his home.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SamuelsAmandaElizabeth"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +AMANDA ELIZABETH SAMUELS<br> +1721 Park Avenue</h3> +<br> + +<p>Lizzie was a child in the home of grandma and grandpa McMurry. They were +farmers in Robinson County, Tennessee.</p> + +<p>Her mother, a slave hand, worked on the farm until her young master, +Robert McMurry was married. She was then sold to Rev. Carter Plaster and +taken to Logan County, Kentucky.</p> + +<p>The child, Lizzie was given to young Robert. She lived in the house to +help the young mistress who was not so kind to her. Lizzie was forced to +eat chicken heads, fish heads, pig tails, and parsnips. The child +disliked this very much, and was very unhappy with her young mistress, +because in Robert's father's home all slave children were treated just +like his own children. They had plenty of good substantial food, and +were protected in every way.</p> + +<p>The old master felt they were the hands of the next generation and if +they were strong and healthy, they would bring in a larger amount of +money when sold.</p> + +<p>Lizzie's hardships did not last long as they were set free soon after +young Robert's marriage. He took her in a wagon to Keysburg, Kentucky to +be with her mother.</p> + +<p>Lizzie learned this song from the soldiers.</p> + +<pre> +Old Saul Crawford is dead, +And the last word is said. +They were fond of looking back +Till they heard the bushes crack +And sent them to their happy home +In Cannan. +Some wears worsted +Some wears lawn +What they gonna do +When that's all gone. +</pre> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Samuels is an amusing little woman, she must be about 80 years old, +but holds to the age of 60. Had she given her right age, the people for +whom she works would have helped her to get her pension.</p> + +<p>They are amused, yet provoked because Lizzie wants to be younger than +she really is.</p> + +Submitted December 1, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SimmsJack"></a> +<h3>G. Monroe<br> +Dist. 4<br> +Jefferson County<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +MR. JACK SIMMS' STORY</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>Personal Interview</b></p> + +<p>Mr. Simms was born and raised on Mill Creek Kentucky, and now lives in +Madison Indiana on Poplar Street diagonally North West of the hospital.</p> + +<p>He was so young he did no remember very much about how the slaves were +treated, but seemed to regret very much that he had been denied the +privilege of an education. Mr. Simms remembers seeing the lines of +soldiers on the Campbellsburg road, but referred to the war as the +"Revolution War".</p> + +<p>This was a very interesting old man, when we first called, his daughter +invited us into the house, but her father wanted to talk outside where +he "spit better". When his daughter conveyed this information Mr. Simms' +immediately decided that we could come in as we "wouldn't be there long +anyhow".</p> + +<p>After we gained entrance, the daughter remarked that her father was very +young at the time of the war, whereupon he answered very testily "If you +are going to tell it, go ahead. Or am I going to tell it?"</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SlaughterBilly"></a> +<h3>Beulah Van Meter<br> +District 4<br> +Clark County<br> +<br> +BILLY SLAUGHTER<br> +1123 Watt St.<br> +Jeffersonville</h3> +<br> + +<p>Billy Slaughter was born Sept. 15, 1858, on the Lincoln Farm near +Hodgenville, Ky. The Slaughters who now live between the Dixie Highway +and Hodgenville on the right of the road driving toward Hodgenville +about four miles off the state highway are the descendants of the old +slave's master. This old slave was sold once and was given away once +before he was given his freedom.</p> + +<p>The spring on the Lincoln Farm that falls from a cliff was a place +associated with Indian cruelty. It was here in the pool of water below +the cliff that the Indians would throw babies of the settlers. If the +little children could swim or the settlers could rescue them they +escaped, otherwise they were drowned. The Indians would gather around +the scene of the tragedy and rejoice in their fashion. The old slave +when he was a baby was thrown in this pool but was rescued by white +people. He remembers having seen several Indians but not many.</p> + +<p>The most interesting subject that Billy Slaughter discussed was the +Civil War. This was ordinarily believed to be fought over slavery, but +it really was not, according to his interpretation, which is unusual for +an old slave to state. The real reason was that the South withdrew from +the Union and elected Jefferson Davis President of the Confederacy. In +his own dialect he narrated these events accurately. The southerners or +Democrats were called "Rebels" and "Secess" and the Republicans were +called "Abolitionists."</p> + +<p>Another point of interest was John Brown and Harpers Ferry. When +Harper's Ferry was fired upon, that was firing upon the United States. +It was here and through John Brown's Raid that war was virtually +declared. The old Negro explained that Brown was an Abolitionist, and +was captured here and later killed. While the old slave had the utmost +respect for the Federal Government he regarded John Brown as a martyr +for the cause of freedom and included him among the heroes he +worshipped. Among his prized possessions is an old book written about +John Brown's Raid.</p> + +<p>The old slave's real hero was Abraham Lincoln. He plans another +pilgrimage to the Lincoln Farm to look again at the cabin in which his +Emancipator was born. He asked me if I read history very much. I assured +him that I read it to some extent. After that he asked me if I recalled +reading about Lincoln during the Civil War walking the White House floor +one night and a Negro named Douglas remained in his presence. In the +beginning of the War the Negroes who enlisted in the Union Army were +given freedom, also the wives, and the children who were not married.</p> + +<p>Another problem that was facing the North at this time was that the men +who were taken from the farm and factory to the army could not be +replaced by the slaves and production continued in the North as was +being done in the south. Not all Negroes who wanted to join the Union +forces were able to do so because of the strict watchfulness of their +masters. The slaves were made to fight in the southern army whether they +wanted to or not. This lessened the number of free Negroes in the +Northern army. As a result Lincoln decided to free all Negroes. That was +the decision he made the night he walked the White House floor. This was +the old darkey's story of the conditions that brought about the +Emancipation Proclamation. Freeing the Negroes was brought about during +the Civil War but it was not the reason that the war was fought, was the +unusual opinion of this Negro. "Uncle Billy's" father joined the Union +army at the Taylor Barracks, near Louisville, Ky., which was the Camp +Taylor during the World War. Uncle Billy's father and mother and their +children who were not married were given freedom. The old slave has kept +the papers that were drawn up for this act.</p> + +<p>The old darkey explained that the Negro soldiers never fought in any +decisive battles. There must always be someone to clean and polish the +harness, care for the horses, dig ditches, and construct parapets. This +slave's father was at Memphis during the battle there.</p> + +<p>The Slaughter family migrated to Jeffersonville in '65. Billy was then +seven years old. At that time there was only one depot here—a freight +and passenger depot at Court and Wall Streets. What is now known as +Eleventh St. was then a hickory grove—a paradise for squirrel hunters. +On the ridge beginning at 7th and Mechanic Sts. were persimmon trees. +This was a splendid hunting haven for the Negroes for their favorite +wild animal—the o'possum. The ridge is known today as 'Possum Ridge. +The section east of St. Anthony's Cemetery was covered in woods. Since +there were a number of Beechnuts, pigeons frequented this place and were +sought here. One could catch them faster than he could shoot them.</p> + +<p>At this time there were two shipyards in Jeffersonville—Barmore's and +Howard's. Barmore's shipyard location was first the location of a big +meat-packing company. The old darkey called it a "pork house".</p> + +<p>The old slave had seen several boats launched from these yards. Great +crowds would gather for this event. After the hull was completed in the +docks the boat was ready to launch. The blocks that served as props were +knocked down one at a time. One man would knock down each prop. There +were several men employed in this work on the appointed day of the +launching of the boat. The boat would be christened with a bottle of +champagne on its way to the river.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Billy" worked on a steamboat in his earlier days. This boat +traveled from Louisville to New Orleans. People traveled on the river +for there were few railroads. The first work the old darkey did was to +clean the decks. Later he cleaned up inside the boat, mopped up the +floors and made the berths. The next job he held was ladies' cabin man. +Later he took care of the quarters where the officials of the boat +slept. The darkey also worked as a second pantry man. This work +consisted of waiting on the tables in the dining room. The men's clothes +had to be spotless. Sometimes it would become necessary for him to +change his shirt three times a day.</p> + +<p>The meats on the menu would include pigeon, duck, turkey, chicken, +quail, beef, pork, and mutton. Vegetables of the season were served, as +well as desserts. It was nothing unusual for a half dollar to be left +under a plate as a tip for the waiter. Those who worked in the cabins +never set a price for a shoe shine. Fifteen cents was the lowest they +ever received.</p> + +<p>During a yellow fever epidemic before a quarantine could be declared a +boatload of three hundred people left Louisville at night to go to +Memphis, Tenn. During the same time this boat went to New Orleans where +yellow fever was raging. The captain warned them of it. In two narrow +streets the old darkey recalled how he had seen the people fall over +dead. These streets were crowded and there were no sidewalks, only room +for a wagon. Here the victims would be sitting in the doorways, +apparently asleep, only to fall over dead.</p> + +<p>When the boat returned, one of the crew was stricken with this disease. +Uncle Billy nursed him until they reached his home at Cairo, Ill. No +one else took the yellow fever and this man recovered.</p> + +<p>Another job "Uncle Billy" held was helping to make the brick used in the +U.S. Quarter Master Depot. Colonel James Keigwin operated a brick kiln +in what is now a colored settlement between 10th and 14th and Watt and +Spring Sts. The clay was obtained from this field. It was his task to +off-bare the brick after they were taken from the molds, and to place +them in the eyes to be burned. Wood was used as fuel.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Billy" reads his Bible quite often. He sometimes wonders why he +is still left here—all of his friends are gone; all his brothers and +sisters are gone. But this he believes is the solution—that there must +be someone left to tell about old times.</p> + +<p>"The Bible," he quotes, "says that two shall be working in the field +together and one shall be taken and the other left. I am the one who is +left," he concludes.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SmithMrMrsAlex"></a> +<h3>Henrietta Karwowski, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +St. Joseph County—District #1<br> +South Bend, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVES<br> +MR. AND MRS. ALEX SMITH<br> +127 North Lake Street<br> +South Bend, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Alex Smith, an eighty-three year old negro couple were +slaves in Kentucky near Paris, Tennessee, as children. They now reside +at 127 North Lake Street, on the western limits of South Bend. This +couple lives in a little shack patched up with tar paper, tin, and wood.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, the talkative member or the family is a small +woman, very wrinkled, with a stocking cap pulled over her gray hair. She +wore a dress made of three different print materials; sleeves of one +kind, collar of another and body of a third. Her front teeth were +discolored, brown stubs, which suggested that she chews tobacco.</p> + +<p>Mr. Alex Smith, the husband is tall, though probably he was a well built +man at one time. He gets around by means of a cane. Mrs. Smith said that +he is not at all well, and he was in the hospital for six weeks last +winter.</p> + +<p>The wife, Elizabeth or Betty, as her husband calls her, was a slave on +the Peter Stubblefield plantation in Kentucky, the nearest town being +Paris, Tennessee, while Mr. Smith was a slave on the Robert Stubblefield +plantation nearby.</p> + +<p>Although only a child of five, Mr. Smith remembers the Civil War, +especially the marching of thousands of soldiers, and the horse-drawn +artillery wagons. The Stubblefields freed their slaves the first winter +after the war.</p> + +<p>On the Peter Stubblefield plantation the slaves were treated very well +and had plenty to eat, while on the Robert Stubblefield plantation Mr +Smith went hungry many times, and said, "Often, I would see a dog with a +bit of bread, and I would have been willing to take it from him if I had +not been afraid the dog would bite me."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Smith was named after Elizabeth Stubblefield, a relative of Peter +Stubblefield. As a child of five years or less, Elizabeth had to spin +"long reels five cuts a day," pick seed from cotton, and cockle burrs +from wool, and perform the duties of a house girl.</p> + +<p>Unlike the chores of Elizabeth, Mr. Smith had to chop wood, carry water, +chop weeds, care for cows, pick bugs from tobacco plants. This little +boy had to go barefoot both summer and winter, and remembers the +cracking of ice under his bare feet.</p> + +<p>The day the mistress and master came and told the slaves they were free +to go any place they desired, Mrs. Smith's mother told her later that +she was glad to be free but she had no place to go or any money to go +with. Many of the slaves would not leave and she never witnessed such +crying as went on. Later Mrs. Smith was paid for working. She worked in +the fields for "wittels" and clothes. A few years later she nursed +children for twenty-five cents a week and "wittels," but after a time +she received fifty cents a week, board and two dresses. She married Mr. +Smith at the age of twenty.</p> + +<p>Mr Smith's father rented a farm and Mr. Smith has been a farmer all his +life. The Smith couple have been married sixty-four years. Mrs. Smith +says, "and never a cross word exchanged. Mr. Smith and I had no +children."</p> + +<p>The room the writer was invited into was a combination bed-room and +living room with a large heating stove in the centre of the small room. +A bed on one side, a few chairs about the room. The floor was covered +with an old patched rug. The only other room beside this room was a very +small kitchen. The whole home was shabby and poor.</p> + +<p>The only means of support the family has is a government old age pension +which amounts to about fourteen dollars a month.</p> + +<p>Their little shack is situated in the center of a large lot around which +a very nice vegetable garden is planted. The property belongs to Mr. +Harry Brazy, and the old couple does not pay rent or taxes and they may +stay there as long as they live, "which is good enough for us," says +Mrs. Smith.</p> + +<p>As the writer was leaving Mrs. Smith said, "I like to talk and meet +people. Come again."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="StoneBarney"></a> +<h3>Robert C. Irvin<br> +District #2<br> +Noblesville, Ind.<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVE, LIFE STORY OF<br> +BARNEY STONE, FORMER SLAVE, HAMILTON CO.</h3> +<br> + +<p>This is the life story of Barney Stone, a highly respected colored +gentleman of Noblesville, Hamilton County seat. Mr. Stone is near +nintey-one years old, is in sound physical condition and still has a +remarkable memory. He was a slave in the state of Kentucky for more than +sixteen years and a soldier in the Union army for nearly two years. He +educated himself and taught school to colored children four years +following the Civil War. He studied in 1868, and has been a preacher in +the Colored Baptist Faith for sixty nine years, having been instrumental +in the building of seven churches in that time. Mr. Stone joined the K. +of P. Lodge, the I.O.O.F. and Masonic Lodge and is still a member of the +latter.</p> + +<p>This fine old colored man has always worked hard for the uplift and +advancement of the colored race and has accomplished much in this effort +in the States of Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana. He, together with his +preaching of the gospel, and his lecturing, has followed farming. He now +has a field of sweet corn and a fine, large garden, which he plowed, +planted and tended himself and not a weed can be found in either. He is +the only ex-slave now living in Hamilton County, the others all +deceased, and is one of three living members of Hamilton county G.A.R. +the other two members being white.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stone has given to the writer "My Life's Story", which he desires to +call it, and in this story he pictures to the reader, "sixteen years of +hell as a slave on a plantation," a story which will convince the reader +that, even though much blood was shed in our Civil War, the war was a +Godsend to the American Nation. This story is told just as given by Mr. +Stone.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>MY LIFE'S STORY</b></p> + +<p>"My name is Barney Stone, I was born in slavery, May 17, 1847, in +Spencer County, Kentucky. I was a slave on the plantation of Lemuel +Stone (all slaves bore the last name of their master) for nearly +seventeen years and was considered a leader among the young slaves on +our plantation. My Mammy was mother to ten children, all slaves, and my +Pappy, Buck Grant, was a buck slave on the plantation of John Grant, his +Mastah; my pappy was used much as a male cow is used on the stock farm +and was hired out to other plantation owners for that purpose and was +regarded as a valuable slave. His Mastah permitted him to visit my +mother each week-end on our plantation.</p> + +<p>My Mastah was a hard man when he was angry, drinking or not feeling +well, then at times he was kind to us. I was compelled to pick cotton +and do other work when I was a very small boy. Mastah would never sell +me because I was regarded as the best young slave on the plantation. +Different from many other slaves, I was kept on the plantation from the +day I was born until the day I ran away.</p> + +<p>Slaves were sold in two ways, sometimes at private sale to a man who +went about the Southland buying slaves until he has many in his +possession, then he would have a big auction sale and would re-sell them +to the highest bidder, much in the same manner as our live-stock are +sold now in auction sales. Professional slave buyers in those days were +called "nigger buyers". He came to the plantation with a doctor. He +would point out two or three slaves which looked good to him and which +could be spared by the owner, and would have the doctor examine the +slave's heart. If the doctor pronounced the slave as sound, then the +nigger buyer would make an offer to the owner and if the amount was +satisfactory, the slave was sold. Some large plantation owners, having a +large number of slaves, would hold a public auction and dispose of some +of them, then he would attend another sale and buy new slaves, this was +done sometimes to get better slaves and sometimes to make money on the +sale of them.</p> + +<p>Many times, as I have said before, our treatment on our plantation was +horrible. When I was just a small boy, I witnessed my sister sold and +taken away. One day one of horses came into the barn and Mastah noticed +that she was caripped. He flew into a rage and thought I had hurt the +horse, either that, or that I knew who did it. I told him that I did not +do it and he demanded that I tell him who did it, if I didn't. I did not +know and when I told him so, he secured a whip tied me to a post and +whipped me until I was covered with blood. I begged him, "Mastah, +Mastah, please don't whip me, I do not know who did it." He then took +out his pocket knife and I would have been killed if Missus (his dear +wife) had not make him quit. She untied me and cared for me.</p> + +<p>Many has been the time, I have seen my mammy beaten mercilessly and for +no good reason. One day, not long before the out-break of the Civil War, +a nigger buyer came and I witnessed my dear Mammy and my one year old +baby brother, sold. I seen er taken away, never to see her again until I +found her twenty-seven years later at Clarksburg, Tennessee. My baby +brother was with her, but I did not know him until Mammy told me who he +was, he had grown into a large man. That was a happy meeting. After +those experiences of "sixteen long years in hell, as a slave", I was +very bitter against the white man, until after I ran away and joined the +Union army.</p> + +<p>At the out-break of the Civil War and when the Northern army was +marching into the Southland, hundreds of male slaves were shot down by +the Rebels, rather than see them join with the Yankees. One day when I +learned that the Northern troops were very close to our plantation, I +ran away and hid in a culvert, but was found and I would have been shot +had the Yankee troops not scattered them and that saved me. I joined +that Union army and served one year, eight months and twenty-two days, +and fought with them in the battle of Fort Wagnor, and also in the +battle of Milikin's Bend. When I went into the army, I could not read or +write. The white soldiers took an interest in me and taught me to write +and read, and when the war was over I could write a very good letter. I +taught what little I knew to colored children after the War.</p> + +<p>I studied day and night for the next three years at the home of a +lawyer, educating myself and in 1868, I started preaching the gospel of +Jesus Christ and have continued to do so for sixty-nine years. In that +time I have been instrumental in the building of seven churches in +Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. I did this good work through +gratefulness to God for my deliverance and my salvation. During my life, +I have joined the K. of P. Lodge, and I.O.O.F and Masonic Lodge. I have +preached for the up-life and advancement of the colored races. I have +accomplished much good in this life and have raised a family of eight +children. I love and am loyal to my country and have received great +compensation from my government for my services. I am in good health and +still able to work, and I am thankful to my God and my country."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SuggsAdahIsabelle"></a> +<h3>Stories from Ex-Slaves<br> +5th District<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana<br> +<br> +ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE OF ADAH ISABELLE SUGGS</h3> +<br> + +<p>Among the interesting stories connected with former slaves one of the +most outstanding ones is the life story of Adah Isabelle Suggs, indeed +her escape from slavery planned and executed by her anxious mother, +Harriott McClain, bears the earmarks of fiction, but the truth of all +related occurences has been established by the aged negro woman and her +daughter Mrs. Harriott Holloway, both citizens of Evansville, Indiana.</p> + +<p>Born in slavery before January the twenty-second, 1862 the child Adah +McClain was the property of Colonel Jackson McClain and Louisa, his +wife.</p> + +<p>According to the customary practice of raising slave children, Adah was +left at the negro quarters of the McClain plantation, a large estate +located in Henderson county, three and one half miles from the village +of Henderson, Kentucky. There she was cared for by her mother. She +retains many impressions gained in early childhood of the slave +quarters; she remembers the slaves singing and dancing together after +the day of toil. Their voices were strong and their songs were sweet. +"Master was good to his slaves and never beat them" were her words +concerning her master.</p> + +<p>When Adah was not yet five years of age the mistress, Louisa McClain, +made a trip to the slave quarters to review conditions of the negroes. +It was there she discovered that one little girl there had been +developing ideas and ideals; the mother had taught the little one to +knit tiny stockings, using wheat straws for knitting needles.</p> + +<p>Mrs. McClain at once took charge of the child taking her from her +mother's care and establishing her room at the residence of the McClain +family.</p> + +<p>Today the aged Negro woman recalls the words of praise and encouragement +accorded her accomplishments, for the child was apt, active, responsive +to influence and soon learned to fetch any needed volume from the +library shelves of the McClain home.</p> + +<p>She was contented and happy but the mother knew that much unhappiness +was in store for her young daughter if she remained as she was situated.</p> + +<p>A custom prevailed throughout the southern states that the first born of +each slave maiden should be the son or daughter of her master and the +girls were forced into maternity at puberty. The mothers naturally +resisted this terrible practice and Harriott was determined to prevent +her child being victimized.</p> + +<p>One planned escape was thwarted; when the girl was about twelve years of +age the mother tried to take her to a place of safety but they were +overtaken on the road to the ferry where they hoped to be put across the +Ohio river. They were carried back to the plantation and the mother was +mildly punished and imprisoned in an upstair room.</p> + +<p>The little girl knew her mother was imprisoned and often climbed up to a +window where the two could talk together.</p> + +<p>One night the mother received directions through a dream in which her +escape was planned. She told the child about the dream and instructed +her to carry out orders that they might escape together.</p> + +<p>The girl brought a large knife from Mrs. McClain's pantry and by the aid +of that tool the lock was pried from the prison door and the mother made +her way into the open world about midnight.</p> + +<p>A large tobacco barn became her refuge where she waited for her child. +The girl had some trouble making her escape; she had become a useful and +necessary member of her mistress' household and her services were hourly +in demand. The Daughter "young missus" Annie McClain was afflicted from +birth having a cleft palate and later developing heart dropsy which made +regular surgery imperative. The negro girl had learned to care for the +young white woman and could draw the bandages for the surgeon whey +"Young Missus" underwent surgical treatment.</p> + +<p>The memory of one trip to Louisville is vivid in the mind of the old +negress today for she was taken to the city and the party stopped at the +Gault House and [TR: line not completed]</p> + +<p>"It was a grand place," she declares, as she describes the +surroundings; the handsome draperies and the winding stairway and other +artistic objects seen at the grand hotel.</p> + +<p>The child loved her young mistress and the young mistress desired the +good slave should be always near her; so, patient waiting was required +by the negro mother before her daughter finally reached their +rendezvous.</p> + +<p>Under cover of night the two fugitives traveled the three miles to +Henderson, there they secreted themselves under the house of Mrs. +Margaret Bentley until darkness fell over the world to cover their +retreat. Imagine the frightened negroes stealthily creeping through the +woods in constant fear of being recaptured. Federal soldiers put them +across the river at Henderson and from that point they cautiously +advanced toward Evansville. The husband of Harriott, Milton McClain and +her son Jerome were volunteers in a negro regiment. The operation of the +Federal Statute providing for the enlistment of slaves made enlisted +negroes free as well as their wives and children, so, by that statute +Harriott McClain and her daughter should have been given their freedom.</p> + +<p>When the refugees arrived in Evansville they were befriended by free +negroes of the area. Harriott obtained a position as maid with the +Parvine family, "Miss Hallie and Miss Genevieve Parvine were real good +folks," declares the aged negro Adah when repeating her story. After +working for the Misses Parvine for about two years, the negro mother had +saved enough money to place her child in "pay school" there she learned +rapidly.</p> + +<p>Adah McClain was married to Thomas Suggs January 18, 1872. Thomas was a +slave of Bill McClain and it is believed he adopted the name Suggs +because a Mr. Suggs had befriended him in time of trouble. Of this fact +neither the wife nor daughter have positive proof. The father has +departed this life but Adah Suggs lives on with her memories.</p> + +<p>Varied experiences have attended her way. Wifehood and devotion; +motherhood and care she has known for she has given fifteen children to +the world. Among them were one set of twins, daughters and triplets, two +sons and a daughter. She is a beloved mother to those of her children +who remain near her and says she is happy in her belief in God and +Christ and hopes for a glorious hereafter where she can serve the Lord +Jesus Christ and praise him eternally.</p> + +<p>What greater hope can be given to the mortal than the hope cherished by +Adah Isabelle Suggs?</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SuttonKatie"></a> +<h3>Folklore<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +"A TRADITION FROM PRE-CIVIL WAR DAYS"<br> +KATIE SUTTON, AGED EX-SLAVE<br> +Oak street, Evansville, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>"White folks 'jes naturally different from darkies," said Aunt Katie +Sutton, ex-slave, as she tightened her bonnet strings under her wrinkled +chin.</p> + +<p>"We's different in color, in talk and in ligion and beliefs. We's +different in every way and can never be spected to think oe [TR: or?] to +live alike."</p> + +<p>"When I was a little gal I lived with my mother in an old log cabin. My +mammy was good to me but she had to spend so much of her time at +humoring the white babies and taking care of them that she hardly ever +got to even sing her own babies to sleep."</p> + +<p>"Ole Missus and Young Missus told the little slave children that the +stork brought the white babies to their mothers but that the slave +children were all hatched out from buzzards eggs and we believed it was +true."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Maam, I believes in evil spirits and that there are many folks +that can put spells on you, and if'n you dont believe it you had better +be careful for there are folks right here in this town that have the +power to bewitch you and then you will never be happy again."</p> + +<p>Aunt Katie declared that the seventh son of a seventh son, or the +seventh daughter of a seventh daughter possesses the power to heal +diseases and that a child born after the death of its father possesses a +strange and unknown power.</p> + +<p>While Aunt Katie was talking, a neighbor came in to borrow a shovel from +her.</p> + +<p>"No, no, indeed I never lends anything to nobody," she declared. After +the new neighbor left, Aunt Katie said, "She jes erbout wanted dat +shovel so she could 'hax' me. A woman borrowed a poker from my mammy and +hexed mammy by bending the poker and mammy got all twisted up wid +rhumatis 'twill her uncle straightened de poker and den mammy got as +straight as anybody."</p> + +<p>"No, Maam, nobody wginter take anything of mine out'n this house." Aunt +Katie Sutton's voice was thin and her tune uncertain but she remembered +some of the songs she heard in slavery days. One was a lullaby sung by +her mother and the song is given on separate pages of this artical.</p> + +<p>Three years ago Aunt Katie was called away on her last journey although +she had always emmerced the back and front steps of her cottage with +chamber lye daily to keep away evil spirits death crept in and demanded +the price each of us must pay and Katie answered the call.</p> + +<p>Aunt Katie sprinkled salt in the foot prints of departing guests "Dat's +so dey kain leave no illwill behind em and can never come agin 'thout an +invitation," she explained.</p> + +<p>She said she one time planted a tree with a curse and that her worst +enemy died that same year.</p> + +<p>"Evil spirits creeps around all night long and evil people's always able +to hex you, So, you had best be careful how you talks to strangers. +Always spit on a coin before You gives it to a begger and dont pass too +close to a hunchbacked person unless you can rub the hump or you will +have bad luck as sure as anything."</p> + +<p>Aunt Katie declared a rabbit's foot only brought good luck if the rabbit +had been killed by a cross eyed negro in a country grave yard in the +dark of the moon and she said that she believed one of that description +could be found only once in a lifetime or possibly a hundred years.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>"A Slave Mammy's Lullaby."</b></p> + +<p>Sung by Katie Sutton, Ex-slave of Evansville, Indiana.</p> + +<pre> +"A snow white stork flew down from the sky. +Rock a bye, my baby bye, +To take a baby gal so fair, +To young missus, waitin there; +When all was quiet as a mouse, +In ole massa's big fine house. + + Refrain: + Dat little gal was borned rich and free, + She's de sap from out a sugah tree; + But you are jes as sweet to me; + My little colored chile, + Jes lay yo head upon my bres; + An res, and res, and res, an res, + My little colored chile. + +To a cabin in a woodland drear, +You've come by a mammy's heart to cheer; +In this ole slave's cabin, +Your hands my heart strings grabbin; +Jes lay your head upon my bres, +Jes snuggle close an res an res; +My little colored chile. + +Repeat Refrain. + +Yo daddy ploughs ole massa's corn, +Yo mammy does the cooking; +She'll give dinner to her hungry chile, +When nobody is a lookin; +Don't be ashamed, my chile, I beg, +Case you was hatched from a buzzard's egg; +My little colored chile." + +Repeat Refrain. +</pre> +<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="ThompsonGeorge"></a> +<h3>William R. Mays<br> +Dist. No. 4<br> +Johnson Co.<br> +Aug. 2, 1937<br> +<br> +SLAVERY DAYS OF GEORGE THOMPSON</h3> +<br> + +<p>My name is George Thompson, I was born in Monroe County, Kentucky near +the Cumberland river Oct. 8, 1854, on the Manfred Furgeson plantation, +who owned about 50 slaves. Mister Furgerson [TR: before, Furgeson] was a +preacher and had three daughters and was kind to his slaves.</p> + +<p>I was quite a small boy when our family, which included an older sister, +was sold to Ed. Thompson in Medcalf Co. Kentucky, who owned about 50 +other slaves, and as was the custom then we was given the name of our +new master, "Thompson".</p> + +<p>I was hardly twelve years old when slavery was abolished, yet I can +remember at this late date most of the happenings as they existed at +that time.</p> + +<p>I was so young and unexperienced when freed I remained on the Thompson +plantation for four years after the war and worked for my board and +clothes as coach boy and any other odd jobs around the plantation.</p> + +<p>I have no education, I can neither read nor write, as a slave I was not +allowed to have books. On Sundays I would go into the woods and gather +ginseng which I would sell to the doctors for from 10¢ to 15¢ a pound +and with this money I would buy a book that was called the Blue Back +Speller. Our master would not allow us to have any books and when we +were lucky enough to own a book we would have to keep it hid, for if our +master would find us with a book he would whip us and take the book from +us. After receiving three severe whippings I gave up and never again +tried for any learning, and to this day I can neither read nor write.</p> + +<p>Slaves were never allowed off of their plantation without a written +pass, and if caught away from their plantation without a pass by the +Pady-Rollers or Gorillars (who were a band of ruffians) they wore +whipped.</p> + +<p>As there were no oil lamps or candles, another black boy and myself were +stationed at the dining table to hold grease lamps for the white folks +to see to eat. And we would use brushes to shoo away the flies.</p> + +<p>In 1869 I left the plantation to go on my own. I landed in Heart County, +Ky. and went to work for Mr. George Parish in the tobacco fields at +$25.00 per year and two suits of clothes; after working two years for +Mr. Parish I left. I drifted from place to place in Alabama and +Mississippi, working first at one place and then another, and finally +drifted into Franklin in 1912 and went to work on the Fred Murry farm on +Hurricane road for 10 years. I afterwards worked for Ashy Furgerson, a +house mover.</p> + +<p>I have lived at my present address, 651 North Young St. since coming to +Franklin.</p> + +<p>(Can furnish photograph if wanted) [TR: no photograph found.]</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="WambleRev"></a> +<h3>Archie Koritz, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +Porter County—District #1<br> +Valparaiso, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVES<br> +REV. WAMBLE <br> +1827 Madison Street<br> +Gary, Indiana</h3> +<p>[TR: above 'Wamble' in handwriting is 'Womble']</p> +<br> + +<p>Rev. Wamble was born a slave in Monroe County, Mississippi, in 1859. The +Westbrook family owned many slaves in charge of over-seers who managed +the farm, on which there were usually two hundred or more slaves. One of +the Westbrook daughters married a Mr. Wamble, a wagon-maker. The +Westbrook family gave the newly-weds two slaves, as did the Wamble +family. One of the two slaves coming from the Westbrook family was Rev. +Wamble's grandfather. It seems that the slaves took the name of their +master, hence Rev. Wamble's grandfather was named Wamble.</p> + +<p>Families owning only a few slaves and in moderate circumstances usually +treated their slaves kindly since like a farmer with only a few horses, +it was to their best interest to see that their slaves were well +provided for. The slaves were valuable, and there was no funds to buy +others, whereas the large slave owners were wealthy and one slave more +or less made little difference. The Reverend's father and his brothers +were children of original African slaves and were of the same age as the +Wamble boys and grew up together. The Reverend's grandfather was manager +of the farm and the three Wamble boys worked under him the same as the +slaves. Mr. Wamble never permitted any of his slaves to be whipped, nor +were they mistreated.</p> + +<p>Mr. Westbrook was a deacon in the Methodist Church and had two slave +over-seers to manage the farm and the slaves. He was very severe with +his slaves and none were ever permitted to leave the farm. If they did +leave the farm and were found outside, they were arrested and whipped. +Then Westbrook was notified and one of the over-seers would come and +take the slave home where he would again be whipped. The slave was tied +to a cedar tree or post and lashed with a snake whip.</p> + +<p>Rev. Wamble's mother was a Deerbrook [HW: Westbrook] slave and when the +Reverend was two years of age, his mother died from a miscarriage caused +by a whipping. When the women slaves were in an advanced stage of +pregnancy they were made to lie face down in a specially dug depression +in the ground and were whipped. Otherwise they were treated like the +men. Their arms were tied around a cedar tree or post, and they were +lashed.</p> + +<p>Since the Reverend appeared to be a promising slave, both the Westbrooks +and the Wambles wanted him, much like one would want a valuable colt +today. Since the Reverend's grandmother was a Westbrook and the Wambles +treated the slaves much better, she wanted him to become a Wamble. She +hid the child in a shed, what would probably be a poor dog-house today, +and fed the child during the night time.</p> + +<p>During this period of his life the Reverend remembers what happened to +one of the Westbrook slaves who had run away. One evening he came to the +Wamble home and asked for some supper. Wamble took the slave into his +home and after feeding him, placed a log chain which was hanging above +the fire-place, around the slave's waist, left him to sleep on a bench +in front of the fire-place. The next morning after the slave was given +breakfast by the Wambles, Westbrook, his son and over-seer appeared. +Rev. Wamble in his hide-out remembers being awakened by the sound of the +slave being whipped and the moaning of the slave. After the whipping, +the slave was turned loose. After he had gone about a mile through the +bottom-land toward the river, Westbrook turned his hounds loose on the +slave's tracks. The hounds treed the slave before he had gone another +mile, much like a dog would tree a cat.</p> + +<p>The Westbrooks pulled the slave down from the tree and the dogs slashed +his foot. The slave was then whipped and long ropes placed around him. +He was driven back to the Wamble place with whips where he was once +again whipped. They [TR: Then?] they drove him two miles to the +Westbrook place where he was whipped once more. Whatever became of the +slave, whether he died or recovered, is unknown. One unusual feature of +this story is that Westbrook who permitted his slaves to be whipped, was +a church deacon, whereas Wamble, who never attended church, never +whipped or mistreated his slaves.</p> + +<p>The Reverend states that in the community where he resided the slaves +were well treated except for the whippings they received. They were +well-fed, and if injured or sick, were attended by a doctor on the same +principal that a person would care for an injured horse or sick cow. The +slaves were valuable, and it was to the best interest of the owner to +see that they were able to work.</p> + +<p>In case of slaves having children, the children became the property of +the mother's owner. If the south had won the war, Wamble would have been +a Westbrook since his mother was a Westbrook slave, and if it lost, he +would go to live with his father and take the name of his father, a +Wamble slave. So until the war was over he was hid out much like a small +child would bring a stray dog home and hide it somewhere for fear that +if his parents discovered it, it would be taken away.</p> + +<p>The living quarters of the slaves were made of logs covered with mud, +and the roof was covered with coarse boards upon which dirt about a foot +in depth was placed. There were no floors except dirt or the bare +ground. The furniture consisted of a small stove and the beds were two +boards extending from two walls, the extending ends resting on a peg +driven into the ground. This would make a one-legged bed. The two boards +were covered across ways with more boards and the slaves slept on these +boards or upon the dirt floor. There were no blankets provided for them. +For food the slaves received plenty of meat, potatoes, and whatever +could be raised. If the master had plenty to eat, so did the slaves, but +if food was not plentiful for the master, the slaves had less to eat.</p> + +<p>Only one of the three Wamble boys joined the southern army. Until the +war was over, the other two boys who refused to go to war hid out in the +surrounding woods and hills. The only time the Reverend's father left +the farm was to attend his master Billy, when he was in a hospital +recovering from wounds received in battle.</p> + +<p>Wamble was a wagon-maker, and he made two or three wagons which usually +took about six months. Then he hitched teams to them and went north to +Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas and kept going until he had sold the +wagons and teams, keeping one wagon and team, with which to return home. +Some times the master would be gone for a period of nine to twelve +months. During his absence the Reverend's grandfather was in charge of +the farm.</p> + +<p>The grandmother of Rev. Wamble was a full-blooded African negro, brought +to this country as a slave at seventeen years of age. She was a very +large and strong woman and was often hired out to do a man's work. +Slaves were forbidden to have papers in their possession and since they +were forbidden to read papers, hardly any slaves could read or write. +There never was any occasion or need to do these things. It was not +known that the Reverend's grandmother could read and write until after +the Civil War. The Reverend remembers his grandmother bringing an old +newspaper to his hide-out during the Civil War, late at night, after the +Wamble family had retired, and making a candle from fried meat grease +and a cord string, which made a very tiny light. She placed some old +blankets over the walls so that no light could be seen through the +cracks in the hut. She would then place the paper as near as possible to +the light, without burning it, and read the paper. It was never +discovered where or how she learned to read and write.</p> + +<p>If a young, good-looking, husky negro was trustworthy, the family would +make him the driver of the family carriage. They would dress him in the +best clothes obtainable and with a silk-finished beaver skin hat. The +driver sat on a seat on the top and towards the front of the carriage. +He was compelled to stay on this seat when waiting for any of the family +that he might be driving, regardless of the weather or the length of +time that he had to wait.</p> + +<p>The mail was carried in the same kind of vehicle with negro drivers. In +each town there was a certain rack at which this mail carriage would +stop in each village or wherever the designated stop was made. Upon +nearing the rack and coming to a stop, the driver would blow a bugle +call which could be heard for miles around, and people hearing this +bugle would come and get their mail. The Reverend remembers that +several of these drivers froze to death during the cold weather, and +that in the winter, many times the horses on the mail carriage upon +coming to this rack would stop, and the driver would be sitting frozen +to death in his seat.</p> + +<p>Men would take him down, carefully saving the silk beaver-skin hat for +some other driver.</p> + +<p>Since the slaves had no votes, they had no interest in politics when +they became free and knew nothing about political conditions other than +that after the Civil War they were free and had a vote. As a boy the +Reverend remembers seeing the white and black soldiers marching on +election day.</p> + +<p>The politicians would always tell the negroes what was good for them and +making it appear that it was for their best interest, and they should +vote for him, always giving them the desert first and making them think +that they were on the level no matter what the meal might be or what +hardships they were causing the negro to suffer. On one instance after +the negroes were forbidden to vote they marched in a body to the polls +and demanded a Democratic ballot and were then permitted to vote.</p> + +<p>Rev. Wamble was twenty-seven years of age before he saw and read his +first newspaper. He lived with the Wambles for twenty years after the +war, when his father then in partnership with another man, purchased +forty acres of land. He attended his first school for a period of two +months only in 1871. In 1872 the government built a school on his +father's farm and it was taught by a missionary. The school term was for +a period of three months each year. The Reverend attended this school +for seven years.</p> + +<p>In 1880 he married the first time. His first wife died in Memphis, +Tennessee, in 1888. By this marriage there were four children. On +February 1, 1892, the Reverend with his two surviving children all +entered school at a college in Little Rock, Arkansas. One of his +daughters died in the third year of her school year, but the other +graduated from the Normal School and was a teacher for several years. At +the present time she is married to a minister in Louisiana and is the +mother of ten children and is a nurse. The three oldest children have +degrees and the others are expected to do the same.</p> + +<p>The Reverend married his second wife in 1894. She died in 1907. By this +marriage nine children were born.</p> + +<p>The Reverend has been in the ministry for thirty-seven years. Seeing the +need of making more money, two of his sons came to Gary, Indiana, to +work in 1924. Now both are working in the post-office. Two years later +he came to Gary for the same reason and after working two years in the +coke plant, was laid off due to the depression. The youngest daughter of +the Reverend by his second marriage graduated from a college in Pine +Bluff, Arkansas, and is now teaching in New York City.</p> + +<p>Although the Reverend is advanced in years, he is quite active and +healthy. He says he has a small pension and is just waiting until it is +time to pass on to the next world. He has six children and seventeen +grandchildren living.</p> + +<p>As the Reverend remembered the south, none of the white people worked at +manual labor, but usually sat under a shade tree. They were usually +clerks, bookkeepers or tradesmen.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="WatsonSamuel"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +5th District<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana<br> +<br> +THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHILD BORN IN SLAVERY<br> +SAMUEL WATSON<br> +[HW: Personal Interview]</h3> +<br> + +<p>Samuel Watson, a citizen of Evansville, Indiana, was born in Webster +County, Kentucky, February 14, 1862. His master's home was located two +and one half miles from Clay, Kentucky on Craborchard Creek.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Sammy" as the negro children living near his home on South East +Fifth Street call the old man, possesses an unusually clear memory. In +fact he remembers seeing the soldiers and hearing the report of cannon +while he was yet an infant.</p> + +<p>One story told by the old negro relates how; "old missus" saved "old +massa's horses". The story follows:</p> + +<p>The mistress accompanied by a number of slaves was walking out one +morning and all were startled by the sound of hurrying horses. Soon many +mounted soldiers could be seen coming over a hill in the distance. The +child Samuel was later told that the soldiers were making their way to +Fort Donelson and were pressing horses into service. They were also +enlisting negroes into service whenever possible.</p> + +<p>Old master, Thomas Watson, owned many good able-bodied slaves and many +splendid horses. The mistress realised the danger of loss and opening +the "big gate" that separated the corral from the forest lands, Mrs. +Watson ran into the midst of the horses shouting and frailing them. The +frightened horses ran into the forest off the highway and toward the +river.</p> + +<p>When the soldiers stopped at the Watson plantation they found only a few +old work horses standing under a tree and not desiring these they want +on their way.</p> + +<p>The little negro boy ran and hid himself in the corner made by a great +outside chimney, where he was found later, by his frightened mother. +Uncle Samuel remembers that the horses came home the following +afternoon, none missing.</p> + +<p>Uncle Samuel remembers when the war ended and the slaves were +emancipated. "Some were happy! and some were sad!" Many dreaded leaving +their old homes and their masters' families.</p> + +<p>Uncle Samuel's mother and three children were told that they were free +people and the master asked the mother to take her little ones and go +away.</p> + +<p>She complied and took her family to the plantation of Jourdain James, +hoping to work and keep her family together. Wages received for her +work failed to support the mother and children so she left the employ of +Mr. James and worked from place to place until her children became half +starved and without clothing.</p> + +<p>The older children, remembering better and happier days, ran away from +their mother and went back to their old master.</p> + +<p>Thomas Watson went to Dixon, Kentucky and had an article of indenture +drawn up binding both Thomas and Laurah to his service for a long number +of years. Little Samuel only remained with his mother who took him to +the home of William Allen Price. Mr. Price's plantation was situated in +Webster County, Kentucky about half-way between Providence and Clay on +Craborchard Creek. Mr. Price had the little boy indentured to his +service for a period of eighteen years. There the boy lived and worked +on the plantation.</p> + +<p>He said he had a good home among good people. His master gave him five +real whippings within a period of fourteen years but Uncle Samuel +believes he deserved every lash administered.</p> + +<p>Uncle Samuel loved his master's family, he speaks of Miss Lena, Miss +Lula, Master Jefferson and Master John and believes they are still +alive. Their present home is at Cebra, Kentucky.</p> + +<p>It was the custom for a slave indentured to a master to be given a fair +education, a good horse, bridle, saddle and a suit of clothes for his +years of toil, but Mr. Price did not believe the boy deserved the pay +and refused to pay him. A lawyer friend sued in behalf of the Negro and +received a judgement of $115.00 (one hundred and fifteen dollars). +Eighteen dollars repaid the lawyer for his service and Samuel started +out with $95.00 and his freedom.</p> + +<p>Evansville became the home of Samuel Watson in 1882. The trip was made +by train to Henderson then on transfer boat along the Ohio to +Evansville.</p> + +<p>The young negro man was impressed by the boat and crew and said he loved +the town from the first glimpse.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bacon, a prominent citizen living at Chandler Avenue and Second +Street, employed Samuel as coachman. His next service was as house-man +for Levi Igleheart, 1010 Upper Second Street. Mr. Igleheart grew to +trust Samuel and gave him many privileges allowing him to care for +horses and to manage business for the family.</p> + +<p>Samuel was married in 1890. His wife was born in Evansville and knew +nothing of slavery by birth or indenture.</p> + +<p>Uncle Samuel was given a job at the Trinity Church, corner of Third and +Chestnut Streets. Mr. Igleheart recommended him for the position. He +received $30.00 per month for his services for a period of six years.</p> + +<p>Mr. McNeely employed him for several years as janitor for lodges and +secret orders. The old negro was also a paper hanger and wall cleaner +and did well untill the panic seized him as it did others.</p> + +<p>Uncle Samuel was entitled to an old age pension which he recieved from +1934 until 1935 but January 15th, 1936 something went wrong and the +money was with held. Then uncle Samuel was sent to the poor house. Still +he was not unhappy and did what he could to make others happy.</p> + +<p>In 1936 he again applied and received the pension. $17.00 per month is +paid for his upkeep, his only labor consists of tending a little garden +and doing light chores. He lives with William Crosby on S.E. Fifth +Street.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="WhallenNancy"></a> +<h3>Iris L Cook<br> +District #4<br> +Floyd County<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +STORY OF NANCY WHALLEN<br> +924 Pearl St.<br> +New Albany, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>Nancy Whallen is now about 81 years of age. She doesn't know exactly. +She was about 5 year of age when Freedom was declared. Nancy was born +and raised in Hart County near Hardinsburg, Kentucky. She is very hard +to talk to as her memory is failing and she can not hear very well.</p> + +<p>The little negro girl lived the usual life of a rural negro in Civil War +Time and afterwards. She remembers the "sojers" coming thru the place +and asking for food. Some of them camped on the farm and talked to her +and teased her.</p> + +<p>She tells about one big nigger called "Scott" on the place who could +outwork all the others. He would hang his hat and shirt on a tree limb +and work all day long in the blazing sun on the hottest day.</p> + +<p>The colored folk, used to have revivals, out in the woods. They would +sometimes build a sort of brush shelter with leaves for a roof and +service a would be held here. Preachin' and shouting' sometimes lasted +all day Sundays. Colored folks came from miles around when they possibly +could get away. These affairs were usually held away from the "white +folks" who seldom if ever saw these gatherings.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Observation of the writer.</b></p> + +<p>The old woman remembers the Big Eclipse of the sun or the "Day of Dark" +as she called it. The chickens all went to roost and the darkies all +thought the end of the world had come. The cattle lowed and everyone was +scared to death.</p> + +<p>She lived down in Kentucky after the War until she was quite a young +woman and then came to Indiana where she has lived ever since. She lives +now with her daughter in New Albany.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="WhittedAnderson"></a> +<h3>Special Assignment<br> +Emily Hobson<br> +Dist. #3<br> +Parke County<br> +<br> +INTERVIEW WITH ANDERSON WHITTED,<br> +COLORED EX-SLAVE, OF ROCKVILLE, INDIANA</h3> +<br> +<a name="img_AW"></a> +<center> +<img src='images/awhitted.jpg' width='300' height='386' alt='Alexander Whitted'> +</center> + +<br> + +<p>Mr. Whitted will be 89 years old next month October 1937. He was born in +Orange County, North Carolina. His mother took care of the white +children so her nine children were very well treated. The master was a +Doctor. The family were Hickory Quakers and did not believe in +mistreating their slaves, always providing them with plenty to eat, and +clothing to wear to church on Sunday. Despite a law that prohibited +books to Negroes, his family had a Bible, and an elementary spelling +book. Mr. Whitted's father belonged to his master's half-brother and +lived fourteen miles away. He was allowed a horse to go see them every +two weeks. The father could read, and spell very well so would teach +them on his visits. Mr. Whitted learned to read the Bible first, then in +later years has learned to read other things. It was the custom for the +master to search the negro huts, but Mr. Whitted's master never did.</p> + +<p>The Doctor often took Mr. Whitted's grandmother with him to help care +for the sick. When the war broke out the Master's son joined the +southern forces. The son was wounded. The Doctor and Mr. Whitted's +grandmother went for the boy. On the way home the Doctor died but the +grandmother got the boy home and nursed him back to health. Life for the +Negroes was different after the son began running the place, he was not +good to them. Mr. Whitted was then 16 years old, and the older brother +was the overseer. The negroes had been allowed a share of the crop but +the new master refused them anything to live on. In that region the +wheat was harvested the middle of June. There was a big crop that year +but the entire family was turned out before the harvest, with nothing. +Mr. Whitted left his older brother with his mother and the children +sitting by the road, while he ran the 14 miles for his father to find +out what to do. The father borrowed two teams and wagons, rented a house +in the edge of town, and moved the family in.</p> + +<p>The slaves were freed about that time, and for the first time in their +lives they were free, and the entire family together. The father went to +the governor for food. The government was allowing hard tack and pickled +beef for the negroes. They received their allotment, and were well +satisfied with hard tack because they were free. In telling about the +pickled beef he says he never has seen any beef since that looked like +it; he believed that it was horse meat. The father started working in a +mill in 1865. He was soon bringing home food stuff from there, and in +time they had a crop on their little place.</p> + +<p>The older brother worked in the mornings and went to a Quaker Normal +School in the afternoon. Pres. Harrison gave him an appointment in the +revenue department, then as he grew older he was transferred to the post +office department. He was retired on a pension at the age of 75. He is +still living in Washington, D.C., and is now 97 years old.</p> + +<p>During the war Mr. Whitted ran away, going 12 miles to the camp of the +northern soldiers where he stayed two weeks. They gave him a horse to +ride, and sent him gathering fuel through the woods for them. Those were +the happiest days he had ever known—his first freedom.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whitted was never sold, but he often saw processions go past after a +sale, the wagon loaded with provisions first, then the slaves tied +together following. They often took the babies away from their mothers, +and sold them. Some old woman, too old to work, would then care for the +little ones until they were old enough to work. At six years old they +were put to work thinning corn, worming the tobacco, and pulling weeds. +At seven they were taught to use a hoe. At 16 they were full hands, +working along with the older men.</p> + +<p>In April 1880 Mr. Whitted left Orange County, it was so very rough it +was hard to make a living. He just started out in search of a better +place, leaving his wife and seven children there. In November he sent +for them, he was working at the brick yards in Rockville. They were +finishing the court house. He was so anxious to make a living he often +did as much as two men. One child was born here. His wife died soon +after coming to Rockville. He stayed single for three years, but found +he could not care for his family and married again. His second wife died +a number of years ago. He now spends the winters with his three living +daughters, and during the summer months, a daughter comes to Rockville +to enjoy his home.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whitted's uncle belonged to a mean master. The slaves worked hard +all day, then were chained together at night. The uncle ran away in the +early part of the war, and after two years broke through the lines, and +joined the northern army, going back after emancipation.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="WoodsonAlex"></a> +<h3>Iris Cook<br> +Dist 4<br> +Floyd Co.<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +THE STORY OF ALEX WOODSON<br> +905 E. 4th St.<br> +New Albany, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>Observation of Writer</b></p> + +<p>Alex Woodson is an old light skinned darkey, he looks to be between 80 +and 85, it is hard to tell his age, and colored folks hardly ever do +know their correct age. I visited him in his little cottage and had a +long talk with him and his wife (his second). "Planted the fust one." +They run a little grocery in the front room of the cottage. But the +stock was sadly run down. Together with the little store and his +"pinshun" (old age pension) these old folks manage to get along.</p> + +<p>Alex Woodson was born at Woodsonville, in Hart County, Kentucky, just +across Green River from Munfordville. He was a good sized boy, possibly +7 years or more when "Freedom wuz declared". His master was "Old Marse" +Sterrett who had about a 200 acre place and whose son in law Tom +Williams ran a store on this place. When Williams married Sterretts +daughter he was given Uncle Alex and his mother and brother as a +present. Williams was then known as "Young Master."</p> + +<p>When war come Old Master gave his (Woodson's) mother a big roll of +bills, "greenbacks as big as Yo' arm", to keep for him, and was forced +to leave the neighborhood. After the war the old darkey returned the +money to him intact.</p> + +<p>Uncle Alex remembers his mother taking him and other children and +running down the river bank and hiding in the woods all night when the +soldiers came. They were Morgan's men and took all available cattle and +horses in the vicinity and beat the woods looking for Yankee soldiers. +Uncle Alex said he saw Morgan at a distance on his big horse and he "wuz +shore a mighty fine looker."</p> + +<p>Sometimes the Yankee soldiers would come riding along and they "took +things too".</p> + +<p>When the War was over old Master came back home and the negroes +continued to live on at the place as usual, except for a few that wanted +to go North. Old Master lived in a great big house with all his family +and the Negroes lived in another good sized house or quarters, all +together. There were a few cabins.</p> + +<p>"Barbecues! My we shore used to have 'em, yes ma'am, we did! Folks would +come for miles around. Would roast whole hawgs and cows, and folks would +sing, and eat and drink whiskey. The white folks had 'em but we helped +and had fun too. Sometimes we would have one ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Used to have rail splittin's and wood choppins. The men woud work all +day, and get a pile of wood as big as a house. At noon they'd stop and +eat a big meal that the women folks had fixed up for em. Them wuz some +times, I've spent to many a one."</p> + +<p>"I remember we used to go to revivals sometimes, down near Horse ave. +Everybody got religion and we shore had some times. We don't have them +kind of times any more. I remember I went back down to one of those +revivals years afterwards. Most of the folks I used to know was dead or +gone. The preacher made me set up front with him, and he asked me to +preach to the folks. But I sez that "no, God hadn't made me that away +and I wouldn't do it."</p> + +<p>I've saw Abraham Lincoln's cabin many a time, when I was young. It set +up on a high hill, and I've been to the spring under the hill lots of +times. The house was on the Old National Road then. I hear they've fixed +it all up now. I haven't been there for years.</p> + +<p>After the war when I grewed up I married, and settled on the old place. +I remember the only time I got beat in a horse trade. A sneakin' nigger +from down near Horse Cave sold me a mule. That mule was jest natcherly +no count. He would lay right down in the plow. One day after I had +worked with him and tried to get him to work right, I got mad. I says to +my wife, Belle, I'm goin' to get rid of that mule if I have to trade him +for a cat. An' I led him off. When I came back I had another mule and +$15 to boot. This mule she wuz shore skinny but when I fattened her up +you wouldn't have known her."</p> + +<p>"Finally I left the old place and we come north to Indiana. We settled +here and I've been here for 50 years abourt. I worked in the old Rolling +Mill. And I've been an officer in the Baptist Church at 3rd and Main for +41 years."</p> + +<p>"Do I believe in ghosts" (Here his second wife gave a sniff) Well ma'am +I don't believe in ghosts but I do in spirits. (another disgusted sniff +from the second wife) I remember one time jest after my first wife died +I was a sittin right in that chair your sittin in now. The front door +opened and in come a big old grey mule, and I didn't have no grey mule. +In she come just as easy like, put one foot down slow, and then the +other, and then the other I says 'Mule git out here, you is goin through +that floor, sure as youre born. Get out that door.' Mule looked at me +sad-like and then just disappeared. And in its place was my first wife, +in the clothes she was buried in. She come up to me and I put my arms +around her, but I couldn't feel nothin' (another sniff from the second +wife) and I says, "Babe, what you want?"</p> + +<p>Then she started to git littler and littler and lower and finally went +right away through the floor. It was her spirit thats what it was. +("Rats" says the second wife.)</p> + +<p>"Another time she came to me by three knocks and made me git up and +sleep on another bed where it was better sleepin'."</p> + +<p>"I like to go back down in Kentucky on visits as the folks there wont +take a thing for bed and vittles. Here they are so selfish wont even +gave a drink of water away."</p> + +<p>"Yes'm the flood got us. Me and my wife here, we whet away and stayed +two months. Was 5 feet in this house, and if it ever gets in here agin, +we're goin down in Kentucky and never comin' back no more."</p> + +<p>The old man and his wife bowed me out the front door and asked me to +come back again and we'ed talk some more about old times.</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13579 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/13579-h/images/awhitted.jpg b/13579-h/images/awhitted.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..376c054 --- /dev/null +++ b/13579-h/images/awhitted.jpg diff --git a/13579-h/images/jfields1.jpg b/13579-h/images/jfields1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7c314e --- /dev/null +++ b/13579-h/images/jfields1.jpg diff --git a/13579-h/images/jfields2.jpg b/13579-h/images/jfields2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea32a3d --- /dev/null +++ b/13579-h/images/jfields2.jpg diff --git a/13579-h/images/mcrane.jpg b/13579-h/images/mcrane.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9856328 --- /dev/null +++ b/13579-h/images/mcrane.jpg diff --git a/13579-h/images/pdunn.jpg b/13579-h/images/pdunn.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8fba42b --- /dev/null +++ b/13579-h/images/pdunn.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d1d247 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13579 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13579) diff --git a/old/13579-8.txt b/old/13579-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2436fc1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13579-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7001 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery +in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, by Work Projects Administration + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States + From Interviews with Former Slaves: Indiana Narratives + +Author: Work Projects Administration + +Release Date: October 2, 2004 [EBook #13579] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: INDIANA *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Andrea Ball, Terry Gilliland and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. Produced from images provided +by the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division + + + + + + + +[TR: ***] = Transcriber Note +[HW: ***] = Handwritten Note + + + +[Illustration: Old Slave, Peter Dunn] + + + + +SLAVE NARRATIVES + + +A Folk History of Slavery in the United States +From Interviews with Former Slaves + + +TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY +THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT +1936-1938 +ASSEMBLED BY +THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT +WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION +FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA +SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS + +Illustrated with Photographs + + +WASHINGTON 1941 + + + +VOLUME V + +INDIANA NARRATIVES + + + + +Prepared by +the Federal Writers' Project of +the Works Progress Administration +for the State of Indiana + + +INFORMANTS + +Arnold, George W. [TR: with Professor W.S. Best and Samuel Bell] +Ash, Thomas, and Crane, Mary + +Barber, Rosa +Blakeley, Mittie +Boone, Carl +Bowman, Julia +Boyce, Angie +Boysaw, Edna +Bracey, Callie [TR: daughter of Louise Terrell] +Buckner, Dr. George Washington +Burns, George Taylor +Butler, Belle [TR: daughter of Chaney Mayer] + +Carter, Joseph William +Cave, Ellen +Cheatam, Harriet +Childress, James +Colbert, Sarah +Cooper, Frank [TR: son of Mandy Cooper] + +Edmunds, Rev. H.H. +Eubanks, John [TR: and family] + +Fields, John W. +Fortman, George [TR: and other interested citizens] + +Gibson, John Henry +Guwn, Betty [TR: reported by Mrs. Hattie Cash, daughter] + +Hockaday, Mrs. +Howard, Robert +Hume, Matthew + +Jackson, Henrietta +Johnson, Lizzie +Jones, Betty +Jones, Nathan + +Lennox, Adeline Rose +Lewis, Thomas +Locke, Sarah H. [TR: daughter of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor] + +McKinley, Robert +Miller, Richard +Moorman, Rev. Henry Clay +Morgan, America +Morrison, George +Mosely, Joseph [TR: also reported as Moseley in text of interview] + +Patterson, Amy Elizabeth +Preston, Mrs. + +Quinn, William M. + +Richardson, Candus +Robinson, Joe +Rogers, Rosaline +Rollins, Parthena +Rudd, John + +Samuels, Amanda Elizabeth +Simms, Jack +Slaughter, Billy +Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Alex +Stone, Barney +Suggs, Adah Isabelle +Sutton, Katie + +Thompson, George + +Wamble (Womble), Rev. +Watson, Samuel +Whallen, Nancy +Whitted, Anderson +Woodson, Alex + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Mary Crane [TR: not in original index] + +John W. Fields + +Anderson Whitted + + +[TR: Federal Writer Anna Pritchett annotated her interviews by marking +each paragraph to indicate whether the information was obtained from the +respondent (A) or was a comment by the interviewer (B). Since the +information was presented in sequence, it is presented here without +these markings, with the interviewer's remarks set apart by the topic +heading 'Interviewer's Comment'.] + +[TR: Information listed separately as References, such as informant +names and addresses, has been incorporated into the interview headers. +In some cases, information has been rearranged for readability. Names in +brackets were drawn from text of interviews.] + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District No. 5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +AN UNHAPPY EXPERIENCE +[GEORGE W. ARNOLD] + + +This is written from an interview with each of the following: George W. +Arnold, Professor W.S. Best of the Lincoln High School and Samuel Bell, +all of Evansville, Indiana. + +George W. Arnold was born April 7, 1861, in Bedford County, Tennessee. +He was the property of Oliver P. Arnold, who owned a large farm or +plantation in Bedford county. His mother was a native of Rome, Georgia, +where she remained until twelve years of age, when she was sold at +auction. + +Oliver Arnold bought her, and he also purchased her three brothers and +one uncle. The four negroes were taken along with other slaves from +Georgia to Tennessee where they were put to work on the Arnold +plantation. + +On this plantation George W. Arnold was born and the child was allowed +to live in a cabin with his relatives and declares that he never heard +one of them speak an unkind word about Master Oliver Arnold or any +member of his family. "Happiness and contentment and a reasonable amount +of food and clothes seemed to be all we needed," said the now +white-haired man. + +Only a limited memory of Civil War days is retained by the old man but +the few events recalled are vividly described by him. "Mother, my young +brother, my sister and I were walking along one day. I don't remember +where we had started but we passed under the fort at Wartrace. A battle +was in progress and a large cannon was fired above us and we watched the +huge ball sail through the air and saw the smoke of the cannon pass over +our heads. We poor children were almost scared to death but our mother +held us close to her and tried to comfort us. The next morning, after, +we were safely at home ... we were proud we had seen that much of the +great battle and our mother told us the war was to give us freedom." + +"Did your family rejoice when they were set free?" was the natural +question to ask Uncle George. + +"I cannot say that they were happy, as it broke up a lot of real +friendships and scattered many families. Mother had a great many pretty +quilts and a lot of bedding. After the negroes were set free, Mars. +Arnold told us we could all go and make ourselves homes, so we started +out, each of the grown persons loaded with great bundles of bedding, +clothing and personal belongings. We walked all the way to Wartrace to +try to find a home and some way to make a living." + +George W. Arnold remembers seeing many soldiers going to the pike road +on their way to Murfreesboro. "Long lines of tired men passed through +Guy's Gap on their way to Murfreesboro," said he. "Older people said +that they were sent out to pick up the dead from the battle fields after +the bloody battle of Stone's river that had lately been fought at +Murfreesboro. They took their comrades to bury them at the Union +Cemetery near the town of Murfreesboro." + +"Wartrace was a very nice place to make our home. It was located on the +Nashville and Chattanooga and St. Louis railroad, just fifty-one miles +from Nashville not many miles from our old home. Mother found work and +we got along very well but as soon as we children were old enough to +work, she went back to her old home in Georgia where a few years later +she died. I believe she lived to be seventy-five or seventy six years of +age, but I never saw her after she went back to Georgia." + +"My first work was done on a farm (there are many fine farms in +Tennessee) and although farm labor was not very profitable we were +always fed wherever we worked and got some wages. Then I got a job on +the railroad. Our car was side tracked at a place called Silver +Springs," said Uncle George, "and right at that place came trouble that +took the happiness out of my life forever." Here the story teller paused +to collect his thoughts and conquer the nervous twitching of his lips. +"It was like this: Three of us boys worked together. We were like three +brothers, always sharing our fortunes with each other. We should never +have done it, but we had made a habit of sending to Nashville after each +payday and having a keg of Holland rum sent in by freight. This liquor +was handed out among our friends and sometimes we drank too much and +were unfit for work for a day or two. Our boss was a big strong +Irishman, red haired and friendly. He always got drunk with us and all +would become sober enough to soon return to our tasks." + +"The time I'm telling you about, we had all been invited to a candy +pulling in town and could hardly wait till time to go, as all the young +people of the valley would be there to pull candy, talk, play games and +eat the goodies served to us. The accursed keg of Holland rum had been +brought in that morning and my chum John Sims had been drinking too +much. About that time our Boss came up and said, 'John, it is time for +you to get the supper ready!' John was our cook and our meals were +served on the caboose where we lived wherever we were side tracked." + +"All the time Johny was preparing the food he was drinking the rum. When +we went in he had many drinks inside of him and a quart bottle filled to +take to the candy pull. 'Hurry up boys and let's finish up and go' he +said impatiently. 'Don't take him' said the other boy, 'Dont you see he +is drunk?' So I put my arms about his shoulders and tried to tell him he +had better sleep a while before we started. The poor boy was a breed. +His mother was almost white and his father was a thoroughbred Indian and +the son had a most aggravating temper. He made me no answer but running +his hand into his pocket, he drew out his knife and with one thrust, cut +a deep gash in my neck. A terrible fight followed. I remember being +knocked over and my head stricking something. I reached out my hand and +discovered it was the ax. With this awful weapon I struck my friend, my +more than brother. The thud of the ax brought me to my senses as our +blood mingled. We were both almost mortally wounded. The boss came in +and tried to do something for our relief but John said, 'Oh, George? +what an awful thing we have done? We have never said a cross word to +each other and now, look at us both.'" + +"I watched poor John walk away, darkness was falling but early in the +morning my boss and I followed a trail of blood down by the side of the +tracks. From there he had turned into the woods. We could follow him no +further. We went to all the nearby towns and villages but we found no +person who had ever seen him. We supposed he had died in the woods and +watched for the buzzards, thinking thay would lead us to his body but he +was never seen again." + +"For two years I never sat down to look inside a book nor to eat my food +that John Sims was not beside me. He haunted my pillow and went beside +me night and day. His blood was on my hands, his presence haunted me +beyond endurance. What could I do? How could I escape this awful +presence? An old friend told me to put water between myself and the +place where the awful scene occurred. So, I quit working on the railroad +and started working on the river. People believed at that time that the +ghost of a person you had wronged would not cross water to haunt you." + +Life on the river was diverting. Things were constantly happening and +George Arnold put aside some of his unhappiness by engaging in river +activities. + +"My first job on the river was as a roust-about on the Bolliver H Cook a +stern wheel packet which carried freight and passengers from Nashville, +Tennessee to Evansville, Indiana. I worked a round trip on her and then +went from Nashville to Cairo, Illinois on the B.S. Rhea. I soon decided +to go to Cairo and take a place on the Eldarado, a St. Louis and +Cincinnati packet which crused from Cairo to Cincinnati. On that boat I +worked as a roust-about for nearly three years." + +"What did the roust-about have to do?" asked a neighbor lad who had come +into the room. "The roust-about is no better than the mate that rules +him. If the mate is kindly disposed the roust-about has an easy enough +life. The negroes had only a few years of freedom and resented cruelty. +If the mate became too mean, a regular fight would follow and perhaps +several roust-abouts would be hurt before it was finished." + +Uncle George said that food was always plentiful on the boats. +Passengers and freight were crowded together on the decks. At night +there would be singing and dancing and fiddle music. "We roust-abouts +would get together and shoot craps, dance or play cards until the call +came to shuffle freight, then we would all get busy and the mate's voice +giving orders could be heard for a long distance." + +"In spite of these few pleasures, the life of a roust-about is the life +of a dog. I do not recall any unkindnesses of slavery days. I was too +young to realize what it was all about, but it could never have equalled +the cruelty shown the laborer on the river boats by cruel mates and +overseers." + +Another superstition advanced itself in the story of a boat, told by +Uncle George Arnold. The story follows: "When I was a roust-about on the +Gold Dust we were sailing out from New Orleans and as soon as we got +well out on the broad stream the rats commenced jumping over board. 'See +these rats' said an old river man, 'This boat will never make a return +trip!'" + +"At every port some of our crew left the boat but the mate and the +captain said they were all fools and begged us to stay. So a few of us +stayed to do the necessary work but the rats kept leaving as fast as +they could." + +"When the boat was nearing Hickman, Kentucky, we smelled fire, and by +the time we were in the harbor passengers were being held to keep them +from jumping overboard. Then the Captain told us boys to jump into the +water and save ourselves. Two of us launched a bale of cotton overboard +and jumped onto it. As we paddled away we had to often go under to put +out the fires as our clothing would blaze up under the flying brands +that fell upon our bodies." + +"The burning boat was docked at Hickman. The passengers were put ashore +but none of the freight was saved, and from a nearby willow thicket my +matey and I watched the Gold Dust burn to the water's edge." + +"Always heed the warnings of nature," said Uncle George, "If you see +rats leaving a ship or a house prepare for a fire." + +George W. Arnold said that Evansville was quite a nice place and a +steamboat port even in the early days of his boating experiences and he +decided to make his home here. He located in the town in 1880. "The +Court House was located at Third and Main streets. Street cars were mule +drawn and people thought it great fun to ride them." He recalls the +first shovel full of dirt being lifted when the new Courthouse was being +erected, and when it was finished two white men finishing the slate +roof, fell to their death in the Court House yard. + +George W. Arnold procured a job as porter in a wholesale feed store on +May 10, 1880. John Hubbard and Company did business at the place, at +this place he worked thirty seven years. F.W. Griese, former mayor of +Evansville has often befriended the negro man and is ready to speak a +kindly word in his praise. But the face of John Sims still presents +itself when George Arnold is alone. "Never do anything to hurt any other +person," says he, "The hurt always comes back to you." + +George Arnold was married to an Evansville Woman, but two years ago he +became a widower when death claimed his mate. He is now lonely, but were +it not for a keg of Holland gin his old age would be spent in peace and +happiness. "Beware of strong drink," said Uncle George, "It causes +trouble." + + + + +Emery Turner +District #5 +Lawrence County +Bedford, Indiana + +REMINISCENCES OF TWO EX-SLAVES +THOMAS ASH, Mitchell, Ind. +MRS. MARY CRANE, Warren St., Mitchell, Ind. + + +[Thomas Ash] + +I have no way of knowing exactly how old I am, as the old Bible +containing a record of my birth was destroyed by fire, many years ago, +but I believe I am about eighty-one years old. If so, I must have been +born sometime during the year, 1856, four years before the outbreak of +the War Between The States. My mother was a slave on the plantation, or +farm of Charles Ash, in Anderson county, Kentucky, and it was there that +I grew up. + +I remember playing with Ol' Massa's (as he was called) boys, Charley, +Jim and Bill. I also have an unpleasant memory of having seen other +slaves on the place, tied up to the whipping post and flogged for +disobeying some order although I have no recollection of ever having +been whipped myself as I was only a boy. I can also remember how the +grown-up negroes on the place left to join the Union Army as soon as +they learned of Lincoln's proclamation making them free men. + + +Ed. Note--Mr. Ash was sick when interviewed and was not able to do much +talking. He had no picture of himself but agreed to pose for one later +on. [TR: no photograph found.] + + +[Mrs. Mary Crane] + +[Illustration: Mrs. Mary Crane] + +I was born on the farm of Wattie Williams, in 1855 and am eighty-two +years old. I came to Mitchell, Indiana, about fifty years ago with my +husband, who is now dead and four children and have lived here ever +since. I was only a girl, about five or six years old when the Civil War +broke out but I can remember very well, happenings of that time. + +My mother was owned by Wattie Williams, who had a large farm, located in +Larue county, Kentucky. My father was a slave on the farm of a Mr. +Duret, nearby. + +In those days, slave owners, whenever one of their daughters would get +married, would give her and her husband a slave as a wedding present, +usually allowing the girl to pick the one she wished to accompany her to +her new home. When Mr. Duret's eldest daughter married Zeke Samples, she +choose my father to accompany them to their home. + +Zeke Samples proved to be a man who loved his toddies far better than +his bride and before long he was "broke". Everything he had or owned, +including my father, was to be sold at auction to pay off his debts. + +In those days, there were men who made a business of buying up negroes +at auction sales and shipping them down to New Orleans to be sold to +owners of cotton and sugar cane plantations, just as men today, buy and +ship cattle. These men were called "Nigger-traders" and they would ship +whole boat loads at a time, buying them up, two or three here, two or +three there, and holding them in a jail until they had a boat load. This +practice gave rise to the expression, "sold down the river." + +My father was to be sold at auction, along with all of the rest of Zeke +Samples' property. Bob Cowherd, a neighbor of Matt Duret's owned my +grandfather, and the old man, my grandfather, begged Col. Bob to buy my +father from Zeke Samples to keep him from being "sold down the river." +Col. Bob offered what he thought was a fair price for my father and a +"nigger-trader" raised his bid "25 [TR: $25?]. Col. said he couldn't +afford to pay that much and father was about to be sold to the +"nigger-trader" when his father told Col. Bob that he had $25 saved +up and that if he would buy my father from Samples and keep the +"nigger-trader" from getting him he would give him the money. Col. Bob +Cowherd took my grandfather's $25 and offered to meet the traders offer +and so my father was sold to him. + +The negroes in and around where I was raised were not treated badly, as +a rule, by their masters. There was one slave owner, a Mr. Heady, who +lived nearby, who treated his slave worse than any of the other owners +but I never heard of anything so awfully bad, happening to his +"niggers". He had one boy who used to come over to our place and I can +remember hearing Massa Williams call to my grandmother, to cook +"Christine, give Heady's Doc something to eat. He looks hungry." Massa +Williams always said "Heady's Doc" when speaking of him or any other +slave, saying to call him, for instance, Doc Heady would sound as if he +were Mr. Heady's own son and he said that wouldn't sound right. + +When President Lincoln issued his proclamation, freeing the negroes, I +remember that my father and most all of the other younger slave men left +the farms to join the Union army. We had hard times then for awhile and +had lots of work to do. I don't remember just when I first regarded +myself as "free" as many of the negroes didn't understand just what it +was all about. + + +Ed. Note: Mrs. Crane will also pose for a picture. + + + + +Submitted by: +William Webb Tuttle +District No. 2 +Muncie, Indiana + +SLAVES IN DELAWARE COUNTY +ROSA BARBER +812 South Jefferson +Muncie, Indiana + + +Rosa Barber was born in slavery on the Fox Ellison plantation at North +Carden[TR:?], in North Carolina, in the year 1861. She was four [HW: ?] +years old when freed, but had not reached the age to be of value as a +slave. Her memory is confined to that short childhood there and her +experiences of those days and immediately after the Civil War must be +taken from stories related to her by her parents in after years, and +these are dimly retained. + +Her maiden name was Rosa Fox Ellison, taken as was the custom, from the +slave-holder who held her as a chattel. Her parents took her away from +the plantation when they were freed and lived in different localities, +supported by the father who was now paid American wages. Her parents +died while she was quite young and she married Fox Ellison, an ex-slave +of the Fox Ellison plantation. His name was taken from the same master +as was hers. She and her husband lived together forty-three years, until +his death. Nine children were born to them of which only one survives. +After this ex-slave husband died Rosa Ellison married a second time, but +this second husband died some years ago and she now remains a widow at +the age of seventy-six years. She recalls that the master of the Fox +Ellison plantation was spoken of as practicing no extreme discipline on +his slaves. Slaves, as a prevailing business policy of the holder, were +not allowed to look into a book, or any printed matter, and Rosa had no +pictures or printed charts given her. She had to play with her rag +dolls, or a ball of yarn, if there happened to be enough of old string +to make one. Any toy or plaything was allowed that did not point toward +book-knowledge. Nursery rhymes and folk-lore stories were censured +severely and had to be confined to events that conveyed no uplift, +culture or propaganda, or that conveyed no knowledge, directly or +indirectly. Especially did they bar the mental polishing of the three +R's. They could not prevent the vocalizing of music in the fields and +the slaves found consolation there in pouring out their souls in unison +with the songs of the birds. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. MITTIE BLAKELEY--EX-SLAVE +2055 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Blakeley was born, in Oxford, Missouri, in 1858. + +Her mother died when Mittie was a baby, and she was taken into the "big +house" and brought up with the white children. She was always treated +very kindly. + +Her duties were the light chores, which had to be well done, or she was +chided, the same as the white children would have been. + +Every evening the children had to collect the eggs. The child, who +brought in the most eggs, would get a ginger cake. Mittie most always +got the cake. + +Her older brothers and sisters were treated very rough, whipped often +and hard. She said she hated to think, much less talk about their awful +treatment. + +When she was old enough, she would have to spin the wool for her +mistress, who wove the cloth to make the family clothes. + +She also learned to knit, and after supper would knit until bedtime. + +She remembers once an old woman slave had displeased her master about +something. He had a pit dug, and boards placed over the hole. The woman +was made to lie on the boards, face down, and she was beaten until the +blood gushed from her body; she was left there and bled to death. + +She also remembers how the slaves would go to some cabin at night for +their dances; if one went without a pass, which often they did, they +would be beaten severely. + +The slaves could hear the overseers, riding toward the cabin. Those, who +had come without a pass, would take the boards up from the floor, get +under the cabin floor, and stay there until the overseers had gone. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Blakeley is very serious and said she felt so sorry for those, who +were treated so such worse than any human would treat a beast. + +She lives in a very comfortable clean house, and said she was doing +"very well." + +Submitted January 24, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Submitted by: +Robert C. Irvin +District No. 2 +Noblesville, Ind. + +SLAVES IN MADISON COUNTY +CARL BOONE +Anderson, Indiana + + +This is a story of slavery, told by Carl Boone about his father, his +mother and himself. Carl is the last of eighteen children born to Mrs. +Stephen Boone, in Marion County, Kentucky, Sept. 15, 1850. He now +resides with his children at 801 West 13th Street, Anderson, Madison +County, Indiana. At the ripe old age of eighty-seven, he still has a +keen memory and is able to do a hard day's work. + +Carl Boone was born a free man, fifteen years before the close of the +Civil War, his father having gained his freedom from slavery in 1829. He +is a religious man, having missed church service only twice in twenty +years. He was treated well during the time of slavery in the southland, +but remembers well, the wrongs done to slaves on neighboring +plantations, and in this story he relates some of the horrors which +happened at that time. + +Like his father, he is also the father of eighteen children, sixteen of +whom are still living. He is grandfather of thirty-seven and great +grandfather of one child. His father was born in the slave state of +Maryland, in 1800, and died in 1897. His mother was born in Marion +County, Kentucky, in 1802, and died in 1917, at the age of one hundred +and fifteen years. + +This story, word by word, is related by Carl Boone as follows: "My name +is Carl Boone, son of Stephen and Rachel Boone, born in Marion County, +Kentucky, in 1850. I am father of eighteen children sixteen are still +living and I am grandfather of thirty-seven and great grandfather of one +child. I came with my wife, now deceased, to Indiana, in 1891, and now +reside at 801 West 13th street in Anderson, Indiana. I was born a free +man, fifteen years before the close of the Civil War. All the colored +folk on plantations and farms around our plantation were slaves and most +of them were terribly mistreated by their masters. + +After coming to Indiana, I farmed for a few years, then moved to +Anderson. I became connected with the Colored Catholic Church and have +tried to live a Christian life. I have only missed church service twice +in twenty years. I lost my dear wife thirteen years ago and I now live +with my son. + +My father, Stephen Boone, was born in Maryland, in 1800. He was bought +by a nigger buyer while a boy and was sold to Miley Boone in Marion +County, Kentucky. Father was what they used to call "a picked slave," +was a good worker and was never mistreated by his master. He married my +mother in 1825, and they had eighteen children. Master Miley Boone gave +father and mother their freedom in 1829, and gave them forty acres of +land to tend as their own. He paid father for all the work he did for +him after that, and was always very kind to them. + +My mother was born in slavery, in Marion County, Kentucky, in 1802. She +was treated very mean until she married my father in 1825. With him she +gained her freedom in 1829. I was the last born of her eighteen +children. She was a good woman and joined church after coming to Indiana +and died in 1917, living to be one hundred and fifteen years old. + +I have heard my mother tell of a girl slave who worked in the kitchen of +my mother's master. The girl was told to cook twelve eggs for breakfast. +When the eggs were served, it was discovered there were eleven eggs on +the table and after being questioned, she admitted that she had eaten +one. For this, she was beaten mercilessly, which was a common sight on +that plantation. + +The most terrible treatment of any slave, is told by my father in a +story of a slave on a neighboring plantation, owned by Daniel Thompson. +"After committing a small wrong, Master Thompson became angry, tied his +slave to a whipping post and beat him terribly. Mrs. Thompson begged him +to quit whipping, saying, 'you might kill him,' and the master replied +that he aimed to kill him. He then tied the slave behind a horse and +dragged him over a fifty acre field until the slave was dead. As a +punishment for this terrible deed, master Thompson was compelled to +witness the execution of his own son, one year later. The story is as +follows: + +A neighbor to Mr. Thompson, a slave owner by name of Kay Van Cleve, had +been having some trouble with one of his young male slaves, and had +promised the slave a whipping. The slave was a powerful man and Mr. Van +Cleve was afraid to undertake the job of whipping him alone. He called +for help from his neighbors, Daniel Thompson and his son Donald. The +slave, while the Thompsons were coming, concealed himself in a +horse-stall in the barn and hid a large knife in the manger. + +After the arrival of the Thompsons, they and Mr. Van Cleve entered the +stall in the barn. Together, the three white men made a grab for the +slave, when the slave suddenly made a lunge at the elder Mr. Thompson +with the knife, but missed him and stabbed Donald Thompson. + +The slave was overpowered and tied, but too late, young Donald was dead. + +The slave was tried for murder and sentenced to be hanged. At the time +of the hanging, the first and second ropes used broke when the trap was +sprung. For a while the executioner considered freeing the slave because +of his second failure to hang him, but the law said, "He shall hang by +the neck until dead," and the third attempt was successful." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. JULIA BOWMAN--EX-SLAVE +1210 North West Street, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Bowman was born in Woodford County, Kentucky in 1859. + +Her master, Joel W. Twyman was kind and generous to all of his slaves, +and he had many of them. + +The Twyman slaves were always spoken of, as the Twyman "Kinfolks." + +All slaves worked hard on the large farm, as every kind of vegetation +was raised. They were given some of everything that grew on the farm, +therefore there was no stealing to get food. + +The master had his own slaves, and the mistress had her own slaves, and +all were treated very kindly. + +Mrs. Bowman was taken into the Twyman "big house," at the age of six, to +help the mistress in any way she could. She stayed in the house until +slavery was abolished. + +After freedom, the old master was taken very sick and some of the former +slaves were sent for, as he wanted some of his "Kinfolks" around him +when he died. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Bowman was given the Twyman family bible where her birth is +recorded with the rest of the Twyman family. She shows it with pride. + +Mrs. Bowman said she never knew want in slave times, as she has known it +in these times of depression. + +Submitted January 10, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Wm. R. Mays +Dist 4 +Johnson Co. + +ANGIE BOYCE +BORN IN SLAVERY, Mar. 14, 1861 on the +Breeding Plantation, Adair Co. Ky. + + +Mrs. Angie Boyce here makes mention of facts as outlined to her by her +mother, Mrs. Margaret King, deceased. + +Mrs. Angie Boyce was born in slavery, Mar. 14, 1861, on the Breeding +Plantation, Adair County, Kentucky. Her parents were Henry and Margaret +King who belonged to James Breeding, a Methodist minister who was kind +to all his slaves and no remembrance of his having ever struck one of +them. + +It is said that the slaves were in constant dread of the Rebel soldiers +and when they would hear of their coming they would hide the baby +"Angie" and cover her over with leaves. + +The mother of Angie was married twice; the name of her first husband was +Stines and that of her second husband was Henry King. It was Henry King +who bought his and his wife's freedom. He sent his wife and baby Angie +to Indiana, but upon their arrival they were arrested and returned to +Kentucky. They were placed in the Louisville jail and lodged in the same +cell with large Brutal and drunken Irish woman. The jail was so infested +with bugs and fleas that the baby Angie cryed all night. The white woman +crazed with drink became enraged at the cries of the child and +threatened to "bash its brains out against the wall if it did not stop +crying". The mother, Mrs. King was forced to stay awake all night to +keep the white woman from carrying out her threat. + +The next morning the Negro mother was tried in court and when she +produced her free papers she was asked why she did not show these papers +to the arresting officers. She replied that she was afraid that they +would steal them from her. She was exonerated from all charges and sent +back to Indiana with her baby. + +Mrs. Angie Boyce now resides at 498 W. Madison St., Franklin, Ind. + + + + +Special Assignment +Walter R. Harris +District #3 +Clay County + +LIFE STORY OF EX-SLAVE +MRS. EDNA BOYSAW + + +Mrs. Boysaw has been a citizen of this community about sixty-five years. +She resides on a small farm, two miles east of Brazil on what is known +as the Pinkley Street Road. This has been her home for the past forty +years. Her youngest son and the son of one of her daughters lives with +her. She is still very active, doing her housework and other chores +about the farm. She is very intelligent and according to statements made +by other citizens has always been a respected citizen in the community, +as also has her entire family. She is the mother of twelve children. +Mrs. Boysaw has always been an active church worker, spending much time +in missionary work for the colored people. Her work was so outstanding +that she has been often called upon to speak, not only in the colored +churches, but also in white churches, where she was always well +received. Many of the most prominent people of the community number Mrs. +Boysaw as one of their friends and her home is visited almost daily by +citizens in all walks of life. Her many acts of kindness towards her +neighbors and friends have endeared her to the people of Brazil, and +because of her long residence in the community, she is looked upon as +one of the pioneers. + +Mrs. Boysaw's husband has been dead for thirty-five years. Her children +are located in various cities throughout the country. She has a daughter +who is a talented singer, and has appeared on programs with her daughter +in many churches. She is not certain about her age, but according to her +memory of events, she is about eighty-seven. + +Her story as told to the writer follows: + +"When the Civil War ended, I was living near Richmond, Virginia. I am +not sure just how old I was, but I was a big, flat-footed woman, and had +worked as a slave on a plantation. My master was a good one, but many of +them were not. In a way, we were happy and contented, working from sun +up to sun down. But when Lincoln freed us, we rejoiced, yet we knew we +had to seek employment now and make our own way. Wages were low. You +worked from morning until night for a dollar, but we did not complain. +About 1870 a Mr. Masten, who was a coal operator, came to Richmond +seeking laborers for his mines in Clay County. He told us that men could +make four to five dollars a day working in the mines, going to work at +seven and quitting at 3:30 each day. That sounded like a Paradise to our +men folks. Big money and you could get rich in little time. But he did +not tell all, because he wanted the men folk to come with him to +Indiana. Three or four hundred came with Mr. Masten. They were brought +in box cars. Mr. Masten paid their transportation, but was to keep it +out of their wages. My husband was in that bunch, and the women folk +stayed behind until their men could earn enough for their transportation +to Indiana." + +"When they arrived about four miles east of Brazil, or what was known as +Harmony, the train was stopped and a crowd of white miners ordered them +not to come any nearer Brazil. Then the trouble began. Our men did not +know of the labor trouble, as they were not told of that part. Here they +were fifteen hundred miles from home, no money. It was terrible. Many +walked back to Virginia. Some went on foot to Illinois. Mr. Masten took +some of them South of Brazil about three miles, where he had a number of +company houses, and they tried to work in his mine there. But many were +shot at from the bushes and killed. Guards were placed about the mine by +the owner, but still there was trouble all the time. The men did not +make what Mr. Masten told them they could make, yet they had to stay for +they had no place to go. After about six months, my husband who had been +working in that mine, fell into the shaft and was injured. He was unable +to work for over a year. I came with my two children to take care of +him. We had only a little furniture, slept in what was called box beds. +I walked to Brazil each morning and worked at whatever I could get to +do. Often did three washings a day and then walked home each evening, a +distance of two miles, and got a dollar a day. + +"Many of the white folks I worked for were well to do and often I would +ask the Mistress for small amounts of food which they would throw out if +left over from a meal. They did not know what a hard time we were +having, but they told me to take home any of such food that I cared to. +I was sure glad to get it, for it helped to feed our family. Often the +white folks would give me other articles which I appreciated. I managed +in this way to get the children enough to eat and later when my husband +was able to work, we got along very well, and were thankful. After the +strike was settled, things were better. My husband was not afraid to go +out after dark. But the coal operators did not treat the colored folks +very good. We had to trade at the Company store and often pay a big +price for it. But I worked hard and am still alive today, while all the +others are gone, who lived around here about that time. There has sure +been a change in the country. The country was almost a wilderness, and +where my home is today, there were very few roads, just what we called a +pig path through the woods. We used lots of corn meal, cooked beans and +raised all the food we could during them days. But we had many white +friends and sure was thankful for them. Here I am, and still thankful +for the many friends I have." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. CALLIE BRACEY--DAUGHTER [of Louise Terrell] +414 Blake Street + + +Mrs. Callie Bracey's mother, Louise Terrell, was bought, when a child, +by Andy Ramblet, a farmer, near Jackson, Miss. She had to work very hard +in the fields from early morning until as late in the evening, as they +could possibly see. + +No matter how hard she had worked all day after coming in from the +field, she would have to cook for the next day, packing the lunch +buckets for the field hands. It made no difference how tired she was, +when the horn was blown at 4 a.m., she had to go into the field for +another day of hard work. + +The women had to split rails all day long, just like the men. Once she +got so cold, her feet seemed to be frozen; when they warmed a little, +they had swollen so, she could not wear her shoes. She had to wrap her +foot in burlap, so she would be able to go into the field the next day. + +The Ramblets were known for their good butter. They always had more than +they could use. The master wanted the slaves to have some, but the +mistress wanted to sell it, she did not believe in giving good butter to +slaves and always let it get strong before she would let them have any. + +No slaves from neighboring farms were allowed on the Ramblet farm, they +would get whipped off as Mr. Ramblet did not want anyone to put ideas in +his slave's heads. + +On special occasions, the older slaves were allowed to go to the church +of their master, they had to sit in the back of the church, and take no +part in the service. + +Louise was given two dresses a year; her old dress from last year, she +wore as an underskirt. She never had a hat, always wore a rag tied over +her head. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Bracey is a widow and has a grandchild living with her. She feels +she is doing very well, her parents had so little, and she does own her +own home. + +Submitted December 10, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +A SLAVE, AMBASSADOR AND CITY DOCTOR +[DR. GEORGE WASHINGTON BUCKNER] + + +This paper was prepared after several interviews had been obtained with +the subject of this sketch. + +Dr. George Washingtin [TR: Washington] Buckner, tall, lean, whitehaired, +genial and alert, answered the call of his door bell. Although anxious +to oblige the writer and willing to grant an interview, the life of a +city doctor is filled with anxious solicitation for others and he is +always expecting a summons to the bedside of a patient or a professional +interview has been slated. + +Dr. Buckner is no exception and our interviews were often disturbed by +the jingle of the door bell or a telephone call. + +Dr. Buckner's conversation lead in ever widening circles, away from the +topic under discussion when the events of his own life were discussed, +but he is a fluent speaker and a student of psychology. Psychology as +that philosophy relates to the mental and bodily tendencies of the +African race has long since become one of the major subjects with which +this unusual man struggles. "Why is the negro?" is one of his deepest +concerns. + +Dr. Buckner's first recollections center within a slave cabin in +Kentucky. The cabin was the home of his step-father, his invalid mother +and several children. The cabin was of the crudest construction, its +only windows being merely holes in the cabin wall with crude bark +shutters arranged to keep out snow and rain. The furnishings of this +home consisted of a wood bedstead upon which a rough straw bed and +patchwork quilts provided meager comforts for the invalid mother. A +straw bed that could be pushed under the bed-stead through the day was +pulled into the middle of the cabin at night and the wearied children +were put to bed by the impatient step-father. + +The parents were slaves and served a master not wealthy enough to +provide adaquately for their comforts. The mother had become invalidate +through the task of bearing children each year and being deprived of +medical and surgical attention. + +The master, Mr. Buckner, along with several of his relatives had +purchased a large tract of land in Green County, Kentucky and by a +custom or tradition as Dr. Buckner remembers; land owners that owned no +slaves were considered "Po' White Trash" and were scarcely recognized as +citizens within the state of Kentucky. + +Another tradition prevailed, that slave children should be presented to +the master's young sons and daughters and become their special property +even in childhood. Adherring to that tradition the child, George +Washington Buckner became the slave of young "Mars" Dickie Buckner, and +although the two children were nearly the same age the little mulatto +boy was obedient to the wishes of the little master. Indeed, the slave +child cared for the Caucasian boy's clothing, polished his boots, put +away his toys and was his playmate and companion as well as his slave. + +Sickness and suffering and even death visits alike the just and the +unjust, and the loving sympathetic slave boy witnessed the suffering and +death of his little white friend. Then grief took possession of the +little slave, he could not bear the sight of little Dick's toys nor +books not [TR: nor?] clothing. He recalls one harrowing experience after +the death of little Dick Buckner. George's grandmother was a housekeeper +and kitchen maid for the white family. She was in the kitchen one late +afternoon preparing the evening meal. The master had taken his family +for a visit in the neighborhood and the mulatto child sat on the veranda +and recalled pleasanter days. A sudden desire seized him to look into +the bed room where little Mars Dickie had lain in the bed. The evening +shadows had fallen, exagerated by the influence of trees, and vines, and +when he placed his pale face near the window pane he thought it was the +face of little Dickie looking out at him. His nerves gave away and he +ran around the house screaming to his grandmother that he had seen +Dickie's ghost. The old colored woman was sympathetic, dried his tears, +then with tears coursing down her own cheeks she went about her duties. +George firmly believed he had seen a ghost and never really convinced +himself against the idea until he had reached the years of manhood. He +remembers how the story reached the ears of the other slaves and they +were terrorized at the suggestion of a ghost being in the master's home. +"That is the way superstitions always started" said the Doctor, "Some +nervous persons received a wrong impression and there were always others +ready to embrace the error." + +Dr. Buckner remembers that when a young daughter of his master married, +his sister was given to her for a bridal gift and went away from her own +mother to live in the young mistress' new home. "It always filled us +with sorrow when we were separated either by circumstances of marriage +or death. Although we were not properly housed, properly nourished nor +properly clothed we loved each other and loved our cabin homes and were +unhappy when compelled to part." + +"There are many beautiful spots near the Green River and our home was +situated near Greensburgh, the county seat of Dreen [TR: Green?] +County." The area occupied by Mr. Buckner and his relatives is located +near the river and the meanderings of the stream almost formed a +peninsula covered with rich soil. Buckner's hill relieved the landscape +and clear springs bubled through crevices affording much water for +household use and near those springs white and negro children met to +enjoy themselves. + +"Forty years after I left Greensburg I went back to visit the springs +and try to meet my old friends. The friends had passed away, only a few +merchants and salespeople remembered my ancestors." + +A story told by Dr. Buckner relates an evening at the beginning of the +Civil War. "I had heard my parents talk of the war but it did not seem +real to me until one night when mother came to the pallet where we slept +and called to us to 'Get up and tell our uncles good-bye.' Then four +startled little children arose. Mother was standing in the room with a +candle or a sort of torch made from grease drippings and old pieces of +cloth, (these rude candles were in common use and afforded but poor +light) and there stood her four brothers, Jacob, John, Bill, and Isaac +all with the light of adventure shining upon their mulatto countenances. +They were starting away to fight for their liberties and we were greatly +impressed." + +Dr. Buckner stated that officials thought Jacob entirely too aged to +enter the service as he had a few scattered white hairs but he remembers +he was brawny and unafraid. Isaac was too young but the other two uncles +were accepted. One never returned because he was killed in battle but +one fought throughout the war and was never wounded. He remembers how +the white men were indignant because the negroes were allowed to enlist +and how Mars Stanton Buckner was forced to hide out in the woods for +many months because he had met slave Frank Buckner and had tried to kill +him. Frank returned to Greensburg, forgave his master and procurred a +paper stating that he was at fault, after which Stanton returned to +active service. "Yes, the road has been long. Memory brings back those +days and the love of my mother is still real to me, God bless her!" + +Relating to the value of an education Dr. Buckner hopes every Caucassian +and Afro-American youth and maiden will strive to attain great heights. +His first efforts to procure knowledge consisted of reciting A.B.S.s +[TR: A.B.C.s?] from the McGuffy's [HW: ?] Blue backed speller with his +unlettered sister for a teacher. In later years he attended a school +conducted by the Freemen's Association. He bought a grammar from a white +school boy and studied it at home. When sixteen years of age he was +employed to teach negro children and grieves to recall how limited his +ability was bound to have been. "When a father considers sending his son +or daughter to school, today, he orders catalogues, consults his friends +and considers the location and surroundings and the advice of those who +have patronized the different schools. He finally decides upon the +school that promises the boy or girl the most attractive and comfortable +surroundings. When I taught the African children I boarded with an old +man whose cabin was filled with his own family. I climbed a ladder +leading from the cabin into a dark uncomfortable loft where a comfort +and a straw bed were my only conveniences." + +Leaving Greensburg the young mulatto made his way to Indianapolis where +he became acquainted with the first educated Negro he had ever met. The +Negro was Robert Bruce Bagby, then principal of the only school for +Negroes in Indianapolis. "The same old building is standing there today +that housed Bagby's institution then," he declares. + +Dr. Buckner recalls that when he left Bagby's school he was so low +financially he had to procure a position in a private residence as house +boy. This position was followed by many jobs of serving tables at hotels +and eating houses, of any and all kinds. While engaged in that work he +met Colonel Albert Johnson and his lovely wife, both natives of Arkansas +and he remembers their congratulations when they learned that he was +striving for an education. They advised his entering an educational +institution at Terre Haute. His desire had been to enter that +institution of Normal Training but felt doubtful of succeeding in the +advanced courses taught because his advantages had been so limited, but +Mrs. Johnson told him that "God gives his talents to the different +species and he would love and protect the negro boy." + +After studying several years at the Terre Haute State Normal George W. +Buckner felt assured that he was reasonably prepared to teach the negro +youths and accepted the professorship of schools at Vincennes, +Washington and other Indiana Villages. "I was interested in the young +people and anxious for their advancement but the suffering endured by my +invalid mother, who had passed into the great beyond, and the memory of +little Master Dickie's lingering illness and untimely death would not +desert my consciousness. I determined to take up the study of medical +practice and surgery which I did." + +Dr. Buckner graduated from the Indiana Electic Medical College in 1890. +His services were needed at Indianapolis so he practiced medicine in +that city for a year, then located at Evansville where he has enjoyed an +ever increasing popularity on account of his sympathetic attitude among +his people. + +"When I came to Evansville," says Dr. Buckner, "there were seventy white +physicians practicing in the area, they are now among the departed. +Their task was streneous, roads were almost impossible to travel and +those brave men soon sacrificed their lives for the good of suffering +humanity." Dr. Buckner described several of the old doctors as "Striding +[TR: illegible handwritten word above 'striding'] a horse and setting +out through all kinds of weather." + +Dr. Buckner is a veritable encyclopedia of negro lore. He stops at many +points during an interview to relate stories he has gleaned here and +there. He has forgotten where he first heard this one or that one but it +helps to illustrate a point. One he heard near the end of the war +follows, and although it has recently been retold it holds the interest +of the listener. "Andrew Jackson owned an old negro slave, who stayed +on at the old home when his beloved master went into politics, became an +American soldier and statesman and finally the 7th president of the +United States. The good slave still remained through the several years +of the quiet uneventful last years of his master and witnessed his +death, which occurred at his home near Nashville, Tennessee. After the +master had been placed under the sod, Uncle Sammy was seen each day +visiting Jackson's grave. + +"Do you think President Jackson is in heaven?" an acquaintance asked +Uncle Sammy. + +"If-n he wanted to go dar, he dar now," said the old man. "If-n Mars +Andy wanted to do any thing all Hell couldn't keep him from doin' it." + +Dr. Buckner believes each Negro is confident that he will take himself +with all his peculiarities to the land of promise. Each physical feature +and habitual idiosyncrasy will abide in his redeemed personality. Old +Joe will be there in person with the wrinkle crossing the bridge of his +nose and little stephen will wear his wool pulled back from his eyes and +each will recognize his fellow man. "What fools we all are," declared +Dr. Buckner. + +Asked his views concerning the different books embraced in the Holy +Bible, Dr. Buckner, who is a student of the Bible said, "I believe +almost every story in the Bible is an allegory, composed to illustrate +some fundemental truth that could otherwise never have been clearly +presented only through the medium of an allegory." + +"The most treacherous impulse of the human nature and the one to be most +dreaded is jealousy." With these words the aged Negro doctor launched +into the expression of his political views. "I'm a Democrat." He then +explained how he voted for the man but had confidence that his chosen +party possesses ability in choosing proper candidates. He is an ardent +follower of Franklin D. Roosevelt and speaks of Woodrow Wilson with +bated breath. + +Through the influence of John W. Boehne, Sr., and the friendly advice of +other influential citizens of Evansville Dr. Buckner was appointed +minister to Liberia, on Woodrow Wilson's cabinet, in the year 1913. Dr. +Buckner appreciated the confidence of his friends in appointing him and +cherishes the experineces gained while abroad. He noted the expressions +of gratitude toward cabinet members by the citizens of that African +coast. One Albino youth brought an offering of luscious mangoes and +desired to see the minister from the United States of America. Some +natives presented palm oils. "The natives have been made to understand +that the United States has given aid to Liberia in a financial way and +the customs-service of the republic is temporarily administered headed +by an American." "A thoroughly civilized Negro state does not exist in +Liberia nor do I believe in any part of West Africa. Superstition is the +interpretation of their religion, their political views are a hodgepodge +of unconnected ideas. Strength over rules knowledge and jealousy crowds +out almost all hope of sympathetic achievement and adjustment." Dr. +Buckner recounted incidents where jealousy was apparent in the behavior +of men and women of higher civilizations than the African natives. While +voyaging to Spain on board a Spanish vessel, he witnessed a very +refined, polite Jewish woman being reduced to tears by the taunts of a +Spanish officer, on account of her nationality. "Jealousy," he said, +"protrudes itself into politics, religion and prevents educational +achievement." + +During a political campaign I was compelled to pay a robust Negro man to +follow me about my professional visits and my social evenings with my +friends and family, to prevent meeting physical violence to myself or +family when political factions were virtually at war within the area of +Evansville. The influence of political captains had brought about the +dreadful condition and ignorant Negroes responded to their political +graft, without realizing who had befriended them in need." + +"The negro youths are especially subject to propoganda of the +four-flusher for their home influence is, to say the least, negative. +Their opportunities limited, their education neglected and they are +easily aroused by the meddling influence of the vote-getter and the +traitor. I would to God that their eyes might be opened to the light." + +Dr. Buckner's influence is mostly exhibited in the sick room, where his +presence is introduced in the effort to relieve pain. + +The gradual rise from slavery to prominence, the many trials encountered +along the road has ripened the always sympathetic nature of Dr. Buckner +into a responsive suffer among a suffering people. He has hope that +proper influences and sympathetic advice will mould the plastic +character of the Afro-American youths of the United States into proper +citizens and that their immortal souls inherit the promised reward of +the redeemed through grace. + +"Receivers of emancipation from slavery and enjoyers of emancipation +from sin through the sacrifice of Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ; Why +should not the negroes be exalted and happy?" are the words of Dr. +Buckner. + + +Note: G.W. Buckner was born December 1st, 1852. The negroes in Kentucky +expressed it, "In fox huntin' time" one brother was born in "Simmon +time", one in "Sweet tater time," and another in "Plantin' time." + +--Negro lore. + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +THE LIFE STORY OF GEORGE TAYLOR BURNS +[HW: Personal Interview] + + +Ox-carts and flat boats, and pioneer surroundings; crowds of men and +women crowding to the rails of river steamboats; gay ladies in holiday +attire and gentleman in tall hats, low cut vests and silk mufflers; for +the excursion boats carried the gentry of every area. + +A little negro boy clung to the ragged skirts of a slave mother, both +were engrossed in watching the great wheels that ploughed the +Mississippi river into foaming billows. Many boats stopped at Gregery's +Landing, Missouri to stow away wood, for many engines were fired with +wood in the early days. + +The Burns brothers operated a wood yard at the Landing and the work of +cutting, hewing and piling wood for the commerce was performed by slaves +of the Burns plantation. + +George Taylor Burns was five years of age and helped his mother all day +as she toiled in the wood yards. "The colder the weather, the more hard +work we had to do," declares Uncle George. + +George Taylor Burns, the child of Missouri slave parents, recalls the +scenes enacted at the Burns' wood yards so long ago. He is a resident of +Evansville, Indiana and his snow white hair and beard bear testimony +that his days have been already long upon the earth. + +Uncle George remembers the time when his infant hands reached in vain +for his mother, the kind and gentle Lucy Burns: Remembers a long cold +winter of snow and ice when boats were tied up to their moorings. Old +master died that winter and many slaves were sold by the heirs, among +them was Lucy Burns. Little George clung to his mother but strong hands +tore away his clasp. Then he watched her cross a distant hill, chained +to a long line of departing slaves. George never saw his parents again +and although the memory of his mother is vivid he scarcely remembers his +father's face. He said, "Father was black but my mother was a bright +mulatto." + +Nothing impressed the little boy with such unforgettable imagery as the +cold which descended upon Greogery's Landing one winter. Motherless, +hungry, desolate and unloved, he often cried himself to sleep at night +while each day he was compelled to carry wood. One morning he failed to +come when the horn was sounded to call the slaves to breakfast. "Old +Missus went to the Negro quarters to see what was wrong" and "She was +horrified when she found I was frozen to the bed." + +She carried the small bundle of suffering humanity to the kitchen of her +home and placed him near the big oven. When the warmth thawed the frozen +child the toes fell from his feet. "Old Missus told me I would never be +strong enough to do hard work, and she had the neighborhood shoemaker +fashion shoes too short for any body's feet but mine," said Uncle +George. + +Uncle George doesn't remember why he left Missouri but the sister of +Greene Taylor brought him to Troy, Indiana. Here she learned that she +could not own a slave within the State of Indiana so she indentured the +child to a flat boat captain to wash dishes and wait on the crew of +workers. + +George was so small of stature that the captain had a low table and +stool made that he might work in comfort. George's mistress received +$15,00 [TR: $15.00?] per month for the service of the boy for several +years. + +From working on the flat boats George became accustomed to the river and +soon received employment as a cabin boy on a steam boat and from that +time through out the most active days of his life George Taylor Burns +was a steam-boat man. In fact he declares, "I know steamboats from wood +box to stern wheel." + +"The life of a riverman is a good life and interesting things happen on +the river," says Uncle George. + +Uncle George has been imprisoned in the big jail at New Orleans. He has +seen his fellow slaves beaten into insensibility while chained to the +whipping post in Congo Square at New Orleans. + +He was badly treated while a slave but he has witnessed even more cruel +treatment administered to his fellow slaves. + +Among other exciting occurrences remembered by the old negro man when he +recalls early river adventures is one in which a flat boat sunk near New +Orleans. After clinging for many hours to the drifting wreckage he was +rescued, half dead from exhaustion. + +In memory, George Taylor Burns stands in the slave mart at New Orleans +and hears the Auctioneers' hammer, for he was sold like a beast of +burden by Greene Taylor, brother of his mistress. Greene Taylor, +however, had to refund the money and return the slave to his mistress +when his crippled feet were discovered. + +"Greene Taylor was like many other people I have known. He was always +ready to make life unhappy for a negro." + +Uncle George, although possessing an unusual amount of intelligence and +ability to learn, has a very limited education. "The Negroes were not +allowed an education," he relates. "It was dangerous for any person to +be caught teaching a Negro and several Negroes were put to death because +they could read." + +Uncle George recalls a few superstitions entertained by the rivermen. +"It was bad luck for a white cat to come aboard the boat." "Horse shoes +were carried for good luck." "If rats left the boat the crew was uneasy, +for fear of a wreck." Uncle George has very little faith in any +superstition but remembers some of the crews had. + +Among other boats on which this old river man was employed are "The +Atlantic" on which he was cabin boy. The "Big Gray Eagle" on which he +assisted in many ways. He worked where boats were being constructed +while he lived at New Albany. + +Many soldiers were returned to their homes by means of flat boats and +steam boats when the Civil War had ended and many recruits were sent by +water during the war. Just after peace was declared George met +Elizabeth Slye, a young slave girl who had just been set free. "Liza +would come to see her mother who was working on a boat." "People used to +come down to the landings to see boats come in," said Uncle George. +George and Liza were free, they married and made New Albany their home, +until 1881 when they came to Evansville. + +Uncle George said the Eclipse was a beautiful boat, he remembers the +lettering in gold and the bright lights and polished rails of the +longest steam boat ever built in the West. Measuring 365 feet in length +and Uncle George declares, "For speed she just up and hustled." + +"Louisville was one of the busiest towns in the Ohio Valley," says Uncle +George, but he remembers New Orleans as the market place where almost +all the surplus products were marketed. + +Uncle George has many friends along the water-front towns. He admires +the Felker family of Tell City, Indiana. He is proud of his own race and +rejoices in their opportunities. He remembers his fear of the Ku Klux, +his horror of the patrol and other clans united to make life dangerous +for newly emancipated Negroes. + +George Taylor Burns draws no old age pension. He owns a building located +at Canal and Evans Streets that houses a number of Negro families. He is +glad to say his credit is good in every market in the city. Although +lamed by rheumatic pains and hobbling on feet toeless from his young +childhood he has led a useful life. "Don't forget I knew Pilot Tom +Ballard, and Aaron Ballard on the Big Eagle in 1858," warns Uncle +George. "We Negroes carried passes so we could save our skins if we were +caught off the boats but we had plenty of good food on the boats." + +Uncle George said the roustabouts sang gay songs while loading boats +with heavy freight and provisions but on account of his crippled feet he +could not be a roustabout. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. BELLE BUTLER--DAUGHTER [of Chaney Mayer] +829 North Capitol Avenue + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Belle Butler, the daughter of Chaney Mayer, tells of the hardships her +mother endured during her days of slavery. + + +Interview + +Chaney was owned by Jesse Coffer, "a mean old devil." He would whip his +slaves for the slightest misdemeanor, and many times for nothing at +all--just enjoyed seeing them suffer. Many a time Jesse would whip a +slave, throw him down, and gouge his eyes out. Such a cruel act! + +Chaney's sister was also a slave on the Coffer plantation. One day their +master decided to whip them both. After whipping them very hard, he +started to throw them down, to go after their eyes. Chaney grabbed one +of his hands, her sister grabbed his other hand, each girl bit a finger +entirely off of each hand of their master. This, of course, hurt him so +very bad he had to stop their punishment and never attempted to whip +them again. He told them he would surely put them in his pocket (sell +them) if they ever dared to try *anthing like that again in life. + +Not so long after their fight, Chaney was given to a daughter of their +master, and her sister was given to another daughter and taken to +Passaic County, N.C. + +On the next farm to the Coffer farm, the overseers would tie the slaves +to the joists by their thumbs, whip them unmercifully, then salt their +backs to make them very sore. + +When a slave slowed down on his corn hoeing, no matter if he were sick, +or just very tired, he would get many lashes and a salted back. + +One woman left the plantation without a pass. The overseer caught her +and whipped her to death. + +No slave was ever allowed to look at a book, for fear he might learn to +read. One day the old mistress caught a slave boy with a book, she +cursed him and asked him what he meant, and what he thought he could do +with a book. She said he looked like a black dog with a breast pin on, +and forbade him to ever look into a book again. + +All slaves on the Coffer plantation were treated in a most inhuman +manner, scarcely having enough to eat, unless they would steal it, +running the risk of being caught and receiving a severe beating for the +theft. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Butler lives with her daughters, has worked very hard in "her +days." + +She has had to give up almost everything in the last few years, because +her eyesight has failed. However, she is very cheerful and enjoys +telling the "tales" her mother would tell her. + +Submitted December 28, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +5th District +Vandenburgh County +Lauana Creel + +SLAVE STORY +JOSEPH WILLIAM CARTER + + +This information was gained through an interview with Joseph William +Carter and several of his daughters. The data was cheerfully given to +the writer. Joseph William Carter has lived a long and, he declares, a +happy life, although he was born and reared in bondage. His pleasing +personality has always made his lot an easy one and his yoke seemed easy +to wear. + +Joseph William Carter was born prior to the year 1836. His mother, +Malvina Gardner was a slave in the home of Mr. Gardner until a man named +D.B. Smith saw her and noticing the physical perfection of the child at +once purchased her from her master. + +Malvina was agrieved at being compelled to leave her old home, and her +lovely young mistress. Puss Gardner was fond of the little mullato girl +and had taught her to be a useful member of the Gardner family; however, +she was sold to Mr. Smith and was compelled to accompany him to his +home. + +Both the Gardner and Smith families lived near Gallatin, Tennessee, in +Sumner County. The Smith plantation was situated on the Cumberland River +and commanded a beautiful view of river and valley acres but Malvina was +very unhappy. She did not enjoy the Smith family and longed for her old +friends back in the Gardner home. + +One night the little girl gathered together her few personal belongings +and started back to her old home. + +Afraid to travel the highway the child followed a path she knew through +the forest; but alas, she found the way long and beset with perils. A +number of uncivil Indians were encamped on the side of the Cumberland +mountains and a number of the young braves were out hunting that night. +Their stealthy approach was heard by the little fugitive girl but too +late for her to make an escape. An Indian called "Buck" captured her and +by all the laws of the tribe was his own property. She lived for almost +a year in the teepe with Buck and during that time learned much about +Indian habits. + +When Malvina was missed from her new home, Mr. Smith went to the Gardner +plantation to report his loss, not finding her there a wide search was +made for her but the Indians kept her thoroughly concealed. Miss Puss, +however, kept up the search. She knew the Indians were encamped on the +mountain and believed she would find the girl with them. The Indians +finally broke camp and the members of the Gardner home watched them +start on their journey and Miss Puss soon discovered Malvina among the +other maidens in the procession. + +The men of the Gardner plantation, white and black, overtook the Indians +and demanded the girl be given up to them. The Indians reluctantly gave +her to them. Miss Puss Gardner took her back and Mr. Gardner paid Mr. +Smith the original purchase price and Malvina was once more installed in +her old home. + +Malvina Gardner was not yet twelve years of age when she was captured by +the Indians and was scarcely thirteen years of age when she became the +mother of Joseph William, son of the uncivil Indian, "Buck". The child +was born in the Gardner home and mother and child remained there. The +mother was a good slave and loved the members of the Gardner family and +her son and she were loved by them in return. + +Puss Gardner married a Mr. Mooney and Mr. Gardner allowed her to take +Joseph William to her home. The Mooney estate was situated up on the +Carthridge road and some of Joseph William's most vivid memories of +slavery and the curse of bondage embrace his life's span with the +Mooneys. + +One story that the aged man relates is of an encounter with an eagle and +follows: "George Irish, a white boy near my own age, was the son of the +miller. His father operated a sawmill on Bledsoe Creek near where it +empties into the Coumberland river. George and I often went fishing +together and had a good dog called Hector. Hector was as good a coon dog +as there was to be found in that part of the country. That day we boys +climbed up on the mill shed to watch the swans in Bledsoe Creek and we +soon noticed a great big fish hawk catching the goslings. It made us mad +and we decided to kill the hawk. I went back to the house and got an old +flint lock rifle Mars. Mooney had let me carry when we went hunting. +When I got back where George was, the big bird was still busy catching +goslings. The first shot I fired broke its wing and I decided I would +catch it and take it home with me. The bird put up a terrible fight, +cutting me with its bill and talons. Hector came running and tried to +help me but the bird cut him until his howls brought help from the +field. Mr. Jacob Greene was passing along and came to us. He tore me +away from the bird but I could not walk and the blood was running from +my body in dozens of places. Poor old Hector, was crippled and bleeding +for the bird was a big eagle and would have killed both of us if help +had not come." The old negro man still shows signs of his encounter with +the eagle. He said it was captured and lived about four months in +captivity but its wing never healed. The body of the eagle was stuffed +with wheat bran, by Greene Harris, and placed in the court yard in +Sumner County. "The Civil War changed things at the Mooney plantation," +said the old man. "Before the War Mr. Mooney never had been cruel to me. +I was Mistress Puss's property and she would never have allowed me to be +abused, but some of the other slaves endured the most cruel treatment +and were worked nearly to death." + +Uncle Joe's memory of slavery embraces the whole story of bondage and +the helpless position held by strong bodied men and women of a hardy +race, overpowered by the narrow ideals of slave owners and cruel +overseerers. "When I was a little bitsy child and still lived with Mr. +Gardner," said the old man, "I saw many of the slaves beaten to death. +Master Gardner didn't do any of the whippin' but every few months he +sent to Mississippi for negro rulers to come to the plantation and whip +all the negroes that had not obeyed the overseers. A big barrel lay near +the barn and that was always the whippin place." Uncle Joe remembers two +or three professional slave whippers and recalls the death of two of the +Mississippi whippers. He relates the story as follows: "Mars Gardner had +one of the finest black smiths that I ever saw. His arms were strong, +his muscles stood out on his breast and shoulders and his legs were +never tired. He stood there and shoed horses and repaired tools day +after day and there was no work ever made him tired." + +The old negro man so vividly described the noble blacksmith that he +almost appeared in person, as the story advanced. "I don't know what he +had done to rile up Mars Gardner, but all of us knew that the Blacksmith +was going to be flogged. When the whippers from Mississippi got to the +plantation. The blacksmith worked on day and night. All day he was +shoein horses and all the spare time he had he was makin a knife. When +the whippers got there all of us were brought out to watch the whippin +but the blacksmith, Jim Gardner did not wait to feel the lash, he jumped +right into the bunch of overseers and negro whippers and knifed two +whippers and one overseer to death; then stuck the sharp knife into his +arm and bled to death." + +Suicide seemed the only hope for this man of strength. He could not +humble himself to the brutal ordeal of being beaten by the slave +whippers. + +"When the war started, we kept hearing about the soldiers and finally +they set up their camp in the forest near us. The corn was ready to +bring into the barn and the soldiers told Mr. Mooney to let the slaves +gather it and put it into the barns. Some of the soldiers helped gather +and crib the corn. I wanted to help but Miss Puss was afraid they would +press me into service and made me hide in the cellar. There was a big +keg of apple cider in the cellar and every day Miss Puss handed down a +big plate of fresh ginger snaps right out of the oven, so I was well +fixed." The old man remembers that after the corn was in the crib the +soldiers turned in their horses to eat what had fallen to the ground. + +Before the soldiers became encamped at the Mooney plantation they had +camped upon a hill and some skirmishing had occurred. Uncle Joe +remembers the skirmish and seeing cannon balls come over the fields. The +cannon balls were chained together and the slave children would run +after the missils. Sometimes the chains would cut down trees as the +balls rolled through the forest. + +"Do you believe in witchcraft?" was asked while interviewing the aged +negro. "No" was the answer. "I had a cousin that was a full blooded +Indian and a Voodoo doctor. He got me to help him with his Voodoo work. +A lot of people both white and black sent for the Indian when they were +sick. I told him I would do the best I could, if it would help sick +people to get well. A woman was sick with rhumatism and he was going to +see her. He sent me into the woods to dig up poke roots to boil. He then +took the brew to the house where the sick woman lived. Had her to put +both feet in a tub filled with warm water, into which he had placed the +poke root brew. He told the woman she had lizards in her body and he was +going to bring them out of her. He covered the woman with a heavy +blanket and made her sit for a long time, possibly an hour, with her +feet in the tub of poke root brew and water. He had me slip a good many +lizards into the tub and when the woman removed her feet, there were the +lizards. She was soon well and believed the lizards had come out of her +legs. I was disgusted and would not practice with my cousin again." + +"So you didn't fight in the Civil War," was asked Uncle Joe. + +"Of course I did, when I got old enough I entered the service and +barbacued meat until the war closed." Barbacueing had been Uncle Joe's +specialty during slavery days and he followed the same profession during +his service with the federal army. He was freed by the emancuapation +proclamation, and soon met and married Sadie Scott, former Slave of Mr. +Scott, a Tennessee planter. Sadie only lived a short time after her +marriage. He later married Amy Doolins. Her father was named Carmuel. He +was a blacksmith and after he was free, the countrymen were after him to +take his life. He was shot nine times and finally killed himself to +prevent meeting death at the hands of the clansmen. + +Joseph William Carter is a cripple. In 1933 he fell and broke his right +thigh-bone and since that time he has walked with a crutch. He stays up +quite a lot and is always glad to welcome visitors. He possesses a noble +character and is admired by his friends and neighbors. Tall, straight, +lean of body, his nose is aquiline; these physical characteristics he +inherited from his Indian ancesters. His gentle nature, wit, and good +humor are characteristics handed to him by his mother and fostered by +the gentle rearing of his southern mistress. + +When Uncle Joe Carter celebrated the 100dth aniversary of his birth a +large cake was presented to him, decorated with 100 candles. The party +was attended by children and grandchildren, friends and neighbors. "What +is your political viewpoint?" was asked the old man. + +"My politics is my love for my country". "I vote for the man, not the +party." + +Uncle Joe's religion is the religion of decency and virtue. "I don't +want to be hard in my judgement," said he, "But I wish the whole world +would be decent. When I was a young man, women wore more clothes in bed +than they now wear on the street." + +"Papa has always been a lover of horses but he does not care for +Automobiles nor aeroplanes," said a daughter of Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe has +seven daughters, he says they have always been obedient and attentive to +their parents. Their mother passed away seven years ago. The sons and +daughters of Uncle Joe remember their grand-mother and recall stories +recounted by her of her captivity among the Indians. + +"Papa had no gray hairs until after mama died. His hair turned gray from +grief at her loss," said Mrs. Della Smith, one of his daughters. Uncle +Joe's smile reveals a set of unusually sound teeth from which only one +tooth is missing. + +Like all fathers and grandfathers, Uncle Joe recounts the cute deeds and +funny sayings of the little children he has been associated with: how +his own children with feather bedecked crowns enacted the capture of +their grandmother and often played "Voo-Doo Doctor." + +Uncle Joe stresses the value of work, not the enforced labor of the +slave but the cheerful toil of free people. He is glad that his sons and +daughters are industrious citizens and is proud they maintain clean +homes for their families. He is happy because his children have never +known bondage, and he respects the laws of his country and appreciates +the interest that the citizens of Evansville have always showed in the +negro race. + +After Uncle Joe became a young man he met many Indians from the tribe +that had held his mother captive. Through them he learned much about his +father which his mother had never told him. + +Though he was a Gardner slave and would have been Joseph Gardner, he +took the name of Carter from a step father and is known as Joseph +Carter. + + + + +Grace Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +OHIO COUNTY EX-SLAVE, MRS. ELLEN CAVE, RELATES HER EXPERIENCES + + +Assistant editor of "The Rising Sun Recorder" furnished the following +story which had appeared in the paper, March 19, 1937. + +Mrs. Cave was in slavery for twelve years before she was freed by the +Emancipation Proclamation. When she gave her story to Aubrey Robinson +she was living in a temporary garage home back of the Rising Sun +courthouse having lost everything in the 1937 flood. + +Mrs. Cave was born on a plantation in Taylor County Kentucky. She was +the property of a man who did not live up to the popular idea of a +Southern gentleman, whose slaves refused to leave them, even after their +freedom was declared. + +When she was a year old her mother was sold to someone in Louisana and +she did not see her again until 1867, when they were re-united in +Carrolton, Kentucky. Her father died when she was a baby. + +Mrs. Cave told of seeing wagon loads of slaves sold down the river. She, +herself was put on the block several times but never actually sold, +although she would have preferred being sold rather than the +continuation of the ordeal of the block. + +Her master was a "mean man" who drank heavily, he had twenty slaves that +he fed now and then, and gave her her freedom after the war only when +she would remain silent about it no longer. He was a Southern +sympathiser but joined the Union army where he became a captain and was +in charge of a Union commissary. Finally he was suspected and charged +with mustering supplies to the rebels. He was imprisoned for some time, +then courtmartialed and sentenced to die. He escaped by bribing his +negro guard. + +Mrs. Cave said that her master's father had many young women slaves and +sold his own half-breed children down the river to Louisiana plantations +where the work was so severe that the slaves soon died. + +While in slavery, Mrs. Cave worked as a maid in the house until she grew +older when she was forced to do all kinds of outdoor labor. She +remembered sawing logs in the snow all day. In the summer she pitched +hay or any other man's work in the field. She was trained to carry three +buckets of water at the same time, two in her hands and one on her +head and said she could still do it. + +On this plantation the chief article of food for the slaves was +bran-bread, although the master's children were kind and often slipped +them out meat or other food. + +Mrs. Cave remembered seeing General Woolford and General Morgan of the +Southern forces when they made friendly visits to the plantation. She +saw General Grant twice during the war. She saw soldiers drilling near +the plantation. Later she was caught and whipped by night riders, or +"pat-a-rollers", as she tried to slip out to negro religious meetings. + +Mrs. Cave was driven from her plantation two years after the war and +came to Carrollton [TR: earlier, Carrolton] Kentucky, where she found +her mother and soon married James Cave, a former slave on a plantation +near hers in Taylor county. Mrs. Cave had thirteen children. + +For many years Mrs. Cave has lived on a farm about two and one half mi. +south of Rising Sun. Everything she had was washed away in the flood and +she lived in the court house garage until her home could be rebuilt. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #8 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. HARRIET CHEATAM--EX-SLAVE +816 Darnell Street + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Incidents in the life of Mrs. Cheatam as she told them to me. + + +Interview + +"I was born, in 1843, in Gallatin, Tennessee, 94 years ago this coming +(1937) Christmas day." + +"Our master, Martin Henley, a farmer, was hard on us slaves, but we were +happy in spite of our lack." + +"When I was a child, I didn't have it as hard as some of the children +in the quarters. I always stayed in the "big house," slept on the floor, +right near the fireplace, with one quilt for my bed and one quilt to +cover me. Then when I growed up, I was in the quarters." + +"After the Civil war, I went to Ohio to cook for General Payne. We had a +nice life in the general's house." + +"I remember one night, way back before the Civil war, we wanted a goose. +I went out to steal one as that was the only way we slaves would have +one. I crept very quiet-like, put my hand in where they was and grabbed, +and what do you suppose I had? A great big pole cat. Well, I dropped him +quick, went back, took off all my clothes, dug a hole, and buried them. +The next night I went to the right place, grabbed me a nice big goose, +held his neck and feet so he couldn't holler, put him under my arm, and +ran with him, and did we eat?" + +"We often had prayer meeting out in the quarters, and to keep the folks +in the "big house" from hearing us, we would take pots, turn them down, +put something under them, that let the sound go in the pots, put them in +a row by the door, then our voices would not go out, and we could sing +and pray to our heart's content." + +"At Thanksgiving time we would have pound cake. That was fine. We would +take our hands and beat and beat our cake dough, put the dough in a +skillet, cover it with the lid and put it in the fireplace. (The covered +skillet would act our ovens of today.) It would take all day to bake, +but it sure would be good; not like the cakes you have today." + +"When we cooked our regular meals, we would put our food in pots, slide +them on an iron rod that hooked into the fireplace. (They were called +pot hooks.) The pots hung right over the open fire and would boil until +the food was done." + +"We often made ash cake. (That is made of biscuit dough.) When the dough +was ready, we swept a clean place on the floor of the fireplace, +smoothed the dough out with our hands, took some ashes, put them on top +of the dough, then put some hot coals on top of the ashes, and just left +it. When it was done, we brushed off the coals, took out the bread, +brushed off the ashes, child, that was bread." + +"When we roasted a chicken, we got it all nice and clean, stuffed him +with dressing, greased him all over good, put a cabbage leaf on the +floor of the fireplace, put the chicken on the cabbage leaf, then +covered him good with another cabbage leaf, and put hot coals all over +and around him, and left him to roast. That is the best way to cook +chicken." + +Mrs. Cheatam lives with a daughter, Mrs. Jones. She is a very small old +lady, pleasant to talk with, has a very happy disposition. Her eyes, as +she said, "have gotten very dim," and she can't piece her quilts +anymore. That was the way she spent her spare time. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +She has beautiful white hair and is very proud of it. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +JAMES CHILDRESS' STORY +312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana + + +From an interview with James Childress and from John Bell both living at +312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana. + +Known as Uncle Jimmy by the many children that cluster about the aged +man never tiring of his stories of "When I was chile." + +"When I was a chile my daddy and mamma was slaves and I was a slave," so +begins many recounted tales of the long ago. + +Born at Nashville, Tennessee in the year 1860, Uncle Jimmie remembers +the Civil War with the exciting events as related to his own family and +the family of James Childress, his master. He remembers sorrow expressed +in parting tears when "Uncle Johnie and Uncle Bob started to war." He +recalls happy days when the beautiful valley of the Cumberland was +abloom with wild flowers and fertile acres were carpeted with blue +grass. + +"A beautiful view could always be enjoyed from the hillsides and there +were many pretty homes belonging to the rich citizens. Slaves kept the +lawns smooth and tended the flowers for miles around Nashville, when I +was a child," said Uncle Jimmie. + +Uncle Jimmie Childress has no knowledge of his master's having practiced +cruelty towards any slave. "We was all well fed, well clothed and lived +in good cabins. I never got a cross word from Mars John in my life," he +declared. "When the slaves got their freedom they rejoiced staying up +many nights to sing, dance and enjoy themselves, although they still +depended on old Mars John for food and bed, they felt too excited to +work in the fields or care for the stock. They hated to leave their +homes but Mr. Childress told them to go out and make homes for +themselves." + +"Mother got work as a housekeeper and kept us all together. Uncle Bob +got home from the War and we lived well enough. I have lived at +Evansville since 1881, have worked for a good many men and John Bell +will tell you I have had only friends in the city of Evansville." + +Uncle Jimmie recalls how the slaves always prayed to God for freedom and +the negro preachers always preached about the day when the slaves would +be no longer slaves but free and happy. + +"My people loved God, they sang sacred songs, 'Swing Low Sweet Charriot' +was one of the best songs they knew". Here uncle Jimmie sang a stanza of +the song and said it related to God's setting the negroes free. + +"The negroes at Mr. Childress' place were allowed to learn as much as +they could. Several of the young men could read and write. Our master +was a good man and did no harm to anybody." + +James Childress is a black man, small of stature, with crisp wooly dark +hair. He is glad he is not mulatto but a thorough blooded negro. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. SARAH COLBERT--EX-SLAVE +1505 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Sarah Carpenter Colbert was born in Allen County, Kentucky in 1855. +She was owned by Leige Carpenter, a farmer. + +Her father, Isaac Carpenter was the grandson of his master, Leige +Carpenter, who was very kind to him. Isaac worked on the farm until the +old master's death. He was then sold to Jim McFarland in Frankfort +Kentucky. Jim's wife was very mean to the slaves, whipped them regularly +every morning to start the day right. + +One morning after a severe beating, Isaac met an old slave, who asked +him why he let his mistress beat him so much. Isaac laughed and asked +him what he could do about it. The old man told him if he would bite her +foot, the next time she knocked him down, she would stop beating him and +perhaps sell him. + +The next morning he was getting his regular beating, he willingly fell +to the floor, grabbed his mistress' foot, bit her very hard. She tried +very hard to pull away from him, he held on still biting, she ran around +in the room, Isaac still holding on. Finally, she stopped beating him +and never attempted to strike him again. + +The next week he was put on the block, being a very good worker and a +very strong man, the bids were high. + +His young master, Leige Jr., outbid everyone and bought him for +$1200.00. + +His young mistress was very mean to him. He went again to his old friend +for advice. This time he told him to get some yellow dust, sprinkle it +around in his mistress' room and if possible, got some in her shoes. +This he did and in a short time he was sold again to Johnson Carpenter +in the same county. He was not really treated any better there. By this +time he was very tired of being mistreated. He remembered his old +master telling him to never let anyone be mean to him. He ran away to +his old mistress, told her of his many hardships, and told her what the +old master had told him, so she sent him back. At the next sale she +bought him, and he lived there until slavery was abolished. + +Her grandfather, Bat Carpenter, was an ambitious slave; he dug ore and +bought his freedom, then bought his wife by paying $50.00 a year to her +master for her. She continued to work on the farm of her own master for +a very small wage. + +Bat's wife, Matilda, lived on the farm not far from him, he was allowed +to visit her every Sunday. One Sunday, it looked like rain, his master +told him to gather in the oats, he refused to do this and was beaten +with a raw hide. He was so angry, he went to one of the witch-crafters +for a charm so he could fix his old master. + +The witch doctor told him to get five new nails, as there were five +members in his master's family, walk to the barn, then walk backwards a +few steps, pound one nail in the ground, giving each nail the name of +each member of the family, starting with the master, then the mistress, +and so on through the family. Each time one nail was pounded down in the +ground, walk backwards and nail the next one in until all were pounded +deep in the ground. He did as instructed and was never beaten again. + +Jane Garmen was the village witch. She disturbed the slaves with her +cat. Always at milking time the cat would appear, and at night would go +from one cabin to another, putting out the grease lamps with his paw. No +matter how they tried to kill the cat, it just could not be done. + +An old witch doctor told them to melt a dime, form a bullet with the +silver, and shoot the cat. He said a lead bullet would never kill a +bewitched animal. The silver bullet fixed the cat. + +Jane also bewitched the chickens. They were dying so fast anything they +did seemed useless. Finally a big fire was built and the dead chickens +thrown into the fire, that burned the charm, and no more chickens died. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Colbert lives with her daughter in a very comfortable home. She +seems very happy and was glad to talk of her early days. How she would +laugh when telling of the experiences of her family. + +She has reared a large family of her own, and feels very proud of them. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Wm. R. Mays +Dist. 4 +Johnson County, Ind. +July 29, 1937 + +SLAVERY DAYS OF MANDY COOPER OF LINCOLN COUNTY, KENTUCKY +FRANK COOPER +715 Ott St., Franklin, Ind. + + +Frank Cooper, an aged colored man of Franklin, relates some very +interesting conditions that existed in slavery days as handed down to +him by his mother. + +Mandy Cooper, the mother of Frank Cooper, was 115 years old when she +died; she was owned by three different families: the Good's, the +Burton's, and the Cooper's, all of Lincoln Co. Kentucky. + +"Well, Ah reckon Ah am one of the oldest colored men hereabouts," +confessed aged Frank Cooper. "What did you all want to see me about?" My +mission being stated, he related one of the strangest categories +alluding to his mother's slave life that I have ever heard. + +"One day while mah mammy was washing her back my sistah noticed ugly +disfiguring scars on it. Inquiring about them, we found, much to our +amazement, that they were mammy's relics of the now gone, if not +forgotten, slave days. + +"This was her first reference to her "misery days" that she had evah +made in my presence. Of course we all thought she was tellin' us a big +story and we made fun of her. With eyes flashin', she stopped bathing, +dried her back and reached for the smelly ole black whip that hung +behind the kitchen door. Biddin' us to strip down to our waists, my +little mammy with the boney bent-ovah back, struck each of us as hard as +evah she could with that black-snake whip, each stroke of the whip drew +blood from our backs. "Now", she said to us, "you have a taste of +slavery days." With three of her children now having tasted of some of +her "misery days" she was in the mood to tell us more of her sufferings; +still indelibly impressed in my mind. [TR: illegible handwritten note +here.] + +'My ole back is bent ovah from the quick-tempered blows feld by the +red-headed Miss Burton. + +'At dinner time one day when the churnin' wasn't finished for the +noonday meal', she said with an angry look that must have been reborn in +mah mammy's eyes--eyes that were dimmed by years and hard livin', 'three +white women beat me from anger because they had no butter for their +biscuits and cornbread. Miss Burton used a heavy board while the missus +used a whip. While I was on my knees beggin' them to quit, Miss Burton +hit the small of mah back with the heavy board. Ah knew no more until +kind Mr. Hamilton, who was staying with the white folks, brought me +inside the cabin and brought me around with the camphor bottle. Ah'll +always thank him--God bless him--he picked me up where they had left me +like a dog to die in the blazin' noonday sun. + +'After mah back was broken it was doubted whether ah would evah be able +to work again or not. Ah was placed on the auction block to be bidded +for so mah owner could see if ah was worth anything or not. One man bid +$1700 after puttin' two dirty fingahs in my mouth to see my teeth. Ah +bit him and his face showed angah. He then wanted to own me so he could +punish me. + +'Thinkin' his bid of $1700 was official he unstrapped his buggy whip to +beat me, but my mastah saved me. My master declared the bid unofficial. + +'At this auction my sister was sold for $1900 and was never seen by us +again.' + +"My mother related some experiences she had with the Paddy-Rollers, +later called the "Kuklux", these Paddy-Rollers were a constant dread to +the Negroes. They would whip the poor darkeys unmercifully without any +cause. One night while the Negroes were gathering for a big party and +dance they got wind of the approaching Paddy-Rollers in large numbers +on horseback. The Negro men did not know what to do for protection, they +became desperate and decided to gather a quantity of grapevines and tied +them fast at a dark place in the road. When the Paddy-Rollers came +thundering down the road bent on deviltry and unaware of the trap set +for them, plunged head-on into these strong grapevines and three of +their number were killed and a score was badly injured. Several horses +had to be shot following injuries. + +"When the news of this happening spread it was many months before the +Paddy-Rollers were again heard of." + + + + +Albert Strope, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +St. Joseph County--District #1 +Mishawaka, Indiana + +EX-SLAVE +REV. H.H. EDMUNDS +403 West Hickory Street +Elkhart, Indiana + + +Rev. H.H. Edmunds has resided at 403 West Hickory Street in Elkhart for +the past ten years. Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1859, he lived there +for several years. Later he was taken to Mississippi by his master, and +finally to Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived until his removal to +Elkhart. + +Mr. Edmunds is very religious, and for many years has served his people +as a minister of the Gospel. He feels deeply that the religion of today +has greatly changed from the "old time religion." In slavery days, the +colored people were so subjugated and uneducated that he claims they +were especially susceptible to religion, and poured out their religious +feelings in the so-called negro spirituals. Mr. Edmunds is convinced +that the superstitions of the colored people and their belief in ghosts +and gobblins is due to the fact that their emotions were worked upon by +slave drivers to keep them in subjugation. Oftentimes white people +dressed as ghosts, frightened the colored people into doing many things +under protest. The "ghosts" were feared far more than the slave-drivers. + +The War of the Rebellion is not remembered by Mr. Edmunds, but he +clearly remembers the period following the war known as the +Reconstruction Period. The Negroes were very happy when they learned +they were free as a result of the war. A few took advantage of their +freedom immediately, but many, not knowing what else to do, remained +with their former masters. Some remained on the plantations five years +after they were free. Gradually they learned to care for themselves, +often through instructions received from their former masters, and then +they were glad to start out in the world for themselves. Of course, +there were exceptions, for the slaves who had been abused by cruel +masters were only too glad to leave their former homes. + +The following reminiscense is told by Mr. Edmunds: + +"As a boy, I worked in Virginia for my master, a Mr. Farmer[TR:?]. He +had two sons who served as bosses on the farm. An elder sister was the +head boss. After the war was over, the sister called the colored people +together and told them that they were no longer slaves, that they might +leave if they wished. + +"The slaves had been watering cucumbers which had been planted around +barrels filled with soil. Holes had been bored in the barrels, and when +water was poured in the barrels, it gradually seeped out through the +holes thus watering the cucumbers. + +"After the speech, one son told the slaves to resume their work. Since I +was free, I refused to do so, and as a result, I received a terrible +kicking. I mentally resolved to get even some day. Years afterward, I +went to the home of this man for the express purpose of seeking revenge. +However, I was received so kindly, and treated so well, that all +thoughts of vengeance vanished. For years after, my former boss and I +visited each other in our own homes." + +Mr. Edmunds states that the Negro people prefer to be referred to as +colored people, and deeply resent the name "nigger." + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +Lake County--District #1 +Gary, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +JOHN EUBANKS & FAMILY +Gary, Indiana + + +Gary's only surviving Civil War veteran was born a slave in Barren +County, Kentucky, June 6, 1836. His father was a mulatto and a free +negro. His mother was a slave on the Everrett plantation and his +grandparents ware full-blooded African negroes. As a child he began work +as soon as possible and was put to work hoeing and picking cotton and +any other odd jobs that would keep him busy. He was one of a family of +several children, and is the sole survivor, a brother living in +Indianapolis, having died there in 1935. + +Following the custom of the south, when the children of the Everrett +family grew up, they married and slaves were given them for wedding +presents. John was given to a daughter who married a man of the name of +Eubanks, hence his name, John Eubanks. John was one of the more +fortunate slaves in that his mistress and master were kind and they were +in a state divided on the question of slavery. They favored the north. +The rest of the children were given to other members of the Everrett +family upon their marriage or sold down the river and never saw one +another until after the close of the Civil War. + +Shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, when the north seemed to +be losing, someone conceived the idea of forming negro regiments and as +an inducement to the slaves, they offered them freedom if they would +join the Union forces. John's mistress and master told him that if he +wished to join the Union forces, he had their consent and would not have +to run away like other slaves were doing. At the beginning of the war, +John was twenty-one years of age. When Lincoln freed the slaves by his +Emancipation Proclamation, John was promptly given his freedom by his +master and mistress. + +John decided to join the northern army which was located at Bowling +Green, Kentucky, a distance of thirty-five miles from Glasgow where John +was living. He had to walk the entire thirty-five miles. Although he +fails to remember all the units that he was attached to, he does +remember that it was part of General Sherman's army. His regiment +started with Sherman on his famous march through Georgia, but for some +reason unknown to John, shortly after the campaign was on its way, his +regiment was recalled and sent elsewhere. + +His regiment was near Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the time Lee +surrendered. Since Lee was a proud southerner and did not want the +negroes present when he surrendered, Grant probably for this reason as +much as any other refused to accept Lee's sword. When Lee surrendered +there was much shouting among the troops and John was one of many put to +work loading cannons on boats to be shipped up the river. His company +returned on the steamboat "Indiana." Upon his return to Glasgow, [HW: +Ky.] he saw for the first time in six years, his mother and other +members of his family who had returned free. + +Shortly after he returned to Glasgow at the close of the Civil War, he +saw several colored people walking down the highway and was attracted to +a young colored girl in the group who was wearing a yellow dress. +Immediately he said to himself, "If she ain't married there goes my +wife." Sometime later they met and were married Christmas day in 1866. +To this union twelve children were born four of whom are living today, +two in Gary and the others in the south. After his marriage he lived on +a farm near Glasgow for several years, later moving to Louisville, where +he worked in a lumber yeard. He came to Gary in 1924, two years after +the death of his wife. + +President Grant was the first president for whom he cast his vote and he +continued to vote until old age prevented him from walking to the polls. + +Although Lincoln is one of his favorite heroes, Teddy Roosevelt tops his +list of great men and he never failed to vote for him. + +In 1926, he was the only one of three surviving memebers of the Grand +Army of the Republic in Gary and mighty proud of the fact that he was +the only one in the parade. In 1937 he is the sole survivor. + +He served in the army as a member of Company K of the 108th, Kentucky +Infantry (Negro Volunteers). + +When General Morgan, the famous southern raider, crossed the Ohio on his +raid across southern Indiana, John was one of the Negro fighters who +after heavy fighting, forced Morgan to recross the river and retreat +back to the south. He also participated in several skirmishes with the +cavalry troops commanded by the famous Nathan Bedfored Forrest, and was +a member of the Negro garrison at Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi which +was assaulted and captured. This resulted in a massacre of the negro +soldiers. John was in several other fights, but as he says, "never onct +got a skinhurt." + +At the present time, Mr. Eubanks is residing with his daughter, Mrs. +Bertha Sloss and several grandchildren, in Gary, Indiana. He is badly +crippled with rheumatism, has poor eyesight and his memory is failing. +Otherwise his health is good. Most of his teeth are good and they are a +source of wonder to his dentist. He is ninety-eight years of age and +his wish in life now, is to live to be a hundred. Since his brother and +mother both died at ninety-eight and his paternal grandfather at one +hundred-ten years of age, he has a good chance to realize this ambition. + +Because of his condition most of this interview was had from his +grandchildren, who have taken notes in recent years of any incidents +that he relates. He is proud that most of his fifty grandchildren are +high school graduates and that two are attending the University of +Chicago. + +In 1935, he enjoyed a motor trip, when his family took him back to +Glasgow for a visit. He suffered no ill effects from the trip. + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +816 Mound Street, Valparaiso, Indiana +Federal Writers' Project +Lake County, District #1 +Gary, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +INTERVIEW WITH JOHN EUBANKS, EX-SLAVE + + +John Eubanks, Gary's only negro Civil War survivor has lived to see the +ninety-eighth anniversary of his birth and despite his advanced age, +recalls with surprising clarity many interesting and sad events of his +boyhood days when a slave on the Everett plantation. + +He was born in Glasgow, Barron County, Kentucky, June 6, 1839, one of +seven children of a chattel of the Everett family. + +The old man retains most of his faculties, but bears the mark of his +extreme age in an obvious feebleness and failing sight and memory. He is +physically large, says he once was a husky, weighing over two hundred +pounds, bears no scars or deformities and despite the hardships and +deprivations of his youth, presents a kindly and tolerant attitude. + +"I remembah well, us young uns on the Everett plantation," he relates, +"I worked since I can remembah, hoein', pickin' cotton and othah chohs +'round the fahm. We didden have much clothes, nevah no undahweah, no +shoes, old ovahalls and a tattahed shirt, wintah and summah. Come de +wintah, it be so cold mah feet weah plumb numb mos' o' de time and manya +time--when we git a chanct--we druve the hogs from outin the bogs an' +put ouah feet in the wahmed wet mud. They was cracked and the skin on +the bottoms and in de toes weah cracked and bleedin' mos' o' time, wit +bloody scabs but de summah healed them agin." + +"Does yohall remembah, Granpap," his daughter prompted, "Yoh +mahstah--did he treat you mean?" + +"No," his tolerant acceptance apparent in his answer, "it weah done +thataway. Slaves weah whipt and punished and the younguns belonged to +the mahstah to work foah him oh to sell. When I weah 'bout six yeahs +old, Mahstah Everett give me to Tony Eubanks as a weddin' present when +he married mahstah's daughtah Becky. Becky would'n let Tony whip her +slaves who came from her fathah's plantation. 'They ah my prophty,' she +say, 'an' you caint whip dem.' Tony whipt his othah slaves but not +Becky's." + +"I remembah" he continued, "how they tied de slave 'round a post, wit +hands tied togedder 'round the post, then a husky lash his back wid a +snakeskin lash 'til hisn back were cut and bloodened, the blood +spattered" gesticulating with his unusually large hands, "an' hisn back +all cut up. Den they'd pouh salt watah on hem. Dat dry and hahden and +stick to hem. He nevah take it off 'till it heal. Sometimes I see +marhstah Everett hang a slave tip-toe. He tie him up so he stan' tip-toe +an' leave him thataway. + +"I be twenty-one wehn wah broke out. Mahstah Eubanks say to me, 'Yohall +don' need to run 'way ifn yohall want to jine up wid de ahmy.' He say, +'Deh would be a fine effin slaves run off. Yohall don' haf to run off, +go right on and I do not pay dat fine.' He say, ''nlist in de ahmy but +don' run off.' Now I walk thirty-five mile from Glasgow to Bowling Green +to dis place--to da 'nlistin' place--from home fouh mile--to Glasgow--to +Bowling Green, thirty-five mile. On de road I meet up with two boys, so +we go on. Dey run 'way from Kentucky, and we go together. Then some +Bushwackers come down de road. We's scared and run to the woods and hid. +As we run tru de woods, pretty soon we heerd chickens crowing. We fill +ouah pockets wit stones. We goin' to kill chickens to eat. Pretty soon +we heerd a man holler, 'You come 'round outta der'--and I see a white +man and come out. He say, 'What yoh all doin' heah?' I turn 'round and +say, 'well boys, come on boys,' an' the boys come out. The man say, 'I'm +Union Soldier. What yoh all doin' heah?' I say, 'We goin' to 'nlist in +de ahmy.' He say, 'Dat's fine' and he say, 'come 'long' He say, 'git +right on white man's side'--we go to station. Den he say, 'You go right +down to de station and give yoh inforhmation. We keep on walkin'. Den we +come to a white house wit stone steps in front so we go in. An' we got +to 'nlistin' place and jine up wit de ahmy. + +"Den we go trainin' in d' camp and we move on. Come to a little town ... +a little town. We come to Bolling Green ... den to Louiville. We come to +a rivah ... a rivah (painfully recalling) d' Mississippi. + +"We weah 'nfantry and petty soon we gits in plenty fights, but not a +scratch hit me. We chase dem cavalry. We run dem all night and next +mohnin' d' Captain he say, 'Dey done broke down.' When we rest, he say +'See dey don' trick you.' I say, 'We got all d' ahmy men togedder. We +hold dem back 'til help come.' + +"We don' have no tents. Sleep on naked groun' in wet and cold and rain. +Mos' d' time we's hungry but we win d' war and Mahstah Eubanks tell us +we no moah hisn property, we's free now." + +The old man can talk only in short sentences and his voice dies to a +whisper and soon the strain became evident. He was tired. What he does +remember is with surprising clearness especially small details, but with +a helpless gesture, he dismisses names and locations. He remembers the +exact date of his discharge, March 20, 1866, which his daughter verified +by producing his discharge papers. He remembers the place, Vicksburg, +the Company--K, and the Regiment, 180th. Dropping back once more to his +childhood he spoke of an incident which his daughter says makes them all +cry when he relates it, although they have heard it many times. + +"Mahstah Everett whipt me onct and mothah she cried. Then Mahstah +Everett say, 'Why yoh all cry?--Yoh cry I whip anothah of these young +uns. She try to stop. He whipt 'nother. He say, 'Ifn yoh all don' stop, +yoh be whipt too!' and mothah she trien to stop but teahs roll out, so +Mahstah Everett whip her too. + +"I wanted to visit mothah when I belong to Mahst' Eubanks, but Becky +say, 'Yoh all best not see youh mothah, or yoh wan' to go all de time' +then explaining, 'she wan' me to fohgit mothah, but I nevah could. When +I cm back from d' ahmy, I go home to mothah and say 'don' y'know me?' +She say, 'No, I don' know you.' I say, 'Yoh don' know me?' She say, 'No, +ah don' know yoh.' I say, 'I'se John.' Den she cry and say how ahd growd +and she thought I'se daid dis long time. I done 'splain how the many +fights I'se in wit no scratch and she bein' happy." + +Speaking of Abraham Lincoln's death, he remarked, "Sho now, ah remembah +dat well. We all feelin' sad and all d'soldiers had wreaths on der +guns." + +Upon his return from the army he married a young negress he had seen +some time previous at which time he had vowed some day to make her his +wife. He was married Christmas day, 1866. For a number of years he lived +on a farm of his own near Glasgow. Later he moved with his family to +Louisville where he worked in a lumber yard. In 1923, two years after +the death of his wife, he came to Gary, when he retired. He is now +living with his daughter, Mrs. Sloss, 2713 Harrison Boulevard, Gary. + + + + +Cecil C. Miller +Dist. #3 +Tippecanoe Co. + +INTERVIEW WITH MR. JOHN W. FIELDS, EX-SLAVE OF CIVIL WAR PERIOD +September 17, 1937 + +[Illustration: John W. Fields] + + +John W. Fields, 2120 North Twentieth Street, Lafayette, Indiana, now +employed as a domestic by Judge Burnett is a typical example of a fine +colored gentleman, who, despite his lowly birth and adverse +circumstances, has labored and economized until he has acquired a +respected place in his home community. He is the owner of three +properties; un-mortgaged, and is a member of the colored Baptist Church +of Lafayette. As will later be seen his life has been one of constant +effort to better himself spiritually and physically. He is a fine +example of a man who has lived a morally and physically clean life. But, +as for his life, I will let Mr. Fields speak for himself: + +"My name is John W. Fields and I'm eighty-nine (89) years old. I was +born March 27, 1848 in Owensburg, Ky. That's 115 miles below Louisville, +Ky. There was 11 other children besides myself in my family. When I was +six years old, all of us children were taken from my parents, because my +master died and his estate had to be settled. We slaves were divided by +this method. Three disinterested persons were chosen to come to the +plantation and together they wrote the names of the different heirs on a +few slips of paper. These slips were put in a hat and passed among us +slaves. Each one took a slip and the name on the slip was the new owner. +I happened to draw the name of a relative of my master who was a widow. +I can't describe the heartbreak and horror of that separation. I was +only six years old and it was the last time I ever saw my mother for +longer than one night. Twelve children taken from my mother in one day. +Five sisters and two brothers went to Charleston, Virginia, one brother +and one sister went to Lexington Ky., one sister went to Hartford, Ky., +and one brother and myself stayed in Owensburg, Ky. My mother was later +allowed to visit among us children for one week of each year, so she +could only remain a short time at each place. + +"My life prior to that time was filled with heart-aches and despair. We +arose from four to five O'clock in the morning and parents and children +were given hard work, lasting until nightfall gaves us our respite. +After a meager supper, we generally talked until we grew sleepy, we had +to go to bed. Some of us would read, if we were lucky enough to know +how. + +"In most of us colored folks was the great desire to able to read and +write. We took advantage of every opportunity to educate ourselves. The +greater part of the plantation owners were very harsh if we were caught +trying to learn or write. It was the law that if a white man was caught +trying to educate a negro slave, he was liable to prosecution entailing +a fine of fifty dollars and a jail sentence. We were never allowed to go +to town and it was not until after I ran away that I knew that they sold +anything but slaves, tobacco and wiskey. Our ignorance was the greatest +hold the South had on us. We knew we could run away, but what then? An +offender guilty of this crime was subjected to very harsh punishment. + +"When my masters estate had been settled, I was to go with the widowed +relative to her place, she swung me up on her horse behind her and +promised me all manner of sweet things if I would come peacefully. I +didn't fully realise what was happening, and before I knew it, I was on +my way to my new home. Upon arrival her manner changed very much, and +she took me down to where there was a bunch of men burning brush. She +said, "see those men" I said: yes. Well, go help them, she replied. So +at the age of six I started my life as an independent slave. From then +on my life as a slave was a repetition of hard work, poor quarters and +board. We had no beds at that time, we just "bunked" on the floor. I had +one blanket and manys the night I sat by the fireplace during the long +cold nights in the winter. + +"My Mistress had separated me from all my family but one brother with +sweet words, but that pose was dropped after she reached her place. +Shortly after I had been there, she married a northern man by the name +of David Hill. At first he was very nice to us, but he gradually +acquired a mean and overbearing manner toward us, I remember one +incident that I don't like to remember. One of the women slaves had been +very sick and she was unable to work just as fast as he thought she +ought to. He had driven her all day with no results. That night after +completeing our work he called us all together. He made me hold a light, +while he whipped her and then made one of the slaves pour salt water on +her bleeding back. My innerds turn yet at that sight. + +"At the beginning of the Civil War I was still at this place as a slave. +It looked at the first of the war as if the south would win, as most of +the big battles were won by the South. This was because we slaves stayed +at home and tended the farms and kept their families. + +"To eliminate this solid support of the South, the Emancipation Act was +passed, freeing all slaves. Most of the slaves were so ignorant they did +not realize they were free. The planters knew this and as Kentucky never +seceeded from the Union, they would send slaves into Kentucky from other +states in the south and hire them out to plantations. For these reasons +I did not realize that I was free untill 1864. I immediately resolved to +run away and join the Union Army and so my brother and I went to +Owensburg, Ky. and tried to join. My brother was taken, but I was +refused as being too young. I [HW: tried] at Evansville, Terre Haute and +Indianapolis but was unable to get in. I then tried to find work and was +finally hired by a man at $7.00 a month. That was my first independent +job. From then on I went from one job to another working as general +laborer. + +"I married at 24 years of age and had four children. My wife has been +dead for 12 years and 8 months. Mr. Miller, always remember that: + + "The brightest man, the prettiest flower + May be cut down, and withered in an hour." + +"Today, I am the only surviving member who helped organize the second +Baptist Church here in Lafayette, 64 years ago. I've tried to live +according to the way the Lord would wish, God Bless you." + + "The clock of Life is wound but once. + Today is yours, tomorrow is not. + No one knows when the hands will stop." + + + + +Cecil Miller +Dist. #3 +Tipp. Co. [TR: Tippecanoe Co.] + +NEGRO FOLKLORE +MR. JOHN FIELDS, EX-SLAVE +2120 N. 20th St. Lafayette, Indiana + +[Illustration: John W. Fields] + + +Mr. Fields says that all negro slaves were ardent believers in ghosts, +supernatual powers, tokens and "signs." The following story illustrates +the point. + +"A turkey gobbler had mysteriously disappeared from one of the +neighboring plantations and the local slaves were accused of commeting +the fowl to a boiling pot. A slave convicted of theft was punished +severly. As all of the slaves denied any knowledge of the turkey's +whereabouts, they were instructed to make a search of the entire +plantation." + +"On one part of the place there was a large peach orchard. At the time +the trees were full of the green fruit. Under one of the trees there was +a large cabinet or "safe" as they were called. One of the slaves +accidently opened the safe and, Behold, there was Mr. Gobbler peacefully +seated on a number of green peaches. + +"The negro immediately ran back and notified his master of the +discovery. The master returned to the orchard with the slave to find +that the negro's wild tale was true. A turkey gobbler sitting on a nest +of green peaches. A bad omen. + +"The master had a son who had been seriously injured some time before by +a runaway team, and a few days after this unusual occurence with the +turkey, the son died. After his death, the word of the turkey's nesting +venture and the death of the master's son spread to this four winds, +and for some time after this story was related wherever there was a +public gathering with the white people or the slave population." + +All through the south a horseshoe was considered an omen of good luck. +Rare indeed was the southern home that did not have one nailed over the +door. This insured the household and all who entered of plesant +prospects while within the home. If while in the home you should perhaps +get into a violent argument, never hit the other party with a broom as +it was a sure indication of bad luck. If Grandad had the rheumatics, he +would be sure of relief if he carried a buckeye in his pocket. + +Of all the Ten Commandments, the one broken most by the negro was: Thou +Shalt Not Steal This was due mostly to the insufficent food the slaves +obtained. Most of the planters expected a chicken to suddenly get +heavenly aspirations once in a while, but as Mr. Fields says, "When a +beautiful 250 pound hog suddenly tries to kidnap himself, the planter +decided to investigate." It occured like this: + +A 250 pound hog had been fruitless. The planter was certain that the +culprit was among his group of slaves, so he decided to personally +conduct a quiet investigation. + +One night shortly after the moon had risen in the sky, two of the +negroes were seated at a table in one of the cabins talking of the +experiences of the day. A knock sounded on the door. Both slaves jumped +up and cautiously peeked out of the window. Lo there was the master +patiently waiting for an answer. The visiting negro decided that the +master must not see both of them and he asked the other to conceal him +while the master was there. The other slave told him to climb into the +attic and be perfectly quiet. When this was done, the tenant of the +cabin answered the door. + +The master strode in and gazed about the cabin. He then turned abruptly +to the slave and growled, 'Alright, where is that hog you stoled.' +'Massa, replied the negro, 'I know nothing about no hog. The master was +certain that the slave was lying and told him so in no uncertain terms. +The terrified slave said, 'Massa, I know nothing of any hog. I never +seed him. The Good Man up above knows I never seed him. HE knows every +thing and HE knows I didn't steal him; The man in the attic by this time +was aroused at the misunderstood conversation taking place below him. +Disregarding all, he raised his voice and yelled, 'He's a liar, Massa, +he knows just as much about it as I do.' + +Most of the strictly negro folklore has faded into the past. The younger +negro generations who have been reared and educated in the north have +lost this bearing and assumed the lore of the local white population +through their daily contact with the whites. The older negro natives of +this section are for the most part employed as domestics and through +this channel rapidly assimilated the employers viewpoint in most of his +beliefs and conversations. + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District 5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +INDIANS MADE SLAVES AMONG THE NEGROES. +INTERVIEWS WITH GEORGE FORTMAN +Cor. Bellemeade Ave. and Garvin St. +Evansville, Indiana, and other interested citizens + + +"The story of my life, I will tell to you with sincerest respect to all +and love to many, although reviewing the dark trail of my childhood and +early youth causes me great pain." So spoke George Fortman, an aged man +and former slave, although the history of his life reveals that no Negro +blood runs through his veins. + +"My story necessarily begins by relating events which occurred in 1838, +when hundreds of Indians were rounded up like cattle and driven away +from the valley of the Wabash. It is a well known fact recorded in the +histories of Indiana that the long journey from the beautiful Wabash +Valley was a horrible experience for the fleeing Indians, but I have the +tradition as relating to my own family, and from this enforced flight +ensued the tragedy of my birth." + +The aged ex-slave reviews tradition. "My two ancestors, John Hawk, a +Blackhawk Indian brave, and Racheal, a Chackatau maiden had made +themselves a home such as only Indians know, understand and enjoy. He +was a hunter and a fighter but had professed faith in Christ through the +influence of the missionaries. My greatgrandmother passed the facts on +to her children and they have been handed down for four generations. I, +in turn, have given the traditions to my children and grandchildren. + +"No more peaceful home had ever offered itself to the red man than the +beautiful valley of the Wabash river. Giant elms, sycamores and maple +trees bordered the stream while the fertile valley was traversed with +creeks and rills, furnishing water in abundance for use of the Indian +campers. + +"The Indians and the white settlers in the valley transacted business +with each other and were friendly towards each other, as I have been +told by my mother, Eliza, and my grandmother, Courtney Hawk. + +"The missionaries often called the Indian families together for the +purpose of teaching them and the Indians had been invited, prior to +being driven from the valley, to a sort of festival in the woods. They +had prepared much food for the occasion. The braves had gone on a long +hunt to provide meat and the squaws had prepared much corn and other +grain to be used at the feast. All the tribes had been invited to a +council and the poor people were happy, not knowing they were being +deceived. + +"The decoy worked, for while the Indians were worshiping God the meeting +was rudely interrupted by orders of the Governor of the State. The +Governor, whose duty it was to give protection to the poor souls, +caused them to be taken captives and driven away at the point of swords +and guns. + +"In vain, my grandmother said, the Indians prayed to be let return to +their homes. Instead of being given their liberty, some several hundred +horses and ponies were captured to be used in transporting the Indians +away from the valley. Many of the aged Indians and many innocent +children died on the long journey and traditional stories speak of that +journey as the 'trail of death.'" + +"After long weeks of flight, when the homes of the Indians had been +reduced to ashes, the long trail still carried them away from their +beautiful valley. My greatgrandfather and his squaw became acquainted +with a party of Indians that were going to the canebrakes of Alabama. +The pilgrims were not well fed or well clothed and they were glad to +travel towards the south, believing the climate would be favorable to +their health. + +"After a long and dreary journey, the Indians reached Alabama. Rachael +had her youngest papoose strapped on to her back while John had cared +for the larger child, Lucy. Sometimes she had walked beside her father +but often she had become weary or sleepy and he had carried her many +miles of the journey, besides the weight of blankets and food. An older +daughter, Courtney, also accompanied her parents. + +"When they neared the cane lands they heard the songs of Negro slaves as +they toiled in the cane. Soon they were in sight of the slave quarters +of Patent George's plantation. The Negroes made the Indians welcome and +the slave dealer allowed them to occupy the cane house; thus the Indians +became slaves of Patent George. + +"Worn out from his long journey John Hawk became too ill to work in the +sugar cane. The kindly-disposed Negroes helped care for the sick man but +he lived only a few months. Rachel and her two children remained on the +plantation, working with the other slaves. She had nowhere to go. No +home to call her own. She had automatically become a slave. Her +children had become chattel. + +"So passed a year away, then unhappiness came to the Indian mother, for +her daughter, Courtney, became the mother of young Master Ford George's +child. The parents called the little half-breed "Eliza" and were very +fond of her. The widow of John Hawk became the mother of Patent George's +son, Patent Junior. + +"The tradition of the family states that in spite of these irregular +occurrences the people at the George's southern plantation were +prosperous, happy, and lived in peace each with the others. Patent +George wearied of the Southern climate and brought his slaves into +Kentucky where their ability and strength would amass a fortune for the +master in the iron ore regions of Kentucky. + +"With the wagon trains of Patent and Ford George came Rachel Hawk and +her daughters, Courtney, Lucy and Rachel. Rachel died on the journey +from Alabama but the remaining full blooded Indians entered Kentucky as +slaves. + +"The slave men soon became skilled workers in the Hillman Rolling Mills. +Mr. Trigg was owner of the vast iron works called the "Chimneys" in the +region, but listed as the Hillman, Dixon, Boyer, Kelley and Lyons +Furnaces. For more than a half century these chimneys smoked as the most +valuable development in the western area of Kentucky. Operated in 1810, +these furnaces had refined iron ore to supply the United States Navy +with cannon balls and grape shot, and the iron smelting industry +continued until after the close of the Civil War. + +"No slaves were beaten at the George's plantation and old Mistress +Hester Lam allowed no slave to be sold. She was a devoted friend to all. + +"As Eliza George, daughter of Ford George and Courtney Hawk, grew into +young womanhood the young master Ford George went oftener and oftener to +social functions. He was admired for his skill with firearms and for +his horsemanship. While Courtney and his child remained at the +plantation Ford enjoyed the companship of the beautiful women of the +vicinity. At last he brought home the beautiful Loraine, his young +bride. Courtney was stoical as only an Indian can be. She showed no hurt +but helped Mistress Hester and Mistress Loraine with the house work." + +Here George Fortman paused to let his blinded eyes look back into the +long ago. Then he again continued with his story of the dark trail. + +"Mistress Loraine became mother of two sons and a daughter and the big +white two-story house facing the Cumberland River at Smith Landing, +Kentucky, became a place of laughter and happy occasions, so my mother +told me many times. + +"Suddenly sorrow settled down over the home and the laughter turned into +wailing, for Ford George's body was found pierced through the heart and +the half-breed, Eliza, was nowhere to be found. + +"The young master's body lay in state many days. Friends and neighbors +came bringing flowers. His mother, bowed with grief, looked on the still +face of her son and understood--understood why death had come and why +Eliza had gone away. + +"The beautiful home on the Cumberland river with its more than 600 acres +of productive land was put into the hands of an administrator of estates +to be readjusted in the interest of the George heirs. It was only then +Mistress Hester went to Aunt Lucy and demanded of her to tell where +Eliza could be found. + +'She has gone to Alabama, Ole Mistus', said Aunt Lucy, 'Eliza was scared +to stay here.' A party of searchers were sent out to look for Eliza. +They found her secreted in a cane brake in the low lands of Alabama +nursing her baby boy at her breast. They took Eliza and the baby back to +Kentucky. I am that baby, that child of unsatisfactory birth." + +The face of George Fortman registered sorrow and pain, it had been hard +for him to retell the story of the dark road to strange ears. + +"My white uncles had told Mistress Hester that if Eliza brought me back +they were going to build a fire and put me in it, my birth was so +unsatisfactory to all of them, but Mistress Hester always did what she +believed was right and I was brought up by my own mother. + +"We lived in a cabin at the slave quarters and mother worked in the +broom cane. Mistress Hester named me Ford George, in derision, but +remained my friend. She was never angry with my mother. She knew a slave +had to submit to her master and besides Eliza did not know she was +Master Ford George's daughter." + +The truth had been told at last. The master was both the father of Eliza +and the father of Eliza's son. + +"Mistress Hester believed I would be feeble either in mind or body +because of my unsatisfactory birth, but I developed as other children +did and was well treated by Mistress Hester, Mistress Lorainne and her +children. + +"Master Patent George died and Mistress Hester married Mr. Lam, while +slaves kept working at the rolling mills and amassing greater wealth for +the George families. + +"Five years before the outbreak of the Civil War Mistress Hester called +all the slaves together and gave us our freedom. Courtney, my +grandmother, kept house for Mistress Lorainne and wanted to stay on, so +I too was kept at the George home. There was a sincere friendship as +great as the tie of blood between the white family and the slaves. My +mother married a negro ex-slave of Ford George and bore children for +him. Her health failed and when Mistress Puss, the only daughter of +Mistress Lorainne, learned she was ill she persuaded the Negro man to +sell his property and bring Eliza back to live with her." + +[TR: in following section the name George 'Fordman' is used twice.] + +"Why are you called George Fordman when your name is Ford George?" was +the question asked the old man. + +"Then the Freedsmen started teaching school in Kentucky the census taker +called to enlist me as a pupil. 'What do you call this child?' he asked +Mistress Lorainne. 'We call him the Little Captain because he carried +himself like a soldier,' said Mistress Lorainne. 'He is the son of my +husband and a slave woman but we are rearing him.' Mistress Lorainne +told the stranger that I had been named Ford George in derision and he +suggested she list me in the census as George Fordsman, which she did, +but she never allowed me to attend the Freedmen's School, desiring to +keep me with her own children and let me be taught at home. My mother's +half brother, Patent George allowed his name to be reversed to George +Patent when he enlisted in the Union Service at the outbreak of the +Civil War." + +Some customs prevalent in the earlier days were described by George +Fordman. "It was customary to conduct a funeral differently than it is +conducted now," he said. "I remember I was only six years old when old +Mistress Hester Lam passed on to her eternal rest. She was kept out of +her grave several days in order to allow time for the relatives, friends +and ex-slaves to be notified of her death. + +"The house and yard were full of grieving friends. Finally the lengthy +procession started to the graveyard. Within the George's parlors there +had been Bible passages read, prayers offered up and hymns sung, now the +casket was placed in a wagon drawn by two horses. The casket was covered +with flowers while the family and friends rode in ox carts, horse-drawn +wagons, horseback, and with still many on foot they made their way +towards the river. + +"When we reached the river there were many canoes busy putting the +people across, besides the ferry boat was in use to ferry vehicles over +the stream. The ex-slaves were crying and praying and telling how good +granny had been to all of them and explaining how they knew she had gone +straight to Heaven, because she was so kind--and a Christian. There were +not nearly enough boats to take the crowd across if they crossed back +and forth all day, so my mother, Eliza, improvised a boat or 'gunnel', +as the craft was called, by placing a wooden soap box on top of a long +pole, then she pulled off her shoes and, taking two of us small children +in her arms, she paddled with her feet and put us safely across the +stream. We crossed directly above Iaka, Livingston county, three miles +below Grand River. + +"At the burying ground a great crowd had assembled from the neighborhood +across the river and there were more songs and prayers and much weeping. +The casket was let down into the grave without the lid being put on and +everybody walked up and looked into the grave at the face of the dead +woman. They called it the 'last look' and everybody dropped flowers on +Mistress Hester as they passed by. A man then went down and nailed on +the lid and the earth was thrown in with shovels. The ex-slaves filled +in the grave, taking turns with the shovel. Some of the men had worked +at the smelting furnaces so long that their hands were twisted and +hardened from contact with the heat. Their shoulders were warped and +their bodies twisted but they were strong as iron men from their years +of toil. When the funeral was over mother put us across the river on the +gunnel and we went home, all missing Mistress Hester. + +"My cousin worked at Princeton, Kentucky, making shoes. He had never +been notified that he was free by the kind emancipation Mrs. Hester had +given to her slaves, and he came loaded with money to give to his white +folks. Mistress Lorainne told him it was his own money to keep or to +use, as he had been a free man several months. + +"As our people, white and black and Indians, sat talking they related +how they had been warned of approaching trouble. Jack said the dogs had +been howling around the place for many nights and that always presaged a +death in the family. Jack had been compelled to take off his shoes and +turn them soles up near the hearth to prevent the howling of the dogs. +Uncle Robert told how he believed some of Mistress Hester's enemies had +planted a shrub near her door and planted it with a curse so that when +the shrub bloomed the old woman passed away. Then another man told how a +friend had been seen carrying a spade into his cousin's cabin and the +cousin had said, 'Daniel, what foh you brung that weapon into by [TR: +my?] cabin? That very spade will dig my grave,' and sure enough the +cousin had died and the same spade had been used in digging his grave. + +"How my childish nature quailed at hearing the superstitions discussed, +I cannot explain. I have never believed in witchcraft nor spells, but I +remember my Indian grandmother predicted a long, cold winter when she +noticed the pelts of the coons and other furred creatures were +exceedingly heavy. When the breastbones of the fowls were strong and +hard to sever with the knife it was a sign of a hard, cold and snowy +winter. Another superstition was this: 'A green winter, a new +graveyard--a white winter, a green graveyard.'" + +George Fortman relates how, when he accompanied two of his cousins into +the lowlands--there were very many Katy-dids in the trees--their voices +formed a nerve-racking orchestra and his cousin told him to tiptoe to +the trees and touch each tree with the tips of his fingers. This he did, +and for the rest of the day there was quiet in the forest. + +"More than any other superstition entertained by the slave Negroes, the +most harmful was the belief on conjurors. One old Negro woman boiled a +bunch of leaves in an iron pot, boiled it with a curse and scattered the +tea therein brewed, and firmly believed she was bringing destruction to +her enemies. 'Wherever that tea is poured there will be toil and +troubles,' said the old woman. + +"The religion of many slaves was mostly superstition. They feared to +break the Sabbath, feared to violate any of the Commandments, believing +that the wrath of God would follow immediately, blasting their lives. + +"Things changed at the George homestead as they change everywhere," said +George Fortman. "When the Civil War broke out many slaves enlisted in +hopes of receiving freedom. The George Negroes were already free but +many thought it their duty to enlist and fight for the emancipation of +their fellow slaves. My mother took her family and moved away from the +plantation and worked in the broom cane. Soon she discovered she could +not make enough to rear her children and we were turned over to the +court to be bound out. + +"I was bound out to David Varnell in Livingston County by order of Judge +Busch and I stayed there until I was fifteen years of age. My sister +learned that I was unhappy there and wanted to see my mother, so she +influenced James Wilson to take me into his home. Soon goodhearted Jimmy +Wilson took me to see Mother and I went often to see her." + +Sometimes George would become stubborn and hard to control and then Mr. +Wilson administered chastisement. His wife could not bear to have the +boy punished. 'Don't hit him, Jimmie, don't kick him,' would say the +good Scotch woman, who was childless. 'If he does not obey me I will +whip him,' James Wilson would answer. So the boy learned the lesson of +obedience from the old couple and learned many lessons in thrift through +their examples. + +"In 1883 I left the Wilson home and began working and trying to save +some money. River trade was prosperous and I became a 'Roustabout'. The +life of the roustabout varied some with the habits of the roustabout and +the disposition of the mate. We played cards, shot dice and talked to +the girls who always met the boats. The 'Whistling Coon' was a popular +song with the boatmen and one version of 'Dixie Land'. One song we often +sang when near a port was worded 'Hear the trumpet Sound'-- + + Hear the trumpet sound, + Stand up and don't sit down, + Keep steppin' 'round and 'round, + Come jine this elegant band. + + If you don't step up and jine the bout, + Old Missus sure will fine it out, + She'll chop you in the head wid a golen ax, + You never will have to pay da tax, + Come jine the roust-a-bout band." + +From roust-a-bout George became a cabin boy, cook, pilot, and held a +number of positions on boats, plowing different streams. There was much +wild game to be had and the hunting season was always open. He also +remembers many wolves, wild turkeys, catamounts and deer in abundance +near the Grand River. "Pet deer loafed around the milking pens and ate +the feed from the mangers" said he. + +George Fortman is a professor of faith in Christ. He was baptized in +Concord Lake, seven miles from Clarksville, Tennessee, became a member +of the Pleasant Greene Church at Callwell, Kentucky and later a member +of the Liberty Baptist Church at Evansville. + +"I have always kept in touch with my white folks, the George family," +said the man, now feeble and blind. "Four years ago Mistress Puss died +and I was sent for but was not well enough to make the trip home." + +Too young to fight in the Civil War, George was among those who watched +the work go on. "I lived at Smiths Landing and remember the battle at +Fort Donnelson. It was twelve miles away and a long cinder walk reached +from the fort for nearly thirty miles. The cinders were brought from the +iron ore mills and my mother and I have walked the length of it many +times." Still reviewing the long, dark trail he continued. "Boatloads of +soldiers passed Smith's Landing by day and night and the reports of +cannon could be heard when battles were fought. We children collected +Munnie balls near the fort for a long time after the war." + +Although the George family never sold slaves or separated Negro +families, George Fortman has seen many boats loaded with slaves on the +way to slave marts. Some of the George Negroes were employed as pilots +on the boats. He also remembers slave sales where Negroes were auctioned +by auctioneers, the Negroes stripped of clothes to exhibit their +physique. + +"I have always been befriended by three races of people, the Caucassian, +the African, and the Negro," declares George Fortman. "I have worked as +a farmer, a river man, and been employed by the Illinois Central +Railroad Company and in every position I have held I have made loyal +friends of my fellow workmen." One friend, treasured in the memory of +the aged ex-slave is Ollie James, who once defended George in court. + +George Fortman has friends at Dauson Springs, Grayson Springs, and other +Kentucky resorts. He has been a citizen of Evansville for thirty-five +years and has had business connections here for sixty-two years. He +janitored for eleven years for the Lockyear Business College, but his +days of usefulness are over. He now occupies a room at Bellemeade Ave. +and Garvin St. and his only exercise consists of a stroll over to the +Lincoln High School. There he enjoys listening to the voices of the +pupils as they play about the campus. "They are free", he rejoices. +"They can build their own destinies, they did not arrive in this life by +births of unsatisfactory circumstances. They have the world before them +and my grandsons and granddaughters are among them." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +JOHN HENRY GIBSON--EX-SLAVE +Colton Street + + +John Henry Gibson was born a slave, many years ago, in Scott County, +N.C. + +His old master, John Henry Bidding, was a wealthy farmer; he also owned +the hotel, or rooming house. + +When court was in session the "higher ups" would come to this house, and +stay until the court affairs were settled. + +Mr. Bidding, who was very kind to his slaves, died when John Gibson was +very young. All slaves and other property passed on to the son, Joseph +Bidding, who in turn was as kind as his father had been. + +Gibson's father belonged to General Lee Gibson, who was a neighboring +farmer. He saw and met Miss Elizabeth Bidding's maid; they liked each +other so very much, Miss Elizabeth bought him from General Gibson, and +let him have her maid as his wife. The wife lived only a short time, +leaving a little boy. + +After the Civil war, a white man, by the name of Luster, was comming to +Ohio, brought John Gibson with him. They came to Indianapolis, and +Gibson liked it so well, he decided to remain; Mr. Luster told him if he +ever became dissatisfied to come on to Ohio to him, but he remained in +Indianapolis until 1872, then went back south, married, came back, and +made Indianapolis his home. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Gibson is very old, but does not know his exact age. He fought in +the Civil war, and said he could not be very young to have done that. + +His sight is very nearly gone, can only distinguish light and dark. + +He is very proud of his name, having been named for his old master. + +Submitted January 24, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Submitted by: +William Webb Tuttle +District No. 2 +Muncie, Indiana + +NEGRO SLAVES IN DELAWARE COUNTY +MRS. BETTY GUWN +MRS. HATTIE CASH, DAUGHTER, residing at 1101 East Second Street +Muncie, Indiana + + +Mrs. Betty Guwn was born March 25, 1832, as a slave on a tobacco +plantation, near Canton, Kentucky. It was a large plantation whose +second largest product was corn. She was married while quite young by +the slave method which was a form of union customary between the white +masters. If the contracting parties were of different plantations the +masters of the two estates bargained and the one sold his rights to the +one on whose plantation they would live. Her master bought her husband, +brought him and set them up a shack. Betty was the personal attendant of +the Mistress. The home was a large Colonial mansion and her duties were +many and responsible. However, when her house duties were caught up her +mistress sent her immediately to the fields. Discipline was quite stern +there and she was "lined up" with the others on several occasions. + +Her cabin home began to fill up with children, fifteen in all. The +ventilation was ample and the husband would shoot a prowling dog from +any of the four sides of the room without opening the door. The cracks +between the logs would be used by cats who could step in anywhere. The +slaves had "meetin'" some nights and her mistress would call her and +have her turn a tub against her mansion door to keep out the sound. + +Her master was very wealthy. He owned and managed a cotton farm of two +thousand acres down in Mississippi, not far from New Orleans. Once a +year he spent three months there gathering and marketing his cotton. +When he got ready to go there he would call all his slaves about him and +give them a chance to volunteer. They had heard awful tales of the slave +auction block at New Orleans, and the Master would solemnly promise +them that they should not be sold if they went down of their own accord. +"My Mistress called me to her and privately told me that when I was +asked that question I should say to him: "I will go". The Master had to +take much money with him and was afraid of robbers. The day they were to +start my Mistress took me into a private room and had me remove most of +my clothing; she then opened a strong box and took out a great roll of +money in bills; these she strapped to me in tight bundles, arranging +them around my waist in the circle of my body. She put plenty of +dresses over this belt and when she was through I wore a bustle of money +clear around my belt. I made a funny "figger" but no one noticed my odd +shape because I was a slave and no one expected a slave to "know +better". We always got through safely and I went down with my Mistress +every year. Of course my husband stayed at home to see after the family, +and took them to the fields when too young to work under the task +master, or over-seer. Three months was a long time to be separated." + +"When the Civil War came on there was great excitement among we slaves. +We were watched sharply, especially soldier timber for either army. My +husband ran away early and helped Grant to take Fort Donaldson. He said +he would free himself, which he did; but when we were finally set free +all our family prepared to leave. The Master begged us to stay and +offered us five pounds of meal and two pounds of pork jowl each week if +we would stay and work. We all went to Burgard, Kentucky, to live. At +that time I was about 34 years old. My husband has been dead a long time +and I live with my children. If the "Good Lord" spares me until next +March the 25th, I will be 106 years old. I walk all about lively without +crutches and eye-glasses and I have never been sick until this year when +a tooth gave me trouble; but I had it pulled." + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +Porter County--District #1 +Valparaiso, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +MRS. HOCKADAY +2581 Madison Street +Gary, Indiana + + +Mrs. Hockaday is the daughter of an ex-slave and like so many others +does not care to discuss the dark side of slavery and the cruel +treatment that some of them received. + +After the Civil War the slaves who for the most part were unskilled and +ignorant, found it very difficult to adjust themselves to their new life +as free persons. Formerly, they lived on the land of their masters and +although compelled to work long hours, their food and lodging were +provided for them. After their emancipation, this life was changed. They +were free and had to think for themselves and make a living. Times for +the negro then was much the same as during the depression. Several of +the slaves started out to secure jobs, but all found it difficult to +adjust themselves to the new life and difficult to secure employment. +Many came back to their old owners and many were afraid to leave and +continued on much as before. + +The north set up stores or relief stations where the negro who was +unable to secure employment could obtain food and shelter. Mrs. Hockaday +says it was the same as conditions have been the last few years. + +About all the negro was skilled at was servant work and when they came +north, they encountered the same difficulties as several of the colored +folks who, driven by the terrible living conditions in the south four +years ago, came to Gary. Arriving here they believed they were capable +of servant work. However they were not accustomed to modern appliances +and found it very difficult to adjust themselves. It was the same after +the Emancipation. + +Many owners were kind and religious and had schools for their slaves, +where they could learn to read and write. These slaves were more +successful in securing employment. + +Although the negro loved the Bible most of all books, and were mostly +Methodists and Baptists, their different religious beliefs is caused by +the slave owners having churches for the slaves. Whatever church the +master belonged to, the slaves belonged to, and continued in the same +church after the war. + +Since slaves took the name of their owners, children in the same family +would have different names. Mr. Hockaday's father and his brothers and +sisters all had different names. On the plantation they were called +"Jones' Jim," "Brown's Jones," etc. Many on being freed left their old +homes and adopted any name that they took a fancy to. One slave that +Mrs. Hockaday remembers took the name of Green Johnson and says he often +remarked that he surely was green to adopt such a name. His grandson in +Gary is an exact double for Clark Gable, except he is brown, and Gable +is white. + +Many slave owners gave their slaves small tracts of land which they +could tend after working hours. Anything raised belonged to them and +they could even sell the products and the money was theirs. Many slaves +were able to save enough from these tracts to purchase their freedom +long before the Emancipation. + +Another condition that confronted the negro in the north was that they +were not understood like they were by the southern people. In the south +they were trusted and considered trustworthy by their owners. Even +during the Civil War, they were trusted with the family jewels, silver, +etc., when the northern army came marching by, whereas in the north, +even though they freed the slaves, they would not trust them. For that +reason, many of the slaves did not like the northern people and remained +or returned to the southern plantations. + +The slave owners thought that slavery was right and nothing was wrong +about selling and buying human beings if they were colored, much as a +person would purchase a horse or automobile today. The owners who +whipped their slaves usually stripped them to the waist and lashed them +with a long leather whip, commonly called a blacksnake. + +Mrs. Hockaday is a large, pleasant, middle-aged woman and does not like +to discuss the cruel side of slavery and only recalls in a general way +what she had heard old slaves discuss. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +ROBERT HOWARD--EX-SLAVE +1840 Boulevard Place + + +Robert Howard, an ex-slave, was born in 1852, in Clara County, Kentucky. + +His master, Chelton Howard, was very kind to him. + +The mother, with her five children, lived on the Howard farm in peace +and harmony. + +His father, Beverly Howard, was owned by Bill Anderson, who kept a +saloon on the river front. + +Beverly was "hired out" in the house of Bill Anderson. He was allowed to +go to the Howard farm every Saturday night to visit with his wife and +children. This visit was always looked forward to with great joy, as +they were devoted to the father. + +The Howard family was sold only once, being owned first by Dr. Page in +Henry County, Kentucky. The family was not separated; the entire family +was bought and kept together until slavery was abolished. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Howard seems to be a very kind old man, lives in the house for aged +colored people (The Alpha Home). + +He has no relatives, except a brother. He seems well satisfied living in +the home. + +Submitted January 10, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Grace Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +MR. MATTHEW HUME, A FORMER SLAVE + + +Mr. Hume had many interesting experiences to tell concerning the part +slavery had played in his family. On the whole they were fortunate in +having a good master who would not keep an overseer who whipped his +"blacks". + +His father, Luke Hume, lived in Trimble County Kentucky and was allowed +to raise for himself one acre of tobacco, one acre of corn, garden +stuff, chickens and have the milk and butter from one cow. He was +advised to save his money by the overseer, but always drank it up. On +this plantation all the slaves were free from Saturday noon until Monday +morning and on Christmas and the Fourth of July. A majority of them +would go to Bedford or Milton and drink, gamble and fight. On the +neighboring farm the slaves were treated cruelly. Mr. Hume had a +brother-in-law, Steve Lewis, who carried marks on his back. For years he +had a sore that would not heal where his master had struck him with a +blacksnake whip. + +Three good overseers were Jake Mack and Mr. Crafton, Mr. Daniel Payne +was the owner who asked his people to report any mistreatment to him. He +expected obedience however. + +When Mr. Hume was a small boy he was placed in the fields to hoe. He +also wanted a new implement. He was so small he was unable to keep near +enough to the men and boys to hear what they were talking about, he +remembered bringing up the rear one day, when he saw a large rock he +carefully covered it with dirt, then came down hard on it breaking his +hoe. He missed a whipping and received a new tool to replace the old +one, after this he could keep near enough to hear what the other workers +were talking about. + +Another of his duties was to go for the cattle, he had to walk around +the road about a mile, but was permitted to come back through the fields +about a quarter of a mile. One afternoon his mistress told him to bring +a load of wood when he came in. In the summer it was the custom to have +the children carry the wood from the fields. When he came up he saw his +mistress was angry this peeved him, so that he stalked into the hall and +slammed his wood into the box. About this time his mistress shoved him +into a small closet and locked the door. He made such a howl that he +brought his mother and father to the rescue and was soon released from +his prison. + +As soon as the children were old enough they were placed in the fields +to prepare the ground for setting tobacco plants. This was a very +complicated procedure. The ground was made into hills, each requiring +about four feet of soil. The child had to get all the clods broken fine. +Then place his foot in the center and leave his track. The plants were +to be set out in the center and woe to the youngster who had failed to +pulverize his hill. After one plowing the tobacco was hand tended. It +was long green and divided into two grades. It was pressed by being +placed in large hogsheads and weighted down. On one occasion they were +told their tobacco was so eaten up that the worms were sitting on the +fence waiting for the leaves to grow but nevertheless in some manner his +master hid the defects and received the best price paid in the +community. + +The mistress on a neighboring plantation was a devout Catholic, and had +all the children come each Sunday after-noon to study the catechism and +repeat the Lord's Prayer. She was not very successful in training them +in the Catholic faith as when they grew up most of them were either +Baptists or Methodists. Mr. Hume said she did a lot of good in leading +them to Christ but he did not learn much of the catechism as he only +attended for the treat. After the service they always had candy or a cup +of sugar. + +On the Preston place there was a big strapping negro of eighteen whom +the overseer attempted to whip receiving the worst of it. He then went +to Mr. Hume's owner and asked for help but was told he would have to +seek elsewhere for help. Finally some one was found to assist. Smith was +tied to a tree and severely beaten, then they were afraid to untie him, +when the overseer finally ventured up and loosened the ropes, Smith +kicked him as hard as he could and ran to the Payne estate refusing to +return. He was a good helper here where he received kind treatment. + +A bad overseer was discharged once by Mr. Payne because of his cruelty +to Mr. Luke Hume. The corncrib was a tiny affair where a man had to +climb out one leg at a time, one morning just as Mr. Hume's father was +climbing out with his feed, he was struck over the head with a large +club, the next morning he broke the scoop off an iron shovel and +fastened the iron handle to his body. This time he swung himself from +the door of the crib and seeing the overseer hiding to strik him he +threw his bar, which made a wound on the man's head which did not knock +him out. As soon as Mr. Payne heard of the disturbance the overseer was +discharged and Mr. Mack placed in charge of the slaves. + +One way of exacting obedience was to threaten to send offenders South to +work in the fields. The slaves around Lexington, Kentucky, came out +ahead on one occasion. The collector was Shrader. He had the slaves +handcuffed to a large leg chain and forced on a flat boat. There were +so many that the boat was grounded, so some of the slaves were released +to push the boat off. Among the "blacks" was one who could read and +write. Before Shrader could chain them up again, he was seized and +chained, taken to below Memphis Tennessee and forced to work in the +cotton fields until he was able to get word from Richmond identifying +him. In the meantime the educated negro issued freedom papers to his +companions. Many of them came back to Lexington, Kentucky where they +were employed. + +Mr. Hume thought the Emancipation Proclamation was the greatest work +that Abraham Lincoln ever did. The colored people on his plantation did +not learn of it until the following August. Then Mr. Payne and his sons +offered to let them live on their ground with conditions similar to our +renting system, giving a share of the crop. They remained here until +Jan. 1, 1865 when they crossed the Ohio at Madison. They had a cow which +had been given them before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued but +this was taken away from them. So they came to Ind. homeless, friendless +and penniless. + +Mr. Hume and his aged wife have been married 62 years and resided in the +same community for 55 years where they are highly respected by all their +neighbors. + +He could not understand the attitude of his race who preferred to remain +in slavery receiving only food and shelter, rather than to be free +citizens where they could have the right to develop their individualism. + + + + +Virginia Tulley +District #2 +Fort Wayne, Indiana + +EX-SLAVE OF ALLEN COUNTY +[MRS. HENRIETTA JACKSON] + +References: +A. Ft. Wayne News Sentinel November 21, 1931 +B. Personal interview +[TR: There are no 'A' and 'B' annotations in the interview.] + + +Mrs. Henrietta Jackson, Fort Wayne resident, is distinguished for two +reasons; she is a centennarian and an ex-slave. Residing with her +daughter, Mrs. Jackson is very active and helps her daughter, who +operates a restaurant, do some of the lighter work. At the time I +called, an August afternoon of over 90 degrees temperature, Mrs. +Jackson was busy sweeping the floor. A little, rather stooped, shrunken +body, Mrs. Jackson gets around slowly but without the aid of a cane or +support of any kind. She wears a long dark cotton dress with a bandana +on her head with is now quite gray. Her skin is walnut brown her eyes +peering brightly through the wrinkles. She is intelligent, alert, +cordial, very much interested in all that goes on about her. + +Just how old Mrs. Jackson is, she herself doesn't know, but she thinks +she is about 105 years old. She looks much younger. Her youngest child +is 73 and she had nine, two of whom were twins. Born a slave in +Virginia, record of her birth was kept by the master. She cannot +remember her father as he was soon sold after Mrs. Jackson's death [TR: +birth?]. When still a child she was taken from her mother and sold. She +remembers the auction block and that she brought a good price as she was +strong and healthy. Her new master, Tom Robinson, treated her well and +never beat her. At first she was a plough hand, working in the cotton +fields, but then she was taken into the house to be a maid. While there +the Civil War broke out. Mrs. Jackson remembers the excitement and the +coming and going. Gradually the family lost its wealth, the home was +broken up. Everything was destroyed by the armies. Then came freedom for +the slaves. But Mrs. Jackson stayed on with the master for awhile. After +leaving she went to Alabama where she obtained work in a laundry +"ironing white folks' collars and cuffs." Then she got married and in +1917 she came to live with her daughter in Fort Wayne. Her husband, Levy +Jackson, has been dead 50 years. Of her children, only two are left. +Mrs. Jackson is sometimes very lonesome for her old home in "Alabamy", +where her friends lived, but for the most part, she is happy and +contented. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. LIZZIE JOHNSON +706 North Senate Avenue, Apt. 1 + + +Mrs. Johnson's father, Arthur Locklear, was born in Wilmington, N.C. in +1822. He lived in the South and endured many hardships until 1852. He +was very fortunate in having a white man befriend him in many ways. This +man taught him to read and write. Many nights after a hard days work, he +would lie on the floor in front of the fireplace, trying to study by the +light from the blazing wood, so he might improve his reading and +writing. + +He married very young, and as his family increased, he became ambitious +for them. Knowing their future would be very dark if they remained +South. + +He then started a movement to come north. There were about twenty-six or +twenty-eight men and women, who had the same thoughts about their +children, banded together, and in 1852 they started for somewhere, +North. + +The people selected, had to be loyal to the cause of their children's +future lives, morally clean, truthful, and hard-working. + +Some had oxen, some had carts. They pooled all of their scant +belongings, and started on their long hard journey. + +The women and children rode in the ox-carts, the men walked. They would +travel a few days, then stop on the roadside to rest. The women would +wash their few clothes, cook enough food to last a few days more, then +they would start out again. They were six weeks making the trip. + +Some settled in Madison, Indiana. Two brothers and their families went +on to Ohio, and the rest came to Indianapolis. + +John Scott, one of their number was a hod carrier. He earned $2.50 a +day, knowing that would not accumulate fast enough, he was strong and +thrifty. After he had worked hard all day, he would spend his evenings +putting new bottoms in chairs, and knitting gloves for anyone who wanted +that kind of work. In the summer he made a garden, sold his vegetables. +He worked very hard, day and night, and was able to save some money. + +He could not read or write, but he taught his children the value of +truthfulness, cleanliness of mind and body, loyalty, and thrift. The +father and his sons all worked together and bought some ground, built a +little house where the family lived many years. + +Before old Mr. Scott died, he had saved enough money to give each son +$200.00. His bank was tin cans hidden around in his house. + +Will Scott, the artist, is a grandson of this John Scott. + +The thing these early settlers wanted most, was for their children to +learn to read and write. So many of them had been caught trying to learn +to write, and had had their thumbs mashed, so they would not be able to +hold a pencil. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Johnson is a very interesting old woman and remembers so well the +things her parents told her. She deplores the "loose living," as she +calls it of this generation. + +She is very deliberate, but seems very sure of the story of her early +life. + +Submitted December 9, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District No. 5. +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +THE STORY OF BETTY JONES +429 Oak Street, Evansville, Ind. + + +From an Interview with Elizabeth Jones at 429 Oak Street, Evansville, +Ind. + +"Yes Honey, I was a slave, I was born at Henderson, Kentucky and my +mother was born there. We belonged to old Mars John Alvis. Our home was +on Alvis's Hill and a long plank walk had been built from the bank of +the Ohio river to the Alvis home. We all liked the long plank walk and +the big house on top of the hill was a pretty place." + +Betty Jones said her master was a rich man and had made his money by +raising and selling slaves. She only recalls two house servants were +mulatoes. All the other slaves were black as they could be. + +Betty Alvis lived with her parents in a cabin near her master's home on +the hill. She recalls no unkind treatment. "Our only sorrow was when a +crowd of our slave friends would be sold off, then the mothers, +brothers, sisters, and friends always cried a lot and we children would +grieve to see the grief of our parents." + +The mother of Betty was a slave of John Alvis and married a slave of her +master. The family lived at the slave quarters and were never parted. +"Mother kept us all together until we got set free after the war," +declares Betty. Many of the Alvis negroes decided to make their homes at +Henderson, Kentucky. "It was a nice town and work was plentiful." + +Betty Alvis was brought to Evansville by her parents. The climate did +not agree with the mother so she went to Princeton, Kentucky to live +with her married daughter and died there. + +Betty Alvis married John R. Jones, a native of Tennessee, a former slave +of John Jones, a Tennessee planter. He died twelve years ago. + +Betty Jones recalls when Evansville was a small town. She remembers when +the street cars were mule drawn and people rode on them for pleasure. +"When boats came in at Evansville, all the girls used to go down to the +bank, wearing pretty ruffled dresses and every body would wave to the +boat men and stay down at the river's edge until the boat was out of +sight." Betty Jones remembers when the new Court House was started and +how glad the men of the city were to erect the nice building. She +recalls when the old frame buildings used for church services were razed +and new structures were erected in which to worship God. She does not +believe in evil spirits, ghosts nor charms as do many former slaves, but +she remembers hearing her friends express superstitions concerning black +cats. It was also a belief that to build a new kitchen onto your old +home was always followed by the death of a member of the immediate +family and if a bird flew into a window it had come to bring a call to +the far away land and some member of the family would die. + +Betty Jones was not scared when the recent flood came to within a block +of her door. She had lived through a flood while living at Lawrence +Station at Marion County, Indiana. "We was all marooned in our homes for +two weeks and all the food we had was brought to our door by boats. +White river was flooded then and our home was in the White River Flats." +"What God wills must happen to us, and we do not save ourselves by +trying to run away. Just as well stay and face it as to try to get +away." + +The old negro woman is cared for by her unmarried daughter since her +husband's death. The old woman is lonely and was happy to recieve a +caller. She is alone much of the time as her daughter is compelled to do +house work to provide for her mother and herself. "Of course I'm a +Christian," said the aged negress. "I'm a religious woman and hope to +meet my friends in Heaven." "I would like to go back to Henderson, +Kentucky once more, for I have not been there for more than twenty +years. I'd live to walk the old plank walk again up to Mr. Alvis' home +but I'm afraid I'll never get to go. It costs too much." + +So desire remains with the aged and memories remain to comfort the +feeble. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +NATHAN JONES--EX-SLAVE +409 Blake Street + + +Nathan Jones was born in Gibson County, Tennessee in 1858, the son of +Caroline Powell, one of Parker Crimm's slaves. + +Master Crimm was very abusive and cruel to his slaves. He would beat +them for any little offense. He took pleasure in taking little children +from their mothers and selling them, sending them as far away as +possible. + +Nathan's stepfather, Willis Jones, was a very strong man, a very good +worker, and knew just enough to be resentful of his master's cruel +treatment, decided to run away, living in the woods for days. His master +sent out searchers for him, who always came in without him. The day of +the sale, Willis made his appearance and was the first slave to be put +on the block. + +His new master, a Mr. Jones of Tipton, Tennessee, was very kind to him. +He said it was a real pleasure to work for Mr. Jones as he had such a +kind heart and respected his slaves. + +Nathan remembers seeing slaves, both men and women, with their hands and +feet staked to the ground, their faces down, giving them no chance to +resist the overseers, whipped with cow hides until the blood gushed from +their backs. "A very cruel way to treat human beings." + +Nathan married very young, worked very hard, started buying a small +orchard, but was "figgered" out of it, and lost all he had put into it. +He then went to Missouri, stayed there until the death of his wife. He +then came to Indiana, bringing his six children with him. + +Forty-five years ago he married the second time; to that union were four +children. He is very proud of his ten children and one stepchild. + +His children have all been very helpful to him until times "got bad" +with them, and could barely exist themselves. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. and Mrs. Jones room with a family by the name of James; they have a +comfortable, clean room and are content. + +They are both members of the Free Will Baptist Church; get the old age +pension, and "do very well." + +Submitted December 15, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Albert Strope, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +St. Joseph County--District #1 +Mishawaka, Indiana + +ADELINE ROSE LENNOX--EX-SLAVE +1400 South Sixth Street, Elkhart, Indiana + + +Adeline Rose Lennox was born of slave parents at Middle--sometimes known +as Paris--Tennessee, October 25, 1849. She lived with her parents in +slave quarters on the plantation of a Mr. Rose for whom her parents +worked. These quarters were log houses, a distance from the master's +mansion. + +At the age of seven years, Adeline was taken from her parents to work at +the home of a son of Mr. Rose who had recently been married. She +remembers well being taken away, for she said she cried, but her new +mistress said she was going to have a new home so she had to go with +her. + +At the age of fourteen years she did the work of a man in the field, +driving a team, plowing, harrowing and seeding. "We all thought a great +deal of Mr. Rose," said Mrs. Lennox, "for he was good to us." She said +that they were well fed, having plenty of corn, peas, beans, and pork to +eat, more pork then than now. + +As Adeline Rose, the subject of this sketch was married to Mr. Steward, +after she was given her freedom at the close of the Civil War. At this +time she was living with her parents who stayed with Mr. Rose for about +five years after the war. To the Steward family was born one son, +Johnny. Mr. Steward died early in life, and his widow married a second +time, this time [HW: to] one George Lennox whose name she now bears. + +Johnny married young and died young, leaving her alone in the world with +the exception of her daughter-in-law. After her second husband's death, +she remained near Middle, Tennessee, until 1924, when she removed to +Elkhart to spend the remainder of her life living with her +daughter-in-law, who had remarried and is now living at 1400 South Sixth +Street, Elkhart, Indiana. + +In the neighborhood she is known only as "Granny." While I was having +this interview, a colored lady passed and this conversation followed: + +"Good morning Granny, how are you this morning?" + +"Only tolerable, thank you," replied Granny. + +The health of Mrs. Lennox has been failing for the past three years but +she gets around quite well for a lady who will be eight-eight years old +the twenty-fifth day of this October. She gets an old age pension of +about thirteen dollars per month. + +A peculiar thing about Mrs. Lennox's life is that she says that she +never knew that she was a slave until she was set free. Her mistress +then told her that she was free and could go back to her father's home +which she did rather reluctantly. + +Mrs. Lennox smokes, enjoys corn bread and boiled potatoes as food, but +does not enjoy automobiles as "they are too bumpy and they gather too +much air," she says. "I do not eat sweets," she remarks "my one ambition +in life is to live so that I may claim Heaven as my home when I die." + +There is a newspaper picture in the office along with an article +published by the Elkhart Truth. This is being sent to Indianapolis +today. + + + + +Submitted by: +Estella R. Dodson +District #11 +Monroe County +Bloomington, Ind. +October 4, 1937 + +INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS LEWIS, COLORED +North Summit Street, Bloomington, Ind. + + +I was born in Spencer County, Kentucky, in 1857. I was born a slave. +There was slavery all around on all the adjoining places. I was seven +years old when I was set free. My father was killed in the Northern +army. My mother, step-father and my mother's four living children came +to Indiana when I was twelve years old. My grandfather was set free and +given a little place of about sixteen acres. A gang of white men went to +my grandmother's place and ordered the colored people out to work. The +colored people had worked before for white men, on shares. When the +wheat was all in and the corn laid by, the white farmers would tell the +colored people to get out, and would give them nothing. The colored +people did not want to work that way, and refused. This was the cause of +the raids by white farmers. My mother recognized one of the men in the +gang and reported him to the standing soldiers in Louisville. He was +caught and made to tell who the others were until they had 360 men. All +were fined and none allowed to leave until all the fines were paid. So +the rich ones had to pay for the poor ones. Many of them left because +all were made responsible if such an event ever occurred again. + +Our family left because we did not want to work that way. I was hired +out to a family for $20 a year. I was sent for. My mother put herself +under the protection of the police until we could get away. We came in a +wagon from our home to Louisville. I was anxious to see Louisville, and +thought it was very wonderful. I wanted to stay there, but we came on +across the Ohio River on a ferry boat and stayed all night in New +Albany. Next morning the wagon returned home and we came to Bloomington +on the train. It took us from 9 o'clock until three in the evening to +get here. There were big slabs of wood on the sides of the track to hold +the rails together. Strips of iron were bolted to the rails on the +inside to brace them apart. There were no wires at the joints of the +rails to carry electricity, as we have now, for there was no electricity +in those days. + +I have lived in Bloomington ever since I came here. I met a family named +Dorsett after I came here. They came from Jefferson County, Kentucky. +Two of their daughters had been sold before the war. After the war, when +the black people were free, the daughters heard some way that their +people were in Bloomington. It was a happy time when they met their +parents. + +Once when I was a little boy, I was sitting on the fence while my mother +plowed to get the field ready to put in wheat. The white man who owned +her was plowing too. Some Yankee soldiers on horses came along. One rode +up to the fence and when my mother came to the end of the furrow, he +said to her, "Lady, could you tell me where Jim Downs' still house is?" +My mother started to answer, but the man who owned her told her to move +on. The soldiers told him to keep quiet, or they would make him sorry. +After he went away, my mother told the soldiers where the house was. The +reason her master did not want her to tell where the house was, was that +some of his Rebel friends were hiding there. Spies had reported them to +the Yankee soldiers. They went to the house and captured the Rebels. + +Next soldiers came walking. I had no cap. One soldier asked me why I +did not wear a cap. I said I had no cap. The soldier said, "You tell +your mistress I said to buy you a cap or I'll come back and kill the +whole family." They bought me a cap, the first one I ever had. + +The soldiers passed for three days and a half. They were getting ready +for a battle. The battle was close. We could hear the cannon. After it +was over, a white man went to the battle field. He said that for a mile +and a half one could walk on dead men and dead horses. My mother wanted +to go and see it, but they wouldn't let her, for it was too awful. + +I don't know what town we were near. The only town I know about had only +about four or five houses and a mill. I think the name was Fairfield. +That may not be the name, and the town may not be there any more. Once +they sent my mother there in the forenoon. She saw a flash, and +something hit a big barn. The timbers flew every way, and I suppose +killed men and horses that were in the barn. There were Rebels hidden in +the barn and in the houses, and a Yankee spy had found out where they +were. They bombed the barn and surrounded the town. No one was able to +leave. The Yankees came and captured the Rebels. + +I had a cousin named Jerry. Just a little while before the barn was +struck a white man asked Jerry how he would like to be free. Jerry said +that he would like it all right. The white men took him into the barn +and were going to put him over a barrel and beat him half to death. Just +as they were about ready to beat him, the bomb struck the barn and Jerry +escaped. The man who owned us said for us to say that we were well +enough off, and did not care to be free, just to avoid beatings. There +was no such thing as being good to slaves. Many people were better than +others, but a slave belonged to his master and there was no way to get +out of it. A strong man was hard to make work. He would fight so that +the white men trying to hold him would be breathless. Then there was +nothing to do but kill him. If a slave resisted, and his master killed +him, it was the same as self-defense today. If a cruel master whipped a +slave to death, it put the fear into the other slaves. The brother of +the man who owned my mother had many black people. He was too mean to +live, but he made it. Once he was threshing wheat with a 'ground-hog' +threshing machine, run by horse power. He called to a woman slave. She +did not hear him because of the noise of the machine, and did not +answer. He leaped off the machine to whip her. He caught his foot in +some cogs and injured it so that it had to be taken off. + +They tell me that today there is a place where there is a high fence. +If someone gets near, he can hear the cries of the spirits of black +people who were beaten to death. It is kept secret so that people won't +find it out. Such places are always fenced to keep them secret. Once a +man was out with a friend, hunting. The dog chased something back of a +high fence. One man started to go in. The other said, "What are you +going to do?" The other one said, "I want to see what the dog chased +back in there." His friend told him, "You'd better stay out of there. +That place is haunted by spirits of black people who were beaten to +death." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. SARAH H. LOCKE--DAUGHTER [of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor] + + +Mrs. Locke, the daughter of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor, was born in +Woodford County, Kentucky in 1859. She went over her early days with +great interest. + +Jacob Keephart, her master, was very kind to his slaves, would never +sell them to "nigger traders." His family was very large, so they bought +and sold their slaves within the families and neighbors. + +Mrs. Locke's father, brothers, and grandmother belonged to the same +master in Henry County, Kentucky. Her mother and the two sisters +belonged to another branch of the Keephart family, about seven miles +away. + +Her father came to see her mother on Wednesday and Saturday nights. They +would have big dinners on these nights in their cabin. + +Her father cradled all the grain for the neighborhood. He was a very +high tempered man and would do no work when angry; therefore, every +effort was made to keep him in a good humor when the work was heavy. + +Her mother died when the children were very young. Sarah was given to +the Keephart daughter as a wedding present and taken to her new home. +She was always treated like the others in the family. + +After the abolition of slavery, Mr Keephart gave Wm. a horse and rations +to last for six months, so the children would not starve. + +Charles and Lydia French, fellow workers with the Taylors, went to +Cincinnatti and in 1867 sent for the Mrs. Locke and her sister, so they +could go to school, as there were no schools in Kentucky then. The girls +stayed one year with the French family; that is the longest time they +ever went to school. After that, they would go to school for three +months at different times. Mrs. Locke reads and writes very well. + +The master worked right along with the slaves, shearing the sheep. + +The women milk ten or twelve cows and knit a whole sock in one day. They +also wove the material for their dresses; it was called "linsey." + +She remembers one night the slaves were having a dance in one of the +cabins, a band of Ku Kluxers came, took all firearms they could find, +but no one was hurt, all wondered why, however, it did not take long for +them to find out why. Another night when the Kluxers were riding, the +slaves recognised the voice of their young master. That was the reason +why the Keephart slaves were never molested. + +Christmas was a jolly time for the Keephart slaves. They would have a +whole week to celebrate, eating, dancing, and making merry. + +"Free born niggers" were not allowed to associate with the slaves, as +they were supposed to have no sense, and would contaminate the slaves. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Locke is an intelligent old lady, has been a good dressmaker, and +served for a great number of the "first families" of Indianapolis. + +She has been married twice; her first husband died shortly after their +marriage, and she was a widow for twenty-five years before she took her +second "venture." + +She gets the old age pension and is very happy. + +Submitted December 17, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +ROBERT MCKINLEY--EX-SLAVE +1664 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Robert McKinley was born in Stanley County, N.C., in 1849, a slave of +Arnold Parker. + +His master was a very cruel man, but was always kind to him, because he +had given him (Bob) as a present to his favorite daughter, Jane Alice, +and she would never permit anyone to mistreat Bob. + +Miss Jane Alice was very fond of little Bob, and taught him to read and +write. + +His master owned a large farm, but Jane Alice would not let little Bob +work on the farm. Instead, he helped his master in the blacksmith shop. + +His master always prepared himself to whip his slaves by drinking a +large glass of whiskey to give him strength to beat his slaves. + +Robert remembers seeing his master beat his mother until she would fall +to the ground, and he was helpless to protect her. He would just have to +stand and watch. + +He has seen slaves tied to trees and beaten until the master could beat +no longer; then he would salt and pepper their backs. + +Once when the Confederate soldiers came to their farm, Robert told them +where the liquor was kept and where the stock had been hidden. For this +the soldiers gave him a handful of money, but it did him no good for his +master took it away from him. + +The McKinley family, of course, were Parkers and after the Civil war, +they took the name of their father who was a slave of John McKinley. + +A neighbor farmer, Jesse Hayden, was very kind to his slaves, gave them +anything they wanted to eat, because he said they had worked hard, and +made it possible for him to have all he had, and it was part theirs. + + +The Parker slaves were not allowed to associate with the Hayden slaves. +They were known as the "rich niggers, who could eat meat without +stealing it." + +When the "nigger traders" came to the Parker farm, the old mistress +would take meat skins and grease the mouths of the slave children to +make it appear she had given them meat to eat. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. McKinley is an "herb doctor" and lives very poorly in a dirty little +house; he was very glad to tell of his early life. + +He thinks people live too fast these days, and don't remember there is a +stopping place. + +Submitted January 10, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +RICHARD MILLER--AN OLD SOLDIER +1109 North West Street + + +Richard Miller was born January 12, 1843 in Danville, Kentucky. His +mother was an English subject, born in Bombay, India and was brought +into America by a group of people who did not want to be under the +English government. They landed in Canada, came on to Detroit, stayed +there a short time, then went to Danville, Kentucky. There she married a +slave named Miller. They were the parents of five children. + +After slavery was abolished, they bought a little farm a few miles from +Danville, Kentucky. + +The mother was very ambitious for her children, and sent them to the +country school. + +One day, when the children came home from school, their mother was gone; +they knew not where. + +It was learned, she was sending her children to school, and that was not +wanted. She was taken to Texas, and nothing, was heard from her until +1871. + +She wrote her brother she was comming to see them, and try to find her +children, if any of them were left. + +The boy, Richard, was in the army. He was so anxious to see his mother, +to see what she would look like. The last time he saw her, she was +washing clothes at the branch, and was wearing a blue cotton dress. All +he could remember about her was her beautiful black hair, and the cotton +dress. When he saw her, he didnot recognize her, but she told him of +things he could remember that had happened, and that made him think she +was his mother. + +Richard was told who had taken the mother from the children, went to the +man, shot and killed him; nothing was done to him for his deed. + +He remembers a slave by the name of Brown, in Texas, who was chained +hand and feet to a woodpile, oil thrown over him, and the wood, then +fire set to the wood, and he was burned to death. + +After the fire smoldered down, the white women and children took his +ashes for souvenirs. + +When slavery was abolished, a group of them started down to the far +south, to buy farms, to try for themselves, got as far as Madison +County, Kentucky and were told if they went any farther south, they +would be made slaves again, not knowing if that was the truth or not, +they stayed there, and worked on the Madison County farms for a very +small wage. This separated families, and they never heard from each +other ever again. + +These separations are the cause of so many of the slave race not being +able to trace families back for generations, as do the white families. + +George Band was a very powerful slave, always ready to fight, never +losing a fight, always able to defend himself until one night a band of +Ku Kluxers came to his house, took his wife, hung her to a tree, hacked +her to death with knives. Then went to the house, got George, took him +to see what they had done to his wife. He asked them to let him go back +to the house to get something to wrap his wife in, thinking he was +sincere in his request, they allowed him to go. Instead of getting a +wrapping for his wife, he got his Winchester rifle, shot and killed +fourteen of the Kluxers. The county was never bothered with the Klan +again. However, George left immediately for the North. + +The first Monday of the month was sale day. The slaves were chained +together and sent down in Miss., often separating mothers from children, +husbands from wives, never to hear of each other again. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Miller lives with his family in a very comfortable home. + +He has only one eye, wears a patch over the bad one. + +He does not like to talk of his early life as he said it was such a +"nightmare" to him; however he answered all questions very pleasantly. + +Submitted December 9, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +William R. Mays +District 4 +Johnson County + +HENRY CLAY MOORMAN +BORN IN SLAVERY IN KENTUCKY +427 W. King St., Franklin, Ind. + + +Henry Clay Moorman has resided in Franklin 34 years, he was born Oct. 1, +1854 in slavery on the Moorman plantation in Breckenridge County, +Kentucky. + +Mr. Moorman relates his own personal experiences as well as those handed +down from his mother. He was a boy about 12 years old when freedom was +declared. His father's name was Dorah Moorman who was a cooper by trade, +and had a wife and seven children. They belonged to James Moorman, who +owned about 20 slaves, he was kind to his slaves and never whipped any +of them. These slaves loved their master and was as loyal to him as his +own family. + +Mr. Moorman says that when a boy he did small jobs around the plantation +such as tobacco planting and going to the mill. One day he was placed +upon a horse with a sack of grain containing about two bushels, after +the sack of grain was balanced upon the back of the horse he was started +to the mill which was a distance of about five miles, when about half +the distance of the journey the sack of grain became unbalanced and fell +from the horse being too small to lift the sack of grain he could only +cry over the misfortune. There he was, powerless to do any thing about +it. After about two hours there was a white man riding by and seeing the +predicament he was in kindly lifted the sack up on the horse and after +ascertaining his master's name bade him to continue to the mill. It was +the custom at the mill that each await their turn, and do their own +grinding. After the miller had taken his toll, he returned to his master +and told of his experience. Thereafter precautions were taken so he +would not again have the same experience. + +The slave owners had so poisoned the minds of the slaves, they were in +constant fear of the soldiers. One day when the slaves were alone at the +plantation they sighted the Union soldiers approaching, they all went +to the woods and hid in the bushes. The smaller children were covered +with leaves. There they remained all night, as the soldiers (about 200 +in number) camped all night in the horse lot. These soldiers were very +orderly; however, they appropriated for their own use all the food they +could find. + +The slave owners would hide all their silverware and other articles of +worth under the mattresses that were in the negro cabins for safe +keeping. + +There were three white children in the master's family. Wickliff, the +oldest boy and Bob was the second child in age. The younger child, a +girl, was named Sally and was about the same age as the subject of this +article. Both children, being babies about the same age, the black +mother served as a wet nurse for the white child, sometimes both the +black child and the white child were upon the black mammies lap which +frequently was the cause of battles between the two babies. + +Some of the white mistresses acted as midwife for the black mothers. + +There were two graveyards on the plantation, one for the white folks and +one for the blacks. There is no knowledge of any deaths among the white +folks during the time he lived on the plantation. One of this black +boys' sisters married just before slavery was abolished. He remembers +this wedding. In connection with the marriages of the slaves in slavery +days, it is recalled that slaves seldom married among themselves on the +same plantation but instead the unions were made by some negro boy from +some other plantation courting a negro girl on a distant plantation. As +was the custom in slavery days the black boy would have to get the +consent of three people before he was allowed to enter upon wedlock; +first, he would get the consent of the negro girls' mother, then he +would get the consent of his own master as well as the black girl's +master. This required time and diplomacy. When all had given their +consent the marriage would take place usually on Saturday night, when a +great time was had with slaves coming from other plantations with a +generous supply of fried chicken, hams, cakes and pies a great feast and +a good time generally with music and dancing. The new husband had to +return to his own master after the wedding but it was understood by all +that the new husband could visit his wife every Saturday night and stay +until Monday morning. He would return every Monday to his master and +work as usual indefinitely unless by chance one or the other of the two +masters would buy the husband or wife, in such event they would live +together as man and wife. Unless this purchase did occur it was the rule +in slavery days that any children born to the slave wife would be the +property of the girl's master. + +When the required consent could not be had from all parties concerned it +sometimes caused friction and instances have occured when attempts at +elopement was made causing no end of trouble. This condition was very +rare, as in most all cases of this kind the masters were quite willing +for this marriage and would encourage the young couple. It is remembered +that there were no illegitimate children born on the Moorman plantation. + +The slaves would have their parties and dances. Slaves would gather from +various plantations and these parties would sometimes last all night. It +was customary for the slaves to get passes from their masters +permitting them to attend, but sometimes passes were not given for +reasons. In line with these parties it is remembered that there existed +at that time what was known as the Paddle-Rollers, these so called +Paddy-Rollers was made up of a bunch of white boys who would sneak up on +these defenseless negroes unawares late in the night and demand that all +show their passes. Those that could not show passes were whipped, both +the negro boys and girls alike. The loyalty of these poor black boys was +shown when they would volunteer to take an extra flogging to protect +their girl friends. The Paddy-Rollers were a mean bunch of white boys +who reviled in this shameful practice. + +After slavery was abolished, this colored slave family remained on the +same plantation for one year. They left the plantation via Cloverport by +boat for Evansville, Ind., where they remained until the subject of this +sketch removed to Franklin, Ind. in 1903 where he took pastorate with +the African Methodist Episcopal Church where he served for 12 years. He +is now a retired minister residing at 427 W. King St. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. AMERICA MORGAN--EX-SLAVE +816 Camp Street + + +America Morgan was born in a log house, daubed with dirt, in Ballard +County, Kentucky, in 1852, the daughter of Manda and Jordon Rudd. She +remembers very clearly the happenings of her early life. + +Her mother, Manda Rudd, was owned by Clark Rudd, and the "devil has sure +got him." + +Her father was owned by Mr. Willingham, who was very kind to his slaves. +Jordon became a Rudd, because he was married to Manda on the Rudd +plantation. + +There were six children in the family, and all went well until the death +of the mother; Clark Rudd whipped her to death when America was five +years old. + +Six little children were left motherless to face a "frowning world." + +America was given to her master's daughter, Miss Meda, to wait on her, +as her personal property. She lived with her for one year, then was sold +for $600.00 to Mr. and Mrs. Utterback stayed with them until the end of +the Civil war. + +The new mistress was not so kind. Miss Meda, who knew her reputation, +told her if she abused America, she would come for her, and she would +loose the $600.00 she had paid for her. Therefore, America was treated +very kindly. + +Aunt Catherine, who looked after all the children on the plantation, +was very unruly, no one could whip her. Once America was sent for two +men to come and tie Aunt Catherine. She fought so hard, it was as much +as the men could do to tie her. They tied her hands, then hung her to +the joist and lashed her with a cow hide. It "was awful to hear her +screams." + +In 1865 her father came and took her into Paduca, Kentucky, "a land of +freedom." + +When thirteen years old, America did not know A from B, then "glory to +God," a Mr. Greeleaf, a white man, from the north, came down to Kentucky +and opened a school for Negro children. That was America's first chance +to learn. He was very kind and very sympathetic. She went to school for +a very short while. + +Her father was very poor, had nothing at all to give his children. + +America's mistress would not give her any of her clothes. "All she had +in this world, was what she had on her back." Then she was "hired out" +for $1.00 a week. + +The white people for whom she worked were very kind to her and would try +to teach her when her work was done. She was given an old fashioned +spelling book and a first reader. She was then "taught much and began to +know life." + +She was sent regularly to church and Sunday school. That was when she +began to "wake up" to her duty as a free girl. + +The Rev. D.W. Dupee was her Sunday school teacher, from him she learned +much she had never known before. + +At seventeen years of age, she married and "faced a frowning world +right." She had a good husband and ten children, three of whom are +living today, one son and two daughters. + +She remembers one slave, who had been given five hundred lashes on his +back, thrown in his cabin to die. He laid on the floor all night, at +dawn he came to himself, and there were blood hounds licking his back. + +When the overseers lashed a slave to death, they would turn the +bloodhounds out to smell the blood, so they would know "nigger blood," +that would help trace runaway slaves. + +Aunt Jane Stringer was given five hundred lashes and thrown in her +cabin. The next morning when the overseer came, he kicked her and told +her to get up, and wanted to know if she was going to sleep there all +day. When she did not answer him, he rolled her over and the poor woman +was dead, leaving several motherless children. + +When the slaves were preparing to run away, they would put hot pepper on +their feet; this would cause the hounds to be thrown off their trail. + +Aunt Margaret ran off, but the hounds traced her to a tree; she stayed +up in the tree for two days and would not come down until they promised +not to whip her any more, and they kept their promise. + +Old mistress' mother was sick a long time, and little America had to +keep the flies off of her by waving a paper fly brush over her bed. She +was so mean, America was afraid to go too near the bed for fear she +might try to grab her and shake her. After she died, she haunted +America. Anytime she would go into the room, she could hear her knocking +on the wall with her cane. Some nights they would hear her walking up +and down the stairs for long periods at a time. + +Aunt Catherine ran off, because "ole missie" haunted her so bad. + +The old master came back after his death and would ride his favorite +horse, old Pomp, all night long, once every week. When the boy would go +in to feed the horses, old Pomp would have his ears hanging down, and he +would be "just worn out," after his night ride. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +America believes firmly in haunts, and said she had lived in several +haunted houses since coming up north. + +Mrs. Morgan lives with her baby boy and his wife. She is rather +inteligent, reads and writes, and tries to do all she can to help those +who are less fortunate than she. + +Submitted December 27, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Iris Cook +District 4 +Floyd County + +STORY OF GEORGE MORRISON +25 East 5th St., New Albany, Ind. + + +Observation of the writer + +(This old negro, known as "Uncle George" by the neighbors, is very +particular about propriety. He allows no woman in his house unless +accompanied by a man. He says "It jest a'nt the proper thing to do", but +he came to a neighbors for a little talk.) + +"I was bawn in Union County, Kentucky, near Morganfield. My master was +Mr. Ray, he made me call him Mr. Ray, wouldent let me call him Master. +He said I was his little free negro." + +When asked if there were many slaves on Mr. Ray's farm, he said, "Yes'm, +they was seven cabin of us. I was the oldes' child in our family. Mr. +Ray said "He didn't want me in the tobacco", so I stayed at the house +and waited on the women folk and went after the cows when I was big +enough. I carried my stick over my shoulder for I wus afraid of snakes." + +"Mr. Ray was always very good to me, he liked to play with me, cause I +was so full of tricks an' so mischuvus. He give me a pair of boots with +brass toes. I shined them up ever day, til you could see your face in +'em." + +"There wuz two ladies at the house, the Missus and her daughter, who was +old enough to keep company when I was a little boy. They used to have me +to drive 'em to church. I'd drive the horses. They'd say, 'George, you +come in here to church.' But I always slipped off with the other boys +who was standing around outside waitin' for they folks, and played +marbles." + +"Yes, ma'am, the War sho did affect my fambly. My father, he fought for +the north. He got shot in his side, but it finally got all right. He +saved his money and came north after the war and got a good job. But, I +saw them fellows from the south take my Uncle. They put his clothes on +him right in the yard and took him with them to fight. And even the +white folks, they all cried. But he came back, he wasnt hurt but he +wasent happy in his mind like my pappy was." + +"Yes ma'am, I would rather live in the North. The South's all right but +someways I just don't feel down there like I does up here." + +"No ma'am, I was never married. I don't believe in getting married +unless you got plenty of money. So many married folks dont do nuthin but +fuss and fight. Even my father and mother always spatted and I never +liked that and so I says to myself what do I want to get married for. +I'm happier just living by myself." + +"Yes Ma'am. I remember when people used to take wagon loads of corn to +the market in Louisville, and they would bring back home lots of +groceries and things. A colored man told me he had come north to the +market in Louisville with his master, and was working hard unloading the +corn when a white man walks up to him, shows him some money and asks him +if he wanted to be free? He said he stopped right then and went with the +man, who hid him in his wagon under the provisions and they crossed the +Ohio River right on the ferry. That's the way lots of 'em got across +here." + +"Did I ever hear of any ghosts. Yes ma'am I have. I hear noises and I +seed something once that I never could figger out. I was goin't thru +the woods one day, and come up sudden in a clear patch of ground. There +sat a little boy on a stump, all by his-self, there in the woods. I asks +him who he wuz & wuz he lost, and he never answered me. Jest sat there, +lookin at me. All of a sudden he ups and runs, and I took out after him. +He run behind a big tree, and when I got up to where I last seed him, he +wuz gone. And there sits a great big brown man twice as big as me, on +another stump. He never seys a word, jest looks at me. And then I got +away from there, yes ma'am I really did." + +"A man I knew saw a ghost once and he hit at it. He always said he +wasn't afraid of no ghost, but that ghost hit him, and hit him so hard +it knocked his face to one side and the last time I saw him it was still +that way. No ma'am, I don't really believe in ghosts, but you know how +it is, I lives by myself and I don't like to talk about them for you +never can tell what they might do. + +"Lady you ought to hear me rattle bones, when I was young. I caint do it +much now for my wrists are too stiff. When they played Turkey in the +Straw how we all used to dance and cut up. We'ed cut the pigeon wing, +and buck the wind [HW: wing?], and all. But I got rewmaytism in my feet +now and ant much good any more, but I sure has done lots of things and +had lots of fun in my time." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +JOSEPH MOSLEY, EX-SLAVE +2637 Boulevard Place + +[TR: Also reported as Moseley in text of interview.] + + +Joseph Mosley, one of twelve children, was born March 15, 1853, fourteen +miles from Hopkinsville, Kentucky. + +His master, Tim Mosley, was a slave trader. He was supposed to have +bought and sold 10,000 slaves. He would go from one state to another +buying slaves, bringing in as many as 75 or 80 slaves at one time. + +The slaves would be handcuffed to a chain, each chain would link 16 +slaves. The slaves would walk from Virginia to Kentucky, and some from +Mississippi to Virginia. + +In front of the chained slaves would be an overseer on horseback with a +gun and dogs. In back of the chained slaves would be another overseer on +horseback with a gun and dogs. They would see that no slave escaped. + +Joseph's father was the shoemaker for all the farm hands and all adult +workers. He would start in September making shoes for the year. First +the shoes for the folks in the house, then the workers. + +No slave child ever wore shoes, summer or winter. + +The father, mother, and all the children were slaves in the same family, +but not in the same house. Some with the daughters, some with the sons, +and so on. No one brother or sister would be allowed to visit with the +others. + +After the death of Tim Moseley, little Joseph was given to a daughter. +He was seven years old; he had to pick up chips, tend the cows, and do +small jobs around the house; he wore no clothing except a shirt. + +Little Joseph did not see his mother after he was taken to the home of +the daughter until he was set free at the age of 13. + +The master was very unkind to the slaves; they sometimes would have +nothing to eat, and would eat from the garbage. + +On Christmas morning Joseph was told he could go see his mother; he did +not know he was free, and couldn't understand why he was given the first +suit of clothes he had ever owned, and a pair of shoes. He dressed in +his new finery and was started out on his six mile journey to his +mother. + +He was so proud of his new shoes; after he had gotten out of sight, he +stopped and took his shoes off as he did not want them dirty before his +mother had seen them, and walked the rest of the way in his bare feet. + +After their freedom, the family came to Indiana. + +The mother died here, in Indianapolis, at the age of 105. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Moseley, who has been in Indianapolis for 35 years, has been +paralyzed for the last four years. He and a daughter room with a Mrs. +Turner. + +He has a very nice clean room; a very pleasant old man was very glad to +talk of his past life. + +He gets a pension of $18.00 a month, and said it was not easy to get +along on that little amount, and wondered if the government was ever +going to increase his pension. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +MEMORIES OF SLAVERY AND THE LIFE STORY OF +AMY ELIZABETH PATTERSON + + +The slave mart, separation from a dearly beloved mother and little +sisters are among the earliest memories recalled by Amy Elizabeth +Patterson, a resident of Evansville, Indiana. + +Amy Elizabeth, now known as "Grandmother Patterson" resides with her +daughter Lula B. Morton at 512 Linwood Avenue near Cherry Street. Her +birth occurred July 12, 1850 at Cadiz, Trigg County, Kentucky. Her +mother was Louisa Street, slave of John Street, a merchant of Cadez. +[TR: likely Cadiz] + +"John Street was never unkind to his slaves" is the testimony of +Grandmother Patterson, as she recalls and relates stories of the long +ago. "Our sorrow began when slave traders, came to Cadiz and bought such +slaves as he took a fancy to and separated us from our families!" + +John Street ran a sort of agency where he collected slaves and yearly +sold them to dealers in human flesh. Those he did not sell he hired out +to other families. Some were hired or indentured to farmers, some to +stock raisers, some to merchants and some to captains of boats and the +hire of all these slaves went into the coffers of John Street, yearly +increasing his wealth. + +Louisa Street, mother of Amy Elizabeth Patterson, was house maid at the +Street home and her first born daughter was fair with gold brown hair +and amber eyes. Mr. and Mrs. Street always promised Louisa they would +never sell her as they did not want to part with the child, so Louisa +was given a small cabin near the master's house. The mistress had a +child near the age of the little mulatto and Louisa was wet nurse for +both children as well as maid to Mrs. Street. Two years after the birth +of Amy Elizabeth, Louisa became mother of twin daughters, Fannie and +Martha Street, then John Street decided to sell all his slaves as he +contemplated moving into another territory. + +The slaves were auctioned to the highest bidder and Louisa and the twins +were bought by a man living near Cadiz but Mr. Street refused to sell +Amy Elizabeth. She showed promise of growing into an excellent +house-maid and seamstress and was already a splendid playmate and nurse +to the little Street boy and girl. So Louisa lost her child but such +grief was shown by both mother and child that the mother was unable to +perform her tasks and the child cried continually. Then Mr. Street +consented to sell the little girl to the mother's new master. + +Louisa Street became mother of seventeen children. Three were almost +white. Amy Elizabeth was the daughter of John Street and half sister of +his children by his lawful wife. Mrs. Street knew the facts and +respected Louisa and her child and, says grandmother Patterson, "That +was the greatest crime ever visited on the United States. It was worse +than the cruelty of the overseers, worse than hunger, for many slaves +were well fed and well cared for; but when a father can sell his own +child, humiliate his own daughter by auctioning her on the slave block, +what good could be expected where such practices were allowed?" + +Grandmother Patterson remembers superstitions of slavery days and how +many slaves were afraid of ghosts and evil spirits but she never +believed in supernatural appearances until three years ago when she +received a message, through a medium, from the spirit land; now she is a +firm believer, not in ghosts and evil visitations, but in true +communication with the departed ones who still love and long to protect +those who remain on earth. + +Several years ago a young grandson of the old woman was drowned. The +little boy was Stokes Morton, a very popular child rating high averages +in school studies and beloved by his teachers and friends. The mother, +Lulu B. Morton and the grandmother both gave up to grief, in fact they +both have declined in health and were unable to carry on their regular +duties. + +Grandmother Patterson began suffering from a dental ailment and was +compelled to visit a dental surgeon. The dental surgeon suggested that +she visit a medium and seek some comforting message from the child. + +She at once visited a medium and received a message. "Stokes answered +me. In fact he was waiting to communicate with us. He said 'Grandmother! +you and mother must stop staying at the cemetary and grieving for me. +Send the flowers to your sick friends and put in more time with the +other children. I am happy here, I am in a beautiful field, The sky is +blue and the field is full of beautiful white lambs that play with me.'" + +The message comforted the aged woman. She began occupying her time with +other members of the family and again began to visit with her neighbors. + +She felt a call two years later and again consulted the medium. That +time she received a message from the child, his father and a little girl +that had died in infancy. Grandmother Patterson said she would not +recall the ones who had gone on to the land of promise. She is a +christian and a believer in the Word of God. + +Grandmother Patterson, in spite of her 87 years of life (fifteen of +which were passed in slavery) is useful in her daughter's home. Her +children and grand children are fond of her as indeed they well may be. +She is a refined woman, gracious to every person she encounters. She is +hoping for better opportunities for her race. She admonishes the younger +relatives to live in the fear and love of the Lord that no evil days +overtake them. + +"Yes, slavery was a curse to this nation" she declares, "A curse which +still shows itself in hundreds of homes where mulatto faces are evidence +of a heinous sin and proof that there has been a time when American +fathers sold their children at the slave marts of America." She is glad +the curse has been erased even if by the bloodshed of heroes. + + + + +G. Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +MRS. PRESTON'S STORY + + +Mrs. Preston is an old lady, 83 years old, very charming and hospitable +She lives on North Elm Street, Madison, Indiana. Her first recollections +of slavery were of sleeping on the foot of her mistress' bed, where she +could get up during the night to "feed" the fire with chips she had +gathered before dark or to get a drink or anything else her mistress +might want in the night. + +Her 'Marse Brown', resided in Frankfort having taken his best horses and +hogs, and leaving his family in the care of an overseer on a farm. He +was afraid the Union soldiers would kill him, but thought his wife would +be safe. This opinion proved to be true. The overseer called the slaves +to work at four o'clock, and they worked until six in the evening. + +When Mrs. Preston was a little older part of her work was to drive about +a dozen cows to and from the stable. Many a time she warmed her bare +feet in the cattle bedding. She said they did not always go barefooted +but their shoes were old or their feet wrapped in rags. + +Her next promotion was to work in the fields hauling shocks of corn on a +balky mule which was subject to bucking and throwing its rider over its +head. She was aided by a little boy on another mule. There were men to +tie the shocks and place them on the mule. + +She remembered seeing Union and Confederate soldiers shooting across a +river near her home. Her uncle fought two years, and returned safely at +the end of the war. + +She did not feel that her Master and Mistress had mistreated their +slaves. At the close of the war, her father was given a house, land, +team and enough to start farming for himself. + +Several years later the Ku Klux Klan gave them a ten days notice to +leave, one of the masked band interceded for them by pointing out that +they were quiet and peacable, and a man with a crop and ten children +couldn't possibly leave on so short a notice so the time was extended +another ten days, when they took what the Klan paid them and came north. +They remained in the north until they had to buy their groceries "a +little piece of this and a little piece of that, like they do now", when +her father returned to Kentucky. Mrs. Preston remained in Indiana. Her +father was burned out, the family escaping to the woods in their night +clothes, later befriended by a white neighbor. Now they appealed to +their former owner who built them a new house, provided necessities and +guards for a few weeks until they were safe from the Ku Klux Klan. + +Mrs. Preston said she was the mother of ten children, but now lives +alone since the death of her husband three years ago. Her white +neighbors say her house is so clean, one could almost eat off the floor. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Harry Jackson + +WILLIAM M. QUINN (EX-SLAVE) +431 Bright Street, Indianapolis, Ind. + + +William M. Quinn, 431 Bright street, was a slave up to ten years of +age--"when the soldiers come back home, and the war was over, and we +wasn't slaves anymore". Mr. Quinn was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, +on a farm belonging to Steve Stone. He and a brother and his mother were +slaves of "Old Master Stone", but his father was owned by another man, +Mr. Quinn, who had an adjoining farm. When they were all freed, they +took the surname of Quinn. + +Mr. Quinn said that they were what was called "gift slaves". They were +never to be sold from the Stone farm and were given to Stone's daughter +as a gift with that understanding. He said that his "Old master paid him +and his brother ten cents a day for cutting down corn and shucking it." + +It was very unusual for a slave to receive any money whatsoever for +working. He said that his master had a son about his age, and the son +and he and his brother worked around the farm together, and "Master +Stone" gave all three of them ten cents a day when they worked. +Sometimes they wouldn't, they would play instead. And whenever "Master +Stone" would catch them playing when they ought to have been at work, he +would whip them--"and that meant his own boy would get a licking too." + +"Old Master Stone was a good man to all us colored folks, we loved him. +He wasn't one of those mean devils that was always beating up his slaves +like some of the rest of them." He had a colored overseer and one day +this overseer ran off and hid for two days "cause he whipped one of old +Mas' Stone's slaves and he heard that Mas' Stone was mad and he didn't +like it." + +"We didn't know that we were slaves, hardly. Well, my brother and I +didn't know anyhow 'cause we were too young to know, but we knew that we +had been when we got older." + +"After emancipation we stayed at the Stone family for some time, 'cause +they were good to us and we had no place to go." Mr. Quinn meant by +emancipation that his master freed his slaves, and, as he said, +"emancipated them a year before Lincoln did." + +Mr. Quinn said that his father was not freed when his mother and he and +his brother were freed, because his father's master "didn't think the +North would win the war." Stone's slaves fared well and ate good food +and "his own children didn't treat us like we were slaves." He said some +of the slaves on surrounding plantations and farms had it "awful hard +and bad." Some times slaves would run away during the night, and he said +that "we would give them something to eat." He said his mother did the +cooking for the Stone family and that she was good to runaway slaves. + +Submitted September 9, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Harry Jackson + +EX SLAVE STORY +MRS. CANDUS RICHARDSON +[HW: Personal Interview] + + +Mrs. Candus Richardson, of 2710 Boulevard Place, was 18 years of age +when the Civil War was over. She was borned a slave on Jim Scott's +plantation on the "Homer Chitter river" in Franklin county, +Mississippi. Scott was the heir of "Old Jake Scott". "Old Jim Scott" +had about fifty slaves, who raised crops, cotton, tobacco, and hogs. +Candus cooked for Scott and his wife, Miss Elizabeth. They were both +cruel, according to Mrs. Richardson. She said that at one time her +Master struck her over the head with the butt end of a cowhide, that +made a hole in her head, the scar of which she still carries. He struck +her down because he caught her giving a hungry slave something to eat at +the back door of the "big house". The "big house" was Scott's house. + +Scott beat her husband a lot of times because he caught him praying. But +"beatings didn't stop my husband from praying. He just kept on praying. +He'd steal off to the woods and pray, but he prayed so loud that anybody +close around could hear, 'cause he had such a loud voice. I prayed too, +but I always prayed to myself." One time, Jim Scott beat her husband so +unmerciful for praying that his shirt was as red from blood stain "as if +you'd paint it with, a brush". Her husband was very religious, and she +claimed that it was his prayers and "a whole lot of other slaves' that +cause you young folks to be free today". + +They didn't have any Bible on the Scott plantation she said, for it +meant a beating or "a killing if you'd be caught with one". But there +were a lot of good slaves and they knew how to pray and some of the +white folks loved to hear than pray too, "'cause there was no put-on +about it. That's why we folks know how to sing and pray, 'cause we have +gone through so much, but the Lord is with us, the Lord's with us, he +is". + +Mrs. Richardson said that the slaves, that worked in the Master's house, +ate the same food that the master and his family ate, but those out on +the plantation didn't fare so well; they ate fat meats and parts of the +hog that the folks at the "big house" didn't eat. All the slaves had to +call Scott and his wife "Master and Miss Elizabeth", or they would get +punished if they didn't. + +Whenever the slaves would leave the plantation, they ware supposed to +have a permit from Scott, and if they were caught out by the +"padyrollers", they would whip them if they did not have a note from +their master. When the slaves went to church, they went to a Baptist +church that the Scotts belonged to and sat in the rear of the church. +The sermon was never preached to the slaves. "They never preached the +Lord to us," Mrs. Richardson said, "They would just tell us to not +steal, don't steal from your master". A week's ration of food was given +each slave, but if he ate it up before the week, he had to eat salt pork +until the next rations. He couldn't eat much of it, because it was too +salty to eat any quanity of it. "We had to make our own clothes out of a +cloth like you use, called canvass". "We walked to church with our shoes +on our arms to keep from wearing them out". + +They walked six miles to reach the church, and had to wade across a +stream of water. The women were carried across on the men's backs. They +did all of this to hear the minister tell them "don't steal from your +Master". + +They didn't have an overseer to whip the slaves on the Scott +plantation, Scott did the whipping himself. Mrs. Richardson said he +knocked her down once just before she gave birth to a daughter, all +because she didn't pick cotton as fast as he thought she should have. + +Her husband went to the war to be "what you call a valet for Master +Jim's son, Sam". After the war, he "came to me and my daughter". "Then +in July, we could tell by the crops and other things grown, old Master +Jim told us everyone we was free, and that was almost a year after the +other slaves on the other plantations around were freed". She said +Scott, in freeing (?) then said that "he didn't have to give us any +thing to eat and that he didn't have to give us a place to stay, but we +could stay and work for him and he would pay us. But we left that night +and walked for miles through the rain to my husban's brother and then +told them that they all were free. Then we all came up to Kentucky in a +wagon and lived there. Then I came up North when my husband died". + +Mrs. Richardson says that she is "so happy to know that I have lived to +see the day when you young people can serve God without slipping around +to serve him like we old folks had to do". "You see that pencil that +you have In your hand there, why, that would cost me my life 'if old +Mas' Jim would see me with a pencil in my hand. But I lived to see both +him and Miss Elizabeth die a hard death. They both hated to die, +although they belonged to church. Thank God for his mercy! Thank God!" +"My mother prayed for me and I am praying for you young folks". + +Mrs. Richardson, despite her 90 years of age, can walk a distance of a +mile and a half to her church. + +Submitted August 31, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +JOE ROBINSON--EX-SLAVE +1132 Cornell Avenue + + +Joe Robinson was born in Mason County, Kentucky in 1854. + +His master, Gus Hargill, was very kind to him and all his slaves. He +owned a large farm and raised every kind of vegetation. He always gave +his slaves plenty to eat. They never had to steal food. He said his +slaves had worked hard to permit him to have plenty, therefore they +should have their share. + +Joe, his mother, a brother, and a sister were all on the same +plantation. They were never sold, lived with the same master until they +were set free. + +Joe's father was owned by Rube Black, who was very cruel to his slaves, +beat them severely for the least offense. One day he tried to beat Joe's +father, who was a large strong man; he resisted his master and tried to +kill him. After that he never tried to whip him again. However, at the +first opportunity, Rube sold him. + +The Robinson family learned the father had been sold to someone down in +Louisiana. They never heard from, or of him, again. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Robinson lives with his wife; he receives a pension, which he said +was barely enough for them to live on, and hoped it would be increased. + +He attends one of the W.P.A. classes, trying to learn to read and write. + +They have two children who live in Chicago. + +Submitted January 24, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett, 1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. ROSALINE ROGERS--EX-SLAVE--110 YEARS OLD +910 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Rogers was born in South Carolina, in 1827, a slave of Dr. Rice +Rogers, "Mas. Rogers," we called him, was the youngest son of a family +of eleven children. He was so very mean. + +Mrs. Rogers was sold and taken to Tennessee at the age of eleven for +$900.00 to a man by the name of Carter. Soon after her arrival at the +Carter plantation, she was resold to a man by the name of Belby Moore +with whom she lived until the beginning of the Civil war. + +Men and women were herded into a single cabin, no matter how many there +were. She remembers a time when there were twenty slaves in a small +cabin. There were holes between the logs of the cabin, large enough for +dogs and cats to crawl through. The only means of heat, being a wood +fireplace, which, of course, was used for cooking their food. + +The slaves' food was corn cakes, side pork, and beans; seldom any sweets +except molasses. + +The slaves were given a pair of shoes at Christmas time and if they were +worn out before summer, they were forced to go barefoot. + +Her second master would not buy shoes for his slaves. When they had to +plow, their feet would crack and bleed from walking on the hard clods, +and if one complained, they would be whipped; therefore, very few +complaints were made. + +The slaves were allowed to go to their master's church, and allowed to +sit in the seven back benches; should those benches be filled, they were +not allowed to sit in any other benches. + +The wealthy slave owner never allowed his slaves to pay any attention to +the poor "white folks," as he knew they had been free all their lives +and should be slave owners themselves. The poor whites were hired by +those who didnot believe in slavery, or could not afford slaves. + +At the beginning of the Civil war, I had a family of fourteen children. +At the close of the war, I was given my choice of staying on the same +plantation, working on shares, or taking my family away, letting them +out for their food and clothes. I decided to stay on that way; I could +have my children with me. They were not allowed to go to school, they +were taught only to work. + +Slave mothers were allowed to stay in bed only two or three days after +childbirth; then were forced to go into the fields to work, as if +nothing had happened. + +The saddest moment of my life was when I was sold away from my family. I +often wonder what happened to them, I haven't seen or heard from them +since. I only hope God was as good to them as He has been to me. + +"I am 110 years old; my birth is recorded in the slave book. I have good +health, fairly good eyesight, and a good memory, all of which I say is +because of my love for God." + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Rogers is certainly a very old woman, very pleasant, and seems very +fond of her granddaughters, with whom she lives. + +Submitted December 29, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. PARTHENA ROLLINS +848 Camp Street (Rear) + + +Mrs. Parthena Rollins was born in Scott County, Kentucky, in 1853, a +slave of Ed Duvalle, who was always very kind to all of his slaves, +never whipping any of the adults, but often whipped the children to +correct them, never beating them. They all had to work, but never +overwork, and always had plenty to eat. + +She remembers so many slaves, who were not as fortunate as they were. + +Once when the "nigger traders" came through, there was a girl, the +mother of a young baby; the traders wanted the girl, but would not buy +her because she had the child. Her owner took her away, took the baby +from her, and beat it to death right before the mother's eyes, then +brought the girl back to the sale without the baby, and she was bought +immediately. + +Her new master was so pleased to get such a strong girl who could work +so well and so fast. + +The thoughts of the cruel way of putting her baby to death preyed on her +mind to such an extent, she developed epilepsy. This angered her new +master, and he sent her back to her old master, and forced him to refund +the money he had paid for her. + +Another slave had displeased his master for some reason, he was taken to +the barn and killed, and was buried right in the barn. No one knew of +this until they were set free, as the slaves who knew about it were +afraid to tell for fear of the same fate befalling on them. + +Parthena also remembers slaves being beaten until their backs were +blistered. The overseers would then open the blisters and sprinkle salt +and pepper in the open blisters, so their backs would smart and hurt all +the more. + +Many times, slaves would be beaten to death, thrown into sink holes, and +left for the buzzards to swarm and feast on their bodies. + +So many of the slaves she knew were half fed and half clothed, and +treated so cruelly, that it "would make your hair stand on ends." + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Rollins is in poor health all broken up with "rheumatiz." + +She lives with a daughter and grandson, and said she could hardly talk +of the happenings of the early days, because of the awful things her +folks had to go through + +Submitted December 21, 1937 +Anatolia, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +TOLD BY JOHN RUDD, AN EX-SLAVE + + +"Yes, I was a slave," said John Rudd, "And I'll say this to the whole +world, Slavery was the worst curse ever visited on the people of the +United States." + +John Rudd is a negro, dark and swarthy as to complexion but his nose is +straight and aqualine, for his mother-was half Indian. + +The memory of his mother, Liza Rudd, is sacred to John Rudd today and +her many disadvantages are still a source of grief to the old man of 83 +years. John Rudd was born on Christmas day 1854 in the home of Benjamin +Simms, at Springfield, Kentucky. The mother of the young child was house +maid for mistress Simms and Uncle John remembers that mother and child +received only the kindliest consideration from all members of the Simms +family. + +While John was yet a small boy Benjamin Simms died and the Simms slaves +were auctioned to the highest bidders. "If'n you wants to know what +unhappiness means," said Uncle John Rudd, "Jess'n you stand on the Slave +Block and hear the Auctioneer's voice selling you away from the folks +you love." Uncle John explained how mothers and fathers were often +separated from their dearly loved children, at the auction block, but +John and his younger brother Thomas were fortunate and were bought by +the same master along with Liza Rudd, their mother. An elder brother, +Henry, was separated from his mother and brothers and became the +property of George Snyder and was thereafter known as Henry Snyder. + +When Liza Rudd and her two little sons left the slave block they were +the property of Henry Moore who lived a few miles away from Springfield. +Uncle John declares that unhappiness met them at the threshold of the +Moore's estate. + +Liza was given the position of cook, housemaid and plough-hand while +her little boys were made to hoe, carry wood and care for the small +children of the Moore family. + +John had only been at the Moore home a few months when he witnessed +several slaves being badly beaten. Henry Moore kept a white overseer and +several white men were employed to whip slaves. A large barrel stood +near the slave quarters and the little boy discovered that the barrel +was a whipping post. The slaves would be strapped across the side of the +barrel and two strong men would wield the "cat of nine tails" until +blood flowed from gashed flesh, and the cries and prayers of the +unfortunate culprits availed them nothing until the strength of the +floggers became exhausted. + +One day, when several Negroes had just recovered from an unusual amount +of chastisement, the little Negro, John Rudd, was playing in the front +yard of the Moore's house when he heard a soft voice calling him. He +knew the voice belonged to Shell Moore, one of his best friends at the +Moore estate. Shell had been among those severely beaten and little John +had been grieving over his misfortunes. "Shell had been in the habbit of +whittling out whistles for me and pettin' of me," said the now aged +negro. "I went to see what he wanted wif me and he said 'Goodby Johnnie, +you'll never see Shellie alive after today.'" Shell made his way toward +the cornfield but the little Negro boy, watching him go, did not realize +what situation confronted him. That night the master announced that +Shell had run away again and the slaves were started searching fields +and woods but Shell's body was found three days later by Rhoder McQuirk, +dangling from a rafter of Moore's corn crib where the unhappy Negro had +hanged himself with a leather halter. + +Shell was a splendid worker and was well worth a thousand dollars. If he +had been fairly treated he would have been happy and glad to repay +kindness by toil. "Mars Henry would have been better to all of us, only +Mistress Jane was always rilin' him up," declared John Rudd as he sat in +his rocking chair under a shade tree. + +"Jane Moore, was the daughter of Old Thomas Rakin, one of the meanest +men, where slaves were concerned, and she had learnt the slave drivin' +business from her daddy." + +Uncle John related a story concerning his mother as follows: "Mama had +been workin' in the cornfield all day 'till time to cook supper. She was +jes' standin' in the smoke house that was built back of the big kitchen +when Mistress walks in. She had a long whip hid under her apron and +began whippin Mama across the shoulders, 'thout tellin' her why. Mama +wheeled around from whar she was slicin' ham and started runnin' after +old Missus Jane. Ole Missus run so fas' Mama couldn't catch up wif her +so she throwed the butcher knife and stuck it in the wall up to the +hilt." "I was scared. I was fraid when Marse Henry come in I believed he +would have Mama whipped to death." + +"Whar Jane?" said Mars Henry. "She up stairs with the door locked," said +Mama. Then she tole old Mars Henry the truth about how mistress Jane +whip her and show him the marks of the whip. She showed him the butcher +knife stickin' in the wall. "Get yer clothes together," said Marse +Henry. + +John then had to be parted from his mother. Henry Rudd [TR: 'Moore' +written above in brackets.] believed that the Negroes were going to be +set free. War had been declared and his desire was to send Liza far into +the southern states where the price of a good negro was higher than in +Kentucky. When he reached Louisville he was offered a good price for her +service and hired her out to cook at a hotel. John grieved over the loss +of his mother but afterwards learned she had been well treated at +Louisville. John Rudd continued to work for Henry Moore until the Civil +War ended. Then Henry Snyder came to the Moore home and demanded his +brothers to be given into his charge. + +Henry Snyder had enlisted in the Federal Army and had fought throughout +the war. He had entered or leased seven acres of good land seven miles +below Owensboro, Kentucky, and on those good acres of Davies County farm +land the mother and her three sons were reunited. + +John Rudd had never seen a river until he made the trip to Owensboro +with his brother Henry. The trip was made on the big Gray Eagle and +Uncle John declares "I was sure thrilled to get that boat ride." He +relates many incidents of run-away Negroes. Remembers his fear of the Ku +Klucks, and remembers seeing seven ex-slaves hanging from one tree near +the top of Grimes-Hill, just after the close of the war. + +When John grew to young manhood he worked on farms in Davis County near +Owensboro for several years, then procured the job of portering for John +Sporree, a hotel keeper at Owensboro, and in this position John worked +for fifteen years. + +While at Owensboro he met the trains and boats. He recalls the boats; +Morning Star, and Guiding Star; both excursion boats that carried gay +men and women on pleasure trips up and down the Ohio river. + +Uncle John married Teena Queen his beloved first wife, at Owensboro. To +this union was born one son but he has not been to see his father nor +has he heard from him for thirty years, and his father believes him to +have died. The second wife was Minnie Dixon who still lives with Uncle +John at Evansville. + +When asked what his political ideas were, Uncle John said his politics +is his love for his government. He draws an old age compensation of 14 +dollars a month. + +Uncle John had some trouble proving his age but met the situation by +having a friend write to the Catholic Church authorities at Springfield. +Mrs. Simms had taken the position of God Mother to the baby and his +birth and christening had been recorded in the church records. He is a +devout Catholic and believes that religion and freedom are the two +richest blessings ever given to mankind. + +Uncle John worked as janitor at the Boehne Tuberculosis Hospital for +eight years. While working there he received a fall which crippled him. +He walks by the aid of a cane but is able to visit with his friends and +do a small amount of work in his home. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +AMANDA ELIZABETH SAMUELS +1721 Park Avenue + + +Lizzie was a child in the home of grandma and grandpa McMurry. They were +farmers in Robinson County, Tennessee. + +Her mother, a slave hand, worked on the farm until her young master, +Robert McMurry was married. She was then sold to Rev. Carter Plaster and +taken to Logan County, Kentucky. + +The child, Lizzie was given to young Robert. She lived in the house to +help the young mistress who was not so kind to her. Lizzie was forced to +eat chicken heads, fish heads, pig tails, and parsnips. The child +disliked this very much, and was very unhappy with her young mistress, +because in Robert's father's home all slave children were treated just +like his own children. They had plenty of good substantial food, and +were protected in every way. + +The old master felt they were the hands of the next generation and if +they were strong and healthy, they would bring in a larger amount of +money when sold. + +Lizzie's hardships did not last long as they were set free soon after +young Robert's marriage. He took her in a wagon to Keysburg, Kentucky to +be with her mother. + +Lizzie learned this song from the soldiers. + + Old Saul Crawford is dead, + And the last word is said. + They were fond of looking back + Till they heard the bushes crack + And sent them to their happy home + In Cannan. + Some wears worsted + Some wears lawn + What they gonna do + When that's all gone. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Samuels is an amusing little woman, she must be about 80 years old, +but holds to the age of 60. Had she given her right age, the people for +whom she works would have helped her to get her pension. + +They are amused, yet provoked because Lizzie wants to be younger than +she really is. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +G. Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +MR. JACK SIMMS' STORY + + +Personal Interview + +Mr. Simms was born and raised on Mill Creek Kentucky, and now lives in +Madison Indiana on Poplar Street diagonally North West of the hospital. + +He was so young he did no remember very much about how the slaves were +treated, but seemed to regret very much that he had been denied the +privilege of an education. Mr. Simms remembers seeing the lines of +soldiers on the Campbellsburg road, but referred to the war as the +"Revolution War". + +This was a very interesting old man, when we first called, his daughter +invited us into the house, but her father wanted to talk outside where +he "spit better". When his daughter conveyed this information Mr. Simms' +immediately decided that we could come in as we "wouldn't be there long +anyhow". + +After we gained entrance, the daughter remarked that her father was very +young at the time of the war, whereupon he answered very testily "If you +are going to tell it, go ahead. Or am I going to tell it?" + + + + +Beulah Van Meter +District 4 +Clark County + +BILLY SLAUGHTER +1123 Watt St. +Jeffersonville + + +Billy Slaughter was born Sept. 15, 1858, on the Lincoln Farm near +Hodgenville, Ky. The Slaughters who now live between the Dixie Highway +and Hodgenville on the right of the road driving toward Hodgenville +about four miles off the state highway are the descendants of the old +slave's master. This old slave was sold once and was given away once +before he was given his freedom. + +The spring on the Lincoln Farm that falls from a cliff was a place +associated with Indian cruelty. It was here in the pool of water below +the cliff that the Indians would throw babies of the settlers. If the +little children could swim or the settlers could rescue them they +escaped, otherwise they were drowned. The Indians would gather around +the scene of the tragedy and rejoice in their fashion. The old slave +when he was a baby was thrown in this pool but was rescued by white +people. He remembers having seen several Indians but not many. + +The most interesting subject that Billy Slaughter discussed was the +Civil War. This was ordinarily believed to be fought over slavery, but +it really was not, according to his interpretation, which is unusual for +an old slave to state. The real reason was that the South withdrew from +the Union and elected Jefferson Davis President of the Confederacy. In +his own dialect he narrated these events accurately. The southerners or +Democrats were called "Rebels" and "Secess" and the Republicans were +called "Abolitionists." + +Another point of interest was John Brown and Harpers Ferry. When +Harper's Ferry was fired upon, that was firing upon the United States. +It was here and through John Brown's Raid that war was virtually +declared. The old Negro explained that Brown was an Abolitionist, and +was captured here and later killed. While the old slave had the utmost +respect for the Federal Government he regarded John Brown as a martyr +for the cause of freedom and included him among the heroes he +worshipped. Among his prized possessions is an old book written about +John Brown's Raid. + +The old slave's real hero was Abraham Lincoln. He plans another +pilgrimage to the Lincoln Farm to look again at the cabin in which his +Emancipator was born. He asked me if I read history very much. I assured +him that I read it to some extent. After that he asked me if I recalled +reading about Lincoln during the Civil War walking the White House floor +one night and a Negro named Douglas remained in his presence. In the +beginning of the War the Negroes who enlisted in the Union Army were +given freedom, also the wives, and the children who were not married. + +Another problem that was facing the North at this time was that the men +who were taken from the farm and factory to the army could not be +replaced by the slaves and production continued in the North as was +being done in the south. Not all Negroes who wanted to join the Union +forces were able to do so because of the strict watchfulness of their +masters. The slaves were made to fight in the southern army whether they +wanted to or not. This lessened the number of free Negroes in the +Northern army. As a result Lincoln decided to free all Negroes. That was +the decision he made the night he walked the White House floor. This was +the old darkey's story of the conditions that brought about the +Emancipation Proclamation. Freeing the Negroes was brought about during +the Civil War but it was not the reason that the war was fought, was the +unusual opinion of this Negro. "Uncle Billy's" father joined the Union +army at the Taylor Barracks, near Louisville, Ky., which was the Camp +Taylor during the World War. Uncle Billy's father and mother and their +children who were not married were given freedom. The old slave has kept +the papers that were drawn up for this act. + +The old darkey explained that the Negro soldiers never fought in any +decisive battles. There must always be someone to clean and polish the +harness, care for the horses, dig ditches, and construct parapets. This +slave's father was at Memphis during the battle there. + +The Slaughter family migrated to Jeffersonville in '65. Billy was then +seven years old. At that time there was only one depot here--a freight +and passenger depot at Court and Wall Streets. What is now known as +Eleventh St. was then a hickory grove--a paradise for squirrel hunters. +On the ridge beginning at 7th and Mechanic Sts. were persimmon trees. +This was a splendid hunting haven for the Negroes for their favorite +wild animal--the o'possum. The ridge is known today as 'Possum Ridge. +The section east of St. Anthony's Cemetery was covered in woods. Since +there were a number of Beechnuts, pigeons frequented this place and were +sought here. One could catch them faster than he could shoot them. + +At this time there were two shipyards in Jeffersonville--Barmore's and +Howard's. Barmore's shipyard location was first the location of a big +meat-packing company. The old darkey called it a "pork house". + +The old slave had seen several boats launched from these yards. Great +crowds would gather for this event. After the hull was completed in the +docks the boat was ready to launch. The blocks that served as props were +knocked down one at a time. One man would knock down each prop. There +were several men employed in this work on the appointed day of the +launching of the boat. The boat would be christened with a bottle of +champagne on its way to the river. + +"Uncle Billy" worked on a steamboat in his earlier days. This boat +traveled from Louisville to New Orleans. People traveled on the river +for there were few railroads. The first work the old darkey did was to +clean the decks. Later he cleaned up inside the boat, mopped up the +floors and made the berths. The next job he held was ladies' cabin man. +Later he took care of the quarters where the officials of the boat +slept. The darkey also worked as a second pantry man. This work +consisted of waiting on the tables in the dining room. The men's +clothes had to be spotless. Sometimes it would become necessary for him +to change his shirt three times a day. + +The meats on the menu would include pigeon, duck, turkey, chicken, +quail, beef, pork, and mutton. Vegetables of the season were served, as +well as desserts. It was nothing unusual for a half dollar to be left +under a plate as a tip for the waiter. Those who worked in the cabins +never set a price for a shoe shine. Fifteen cents was the lowest they +ever received. + +During a yellow fever epidemic before a quarantine could be declared a +boatload of three hundred people left Louisville at night to go to +Memphis, Tenn. During the same time this boat went to New Orleans where +yellow fever was raging. The captain warned them of it. In two narrow +streets the old darkey recalled how he had seen the people fall over +dead. These streets were crowded and there were no sidewalks, only room +for a wagon. Here the victims would be sitting in the doorways, +apparently asleep, only to fall over dead. + +When the boat returned, one of the crew was stricken with this disease. +Uncle Billy nursed him until they reached his home at Cairo, Ill. No one +else took the yellow fever and this man recovered. + +Another job "Uncle Billy" held was helping to make the brick used in the +U.S. Quarter Master Depot. Colonel James Keigwin operated a brick kiln +in what is now a colored settlement between 10th and 14th and Watt and +Spring Sts. The clay was obtained from this field. It was his task to +off-bare the brick after they were taken from the molds, and to place +them in the eyes to be burned. Wood was used as fuel. + +"Uncle Billy" reads his Bible quite often. He sometimes wonders why he +is still left here--all of his friends are gone; all his brothers and +sisters are gone. But this he believes is the solution--that there must +be someone left to tell about old times. + +"The Bible," he quotes, "says that two shall be working in the field +together and one shall be taken and the other left. I am the one who is +left," he concludes. + + + + +Henrietta Karwowski, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +St. Joseph County--District #1 +South Bend, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +MR. AND MRS. ALEX SMITH +127 North Lake Street +South Bend, Indiana + + +Mr. and Mrs. Alex Smith, an eighty-three year old negro couple were +slaves in Kentucky near Paris, Tennessee, as children. They now reside +at 127 North Lake Street, on the western limits of South Bend. This +couple lives in a little shack patched up with tar paper, tin, and wood. + +Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, the talkative member or the family is a small +woman, very wrinkled, with a stocking cap pulled over her gray hair. She +wore a dress made of three different print materials; sleeves of one +kind, collar of another and body of a third. Her front teeth were +discolored, brown stubs, which suggested that she chews tobacco. + +Mr. Alex Smith, the husband is tall, though probably he was a well built +man at one time. He gets around by means of a cane. Mrs. Smith said that +he is not at all well, and he was in the hospital for six weeks last +winter. + +The wife, Elizabeth or Betty, as her husband calls her, was a slave on +the Peter Stubblefield plantation in Kentucky, the nearest town being +Paris, Tennessee, while Mr. Smith was a slave on the Robert Stubblefield +plantation nearby. + +Although only a child of five, Mr. Smith remembers the Civil War, +especially the marching of thousands of soldiers, and the horse-drawn +artillery wagons. The Stubblefields freed their slaves the first winter +after the war. + +On the Peter Stubblefield plantation the slaves were treated very well +and had plenty to eat, while on the Robert Stubblefield plantation Mr +Smith went hungry many times, and said, "Often, I would see a dog with a +bit of bread, and I would have been willing to take it from him if I had +not been afraid the dog would bite me." + +Mrs. Smith was named after Elizabeth Stubblefield, a relative of Peter +Stubblefield. As a child of five years or less, Elizabeth had to spin +"long reels five cuts a day," pick seed from cotton, and cockle burrs +from wool, and perform the duties of a house girl. + +Unlike the chores of Elizabeth, Mr. Smith had to chop wood, carry water, +chop weeds, care for cows, pick bugs from tobacco plants. This little +boy had to go barefoot both summer and winter, and remembers the +cracking of ice under his bare feet. + +The day the mistress and master came and told the slaves they were free +to go any place they desired, Mrs. Smith's mother told her later that +she was glad to be free but she had no place to go or any money to go +with. Many of the slaves would not leave and she never witnessed such +crying as went on. Later Mrs. Smith was paid for working. She worked in +the fields for "wittels" and clothes. A few years later she nursed +children for twenty-five cents a week and "wittels," but after a time +she received fifty cents a week, board and two dresses. She married Mr. +Smith at the age of twenty. + +Mr Smith's father rented a farm and Mr. Smith has been a farmer all his +life. The Smith couple have been married sixty-four years. Mrs. Smith +says, "and never a cross word exchanged. Mr. Smith and I had no +children." + +The room the writer was invited into was a combination bed-room and +living room with a large heating stove in the centre of the small room. +A bed on one side, a few chairs about the room. The floor was covered +with an old patched rug. The only other room beside this room was a very +small kitchen. The whole home was shabby and poor. + +The only means of support the family has is a government old age pension +which amounts to about fourteen dollars a month. + +Their little shack is situated in the center of a large lot around which +a very nice vegetable garden is planted. The property belongs to Mr. +Harry Brazy, and the old couple does not pay rent or taxes and they may +stay there as long as they live, "which is good enough for us," says +Mrs. Smith. + +As the writer was leaving Mrs. Smith said, "I like to talk and meet +people. Come again." + + + + +Robert C. Irvin +Noblesville, Ind. +District #2 + +EX-SLAVE, LIFE STORY OF +BARNEY STONE, FORMER SLAVE, HAMILTON CO. + + +This is the life story of Barney Stone, a highly respected colored +gentleman of Noblesville, Hamilton County seat. Mr. Stone is near +nintey-one years old, is in sound physical condition and still has a +remarkable memory. He was a slave in the state of Kentucky for more than +sixteen years and a soldier in the Union army for nearly two years. He +educated himself and taught school to colored children four years +following the Civil War. He studied in 1868, and has been a preacher in +the Colored Baptist Faith for sixty nine years, having been instrumental +in the building of seven churches in that time. Mr. Stone joined the K. +of P. Lodge, the I.O.O.F. and Masonic Lodge and is still a member of the +latter. + +This fine old colored man has always worked hard for the uplift and +advancement of the colored race and has accomplished much in this effort +in the States of Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana. He, together with his +preaching of the gospel, and his lecturing, has followed farming. He now +has a field of sweet corn and a fine, large garden, which he plowed, +planted and tended himself and not a weed can be found in either. He is +the only ex-slave now living in Hamilton County, the others all +deceased, and is one of three living members of Hamilton county G.A.R. +the other two members being white. + +Mr. Stone has given to the writer "My Life's Story", which he desires to +call it, and in this story he pictures to the reader, "sixteen years of +hell as a slave on a plantation," a story which will convince the reader +that, even though much blood was shed in our Civil War, the war was a +Godsend to the American Nation. This story is told just as given by Mr. +Stone. + + +MY LIFE'S STORY + +"My name is Barney Stone, I was born in slavery, May 17, 1847, in +Spencer County, Kentucky. I was a slave on the plantation of Lemuel +Stone (all slaves bore the last name of their master) for nearly +seventeen years and was considered a leader among the young slaves on +our plantation. My Mammy was mother to ten children, all slaves, and my +Pappy, Buck Grant, was a buck slave on the plantation of John Grant, his +Mastah; my pappy was used much as a male cow is used on the stock farm +and was hired out to other plantation owners for that purpose and was +regarded as a valuable slave. His Mastah permitted him to visit my +mother each week-end on our plantation. + +My Mastah was a hard man when he was angry, drinking or not feeling +well, then at times he was kind to us. I was compelled to pick cotton +and do other work when I was a very small boy. Mastah would never sell +me because I was regarded as the best young slave on the plantation. +Different from many other slaves, I was kept on the plantation from the +day I was born until the day I ran away. + +Slaves were sold in two ways, sometimes at private sale to a man who +went about the Southland buying slaves until he has many in his +possession, then he would have a big auction sale and would re-sell them +to the highest bidder, much in the same manner as our live-stock are +sold now in auction sales. Professional slave buyers in those days were +called "nigger buyers". He came to the plantation with a doctor. He +would point out two or three slaves which looked good to him and which +could be spared by the owner, and would have the doctor examine the +slave's heart. If the doctor pronounced the slave as sound, then the +nigger buyer would make an offer to the owner and if the amount was +satisfactory, the slave was sold. Some large plantation owners, having a +large number of slaves, would hold a public auction and dispose of some +of them, then he would attend another sale and buy new slaves, this was +done sometimes to get better slaves and sometimes to make money on the +sale of them. + +Many times, as I have said before, our treatment on our plantation was +horrible. When I was just a small boy, I witnessed my sister sold and +taken away. One day one of horses came into the barn and Mastah noticed +that she was caripped. He flew into a rage and thought I had hurt the +horse, either that, or that I knew who did it. I told him that I did not +do it and he demanded that I tell him who did it, if I didn't. I did not +know and when I told him so, he secured a whip tied me to a post and +whipped me until I was covered with blood. I begged him, "Mastah, +Mastah, please don't whip me, I do not know who did it." He then took +out his pocket knife and I would have been killed if Missus (his dear +wife) had not make him quit. She untied me and cared for me. + +Many has been the time, I have seen my mammy beaten mercilessly and for +no good reason. One day, not long before the out-break of the Civil +War, a nigger buyer came and I witnessed my dear Mammy and my one year +old baby brother, sold. I seen er taken away, never to see her again +until I found her twenty-seven years later at Clarksburg, Tennessee. My +baby brother was with her, but I did not know him until Mammy told me +who he was, he had grown into a large man. That was a happy meeting. +After those experiences of "sixteen long years in hell, as a slave", I +was very bitter against the white man, until after I ran away and joined +the Union army. + +At the out-break of the Civil War and when the Northern army was +marching into the Southland, hundreds of male slaves were shot down by +the Rebels, rather than see them join with the Yankees. One day when I +learned that the Northern troops were very close to our plantation, I +ran away and hid in a culvert, but was found and I would have been shot +had the Yankee troops not scattered them and that saved me. I joined +that Union army and served one year, eight months and twenty-two days, +and fought with them in the battle of Fort Wagnor, and also in the +battle of Milikin's Bend. When I went into the army, I could not read or +write. The white soldiers took an interest in me and taught me to write +and read, and when the war was over I could write a very good letter. I +taught what little I knew to colored children after the War. + +I studied day and night for the next three years at the home of a +lawyer, educating myself and in 1868, I started preaching the gospel of +Jesus Christ and have continued to do so for sixty-nine years. In that +time I have been instrumental in the building of seven churches in +Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. I did this good work through +gratefulness to God for my deliverance and my salvation. During my life, +I have joined the K. of P. Lodge, and I.O.O.F and Masonic Lodge. I have +preached for the up-life and advancement of the colored races. I have +accomplished much good in this life and have raised a family of eight +children. I love and am loyal to my country and have received great +compensation from my government for my services. I am in good health and +still able to work, and I am thankful to my God and my country." + + + + +Stories from Ex-Slaves +5th District +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel +1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana + +ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE OF ADAH ISABELLE SUGGS + + +Among the interesting stories connected with former slaves one of the +most outstanding ones is the life story of Adah Isabelle Suggs, indeed +her escape from slavery planned and executed by her anxious mother, +Harriott McClain, bears the earmarks of fiction, but the truth of all +related occurences has been established by the aged negro woman and her +daughter Mrs. Harriott Holloway, both citizens of Evansville, Indiana. + +Born in slavery before January the twenty-second, 1862 the child Adah +McClain was the property of Colonel Jackson McClain and Louisa, his +wife. + +According to the customary practice of raising slave children, Adah was +left at the negro quarters of the McClain plantation, a large estate +located in Henderson county, three and one half miles from the village +of Henderson, Kentucky. There she was cared for by her mother. She +retains many impressions gained in early childhood of the slave +quarters; she remembers the slaves singing and dancing together after +the day of toil. Their voices were strong and their songs were sweet. +"Master was good to his slaves and never beat them" were her words +concerning her master. + +When Adah was not yet five years of age the mistress, Louisa McClain, +made a trip to the slave quarters to review conditions of the negroes. +It was there she discovered that one little girl there had been +developing ideas and ideals; the mother had taught the little one to +knit tiny stockings, using wheat straws for knitting needles. + +Mrs. McClain at once took charge of the child taking her from her +mother's care and establishing her room at the residence of the McClain +family. + +Today the aged Negro woman recalls the words of praise and encouragement +accorded her accomplishments, for the child was apt, active, responsive +to influence and soon learned to fetch any needed volume from the +library shelves of the McClain home. + +She was contented and happy but the mother knew that much unhappiness +was in store for her young daughter if she remained as she was situated. + +A custom prevailed throughout the southern states that the first born +of each slave maiden should be the son or daughter of her master and the +girls were forced into maternity at puberty. The mothers naturally +resisted this terrible practice and Harriott was determined to prevent +her child being victimized. + +One planned escape was thwarted; when the girl was about twelve years of +age the mother tried to take her to a place of safety but they were +overtaken on the road to the ferry where they hoped to be put across the +Ohio river. They were carried back to the plantation and the mother was +mildly punished and imprisoned in an upstair room. + +The little girl knew her mother was imprisoned and often climbed up to a +window where the two could talk together. + +One night the mother received directions through a dream in which her +escape was planned. She told the child about the dream and instructed +her to carry out orders that they might escape together. + +The girl brought a large knife from Mrs. McClain's pantry and by the aid +of that tool the lock was pried from the prison door and the mother made +her way into the open world about midnight. + +A large tobacco barn became her refuge where she waited for her child. +The girl had some trouble making her escape; she had become a useful and +necessary member of her mistress' household and her services were hourly +in demand. The Daughter "young missus" Annie McClain was afflicted from +birth having a cleft palate and later developing heart dropsy which made +regular surgery imperative. The negro girl had learned to care for the +young white woman and could draw the bandages for the surgeon whey +"Young Missus" underwent surgical treatment. + +The memory of one trip to Louisville is vivid in the mind of the old +negress today for she was taken to the city and the party stopped at the +Gault House and [TR: line not completed] + +"It was a grand place," she declares, as she describes the surroundings; +the handsome draperies and the winding stairway and other artistic +objects seen at the grand hotel. + +The child loved her young mistress and the young mistress desired the +good slave should be always near her; so, patient waiting was required +by the negro mother before her daughter finally reached their +rendezvous. + +Under cover of night the two fugitives traveled the three miles to +Henderson, there they secreted themselves under the house of Mrs. +Margaret Bentley until darkness fell over the world to cover their +retreat. Imagine the frightened negroes stealthily creeping through the +woods in constant fear of being recaptured. Federal soldiers put them +across the river at Henderson and from that point they cautiously +advanced toward Evansville. The husband of Harriott, Milton McClain and +her son Jerome were volunteers in a negro regiment. The operation of the +Federal Statute providing for the enlistment of slaves made enlisted +negroes free as well as their wives and children, so, by that statute +Harriott McClain and her daughter should have been given their freedom. + +When the refugees arrived in Evansville they were befriended by free +negroes of the area. Harriott obtained a position as maid with the +Parvine family, "Miss Hallie and Miss Genevieve Parvine were real good +folks," declares the aged negro Adah when repeating her story. After +working for the Misses Parvine for about two years, the negro mother had +saved enough money to place her child in "pay school" there she learned +rapidly. + +Adah McClain was married to Thomas Suggs January 18, 1872. Thomas was a +slave of Bill McClain and it is believed he adopted the name Suggs +because a Mr. Suggs had befriended him in time of trouble. Of this fact +neither the wife nor daughter have positive proof. The father has +departed this life but Adah Suggs lives on with her memories. + +Varied experiences have attended her way. Wifehood and devotion; +motherhood and care she has known for she has given fifteen children to +the world. Among them were one set of twins, daughters and triplets, two +sons and a daughter. She is a beloved mother to those of her children +who remain near her and says she is happy in her belief in God and +Christ and hopes for a glorious hereafter where she can serve the Lord +Jesus Christ and praise him eternally. + +What greater hope can be given to the mortal than the hope cherished by +Adah Isabelle Suggs? + + + + +Folklore +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +"A TRADITION FROM PRE-CIVIL WAR DAYS" +KATIE SUTTON, AGED EX-SLAVE +Oak street, Evansville, Ind. + + +"White folks 'jes naturally different from darkies," said Aunt Katie +Sutton, ex-slave, as she tightened her bonnet strings under her wrinkled +chin. + +"We's different in color, in talk and in ligion and beliefs. We's +different in every way and can never be spected to think oe [TR: or?] to +live alike." + +"When I was a little gal I lived with my mother in an old log cabin. My +mammy was good to me but she had to spend so much of her time at +humoring the white babies and taking care of them that she hardly ever +got to even sing her own babies to sleep." + +"Ole Missus and Young Missus told the little slave children that the +stork brought the white babies to their mothers but that the slave +children were all hatched out from buzzards eggs and we believed it was +true." + +"Yes, Maam, I believes in evil spirits and that there are many folks +that can put spells on you, and if'n you dont believe it you had better +be careful for there are folks right here in this town that have the +power to bewitch you and then you will never be happy again." + +Aunt Katie declared that the seventh son of a seventh son, or the +seventh daughter of a seventh daughter possesses the power to heal +diseases and that a child born after the death of its father possesses a +strange and unknown power. + +While Aunt Katie was talking, a neighbor came in to borrow a shovel from +her. + +"No, no, indeed I never lends anything to nobody," she declared. After +the new neighbor left, Aunt Katie said, "She jes erbout wanted dat +shovel so she could 'hax' me. A woman borrowed a poker from my mammy and +hexed mammy by bending the poker and mammy got all twisted up wid +rhumatis 'twill her uncle straightened de poker and den mammy got as +straight as anybody." + +"No, Maam, nobody wginter take anything of mine out'n this house." Aunt +Katie Sutton's voice was thin and her tune uncertain but she remembered +some of the songs she heard in slavery days. One was a lullaby sung by +her mother and the song is given on separate pages of this artical. + +Three years ago Aunt Katie was called away on her last journey although +she had always emmerced the back and front steps of her cottage with +chamber lye daily to keep away evil spirits death crept in and demanded +the price each of us must pay and Katie answered the call. + +Aunt Katie sprinkled salt in the foot prints of departing guests "Dat's +so dey kain leave no illwill behind em and can never come agin 'thout an +invitation," she explained. + +She said she one time planted a tree with a curse and that her worst +enemy died that same year. + +"Evil spirits creeps around all night long and evil people's always able +to hex you, So, you had best be careful how you talks to strangers. +Always spit on a coin before You gives it to a begger and dont pass too +close to a hunchbacked person unless you can rub the hump or you will +have bad luck as sure as anything." + +Aunt Katie declared a rabbit's foot only brought good luck if the rabbit +had been killed by a cross eyed negro in a country grave yard in the +dark of the moon and she said that she believed one of that description +could be found only once in a lifetime or possibly a hundred years. + + + +"A Slave Mammy's Lullaby." + +Sung by Katie Sutton, Ex-slave of Evansville, Indiana. + + "A snow white stork flew down from the sky. + Rock a bye, my baby bye, + To take a baby gal so fair, + To young missus, waitin there; + When all was quiet as a mouse, + In ole massa's big fine house. + + Refrain: + Dat little gal was borned rich and free, + She's de sap from out a sugah tree; + But you are jes as sweet to me; + My little colored chile, + Jes lay yo head upon my bres; + An res, and res, and res, an res, + My little colored chile. + + To a cabin in a woodland drear, + You've come by a mammy's heart to cheer; + In this ole slave's cabin, + Your hands my heart strings grabbin; + Jes lay your head upon my bres, + Jes snuggle close an res an res; + My little colored chile. + + Repeat Refrain. + + Yo daddy ploughs ole massa's corn, + Yo mammy does the cooking; + She'll give dinner to her hungry chile, + When nobody is a lookin; + Don't be ashamed, my chile, I beg, + Case you was hatched from a buzzard's egg; + My little colored chile." + + Repeat Refrain. + + + + +Dist. No. 4 +Johnson Co. +William R. Mays +Aug. 2, 1937 + +SLAVERY DAYS OF GEORGE THOMPSON + + +My name is George Thompson, I was born in Monroe County, Kentucky near +the Cumberland river Oct. 8, 1854, on the Manfred Furgeson plantation, +who owned about 50 slaves. Mister Furgerson [TR: before, Furgeson] was a +preacher and had three daughters and was kind to his slaves. + +I was quite a small boy when our family, which included an older +sister, was sold to Ed. Thompson in Medcalf Co. Kentucky, who owned +about 50 other slaves, and as was the custom then we was given the name +of our new master, "Thompson". + +I was hardly twelve years old when slavery was abolished, yet I can +remember at this late date most of the happenings as they existed at +that time. + +I was so young and unexperienced when freed I remained on the Thompson +plantation for four years after the war and worked for my board and +clothes as coach boy and any other odd jobs around the plantation. + +I have no education, I can neither read nor write, as a slave I was not +allowed to have books. On Sundays I would go into the woods and gather +ginseng which I would sell to the doctors for from 10¢ to 15¢ a pound +and with this money I would buy a book that was called the Blue Back +Speller. Our master would not allow us to have any books and when we +were lucky enough to own a book we would have to keep it hid, for if our +master would find us with a book he would whip us and take the book from +us. After receiving three severe whippings I gave up and never again +tried for any learning, and to this day I can neither read nor write. + +Slaves were never allowed off of their plantation without a written +pass, and if caught away from their plantation without a pass by the +Pady-Rollers or Gorillars (who were a band of ruffians) they wore +whipped. + +As there were no oil lamps or candles, another black boy and myself +were stationed at the dining table to hold grease lamps for the white +folks to see to eat. And we would use brushes to shoo away the flies. + +In 1869 I left the plantation to go on my own. I landed in Heart County, +Ky. and went to work for Mr. George Parish in the tobacco fields at +$25.00 per year and two suits of clothes; after working two years for +Mr. Parish I left. I drifted from place to place in Alabama and +Mississippi, working first at one place and then another, and finally +drifted into Franklin in 1912 and went to work on the Fred Murry farm on +Hurricane road for 10 years. I afterwards worked for Ashy Furgerson, a +house mover. + +I have lived at my present address, 651 North Young St. since coming to +Franklin. + +(Can furnish photograph if wanted) [TR: no photograph found.] + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +Porter County--District #1 +Valparaiso, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +REV. WAMBLE [TR: above in handwriting is 'Womble'] +1827 Madison Street +Gary, Indiana + + +Rev. Wamble was born a slave in Monroe County, Mississippi, in 1859. The +Westbrook family owned many slaves in charge of over-seers who managed +the farm, on which there were usually two hundred or more slaves. One of +the Westbrook daughters married a Mr. Wamble, a wagon-maker. The +Westbrook family gave the newly-weds two slaves, as did the Wamble +family. One of the two slaves coming from the Westbrook family was Rev. +Wamble's grandfather. It seems that the slaves took the name of their +master, hence Rev. Wamble's grandfather was named Wamble. + +Families owning only a few slaves and in moderate circumstances usually +treated their slaves kindly since like a farmer with only a few horses, +it was to their best interest to see that their slaves were well +provided for. The slaves were valuable, and there was no funds to buy +others, whereas the large slave owners were wealthy and one slave more +or less made little difference. The Reverend's father and his brothers +were children of original African slaves and were of the same age as the +Wamble boys and grew up together. The Reverend's grandfather was manager +of the farm and the three Wamble boys worked under him the same as the +slaves. Mr. Wamble never permitted any of his slaves to be whipped, nor +were they mistreated. + +Mr. Westbrook was a deacon in the Methodist Church and had two slave +over-seers to manage the farm and the slaves. He was very severe with +his slaves and none were ever permitted to leave the farm. If they did +leave the farm and were found outside, they were arrested and whipped. +Then Westbrook was notified and one of the over-seers would come and +take the slave home where he would again be whipped. The slave was tied +to a cedar tree or post and lashed with a snake whip. + +Rev. Wamble's mother was a Deerbrook [HW: Westbrook] slave and when the +Reverend was two years of age, his mother died from a miscarriage caused +by a whipping. When the women slaves were in an advanced stage of +pregnancy they were made to lie face down in a specially dug depression +in the ground and were whipped. Otherwise they were treated like the +men. Their arms were tied around a cedar tree or post, and they were +lashed. + +Since the Reverend appeared to be a promising slave, both the Westbrooks +and the Wambles wanted him, much like one would want a valuable colt +today. Since the Reverend's grandmother was a Westbrook and the Wambles +treated the slaves much better, she wanted him to become a Wamble. She +hid the child in a shed, what would probably be a poor dog-house today, +and fed the child during the night time. + +During this period of his life the Reverend remembers what happened to +one of the Westbrook slaves who had run away. One evening he came to the +Wamble home and asked for some supper. Wamble took the slave into his +home and after feeding him, placed a log chain which was hanging above +the fire-place, around the slave's waist, left him to sleep on a bench +in front of the fire-place. The next morning after the slave was given +breakfast by the Wambles, Westbrook, his son and over-seer appeared. +Rev. Wamble in his hide-out remembers being awakened by the sound of the +slave being whipped and the moaning of the slave. After the whipping, +the slave was turned loose. After he had gone about a mile through the +bottom-land toward the river, Westbrook turned his hounds loose on the +slave's tracks. The hounds treed the slave before he had gone another +mile, much like a dog would tree a cat. + +The Westbrooks pulled the slave down from the tree and the dogs slashed +his foot. The slave was then whipped and long ropes placed around him. +He was driven back to the Wamble place with whips where he was once +again whipped. They [TR: Then?] they drove him two miles to the +Westbrook place where he was whipped once more. Whatever became of the +slave, whether he died or recovered, is unknown. One unusual feature of +this story is that Westbrook who permitted his slaves to be whipped, was +a church deacon, whereas Wamble, who never attended church, never +whipped or mistreated his slaves. + +The Reverend states that in the community where he resided the slaves +were well treated except for the whippings they received. They were +well-fed, and if injured or sick, were attended by a doctor on the same +principal that a person would care for an injured horse or sick cow. The +slaves were valuable, and it was to the best interest of the owner to +see that they were able to work. + +In case of slaves having children, the children became the property of +the mother's owner. If the south had won the war, Wamble would have been +a Westbrook since his mother was a Westbrook slave, and if it lost, he +would go to live with his father and take the name of his father, a +Wamble slave. So until the war was over he was hid out much like a small +child would bring a stray dog home and hide it somewhere for fear that +if his parents discovered it, it would be taken away. + +The living quarters of the slaves were made of logs covered with mud, +and the roof was covered with coarse boards upon which dirt about a +foot in depth was placed. There were no floors except dirt or the bare +ground. The furniture consisted of a small stove and the beds were two +boards extending from two walls, the extending ends resting on a peg +driven into the ground. This would make a one-legged bed. The two boards +were covered across ways with more boards and the slaves slept on these +boards or upon the dirt floor. There were no blankets provided for them. +For food the slaves received plenty of meat, potatoes, and whatever +could be raised. If the master had plenty to eat, so did the slaves, but +if food was not plentiful for the master, the slaves had less to eat. + +Only one of the three Wamble boys joined the southern army. Until the +war was over, the other two boys who refused to go to war hid out in the +surrounding woods and hills. The only time the Reverend's father left +the farm was to attend his master Billy, when he was in a hospital +recovering from wounds received in battle. + +Wamble was a wagon-maker, and he made two or three wagons which usually +took about six months. Then he hitched teams to them and went north to +Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas and kept going until he had sold the +wagons and teams, keeping one wagon and team, with which to return home. +Some times the master would be gone for a period of nine to twelve +months. During his absence the Reverend's grandfather was in charge of +the farm. + +The grandmother of Rev. Wamble was a full-blooded African negro, brought +to this country as a slave at seventeen years of age. She was a very +large and strong woman and was often hired out to do a man's work. +Slaves were forbidden to have papers in their possession and since they +were forbidden to read papers, hardly any slaves could read or write. +There never was any occasion or need to do these things. It was not +known that the Reverend's grandmother could read and write until after +the Civil War. The Reverend remembers his grandmother bringing an old +newspaper to his hide-out during the Civil War, late at night, after +the Wamble family had retired, and making a candle from fried meat +grease and a cord string, which made a very tiny light. She placed some +old blankets over the walls so that no light could be seen through the +cracks in the hut. She would then place the paper as near as possible to +the light, without burning it, and read the paper. It was never +discovered where or how she learned to read and write. + +If a young, good-looking, husky negro was trustworthy, the family would +make him the driver of the family carriage. They would dress him in the +best clothes obtainable and with a silk-finished beaver skin hat. The +driver sat on a seat on the top and towards the front of the carriage. +He was compelled to stay on this seat when waiting for any of the family +that he might be driving, regardless of the weather or the length of +time that he had to wait. + +The mail was carried in the same kind of vehicle with negro drivers. In +each town there was a certain rack at which this mail carriage would +stop in each village or wherever the designated stop was made. Upon +nearing the rack and coming to a stop, the driver would blow a bugle +call which could be heard for miles around, and people hearing this +bugle would come and get their mail. The Reverend remembers that several +of these drivers froze to death during the cold weather, and that in the +winter, many times the horses on the mail carriage upon coming to this +rack would stop, and the driver would be sitting frozen to death in his +seat. + +Men would take him down, carefully saving the silk beaver-skin hat for +some other driver. + +Since the slaves had no votes, they had no interest in politics when +they became free and knew nothing about political conditions other than +that after the Civil War they were free and had a vote. As a boy the +Reverend remembers seeing the white and black soldiers marching on +election day. + +The politicians would always tell the negroes what was good for them and +making it appear that it was for their best interest, and they should +vote for him, always giving them the desert first and making them think +that they were on the level no matter what the meal might be or what +hardships they were causing the negro to suffer. On one instance after +the negroes were forbidden to vote they marched in a body to the polls +and demanded a Democratic ballot and were then permitted to vote. + +Rev. Wamble was twenty-seven years of age before he saw and read his +first newspaper. He lived with the Wambles for twenty years after the +war, when his father then in partnership with another man, purchased +forty acres of land. He attended his first school for a period of two +months only in 1871. In 1872 the government built a school on his +father's farm and it was taught by a missionary. The school term was for +a period of three months each year. The Reverend attended this school +for seven years. + +In 1880 he married the first time. His first wife died in Memphis, +Tennessee, in 1888. By this marriage there were four children. On +February 1, 1892, the Reverend with his two surviving children all +entered school at a college in Little Rock, Arkansas. One of his +daughters died in the third year of her school year, but the other +graduated from the Normal School and was a teacher for several years. At +the present time she is married to a minister in Louisiana and is the +mother of ten children and is a nurse. The three oldest children have +degrees and the others are expected to do the same. + +The Reverend married his second wife in 1894. She died in 1907. By this +marriage nine children were born. + +The Reverend has been in the ministry for thirty-seven years. Seeing the +need of making more money, two of his sons came to Gary, Indiana, to +work in 1924. Now both are working in the post-office. Two years later +he came to Gary for the same reason and after working two years in the +coke plant, was laid off due to the depression. The youngest daughter of +the Reverend by his second marriage graduated from a college in Pine +Bluff, Arkansas, and is now teaching in New York City. + +Although the Reverend is advanced in years, he is quite active and +healthy. He says he has a small pension and is just waiting until it is +time to pass on to the next world. He has six children and seventeen +grandchildren living. + +As the Reverend remembered the south, none of the white people worked at +manual labor, but usually sat under a shade tree. They were usually +clerks, bookkeepers or tradesmen. + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +5th District +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel +1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana + +THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHILD BORN IN SLAVERY +SAMUEL WATSON +[HW: Personal Interview] + + +Samuel Watson, a citizen of Evansville, Indiana, was born in Webster +County, Kentucky, February 14, 1862. His master's home was located two +and one half miles from Clay, Kentucky on Craborchard Creek. + +"Uncle Sammy" as the negro children living near his home on South East +Fifth Street call the old man, possesses an unusually clear memory. In +fact he remembers seeing the soldiers and hearing the report of cannon +while he was yet an infant. + +One story told by the old negro relates how; "old missus" saved "old +massa's horses". The story follows: + +The mistress accompanied by a number of slaves was walking out one +morning and all were startled by the sound of hurrying horses. Soon many +mounted soldiers could be seen coming over a hill in the distance. The +child Samuel was later told that the soldiers were making their way to +Fort Donelson and were pressing horses into service. They were also +enlisting negroes into service whenever possible. + +Old master, Thomas Watson, owned many good able-bodied slaves and many +splendid horses. The mistress realised the danger of loss and opening +the "big gate" that separated the corral from the forest lands, Mrs. +Watson ran into the midst of the horses shouting and frailing them. The +frightened horses ran into the forest off the highway and toward the +river. + +When the soldiers stopped at the Watson plantation they found only a few +old work horses standing under a tree and not desiring these they want +on their way. + +The little negro boy ran and hid himself in the corner made by a great +outside chimney, where he was found later, by his frightened mother. +Uncle Samuel remembers that the horses came home the following +afternoon, none missing. + +Uncle Samuel remembers when the war ended and the slaves were +emancipated. "Some were happy! and some were sad!" Many dreaded leaving +their old homes and their masters' families. + +Uncle Samuel's mother and three children were told that they were free +people and the master asked the mother to take her little ones and go +away. + +She complied and took her family to the plantation of Jourdain James, +hoping to work and keep her family together. Wages received for her work +failed to support the mother and children so she left the employ of Mr. +James and worked from place to place until her children became half +starved and without clothing. + +The older children, remembering better and happier days, ran away from +their mother and went back to their old master. + +Thomas Watson went to Dixon, Kentucky and had an article of indenture +drawn up binding both Thomas and Laurah to his service for a long number +of years. Little Samuel only remained with his mother who took him to +the home of William Allen Price. Mr. Price's plantation was situated in +Webster County, Kentucky about half-way between Providence and Clay on +Craborchard Creek. Mr. Price had the little boy indentured to his +service for a period of eighteen years. There the boy lived and worked +on the plantation. + +He said he had a good home among good people. His master gave him five +real whippings within a period of fourteen years but Uncle Samuel +believes he deserved every lash administered. + +Uncle Samuel loved his master's family, he speaks of Miss Lena, Miss +Lula, Master Jefferson and Master John and believes they are still +alive. Their present home is at Cebra, Kentucky. + +It was the custom for a slave indentured to a master to be given a fair +education, a good horse, bridle, saddle and a suit of clothes for his +years of toil, but Mr. Price did not believe the boy deserved the pay +and refused to pay him. A lawyer friend sued in behalf of the Negro and +received a judgement of $115.00 (one hundred and fifteen dollars). +Eighteen dollars repaid the lawyer for his service and Samuel started +out with $95.00 and his freedom. + +Evansville became the home of Samuel Watson in 1882. The trip was made +by train to Henderson then on transfer boat along the Ohio to +Evansville. + +The young negro man was impressed by the boat and crew and said he loved +the town from the first glimpse. + +Dr. Bacon, a prominent citizen living at Chandler Avenue and Second +Street, employed Samuel as coachman. His next service was as house-man +for Levi Igleheart, 1010 Upper Second Street. Mr. Igleheart grew to +trust Samuel and gave him many privileges allowing him to care for +horses and to manage business for the family. + +Samuel was married in 1890. His wife was born in Evansville and knew +nothing of slavery by birth or indenture. + +Uncle Samuel was given a job at the Trinity Church, corner of Third and +Chestnut Streets. Mr. Igleheart recommended him for the position. He +received $30.00 per month for his services for a period of six years. + +Mr. McNeely employed him for several years as janitor for lodges and +secret orders. The old negro was also a paper hanger and wall cleaner +and did well untill the panic seized him as it did others. + +Uncle Samuel was entitled to an old age pension which he recieved from +1934 until 1935 but January 15th, 1936 something went wrong and the +money was with held. Then uncle Samuel was sent to the poor house. Still +he was not unhappy and did what he could to make others happy. + +In 1936 he again applied and received the pension. $17.00 per month is +paid for his upkeep, his only labor consists of tending a little garden +and doing light chores. He lives with William Crosby on S.E. Fifth +Street. + + + + +Iris L Cook +District #4 +Floyd County + +SLAVE STORY +STORY OF NANCY WHALLEN +924 Pearl St. +New Albany, Ind. + + +Nancy Whallen is now about 81 years of age. She doesn't know exactly. +She was about 5 year of age when Freedom was declared. Nancy was born +and raised in Hart County near Hardinsburg, Kentucky. She is very hard +to talk to as her memory is failing and she can not hear very well. + +The little negro girl lived the usual life of a rural negro in Civil War +Time and afterwards. She remembers the "sojers" coming thru the place +and asking for food. Some of them camped on the farm and talked to her +and teased her. + +She tells about one big nigger called "Scott" on the place who could +outwork all the others. He would hang his hat and shirt on a tree limb +and work all day long in the blazing sun on the hottest day. + +The colored folk, used to have revivals, out in the woods. They would +sometimes build a sort of brush shelter with leaves for a roof and +service a would be held here. Preachin' and shouting' sometimes lasted +all day Sundays. Colored folks came from miles around when they possibly +could get away. These affairs were usually held away from the "white +folks" who seldom if ever saw these gatherings. + + +Observation of the writer. + +The old woman remembers the Big Eclipse of the sun or the "Day of Dark" +as she called it. The chickens all went to roost and the darkies all +thought the end of the world had come. The cattle lowed and everyone was +scared to death. + +She lived down in Kentucky after the War until she was quite a young +woman and then came to Indiana where she has lived ever since. She lives +now with her daughter in New Albany. + + + + +Special Assignment +Emily Hobson +Dist. #3 +Parke County + +INTERVIEW WITH ANDERSON WHITTED, +COLORED EX-SLAVE, OF ROCKVILLE, INDIANA + +[Illustration: Anderson Whitted] + + +Mr. Whitted will be 89 years old next month October 1937. He was born in +Orange County, North Carolina. His mother took care of the white +children so her nine children were very well treated. The master was a +Doctor. The family were Hickory Quakers and did not believe in +mistreating their slaves, always providing them with plenty to eat, and +clothing to wear to church on Sunday. Despite a law that prohibited +books to Negroes, his family had a Bible, and an elementary spelling +book. Mr. Whitted's father belonged to his master's half-brother and +lived fourteen miles away. He was allowed a horse to go see them every +two weeks. The father could read, and spell very well so would teach +them on his visits. Mr. Whitted learned to read the Bible first, then in +later years has learned to read other things. It was the custom for the +master to search the negro huts, but Mr. Whitted's master never did. + +The Doctor often took Mr. Whitted's grandmother with him to help care +for the sick. When the war broke out the Master's son joined the +southern forces. The son was wounded. The Doctor and Mr. Whitted's +grandmother went for the boy. On the way home the Doctor died but the +grandmother got the boy home and nursed him back to health. Life for the +Negroes was different after the son began running the place, he was not +good to them. Mr. Whitted was then 16 years old, and the older brother +was the overseer. The negroes had been allowed a share of the crop but +the new master refused them anything to live on. In that region the +wheat was harvested the middle of June. There was a big crop that year +but the entire family was turned out before the harvest, with nothing. +Mr. Whitted left his older brother with his mother and the children +sitting by the road, while he ran the 14 miles for his father to find +out what to do. The father borrowed two teams and wagons, rented a house +in the edge of town, and moved the family in. + +The slaves were freed about that time, and for the first time in their +lives they were free, and the entire family together. The father went to +the governor for food. The government was allowing hard tack and +pickled beef for the negroes. They received their allotment, and were +well satisfied with hard tack because they were free. In telling about +the pickled beef he says he never has seen any beef since that looked +like it; he believed that it was horse meat. The father started working +in a mill in 1865. He was soon bringing home food stuff from there, and +in time they had a crop on their little place. + +The older brother worked in the mornings and went to a Quaker Normal +School in the afternoon. Pres. Harrison gave him an appointment in the +revenue department, then as he grew older he was transferred to the post +office department. He was retired on a pension at the age of 75. He is +still living in Washington, D.C., and is now 97 years old. + +During the war Mr. Whitted ran away, going 12 miles to the camp of the +northern soldiers where he stayed two weeks. They gave him a horse to +ride, and sent him gathering fuel through the woods for them. Those were +the happiest days he had ever known--his first freedom. + +Mr. Whitted was never sold, but he often saw processions go past after a +sale, the wagon loaded with provisions first, then the slaves tied +together following. They often took the babies away from their mothers, +and sold them. Some old woman, too old to work, would then care for the +little ones until they were old enough to work. At six years old they +were put to work thinning corn, worming the tobacco, and pulling weeds. +At seven they were taught to use a hoe. At 16 they were full hands, +working along with the older men. + +In April 1880 Mr. Whitted left Orange County, it was so very rough it +was hard to make a living. He just started out in search of a better +place, leaving his wife and seven children there. In November he sent +for them, he was working at the brick yards in Rockville. They were +finishing the court house. He was so anxious to make a living he often +did as much as two men. One child was born here. His wife died soon +after coming to Rockville. He stayed single for three years, but found +he could not care for his family and married again. His second wife died +a number of years ago. He now spends the winters with his three living +daughters, and during the summer months, a daughter comes to Rockville +to enjoy his home. + +Mr. Whitted's uncle belonged to a mean master. The slaves worked hard +all day, then were chained together at night. The uncle ran away in the +early part of the war, and after two years broke through the lines, and +joined the northern army, going back after emancipation. + + + + +Iris Cook +Dist 4 +Floyd Co. + +SLAVE STORY +THE STORY OF ALEX WOODSON +905 E. 4th St. +New Albany, Ind. + + +Observation of Writer + +Alex Woodson is an old light skinned darkey, he looks to be between 80 +and 85, it is hard to tell his age, and colored folks hardly ever do +know their correct age. I visited him in his little cottage and had a +long talk with him and his wife (his second). "Planted the fust one." +They run a little grocery in the front room of the cottage. But the +stock was sadly run down. Together with the little store and his +"pinshun" (old age pension) these old folks manage to get along. + +Alex Woodson was born at Woodsonville, in Hart County, Kentucky, just +across Green River from Munfordville. He was a good sized boy, possibly +7 years or more when "Freedom wuz declared". His master was "Old Marse" +Sterrett who had about a 200 acre place and whose son in law Tom +Williams ran a store on this place. When Williams married Sterretts +daughter he was given Uncle Alex and his mother and brother as a +present. Williams was then known as "Young Master." + +When war come Old Master gave his (Woodson's) mother a big roll of +bills, "greenbacks as big as Yo' arm", to keep for him, and was forced +to leave the neighborhood. After the war the old darkey returned the +money to him intact. + +Uncle Alex remembers his mother taking him and other children and +running down the river bank and hiding in the woods all night when the +soldiers came. They were Morgan's men and took all available cattle and +horses in the vicinity and beat the woods looking for Yankee soldiers. +Uncle Alex said he saw Morgan at a distance on his big horse and he "wuz +shore a mighty fine looker." + +Sometimes the Yankee soldiers would come riding along and they "took +things too". + +When the War was over old Master came back home and the negroes +continued to live on at the place as usual, except for a few that wanted +to go North. Old Master lived in a great big house with all his family +and the Negroes lived in another good sized house or quarters, all +together. There were a few cabins. + +"Barbecues! My we shore used to have 'em, yes ma'am, we did! Folks would +come for miles around. Would roast whole hawgs and cows, and folks would +sing, and eat and drink whiskey. The white folks had 'em but we helped +and had fun too. Sometimes we would have one ourselves." + +"Used to have rail splittin's and wood choppins. The men woud work all +day, and get a pile of wood as big as a house. At noon they'd stop and +eat a big meal that the women folks had fixed up for em. Them wuz some +times, I've spent to many a one." + +"I remember we used to go to revivals sometimes, down near Horse ave. +Everybody got religion and we shore had some times. We don't have them +kind of times any more. I remember I went back down to one of those +revivals years afterwards. Most of the folks I used to know was dead or +gone. The preacher made me set up front with him, and he asked me to +preach to the folks. But I sez that "no, God hadn't made me that away +and I wouldn't do it." + +I've saw Abraham Lincoln's cabin many a time, when I was young. It set +up on a high hill, and I've been to the spring under the hill lots of +times. The house was on the Old National Road then. I hear they've fixed +it all up now. I haven't been there for years. + +After the war when I grewed up I married, and settled on the old place. +I remember the only time I got beat in a horse trade. A sneakin' nigger +from down near Horse Cave sold me a mule. That mule was jest natcherly +no count. He would lay right down in the plow. One day after I had +worked with him and tried to get him to work right, I got mad. I says to +my wife, Belle, I'm goin' to get rid of that mule if I have to trade him +for a cat. An' I led him off. When I came back I had another mule and +$15 to boot. This mule she wuz shore skinny but when I fattened her up +you wouldn't have known her." + +"Finally I left the old place and we come north to Indiana. We settled +here and I've been here for 50 years abourt. I worked in the old Rolling +Mill. And I've been an officer in the Baptist Church at 3rd and Main for +41 years." + +"Do I believe in ghosts" (Here his second wife gave a sniff) Well ma'am +I don't believe in ghosts but I do in spirits. (another disgusted sniff +from the second wife) I remember one time jest after my first wife died +I was a sittin right in that chair your sittin in now. The front door +opened and in come a big old grey mule, and I didn't have no grey mule. +In she come just as easy like, put one foot down slow, and then the +other, and then the other I says 'Mule git out here, you is goin through +that floor, sure as youre born. Get out that door.' Mule looked at me +sad-like and then just disappeared. And in its place was my first wife, +in the clothes she was buried in. She come up to me and I put my arms +around her, but I couldn't feel nothin' (another sniff from the second +wife) and I says, "Babe, what you want?" + +Then she started to git littler and littler and lower and finally went +right away through the floor. It was her spirit thats what it was. +("Rats" says the second wife.) + +"Another time she came to me by three knocks and made me git up and +sleep on another bed where it was better sleepin'." + +"I like to go back down in Kentucky on visits as the folks there wont +take a thing for bed and vittles. Here they are so selfish wont even +gave a drink of water away." + +"Yes'm the flood got us. Me and my wife here, we whet away and stayed +two months. Was 5 feet in this house, and if it ever gets in here agin, +we're goin down in Kentucky and never comin' back no more." + +The old man and his wife bowed me out the front door and asked me to +come back again and we'ed talk some more about old times. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Slave Narratives: A Folk History of +Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, by Work Projects Administration + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: INDIANA *** + +***** This file should be named 13579-8.txt or 13579-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/5/7/13579/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Andrea Ball, Terry Gilliland and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States + From Interviews with Former Slaves: Indiana Narratives + +Author: Work Projects Administration + +Release Date: October 2, 2004 [EBook #13579] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: INDIANA *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Andrea Ball, Terry Gilliland and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. Produced from images provided +by the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p>[TR: ***] = Transcriber Note</p> +<p>[HW: ***] = Handwritten Note</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;"><br><br> + +<a name="img_PD"></a> +<center> +<img src='images/pdunn.jpg' width='360' height='477' alt='Peter Dunn'> +</center> + + + +<h1>SLAVE NARRATIVES</h1> +<br> + +<h2><i>A Folk History of Slavery in the United States<br> +From Interviews with Former Slaves</i></h2> +<br> + + +<h4>TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY<br> +THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT<br> +1936-1938<br> +ASSEMBLED BY<br> +THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT<br> +WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION<br> +FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA<br> +SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS</h4> +<br> + + +<p><i>Illustrated with Photographs</i></p> + +<br> + + +<p>WASHINGTON 1941</p> +<br><br><br> + +<h2>VOLUME V</h2> + +<h2>INDIANA NARRATIVES</h2> + + + +<h3>Prepared by<br> +the Federal Writers' Project of<br> +the Works Progress Administration<br> +for the State of Georgia</h3> +<br><br><br> + + +<h2>INFORMANTS</h2> + +<a href='#ArnoldGeorge'>Arnold, George W.</a> [TR: with Professor W.S. Best and Samuel Bell]<br> +<a href='#AshThomasCraneMary'>Ash, Thomas, and Crane, Mary</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#BarberRosa'>Barber, Rosa</a><br> +<a href='#BlakeleyMittie'>Blakeley, Mittie</a><br> +<a href='#BooneCarl'>Boone, Carl</a><br> +<a href='#BowmanJulia'>Bowman, Julia</a><br> +<a href='#BoyceAngie'>Boyce, Angie</a><br> +<a href='#BoysawEdna'>Boysaw, Edna</a><br> +<a href='#BraceyCallie'>Bracey, Callie</a> [TR: daughter of Louise Terrell]<br> +<a href='#BucknerGeorgeWashington'>Buckner, Dr. George Washington</a><br> +<a href='#BurnsGeorgeTaylor'>Burns, George Taylor</a><br> +<a href='#ButlerBelle'>Butler, Belle</a> [TR: daughter of Chaney Mayer]<br> +<br> +<a href='#CarterJosephWilliam'>Carter, Joseph William</a><br> +<a href='#CaveEllen'>Cave, Ellen</a><br> +<a href='#CheatamHarriet'>Cheatam, Harriet</a><br> +<a href='#ChildressJane'>Childress, James</a><br> +<a href='#ColbertSarah'>Colbert, Sarah</a><br> +<a href='#CooperMandy'>Cooper, Frank</a> [TR: son of Mandy Cooper]<br> +<br> +<a href='#EdmundsHH'>Edmunds, Rev. H.H.</a><br> +<a href='#EubanksJohn'>Eubanks, John</a> [TR: and family]<br> +<a href='#EubanksJohn2'>Eubanks, John</a> + [TR: second interview]<br> +<br> +<a href='#FieldsJohnW'>Fields, John W.</a><br> +<a href='#FieldsJohnW2'>Fields, John</a> + [TR: second interview]<br> +<a href='#FortmanGeorge'>Fortman, George</a> [TR: and other interested citizens]<br> +<br> +<a href='#GibsonJohnHenry'>Gibson, John Henry</a><br> +<a href='#GuwnBetty'>Guwn, Betty</a> [TR: reported by Mrs. Hattie Cash, daughter]<br> +<br> +<a href='#HockadayMrs'>Hockaday, Mrs.</a><br> +<a href='#HowardRobert'>Howard, Robert</a><br> +<a href='#HumeMatthew'>Hume, Matthew</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#JacksonHenrietta'>Jackson, Henrietta</a><br> +<a href='#JohnsonLizzie'>Johnson, Lizzie</a><br> +<a href='#JonesBetty'>Jones, Betty</a><br> +<a href='#JonesNathan'>Jones, Nathan</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#LennoxAdelineRose'>Lennox, Adeline Rose</a><br> +<a href='#LewisThomas'>Lewis, Thomas</a><br> +<a href='#LockeSarahH'>Locke, Sarah H.</a> [TR: daughter of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor]<br> +<br> +<a href='#McKinleyRobert'>McKinley, Robert</a><br> +<a href='#MillerRichard'>Miller, Richard</a><br> +<a href='#MoormanHenryClay'>Moorman, Rev. Henry Clay</a><br> +<a href='#MorganAmerica'>Morgan, America</a><br> +<a href='#MorrisonGeorge'>Morrison, George</a><br> +<a href='#MosleyJoseph'>Mosely, Joseph</a> [TR: also reported as Moseley in text of interview]<br> +<br> +<a href='#PattersonAmyElizabeth'>Patterson, Amy Elizabeth</a><br> +<a href='#PrestonMrs'>Preston, Mrs.</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#QuinnWilliamM'>Quinn, William M.</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#RichardsonCandus'>Richardson, Candus</a><br> +<a href='#RobinsonJoe'>Robinson, Joe</a><br> +<a href='#RogersRosaline'>Rogers, Rosaline</a><br> +<a href='#RollinsParthenia'>Rollins, Parthena</a><br> +<a href='#RuddJohn'>Rudd, John</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#SamuelsAmandaElizabeth'>Samuels, Amanda Elizabeth</a><br> +<a href='#SimmsJack'>Simms, Jack</a><br> +<a href='#SlaughterBilly'>Slaughter, Billy</a><br> +<a href='#SmithMrMrsAlex'>Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Alex</a><br> +<a href='#StoneBarney'>Stone, Barney</a><br> +<a href='#SuggsAdahIsabelle'>Suggs, Adah Isabelle</a><br> +<a href='#SuttonKatie'>Sutton, Katie</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#ThompsonGeorge'>Thompson, George</a><br> +<br> +<a href='#WambleRev'>Wamble (Womble), Rev.</a><br> +<a href='#WatsonSamuel'>Watson, Samuel</a><br> +<a href='#WhallenNancy'>Whallen, Nancy</a><br> +<a href='#WhittedAnderson'>Whitted, Anderson</a><br> +<a href='#WoodsonAlex'>Woodson, Alex</a><br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<a href='#img_MC'>Mary Crane</a> [TR: not in original index]<br> +<br> +<a href="#img_PD">Peter Dunn</a> [TR: frontispiece, no accompanying interview]<br> +<br> +<a href='#img_JF1'>John W. Fields</a><br> +<a href='#img_JF2'>John Fields</a> + [TR: second photograph]<br> +<br> +<a href='#img_AW'>Anderson Whitted</a><br> +<br> + +<p>[TR: Federal Writer Anna Pritchett annotated her interviews by marking +each paragraph to indicate whether the information was obtained from the +respondent (A) or was a comment by the interviewer (B). Since the +information was presented in sequence, it is presented here without +these markings, with the interviewer's remarks set apart by the topic +heading 'Interviewer's Comment'.]</p> + +<p>[TR: Information listed separately as References, such as informant +names and addresses, has been incorporated into the interview headers. +In some cases, information has been rearranged for readability. Names in +brackets were drawn from text of interviews.]</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="ArnoldGeorge"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District No. 5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +AN UNHAPPY EXPERIENCE<br> +[GEORGE W. ARNOLD]</h3> +<br> + +<p>This is written from an interview with each of the following: George W. +Arnold, Professor W.S. Best of the Lincoln High School and Samuel Bell, +all of Evansville, Indiana.</p> + +<p>George W. Arnold was born April 7, 1861, in Bedford County, Tennessee. +He was the property of Oliver P. Arnold, who owned a large farm or +plantation in Bedford county. His mother was a native of Rome, Georgia, +where she remained until twelve years of age, when she was sold at +auction.</p> + +<p>Oliver Arnold bought her, and he also purchased her three brothers and +one uncle. The four negroes were taken along with other slaves from +Georgia to Tennessee where they were put to work on the Arnold +plantation.</p> + +<p>On this plantation George W. Arnold was born and the child was allowed +to live in a cabin with his relatives and declares that he never heard +one of them speak an unkind word about Master Oliver Arnold or any +member of his family. "Happiness and contentment and a reasonable amount +of food and clothes seemed to be all we needed," said the now +white-haired man.</p> + +<p>Only a limited memory of Civil War days is retained by the old man but +the few events recalled are vividly described by him. "Mother, my young +brother, my sister and I were walking along one day. I don't remember +where we had started but we passed under the fort at Wartrace. A battle +was in progress and a large cannon was fired above us and we watched the +huge ball sail through the air and saw the smoke of the cannon pass over +our heads. We poor children were almost scared to death but our mother +held us close to her and tried to comfort us. The next morning, after, +we were safely at home ... we were proud we had seen that much of the +great battle and our mother told us the war was to give us freedom."</p> + +<p>"Did your family rejoice when they were set free?" was the natural +question to ask Uncle George.</p> + +<p>"I cannot say that they were happy, as it broke up a lot of real +friendships and scattered many families. Mother had a great many pretty +quilts and a lot of bedding. After the negroes were set free, Mars. +Arnold told us we could all go and make ourselves homes, so we started +out, each of the grown persons loaded with great bundles of bedding, +clothing and personal belongings. We walked all the way to Wartrace to +try to find a home and some way to make a living."</p> + +<p>George W. Arnold remembers seeing many soldiers going to the pike road +on their way to Murfreesboro. "Long lines of tired men passed through +Guy's Gap on their way to Murfreesboro," said he. "Older people said +that they were sent out to pick up the dead from the battle fields after +the bloody battle of Stone's river that had lately been fought at +Murfreesboro. They took their comrades to bury them at the Union +Cemetery near the town of Murfreesboro."</p> + +<p>"Wartrace was a very nice place to make our home. It was located on the +Nashville and Chattanooga and St. Louis railroad, just fifty-one miles +from Nashville not many miles from our old home. Mother found work and +we got along very well but as soon as we children were old enough to +work, she went back to her old home in Georgia where a few years later +she died. I believe she lived to be seventy-five or seventy six years of +age, but I never saw her after she went back to Georgia."</p> + +<p>"My first work was done on a farm (there are many fine farms in +Tennessee) and although farm labor was not very profitable we were +always fed wherever we worked and got some wages. Then I got a job on +the railroad. Our car was side tracked at a place called Silver +Springs," said Uncle George, "and right at that place came trouble that +took the happiness out of my life forever." Here the story teller +paused to collect his thoughts and conquer the nervous twitching of his +lips. "It was like this: Three of us boys worked together. We were like +three brothers, always sharing our fortunes with each other. We should +never have done it, but we had made a habit of sending to Nashville +after each payday and having a keg of Holland rum sent in by freight. +This liquor was handed out among our friends and sometimes we drank too +much and were unfit for work for a day or two. Our boss was a big strong +Irishman, red haired and friendly. He always got drunk with us and all +would become sober enough to soon return to our tasks."</p> + +<p>"The time I'm telling you about, we had all been invited to a candy +pulling in town and could hardly wait till time to go, as all the young +people of the valley would be there to pull candy, talk, play games and +eat the goodies served to us. The accursed keg of Holland rum had been +brought in that morning and my chum John Sims had been drinking too +much. About that time our Boss came up and said, 'John, it is time for +you to get the supper ready!' John was our cook and our meals were +served on the caboose where we lived wherever we were side tracked."</p> + +<p>"All the time Johny was preparing the food he was drinking the rum. When +we went in he had many drinks inside of him and a quart bottle filled to +take to the candy pull. 'Hurry up boys and let's finish up and go' he +said impatiently. 'Don't take him' said the other boy, 'Dont you see he +is drunk?' So I put my arms about his shoulders and tried to tell him he +had better sleep a while before we started. The poor boy was a breed. +His mother was almost white and his father was a thoroughbred Indian and +the son had a most aggravating temper. He made me no answer but running +his hand into his pocket, he drew out his knife and with one thrust, cut +a deep gash in my neck. A terrible fight followed. I remember being +knocked over and my head stricking something. I reached out my hand and +discovered it was the ax. With this awful weapon I struck my friend, my +more than brother. The thud of the ax brought me to my senses as our +blood mingled. We were both almost mortally wounded. The boss came in +and tried to do something for our relief but John said, 'Oh, George? +what an awful thing we have done? We have never said a cross word to +each other and now, look at us both.'"</p> + +<p>"I watched poor John walk away, darkness was falling but early in the +morning my boss and I followed a trail of blood down by the side of the +tracks. From there he had turned into the woods. We could follow him no +further. We went to all the nearby towns and villages but we found no +person who had ever seen him. We supposed he had died in the woods and +watched for the buzzards, thinking thay would lead us to his body but he +was never seen again."</p> + +<p>"For two years I never sat down to look inside a book nor to eat my food +that John Sims was not beside me. He haunted my pillow and went beside +me night and day. His blood was on my hands, his presence haunted me +beyond endurance. What could I do? How could I escape this awful +presence? An old friend told me to put water between myself and the +place where the awful scene occurred. So, I quit working on the railroad +and started working on the river. People believed at that time that the +ghost of a person you had wronged would not cross water to haunt you."</p> + +<p>Life on the river was diverting. Things were constantly happening and +George Arnold put aside some of his unhappiness by engaging in river +activities.</p> + +<p>"My first job on the river was as a roust-about on the Bolliver H Cook a +stern wheel packet which carried freight and passengers from Nashville, +Tennessee to Evansville, Indiana. I worked a round trip on her and then +went from Nashville to Cairo, Illinois on the B.S. Rhea. I soon decided +to go to Cairo and take a place on the Eldarado, a St. Louis and +Cincinnati packet which crused from Cairo to Cincinnati. On that boat I +worked as a roust-about for nearly three years."</p> + +<p>"What did the roust-about have to do?" asked a neighbor lad who had come +into the room. "The roust-about is no better than the mate that rules +him. If the mate is kindly disposed the roust-about has an easy enough +life. The negroes had only a few years of freedom and resented cruelty. +If the mate became too mean, a regular fight would follow and perhaps +several roust-abouts would be hurt before it was finished."</p> + +<p>Uncle George said that food was always plentiful on the boats. +Passengers and freight were crowded together on the decks. At night +there would be singing and dancing and fiddle music. "We roust-abouts +would get together and shoot craps, dance or play cards until the call +came to shuffle freight, then we would all get busy and the mate's voice +giving orders could be heard for a long distance."</p> + +<p>"In spite of these few pleasures, the life of a roust-about is the life +of a dog. I do not recall any unkindnesses of slavery days. I was too +young to realize what it was all about, but it could never have equalled +the cruelty shown the laborer on the river boats by cruel mates and +overseers."</p> + +<p>Another superstition advanced itself in the story of a boat, told by +Uncle George Arnold. The story follows: "When I was a roust-about on the +Gold Dust we were sailing out from New Orleans and as soon as we got +well out on the broad stream the rats commenced jumping over board. 'See +these rats' said an old river man, 'This boat will never make a return +trip!'"</p> + +<p>"At every port some of our crew left the boat but the mate and the +captain said they were all fools and begged us to stay. So a few of us +stayed to do the necessary work but the rats kept leaving as fast as +they could."</p> + +<p>"When the boat was nearing Hickman, Kentucky, we smelled fire, and by +the time we were in the harbor passengers were being held to keep them +from jumping overboard. Then the Captain told us boys to jump into the +water and save ourselves. Two of us launched a bale of cotton overboard +and jumped onto it. As we paddled away we had to often go under to put +out the fires as our clothing would blaze up under the flying brands +that fell upon our bodies."</p> + +<p>"The burning boat was docked at Hickman. The passengers were put ashore +but none of the freight was saved, and from a nearby willow thicket my +matey and I watched the Gold Dust burn to the water's edge."</p> + +<p>"Always heed the warnings of nature," said Uncle George, "If you see +rats leaving a ship or a house prepare for a fire."</p> + +<p>George W. Arnold said that Evansville was quite a nice place and a +steamboat port even in the early days of his boating experiences and he +decided to make his home here. He located in the town in 1880. "The +Court House was located at Third and Main streets. Street cars were mule +drawn and people thought it great fun to ride them." He recalls the +first shovel full of dirt being lifted when the new Courthouse was being +erected, and when it was finished two white men finishing the slate +roof, fell to their death in the Court House yard.</p> + +<p>George W. Arnold procured a job as porter in a wholesale feed store on +May 10, 1880. John Hubbard and Company did business at the place, at +this place he worked thirty seven years. F.W. Griese, former mayor of +Evansville has often befriended the negro man and is ready to speak a +kindly word in his praise. But the face of John Sims still presents +itself when George Arnold is alone. "Never do anything to hurt any other +person," says he, "The hurt always comes back to you."</p> + +<p>George Arnold was married to an Evansville Woman, but two years ago he +became a widower when death claimed his mate. He is now lonely, but were +it not for a keg of Holland gin his old age would be spent in peace and +happiness. "Beware of strong drink," said Uncle George, "It causes +trouble."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="AshThomasCraneMary"></a> +<h3>Emery Turner<br> +District #5<br> +Lawrence County<br> +Bedford, Indiana<br> +<br> +REMINISCENCES OF TWO EX-SLAVES<br> +THOMAS ASH, Mitchell, Ind.<br> +MRS. MARY CRANE, Warren St., Mitchell, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>[Thomas Ash]</b></p> + +<p>I have no way of knowing exactly how old I am, as the old Bible +containing a record of my birth was destroyed by fire, many years ago, +but I believe I am about eighty-one years old. If so, I must have been +born sometime during the year, 1856, four years before the outbreak of +the War Between The States. My mother was a slave on the plantation, or +farm of Charles Ash, in Anderson county, Kentucky, and it was there that +I grew up.</p> + +<p>I remember playing with Ol' Massa's (as he was called) boys, Charley, +Jim and Bill. I also have an unpleasant memory of having seen other +slaves on the place, tied up to the whipping post and flogged for +disobeying some order although I have no recollection of ever having +been whipped myself as I was only a boy. I can also remember how the +grown-up negroes on the place left to join the Union Army as soon as +they learned of Lincoln's proclamation making them free men.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Ed. Note</b>—Mr. Ash was sick when interviewed and was not able to do much +talking. He had no picture of himself but agreed to pose for one later +on. [TR: no photograph found.]</p> +<br> + +<p><b>[Mrs. Mary Crane]</b></p> + +<a name="img_MC"></a> +<center> +<img src='images/mcrane.jpg' width='400' height='250' alt='Mrs. Mary Crane'> +</center> + +<p>I was born on the farm of Wattie Williams, in 1855 and am eighty-two +years old. I came to Mitchell, Indiana, about fifty years ago with my +husband, who is now dead and four children and have lived here ever +since. I was only a girl, about five or six years old when the Civil War +broke out but I can remember very well, happenings of that time.</p> + +<p>My mother was owned by Wattie Williams, who had a large farm, located in +Larue county, Kentucky. My father was a slave on the farm of a Mr. +Duret, nearby.</p> + +<p>In those days, slave owners, whenever one of their daughters would get +married, would give her and her husband a slave as a wedding present, +usually allowing the girl to pick the one she wished to accompany her to +her new home. When Mr. Duret's eldest daughter married Zeke Samples, she +choose my father to accompany them to their home.</p> + +<p>Zeke Samples proved to be a man who loved his toddies far better than +his bride and before long he was "broke". Everything he had or owned, +including my father, was to be sold at auction to pay off his debts.</p> + +<p>In those days, there were men who made a business of buying up negroes +at auction sales and shipping them down to New Orleans to be sold to +owners of cotton and sugar cane plantations, just as men today, buy and +ship cattle. These men were called "Nigger-traders" and they would ship +whole boat loads at a time, buying them up, two or three here, two or +three there, and holding them in a jail until they had a boat load. This +practice gave rise to the expression, "sold down the river."</p> + +<p>My father was to be sold at auction, along with all of the rest of Zeke +Samples' property. Bob Cowherd, a neighbor of Matt Duret's owned my +grandfather, and the old man, my grandfather, begged Col. Bob to buy my +father from Zeke Samples to keep him from being "sold down the river." +Col. Bob offered what he thought was a fair price for my father and a +"nigger-trader" raised his bid "25 [TR: $25?]. Col. said he couldn't +afford to pay that much and father was about to be sold to the +"nigger-trader" when his father told Col. Bob that he had $25 saved up +and that if he would buy my father from Samples and keep the +"nigger-trader" from getting him he would give him the money. Col. Bob +Cowherd took my grandfather's $25 and offered to meet the traders offer +and so my father was sold to him.</p> + +<p>The negroes in and around where I was raised were not treated badly, as +a rule, by their masters. There was one slave owner, a Mr. Heady, who +lived nearby, who treated his slave worse than any of the other owners +but I never heard of anything so awfully bad, happening to his +"niggers". He had one boy who used to come over to our place and I can +remember hearing Massa Williams call to my grandmother, to cook +"Christine, give Heady's Doc something to eat. He looks hungry." Massa +Williams always said "Heady's Doc" when speaking of him or any other +slave, saying to call him, for instance, Doc Heady would sound as if he +were Mr. Heady's own son and he said that wouldn't sound right.</p> + +<p>When President Lincoln issued his proclamation, freeing the negroes, I +remember that my father and most all of the other younger slave men left +the farms to join the Union army. We had hard times then for awhile and +had lots of work to do. I don't remember just when I first regarded +myself as "free" as many of the negroes didn't understand just what it +was all about.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Ed. Note:</b> Mrs. Crane will also pose for a picture.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BarberRosa"></a> +<h3>Submitted by:<br> +William Webb Tuttle<br> +District No. 2<br> +Muncie, Indiana<br> +<br> +SLAVES IN DELAWARE COUNTY<br> +ROSA BARBER<br> +812 South Jefferson<br> +Muncie, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Rosa Barber was born in slavery on the Fox Ellison plantation at North +Carden[TR:?], in North Carolina, in the year 1861. She was four [HW: ?] +years old when freed, but had not reached the age to be of value as a +slave. Her memory is confined to that short childhood there and her +experiences of those days and immediately after the Civil War must be +taken from stories related to her by her parents in after years, and +these are dimly retained.</p> + +<p>Her maiden name was Rosa Fox Ellison, taken as was the custom, from the +slave-holder who held her as a chattel. Her parents took her away from +the plantation when they were freed and lived in different localities, +supported by the father who was now paid American wages. Her parents +died while she was quite young and she married Fox Ellison, an ex-slave +of the Fox Ellison plantation. His name was taken from the same master +as was hers. She and her husband lived together forty-three years, until +his death. Nine children were born to them of which only one survives. +After this ex-slave husband died Rosa Ellison married a second time, but +this second husband died some years ago and she now remains a widow at +the age of seventy-six years. She recalls that the master of the Fox +Ellison plantation was spoken of as practicing no extreme discipline on +his slaves. Slaves, as a prevailing business policy of the holder, were +not allowed to look into a book, or any printed matter, and Rosa had no +pictures or printed charts given her. She had to play with her rag +dolls, or a ball of yarn, if there happened to be enough of old string +to make one. Any toy or plaything was allowed that did not point toward +book-knowledge. Nursery rhymes and folk-lore stories were censured +severely and had to be confined to events that conveyed no uplift, +culture or propaganda, or that conveyed no knowledge, directly or +indirectly. Especially did they bar the mental polishing of the three +R's. They could not prevent the vocalizing of music in the fields and +the slaves found consolation there in pouring out their souls in unison +with the songs of the birds.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BlakeleyMittie"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. MITTIE BLAKELEY—EX-SLAVE<br> +2055 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Blakeley was born, in Oxford, Missouri, in 1858.</p> + +<p>Her mother died when Mittie was a baby, and she was taken into the "big +house" and brought up with the white children. She was always treated +very kindly.</p> + +<p>Her duties were the light chores, which had to be well done, or she was +chided, the same as the white children would have been.</p> + +<p>Every evening the children had to collect the eggs. The child, who +brought in the most eggs, would get a ginger cake. Mittie most always +got the cake.</p> + +<p>Her older brothers and sisters were treated very rough, whipped often +and hard. She said she hated to think, much less talk about their awful +treatment.</p> + +<p>When she was old enough, she would have to spin the wool for her +mistress, who wove the cloth to make the family clothes.</p> + +<p>She also learned to knit, and after supper would knit until bedtime.</p> + +<p>She remembers once an old woman slave had displeased her master about +something. He had a pit dug, and boards placed over the hole. The woman +was made to lie on the boards, face down, and she was beaten until the +blood gushed from her body; she was left there and bled to death.</p> + +<p>She also remembers how the slaves would go to some cabin at night for +their dances; if one went without a pass, which often they did, they +would be beaten severely.</p> + +<p>The slaves could hear the overseers, riding toward the cabin. Those, who +had come without a pass, would take the boards up from the floor, get +under the cabin floor, and stay there until the overseers had gone.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Blakeley is very serious and said she felt so sorry for those, who +were treated so such worse than any human would treat a beast.</p> + +<p>She lives in a very comfortable clean house, and said she was doing +"very well."</p> + +Submitted January 24, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BooneCarl"></a> +<h3>Submitted by:<br> +Robert C. Irvin<br> +District No. 2<br> +Noblesville, Ind.<br> +<br> +SLAVES IN MADISON COUNTY<br> +CARL BOONE<br> +Anderson, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>This is a story of slavery, told by Carl Boone about his father, his +mother and himself. Carl is the last of eighteen children born to Mrs. +Stephen Boone, in Marion County, Kentucky, Sept. 15, 1850. He now +resides with his children at 801 West 13th Street, Anderson, Madison +County, Indiana. At the ripe old age of eighty-seven, he still has a +keen memory and is able to do a hard day's work.</p> + +<p>Carl Boone was born a free man, fifteen years before the close of the +Civil War, his father having gained his freedom from slavery in 1829. He +is a religious man, having missed church service only twice in twenty +years. He was treated well during the time of slavery in the southland, +but remembers well, the wrongs done to slaves on neighboring +plantations, and in this story he relates some of the horrors which +happened at that time.</p> + +<p>Like his father, he is also the father of eighteen children, sixteen of +whom are still living. He is grandfather of thirty-seven and great +grandfather of one child. His father was born in the slave state of +Maryland, in 1800, and died in 1897. His mother was born in Marion +County, Kentucky, in 1802, and died in 1917, at the age of one hundred +and fifteen years.</p> + +<p>This story, word by word, is related by Carl Boone as follows: "My name +is Carl Boone, son of Stephen and Rachel Boone, born in Marion County, +Kentucky, in 1850. I am father of eighteen children sixteen are still +living and I am grandfather of thirty-seven and great grandfather of +one child. I came with my wife, now deceased, to Indiana, in 1891, and +now reside at 801 West 13th street in Anderson, Indiana. I was born a +free man, fifteen years before the close of the Civil War. All the +colored folk on plantations and farms around our plantation were slaves +and most of them were terribly mistreated by their masters.</p> + +<p>After coming to Indiana, I farmed for a few years, then moved to +Anderson. I became connected with the Colored Catholic Church and have +tried to live a Christian life. I have only missed church service twice +in twenty years. I lost my dear wife thirteen years ago and I now live +with my son.</p> + +<p>My father, Stephen Boone, was born in Maryland, in 1800. He was bought +by a nigger buyer while a boy and was sold to Miley Boone in Marion +County, Kentucky. Father was what they used to call "a picked slave," +was a good worker and was never mistreated by his master. He married my +mother in 1825, and they had eighteen children. Master Miley Boone gave +father and mother their freedom in 1829, and gave them forty acres of +land to tend as their own. He paid father for all the work he did for +him after that, and was always very kind to them.</p> + +<p>My mother was born in slavery, in Marion County, Kentucky, in 1802. She +was treated very mean until she married my father in 1825. With him she +gained her freedom in 1829. I was the last born of her eighteen +children. She was a good woman and joined church after coming to Indiana +and died in 1917, living to be one hundred and fifteen years old.</p> + +<p>I have heard my mother tell of a girl slave who worked in the kitchen of +my mother's master. The girl was told to cook twelve eggs for +breakfast. When the eggs were served, it was discovered there were +eleven eggs on the table and after being questioned, she admitted that +she had eaten one. For this, she was beaten mercilessly, which was a +common sight on that plantation.</p> + +<p>The most terrible treatment of any slave, is told by my father in a +story of a slave on a neighboring plantation, owned by Daniel Thompson. +"After committing a small wrong, Master Thompson became angry, tied his +slave to a whipping post and beat him terribly. Mrs. Thompson begged him +to quit whipping, saying, 'you might kill him,' and the master replied +that he aimed to kill him. He then tied the slave behind a horse and +dragged him over a fifty acre field until the slave was dead. As a +punishment for this terrible deed, master Thompson was compelled to +witness the execution of his own son, one year later. The story is as +follows:</p> + +<p>A neighbor to Mr. Thompson, a slave owner by name of Kay Van Cleve, had +been having some trouble with one of his young male slaves, and had +promised the slave a whipping. The slave was a powerful man and Mr. Van +Cleve was afraid to undertake the job of whipping him alone. He called +for help from his neighbors, Daniel Thompson and his son Donald. The +slave, while the Thompsons were coming, concealed himself in a +horse-stall in the barn and hid a large knife in the manger.</p> + +<p>After the arrival of the Thompsons, they and Mr. Van Cleve entered the +stall in the barn. Together, the three white men made a grab for the +slave, when the slave suddenly made a lunge at the elder Mr. Thompson +with the knife, but missed him and stabbed Donald Thompson.</p> + +<p>The slave was overpowered and tied, but too late, young Donald was dead.</p> + +<p>The slave was tried for murder and sentenced to be hanged. At the time +of the hanging, the first and second ropes used broke when the trap was +sprung. For a while the executioner considered freeing the slave because +of his second failure to hang him, but the law said, "He shall hang by +the neck until dead," and the third attempt was successful."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BowmanJulia"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. JULIA BOWMAN—EX-SLAVE<br> +1210 North West Street, Indianapolis, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Bowman was born in Woodford County, Kentucky in 1859.</p> + +<p>Her master, Joel W. Twyman was kind and generous to all of his slaves, +and he had many of them.</p> + +<p>The Twyman slaves were always spoken of, as the Twyman "Kinfolks."</p> + +<p>All slaves worked hard on the large farm, as every kind of vegetation +was raised. They were given some of everything that grew on the farm, +therefore there was no stealing to get food.</p> + +<p>The master had his own slaves, and the mistress had her own slaves, and +all were treated very kindly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bowman was taken into the Twyman "big house," at the age of six, to +help the mistress in any way she could. She stayed in the house until +slavery was abolished.</p> + +<p>After freedom, the old master was taken very sick and some of the +former slaves were sent for, as he wanted some of his "Kinfolks" around +him when he died.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Bowman was given the Twyman family bible where her birth is +recorded with the rest of the Twyman family. She shows it with pride.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bowman said she never knew want in slave times, as she has known it +in these times of depression.</p> + +Submitted January 10, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BoyceAngie"></a> +<h3>Wm. R. Mays<br> +Dist 4<br> +Johnson Co.<br> +<br> +ANGIE BOYCE<br> +BORN IN SLAVERY, Mar. 14, 1861 on the<br> +Breeding Plantation, Adair Co. Ky.</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Angie Boyce here makes mention of facts as outlined to her by her +mother, Mrs. Margaret King, deceased.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Angie Boyce was born in slavery, Mar. 14, 1861, on the Breeding +Plantation, Adair County, Kentucky. Her parents were Henry and Margaret +King who belonged to James Breeding, a Methodist minister who was kind +to all his slaves and no remembrance of his having ever struck one of +them.</p> + +<p>It is said that the slaves were in constant dread of the Rebel soldiers +and when they would hear of their coming they would hide the baby +"Angie" and cover her over with leaves.</p> + +<p>The mother of Angie was married twice; the name of her first husband was +Stines and that of her second husband was Henry King. It was Henry King +who bought his and his wife's freedom. He sent his wife and baby Angie +to Indiana, but upon their arrival they were arrested and returned to +Kentucky. They were placed in the Louisville jail and lodged in the same +cell with large Brutal and drunken Irish woman. The jail was so infested +with bugs and fleas that the baby Angie cryed all night. The white woman +crazed with drink became enraged at the cries of the child and +threatened to "bash its brains out against the wall if it did not stop +crying". The mother, Mrs. King was forced to stay awake all night to +keep the white woman from carrying out her threat.</p> + +<p>The next morning the Negro mother was tried in court and when she +produced her free papers she was asked why she did not show these papers +to the arresting officers. She replied that she was afraid that they +would steal them from her. She was exonerated from all charges and sent +back to Indiana with her baby.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Angie Boyce now resides at 498 W. Madison St., Franklin, Ind.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BoysawEdna"></a> +<h3>Special Assignment<br> +Walter R. Harris<br> +District #3<br> +Clay County<br> +<br> +LIFE STORY OF EX-SLAVE<br> +MRS. EDNA BOYSAW</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Boysaw has been a citizen of this community about sixty-five years. +She resides on a small farm, two miles east of Brazil on what is known +as the Pinkley Street Road. This has been her home for the past forty +years. Her youngest son and the son of one of her daughters lives with +her. She is still very active, doing her housework and other chores +about the farm. She is very intelligent and according to statements made +by other citizens has always been a respected citizen in the community, +as also has her entire family. She is the mother of twelve children. +Mrs. Boysaw has always been an active church worker, spending much time +in missionary work for the colored people. Her work was so outstanding +that she has been often called upon to speak, not only in the colored +churches, but also in white churches, where she was always well +received. Many of the most prominent people of the community number Mrs. +Boysaw as one of their friends and her home is visited almost daily by +citizens in all walks of life. Her many acts of kindness towards her +neighbors and friends have endeared her to the people of Brazil, and +because of her long residence in the community, she is looked upon as +one of the pioneers.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Boysaw's husband has been dead for thirty-five years. Her children +are located in various cities throughout the country. She has a daughter +who is a talented singer, and has appeared on programs with her daughter +in many churches. She is not certain about her age, but according to her +memory of events, she is about eighty-seven.</p> + +<p>Her story as told to the writer follows:</p> + +<p>"When the Civil War ended, I was living near Richmond, Virginia. I am +not sure just how old I was, but I was a big, flat-footed woman, and +had worked as a slave on a plantation. My master was a good one, but +many of them were not. In a way, we were happy and contented, working +from sun up to sun down. But when Lincoln freed us, we rejoiced, yet we +knew we had to seek employment now and make our own way. Wages were low. +You worked from morning until night for a dollar, but we did not +complain. About 1870 a Mr. Masten, who was a coal operator, came to +Richmond seeking laborers for his mines in Clay County. He told us that +men could make four to five dollars a day working in the mines, going to +work at seven and quitting at 3:30 each day. That sounded like a +Paradise to our men folks. Big money and you could get rich in little +time. But he did not tell all, because he wanted the men folk to come +with him to Indiana. Three or four hundred came with Mr. Masten. They +were brought in box cars. Mr. Masten paid their transportation, but was +to keep it out of their wages. My husband was in that bunch, and the +women folk stayed behind until their men could earn enough for their +transportation to Indiana."</p> + +<p>"When they arrived about four miles east of Brazil, or what was known as +Harmony, the train was stopped and a crowd of white miners ordered them +not to come any nearer Brazil. Then the trouble began. Our men did not +know of the labor trouble, as they were not told of that part. Here they +were fifteen hundred miles from home, no money. It was terrible. Many +walked back to Virginia. Some went on foot to Illinois. Mr. Masten took +some of them South of Brazil about three miles, where he had a number of +company houses, and they tried to work in his mine there. But many were +shot at from the bushes and killed. Guards were placed about the mine by +the owner, but still there was trouble all the time. The men did not +make what Mr. Masten told them they could make, yet they had to stay for +they had no place to go. After about six months, my husband who had been +working in that mine, fell into the shaft and was injured. He was unable +to work for over a year. I came with my two children to take care of +him. We had only a little furniture, slept in what was called box beds. +I walked to Brazil each morning and worked at whatever I could get to +do. Often did three washings a day and then walked home each evening, a +distance of two miles, and got a dollar a day.</p> + +<p>"Many of the white folks I worked for were well to do and often I would +ask the Mistress for small amounts of food which they would throw out if +left over from a meal. They did not know what a hard time we were +having, but they told me to take home any of such food that I cared to. +I was sure glad to get it, for it helped to feed our family. Often the +white folks would give me other articles which I appreciated. I managed +in this way to get the children enough to eat and later when my husband +was able to work, we got along very well, and were thankful. After the +strike was settled, things were better. My husband was not afraid to go +out after dark. But the coal operators did not treat the colored folks +very good. We had to trade at the Company store and often pay a big +price for it. But I worked hard and am still alive today, while all the +others are gone, who lived around here about that time. There has sure +been a change in the country. The country was almost a wilderness, and +where my home is today, there were very few roads, just what we called a +pig path through the woods. We used lots of corn meal, cooked beans and +raised all the food we could during them days. But we had many white +friends and sure was thankful for them. Here I am, and still thankful +for the many friends I have."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BraceyCallie"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. CALLIE BRACEY—DAUGHTER [of Louise Terrell]<br> +414 Blake Street</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Callie Bracey's mother, Louise Terrell, was bought, when a child, +by Andy Ramblet, a farmer, near Jackson, Miss. She had to work very hard +in the fields from early morning until as late in the evening, as they +could possibly see.</p> + +<p>No matter how hard she had worked all day after coming in from the +field, she would have to cook for the next day, packing the lunch +buckets for the field hands. It made no difference how tired she was, +when the horn was blown at 4 a.m., she had to go into the field for +another day of hard work.</p> + +<p>The women had to split rails all day long, just like the men. Once she +got so cold, her feet seemed to be frozen; when they warmed a little, +they had swollen so, she could not wear her shoes. She had to wrap her +foot in burlap, so she would be able to go into the field the next day.</p> + +<p>The Ramblets were known for their good butter. They always had more than +they could use. The master wanted the slaves to have some, but the +mistress wanted to sell it, she did not believe in giving good butter to +slaves and always let it get strong before she would let them have any.</p> + +<p>No slaves from neighboring farms were allowed on the Ramblet farm, they +would get whipped off as Mr. Ramblet did not want anyone to put ideas in +his slave's heads.</p> + +<p>On special occasions, the older slaves were allowed to go to the church +of their master, they had to sit in the back of the church, and take no +part in the service.</p> + +<p>Louise was given two dresses a year; her old dress from last year, she +wore as an underskirt. She never had a hat, always wore a rag tied over +her head.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Bracey is a widow and has a grandchild living with her. She feels +she is doing very well, her parents had so little, and she does own her +own home.</p> + +Submitted December 10, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BucknerGeorgeWashington"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +A SLAVE, AMBASSADOR AND CITY DOCTOR<br> +[DR. GEORGE WASHINGTON BUCKNER]</h3> +<br> + +<p>This paper was prepared after several interviews had been obtained with +the subject of this sketch.</p> + +<p>Dr. George Washingtin [TR: Washington] Buckner, tall, lean, whitehaired, +genial and alert, answered the call of his door bell. Although anxious +to oblige the writer and willing to grant an interview, the life of a +city doctor is filled with anxious solicitation for others and he is +always expecting a summons to the bedside of a patient or a professional +interview has been slated.</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner is no exception and our interviews were often disturbed by +the jingle of the door bell or a telephone call.</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner's conversation lead in ever widening circles, away from the +topic under discussion when the events of his own life were discussed, +but he is a fluent speaker and a student of psychology. Psychology as +that philosophy relates to the mental and bodily tendencies of the +African race has long since become one of the major subjects with which +this unusual man struggles. "Why is the negro?" is one of his deepest +concerns.</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner's first recollections center within a slave cabin in +Kentucky. The cabin was the home of his step-father, his invalid mother +and several children. The cabin was of the crudest construction, its +only windows being merely holes in the cabin wall with crude bark +shutters arranged to keep out snow and rain. The furnishings of this +home consisted of a wood bedstead upon which a rough straw bed and +patchwork quilts provided meager comforts for the invalid mother. A +straw bed that could be pushed under the bed-stead through the day was +pulled into the middle of the cabin at night and the wearied children +were put to bed by the impatient step-father.</p> + +<p>The parents were slaves and served a master not wealthy enough to +provide adaquately for their comforts. The mother had become invalidate +through the task of bearing children each year and being deprived of +medical and surgical attention.</p> + +<p>The master, Mr. Buckner, along with several of his relatives had +purchased a large tract of land in Green County, Kentucky and by a +custom or tradition as Dr. Buckner remembers; land owners that owned no +slaves were considered "Po' White Trash" and were scarcely recognized as +citizens within the state of Kentucky.</p> + +<p>Another tradition prevailed, that slave children should be presented to +the master's young sons and daughters and become their special property +even in childhood. Adherring to that tradition the child, George +Washington Buckner became the slave of young "Mars" Dickie Buckner, and +although the two children were nearly the same age the little mulatto +boy was obedient to the wishes of the little master. Indeed, the slave +child cared for the Caucasian boy's clothing, polished his boots, put +away his toys and was his playmate and companion as well as his slave.</p> + +<p>Sickness and suffering and even death visits alike the just and the +unjust, and the loving sympathetic slave boy witnessed the suffering and +death of his little white friend. Then grief took possession of the +little slave, he could not bear the sight of little Dick's toys nor +books not [TR: nor?] clothing. He recalls one harrowing experience after +the death of little Dick Buckner. George's grandmother was a housekeeper +and kitchen maid for the white family. She was in the kitchen one late +afternoon preparing the evening meal. The master had taken his family +for a visit in the neighborhood and the mulatto child sat on the veranda +and recalled pleasanter days. A sudden desire seized him to look into +the bed room where little Mars Dickie had lain in the bed. The evening +shadows had fallen, exagerated by the influence of trees, and vines, +and when he placed his pale face near the window pane he thought it was +the face of little Dickie looking out at him. His nerves gave away and +he ran around the house screaming to his grandmother that he had seen +Dickie's ghost. The old colored woman was sympathetic, dried his tears, +then with tears coursing down her own cheeks she went about her duties. +George firmly believed he had seen a ghost and never really convinced +himself against the idea until he had reached the years of manhood. He +remembers how the story reached the ears of the other slaves and they +were terrorized at the suggestion of a ghost being in the master's home. +"That is the way superstitions always started" said the Doctor, "Some +nervous persons received a wrong impression and there were always others +ready to embrace the error."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner remembers that when a young daughter of his master married, +his sister was given to her for a bridal gift and went away from her own +mother to live in the young mistress' new home. "It always filled us +with sorrow when we were separated either by circumstances of marriage +or death. Although we were not properly housed, properly nourished nor +properly clothed we loved each other and loved our cabin homes and were +unhappy when compelled to part."</p> + +<p>"There are many beautiful spots near the Green River and our home was +situated near Greensburgh, the county seat of Dreen [TR: Green?] +County." The area occupied by Mr. Buckner and his relatives is located +near the river and the meanderings of the stream almost formed a +peninsula covered with rich soil. Buckner's hill relieved the landscape +and clear springs bubled through crevices affording much water for +household use and near those springs white and negro children met to +enjoy themselves.</p> + +<p>"Forty years after I left Greensburg I went back to visit the springs +and try to meet my old friends. The friends had passed away, only a few +merchants and salespeople remembered my ancestors."</p> + +<p>A story told by Dr. Buckner relates an evening at the beginning of the +Civil War. "I had heard my parents talk of the war but it did not seem +real to me until one night when mother came to the pallet where we slept +and called to us to 'Get up and tell our uncles good-bye.' Then four +startled little children arose. Mother was standing in the room with a +candle or a sort of torch made from grease drippings and old pieces of +cloth, (these rude candles were in common use and afforded but poor +light) and there stood her four brothers, Jacob, John, Bill, and Isaac +all with the light of adventure shining upon their mulatto countenances. +They were starting away to fight for their liberties and we were greatly +impressed."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner stated that officials thought Jacob entirely too aged to +enter the service as he had a few scattered white hairs but he remembers +he was brawny and unafraid. Isaac was too young but the other two uncles +were accepted. One never returned because he was killed in battle but +one fought throughout the war and was never wounded. He remembers how +the white men were indignant because the negroes were allowed to enlist +and how Mars Stanton Buckner was forced to hide out in the woods for +many months because he had met slave Frank Buckner and had tried to kill +him. Frank returned to Greensburg, forgave his master and procurred a +paper stating that he was at fault, after which Stanton returned to +active service. "Yes, the road has been long. Memory brings back those +days and the love of my mother is still real to me, God bless her!"</p> + +<p>Relating to the value of an education Dr. Buckner hopes every Caucassian +and Afro-American youth and maiden will strive to attain great heights. +His first efforts to procure knowledge consisted of reciting A.B.S.s +[TR: A.B.C.s?] from the McGuffy's [HW: ?] Blue backed speller with his +unlettered sister for a teacher. In later years he attended a school +conducted by the Freemen's Association. He bought a grammar from a +white school boy and studied it at home. When sixteen years of age he +was employed to teach negro children and grieves to recall how limited +his ability was bound to have been. "When a father considers sending his +son or daughter to school, today, he orders catalogues, consults his +friends and considers the location and surroundings and the advice of +those who have patronized the different schools. He finally decides upon +the school that promises the boy or girl the most attractive and +comfortable surroundings. When I taught the African children I boarded +with an old man whose cabin was filled with his own family. I climbed a +ladder leading from the cabin into a dark uncomfortable loft where a +comfort and a straw bed were my only conveniences."</p> + +<p>Leaving Greensburg the young mulatto made his way to Indianapolis where +he became acquainted with the first educated Negro he had ever met. The +Negro was Robert Bruce Bagby, then principal of the only school for +Negroes in Indianapolis. "The same old building is standing there today +that housed Bagby's institution then," he declares.</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner recalls that when he left Bagby's school he was so low +financially he had to procure a position in a private residence as house +boy. This position was followed by many jobs of serving tables at hotels +and eating houses, of any and all kinds. While engaged in that work he +met Colonel Albert Johnson and his lovely wife, both natives of Arkansas +and he remembers their congratulations when they learned that he was +striving for an education. They advised his entering an educational +institution at Terre Haute. His desire had been to enter that +institution of Normal Training but felt doubtful of succeeding in the +advanced courses taught because his advantages had been so limited, but +Mrs. Johnson told him that "God gives his talents to the different +species and he would love and protect the negro boy."</p> + +<p>After studying several years at the Terre Haute State Normal George W. +Buckner felt assured that he was reasonably prepared to teach the negro +youths and accepted the professorship of schools at Vincennes, +Washington and other Indiana Villages. "I was interested in the young +people and anxious for their advancement but the suffering endured by my +invalid mother, who had passed into the great beyond, and the memory of +little Master Dickie's lingering illness and untimely death would not +desert my consciousness. I determined to take up the study of medical +practice and surgery which I did."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner graduated from the Indiana Electic Medical College in 1890. +His services were needed at Indianapolis so he practiced medicine in +that city for a year, then located at Evansville where he has enjoyed an +ever increasing popularity on account of his sympathetic attitude among +his people.</p> + +<p>"When I came to Evansville," says Dr. Buckner, "there were seventy white +physicians practicing in the area, they are now among the departed. +Their task was streneous, roads were almost impossible to travel and +those brave men soon sacrificed their lives for the good of suffering +humanity." Dr. Buckner described several of the old doctors as "Striding +[TR: illegible handwritten word above 'striding'] a horse and setting +out through all kinds of weather."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner is a veritable encyclopedia of negro lore. He stops at many +points during an interview to relate stories he has gleaned here and +there. He has forgotten where he first heard this one or that one but it +helps to illustrate a point. One he heard near the end of the war +follows, and although it has recently been retold it holds the interest +of the listener. "Andrew Jackson owned an old negro slave, who stayed on +at the old home when his beloved master went into politics, became an +American soldier and statesman and finally the 7th president of the +United States. The good slave still remained through the several years +of the quiet uneventful last years of his master and witnessed his +death, which occurred at his home near Nashville, Tennessee. After the +master had been placed under the sod, Uncle Sammy was seen each day +visiting Jackson's grave.</p> + +<p>"Do you think President Jackson is in heaven?" an acquaintance asked +Uncle Sammy.</p> + +<p>"If-n he wanted to go dar, he dar now," said the old man. "If-n Mars +Andy wanted to do any thing all Hell couldn't keep him from doin' it."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner believes each Negro is confident that he will take himself +with all his peculiarities to the land of promise. Each physical feature +and habitual idiosyncrasy will abide in his redeemed personality. Old +Joe will be there in person with the wrinkle crossing the bridge of his +nose and little stephen will wear his wool pulled back from his eyes and +each will recognize his fellow man. "What fools we all are," declared +Dr. Buckner.</p> + +<p>Asked his views concerning the different books embraced in the Holy +Bible, Dr. Buckner, who is a student of the Bible said, "I believe +almost every story in the Bible is an allegory, composed to illustrate +some fundemental truth that could otherwise never have been clearly +presented only through the medium of an allegory."</p> + +<p>"The most treacherous impulse of the human nature and the one to be most +dreaded is jealousy." With these words the aged Negro doctor launched +into the expression of his political views. "I'm a Democrat." He then +explained how he voted for the man but had confidence that his chosen +party possesses ability in choosing proper candidates. He is an ardent +follower of Franklin D. Roosevelt and speaks of Woodrow Wilson with +bated breath.</p> + +<p>Through the influence of John W. Boehne, Sr., and the friendly advice +of other influential citizens of Evansville Dr. Buckner was appointed +minister to Liberia, on Woodrow Wilson's cabinet, in the year 1913. Dr. +Buckner appreciated the confidence of his friends in appointing him and +cherishes the experineces gained while abroad. He noted the expressions +of gratitude toward cabinet members by the citizens of that African +coast. One Albino youth brought an offering of luscious mangoes and +desired to see the minister from the United States of America. Some +natives presented palm oils. "The natives have been made to understand +that the United States has given aid to Liberia in a financial way and +the customs-service of the republic is temporarily administered headed +by an American." "A thoroughly civilized Negro state does not exist in +Liberia nor do I believe in any part of West Africa. Superstition is the +interpretation of their religion, their political views are a hodgepodge +of unconnected ideas. Strength over rules knowledge and jealousy crowds +out almost all hope of sympathetic achievement and adjustment." Dr. +Buckner recounted incidents where jealousy was apparent in the behavior +of men and women of higher civilizations than the African natives. While +voyaging to Spain on board a Spanish vessel, he witnessed a very +refined, polite Jewish woman being reduced to tears by the taunts of a +Spanish officer, on account of her nationality. "Jealousy," he said, +"protrudes itself into politics, religion and prevents educational +achievement."</p> + +<p>During a political campaign I was compelled to pay a robust Negro man to +follow me about my professional visits and my social evenings with my +friends and family, to prevent meeting physical violence to myself or +family when political factions were virtually at war within the area of +Evansville. The influence of political captains had brought about the +dreadful condition and ignorant Negroes responded to their political +graft, without realizing who had befriended them in need."</p> + +<p>"The negro youths are especially subject to propoganda of the +four-flusher for their home influence is, to say the least, negative. +Their opportunities limited, their education neglected and they are +easily aroused by the meddling influence of the vote-getter and the +traitor. I would to God that their eyes might be opened to the light."</p> + +<p>Dr. Buckner's influence is mostly exhibited in the sick room, where his +presence is introduced in the effort to relieve pain.</p> + +<p>The gradual rise from slavery to prominence, the many trials encountered +along the road has ripened the always sympathetic nature of Dr. Buckner +into a responsive suffer among a suffering people. He has hope that +proper influences and sympathetic advice will mould the plastic +character of the Afro-American youths of the United States into proper +citizens and that their immortal souls inherit the promised reward of +the redeemed through grace.</p> + +<p>"Receivers of emancipation from slavery and enjoyers of emancipation +from sin through the sacrifice of Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ; Why +should not the negroes be exalted and happy?" are the words of Dr. +Buckner.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Note:</b> G.W. Buckner was born December 1st, 1852. The negroes in Kentucky +expressed it, "In fox huntin' time" one brother was born in "Simmon +time", one in "Sweet tater time," and another in "Plantin' time."</p> + +<p>—Negro lore.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="BurnsGeorgeTaylor"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +THE LIFE STORY OF GEORGE TAYLOR BURNS<br> +[HW: Personal Interview]</h3> +<br> + +<p>Ox-carts and flat boats, and pioneer surroundings; crowds of men and +women crowding to the rails of river steamboats; gay ladies in holiday +attire and gentleman in tall hats, low cut vests and silk mufflers; for +the excursion boats carried the gentry of every area.</p> + +<p>A little negro boy clung to the ragged skirts of a slave mother, both +were engrossed in watching the great wheels that ploughed the +Mississippi river into foaming billows. Many boats stopped at Gregery's +Landing, Missouri to stow away wood, for many engines were fired with +wood in the early days.</p> + +<p>The Burns brothers operated a wood yard at the Landing and the work of +cutting, hewing and piling wood for the commerce was performed by slaves +of the Burns plantation.</p> + +<p>George Taylor Burns was five years of age and helped his mother all day +as she toiled in the wood yards. "The colder the weather, the more hard +work we had to do," declares Uncle George.</p> + +<p>George Taylor Burns, the child of Missouri slave parents, recalls the +scenes enacted at the Burns' wood yards so long ago. He is a resident of +Evansville, Indiana and his snow white hair and beard bear testimony +that his days have been already long upon the earth.</p> + +<p>Uncle George remembers the time when his infant hands reached in vain +for his mother, the kind and gentle Lucy Burns: Remembers a long cold +winter of snow and ice when boats were tied up to their moorings. Old +master died that winter and many slaves were sold by the heirs, among +them was Lucy Burns. Little George clung to his mother but strong hands +tore away his clasp. Then he watched her cross a distant hill, chained +to a long line of departing slaves. George never saw his parents again +and although the memory of his mother is vivid he scarcely remembers his +father's face. He said, "Father was black but my mother was a bright +mulatto."</p> + +<p>Nothing impressed the little boy with such unforgettable imagery as the +cold which descended upon Greogery's Landing one winter. Motherless, +hungry, desolate and unloved, he often cried himself to sleep at night +while each day he was compelled to carry wood. One morning he failed to +come when the horn was sounded to call the slaves to breakfast. "Old +Missus went to the Negro quarters to see what was wrong" and "She was +horrified when she found I was frozen to the bed."</p> + +<p>She carried the small bundle of suffering humanity to the kitchen of her +home and placed him near the big oven. When the warmth thawed the frozen +child the toes fell from his feet. "Old Missus told me I would never be +strong enough to do hard work, and she had the neighborhood shoemaker +fashion shoes too short for any body's feet but mine," said Uncle +George.</p> + +<p>Uncle George doesn't remember why he left Missouri but the sister of +Greene Taylor brought him to Troy, Indiana. Here she learned that she +could not own a slave within the State of Indiana so she indentured the +child to a flat boat captain to wash dishes and wait on the crew of +workers.</p> + +<p>George was so small of stature that the captain had a low table and +stool made that he might work in comfort. George's mistress received +$15,00 [TR: $15.00?] per month for the service of the boy for several +years.</p> + +<p>From working on the flat boats George became accustomed to the river and +soon received employment as a cabin boy on a steam boat and from that +time through out the most active days of his life George Taylor Burns +was a steam-boat man. In fact he declares, "I know steamboats from wood +box to stern wheel."</p> + +<p>"The life of a riverman is a good life and interesting things happen on +the river," says Uncle George.</p> + +<p>Uncle George has been imprisoned in the big jail at New Orleans. He has +seen his fellow slaves beaten into insensibility while chained to the +whipping post in Congo Square at New Orleans.</p> + +<p>He was badly treated while a slave but he has witnessed even more cruel +treatment administered to his fellow slaves.</p> + +<p>Among other exciting occurrences remembered by the old negro man when he +recalls early river adventures is one in which a flat boat sunk near New +Orleans. After clinging for many hours to the drifting wreckage he was +rescued, half dead from exhaustion.</p> + +<p>In memory, George Taylor Burns stands in the slave mart at New Orleans +and hears the Auctioneers' hammer, for he was sold like a beast of +burden by Greene Taylor, brother of his mistress. Greene Taylor, +however, had to refund the money and return the slave to his mistress +when his crippled feet were discovered.</p> + +<p>"Greene Taylor was like many other people I have known. He was always +ready to make life unhappy for a negro."</p> + +<p>Uncle George, although possessing an unusual amount of intelligence and +ability to learn, has a very limited education. "The Negroes were not +allowed an education," he relates. "It was dangerous for any person to +be caught teaching a Negro and several Negroes were put to death because +they could read."</p> + +<p>Uncle George recalls a few superstitions entertained by the rivermen. +"It was bad luck for a white cat to come aboard the boat." "Horse shoes +were carried for good luck." "If rats left the boat the crew was uneasy, +for fear of a wreck." Uncle George has very little faith in any +superstition but remembers some of the crews had.</p> + +<p>Among other boats on which this old river man was employed are "The +Atlantic" on which he was cabin boy. The "Big Gray Eagle" on which he +assisted in many ways. He worked where boats were being constructed +while he lived at New Albany.</p> + +<p>Many soldiers were returned to their homes by means of flat boats and +steam boats when the Civil War had ended and many recruits were sent by +water during the war. Just after peace was declared George met Elizabeth +Slye, a young slave girl who had just been set free. "Liza would come to +see her mother who was working on a boat." "People used to come down to +the landings to see boats come in," said Uncle George. George and Liza +were free, they married and made New Albany their home, until 1881 when +they came to Evansville.</p> + +<p>Uncle George said the Eclipse was a beautiful boat, he remembers the +lettering in gold and the bright lights and polished rails of the +longest steam boat ever built in the West. Measuring 365 feet in length +and Uncle George declares, "For speed she just up and hustled."</p> + +<p>"Louisville was one of the busiest towns in the Ohio Valley," says Uncle +George, but he remembers New Orleans as the market place where almost +all the surplus products were marketed.</p> + +<p>Uncle George has many friends along the water-front towns. He admires +the Felker family of Tell City, Indiana. He is proud of his own race and +rejoices in their opportunities. He remembers his fear of the Ku Klux, +his horror of the patrol and other clans united to make life dangerous +for newly emancipated Negroes.</p> + +<p>George Taylor Burns draws no old age pension. He owns a building located +at Canal and Evans Streets that houses a number of Negro families. He is +glad to say his credit is good in every market in the city. Although +lamed by rheumatic pains and hobbling on feet toeless from his young +childhood he has led a useful life. "Don't forget I knew Pilot Tom +Ballard, and Aaron Ballard on the Big Eagle in 1858," warns Uncle +George. "We Negroes carried passes so we could save our skins if we were +caught off the boats but we had plenty of good food on the boats."</p> + +<p>Uncle George said the roustabouts sang gay songs while loading boats +with heavy freight and provisions but on account of his crippled feet he +could not be a roustabout.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="ButlerBelle"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. BELLE BUTLER—DAUGHTER [of Chaney Mayer]<br> +829 North Capitol Avenue</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Belle Butler, the daughter of Chaney Mayer, tells of the hardships her +mother endured during her days of slavery.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interview</b></p> + +<p>Chaney was owned by Jesse Coffer, "a mean old devil." He would whip his +slaves for the slightest misdemeanor, and many times for nothing at +all—just enjoyed seeing them suffer. Many a time Jesse would whip a +slave, throw him down, and gouge his eyes out. Such a cruel act!</p> + +<p>Chaney's sister was also a slave on the Coffer plantation. One day their +master decided to whip them both. After whipping them very hard, he +started to throw them down, to go after their eyes. Chaney grabbed one +of his hands, her sister grabbed his other hand, each girl bit a finger +entirely off of each hand of their master. This, of course, hurt him so +very bad he had to stop their punishment and never attempted to whip +them again. He told them he would surely put them in his pocket (sell +them) if they ever dared to try *anthing like that again in life.</p> + +<p>Not so long after their fight, Chaney was given to a daughter of their +master, and her sister was given to another daughter and taken to +Passaic County, N.C.</p> + +<p>On the next farm to the Coffer farm, the overseers would tie the slaves +to the joists by their thumbs, whip them unmercifully, then salt their +backs to make them very sore.</p> + +<p>When a slave slowed down on his corn hoeing, no matter if he were sick, +or just very tired, he would get many lashes and a salted back.</p> + +<p>One woman left the plantation without a pass. The overseer caught her +and whipped her to death.</p> + +<p>No slave was ever allowed to look at a book, for fear he might learn to +read. One day the old mistress caught a slave boy with a book, she +cursed him and asked him what he meant, and what he thought he could do +with a book. She said he looked like a black dog with a breast pin on, +and forbade him to ever look into a book again.</p> + +<p>All slaves on the Coffer plantation were treated in a most inhuman +manner, scarcely having enough to eat, unless they would steal it, +running the risk of being caught and receiving a severe beating for the +theft.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Butler lives with her daughters, has worked very hard in "her +days."</p> + +<p>She has had to give up almost everything in the last few years, because +her eyesight has failed. However, she is very cheerful and enjoys +telling the "tales" her mother would tell her.</p> + +Submitted December 28, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="CarterJosephWilliam"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +5th District<br> +Vandenburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +JOSEPH WILLIAM CARTER</h3> +<br> + +<p>This information was gained through an interview with Joseph William +Carter and several of his daughters. The data was cheerfully given to +the writer. Joseph William Carter has lived a long and, he declares, a +happy life, although he was born and reared in bondage. His pleasing +personality has always made his lot an easy one and his yoke seemed easy +to wear.</p> + +<p>Joseph William Carter was born prior to the year 1836. His mother, +Malvina Gardner was a slave in the home of Mr. Gardner until a man named +D.B. Smith saw her and noticing the physical perfection of the child at +once purchased her from her master.</p> + +<p>Malvina was agrieved at being compelled to leave her old home, and her +lovely young mistress. Puss Gardner was fond of the little mullato girl +and had taught her to be a useful member of the Gardner family; however, +she was sold to Mr. Smith and was compelled to accompany him to his +home.</p> + +<p>Both the Gardner and Smith families lived near Gallatin, Tennessee, in +Sumner County. The Smith plantation was situated on the Cumberland River +and commanded a beautiful view of river and valley acres but Malvina was +very unhappy. She did not enjoy the Smith family and longed for her old +friends back in the Gardner home.</p> + +<p>One night the little girl gathered together her few personal belongings +and started back to her old home.</p> + +<p>Afraid to travel the highway the child followed a path she knew through +the forest; but alas, she found the way long and beset with perils. A +number of uncivil Indians were encamped on the side of the Cumberland +mountains and a number of the young braves were out hunting that night. +Their stealthy approach was heard by the little fugitive girl but too +late for her to make an escape. An Indian called "Buck" captured her and +by all the laws of the tribe was his own property. She lived for almost +a year in the teepe with Buck and during that time learned much about +Indian habits.</p> + +<p>When Malvina was missed from her new home, Mr. Smith went to the Gardner +plantation to report his loss, not finding her there a wide search was +made for her but the Indians kept her thoroughly concealed. Miss Puss, +however, kept up the search. She knew the Indians were encamped on the +mountain and believed she would find the girl with them. The Indians +finally broke camp and the members of the Gardner home watched them +start on their journey and Miss Puss soon discovered Malvina among the +other maidens in the procession.</p> + +<p>The men of the Gardner plantation, white and black, overtook the Indians +and demanded the girl be given up to them. The Indians reluctantly gave +her to them. Miss Puss Gardner took her back and Mr. Gardner paid Mr. +Smith the original purchase price and Malvina was once more installed in +her old home.</p> + +<p>Malvina Gardner was not yet twelve years of age when she was captured by +the Indians and was scarcely thirteen years of age when she became the +mother of Joseph William, son of the uncivil Indian, "Buck". The child +was born in the Gardner home and mother and child remained there. The +mother was a good slave and loved the members of the Gardner family and +her son and she were loved by them in return.</p> + +<p>Puss Gardner married a Mr. Mooney and Mr. Gardner allowed her to take +Joseph William to her home. The Mooney estate was situated up on the +Carthridge road and some of Joseph William's most vivid memories of +slavery and the curse of bondage embrace his life's span with the +Mooneys.</p> + +<p>One story that the aged man relates is of an encounter with an eagle and +follows: "George Irish, a white boy near my own age, was the son of the +miller. His father operated a sawmill on Bledsoe Creek near where it +empties into the Coumberland river. George and I often went fishing +together and had a good dog called Hector. Hector was as good a coon +dog as there was to be found in that part of the country. That day we +boys climbed up on the mill shed to watch the swans in Bledsoe Creek and +we soon noticed a great big fish hawk catching the goslings. It made us +mad and we decided to kill the hawk. I went back to the house and got an +old flint lock rifle Mars. Mooney had let me carry when we went hunting. +When I got back where George was, the big bird was still busy catching +goslings. The first shot I fired broke its wing and I decided I would +catch it and take it home with me. The bird put up a terrible fight, +cutting me with its bill and talons. Hector came running and tried to +help me but the bird cut him until his howls brought help from the +field. Mr. Jacob Greene was passing along and came to us. He tore me +away from the bird but I could not walk and the blood was running from +my body in dozens of places. Poor old Hector, was crippled and bleeding +for the bird was a big eagle and would have killed both of us if help +had not come." The old negro man still shows signs of his encounter with +the eagle. He said it was captured and lived about four months in +captivity but its wing never healed. The body of the eagle was stuffed +with wheat bran, by Greene Harris, and placed in the court yard in +Sumner County. "The Civil War changed things at the Mooney plantation," +said the old man. "Before the War Mr. Mooney never had been cruel to me. +I was Mistress Puss's property and she would never have allowed me to be +abused, but some of the other slaves endured the most cruel treatment +and were worked nearly to death."</p> + +<p>Uncle Joe's memory of slavery embraces the whole story of bondage and +the helpless position held by strong bodied men and women of a hardy +race, overpowered by the narrow ideals of slave owners and cruel +overseerers. "When I was a little bitsy child and still lived with Mr. +Gardner," said the old man, "I saw many of the slaves beaten to death. +Master Gardner didn't do any of the whippin' but every few months he +sent to Mississippi for negro rulers to come to the plantation and whip +all the negroes that had not obeyed the overseers. A big barrel lay near +the barn and that was always the whippin place." Uncle Joe remembers two +or three professional slave whippers and recalls the death of two of the +Mississippi whippers. He relates the story as follows: "Mars Gardner had +one of the finest black smiths that I ever saw. His arms were strong, +his muscles stood out on his breast and shoulders and his legs were +never tired. He stood there and shoed horses and repaired tools day +after day and there was no work ever made him tired."</p> + +<p>The old negro man so vividly described the noble blacksmith that he +almost appeared in person, as the story advanced. "I don't know what he +had done to rile up Mars Gardner, but all of us knew that the Blacksmith +was going to be flogged. When the whippers from Mississippi got to the +plantation. The blacksmith worked on day and night. All day he was +shoein horses and all the spare time he had he was makin a knife. When +the whippers got there all of us were brought out to watch the whippin +but the blacksmith, Jim Gardner did not wait to feel the lash, he jumped +right into the bunch of overseers and negro whippers and knifed two +whippers and one overseer to death; then stuck the sharp knife into his +arm and bled to death."</p> + +<p>Suicide seemed the only hope for this man of strength. He could not +humble himself to the brutal ordeal of being beaten by the slave +whippers.</p> + +<p>"When the war started, we kept hearing about the soldiers and finally +they set up their camp in the forest near us. The corn was ready to +bring into the barn and the soldiers told Mr. Mooney to let the slaves +gather it and put it into the barns. Some of the soldiers helped gather +and crib the corn. I wanted to help but Miss Puss was afraid they would +press me into service and made me hide in the cellar. There was a big +keg of apple cider in the cellar and every day Miss Puss handed down a +big plate of fresh ginger snaps right out of the oven, so I was well +fixed." The old man remembers that after the corn was in the crib the +soldiers turned in their horses to eat what had fallen to the ground.</p> + +<p>Before the soldiers became encamped at the Mooney plantation they had +camped upon a hill and some skirmishing had occurred. Uncle Joe +remembers the skirmish and seeing cannon balls come over the fields. The +cannon balls were chained together and the slave children would run +after the missils. Sometimes the chains would cut down trees as the +balls rolled through the forest.</p> + +<p>"Do you believe in witchcraft?" was asked while interviewing the aged +negro. "No" was the answer. "I had a cousin that was a full blooded +Indian and a Voodoo doctor. He got me to help him with his Voodoo work. +A lot of people both white and black sent for the Indian when they were +sick. I told him I would do the best I could, if it would help sick +people to get well. A woman was sick with rhumatism and he was going to +see her. He sent me into the woods to dig up poke roots to boil. He then +took the brew to the house where the sick woman lived. Had her to put +both feet in a tub filled with warm water, into which he had placed the +poke root brew. He told the woman she had lizards in her body and he was +going to bring them out of her. He covered the woman with a heavy +blanket and made her sit for a long time, possibly an hour, with her +feet in the tub of poke root brew and water. He had me slip a good many +lizards into the tub and when the woman removed her feet, there were the +lizards. She was soon well and believed the lizards had come out of her +legs. I was disgusted and would not practice with my cousin again."</p> + +<p>"So you didn't fight in the Civil War," was asked Uncle Joe.</p> + +<p>"Of course I did, when I got old enough I entered the service and +barbacued meat until the war closed." Barbacueing had been Uncle Joe's +specialty during slavery days and he followed the same profession during +his service with the federal army. He was freed by the emancuapation +proclamation, and soon met and married Sadie Scott, former Slave of Mr. +Scott, a Tennessee planter. Sadie only lived a short time after her +marriage. He later married Amy Doolins. Her father was named Carmuel. He +was a blacksmith and after he was free, the countrymen were after him to +take his life. He was shot nine times and finally killed himself to +prevent meeting death at the hands of the clansmen.</p> + +<p>Joseph William Carter is a cripple. In 1933 he fell and broke his right +thigh-bone and since that time he has walked with a crutch. He stays up +quite a lot and is always glad to welcome visitors. He possesses a noble +character and is admired by his friends and neighbors. Tall, straight, +lean of body, his nose is aquiline; these physical characteristics he +inherited from his Indian ancesters. His gentle nature, wit, and good +humor are characteristics handed to him by his mother and fostered by +the gentle rearing of his southern mistress.</p> + +<p>When Uncle Joe Carter celebrated the 100dth aniversary of his birth a +large cake was presented to him, decorated with 100 candles. The party +was attended by children and grandchildren, friends and neighbors. "What +is your political viewpoint?" was asked the old man.</p> + +<p>"My politics is my love for my country". "I vote for the man, not the +party."</p> + +<p>Uncle Joe's religion is the religion of decency and virtue. "I don't +want to be hard in my judgement," said he, "But I wish the whole world +would be decent. When I was a young man, women wore more clothes in bed +than they now wear on the street."</p> + +<p>"Papa has always been a lover of horses but he does not care for +Automobiles nor aeroplanes," said a daughter of Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe has +seven daughters, he says they have always been obedient and attentive +to their parents. Their mother passed away seven years ago. The sons and +daughters of Uncle Joe remember their grand-mother and recall stories +recounted by her of her captivity among the Indians.</p> + +<p>"Papa had no gray hairs until after mama died. His hair turned gray from +grief at her loss," said Mrs. Della Smith, one of his daughters. Uncle +Joe's smile reveals a set of unusually sound teeth from which only one +tooth is missing.</p> + +<p>Like all fathers and grandfathers, Uncle Joe recounts the cute deeds and +funny sayings of the little children he has been associated with: how +his own children with feather bedecked crowns enacted the capture of +their grandmother and often played "Voo-Doo Doctor."</p> + +<p>Uncle Joe stresses the value of work, not the enforced labor of the +slave but the cheerful toil of free people. He is glad that his sons and +daughters are industrious citizens and is proud they maintain clean +homes for their families. He is happy because his children have never +known bondage, and he respects the laws of his country and appreciates +the interest that the citizens of Evansville have always showed in the +negro race.</p> + +<p>After Uncle Joe became a young man he met many Indians from the tribe +that had held his mother captive. Through them he learned much about his +father which his mother had never told him.</p> + +<p>Though he was a Gardner slave and would have been Joseph Gardner, he +took the name of Carter from a step father and is known as Joseph +Carter.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="CaveEllen"></a> +<h3>Grace Monroe<br> +Dist. 4<br> +Jefferson County<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +OHIO COUNTY EX-SLAVE, MRS. ELLEN CAVE, RELATES HER EXPERIENCES</h3> +<br> + +<p>Assistant editor of "The Rising Sun Recorder" furnished the following +story which had appeared in the paper, March 19, 1937.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave was in slavery for twelve years before she was freed by the +Emancipation Proclamation. When she gave her story to Aubrey Robinson +she was living in a temporary garage home back of the Rising Sun +courthouse having lost everything in the 1937 flood.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave was born on a plantation in Taylor County Kentucky. She was +the property of a man who did not live up to the popular idea of a +Southern gentleman, whose slaves refused to leave them, even after their +freedom was declared.</p> + +<p>When she was a year old her mother was sold to someone in Louisana and +she did not see her again until 1867, when they were re-united in +Carrolton, Kentucky. Her father died when she was a baby.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave told of seeing wagon loads of slaves sold down the river. She, +herself was put on the block several times but never actually sold, +although she would have preferred being sold rather than the +continuation of the ordeal of the block.</p> + +<p>Her master was a "mean man" who drank heavily, he had twenty slaves that +he fed now and then, and gave her her freedom after the war only when +she would remain silent about it no longer. He was a Southern +sympathiser but joined the Union army where he became a captain and was +in charge of a Union commissary. Finally he was suspected and charged +with mustering supplies to the rebels. He was imprisoned for some time, +then courtmartialed and sentenced to die. He escaped by bribing his +negro guard.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave said that her master's father had many young women slaves and +sold his own half-breed children down the river to Louisiana plantations +where the work was so severe that the slaves soon died.</p> + +<p>While in slavery, Mrs. Cave worked as a maid in the house until she +grew older when she was forced to do all kinds of outdoor labor. She +remembered sawing logs in the snow all day. In the summer she pitched +hay or any other man's work in the field. She was trained to carry three +buckets of water at the same time, two in her hands and one on her +head and said she could still do it.</p> + +<p>On this plantation the chief article of food for the slaves was +bran-bread, although the master's children were kind and often slipped +them out meat or other food.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave remembered seeing General Woolford and General Morgan of the +Southern forces when they made friendly visits to the plantation. She +saw General Grant twice during the war. She saw soldiers drilling near +the plantation. Later she was caught and whipped by night riders, or +"pat-a-rollers", as she tried to slip out to negro religious meetings.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cave was driven from her plantation two years after the war and +came to Carrollton [TR: earlier, Carrolton] Kentucky, where she found +her mother and soon married James Cave, a former slave on a plantation +near hers in Taylor county. Mrs. Cave had thirteen children.</p> + +<p>For many years Mrs. Cave has lived on a farm about two and one half mi. +south of Rising Sun. Everything she had was washed away in the flood and +she lived in the court house garage until her home could be rebuilt.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="CheatamHarriet"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #8<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. HARRIET CHEATAM—EX-SLAVE<br> +816 Darnell Street</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Incidents in the life of Mrs. Cheatam as she told them to me.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interview</b></p> + +<p>"I was born, in 1843, in Gallatin, Tennessee, 94 years ago this coming +(1937) Christmas day."</p> + +<p>"Our master, Martin Henley, a farmer, was hard on us slaves, but we were +happy in spite of our lack."</p> + +<p>"When I was a child, I didn't have it as hard as some of the children in +the quarters. I always stayed in the "big house," slept on the floor, +right near the fireplace, with one quilt for my bed and one quilt to +cover me. Then when I growed up, I was in the quarters."</p> + +<p>"After the Civil war, I went to Ohio to cook for General Payne. We had a +nice life in the general's house."</p> + +<p>"I remember one night, way back before the Civil war, we wanted a +goose. I went out to steal one as that was the only way we slaves would +have one. I crept very quiet-like, put my hand in where they was and +grabbed, and what do you suppose I had? A great big pole cat. Well, I +dropped him quick, went back, took off all my clothes, dug a hole, and +buried them. The next night I went to the right place, grabbed me a nice +big goose, held his neck and feet so he couldn't holler, put him under +my arm, and ran with him, and did we eat?"</p> + +<p>"We often had prayer meeting out in the quarters, and to keep the folks +in the "big house" from hearing us, we would take pots, turn them down, +put something under them, that let the sound go in the pots, put them in +a row by the door, then our voices would not go out, and we could sing +and pray to our heart's content."</p> + +<p>"At Thanksgiving time we would have pound cake. That was fine. We would +take our hands and beat and beat our cake dough, put the dough in a +skillet, cover it with the lid and put it in the fireplace. (The covered +skillet would act our ovens of today.) It would take all day to bake, +but it sure would be good; not like the cakes you have today."</p> + +<p>"When we cooked our regular meals, we would put our food in pots, slide +them on an iron rod that hooked into the fireplace. (They were called +pot hooks.) The pots hung right over the open fire and would boil until +the food was done."</p> + +<p>"We often made ash cake. (That is made of biscuit dough.) When the +dough was ready, we swept a clean place on the floor of the fireplace, +smoothed the dough out with our hands, took some ashes, put them on top +of the dough, then put some hot coals on top of the ashes, and just left +it. When it was done, we brushed off the coals, took out the bread, +brushed off the ashes, child, that was bread."</p> + +<p>"When we roasted a chicken, we got it all nice and clean, stuffed him +with dressing, greased him all over good, put a cabbage leaf on the +floor of the fireplace, put the chicken on the cabbage leaf, then +covered him good with another cabbage leaf, and put hot coals all over +and around him, and left him to roast. That is the best way to cook +chicken."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Cheatam lives with a daughter, Mrs. Jones. She is a very small old +lady, pleasant to talk with, has a very happy disposition. Her eyes, as +she said, "have gotten very dim," and she can't piece her quilts +anymore. That was the way she spent her spare time.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>She has beautiful white hair and is very proud of it.</p> + +Submitted December 1, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="ChildressJane"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave stories<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +JAMES CHILDRESS' STORY<br> +312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>From an interview with James Childress and from John Bell both living at +312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana.</p> + +<p>Known as Uncle Jimmy by the many children that cluster about the aged +man never tiring of his stories of "When I was chile."</p> + +<p>"When I was a chile my daddy and mamma was slaves and I was a slave," so +begins many recounted tales of the long ago.</p> + +<p>Born at Nashville, Tennessee in the year 1860, Uncle Jimmie remembers +the Civil War with the exciting events as related to his own family and +the family of James Childress, his master. He remembers sorrow expressed +in parting tears when "Uncle Johnie and Uncle Bob started to war." He +recalls happy days when the beautiful valley of the Cumberland was +abloom with wild flowers and fertile acres were carpeted with blue +grass.</p> + +<p>"A beautiful view could always be enjoyed from the hillsides and there +were many pretty homes belonging to the rich citizens. Slaves kept the +lawns smooth and tended the flowers for miles around Nashville, when I +was a child," said Uncle Jimmie.</p> + +<p>Uncle Jimmie Childress has no knowledge of his master's having practiced +cruelty towards any slave. "We was all well fed, well clothed and lived +in good cabins. I never got a cross word from Mars John in my life," he +declared. "When the slaves got their freedom they rejoiced staying up +many nights to sing, dance and enjoy themselves, although they still +depended on old Mars John for food and bed, they felt too excited to +work in the fields or care for the stock. They hated to leave their +homes but Mr. Childress told them to go out and make homes for +themselves."</p> + +<p>"Mother got work as a housekeeper and kept us all together. Uncle Bob +got home from the War and we lived well enough. I have lived at +Evansville since 1881, have worked for a good many men and John Bell +will tell you I have had only friends in the city of Evansville."</p> + +<p>Uncle Jimmie recalls how the slaves always prayed to God for freedom and +the negro preachers always preached about the day when the slaves would +be no longer slaves but free and happy.</p> + +<p>"My people loved God, they sang sacred songs, 'Swing Low Sweet Charriot' +was one of the best songs they knew". Here uncle Jimmie sang a stanza of +the song and said it related to God's setting the negroes free.</p> + +<p>"The negroes at Mr. Childress' place were allowed to learn as much as +they could. Several of the young men could read and write. Our master +was a good man and did no harm to anybody."</p> + +<p>James Childress is a black man, small of stature, with crisp wooly dark +hair. He is glad he is not mulatto but a thorough blooded negro.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="ColbertSarah"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. SARAH COLBERT—EX-SLAVE<br> +1505 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Sarah Carpenter Colbert was born in Allen County, Kentucky in 1855. +She was owned by Leige Carpenter, a farmer.</p> + +<p>Her father, Isaac Carpenter was the grandson of his master, Leige +Carpenter, who was very kind to him. Isaac worked on the farm until the +old master's death. He was then sold to Jim McFarland in Frankfort +Kentucky. Jim's wife was very mean to the slaves, whipped them regularly +every morning to start the day right.</p> +<br> + +<p>One morning after a severe beating, Isaac met an old slave, who asked +him why he let his mistress beat him so much. Isaac laughed and asked +him what he could do about it. The old man told him if he would bite her +foot, the next time she knocked him down, she would stop beating him and +perhaps sell him.</p> + +<p>The next morning he was getting his regular beating, he willingly fell +to the floor, grabbed his mistress' foot, bit her very hard. She tried +very hard to pull away from him, he held on still biting, she ran around +in the room, Isaac still holding on. Finally, she stopped beating him +and never attempted to strike him again.</p> + +<p>The next week he was put on the block, being a very good worker and a +very strong man, the bids were high.</p> + +<p>His young master, Leige Jr., outbid everyone and bought him for +$1200.00.</p> + +<p>His young mistress was very mean to him. He went again to his old friend +for advice. This time he told him to get some yellow dust, sprinkle it +around in his mistress' room and if possible, got some in her shoes. +This he did and in a short time he was sold again to Johnson Carpenter +in the same county. He was not really treated any better there. By this +time he was very tired of being mistreated. He remembered his old master +telling him to never let anyone be mean to him. He ran away to his old +mistress, told her of his many hardships, and told her what the old +master had told him, so she sent him back. At the next sale she bought +him, and he lived there until slavery was abolished.</p> + +<p>Her grandfather, Bat Carpenter, was an ambitious slave; he dug ore and +bought his freedom, then bought his wife by paying $50.00 a year to her +master for her. She continued to work on the farm of her own master for +a very small wage.</p> + +<p>Bat's wife, Matilda, lived on the farm not far from him, he was allowed +to visit her every Sunday. One Sunday, it looked like rain, his master +told him to gather in the oats, he refused to do this and was beaten +with a raw hide. He was so angry, he went to one of the witch-crafters +for a charm so he could fix his old master.</p> + +<p>The witch doctor told him to get five new nails, as there were five +members in his master's family, walk to the barn, then walk backwards a +few steps, pound one nail in the ground, giving each nail the name of +each member of the family, starting with the master, then the mistress, +and so on through the family. Each time one nail was pounded down in the +ground, walk backwards and nail the next one in until all were pounded +deep in the ground. He did as instructed and was never beaten again.</p> + +<p>Jane Garmen was the village witch. She disturbed the slaves with her +cat. Always at milking time the cat would appear, and at night would go +from one cabin to another, putting out the grease lamps with his paw. No +matter how they tried to kill the cat, it just could not be done.</p> + +<p>An old witch doctor told them to melt a dime, form a bullet with the +silver, and shoot the cat. He said a lead bullet would never kill a +bewitched animal. The silver bullet fixed the cat.</p> + +<p>Jane also bewitched the chickens. They were dying so fast anything they +did seemed useless. Finally a big fire was built and the dead chickens +thrown into the fire, that burned the charm, and no more chickens died.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Colbert lives with her daughter in a very comfortable home. She +seems very happy and was glad to talk of her early days. How she would +laugh when telling of the experiences of her family.</p> + +<p>She has reared a large family of her own, and feels very proud of them.</p> + +Submitted December 1, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="CooperMandy"></a> +<h3>Wm. R. Mays<br> +Dist. 4<br> +Johnson County, Ind.<br> +July 29, 1937<br> +<br> +SLAVERY DAYS OF MANDY COOPER OF LINCOLN COUNTY, KENTUCKY<br> +FRANK COOPER<br> +715 Ott St., Franklin, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>Frank Cooper, an aged colored man of Franklin, relates some very +interesting conditions that existed in slavery days as handed down to +him by his mother.</p> + +<p>Mandy Cooper, the mother of Frank Cooper, was 115 years old when she +died; she was owned by three different families: the Good's, the +Burton's, and the Cooper's, all of Lincoln Co. Kentucky.</p> + +<p>"Well, Ah reckon Ah am one of the oldest colored men hereabouts," +confessed aged Frank Cooper. "What did you all want to see me about?" My +mission being stated, he related one of the strangest categories +alluding to his mother's slave life that I have ever heard.</p> + +<p>"One day while mah mammy was washing her back my sistah noticed ugly +disfiguring scars on it. Inquiring about them, we found, much to our +amazement, that they were mammy's relics of the now gone, if not +forgotten, slave days.</p> + +<p>"This was her first reference to her "misery days" that she had evah +made in my presence. Of course we all thought she was tellin' us a big +story and we made fun of her. With eyes flashin', she stopped bathing, +dried her back and reached for the smelly ole black whip that hung +behind the kitchen door. Biddin' us to strip down to our waists, my +little mammy with the boney bent-ovah back, struck each of us as hard as +evah she could with that black-snake whip, each stroke of the whip drew +blood from our backs. "Now", she said to us, "you have a taste of +slavery days." With three of her children now having tasted of some of +her "misery days" she was in the mood to tell us more of her sufferings; +still indelibly impressed in my mind. [TR: illegible handwritten note +here.]</p> + +<p>'My ole back is bent ovah from the quick-tempered blows feld by the +red-headed Miss Burton.</p> + +<p>'At dinner time one day when the churnin' wasn't finished for the +noonday meal', she said with an angry look that must have been reborn in +mah mammy's eyes—eyes that were dimmed by years and hard livin', 'three +white women beat me from anger because they had no butter for their +biscuits and cornbread. Miss Burton used a heavy board while the missus +used a whip. While I was on my knees beggin' them to quit, Miss Burton +hit the small of mah back with the heavy board. Ah knew no more until +kind Mr. Hamilton, who was staying with the white folks, brought me +inside the cabin and brought me around with the camphor bottle. Ah'll +always thank him—God bless him—he picked me up where they had left me +like a dog to die in the blazin' noonday sun.</p> + +<p>'After mah back was broken it was doubted whether ah would evah be able +to work again or not. Ah was placed on the auction block to be bidded +for so mah owner could see if ah was worth anything or not. One man bid +$1700 after puttin' two dirty fingahs in my mouth to see my teeth. Ah +bit him and his face showed angah. He then wanted to own me so he could +punish me.</p> + +<p>'Thinkin' his bid of $1700 was official he unstrapped his buggy whip to +beat me, but my mastah saved me. My master declared the bid unofficial.</p> + +<p>'At this auction my sister was sold for $1900 and was never seen by us +again.'</p> + +<p>"My mother related some experiences she had with the Paddy-Rollers, +later called the "Kuklux", these Paddy-Rollers were a constant dread to +the Negroes. They would whip the poor darkeys unmercifully without any +cause. One night while the Negroes were gathering for a big party and +dance they got wind of the approaching Paddy-Rollers in large numbers on +horseback. The Negro men did not know what to do for protection, they +became desperate and decided to gather a quantity of grapevines and tied +them fast at a dark place in the road. When the Paddy-Rollers came +thundering down the road bent on deviltry and unaware of the trap set +for them, plunged head-on into these strong grapevines and three of +their number were killed and a score was badly injured. Several horses +had to be shot following injuries.</p> + +<p>"When the news of this happening spread it was many months before the +Paddy-Rollers were again heard of."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="EdmundsHH"></a> +<h3>Albert Strope, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +St. Joseph County—District #1<br> +Mishawaka, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVE<br> +REV. H.H. EDMUNDS<br> +403 West Hickory Street<br> +Elkhart, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Rev. H.H. Edmunds has resided at 403 West Hickory Street in Elkhart for +the past ten years. Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1859, he lived there +for several years. Later he was taken to Mississippi by his master, and +finally to Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived until his removal to +Elkhart.</p> + +<p>Mr. Edmunds is very religious, and for many years has served his people +as a minister of the Gospel. He feels deeply that the religion of today +has greatly changed from the "old time religion." In slavery days, the +colored people were so subjugated and uneducated that he claims they +were especially susceptible to religion, and poured out their religious +feelings in the so-called negro spirituals. Mr. Edmunds is convinced +that the superstitions of the colored people and their belief in ghosts +and gobblins is due to the fact that their emotions were worked upon by +slave drivers to keep them in subjugation. Oftentimes white people +dressed as ghosts, frightened the colored people into doing many things +under protest. The "ghosts" were feared far more than the slave-drivers.</p> + +<p>The War of the Rebellion is not remembered by Mr. Edmunds, but he +clearly remembers the period following the war known as the +Reconstruction Period. The Negroes were very happy when they learned +they were free as a result of the war. A few took advantage of their +freedom immediately, but many, not knowing what else to do, remained +with their former masters. Some remained on the plantations five years +after they were free. Gradually they learned to care for themselves, +often through instructions received from their former masters, and then +they were glad to start out in the world for themselves. Of course, +there were exceptions, for the slaves who had been abused by cruel +masters were only too glad to leave their former homes.</p> + +<p>The following reminiscense is told by Mr. Edmunds:</p> + +<p>"As a boy, I worked in Virginia for my master, a Mr. Farmer[TR:?]. He had +two sons who served as bosses on the farm. An elder sister was the head +boss. After the war was over, the sister called the colored people +together and told them that they were no longer slaves, that they might +leave if they wished.</p> + +<p>"The slaves had been watering cucumbers which had been planted around +barrels filled with soil. Holes had been bored in the barrels, and when +water was poured in the barrels, it gradually seeped out through the +holes thus watering the cucumbers.</p> + +<p>"After the speech, one son told the slaves to resume their work. Since I +was free, I refused to do so, and as a result, I received a terrible +kicking. I mentally resolved to get even some day. Years afterward, I +went to the home of this man for the express purpose of seeking revenge. +However, I was received so kindly, and treated so well, that all +thoughts of vengeance vanished. For years after, my former boss and I +visited each other in our own homes."</p> + +<p>Mr. Edmunds states that the Negro people prefer to be referred to as +colored people, and deeply resent the name "nigger."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="EubanksJohn"></a> +<h3>Archie Koritz, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +Lake County—District #1<br> +Gary, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVES<br> +JOHN EUBANKS & FAMILY<br> +Gary, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Gary's only surviving Civil War veteran was born a slave in Barren +County, Kentucky, June 6, 1836. His father was a mulatto and a free +negro. His mother was a slave on the Everrett plantation and his +grandparents ware full-blooded African negroes. As a child he began work +as soon as possible and was put to work hoeing and picking cotton and +any other odd jobs that would keep him busy. He was one of a family of +several children, and is the sole survivor, a brother living in +Indianapolis, having died there in 1935.</p> + +<p>Following the custom of the south, when the children of the Everrett +family grew up, they married and slaves were given them for wedding +presents. John was given to a daughter who married a man of the name of +Eubanks, hence his name, John Eubanks. John was one of the more +fortunate slaves in that his mistress and master were kind and they were +in a state divided on the question of slavery. They favored the north. +The rest of the children were given to other members of the Everrett +family upon their marriage or sold down the river and never saw one +another until after the close of the Civil War.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, when the north seemed to +be losing, someone conceived the idea of forming negro regiments and as +an inducement to the slaves, they offered them freedom if they would +join the Union forces. John's mistress and master told him that if he +wished to join the Union forces, he had their consent and would not have +to run away like other slaves were doing. At the beginning of the war, +John was twenty-one years of age. When Lincoln freed the slaves by his +Emancipation Proclamation, John was promptly given his freedom by his +master and mistress.</p> + +<p>John decided to join the northern army which was located at Bowling +Green, Kentucky, a distance of thirty-five miles from Glasgow where John +was living. He had to walk the entire thirty-five miles. Although he +fails to remember all the units that he was attached to, he does +remember that it was part of General Sherman's army. His regiment +started with Sherman on his famous march through Georgia, but for some +reason unknown to John, shortly after the campaign was on its way, his +regiment was recalled and sent elsewhere.</p> + +<p>His regiment was near Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the time Lee +surrendered. Since Lee was a proud southerner and did not want the +negroes present when he surrendered, Grant probably for this reason as +much as any other refused to accept Lee's sword. When Lee surrendered +there was much shouting among the troops and John was one of many put to +work loading cannons on boats to be shipped up the river. His company +returned on the steamboat "Indiana." Upon his return to Glasgow, [HW: +Ky.] he saw for the first time in six years, his mother and other +members of his family who had returned free.</p> + +<p>Shortly after he returned to Glasgow at the close of the Civil War, he +saw several colored people walking down the highway and was attracted to +a young colored girl in the group who was wearing a yellow dress. +Immediately he said to himself, "If she ain't married there goes my +wife." Sometime later they met and were married Christmas day in 1866. +To this union twelve children were born four of whom are living today, +two in Gary and the others in the south. After his marriage he lived on +a farm near Glasgow for several years, later moving to Louisville, where +he worked in a lumber yeard. He came to Gary in 1924, two years after +the death of his wife.</p> + +<p>President Grant was the first president for whom he cast his vote and he +continued to vote until old age prevented him from walking to the polls.</p> + +<p>Although Lincoln is one of his favorite heroes, Teddy Roosevelt tops his +list of great men and he never failed to vote for him.</p> + +<p>In 1926, he was the only one of three surviving memebers of the Grand +Army of the Republic in Gary and mighty proud of the fact that he was +the only one in the parade. In 1937 he is the sole survivor.</p> + +<p>He served in the army as a member of Company K of the 108th, Kentucky +Infantry (Negro Volunteers).</p> + +<p>When General Morgan, the famous southern raider, crossed the Ohio on his +raid across southern Indiana, John was one of the Negro fighters who +after heavy fighting, forced Morgan to recross the river and retreat +back to the south. He also participated in several skirmishes with the +cavalry troops commanded by the famous Nathan Bedfored Forrest, and was +a member of the Negro garrison at Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi which +was assaulted and captured. This resulted in a massacre of the negro +soldiers. John was in several other fights, but as he says, "never onct +got a skinhurt."</p> + +<p>At the present time, Mr. Eubanks is residing with his daughter, Mrs. +Bertha Sloss and several grandchildren, in Gary, Indiana. He is badly +crippled with rheumatism, has poor eyesight and his memory is failing. +Otherwise his health is good. Most of his teeth are good and they are a +source of wonder to his dentist. He is ninety-eight years of age and +his wish in life now, is to live to be a hundred. Since his brother and +mother both died at ninety-eight and his paternal grandfather at one +hundred-ten years of age, he has a good chance to realize this ambition.</p> + +<p>Because of his condition most of this interview was had from his +grandchildren, who have taken notes in recent years of any incidents +that he relates. He is proud that most of his fifty grandchildren are +high school graduates and that two are attending the University of +Chicago.</p> + +<p>In 1935, he enjoyed a motor trip, when his family took him back to +Glasgow for a visit. He suffered no ill effects from the trip.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="EubanksJohn2"></a> +<h3>Archie Koritz, Field Worker<br> +816 Mound Street, Valparaiso, Indiana<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +Lake County, District #1<br> +Gary, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVES<br> +INTERVIEW WITH JOHN EUBANKS, EX-SLAVE</h3> +<br> + +<p>John Eubanks, Gary's only negro Civil War survivor has lived to see the +ninety-eighth anniversary of his birth and despite his advanced age, +recalls with surprising clarity many interesting and sad events of his +boyhood days when a slave on the Everett plantation.</p> + +<p>He was born in Glasgow, Barron County, Kentucky, June 6, 1839, one of +seven children of a chattel of the Everett family.</p> + +<p>The old man retains most of his faculties, but bears the mark of his +extreme age in an obvious feebleness and failing sight and memory. He is +physically large, says he once was a husky, weighing over two hundred +pounds, bears no scars or deformities and despite the hardships and +deprivations of his youth, presents a kindly and tolerant attitude.</p> + +<p>"I remembah well, us young uns on the Everett plantation," he relates, +"I worked since I can remembah, hoein', pickin' cotton and othah chohs +'round the fahm. We didden have much clothes, nevah no undahweah, no +shoes, old ovahalls and a tattahed shirt, wintah and summah. Come de +wintah, it be so cold mah feet weah plumb numb mos' o' de time and manya +time—when we git a chanct—we druve the hogs from outin the bogs an' +put ouah feet in the wahmed wet mud. They was cracked and the skin on +the bottoms and in de toes weah cracked and bleedin' mos' o' time, wit +bloody scabs but de summah healed them agin."</p> + +<p>"Does yohall remembah, Granpap," his daughter prompted, "Yoh +mahstah—did he treat you mean?"</p> + +<p>"No," his tolerant acceptance apparent in his answer, "it weah done +thataway. Slaves weah whipt and punished and the younguns belonged to +the mahstah to work foah him oh to sell. When I weah 'bout six yeahs +old, Mahstah Everett give me to Tony Eubanks as a weddin' present when +he married mahstah's daughtah Becky. Becky would'n let Tony whip her +slaves who came from her fathah's plantation. 'They ah my prophty,' she +say, 'an' you caint whip dem.' Tony whipt his othah slaves but not +Becky's."</p> + +<p>"I remembah" he continued, "how they tied de slave 'round a post, wit +hands tied togedder 'round the post, then a husky lash his back wid a +snakeskin lash 'til hisn back were cut and bloodened, the blood +spattered" gesticulating with his unusually large hands, "an' hisn back +all cut up. Den they'd pouh salt watah on hem. Dat dry and hahden and +stick to hem. He nevah take it off 'till it heal. Sometimes I see +marhstah Everett hang a slave tip-toe. He tie him up so he stan' tip-toe +an' leave him thataway.</p> + +<p>"I be twenty-one wehn wah broke out. Mahstah Eubanks say to me, 'Yohall +don' need to run 'way ifn yohall want to jine up wid de ahmy.' He say, +'Deh would be a fine effin slaves run off. Yohall don' haf to run off, +go right on and I do not pay dat fine.' He say, ''nlist in de ahmy but +don' run off.' Now I walk thirty-five mile from Glasgow to Bowling Green +to dis place—to da 'nlistin' place—from home fouh mile—to Glasgow—to +Bowling Green, thirty-five mile. On de road I meet up with two boys, so +we go on. Dey run 'way from Kentucky, and we go together. Then some +Bushwackers come down de road. We's scared and run to the woods and hid. +As we run tru de woods, pretty soon we heerd chickens crowing. We fill +ouah pockets wit stones. We goin' to kill chickens to eat. Pretty soon +we heerd a man holler, 'You come 'round outta der'—and I see a white +man and come out. He say, 'What yoh all doin' heah?' I turn 'round and +say, 'well boys, come on boys,' an' the boys come out. The man say, +'I'm Union Soldier. What yoh all doin' heah?' I say, 'We goin' to 'nlist +in de ahmy.' He say, 'Dat's fine' and he say, 'come 'long' He say, 'git +right on white man's side'—we go to station. Den he say, 'You go right +down to de station and give yoh inforhmation. We keep on walkin'. Den we +come to a white house wit stone steps in front so we go in. An' we got +to 'nlistin' place and jine up wit de ahmy.</p> + +<p>"Den we go trainin' in d' camp and we move on. Come to a little town ... +a little town. We come to Bolling Green ... den to Louiville. We come to +a rivah ... a rivah (painfully recalling) d' Mississippi.</p> + +<p>"We weah 'nfantry and petty soon we gits in plenty fights, but not a +scratch hit me. We chase dem cavalry. We run dem all night and next +mohnin' d' Captain he say, 'Dey done broke down.' When we rest, he say +'See dey don' trick you.' I say, 'We got all d' ahmy men togedder. We +hold dem back 'til help come.'</p> + +<p>"We don' have no tents. Sleep on naked groun' in wet and cold and rain. +Mos' d' time we's hungry but we win d' war and Mahstah Eubanks tell us +we no moah hisn property, we's free now."</p> + +<p>The old man can talk only in short sentences and his voice dies to a +whisper and soon the strain became evident. He was tired. What he does +remember is with surprising clearness especially small details, but with +a helpless gesture, he dismisses names and locations. He remembers the +exact date of his discharge, March 20, 1866, which his daughter verified +by producing his discharge papers. He remembers the place, Vicksburg, +the Company—K, and the Regiment, 180th. Dropping back once more to his +childhood he spoke of an incident which his daughter says makes them all +cry when he relates it, although they have heard it many times.</p> + +<p>"Mahstah Everett whipt me onct and mothah she cried. Then Mahstah +Everett say, 'Why yoh all cry?—Yoh cry I whip anothah of these young +uns. She try to stop. He whipt 'nother. He say, 'Ifn yoh all don' stop, +yoh be whipt too!' and mothah she trien to stop but teahs roll out, so +Mahstah Everett whip her too.</p> + +<p>"I wanted to visit mothah when I belong to Mahst' Eubanks, but Becky +say, 'Yoh all best not see youh mothah, or yoh wan' to go all de time' +then explaining, 'she wan' me to fohgit mothah, but I nevah could. When +I cm back from d' ahmy, I go home to mothah and say 'don' y'know me?' +She say, 'No, I don' know you.' I say, 'Yoh don' know me?' She say, 'No, +ah don' know yoh.' I say, 'I'se John.' Den she cry and say how ahd growd +and she thought I'se daid dis long time. I done 'splain how the many +fights I'se in wit no scratch and she bein' happy."</p> + +<p>Speaking of Abraham Lincoln's death, he remarked, "Sho now, ah remembah +dat well. We all feelin' sad and all d'soldiers had wreaths on der +guns."</p> + +<p>Upon his return from the army he married a young negress he had seen +some time previous at which time he had vowed some day to make her his +wife. He was married Christmas day, 1866. For a number of years he lived +on a farm of his own near Glasgow. Later he moved with his family to +Louisville where he worked in a lumber yard. In 1923, two years after +the death of his wife, he came to Gary, when he retired. He is now +living with his daughter, Mrs. Sloss, 2713 Harrison Boulevard, Gary.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="FieldsJohnW"></a> +<h3>Cecil C. Miller<br> +Dist. #3<br> +Tippecanoe Co.<br> +<br> +INTERVIEW WITH MR. JOHN W. FIELDS, EX-SLAVE OF CIVIL WAR PERIOD<br> +September 17, 1937</h3> +<br> + +<a name="img_JF1"></a> +<center> +<img src='images/jfields1.jpg' width='280' height='379' alt='John W. Fields'> +</center> +<br> + +<p>John W. Fields, 2120 North Twentieth Street, Lafayette, Indiana, now +employed as a domestic by Judge Burnett is a typical example of a fine +colored gentleman, who, despite his lowly birth and adverse +circumstances, has labored and economized until he has acquired a +respected place in his home community. He is the owner of three +properties; un-mortgaged, and is a member of the colored Baptist Church +of Lafayette. As will later be seen his life has been one of constant +effort to better himself spiritually and physically. He is a fine +example of a man who has lived a morally and physically clean life. But, +as for his life, I will let Mr. Fields speak for himself:</p> + +<p>"My name is John W. Fields and I'm eighty-nine (89) years old. I was +born March 27, 1848 in Owensburg, Ky. That's 115 miles below Louisville, +Ky. There was 11 other children besides myself in my family. When I was +six years old, all of us children were taken from my parents, because my +master died and his estate had to be settled. We slaves were divided by +this method. Three disinterested persons were chosen to come to the +plantation and together they wrote the names of the different heirs on a +few slips of paper. These slips were put in a hat and passed among us +slaves. Each one took a slip and the name on the slip was the new owner. +I happened to draw the name of a relative of my master who was a widow. +I can't describe the heartbreak and horror of that separation. I was +only six years old and it was the last time I ever saw my mother for +longer than one night. Twelve children taken from my mother in one day. +Five sisters and two brothers went to Charleston, Virginia, one brother +and one sister went to Lexington Ky., one sister went to Hartford, Ky., +and one brother and myself stayed in Owensburg, Ky. My mother was later +allowed to visit among us children for one week of each year, so she +could only remain a short time at each place.</p> + +<p>"My life prior to that time was filled with heart-aches and despair. We +arose from four to five O'clock in the morning and parents and children +were given hard work, lasting until nightfall gaves us our respite. +After a meager supper, we generally talked until we grew sleepy, we had +to go to bed. Some of us would read, if we were lucky enough to know +how.</p> + +<p>"In most of us colored folks was the great desire to able to read and +write. We took advantage of every opportunity to educate ourselves. The +greater part of the plantation owners were very harsh if we were caught +trying to learn or write. It was the law that if a white man was caught +trying to educate a negro slave, he was liable to prosecution entailing +a fine of fifty dollars and a jail sentence. We were never allowed to go +to town and it was not until after I ran away that I knew that they sold +anything but slaves, tobacco and wiskey. Our ignorance was the greatest +hold the South had on us. We knew we could run away, but what then? An +offender guilty of this crime was subjected to very harsh punishment.</p> + +<p>"When my masters estate had been settled, I was to go with the widowed +relative to her place, she swung me up on her horse behind her and +promised me all manner of sweet things if I would come peacefully. I +didn't fully realise what was happening, and before I knew it, I was on +my way to my new home. Upon arrival her manner changed very much, and +she took me down to where there was a bunch of men burning brush. She +said, "see those men" I said: yes. Well, go help them, she replied. So +at the age of six I started my life as an independent slave. From then +on my life as a slave was a repetition of hard work, poor quarters and +board. We had no beds at that time, we just "bunked" on the floor. I had +one blanket and manys the night I sat by the fireplace during the long +cold nights in the winter.</p> + +<p>"My Mistress had separated me from all my family but one brother with +sweet words, but that pose was dropped after she reached her place. +Shortly after I had been there, she married a northern man by the name +of David Hill. At first he was very nice to us, but he gradually +acquired a mean and overbearing manner toward us, I remember one +incident that I don't like to remember. One of the women slaves had been +very sick and she was unable to work just as fast as he thought she +ought to. He had driven her all day with no results. That night after +completeing our work he called us all together. He made me hold a light, +while he whipped her and then made one of the slaves pour salt water on +her bleeding back. My innerds turn yet at that sight.</p> + +<p>"At the beginning of the Civil War I was still at this place as a slave. +It looked at the first of the war as if the south would win, as most of +the big battles were won by the South. This was because we slaves stayed +at home and tended the farms and kept their families.</p> + +<p>"To eliminate this solid support of the South, the Emancipation Act was +passed, freeing all slaves. Most of the slaves were so ignorant they did +not realize they were free. The planters knew this and as Kentucky never +seceeded from the Union, they would send slaves into Kentucky from other +states in the south and hire them out to plantations. For these reasons +I did not realize that I was free untill 1864. I immediately resolved to +run away and join the Union Army and so my brother and I went to +Owensburg, Ky. and tried to join. My brother was taken, but I was +refused as being too young. I [HW: tried] at Evansville, Terre Haute and +Indianapolis but was unable to get in. I then tried to find work and was +finally hired by a man at $7.00 a month. That was my first independent +job. From then on I went from one job to another working as general +laborer.</p> + +<p>"I married at 24 years of age and had four children. My wife has been +dead for 12 years and 8 months. Mr. Miller, always remember that:</p> + +<pre> +"The brightest man, the prettiest flower +May be cut down, and withered in an hour." +</pre> + +<p>"Today, I am the only surviving member who helped organize the second +Baptist Church here in Lafayette, 64 years ago. I've tried to live +according to the way the Lord would wish, God Bless you."</p> + +<pre> +"The clock of Life is wound but once. +Today is yours, tomorrow is not. +No one knows when the hands will stop." +</pre> + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="FieldsJohnW2"></a> +<h3>Cecil Miller<br> +Dist. #3<br> +Tipp. Co. [TR: Tippecanoe Co.]<br> +<br> +NEGRO FOLKLORE<br> +MR. JOHN FIELDS, EX-SLAVE<br> +2120 N. 20th St. Lafayette, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<a name="img_JF2"></a> +<center> +<img src='images/jfields2.jpg' width='300' height='289' alt='John W. Fields'> +</center> + +<br> + +<p>Mr. Fields says that all negro slaves were ardent believers in ghosts, +supernatual powers, tokens and "signs." The following story illustrates +the point.</p> + +<p>"A turkey gobbler had mysteriously disappeared from one of the +neighboring plantations and the local slaves were accused of commeting +the fowl to a boiling pot. A slave convicted of theft was punished +severly. As all of the slaves denied any knowledge of the turkey's +whereabouts, they were instructed to make a search of the entire +plantation."</p> + +<p>"On one part of the place there was a large peach orchard. At the time +the trees were full of the green fruit. Under one of the trees there was +a large cabinet or "safe" as they were called. One of the slaves +accidently opened the safe and, Behold, there was Mr. Gobbler peacefully +seated on a number of green peaches.</p> + +<p>"The negro immediately ran back and notified his master of the +discovery. The master returned to the orchard with the slave to find +that the negro's wild tale was true. A turkey gobbler sitting on a nest +of green peaches. A bad omen.</p> + +<p>"The master had a son who had been seriously injured some time before by +a runaway team, and a few days after this unusual occurence with the +turkey, the son died. After his death, the word of the turkey's nesting +venture and the death of the master's son spread to this four winds, +and for some time after this story was related wherever there was a +public gathering with the white people or the slave population."</p> + +<p>All through the south a horseshoe was considered an omen of good luck. +Rare indeed was the southern home that did not have one nailed over the +door. This insured the household and all who entered of plesant +prospects while within the home. If while in the home you should perhaps +get into a violent argument, never hit the other party with a broom as +it was a sure indication of bad luck. If Grandad had the rheumatics, he +would be sure of relief if he carried a buckeye in his pocket.</p> + +<p>Of all the Ten Commandments, the one broken most by the negro was: Thou +Shalt Not Steal This was due mostly to the insufficent food the slaves +obtained. Most of the planters expected a chicken to suddenly get +heavenly aspirations once in a while, but as Mr. Fields says, "When a +beautiful 250 pound hog suddenly tries to kidnap himself, the planter +decided to investigate." It occured like this:</p> + +<p>A 250 pound hog had been fruitless. The planter was certain that the +culprit was among his group of slaves, so he decided to personally +conduct a quiet investigation.</p> + +<p>One night shortly after the moon had risen in the sky, two of the +negroes were seated at a table in one of the cabins talking of the +experiences of the day. A knock sounded on the door. Both slaves jumped +up and cautiously peeked out of the window. Lo there was the master +patiently waiting for an answer. The visiting negro decided that the +master must not see both of them and he asked the other to conceal him +while the master was there. The other slave told him to climb into the +attic and be perfectly quiet. When this was done, the tenant of the +cabin answered the door.</p> + +<p>The master strode in and gazed about the cabin. He then turned abruptly +to the slave and growled, 'Alright, where is that hog you stoled.' +'Massa, replied the negro, 'I know nothing about no hog. The master was +certain that the slave was lying and told him so in no uncertain terms. +The terrified slave said, 'Massa, I know nothing of any hog. I never +seed him. The Good Man up above knows I never seed him. HE knows every +thing and HE knows I didn't steal him; The man in the attic by this time +was aroused at the misunderstood conversation taking place below him. +Disregarding all, he raised his voice and yelled, 'He's a liar, Massa, +he knows just as much about it as I do.'</p> + +<p>Most of the strictly negro folklore has faded into the past. The younger +negro generations who have been reared and educated in the north have +lost this bearing and assumed the lore of the local white population +through their daily contact with the whites. The older negro natives of +this section are for the most part employed as domestics and through +this channel rapidly assimilated the employers viewpoint in most of his +beliefs and conversations.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="FortmanGeorge"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District 5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +INDIANS MADE SLAVES AMONG THE NEGROES.<br> +INTERVIEWS WITH GEORGE FORTMAN<br> +Cor. Bellemeade Ave. and Garvin St.<br> +Evansville, Indiana, and other interested citizens</h3> +<br> + +<p>"The story of my life, I will tell to you with sincerest respect to all +and love to many, although reviewing the dark trail of my childhood and +early youth causes me great pain." So spoke George Fortman, an aged man +and former slave, although the history of his life reveals that no Negro +blood runs through his veins.</p> + +<p>"My story necessarily begins by relating events which occurred in 1838, +when hundreds of Indians were rounded up like cattle and driven away +from the valley of the Wabash. It is a well known fact recorded in the +histories of Indiana that the long journey from the beautiful Wabash +Valley was a horrible experience for the fleeing Indians, but I have the +tradition as relating to my own family, and from this enforced flight +ensued the tragedy of my birth."</p> + +<p>The aged ex-slave reviews tradition. "My two ancestors, John Hawk, a +Blackhawk Indian brave, and Racheal, a Chackatau maiden had made +themselves a home such as only Indians know, understand and enjoy. He +was a hunter and a fighter but had professed faith in Christ through the +influence of the missionaries. My greatgrandmother passed the facts on +to her children and they have been handed down for four generations. I, +in turn, have given the traditions to my children and grandchildren.</p> + +<p>"No more peaceful home had ever offered itself to the red man than the +beautiful valley of the Wabash river. Giant elms, sycamores and maple +trees bordered the stream while the fertile valley was traversed with +creeks and rills, furnishing water in abundance for use of the Indian +campers.</p> + +<p>"The Indians and the white settlers in the valley transacted business +with each other and were friendly towards each other, as I have been +told by my mother, Eliza, and my grandmother, Courtney Hawk.</p> + +<p>"The missionaries often called the Indian families together for the +purpose of teaching them and the Indians had been invited, prior to +being driven from the valley, to a sort of festival in the woods. They +had prepared much food for the occasion. The braves had gone on a long +hunt to provide meat and the squaws had prepared much corn and other +grain to be used at the feast. All the tribes had been invited to a +council and the poor people were happy, not knowing they were being +deceived.</p> + +<p>"The decoy worked, for while the Indians were worshiping God the meeting +was rudely interrupted by orders of the Governor of the State. The +Governor, whose duty it was to give protection to the poor souls, caused +them to be taken captives and driven away at the point of swords and +guns.</p> + +<p>"In vain, my grandmother said, the Indians prayed to be let return to +their homes. Instead of being given their liberty, some several hundred +horses and ponies were captured to be used in transporting the Indians +away from the valley. Many of the aged Indians and many innocent +children died on the long journey and traditional stories speak of that +journey as the 'trail of death.'"</p> + +<p>"After long weeks of flight, when the homes of the Indians had been +reduced to ashes, the long trail still carried them away from their +beautiful valley. My greatgrandfather and his squaw became acquainted +with a party of Indians that were going to the canebrakes of Alabama. +The pilgrims were not well fed or well clothed and they were glad to +travel towards the south, believing the climate would be favorable to +their health.</p> + +<p>"After a long and dreary journey, the Indians reached Alabama. Rachael +had her youngest papoose strapped on to her back while John had cared +for the larger child, Lucy. Sometimes she had walked beside her father +but often she had become weary or sleepy and he had carried her many +miles of the journey, besides the weight of blankets and food. An older +daughter, Courtney, also accompanied her parents.</p> + +<p>"When they neared the cane lands they heard the songs of Negro slaves as +they toiled in the cane. Soon they were in sight of the slave quarters +of Patent George's plantation. The Negroes made the Indians welcome and +the slave dealer allowed them to occupy the cane house; thus the Indians +became slaves of Patent George.</p> + +<p>"Worn out from his long journey John Hawk became too ill to work in the +sugar cane. The kindly-disposed Negroes helped care for the sick man but +he lived only a few months. Rachel and her two children remained on the +plantation, working with the other slaves. She had nowhere to go. No +home to call her own. She had automatically become a slave. Her children +had become chattel.</p> + +<p>"So passed a year away, then unhappiness came to the Indian mother, for +her daughter, Courtney, became the mother of young Master Ford George's +child. The parents called the little half-breed "Eliza" and were very +fond of her. The widow of John Hawk became the mother of Patent George's +son, Patent Junior.</p> + +<p>"The tradition of the family states that in spite of these irregular +occurrences the people at the George's southern plantation were +prosperous, happy, and lived in peace each with the others. Patent +George wearied of the Southern climate and brought his slaves into +Kentucky where their ability and strength would amass a fortune for the +master in the iron ore regions of Kentucky.</p> + +<p>"With the wagon trains of Patent and Ford George came Rachel Hawk and +her daughters, Courtney, Lucy and Rachel. Rachel died on the journey +from Alabama but the remaining full blooded Indians entered Kentucky as +slaves.</p> + +<p>"The slave men soon became skilled workers in the Hillman Rolling +Mills. Mr. Trigg was owner of the vast iron works called the "Chimneys" +in the region, but listed as the Hillman, Dixon, Boyer, Kelley and Lyons +Furnaces. For more than a half century these chimneys smoked as the most +valuable development in the western area of Kentucky. Operated in 1810, +these furnaces had refined iron ore to supply the United States Navy +with cannon balls and grape shot, and the iron smelting industry +continued until after the close of the Civil War.</p> + +<p>"No slaves were beaten at the George's plantation and old Mistress +Hester Lam allowed no slave to be sold. She was a devoted friend to all.</p> + +<p>"As Eliza George, daughter of Ford George and Courtney Hawk, grew into +young womanhood the young master Ford George went oftener and oftener to +social functions. He was admired for his skill with firearms and for his +horsemanship. While Courtney and his child remained at the plantation +Ford enjoyed the companship of the beautiful women of the vicinity. At +last he brought home the beautiful Loraine, his young bride. Courtney +was stoical as only an Indian can be. She showed no hurt but helped +Mistress Hester and Mistress Loraine with the house work."</p> + +<p>Here George Fortman paused to let his blinded eyes look back into the +long ago. Then he again continued with his story of the dark trail.</p> + +<p>"Mistress Loraine became mother of two sons and a daughter and the big +white two-story house facing the Cumberland River at Smith Landing, +Kentucky, became a place of laughter and happy occasions, so my mother +told me many times.</p> + +<p>"Suddenly sorrow settled down over the home and the laughter turned into +wailing, for Ford George's body was found pierced through the heart and +the half-breed, Eliza, was nowhere to be found.</p> + +<p>"The young master's body lay in state many days. Friends and neighbors +came bringing flowers. His mother, bowed with grief, looked on the still +face of her son and understood—understood why death had come and why +Eliza had gone away.</p> + +<p>"The beautiful home on the Cumberland river with its more than 600 acres +of productive land was put into the hands of an administrator of estates +to be readjusted in the interest of the George heirs. It was only then +Mistress Hester went to Aunt Lucy and demanded of her to tell where +Eliza could be found.</p> + +<p>'She has gone to Alabama, Ole Mistus', said Aunt Lucy, 'Eliza was scared +to stay here.' A party of searchers were sent out to look for Eliza. +They found her secreted in a cane brake in the low lands of Alabama +nursing her baby boy at her breast. They took Eliza and the baby back to +Kentucky. I am that baby, that child of unsatisfactory birth."</p> + +<p>The face of George Fortman registered sorrow and pain, it had been hard +for him to retell the story of the dark road to strange ears.</p> + +<p>"My white uncles had told Mistress Hester that if Eliza brought me back +they were going to build a fire and put me in it, my birth was so +unsatisfactory to all of them, but Mistress Hester always did what she +believed was right and I was brought up by my own mother.</p> + +<p>"We lived in a cabin at the slave quarters and mother worked in the +broom cane. Mistress Hester named me Ford George, in derision, but +remained my friend. She was never angry with my mother. She knew a slave +had to submit to her master and besides Eliza did not know she was +Master Ford George's daughter."</p> + +<p>The truth had been told at last. The master was both the father of Eliza +and the father of Eliza's son.</p> + +<p>"Mistress Hester believed I would be feeble either in mind or body +because of my unsatisfactory birth, but I developed as other children +did and was well treated by Mistress Hester, Mistress Lorainne and her +children.</p> + +<p>"Master Patent George died and Mistress Hester married Mr. Lam, while +slaves kept working at the rolling mills and amassing greater wealth for +the George families.</p> + +<p>"Five years before the outbreak of the Civil War Mistress Hester called +all the slaves together and gave us our freedom. Courtney, my +grandmother, kept house for Mistress Lorainne and wanted to stay on, so +I too was kept at the George home. There was a sincere friendship as +great as the tie of blood between the white family and the slaves. My +mother married a negro ex-slave of Ford George and bore children for +him. Her health failed and when Mistress Puss, the only daughter of +Mistress Lorainne, learned she was ill she persuaded the Negro man to +sell his property and bring Eliza back to live with her."</p> + +<p>[TR: in following section the name George 'Fordman' is used twice.]</p> + +<p>"Why are you called George Fordman when your name is Ford George?" was +the question asked the old man.</p> + +<p>"Then the Freedsmen started teaching school in Kentucky the census taker +called to enlist me as a pupil. 'What do you call this child?' he asked +Mistress Lorainne. 'We call him the Little Captain because he carried +himself like a soldier,' said Mistress Lorainne. 'He is the son of my +husband and a slave woman but we are rearing him.' Mistress Lorainne +told the stranger that I had been named Ford George in derision and he +suggested she list me in the census as George Fordsman, which she did, +but she never allowed me to attend the Freedmen's School, desiring to +keep me with her own children and let me be taught at home. My mother's +half brother, Patent George allowed his name to be reversed to George +Patent when he enlisted in the Union Service at the outbreak of the +Civil War."</p> + +<p>Some customs prevalent in the earlier days were described by George +Fordman. "It was customary to conduct a funeral differently than it is +conducted now," he said. "I remember I was only six years old when old +Mistress Hester Lam passed on to her eternal rest. She was kept out of +her grave several days in order to allow time for the relatives, +friends and ex-slaves to be notified of her death.</p> + +<p>"The house and yard were full of grieving friends. Finally the lengthy +procession started to the graveyard. Within the George's parlors there +had been Bible passages read, prayers offered up and hymns sung, now the +casket was placed in a wagon drawn by two horses. The casket was covered +with flowers while the family and friends rode in ox carts, horse-drawn +wagons, horseback, and with still many on foot they made their way +towards the river.</p> + +<p>"When we reached the river there were many canoes busy putting the people +across, besides the ferry boat was in use to ferry vehicles over the +stream. The ex-slaves were crying and praying and telling how good +granny had been to all of them and explaining how they knew she had gone +straight to Heaven, because she was so kind—and a Christian. There were +not nearly enough boats to take the crowd across if they crossed back +and forth all day, so my mother, Eliza, improvised a boat or 'gunnel', +as the craft was called, by placing a wooden soap box on top of a long +pole, then she pulled off her shoes and, taking two of us small children +in her arms, she paddled with her feet and put us safely across the +stream. We crossed directly above Iaka, Livingston county, three miles +below Grand River.</p> + +<p>"At the burying ground a great crowd had assembled from the neighborhood +across the river and there were more songs and prayers and much weeping. +The casket was let down into the grave without the lid being put on and +everybody walked up and looked into the grave at the face of the dead +woman. They called it the 'last look' and everybody dropped flowers on +Mistress Hester as they passed by. A man then went down and nailed on +the lid and the earth was thrown in with shovels. The ex-slaves filled +in the grave, taking turns with the shovel. Some of the men had worked +at the smelting furnaces so long that their hands were twisted and +hardened from contact with the heat. Their shoulders were warped and +their bodies twisted but they were strong as iron men from their years +of toil. When the funeral was over mother put us across the river on the +gunnel and we went home, all missing Mistress Hester.</p> + +<p>"My cousin worked at Princeton, Kentucky, making shoes. He had never +been notified that he was free by the kind emancipation Mrs. Hester had +given to her slaves, and he came loaded with money to give to his white +folks. Mistress Lorainne told him it was his own money to keep or to +use, as he had been a free man several months.</p> + +<p>"As our people, white and black and Indians, sat talking they related +how they had been warned of approaching trouble. Jack said the dogs had +been howling around the place for many nights and that always presaged a +death in the family. Jack had been compelled to take off his shoes and +turn them soles up near the hearth to prevent the howling of the dogs. +Uncle Robert told how he believed some of Mistress Hester's enemies had +planted a shrub near her door and planted it with a curse so that when +the shrub bloomed the old woman passed away. Then another man told how a +friend had been seen carrying a spade into his cousin's cabin and the +cousin had said, 'Daniel, what foh you brung that weapon into by [TR: my?] cabin? +That very spade will dig my grave,' and sure enough the cousin had died +and the same spade had been used in digging his grave.</p> + +<p>"How my childish nature quailed at hearing the superstitions discussed, +I cannot explain. I have never believed in witchcraft nor spells, but I +remember my Indian grandmother predicted a long, cold winter when she +noticed the pelts of the coons and other furred creatures were +exceedingly heavy. When the breastbones of the fowls were strong and +hard to sever with the knife it was a sign of a hard, cold and snowy +winter. Another superstition was this: 'A green winter, a new +graveyard—a white winter, a green graveyard.'"</p> + +<p>George Fortman relates how, when he accompanied two of his cousins into +the lowlands—there were very many Katy-dids in the trees—their voices +formed a nerve-racking orchestra and his cousin told him to tiptoe to +the trees and touch each tree with the tips of his fingers. This he did, +and for the rest of the day there was quiet in the forest.</p> + +<p>"More than any other superstition entertained by the slave Negroes, the +most harmful was the belief on conjurors. One old Negro woman boiled a +bunch of leaves in an iron pot, boiled it with a curse and scattered the +tea therein brewed, and firmly believed she was bringing destruction to +her enemies. 'Wherever that tea is poured there will be toil and +troubles,' said the old woman.</p> + +<p>"The religion of many slaves was mostly superstition. They feared to +break the Sabbath, feared to violate any of the Commandments, believing +that the wrath of God would follow immediately, blasting their lives.</p> + +<p>"Things changed at the George homestead as they change everywhere," said +George Fortman. "When the Civil War broke out many slaves enlisted in +hopes of receiving freedom. The George Negroes were already free but +many thought it their duty to enlist and fight for the emancipation of +their fellow slaves. My mother took her family and moved away from the +plantation and worked in the broom cane. Soon she discovered she could +not make enough to rear her children and we were turned over to the +court to be bound out.</p> + +<p>"I was bound out to David Varnell in Livingston County by order of Judge +Busch and I stayed there until I was fifteen years of age. My sister +learned that I was unhappy there and wanted to see my mother, so she +influenced James Wilson to take me into his home. Soon goodhearted Jimmy +Wilson took me to see Mother and I went often to see her."</p> + +<p>Sometimes George would become stubborn and hard to control and then Mr. +Wilson administered chastisement. His wife could not bear to have the +boy punished. 'Don't hit him, Jimmie, don't kick him,' would say the +good Scotch woman, who was childless. 'If he does not obey me I will +whip him,' James Wilson would answer. So the boy learned the lesson of +obedience from the old couple and learned many lessons in thrift through +their examples.</p> + +<p>"In 1883 I left the Wilson home and began working and trying to save +some money. River trade was prosperous and I became a 'Roustabout'. The +life of the roustabout varied some with the habits of the roustabout and +the disposition of the mate. We played cards, shot dice and talked to +the girls who always met the boats. The 'Whistling Coon' was a popular +song with the boatmen and one version of 'Dixie Land'. One song we often +sang when near a port was worded 'Hear the trumpet Sound'—</p> + +<pre> +Hear the trumpet sound, +Stand up and don't sit down, +Keep steppin' 'round and 'round, +Come jine this elegant band. + +If you don't step up and jine the bout, +Old Missus sure will fine it out, +She'll chop you in the head wid a golen ax, +You never will have to pay da tax, +Come jine the roust-a-bout band." +</pre> + +<p>From roust-a-bout George became a cabin boy, cook, pilot, and held a +number of positions on boats, plowing different streams. There was much +wild game to be had and the hunting season was always open. He also +remembers many wolves, wild turkeys, catamounts and deer in abundance +near the Grand River. "Pet deer loafed around the milking pens and ate +the feed from the mangers" said he.</p> + +<p>George Fortman is a professor of faith in Christ. He was baptized in +Concord Lake, seven miles from Clarksville, Tennessee, became a member +of the Pleasant Greene Church at Callwell, Kentucky and later a member +of the Liberty Baptist Church at Evansville.</p> + +<p>"I have always kept in touch with my white folks, the George family," +said the man, now feeble and blind. "Four years ago Mistress Puss died +and I was sent for but was not well enough to make the trip home."</p> + +<p>Too young to fight in the Civil War, George was among those who watched +the work go on. "I lived at Smiths Landing and remember the battle at +Fort Donnelson. It was twelve miles away and a long cinder walk reached +from the fort for nearly thirty miles. The cinders were brought from the +iron ore mills and my mother and I have walked the length of it many +times." Still reviewing the long, dark trail he continued. "Boatloads of +soldiers passed Smith's Landing by day and night and the reports of +cannon could be heard when battles were fought. We children collected +Munnie balls near the fort for a long time after the war."</p> + +<p>Although the George family never sold slaves or separated Negro +families, George Fortman has seen many boats loaded with slaves on the +way to slave marts. Some of the George Negroes were employed as pilots +on the boats. He also remembers slave sales where Negroes were auctioned +by auctioneers, the Negroes stripped of clothes to exhibit their +physique.</p> + +<p>"I have always been befriended by three races of people, the Caucassian, +the African, and the Negro," declares George Fortman. "I have worked as +a farmer, a river man, and been employed by the Illinois Central +Railroad Company and in every position I have held I have made loyal +friends of my fellow workmen." One friend, treasured in the memory of +the aged ex-slave is Ollie James, who once defended George in court.</p> + +<p>George Fortman has friends at Dauson Springs, Grayson Springs, and other +Kentucky resorts. He has been a citizen of Evansville for thirty-five +years and has had business connections here for sixty-two years. He +janitored for eleven years for the Lockyear Business College, but his +days of usefulness are over. He now occupies a room at Bellemeade Ave. +and Garvin St. and his only exercise consists of a stroll over to the +Lincoln High School. There he enjoys listening to the voices of the +pupils as they play about the campus. "They are free", he rejoices. +"They can build their own destinies, they did not arrive in this life +by births of unsatisfactory circumstances. They have the world before +them and my grandsons and granddaughters are among them."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="GibsonJohnHenry"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +JOHN HENRY GIBSON—EX-SLAVE<br> +Colton Street</h3> +<br> + +<p>John Henry Gibson was born a slave, many years ago, in Scott County, +N.C.</p> + +<p>His old master, John Henry Bidding, was a wealthy farmer; he also owned +the hotel, or rooming house.</p> + +<p>When court was in session the "higher ups" would come to this house, and +stay until the court affairs were settled.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bidding, who was very kind to his slaves, died when John Gibson was +very young. All slaves and other property passed on to the son, Joseph +Bidding, who in turn was as kind as his father had been.</p> + +<p>Gibson's father belonged to General Lee Gibson, who was a neighboring +farmer. He saw and met Miss Elizabeth Bidding's maid; they liked each +other so very much, Miss Elizabeth bought him from General Gibson, and +let him have her maid as his wife. The wife lived only a short time, +leaving a little boy.</p> + +<p>After the Civil war, a white man, by the name of Luster, was comming to +Ohio, brought John Gibson with him. They came to Indianapolis, and +Gibson liked it so well, he decided to remain; Mr. Luster told him if he +ever became dissatisfied to come on to Ohio to him, but he remained in +Indianapolis until 1872, then went back south, married, came back, and +made Indianapolis his home.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. Gibson is very old, but does not know his exact age. He fought in +the Civil war, and said he could not be very young to have done that.</p> + +<p>His sight is very nearly gone, can only distinguish light and dark.</p> + +<p>He is very proud of his name, having been named for his old master.</p> + +Submitted January 24, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="GuwnBetty"></a> +<h3>Submitted by:<br> +William Webb Tuttle<br> +District No. 2<br> +Muncie, Indiana<br> +<br> +NEGRO SLAVES IN DELAWARE COUNTY<br> +MRS. BETTY GUWN<br> +MRS. HATTIE CASH, DAUGHTER,<br> +residing at 1101 East Second Street<br> +Muncie, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Betty Guwn was born March 25, 1832, as a slave on a tobacco +plantation, near Canton, Kentucky. It was a large plantation whose +second largest product was corn. She was married while quite young by +the slave method which was a form of union customary between the white +masters. If the contracting parties were of different plantations the +masters of the two estates bargained and the one sold his rights to the +one on whose plantation they would live. Her master bought her husband, +brought him and set them up a shack. Betty was the personal attendant of +the Mistress. The home was a large Colonial mansion and her duties were +many and responsible. However, when her house duties were caught up her +mistress sent her immediately to the fields. Discipline was quite stern +there and she was "lined up" with the others on several occasions.</p> + +<p>Her cabin home began to fill up with children, fifteen in all. The +ventilation was ample and the husband would shoot a prowling dog from +any of the four sides of the room without opening the door. The cracks +between the logs would be used by cats who could step in anywhere. The +slaves had "meetin'" some nights and her mistress would call her and +have her turn a tub against her mansion door to keep out the sound.</p> + +<p>Her master was very wealthy. He owned and managed a cotton farm of two +thousand acres down in Mississippi, not far from New Orleans. Once a +year he spent three months there gathering and marketing his cotton. +When he got ready to go there he would call all his slaves about him and +give them a chance to volunteer. They had heard awful tales of the slave +auction block at New Orleans, and the Master would solemnly promise them +that they should not be sold if they went down of their own accord. "My +Mistress called me to her and privately told me that when I was asked +that question I should say to him: "I will go". The Master had to take +much money with him and was afraid of robbers. The day they were to +start my Mistress took me into a private room and had me remove most of +my clothing; she then opened a strong box and took out a great roll of +money in bills; these she strapped to me in tight bundles, arranging +them around my waist in the circle of my body. She put plenty of dresses +over this belt and when she was through I wore a bustle of money clear +around my belt. I made a funny "figger" but no one noticed my odd shape +because I was a slave and no one expected a slave to "know better". We +always got through safely and I went down with my Mistress every year. +Of course my husband stayed at home to see after the family, and took +them to the fields when too young to work under the task master, or +over-seer. Three months was a long time to be separated."</p> + +<p>"When the Civil War came on there was great excitement among we slaves. +We were watched sharply, especially soldier timber for either army. My +husband ran away early and helped Grant to take Fort Donaldson. He said +he would free himself, which he did; but when we were finally set free +all our family prepared to leave. The Master begged us to stay and +offered us five pounds of meal and two pounds of pork jowl each week if +we would stay and work. We all went to Burgard, Kentucky, to live. At +that time I was about 34 years old. My husband has been dead a long time +and I live with my children. If the "Good Lord" spares me until next +March the 25th, I will be 106 years old. I walk all about lively without +crutches and eye-glasses and I have never been sick until this year when +a tooth gave me trouble; but I had it pulled."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="HockadayMrs"></a> +<h3>Archie Koritz, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +Porter County—District #1<br> +Valparaiso, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVES<br> +MRS. HOCKADAY<br> +2581 Madison Street<br> +Gary, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Hockaday is the daughter of an ex-slave and like so many others +does not care to discuss the dark side of slavery and the cruel +treatment that some of them received.</p> + +<p>After the Civil War the slaves who for the most part were unskilled and +ignorant, found it very difficult to adjust themselves to their new life +as free persons. Formerly, they lived on the land of their masters and +although compelled to work long hours, their food and lodging were +provided for them. After their emancipation, this life was changed. They +were free and had to think for themselves and make a living. Times for +the negro then was much the same as during the depression. Several of +the slaves started out to secure jobs, but all found it difficult to +adjust themselves to the new life and difficult to secure employment. +Many came back to their old owners and many were afraid to leave and +continued on much as before.</p> + +<p>The north set up stores or relief stations where the negro who was +unable to secure employment could obtain food and shelter. Mrs. Hockaday +says it was the same as conditions have been the last few years.</p> + +<p>About all the negro was skilled at was servant work and when they came +north, they encountered the same difficulties as several of the colored +folks who, driven by the terrible living conditions in the south four +years ago, came to Gary. Arriving here they believed they were capable +of servant work. However they were not accustomed to modern appliances +and found it very difficult to adjust themselves. It was the same after +the Emancipation.</p> + +<p>Many owners were kind and religious and had schools for their slaves, +where they could learn to read and write. These slaves were more +successful in securing employment.</p> + +<p>Although the negro loved the Bible most of all books, and were mostly +Methodists and Baptists, their different religious beliefs is caused by +the slave owners having churches for the slaves. Whatever church the +master belonged to, the slaves belonged to, and continued in the same +church after the war.</p> + +<p>Since slaves took the name of their owners, children in the same family +would have different names. Mr. Hockaday's father and his brothers and +sisters all had different names. On the plantation they were called +"Jones' Jim," "Brown's Jones," etc. Many on being freed left their old +homes and adopted any name that they took a fancy to. One slave that +Mrs. Hockaday remembers took the name of Green Johnson and says he often +remarked that he surely was green to adopt such a name. His grandson in +Gary is an exact double for Clark Gable, except he is brown, and Gable +is white.</p> + +<p>Many slave owners gave their slaves small tracts of land which they +could tend after working hours. Anything raised belonged to them and +they could even sell the products and the money was theirs. Many slaves +were able to save enough from these tracts to purchase their freedom +long before the Emancipation.</p> + +<p>Another condition that confronted the negro in the north was that they +were not understood like they were by the southern people. In the south +they were trusted and considered trustworthy by their owners. Even +during the Civil War, they were trusted with the family jewels, silver, +etc., when the northern army came marching by, whereas in the north, +even though they freed the slaves, they would not trust them. For that +reason, many of the slaves did not like the northern people and remained +or returned to the southern plantations.</p> + +<p>The slave owners thought that slavery was right and nothing was wrong +about selling and buying human beings if they were colored, much as a +person would purchase a horse or automobile today. The owners who +whipped their slaves usually stripped them to the waist and lashed them +with a long leather whip, commonly called a blacksnake.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hockaday is a large, pleasant, middle-aged woman and does not like +to discuss the cruel side of slavery and only recalls in a general way +what she had heard old slaves discuss.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="HowardRobert"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +ROBERT HOWARD—EX-SLAVE<br> +1840 Boulevard Place</h3> +<br> + +<p>Robert Howard, an ex-slave, was born in 1852, in Clara County, Kentucky.</p> + +<p>His master, Chelton Howard, was very kind to him.</p> + +<p>The mother, with her five children, lived on the Howard farm in peace +and harmony.</p> + +<p>His father, Beverly Howard, was owned by Bill Anderson, who kept a +saloon on the river front.</p> + +<p>Beverly was "hired out" in the house of Bill Anderson. He was allowed to +go to the Howard farm every Saturday night to visit with his wife and +children. This visit was always looked forward to with great joy, as +they were devoted to the father.</p> + +<p>The Howard family was sold only once, being owned first by Dr. Page in +Henry County, Kentucky. The family was not separated; the entire family +was bought and kept together until slavery was abolished.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Commen</b>t</p> + +<p>Mr. Howard seems to be a very kind old man, lives in the house for aged +colored people (The Alpha Home).</p> + +<p>He has no relatives, except a brother. He seems well satisfied living in +the home.</p> + +Submitted January 10, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="HumeMatthew"></a> +<h3>Grace Monroe<br> +Dist. 4<br> +Jefferson County<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +MR. MATTHEW HUME, A FORMER SLAVE</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mr. Hume had many interesting experiences to tell concerning the part +slavery had played in his family. On the whole they were fortunate in +having a good master who would not keep an overseer who whipped his +"blacks".</p> + +<p>His father, Luke Hume, lived in Trimble County Kentucky and was allowed +to raise for himself one acre of tobacco, one acre of corn, garden +stuff, chickens and have the milk and butter from one cow. He was +advised to save his money by the overseer, but always drank it up. On +this plantation all the slaves were free from Saturday noon until Monday +morning and on Christmas and the Fourth of July. A majority of them +would go to Bedford or Milton and drink, gamble and fight. On the +neighboring farm the slaves were treated cruelly. Mr. Hume had a +brother-in-law, Steve Lewis, who carried marks on his back. For years he +had a sore that would not heal where his master had struck him with a +blacksnake whip.</p> + +<p>Three good overseers were Jake Mack and Mr. Crafton, Mr. Daniel Payne +was the owner who asked his people to report any mistreatment to him. He +expected obedience however.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Hume was a small boy he was placed in the fields to hoe. He +also wanted a new implement. He was so small he was unable to keep near +enough to the men and boys to hear what they were talking about, he +remembered bringing up the rear one day, when he saw a large rock he +carefully covered it with dirt, then came down hard on it breaking his +hoe. He missed a whipping and received a new tool to replace the old +one, after this he could keep near enough to hear what the other workers +were talking about.</p> + +<p>Another of his duties was to go for the cattle, he had to walk around +the road about a mile, but was permitted to come back through the fields +about a quarter of a mile. One afternoon his mistress told him to bring +a load of wood when he came in. In the summer it was the custom to have +the children carry the wood from the fields. When he came up he saw his +mistress was angry this peeved him, so that he stalked into the hall +and slammed his wood into the box. About this time his mistress shoved +him into a small closet and locked the door. He made such a howl that he +brought his mother and father to the rescue and was soon released from +his prison.</p> + +<p>As soon as the children were old enough they were placed in the fields +to prepare the ground for setting tobacco plants. This was a very +complicated procedure. The ground was made into hills, each requiring +about four feet of soil. The child had to get all the clods broken fine. +Then place his foot in the center and leave his track. The plants were +to be set out in the center and woe to the youngster who had failed to +pulverize his hill. After one plowing the tobacco was hand tended. It +was long green and divided into two grades. It was pressed by being +placed in large hogsheads and weighted down. On one occasion they were +told their tobacco was so eaten up that the worms were sitting on the +fence waiting for the leaves to grow but nevertheless in some manner his +master hid the defects and received the best price paid in the +community.</p> + +<p>The mistress on a neighboring plantation was a devout Catholic, and had +all the children come each Sunday after-noon to study the catechism and +repeat the Lord's Prayer. She was not very successful in training them +in the Catholic faith as when they grew up most of them were either +Baptists or Methodists. Mr. Hume said she did a lot of good in leading +them to Christ but he did not learn much of the catechism as he only +attended for the treat. After the service they always had candy or a cup +of sugar.</p> + +<p>On the Preston place there was a big strapping negro of eighteen whom +the overseer attempted to whip receiving the worst of it. He then went +to Mr. Hume's owner and asked for help but was told he would have to +seek elsewhere for help. Finally some one was found to assist. Smith was +tied to a tree and severely beaten, then they were afraid to untie him, +when the overseer finally ventured up and loosened the ropes, Smith +kicked him as hard as he could and ran to the Payne estate refusing to +return. He was a good helper here where he received kind treatment.</p> + +<p>A bad overseer was discharged once by Mr. Payne because of his cruelty +to Mr. Luke Hume. The corncrib was a tiny affair where a man had to +climb out one leg at a time, one morning just as Mr. Hume's father was +climbing out with his feed, he was struck over the head with a large +club, the next morning he broke the scoop off an iron shovel and +fastened the iron handle to his body. This time he swung himself from +the door of the crib and seeing the overseer hiding to strik him he +threw his bar, which made a wound on the man's head which did not knock +him out. As soon as Mr. Payne heard of the disturbance the overseer was +discharged and Mr. Mack placed in charge of the slaves.</p> + +<p>One way of exacting obedience was to threaten to send offenders South to +work in the fields. The slaves around Lexington, Kentucky, came out +ahead on one occasion. The collector was Shrader. He had the slaves +handcuffed to a large leg chain and forced on a flat boat. There were so +many that the boat was grounded, so some of the slaves were released to +push the boat off. Among the "blacks" was one who could read and write. +Before Shrader could chain them up again, he was seized and chained, +taken to below Memphis Tennessee and forced to work in the cotton fields +until he was able to get word from Richmond identifying him. In the +meantime the educated negro issued freedom papers to his companions. +Many of them came back to Lexington, Kentucky where they were employed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hume thought the Emancipation Proclamation was the greatest work +that Abraham Lincoln ever did. The colored people on his plantation did +not learn of it until the following August. Then Mr. Payne and his sons +offered to let them live on their ground with conditions similar to our +renting system, giving a share of the crop. They remained here until +Jan. 1, 1865 when they crossed the Ohio at Madison. They had a cow which +had been given them before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued but +this was taken away from them. So they came to Ind. homeless, friendless +and penniless.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hume and his aged wife have been married 62 years and resided in the +same community for 55 years where they are highly respected by all their +neighbors.</p> + +<p>He could not understand the attitude of his race who preferred to remain +in slavery receiving only food and shelter, rather than to be free +citizens where they could have the right to develop their individualism.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="JacksonHenrietta"></a> +<h3>Virginia Tulley<br> +District #2<br> +Fort Wayne, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVE OF ALLEN COUNTY<br> +[MRS. HENRIETTA JACKSON]</h3> + +References:<br> +A. Ft. Wayne News Sentinel November 21, 1931<br> +B. Personal interview<br> +[TR: There are no 'A' and 'B' annotations in the interview.]<br> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Henrietta Jackson, Fort Wayne resident, is distinguished for two +reasons; she is a centennarian and an ex-slave. Residing with her +daughter, Mrs. Jackson is very active and helps her daughter, who +operates a restaurant, do some of the lighter work. At the time I +called, an August afternoon of over 90 degrees temperature, Mrs. Jackson +was busy sweeping the floor. A little, rather stooped, shrunken body, +Mrs. Jackson gets around slowly but without the aid of a cane or support +of any kind. She wears a long dark cotton dress with a bandana on her +head with is now quite gray. Her skin is walnut brown her eyes peering +brightly through the wrinkles. She is intelligent, alert, cordial, very +much interested in all that goes on about her.</p> + +<p>Just how old Mrs. Jackson is, she herself doesn't know, but she thinks +she is about 105 years old. She looks much younger. Her youngest child +is 73 and she had nine, two of whom were twins. Born a slave in +Virginia, record of her birth was kept by the master. She cannot +remember her father as he was soon sold after Mrs. Jackson's death [TR: +birth?]. When still a child she was taken from her mother and sold. She +remembers the auction block and that she brought a good price as she was +strong and healthy. Her new master, Tom Robinson, treated her well and +never beat her. At first she was a plough hand, working in the cotton +fields, but then she was taken into the house to be a maid. While there +the Civil War broke out. Mrs. Jackson remembers the excitement and the +coming and going. Gradually the family lost its wealth, the home was +broken up. Everything was destroyed by the armies. Then came freedom for +the slaves. But Mrs. Jackson stayed on with the master for awhile. After +leaving she went to Alabama where she obtained work in a laundry +"ironing white folks' collars and cuffs." Then she got married and in +1917 she came to live with her daughter in Fort Wayne. Her husband, Levy +Jackson, has been dead 50 years. Of her children, only two are left. +Mrs. Jackson is sometimes very lonesome for her old home in "Alabamy", +where her friends lived, but for the most part, she is happy and +contented.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="JohnsonLizzie"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. LIZZIE JOHNSON<br> +706 North Senate Avenue, Apt. 1</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Johnson's father, Arthur Locklear, was born in Wilmington, N.C. in +1822. He lived in the South and endured many hardships until 1852. He +was very fortunate in having a white man befriend him in many ways. This +man taught him to read and write. Many nights after a hard days work, he +would lie on the floor in front of the fireplace, trying to study by the +light from the blazing wood, so he might improve his reading and +writing.</p> + +<p>He married very young, and as his family increased, he became ambitious +for them. Knowing their future would be very dark if they remained +South.</p> + +<p>He then started a movement to come north. There were about twenty-six or +twenty-eight men and women, who had the same thoughts about their +children, banded together, and in 1852 they started for somewhere, +North.</p> + +<p>The people selected, had to be loyal to the cause of their children's +future lives, morally clean, truthful, and hard-working.</p> + +<p>Some had oxen, some had carts. They pooled all of their scant +belongings, and started on their long hard journey.</p> + +<p>The women and children rode in the ox-carts, the men walked. They would +travel a few days, then stop on the roadside to rest. The women would +wash their few clothes, cook enough food to last a few days more, then +they would start out again. They were six weeks making the trip.</p> + +<p>Some settled in Madison, Indiana. Two brothers and their families went +on to Ohio, and the rest came to Indianapolis.</p> + +<p>John Scott, one of their number was a hod carrier. He earned $2.50 a +day, knowing that would not accumulate fast enough, he was strong and +thrifty. After he had worked hard all day, he would spend his evenings +putting new bottoms in chairs, and knitting gloves for anyone who wanted +that kind of work. In the summer he made a garden, sold his vegetables. +He worked very hard, day and night, and was able to save some money.</p> + +<p>He could not read or write, but he taught his children the value of +truthfulness, cleanliness of mind and body, loyalty, and thrift. The +father and his sons all worked together and bought some ground, built a +little house where the family lived many years.</p> + +<p>Before old Mr. Scott died, he had saved enough money to give each son +$200.00. His bank was tin cans hidden around in his house.</p> + +<p>Will Scott, the artist, is a grandson of this John Scott.</p> + +<p>The thing these early settlers wanted most, was for their children to +learn to read and write. So many of them had been caught trying to learn +to write, and had had their thumbs mashed, so they would not be able to +hold a pencil.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Johnson is a very interesting old woman and remembers so well the +things her parents told her. She deplores the "loose living," as she +calls it of this generation.</p> + +<p>She is very deliberate, but seems very sure of the story of her early +life.</p> + +Submitted December 9, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="JonesBetty"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District No. 5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +THE STORY OF BETTY JONES<br> +429 Oak Street, Evansville, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>From an Interview with Elizabeth Jones at 429 Oak Street, Evansville, +Ind.</p> + +<p>"Yes Honey, I was a slave, I was born at Henderson, Kentucky and my +mother was born there. We belonged to old Mars John Alvis. Our home was +on Alvis's Hill and a long plank walk had been built from the bank of +the Ohio river to the Alvis home. We all liked the long plank walk and +the big house on top of the hill was a pretty place."</p> + +<p>Betty Jones said her master was a rich man and had made his money by +raising and selling slaves. She only recalls two house servants were +mulatoes. All the other slaves were black as they could be.</p> + +<p>Betty Alvis lived with her parents in a cabin near her master's home on +the hill. She recalls no unkind treatment. "Our only sorrow was when a +crowd of our slave friends would be sold off, then the mothers, +brothers, sisters, and friends always cried a lot and we children would +grieve to see the grief of our parents."</p> + +<p>The mother of Betty was a slave of John Alvis and married a slave of her +master. The family lived at the slave quarters and were never parted. +"Mother kept us all together until we got set free after the war," +declares Betty. Many of the Alvis negroes decided to make their homes at +Henderson, Kentucky. "It was a nice town and work was plentiful."</p> + +<p>Betty Alvis was brought to Evansville by her parents. The climate did +not agree with the mother so she went to Princeton, Kentucky to live +with her married daughter and died there.</p> + +<p>Betty Alvis married John R. Jones, a native of Tennessee, a former slave +of John Jones, a Tennessee planter. He died twelve years ago.</p> + +<p>Betty Jones recalls when Evansville was a small town. She remembers when +the street cars were mule drawn and people rode on them for pleasure. +"When boats came in at Evansville, all the girls used to go down to the +bank, wearing pretty ruffled dresses and every body would wave to the +boat men and stay down at the river's edge until the boat was out of +sight." Betty Jones remembers when the new Court House was started and +how glad the men of the city were to erect the nice building. She +recalls when the old frame buildings used for church services were razed +and new structures were erected in which to worship God. She does not +believe in evil spirits, ghosts nor charms as do many former slaves, but +she remembers hearing her friends express superstitions concerning black +cats. It was also a belief that to build a new kitchen onto your old +home was always followed by the death of a member of the immediate +family and if a bird flew into a window it had come to bring a call to +the far away land and some member of the family would die.</p> + +<p>Betty Jones was not scared when the recent flood came to within a block +of her door. She had lived through a flood while living at Lawrence +Station at Marion County, Indiana. "We was all marooned in our homes for +two weeks and all the food we had was brought to our door by boats. +White river was flooded then and our home was in the White River Flats." +"What God wills must happen to us, and we do not save ourselves by +trying to run away. Just as well stay and face it as to try to get +away."</p> + +<p>The old negro woman is cared for by her unmarried daughter since her +husband's death. The old woman is lonely and was happy to recieve a +caller. She is alone much of the time as her daughter is compelled to do +house work to provide for her mother and herself. "Of course I'm a +Christian," said the aged negress. "I'm a religious woman and hope to +meet my friends in Heaven." "I would like to go back to Henderson, +Kentucky once more, for I have not been there for more than twenty +years. I'd live to walk the old plank walk again up to Mr. Alvis' home +but I'm afraid I'll never get to go. It costs too much."</p> + +<p>So desire remains with the aged and memories remain to comfort the +feeble.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="JonesNathan"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +NATHAN JONES—EX-SLAVE<br> +409 Blake Street</h3> +<br> + +<p>Nathan Jones was born in Gibson County, Tennessee in 1858, the son of +Caroline Powell, one of Parker Crimm's slaves.</p> + +<p>Master Crimm was very abusive and cruel to his slaves. He would beat +them for any little offense. He took pleasure in taking little children +from their mothers and selling them, sending them as far away as +possible.</p> + +<p>Nathan's stepfather, Willis Jones, was a very strong man, a very good +worker, and knew just enough to be resentful of his master's cruel +treatment, decided to run away, living in the woods for days. His master +sent out searchers for him, who always came in without him. The day of +the sale, Willis made his appearance and was the first slave to be put +on the block.</p> + +<p>His new master, a Mr. Jones of Tipton, Tennessee, was very kind to him. +He said it was a real pleasure to work for Mr. Jones as he had such a +kind heart and respected his slaves.</p> + +<p>Nathan remembers seeing slaves, both men and women, with their hands and +feet staked to the ground, their faces down, giving them no chance to +resist the overseers, whipped with cow hides until the blood gushed from +their backs. "A very cruel way to treat human beings."</p> + +<p>Nathan married very young, worked very hard, started buying a small +orchard, but was "figgered" out of it, and lost all he had put into it. +He then went to Missouri, stayed there until the death of his wife. He +then came to Indiana, bringing his six children with him.</p> + +<p>Forty-five years ago he married the second time; to that union were four +children. He is very proud of his ten children and one stepchild.</p> + +<p>His children have all been very helpful to him until times "got bad" +with them, and could barely exist themselves.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Jones room with a family by the name of James; they have a +comfortable, clean room and are content.</p> + +<p>They are both members of the Free Will Baptist Church; get the old age +pension, and "do very well."</p> + +Submitted December 15, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="LennoxAdelineRose"></a> +<h3>Albert Strope, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +St. Joseph County—District #1<br> +Mishawaka, Indiana<br> +<br> +ADELINE ROSE LENNOX—EX-SLAVE<br> +1400 South Sixth Street, Elkhart, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Adeline Rose Lennox was born of slave parents at Middle—sometimes known +as Paris—Tennessee, October 25, 1849. She lived with her parents in +slave quarters on the plantation of a Mr. Rose for whom her parents +worked. These quarters were log houses, a distance from the master's +mansion.</p> + +<p>At the age of seven years, Adeline was taken from her parents to work at +the home of a son of Mr. Rose who had recently been married. She +remembers well being taken away, for she said she cried, but her new +mistress said she was going to have a new home so she had to go with +her.</p> + +<p>At the age of fourteen years she did the work of a man in the field, +driving a team, plowing, harrowing and seeding. "We all thought a great +deal of Mr. Rose," said Mrs. Lennox, "for he was good to us." She said +that they were well fed, having plenty of corn, peas, beans, and pork to +eat, more pork then than now.</p> + +<p>As Adeline Rose, the subject of this sketch was married to Mr. Steward, +after she was given her freedom at the close of the Civil War. At this +time she was living with her parents who stayed with Mr. Rose for about +five years after the war. To the Steward family was born one son, +Johnny. Mr. Steward died early in life, and his widow married a second +time, this time [HW: to] one George Lennox whose name she now bears.</p> + +<p>Johnny married young and died young, leaving her alone in the world with +the exception of her daughter-in-law. After her second husband's death, +she remained near Middle, Tennessee, until 1924, when she removed to +Elkhart to spend the remainder of her life living with her +daughter-in-law, who had remarried and is now living at 1400 South Sixth +Street, Elkhart, Indiana.</p> + +<p>In the neighborhood she is known only as "Granny." While I was having +this interview, a colored lady passed and this conversation followed:</p> + +<p>"Good morning Granny, how are you this morning?"</p> + +<p>"Only tolerable, thank you," replied Granny.</p> + +<p>The health of Mrs. Lennox has been failing for the past three years but +she gets around quite well for a lady who will be eight-eight years old +the twenty-fifth day of this October. She gets an old age pension of +about thirteen dollars per month.</p> + +<p>A peculiar thing about Mrs. Lennox's life is that she says that she +never knew that she was a slave until she was set free. Her mistress +then told her that she was free and could go back to her father's home +which she did rather reluctantly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lennox smokes, enjoys corn bread and boiled potatoes as food, but +does not enjoy automobiles as "they are too bumpy and they gather too +much air," she says. "I do not eat sweets," she remarks "my one ambition +in life is to live so that I may claim Heaven as my home when I die."</p> + +<p>There is a newspaper picture in the office along with an article +published by the Elkhart Truth. This is being sent to Indianapolis +today.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="LewisThomas"></a> +<h3>Submitted by:<br> +Estella R. Dodson<br> +District #11<br> +Monroe County<br> +Bloomington, Ind.<br> +October 4, 1937<br> +<br> +INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS LEWIS, COLORED<br> +North Summit Street, Bloomington, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>I was born in Spencer County, Kentucky, in 1857. I was born a slave. +There was slavery all around on all the adjoining places. I was seven +years old when I was set free. My father was killed in the Northern +army. My mother, step-father and my mother's four living children came +to Indiana when I was twelve years old. My grandfather was set free and +given a little place of about sixteen acres. A gang of white men went to +my grandmother's place and ordered the colored people out to work. The +colored people had worked before for white men, on shares. When the +wheat was all in and the corn laid by, the white farmers would tell the +colored people to get out, and would give them nothing. The colored +people did not want to work that way, and refused. This was the cause of +the raids by white farmers. My mother recognized one of the men in the +gang and reported him to the standing soldiers in Louisville. He was +caught and made to tell who the others were until they had 360 men. All +were fined and none allowed to leave until all the fines were paid. So +the rich ones had to pay for the poor ones. Many of them left because +all were made responsible if such an event ever occurred again.</p> + +<p>Our family left because we did not want to work that way. I was hired +out to a family for $20 a year. I was sent for. My mother put herself +under the protection of the police until we could get away. We came in a +wagon from our home to Louisville. I was anxious to see Louisville, and +thought it was very wonderful. I wanted to stay there, but we came on +across the Ohio River on a ferry boat and stayed all night in New +Albany. Next morning the wagon returned home and we came to Bloomington +on the train. It took us from 9 o'clock until three in the evening to +get here. There were big slabs of wood on the sides of the track to hold +the rails together. Strips of iron were bolted to the rails on the +inside to brace them apart. There were no wires at the joints of the +rails to carry electricity, as we have now, for there was no electricity +in those days.</p> + +<p>I have lived in Bloomington ever since I came here. I met a family named +Dorsett after I came here. They came from Jefferson County, Kentucky. +Two of their daughters had been sold before the war. After the war, when +the black people were free, the daughters heard some way that their +people were in Bloomington. It was a happy time when they met their +parents.</p> + +<p>Once when I was a little boy, I was sitting on the fence while my mother +plowed to get the field ready to put in wheat. The white man who owned +her was plowing too. Some Yankee soldiers on horses came along. One rode +up to the fence and when my mother came to the end of the furrow, he +said to her, "Lady, could you tell me where Jim Downs' still house is?" +My mother started to answer, but the man who owned her told her to move +on. The soldiers told him to keep quiet, or they would make him sorry. +After he went away, my mother told the soldiers where the house was. The +reason her master did not want her to tell where the house was, was that +some of his Rebel friends were hiding there. Spies had reported them to +the Yankee soldiers. They went to the house and captured the Rebels.</p> + +<p>Next soldiers came walking. I had no cap. One soldier asked me why I did +not wear a cap. I said I had no cap. The soldier said, "You tell your +mistress I said to buy you a cap or I'll come back and kill the whole +family." They bought me a cap, the first one I ever had.</p> + +<p>The soldiers passed for three days and a half. They were getting ready +for a battle. The battle was close. We could hear the cannon. After it +was over, a white man went to the battle field. He said that for a mile +and a half one could walk on dead men and dead horses. My mother wanted +to go and see it, but they wouldn't let her, for it was too awful.</p> + +<p>I don't know what town we were near. The only town I know about had only +about four or five houses and a mill. I think the name was Fairfield. +That may not be the name, and the town may not be there any more. Once +they sent my mother there in the forenoon. She saw a flash, and +something hit a big barn. The timbers flew every way, and I suppose +killed men and horses that were in the barn. There were Rebels hidden in +the barn and in the houses, and a Yankee spy had found out where they +were. They bombed the barn and surrounded the town. No one was able to +leave. The Yankees came and captured the Rebels.</p> + +<p>I had a cousin named Jerry. Just a little while before the barn was +struck a white man asked Jerry how he would like to be free. Jerry said +that he would like it all right. The white men took him into the barn +and were going to put him over a barrel and beat him half to death. Just +as they were about ready to beat him, the bomb struck the barn and Jerry +escaped. The man who owned us said for us to say that we were well +enough off, and did not care to be free, just to avoid beatings. There +was no such thing as being good to slaves. Many people were better than +others, but a slave belonged to his master and there was no way to get +out of it. A strong man was hard to make work. He would fight so that +the white men trying to hold him would be breathless. Then there was +nothing to do but kill him. If a slave resisted, and his master killed +him, it was the same as self-defense today. If a cruel master whipped a +slave to death, it put the fear into the other slaves. The brother of +the man who owned my mother had many black people. He was too mean to +live, but he made it. Once he was threshing wheat with a 'ground-hog' +threshing machine, run by horse power. He called to a woman slave. She +did not hear him because of the noise of the machine, and did not +answer. He leaped off the machine to whip her. He caught his foot in +some cogs and injured it so that it had to be taken off.</p> + +<p>They tell me that today there is a place where there is a high fence. +If someone gets near, he can hear the cries of the spirits of black +people who were beaten to death. It is kept secret so that people won't +find it out. Such places are always fenced to keep them secret. Once a +man was out with a friend, hunting. The dog chased something back of a +high fence. One man started to go in. The other said, "What are you +going to do?" The other one said, "I want to see what the dog chased +back in there." His friend told him, "You'd better stay out of there. +That place is haunted by spirits of black people who were beaten to +death."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="LockeSarahH"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. SARAH H. LOCKE—DAUGHTER [of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor]</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Locke, the daughter of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor, was born in +Woodford County, Kentucky in 1859. She went over her early days with +great interest.</p> + +<p>Jacob Keephart, her master, was very kind to his slaves, would never +sell them to "nigger traders." His family was very large, so they bought +and sold their slaves within the families and neighbors.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Locke's father, brothers, and grandmother belonged to the same +master in Henry County, Kentucky. Her mother and the two sisters +belonged to another branch of the Keephart family, about seven miles +away.</p> + +<p>Her father came to see her mother on Wednesday and Saturday nights. They +would have big dinners on these nights in their cabin.</p> + +<p>Her father cradled all the grain for the neighborhood. He was a very +high tempered man and would do no work when angry; therefore, every +effort was made to keep him in a good humor when the work was heavy.</p> + +<p>Her mother died when the children were very young. Sarah was given to +the Keephart daughter as a wedding present and taken to her new home. +She was always treated like the others in the family.</p> + +<p>After the abolition of slavery, Mr Keephart gave Wm. a horse and rations +to last for six months, so the children would not starve.</p> + +<p>Charles and Lydia French, fellow workers with the Taylors, went to +Cincinnatti and in 1867 sent for the Mrs. Locke and her sister, so they +could go to school, as there were no schools in Kentucky then. The girls +stayed one year with the French family; that is the longest time they +ever went to school. After that, they would go to school for three +months at different times. Mrs. Locke reads and writes very well.</p> + +<p>The master worked right along with the slaves, shearing the sheep.</p> + +<p>The women milk ten or twelve cows and knit a whole sock in one day. They +also wove the material for their dresses; it was called "linsey."</p> + +<p>She remembers one night the slaves were having a dance in one of the +cabins, a band of Ku Kluxers came, took all firearms they could find, +but no one was hurt, all wondered why, however, it did not take long for +them to find out why. Another night when the Kluxers were riding, the +slaves recognised the voice of their young master. That was the reason +why the Keephart slaves were never molested.</p> + +<p>Christmas was a jolly time for the Keephart slaves. They would have a +whole week to celebrate, eating, dancing, and making merry.</p> + +<p>"Free born niggers" were not allowed to associate with the slaves, as +they were supposed to have no sense, and would contaminate the slaves.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Locke is an intelligent old lady, has been a good dressmaker, and +served for a great number of the "first families" of Indianapolis.</p> + +<p>She has been married twice; her first husband died shortly after their +marriage, and she was a widow for twenty-five years before she took her +second "venture."</p> + +<p>She gets the old age pension and is very happy.</p> + +Submitted December 17, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="McKinleyRobert"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +ROBERT MCKINLEY—EX-SLAVE<br> +1664 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Robert McKinley was born in Stanley County, N.C., in 1849, a slave of +Arnold Parker.</p> + +<p>His master was a very cruel man, but was always kind to him, because he +had given him (Bob) as a present to his favorite daughter, Jane Alice, +and she would never permit anyone to mistreat Bob.</p> + +<p>Miss Jane Alice was very fond of little Bob, and taught him to read and +write.</p> + +<p>His master owned a large farm, but Jane Alice would not let little Bob +work on the farm. Instead, he helped his master in the blacksmith shop.</p> + +<p>His master always prepared himself to whip his slaves by drinking a +large glass of whiskey to give him strength to beat his slaves.</p> + +<p>Robert remembers seeing his master beat his mother until she would fall +to the ground, and he was helpless to protect her. He would just have to +stand and watch.</p> + +<p>He has seen slaves tied to trees and beaten until the master could beat +no longer; then he would salt and pepper their backs.</p> + +<p>Once when the Confederate soldiers came to their farm, Robert told them +where the liquor was kept and where the stock had been hidden. For this +the soldiers gave him a handful of money, but it did him no good for his +master took it away from him.</p> + +<p>The McKinley family, of course, were Parkers and after the Civil war, +they took the name of their father who was a slave of John McKinley.</p> + +<p>A neighbor farmer, Jesse Hayden, was very kind to his slaves, gave them +anything they wanted to eat, because he said they had worked hard, and +made it possible for him to have all he had, and it was part theirs.</p> +<br> + +<p>The Parker slaves were not allowed to associate with the Hayden slaves. +They were known as the "rich niggers, who could eat meat without +stealing it."</p> + +<p>When the "nigger traders" came to the Parker farm, the old mistress +would take meat skins and grease the mouths of the slave children to +make it appear she had given them meat to eat.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. McKinley is an "herb doctor" and lives very poorly in a dirty little +house; he was very glad to tell of his early life.</p> + +<p>He thinks people live too fast these days, and don't remember there is +a stopping place.</p> + +Submitted January 10, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="MillerRichard"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +RICHARD MILLER—AN OLD SOLDIER<br> +1109 North West Street</h3> +<br> + +<p>Richard Miller was born January 12, 1843 in Danville, Kentucky. His +mother was an English subject, born in Bombay, India and was brought +into America by a group of people who did not want to be under the +English government. They landed in Canada, came on to Detroit, stayed +there a short time, then went to Danville, Kentucky. There she married a +slave named Miller. They were the parents of five children.</p> + +<p>After slavery was abolished, they bought a little farm a few miles from +Danville, Kentucky.</p> + +<p>The mother was very ambitious for her children, and sent them to the +country school.</p> + +<p>One day, when the children came home from school, their mother was gone; +they knew not where.</p> + +<p>It was learned, she was sending her children to school, and that was not +wanted. She was taken to Texas, and nothing, was heard from her until +1871.</p> + +<p>She wrote her brother she was comming to see them, and try to find her +children, if any of them were left.</p> + +<p>The boy, Richard, was in the army. He was so anxious to see his mother, +to see what she would look like. The last time he saw her, she was +washing clothes at the branch, and was wearing a blue cotton dress. All +he could remember about her was her beautiful black hair, and the cotton +dress. When he saw her, he didnot recognize her, but she told him of +things he could remember that had happened, and that made him think she +was his mother.</p> + +<p>Richard was told who had taken the mother from the children, went to the +man, shot and killed him; nothing was done to him for his deed.</p> + +<p>He remembers a slave by the name of Brown, in Texas, who was chained +hand and feet to a woodpile, oil thrown over him, and the wood, then +fire set to the wood, and he was burned to death.</p> + +<p>After the fire smoldered down, the white women and children took his +ashes for souvenirs.</p> + +<p>When slavery was abolished, a group of them started down to the far +south, to buy farms, to try for themselves, got as far as Madison +County, Kentucky and were told if they went any farther south, they +would be made slaves again, not knowing if that was the truth or not, +they stayed there, and worked on the Madison County farms for a very +small wage. This separated families, and they never heard from each +other ever again.</p> + +<p>These separations are the cause of so many of the slave race not being +able to trace families back for generations, as do the white families.</p> + +<p>George Band was a very powerful slave, always ready to fight, never +losing a fight, always able to defend himself until one night a band of +Ku Kluxers came to his house, took his wife, hung her to a tree, hacked +her to death with knives. Then went to the house, got George, took him +to see what they had done to his wife. He asked them to let him go back +to the house to get something to wrap his wife in, thinking he was +sincere in his request, they allowed him to go. Instead of getting a +wrapping for his wife, he got his Winchester rifle, shot and killed +fourteen of the Kluxers. The county was never bothered with the Klan +again. However, George left immediately for the North.</p> + +<p>The first Monday of the month was sale day. The slaves were chained +together and sent down in Miss., often separating mothers from children, +husbands from wives, never to hear of each other again.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. Miller lives with his family in a very comfortable home.</p> + +<p>He has only one eye, wears a patch over the bad one.</p> + +<p>He does not like to talk of his early life as he said it was such a +"nightmare" to him; however he answered all questions very pleasantly.</p> + +Submitted December 9, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="MoormanHenryClay"></a> +<h3>William R. Mays<br> +District 4<br> +Johnson County<br> +<br> +HENRY CLAY MOORMAN<br> +BORN IN SLAVERY IN KENTUCKY<br> +427 W. King St., Franklin, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>Henry Clay Moorman has resided in Franklin 34 years, he was born Oct. 1, +1854 in slavery on the Moorman plantation in Breckenridge County, +Kentucky.</p> + +<p>Mr. Moorman relates his own personal experiences as well as those handed +down from his mother. He was a boy about 12 years old when freedom was +declared. His father's name was Dorah Moorman who was a cooper by trade, +and had a wife and seven children. They belonged to James Moorman, who +owned about 20 slaves, he was kind to his slaves and never whipped any +of them. These slaves loved their master and was as loyal to him as his +own family.</p> + +<p>Mr. Moorman says that when a boy he did small jobs around the plantation +such as tobacco planting and going to the mill. One day he was placed +upon a horse with a sack of grain containing about two bushels, after +the sack of grain was balanced upon the back of the horse he was started +to the mill which was a distance of about five miles, when about half +the distance of the journey the sack of grain became unbalanced and fell +from the horse being too small to lift the sack of grain he could only +cry over the misfortune. There he was, powerless to do any thing about +it. After about two hours there was a white man riding by and seeing the +predicament he was in kindly lifted the sack up on the horse and after +ascertaining his master's name bade him to continue to the mill. It was +the custom at the mill that each await their turn, and do their own +grinding. After the miller had taken his toll, he returned to his master +and told of his experience. Thereafter precautions were taken so he +would not again have the same experience.</p> + +<p>The slave owners had so poisoned the minds of the slaves, they were in +constant fear of the soldiers. One day when the slaves were alone at the +plantation they sighted the Union soldiers approaching, they all went to +the woods and hid in the bushes. The smaller children were covered with +leaves. There they remained all night, as the soldiers (about 200 in +number) camped all night in the horse lot. These soldiers were very +orderly; however, they appropriated for their own use all the food they +could find.</p> + +<p>The slave owners would hide all their silverware and other articles of +worth under the mattresses that were in the negro cabins for safe +keeping.</p> + +<p>There were three white children in the master's family. Wickliff, the +oldest boy and Bob was the second child in age. The younger child, a +girl, was named Sally and was about the same age as the subject of this +article. Both children, being babies about the same age, the black +mother served as a wet nurse for the white child, sometimes both the +black child and the white child were upon the black mammies lap which +frequently was the cause of battles between the two babies.</p> + +<p>Some of the white mistresses acted as midwife for the black mothers.</p> + +<p>There were two graveyards on the plantation, one for the white folks and +one for the blacks. There is no knowledge of any deaths among the white +folks during the time he lived on the plantation. One of this black +boys' sisters married just before slavery was abolished. He remembers +this wedding. In connection with the marriages of the slaves in slavery +days, it is recalled that slaves seldom married among themselves on the +same plantation but instead the unions were made by some negro boy from +some other plantation courting a negro girl on a distant plantation. As +was the custom in slavery days the black boy would have to get the +consent of three people before he was allowed to enter upon wedlock; +first, he would get the consent of the negro girls' mother, then he +would get the consent of his own master as well as the black girl's +master. This required time and diplomacy. When all had given their +consent the marriage would take place usually on Saturday night, when a +great time was had with slaves coming from other plantations with a +generous supply of fried chicken, hams, cakes and pies a great feast and +a good time generally with music and dancing. The new husband had to +return to his own master after the wedding but it was understood by all +that the new husband could visit his wife every Saturday night and stay +until Monday morning. He would return every Monday to his master and +work as usual indefinitely unless by chance one or the other of the two +masters would buy the husband or wife, in such event they would live +together as man and wife. Unless this purchase did occur it was the rule +in slavery days that any children born to the slave wife would be the +property of the girl's master.</p> + +<p>When the required consent could not be had from all parties concerned it +sometimes caused friction and instances have occured when attempts at +elopement was made causing no end of trouble. This condition was very +rare, as in most all cases of this kind the masters were quite willing +for this marriage and would encourage the young couple. It is remembered +that there were no illegitimate children born on the Moorman +plantation.</p> + +<p>The slaves would have their parties and dances. Slaves would gather from +various plantations and these parties would sometimes last all night. It +was customary for the slaves to get passes from their masters permitting +them to attend, but sometimes passes were not given for reasons. In line +with these parties it is remembered that there existed at that time what +was known as the Paddle-Rollers, these so called Paddy-Rollers was made +up of a bunch of white boys who would sneak up on these defenseless +negroes unawares late in the night and demand that all show their +passes. Those that could not show passes were whipped, both the negro +boys and girls alike. The loyalty of these poor black boys was shown +when they would volunteer to take an extra flogging to protect their +girl friends. The Paddy-Rollers were a mean bunch of white boys who +reviled in this shameful practice.</p> + +<p>After slavery was abolished, this colored slave family remained on the +same plantation for one year. They left the plantation via Cloverport by +boat for Evansville, Ind., where they remained until the subject of this +sketch removed to Franklin, Ind. in 1903 where he took pastorate with +the African Methodist Episcopal Church where he served for 12 years. He +is now a retired minister residing at 427 W. King St.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="MorganAmerica"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. AMERICA MORGAN—EX-SLAVE<br> +816 Camp Street</h3> +<br> + +<p>America Morgan was born in a log house, daubed with dirt, in Ballard +County, Kentucky, in 1852, the daughter of Manda and Jordon Rudd. She +remembers very clearly the happenings of her early life.</p> + +<p>Her mother, Manda Rudd, was owned by Clark Rudd, and the "devil has sure +got him."</p> + +<p>Her father was owned by Mr. Willingham, who was very kind to his slaves. +Jordon became a Rudd, because he was married to Manda on the Rudd +plantation.</p> + +<p>There were six children in the family, and all went well until the death +of the mother; Clark Rudd whipped her to death when America was five +years old.</p> + +<p>Six little children were left motherless to face a "frowning world."</p> + +<p>America was given to her master's daughter, Miss Meda, to wait on her, +as her personal property. She lived with her for one year, then was +sold for $600.00 to Mr. and Mrs. Utterback stayed with them until the +end of the Civil war.</p> + +<p>The new mistress was not so kind. Miss Meda, who knew her reputation, +told her if she abused America, she would come for her, and she would +loose the $600.00 she had paid for her. Therefore, America was treated +very kindly.</p> + +<p>Aunt Catherine, who looked after all the children on the plantation, was +very unruly, no one could whip her. Once America was sent for two men to +come and tie Aunt Catherine. She fought so hard, it was as much as the +men could do to tie her. They tied her hands, then hung her to the joist +and lashed her with a cow hide. It "was awful to hear her screams."</p> + +<p>In 1865 her father came and took her into Paduca, Kentucky, "a land of +freedom."</p> + +<p>When thirteen years old, America did not know A from B, then "glory to +God," a Mr. Greeleaf, a white man, from the north, came down to Kentucky +and opened a school for Negro children. That was America's first chance +to learn. He was very kind and very sympathetic. She went to school for +a very short while.</p> + +<p>Her father was very poor, had nothing at all to give his children.</p> + +<p>America's mistress would not give her any of her clothes. "All she had +in this world, was what she had on her back." Then she was "hired out" +for $1.00 a week.</p> + +<p>The white people for whom she worked were very kind to her and would +try to teach her when her work was done. She was given an old fashioned +spelling book and a first reader. She was then "taught much and began to +know life."</p> + +<p>She was sent regularly to church and Sunday school. That was when she +began to "wake up" to her duty as a free girl.</p> + +<p>The Rev. D.W. Dupee was her Sunday school teacher, from him she learned +much she had never known before.</p> + +<p>At seventeen years of age, she married and "faced a frowning world +right." She had a good husband and ten children, three of whom are +living today, one son and two daughters.</p> + +<p>She remembers one slave, who had been given five hundred lashes on his +back, thrown in his cabin to die. He laid on the floor all night, at +dawn he came to himself, and there were blood hounds licking his back.</p> + +<p>When the overseers lashed a slave to death, they would turn the +bloodhounds out to smell the blood, so they would know "nigger blood," +that would help trace runaway slaves.</p> + +<p>Aunt Jane Stringer was given five hundred lashes and thrown in her +cabin. The next morning when the overseer came, he kicked her and told +her to get up, and wanted to know if she was going to sleep there all +day. When she did not answer him, he rolled her over and the poor woman +was dead, leaving several motherless children.</p> + +<p>When the slaves were preparing to run away, they would put hot pepper on +their feet; this would cause the hounds to be thrown off their trail.</p> + +<p>Aunt Margaret ran off, but the hounds traced her to a tree; she stayed +up in the tree for two days and would not come down until they promised +not to whip her any more, and they kept their promise.</p> + +<p>Old mistress' mother was sick a long time, and little America had to +keep the flies off of her by waving a paper fly brush over her bed. She +was so mean, America was afraid to go too near the bed for fear she +might try to grab her and shake her. After she died, she haunted +America. Anytime she would go into the room, she could hear her knocking +on the wall with her cane. Some nights they would hear her walking up +and down the stairs for long periods at a time.</p> + +<p>Aunt Catherine ran off, because "ole missie" haunted her so bad.</p> + +<p>The old master came back after his death and would ride his favorite +horse, old Pomp, all night long, once every week. When the boy would go +in to feed the horses, old Pomp would have his ears hanging down, and he +would be "just worn out," after his night ride.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>America believes firmly in haunts, and said she had lived in several +haunted houses since coming up north.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Morgan lives with her baby boy and his wife. She is rather +inteligent, reads and writes, and tries to do all she can to help those +who are less fortunate than she.</p> + +Submitted December 27, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="MorrisonGeorge"></a> +<h3>Iris Cook<br> +District 4<br> +Floyd County<br> +<br> +STORY OF GEORGE MORRISON<br> +25 East 5th St., New Albany, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>Observation of the writer</b></p> + +<p>(This old negro, known as "Uncle George" by the neighbors, is very +particular about propriety. He allows no woman in his house unless +accompanied by a man. He says "It jest a'nt the proper thing to do", but +he came to a neighbors for a little talk.)</p> + +<p>"I was bawn in Union County, Kentucky, near Morganfield. My master was +Mr. Ray, he made me call him Mr. Ray, wouldent let me call him Master. +He said I was his little free negro."</p> + +<p>When asked if there were many slaves on Mr. Ray's farm, he said, "Yes'm, +they was seven cabin of us. I was the oldes' child in our family. Mr. +Ray said "He didn't want me in the tobacco", so I stayed at the house +and waited on the women folk and went after the cows when I was big +enough. I carried my stick over my shoulder for I wus afraid of snakes."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Ray was always very good to me, he liked to play with me, cause I +was so full of tricks an' so mischuvus. He give me a pair of boots with +brass toes. I shined them up ever day, til you could see your face in +'em."</p> + +<p>"There wuz two ladies at the house, the Missus and her daughter, who was +old enough to keep company when I was a little boy. They used to have me +to drive 'em to church. I'd drive the horses. They'd say, 'George, you +come in here to church.' But I always slipped off with the other boys +who was standing around outside waitin' for they folks, and played +marbles."</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am, the War sho did affect my fambly. My father, he fought for +the north. He got shot in his side, but it finally got all right. He +saved his money and came north after the war and got a good job. But, I +saw them fellows from the south take my Uncle. They put his clothes on +him right in the yard and took him with them to fight. And even the +white folks, they all cried. But he came back, he wasnt hurt but he +wasent happy in his mind like my pappy was."</p> + +<p>"Yes ma'am, I would rather live in the North. The South's all right but +someways I just don't feel down there like I does up here."</p> + +<p>"No ma'am, I was never married. I don't believe in getting married +unless you got plenty of money. So many married folks dont do nuthin but +fuss and fight. Even my father and mother always spatted and I never +liked that and so I says to myself what do I want to get married for. +I'm happier just living by myself."</p> + +<p>"Yes Ma'am. I remember when people used to take wagon loads of corn to +the market in Louisville, and they would bring back home lots of +groceries and things. A colored man told me he had come north to the +market in Louisville with his master, and was working hard unloading the +corn when a white man walks up to him, shows him some money and asks him +if he wanted to be free? He said he stopped right then and went with the +man, who hid him in his wagon under the provisions and they crossed the +Ohio River right on the ferry. That's the way lots of 'em got across +here."</p> + +<p>"Did I ever hear of any ghosts. Yes ma'am I have. I hear noises and I +seed something once that I never could figger out. I was goin't thru the +woods one day, and come up sudden in a clear patch of ground. There sat +a little boy on a stump, all by his-self, there in the woods. I asks him +who he wuz & wuz he lost, and he never answered me. Jest sat there, +lookin at me. All of a sudden he ups and runs, and I took out after +him. He run behind a big tree, and when I got up to where I last seed +him, he wuz gone. And there sits a great big brown man twice as big as +me, on another stump. He never seys a word, jest looks at me. And then I +got away from there, yes ma'am I really did."</p> + +<p>"A man I knew saw a ghost once and he hit at it. He always said he +wasn't afraid of no ghost, but that ghost hit him, and hit him so hard +it knocked his face to one side and the last time I saw him it was still +that way. No ma'am, I don't really believe in ghosts, but you know how +it is, I lives by myself and I don't like to talk about them for you +never can tell what they might do.</p> + +<p>"Lady you ought to hear me rattle bones, when I was young. I caint do it +much now for my wrists are too stiff. When they played Turkey in the +Straw how we all used to dance and cut up. We'ed cut the pigeon wing, +and buck the wind [HW: wing?], and all. But I got rewmaytism in my feet +now and ant much good any more, but I sure has done lots of things and +had lots of fun in my time."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="MosleyJoseph"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +JOSEPH MOSLEY, EX-SLAVE<br> +2637 Boulevard Place</h3> + +<p>[TR: Also reported as Moseley in text of interview.]</p> +<br> + +<p>Joseph Mosley, one of twelve children, was born March 15, 1853, fourteen +miles from Hopkinsville, Kentucky.</p> + +<p>His master, Tim Mosley, was a slave trader. He was supposed to have +bought and sold 10,000 slaves. He would go from one state to another +buying slaves, bringing in as many as 75 or 80 slaves at one time.</p> + +<p>The slaves would be handcuffed to a chain, each chain would link 16 +slaves. The slaves would walk from Virginia to Kentucky, and some from +Mississippi to Virginia.</p> + +<p>In front of the chained slaves would be an overseer on horseback with a +gun and dogs. In back of the chained slaves would be another overseer on +horseback with a gun and dogs. They would see that no slave escaped.</p> + +<p>Joseph's father was the shoemaker for all the farm hands and all adult +workers. He would start in September making shoes for the year. First +the shoes for the folks in the house, then the workers.</p> + +<p>No slave child ever wore shoes, summer or winter.</p> + +<p>The father, mother, and all the children were slaves in the same family, +but not in the same house. Some with the daughters, some with the sons, +and so on. No one brother or sister would be allowed to visit with the +others.</p> + +<p>After the death of Tim Moseley, little Joseph was given to a daughter. +He was seven years old; he had to pick up chips, tend the cows, and do +small jobs around the house; he wore no clothing except a shirt.</p> + +<p>Little Joseph did not see his mother after he was taken to the home of +the daughter until he was set free at the age of 13.</p> + +<p>The master was very unkind to the slaves; they sometimes would have +nothing to eat, and would eat from the garbage.</p> + +<p>On Christmas morning Joseph was told he could go see his mother; he did +not know he was free, and couldn't understand why he was given the first +suit of clothes he had ever owned, and a pair of shoes. He dressed in +his new finery and was started out on his six mile journey to his +mother.</p> + +<p>He was so proud of his new shoes; after he had gotten out of sight, he +stopped and took his shoes off as he did not want them dirty before his +mother had seen them, and walked the rest of the way in his bare feet.</p> + +<p>After their freedom, the family came to Indiana.</p> + +<p>The mother died here, in Indianapolis, at the age of 105.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. Moseley, who has been in Indianapolis for 35 years, has been +paralyzed for the last four years. He and a daughter room with a Mrs. +Turner.</p> + +<p>He has a very nice clean room; a very pleasant old man was very glad to +talk of his past life.</p> + +<p>He gets a pension of $18.00 a month, and said it was not easy to get +along on that little amount, and wondered if the government was ever +going to increase his pension.</p> + +Submitted December 1, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="PattersonAmyElizabeth"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +MEMORIES OF SLAVERY AND THE LIFE STORY OF<br> +AMY ELIZABETH PATTERSON</h3> +<br> + +<p>The slave mart, separation from a dearly beloved mother and little +sisters are among the earliest memories recalled by Amy Elizabeth +Patterson, a resident of Evansville, Indiana.</p> + +<p>Amy Elizabeth, now known as "Grandmother Patterson" resides with her +daughter Lula B. Morton at 512 Linwood Avenue near Cherry Street. Her +birth occurred July 12, 1850 at Cadiz, Trigg County, Kentucky. Her +mother was Louisa Street, slave of John Street, a merchant of Cadez. +[TR: likely Cadiz]</p> + +<p>"John Street was never unkind to his slaves" is the testimony of +Grandmother Patterson, as she recalls and relates stories of the long +ago. "Our sorrow began when slave traders, came to Cadiz and bought such +slaves as he took a fancy to and separated us from our families!"</p> + +<p>John Street ran a sort of agency where he collected slaves and yearly +sold them to dealers in human flesh. Those he did not sell he hired out +to other families. Some were hired or indentured to farmers, some to +stock raisers, some to merchants and some to captains of boats and the +hire of all these slaves went into the coffers of John Street, yearly +increasing his wealth.</p> + +<p>Louisa Street, mother of Amy Elizabeth Patterson, was house maid at the +Street home and her first born daughter was fair with gold brown hair +and amber eyes. Mr. and Mrs. Street always promised Louisa they would +never sell her as they did not want to part with the child, so Louisa +was given a small cabin near the master's house. The mistress had a +child near the age of the little mulatto and Louisa was wet nurse for +both children as well as maid to Mrs. Street. Two years after the birth +of Amy Elizabeth, Louisa became mother of twin daughters, Fannie and +Martha Street, then John Street decided to sell all his slaves as he +contemplated moving into another territory.</p> + +<p>The slaves were auctioned to the highest bidder and Louisa and the twins +were bought by a man living near Cadiz but Mr. Street refused to sell +Amy Elizabeth. She showed promise of growing into an excellent +house-maid and seamstress and was already a splendid playmate and nurse +to the little Street boy and girl. So Louisa lost her child but such +grief was shown by both mother and child that the mother was unable to +perform her tasks and the child cried continually. Then Mr. Street +consented to sell the little girl to the mother's new master.</p> + +<p>Louisa Street became mother of seventeen children. Three were almost +white. Amy Elizabeth was the daughter of John Street and half sister of +his children by his lawful wife. Mrs. Street knew the facts and +respected Louisa and her child and, says grandmother Patterson, "That +was the greatest crime ever visited on the United States. It was worse +than the cruelty of the overseers, worse than hunger, for many slaves +were well fed and well cared for; but when a father can sell his own +child, humiliate his own daughter by auctioning her on the slave block, +what good could be expected where such practices were allowed?"</p> + +<p>Grandmother Patterson remembers superstitions of slavery days and how +many slaves were afraid of ghosts and evil spirits but she never +believed in supernatural appearances until three years ago when she +received a message, through a medium, from the spirit land; now she is a +firm believer, not in ghosts and evil visitations, but in true +communication with the departed ones who still love and long to protect +those who remain on earth.</p> + +<p>Several years ago a young grandson of the old woman was drowned. The +little boy was Stokes Morton, a very popular child rating high averages +in school studies and beloved by his teachers and friends. The mother, +Lulu B. Morton and the grandmother both gave up to grief, in fact they +both have declined in health and were unable to carry on their regular +duties.</p> + +<p>Grandmother Patterson began suffering from a dental ailment and was +compelled to visit a dental surgeon. The dental surgeon suggested that +she visit a medium and seek some comforting message from the child.</p> + +<p>She at once visited a medium and received a message. "Stokes answered +me. In fact he was waiting to communicate with us. He said 'Grandmother! +you and mother must stop staying at the cemetary and grieving for me. +Send the flowers to your sick friends and put in more time with the +other children. I am happy here, I am in a beautiful field, The sky is +blue and the field is full of beautiful white lambs that play with me.'"</p> + +<p>The message comforted the aged woman. She began occupying her time with +other members of the family and again began to visit with her neighbors.</p> + +<p>She felt a call two years later and again consulted the medium. That +time she received a message from the child, his father and a little girl +that had died in infancy. Grandmother Patterson said she would not +recall the ones who had gone on to the land of promise. She is a +christian and a believer in the Word of God.</p> + +<p>Grandmother Patterson, in spite of her 87 years of life (fifteen of +which were passed in slavery) is useful in her daughter's home. Her +children and grand children are fond of her as indeed they well may be. +She is a refined woman, gracious to every person she encounters. She is +hoping for better opportunities for her race. She admonishes the younger +relatives to live in the fear and love of the Lord that no evil days +overtake them.</p> + +<p>"Yes, slavery was a curse to this nation" she declares, "A curse which +still shows itself in hundreds of homes where mulatto faces are evidence +of a heinous sin and proof that there has been a time when American +fathers sold their children at the slave marts of America." She is glad +the curse has been erased even if by the bloodshed of heroes.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="PrestonMrs"></a> +<h3>G. Monroe<br> +Dist. 4<br> +Jefferson County<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +MRS. PRESTON'S STORY</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Preston is an old lady, 83 years old, very charming and hospitable +She lives on North Elm Street, Madison, Indiana. Her first recollections +of slavery were of sleeping on the foot of her mistress' bed, where she +could get up during the night to "feed" the fire with chips she had +gathered before dark or to get a drink or anything else her mistress +might want in the night.</p> + +<p>Her 'Marse Brown', resided in Frankfort having taken his best horses and +hogs, and leaving his family in the care of an overseer on a farm. He +was afraid the Union soldiers would kill him, but thought his wife would +be safe. This opinion proved to be true. The overseer called the slaves +to work at four o'clock, and they worked until six in the evening.</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Preston was a little older part of her work was to drive about +a dozen cows to and from the stable. Many a time she warmed her bare +feet in the cattle bedding. She said they did not always go barefooted +but their shoes were old or their feet wrapped in rags.</p> + +<p>Her next promotion was to work in the fields hauling shocks of corn on a +balky mule which was subject to bucking and throwing its rider over its +head. She was aided by a little boy on another mule. There were men to +tie the shocks and place them on the mule.</p> + +<p>She remembered seeing Union and Confederate soldiers shooting across a +river near her home. Her uncle fought two years, and returned safely at +the end of the war.</p> + +<p>She did not feel that her Master and Mistress had mistreated their +slaves. At the close of the war, her father was given a house, land, +team and enough to start farming for himself.</p> + +<p>Several years later the Ku Klux Klan gave them a ten days notice to +leave, one of the masked band interceded for them by pointing out that +they were quiet and peacable, and a man with a crop and ten children +couldn't possibly leave on so short a notice so the time was extended +another ten days, when they took what the Klan paid them and came +north. They remained in the north until they had to buy their groceries +"a little piece of this and a little piece of that, like they do now", +when her father returned to Kentucky. Mrs. Preston remained in Indiana. +Her father was burned out, the family escaping to the woods in their +night clothes, later befriended by a white neighbor. Now they appealed +to their former owner who built them a new house, provided necessities +and guards for a few weeks until they were safe from the Ku Klux Klan.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Preston said she was the mother of ten children, but now lives +alone since the death of her husband three years ago. Her white +neighbors say her house is so clean, one could almost eat off the floor.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="QuinnWilliamM"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Harry Jackson<br> +<br> +WILLIAM M. QUINN (EX-SLAVE)<br> +431 Bright Street, Indianapolis, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>William M. Quinn, 431 Bright street, was a slave up to ten years of +age—"when the soldiers come back home, and the war was over, and we +wasn't slaves anymore". Mr. Quinn was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, +on a farm belonging to Steve Stone. He and a brother and his mother were +slaves of "Old Master Stone", but his father was owned by another man, +Mr. Quinn, who had an adjoining farm. When they were all freed, they +took the surname of Quinn.</p> + +<p>Mr. Quinn said that they were what was called "gift slaves". They were +never to be sold from the Stone farm and were given to Stone's daughter +as a gift with that understanding. He said that his "Old master paid him +and his brother ten cents a day for cutting down corn and shucking it."</p> + +<p>It was very unusual for a slave to receive any money whatsoever for +working. He said that his master had a son about his age, and the son +and he and his brother worked around the farm together, and "Master +Stone" gave all three of them ten cents a day when they worked. +Sometimes they wouldn't, they would play instead. And whenever "Master +Stone" would catch them playing when they ought to have been at work, he +would whip them—"and that meant his own boy would get a licking too."</p> + +<p>"Old Master Stone was a good man to all us colored folks, we loved him. +He wasn't one of those mean devils that was always beating up his slaves +like some of the rest of them." He had a colored overseer and one day +this overseer ran off and hid for two days "cause he whipped one of old +Mas' Stone's slaves and he heard that Mas' Stone was mad and he didn't +like it."</p> + +<p>"We didn't know that we were slaves, hardly. Well, my brother and I +didn't know anyhow 'cause we were too young to know, but we knew that we +had been when we got older."</p> + +<p>"After emancipation we stayed at the Stone family for some time, 'cause +they were good to us and we had no place to go." Mr. Quinn meant by +emancipation that his master freed his slaves, and, as he said, +"emancipated them a year before Lincoln did."</p> + +<p>Mr. Quinn said that his father was not freed when his mother and he and +his brother were freed, because his father's master "didn't think the +North would win the war." Stone's slaves fared well and ate good food +and "his own children didn't treat us like we were slaves." He said +some of the slaves on surrounding plantations and farms had it "awful +hard and bad." Some times slaves would run away during the night, and he +said that "we would give them something to eat." He said his mother did +the cooking for the Stone family and that she was good to runaway +slaves.</p> + +Submitted September 9, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="RichardsonCandus"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Harry Jackson<br> +<br> +EX SLAVE STORY<br> +MRS. CANDUS RICHARDSON<br> +[HW: Personal Interview]</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Candus Richardson, of 2710 Boulevard Place, was 18 years of age +when the Civil War was over. She was borned a slave on Jim Scott's +plantation on the "Homer Chitter river" in Franklin county, Mississippi. +Scott was the heir of "Old Jake Scott". "Old Jim Scott" had about fifty +slaves, who raised crops, cotton, tobacco, and hogs. Candus cooked for +Scott and his wife, Miss Elizabeth. They were both cruel, according to +Mrs. Richardson. She said that at one time her Master struck her over +the head with the butt end of a cowhide, that made a hole in her head, +the scar of which she still carries. He struck her down because he +caught her giving a hungry slave something to eat at the back door of +the "big house". The "big house" was Scott's house.</p> + +<p>Scott beat her husband a lot of times because he caught him praying. But +"beatings didn't stop my husband from praying. He just kept on praying. +He'd steal off to the woods and pray, but he prayed so loud that anybody +close around could hear, 'cause he had such a loud voice. I prayed too, +but I always prayed to myself." One time, Jim Scott beat her husband so +unmerciful for praying that his shirt was as red from blood stain "as if +you'd paint it with, a brush". Her husband was very religious, and she +claimed that it was his prayers and "a whole lot of other slaves' that +cause you young folks to be free today".</p> + +<p>They didn't have any Bible on the Scott plantation she said, for it +meant a beating or "a killing if you'd be caught with one". But there +were a lot of good slaves and they knew how to pray and some of the +white folks loved to hear than pray too, "'cause there was no put-on +about it. That's why we folks know how to sing and pray, 'cause we have +gone through so much, but the Lord is with us, the Lord's with us, he +is".</p> + +<p>Mrs. Richardson said that the slaves, that worked in the Master's house, +ate the same food that the master and his family ate, but those out on +the plantation didn't fare so well; they ate fat meats and parts of the +hog that the folks at the "big house" didn't eat. All the slaves had to +call Scott and his wife "Master and Miss Elizabeth", or they would get +punished if they didn't.</p> + +<p>Whenever the slaves would leave the plantation, they ware supposed to +have a permit from Scott, and if they were caught out by the +"padyrollers", they would whip them if they did not have a note from +their master. When the slaves went to church, they went to a Baptist +church that the Scotts belonged to and sat in the rear of the church. +The sermon was never preached to the slaves. "They never preached the +Lord to us," Mrs. Richardson said, "They would just tell us to not +steal, don't steal from your master". A week's ration of food was given +each slave, but if he ate it up before the week, he had to eat salt pork +until the next rations. He couldn't eat much of it, because it was too +salty to eat any quanity of it. "We had to make our own clothes out of a +cloth like you use, called canvass". "We walked to church with our shoes +on our arms to keep from wearing them out".</p> + +<p>They walked six miles to reach the church, and had to wade across a +stream of water. The women were carried across on the men's backs. They +did all of this to hear the minister tell them "don't steal from your +Master".</p> + +<p>They didn't have an overseer to whip the slaves on the Scott plantation, +Scott did the whipping himself. Mrs. Richardson said he knocked her down +once just before she gave birth to a daughter, all because she didn't +pick cotton as fast as he thought she should have.</p> + +<p>Her husband went to the war to be "what you call a valet for Master +Jim's son, Sam". After the war, he "came to me and my daughter". "Then +in July, we could tell by the crops and other things grown, old Master +Jim told us everyone we was free, and that was almost a year after the +other slaves on the other plantations around were freed". She said +Scott, in freeing (?) then said that "he didn't have to give us any +thing to eat and that he didn't have to give us a place to stay, but we +could stay and work for him and he would pay us. But we left that night +and walked for miles through the rain to my husban's brother and then +told them that they all were free. Then we all came up to Kentucky in a +wagon and lived there. Then I came up North when my husband died".</p> + +<p>Mrs. Richardson says that she is "so happy to know that I have lived to +see the day when you young people can serve God without slipping around +to serve him like we old folks had to do". "You see that pencil that you +have In your hand there, why, that would cost me my life 'if old Mas' +Jim would see me with a pencil in my hand. But I lived to see both him +and Miss Elizabeth die a hard death. They both hated to die, although +they belonged to church. Thank God for his mercy! Thank God!" "My mother +prayed for me and I am praying for you young folks".</p> + +<p>Mrs. Richardson, despite her 90 years of age, can walk a distance of a +mile and a half to her church.</p> + +Submitted August 31, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="RobinsonJoe"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +JOE ROBINSON—EX-SLAVE<br> +1132 Cornell Avenue</h3> +<br> + +<p>Joe Robinson was born in Mason County, Kentucky in 1854.</p> + +<p>His master, Gus Hargill, was very kind to him and all his slaves. He +owned a large farm and raised every kind of vegetation. He always gave +his slaves plenty to eat. They never had to steal food. He said his +slaves had worked hard to permit him to have plenty, therefore they +should have their share.</p> + +<p>Joe, his mother, a brother, and a sister were all on the same +plantation. They were never sold, lived with the same master until they +were set free.</p> + +<p>Joe's father was owned by Rube Black, who was very cruel to his slaves, +beat them severely for the least offense. One day he tried to beat Joe's +father, who was a large strong man; he resisted his master and tried to +kill him. After that he never tried to whip him again. However, at the +first opportunity, Rube sold him.</p> + +<p>The Robinson family learned the father had been sold to someone down in +Louisiana. They never heard from, or of him, again.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mr. Robinson lives with his wife; he receives a pension, which he said +was barely enough for them to live on, and hoped it would be increased.</p> + +<p>He attends one of the W.P.A. classes, trying to learn to read and write.</p> + +<p>They have two children who live in Chicago.</p> + +Submitted January 24, 1938<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="RogersRosaline"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. ROSALINE ROGERS—EX-SLAVE—110 YEARS OLD<br> +910 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Rogers was born in South Carolina, in 1827, a slave of Dr. Rice +Rogers, "Mas. Rogers," we called him, was the youngest son of a family +of eleven children. He was so very mean.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Rogers was sold and taken to Tennessee at the age of eleven for +$900.00 to a man by the name of Carter. Soon after her arrival at the +Carter plantation, she was resold to a man by the name of Belby Moore +with whom she lived until the beginning of the Civil war.</p> + +<p>Men and women were herded into a single cabin, no matter how many there +were. She remembers a time when there were twenty slaves in a small +cabin. There were holes between the logs of the cabin, large enough for +dogs and cats to crawl through. The only means of heat, being a wood +fireplace, which, of course, was used for cooking their food.</p> + +<p>The slaves' food was corn cakes, side pork, and beans; seldom any sweets +except molasses.</p> + +<p>The slaves were given a pair of shoes at Christmas time and if they were +worn out before summer, they were forced to go barefoot.</p> + +<p>Her second master would not buy shoes for his slaves. When they had to +plow, their feet would crack and bleed from walking on the hard clods, +and if one complained, they would be whipped; therefore, very few +complaints were made.</p> + +<p>The slaves were allowed to go to their master's church, and allowed to +sit in the seven back benches; should those benches be filled, they were +not allowed to sit in any other benches.</p> + +<p>The wealthy slave owner never allowed his slaves to pay any attention to +the poor "white folks," as he knew they had been free all their lives +and should be slave owners themselves. The poor whites were hired by +those who didnot believe in slavery, or could not afford slaves.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the Civil war, I had a family of fourteen children. +At the close of the war, I was given my choice of staying on the same +plantation, working on shares, or taking my family away, letting them +out for their food and clothes. I decided to stay on that way; I could +have my children with me. They were not allowed to go to school, they +were taught only to work.</p> + +<p>Slave mothers were allowed to stay in bed only two or three days after +childbirth; then were forced to go into the fields to work, as if +nothing had happened.</p> + +<p>The saddest moment of my life was when I was sold away from my family. I +often wonder what happened to them, I haven't seen or heard from them +since. I only hope God was as good to them as He has been to me.</p> + +<p>"I am 110 years old; my birth is recorded in the slave book. I have good +health, fairly good eyesight, and a good memory, all of which I say is +because of my love for God."</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Rogers is certainly a very old woman, very pleasant, and seems very +fond of her granddaughters, with whom she lives.</p> + +Submitted December 29, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="RollinsParthenia"></a> +<h3>Federal writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +MRS. PARTHENA ROLLINS<br> +848 Camp Street (Rear)</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mrs. Parthena Rollins was born in Scott County, Kentucky, in 1853, a +slave of Ed Duvalle, who was always very kind to all of his slaves, +never whipping any of the adults, but often whipped the children to +correct them, never beating them. They all had to work, but never +overwork, and always had plenty to eat.</p> + +<p>She remembers so many slaves, who were not as fortunate as they were.</p> + +<p>Once when the "nigger traders" came through, there was a girl, the +mother of a young baby; the traders wanted the girl, but would not buy +her because she had the child. Her owner took her away, took the baby +from her, and beat it to death right before the mother's eyes, then +brought the girl back to the sale without the baby, and she was bought +immediately.</p> + +<p>Her new master was so pleased to get such a strong girl who could work +so well and so fast.</p> + +<p>The thoughts of the cruel way of putting her baby to death preyed on +her mind to such an extent, she developed epilepsy. This angered her new +master, and he sent her back to her old master, and forced him to refund +the money he had paid for her.</p> + +<p>Another slave had displeased his master for some reason, he was taken to +the barn and killed, and was buried right in the barn. No one knew of +this until they were set free, as the slaves who knew about it were +afraid to tell for fear of the same fate befalling on them.</p> + +<p>Parthena also remembers slaves being beaten until their backs were +blistered. The overseers would then open the blisters and sprinkle salt +and pepper in the open blisters, so their backs would smart and hurt all +the more.</p> + +<p>Many times, slaves would be beaten to death, thrown into sink holes, and +left for the buzzards to swarm and feast on their bodies.</p> + +<p>So many of the slaves she knew were half fed and half clothed, and +treated so cruelly, that it "would make your hair stand on ends."</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Rollins is in poor health all broken up with "rheumatiz."</p> + +<p>She lives with a daughter and grandson, and said she could hardly talk +of the happenings of the early days, because of the awful things her +folks had to go through</p> + +Submitted December 21, 1937<br> +Anatolia, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="RuddJohn"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +TOLD BY JOHN RUDD, AN EX-SLAVE</h3> +<br> + +<p>"Yes, I was a slave," said John Rudd, "And I'll say this to the whole +world, Slavery was the worst curse ever visited on the people of the +United States."</p> + +<p>John Rudd is a negro, dark and swarthy as to complexion but his nose is +straight and aqualine, for his mother-was half Indian.</p> + +<p>The memory of his mother, Liza Rudd, is sacred to John Rudd today and +her many disadvantages are still a source of grief to the old man of 83 +years. John Rudd was born on Christmas day 1854 in the home of Benjamin +Simms, at Springfield, Kentucky. The mother of the young child was house +maid for mistress Simms and Uncle John remembers that mother and child +received only the kindliest consideration from all members of the Simms +family.</p> + +<p>While John was yet a small boy Benjamin Simms died and the Simms slaves +were auctioned to the highest bidders. "If'n you wants to know what +unhappiness means," said Uncle John Rudd, "Jess'n you stand on the Slave +Block and hear the Auctioneer's voice selling you away from the folks +you love." Uncle John explained how mothers and fathers were often +separated from their dearly loved children, at the auction block, but +John and his younger brother Thomas were fortunate and were bought by +the same master along with Liza Rudd, their mother. An elder brother, +Henry, was separated from his mother and brothers and became the +property of George Snyder and was thereafter known as Henry Snyder.</p> + +<p>When Liza Rudd and her two little sons left the slave block they were +the property of Henry Moore who lived a few miles away from Springfield. +Uncle John declares that unhappiness met them at the threshold of the +Moore's estate.</p> + +<p>Liza was given the position of cook, housemaid and plough-hand while her +little boys were made to hoe, carry wood and care for the small children +of the Moore family.</p> + +<p>John had only been at the Moore home a few months when he witnessed +several slaves being badly beaten. Henry Moore kept a white overseer and +several white men were employed to whip slaves. A large barrel stood +near the slave quarters and the little boy discovered that the barrel +was a whipping post. The slaves would be strapped across the side of the +barrel and two strong men would wield the "cat of nine tails" until +blood flowed from gashed flesh, and the cries and prayers of the +unfortunate culprits availed them nothing until the strength of the +floggers became exhausted.</p> + +<p>One day, when several Negroes had just recovered from an unusual amount +of chastisement, the little Negro, John Rudd, was playing in the front +yard of the Moore's house when he heard a soft voice calling him. He +knew the voice belonged to Shell Moore, one of his best friends at the +Moore estate. Shell had been among those severely beaten and little John +had been grieving over his misfortunes. "Shell had been in the habbit of +whittling out whistles for me and pettin' of me," said the now aged +negro. "I went to see what he wanted wif me and he said 'Goodby Johnnie, +you'll never see Shellie alive after today.'" Shell made his way toward +the cornfield but the little Negro boy, watching him go, did not realize +what situation confronted him. That night the master announced that +Shell had run away again and the slaves were started searching fields +and woods but Shell's body was found three days later by Rhoder McQuirk, +dangling from a rafter of Moore's corn crib where the unhappy Negro had +hanged himself with a leather halter.</p> + +<p>Shell was a splendid worker and was well worth a thousand dollars. If he +had been fairly treated he would have been happy and glad to repay +kindness by toil. "Mars Henry would have been better to all of us, only +Mistress Jane was always rilin' him up," declared John Rudd as he sat in +his rocking chair under a shade tree.</p> + +<p>"Jane Moore, was the daughter of Old Thomas Rakin, one of the meanest +men, where slaves were concerned, and she had learnt the slave drivin' +business from her daddy."</p> + +<p>Uncle John related a story concerning his mother as follows: "Mama had +been workin' in the cornfield all day 'till time to cook supper. She was +jes' standin' in the smoke house that was built back of the big kitchen +when Mistress walks in. She had a long whip hid under her apron and +began whippin Mama across the shoulders, 'thout tellin' her why. Mama +wheeled around from whar she was slicin' ham and started runnin' after +old Missus Jane. Ole Missus run so fas' Mama couldn't catch up wif her +so she throwed the butcher knife and stuck it in the wall up to the +hilt." "I was scared. I was fraid when Marse Henry come in I believed he +would have Mama whipped to death."</p> + +<p>"Whar Jane?" said Mars Henry. "She up stairs with the door locked," said +Mama. Then she tole old Mars Henry the truth about how mistress Jane +whip her and show him the marks of the whip. She showed him the butcher +knife stickin' in the wall. "Get yer clothes together," said Marse +Henry.</p> + +<p>John then had to be parted from his mother. Henry Rudd [TR: 'Moore' +written above in brackets.] believed that the Negroes were going to be +set free. War had been declared and his desire was to send Liza far into +the southern states where the price of a good negro was higher than in +Kentucky. When he reached Louisville he was offered a good price for her +service and hired her out to cook at a hotel. John grieved over the loss +of his mother but afterwards learned she had been well treated at +Louisville. John Rudd continued to work for Henry Moore until the Civil +War ended. Then Henry Snyder came to the Moore home and demanded his +brothers to be given into his charge.</p> + +<p>Henry Snyder had enlisted in the Federal Army and had fought throughout +the war. He had entered or leased seven acres of good land seven miles +below Owensboro, Kentucky, and on those good acres of Davies County farm +land the mother and her three sons were reunited.</p> + +<p>John Rudd had never seen a river until he made the trip to Owensboro +with his brother Henry. The trip was made on the big Gray Eagle and +Uncle John declares "I was sure thrilled to get that boat ride." He +relates many incidents of run-away Negroes. Remembers his fear of the Ku +Klucks, and remembers seeing seven ex-slaves hanging from one tree near +the top of Grimes-Hill, just after the close of the war.</p> + +<p>When John grew to young manhood he worked on farms in Davis County near +Owensboro for several years, then procured the job of portering for John +Sporree, a hotel keeper at Owensboro, and in this position John worked +for fifteen years.</p> + +<p>While at Owensboro he met the trains and boats. He recalls the boats; +Morning Star, and Guiding Star; both excursion boats that carried gay +men and women on pleasure trips up and down the Ohio river.</p> + +<p>Uncle John married Teena Queen his beloved first wife, at Owensboro. To +this union was born one son but he has not been to see his father nor +has he heard from him for thirty years, and his father believes him to +have died. The second wife was Minnie Dixon who still lives with Uncle +John at Evansville.</p> + +<p>When asked what his political ideas were, Uncle John said his politics +is his love for his government. He draws an old age compensation of 14 +dollars a month.</p> + +<p>Uncle John had some trouble proving his age but met the situation by +having a friend write to the Catholic Church authorities at Springfield. +Mrs. Simms had taken the position of God Mother to the baby and his +birth and christening had been recorded in the church records. He is a +devout Catholic and believes that religion and freedom are the two +richest blessings ever given to mankind.</p> + +<p>Uncle John worked as janitor at the Boehne Tuberculosis Hospital for +eight years. While working there he received a fall which crippled him. +He walks by the aid of a cane but is able to visit with his friends and +do a small amount of work in his home.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SamuelsAmandaElizabeth"></a> +<h3>Federal Writers' Project<br> +of the W.P.A.<br> +District #6<br> +Marion County<br> +Anna Pritchett<br> +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana<br> +<br> +FOLKLORE<br> +AMANDA ELIZABETH SAMUELS<br> +1721 Park Avenue</h3> +<br> + +<p>Lizzie was a child in the home of grandma and grandpa McMurry. They were +farmers in Robinson County, Tennessee.</p> + +<p>Her mother, a slave hand, worked on the farm until her young master, +Robert McMurry was married. She was then sold to Rev. Carter Plaster and +taken to Logan County, Kentucky.</p> + +<p>The child, Lizzie was given to young Robert. She lived in the house to +help the young mistress who was not so kind to her. Lizzie was forced to +eat chicken heads, fish heads, pig tails, and parsnips. The child +disliked this very much, and was very unhappy with her young mistress, +because in Robert's father's home all slave children were treated just +like his own children. They had plenty of good substantial food, and +were protected in every way.</p> + +<p>The old master felt they were the hands of the next generation and if +they were strong and healthy, they would bring in a larger amount of +money when sold.</p> + +<p>Lizzie's hardships did not last long as they were set free soon after +young Robert's marriage. He took her in a wagon to Keysburg, Kentucky to +be with her mother.</p> + +<p>Lizzie learned this song from the soldiers.</p> + +<pre> +Old Saul Crawford is dead, +And the last word is said. +They were fond of looking back +Till they heard the bushes crack +And sent them to their happy home +In Cannan. +Some wears worsted +Some wears lawn +What they gonna do +When that's all gone. +</pre> +<br> + +<p><b>Interviewer's Comment</b></p> + +<p>Mrs. Samuels is an amusing little woman, she must be about 80 years old, +but holds to the age of 60. Had she given her right age, the people for +whom she works would have helped her to get her pension.</p> + +<p>They are amused, yet provoked because Lizzie wants to be younger than +she really is.</p> + +Submitted December 1, 1937<br> +Indianapolis, Indiana<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SimmsJack"></a> +<h3>G. Monroe<br> +Dist. 4<br> +Jefferson County<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +MR. JACK SIMMS' STORY</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>Personal Interview</b></p> + +<p>Mr. Simms was born and raised on Mill Creek Kentucky, and now lives in +Madison Indiana on Poplar Street diagonally North West of the hospital.</p> + +<p>He was so young he did no remember very much about how the slaves were +treated, but seemed to regret very much that he had been denied the +privilege of an education. Mr. Simms remembers seeing the lines of +soldiers on the Campbellsburg road, but referred to the war as the +"Revolution War".</p> + +<p>This was a very interesting old man, when we first called, his daughter +invited us into the house, but her father wanted to talk outside where +he "spit better". When his daughter conveyed this information Mr. Simms' +immediately decided that we could come in as we "wouldn't be there long +anyhow".</p> + +<p>After we gained entrance, the daughter remarked that her father was very +young at the time of the war, whereupon he answered very testily "If you +are going to tell it, go ahead. Or am I going to tell it?"</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SlaughterBilly"></a> +<h3>Beulah Van Meter<br> +District 4<br> +Clark County<br> +<br> +BILLY SLAUGHTER<br> +1123 Watt St.<br> +Jeffersonville</h3> +<br> + +<p>Billy Slaughter was born Sept. 15, 1858, on the Lincoln Farm near +Hodgenville, Ky. The Slaughters who now live between the Dixie Highway +and Hodgenville on the right of the road driving toward Hodgenville +about four miles off the state highway are the descendants of the old +slave's master. This old slave was sold once and was given away once +before he was given his freedom.</p> + +<p>The spring on the Lincoln Farm that falls from a cliff was a place +associated with Indian cruelty. It was here in the pool of water below +the cliff that the Indians would throw babies of the settlers. If the +little children could swim or the settlers could rescue them they +escaped, otherwise they were drowned. The Indians would gather around +the scene of the tragedy and rejoice in their fashion. The old slave +when he was a baby was thrown in this pool but was rescued by white +people. He remembers having seen several Indians but not many.</p> + +<p>The most interesting subject that Billy Slaughter discussed was the +Civil War. This was ordinarily believed to be fought over slavery, but +it really was not, according to his interpretation, which is unusual for +an old slave to state. The real reason was that the South withdrew from +the Union and elected Jefferson Davis President of the Confederacy. In +his own dialect he narrated these events accurately. The southerners or +Democrats were called "Rebels" and "Secess" and the Republicans were +called "Abolitionists."</p> + +<p>Another point of interest was John Brown and Harpers Ferry. When +Harper's Ferry was fired upon, that was firing upon the United States. +It was here and through John Brown's Raid that war was virtually +declared. The old Negro explained that Brown was an Abolitionist, and +was captured here and later killed. While the old slave had the utmost +respect for the Federal Government he regarded John Brown as a martyr +for the cause of freedom and included him among the heroes he +worshipped. Among his prized possessions is an old book written about +John Brown's Raid.</p> + +<p>The old slave's real hero was Abraham Lincoln. He plans another +pilgrimage to the Lincoln Farm to look again at the cabin in which his +Emancipator was born. He asked me if I read history very much. I assured +him that I read it to some extent. After that he asked me if I recalled +reading about Lincoln during the Civil War walking the White House floor +one night and a Negro named Douglas remained in his presence. In the +beginning of the War the Negroes who enlisted in the Union Army were +given freedom, also the wives, and the children who were not married.</p> + +<p>Another problem that was facing the North at this time was that the men +who were taken from the farm and factory to the army could not be +replaced by the slaves and production continued in the North as was +being done in the south. Not all Negroes who wanted to join the Union +forces were able to do so because of the strict watchfulness of their +masters. The slaves were made to fight in the southern army whether they +wanted to or not. This lessened the number of free Negroes in the +Northern army. As a result Lincoln decided to free all Negroes. That was +the decision he made the night he walked the White House floor. This was +the old darkey's story of the conditions that brought about the +Emancipation Proclamation. Freeing the Negroes was brought about during +the Civil War but it was not the reason that the war was fought, was the +unusual opinion of this Negro. "Uncle Billy's" father joined the Union +army at the Taylor Barracks, near Louisville, Ky., which was the Camp +Taylor during the World War. Uncle Billy's father and mother and their +children who were not married were given freedom. The old slave has kept +the papers that were drawn up for this act.</p> + +<p>The old darkey explained that the Negro soldiers never fought in any +decisive battles. There must always be someone to clean and polish the +harness, care for the horses, dig ditches, and construct parapets. This +slave's father was at Memphis during the battle there.</p> + +<p>The Slaughter family migrated to Jeffersonville in '65. Billy was then +seven years old. At that time there was only one depot here—a freight +and passenger depot at Court and Wall Streets. What is now known as +Eleventh St. was then a hickory grove—a paradise for squirrel hunters. +On the ridge beginning at 7th and Mechanic Sts. were persimmon trees. +This was a splendid hunting haven for the Negroes for their favorite +wild animal—the o'possum. The ridge is known today as 'Possum Ridge. +The section east of St. Anthony's Cemetery was covered in woods. Since +there were a number of Beechnuts, pigeons frequented this place and were +sought here. One could catch them faster than he could shoot them.</p> + +<p>At this time there were two shipyards in Jeffersonville—Barmore's and +Howard's. Barmore's shipyard location was first the location of a big +meat-packing company. The old darkey called it a "pork house".</p> + +<p>The old slave had seen several boats launched from these yards. Great +crowds would gather for this event. After the hull was completed in the +docks the boat was ready to launch. The blocks that served as props were +knocked down one at a time. One man would knock down each prop. There +were several men employed in this work on the appointed day of the +launching of the boat. The boat would be christened with a bottle of +champagne on its way to the river.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Billy" worked on a steamboat in his earlier days. This boat +traveled from Louisville to New Orleans. People traveled on the river +for there were few railroads. The first work the old darkey did was to +clean the decks. Later he cleaned up inside the boat, mopped up the +floors and made the berths. The next job he held was ladies' cabin man. +Later he took care of the quarters where the officials of the boat +slept. The darkey also worked as a second pantry man. This work +consisted of waiting on the tables in the dining room. The men's clothes +had to be spotless. Sometimes it would become necessary for him to +change his shirt three times a day.</p> + +<p>The meats on the menu would include pigeon, duck, turkey, chicken, +quail, beef, pork, and mutton. Vegetables of the season were served, as +well as desserts. It was nothing unusual for a half dollar to be left +under a plate as a tip for the waiter. Those who worked in the cabins +never set a price for a shoe shine. Fifteen cents was the lowest they +ever received.</p> + +<p>During a yellow fever epidemic before a quarantine could be declared a +boatload of three hundred people left Louisville at night to go to +Memphis, Tenn. During the same time this boat went to New Orleans where +yellow fever was raging. The captain warned them of it. In two narrow +streets the old darkey recalled how he had seen the people fall over +dead. These streets were crowded and there were no sidewalks, only room +for a wagon. Here the victims would be sitting in the doorways, +apparently asleep, only to fall over dead.</p> + +<p>When the boat returned, one of the crew was stricken with this disease. +Uncle Billy nursed him until they reached his home at Cairo, Ill. No +one else took the yellow fever and this man recovered.</p> + +<p>Another job "Uncle Billy" held was helping to make the brick used in the +U.S. Quarter Master Depot. Colonel James Keigwin operated a brick kiln +in what is now a colored settlement between 10th and 14th and Watt and +Spring Sts. The clay was obtained from this field. It was his task to +off-bare the brick after they were taken from the molds, and to place +them in the eyes to be burned. Wood was used as fuel.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Billy" reads his Bible quite often. He sometimes wonders why he +is still left here—all of his friends are gone; all his brothers and +sisters are gone. But this he believes is the solution—that there must +be someone left to tell about old times.</p> + +<p>"The Bible," he quotes, "says that two shall be working in the field +together and one shall be taken and the other left. I am the one who is +left," he concludes.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SmithMrMrsAlex"></a> +<h3>Henrietta Karwowski, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +St. Joseph County—District #1<br> +South Bend, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVES<br> +MR. AND MRS. ALEX SMITH<br> +127 North Lake Street<br> +South Bend, Indiana</h3> +<br> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Alex Smith, an eighty-three year old negro couple were +slaves in Kentucky near Paris, Tennessee, as children. They now reside +at 127 North Lake Street, on the western limits of South Bend. This +couple lives in a little shack patched up with tar paper, tin, and wood.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, the talkative member or the family is a small +woman, very wrinkled, with a stocking cap pulled over her gray hair. She +wore a dress made of three different print materials; sleeves of one +kind, collar of another and body of a third. Her front teeth were +discolored, brown stubs, which suggested that she chews tobacco.</p> + +<p>Mr. Alex Smith, the husband is tall, though probably he was a well built +man at one time. He gets around by means of a cane. Mrs. Smith said that +he is not at all well, and he was in the hospital for six weeks last +winter.</p> + +<p>The wife, Elizabeth or Betty, as her husband calls her, was a slave on +the Peter Stubblefield plantation in Kentucky, the nearest town being +Paris, Tennessee, while Mr. Smith was a slave on the Robert Stubblefield +plantation nearby.</p> + +<p>Although only a child of five, Mr. Smith remembers the Civil War, +especially the marching of thousands of soldiers, and the horse-drawn +artillery wagons. The Stubblefields freed their slaves the first winter +after the war.</p> + +<p>On the Peter Stubblefield plantation the slaves were treated very well +and had plenty to eat, while on the Robert Stubblefield plantation Mr +Smith went hungry many times, and said, "Often, I would see a dog with a +bit of bread, and I would have been willing to take it from him if I had +not been afraid the dog would bite me."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Smith was named after Elizabeth Stubblefield, a relative of Peter +Stubblefield. As a child of five years or less, Elizabeth had to spin +"long reels five cuts a day," pick seed from cotton, and cockle burrs +from wool, and perform the duties of a house girl.</p> + +<p>Unlike the chores of Elizabeth, Mr. Smith had to chop wood, carry water, +chop weeds, care for cows, pick bugs from tobacco plants. This little +boy had to go barefoot both summer and winter, and remembers the +cracking of ice under his bare feet.</p> + +<p>The day the mistress and master came and told the slaves they were free +to go any place they desired, Mrs. Smith's mother told her later that +she was glad to be free but she had no place to go or any money to go +with. Many of the slaves would not leave and she never witnessed such +crying as went on. Later Mrs. Smith was paid for working. She worked in +the fields for "wittels" and clothes. A few years later she nursed +children for twenty-five cents a week and "wittels," but after a time +she received fifty cents a week, board and two dresses. She married Mr. +Smith at the age of twenty.</p> + +<p>Mr Smith's father rented a farm and Mr. Smith has been a farmer all his +life. The Smith couple have been married sixty-four years. Mrs. Smith +says, "and never a cross word exchanged. Mr. Smith and I had no +children."</p> + +<p>The room the writer was invited into was a combination bed-room and +living room with a large heating stove in the centre of the small room. +A bed on one side, a few chairs about the room. The floor was covered +with an old patched rug. The only other room beside this room was a very +small kitchen. The whole home was shabby and poor.</p> + +<p>The only means of support the family has is a government old age pension +which amounts to about fourteen dollars a month.</p> + +<p>Their little shack is situated in the center of a large lot around which +a very nice vegetable garden is planted. The property belongs to Mr. +Harry Brazy, and the old couple does not pay rent or taxes and they may +stay there as long as they live, "which is good enough for us," says +Mrs. Smith.</p> + +<p>As the writer was leaving Mrs. Smith said, "I like to talk and meet +people. Come again."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="StoneBarney"></a> +<h3>Robert C. Irvin<br> +District #2<br> +Noblesville, Ind.<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVE, LIFE STORY OF<br> +BARNEY STONE, FORMER SLAVE, HAMILTON CO.</h3> +<br> + +<p>This is the life story of Barney Stone, a highly respected colored +gentleman of Noblesville, Hamilton County seat. Mr. Stone is near +nintey-one years old, is in sound physical condition and still has a +remarkable memory. He was a slave in the state of Kentucky for more than +sixteen years and a soldier in the Union army for nearly two years. He +educated himself and taught school to colored children four years +following the Civil War. He studied in 1868, and has been a preacher in +the Colored Baptist Faith for sixty nine years, having been instrumental +in the building of seven churches in that time. Mr. Stone joined the K. +of P. Lodge, the I.O.O.F. and Masonic Lodge and is still a member of the +latter.</p> + +<p>This fine old colored man has always worked hard for the uplift and +advancement of the colored race and has accomplished much in this effort +in the States of Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana. He, together with his +preaching of the gospel, and his lecturing, has followed farming. He now +has a field of sweet corn and a fine, large garden, which he plowed, +planted and tended himself and not a weed can be found in either. He is +the only ex-slave now living in Hamilton County, the others all +deceased, and is one of three living members of Hamilton county G.A.R. +the other two members being white.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stone has given to the writer "My Life's Story", which he desires to +call it, and in this story he pictures to the reader, "sixteen years of +hell as a slave on a plantation," a story which will convince the reader +that, even though much blood was shed in our Civil War, the war was a +Godsend to the American Nation. This story is told just as given by Mr. +Stone.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>MY LIFE'S STORY</b></p> + +<p>"My name is Barney Stone, I was born in slavery, May 17, 1847, in +Spencer County, Kentucky. I was a slave on the plantation of Lemuel +Stone (all slaves bore the last name of their master) for nearly +seventeen years and was considered a leader among the young slaves on +our plantation. My Mammy was mother to ten children, all slaves, and my +Pappy, Buck Grant, was a buck slave on the plantation of John Grant, his +Mastah; my pappy was used much as a male cow is used on the stock farm +and was hired out to other plantation owners for that purpose and was +regarded as a valuable slave. His Mastah permitted him to visit my +mother each week-end on our plantation.</p> + +<p>My Mastah was a hard man when he was angry, drinking or not feeling +well, then at times he was kind to us. I was compelled to pick cotton +and do other work when I was a very small boy. Mastah would never sell +me because I was regarded as the best young slave on the plantation. +Different from many other slaves, I was kept on the plantation from the +day I was born until the day I ran away.</p> + +<p>Slaves were sold in two ways, sometimes at private sale to a man who +went about the Southland buying slaves until he has many in his +possession, then he would have a big auction sale and would re-sell them +to the highest bidder, much in the same manner as our live-stock are +sold now in auction sales. Professional slave buyers in those days were +called "nigger buyers". He came to the plantation with a doctor. He +would point out two or three slaves which looked good to him and which +could be spared by the owner, and would have the doctor examine the +slave's heart. If the doctor pronounced the slave as sound, then the +nigger buyer would make an offer to the owner and if the amount was +satisfactory, the slave was sold. Some large plantation owners, having a +large number of slaves, would hold a public auction and dispose of some +of them, then he would attend another sale and buy new slaves, this was +done sometimes to get better slaves and sometimes to make money on the +sale of them.</p> + +<p>Many times, as I have said before, our treatment on our plantation was +horrible. When I was just a small boy, I witnessed my sister sold and +taken away. One day one of horses came into the barn and Mastah noticed +that she was caripped. He flew into a rage and thought I had hurt the +horse, either that, or that I knew who did it. I told him that I did not +do it and he demanded that I tell him who did it, if I didn't. I did not +know and when I told him so, he secured a whip tied me to a post and +whipped me until I was covered with blood. I begged him, "Mastah, +Mastah, please don't whip me, I do not know who did it." He then took +out his pocket knife and I would have been killed if Missus (his dear +wife) had not make him quit. She untied me and cared for me.</p> + +<p>Many has been the time, I have seen my mammy beaten mercilessly and for +no good reason. One day, not long before the out-break of the Civil War, +a nigger buyer came and I witnessed my dear Mammy and my one year old +baby brother, sold. I seen er taken away, never to see her again until I +found her twenty-seven years later at Clarksburg, Tennessee. My baby +brother was with her, but I did not know him until Mammy told me who he +was, he had grown into a large man. That was a happy meeting. After +those experiences of "sixteen long years in hell, as a slave", I was +very bitter against the white man, until after I ran away and joined the +Union army.</p> + +<p>At the out-break of the Civil War and when the Northern army was +marching into the Southland, hundreds of male slaves were shot down by +the Rebels, rather than see them join with the Yankees. One day when I +learned that the Northern troops were very close to our plantation, I +ran away and hid in a culvert, but was found and I would have been shot +had the Yankee troops not scattered them and that saved me. I joined +that Union army and served one year, eight months and twenty-two days, +and fought with them in the battle of Fort Wagnor, and also in the +battle of Milikin's Bend. When I went into the army, I could not read or +write. The white soldiers took an interest in me and taught me to write +and read, and when the war was over I could write a very good letter. I +taught what little I knew to colored children after the War.</p> + +<p>I studied day and night for the next three years at the home of a +lawyer, educating myself and in 1868, I started preaching the gospel of +Jesus Christ and have continued to do so for sixty-nine years. In that +time I have been instrumental in the building of seven churches in +Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. I did this good work through +gratefulness to God for my deliverance and my salvation. During my life, +I have joined the K. of P. Lodge, and I.O.O.F and Masonic Lodge. I have +preached for the up-life and advancement of the colored races. I have +accomplished much good in this life and have raised a family of eight +children. I love and am loyal to my country and have received great +compensation from my government for my services. I am in good health and +still able to work, and I am thankful to my God and my country."</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SuggsAdahIsabelle"></a> +<h3>Stories from Ex-Slaves<br> +5th District<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana<br> +<br> +ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE OF ADAH ISABELLE SUGGS</h3> +<br> + +<p>Among the interesting stories connected with former slaves one of the +most outstanding ones is the life story of Adah Isabelle Suggs, indeed +her escape from slavery planned and executed by her anxious mother, +Harriott McClain, bears the earmarks of fiction, but the truth of all +related occurences has been established by the aged negro woman and her +daughter Mrs. Harriott Holloway, both citizens of Evansville, Indiana.</p> + +<p>Born in slavery before January the twenty-second, 1862 the child Adah +McClain was the property of Colonel Jackson McClain and Louisa, his +wife.</p> + +<p>According to the customary practice of raising slave children, Adah was +left at the negro quarters of the McClain plantation, a large estate +located in Henderson county, three and one half miles from the village +of Henderson, Kentucky. There she was cared for by her mother. She +retains many impressions gained in early childhood of the slave +quarters; she remembers the slaves singing and dancing together after +the day of toil. Their voices were strong and their songs were sweet. +"Master was good to his slaves and never beat them" were her words +concerning her master.</p> + +<p>When Adah was not yet five years of age the mistress, Louisa McClain, +made a trip to the slave quarters to review conditions of the negroes. +It was there she discovered that one little girl there had been +developing ideas and ideals; the mother had taught the little one to +knit tiny stockings, using wheat straws for knitting needles.</p> + +<p>Mrs. McClain at once took charge of the child taking her from her +mother's care and establishing her room at the residence of the McClain +family.</p> + +<p>Today the aged Negro woman recalls the words of praise and encouragement +accorded her accomplishments, for the child was apt, active, responsive +to influence and soon learned to fetch any needed volume from the +library shelves of the McClain home.</p> + +<p>She was contented and happy but the mother knew that much unhappiness +was in store for her young daughter if she remained as she was situated.</p> + +<p>A custom prevailed throughout the southern states that the first born of +each slave maiden should be the son or daughter of her master and the +girls were forced into maternity at puberty. The mothers naturally +resisted this terrible practice and Harriott was determined to prevent +her child being victimized.</p> + +<p>One planned escape was thwarted; when the girl was about twelve years of +age the mother tried to take her to a place of safety but they were +overtaken on the road to the ferry where they hoped to be put across the +Ohio river. They were carried back to the plantation and the mother was +mildly punished and imprisoned in an upstair room.</p> + +<p>The little girl knew her mother was imprisoned and often climbed up to a +window where the two could talk together.</p> + +<p>One night the mother received directions through a dream in which her +escape was planned. She told the child about the dream and instructed +her to carry out orders that they might escape together.</p> + +<p>The girl brought a large knife from Mrs. McClain's pantry and by the aid +of that tool the lock was pried from the prison door and the mother made +her way into the open world about midnight.</p> + +<p>A large tobacco barn became her refuge where she waited for her child. +The girl had some trouble making her escape; she had become a useful and +necessary member of her mistress' household and her services were hourly +in demand. The Daughter "young missus" Annie McClain was afflicted from +birth having a cleft palate and later developing heart dropsy which made +regular surgery imperative. The negro girl had learned to care for the +young white woman and could draw the bandages for the surgeon whey +"Young Missus" underwent surgical treatment.</p> + +<p>The memory of one trip to Louisville is vivid in the mind of the old +negress today for she was taken to the city and the party stopped at the +Gault House and [TR: line not completed]</p> + +<p>"It was a grand place," she declares, as she describes the +surroundings; the handsome draperies and the winding stairway and other +artistic objects seen at the grand hotel.</p> + +<p>The child loved her young mistress and the young mistress desired the +good slave should be always near her; so, patient waiting was required +by the negro mother before her daughter finally reached their +rendezvous.</p> + +<p>Under cover of night the two fugitives traveled the three miles to +Henderson, there they secreted themselves under the house of Mrs. +Margaret Bentley until darkness fell over the world to cover their +retreat. Imagine the frightened negroes stealthily creeping through the +woods in constant fear of being recaptured. Federal soldiers put them +across the river at Henderson and from that point they cautiously +advanced toward Evansville. The husband of Harriott, Milton McClain and +her son Jerome were volunteers in a negro regiment. The operation of the +Federal Statute providing for the enlistment of slaves made enlisted +negroes free as well as their wives and children, so, by that statute +Harriott McClain and her daughter should have been given their freedom.</p> + +<p>When the refugees arrived in Evansville they were befriended by free +negroes of the area. Harriott obtained a position as maid with the +Parvine family, "Miss Hallie and Miss Genevieve Parvine were real good +folks," declares the aged negro Adah when repeating her story. After +working for the Misses Parvine for about two years, the negro mother had +saved enough money to place her child in "pay school" there she learned +rapidly.</p> + +<p>Adah McClain was married to Thomas Suggs January 18, 1872. Thomas was a +slave of Bill McClain and it is believed he adopted the name Suggs +because a Mr. Suggs had befriended him in time of trouble. Of this fact +neither the wife nor daughter have positive proof. The father has +departed this life but Adah Suggs lives on with her memories.</p> + +<p>Varied experiences have attended her way. Wifehood and devotion; +motherhood and care she has known for she has given fifteen children to +the world. Among them were one set of twins, daughters and triplets, two +sons and a daughter. She is a beloved mother to those of her children +who remain near her and says she is happy in her belief in God and +Christ and hopes for a glorious hereafter where she can serve the Lord +Jesus Christ and praise him eternally.</p> + +<p>What greater hope can be given to the mortal than the hope cherished by +Adah Isabelle Suggs?</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="SuttonKatie"></a> +<h3>Folklore<br> +District #5<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +<br> +"A TRADITION FROM PRE-CIVIL WAR DAYS"<br> +KATIE SUTTON, AGED EX-SLAVE<br> +Oak street, Evansville, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>"White folks 'jes naturally different from darkies," said Aunt Katie +Sutton, ex-slave, as she tightened her bonnet strings under her wrinkled +chin.</p> + +<p>"We's different in color, in talk and in ligion and beliefs. We's +different in every way and can never be spected to think oe [TR: or?] to +live alike."</p> + +<p>"When I was a little gal I lived with my mother in an old log cabin. My +mammy was good to me but she had to spend so much of her time at +humoring the white babies and taking care of them that she hardly ever +got to even sing her own babies to sleep."</p> + +<p>"Ole Missus and Young Missus told the little slave children that the +stork brought the white babies to their mothers but that the slave +children were all hatched out from buzzards eggs and we believed it was +true."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Maam, I believes in evil spirits and that there are many folks +that can put spells on you, and if'n you dont believe it you had better +be careful for there are folks right here in this town that have the +power to bewitch you and then you will never be happy again."</p> + +<p>Aunt Katie declared that the seventh son of a seventh son, or the +seventh daughter of a seventh daughter possesses the power to heal +diseases and that a child born after the death of its father possesses a +strange and unknown power.</p> + +<p>While Aunt Katie was talking, a neighbor came in to borrow a shovel from +her.</p> + +<p>"No, no, indeed I never lends anything to nobody," she declared. After +the new neighbor left, Aunt Katie said, "She jes erbout wanted dat +shovel so she could 'hax' me. A woman borrowed a poker from my mammy and +hexed mammy by bending the poker and mammy got all twisted up wid +rhumatis 'twill her uncle straightened de poker and den mammy got as +straight as anybody."</p> + +<p>"No, Maam, nobody wginter take anything of mine out'n this house." Aunt +Katie Sutton's voice was thin and her tune uncertain but she remembered +some of the songs she heard in slavery days. One was a lullaby sung by +her mother and the song is given on separate pages of this artical.</p> + +<p>Three years ago Aunt Katie was called away on her last journey although +she had always emmerced the back and front steps of her cottage with +chamber lye daily to keep away evil spirits death crept in and demanded +the price each of us must pay and Katie answered the call.</p> + +<p>Aunt Katie sprinkled salt in the foot prints of departing guests "Dat's +so dey kain leave no illwill behind em and can never come agin 'thout an +invitation," she explained.</p> + +<p>She said she one time planted a tree with a curse and that her worst +enemy died that same year.</p> + +<p>"Evil spirits creeps around all night long and evil people's always able +to hex you, So, you had best be careful how you talks to strangers. +Always spit on a coin before You gives it to a begger and dont pass too +close to a hunchbacked person unless you can rub the hump or you will +have bad luck as sure as anything."</p> + +<p>Aunt Katie declared a rabbit's foot only brought good luck if the rabbit +had been killed by a cross eyed negro in a country grave yard in the +dark of the moon and she said that she believed one of that description +could be found only once in a lifetime or possibly a hundred years.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>"A Slave Mammy's Lullaby."</b></p> + +<p>Sung by Katie Sutton, Ex-slave of Evansville, Indiana.</p> + +<pre> +"A snow white stork flew down from the sky. +Rock a bye, my baby bye, +To take a baby gal so fair, +To young missus, waitin there; +When all was quiet as a mouse, +In ole massa's big fine house. + + Refrain: + Dat little gal was borned rich and free, + She's de sap from out a sugah tree; + But you are jes as sweet to me; + My little colored chile, + Jes lay yo head upon my bres; + An res, and res, and res, an res, + My little colored chile. + +To a cabin in a woodland drear, +You've come by a mammy's heart to cheer; +In this ole slave's cabin, +Your hands my heart strings grabbin; +Jes lay your head upon my bres, +Jes snuggle close an res an res; +My little colored chile. + +Repeat Refrain. + +Yo daddy ploughs ole massa's corn, +Yo mammy does the cooking; +She'll give dinner to her hungry chile, +When nobody is a lookin; +Don't be ashamed, my chile, I beg, +Case you was hatched from a buzzard's egg; +My little colored chile." + +Repeat Refrain. +</pre> +<br> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="ThompsonGeorge"></a> +<h3>William R. Mays<br> +Dist. No. 4<br> +Johnson Co.<br> +Aug. 2, 1937<br> +<br> +SLAVERY DAYS OF GEORGE THOMPSON</h3> +<br> + +<p>My name is George Thompson, I was born in Monroe County, Kentucky near +the Cumberland river Oct. 8, 1854, on the Manfred Furgeson plantation, +who owned about 50 slaves. Mister Furgerson [TR: before, Furgeson] was a +preacher and had three daughters and was kind to his slaves.</p> + +<p>I was quite a small boy when our family, which included an older sister, +was sold to Ed. Thompson in Medcalf Co. Kentucky, who owned about 50 +other slaves, and as was the custom then we was given the name of our +new master, "Thompson".</p> + +<p>I was hardly twelve years old when slavery was abolished, yet I can +remember at this late date most of the happenings as they existed at +that time.</p> + +<p>I was so young and unexperienced when freed I remained on the Thompson +plantation for four years after the war and worked for my board and +clothes as coach boy and any other odd jobs around the plantation.</p> + +<p>I have no education, I can neither read nor write, as a slave I was not +allowed to have books. On Sundays I would go into the woods and gather +ginseng which I would sell to the doctors for from 10¢ to 15¢ a pound +and with this money I would buy a book that was called the Blue Back +Speller. Our master would not allow us to have any books and when we +were lucky enough to own a book we would have to keep it hid, for if our +master would find us with a book he would whip us and take the book from +us. After receiving three severe whippings I gave up and never again +tried for any learning, and to this day I can neither read nor write.</p> + +<p>Slaves were never allowed off of their plantation without a written +pass, and if caught away from their plantation without a pass by the +Pady-Rollers or Gorillars (who were a band of ruffians) they wore +whipped.</p> + +<p>As there were no oil lamps or candles, another black boy and myself were +stationed at the dining table to hold grease lamps for the white folks +to see to eat. And we would use brushes to shoo away the flies.</p> + +<p>In 1869 I left the plantation to go on my own. I landed in Heart County, +Ky. and went to work for Mr. George Parish in the tobacco fields at +$25.00 per year and two suits of clothes; after working two years for +Mr. Parish I left. I drifted from place to place in Alabama and +Mississippi, working first at one place and then another, and finally +drifted into Franklin in 1912 and went to work on the Fred Murry farm on +Hurricane road for 10 years. I afterwards worked for Ashy Furgerson, a +house mover.</p> + +<p>I have lived at my present address, 651 North Young St. since coming to +Franklin.</p> + +<p>(Can furnish photograph if wanted) [TR: no photograph found.]</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="WambleRev"></a> +<h3>Archie Koritz, Field Worker<br> +Federal Writers' Project<br> +Porter County—District #1<br> +Valparaiso, Indiana<br> +<br> +EX-SLAVES<br> +REV. WAMBLE <br> +1827 Madison Street<br> +Gary, Indiana</h3> +<p>[TR: above 'Wamble' in handwriting is 'Womble']</p> +<br> + +<p>Rev. Wamble was born a slave in Monroe County, Mississippi, in 1859. The +Westbrook family owned many slaves in charge of over-seers who managed +the farm, on which there were usually two hundred or more slaves. One of +the Westbrook daughters married a Mr. Wamble, a wagon-maker. The +Westbrook family gave the newly-weds two slaves, as did the Wamble +family. One of the two slaves coming from the Westbrook family was Rev. +Wamble's grandfather. It seems that the slaves took the name of their +master, hence Rev. Wamble's grandfather was named Wamble.</p> + +<p>Families owning only a few slaves and in moderate circumstances usually +treated their slaves kindly since like a farmer with only a few horses, +it was to their best interest to see that their slaves were well +provided for. The slaves were valuable, and there was no funds to buy +others, whereas the large slave owners were wealthy and one slave more +or less made little difference. The Reverend's father and his brothers +were children of original African slaves and were of the same age as the +Wamble boys and grew up together. The Reverend's grandfather was manager +of the farm and the three Wamble boys worked under him the same as the +slaves. Mr. Wamble never permitted any of his slaves to be whipped, nor +were they mistreated.</p> + +<p>Mr. Westbrook was a deacon in the Methodist Church and had two slave +over-seers to manage the farm and the slaves. He was very severe with +his slaves and none were ever permitted to leave the farm. If they did +leave the farm and were found outside, they were arrested and whipped. +Then Westbrook was notified and one of the over-seers would come and +take the slave home where he would again be whipped. The slave was tied +to a cedar tree or post and lashed with a snake whip.</p> + +<p>Rev. Wamble's mother was a Deerbrook [HW: Westbrook] slave and when the +Reverend was two years of age, his mother died from a miscarriage caused +by a whipping. When the women slaves were in an advanced stage of +pregnancy they were made to lie face down in a specially dug depression +in the ground and were whipped. Otherwise they were treated like the +men. Their arms were tied around a cedar tree or post, and they were +lashed.</p> + +<p>Since the Reverend appeared to be a promising slave, both the Westbrooks +and the Wambles wanted him, much like one would want a valuable colt +today. Since the Reverend's grandmother was a Westbrook and the Wambles +treated the slaves much better, she wanted him to become a Wamble. She +hid the child in a shed, what would probably be a poor dog-house today, +and fed the child during the night time.</p> + +<p>During this period of his life the Reverend remembers what happened to +one of the Westbrook slaves who had run away. One evening he came to the +Wamble home and asked for some supper. Wamble took the slave into his +home and after feeding him, placed a log chain which was hanging above +the fire-place, around the slave's waist, left him to sleep on a bench +in front of the fire-place. The next morning after the slave was given +breakfast by the Wambles, Westbrook, his son and over-seer appeared. +Rev. Wamble in his hide-out remembers being awakened by the sound of the +slave being whipped and the moaning of the slave. After the whipping, +the slave was turned loose. After he had gone about a mile through the +bottom-land toward the river, Westbrook turned his hounds loose on the +slave's tracks. The hounds treed the slave before he had gone another +mile, much like a dog would tree a cat.</p> + +<p>The Westbrooks pulled the slave down from the tree and the dogs slashed +his foot. The slave was then whipped and long ropes placed around him. +He was driven back to the Wamble place with whips where he was once +again whipped. They [TR: Then?] they drove him two miles to the +Westbrook place where he was whipped once more. Whatever became of the +slave, whether he died or recovered, is unknown. One unusual feature of +this story is that Westbrook who permitted his slaves to be whipped, was +a church deacon, whereas Wamble, who never attended church, never +whipped or mistreated his slaves.</p> + +<p>The Reverend states that in the community where he resided the slaves +were well treated except for the whippings they received. They were +well-fed, and if injured or sick, were attended by a doctor on the same +principal that a person would care for an injured horse or sick cow. The +slaves were valuable, and it was to the best interest of the owner to +see that they were able to work.</p> + +<p>In case of slaves having children, the children became the property of +the mother's owner. If the south had won the war, Wamble would have been +a Westbrook since his mother was a Westbrook slave, and if it lost, he +would go to live with his father and take the name of his father, a +Wamble slave. So until the war was over he was hid out much like a small +child would bring a stray dog home and hide it somewhere for fear that +if his parents discovered it, it would be taken away.</p> + +<p>The living quarters of the slaves were made of logs covered with mud, +and the roof was covered with coarse boards upon which dirt about a foot +in depth was placed. There were no floors except dirt or the bare +ground. The furniture consisted of a small stove and the beds were two +boards extending from two walls, the extending ends resting on a peg +driven into the ground. This would make a one-legged bed. The two boards +were covered across ways with more boards and the slaves slept on these +boards or upon the dirt floor. There were no blankets provided for them. +For food the slaves received plenty of meat, potatoes, and whatever +could be raised. If the master had plenty to eat, so did the slaves, but +if food was not plentiful for the master, the slaves had less to eat.</p> + +<p>Only one of the three Wamble boys joined the southern army. Until the +war was over, the other two boys who refused to go to war hid out in the +surrounding woods and hills. The only time the Reverend's father left +the farm was to attend his master Billy, when he was in a hospital +recovering from wounds received in battle.</p> + +<p>Wamble was a wagon-maker, and he made two or three wagons which usually +took about six months. Then he hitched teams to them and went north to +Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas and kept going until he had sold the +wagons and teams, keeping one wagon and team, with which to return home. +Some times the master would be gone for a period of nine to twelve +months. During his absence the Reverend's grandfather was in charge of +the farm.</p> + +<p>The grandmother of Rev. Wamble was a full-blooded African negro, brought +to this country as a slave at seventeen years of age. She was a very +large and strong woman and was often hired out to do a man's work. +Slaves were forbidden to have papers in their possession and since they +were forbidden to read papers, hardly any slaves could read or write. +There never was any occasion or need to do these things. It was not +known that the Reverend's grandmother could read and write until after +the Civil War. The Reverend remembers his grandmother bringing an old +newspaper to his hide-out during the Civil War, late at night, after the +Wamble family had retired, and making a candle from fried meat grease +and a cord string, which made a very tiny light. She placed some old +blankets over the walls so that no light could be seen through the +cracks in the hut. She would then place the paper as near as possible to +the light, without burning it, and read the paper. It was never +discovered where or how she learned to read and write.</p> + +<p>If a young, good-looking, husky negro was trustworthy, the family would +make him the driver of the family carriage. They would dress him in the +best clothes obtainable and with a silk-finished beaver skin hat. The +driver sat on a seat on the top and towards the front of the carriage. +He was compelled to stay on this seat when waiting for any of the family +that he might be driving, regardless of the weather or the length of +time that he had to wait.</p> + +<p>The mail was carried in the same kind of vehicle with negro drivers. In +each town there was a certain rack at which this mail carriage would +stop in each village or wherever the designated stop was made. Upon +nearing the rack and coming to a stop, the driver would blow a bugle +call which could be heard for miles around, and people hearing this +bugle would come and get their mail. The Reverend remembers that +several of these drivers froze to death during the cold weather, and +that in the winter, many times the horses on the mail carriage upon +coming to this rack would stop, and the driver would be sitting frozen +to death in his seat.</p> + +<p>Men would take him down, carefully saving the silk beaver-skin hat for +some other driver.</p> + +<p>Since the slaves had no votes, they had no interest in politics when +they became free and knew nothing about political conditions other than +that after the Civil War they were free and had a vote. As a boy the +Reverend remembers seeing the white and black soldiers marching on +election day.</p> + +<p>The politicians would always tell the negroes what was good for them and +making it appear that it was for their best interest, and they should +vote for him, always giving them the desert first and making them think +that they were on the level no matter what the meal might be or what +hardships they were causing the negro to suffer. On one instance after +the negroes were forbidden to vote they marched in a body to the polls +and demanded a Democratic ballot and were then permitted to vote.</p> + +<p>Rev. Wamble was twenty-seven years of age before he saw and read his +first newspaper. He lived with the Wambles for twenty years after the +war, when his father then in partnership with another man, purchased +forty acres of land. He attended his first school for a period of two +months only in 1871. In 1872 the government built a school on his +father's farm and it was taught by a missionary. The school term was for +a period of three months each year. The Reverend attended this school +for seven years.</p> + +<p>In 1880 he married the first time. His first wife died in Memphis, +Tennessee, in 1888. By this marriage there were four children. On +February 1, 1892, the Reverend with his two surviving children all +entered school at a college in Little Rock, Arkansas. One of his +daughters died in the third year of her school year, but the other +graduated from the Normal School and was a teacher for several years. At +the present time she is married to a minister in Louisiana and is the +mother of ten children and is a nurse. The three oldest children have +degrees and the others are expected to do the same.</p> + +<p>The Reverend married his second wife in 1894. She died in 1907. By this +marriage nine children were born.</p> + +<p>The Reverend has been in the ministry for thirty-seven years. Seeing the +need of making more money, two of his sons came to Gary, Indiana, to +work in 1924. Now both are working in the post-office. Two years later +he came to Gary for the same reason and after working two years in the +coke plant, was laid off due to the depression. The youngest daughter of +the Reverend by his second marriage graduated from a college in Pine +Bluff, Arkansas, and is now teaching in New York City.</p> + +<p>Although the Reverend is advanced in years, he is quite active and +healthy. He says he has a small pension and is just waiting until it is +time to pass on to the next world. He has six children and seventeen +grandchildren living.</p> + +<p>As the Reverend remembered the south, none of the white people worked at +manual labor, but usually sat under a shade tree. They were usually +clerks, bookkeepers or tradesmen.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="WatsonSamuel"></a> +<h3>Ex-Slave Stories<br> +5th District<br> +Vanderburgh County<br> +Lauana Creel<br> +1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana<br> +<br> +THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHILD BORN IN SLAVERY<br> +SAMUEL WATSON<br> +[HW: Personal Interview]</h3> +<br> + +<p>Samuel Watson, a citizen of Evansville, Indiana, was born in Webster +County, Kentucky, February 14, 1862. His master's home was located two +and one half miles from Clay, Kentucky on Craborchard Creek.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Sammy" as the negro children living near his home on South East +Fifth Street call the old man, possesses an unusually clear memory. In +fact he remembers seeing the soldiers and hearing the report of cannon +while he was yet an infant.</p> + +<p>One story told by the old negro relates how; "old missus" saved "old +massa's horses". The story follows:</p> + +<p>The mistress accompanied by a number of slaves was walking out one +morning and all were startled by the sound of hurrying horses. Soon many +mounted soldiers could be seen coming over a hill in the distance. The +child Samuel was later told that the soldiers were making their way to +Fort Donelson and were pressing horses into service. They were also +enlisting negroes into service whenever possible.</p> + +<p>Old master, Thomas Watson, owned many good able-bodied slaves and many +splendid horses. The mistress realised the danger of loss and opening +the "big gate" that separated the corral from the forest lands, Mrs. +Watson ran into the midst of the horses shouting and frailing them. The +frightened horses ran into the forest off the highway and toward the +river.</p> + +<p>When the soldiers stopped at the Watson plantation they found only a few +old work horses standing under a tree and not desiring these they want +on their way.</p> + +<p>The little negro boy ran and hid himself in the corner made by a great +outside chimney, where he was found later, by his frightened mother. +Uncle Samuel remembers that the horses came home the following +afternoon, none missing.</p> + +<p>Uncle Samuel remembers when the war ended and the slaves were +emancipated. "Some were happy! and some were sad!" Many dreaded leaving +their old homes and their masters' families.</p> + +<p>Uncle Samuel's mother and three children were told that they were free +people and the master asked the mother to take her little ones and go +away.</p> + +<p>She complied and took her family to the plantation of Jourdain James, +hoping to work and keep her family together. Wages received for her +work failed to support the mother and children so she left the employ of +Mr. James and worked from place to place until her children became half +starved and without clothing.</p> + +<p>The older children, remembering better and happier days, ran away from +their mother and went back to their old master.</p> + +<p>Thomas Watson went to Dixon, Kentucky and had an article of indenture +drawn up binding both Thomas and Laurah to his service for a long number +of years. Little Samuel only remained with his mother who took him to +the home of William Allen Price. Mr. Price's plantation was situated in +Webster County, Kentucky about half-way between Providence and Clay on +Craborchard Creek. Mr. Price had the little boy indentured to his +service for a period of eighteen years. There the boy lived and worked +on the plantation.</p> + +<p>He said he had a good home among good people. His master gave him five +real whippings within a period of fourteen years but Uncle Samuel +believes he deserved every lash administered.</p> + +<p>Uncle Samuel loved his master's family, he speaks of Miss Lena, Miss +Lula, Master Jefferson and Master John and believes they are still +alive. Their present home is at Cebra, Kentucky.</p> + +<p>It was the custom for a slave indentured to a master to be given a fair +education, a good horse, bridle, saddle and a suit of clothes for his +years of toil, but Mr. Price did not believe the boy deserved the pay +and refused to pay him. A lawyer friend sued in behalf of the Negro and +received a judgement of $115.00 (one hundred and fifteen dollars). +Eighteen dollars repaid the lawyer for his service and Samuel started +out with $95.00 and his freedom.</p> + +<p>Evansville became the home of Samuel Watson in 1882. The trip was made +by train to Henderson then on transfer boat along the Ohio to +Evansville.</p> + +<p>The young negro man was impressed by the boat and crew and said he loved +the town from the first glimpse.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bacon, a prominent citizen living at Chandler Avenue and Second +Street, employed Samuel as coachman. His next service was as house-man +for Levi Igleheart, 1010 Upper Second Street. Mr. Igleheart grew to +trust Samuel and gave him many privileges allowing him to care for +horses and to manage business for the family.</p> + +<p>Samuel was married in 1890. His wife was born in Evansville and knew +nothing of slavery by birth or indenture.</p> + +<p>Uncle Samuel was given a job at the Trinity Church, corner of Third and +Chestnut Streets. Mr. Igleheart recommended him for the position. He +received $30.00 per month for his services for a period of six years.</p> + +<p>Mr. McNeely employed him for several years as janitor for lodges and +secret orders. The old negro was also a paper hanger and wall cleaner +and did well untill the panic seized him as it did others.</p> + +<p>Uncle Samuel was entitled to an old age pension which he recieved from +1934 until 1935 but January 15th, 1936 something went wrong and the +money was with held. Then uncle Samuel was sent to the poor house. Still +he was not unhappy and did what he could to make others happy.</p> + +<p>In 1936 he again applied and received the pension. $17.00 per month is +paid for his upkeep, his only labor consists of tending a little garden +and doing light chores. He lives with William Crosby on S.E. Fifth +Street.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="WhallenNancy"></a> +<h3>Iris L Cook<br> +District #4<br> +Floyd County<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +STORY OF NANCY WHALLEN<br> +924 Pearl St.<br> +New Albany, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p>Nancy Whallen is now about 81 years of age. She doesn't know exactly. +She was about 5 year of age when Freedom was declared. Nancy was born +and raised in Hart County near Hardinsburg, Kentucky. She is very hard +to talk to as her memory is failing and she can not hear very well.</p> + +<p>The little negro girl lived the usual life of a rural negro in Civil War +Time and afterwards. She remembers the "sojers" coming thru the place +and asking for food. Some of them camped on the farm and talked to her +and teased her.</p> + +<p>She tells about one big nigger called "Scott" on the place who could +outwork all the others. He would hang his hat and shirt on a tree limb +and work all day long in the blazing sun on the hottest day.</p> + +<p>The colored folk, used to have revivals, out in the woods. They would +sometimes build a sort of brush shelter with leaves for a roof and +service a would be held here. Preachin' and shouting' sometimes lasted +all day Sundays. Colored folks came from miles around when they possibly +could get away. These affairs were usually held away from the "white +folks" who seldom if ever saw these gatherings.</p> +<br> + +<p><b>Observation of the writer.</b></p> + +<p>The old woman remembers the Big Eclipse of the sun or the "Day of Dark" +as she called it. The chickens all went to roost and the darkies all +thought the end of the world had come. The cattle lowed and everyone was +scared to death.</p> + +<p>She lived down in Kentucky after the War until she was quite a young +woman and then came to Indiana where she has lived ever since. She lives +now with her daughter in New Albany.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="WhittedAnderson"></a> +<h3>Special Assignment<br> +Emily Hobson<br> +Dist. #3<br> +Parke County<br> +<br> +INTERVIEW WITH ANDERSON WHITTED,<br> +COLORED EX-SLAVE, OF ROCKVILLE, INDIANA</h3> +<br> +<a name="img_AW"></a> +<center> +<img src='images/awhitted.jpg' width='300' height='386' alt='Alexander Whitted'> +</center> + +<br> + +<p>Mr. Whitted will be 89 years old next month October 1937. He was born in +Orange County, North Carolina. His mother took care of the white +children so her nine children were very well treated. The master was a +Doctor. The family were Hickory Quakers and did not believe in +mistreating their slaves, always providing them with plenty to eat, and +clothing to wear to church on Sunday. Despite a law that prohibited +books to Negroes, his family had a Bible, and an elementary spelling +book. Mr. Whitted's father belonged to his master's half-brother and +lived fourteen miles away. He was allowed a horse to go see them every +two weeks. The father could read, and spell very well so would teach +them on his visits. Mr. Whitted learned to read the Bible first, then in +later years has learned to read other things. It was the custom for the +master to search the negro huts, but Mr. Whitted's master never did.</p> + +<p>The Doctor often took Mr. Whitted's grandmother with him to help care +for the sick. When the war broke out the Master's son joined the +southern forces. The son was wounded. The Doctor and Mr. Whitted's +grandmother went for the boy. On the way home the Doctor died but the +grandmother got the boy home and nursed him back to health. Life for the +Negroes was different after the son began running the place, he was not +good to them. Mr. Whitted was then 16 years old, and the older brother +was the overseer. The negroes had been allowed a share of the crop but +the new master refused them anything to live on. In that region the +wheat was harvested the middle of June. There was a big crop that year +but the entire family was turned out before the harvest, with nothing. +Mr. Whitted left his older brother with his mother and the children +sitting by the road, while he ran the 14 miles for his father to find +out what to do. The father borrowed two teams and wagons, rented a house +in the edge of town, and moved the family in.</p> + +<p>The slaves were freed about that time, and for the first time in their +lives they were free, and the entire family together. The father went to +the governor for food. The government was allowing hard tack and pickled +beef for the negroes. They received their allotment, and were well +satisfied with hard tack because they were free. In telling about the +pickled beef he says he never has seen any beef since that looked like +it; he believed that it was horse meat. The father started working in a +mill in 1865. He was soon bringing home food stuff from there, and in +time they had a crop on their little place.</p> + +<p>The older brother worked in the mornings and went to a Quaker Normal +School in the afternoon. Pres. Harrison gave him an appointment in the +revenue department, then as he grew older he was transferred to the post +office department. He was retired on a pension at the age of 75. He is +still living in Washington, D.C., and is now 97 years old.</p> + +<p>During the war Mr. Whitted ran away, going 12 miles to the camp of the +northern soldiers where he stayed two weeks. They gave him a horse to +ride, and sent him gathering fuel through the woods for them. Those were +the happiest days he had ever known—his first freedom.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whitted was never sold, but he often saw processions go past after a +sale, the wagon loaded with provisions first, then the slaves tied +together following. They often took the babies away from their mothers, +and sold them. Some old woman, too old to work, would then care for the +little ones until they were old enough to work. At six years old they +were put to work thinning corn, worming the tobacco, and pulling weeds. +At seven they were taught to use a hoe. At 16 they were full hands, +working along with the older men.</p> + +<p>In April 1880 Mr. Whitted left Orange County, it was so very rough it +was hard to make a living. He just started out in search of a better +place, leaving his wife and seven children there. In November he sent +for them, he was working at the brick yards in Rockville. They were +finishing the court house. He was so anxious to make a living he often +did as much as two men. One child was born here. His wife died soon +after coming to Rockville. He stayed single for three years, but found +he could not care for his family and married again. His second wife died +a number of years ago. He now spends the winters with his three living +daughters, and during the summer months, a daughter comes to Rockville +to enjoy his home.</p> + +<p>Mr. Whitted's uncle belonged to a mean master. The slaves worked hard +all day, then were chained together at night. The uncle ran away in the +early part of the war, and after two years broke through the lines, and +joined the northern army, going back after emancipation.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr width="65%"><br><br> +<a name="WoodsonAlex"></a> +<h3>Iris Cook<br> +Dist 4<br> +Floyd Co.<br> +<br> +SLAVE STORY<br> +THE STORY OF ALEX WOODSON<br> +905 E. 4th St.<br> +New Albany, Ind.</h3> +<br> + +<p><b>Observation of Writer</b></p> + +<p>Alex Woodson is an old light skinned darkey, he looks to be between 80 +and 85, it is hard to tell his age, and colored folks hardly ever do +know their correct age. I visited him in his little cottage and had a +long talk with him and his wife (his second). "Planted the fust one." +They run a little grocery in the front room of the cottage. But the +stock was sadly run down. Together with the little store and his +"pinshun" (old age pension) these old folks manage to get along.</p> + +<p>Alex Woodson was born at Woodsonville, in Hart County, Kentucky, just +across Green River from Munfordville. He was a good sized boy, possibly +7 years or more when "Freedom wuz declared". His master was "Old Marse" +Sterrett who had about a 200 acre place and whose son in law Tom +Williams ran a store on this place. When Williams married Sterretts +daughter he was given Uncle Alex and his mother and brother as a +present. Williams was then known as "Young Master."</p> + +<p>When war come Old Master gave his (Woodson's) mother a big roll of +bills, "greenbacks as big as Yo' arm", to keep for him, and was forced +to leave the neighborhood. After the war the old darkey returned the +money to him intact.</p> + +<p>Uncle Alex remembers his mother taking him and other children and +running down the river bank and hiding in the woods all night when the +soldiers came. They were Morgan's men and took all available cattle and +horses in the vicinity and beat the woods looking for Yankee soldiers. +Uncle Alex said he saw Morgan at a distance on his big horse and he "wuz +shore a mighty fine looker."</p> + +<p>Sometimes the Yankee soldiers would come riding along and they "took +things too".</p> + +<p>When the War was over old Master came back home and the negroes +continued to live on at the place as usual, except for a few that wanted +to go North. Old Master lived in a great big house with all his family +and the Negroes lived in another good sized house or quarters, all +together. There were a few cabins.</p> + +<p>"Barbecues! My we shore used to have 'em, yes ma'am, we did! Folks would +come for miles around. Would roast whole hawgs and cows, and folks would +sing, and eat and drink whiskey. The white folks had 'em but we helped +and had fun too. Sometimes we would have one ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Used to have rail splittin's and wood choppins. The men woud work all +day, and get a pile of wood as big as a house. At noon they'd stop and +eat a big meal that the women folks had fixed up for em. Them wuz some +times, I've spent to many a one."</p> + +<p>"I remember we used to go to revivals sometimes, down near Horse ave. +Everybody got religion and we shore had some times. We don't have them +kind of times any more. I remember I went back down to one of those +revivals years afterwards. Most of the folks I used to know was dead or +gone. The preacher made me set up front with him, and he asked me to +preach to the folks. But I sez that "no, God hadn't made me that away +and I wouldn't do it."</p> + +<p>I've saw Abraham Lincoln's cabin many a time, when I was young. It set +up on a high hill, and I've been to the spring under the hill lots of +times. The house was on the Old National Road then. I hear they've fixed +it all up now. I haven't been there for years.</p> + +<p>After the war when I grewed up I married, and settled on the old place. +I remember the only time I got beat in a horse trade. A sneakin' nigger +from down near Horse Cave sold me a mule. That mule was jest natcherly +no count. He would lay right down in the plow. One day after I had +worked with him and tried to get him to work right, I got mad. I says to +my wife, Belle, I'm goin' to get rid of that mule if I have to trade him +for a cat. An' I led him off. When I came back I had another mule and +$15 to boot. This mule she wuz shore skinny but when I fattened her up +you wouldn't have known her."</p> + +<p>"Finally I left the old place and we come north to Indiana. We settled +here and I've been here for 50 years abourt. I worked in the old Rolling +Mill. And I've been an officer in the Baptist Church at 3rd and Main for +41 years."</p> + +<p>"Do I believe in ghosts" (Here his second wife gave a sniff) Well ma'am +I don't believe in ghosts but I do in spirits. (another disgusted sniff +from the second wife) I remember one time jest after my first wife died +I was a sittin right in that chair your sittin in now. The front door +opened and in come a big old grey mule, and I didn't have no grey mule. +In she come just as easy like, put one foot down slow, and then the +other, and then the other I says 'Mule git out here, you is goin through +that floor, sure as youre born. Get out that door.' Mule looked at me +sad-like and then just disappeared. And in its place was my first wife, +in the clothes she was buried in. She come up to me and I put my arms +around her, but I couldn't feel nothin' (another sniff from the second +wife) and I says, "Babe, what you want?"</p> + +<p>Then she started to git littler and littler and lower and finally went +right away through the floor. It was her spirit thats what it was. +("Rats" says the second wife.)</p> + +<p>"Another time she came to me by three knocks and made me git up and +sleep on another bed where it was better sleepin'."</p> + +<p>"I like to go back down in Kentucky on visits as the folks there wont +take a thing for bed and vittles. Here they are so selfish wont even +gave a drink of water away."</p> + +<p>"Yes'm the flood got us. Me and my wife here, we whet away and stayed +two months. Was 5 feet in this house, and if it ever gets in here agin, +we're goin down in Kentucky and never comin' back no more."</p> + +<p>The old man and his wife bowed me out the front door and asked me to +come back again and we'ed talk some more about old times.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Slave Narratives: A Folk History of +Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, by Work Projects Administration + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: INDIANA *** + +***** This file should be named 13579-h.htm or 13579-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/5/7/13579/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Andrea Ball, Terry Gilliland and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States + From Interviews with Former Slaves: Indiana Narratives + +Author: Work Projects Administration + +Release Date: October 2, 2004 [EBook #13579] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: INDIANA *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Andrea Ball, Terry Gilliland and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. Produced from images provided +by the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division + + + + + + + +[TR: ***] = Transcriber Note +[HW: ***] = Handwritten Note + + + +[Illustration: Old Slave, Peter Dunn] + + + + +SLAVE NARRATIVES + + +A Folk History of Slavery in the United States +From Interviews with Former Slaves + + +TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY +THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT +1936-1938 +ASSEMBLED BY +THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT +WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION +FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA +SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS + +Illustrated with Photographs + + +WASHINGTON 1941 + + + +VOLUME V + +INDIANA NARRATIVES + + + + +Prepared by +the Federal Writers' Project of +the Works Progress Administration +for the State of Indiana + + +INFORMANTS + +Arnold, George W. [TR: with Professor W.S. Best and Samuel Bell] +Ash, Thomas, and Crane, Mary + +Barber, Rosa +Blakeley, Mittie +Boone, Carl +Bowman, Julia +Boyce, Angie +Boysaw, Edna +Bracey, Callie [TR: daughter of Louise Terrell] +Buckner, Dr. George Washington +Burns, George Taylor +Butler, Belle [TR: daughter of Chaney Mayer] + +Carter, Joseph William +Cave, Ellen +Cheatam, Harriet +Childress, James +Colbert, Sarah +Cooper, Frank [TR: son of Mandy Cooper] + +Edmunds, Rev. H.H. +Eubanks, John [TR: and family] + +Fields, John W. +Fortman, George [TR: and other interested citizens] + +Gibson, John Henry +Guwn, Betty [TR: reported by Mrs. Hattie Cash, daughter] + +Hockaday, Mrs. +Howard, Robert +Hume, Matthew + +Jackson, Henrietta +Johnson, Lizzie +Jones, Betty +Jones, Nathan + +Lennox, Adeline Rose +Lewis, Thomas +Locke, Sarah H. [TR: daughter of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor] + +McKinley, Robert +Miller, Richard +Moorman, Rev. Henry Clay +Morgan, America +Morrison, George +Mosely, Joseph [TR: also reported as Moseley in text of interview] + +Patterson, Amy Elizabeth +Preston, Mrs. + +Quinn, William M. + +Richardson, Candus +Robinson, Joe +Rogers, Rosaline +Rollins, Parthena +Rudd, John + +Samuels, Amanda Elizabeth +Simms, Jack +Slaughter, Billy +Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Alex +Stone, Barney +Suggs, Adah Isabelle +Sutton, Katie + +Thompson, George + +Wamble (Womble), Rev. +Watson, Samuel +Whallen, Nancy +Whitted, Anderson +Woodson, Alex + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Mary Crane [TR: not in original index] + +John W. Fields + +Anderson Whitted + + +[TR: Federal Writer Anna Pritchett annotated her interviews by marking +each paragraph to indicate whether the information was obtained from the +respondent (A) or was a comment by the interviewer (B). Since the +information was presented in sequence, it is presented here without +these markings, with the interviewer's remarks set apart by the topic +heading 'Interviewer's Comment'.] + +[TR: Information listed separately as References, such as informant +names and addresses, has been incorporated into the interview headers. +In some cases, information has been rearranged for readability. Names in +brackets were drawn from text of interviews.] + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District No. 5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +AN UNHAPPY EXPERIENCE +[GEORGE W. ARNOLD] + + +This is written from an interview with each of the following: George W. +Arnold, Professor W.S. Best of the Lincoln High School and Samuel Bell, +all of Evansville, Indiana. + +George W. Arnold was born April 7, 1861, in Bedford County, Tennessee. +He was the property of Oliver P. Arnold, who owned a large farm or +plantation in Bedford county. His mother was a native of Rome, Georgia, +where she remained until twelve years of age, when she was sold at +auction. + +Oliver Arnold bought her, and he also purchased her three brothers and +one uncle. The four negroes were taken along with other slaves from +Georgia to Tennessee where they were put to work on the Arnold +plantation. + +On this plantation George W. Arnold was born and the child was allowed +to live in a cabin with his relatives and declares that he never heard +one of them speak an unkind word about Master Oliver Arnold or any +member of his family. "Happiness and contentment and a reasonable amount +of food and clothes seemed to be all we needed," said the now +white-haired man. + +Only a limited memory of Civil War days is retained by the old man but +the few events recalled are vividly described by him. "Mother, my young +brother, my sister and I were walking along one day. I don't remember +where we had started but we passed under the fort at Wartrace. A battle +was in progress and a large cannon was fired above us and we watched the +huge ball sail through the air and saw the smoke of the cannon pass over +our heads. We poor children were almost scared to death but our mother +held us close to her and tried to comfort us. The next morning, after, +we were safely at home ... we were proud we had seen that much of the +great battle and our mother told us the war was to give us freedom." + +"Did your family rejoice when they were set free?" was the natural +question to ask Uncle George. + +"I cannot say that they were happy, as it broke up a lot of real +friendships and scattered many families. Mother had a great many pretty +quilts and a lot of bedding. After the negroes were set free, Mars. +Arnold told us we could all go and make ourselves homes, so we started +out, each of the grown persons loaded with great bundles of bedding, +clothing and personal belongings. We walked all the way to Wartrace to +try to find a home and some way to make a living." + +George W. Arnold remembers seeing many soldiers going to the pike road +on their way to Murfreesboro. "Long lines of tired men passed through +Guy's Gap on their way to Murfreesboro," said he. "Older people said +that they were sent out to pick up the dead from the battle fields after +the bloody battle of Stone's river that had lately been fought at +Murfreesboro. They took their comrades to bury them at the Union +Cemetery near the town of Murfreesboro." + +"Wartrace was a very nice place to make our home. It was located on the +Nashville and Chattanooga and St. Louis railroad, just fifty-one miles +from Nashville not many miles from our old home. Mother found work and +we got along very well but as soon as we children were old enough to +work, she went back to her old home in Georgia where a few years later +she died. I believe she lived to be seventy-five or seventy six years of +age, but I never saw her after she went back to Georgia." + +"My first work was done on a farm (there are many fine farms in +Tennessee) and although farm labor was not very profitable we were +always fed wherever we worked and got some wages. Then I got a job on +the railroad. Our car was side tracked at a place called Silver +Springs," said Uncle George, "and right at that place came trouble that +took the happiness out of my life forever." Here the story teller paused +to collect his thoughts and conquer the nervous twitching of his lips. +"It was like this: Three of us boys worked together. We were like three +brothers, always sharing our fortunes with each other. We should never +have done it, but we had made a habit of sending to Nashville after each +payday and having a keg of Holland rum sent in by freight. This liquor +was handed out among our friends and sometimes we drank too much and +were unfit for work for a day or two. Our boss was a big strong +Irishman, red haired and friendly. He always got drunk with us and all +would become sober enough to soon return to our tasks." + +"The time I'm telling you about, we had all been invited to a candy +pulling in town and could hardly wait till time to go, as all the young +people of the valley would be there to pull candy, talk, play games and +eat the goodies served to us. The accursed keg of Holland rum had been +brought in that morning and my chum John Sims had been drinking too +much. About that time our Boss came up and said, 'John, it is time for +you to get the supper ready!' John was our cook and our meals were +served on the caboose where we lived wherever we were side tracked." + +"All the time Johny was preparing the food he was drinking the rum. When +we went in he had many drinks inside of him and a quart bottle filled to +take to the candy pull. 'Hurry up boys and let's finish up and go' he +said impatiently. 'Don't take him' said the other boy, 'Dont you see he +is drunk?' So I put my arms about his shoulders and tried to tell him he +had better sleep a while before we started. The poor boy was a breed. +His mother was almost white and his father was a thoroughbred Indian and +the son had a most aggravating temper. He made me no answer but running +his hand into his pocket, he drew out his knife and with one thrust, cut +a deep gash in my neck. A terrible fight followed. I remember being +knocked over and my head stricking something. I reached out my hand and +discovered it was the ax. With this awful weapon I struck my friend, my +more than brother. The thud of the ax brought me to my senses as our +blood mingled. We were both almost mortally wounded. The boss came in +and tried to do something for our relief but John said, 'Oh, George? +what an awful thing we have done? We have never said a cross word to +each other and now, look at us both.'" + +"I watched poor John walk away, darkness was falling but early in the +morning my boss and I followed a trail of blood down by the side of the +tracks. From there he had turned into the woods. We could follow him no +further. We went to all the nearby towns and villages but we found no +person who had ever seen him. We supposed he had died in the woods and +watched for the buzzards, thinking thay would lead us to his body but he +was never seen again." + +"For two years I never sat down to look inside a book nor to eat my food +that John Sims was not beside me. He haunted my pillow and went beside +me night and day. His blood was on my hands, his presence haunted me +beyond endurance. What could I do? How could I escape this awful +presence? An old friend told me to put water between myself and the +place where the awful scene occurred. So, I quit working on the railroad +and started working on the river. People believed at that time that the +ghost of a person you had wronged would not cross water to haunt you." + +Life on the river was diverting. Things were constantly happening and +George Arnold put aside some of his unhappiness by engaging in river +activities. + +"My first job on the river was as a roust-about on the Bolliver H Cook a +stern wheel packet which carried freight and passengers from Nashville, +Tennessee to Evansville, Indiana. I worked a round trip on her and then +went from Nashville to Cairo, Illinois on the B.S. Rhea. I soon decided +to go to Cairo and take a place on the Eldarado, a St. Louis and +Cincinnati packet which crused from Cairo to Cincinnati. On that boat I +worked as a roust-about for nearly three years." + +"What did the roust-about have to do?" asked a neighbor lad who had come +into the room. "The roust-about is no better than the mate that rules +him. If the mate is kindly disposed the roust-about has an easy enough +life. The negroes had only a few years of freedom and resented cruelty. +If the mate became too mean, a regular fight would follow and perhaps +several roust-abouts would be hurt before it was finished." + +Uncle George said that food was always plentiful on the boats. +Passengers and freight were crowded together on the decks. At night +there would be singing and dancing and fiddle music. "We roust-abouts +would get together and shoot craps, dance or play cards until the call +came to shuffle freight, then we would all get busy and the mate's voice +giving orders could be heard for a long distance." + +"In spite of these few pleasures, the life of a roust-about is the life +of a dog. I do not recall any unkindnesses of slavery days. I was too +young to realize what it was all about, but it could never have equalled +the cruelty shown the laborer on the river boats by cruel mates and +overseers." + +Another superstition advanced itself in the story of a boat, told by +Uncle George Arnold. The story follows: "When I was a roust-about on the +Gold Dust we were sailing out from New Orleans and as soon as we got +well out on the broad stream the rats commenced jumping over board. 'See +these rats' said an old river man, 'This boat will never make a return +trip!'" + +"At every port some of our crew left the boat but the mate and the +captain said they were all fools and begged us to stay. So a few of us +stayed to do the necessary work but the rats kept leaving as fast as +they could." + +"When the boat was nearing Hickman, Kentucky, we smelled fire, and by +the time we were in the harbor passengers were being held to keep them +from jumping overboard. Then the Captain told us boys to jump into the +water and save ourselves. Two of us launched a bale of cotton overboard +and jumped onto it. As we paddled away we had to often go under to put +out the fires as our clothing would blaze up under the flying brands +that fell upon our bodies." + +"The burning boat was docked at Hickman. The passengers were put ashore +but none of the freight was saved, and from a nearby willow thicket my +matey and I watched the Gold Dust burn to the water's edge." + +"Always heed the warnings of nature," said Uncle George, "If you see +rats leaving a ship or a house prepare for a fire." + +George W. Arnold said that Evansville was quite a nice place and a +steamboat port even in the early days of his boating experiences and he +decided to make his home here. He located in the town in 1880. "The +Court House was located at Third and Main streets. Street cars were mule +drawn and people thought it great fun to ride them." He recalls the +first shovel full of dirt being lifted when the new Courthouse was being +erected, and when it was finished two white men finishing the slate +roof, fell to their death in the Court House yard. + +George W. Arnold procured a job as porter in a wholesale feed store on +May 10, 1880. John Hubbard and Company did business at the place, at +this place he worked thirty seven years. F.W. Griese, former mayor of +Evansville has often befriended the negro man and is ready to speak a +kindly word in his praise. But the face of John Sims still presents +itself when George Arnold is alone. "Never do anything to hurt any other +person," says he, "The hurt always comes back to you." + +George Arnold was married to an Evansville Woman, but two years ago he +became a widower when death claimed his mate. He is now lonely, but were +it not for a keg of Holland gin his old age would be spent in peace and +happiness. "Beware of strong drink," said Uncle George, "It causes +trouble." + + + + +Emery Turner +District #5 +Lawrence County +Bedford, Indiana + +REMINISCENCES OF TWO EX-SLAVES +THOMAS ASH, Mitchell, Ind. +MRS. MARY CRANE, Warren St., Mitchell, Ind. + + +[Thomas Ash] + +I have no way of knowing exactly how old I am, as the old Bible +containing a record of my birth was destroyed by fire, many years ago, +but I believe I am about eighty-one years old. If so, I must have been +born sometime during the year, 1856, four years before the outbreak of +the War Between The States. My mother was a slave on the plantation, or +farm of Charles Ash, in Anderson county, Kentucky, and it was there that +I grew up. + +I remember playing with Ol' Massa's (as he was called) boys, Charley, +Jim and Bill. I also have an unpleasant memory of having seen other +slaves on the place, tied up to the whipping post and flogged for +disobeying some order although I have no recollection of ever having +been whipped myself as I was only a boy. I can also remember how the +grown-up negroes on the place left to join the Union Army as soon as +they learned of Lincoln's proclamation making them free men. + + +Ed. Note--Mr. Ash was sick when interviewed and was not able to do much +talking. He had no picture of himself but agreed to pose for one later +on. [TR: no photograph found.] + + +[Mrs. Mary Crane] + +[Illustration: Mrs. Mary Crane] + +I was born on the farm of Wattie Williams, in 1855 and am eighty-two +years old. I came to Mitchell, Indiana, about fifty years ago with my +husband, who is now dead and four children and have lived here ever +since. I was only a girl, about five or six years old when the Civil War +broke out but I can remember very well, happenings of that time. + +My mother was owned by Wattie Williams, who had a large farm, located in +Larue county, Kentucky. My father was a slave on the farm of a Mr. +Duret, nearby. + +In those days, slave owners, whenever one of their daughters would get +married, would give her and her husband a slave as a wedding present, +usually allowing the girl to pick the one she wished to accompany her to +her new home. When Mr. Duret's eldest daughter married Zeke Samples, she +choose my father to accompany them to their home. + +Zeke Samples proved to be a man who loved his toddies far better than +his bride and before long he was "broke". Everything he had or owned, +including my father, was to be sold at auction to pay off his debts. + +In those days, there were men who made a business of buying up negroes +at auction sales and shipping them down to New Orleans to be sold to +owners of cotton and sugar cane plantations, just as men today, buy and +ship cattle. These men were called "Nigger-traders" and they would ship +whole boat loads at a time, buying them up, two or three here, two or +three there, and holding them in a jail until they had a boat load. This +practice gave rise to the expression, "sold down the river." + +My father was to be sold at auction, along with all of the rest of Zeke +Samples' property. Bob Cowherd, a neighbor of Matt Duret's owned my +grandfather, and the old man, my grandfather, begged Col. Bob to buy my +father from Zeke Samples to keep him from being "sold down the river." +Col. Bob offered what he thought was a fair price for my father and a +"nigger-trader" raised his bid "25 [TR: $25?]. Col. said he couldn't +afford to pay that much and father was about to be sold to the +"nigger-trader" when his father told Col. Bob that he had $25 saved +up and that if he would buy my father from Samples and keep the +"nigger-trader" from getting him he would give him the money. Col. Bob +Cowherd took my grandfather's $25 and offered to meet the traders offer +and so my father was sold to him. + +The negroes in and around where I was raised were not treated badly, as +a rule, by their masters. There was one slave owner, a Mr. Heady, who +lived nearby, who treated his slave worse than any of the other owners +but I never heard of anything so awfully bad, happening to his +"niggers". He had one boy who used to come over to our place and I can +remember hearing Massa Williams call to my grandmother, to cook +"Christine, give Heady's Doc something to eat. He looks hungry." Massa +Williams always said "Heady's Doc" when speaking of him or any other +slave, saying to call him, for instance, Doc Heady would sound as if he +were Mr. Heady's own son and he said that wouldn't sound right. + +When President Lincoln issued his proclamation, freeing the negroes, I +remember that my father and most all of the other younger slave men left +the farms to join the Union army. We had hard times then for awhile and +had lots of work to do. I don't remember just when I first regarded +myself as "free" as many of the negroes didn't understand just what it +was all about. + + +Ed. Note: Mrs. Crane will also pose for a picture. + + + + +Submitted by: +William Webb Tuttle +District No. 2 +Muncie, Indiana + +SLAVES IN DELAWARE COUNTY +ROSA BARBER +812 South Jefferson +Muncie, Indiana + + +Rosa Barber was born in slavery on the Fox Ellison plantation at North +Carden[TR:?], in North Carolina, in the year 1861. She was four [HW: ?] +years old when freed, but had not reached the age to be of value as a +slave. Her memory is confined to that short childhood there and her +experiences of those days and immediately after the Civil War must be +taken from stories related to her by her parents in after years, and +these are dimly retained. + +Her maiden name was Rosa Fox Ellison, taken as was the custom, from the +slave-holder who held her as a chattel. Her parents took her away from +the plantation when they were freed and lived in different localities, +supported by the father who was now paid American wages. Her parents +died while she was quite young and she married Fox Ellison, an ex-slave +of the Fox Ellison plantation. His name was taken from the same master +as was hers. She and her husband lived together forty-three years, until +his death. Nine children were born to them of which only one survives. +After this ex-slave husband died Rosa Ellison married a second time, but +this second husband died some years ago and she now remains a widow at +the age of seventy-six years. She recalls that the master of the Fox +Ellison plantation was spoken of as practicing no extreme discipline on +his slaves. Slaves, as a prevailing business policy of the holder, were +not allowed to look into a book, or any printed matter, and Rosa had no +pictures or printed charts given her. She had to play with her rag +dolls, or a ball of yarn, if there happened to be enough of old string +to make one. Any toy or plaything was allowed that did not point toward +book-knowledge. Nursery rhymes and folk-lore stories were censured +severely and had to be confined to events that conveyed no uplift, +culture or propaganda, or that conveyed no knowledge, directly or +indirectly. Especially did they bar the mental polishing of the three +R's. They could not prevent the vocalizing of music in the fields and +the slaves found consolation there in pouring out their souls in unison +with the songs of the birds. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. MITTIE BLAKELEY--EX-SLAVE +2055 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Blakeley was born, in Oxford, Missouri, in 1858. + +Her mother died when Mittie was a baby, and she was taken into the "big +house" and brought up with the white children. She was always treated +very kindly. + +Her duties were the light chores, which had to be well done, or she was +chided, the same as the white children would have been. + +Every evening the children had to collect the eggs. The child, who +brought in the most eggs, would get a ginger cake. Mittie most always +got the cake. + +Her older brothers and sisters were treated very rough, whipped often +and hard. She said she hated to think, much less talk about their awful +treatment. + +When she was old enough, she would have to spin the wool for her +mistress, who wove the cloth to make the family clothes. + +She also learned to knit, and after supper would knit until bedtime. + +She remembers once an old woman slave had displeased her master about +something. He had a pit dug, and boards placed over the hole. The woman +was made to lie on the boards, face down, and she was beaten until the +blood gushed from her body; she was left there and bled to death. + +She also remembers how the slaves would go to some cabin at night for +their dances; if one went without a pass, which often they did, they +would be beaten severely. + +The slaves could hear the overseers, riding toward the cabin. Those, who +had come without a pass, would take the boards up from the floor, get +under the cabin floor, and stay there until the overseers had gone. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Blakeley is very serious and said she felt so sorry for those, who +were treated so such worse than any human would treat a beast. + +She lives in a very comfortable clean house, and said she was doing +"very well." + +Submitted January 24, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Submitted by: +Robert C. Irvin +District No. 2 +Noblesville, Ind. + +SLAVES IN MADISON COUNTY +CARL BOONE +Anderson, Indiana + + +This is a story of slavery, told by Carl Boone about his father, his +mother and himself. Carl is the last of eighteen children born to Mrs. +Stephen Boone, in Marion County, Kentucky, Sept. 15, 1850. He now +resides with his children at 801 West 13th Street, Anderson, Madison +County, Indiana. At the ripe old age of eighty-seven, he still has a +keen memory and is able to do a hard day's work. + +Carl Boone was born a free man, fifteen years before the close of the +Civil War, his father having gained his freedom from slavery in 1829. He +is a religious man, having missed church service only twice in twenty +years. He was treated well during the time of slavery in the southland, +but remembers well, the wrongs done to slaves on neighboring +plantations, and in this story he relates some of the horrors which +happened at that time. + +Like his father, he is also the father of eighteen children, sixteen of +whom are still living. He is grandfather of thirty-seven and great +grandfather of one child. His father was born in the slave state of +Maryland, in 1800, and died in 1897. His mother was born in Marion +County, Kentucky, in 1802, and died in 1917, at the age of one hundred +and fifteen years. + +This story, word by word, is related by Carl Boone as follows: "My name +is Carl Boone, son of Stephen and Rachel Boone, born in Marion County, +Kentucky, in 1850. I am father of eighteen children sixteen are still +living and I am grandfather of thirty-seven and great grandfather of one +child. I came with my wife, now deceased, to Indiana, in 1891, and now +reside at 801 West 13th street in Anderson, Indiana. I was born a free +man, fifteen years before the close of the Civil War. All the colored +folk on plantations and farms around our plantation were slaves and most +of them were terribly mistreated by their masters. + +After coming to Indiana, I farmed for a few years, then moved to +Anderson. I became connected with the Colored Catholic Church and have +tried to live a Christian life. I have only missed church service twice +in twenty years. I lost my dear wife thirteen years ago and I now live +with my son. + +My father, Stephen Boone, was born in Maryland, in 1800. He was bought +by a nigger buyer while a boy and was sold to Miley Boone in Marion +County, Kentucky. Father was what they used to call "a picked slave," +was a good worker and was never mistreated by his master. He married my +mother in 1825, and they had eighteen children. Master Miley Boone gave +father and mother their freedom in 1829, and gave them forty acres of +land to tend as their own. He paid father for all the work he did for +him after that, and was always very kind to them. + +My mother was born in slavery, in Marion County, Kentucky, in 1802. She +was treated very mean until she married my father in 1825. With him she +gained her freedom in 1829. I was the last born of her eighteen +children. She was a good woman and joined church after coming to Indiana +and died in 1917, living to be one hundred and fifteen years old. + +I have heard my mother tell of a girl slave who worked in the kitchen of +my mother's master. The girl was told to cook twelve eggs for breakfast. +When the eggs were served, it was discovered there were eleven eggs on +the table and after being questioned, she admitted that she had eaten +one. For this, she was beaten mercilessly, which was a common sight on +that plantation. + +The most terrible treatment of any slave, is told by my father in a +story of a slave on a neighboring plantation, owned by Daniel Thompson. +"After committing a small wrong, Master Thompson became angry, tied his +slave to a whipping post and beat him terribly. Mrs. Thompson begged him +to quit whipping, saying, 'you might kill him,' and the master replied +that he aimed to kill him. He then tied the slave behind a horse and +dragged him over a fifty acre field until the slave was dead. As a +punishment for this terrible deed, master Thompson was compelled to +witness the execution of his own son, one year later. The story is as +follows: + +A neighbor to Mr. Thompson, a slave owner by name of Kay Van Cleve, had +been having some trouble with one of his young male slaves, and had +promised the slave a whipping. The slave was a powerful man and Mr. Van +Cleve was afraid to undertake the job of whipping him alone. He called +for help from his neighbors, Daniel Thompson and his son Donald. The +slave, while the Thompsons were coming, concealed himself in a +horse-stall in the barn and hid a large knife in the manger. + +After the arrival of the Thompsons, they and Mr. Van Cleve entered the +stall in the barn. Together, the three white men made a grab for the +slave, when the slave suddenly made a lunge at the elder Mr. Thompson +with the knife, but missed him and stabbed Donald Thompson. + +The slave was overpowered and tied, but too late, young Donald was dead. + +The slave was tried for murder and sentenced to be hanged. At the time +of the hanging, the first and second ropes used broke when the trap was +sprung. For a while the executioner considered freeing the slave because +of his second failure to hang him, but the law said, "He shall hang by +the neck until dead," and the third attempt was successful." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. JULIA BOWMAN--EX-SLAVE +1210 North West Street, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Bowman was born in Woodford County, Kentucky in 1859. + +Her master, Joel W. Twyman was kind and generous to all of his slaves, +and he had many of them. + +The Twyman slaves were always spoken of, as the Twyman "Kinfolks." + +All slaves worked hard on the large farm, as every kind of vegetation +was raised. They were given some of everything that grew on the farm, +therefore there was no stealing to get food. + +The master had his own slaves, and the mistress had her own slaves, and +all were treated very kindly. + +Mrs. Bowman was taken into the Twyman "big house," at the age of six, to +help the mistress in any way she could. She stayed in the house until +slavery was abolished. + +After freedom, the old master was taken very sick and some of the former +slaves were sent for, as he wanted some of his "Kinfolks" around him +when he died. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Bowman was given the Twyman family bible where her birth is +recorded with the rest of the Twyman family. She shows it with pride. + +Mrs. Bowman said she never knew want in slave times, as she has known it +in these times of depression. + +Submitted January 10, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Wm. R. Mays +Dist 4 +Johnson Co. + +ANGIE BOYCE +BORN IN SLAVERY, Mar. 14, 1861 on the +Breeding Plantation, Adair Co. Ky. + + +Mrs. Angie Boyce here makes mention of facts as outlined to her by her +mother, Mrs. Margaret King, deceased. + +Mrs. Angie Boyce was born in slavery, Mar. 14, 1861, on the Breeding +Plantation, Adair County, Kentucky. Her parents were Henry and Margaret +King who belonged to James Breeding, a Methodist minister who was kind +to all his slaves and no remembrance of his having ever struck one of +them. + +It is said that the slaves were in constant dread of the Rebel soldiers +and when they would hear of their coming they would hide the baby +"Angie" and cover her over with leaves. + +The mother of Angie was married twice; the name of her first husband was +Stines and that of her second husband was Henry King. It was Henry King +who bought his and his wife's freedom. He sent his wife and baby Angie +to Indiana, but upon their arrival they were arrested and returned to +Kentucky. They were placed in the Louisville jail and lodged in the same +cell with large Brutal and drunken Irish woman. The jail was so infested +with bugs and fleas that the baby Angie cryed all night. The white woman +crazed with drink became enraged at the cries of the child and +threatened to "bash its brains out against the wall if it did not stop +crying". The mother, Mrs. King was forced to stay awake all night to +keep the white woman from carrying out her threat. + +The next morning the Negro mother was tried in court and when she +produced her free papers she was asked why she did not show these papers +to the arresting officers. She replied that she was afraid that they +would steal them from her. She was exonerated from all charges and sent +back to Indiana with her baby. + +Mrs. Angie Boyce now resides at 498 W. Madison St., Franklin, Ind. + + + + +Special Assignment +Walter R. Harris +District #3 +Clay County + +LIFE STORY OF EX-SLAVE +MRS. EDNA BOYSAW + + +Mrs. Boysaw has been a citizen of this community about sixty-five years. +She resides on a small farm, two miles east of Brazil on what is known +as the Pinkley Street Road. This has been her home for the past forty +years. Her youngest son and the son of one of her daughters lives with +her. She is still very active, doing her housework and other chores +about the farm. She is very intelligent and according to statements made +by other citizens has always been a respected citizen in the community, +as also has her entire family. She is the mother of twelve children. +Mrs. Boysaw has always been an active church worker, spending much time +in missionary work for the colored people. Her work was so outstanding +that she has been often called upon to speak, not only in the colored +churches, but also in white churches, where she was always well +received. Many of the most prominent people of the community number Mrs. +Boysaw as one of their friends and her home is visited almost daily by +citizens in all walks of life. Her many acts of kindness towards her +neighbors and friends have endeared her to the people of Brazil, and +because of her long residence in the community, she is looked upon as +one of the pioneers. + +Mrs. Boysaw's husband has been dead for thirty-five years. Her children +are located in various cities throughout the country. She has a daughter +who is a talented singer, and has appeared on programs with her daughter +in many churches. She is not certain about her age, but according to her +memory of events, she is about eighty-seven. + +Her story as told to the writer follows: + +"When the Civil War ended, I was living near Richmond, Virginia. I am +not sure just how old I was, but I was a big, flat-footed woman, and had +worked as a slave on a plantation. My master was a good one, but many of +them were not. In a way, we were happy and contented, working from sun +up to sun down. But when Lincoln freed us, we rejoiced, yet we knew we +had to seek employment now and make our own way. Wages were low. You +worked from morning until night for a dollar, but we did not complain. +About 1870 a Mr. Masten, who was a coal operator, came to Richmond +seeking laborers for his mines in Clay County. He told us that men could +make four to five dollars a day working in the mines, going to work at +seven and quitting at 3:30 each day. That sounded like a Paradise to our +men folks. Big money and you could get rich in little time. But he did +not tell all, because he wanted the men folk to come with him to +Indiana. Three or four hundred came with Mr. Masten. They were brought +in box cars. Mr. Masten paid their transportation, but was to keep it +out of their wages. My husband was in that bunch, and the women folk +stayed behind until their men could earn enough for their transportation +to Indiana." + +"When they arrived about four miles east of Brazil, or what was known as +Harmony, the train was stopped and a crowd of white miners ordered them +not to come any nearer Brazil. Then the trouble began. Our men did not +know of the labor trouble, as they were not told of that part. Here they +were fifteen hundred miles from home, no money. It was terrible. Many +walked back to Virginia. Some went on foot to Illinois. Mr. Masten took +some of them South of Brazil about three miles, where he had a number of +company houses, and they tried to work in his mine there. But many were +shot at from the bushes and killed. Guards were placed about the mine by +the owner, but still there was trouble all the time. The men did not +make what Mr. Masten told them they could make, yet they had to stay for +they had no place to go. After about six months, my husband who had been +working in that mine, fell into the shaft and was injured. He was unable +to work for over a year. I came with my two children to take care of +him. We had only a little furniture, slept in what was called box beds. +I walked to Brazil each morning and worked at whatever I could get to +do. Often did three washings a day and then walked home each evening, a +distance of two miles, and got a dollar a day. + +"Many of the white folks I worked for were well to do and often I would +ask the Mistress for small amounts of food which they would throw out if +left over from a meal. They did not know what a hard time we were +having, but they told me to take home any of such food that I cared to. +I was sure glad to get it, for it helped to feed our family. Often the +white folks would give me other articles which I appreciated. I managed +in this way to get the children enough to eat and later when my husband +was able to work, we got along very well, and were thankful. After the +strike was settled, things were better. My husband was not afraid to go +out after dark. But the coal operators did not treat the colored folks +very good. We had to trade at the Company store and often pay a big +price for it. But I worked hard and am still alive today, while all the +others are gone, who lived around here about that time. There has sure +been a change in the country. The country was almost a wilderness, and +where my home is today, there were very few roads, just what we called a +pig path through the woods. We used lots of corn meal, cooked beans and +raised all the food we could during them days. But we had many white +friends and sure was thankful for them. Here I am, and still thankful +for the many friends I have." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. CALLIE BRACEY--DAUGHTER [of Louise Terrell] +414 Blake Street + + +Mrs. Callie Bracey's mother, Louise Terrell, was bought, when a child, +by Andy Ramblet, a farmer, near Jackson, Miss. She had to work very hard +in the fields from early morning until as late in the evening, as they +could possibly see. + +No matter how hard she had worked all day after coming in from the +field, she would have to cook for the next day, packing the lunch +buckets for the field hands. It made no difference how tired she was, +when the horn was blown at 4 a.m., she had to go into the field for +another day of hard work. + +The women had to split rails all day long, just like the men. Once she +got so cold, her feet seemed to be frozen; when they warmed a little, +they had swollen so, she could not wear her shoes. She had to wrap her +foot in burlap, so she would be able to go into the field the next day. + +The Ramblets were known for their good butter. They always had more than +they could use. The master wanted the slaves to have some, but the +mistress wanted to sell it, she did not believe in giving good butter to +slaves and always let it get strong before she would let them have any. + +No slaves from neighboring farms were allowed on the Ramblet farm, they +would get whipped off as Mr. Ramblet did not want anyone to put ideas in +his slave's heads. + +On special occasions, the older slaves were allowed to go to the church +of their master, they had to sit in the back of the church, and take no +part in the service. + +Louise was given two dresses a year; her old dress from last year, she +wore as an underskirt. She never had a hat, always wore a rag tied over +her head. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Bracey is a widow and has a grandchild living with her. She feels +she is doing very well, her parents had so little, and she does own her +own home. + +Submitted December 10, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +A SLAVE, AMBASSADOR AND CITY DOCTOR +[DR. GEORGE WASHINGTON BUCKNER] + + +This paper was prepared after several interviews had been obtained with +the subject of this sketch. + +Dr. George Washingtin [TR: Washington] Buckner, tall, lean, whitehaired, +genial and alert, answered the call of his door bell. Although anxious +to oblige the writer and willing to grant an interview, the life of a +city doctor is filled with anxious solicitation for others and he is +always expecting a summons to the bedside of a patient or a professional +interview has been slated. + +Dr. Buckner is no exception and our interviews were often disturbed by +the jingle of the door bell or a telephone call. + +Dr. Buckner's conversation lead in ever widening circles, away from the +topic under discussion when the events of his own life were discussed, +but he is a fluent speaker and a student of psychology. Psychology as +that philosophy relates to the mental and bodily tendencies of the +African race has long since become one of the major subjects with which +this unusual man struggles. "Why is the negro?" is one of his deepest +concerns. + +Dr. Buckner's first recollections center within a slave cabin in +Kentucky. The cabin was the home of his step-father, his invalid mother +and several children. The cabin was of the crudest construction, its +only windows being merely holes in the cabin wall with crude bark +shutters arranged to keep out snow and rain. The furnishings of this +home consisted of a wood bedstead upon which a rough straw bed and +patchwork quilts provided meager comforts for the invalid mother. A +straw bed that could be pushed under the bed-stead through the day was +pulled into the middle of the cabin at night and the wearied children +were put to bed by the impatient step-father. + +The parents were slaves and served a master not wealthy enough to +provide adaquately for their comforts. The mother had become invalidate +through the task of bearing children each year and being deprived of +medical and surgical attention. + +The master, Mr. Buckner, along with several of his relatives had +purchased a large tract of land in Green County, Kentucky and by a +custom or tradition as Dr. Buckner remembers; land owners that owned no +slaves were considered "Po' White Trash" and were scarcely recognized as +citizens within the state of Kentucky. + +Another tradition prevailed, that slave children should be presented to +the master's young sons and daughters and become their special property +even in childhood. Adherring to that tradition the child, George +Washington Buckner became the slave of young "Mars" Dickie Buckner, and +although the two children were nearly the same age the little mulatto +boy was obedient to the wishes of the little master. Indeed, the slave +child cared for the Caucasian boy's clothing, polished his boots, put +away his toys and was his playmate and companion as well as his slave. + +Sickness and suffering and even death visits alike the just and the +unjust, and the loving sympathetic slave boy witnessed the suffering and +death of his little white friend. Then grief took possession of the +little slave, he could not bear the sight of little Dick's toys nor +books not [TR: nor?] clothing. He recalls one harrowing experience after +the death of little Dick Buckner. George's grandmother was a housekeeper +and kitchen maid for the white family. She was in the kitchen one late +afternoon preparing the evening meal. The master had taken his family +for a visit in the neighborhood and the mulatto child sat on the veranda +and recalled pleasanter days. A sudden desire seized him to look into +the bed room where little Mars Dickie had lain in the bed. The evening +shadows had fallen, exagerated by the influence of trees, and vines, and +when he placed his pale face near the window pane he thought it was the +face of little Dickie looking out at him. His nerves gave away and he +ran around the house screaming to his grandmother that he had seen +Dickie's ghost. The old colored woman was sympathetic, dried his tears, +then with tears coursing down her own cheeks she went about her duties. +George firmly believed he had seen a ghost and never really convinced +himself against the idea until he had reached the years of manhood. He +remembers how the story reached the ears of the other slaves and they +were terrorized at the suggestion of a ghost being in the master's home. +"That is the way superstitions always started" said the Doctor, "Some +nervous persons received a wrong impression and there were always others +ready to embrace the error." + +Dr. Buckner remembers that when a young daughter of his master married, +his sister was given to her for a bridal gift and went away from her own +mother to live in the young mistress' new home. "It always filled us +with sorrow when we were separated either by circumstances of marriage +or death. Although we were not properly housed, properly nourished nor +properly clothed we loved each other and loved our cabin homes and were +unhappy when compelled to part." + +"There are many beautiful spots near the Green River and our home was +situated near Greensburgh, the county seat of Dreen [TR: Green?] +County." The area occupied by Mr. Buckner and his relatives is located +near the river and the meanderings of the stream almost formed a +peninsula covered with rich soil. Buckner's hill relieved the landscape +and clear springs bubled through crevices affording much water for +household use and near those springs white and negro children met to +enjoy themselves. + +"Forty years after I left Greensburg I went back to visit the springs +and try to meet my old friends. The friends had passed away, only a few +merchants and salespeople remembered my ancestors." + +A story told by Dr. Buckner relates an evening at the beginning of the +Civil War. "I had heard my parents talk of the war but it did not seem +real to me until one night when mother came to the pallet where we slept +and called to us to 'Get up and tell our uncles good-bye.' Then four +startled little children arose. Mother was standing in the room with a +candle or a sort of torch made from grease drippings and old pieces of +cloth, (these rude candles were in common use and afforded but poor +light) and there stood her four brothers, Jacob, John, Bill, and Isaac +all with the light of adventure shining upon their mulatto countenances. +They were starting away to fight for their liberties and we were greatly +impressed." + +Dr. Buckner stated that officials thought Jacob entirely too aged to +enter the service as he had a few scattered white hairs but he remembers +he was brawny and unafraid. Isaac was too young but the other two uncles +were accepted. One never returned because he was killed in battle but +one fought throughout the war and was never wounded. He remembers how +the white men were indignant because the negroes were allowed to enlist +and how Mars Stanton Buckner was forced to hide out in the woods for +many months because he had met slave Frank Buckner and had tried to kill +him. Frank returned to Greensburg, forgave his master and procurred a +paper stating that he was at fault, after which Stanton returned to +active service. "Yes, the road has been long. Memory brings back those +days and the love of my mother is still real to me, God bless her!" + +Relating to the value of an education Dr. Buckner hopes every Caucassian +and Afro-American youth and maiden will strive to attain great heights. +His first efforts to procure knowledge consisted of reciting A.B.S.s +[TR: A.B.C.s?] from the McGuffy's [HW: ?] Blue backed speller with his +unlettered sister for a teacher. In later years he attended a school +conducted by the Freemen's Association. He bought a grammar from a white +school boy and studied it at home. When sixteen years of age he was +employed to teach negro children and grieves to recall how limited his +ability was bound to have been. "When a father considers sending his son +or daughter to school, today, he orders catalogues, consults his friends +and considers the location and surroundings and the advice of those who +have patronized the different schools. He finally decides upon the +school that promises the boy or girl the most attractive and comfortable +surroundings. When I taught the African children I boarded with an old +man whose cabin was filled with his own family. I climbed a ladder +leading from the cabin into a dark uncomfortable loft where a comfort +and a straw bed were my only conveniences." + +Leaving Greensburg the young mulatto made his way to Indianapolis where +he became acquainted with the first educated Negro he had ever met. The +Negro was Robert Bruce Bagby, then principal of the only school for +Negroes in Indianapolis. "The same old building is standing there today +that housed Bagby's institution then," he declares. + +Dr. Buckner recalls that when he left Bagby's school he was so low +financially he had to procure a position in a private residence as house +boy. This position was followed by many jobs of serving tables at hotels +and eating houses, of any and all kinds. While engaged in that work he +met Colonel Albert Johnson and his lovely wife, both natives of Arkansas +and he remembers their congratulations when they learned that he was +striving for an education. They advised his entering an educational +institution at Terre Haute. His desire had been to enter that +institution of Normal Training but felt doubtful of succeeding in the +advanced courses taught because his advantages had been so limited, but +Mrs. Johnson told him that "God gives his talents to the different +species and he would love and protect the negro boy." + +After studying several years at the Terre Haute State Normal George W. +Buckner felt assured that he was reasonably prepared to teach the negro +youths and accepted the professorship of schools at Vincennes, +Washington and other Indiana Villages. "I was interested in the young +people and anxious for their advancement but the suffering endured by my +invalid mother, who had passed into the great beyond, and the memory of +little Master Dickie's lingering illness and untimely death would not +desert my consciousness. I determined to take up the study of medical +practice and surgery which I did." + +Dr. Buckner graduated from the Indiana Electic Medical College in 1890. +His services were needed at Indianapolis so he practiced medicine in +that city for a year, then located at Evansville where he has enjoyed an +ever increasing popularity on account of his sympathetic attitude among +his people. + +"When I came to Evansville," says Dr. Buckner, "there were seventy white +physicians practicing in the area, they are now among the departed. +Their task was streneous, roads were almost impossible to travel and +those brave men soon sacrificed their lives for the good of suffering +humanity." Dr. Buckner described several of the old doctors as "Striding +[TR: illegible handwritten word above 'striding'] a horse and setting +out through all kinds of weather." + +Dr. Buckner is a veritable encyclopedia of negro lore. He stops at many +points during an interview to relate stories he has gleaned here and +there. He has forgotten where he first heard this one or that one but it +helps to illustrate a point. One he heard near the end of the war +follows, and although it has recently been retold it holds the interest +of the listener. "Andrew Jackson owned an old negro slave, who stayed +on at the old home when his beloved master went into politics, became an +American soldier and statesman and finally the 7th president of the +United States. The good slave still remained through the several years +of the quiet uneventful last years of his master and witnessed his +death, which occurred at his home near Nashville, Tennessee. After the +master had been placed under the sod, Uncle Sammy was seen each day +visiting Jackson's grave. + +"Do you think President Jackson is in heaven?" an acquaintance asked +Uncle Sammy. + +"If-n he wanted to go dar, he dar now," said the old man. "If-n Mars +Andy wanted to do any thing all Hell couldn't keep him from doin' it." + +Dr. Buckner believes each Negro is confident that he will take himself +with all his peculiarities to the land of promise. Each physical feature +and habitual idiosyncrasy will abide in his redeemed personality. Old +Joe will be there in person with the wrinkle crossing the bridge of his +nose and little stephen will wear his wool pulled back from his eyes and +each will recognize his fellow man. "What fools we all are," declared +Dr. Buckner. + +Asked his views concerning the different books embraced in the Holy +Bible, Dr. Buckner, who is a student of the Bible said, "I believe +almost every story in the Bible is an allegory, composed to illustrate +some fundemental truth that could otherwise never have been clearly +presented only through the medium of an allegory." + +"The most treacherous impulse of the human nature and the one to be most +dreaded is jealousy." With these words the aged Negro doctor launched +into the expression of his political views. "I'm a Democrat." He then +explained how he voted for the man but had confidence that his chosen +party possesses ability in choosing proper candidates. He is an ardent +follower of Franklin D. Roosevelt and speaks of Woodrow Wilson with +bated breath. + +Through the influence of John W. Boehne, Sr., and the friendly advice of +other influential citizens of Evansville Dr. Buckner was appointed +minister to Liberia, on Woodrow Wilson's cabinet, in the year 1913. Dr. +Buckner appreciated the confidence of his friends in appointing him and +cherishes the experineces gained while abroad. He noted the expressions +of gratitude toward cabinet members by the citizens of that African +coast. One Albino youth brought an offering of luscious mangoes and +desired to see the minister from the United States of America. Some +natives presented palm oils. "The natives have been made to understand +that the United States has given aid to Liberia in a financial way and +the customs-service of the republic is temporarily administered headed +by an American." "A thoroughly civilized Negro state does not exist in +Liberia nor do I believe in any part of West Africa. Superstition is the +interpretation of their religion, their political views are a hodgepodge +of unconnected ideas. Strength over rules knowledge and jealousy crowds +out almost all hope of sympathetic achievement and adjustment." Dr. +Buckner recounted incidents where jealousy was apparent in the behavior +of men and women of higher civilizations than the African natives. While +voyaging to Spain on board a Spanish vessel, he witnessed a very +refined, polite Jewish woman being reduced to tears by the taunts of a +Spanish officer, on account of her nationality. "Jealousy," he said, +"protrudes itself into politics, religion and prevents educational +achievement." + +During a political campaign I was compelled to pay a robust Negro man to +follow me about my professional visits and my social evenings with my +friends and family, to prevent meeting physical violence to myself or +family when political factions were virtually at war within the area of +Evansville. The influence of political captains had brought about the +dreadful condition and ignorant Negroes responded to their political +graft, without realizing who had befriended them in need." + +"The negro youths are especially subject to propoganda of the +four-flusher for their home influence is, to say the least, negative. +Their opportunities limited, their education neglected and they are +easily aroused by the meddling influence of the vote-getter and the +traitor. I would to God that their eyes might be opened to the light." + +Dr. Buckner's influence is mostly exhibited in the sick room, where his +presence is introduced in the effort to relieve pain. + +The gradual rise from slavery to prominence, the many trials encountered +along the road has ripened the always sympathetic nature of Dr. Buckner +into a responsive suffer among a suffering people. He has hope that +proper influences and sympathetic advice will mould the plastic +character of the Afro-American youths of the United States into proper +citizens and that their immortal souls inherit the promised reward of +the redeemed through grace. + +"Receivers of emancipation from slavery and enjoyers of emancipation +from sin through the sacrifice of Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ; Why +should not the negroes be exalted and happy?" are the words of Dr. +Buckner. + + +Note: G.W. Buckner was born December 1st, 1852. The negroes in Kentucky +expressed it, "In fox huntin' time" one brother was born in "Simmon +time", one in "Sweet tater time," and another in "Plantin' time." + +--Negro lore. + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +THE LIFE STORY OF GEORGE TAYLOR BURNS +[HW: Personal Interview] + + +Ox-carts and flat boats, and pioneer surroundings; crowds of men and +women crowding to the rails of river steamboats; gay ladies in holiday +attire and gentleman in tall hats, low cut vests and silk mufflers; for +the excursion boats carried the gentry of every area. + +A little negro boy clung to the ragged skirts of a slave mother, both +were engrossed in watching the great wheels that ploughed the +Mississippi river into foaming billows. Many boats stopped at Gregery's +Landing, Missouri to stow away wood, for many engines were fired with +wood in the early days. + +The Burns brothers operated a wood yard at the Landing and the work of +cutting, hewing and piling wood for the commerce was performed by slaves +of the Burns plantation. + +George Taylor Burns was five years of age and helped his mother all day +as she toiled in the wood yards. "The colder the weather, the more hard +work we had to do," declares Uncle George. + +George Taylor Burns, the child of Missouri slave parents, recalls the +scenes enacted at the Burns' wood yards so long ago. He is a resident of +Evansville, Indiana and his snow white hair and beard bear testimony +that his days have been already long upon the earth. + +Uncle George remembers the time when his infant hands reached in vain +for his mother, the kind and gentle Lucy Burns: Remembers a long cold +winter of snow and ice when boats were tied up to their moorings. Old +master died that winter and many slaves were sold by the heirs, among +them was Lucy Burns. Little George clung to his mother but strong hands +tore away his clasp. Then he watched her cross a distant hill, chained +to a long line of departing slaves. George never saw his parents again +and although the memory of his mother is vivid he scarcely remembers his +father's face. He said, "Father was black but my mother was a bright +mulatto." + +Nothing impressed the little boy with such unforgettable imagery as the +cold which descended upon Greogery's Landing one winter. Motherless, +hungry, desolate and unloved, he often cried himself to sleep at night +while each day he was compelled to carry wood. One morning he failed to +come when the horn was sounded to call the slaves to breakfast. "Old +Missus went to the Negro quarters to see what was wrong" and "She was +horrified when she found I was frozen to the bed." + +She carried the small bundle of suffering humanity to the kitchen of her +home and placed him near the big oven. When the warmth thawed the frozen +child the toes fell from his feet. "Old Missus told me I would never be +strong enough to do hard work, and she had the neighborhood shoemaker +fashion shoes too short for any body's feet but mine," said Uncle +George. + +Uncle George doesn't remember why he left Missouri but the sister of +Greene Taylor brought him to Troy, Indiana. Here she learned that she +could not own a slave within the State of Indiana so she indentured the +child to a flat boat captain to wash dishes and wait on the crew of +workers. + +George was so small of stature that the captain had a low table and +stool made that he might work in comfort. George's mistress received +$15,00 [TR: $15.00?] per month for the service of the boy for several +years. + +From working on the flat boats George became accustomed to the river and +soon received employment as a cabin boy on a steam boat and from that +time through out the most active days of his life George Taylor Burns +was a steam-boat man. In fact he declares, "I know steamboats from wood +box to stern wheel." + +"The life of a riverman is a good life and interesting things happen on +the river," says Uncle George. + +Uncle George has been imprisoned in the big jail at New Orleans. He has +seen his fellow slaves beaten into insensibility while chained to the +whipping post in Congo Square at New Orleans. + +He was badly treated while a slave but he has witnessed even more cruel +treatment administered to his fellow slaves. + +Among other exciting occurrences remembered by the old negro man when he +recalls early river adventures is one in which a flat boat sunk near New +Orleans. After clinging for many hours to the drifting wreckage he was +rescued, half dead from exhaustion. + +In memory, George Taylor Burns stands in the slave mart at New Orleans +and hears the Auctioneers' hammer, for he was sold like a beast of +burden by Greene Taylor, brother of his mistress. Greene Taylor, +however, had to refund the money and return the slave to his mistress +when his crippled feet were discovered. + +"Greene Taylor was like many other people I have known. He was always +ready to make life unhappy for a negro." + +Uncle George, although possessing an unusual amount of intelligence and +ability to learn, has a very limited education. "The Negroes were not +allowed an education," he relates. "It was dangerous for any person to +be caught teaching a Negro and several Negroes were put to death because +they could read." + +Uncle George recalls a few superstitions entertained by the rivermen. +"It was bad luck for a white cat to come aboard the boat." "Horse shoes +were carried for good luck." "If rats left the boat the crew was uneasy, +for fear of a wreck." Uncle George has very little faith in any +superstition but remembers some of the crews had. + +Among other boats on which this old river man was employed are "The +Atlantic" on which he was cabin boy. The "Big Gray Eagle" on which he +assisted in many ways. He worked where boats were being constructed +while he lived at New Albany. + +Many soldiers were returned to their homes by means of flat boats and +steam boats when the Civil War had ended and many recruits were sent by +water during the war. Just after peace was declared George met +Elizabeth Slye, a young slave girl who had just been set free. "Liza +would come to see her mother who was working on a boat." "People used to +come down to the landings to see boats come in," said Uncle George. +George and Liza were free, they married and made New Albany their home, +until 1881 when they came to Evansville. + +Uncle George said the Eclipse was a beautiful boat, he remembers the +lettering in gold and the bright lights and polished rails of the +longest steam boat ever built in the West. Measuring 365 feet in length +and Uncle George declares, "For speed she just up and hustled." + +"Louisville was one of the busiest towns in the Ohio Valley," says Uncle +George, but he remembers New Orleans as the market place where almost +all the surplus products were marketed. + +Uncle George has many friends along the water-front towns. He admires +the Felker family of Tell City, Indiana. He is proud of his own race and +rejoices in their opportunities. He remembers his fear of the Ku Klux, +his horror of the patrol and other clans united to make life dangerous +for newly emancipated Negroes. + +George Taylor Burns draws no old age pension. He owns a building located +at Canal and Evans Streets that houses a number of Negro families. He is +glad to say his credit is good in every market in the city. Although +lamed by rheumatic pains and hobbling on feet toeless from his young +childhood he has led a useful life. "Don't forget I knew Pilot Tom +Ballard, and Aaron Ballard on the Big Eagle in 1858," warns Uncle +George. "We Negroes carried passes so we could save our skins if we were +caught off the boats but we had plenty of good food on the boats." + +Uncle George said the roustabouts sang gay songs while loading boats +with heavy freight and provisions but on account of his crippled feet he +could not be a roustabout. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. BELLE BUTLER--DAUGHTER [of Chaney Mayer] +829 North Capitol Avenue + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Belle Butler, the daughter of Chaney Mayer, tells of the hardships her +mother endured during her days of slavery. + + +Interview + +Chaney was owned by Jesse Coffer, "a mean old devil." He would whip his +slaves for the slightest misdemeanor, and many times for nothing at +all--just enjoyed seeing them suffer. Many a time Jesse would whip a +slave, throw him down, and gouge his eyes out. Such a cruel act! + +Chaney's sister was also a slave on the Coffer plantation. One day their +master decided to whip them both. After whipping them very hard, he +started to throw them down, to go after their eyes. Chaney grabbed one +of his hands, her sister grabbed his other hand, each girl bit a finger +entirely off of each hand of their master. This, of course, hurt him so +very bad he had to stop their punishment and never attempted to whip +them again. He told them he would surely put them in his pocket (sell +them) if they ever dared to try *anthing like that again in life. + +Not so long after their fight, Chaney was given to a daughter of their +master, and her sister was given to another daughter and taken to +Passaic County, N.C. + +On the next farm to the Coffer farm, the overseers would tie the slaves +to the joists by their thumbs, whip them unmercifully, then salt their +backs to make them very sore. + +When a slave slowed down on his corn hoeing, no matter if he were sick, +or just very tired, he would get many lashes and a salted back. + +One woman left the plantation without a pass. The overseer caught her +and whipped her to death. + +No slave was ever allowed to look at a book, for fear he might learn to +read. One day the old mistress caught a slave boy with a book, she +cursed him and asked him what he meant, and what he thought he could do +with a book. She said he looked like a black dog with a breast pin on, +and forbade him to ever look into a book again. + +All slaves on the Coffer plantation were treated in a most inhuman +manner, scarcely having enough to eat, unless they would steal it, +running the risk of being caught and receiving a severe beating for the +theft. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Butler lives with her daughters, has worked very hard in "her +days." + +She has had to give up almost everything in the last few years, because +her eyesight has failed. However, she is very cheerful and enjoys +telling the "tales" her mother would tell her. + +Submitted December 28, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +5th District +Vandenburgh County +Lauana Creel + +SLAVE STORY +JOSEPH WILLIAM CARTER + + +This information was gained through an interview with Joseph William +Carter and several of his daughters. The data was cheerfully given to +the writer. Joseph William Carter has lived a long and, he declares, a +happy life, although he was born and reared in bondage. His pleasing +personality has always made his lot an easy one and his yoke seemed easy +to wear. + +Joseph William Carter was born prior to the year 1836. His mother, +Malvina Gardner was a slave in the home of Mr. Gardner until a man named +D.B. Smith saw her and noticing the physical perfection of the child at +once purchased her from her master. + +Malvina was agrieved at being compelled to leave her old home, and her +lovely young mistress. Puss Gardner was fond of the little mullato girl +and had taught her to be a useful member of the Gardner family; however, +she was sold to Mr. Smith and was compelled to accompany him to his +home. + +Both the Gardner and Smith families lived near Gallatin, Tennessee, in +Sumner County. The Smith plantation was situated on the Cumberland River +and commanded a beautiful view of river and valley acres but Malvina was +very unhappy. She did not enjoy the Smith family and longed for her old +friends back in the Gardner home. + +One night the little girl gathered together her few personal belongings +and started back to her old home. + +Afraid to travel the highway the child followed a path she knew through +the forest; but alas, she found the way long and beset with perils. A +number of uncivil Indians were encamped on the side of the Cumberland +mountains and a number of the young braves were out hunting that night. +Their stealthy approach was heard by the little fugitive girl but too +late for her to make an escape. An Indian called "Buck" captured her and +by all the laws of the tribe was his own property. She lived for almost +a year in the teepe with Buck and during that time learned much about +Indian habits. + +When Malvina was missed from her new home, Mr. Smith went to the Gardner +plantation to report his loss, not finding her there a wide search was +made for her but the Indians kept her thoroughly concealed. Miss Puss, +however, kept up the search. She knew the Indians were encamped on the +mountain and believed she would find the girl with them. The Indians +finally broke camp and the members of the Gardner home watched them +start on their journey and Miss Puss soon discovered Malvina among the +other maidens in the procession. + +The men of the Gardner plantation, white and black, overtook the Indians +and demanded the girl be given up to them. The Indians reluctantly gave +her to them. Miss Puss Gardner took her back and Mr. Gardner paid Mr. +Smith the original purchase price and Malvina was once more installed in +her old home. + +Malvina Gardner was not yet twelve years of age when she was captured by +the Indians and was scarcely thirteen years of age when she became the +mother of Joseph William, son of the uncivil Indian, "Buck". The child +was born in the Gardner home and mother and child remained there. The +mother was a good slave and loved the members of the Gardner family and +her son and she were loved by them in return. + +Puss Gardner married a Mr. Mooney and Mr. Gardner allowed her to take +Joseph William to her home. The Mooney estate was situated up on the +Carthridge road and some of Joseph William's most vivid memories of +slavery and the curse of bondage embrace his life's span with the +Mooneys. + +One story that the aged man relates is of an encounter with an eagle and +follows: "George Irish, a white boy near my own age, was the son of the +miller. His father operated a sawmill on Bledsoe Creek near where it +empties into the Coumberland river. George and I often went fishing +together and had a good dog called Hector. Hector was as good a coon dog +as there was to be found in that part of the country. That day we boys +climbed up on the mill shed to watch the swans in Bledsoe Creek and we +soon noticed a great big fish hawk catching the goslings. It made us mad +and we decided to kill the hawk. I went back to the house and got an old +flint lock rifle Mars. Mooney had let me carry when we went hunting. +When I got back where George was, the big bird was still busy catching +goslings. The first shot I fired broke its wing and I decided I would +catch it and take it home with me. The bird put up a terrible fight, +cutting me with its bill and talons. Hector came running and tried to +help me but the bird cut him until his howls brought help from the +field. Mr. Jacob Greene was passing along and came to us. He tore me +away from the bird but I could not walk and the blood was running from +my body in dozens of places. Poor old Hector, was crippled and bleeding +for the bird was a big eagle and would have killed both of us if help +had not come." The old negro man still shows signs of his encounter with +the eagle. He said it was captured and lived about four months in +captivity but its wing never healed. The body of the eagle was stuffed +with wheat bran, by Greene Harris, and placed in the court yard in +Sumner County. "The Civil War changed things at the Mooney plantation," +said the old man. "Before the War Mr. Mooney never had been cruel to me. +I was Mistress Puss's property and she would never have allowed me to be +abused, but some of the other slaves endured the most cruel treatment +and were worked nearly to death." + +Uncle Joe's memory of slavery embraces the whole story of bondage and +the helpless position held by strong bodied men and women of a hardy +race, overpowered by the narrow ideals of slave owners and cruel +overseerers. "When I was a little bitsy child and still lived with Mr. +Gardner," said the old man, "I saw many of the slaves beaten to death. +Master Gardner didn't do any of the whippin' but every few months he +sent to Mississippi for negro rulers to come to the plantation and whip +all the negroes that had not obeyed the overseers. A big barrel lay near +the barn and that was always the whippin place." Uncle Joe remembers two +or three professional slave whippers and recalls the death of two of the +Mississippi whippers. He relates the story as follows: "Mars Gardner had +one of the finest black smiths that I ever saw. His arms were strong, +his muscles stood out on his breast and shoulders and his legs were +never tired. He stood there and shoed horses and repaired tools day +after day and there was no work ever made him tired." + +The old negro man so vividly described the noble blacksmith that he +almost appeared in person, as the story advanced. "I don't know what he +had done to rile up Mars Gardner, but all of us knew that the Blacksmith +was going to be flogged. When the whippers from Mississippi got to the +plantation. The blacksmith worked on day and night. All day he was +shoein horses and all the spare time he had he was makin a knife. When +the whippers got there all of us were brought out to watch the whippin +but the blacksmith, Jim Gardner did not wait to feel the lash, he jumped +right into the bunch of overseers and negro whippers and knifed two +whippers and one overseer to death; then stuck the sharp knife into his +arm and bled to death." + +Suicide seemed the only hope for this man of strength. He could not +humble himself to the brutal ordeal of being beaten by the slave +whippers. + +"When the war started, we kept hearing about the soldiers and finally +they set up their camp in the forest near us. The corn was ready to +bring into the barn and the soldiers told Mr. Mooney to let the slaves +gather it and put it into the barns. Some of the soldiers helped gather +and crib the corn. I wanted to help but Miss Puss was afraid they would +press me into service and made me hide in the cellar. There was a big +keg of apple cider in the cellar and every day Miss Puss handed down a +big plate of fresh ginger snaps right out of the oven, so I was well +fixed." The old man remembers that after the corn was in the crib the +soldiers turned in their horses to eat what had fallen to the ground. + +Before the soldiers became encamped at the Mooney plantation they had +camped upon a hill and some skirmishing had occurred. Uncle Joe +remembers the skirmish and seeing cannon balls come over the fields. The +cannon balls were chained together and the slave children would run +after the missils. Sometimes the chains would cut down trees as the +balls rolled through the forest. + +"Do you believe in witchcraft?" was asked while interviewing the aged +negro. "No" was the answer. "I had a cousin that was a full blooded +Indian and a Voodoo doctor. He got me to help him with his Voodoo work. +A lot of people both white and black sent for the Indian when they were +sick. I told him I would do the best I could, if it would help sick +people to get well. A woman was sick with rhumatism and he was going to +see her. He sent me into the woods to dig up poke roots to boil. He then +took the brew to the house where the sick woman lived. Had her to put +both feet in a tub filled with warm water, into which he had placed the +poke root brew. He told the woman she had lizards in her body and he was +going to bring them out of her. He covered the woman with a heavy +blanket and made her sit for a long time, possibly an hour, with her +feet in the tub of poke root brew and water. He had me slip a good many +lizards into the tub and when the woman removed her feet, there were the +lizards. She was soon well and believed the lizards had come out of her +legs. I was disgusted and would not practice with my cousin again." + +"So you didn't fight in the Civil War," was asked Uncle Joe. + +"Of course I did, when I got old enough I entered the service and +barbacued meat until the war closed." Barbacueing had been Uncle Joe's +specialty during slavery days and he followed the same profession during +his service with the federal army. He was freed by the emancuapation +proclamation, and soon met and married Sadie Scott, former Slave of Mr. +Scott, a Tennessee planter. Sadie only lived a short time after her +marriage. He later married Amy Doolins. Her father was named Carmuel. He +was a blacksmith and after he was free, the countrymen were after him to +take his life. He was shot nine times and finally killed himself to +prevent meeting death at the hands of the clansmen. + +Joseph William Carter is a cripple. In 1933 he fell and broke his right +thigh-bone and since that time he has walked with a crutch. He stays up +quite a lot and is always glad to welcome visitors. He possesses a noble +character and is admired by his friends and neighbors. Tall, straight, +lean of body, his nose is aquiline; these physical characteristics he +inherited from his Indian ancesters. His gentle nature, wit, and good +humor are characteristics handed to him by his mother and fostered by +the gentle rearing of his southern mistress. + +When Uncle Joe Carter celebrated the 100dth aniversary of his birth a +large cake was presented to him, decorated with 100 candles. The party +was attended by children and grandchildren, friends and neighbors. "What +is your political viewpoint?" was asked the old man. + +"My politics is my love for my country". "I vote for the man, not the +party." + +Uncle Joe's religion is the religion of decency and virtue. "I don't +want to be hard in my judgement," said he, "But I wish the whole world +would be decent. When I was a young man, women wore more clothes in bed +than they now wear on the street." + +"Papa has always been a lover of horses but he does not care for +Automobiles nor aeroplanes," said a daughter of Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe has +seven daughters, he says they have always been obedient and attentive to +their parents. Their mother passed away seven years ago. The sons and +daughters of Uncle Joe remember their grand-mother and recall stories +recounted by her of her captivity among the Indians. + +"Papa had no gray hairs until after mama died. His hair turned gray from +grief at her loss," said Mrs. Della Smith, one of his daughters. Uncle +Joe's smile reveals a set of unusually sound teeth from which only one +tooth is missing. + +Like all fathers and grandfathers, Uncle Joe recounts the cute deeds and +funny sayings of the little children he has been associated with: how +his own children with feather bedecked crowns enacted the capture of +their grandmother and often played "Voo-Doo Doctor." + +Uncle Joe stresses the value of work, not the enforced labor of the +slave but the cheerful toil of free people. He is glad that his sons and +daughters are industrious citizens and is proud they maintain clean +homes for their families. He is happy because his children have never +known bondage, and he respects the laws of his country and appreciates +the interest that the citizens of Evansville have always showed in the +negro race. + +After Uncle Joe became a young man he met many Indians from the tribe +that had held his mother captive. Through them he learned much about his +father which his mother had never told him. + +Though he was a Gardner slave and would have been Joseph Gardner, he +took the name of Carter from a step father and is known as Joseph +Carter. + + + + +Grace Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +OHIO COUNTY EX-SLAVE, MRS. ELLEN CAVE, RELATES HER EXPERIENCES + + +Assistant editor of "The Rising Sun Recorder" furnished the following +story which had appeared in the paper, March 19, 1937. + +Mrs. Cave was in slavery for twelve years before she was freed by the +Emancipation Proclamation. When she gave her story to Aubrey Robinson +she was living in a temporary garage home back of the Rising Sun +courthouse having lost everything in the 1937 flood. + +Mrs. Cave was born on a plantation in Taylor County Kentucky. She was +the property of a man who did not live up to the popular idea of a +Southern gentleman, whose slaves refused to leave them, even after their +freedom was declared. + +When she was a year old her mother was sold to someone in Louisana and +she did not see her again until 1867, when they were re-united in +Carrolton, Kentucky. Her father died when she was a baby. + +Mrs. Cave told of seeing wagon loads of slaves sold down the river. She, +herself was put on the block several times but never actually sold, +although she would have preferred being sold rather than the +continuation of the ordeal of the block. + +Her master was a "mean man" who drank heavily, he had twenty slaves that +he fed now and then, and gave her her freedom after the war only when +she would remain silent about it no longer. He was a Southern +sympathiser but joined the Union army where he became a captain and was +in charge of a Union commissary. Finally he was suspected and charged +with mustering supplies to the rebels. He was imprisoned for some time, +then courtmartialed and sentenced to die. He escaped by bribing his +negro guard. + +Mrs. Cave said that her master's father had many young women slaves and +sold his own half-breed children down the river to Louisiana plantations +where the work was so severe that the slaves soon died. + +While in slavery, Mrs. Cave worked as a maid in the house until she grew +older when she was forced to do all kinds of outdoor labor. She +remembered sawing logs in the snow all day. In the summer she pitched +hay or any other man's work in the field. She was trained to carry three +buckets of water at the same time, two in her hands and one on her +head and said she could still do it. + +On this plantation the chief article of food for the slaves was +bran-bread, although the master's children were kind and often slipped +them out meat or other food. + +Mrs. Cave remembered seeing General Woolford and General Morgan of the +Southern forces when they made friendly visits to the plantation. She +saw General Grant twice during the war. She saw soldiers drilling near +the plantation. Later she was caught and whipped by night riders, or +"pat-a-rollers", as she tried to slip out to negro religious meetings. + +Mrs. Cave was driven from her plantation two years after the war and +came to Carrollton [TR: earlier, Carrolton] Kentucky, where she found +her mother and soon married James Cave, a former slave on a plantation +near hers in Taylor county. Mrs. Cave had thirteen children. + +For many years Mrs. Cave has lived on a farm about two and one half mi. +south of Rising Sun. Everything she had was washed away in the flood and +she lived in the court house garage until her home could be rebuilt. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #8 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. HARRIET CHEATAM--EX-SLAVE +816 Darnell Street + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Incidents in the life of Mrs. Cheatam as she told them to me. + + +Interview + +"I was born, in 1843, in Gallatin, Tennessee, 94 years ago this coming +(1937) Christmas day." + +"Our master, Martin Henley, a farmer, was hard on us slaves, but we were +happy in spite of our lack." + +"When I was a child, I didn't have it as hard as some of the children +in the quarters. I always stayed in the "big house," slept on the floor, +right near the fireplace, with one quilt for my bed and one quilt to +cover me. Then when I growed up, I was in the quarters." + +"After the Civil war, I went to Ohio to cook for General Payne. We had a +nice life in the general's house." + +"I remember one night, way back before the Civil war, we wanted a goose. +I went out to steal one as that was the only way we slaves would have +one. I crept very quiet-like, put my hand in where they was and grabbed, +and what do you suppose I had? A great big pole cat. Well, I dropped him +quick, went back, took off all my clothes, dug a hole, and buried them. +The next night I went to the right place, grabbed me a nice big goose, +held his neck and feet so he couldn't holler, put him under my arm, and +ran with him, and did we eat?" + +"We often had prayer meeting out in the quarters, and to keep the folks +in the "big house" from hearing us, we would take pots, turn them down, +put something under them, that let the sound go in the pots, put them in +a row by the door, then our voices would not go out, and we could sing +and pray to our heart's content." + +"At Thanksgiving time we would have pound cake. That was fine. We would +take our hands and beat and beat our cake dough, put the dough in a +skillet, cover it with the lid and put it in the fireplace. (The covered +skillet would act our ovens of today.) It would take all day to bake, +but it sure would be good; not like the cakes you have today." + +"When we cooked our regular meals, we would put our food in pots, slide +them on an iron rod that hooked into the fireplace. (They were called +pot hooks.) The pots hung right over the open fire and would boil until +the food was done." + +"We often made ash cake. (That is made of biscuit dough.) When the dough +was ready, we swept a clean place on the floor of the fireplace, +smoothed the dough out with our hands, took some ashes, put them on top +of the dough, then put some hot coals on top of the ashes, and just left +it. When it was done, we brushed off the coals, took out the bread, +brushed off the ashes, child, that was bread." + +"When we roasted a chicken, we got it all nice and clean, stuffed him +with dressing, greased him all over good, put a cabbage leaf on the +floor of the fireplace, put the chicken on the cabbage leaf, then +covered him good with another cabbage leaf, and put hot coals all over +and around him, and left him to roast. That is the best way to cook +chicken." + +Mrs. Cheatam lives with a daughter, Mrs. Jones. She is a very small old +lady, pleasant to talk with, has a very happy disposition. Her eyes, as +she said, "have gotten very dim," and she can't piece her quilts +anymore. That was the way she spent her spare time. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +She has beautiful white hair and is very proud of it. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +JAMES CHILDRESS' STORY +312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana + + +From an interview with James Childress and from John Bell both living at +312 S.E. Fifth Street, Evansville, Indiana. + +Known as Uncle Jimmy by the many children that cluster about the aged +man never tiring of his stories of "When I was chile." + +"When I was a chile my daddy and mamma was slaves and I was a slave," so +begins many recounted tales of the long ago. + +Born at Nashville, Tennessee in the year 1860, Uncle Jimmie remembers +the Civil War with the exciting events as related to his own family and +the family of James Childress, his master. He remembers sorrow expressed +in parting tears when "Uncle Johnie and Uncle Bob started to war." He +recalls happy days when the beautiful valley of the Cumberland was +abloom with wild flowers and fertile acres were carpeted with blue +grass. + +"A beautiful view could always be enjoyed from the hillsides and there +were many pretty homes belonging to the rich citizens. Slaves kept the +lawns smooth and tended the flowers for miles around Nashville, when I +was a child," said Uncle Jimmie. + +Uncle Jimmie Childress has no knowledge of his master's having practiced +cruelty towards any slave. "We was all well fed, well clothed and lived +in good cabins. I never got a cross word from Mars John in my life," he +declared. "When the slaves got their freedom they rejoiced staying up +many nights to sing, dance and enjoy themselves, although they still +depended on old Mars John for food and bed, they felt too excited to +work in the fields or care for the stock. They hated to leave their +homes but Mr. Childress told them to go out and make homes for +themselves." + +"Mother got work as a housekeeper and kept us all together. Uncle Bob +got home from the War and we lived well enough. I have lived at +Evansville since 1881, have worked for a good many men and John Bell +will tell you I have had only friends in the city of Evansville." + +Uncle Jimmie recalls how the slaves always prayed to God for freedom and +the negro preachers always preached about the day when the slaves would +be no longer slaves but free and happy. + +"My people loved God, they sang sacred songs, 'Swing Low Sweet Charriot' +was one of the best songs they knew". Here uncle Jimmie sang a stanza of +the song and said it related to God's setting the negroes free. + +"The negroes at Mr. Childress' place were allowed to learn as much as +they could. Several of the young men could read and write. Our master +was a good man and did no harm to anybody." + +James Childress is a black man, small of stature, with crisp wooly dark +hair. He is glad he is not mulatto but a thorough blooded negro. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. SARAH COLBERT--EX-SLAVE +1505 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Sarah Carpenter Colbert was born in Allen County, Kentucky in 1855. +She was owned by Leige Carpenter, a farmer. + +Her father, Isaac Carpenter was the grandson of his master, Leige +Carpenter, who was very kind to him. Isaac worked on the farm until the +old master's death. He was then sold to Jim McFarland in Frankfort +Kentucky. Jim's wife was very mean to the slaves, whipped them regularly +every morning to start the day right. + +One morning after a severe beating, Isaac met an old slave, who asked +him why he let his mistress beat him so much. Isaac laughed and asked +him what he could do about it. The old man told him if he would bite her +foot, the next time she knocked him down, she would stop beating him and +perhaps sell him. + +The next morning he was getting his regular beating, he willingly fell +to the floor, grabbed his mistress' foot, bit her very hard. She tried +very hard to pull away from him, he held on still biting, she ran around +in the room, Isaac still holding on. Finally, she stopped beating him +and never attempted to strike him again. + +The next week he was put on the block, being a very good worker and a +very strong man, the bids were high. + +His young master, Leige Jr., outbid everyone and bought him for +$1200.00. + +His young mistress was very mean to him. He went again to his old friend +for advice. This time he told him to get some yellow dust, sprinkle it +around in his mistress' room and if possible, got some in her shoes. +This he did and in a short time he was sold again to Johnson Carpenter +in the same county. He was not really treated any better there. By this +time he was very tired of being mistreated. He remembered his old +master telling him to never let anyone be mean to him. He ran away to +his old mistress, told her of his many hardships, and told her what the +old master had told him, so she sent him back. At the next sale she +bought him, and he lived there until slavery was abolished. + +Her grandfather, Bat Carpenter, was an ambitious slave; he dug ore and +bought his freedom, then bought his wife by paying $50.00 a year to her +master for her. She continued to work on the farm of her own master for +a very small wage. + +Bat's wife, Matilda, lived on the farm not far from him, he was allowed +to visit her every Sunday. One Sunday, it looked like rain, his master +told him to gather in the oats, he refused to do this and was beaten +with a raw hide. He was so angry, he went to one of the witch-crafters +for a charm so he could fix his old master. + +The witch doctor told him to get five new nails, as there were five +members in his master's family, walk to the barn, then walk backwards a +few steps, pound one nail in the ground, giving each nail the name of +each member of the family, starting with the master, then the mistress, +and so on through the family. Each time one nail was pounded down in the +ground, walk backwards and nail the next one in until all were pounded +deep in the ground. He did as instructed and was never beaten again. + +Jane Garmen was the village witch. She disturbed the slaves with her +cat. Always at milking time the cat would appear, and at night would go +from one cabin to another, putting out the grease lamps with his paw. No +matter how they tried to kill the cat, it just could not be done. + +An old witch doctor told them to melt a dime, form a bullet with the +silver, and shoot the cat. He said a lead bullet would never kill a +bewitched animal. The silver bullet fixed the cat. + +Jane also bewitched the chickens. They were dying so fast anything they +did seemed useless. Finally a big fire was built and the dead chickens +thrown into the fire, that burned the charm, and no more chickens died. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Colbert lives with her daughter in a very comfortable home. She +seems very happy and was glad to talk of her early days. How she would +laugh when telling of the experiences of her family. + +She has reared a large family of her own, and feels very proud of them. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Wm. R. Mays +Dist. 4 +Johnson County, Ind. +July 29, 1937 + +SLAVERY DAYS OF MANDY COOPER OF LINCOLN COUNTY, KENTUCKY +FRANK COOPER +715 Ott St., Franklin, Ind. + + +Frank Cooper, an aged colored man of Franklin, relates some very +interesting conditions that existed in slavery days as handed down to +him by his mother. + +Mandy Cooper, the mother of Frank Cooper, was 115 years old when she +died; she was owned by three different families: the Good's, the +Burton's, and the Cooper's, all of Lincoln Co. Kentucky. + +"Well, Ah reckon Ah am one of the oldest colored men hereabouts," +confessed aged Frank Cooper. "What did you all want to see me about?" My +mission being stated, he related one of the strangest categories +alluding to his mother's slave life that I have ever heard. + +"One day while mah mammy was washing her back my sistah noticed ugly +disfiguring scars on it. Inquiring about them, we found, much to our +amazement, that they were mammy's relics of the now gone, if not +forgotten, slave days. + +"This was her first reference to her "misery days" that she had evah +made in my presence. Of course we all thought she was tellin' us a big +story and we made fun of her. With eyes flashin', she stopped bathing, +dried her back and reached for the smelly ole black whip that hung +behind the kitchen door. Biddin' us to strip down to our waists, my +little mammy with the boney bent-ovah back, struck each of us as hard as +evah she could with that black-snake whip, each stroke of the whip drew +blood from our backs. "Now", she said to us, "you have a taste of +slavery days." With three of her children now having tasted of some of +her "misery days" she was in the mood to tell us more of her sufferings; +still indelibly impressed in my mind. [TR: illegible handwritten note +here.] + +'My ole back is bent ovah from the quick-tempered blows feld by the +red-headed Miss Burton. + +'At dinner time one day when the churnin' wasn't finished for the +noonday meal', she said with an angry look that must have been reborn in +mah mammy's eyes--eyes that were dimmed by years and hard livin', 'three +white women beat me from anger because they had no butter for their +biscuits and cornbread. Miss Burton used a heavy board while the missus +used a whip. While I was on my knees beggin' them to quit, Miss Burton +hit the small of mah back with the heavy board. Ah knew no more until +kind Mr. Hamilton, who was staying with the white folks, brought me +inside the cabin and brought me around with the camphor bottle. Ah'll +always thank him--God bless him--he picked me up where they had left me +like a dog to die in the blazin' noonday sun. + +'After mah back was broken it was doubted whether ah would evah be able +to work again or not. Ah was placed on the auction block to be bidded +for so mah owner could see if ah was worth anything or not. One man bid +$1700 after puttin' two dirty fingahs in my mouth to see my teeth. Ah +bit him and his face showed angah. He then wanted to own me so he could +punish me. + +'Thinkin' his bid of $1700 was official he unstrapped his buggy whip to +beat me, but my mastah saved me. My master declared the bid unofficial. + +'At this auction my sister was sold for $1900 and was never seen by us +again.' + +"My mother related some experiences she had with the Paddy-Rollers, +later called the "Kuklux", these Paddy-Rollers were a constant dread to +the Negroes. They would whip the poor darkeys unmercifully without any +cause. One night while the Negroes were gathering for a big party and +dance they got wind of the approaching Paddy-Rollers in large numbers +on horseback. The Negro men did not know what to do for protection, they +became desperate and decided to gather a quantity of grapevines and tied +them fast at a dark place in the road. When the Paddy-Rollers came +thundering down the road bent on deviltry and unaware of the trap set +for them, plunged head-on into these strong grapevines and three of +their number were killed and a score was badly injured. Several horses +had to be shot following injuries. + +"When the news of this happening spread it was many months before the +Paddy-Rollers were again heard of." + + + + +Albert Strope, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +St. Joseph County--District #1 +Mishawaka, Indiana + +EX-SLAVE +REV. H.H. EDMUNDS +403 West Hickory Street +Elkhart, Indiana + + +Rev. H.H. Edmunds has resided at 403 West Hickory Street in Elkhart for +the past ten years. Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1859, he lived there +for several years. Later he was taken to Mississippi by his master, and +finally to Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived until his removal to +Elkhart. + +Mr. Edmunds is very religious, and for many years has served his people +as a minister of the Gospel. He feels deeply that the religion of today +has greatly changed from the "old time religion." In slavery days, the +colored people were so subjugated and uneducated that he claims they +were especially susceptible to religion, and poured out their religious +feelings in the so-called negro spirituals. Mr. Edmunds is convinced +that the superstitions of the colored people and their belief in ghosts +and gobblins is due to the fact that their emotions were worked upon by +slave drivers to keep them in subjugation. Oftentimes white people +dressed as ghosts, frightened the colored people into doing many things +under protest. The "ghosts" were feared far more than the slave-drivers. + +The War of the Rebellion is not remembered by Mr. Edmunds, but he +clearly remembers the period following the war known as the +Reconstruction Period. The Negroes were very happy when they learned +they were free as a result of the war. A few took advantage of their +freedom immediately, but many, not knowing what else to do, remained +with their former masters. Some remained on the plantations five years +after they were free. Gradually they learned to care for themselves, +often through instructions received from their former masters, and then +they were glad to start out in the world for themselves. Of course, +there were exceptions, for the slaves who had been abused by cruel +masters were only too glad to leave their former homes. + +The following reminiscense is told by Mr. Edmunds: + +"As a boy, I worked in Virginia for my master, a Mr. Farmer[TR:?]. He +had two sons who served as bosses on the farm. An elder sister was the +head boss. After the war was over, the sister called the colored people +together and told them that they were no longer slaves, that they might +leave if they wished. + +"The slaves had been watering cucumbers which had been planted around +barrels filled with soil. Holes had been bored in the barrels, and when +water was poured in the barrels, it gradually seeped out through the +holes thus watering the cucumbers. + +"After the speech, one son told the slaves to resume their work. Since I +was free, I refused to do so, and as a result, I received a terrible +kicking. I mentally resolved to get even some day. Years afterward, I +went to the home of this man for the express purpose of seeking revenge. +However, I was received so kindly, and treated so well, that all +thoughts of vengeance vanished. For years after, my former boss and I +visited each other in our own homes." + +Mr. Edmunds states that the Negro people prefer to be referred to as +colored people, and deeply resent the name "nigger." + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +Lake County--District #1 +Gary, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +JOHN EUBANKS & FAMILY +Gary, Indiana + + +Gary's only surviving Civil War veteran was born a slave in Barren +County, Kentucky, June 6, 1836. His father was a mulatto and a free +negro. His mother was a slave on the Everrett plantation and his +grandparents ware full-blooded African negroes. As a child he began work +as soon as possible and was put to work hoeing and picking cotton and +any other odd jobs that would keep him busy. He was one of a family of +several children, and is the sole survivor, a brother living in +Indianapolis, having died there in 1935. + +Following the custom of the south, when the children of the Everrett +family grew up, they married and slaves were given them for wedding +presents. John was given to a daughter who married a man of the name of +Eubanks, hence his name, John Eubanks. John was one of the more +fortunate slaves in that his mistress and master were kind and they were +in a state divided on the question of slavery. They favored the north. +The rest of the children were given to other members of the Everrett +family upon their marriage or sold down the river and never saw one +another until after the close of the Civil War. + +Shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, when the north seemed to +be losing, someone conceived the idea of forming negro regiments and as +an inducement to the slaves, they offered them freedom if they would +join the Union forces. John's mistress and master told him that if he +wished to join the Union forces, he had their consent and would not have +to run away like other slaves were doing. At the beginning of the war, +John was twenty-one years of age. When Lincoln freed the slaves by his +Emancipation Proclamation, John was promptly given his freedom by his +master and mistress. + +John decided to join the northern army which was located at Bowling +Green, Kentucky, a distance of thirty-five miles from Glasgow where John +was living. He had to walk the entire thirty-five miles. Although he +fails to remember all the units that he was attached to, he does +remember that it was part of General Sherman's army. His regiment +started with Sherman on his famous march through Georgia, but for some +reason unknown to John, shortly after the campaign was on its way, his +regiment was recalled and sent elsewhere. + +His regiment was near Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the time Lee +surrendered. Since Lee was a proud southerner and did not want the +negroes present when he surrendered, Grant probably for this reason as +much as any other refused to accept Lee's sword. When Lee surrendered +there was much shouting among the troops and John was one of many put to +work loading cannons on boats to be shipped up the river. His company +returned on the steamboat "Indiana." Upon his return to Glasgow, [HW: +Ky.] he saw for the first time in six years, his mother and other +members of his family who had returned free. + +Shortly after he returned to Glasgow at the close of the Civil War, he +saw several colored people walking down the highway and was attracted to +a young colored girl in the group who was wearing a yellow dress. +Immediately he said to himself, "If she ain't married there goes my +wife." Sometime later they met and were married Christmas day in 1866. +To this union twelve children were born four of whom are living today, +two in Gary and the others in the south. After his marriage he lived on +a farm near Glasgow for several years, later moving to Louisville, where +he worked in a lumber yeard. He came to Gary in 1924, two years after +the death of his wife. + +President Grant was the first president for whom he cast his vote and he +continued to vote until old age prevented him from walking to the polls. + +Although Lincoln is one of his favorite heroes, Teddy Roosevelt tops his +list of great men and he never failed to vote for him. + +In 1926, he was the only one of three surviving memebers of the Grand +Army of the Republic in Gary and mighty proud of the fact that he was +the only one in the parade. In 1937 he is the sole survivor. + +He served in the army as a member of Company K of the 108th, Kentucky +Infantry (Negro Volunteers). + +When General Morgan, the famous southern raider, crossed the Ohio on his +raid across southern Indiana, John was one of the Negro fighters who +after heavy fighting, forced Morgan to recross the river and retreat +back to the south. He also participated in several skirmishes with the +cavalry troops commanded by the famous Nathan Bedfored Forrest, and was +a member of the Negro garrison at Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi which +was assaulted and captured. This resulted in a massacre of the negro +soldiers. John was in several other fights, but as he says, "never onct +got a skinhurt." + +At the present time, Mr. Eubanks is residing with his daughter, Mrs. +Bertha Sloss and several grandchildren, in Gary, Indiana. He is badly +crippled with rheumatism, has poor eyesight and his memory is failing. +Otherwise his health is good. Most of his teeth are good and they are a +source of wonder to his dentist. He is ninety-eight years of age and +his wish in life now, is to live to be a hundred. Since his brother and +mother both died at ninety-eight and his paternal grandfather at one +hundred-ten years of age, he has a good chance to realize this ambition. + +Because of his condition most of this interview was had from his +grandchildren, who have taken notes in recent years of any incidents +that he relates. He is proud that most of his fifty grandchildren are +high school graduates and that two are attending the University of +Chicago. + +In 1935, he enjoyed a motor trip, when his family took him back to +Glasgow for a visit. He suffered no ill effects from the trip. + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +816 Mound Street, Valparaiso, Indiana +Federal Writers' Project +Lake County, District #1 +Gary, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +INTERVIEW WITH JOHN EUBANKS, EX-SLAVE + + +John Eubanks, Gary's only negro Civil War survivor has lived to see the +ninety-eighth anniversary of his birth and despite his advanced age, +recalls with surprising clarity many interesting and sad events of his +boyhood days when a slave on the Everett plantation. + +He was born in Glasgow, Barron County, Kentucky, June 6, 1839, one of +seven children of a chattel of the Everett family. + +The old man retains most of his faculties, but bears the mark of his +extreme age in an obvious feebleness and failing sight and memory. He is +physically large, says he once was a husky, weighing over two hundred +pounds, bears no scars or deformities and despite the hardships and +deprivations of his youth, presents a kindly and tolerant attitude. + +"I remembah well, us young uns on the Everett plantation," he relates, +"I worked since I can remembah, hoein', pickin' cotton and othah chohs +'round the fahm. We didden have much clothes, nevah no undahweah, no +shoes, old ovahalls and a tattahed shirt, wintah and summah. Come de +wintah, it be so cold mah feet weah plumb numb mos' o' de time and manya +time--when we git a chanct--we druve the hogs from outin the bogs an' +put ouah feet in the wahmed wet mud. They was cracked and the skin on +the bottoms and in de toes weah cracked and bleedin' mos' o' time, wit +bloody scabs but de summah healed them agin." + +"Does yohall remembah, Granpap," his daughter prompted, "Yoh +mahstah--did he treat you mean?" + +"No," his tolerant acceptance apparent in his answer, "it weah done +thataway. Slaves weah whipt and punished and the younguns belonged to +the mahstah to work foah him oh to sell. When I weah 'bout six yeahs +old, Mahstah Everett give me to Tony Eubanks as a weddin' present when +he married mahstah's daughtah Becky. Becky would'n let Tony whip her +slaves who came from her fathah's plantation. 'They ah my prophty,' she +say, 'an' you caint whip dem.' Tony whipt his othah slaves but not +Becky's." + +"I remembah" he continued, "how they tied de slave 'round a post, wit +hands tied togedder 'round the post, then a husky lash his back wid a +snakeskin lash 'til hisn back were cut and bloodened, the blood +spattered" gesticulating with his unusually large hands, "an' hisn back +all cut up. Den they'd pouh salt watah on hem. Dat dry and hahden and +stick to hem. He nevah take it off 'till it heal. Sometimes I see +marhstah Everett hang a slave tip-toe. He tie him up so he stan' tip-toe +an' leave him thataway. + +"I be twenty-one wehn wah broke out. Mahstah Eubanks say to me, 'Yohall +don' need to run 'way ifn yohall want to jine up wid de ahmy.' He say, +'Deh would be a fine effin slaves run off. Yohall don' haf to run off, +go right on and I do not pay dat fine.' He say, ''nlist in de ahmy but +don' run off.' Now I walk thirty-five mile from Glasgow to Bowling Green +to dis place--to da 'nlistin' place--from home fouh mile--to Glasgow--to +Bowling Green, thirty-five mile. On de road I meet up with two boys, so +we go on. Dey run 'way from Kentucky, and we go together. Then some +Bushwackers come down de road. We's scared and run to the woods and hid. +As we run tru de woods, pretty soon we heerd chickens crowing. We fill +ouah pockets wit stones. We goin' to kill chickens to eat. Pretty soon +we heerd a man holler, 'You come 'round outta der'--and I see a white +man and come out. He say, 'What yoh all doin' heah?' I turn 'round and +say, 'well boys, come on boys,' an' the boys come out. The man say, 'I'm +Union Soldier. What yoh all doin' heah?' I say, 'We goin' to 'nlist in +de ahmy.' He say, 'Dat's fine' and he say, 'come 'long' He say, 'git +right on white man's side'--we go to station. Den he say, 'You go right +down to de station and give yoh inforhmation. We keep on walkin'. Den we +come to a white house wit stone steps in front so we go in. An' we got +to 'nlistin' place and jine up wit de ahmy. + +"Den we go trainin' in d' camp and we move on. Come to a little town ... +a little town. We come to Bolling Green ... den to Louiville. We come to +a rivah ... a rivah (painfully recalling) d' Mississippi. + +"We weah 'nfantry and petty soon we gits in plenty fights, but not a +scratch hit me. We chase dem cavalry. We run dem all night and next +mohnin' d' Captain he say, 'Dey done broke down.' When we rest, he say +'See dey don' trick you.' I say, 'We got all d' ahmy men togedder. We +hold dem back 'til help come.' + +"We don' have no tents. Sleep on naked groun' in wet and cold and rain. +Mos' d' time we's hungry but we win d' war and Mahstah Eubanks tell us +we no moah hisn property, we's free now." + +The old man can talk only in short sentences and his voice dies to a +whisper and soon the strain became evident. He was tired. What he does +remember is with surprising clearness especially small details, but with +a helpless gesture, he dismisses names and locations. He remembers the +exact date of his discharge, March 20, 1866, which his daughter verified +by producing his discharge papers. He remembers the place, Vicksburg, +the Company--K, and the Regiment, 180th. Dropping back once more to his +childhood he spoke of an incident which his daughter says makes them all +cry when he relates it, although they have heard it many times. + +"Mahstah Everett whipt me onct and mothah she cried. Then Mahstah +Everett say, 'Why yoh all cry?--Yoh cry I whip anothah of these young +uns. She try to stop. He whipt 'nother. He say, 'Ifn yoh all don' stop, +yoh be whipt too!' and mothah she trien to stop but teahs roll out, so +Mahstah Everett whip her too. + +"I wanted to visit mothah when I belong to Mahst' Eubanks, but Becky +say, 'Yoh all best not see youh mothah, or yoh wan' to go all de time' +then explaining, 'she wan' me to fohgit mothah, but I nevah could. When +I cm back from d' ahmy, I go home to mothah and say 'don' y'know me?' +She say, 'No, I don' know you.' I say, 'Yoh don' know me?' She say, 'No, +ah don' know yoh.' I say, 'I'se John.' Den she cry and say how ahd growd +and she thought I'se daid dis long time. I done 'splain how the many +fights I'se in wit no scratch and she bein' happy." + +Speaking of Abraham Lincoln's death, he remarked, "Sho now, ah remembah +dat well. We all feelin' sad and all d'soldiers had wreaths on der +guns." + +Upon his return from the army he married a young negress he had seen +some time previous at which time he had vowed some day to make her his +wife. He was married Christmas day, 1866. For a number of years he lived +on a farm of his own near Glasgow. Later he moved with his family to +Louisville where he worked in a lumber yard. In 1923, two years after +the death of his wife, he came to Gary, when he retired. He is now +living with his daughter, Mrs. Sloss, 2713 Harrison Boulevard, Gary. + + + + +Cecil C. Miller +Dist. #3 +Tippecanoe Co. + +INTERVIEW WITH MR. JOHN W. FIELDS, EX-SLAVE OF CIVIL WAR PERIOD +September 17, 1937 + +[Illustration: John W. Fields] + + +John W. Fields, 2120 North Twentieth Street, Lafayette, Indiana, now +employed as a domestic by Judge Burnett is a typical example of a fine +colored gentleman, who, despite his lowly birth and adverse +circumstances, has labored and economized until he has acquired a +respected place in his home community. He is the owner of three +properties; un-mortgaged, and is a member of the colored Baptist Church +of Lafayette. As will later be seen his life has been one of constant +effort to better himself spiritually and physically. He is a fine +example of a man who has lived a morally and physically clean life. But, +as for his life, I will let Mr. Fields speak for himself: + +"My name is John W. Fields and I'm eighty-nine (89) years old. I was +born March 27, 1848 in Owensburg, Ky. That's 115 miles below Louisville, +Ky. There was 11 other children besides myself in my family. When I was +six years old, all of us children were taken from my parents, because my +master died and his estate had to be settled. We slaves were divided by +this method. Three disinterested persons were chosen to come to the +plantation and together they wrote the names of the different heirs on a +few slips of paper. These slips were put in a hat and passed among us +slaves. Each one took a slip and the name on the slip was the new owner. +I happened to draw the name of a relative of my master who was a widow. +I can't describe the heartbreak and horror of that separation. I was +only six years old and it was the last time I ever saw my mother for +longer than one night. Twelve children taken from my mother in one day. +Five sisters and two brothers went to Charleston, Virginia, one brother +and one sister went to Lexington Ky., one sister went to Hartford, Ky., +and one brother and myself stayed in Owensburg, Ky. My mother was later +allowed to visit among us children for one week of each year, so she +could only remain a short time at each place. + +"My life prior to that time was filled with heart-aches and despair. We +arose from four to five O'clock in the morning and parents and children +were given hard work, lasting until nightfall gaves us our respite. +After a meager supper, we generally talked until we grew sleepy, we had +to go to bed. Some of us would read, if we were lucky enough to know +how. + +"In most of us colored folks was the great desire to able to read and +write. We took advantage of every opportunity to educate ourselves. The +greater part of the plantation owners were very harsh if we were caught +trying to learn or write. It was the law that if a white man was caught +trying to educate a negro slave, he was liable to prosecution entailing +a fine of fifty dollars and a jail sentence. We were never allowed to go +to town and it was not until after I ran away that I knew that they sold +anything but slaves, tobacco and wiskey. Our ignorance was the greatest +hold the South had on us. We knew we could run away, but what then? An +offender guilty of this crime was subjected to very harsh punishment. + +"When my masters estate had been settled, I was to go with the widowed +relative to her place, she swung me up on her horse behind her and +promised me all manner of sweet things if I would come peacefully. I +didn't fully realise what was happening, and before I knew it, I was on +my way to my new home. Upon arrival her manner changed very much, and +she took me down to where there was a bunch of men burning brush. She +said, "see those men" I said: yes. Well, go help them, she replied. So +at the age of six I started my life as an independent slave. From then +on my life as a slave was a repetition of hard work, poor quarters and +board. We had no beds at that time, we just "bunked" on the floor. I had +one blanket and manys the night I sat by the fireplace during the long +cold nights in the winter. + +"My Mistress had separated me from all my family but one brother with +sweet words, but that pose was dropped after she reached her place. +Shortly after I had been there, she married a northern man by the name +of David Hill. At first he was very nice to us, but he gradually +acquired a mean and overbearing manner toward us, I remember one +incident that I don't like to remember. One of the women slaves had been +very sick and she was unable to work just as fast as he thought she +ought to. He had driven her all day with no results. That night after +completeing our work he called us all together. He made me hold a light, +while he whipped her and then made one of the slaves pour salt water on +her bleeding back. My innerds turn yet at that sight. + +"At the beginning of the Civil War I was still at this place as a slave. +It looked at the first of the war as if the south would win, as most of +the big battles were won by the South. This was because we slaves stayed +at home and tended the farms and kept their families. + +"To eliminate this solid support of the South, the Emancipation Act was +passed, freeing all slaves. Most of the slaves were so ignorant they did +not realize they were free. The planters knew this and as Kentucky never +seceeded from the Union, they would send slaves into Kentucky from other +states in the south and hire them out to plantations. For these reasons +I did not realize that I was free untill 1864. I immediately resolved to +run away and join the Union Army and so my brother and I went to +Owensburg, Ky. and tried to join. My brother was taken, but I was +refused as being too young. I [HW: tried] at Evansville, Terre Haute and +Indianapolis but was unable to get in. I then tried to find work and was +finally hired by a man at $7.00 a month. That was my first independent +job. From then on I went from one job to another working as general +laborer. + +"I married at 24 years of age and had four children. My wife has been +dead for 12 years and 8 months. Mr. Miller, always remember that: + + "The brightest man, the prettiest flower + May be cut down, and withered in an hour." + +"Today, I am the only surviving member who helped organize the second +Baptist Church here in Lafayette, 64 years ago. I've tried to live +according to the way the Lord would wish, God Bless you." + + "The clock of Life is wound but once. + Today is yours, tomorrow is not. + No one knows when the hands will stop." + + + + +Cecil Miller +Dist. #3 +Tipp. Co. [TR: Tippecanoe Co.] + +NEGRO FOLKLORE +MR. JOHN FIELDS, EX-SLAVE +2120 N. 20th St. Lafayette, Indiana + +[Illustration: John W. Fields] + + +Mr. Fields says that all negro slaves were ardent believers in ghosts, +supernatual powers, tokens and "signs." The following story illustrates +the point. + +"A turkey gobbler had mysteriously disappeared from one of the +neighboring plantations and the local slaves were accused of commeting +the fowl to a boiling pot. A slave convicted of theft was punished +severly. As all of the slaves denied any knowledge of the turkey's +whereabouts, they were instructed to make a search of the entire +plantation." + +"On one part of the place there was a large peach orchard. At the time +the trees were full of the green fruit. Under one of the trees there was +a large cabinet or "safe" as they were called. One of the slaves +accidently opened the safe and, Behold, there was Mr. Gobbler peacefully +seated on a number of green peaches. + +"The negro immediately ran back and notified his master of the +discovery. The master returned to the orchard with the slave to find +that the negro's wild tale was true. A turkey gobbler sitting on a nest +of green peaches. A bad omen. + +"The master had a son who had been seriously injured some time before by +a runaway team, and a few days after this unusual occurence with the +turkey, the son died. After his death, the word of the turkey's nesting +venture and the death of the master's son spread to this four winds, +and for some time after this story was related wherever there was a +public gathering with the white people or the slave population." + +All through the south a horseshoe was considered an omen of good luck. +Rare indeed was the southern home that did not have one nailed over the +door. This insured the household and all who entered of plesant +prospects while within the home. If while in the home you should perhaps +get into a violent argument, never hit the other party with a broom as +it was a sure indication of bad luck. If Grandad had the rheumatics, he +would be sure of relief if he carried a buckeye in his pocket. + +Of all the Ten Commandments, the one broken most by the negro was: Thou +Shalt Not Steal This was due mostly to the insufficent food the slaves +obtained. Most of the planters expected a chicken to suddenly get +heavenly aspirations once in a while, but as Mr. Fields says, "When a +beautiful 250 pound hog suddenly tries to kidnap himself, the planter +decided to investigate." It occured like this: + +A 250 pound hog had been fruitless. The planter was certain that the +culprit was among his group of slaves, so he decided to personally +conduct a quiet investigation. + +One night shortly after the moon had risen in the sky, two of the +negroes were seated at a table in one of the cabins talking of the +experiences of the day. A knock sounded on the door. Both slaves jumped +up and cautiously peeked out of the window. Lo there was the master +patiently waiting for an answer. The visiting negro decided that the +master must not see both of them and he asked the other to conceal him +while the master was there. The other slave told him to climb into the +attic and be perfectly quiet. When this was done, the tenant of the +cabin answered the door. + +The master strode in and gazed about the cabin. He then turned abruptly +to the slave and growled, 'Alright, where is that hog you stoled.' +'Massa, replied the negro, 'I know nothing about no hog. The master was +certain that the slave was lying and told him so in no uncertain terms. +The terrified slave said, 'Massa, I know nothing of any hog. I never +seed him. The Good Man up above knows I never seed him. HE knows every +thing and HE knows I didn't steal him; The man in the attic by this time +was aroused at the misunderstood conversation taking place below him. +Disregarding all, he raised his voice and yelled, 'He's a liar, Massa, +he knows just as much about it as I do.' + +Most of the strictly negro folklore has faded into the past. The younger +negro generations who have been reared and educated in the north have +lost this bearing and assumed the lore of the local white population +through their daily contact with the whites. The older negro natives of +this section are for the most part employed as domestics and through +this channel rapidly assimilated the employers viewpoint in most of his +beliefs and conversations. + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District 5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +INDIANS MADE SLAVES AMONG THE NEGROES. +INTERVIEWS WITH GEORGE FORTMAN +Cor. Bellemeade Ave. and Garvin St. +Evansville, Indiana, and other interested citizens + + +"The story of my life, I will tell to you with sincerest respect to all +and love to many, although reviewing the dark trail of my childhood and +early youth causes me great pain." So spoke George Fortman, an aged man +and former slave, although the history of his life reveals that no Negro +blood runs through his veins. + +"My story necessarily begins by relating events which occurred in 1838, +when hundreds of Indians were rounded up like cattle and driven away +from the valley of the Wabash. It is a well known fact recorded in the +histories of Indiana that the long journey from the beautiful Wabash +Valley was a horrible experience for the fleeing Indians, but I have the +tradition as relating to my own family, and from this enforced flight +ensued the tragedy of my birth." + +The aged ex-slave reviews tradition. "My two ancestors, John Hawk, a +Blackhawk Indian brave, and Racheal, a Chackatau maiden had made +themselves a home such as only Indians know, understand and enjoy. He +was a hunter and a fighter but had professed faith in Christ through the +influence of the missionaries. My greatgrandmother passed the facts on +to her children and they have been handed down for four generations. I, +in turn, have given the traditions to my children and grandchildren. + +"No more peaceful home had ever offered itself to the red man than the +beautiful valley of the Wabash river. Giant elms, sycamores and maple +trees bordered the stream while the fertile valley was traversed with +creeks and rills, furnishing water in abundance for use of the Indian +campers. + +"The Indians and the white settlers in the valley transacted business +with each other and were friendly towards each other, as I have been +told by my mother, Eliza, and my grandmother, Courtney Hawk. + +"The missionaries often called the Indian families together for the +purpose of teaching them and the Indians had been invited, prior to +being driven from the valley, to a sort of festival in the woods. They +had prepared much food for the occasion. The braves had gone on a long +hunt to provide meat and the squaws had prepared much corn and other +grain to be used at the feast. All the tribes had been invited to a +council and the poor people were happy, not knowing they were being +deceived. + +"The decoy worked, for while the Indians were worshiping God the meeting +was rudely interrupted by orders of the Governor of the State. The +Governor, whose duty it was to give protection to the poor souls, +caused them to be taken captives and driven away at the point of swords +and guns. + +"In vain, my grandmother said, the Indians prayed to be let return to +their homes. Instead of being given their liberty, some several hundred +horses and ponies were captured to be used in transporting the Indians +away from the valley. Many of the aged Indians and many innocent +children died on the long journey and traditional stories speak of that +journey as the 'trail of death.'" + +"After long weeks of flight, when the homes of the Indians had been +reduced to ashes, the long trail still carried them away from their +beautiful valley. My greatgrandfather and his squaw became acquainted +with a party of Indians that were going to the canebrakes of Alabama. +The pilgrims were not well fed or well clothed and they were glad to +travel towards the south, believing the climate would be favorable to +their health. + +"After a long and dreary journey, the Indians reached Alabama. Rachael +had her youngest papoose strapped on to her back while John had cared +for the larger child, Lucy. Sometimes she had walked beside her father +but often she had become weary or sleepy and he had carried her many +miles of the journey, besides the weight of blankets and food. An older +daughter, Courtney, also accompanied her parents. + +"When they neared the cane lands they heard the songs of Negro slaves as +they toiled in the cane. Soon they were in sight of the slave quarters +of Patent George's plantation. The Negroes made the Indians welcome and +the slave dealer allowed them to occupy the cane house; thus the Indians +became slaves of Patent George. + +"Worn out from his long journey John Hawk became too ill to work in the +sugar cane. The kindly-disposed Negroes helped care for the sick man but +he lived only a few months. Rachel and her two children remained on the +plantation, working with the other slaves. She had nowhere to go. No +home to call her own. She had automatically become a slave. Her +children had become chattel. + +"So passed a year away, then unhappiness came to the Indian mother, for +her daughter, Courtney, became the mother of young Master Ford George's +child. The parents called the little half-breed "Eliza" and were very +fond of her. The widow of John Hawk became the mother of Patent George's +son, Patent Junior. + +"The tradition of the family states that in spite of these irregular +occurrences the people at the George's southern plantation were +prosperous, happy, and lived in peace each with the others. Patent +George wearied of the Southern climate and brought his slaves into +Kentucky where their ability and strength would amass a fortune for the +master in the iron ore regions of Kentucky. + +"With the wagon trains of Patent and Ford George came Rachel Hawk and +her daughters, Courtney, Lucy and Rachel. Rachel died on the journey +from Alabama but the remaining full blooded Indians entered Kentucky as +slaves. + +"The slave men soon became skilled workers in the Hillman Rolling Mills. +Mr. Trigg was owner of the vast iron works called the "Chimneys" in the +region, but listed as the Hillman, Dixon, Boyer, Kelley and Lyons +Furnaces. For more than a half century these chimneys smoked as the most +valuable development in the western area of Kentucky. Operated in 1810, +these furnaces had refined iron ore to supply the United States Navy +with cannon balls and grape shot, and the iron smelting industry +continued until after the close of the Civil War. + +"No slaves were beaten at the George's plantation and old Mistress +Hester Lam allowed no slave to be sold. She was a devoted friend to all. + +"As Eliza George, daughter of Ford George and Courtney Hawk, grew into +young womanhood the young master Ford George went oftener and oftener to +social functions. He was admired for his skill with firearms and for +his horsemanship. While Courtney and his child remained at the +plantation Ford enjoyed the companship of the beautiful women of the +vicinity. At last he brought home the beautiful Loraine, his young +bride. Courtney was stoical as only an Indian can be. She showed no hurt +but helped Mistress Hester and Mistress Loraine with the house work." + +Here George Fortman paused to let his blinded eyes look back into the +long ago. Then he again continued with his story of the dark trail. + +"Mistress Loraine became mother of two sons and a daughter and the big +white two-story house facing the Cumberland River at Smith Landing, +Kentucky, became a place of laughter and happy occasions, so my mother +told me many times. + +"Suddenly sorrow settled down over the home and the laughter turned into +wailing, for Ford George's body was found pierced through the heart and +the half-breed, Eliza, was nowhere to be found. + +"The young master's body lay in state many days. Friends and neighbors +came bringing flowers. His mother, bowed with grief, looked on the still +face of her son and understood--understood why death had come and why +Eliza had gone away. + +"The beautiful home on the Cumberland river with its more than 600 acres +of productive land was put into the hands of an administrator of estates +to be readjusted in the interest of the George heirs. It was only then +Mistress Hester went to Aunt Lucy and demanded of her to tell where +Eliza could be found. + +'She has gone to Alabama, Ole Mistus', said Aunt Lucy, 'Eliza was scared +to stay here.' A party of searchers were sent out to look for Eliza. +They found her secreted in a cane brake in the low lands of Alabama +nursing her baby boy at her breast. They took Eliza and the baby back to +Kentucky. I am that baby, that child of unsatisfactory birth." + +The face of George Fortman registered sorrow and pain, it had been hard +for him to retell the story of the dark road to strange ears. + +"My white uncles had told Mistress Hester that if Eliza brought me back +they were going to build a fire and put me in it, my birth was so +unsatisfactory to all of them, but Mistress Hester always did what she +believed was right and I was brought up by my own mother. + +"We lived in a cabin at the slave quarters and mother worked in the +broom cane. Mistress Hester named me Ford George, in derision, but +remained my friend. She was never angry with my mother. She knew a slave +had to submit to her master and besides Eliza did not know she was +Master Ford George's daughter." + +The truth had been told at last. The master was both the father of Eliza +and the father of Eliza's son. + +"Mistress Hester believed I would be feeble either in mind or body +because of my unsatisfactory birth, but I developed as other children +did and was well treated by Mistress Hester, Mistress Lorainne and her +children. + +"Master Patent George died and Mistress Hester married Mr. Lam, while +slaves kept working at the rolling mills and amassing greater wealth for +the George families. + +"Five years before the outbreak of the Civil War Mistress Hester called +all the slaves together and gave us our freedom. Courtney, my +grandmother, kept house for Mistress Lorainne and wanted to stay on, so +I too was kept at the George home. There was a sincere friendship as +great as the tie of blood between the white family and the slaves. My +mother married a negro ex-slave of Ford George and bore children for +him. Her health failed and when Mistress Puss, the only daughter of +Mistress Lorainne, learned she was ill she persuaded the Negro man to +sell his property and bring Eliza back to live with her." + +[TR: in following section the name George 'Fordman' is used twice.] + +"Why are you called George Fordman when your name is Ford George?" was +the question asked the old man. + +"Then the Freedsmen started teaching school in Kentucky the census taker +called to enlist me as a pupil. 'What do you call this child?' he asked +Mistress Lorainne. 'We call him the Little Captain because he carried +himself like a soldier,' said Mistress Lorainne. 'He is the son of my +husband and a slave woman but we are rearing him.' Mistress Lorainne +told the stranger that I had been named Ford George in derision and he +suggested she list me in the census as George Fordsman, which she did, +but she never allowed me to attend the Freedmen's School, desiring to +keep me with her own children and let me be taught at home. My mother's +half brother, Patent George allowed his name to be reversed to George +Patent when he enlisted in the Union Service at the outbreak of the +Civil War." + +Some customs prevalent in the earlier days were described by George +Fordman. "It was customary to conduct a funeral differently than it is +conducted now," he said. "I remember I was only six years old when old +Mistress Hester Lam passed on to her eternal rest. She was kept out of +her grave several days in order to allow time for the relatives, friends +and ex-slaves to be notified of her death. + +"The house and yard were full of grieving friends. Finally the lengthy +procession started to the graveyard. Within the George's parlors there +had been Bible passages read, prayers offered up and hymns sung, now the +casket was placed in a wagon drawn by two horses. The casket was covered +with flowers while the family and friends rode in ox carts, horse-drawn +wagons, horseback, and with still many on foot they made their way +towards the river. + +"When we reached the river there were many canoes busy putting the +people across, besides the ferry boat was in use to ferry vehicles over +the stream. The ex-slaves were crying and praying and telling how good +granny had been to all of them and explaining how they knew she had gone +straight to Heaven, because she was so kind--and a Christian. There were +not nearly enough boats to take the crowd across if they crossed back +and forth all day, so my mother, Eliza, improvised a boat or 'gunnel', +as the craft was called, by placing a wooden soap box on top of a long +pole, then she pulled off her shoes and, taking two of us small children +in her arms, she paddled with her feet and put us safely across the +stream. We crossed directly above Iaka, Livingston county, three miles +below Grand River. + +"At the burying ground a great crowd had assembled from the neighborhood +across the river and there were more songs and prayers and much weeping. +The casket was let down into the grave without the lid being put on and +everybody walked up and looked into the grave at the face of the dead +woman. They called it the 'last look' and everybody dropped flowers on +Mistress Hester as they passed by. A man then went down and nailed on +the lid and the earth was thrown in with shovels. The ex-slaves filled +in the grave, taking turns with the shovel. Some of the men had worked +at the smelting furnaces so long that their hands were twisted and +hardened from contact with the heat. Their shoulders were warped and +their bodies twisted but they were strong as iron men from their years +of toil. When the funeral was over mother put us across the river on the +gunnel and we went home, all missing Mistress Hester. + +"My cousin worked at Princeton, Kentucky, making shoes. He had never +been notified that he was free by the kind emancipation Mrs. Hester had +given to her slaves, and he came loaded with money to give to his white +folks. Mistress Lorainne told him it was his own money to keep or to +use, as he had been a free man several months. + +"As our people, white and black and Indians, sat talking they related +how they had been warned of approaching trouble. Jack said the dogs had +been howling around the place for many nights and that always presaged a +death in the family. Jack had been compelled to take off his shoes and +turn them soles up near the hearth to prevent the howling of the dogs. +Uncle Robert told how he believed some of Mistress Hester's enemies had +planted a shrub near her door and planted it with a curse so that when +the shrub bloomed the old woman passed away. Then another man told how a +friend had been seen carrying a spade into his cousin's cabin and the +cousin had said, 'Daniel, what foh you brung that weapon into by [TR: +my?] cabin? That very spade will dig my grave,' and sure enough the +cousin had died and the same spade had been used in digging his grave. + +"How my childish nature quailed at hearing the superstitions discussed, +I cannot explain. I have never believed in witchcraft nor spells, but I +remember my Indian grandmother predicted a long, cold winter when she +noticed the pelts of the coons and other furred creatures were +exceedingly heavy. When the breastbones of the fowls were strong and +hard to sever with the knife it was a sign of a hard, cold and snowy +winter. Another superstition was this: 'A green winter, a new +graveyard--a white winter, a green graveyard.'" + +George Fortman relates how, when he accompanied two of his cousins into +the lowlands--there were very many Katy-dids in the trees--their voices +formed a nerve-racking orchestra and his cousin told him to tiptoe to +the trees and touch each tree with the tips of his fingers. This he did, +and for the rest of the day there was quiet in the forest. + +"More than any other superstition entertained by the slave Negroes, the +most harmful was the belief on conjurors. One old Negro woman boiled a +bunch of leaves in an iron pot, boiled it with a curse and scattered the +tea therein brewed, and firmly believed she was bringing destruction to +her enemies. 'Wherever that tea is poured there will be toil and +troubles,' said the old woman. + +"The religion of many slaves was mostly superstition. They feared to +break the Sabbath, feared to violate any of the Commandments, believing +that the wrath of God would follow immediately, blasting their lives. + +"Things changed at the George homestead as they change everywhere," said +George Fortman. "When the Civil War broke out many slaves enlisted in +hopes of receiving freedom. The George Negroes were already free but +many thought it their duty to enlist and fight for the emancipation of +their fellow slaves. My mother took her family and moved away from the +plantation and worked in the broom cane. Soon she discovered she could +not make enough to rear her children and we were turned over to the +court to be bound out. + +"I was bound out to David Varnell in Livingston County by order of Judge +Busch and I stayed there until I was fifteen years of age. My sister +learned that I was unhappy there and wanted to see my mother, so she +influenced James Wilson to take me into his home. Soon goodhearted Jimmy +Wilson took me to see Mother and I went often to see her." + +Sometimes George would become stubborn and hard to control and then Mr. +Wilson administered chastisement. His wife could not bear to have the +boy punished. 'Don't hit him, Jimmie, don't kick him,' would say the +good Scotch woman, who was childless. 'If he does not obey me I will +whip him,' James Wilson would answer. So the boy learned the lesson of +obedience from the old couple and learned many lessons in thrift through +their examples. + +"In 1883 I left the Wilson home and began working and trying to save +some money. River trade was prosperous and I became a 'Roustabout'. The +life of the roustabout varied some with the habits of the roustabout and +the disposition of the mate. We played cards, shot dice and talked to +the girls who always met the boats. The 'Whistling Coon' was a popular +song with the boatmen and one version of 'Dixie Land'. One song we often +sang when near a port was worded 'Hear the trumpet Sound'-- + + Hear the trumpet sound, + Stand up and don't sit down, + Keep steppin' 'round and 'round, + Come jine this elegant band. + + If you don't step up and jine the bout, + Old Missus sure will fine it out, + She'll chop you in the head wid a golen ax, + You never will have to pay da tax, + Come jine the roust-a-bout band." + +From roust-a-bout George became a cabin boy, cook, pilot, and held a +number of positions on boats, plowing different streams. There was much +wild game to be had and the hunting season was always open. He also +remembers many wolves, wild turkeys, catamounts and deer in abundance +near the Grand River. "Pet deer loafed around the milking pens and ate +the feed from the mangers" said he. + +George Fortman is a professor of faith in Christ. He was baptized in +Concord Lake, seven miles from Clarksville, Tennessee, became a member +of the Pleasant Greene Church at Callwell, Kentucky and later a member +of the Liberty Baptist Church at Evansville. + +"I have always kept in touch with my white folks, the George family," +said the man, now feeble and blind. "Four years ago Mistress Puss died +and I was sent for but was not well enough to make the trip home." + +Too young to fight in the Civil War, George was among those who watched +the work go on. "I lived at Smiths Landing and remember the battle at +Fort Donnelson. It was twelve miles away and a long cinder walk reached +from the fort for nearly thirty miles. The cinders were brought from the +iron ore mills and my mother and I have walked the length of it many +times." Still reviewing the long, dark trail he continued. "Boatloads of +soldiers passed Smith's Landing by day and night and the reports of +cannon could be heard when battles were fought. We children collected +Munnie balls near the fort for a long time after the war." + +Although the George family never sold slaves or separated Negro +families, George Fortman has seen many boats loaded with slaves on the +way to slave marts. Some of the George Negroes were employed as pilots +on the boats. He also remembers slave sales where Negroes were auctioned +by auctioneers, the Negroes stripped of clothes to exhibit their +physique. + +"I have always been befriended by three races of people, the Caucassian, +the African, and the Negro," declares George Fortman. "I have worked as +a farmer, a river man, and been employed by the Illinois Central +Railroad Company and in every position I have held I have made loyal +friends of my fellow workmen." One friend, treasured in the memory of +the aged ex-slave is Ollie James, who once defended George in court. + +George Fortman has friends at Dauson Springs, Grayson Springs, and other +Kentucky resorts. He has been a citizen of Evansville for thirty-five +years and has had business connections here for sixty-two years. He +janitored for eleven years for the Lockyear Business College, but his +days of usefulness are over. He now occupies a room at Bellemeade Ave. +and Garvin St. and his only exercise consists of a stroll over to the +Lincoln High School. There he enjoys listening to the voices of the +pupils as they play about the campus. "They are free", he rejoices. +"They can build their own destinies, they did not arrive in this life by +births of unsatisfactory circumstances. They have the world before them +and my grandsons and granddaughters are among them." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +JOHN HENRY GIBSON--EX-SLAVE +Colton Street + + +John Henry Gibson was born a slave, many years ago, in Scott County, +N.C. + +His old master, John Henry Bidding, was a wealthy farmer; he also owned +the hotel, or rooming house. + +When court was in session the "higher ups" would come to this house, and +stay until the court affairs were settled. + +Mr. Bidding, who was very kind to his slaves, died when John Gibson was +very young. All slaves and other property passed on to the son, Joseph +Bidding, who in turn was as kind as his father had been. + +Gibson's father belonged to General Lee Gibson, who was a neighboring +farmer. He saw and met Miss Elizabeth Bidding's maid; they liked each +other so very much, Miss Elizabeth bought him from General Gibson, and +let him have her maid as his wife. The wife lived only a short time, +leaving a little boy. + +After the Civil war, a white man, by the name of Luster, was comming to +Ohio, brought John Gibson with him. They came to Indianapolis, and +Gibson liked it so well, he decided to remain; Mr. Luster told him if he +ever became dissatisfied to come on to Ohio to him, but he remained in +Indianapolis until 1872, then went back south, married, came back, and +made Indianapolis his home. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Gibson is very old, but does not know his exact age. He fought in +the Civil war, and said he could not be very young to have done that. + +His sight is very nearly gone, can only distinguish light and dark. + +He is very proud of his name, having been named for his old master. + +Submitted January 24, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Submitted by: +William Webb Tuttle +District No. 2 +Muncie, Indiana + +NEGRO SLAVES IN DELAWARE COUNTY +MRS. BETTY GUWN +MRS. HATTIE CASH, DAUGHTER, residing at 1101 East Second Street +Muncie, Indiana + + +Mrs. Betty Guwn was born March 25, 1832, as a slave on a tobacco +plantation, near Canton, Kentucky. It was a large plantation whose +second largest product was corn. She was married while quite young by +the slave method which was a form of union customary between the white +masters. If the contracting parties were of different plantations the +masters of the two estates bargained and the one sold his rights to the +one on whose plantation they would live. Her master bought her husband, +brought him and set them up a shack. Betty was the personal attendant of +the Mistress. The home was a large Colonial mansion and her duties were +many and responsible. However, when her house duties were caught up her +mistress sent her immediately to the fields. Discipline was quite stern +there and she was "lined up" with the others on several occasions. + +Her cabin home began to fill up with children, fifteen in all. The +ventilation was ample and the husband would shoot a prowling dog from +any of the four sides of the room without opening the door. The cracks +between the logs would be used by cats who could step in anywhere. The +slaves had "meetin'" some nights and her mistress would call her and +have her turn a tub against her mansion door to keep out the sound. + +Her master was very wealthy. He owned and managed a cotton farm of two +thousand acres down in Mississippi, not far from New Orleans. Once a +year he spent three months there gathering and marketing his cotton. +When he got ready to go there he would call all his slaves about him and +give them a chance to volunteer. They had heard awful tales of the slave +auction block at New Orleans, and the Master would solemnly promise +them that they should not be sold if they went down of their own accord. +"My Mistress called me to her and privately told me that when I was +asked that question I should say to him: "I will go". The Master had to +take much money with him and was afraid of robbers. The day they were to +start my Mistress took me into a private room and had me remove most of +my clothing; she then opened a strong box and took out a great roll of +money in bills; these she strapped to me in tight bundles, arranging +them around my waist in the circle of my body. She put plenty of +dresses over this belt and when she was through I wore a bustle of money +clear around my belt. I made a funny "figger" but no one noticed my odd +shape because I was a slave and no one expected a slave to "know +better". We always got through safely and I went down with my Mistress +every year. Of course my husband stayed at home to see after the family, +and took them to the fields when too young to work under the task +master, or over-seer. Three months was a long time to be separated." + +"When the Civil War came on there was great excitement among we slaves. +We were watched sharply, especially soldier timber for either army. My +husband ran away early and helped Grant to take Fort Donaldson. He said +he would free himself, which he did; but when we were finally set free +all our family prepared to leave. The Master begged us to stay and +offered us five pounds of meal and two pounds of pork jowl each week if +we would stay and work. We all went to Burgard, Kentucky, to live. At +that time I was about 34 years old. My husband has been dead a long time +and I live with my children. If the "Good Lord" spares me until next +March the 25th, I will be 106 years old. I walk all about lively without +crutches and eye-glasses and I have never been sick until this year when +a tooth gave me trouble; but I had it pulled." + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +Porter County--District #1 +Valparaiso, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +MRS. HOCKADAY +2581 Madison Street +Gary, Indiana + + +Mrs. Hockaday is the daughter of an ex-slave and like so many others +does not care to discuss the dark side of slavery and the cruel +treatment that some of them received. + +After the Civil War the slaves who for the most part were unskilled and +ignorant, found it very difficult to adjust themselves to their new life +as free persons. Formerly, they lived on the land of their masters and +although compelled to work long hours, their food and lodging were +provided for them. After their emancipation, this life was changed. They +were free and had to think for themselves and make a living. Times for +the negro then was much the same as during the depression. Several of +the slaves started out to secure jobs, but all found it difficult to +adjust themselves to the new life and difficult to secure employment. +Many came back to their old owners and many were afraid to leave and +continued on much as before. + +The north set up stores or relief stations where the negro who was +unable to secure employment could obtain food and shelter. Mrs. Hockaday +says it was the same as conditions have been the last few years. + +About all the negro was skilled at was servant work and when they came +north, they encountered the same difficulties as several of the colored +folks who, driven by the terrible living conditions in the south four +years ago, came to Gary. Arriving here they believed they were capable +of servant work. However they were not accustomed to modern appliances +and found it very difficult to adjust themselves. It was the same after +the Emancipation. + +Many owners were kind and religious and had schools for their slaves, +where they could learn to read and write. These slaves were more +successful in securing employment. + +Although the negro loved the Bible most of all books, and were mostly +Methodists and Baptists, their different religious beliefs is caused by +the slave owners having churches for the slaves. Whatever church the +master belonged to, the slaves belonged to, and continued in the same +church after the war. + +Since slaves took the name of their owners, children in the same family +would have different names. Mr. Hockaday's father and his brothers and +sisters all had different names. On the plantation they were called +"Jones' Jim," "Brown's Jones," etc. Many on being freed left their old +homes and adopted any name that they took a fancy to. One slave that +Mrs. Hockaday remembers took the name of Green Johnson and says he often +remarked that he surely was green to adopt such a name. His grandson in +Gary is an exact double for Clark Gable, except he is brown, and Gable +is white. + +Many slave owners gave their slaves small tracts of land which they +could tend after working hours. Anything raised belonged to them and +they could even sell the products and the money was theirs. Many slaves +were able to save enough from these tracts to purchase their freedom +long before the Emancipation. + +Another condition that confronted the negro in the north was that they +were not understood like they were by the southern people. In the south +they were trusted and considered trustworthy by their owners. Even +during the Civil War, they were trusted with the family jewels, silver, +etc., when the northern army came marching by, whereas in the north, +even though they freed the slaves, they would not trust them. For that +reason, many of the slaves did not like the northern people and remained +or returned to the southern plantations. + +The slave owners thought that slavery was right and nothing was wrong +about selling and buying human beings if they were colored, much as a +person would purchase a horse or automobile today. The owners who +whipped their slaves usually stripped them to the waist and lashed them +with a long leather whip, commonly called a blacksnake. + +Mrs. Hockaday is a large, pleasant, middle-aged woman and does not like +to discuss the cruel side of slavery and only recalls in a general way +what she had heard old slaves discuss. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +ROBERT HOWARD--EX-SLAVE +1840 Boulevard Place + + +Robert Howard, an ex-slave, was born in 1852, in Clara County, Kentucky. + +His master, Chelton Howard, was very kind to him. + +The mother, with her five children, lived on the Howard farm in peace +and harmony. + +His father, Beverly Howard, was owned by Bill Anderson, who kept a +saloon on the river front. + +Beverly was "hired out" in the house of Bill Anderson. He was allowed to +go to the Howard farm every Saturday night to visit with his wife and +children. This visit was always looked forward to with great joy, as +they were devoted to the father. + +The Howard family was sold only once, being owned first by Dr. Page in +Henry County, Kentucky. The family was not separated; the entire family +was bought and kept together until slavery was abolished. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Howard seems to be a very kind old man, lives in the house for aged +colored people (The Alpha Home). + +He has no relatives, except a brother. He seems well satisfied living in +the home. + +Submitted January 10, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Grace Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +MR. MATTHEW HUME, A FORMER SLAVE + + +Mr. Hume had many interesting experiences to tell concerning the part +slavery had played in his family. On the whole they were fortunate in +having a good master who would not keep an overseer who whipped his +"blacks". + +His father, Luke Hume, lived in Trimble County Kentucky and was allowed +to raise for himself one acre of tobacco, one acre of corn, garden +stuff, chickens and have the milk and butter from one cow. He was +advised to save his money by the overseer, but always drank it up. On +this plantation all the slaves were free from Saturday noon until Monday +morning and on Christmas and the Fourth of July. A majority of them +would go to Bedford or Milton and drink, gamble and fight. On the +neighboring farm the slaves were treated cruelly. Mr. Hume had a +brother-in-law, Steve Lewis, who carried marks on his back. For years he +had a sore that would not heal where his master had struck him with a +blacksnake whip. + +Three good overseers were Jake Mack and Mr. Crafton, Mr. Daniel Payne +was the owner who asked his people to report any mistreatment to him. He +expected obedience however. + +When Mr. Hume was a small boy he was placed in the fields to hoe. He +also wanted a new implement. He was so small he was unable to keep near +enough to the men and boys to hear what they were talking about, he +remembered bringing up the rear one day, when he saw a large rock he +carefully covered it with dirt, then came down hard on it breaking his +hoe. He missed a whipping and received a new tool to replace the old +one, after this he could keep near enough to hear what the other workers +were talking about. + +Another of his duties was to go for the cattle, he had to walk around +the road about a mile, but was permitted to come back through the fields +about a quarter of a mile. One afternoon his mistress told him to bring +a load of wood when he came in. In the summer it was the custom to have +the children carry the wood from the fields. When he came up he saw his +mistress was angry this peeved him, so that he stalked into the hall and +slammed his wood into the box. About this time his mistress shoved him +into a small closet and locked the door. He made such a howl that he +brought his mother and father to the rescue and was soon released from +his prison. + +As soon as the children were old enough they were placed in the fields +to prepare the ground for setting tobacco plants. This was a very +complicated procedure. The ground was made into hills, each requiring +about four feet of soil. The child had to get all the clods broken fine. +Then place his foot in the center and leave his track. The plants were +to be set out in the center and woe to the youngster who had failed to +pulverize his hill. After one plowing the tobacco was hand tended. It +was long green and divided into two grades. It was pressed by being +placed in large hogsheads and weighted down. On one occasion they were +told their tobacco was so eaten up that the worms were sitting on the +fence waiting for the leaves to grow but nevertheless in some manner his +master hid the defects and received the best price paid in the +community. + +The mistress on a neighboring plantation was a devout Catholic, and had +all the children come each Sunday after-noon to study the catechism and +repeat the Lord's Prayer. She was not very successful in training them +in the Catholic faith as when they grew up most of them were either +Baptists or Methodists. Mr. Hume said she did a lot of good in leading +them to Christ but he did not learn much of the catechism as he only +attended for the treat. After the service they always had candy or a cup +of sugar. + +On the Preston place there was a big strapping negro of eighteen whom +the overseer attempted to whip receiving the worst of it. He then went +to Mr. Hume's owner and asked for help but was told he would have to +seek elsewhere for help. Finally some one was found to assist. Smith was +tied to a tree and severely beaten, then they were afraid to untie him, +when the overseer finally ventured up and loosened the ropes, Smith +kicked him as hard as he could and ran to the Payne estate refusing to +return. He was a good helper here where he received kind treatment. + +A bad overseer was discharged once by Mr. Payne because of his cruelty +to Mr. Luke Hume. The corncrib was a tiny affair where a man had to +climb out one leg at a time, one morning just as Mr. Hume's father was +climbing out with his feed, he was struck over the head with a large +club, the next morning he broke the scoop off an iron shovel and +fastened the iron handle to his body. This time he swung himself from +the door of the crib and seeing the overseer hiding to strik him he +threw his bar, which made a wound on the man's head which did not knock +him out. As soon as Mr. Payne heard of the disturbance the overseer was +discharged and Mr. Mack placed in charge of the slaves. + +One way of exacting obedience was to threaten to send offenders South to +work in the fields. The slaves around Lexington, Kentucky, came out +ahead on one occasion. The collector was Shrader. He had the slaves +handcuffed to a large leg chain and forced on a flat boat. There were +so many that the boat was grounded, so some of the slaves were released +to push the boat off. Among the "blacks" was one who could read and +write. Before Shrader could chain them up again, he was seized and +chained, taken to below Memphis Tennessee and forced to work in the +cotton fields until he was able to get word from Richmond identifying +him. In the meantime the educated negro issued freedom papers to his +companions. Many of them came back to Lexington, Kentucky where they +were employed. + +Mr. Hume thought the Emancipation Proclamation was the greatest work +that Abraham Lincoln ever did. The colored people on his plantation did +not learn of it until the following August. Then Mr. Payne and his sons +offered to let them live on their ground with conditions similar to our +renting system, giving a share of the crop. They remained here until +Jan. 1, 1865 when they crossed the Ohio at Madison. They had a cow which +had been given them before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued but +this was taken away from them. So they came to Ind. homeless, friendless +and penniless. + +Mr. Hume and his aged wife have been married 62 years and resided in the +same community for 55 years where they are highly respected by all their +neighbors. + +He could not understand the attitude of his race who preferred to remain +in slavery receiving only food and shelter, rather than to be free +citizens where they could have the right to develop their individualism. + + + + +Virginia Tulley +District #2 +Fort Wayne, Indiana + +EX-SLAVE OF ALLEN COUNTY +[MRS. HENRIETTA JACKSON] + +References: +A. Ft. Wayne News Sentinel November 21, 1931 +B. Personal interview +[TR: There are no 'A' and 'B' annotations in the interview.] + + +Mrs. Henrietta Jackson, Fort Wayne resident, is distinguished for two +reasons; she is a centennarian and an ex-slave. Residing with her +daughter, Mrs. Jackson is very active and helps her daughter, who +operates a restaurant, do some of the lighter work. At the time I +called, an August afternoon of over 90 degrees temperature, Mrs. +Jackson was busy sweeping the floor. A little, rather stooped, shrunken +body, Mrs. Jackson gets around slowly but without the aid of a cane or +support of any kind. She wears a long dark cotton dress with a bandana +on her head with is now quite gray. Her skin is walnut brown her eyes +peering brightly through the wrinkles. She is intelligent, alert, +cordial, very much interested in all that goes on about her. + +Just how old Mrs. Jackson is, she herself doesn't know, but she thinks +she is about 105 years old. She looks much younger. Her youngest child +is 73 and she had nine, two of whom were twins. Born a slave in +Virginia, record of her birth was kept by the master. She cannot +remember her father as he was soon sold after Mrs. Jackson's death [TR: +birth?]. When still a child she was taken from her mother and sold. She +remembers the auction block and that she brought a good price as she was +strong and healthy. Her new master, Tom Robinson, treated her well and +never beat her. At first she was a plough hand, working in the cotton +fields, but then she was taken into the house to be a maid. While there +the Civil War broke out. Mrs. Jackson remembers the excitement and the +coming and going. Gradually the family lost its wealth, the home was +broken up. Everything was destroyed by the armies. Then came freedom for +the slaves. But Mrs. Jackson stayed on with the master for awhile. After +leaving she went to Alabama where she obtained work in a laundry +"ironing white folks' collars and cuffs." Then she got married and in +1917 she came to live with her daughter in Fort Wayne. Her husband, Levy +Jackson, has been dead 50 years. Of her children, only two are left. +Mrs. Jackson is sometimes very lonesome for her old home in "Alabamy", +where her friends lived, but for the most part, she is happy and +contented. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. LIZZIE JOHNSON +706 North Senate Avenue, Apt. 1 + + +Mrs. Johnson's father, Arthur Locklear, was born in Wilmington, N.C. in +1822. He lived in the South and endured many hardships until 1852. He +was very fortunate in having a white man befriend him in many ways. This +man taught him to read and write. Many nights after a hard days work, he +would lie on the floor in front of the fireplace, trying to study by the +light from the blazing wood, so he might improve his reading and +writing. + +He married very young, and as his family increased, he became ambitious +for them. Knowing their future would be very dark if they remained +South. + +He then started a movement to come north. There were about twenty-six or +twenty-eight men and women, who had the same thoughts about their +children, banded together, and in 1852 they started for somewhere, +North. + +The people selected, had to be loyal to the cause of their children's +future lives, morally clean, truthful, and hard-working. + +Some had oxen, some had carts. They pooled all of their scant +belongings, and started on their long hard journey. + +The women and children rode in the ox-carts, the men walked. They would +travel a few days, then stop on the roadside to rest. The women would +wash their few clothes, cook enough food to last a few days more, then +they would start out again. They were six weeks making the trip. + +Some settled in Madison, Indiana. Two brothers and their families went +on to Ohio, and the rest came to Indianapolis. + +John Scott, one of their number was a hod carrier. He earned $2.50 a +day, knowing that would not accumulate fast enough, he was strong and +thrifty. After he had worked hard all day, he would spend his evenings +putting new bottoms in chairs, and knitting gloves for anyone who wanted +that kind of work. In the summer he made a garden, sold his vegetables. +He worked very hard, day and night, and was able to save some money. + +He could not read or write, but he taught his children the value of +truthfulness, cleanliness of mind and body, loyalty, and thrift. The +father and his sons all worked together and bought some ground, built a +little house where the family lived many years. + +Before old Mr. Scott died, he had saved enough money to give each son +$200.00. His bank was tin cans hidden around in his house. + +Will Scott, the artist, is a grandson of this John Scott. + +The thing these early settlers wanted most, was for their children to +learn to read and write. So many of them had been caught trying to learn +to write, and had had their thumbs mashed, so they would not be able to +hold a pencil. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Johnson is a very interesting old woman and remembers so well the +things her parents told her. She deplores the "loose living," as she +calls it of this generation. + +She is very deliberate, but seems very sure of the story of her early +life. + +Submitted December 9, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District No. 5. +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +THE STORY OF BETTY JONES +429 Oak Street, Evansville, Ind. + + +From an Interview with Elizabeth Jones at 429 Oak Street, Evansville, +Ind. + +"Yes Honey, I was a slave, I was born at Henderson, Kentucky and my +mother was born there. We belonged to old Mars John Alvis. Our home was +on Alvis's Hill and a long plank walk had been built from the bank of +the Ohio river to the Alvis home. We all liked the long plank walk and +the big house on top of the hill was a pretty place." + +Betty Jones said her master was a rich man and had made his money by +raising and selling slaves. She only recalls two house servants were +mulatoes. All the other slaves were black as they could be. + +Betty Alvis lived with her parents in a cabin near her master's home on +the hill. She recalls no unkind treatment. "Our only sorrow was when a +crowd of our slave friends would be sold off, then the mothers, +brothers, sisters, and friends always cried a lot and we children would +grieve to see the grief of our parents." + +The mother of Betty was a slave of John Alvis and married a slave of her +master. The family lived at the slave quarters and were never parted. +"Mother kept us all together until we got set free after the war," +declares Betty. Many of the Alvis negroes decided to make their homes at +Henderson, Kentucky. "It was a nice town and work was plentiful." + +Betty Alvis was brought to Evansville by her parents. The climate did +not agree with the mother so she went to Princeton, Kentucky to live +with her married daughter and died there. + +Betty Alvis married John R. Jones, a native of Tennessee, a former slave +of John Jones, a Tennessee planter. He died twelve years ago. + +Betty Jones recalls when Evansville was a small town. She remembers when +the street cars were mule drawn and people rode on them for pleasure. +"When boats came in at Evansville, all the girls used to go down to the +bank, wearing pretty ruffled dresses and every body would wave to the +boat men and stay down at the river's edge until the boat was out of +sight." Betty Jones remembers when the new Court House was started and +how glad the men of the city were to erect the nice building. She +recalls when the old frame buildings used for church services were razed +and new structures were erected in which to worship God. She does not +believe in evil spirits, ghosts nor charms as do many former slaves, but +she remembers hearing her friends express superstitions concerning black +cats. It was also a belief that to build a new kitchen onto your old +home was always followed by the death of a member of the immediate +family and if a bird flew into a window it had come to bring a call to +the far away land and some member of the family would die. + +Betty Jones was not scared when the recent flood came to within a block +of her door. She had lived through a flood while living at Lawrence +Station at Marion County, Indiana. "We was all marooned in our homes for +two weeks and all the food we had was brought to our door by boats. +White river was flooded then and our home was in the White River Flats." +"What God wills must happen to us, and we do not save ourselves by +trying to run away. Just as well stay and face it as to try to get +away." + +The old negro woman is cared for by her unmarried daughter since her +husband's death. The old woman is lonely and was happy to recieve a +caller. She is alone much of the time as her daughter is compelled to do +house work to provide for her mother and herself. "Of course I'm a +Christian," said the aged negress. "I'm a religious woman and hope to +meet my friends in Heaven." "I would like to go back to Henderson, +Kentucky once more, for I have not been there for more than twenty +years. I'd live to walk the old plank walk again up to Mr. Alvis' home +but I'm afraid I'll never get to go. It costs too much." + +So desire remains with the aged and memories remain to comfort the +feeble. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +NATHAN JONES--EX-SLAVE +409 Blake Street + + +Nathan Jones was born in Gibson County, Tennessee in 1858, the son of +Caroline Powell, one of Parker Crimm's slaves. + +Master Crimm was very abusive and cruel to his slaves. He would beat +them for any little offense. He took pleasure in taking little children +from their mothers and selling them, sending them as far away as +possible. + +Nathan's stepfather, Willis Jones, was a very strong man, a very good +worker, and knew just enough to be resentful of his master's cruel +treatment, decided to run away, living in the woods for days. His master +sent out searchers for him, who always came in without him. The day of +the sale, Willis made his appearance and was the first slave to be put +on the block. + +His new master, a Mr. Jones of Tipton, Tennessee, was very kind to him. +He said it was a real pleasure to work for Mr. Jones as he had such a +kind heart and respected his slaves. + +Nathan remembers seeing slaves, both men and women, with their hands and +feet staked to the ground, their faces down, giving them no chance to +resist the overseers, whipped with cow hides until the blood gushed from +their backs. "A very cruel way to treat human beings." + +Nathan married very young, worked very hard, started buying a small +orchard, but was "figgered" out of it, and lost all he had put into it. +He then went to Missouri, stayed there until the death of his wife. He +then came to Indiana, bringing his six children with him. + +Forty-five years ago he married the second time; to that union were four +children. He is very proud of his ten children and one stepchild. + +His children have all been very helpful to him until times "got bad" +with them, and could barely exist themselves. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. and Mrs. Jones room with a family by the name of James; they have a +comfortable, clean room and are content. + +They are both members of the Free Will Baptist Church; get the old age +pension, and "do very well." + +Submitted December 15, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Albert Strope, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +St. Joseph County--District #1 +Mishawaka, Indiana + +ADELINE ROSE LENNOX--EX-SLAVE +1400 South Sixth Street, Elkhart, Indiana + + +Adeline Rose Lennox was born of slave parents at Middle--sometimes known +as Paris--Tennessee, October 25, 1849. She lived with her parents in +slave quarters on the plantation of a Mr. Rose for whom her parents +worked. These quarters were log houses, a distance from the master's +mansion. + +At the age of seven years, Adeline was taken from her parents to work at +the home of a son of Mr. Rose who had recently been married. She +remembers well being taken away, for she said she cried, but her new +mistress said she was going to have a new home so she had to go with +her. + +At the age of fourteen years she did the work of a man in the field, +driving a team, plowing, harrowing and seeding. "We all thought a great +deal of Mr. Rose," said Mrs. Lennox, "for he was good to us." She said +that they were well fed, having plenty of corn, peas, beans, and pork to +eat, more pork then than now. + +As Adeline Rose, the subject of this sketch was married to Mr. Steward, +after she was given her freedom at the close of the Civil War. At this +time she was living with her parents who stayed with Mr. Rose for about +five years after the war. To the Steward family was born one son, +Johnny. Mr. Steward died early in life, and his widow married a second +time, this time [HW: to] one George Lennox whose name she now bears. + +Johnny married young and died young, leaving her alone in the world with +the exception of her daughter-in-law. After her second husband's death, +she remained near Middle, Tennessee, until 1924, when she removed to +Elkhart to spend the remainder of her life living with her +daughter-in-law, who had remarried and is now living at 1400 South Sixth +Street, Elkhart, Indiana. + +In the neighborhood she is known only as "Granny." While I was having +this interview, a colored lady passed and this conversation followed: + +"Good morning Granny, how are you this morning?" + +"Only tolerable, thank you," replied Granny. + +The health of Mrs. Lennox has been failing for the past three years but +she gets around quite well for a lady who will be eight-eight years old +the twenty-fifth day of this October. She gets an old age pension of +about thirteen dollars per month. + +A peculiar thing about Mrs. Lennox's life is that she says that she +never knew that she was a slave until she was set free. Her mistress +then told her that she was free and could go back to her father's home +which she did rather reluctantly. + +Mrs. Lennox smokes, enjoys corn bread and boiled potatoes as food, but +does not enjoy automobiles as "they are too bumpy and they gather too +much air," she says. "I do not eat sweets," she remarks "my one ambition +in life is to live so that I may claim Heaven as my home when I die." + +There is a newspaper picture in the office along with an article +published by the Elkhart Truth. This is being sent to Indianapolis +today. + + + + +Submitted by: +Estella R. Dodson +District #11 +Monroe County +Bloomington, Ind. +October 4, 1937 + +INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS LEWIS, COLORED +North Summit Street, Bloomington, Ind. + + +I was born in Spencer County, Kentucky, in 1857. I was born a slave. +There was slavery all around on all the adjoining places. I was seven +years old when I was set free. My father was killed in the Northern +army. My mother, step-father and my mother's four living children came +to Indiana when I was twelve years old. My grandfather was set free and +given a little place of about sixteen acres. A gang of white men went to +my grandmother's place and ordered the colored people out to work. The +colored people had worked before for white men, on shares. When the +wheat was all in and the corn laid by, the white farmers would tell the +colored people to get out, and would give them nothing. The colored +people did not want to work that way, and refused. This was the cause of +the raids by white farmers. My mother recognized one of the men in the +gang and reported him to the standing soldiers in Louisville. He was +caught and made to tell who the others were until they had 360 men. All +were fined and none allowed to leave until all the fines were paid. So +the rich ones had to pay for the poor ones. Many of them left because +all were made responsible if such an event ever occurred again. + +Our family left because we did not want to work that way. I was hired +out to a family for $20 a year. I was sent for. My mother put herself +under the protection of the police until we could get away. We came in a +wagon from our home to Louisville. I was anxious to see Louisville, and +thought it was very wonderful. I wanted to stay there, but we came on +across the Ohio River on a ferry boat and stayed all night in New +Albany. Next morning the wagon returned home and we came to Bloomington +on the train. It took us from 9 o'clock until three in the evening to +get here. There were big slabs of wood on the sides of the track to hold +the rails together. Strips of iron were bolted to the rails on the +inside to brace them apart. There were no wires at the joints of the +rails to carry electricity, as we have now, for there was no electricity +in those days. + +I have lived in Bloomington ever since I came here. I met a family named +Dorsett after I came here. They came from Jefferson County, Kentucky. +Two of their daughters had been sold before the war. After the war, when +the black people were free, the daughters heard some way that their +people were in Bloomington. It was a happy time when they met their +parents. + +Once when I was a little boy, I was sitting on the fence while my mother +plowed to get the field ready to put in wheat. The white man who owned +her was plowing too. Some Yankee soldiers on horses came along. One rode +up to the fence and when my mother came to the end of the furrow, he +said to her, "Lady, could you tell me where Jim Downs' still house is?" +My mother started to answer, but the man who owned her told her to move +on. The soldiers told him to keep quiet, or they would make him sorry. +After he went away, my mother told the soldiers where the house was. The +reason her master did not want her to tell where the house was, was that +some of his Rebel friends were hiding there. Spies had reported them to +the Yankee soldiers. They went to the house and captured the Rebels. + +Next soldiers came walking. I had no cap. One soldier asked me why I +did not wear a cap. I said I had no cap. The soldier said, "You tell +your mistress I said to buy you a cap or I'll come back and kill the +whole family." They bought me a cap, the first one I ever had. + +The soldiers passed for three days and a half. They were getting ready +for a battle. The battle was close. We could hear the cannon. After it +was over, a white man went to the battle field. He said that for a mile +and a half one could walk on dead men and dead horses. My mother wanted +to go and see it, but they wouldn't let her, for it was too awful. + +I don't know what town we were near. The only town I know about had only +about four or five houses and a mill. I think the name was Fairfield. +That may not be the name, and the town may not be there any more. Once +they sent my mother there in the forenoon. She saw a flash, and +something hit a big barn. The timbers flew every way, and I suppose +killed men and horses that were in the barn. There were Rebels hidden in +the barn and in the houses, and a Yankee spy had found out where they +were. They bombed the barn and surrounded the town. No one was able to +leave. The Yankees came and captured the Rebels. + +I had a cousin named Jerry. Just a little while before the barn was +struck a white man asked Jerry how he would like to be free. Jerry said +that he would like it all right. The white men took him into the barn +and were going to put him over a barrel and beat him half to death. Just +as they were about ready to beat him, the bomb struck the barn and Jerry +escaped. The man who owned us said for us to say that we were well +enough off, and did not care to be free, just to avoid beatings. There +was no such thing as being good to slaves. Many people were better than +others, but a slave belonged to his master and there was no way to get +out of it. A strong man was hard to make work. He would fight so that +the white men trying to hold him would be breathless. Then there was +nothing to do but kill him. If a slave resisted, and his master killed +him, it was the same as self-defense today. If a cruel master whipped a +slave to death, it put the fear into the other slaves. The brother of +the man who owned my mother had many black people. He was too mean to +live, but he made it. Once he was threshing wheat with a 'ground-hog' +threshing machine, run by horse power. He called to a woman slave. She +did not hear him because of the noise of the machine, and did not +answer. He leaped off the machine to whip her. He caught his foot in +some cogs and injured it so that it had to be taken off. + +They tell me that today there is a place where there is a high fence. +If someone gets near, he can hear the cries of the spirits of black +people who were beaten to death. It is kept secret so that people won't +find it out. Such places are always fenced to keep them secret. Once a +man was out with a friend, hunting. The dog chased something back of a +high fence. One man started to go in. The other said, "What are you +going to do?" The other one said, "I want to see what the dog chased +back in there." His friend told him, "You'd better stay out of there. +That place is haunted by spirits of black people who were beaten to +death." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. SARAH H. LOCKE--DAUGHTER [of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor] + + +Mrs. Locke, the daughter of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor, was born in +Woodford County, Kentucky in 1859. She went over her early days with +great interest. + +Jacob Keephart, her master, was very kind to his slaves, would never +sell them to "nigger traders." His family was very large, so they bought +and sold their slaves within the families and neighbors. + +Mrs. Locke's father, brothers, and grandmother belonged to the same +master in Henry County, Kentucky. Her mother and the two sisters +belonged to another branch of the Keephart family, about seven miles +away. + +Her father came to see her mother on Wednesday and Saturday nights. They +would have big dinners on these nights in their cabin. + +Her father cradled all the grain for the neighborhood. He was a very +high tempered man and would do no work when angry; therefore, every +effort was made to keep him in a good humor when the work was heavy. + +Her mother died when the children were very young. Sarah was given to +the Keephart daughter as a wedding present and taken to her new home. +She was always treated like the others in the family. + +After the abolition of slavery, Mr Keephart gave Wm. a horse and rations +to last for six months, so the children would not starve. + +Charles and Lydia French, fellow workers with the Taylors, went to +Cincinnatti and in 1867 sent for the Mrs. Locke and her sister, so they +could go to school, as there were no schools in Kentucky then. The girls +stayed one year with the French family; that is the longest time they +ever went to school. After that, they would go to school for three +months at different times. Mrs. Locke reads and writes very well. + +The master worked right along with the slaves, shearing the sheep. + +The women milk ten or twelve cows and knit a whole sock in one day. They +also wove the material for their dresses; it was called "linsey." + +She remembers one night the slaves were having a dance in one of the +cabins, a band of Ku Kluxers came, took all firearms they could find, +but no one was hurt, all wondered why, however, it did not take long for +them to find out why. Another night when the Kluxers were riding, the +slaves recognised the voice of their young master. That was the reason +why the Keephart slaves were never molested. + +Christmas was a jolly time for the Keephart slaves. They would have a +whole week to celebrate, eating, dancing, and making merry. + +"Free born niggers" were not allowed to associate with the slaves, as +they were supposed to have no sense, and would contaminate the slaves. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Locke is an intelligent old lady, has been a good dressmaker, and +served for a great number of the "first families" of Indianapolis. + +She has been married twice; her first husband died shortly after their +marriage, and she was a widow for twenty-five years before she took her +second "venture." + +She gets the old age pension and is very happy. + +Submitted December 17, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +ROBERT MCKINLEY--EX-SLAVE +1664 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Robert McKinley was born in Stanley County, N.C., in 1849, a slave of +Arnold Parker. + +His master was a very cruel man, but was always kind to him, because he +had given him (Bob) as a present to his favorite daughter, Jane Alice, +and she would never permit anyone to mistreat Bob. + +Miss Jane Alice was very fond of little Bob, and taught him to read and +write. + +His master owned a large farm, but Jane Alice would not let little Bob +work on the farm. Instead, he helped his master in the blacksmith shop. + +His master always prepared himself to whip his slaves by drinking a +large glass of whiskey to give him strength to beat his slaves. + +Robert remembers seeing his master beat his mother until she would fall +to the ground, and he was helpless to protect her. He would just have to +stand and watch. + +He has seen slaves tied to trees and beaten until the master could beat +no longer; then he would salt and pepper their backs. + +Once when the Confederate soldiers came to their farm, Robert told them +where the liquor was kept and where the stock had been hidden. For this +the soldiers gave him a handful of money, but it did him no good for his +master took it away from him. + +The McKinley family, of course, were Parkers and after the Civil war, +they took the name of their father who was a slave of John McKinley. + +A neighbor farmer, Jesse Hayden, was very kind to his slaves, gave them +anything they wanted to eat, because he said they had worked hard, and +made it possible for him to have all he had, and it was part theirs. + + +The Parker slaves were not allowed to associate with the Hayden slaves. +They were known as the "rich niggers, who could eat meat without +stealing it." + +When the "nigger traders" came to the Parker farm, the old mistress +would take meat skins and grease the mouths of the slave children to +make it appear she had given them meat to eat. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. McKinley is an "herb doctor" and lives very poorly in a dirty little +house; he was very glad to tell of his early life. + +He thinks people live too fast these days, and don't remember there is a +stopping place. + +Submitted January 10, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +RICHARD MILLER--AN OLD SOLDIER +1109 North West Street + + +Richard Miller was born January 12, 1843 in Danville, Kentucky. His +mother was an English subject, born in Bombay, India and was brought +into America by a group of people who did not want to be under the +English government. They landed in Canada, came on to Detroit, stayed +there a short time, then went to Danville, Kentucky. There she married a +slave named Miller. They were the parents of five children. + +After slavery was abolished, they bought a little farm a few miles from +Danville, Kentucky. + +The mother was very ambitious for her children, and sent them to the +country school. + +One day, when the children came home from school, their mother was gone; +they knew not where. + +It was learned, she was sending her children to school, and that was not +wanted. She was taken to Texas, and nothing, was heard from her until +1871. + +She wrote her brother she was comming to see them, and try to find her +children, if any of them were left. + +The boy, Richard, was in the army. He was so anxious to see his mother, +to see what she would look like. The last time he saw her, she was +washing clothes at the branch, and was wearing a blue cotton dress. All +he could remember about her was her beautiful black hair, and the cotton +dress. When he saw her, he didnot recognize her, but she told him of +things he could remember that had happened, and that made him think she +was his mother. + +Richard was told who had taken the mother from the children, went to the +man, shot and killed him; nothing was done to him for his deed. + +He remembers a slave by the name of Brown, in Texas, who was chained +hand and feet to a woodpile, oil thrown over him, and the wood, then +fire set to the wood, and he was burned to death. + +After the fire smoldered down, the white women and children took his +ashes for souvenirs. + +When slavery was abolished, a group of them started down to the far +south, to buy farms, to try for themselves, got as far as Madison +County, Kentucky and were told if they went any farther south, they +would be made slaves again, not knowing if that was the truth or not, +they stayed there, and worked on the Madison County farms for a very +small wage. This separated families, and they never heard from each +other ever again. + +These separations are the cause of so many of the slave race not being +able to trace families back for generations, as do the white families. + +George Band was a very powerful slave, always ready to fight, never +losing a fight, always able to defend himself until one night a band of +Ku Kluxers came to his house, took his wife, hung her to a tree, hacked +her to death with knives. Then went to the house, got George, took him +to see what they had done to his wife. He asked them to let him go back +to the house to get something to wrap his wife in, thinking he was +sincere in his request, they allowed him to go. Instead of getting a +wrapping for his wife, he got his Winchester rifle, shot and killed +fourteen of the Kluxers. The county was never bothered with the Klan +again. However, George left immediately for the North. + +The first Monday of the month was sale day. The slaves were chained +together and sent down in Miss., often separating mothers from children, +husbands from wives, never to hear of each other again. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Miller lives with his family in a very comfortable home. + +He has only one eye, wears a patch over the bad one. + +He does not like to talk of his early life as he said it was such a +"nightmare" to him; however he answered all questions very pleasantly. + +Submitted December 9, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +William R. Mays +District 4 +Johnson County + +HENRY CLAY MOORMAN +BORN IN SLAVERY IN KENTUCKY +427 W. King St., Franklin, Ind. + + +Henry Clay Moorman has resided in Franklin 34 years, he was born Oct. 1, +1854 in slavery on the Moorman plantation in Breckenridge County, +Kentucky. + +Mr. Moorman relates his own personal experiences as well as those handed +down from his mother. He was a boy about 12 years old when freedom was +declared. His father's name was Dorah Moorman who was a cooper by trade, +and had a wife and seven children. They belonged to James Moorman, who +owned about 20 slaves, he was kind to his slaves and never whipped any +of them. These slaves loved their master and was as loyal to him as his +own family. + +Mr. Moorman says that when a boy he did small jobs around the plantation +such as tobacco planting and going to the mill. One day he was placed +upon a horse with a sack of grain containing about two bushels, after +the sack of grain was balanced upon the back of the horse he was started +to the mill which was a distance of about five miles, when about half +the distance of the journey the sack of grain became unbalanced and fell +from the horse being too small to lift the sack of grain he could only +cry over the misfortune. There he was, powerless to do any thing about +it. After about two hours there was a white man riding by and seeing the +predicament he was in kindly lifted the sack up on the horse and after +ascertaining his master's name bade him to continue to the mill. It was +the custom at the mill that each await their turn, and do their own +grinding. After the miller had taken his toll, he returned to his master +and told of his experience. Thereafter precautions were taken so he +would not again have the same experience. + +The slave owners had so poisoned the minds of the slaves, they were in +constant fear of the soldiers. One day when the slaves were alone at the +plantation they sighted the Union soldiers approaching, they all went +to the woods and hid in the bushes. The smaller children were covered +with leaves. There they remained all night, as the soldiers (about 200 +in number) camped all night in the horse lot. These soldiers were very +orderly; however, they appropriated for their own use all the food they +could find. + +The slave owners would hide all their silverware and other articles of +worth under the mattresses that were in the negro cabins for safe +keeping. + +There were three white children in the master's family. Wickliff, the +oldest boy and Bob was the second child in age. The younger child, a +girl, was named Sally and was about the same age as the subject of this +article. Both children, being babies about the same age, the black +mother served as a wet nurse for the white child, sometimes both the +black child and the white child were upon the black mammies lap which +frequently was the cause of battles between the two babies. + +Some of the white mistresses acted as midwife for the black mothers. + +There were two graveyards on the plantation, one for the white folks and +one for the blacks. There is no knowledge of any deaths among the white +folks during the time he lived on the plantation. One of this black +boys' sisters married just before slavery was abolished. He remembers +this wedding. In connection with the marriages of the slaves in slavery +days, it is recalled that slaves seldom married among themselves on the +same plantation but instead the unions were made by some negro boy from +some other plantation courting a negro girl on a distant plantation. As +was the custom in slavery days the black boy would have to get the +consent of three people before he was allowed to enter upon wedlock; +first, he would get the consent of the negro girls' mother, then he +would get the consent of his own master as well as the black girl's +master. This required time and diplomacy. When all had given their +consent the marriage would take place usually on Saturday night, when a +great time was had with slaves coming from other plantations with a +generous supply of fried chicken, hams, cakes and pies a great feast and +a good time generally with music and dancing. The new husband had to +return to his own master after the wedding but it was understood by all +that the new husband could visit his wife every Saturday night and stay +until Monday morning. He would return every Monday to his master and +work as usual indefinitely unless by chance one or the other of the two +masters would buy the husband or wife, in such event they would live +together as man and wife. Unless this purchase did occur it was the rule +in slavery days that any children born to the slave wife would be the +property of the girl's master. + +When the required consent could not be had from all parties concerned it +sometimes caused friction and instances have occured when attempts at +elopement was made causing no end of trouble. This condition was very +rare, as in most all cases of this kind the masters were quite willing +for this marriage and would encourage the young couple. It is remembered +that there were no illegitimate children born on the Moorman plantation. + +The slaves would have their parties and dances. Slaves would gather from +various plantations and these parties would sometimes last all night. It +was customary for the slaves to get passes from their masters +permitting them to attend, but sometimes passes were not given for +reasons. In line with these parties it is remembered that there existed +at that time what was known as the Paddle-Rollers, these so called +Paddy-Rollers was made up of a bunch of white boys who would sneak up on +these defenseless negroes unawares late in the night and demand that all +show their passes. Those that could not show passes were whipped, both +the negro boys and girls alike. The loyalty of these poor black boys was +shown when they would volunteer to take an extra flogging to protect +their girl friends. The Paddy-Rollers were a mean bunch of white boys +who reviled in this shameful practice. + +After slavery was abolished, this colored slave family remained on the +same plantation for one year. They left the plantation via Cloverport by +boat for Evansville, Ind., where they remained until the subject of this +sketch removed to Franklin, Ind. in 1903 where he took pastorate with +the African Methodist Episcopal Church where he served for 12 years. He +is now a retired minister residing at 427 W. King St. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. AMERICA MORGAN--EX-SLAVE +816 Camp Street + + +America Morgan was born in a log house, daubed with dirt, in Ballard +County, Kentucky, in 1852, the daughter of Manda and Jordon Rudd. She +remembers very clearly the happenings of her early life. + +Her mother, Manda Rudd, was owned by Clark Rudd, and the "devil has sure +got him." + +Her father was owned by Mr. Willingham, who was very kind to his slaves. +Jordon became a Rudd, because he was married to Manda on the Rudd +plantation. + +There were six children in the family, and all went well until the death +of the mother; Clark Rudd whipped her to death when America was five +years old. + +Six little children were left motherless to face a "frowning world." + +America was given to her master's daughter, Miss Meda, to wait on her, +as her personal property. She lived with her for one year, then was sold +for $600.00 to Mr. and Mrs. Utterback stayed with them until the end of +the Civil war. + +The new mistress was not so kind. Miss Meda, who knew her reputation, +told her if she abused America, she would come for her, and she would +loose the $600.00 she had paid for her. Therefore, America was treated +very kindly. + +Aunt Catherine, who looked after all the children on the plantation, +was very unruly, no one could whip her. Once America was sent for two +men to come and tie Aunt Catherine. She fought so hard, it was as much +as the men could do to tie her. They tied her hands, then hung her to +the joist and lashed her with a cow hide. It "was awful to hear her +screams." + +In 1865 her father came and took her into Paduca, Kentucky, "a land of +freedom." + +When thirteen years old, America did not know A from B, then "glory to +God," a Mr. Greeleaf, a white man, from the north, came down to Kentucky +and opened a school for Negro children. That was America's first chance +to learn. He was very kind and very sympathetic. She went to school for +a very short while. + +Her father was very poor, had nothing at all to give his children. + +America's mistress would not give her any of her clothes. "All she had +in this world, was what she had on her back." Then she was "hired out" +for $1.00 a week. + +The white people for whom she worked were very kind to her and would try +to teach her when her work was done. She was given an old fashioned +spelling book and a first reader. She was then "taught much and began to +know life." + +She was sent regularly to church and Sunday school. That was when she +began to "wake up" to her duty as a free girl. + +The Rev. D.W. Dupee was her Sunday school teacher, from him she learned +much she had never known before. + +At seventeen years of age, she married and "faced a frowning world +right." She had a good husband and ten children, three of whom are +living today, one son and two daughters. + +She remembers one slave, who had been given five hundred lashes on his +back, thrown in his cabin to die. He laid on the floor all night, at +dawn he came to himself, and there were blood hounds licking his back. + +When the overseers lashed a slave to death, they would turn the +bloodhounds out to smell the blood, so they would know "nigger blood," +that would help trace runaway slaves. + +Aunt Jane Stringer was given five hundred lashes and thrown in her +cabin. The next morning when the overseer came, he kicked her and told +her to get up, and wanted to know if she was going to sleep there all +day. When she did not answer him, he rolled her over and the poor woman +was dead, leaving several motherless children. + +When the slaves were preparing to run away, they would put hot pepper on +their feet; this would cause the hounds to be thrown off their trail. + +Aunt Margaret ran off, but the hounds traced her to a tree; she stayed +up in the tree for two days and would not come down until they promised +not to whip her any more, and they kept their promise. + +Old mistress' mother was sick a long time, and little America had to +keep the flies off of her by waving a paper fly brush over her bed. She +was so mean, America was afraid to go too near the bed for fear she +might try to grab her and shake her. After she died, she haunted +America. Anytime she would go into the room, she could hear her knocking +on the wall with her cane. Some nights they would hear her walking up +and down the stairs for long periods at a time. + +Aunt Catherine ran off, because "ole missie" haunted her so bad. + +The old master came back after his death and would ride his favorite +horse, old Pomp, all night long, once every week. When the boy would go +in to feed the horses, old Pomp would have his ears hanging down, and he +would be "just worn out," after his night ride. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +America believes firmly in haunts, and said she had lived in several +haunted houses since coming up north. + +Mrs. Morgan lives with her baby boy and his wife. She is rather +inteligent, reads and writes, and tries to do all she can to help those +who are less fortunate than she. + +Submitted December 27, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Iris Cook +District 4 +Floyd County + +STORY OF GEORGE MORRISON +25 East 5th St., New Albany, Ind. + + +Observation of the writer + +(This old negro, known as "Uncle George" by the neighbors, is very +particular about propriety. He allows no woman in his house unless +accompanied by a man. He says "It jest a'nt the proper thing to do", but +he came to a neighbors for a little talk.) + +"I was bawn in Union County, Kentucky, near Morganfield. My master was +Mr. Ray, he made me call him Mr. Ray, wouldent let me call him Master. +He said I was his little free negro." + +When asked if there were many slaves on Mr. Ray's farm, he said, "Yes'm, +they was seven cabin of us. I was the oldes' child in our family. Mr. +Ray said "He didn't want me in the tobacco", so I stayed at the house +and waited on the women folk and went after the cows when I was big +enough. I carried my stick over my shoulder for I wus afraid of snakes." + +"Mr. Ray was always very good to me, he liked to play with me, cause I +was so full of tricks an' so mischuvus. He give me a pair of boots with +brass toes. I shined them up ever day, til you could see your face in +'em." + +"There wuz two ladies at the house, the Missus and her daughter, who was +old enough to keep company when I was a little boy. They used to have me +to drive 'em to church. I'd drive the horses. They'd say, 'George, you +come in here to church.' But I always slipped off with the other boys +who was standing around outside waitin' for they folks, and played +marbles." + +"Yes, ma'am, the War sho did affect my fambly. My father, he fought for +the north. He got shot in his side, but it finally got all right. He +saved his money and came north after the war and got a good job. But, I +saw them fellows from the south take my Uncle. They put his clothes on +him right in the yard and took him with them to fight. And even the +white folks, they all cried. But he came back, he wasnt hurt but he +wasent happy in his mind like my pappy was." + +"Yes ma'am, I would rather live in the North. The South's all right but +someways I just don't feel down there like I does up here." + +"No ma'am, I was never married. I don't believe in getting married +unless you got plenty of money. So many married folks dont do nuthin but +fuss and fight. Even my father and mother always spatted and I never +liked that and so I says to myself what do I want to get married for. +I'm happier just living by myself." + +"Yes Ma'am. I remember when people used to take wagon loads of corn to +the market in Louisville, and they would bring back home lots of +groceries and things. A colored man told me he had come north to the +market in Louisville with his master, and was working hard unloading the +corn when a white man walks up to him, shows him some money and asks him +if he wanted to be free? He said he stopped right then and went with the +man, who hid him in his wagon under the provisions and they crossed the +Ohio River right on the ferry. That's the way lots of 'em got across +here." + +"Did I ever hear of any ghosts. Yes ma'am I have. I hear noises and I +seed something once that I never could figger out. I was goin't thru +the woods one day, and come up sudden in a clear patch of ground. There +sat a little boy on a stump, all by his-self, there in the woods. I asks +him who he wuz & wuz he lost, and he never answered me. Jest sat there, +lookin at me. All of a sudden he ups and runs, and I took out after him. +He run behind a big tree, and when I got up to where I last seed him, he +wuz gone. And there sits a great big brown man twice as big as me, on +another stump. He never seys a word, jest looks at me. And then I got +away from there, yes ma'am I really did." + +"A man I knew saw a ghost once and he hit at it. He always said he +wasn't afraid of no ghost, but that ghost hit him, and hit him so hard +it knocked his face to one side and the last time I saw him it was still +that way. No ma'am, I don't really believe in ghosts, but you know how +it is, I lives by myself and I don't like to talk about them for you +never can tell what they might do. + +"Lady you ought to hear me rattle bones, when I was young. I caint do it +much now for my wrists are too stiff. When they played Turkey in the +Straw how we all used to dance and cut up. We'ed cut the pigeon wing, +and buck the wind [HW: wing?], and all. But I got rewmaytism in my feet +now and ant much good any more, but I sure has done lots of things and +had lots of fun in my time." + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +JOSEPH MOSLEY, EX-SLAVE +2637 Boulevard Place + +[TR: Also reported as Moseley in text of interview.] + + +Joseph Mosley, one of twelve children, was born March 15, 1853, fourteen +miles from Hopkinsville, Kentucky. + +His master, Tim Mosley, was a slave trader. He was supposed to have +bought and sold 10,000 slaves. He would go from one state to another +buying slaves, bringing in as many as 75 or 80 slaves at one time. + +The slaves would be handcuffed to a chain, each chain would link 16 +slaves. The slaves would walk from Virginia to Kentucky, and some from +Mississippi to Virginia. + +In front of the chained slaves would be an overseer on horseback with a +gun and dogs. In back of the chained slaves would be another overseer on +horseback with a gun and dogs. They would see that no slave escaped. + +Joseph's father was the shoemaker for all the farm hands and all adult +workers. He would start in September making shoes for the year. First +the shoes for the folks in the house, then the workers. + +No slave child ever wore shoes, summer or winter. + +The father, mother, and all the children were slaves in the same family, +but not in the same house. Some with the daughters, some with the sons, +and so on. No one brother or sister would be allowed to visit with the +others. + +After the death of Tim Moseley, little Joseph was given to a daughter. +He was seven years old; he had to pick up chips, tend the cows, and do +small jobs around the house; he wore no clothing except a shirt. + +Little Joseph did not see his mother after he was taken to the home of +the daughter until he was set free at the age of 13. + +The master was very unkind to the slaves; they sometimes would have +nothing to eat, and would eat from the garbage. + +On Christmas morning Joseph was told he could go see his mother; he did +not know he was free, and couldn't understand why he was given the first +suit of clothes he had ever owned, and a pair of shoes. He dressed in +his new finery and was started out on his six mile journey to his +mother. + +He was so proud of his new shoes; after he had gotten out of sight, he +stopped and took his shoes off as he did not want them dirty before his +mother had seen them, and walked the rest of the way in his bare feet. + +After their freedom, the family came to Indiana. + +The mother died here, in Indianapolis, at the age of 105. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Moseley, who has been in Indianapolis for 35 years, has been +paralyzed for the last four years. He and a daughter room with a Mrs. +Turner. + +He has a very nice clean room; a very pleasant old man was very glad to +talk of his past life. + +He gets a pension of $18.00 a month, and said it was not easy to get +along on that little amount, and wondered if the government was ever +going to increase his pension. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +MEMORIES OF SLAVERY AND THE LIFE STORY OF +AMY ELIZABETH PATTERSON + + +The slave mart, separation from a dearly beloved mother and little +sisters are among the earliest memories recalled by Amy Elizabeth +Patterson, a resident of Evansville, Indiana. + +Amy Elizabeth, now known as "Grandmother Patterson" resides with her +daughter Lula B. Morton at 512 Linwood Avenue near Cherry Street. Her +birth occurred July 12, 1850 at Cadiz, Trigg County, Kentucky. Her +mother was Louisa Street, slave of John Street, a merchant of Cadez. +[TR: likely Cadiz] + +"John Street was never unkind to his slaves" is the testimony of +Grandmother Patterson, as she recalls and relates stories of the long +ago. "Our sorrow began when slave traders, came to Cadiz and bought such +slaves as he took a fancy to and separated us from our families!" + +John Street ran a sort of agency where he collected slaves and yearly +sold them to dealers in human flesh. Those he did not sell he hired out +to other families. Some were hired or indentured to farmers, some to +stock raisers, some to merchants and some to captains of boats and the +hire of all these slaves went into the coffers of John Street, yearly +increasing his wealth. + +Louisa Street, mother of Amy Elizabeth Patterson, was house maid at the +Street home and her first born daughter was fair with gold brown hair +and amber eyes. Mr. and Mrs. Street always promised Louisa they would +never sell her as they did not want to part with the child, so Louisa +was given a small cabin near the master's house. The mistress had a +child near the age of the little mulatto and Louisa was wet nurse for +both children as well as maid to Mrs. Street. Two years after the birth +of Amy Elizabeth, Louisa became mother of twin daughters, Fannie and +Martha Street, then John Street decided to sell all his slaves as he +contemplated moving into another territory. + +The slaves were auctioned to the highest bidder and Louisa and the twins +were bought by a man living near Cadiz but Mr. Street refused to sell +Amy Elizabeth. She showed promise of growing into an excellent +house-maid and seamstress and was already a splendid playmate and nurse +to the little Street boy and girl. So Louisa lost her child but such +grief was shown by both mother and child that the mother was unable to +perform her tasks and the child cried continually. Then Mr. Street +consented to sell the little girl to the mother's new master. + +Louisa Street became mother of seventeen children. Three were almost +white. Amy Elizabeth was the daughter of John Street and half sister of +his children by his lawful wife. Mrs. Street knew the facts and +respected Louisa and her child and, says grandmother Patterson, "That +was the greatest crime ever visited on the United States. It was worse +than the cruelty of the overseers, worse than hunger, for many slaves +were well fed and well cared for; but when a father can sell his own +child, humiliate his own daughter by auctioning her on the slave block, +what good could be expected where such practices were allowed?" + +Grandmother Patterson remembers superstitions of slavery days and how +many slaves were afraid of ghosts and evil spirits but she never +believed in supernatural appearances until three years ago when she +received a message, through a medium, from the spirit land; now she is a +firm believer, not in ghosts and evil visitations, but in true +communication with the departed ones who still love and long to protect +those who remain on earth. + +Several years ago a young grandson of the old woman was drowned. The +little boy was Stokes Morton, a very popular child rating high averages +in school studies and beloved by his teachers and friends. The mother, +Lulu B. Morton and the grandmother both gave up to grief, in fact they +both have declined in health and were unable to carry on their regular +duties. + +Grandmother Patterson began suffering from a dental ailment and was +compelled to visit a dental surgeon. The dental surgeon suggested that +she visit a medium and seek some comforting message from the child. + +She at once visited a medium and received a message. "Stokes answered +me. In fact he was waiting to communicate with us. He said 'Grandmother! +you and mother must stop staying at the cemetary and grieving for me. +Send the flowers to your sick friends and put in more time with the +other children. I am happy here, I am in a beautiful field, The sky is +blue and the field is full of beautiful white lambs that play with me.'" + +The message comforted the aged woman. She began occupying her time with +other members of the family and again began to visit with her neighbors. + +She felt a call two years later and again consulted the medium. That +time she received a message from the child, his father and a little girl +that had died in infancy. Grandmother Patterson said she would not +recall the ones who had gone on to the land of promise. She is a +christian and a believer in the Word of God. + +Grandmother Patterson, in spite of her 87 years of life (fifteen of +which were passed in slavery) is useful in her daughter's home. Her +children and grand children are fond of her as indeed they well may be. +She is a refined woman, gracious to every person she encounters. She is +hoping for better opportunities for her race. She admonishes the younger +relatives to live in the fear and love of the Lord that no evil days +overtake them. + +"Yes, slavery was a curse to this nation" she declares, "A curse which +still shows itself in hundreds of homes where mulatto faces are evidence +of a heinous sin and proof that there has been a time when American +fathers sold their children at the slave marts of America." She is glad +the curse has been erased even if by the bloodshed of heroes. + + + + +G. Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +MRS. PRESTON'S STORY + + +Mrs. Preston is an old lady, 83 years old, very charming and hospitable +She lives on North Elm Street, Madison, Indiana. Her first recollections +of slavery were of sleeping on the foot of her mistress' bed, where she +could get up during the night to "feed" the fire with chips she had +gathered before dark or to get a drink or anything else her mistress +might want in the night. + +Her 'Marse Brown', resided in Frankfort having taken his best horses and +hogs, and leaving his family in the care of an overseer on a farm. He +was afraid the Union soldiers would kill him, but thought his wife would +be safe. This opinion proved to be true. The overseer called the slaves +to work at four o'clock, and they worked until six in the evening. + +When Mrs. Preston was a little older part of her work was to drive about +a dozen cows to and from the stable. Many a time she warmed her bare +feet in the cattle bedding. She said they did not always go barefooted +but their shoes were old or their feet wrapped in rags. + +Her next promotion was to work in the fields hauling shocks of corn on a +balky mule which was subject to bucking and throwing its rider over its +head. She was aided by a little boy on another mule. There were men to +tie the shocks and place them on the mule. + +She remembered seeing Union and Confederate soldiers shooting across a +river near her home. Her uncle fought two years, and returned safely at +the end of the war. + +She did not feel that her Master and Mistress had mistreated their +slaves. At the close of the war, her father was given a house, land, +team and enough to start farming for himself. + +Several years later the Ku Klux Klan gave them a ten days notice to +leave, one of the masked band interceded for them by pointing out that +they were quiet and peacable, and a man with a crop and ten children +couldn't possibly leave on so short a notice so the time was extended +another ten days, when they took what the Klan paid them and came north. +They remained in the north until they had to buy their groceries "a +little piece of this and a little piece of that, like they do now", when +her father returned to Kentucky. Mrs. Preston remained in Indiana. Her +father was burned out, the family escaping to the woods in their night +clothes, later befriended by a white neighbor. Now they appealed to +their former owner who built them a new house, provided necessities and +guards for a few weeks until they were safe from the Ku Klux Klan. + +Mrs. Preston said she was the mother of ten children, but now lives +alone since the death of her husband three years ago. Her white +neighbors say her house is so clean, one could almost eat off the floor. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Harry Jackson + +WILLIAM M. QUINN (EX-SLAVE) +431 Bright Street, Indianapolis, Ind. + + +William M. Quinn, 431 Bright street, was a slave up to ten years of +age--"when the soldiers come back home, and the war was over, and we +wasn't slaves anymore". Mr. Quinn was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, +on a farm belonging to Steve Stone. He and a brother and his mother were +slaves of "Old Master Stone", but his father was owned by another man, +Mr. Quinn, who had an adjoining farm. When they were all freed, they +took the surname of Quinn. + +Mr. Quinn said that they were what was called "gift slaves". They were +never to be sold from the Stone farm and were given to Stone's daughter +as a gift with that understanding. He said that his "Old master paid him +and his brother ten cents a day for cutting down corn and shucking it." + +It was very unusual for a slave to receive any money whatsoever for +working. He said that his master had a son about his age, and the son +and he and his brother worked around the farm together, and "Master +Stone" gave all three of them ten cents a day when they worked. +Sometimes they wouldn't, they would play instead. And whenever "Master +Stone" would catch them playing when they ought to have been at work, he +would whip them--"and that meant his own boy would get a licking too." + +"Old Master Stone was a good man to all us colored folks, we loved him. +He wasn't one of those mean devils that was always beating up his slaves +like some of the rest of them." He had a colored overseer and one day +this overseer ran off and hid for two days "cause he whipped one of old +Mas' Stone's slaves and he heard that Mas' Stone was mad and he didn't +like it." + +"We didn't know that we were slaves, hardly. Well, my brother and I +didn't know anyhow 'cause we were too young to know, but we knew that we +had been when we got older." + +"After emancipation we stayed at the Stone family for some time, 'cause +they were good to us and we had no place to go." Mr. Quinn meant by +emancipation that his master freed his slaves, and, as he said, +"emancipated them a year before Lincoln did." + +Mr. Quinn said that his father was not freed when his mother and he and +his brother were freed, because his father's master "didn't think the +North would win the war." Stone's slaves fared well and ate good food +and "his own children didn't treat us like we were slaves." He said some +of the slaves on surrounding plantations and farms had it "awful hard +and bad." Some times slaves would run away during the night, and he said +that "we would give them something to eat." He said his mother did the +cooking for the Stone family and that she was good to runaway slaves. + +Submitted September 9, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Harry Jackson + +EX SLAVE STORY +MRS. CANDUS RICHARDSON +[HW: Personal Interview] + + +Mrs. Candus Richardson, of 2710 Boulevard Place, was 18 years of age +when the Civil War was over. She was borned a slave on Jim Scott's +plantation on the "Homer Chitter river" in Franklin county, +Mississippi. Scott was the heir of "Old Jake Scott". "Old Jim Scott" +had about fifty slaves, who raised crops, cotton, tobacco, and hogs. +Candus cooked for Scott and his wife, Miss Elizabeth. They were both +cruel, according to Mrs. Richardson. She said that at one time her +Master struck her over the head with the butt end of a cowhide, that +made a hole in her head, the scar of which she still carries. He struck +her down because he caught her giving a hungry slave something to eat at +the back door of the "big house". The "big house" was Scott's house. + +Scott beat her husband a lot of times because he caught him praying. But +"beatings didn't stop my husband from praying. He just kept on praying. +He'd steal off to the woods and pray, but he prayed so loud that anybody +close around could hear, 'cause he had such a loud voice. I prayed too, +but I always prayed to myself." One time, Jim Scott beat her husband so +unmerciful for praying that his shirt was as red from blood stain "as if +you'd paint it with, a brush". Her husband was very religious, and she +claimed that it was his prayers and "a whole lot of other slaves' that +cause you young folks to be free today". + +They didn't have any Bible on the Scott plantation she said, for it +meant a beating or "a killing if you'd be caught with one". But there +were a lot of good slaves and they knew how to pray and some of the +white folks loved to hear than pray too, "'cause there was no put-on +about it. That's why we folks know how to sing and pray, 'cause we have +gone through so much, but the Lord is with us, the Lord's with us, he +is". + +Mrs. Richardson said that the slaves, that worked in the Master's house, +ate the same food that the master and his family ate, but those out on +the plantation didn't fare so well; they ate fat meats and parts of the +hog that the folks at the "big house" didn't eat. All the slaves had to +call Scott and his wife "Master and Miss Elizabeth", or they would get +punished if they didn't. + +Whenever the slaves would leave the plantation, they ware supposed to +have a permit from Scott, and if they were caught out by the +"padyrollers", they would whip them if they did not have a note from +their master. When the slaves went to church, they went to a Baptist +church that the Scotts belonged to and sat in the rear of the church. +The sermon was never preached to the slaves. "They never preached the +Lord to us," Mrs. Richardson said, "They would just tell us to not +steal, don't steal from your master". A week's ration of food was given +each slave, but if he ate it up before the week, he had to eat salt pork +until the next rations. He couldn't eat much of it, because it was too +salty to eat any quanity of it. "We had to make our own clothes out of a +cloth like you use, called canvass". "We walked to church with our shoes +on our arms to keep from wearing them out". + +They walked six miles to reach the church, and had to wade across a +stream of water. The women were carried across on the men's backs. They +did all of this to hear the minister tell them "don't steal from your +Master". + +They didn't have an overseer to whip the slaves on the Scott +plantation, Scott did the whipping himself. Mrs. Richardson said he +knocked her down once just before she gave birth to a daughter, all +because she didn't pick cotton as fast as he thought she should have. + +Her husband went to the war to be "what you call a valet for Master +Jim's son, Sam". After the war, he "came to me and my daughter". "Then +in July, we could tell by the crops and other things grown, old Master +Jim told us everyone we was free, and that was almost a year after the +other slaves on the other plantations around were freed". She said +Scott, in freeing (?) then said that "he didn't have to give us any +thing to eat and that he didn't have to give us a place to stay, but we +could stay and work for him and he would pay us. But we left that night +and walked for miles through the rain to my husban's brother and then +told them that they all were free. Then we all came up to Kentucky in a +wagon and lived there. Then I came up North when my husband died". + +Mrs. Richardson says that she is "so happy to know that I have lived to +see the day when you young people can serve God without slipping around +to serve him like we old folks had to do". "You see that pencil that +you have In your hand there, why, that would cost me my life 'if old +Mas' Jim would see me with a pencil in my hand. But I lived to see both +him and Miss Elizabeth die a hard death. They both hated to die, +although they belonged to church. Thank God for his mercy! Thank God!" +"My mother prayed for me and I am praying for you young folks". + +Mrs. Richardson, despite her 90 years of age, can walk a distance of a +mile and a half to her church. + +Submitted August 31, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +JOE ROBINSON--EX-SLAVE +1132 Cornell Avenue + + +Joe Robinson was born in Mason County, Kentucky in 1854. + +His master, Gus Hargill, was very kind to him and all his slaves. He +owned a large farm and raised every kind of vegetation. He always gave +his slaves plenty to eat. They never had to steal food. He said his +slaves had worked hard to permit him to have plenty, therefore they +should have their share. + +Joe, his mother, a brother, and a sister were all on the same +plantation. They were never sold, lived with the same master until they +were set free. + +Joe's father was owned by Rube Black, who was very cruel to his slaves, +beat them severely for the least offense. One day he tried to beat Joe's +father, who was a large strong man; he resisted his master and tried to +kill him. After that he never tried to whip him again. However, at the +first opportunity, Rube sold him. + +The Robinson family learned the father had been sold to someone down in +Louisiana. They never heard from, or of him, again. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mr. Robinson lives with his wife; he receives a pension, which he said +was barely enough for them to live on, and hoped it would be increased. + +He attends one of the W.P.A. classes, trying to learn to read and write. + +They have two children who live in Chicago. + +Submitted January 24, 1938 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett, 1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +MRS. ROSALINE ROGERS--EX-SLAVE--110 YEARS OLD +910 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + + +Mrs. Rogers was born in South Carolina, in 1827, a slave of Dr. Rice +Rogers, "Mas. Rogers," we called him, was the youngest son of a family +of eleven children. He was so very mean. + +Mrs. Rogers was sold and taken to Tennessee at the age of eleven for +$900.00 to a man by the name of Carter. Soon after her arrival at the +Carter plantation, she was resold to a man by the name of Belby Moore +with whom she lived until the beginning of the Civil war. + +Men and women were herded into a single cabin, no matter how many there +were. She remembers a time when there were twenty slaves in a small +cabin. There were holes between the logs of the cabin, large enough for +dogs and cats to crawl through. The only means of heat, being a wood +fireplace, which, of course, was used for cooking their food. + +The slaves' food was corn cakes, side pork, and beans; seldom any sweets +except molasses. + +The slaves were given a pair of shoes at Christmas time and if they were +worn out before summer, they were forced to go barefoot. + +Her second master would not buy shoes for his slaves. When they had to +plow, their feet would crack and bleed from walking on the hard clods, +and if one complained, they would be whipped; therefore, very few +complaints were made. + +The slaves were allowed to go to their master's church, and allowed to +sit in the seven back benches; should those benches be filled, they were +not allowed to sit in any other benches. + +The wealthy slave owner never allowed his slaves to pay any attention to +the poor "white folks," as he knew they had been free all their lives +and should be slave owners themselves. The poor whites were hired by +those who didnot believe in slavery, or could not afford slaves. + +At the beginning of the Civil war, I had a family of fourteen children. +At the close of the war, I was given my choice of staying on the same +plantation, working on shares, or taking my family away, letting them +out for their food and clothes. I decided to stay on that way; I could +have my children with me. They were not allowed to go to school, they +were taught only to work. + +Slave mothers were allowed to stay in bed only two or three days after +childbirth; then were forced to go into the fields to work, as if +nothing had happened. + +The saddest moment of my life was when I was sold away from my family. I +often wonder what happened to them, I haven't seen or heard from them +since. I only hope God was as good to them as He has been to me. + +"I am 110 years old; my birth is recorded in the slave book. I have good +health, fairly good eyesight, and a good memory, all of which I say is +because of my love for God." + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Rogers is certainly a very old woman, very pleasant, and seems very +fond of her granddaughters, with whom she lives. + +Submitted December 29, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +Federal writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue + +FOLKLORE +MRS. PARTHENA ROLLINS +848 Camp Street (Rear) + + +Mrs. Parthena Rollins was born in Scott County, Kentucky, in 1853, a +slave of Ed Duvalle, who was always very kind to all of his slaves, +never whipping any of the adults, but often whipped the children to +correct them, never beating them. They all had to work, but never +overwork, and always had plenty to eat. + +She remembers so many slaves, who were not as fortunate as they were. + +Once when the "nigger traders" came through, there was a girl, the +mother of a young baby; the traders wanted the girl, but would not buy +her because she had the child. Her owner took her away, took the baby +from her, and beat it to death right before the mother's eyes, then +brought the girl back to the sale without the baby, and she was bought +immediately. + +Her new master was so pleased to get such a strong girl who could work +so well and so fast. + +The thoughts of the cruel way of putting her baby to death preyed on her +mind to such an extent, she developed epilepsy. This angered her new +master, and he sent her back to her old master, and forced him to refund +the money he had paid for her. + +Another slave had displeased his master for some reason, he was taken to +the barn and killed, and was buried right in the barn. No one knew of +this until they were set free, as the slaves who knew about it were +afraid to tell for fear of the same fate befalling on them. + +Parthena also remembers slaves being beaten until their backs were +blistered. The overseers would then open the blisters and sprinkle salt +and pepper in the open blisters, so their backs would smart and hurt all +the more. + +Many times, slaves would be beaten to death, thrown into sink holes, and +left for the buzzards to swarm and feast on their bodies. + +So many of the slaves she knew were half fed and half clothed, and +treated so cruelly, that it "would make your hair stand on ends." + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Rollins is in poor health all broken up with "rheumatiz." + +She lives with a daughter and grandson, and said she could hardly talk +of the happenings of the early days, because of the awful things her +folks had to go through + +Submitted December 21, 1937 +Anatolia, Indiana + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +TOLD BY JOHN RUDD, AN EX-SLAVE + + +"Yes, I was a slave," said John Rudd, "And I'll say this to the whole +world, Slavery was the worst curse ever visited on the people of the +United States." + +John Rudd is a negro, dark and swarthy as to complexion but his nose is +straight and aqualine, for his mother-was half Indian. + +The memory of his mother, Liza Rudd, is sacred to John Rudd today and +her many disadvantages are still a source of grief to the old man of 83 +years. John Rudd was born on Christmas day 1854 in the home of Benjamin +Simms, at Springfield, Kentucky. The mother of the young child was house +maid for mistress Simms and Uncle John remembers that mother and child +received only the kindliest consideration from all members of the Simms +family. + +While John was yet a small boy Benjamin Simms died and the Simms slaves +were auctioned to the highest bidders. "If'n you wants to know what +unhappiness means," said Uncle John Rudd, "Jess'n you stand on the Slave +Block and hear the Auctioneer's voice selling you away from the folks +you love." Uncle John explained how mothers and fathers were often +separated from their dearly loved children, at the auction block, but +John and his younger brother Thomas were fortunate and were bought by +the same master along with Liza Rudd, their mother. An elder brother, +Henry, was separated from his mother and brothers and became the +property of George Snyder and was thereafter known as Henry Snyder. + +When Liza Rudd and her two little sons left the slave block they were +the property of Henry Moore who lived a few miles away from Springfield. +Uncle John declares that unhappiness met them at the threshold of the +Moore's estate. + +Liza was given the position of cook, housemaid and plough-hand while +her little boys were made to hoe, carry wood and care for the small +children of the Moore family. + +John had only been at the Moore home a few months when he witnessed +several slaves being badly beaten. Henry Moore kept a white overseer and +several white men were employed to whip slaves. A large barrel stood +near the slave quarters and the little boy discovered that the barrel +was a whipping post. The slaves would be strapped across the side of the +barrel and two strong men would wield the "cat of nine tails" until +blood flowed from gashed flesh, and the cries and prayers of the +unfortunate culprits availed them nothing until the strength of the +floggers became exhausted. + +One day, when several Negroes had just recovered from an unusual amount +of chastisement, the little Negro, John Rudd, was playing in the front +yard of the Moore's house when he heard a soft voice calling him. He +knew the voice belonged to Shell Moore, one of his best friends at the +Moore estate. Shell had been among those severely beaten and little John +had been grieving over his misfortunes. "Shell had been in the habbit of +whittling out whistles for me and pettin' of me," said the now aged +negro. "I went to see what he wanted wif me and he said 'Goodby Johnnie, +you'll never see Shellie alive after today.'" Shell made his way toward +the cornfield but the little Negro boy, watching him go, did not realize +what situation confronted him. That night the master announced that +Shell had run away again and the slaves were started searching fields +and woods but Shell's body was found three days later by Rhoder McQuirk, +dangling from a rafter of Moore's corn crib where the unhappy Negro had +hanged himself with a leather halter. + +Shell was a splendid worker and was well worth a thousand dollars. If he +had been fairly treated he would have been happy and glad to repay +kindness by toil. "Mars Henry would have been better to all of us, only +Mistress Jane was always rilin' him up," declared John Rudd as he sat in +his rocking chair under a shade tree. + +"Jane Moore, was the daughter of Old Thomas Rakin, one of the meanest +men, where slaves were concerned, and she had learnt the slave drivin' +business from her daddy." + +Uncle John related a story concerning his mother as follows: "Mama had +been workin' in the cornfield all day 'till time to cook supper. She was +jes' standin' in the smoke house that was built back of the big kitchen +when Mistress walks in. She had a long whip hid under her apron and +began whippin Mama across the shoulders, 'thout tellin' her why. Mama +wheeled around from whar she was slicin' ham and started runnin' after +old Missus Jane. Ole Missus run so fas' Mama couldn't catch up wif her +so she throwed the butcher knife and stuck it in the wall up to the +hilt." "I was scared. I was fraid when Marse Henry come in I believed he +would have Mama whipped to death." + +"Whar Jane?" said Mars Henry. "She up stairs with the door locked," said +Mama. Then she tole old Mars Henry the truth about how mistress Jane +whip her and show him the marks of the whip. She showed him the butcher +knife stickin' in the wall. "Get yer clothes together," said Marse +Henry. + +John then had to be parted from his mother. Henry Rudd [TR: 'Moore' +written above in brackets.] believed that the Negroes were going to be +set free. War had been declared and his desire was to send Liza far into +the southern states where the price of a good negro was higher than in +Kentucky. When he reached Louisville he was offered a good price for her +service and hired her out to cook at a hotel. John grieved over the loss +of his mother but afterwards learned she had been well treated at +Louisville. John Rudd continued to work for Henry Moore until the Civil +War ended. Then Henry Snyder came to the Moore home and demanded his +brothers to be given into his charge. + +Henry Snyder had enlisted in the Federal Army and had fought throughout +the war. He had entered or leased seven acres of good land seven miles +below Owensboro, Kentucky, and on those good acres of Davies County farm +land the mother and her three sons were reunited. + +John Rudd had never seen a river until he made the trip to Owensboro +with his brother Henry. The trip was made on the big Gray Eagle and +Uncle John declares "I was sure thrilled to get that boat ride." He +relates many incidents of run-away Negroes. Remembers his fear of the Ku +Klucks, and remembers seeing seven ex-slaves hanging from one tree near +the top of Grimes-Hill, just after the close of the war. + +When John grew to young manhood he worked on farms in Davis County near +Owensboro for several years, then procured the job of portering for John +Sporree, a hotel keeper at Owensboro, and in this position John worked +for fifteen years. + +While at Owensboro he met the trains and boats. He recalls the boats; +Morning Star, and Guiding Star; both excursion boats that carried gay +men and women on pleasure trips up and down the Ohio river. + +Uncle John married Teena Queen his beloved first wife, at Owensboro. To +this union was born one son but he has not been to see his father nor +has he heard from him for thirty years, and his father believes him to +have died. The second wife was Minnie Dixon who still lives with Uncle +John at Evansville. + +When asked what his political ideas were, Uncle John said his politics +is his love for his government. He draws an old age compensation of 14 +dollars a month. + +Uncle John had some trouble proving his age but met the situation by +having a friend write to the Catholic Church authorities at Springfield. +Mrs. Simms had taken the position of God Mother to the baby and his +birth and christening had been recorded in the church records. He is a +devout Catholic and believes that religion and freedom are the two +richest blessings ever given to mankind. + +Uncle John worked as janitor at the Boehne Tuberculosis Hospital for +eight years. While working there he received a fall which crippled him. +He walks by the aid of a cane but is able to visit with his friends and +do a small amount of work in his home. + + + + +Federal Writers' Project +of the W.P.A. +District #6 +Marion County +Anna Pritchett +1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana + +FOLKLORE +AMANDA ELIZABETH SAMUELS +1721 Park Avenue + + +Lizzie was a child in the home of grandma and grandpa McMurry. They were +farmers in Robinson County, Tennessee. + +Her mother, a slave hand, worked on the farm until her young master, +Robert McMurry was married. She was then sold to Rev. Carter Plaster and +taken to Logan County, Kentucky. + +The child, Lizzie was given to young Robert. She lived in the house to +help the young mistress who was not so kind to her. Lizzie was forced to +eat chicken heads, fish heads, pig tails, and parsnips. The child +disliked this very much, and was very unhappy with her young mistress, +because in Robert's father's home all slave children were treated just +like his own children. They had plenty of good substantial food, and +were protected in every way. + +The old master felt they were the hands of the next generation and if +they were strong and healthy, they would bring in a larger amount of +money when sold. + +Lizzie's hardships did not last long as they were set free soon after +young Robert's marriage. He took her in a wagon to Keysburg, Kentucky to +be with her mother. + +Lizzie learned this song from the soldiers. + + Old Saul Crawford is dead, + And the last word is said. + They were fond of looking back + Till they heard the bushes crack + And sent them to their happy home + In Cannan. + Some wears worsted + Some wears lawn + What they gonna do + When that's all gone. + + +Interviewer's Comment + +Mrs. Samuels is an amusing little woman, she must be about 80 years old, +but holds to the age of 60. Had she given her right age, the people for +whom she works would have helped her to get her pension. + +They are amused, yet provoked because Lizzie wants to be younger than +she really is. + +Submitted December 1, 1937 +Indianapolis, Indiana + + + + +G. Monroe +Dist. 4 +Jefferson County + +SLAVE STORY +MR. JACK SIMMS' STORY + + +Personal Interview + +Mr. Simms was born and raised on Mill Creek Kentucky, and now lives in +Madison Indiana on Poplar Street diagonally North West of the hospital. + +He was so young he did no remember very much about how the slaves were +treated, but seemed to regret very much that he had been denied the +privilege of an education. Mr. Simms remembers seeing the lines of +soldiers on the Campbellsburg road, but referred to the war as the +"Revolution War". + +This was a very interesting old man, when we first called, his daughter +invited us into the house, but her father wanted to talk outside where +he "spit better". When his daughter conveyed this information Mr. Simms' +immediately decided that we could come in as we "wouldn't be there long +anyhow". + +After we gained entrance, the daughter remarked that her father was very +young at the time of the war, whereupon he answered very testily "If you +are going to tell it, go ahead. Or am I going to tell it?" + + + + +Beulah Van Meter +District 4 +Clark County + +BILLY SLAUGHTER +1123 Watt St. +Jeffersonville + + +Billy Slaughter was born Sept. 15, 1858, on the Lincoln Farm near +Hodgenville, Ky. The Slaughters who now live between the Dixie Highway +and Hodgenville on the right of the road driving toward Hodgenville +about four miles off the state highway are the descendants of the old +slave's master. This old slave was sold once and was given away once +before he was given his freedom. + +The spring on the Lincoln Farm that falls from a cliff was a place +associated with Indian cruelty. It was here in the pool of water below +the cliff that the Indians would throw babies of the settlers. If the +little children could swim or the settlers could rescue them they +escaped, otherwise they were drowned. The Indians would gather around +the scene of the tragedy and rejoice in their fashion. The old slave +when he was a baby was thrown in this pool but was rescued by white +people. He remembers having seen several Indians but not many. + +The most interesting subject that Billy Slaughter discussed was the +Civil War. This was ordinarily believed to be fought over slavery, but +it really was not, according to his interpretation, which is unusual for +an old slave to state. The real reason was that the South withdrew from +the Union and elected Jefferson Davis President of the Confederacy. In +his own dialect he narrated these events accurately. The southerners or +Democrats were called "Rebels" and "Secess" and the Republicans were +called "Abolitionists." + +Another point of interest was John Brown and Harpers Ferry. When +Harper's Ferry was fired upon, that was firing upon the United States. +It was here and through John Brown's Raid that war was virtually +declared. The old Negro explained that Brown was an Abolitionist, and +was captured here and later killed. While the old slave had the utmost +respect for the Federal Government he regarded John Brown as a martyr +for the cause of freedom and included him among the heroes he +worshipped. Among his prized possessions is an old book written about +John Brown's Raid. + +The old slave's real hero was Abraham Lincoln. He plans another +pilgrimage to the Lincoln Farm to look again at the cabin in which his +Emancipator was born. He asked me if I read history very much. I assured +him that I read it to some extent. After that he asked me if I recalled +reading about Lincoln during the Civil War walking the White House floor +one night and a Negro named Douglas remained in his presence. In the +beginning of the War the Negroes who enlisted in the Union Army were +given freedom, also the wives, and the children who were not married. + +Another problem that was facing the North at this time was that the men +who were taken from the farm and factory to the army could not be +replaced by the slaves and production continued in the North as was +being done in the south. Not all Negroes who wanted to join the Union +forces were able to do so because of the strict watchfulness of their +masters. The slaves were made to fight in the southern army whether they +wanted to or not. This lessened the number of free Negroes in the +Northern army. As a result Lincoln decided to free all Negroes. That was +the decision he made the night he walked the White House floor. This was +the old darkey's story of the conditions that brought about the +Emancipation Proclamation. Freeing the Negroes was brought about during +the Civil War but it was not the reason that the war was fought, was the +unusual opinion of this Negro. "Uncle Billy's" father joined the Union +army at the Taylor Barracks, near Louisville, Ky., which was the Camp +Taylor during the World War. Uncle Billy's father and mother and their +children who were not married were given freedom. The old slave has kept +the papers that were drawn up for this act. + +The old darkey explained that the Negro soldiers never fought in any +decisive battles. There must always be someone to clean and polish the +harness, care for the horses, dig ditches, and construct parapets. This +slave's father was at Memphis during the battle there. + +The Slaughter family migrated to Jeffersonville in '65. Billy was then +seven years old. At that time there was only one depot here--a freight +and passenger depot at Court and Wall Streets. What is now known as +Eleventh St. was then a hickory grove--a paradise for squirrel hunters. +On the ridge beginning at 7th and Mechanic Sts. were persimmon trees. +This was a splendid hunting haven for the Negroes for their favorite +wild animal--the o'possum. The ridge is known today as 'Possum Ridge. +The section east of St. Anthony's Cemetery was covered in woods. Since +there were a number of Beechnuts, pigeons frequented this place and were +sought here. One could catch them faster than he could shoot them. + +At this time there were two shipyards in Jeffersonville--Barmore's and +Howard's. Barmore's shipyard location was first the location of a big +meat-packing company. The old darkey called it a "pork house". + +The old slave had seen several boats launched from these yards. Great +crowds would gather for this event. After the hull was completed in the +docks the boat was ready to launch. The blocks that served as props were +knocked down one at a time. One man would knock down each prop. There +were several men employed in this work on the appointed day of the +launching of the boat. The boat would be christened with a bottle of +champagne on its way to the river. + +"Uncle Billy" worked on a steamboat in his earlier days. This boat +traveled from Louisville to New Orleans. People traveled on the river +for there were few railroads. The first work the old darkey did was to +clean the decks. Later he cleaned up inside the boat, mopped up the +floors and made the berths. The next job he held was ladies' cabin man. +Later he took care of the quarters where the officials of the boat +slept. The darkey also worked as a second pantry man. This work +consisted of waiting on the tables in the dining room. The men's +clothes had to be spotless. Sometimes it would become necessary for him +to change his shirt three times a day. + +The meats on the menu would include pigeon, duck, turkey, chicken, +quail, beef, pork, and mutton. Vegetables of the season were served, as +well as desserts. It was nothing unusual for a half dollar to be left +under a plate as a tip for the waiter. Those who worked in the cabins +never set a price for a shoe shine. Fifteen cents was the lowest they +ever received. + +During a yellow fever epidemic before a quarantine could be declared a +boatload of three hundred people left Louisville at night to go to +Memphis, Tenn. During the same time this boat went to New Orleans where +yellow fever was raging. The captain warned them of it. In two narrow +streets the old darkey recalled how he had seen the people fall over +dead. These streets were crowded and there were no sidewalks, only room +for a wagon. Here the victims would be sitting in the doorways, +apparently asleep, only to fall over dead. + +When the boat returned, one of the crew was stricken with this disease. +Uncle Billy nursed him until they reached his home at Cairo, Ill. No one +else took the yellow fever and this man recovered. + +Another job "Uncle Billy" held was helping to make the brick used in the +U.S. Quarter Master Depot. Colonel James Keigwin operated a brick kiln +in what is now a colored settlement between 10th and 14th and Watt and +Spring Sts. The clay was obtained from this field. It was his task to +off-bare the brick after they were taken from the molds, and to place +them in the eyes to be burned. Wood was used as fuel. + +"Uncle Billy" reads his Bible quite often. He sometimes wonders why he +is still left here--all of his friends are gone; all his brothers and +sisters are gone. But this he believes is the solution--that there must +be someone left to tell about old times. + +"The Bible," he quotes, "says that two shall be working in the field +together and one shall be taken and the other left. I am the one who is +left," he concludes. + + + + +Henrietta Karwowski, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +St. Joseph County--District #1 +South Bend, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +MR. AND MRS. ALEX SMITH +127 North Lake Street +South Bend, Indiana + + +Mr. and Mrs. Alex Smith, an eighty-three year old negro couple were +slaves in Kentucky near Paris, Tennessee, as children. They now reside +at 127 North Lake Street, on the western limits of South Bend. This +couple lives in a little shack patched up with tar paper, tin, and wood. + +Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, the talkative member or the family is a small +woman, very wrinkled, with a stocking cap pulled over her gray hair. She +wore a dress made of three different print materials; sleeves of one +kind, collar of another and body of a third. Her front teeth were +discolored, brown stubs, which suggested that she chews tobacco. + +Mr. Alex Smith, the husband is tall, though probably he was a well built +man at one time. He gets around by means of a cane. Mrs. Smith said that +he is not at all well, and he was in the hospital for six weeks last +winter. + +The wife, Elizabeth or Betty, as her husband calls her, was a slave on +the Peter Stubblefield plantation in Kentucky, the nearest town being +Paris, Tennessee, while Mr. Smith was a slave on the Robert Stubblefield +plantation nearby. + +Although only a child of five, Mr. Smith remembers the Civil War, +especially the marching of thousands of soldiers, and the horse-drawn +artillery wagons. The Stubblefields freed their slaves the first winter +after the war. + +On the Peter Stubblefield plantation the slaves were treated very well +and had plenty to eat, while on the Robert Stubblefield plantation Mr +Smith went hungry many times, and said, "Often, I would see a dog with a +bit of bread, and I would have been willing to take it from him if I had +not been afraid the dog would bite me." + +Mrs. Smith was named after Elizabeth Stubblefield, a relative of Peter +Stubblefield. As a child of five years or less, Elizabeth had to spin +"long reels five cuts a day," pick seed from cotton, and cockle burrs +from wool, and perform the duties of a house girl. + +Unlike the chores of Elizabeth, Mr. Smith had to chop wood, carry water, +chop weeds, care for cows, pick bugs from tobacco plants. This little +boy had to go barefoot both summer and winter, and remembers the +cracking of ice under his bare feet. + +The day the mistress and master came and told the slaves they were free +to go any place they desired, Mrs. Smith's mother told her later that +she was glad to be free but she had no place to go or any money to go +with. Many of the slaves would not leave and she never witnessed such +crying as went on. Later Mrs. Smith was paid for working. She worked in +the fields for "wittels" and clothes. A few years later she nursed +children for twenty-five cents a week and "wittels," but after a time +she received fifty cents a week, board and two dresses. She married Mr. +Smith at the age of twenty. + +Mr Smith's father rented a farm and Mr. Smith has been a farmer all his +life. The Smith couple have been married sixty-four years. Mrs. Smith +says, "and never a cross word exchanged. Mr. Smith and I had no +children." + +The room the writer was invited into was a combination bed-room and +living room with a large heating stove in the centre of the small room. +A bed on one side, a few chairs about the room. The floor was covered +with an old patched rug. The only other room beside this room was a very +small kitchen. The whole home was shabby and poor. + +The only means of support the family has is a government old age pension +which amounts to about fourteen dollars a month. + +Their little shack is situated in the center of a large lot around which +a very nice vegetable garden is planted. The property belongs to Mr. +Harry Brazy, and the old couple does not pay rent or taxes and they may +stay there as long as they live, "which is good enough for us," says +Mrs. Smith. + +As the writer was leaving Mrs. Smith said, "I like to talk and meet +people. Come again." + + + + +Robert C. Irvin +Noblesville, Ind. +District #2 + +EX-SLAVE, LIFE STORY OF +BARNEY STONE, FORMER SLAVE, HAMILTON CO. + + +This is the life story of Barney Stone, a highly respected colored +gentleman of Noblesville, Hamilton County seat. Mr. Stone is near +nintey-one years old, is in sound physical condition and still has a +remarkable memory. He was a slave in the state of Kentucky for more than +sixteen years and a soldier in the Union army for nearly two years. He +educated himself and taught school to colored children four years +following the Civil War. He studied in 1868, and has been a preacher in +the Colored Baptist Faith for sixty nine years, having been instrumental +in the building of seven churches in that time. Mr. Stone joined the K. +of P. Lodge, the I.O.O.F. and Masonic Lodge and is still a member of the +latter. + +This fine old colored man has always worked hard for the uplift and +advancement of the colored race and has accomplished much in this effort +in the States of Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana. He, together with his +preaching of the gospel, and his lecturing, has followed farming. He now +has a field of sweet corn and a fine, large garden, which he plowed, +planted and tended himself and not a weed can be found in either. He is +the only ex-slave now living in Hamilton County, the others all +deceased, and is one of three living members of Hamilton county G.A.R. +the other two members being white. + +Mr. Stone has given to the writer "My Life's Story", which he desires to +call it, and in this story he pictures to the reader, "sixteen years of +hell as a slave on a plantation," a story which will convince the reader +that, even though much blood was shed in our Civil War, the war was a +Godsend to the American Nation. This story is told just as given by Mr. +Stone. + + +MY LIFE'S STORY + +"My name is Barney Stone, I was born in slavery, May 17, 1847, in +Spencer County, Kentucky. I was a slave on the plantation of Lemuel +Stone (all slaves bore the last name of their master) for nearly +seventeen years and was considered a leader among the young slaves on +our plantation. My Mammy was mother to ten children, all slaves, and my +Pappy, Buck Grant, was a buck slave on the plantation of John Grant, his +Mastah; my pappy was used much as a male cow is used on the stock farm +and was hired out to other plantation owners for that purpose and was +regarded as a valuable slave. His Mastah permitted him to visit my +mother each week-end on our plantation. + +My Mastah was a hard man when he was angry, drinking or not feeling +well, then at times he was kind to us. I was compelled to pick cotton +and do other work when I was a very small boy. Mastah would never sell +me because I was regarded as the best young slave on the plantation. +Different from many other slaves, I was kept on the plantation from the +day I was born until the day I ran away. + +Slaves were sold in two ways, sometimes at private sale to a man who +went about the Southland buying slaves until he has many in his +possession, then he would have a big auction sale and would re-sell them +to the highest bidder, much in the same manner as our live-stock are +sold now in auction sales. Professional slave buyers in those days were +called "nigger buyers". He came to the plantation with a doctor. He +would point out two or three slaves which looked good to him and which +could be spared by the owner, and would have the doctor examine the +slave's heart. If the doctor pronounced the slave as sound, then the +nigger buyer would make an offer to the owner and if the amount was +satisfactory, the slave was sold. Some large plantation owners, having a +large number of slaves, would hold a public auction and dispose of some +of them, then he would attend another sale and buy new slaves, this was +done sometimes to get better slaves and sometimes to make money on the +sale of them. + +Many times, as I have said before, our treatment on our plantation was +horrible. When I was just a small boy, I witnessed my sister sold and +taken away. One day one of horses came into the barn and Mastah noticed +that she was caripped. He flew into a rage and thought I had hurt the +horse, either that, or that I knew who did it. I told him that I did not +do it and he demanded that I tell him who did it, if I didn't. I did not +know and when I told him so, he secured a whip tied me to a post and +whipped me until I was covered with blood. I begged him, "Mastah, +Mastah, please don't whip me, I do not know who did it." He then took +out his pocket knife and I would have been killed if Missus (his dear +wife) had not make him quit. She untied me and cared for me. + +Many has been the time, I have seen my mammy beaten mercilessly and for +no good reason. One day, not long before the out-break of the Civil +War, a nigger buyer came and I witnessed my dear Mammy and my one year +old baby brother, sold. I seen er taken away, never to see her again +until I found her twenty-seven years later at Clarksburg, Tennessee. My +baby brother was with her, but I did not know him until Mammy told me +who he was, he had grown into a large man. That was a happy meeting. +After those experiences of "sixteen long years in hell, as a slave", I +was very bitter against the white man, until after I ran away and joined +the Union army. + +At the out-break of the Civil War and when the Northern army was +marching into the Southland, hundreds of male slaves were shot down by +the Rebels, rather than see them join with the Yankees. One day when I +learned that the Northern troops were very close to our plantation, I +ran away and hid in a culvert, but was found and I would have been shot +had the Yankee troops not scattered them and that saved me. I joined +that Union army and served one year, eight months and twenty-two days, +and fought with them in the battle of Fort Wagnor, and also in the +battle of Milikin's Bend. When I went into the army, I could not read or +write. The white soldiers took an interest in me and taught me to write +and read, and when the war was over I could write a very good letter. I +taught what little I knew to colored children after the War. + +I studied day and night for the next three years at the home of a +lawyer, educating myself and in 1868, I started preaching the gospel of +Jesus Christ and have continued to do so for sixty-nine years. In that +time I have been instrumental in the building of seven churches in +Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. I did this good work through +gratefulness to God for my deliverance and my salvation. During my life, +I have joined the K. of P. Lodge, and I.O.O.F and Masonic Lodge. I have +preached for the up-life and advancement of the colored races. I have +accomplished much good in this life and have raised a family of eight +children. I love and am loyal to my country and have received great +compensation from my government for my services. I am in good health and +still able to work, and I am thankful to my God and my country." + + + + +Stories from Ex-Slaves +5th District +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel +1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana + +ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE OF ADAH ISABELLE SUGGS + + +Among the interesting stories connected with former slaves one of the +most outstanding ones is the life story of Adah Isabelle Suggs, indeed +her escape from slavery planned and executed by her anxious mother, +Harriott McClain, bears the earmarks of fiction, but the truth of all +related occurences has been established by the aged negro woman and her +daughter Mrs. Harriott Holloway, both citizens of Evansville, Indiana. + +Born in slavery before January the twenty-second, 1862 the child Adah +McClain was the property of Colonel Jackson McClain and Louisa, his +wife. + +According to the customary practice of raising slave children, Adah was +left at the negro quarters of the McClain plantation, a large estate +located in Henderson county, three and one half miles from the village +of Henderson, Kentucky. There she was cared for by her mother. She +retains many impressions gained in early childhood of the slave +quarters; she remembers the slaves singing and dancing together after +the day of toil. Their voices were strong and their songs were sweet. +"Master was good to his slaves and never beat them" were her words +concerning her master. + +When Adah was not yet five years of age the mistress, Louisa McClain, +made a trip to the slave quarters to review conditions of the negroes. +It was there she discovered that one little girl there had been +developing ideas and ideals; the mother had taught the little one to +knit tiny stockings, using wheat straws for knitting needles. + +Mrs. McClain at once took charge of the child taking her from her +mother's care and establishing her room at the residence of the McClain +family. + +Today the aged Negro woman recalls the words of praise and encouragement +accorded her accomplishments, for the child was apt, active, responsive +to influence and soon learned to fetch any needed volume from the +library shelves of the McClain home. + +She was contented and happy but the mother knew that much unhappiness +was in store for her young daughter if she remained as she was situated. + +A custom prevailed throughout the southern states that the first born +of each slave maiden should be the son or daughter of her master and the +girls were forced into maternity at puberty. The mothers naturally +resisted this terrible practice and Harriott was determined to prevent +her child being victimized. + +One planned escape was thwarted; when the girl was about twelve years of +age the mother tried to take her to a place of safety but they were +overtaken on the road to the ferry where they hoped to be put across the +Ohio river. They were carried back to the plantation and the mother was +mildly punished and imprisoned in an upstair room. + +The little girl knew her mother was imprisoned and often climbed up to a +window where the two could talk together. + +One night the mother received directions through a dream in which her +escape was planned. She told the child about the dream and instructed +her to carry out orders that they might escape together. + +The girl brought a large knife from Mrs. McClain's pantry and by the aid +of that tool the lock was pried from the prison door and the mother made +her way into the open world about midnight. + +A large tobacco barn became her refuge where she waited for her child. +The girl had some trouble making her escape; she had become a useful and +necessary member of her mistress' household and her services were hourly +in demand. The Daughter "young missus" Annie McClain was afflicted from +birth having a cleft palate and later developing heart dropsy which made +regular surgery imperative. The negro girl had learned to care for the +young white woman and could draw the bandages for the surgeon whey +"Young Missus" underwent surgical treatment. + +The memory of one trip to Louisville is vivid in the mind of the old +negress today for she was taken to the city and the party stopped at the +Gault House and [TR: line not completed] + +"It was a grand place," she declares, as she describes the surroundings; +the handsome draperies and the winding stairway and other artistic +objects seen at the grand hotel. + +The child loved her young mistress and the young mistress desired the +good slave should be always near her; so, patient waiting was required +by the negro mother before her daughter finally reached their +rendezvous. + +Under cover of night the two fugitives traveled the three miles to +Henderson, there they secreted themselves under the house of Mrs. +Margaret Bentley until darkness fell over the world to cover their +retreat. Imagine the frightened negroes stealthily creeping through the +woods in constant fear of being recaptured. Federal soldiers put them +across the river at Henderson and from that point they cautiously +advanced toward Evansville. The husband of Harriott, Milton McClain and +her son Jerome were volunteers in a negro regiment. The operation of the +Federal Statute providing for the enlistment of slaves made enlisted +negroes free as well as their wives and children, so, by that statute +Harriott McClain and her daughter should have been given their freedom. + +When the refugees arrived in Evansville they were befriended by free +negroes of the area. Harriott obtained a position as maid with the +Parvine family, "Miss Hallie and Miss Genevieve Parvine were real good +folks," declares the aged negro Adah when repeating her story. After +working for the Misses Parvine for about two years, the negro mother had +saved enough money to place her child in "pay school" there she learned +rapidly. + +Adah McClain was married to Thomas Suggs January 18, 1872. Thomas was a +slave of Bill McClain and it is believed he adopted the name Suggs +because a Mr. Suggs had befriended him in time of trouble. Of this fact +neither the wife nor daughter have positive proof. The father has +departed this life but Adah Suggs lives on with her memories. + +Varied experiences have attended her way. Wifehood and devotion; +motherhood and care she has known for she has given fifteen children to +the world. Among them were one set of twins, daughters and triplets, two +sons and a daughter. She is a beloved mother to those of her children +who remain near her and says she is happy in her belief in God and +Christ and hopes for a glorious hereafter where she can serve the Lord +Jesus Christ and praise him eternally. + +What greater hope can be given to the mortal than the hope cherished by +Adah Isabelle Suggs? + + + + +Folklore +District #5 +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel + +"A TRADITION FROM PRE-CIVIL WAR DAYS" +KATIE SUTTON, AGED EX-SLAVE +Oak street, Evansville, Ind. + + +"White folks 'jes naturally different from darkies," said Aunt Katie +Sutton, ex-slave, as she tightened her bonnet strings under her wrinkled +chin. + +"We's different in color, in talk and in ligion and beliefs. We's +different in every way and can never be spected to think oe [TR: or?] to +live alike." + +"When I was a little gal I lived with my mother in an old log cabin. My +mammy was good to me but she had to spend so much of her time at +humoring the white babies and taking care of them that she hardly ever +got to even sing her own babies to sleep." + +"Ole Missus and Young Missus told the little slave children that the +stork brought the white babies to their mothers but that the slave +children were all hatched out from buzzards eggs and we believed it was +true." + +"Yes, Maam, I believes in evil spirits and that there are many folks +that can put spells on you, and if'n you dont believe it you had better +be careful for there are folks right here in this town that have the +power to bewitch you and then you will never be happy again." + +Aunt Katie declared that the seventh son of a seventh son, or the +seventh daughter of a seventh daughter possesses the power to heal +diseases and that a child born after the death of its father possesses a +strange and unknown power. + +While Aunt Katie was talking, a neighbor came in to borrow a shovel from +her. + +"No, no, indeed I never lends anything to nobody," she declared. After +the new neighbor left, Aunt Katie said, "She jes erbout wanted dat +shovel so she could 'hax' me. A woman borrowed a poker from my mammy and +hexed mammy by bending the poker and mammy got all twisted up wid +rhumatis 'twill her uncle straightened de poker and den mammy got as +straight as anybody." + +"No, Maam, nobody wginter take anything of mine out'n this house." Aunt +Katie Sutton's voice was thin and her tune uncertain but she remembered +some of the songs she heard in slavery days. One was a lullaby sung by +her mother and the song is given on separate pages of this artical. + +Three years ago Aunt Katie was called away on her last journey although +she had always emmerced the back and front steps of her cottage with +chamber lye daily to keep away evil spirits death crept in and demanded +the price each of us must pay and Katie answered the call. + +Aunt Katie sprinkled salt in the foot prints of departing guests "Dat's +so dey kain leave no illwill behind em and can never come agin 'thout an +invitation," she explained. + +She said she one time planted a tree with a curse and that her worst +enemy died that same year. + +"Evil spirits creeps around all night long and evil people's always able +to hex you, So, you had best be careful how you talks to strangers. +Always spit on a coin before You gives it to a begger and dont pass too +close to a hunchbacked person unless you can rub the hump or you will +have bad luck as sure as anything." + +Aunt Katie declared a rabbit's foot only brought good luck if the rabbit +had been killed by a cross eyed negro in a country grave yard in the +dark of the moon and she said that she believed one of that description +could be found only once in a lifetime or possibly a hundred years. + + + +"A Slave Mammy's Lullaby." + +Sung by Katie Sutton, Ex-slave of Evansville, Indiana. + + "A snow white stork flew down from the sky. + Rock a bye, my baby bye, + To take a baby gal so fair, + To young missus, waitin there; + When all was quiet as a mouse, + In ole massa's big fine house. + + Refrain: + Dat little gal was borned rich and free, + She's de sap from out a sugah tree; + But you are jes as sweet to me; + My little colored chile, + Jes lay yo head upon my bres; + An res, and res, and res, an res, + My little colored chile. + + To a cabin in a woodland drear, + You've come by a mammy's heart to cheer; + In this ole slave's cabin, + Your hands my heart strings grabbin; + Jes lay your head upon my bres, + Jes snuggle close an res an res; + My little colored chile. + + Repeat Refrain. + + Yo daddy ploughs ole massa's corn, + Yo mammy does the cooking; + She'll give dinner to her hungry chile, + When nobody is a lookin; + Don't be ashamed, my chile, I beg, + Case you was hatched from a buzzard's egg; + My little colored chile." + + Repeat Refrain. + + + + +Dist. No. 4 +Johnson Co. +William R. Mays +Aug. 2, 1937 + +SLAVERY DAYS OF GEORGE THOMPSON + + +My name is George Thompson, I was born in Monroe County, Kentucky near +the Cumberland river Oct. 8, 1854, on the Manfred Furgeson plantation, +who owned about 50 slaves. Mister Furgerson [TR: before, Furgeson] was a +preacher and had three daughters and was kind to his slaves. + +I was quite a small boy when our family, which included an older +sister, was sold to Ed. Thompson in Medcalf Co. Kentucky, who owned +about 50 other slaves, and as was the custom then we was given the name +of our new master, "Thompson". + +I was hardly twelve years old when slavery was abolished, yet I can +remember at this late date most of the happenings as they existed at +that time. + +I was so young and unexperienced when freed I remained on the Thompson +plantation for four years after the war and worked for my board and +clothes as coach boy and any other odd jobs around the plantation. + +I have no education, I can neither read nor write, as a slave I was not +allowed to have books. On Sundays I would go into the woods and gather +ginseng which I would sell to the doctors for from 10c to 15c a pound +and with this money I would buy a book that was called the Blue Back +Speller. Our master would not allow us to have any books and when we +were lucky enough to own a book we would have to keep it hid, for if our +master would find us with a book he would whip us and take the book from +us. After receiving three severe whippings I gave up and never again +tried for any learning, and to this day I can neither read nor write. + +Slaves were never allowed off of their plantation without a written +pass, and if caught away from their plantation without a pass by the +Pady-Rollers or Gorillars (who were a band of ruffians) they wore +whipped. + +As there were no oil lamps or candles, another black boy and myself +were stationed at the dining table to hold grease lamps for the white +folks to see to eat. And we would use brushes to shoo away the flies. + +In 1869 I left the plantation to go on my own. I landed in Heart County, +Ky. and went to work for Mr. George Parish in the tobacco fields at +$25.00 per year and two suits of clothes; after working two years for +Mr. Parish I left. I drifted from place to place in Alabama and +Mississippi, working first at one place and then another, and finally +drifted into Franklin in 1912 and went to work on the Fred Murry farm on +Hurricane road for 10 years. I afterwards worked for Ashy Furgerson, a +house mover. + +I have lived at my present address, 651 North Young St. since coming to +Franklin. + +(Can furnish photograph if wanted) [TR: no photograph found.] + + + + +Archie Koritz, Field Worker +Federal Writers' Project +Porter County--District #1 +Valparaiso, Indiana + +EX-SLAVES +REV. WAMBLE [TR: above in handwriting is 'Womble'] +1827 Madison Street +Gary, Indiana + + +Rev. Wamble was born a slave in Monroe County, Mississippi, in 1859. The +Westbrook family owned many slaves in charge of over-seers who managed +the farm, on which there were usually two hundred or more slaves. One of +the Westbrook daughters married a Mr. Wamble, a wagon-maker. The +Westbrook family gave the newly-weds two slaves, as did the Wamble +family. One of the two slaves coming from the Westbrook family was Rev. +Wamble's grandfather. It seems that the slaves took the name of their +master, hence Rev. Wamble's grandfather was named Wamble. + +Families owning only a few slaves and in moderate circumstances usually +treated their slaves kindly since like a farmer with only a few horses, +it was to their best interest to see that their slaves were well +provided for. The slaves were valuable, and there was no funds to buy +others, whereas the large slave owners were wealthy and one slave more +or less made little difference. The Reverend's father and his brothers +were children of original African slaves and were of the same age as the +Wamble boys and grew up together. The Reverend's grandfather was manager +of the farm and the three Wamble boys worked under him the same as the +slaves. Mr. Wamble never permitted any of his slaves to be whipped, nor +were they mistreated. + +Mr. Westbrook was a deacon in the Methodist Church and had two slave +over-seers to manage the farm and the slaves. He was very severe with +his slaves and none were ever permitted to leave the farm. If they did +leave the farm and were found outside, they were arrested and whipped. +Then Westbrook was notified and one of the over-seers would come and +take the slave home where he would again be whipped. The slave was tied +to a cedar tree or post and lashed with a snake whip. + +Rev. Wamble's mother was a Deerbrook [HW: Westbrook] slave and when the +Reverend was two years of age, his mother died from a miscarriage caused +by a whipping. When the women slaves were in an advanced stage of +pregnancy they were made to lie face down in a specially dug depression +in the ground and were whipped. Otherwise they were treated like the +men. Their arms were tied around a cedar tree or post, and they were +lashed. + +Since the Reverend appeared to be a promising slave, both the Westbrooks +and the Wambles wanted him, much like one would want a valuable colt +today. Since the Reverend's grandmother was a Westbrook and the Wambles +treated the slaves much better, she wanted him to become a Wamble. She +hid the child in a shed, what would probably be a poor dog-house today, +and fed the child during the night time. + +During this period of his life the Reverend remembers what happened to +one of the Westbrook slaves who had run away. One evening he came to the +Wamble home and asked for some supper. Wamble took the slave into his +home and after feeding him, placed a log chain which was hanging above +the fire-place, around the slave's waist, left him to sleep on a bench +in front of the fire-place. The next morning after the slave was given +breakfast by the Wambles, Westbrook, his son and over-seer appeared. +Rev. Wamble in his hide-out remembers being awakened by the sound of the +slave being whipped and the moaning of the slave. After the whipping, +the slave was turned loose. After he had gone about a mile through the +bottom-land toward the river, Westbrook turned his hounds loose on the +slave's tracks. The hounds treed the slave before he had gone another +mile, much like a dog would tree a cat. + +The Westbrooks pulled the slave down from the tree and the dogs slashed +his foot. The slave was then whipped and long ropes placed around him. +He was driven back to the Wamble place with whips where he was once +again whipped. They [TR: Then?] they drove him two miles to the +Westbrook place where he was whipped once more. Whatever became of the +slave, whether he died or recovered, is unknown. One unusual feature of +this story is that Westbrook who permitted his slaves to be whipped, was +a church deacon, whereas Wamble, who never attended church, never +whipped or mistreated his slaves. + +The Reverend states that in the community where he resided the slaves +were well treated except for the whippings they received. They were +well-fed, and if injured or sick, were attended by a doctor on the same +principal that a person would care for an injured horse or sick cow. The +slaves were valuable, and it was to the best interest of the owner to +see that they were able to work. + +In case of slaves having children, the children became the property of +the mother's owner. If the south had won the war, Wamble would have been +a Westbrook since his mother was a Westbrook slave, and if it lost, he +would go to live with his father and take the name of his father, a +Wamble slave. So until the war was over he was hid out much like a small +child would bring a stray dog home and hide it somewhere for fear that +if his parents discovered it, it would be taken away. + +The living quarters of the slaves were made of logs covered with mud, +and the roof was covered with coarse boards upon which dirt about a +foot in depth was placed. There were no floors except dirt or the bare +ground. The furniture consisted of a small stove and the beds were two +boards extending from two walls, the extending ends resting on a peg +driven into the ground. This would make a one-legged bed. The two boards +were covered across ways with more boards and the slaves slept on these +boards or upon the dirt floor. There were no blankets provided for them. +For food the slaves received plenty of meat, potatoes, and whatever +could be raised. If the master had plenty to eat, so did the slaves, but +if food was not plentiful for the master, the slaves had less to eat. + +Only one of the three Wamble boys joined the southern army. Until the +war was over, the other two boys who refused to go to war hid out in the +surrounding woods and hills. The only time the Reverend's father left +the farm was to attend his master Billy, when he was in a hospital +recovering from wounds received in battle. + +Wamble was a wagon-maker, and he made two or three wagons which usually +took about six months. Then he hitched teams to them and went north to +Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas and kept going until he had sold the +wagons and teams, keeping one wagon and team, with which to return home. +Some times the master would be gone for a period of nine to twelve +months. During his absence the Reverend's grandfather was in charge of +the farm. + +The grandmother of Rev. Wamble was a full-blooded African negro, brought +to this country as a slave at seventeen years of age. She was a very +large and strong woman and was often hired out to do a man's work. +Slaves were forbidden to have papers in their possession and since they +were forbidden to read papers, hardly any slaves could read or write. +There never was any occasion or need to do these things. It was not +known that the Reverend's grandmother could read and write until after +the Civil War. The Reverend remembers his grandmother bringing an old +newspaper to his hide-out during the Civil War, late at night, after +the Wamble family had retired, and making a candle from fried meat +grease and a cord string, which made a very tiny light. She placed some +old blankets over the walls so that no light could be seen through the +cracks in the hut. She would then place the paper as near as possible to +the light, without burning it, and read the paper. It was never +discovered where or how she learned to read and write. + +If a young, good-looking, husky negro was trustworthy, the family would +make him the driver of the family carriage. They would dress him in the +best clothes obtainable and with a silk-finished beaver skin hat. The +driver sat on a seat on the top and towards the front of the carriage. +He was compelled to stay on this seat when waiting for any of the family +that he might be driving, regardless of the weather or the length of +time that he had to wait. + +The mail was carried in the same kind of vehicle with negro drivers. In +each town there was a certain rack at which this mail carriage would +stop in each village or wherever the designated stop was made. Upon +nearing the rack and coming to a stop, the driver would blow a bugle +call which could be heard for miles around, and people hearing this +bugle would come and get their mail. The Reverend remembers that several +of these drivers froze to death during the cold weather, and that in the +winter, many times the horses on the mail carriage upon coming to this +rack would stop, and the driver would be sitting frozen to death in his +seat. + +Men would take him down, carefully saving the silk beaver-skin hat for +some other driver. + +Since the slaves had no votes, they had no interest in politics when +they became free and knew nothing about political conditions other than +that after the Civil War they were free and had a vote. As a boy the +Reverend remembers seeing the white and black soldiers marching on +election day. + +The politicians would always tell the negroes what was good for them and +making it appear that it was for their best interest, and they should +vote for him, always giving them the desert first and making them think +that they were on the level no matter what the meal might be or what +hardships they were causing the negro to suffer. On one instance after +the negroes were forbidden to vote they marched in a body to the polls +and demanded a Democratic ballot and were then permitted to vote. + +Rev. Wamble was twenty-seven years of age before he saw and read his +first newspaper. He lived with the Wambles for twenty years after the +war, when his father then in partnership with another man, purchased +forty acres of land. He attended his first school for a period of two +months only in 1871. In 1872 the government built a school on his +father's farm and it was taught by a missionary. The school term was for +a period of three months each year. The Reverend attended this school +for seven years. + +In 1880 he married the first time. His first wife died in Memphis, +Tennessee, in 1888. By this marriage there were four children. On +February 1, 1892, the Reverend with his two surviving children all +entered school at a college in Little Rock, Arkansas. One of his +daughters died in the third year of her school year, but the other +graduated from the Normal School and was a teacher for several years. At +the present time she is married to a minister in Louisiana and is the +mother of ten children and is a nurse. The three oldest children have +degrees and the others are expected to do the same. + +The Reverend married his second wife in 1894. She died in 1907. By this +marriage nine children were born. + +The Reverend has been in the ministry for thirty-seven years. Seeing the +need of making more money, two of his sons came to Gary, Indiana, to +work in 1924. Now both are working in the post-office. Two years later +he came to Gary for the same reason and after working two years in the +coke plant, was laid off due to the depression. The youngest daughter of +the Reverend by his second marriage graduated from a college in Pine +Bluff, Arkansas, and is now teaching in New York City. + +Although the Reverend is advanced in years, he is quite active and +healthy. He says he has a small pension and is just waiting until it is +time to pass on to the next world. He has six children and seventeen +grandchildren living. + +As the Reverend remembered the south, none of the white people worked at +manual labor, but usually sat under a shade tree. They were usually +clerks, bookkeepers or tradesmen. + + + + +Ex-Slave Stories +5th District +Vanderburgh County +Lauana Creel +1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana + +THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHILD BORN IN SLAVERY +SAMUEL WATSON +[HW: Personal Interview] + + +Samuel Watson, a citizen of Evansville, Indiana, was born in Webster +County, Kentucky, February 14, 1862. His master's home was located two +and one half miles from Clay, Kentucky on Craborchard Creek. + +"Uncle Sammy" as the negro children living near his home on South East +Fifth Street call the old man, possesses an unusually clear memory. In +fact he remembers seeing the soldiers and hearing the report of cannon +while he was yet an infant. + +One story told by the old negro relates how; "old missus" saved "old +massa's horses". The story follows: + +The mistress accompanied by a number of slaves was walking out one +morning and all were startled by the sound of hurrying horses. Soon many +mounted soldiers could be seen coming over a hill in the distance. The +child Samuel was later told that the soldiers were making their way to +Fort Donelson and were pressing horses into service. They were also +enlisting negroes into service whenever possible. + +Old master, Thomas Watson, owned many good able-bodied slaves and many +splendid horses. The mistress realised the danger of loss and opening +the "big gate" that separated the corral from the forest lands, Mrs. +Watson ran into the midst of the horses shouting and frailing them. The +frightened horses ran into the forest off the highway and toward the +river. + +When the soldiers stopped at the Watson plantation they found only a few +old work horses standing under a tree and not desiring these they want +on their way. + +The little negro boy ran and hid himself in the corner made by a great +outside chimney, where he was found later, by his frightened mother. +Uncle Samuel remembers that the horses came home the following +afternoon, none missing. + +Uncle Samuel remembers when the war ended and the slaves were +emancipated. "Some were happy! and some were sad!" Many dreaded leaving +their old homes and their masters' families. + +Uncle Samuel's mother and three children were told that they were free +people and the master asked the mother to take her little ones and go +away. + +She complied and took her family to the plantation of Jourdain James, +hoping to work and keep her family together. Wages received for her work +failed to support the mother and children so she left the employ of Mr. +James and worked from place to place until her children became half +starved and without clothing. + +The older children, remembering better and happier days, ran away from +their mother and went back to their old master. + +Thomas Watson went to Dixon, Kentucky and had an article of indenture +drawn up binding both Thomas and Laurah to his service for a long number +of years. Little Samuel only remained with his mother who took him to +the home of William Allen Price. Mr. Price's plantation was situated in +Webster County, Kentucky about half-way between Providence and Clay on +Craborchard Creek. Mr. Price had the little boy indentured to his +service for a period of eighteen years. There the boy lived and worked +on the plantation. + +He said he had a good home among good people. His master gave him five +real whippings within a period of fourteen years but Uncle Samuel +believes he deserved every lash administered. + +Uncle Samuel loved his master's family, he speaks of Miss Lena, Miss +Lula, Master Jefferson and Master John and believes they are still +alive. Their present home is at Cebra, Kentucky. + +It was the custom for a slave indentured to a master to be given a fair +education, a good horse, bridle, saddle and a suit of clothes for his +years of toil, but Mr. Price did not believe the boy deserved the pay +and refused to pay him. A lawyer friend sued in behalf of the Negro and +received a judgement of $115.00 (one hundred and fifteen dollars). +Eighteen dollars repaid the lawyer for his service and Samuel started +out with $95.00 and his freedom. + +Evansville became the home of Samuel Watson in 1882. The trip was made +by train to Henderson then on transfer boat along the Ohio to +Evansville. + +The young negro man was impressed by the boat and crew and said he loved +the town from the first glimpse. + +Dr. Bacon, a prominent citizen living at Chandler Avenue and Second +Street, employed Samuel as coachman. His next service was as house-man +for Levi Igleheart, 1010 Upper Second Street. Mr. Igleheart grew to +trust Samuel and gave him many privileges allowing him to care for +horses and to manage business for the family. + +Samuel was married in 1890. His wife was born in Evansville and knew +nothing of slavery by birth or indenture. + +Uncle Samuel was given a job at the Trinity Church, corner of Third and +Chestnut Streets. Mr. Igleheart recommended him for the position. He +received $30.00 per month for his services for a period of six years. + +Mr. McNeely employed him for several years as janitor for lodges and +secret orders. The old negro was also a paper hanger and wall cleaner +and did well untill the panic seized him as it did others. + +Uncle Samuel was entitled to an old age pension which he recieved from +1934 until 1935 but January 15th, 1936 something went wrong and the +money was with held. Then uncle Samuel was sent to the poor house. Still +he was not unhappy and did what he could to make others happy. + +In 1936 he again applied and received the pension. $17.00 per month is +paid for his upkeep, his only labor consists of tending a little garden +and doing light chores. He lives with William Crosby on S.E. Fifth +Street. + + + + +Iris L Cook +District #4 +Floyd County + +SLAVE STORY +STORY OF NANCY WHALLEN +924 Pearl St. +New Albany, Ind. + + +Nancy Whallen is now about 81 years of age. She doesn't know exactly. +She was about 5 year of age when Freedom was declared. Nancy was born +and raised in Hart County near Hardinsburg, Kentucky. She is very hard +to talk to as her memory is failing and she can not hear very well. + +The little negro girl lived the usual life of a rural negro in Civil War +Time and afterwards. She remembers the "sojers" coming thru the place +and asking for food. Some of them camped on the farm and talked to her +and teased her. + +She tells about one big nigger called "Scott" on the place who could +outwork all the others. He would hang his hat and shirt on a tree limb +and work all day long in the blazing sun on the hottest day. + +The colored folk, used to have revivals, out in the woods. They would +sometimes build a sort of brush shelter with leaves for a roof and +service a would be held here. Preachin' and shouting' sometimes lasted +all day Sundays. Colored folks came from miles around when they possibly +could get away. These affairs were usually held away from the "white +folks" who seldom if ever saw these gatherings. + + +Observation of the writer. + +The old woman remembers the Big Eclipse of the sun or the "Day of Dark" +as she called it. The chickens all went to roost and the darkies all +thought the end of the world had come. The cattle lowed and everyone was +scared to death. + +She lived down in Kentucky after the War until she was quite a young +woman and then came to Indiana where she has lived ever since. She lives +now with her daughter in New Albany. + + + + +Special Assignment +Emily Hobson +Dist. #3 +Parke County + +INTERVIEW WITH ANDERSON WHITTED, +COLORED EX-SLAVE, OF ROCKVILLE, INDIANA + +[Illustration: Anderson Whitted] + + +Mr. Whitted will be 89 years old next month October 1937. He was born in +Orange County, North Carolina. His mother took care of the white +children so her nine children were very well treated. The master was a +Doctor. The family were Hickory Quakers and did not believe in +mistreating their slaves, always providing them with plenty to eat, and +clothing to wear to church on Sunday. Despite a law that prohibited +books to Negroes, his family had a Bible, and an elementary spelling +book. Mr. Whitted's father belonged to his master's half-brother and +lived fourteen miles away. He was allowed a horse to go see them every +two weeks. The father could read, and spell very well so would teach +them on his visits. Mr. Whitted learned to read the Bible first, then in +later years has learned to read other things. It was the custom for the +master to search the negro huts, but Mr. Whitted's master never did. + +The Doctor often took Mr. Whitted's grandmother with him to help care +for the sick. When the war broke out the Master's son joined the +southern forces. The son was wounded. The Doctor and Mr. Whitted's +grandmother went for the boy. On the way home the Doctor died but the +grandmother got the boy home and nursed him back to health. Life for the +Negroes was different after the son began running the place, he was not +good to them. Mr. Whitted was then 16 years old, and the older brother +was the overseer. The negroes had been allowed a share of the crop but +the new master refused them anything to live on. In that region the +wheat was harvested the middle of June. There was a big crop that year +but the entire family was turned out before the harvest, with nothing. +Mr. Whitted left his older brother with his mother and the children +sitting by the road, while he ran the 14 miles for his father to find +out what to do. The father borrowed two teams and wagons, rented a house +in the edge of town, and moved the family in. + +The slaves were freed about that time, and for the first time in their +lives they were free, and the entire family together. The father went to +the governor for food. The government was allowing hard tack and +pickled beef for the negroes. They received their allotment, and were +well satisfied with hard tack because they were free. In telling about +the pickled beef he says he never has seen any beef since that looked +like it; he believed that it was horse meat. The father started working +in a mill in 1865. He was soon bringing home food stuff from there, and +in time they had a crop on their little place. + +The older brother worked in the mornings and went to a Quaker Normal +School in the afternoon. Pres. Harrison gave him an appointment in the +revenue department, then as he grew older he was transferred to the post +office department. He was retired on a pension at the age of 75. He is +still living in Washington, D.C., and is now 97 years old. + +During the war Mr. Whitted ran away, going 12 miles to the camp of the +northern soldiers where he stayed two weeks. They gave him a horse to +ride, and sent him gathering fuel through the woods for them. Those were +the happiest days he had ever known--his first freedom. + +Mr. Whitted was never sold, but he often saw processions go past after a +sale, the wagon loaded with provisions first, then the slaves tied +together following. They often took the babies away from their mothers, +and sold them. Some old woman, too old to work, would then care for the +little ones until they were old enough to work. At six years old they +were put to work thinning corn, worming the tobacco, and pulling weeds. +At seven they were taught to use a hoe. At 16 they were full hands, +working along with the older men. + +In April 1880 Mr. Whitted left Orange County, it was so very rough it +was hard to make a living. He just started out in search of a better +place, leaving his wife and seven children there. In November he sent +for them, he was working at the brick yards in Rockville. They were +finishing the court house. He was so anxious to make a living he often +did as much as two men. One child was born here. His wife died soon +after coming to Rockville. He stayed single for three years, but found +he could not care for his family and married again. His second wife died +a number of years ago. He now spends the winters with his three living +daughters, and during the summer months, a daughter comes to Rockville +to enjoy his home. + +Mr. Whitted's uncle belonged to a mean master. The slaves worked hard +all day, then were chained together at night. The uncle ran away in the +early part of the war, and after two years broke through the lines, and +joined the northern army, going back after emancipation. + + + + +Iris Cook +Dist 4 +Floyd Co. + +SLAVE STORY +THE STORY OF ALEX WOODSON +905 E. 4th St. +New Albany, Ind. + + +Observation of Writer + +Alex Woodson is an old light skinned darkey, he looks to be between 80 +and 85, it is hard to tell his age, and colored folks hardly ever do +know their correct age. I visited him in his little cottage and had a +long talk with him and his wife (his second). "Planted the fust one." +They run a little grocery in the front room of the cottage. But the +stock was sadly run down. Together with the little store and his +"pinshun" (old age pension) these old folks manage to get along. + +Alex Woodson was born at Woodsonville, in Hart County, Kentucky, just +across Green River from Munfordville. He was a good sized boy, possibly +7 years or more when "Freedom wuz declared". His master was "Old Marse" +Sterrett who had about a 200 acre place and whose son in law Tom +Williams ran a store on this place. When Williams married Sterretts +daughter he was given Uncle Alex and his mother and brother as a +present. Williams was then known as "Young Master." + +When war come Old Master gave his (Woodson's) mother a big roll of +bills, "greenbacks as big as Yo' arm", to keep for him, and was forced +to leave the neighborhood. After the war the old darkey returned the +money to him intact. + +Uncle Alex remembers his mother taking him and other children and +running down the river bank and hiding in the woods all night when the +soldiers came. They were Morgan's men and took all available cattle and +horses in the vicinity and beat the woods looking for Yankee soldiers. +Uncle Alex said he saw Morgan at a distance on his big horse and he "wuz +shore a mighty fine looker." + +Sometimes the Yankee soldiers would come riding along and they "took +things too". + +When the War was over old Master came back home and the negroes +continued to live on at the place as usual, except for a few that wanted +to go North. Old Master lived in a great big house with all his family +and the Negroes lived in another good sized house or quarters, all +together. There were a few cabins. + +"Barbecues! My we shore used to have 'em, yes ma'am, we did! Folks would +come for miles around. Would roast whole hawgs and cows, and folks would +sing, and eat and drink whiskey. The white folks had 'em but we helped +and had fun too. Sometimes we would have one ourselves." + +"Used to have rail splittin's and wood choppins. The men woud work all +day, and get a pile of wood as big as a house. At noon they'd stop and +eat a big meal that the women folks had fixed up for em. Them wuz some +times, I've spent to many a one." + +"I remember we used to go to revivals sometimes, down near Horse ave. +Everybody got religion and we shore had some times. We don't have them +kind of times any more. I remember I went back down to one of those +revivals years afterwards. Most of the folks I used to know was dead or +gone. The preacher made me set up front with him, and he asked me to +preach to the folks. But I sez that "no, God hadn't made me that away +and I wouldn't do it." + +I've saw Abraham Lincoln's cabin many a time, when I was young. It set +up on a high hill, and I've been to the spring under the hill lots of +times. The house was on the Old National Road then. I hear they've fixed +it all up now. I haven't been there for years. + +After the war when I grewed up I married, and settled on the old place. +I remember the only time I got beat in a horse trade. A sneakin' nigger +from down near Horse Cave sold me a mule. That mule was jest natcherly +no count. He would lay right down in the plow. One day after I had +worked with him and tried to get him to work right, I got mad. I says to +my wife, Belle, I'm goin' to get rid of that mule if I have to trade him +for a cat. An' I led him off. When I came back I had another mule and +$15 to boot. This mule she wuz shore skinny but when I fattened her up +you wouldn't have known her." + +"Finally I left the old place and we come north to Indiana. We settled +here and I've been here for 50 years abourt. I worked in the old Rolling +Mill. And I've been an officer in the Baptist Church at 3rd and Main for +41 years." + +"Do I believe in ghosts" (Here his second wife gave a sniff) Well ma'am +I don't believe in ghosts but I do in spirits. (another disgusted sniff +from the second wife) I remember one time jest after my first wife died +I was a sittin right in that chair your sittin in now. The front door +opened and in come a big old grey mule, and I didn't have no grey mule. +In she come just as easy like, put one foot down slow, and then the +other, and then the other I says 'Mule git out here, you is goin through +that floor, sure as youre born. Get out that door.' Mule looked at me +sad-like and then just disappeared. And in its place was my first wife, +in the clothes she was buried in. She come up to me and I put my arms +around her, but I couldn't feel nothin' (another sniff from the second +wife) and I says, "Babe, what you want?" + +Then she started to git littler and littler and lower and finally went +right away through the floor. It was her spirit thats what it was. +("Rats" says the second wife.) + +"Another time she came to me by three knocks and made me git up and +sleep on another bed where it was better sleepin'." + +"I like to go back down in Kentucky on visits as the folks there wont +take a thing for bed and vittles. Here they are so selfish wont even +gave a drink of water away." + +"Yes'm the flood got us. Me and my wife here, we whet away and stayed +two months. Was 5 feet in this house, and if it ever gets in here agin, +we're goin down in Kentucky and never comin' back no more." + +The old man and his wife bowed me out the front door and asked me to +come back again and we'ed talk some more about old times. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Slave Narratives: A Folk History of +Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, by Work Projects Administration + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVE NARRATIVES: INDIANA *** + +***** This file should be named 13579.txt or 13579.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/5/7/13579/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Andrea Ball, Terry Gilliland and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. 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